Have you ever read the directions before putting on a Band-Aid? Me, neither. Big mistake. I have a quarter-sized blister on the calloused ball of my foot. (walking the dogs in tennies without socks.)
Band-Aid makes a blister bandage. From the website: Cushioning gel pad relieves pain while protecting the blister. Waterproof, superior adhesive stays in place for multi-day use. Flexible form conforms to skin for greater fit and comfort. Seals out water, dirt, and germs that can cause infection.
I put one on, and it came off the same evening, so much for the multi-day use function. I tried another one yesterday. It was partially off, so I pulled it the rest of the way. HOLY CRAP! I pulled the blister off with the Band-Aid. Back to those directions. Apparently, I was supposed to stretch the bandage as I was slowly pulling and the adhesive releases with stretching.
I shall now go read directions for Kleenex, potholders, and potting soil.
“Why I Love Myself” is this week’s topic on the blog tour. I’ve been obsessing and avoiding this post for several days. I have Depression. I don’t love myself. I think I’m worthless, and wouldn’t mind dropping dead tomorrow. I can remember first wanting life to be over when I was in middle school.
I also have Dissociative Disorder, which for me means I compartmentalize things. The normal, rational part of my brain realizes I’m ridiculous. I’ll be fine as long as the healthy part stays stronger than the sick side. Regular readers know January was bad for me, hell, I even wrote a suicide note one night. I got to my psychiatrist quickly, to change and up my happy pills.
I’m married to the best man in the world, I have made a difference in hundreds of students’ lives over the years, I love our exchange sons and they love me, I have understanding, wonderful friends, 2 great dogs, no major bills, and travel often. I have it good. I am appreciative. And I hope next week’s blog tour assignment is all about pink fluffy bunnies and rainbows.
ETA: I’m not pathetic. Depression is part of me, but I hope I’m not whiny about it. I’m not miserable. I laugh often, and enjoy making others laugh. I don’t walk around with a black cloud over my head.
Other stops on the women writers blog tour include AllyKat’s Alcove, The Absent Minded Housewife, And then there were three, Chrisnada’s Journal, Fat Angie, Heartstart’s Journal, Hijinks’s Shenanigans, Housewife 2000, How can I live life in the fast lane if all I’ve got is a bicycle?, la_eme, life in the land of maeve, Ramblings, Ramblings of a Grad Student, Seven angels, three kids, one family, Space Age Housewife, Such is Life, Tales of an Ordinary Life, VeryContrary, What’s my life? , and me- Wry Exchange.
Growing up in the 70’s, I was fascinated with the Berlin Wall. I remember reading my grandparents Reader’s Digest magazines about daring escapes and divided families. I learned about the Cold War and Stasi in school. I heard David Bowie and other musicians and artist kept apartments in West Berlin for ‘inspiration.’ I thought it was so brave of people to live in the ‘West’ in the middle of communist territory. How weird for one city to be divided into quadrants with control by USSR, Britain, France, and the US. Visiting Berlin was one of my childhood dreams.
The Berlin Wall fell in 1989. I visited Berlin in 1991. I was lucky enough to go with a former exchange student of mine. It was wonderful, and it was horrible. We took a train from old West Germany into the Eastern part. I could tell when we crossed where the border used to be-the tracks went from smooth and modern to old and rickety. The farms looked run-down, the towns were drab.
We arrived in Berlin, and the old Western section of the city was vibrant with many stores, people, and bright colors. The old Eastern part was like a different world to me. I saw huge cheap-looking Soviet apartment buildings just like in the movies. I saw bullets marks from WWII in the stone facades of buildings. That was a huge ‘Toto, we’re not in Kansas’ moment. Parts of the Wall were still up, and enterprising Turks were selling small pebble sized pieces as souvenirs along with old Soviet and East German military pins. I went to Checkpoint Charlie, and a small museum nearby. The museum was full of stories that I had grown up reading about escapes.
My student and I also toured the Reichstag. There was an exhibit-the first exhibit in Germany-of WWII. I wasn’t surprised to learn I knew more about Germany’s history about WWII than him. At the time, not much was taught in Germany about the Nazis and German citizens behavior. FES tried to argue with me that the Nazis behavior was not any worse than the way African-Americans were treated in the 60’s. Our country certainly didn’t treat it’s citizens decently, but um, wow. We didn’t have the HOLOCAUST. FES tried arguing that ‘not that many’ people were murdered, the concentration camps were work camps, etc.
It was an eye-opening, surreal trip. I haven’t returned, but I don’t think I’d recognize Berlin anymore. It’s been modernized and cleaned up. I just wish I was able to go to Hong Kong before the British turnover, but I was fortunate to get to go to Berlin.
I’m part of a new blog tour. We met online through a forum we all are addicted to, er, read. Each week, we’ll all post on the same topic. This week’s topic is ‘What was the strangest vacation spot you ever visited?‘ I’ll post mine later, after all it’s not due until tomorrow morning. I have to think about it for a while because I don’t want to hurt any FES feelings. Just because I think guinea pig on a stick isn’t delish, doesn’t mean someone else doesn’t. For us, the strangest spot is probably a ‘normal’ cruise to the Bahamas. We hated cruising. Husband was so bored he read my Vogue.
Enjoy the new blogs.
AllyKat’s Alcove, The Absent Minded Housewife, And then there were three, Chrisnada’s Journal, Fat Angie, Housewife 2000, How can I live life in the fast lane if all I’ve got is a bicycle?, la_eme, life in the land of maeve, Ramblings, Ramblings of a Grad Student, Seven angels, three kids, one family, Space Age Housewife, Such is Life, Tales of an Ordinary Life, VeryContrary, What’s my life? , and me- Wry Exchange.
This is my 250th post. Go, me!
Hi, I’m Wry. I have a problem. I am addicted to Kipling bags.
Cosmetic bags? 
Yep. Computer bags? 
Yep. Messenger bags? 
of course. Duffle bags? 
Oh, yeah! Tote bags? 
Sure! Backpacks? 
Yes! Garment bag? 
Ebay, baby! Purses? 
Um, maybe a few?
Kipling is from Belgium. The bags are made of water repellent strong nylon. I throw them in the washing machine to clean them. I have bags that are 20 years old, and they still look new. Our exchange sons laugh at me, but they have Kipling messenger bags or duffles themselves. The bags all come with a plush monkey keychain. 
I take them off the bags, and grouped them on display in an art glass bowl. I probably have 40 monkeys. They amuse me. I buy my Kipling products from Ebay, TJMaxx, eBags, and whenever we go to New York City. My birthday is coming up quickly. Gee, I wonder what to ask the birthday fairy for??
At first I was going to write about abortion laws in the US. If a political candidate will not protect abortion rights, I can not vote for that candidate. I care about the deficit, civil liberties, and health care, but abortion rights is my only ‘deal-breaker’ issue. I’ve joined pro-choice marches in Washington, DC twice, once with my mother, and once with Husband.
I remember when Roe v Wade was announced, it didn’t really change anything unless you had lots of money and lived in a big city. I remember female relatives talking about getting ‘shots’ from their doctors to ‘bring on their periods.’ I also have an old copy of ‘Our Bodies, Our Selves’ that had do it yourself abortion information in it.
I’ve never had an abortion, but I strongly believe in a woman’s right to choose. I know it’s a gut-wrenching decision. I helped a woman get an abortion once. The clinic was on lock-down because of protesters. The women and men working at the clinic were very caring. The experience stayed with me for about three years. It was terrible, but it WAS THE RIGHT DECISION. I don’t believe she aborted a baby, but I was cognizant it had the potential to be a baby.
Since this is an exchange student blog, I thought I’d write about abortion in another country. I’ve had conversations with women in Chile, and they’ve reminded me of the bad old days here. Women whisper of kindly doctors, women who know how to do abortions, trips to Disney with a secret stop at a clinic, or women who’ve lost their fertility due to botched abortions.
A day later, and I still want to share my view. Abortions should be safe, legal, and as rare as possible. No one else gets to tell a woman what she can do with her own body.
Someone I love dearly read my blog for the first time yesterday, and wanted to know what FES meant?
He guessed ‘Fucking Exchange Student.’
I howled. I never thought of that. I corrected him, and said it’s pronounced ‘fez’ like Fez from ‘That 70’s Show.’
In other news, I went out of the house today. Hooray! I only went to Wallyworld because it’s close. Reason 583 to hate Walmart: Grandma cashiers. The woman packed my groceries oddly. The celery had it’s own bag, Doritos and my beloved People magazine shared a bag. I had about 15 bags packed light enough for for an elf to carry, and then she packed 6 large soup cans in a bag together, and 4 large glass jars of sauce in another bag.
Wellbutrin and I are not getting along. I’ve taken Wellbutrin XL in the Winter for the last several years without side-effects. I looked up the common side-effects, and they don’t include, um, talking to yourself. Common side effects of Wellbutrin XL- Abdominal pain, agitation, anxiety, constipation, diarrhea, dizziness, dry mouth, heart palpitations, increased urination, insomnia, muscle soreness, nausea, rash, ringing in the ears, sore throat, sweating. Nope, no talking to yourself. Anxiety, heart palpitations, yes, I had those. ( I thought I was just obsessing as I do occasionally.) Actually, I was going to the toilet more often, but didn’t think it was due to the Wellbutrin until I started typing this. (There’s so much I don’t notice in life.) But I was arguing with myself. It’s an odd feeling. I’d think of something, and the other half of my brain would argue with the first half. Other times, both parts agreed and just echoed each other. Like that’s not annoying. I finally called my psychiatrist today, and he told me to stop taking it. Well, duh. I did that a few days ago. I only started it up 2 weeks ago. I’m supposed to pick up samples of something else on Monday, and give that a try. Today was the first time I’ve called him between my appointments. I’ve never had a reaction to my wacko pills like this.
Since I knew I wanted to write about it, I mentioned my problem to Husband today. He takes it all in stride.
Unsure of who to vote for? Try this quiz. I’m a treehugging, secular, pro-choice, feminist, bleeding heart liberal so we all know I’ll end up voting for Hillary, Obama, or Edwards. I don’t care who the rest of you vote for as long as you vote. No vote, no bitching later!
From the Glassbooth website: Glassbooth is a nonprofit organization that is creating innovative ways to access political information. An informed and interested democracy is a powerful thing. As an organization acting in the public’s interest, we are very serious about our core principles: integrity, nonbias, nonpartisan, transparency, and insight.
I’m so pissed off right now. I killed the old tank today……or at least wounded her. AS many times as people have hit that car, it never dents. It’s a beast.
FES is sick, and wanted to go to the doctor today. An urgent care center 40 minutes away takes walk-ins. We went, FES tested negative for Strep Throat and Flu. Flu is going around our area. FES has tonsillitis, and received 2 prescriptions. We fill the prescriptions, and start for home. I like to drive fast when the roads are dry. They weren’t dry today.
It snowed hard this morning, but the roads are mostly clear. The secondary roads have snow and ice on them, and some drifted snow. The temperature is at 32 and a little below. I was driving through a small town with a 35mph when a pickup truck stopped in front of me to turn left without a turn signal, and I didn’t notice brake lights. I started sliding in my German tank, and had lots of time to tell FES to hold on, and to make decisions. A car was coming the other direction, and there was a shallow ditch to the right and mailboxes. I swerved a little left and hit the back corner of the pickup truck with my front right side. My car slid under their bumper and that’s what did the damage.
Absolutely no damage to the pickup truck at all. My front right corner is bashed in, and I leaked radiator fluid. My dear friend pointed out all the stray animals will lick it up and die because of me. The poor old girl will be towed home tomorrow. I hope Husband can fix it. He can fix or build anything. Another friend just happened past, and brought us home.
I have a headache and have been bawling like a weenie. I’m really upset, and my typing and grammar are horrid.
Wry Exchange 