~ TICKED OFF TUESDAY ~ August 4, 2015 ~ "FUNNY FEET, I LOVE YOU ~ NOT" ~ (anyone else remember the song "Funny Face"?) ~

~ TICKED OFF TUESDAY ~ August 4, 2015 ~ "FUNNY FEET, I LOVE YOU ~ NOT" ~ (anyone else remember the song "Funny Face"?) ~ Ok, so I think I am more "mildly irked" than actually ticked off, but it is really starting to get on my nerves that I have really weird feet and toes! And its not just one thing, I am plagued with several inflictions!

I know that it is summertime and by all rights, I should be going barefoot, but I'm usually cold and I can't wear flip-flops! PROBLEM AREA #1 ~ on both feet, the two toes next to my big toe are slightly webbed, [NOTE: Sometimes, the internet can be a wonderful thing! In researching for this post, I discovered that this condition has a scientific or medical name, SYNDACTYLY - meaning webbed toes and/or fingers. It can be genetically inherited, but doesn't have to be and people with this condition have something in common with not only famous people like Dan Aykroyd and Ahston Kutcher, but also with ducks, frogs and even kangaroos]!!  My having a very slight case of "syndactyly" makes wearing any type of shoe or sandal that has to go between my toes unbearable.

I can't stand wearing open-toed shoes of any kind. PROBLEM AREA #2 ~ I used to hate my feet because my second toe is slightly longer than my big toe. [NOTE: Again, research for this post allowed me to find out that this condition also has a name. It's called "Morton's Toe" although has also been referred to as Morton's Foot, Greek Foot, Royal Toe, LeMay Toe and/or Sheppard's Toe. There are some treatments available, including surgery, but I recommend that if you are having problems from this condition, please see a doctor and/or a specialist].  However, I met someone once whose second toe was so far past her big toe, I am sure she must have had to wear shoes two sizes too big) ~ anyway, ever since then, I've thanked God for my "normal" toes! But I still don't like wearing open toed shoes!!

During my second pregnancy in 2004, which introduced our son Matthew to the world on November 12, something wonky happened to the toenail on each of my big toes. (Perhaps this post belongs with my new "Wacky Wednesday" column instead), but PROBLEM AREA #3 ~ is that I had grown a second layer of toenail. [NOTE: This is apparently a very common infliction in many people ~ just Google "layered toenails" and you may be as surprised as I was to find out how many people have this EXACT same problem]. There is no known real cause for this condition, and although it has been suggested that anything from pointed shoes, cold feet, poor diet or trauma can cause this, none of those factors applied to me (my feet really aren't always THAT cold)! As I said, it seemed to stem from my being pregnant. It is NOT caused by a fungus ~ a sample of my toenails that my doctor sent away to be tested came back negative for fungus and many articles that I found on-line also reported that fungus was not a cause of this condition. There are some medicinal treatments, although they are apparently very hard on the liver. Because of my other health issues and medications that I take, I opted instead to just keep filing, trimming and picking away at the second layer of toenail that I have. My best suggestion and advice would be to see your doctor and get a referral to a specialist if necessary. (And after 10 years, I was FINALLY able to pick, pry, file, dig and yank the second layer of nail away from the first. Talk about painful!! And, no, it ain't very pretty)! 

As if that weren't bad enough, there still remains one final problem with my feet. And even though it is the least "medical" of my problems, it is the one issue that irks me the most. Probably because it not only happens on a daily basis, but actually, it occurs repeatedly and annoyingly, many, many, many times throughout the day! 

And that brings us to PROBLEM AREA #4 ~ my socks NEVER stay straight on my feet!! This problem seems to affect mostly my right foot, which, for the "ever-seeking-balance-fairness-and-equilibrium" Libra in me, is a major "tick-me-off"! (Not that I would like for both socks to twist, mind you)! 

As with the first three problems noted above, I tried to research some causes and/or solutions to this problem. But, alas, there doesn't seem to be a medical name or a scientific explanation for this "Twisted Sock Syndrome" despite the number of people afflicted by it. Right now my main concern is that my socks twist around on my foot. But thinking back to colder weather when I was wearing two or three pairs of longer, knee-high socks, another problem that I share with many, is that my socks fall down, bunch up and sometimes, usually when I am wearing boots, slid down underneath my heel. 

The causes and solutions that I found run the gambit of odd, weird, wacky to down right ridiculous! (Another reason perhaps that this post should be made under my "Wacky Wednesday" heading)! Some of the reasons for socks twisting on our feet are: wearing sizes that are too big, the dreaded "one-size-fits-all" socks or the huge gap between sizes. I know the socks that I buy are ladies size 5-9. Now, I'm not sure about you, but to me, the difference between size 5 and size 9 seems to be quite a lot, so how can socks that fit one size fit the other? My foot size happens to be 7 - 7 1/2 so I figure since I fall right in the middle, they should fit me perfectly, right? Nope, apparently not. 

Others causes were thin ankles, loose shoes, walking on the outside edge of your foot, and dry feet. 

I could try one of these solutions that I found on-line I suppose: sock glue (yes, apparently there is such a thing); wearing thicker socks (um, I'm not sure how well that's gonna go over in the summer); using Velcro (apparently, you're supposed to stick one side to the bottom of your foot and the other to the inside of your sock and attach them together once the sock is on your foot); insulating tape (wrapped around the top of your socks after they are in your feet ~ this one is pretty self-explanatory, although I'm wondering if any kind of tape would do or if it HAS to be insulating tape); buying smaller or kids sized socks; and my personal favourite NOT ~ (see Problem #1), wearing socks with toes in them!

In the end, I have absolutely no idea what is causing my socks, again, typically my right sock, to continue to slip and slide and twist around my foot. And nothing I found on-line seems like a viable explanation or solution. 

If you have any suggestions, or would love to commiserate with me on any or all of the above problems, I'd love to hear from you!! 

In the meantime, I will either continue to grumble and complain about my twisty socks; try to buck up and learn to love open-toed sandals (not gonna happen); go around barefoot (which is likely the best option since I hardly ever go anywhere anyway), and wearing socks, twisty or not, is only going to leave me with the "farmer tan" of all farmer tans on my feet! 

But hey! If I can get tanned enough, I'm sure my feet will become pasty and ghostly white enough to look like I am actually wearing socks! 

That my friends just may be the best solution I can come up with to preventing sock twisting ~ wear invisible socks)!!

So, that's my pet-peeve for this week, what's been bugging you lately?

#TickedOffTuesday, #WhatIrksMeMost, #PetPeeve, #UGH, #ARCH, #WhatsBuggingYou, #Orcanut, #FunnyFeet, #WeirdToes, #Barefoot, #WebbedToes, #Syndactyly, #DanAykroyd, #AshtonKutcher, #Ducks, #Frogs, #Kangaroos, #FlipFlops, #Sandals, #OneLongerToe, #MortonsToe, #LayeredToeNails, #TwistedSockSyndrome, #SockGlue, #Velcro, #InsulatingTape, #ToeSocks, #FarmerTan, #InvisbileSocks, #Funny

~ FLASHBACK FRIDAY ~ JUNE 12, 2015 ~ ANY CLOSER AND THEY WOULD HAVE BITTEN YOU!! ~

FLASHBACK FRIDAY ~ June 12, 2015 ~ ANY CLOSER AND THEY WOULD HAVE BITTEN YOU ~ I know I said that I would be posting about my best dream and worst nightmare today, but I already had this written up for this weeks post and figured that the dreams could wait ~ but just for a week, I promise!! 

On with this weeks FLASHBACK FRIDAY ~ I am not sure if I mentioned that my parents and nephew were visiting last week from Nova Scotia, but they left last Saturday morning. I missed them even as they drove out of the driveway!! The visits are never often nor long enough.

As is usually inevitable, something is always forgotten (unlike the wonderful purple slippers that my mom intentionally left behind for me). So I wasn't all that surprised when I noticed a bite guard in its container sitting on our bathroom counter.

I should mention that I recently got a bite guard of my own from the dentist. Because of my horrendous migraines and chronic pain, I am CONSTANTLY clenching my teeth. For some reason, I think it helps with my long-fought battle against the pain. It doesn't.  In fact, in all these years of clenching my teeth all day long and sometimes grinding them in my sleep, the only thing that has been accomplished, has been the weaken and loosening of my teeth.

Needless to say, I have become very dependant upon my bite guard, to the point that I jokingly call it my pacifier. And in fact, I just misplaced my bite guard last Friday (don't ask, I have no idea how one accidentally misplaces a bite guard ~ and no, the pun is not lost on me at the reference to "dentally" in the word "accidentally")! So I know how awful and desperate it is to go without it for a day, let alone the couple of days it would take to send to Nova Scotia.

I immediately sent a picture of the opened bite guard case and a text to my Mom and my nephew asking whose it was, so I would know where to mail it. (My parents live in one part of Nova Scotia and my nephew in another). My nephew replied to my text, saying that it didn't belong to him or to either of my parents.

I was baffled. If it wasn't theirs, whose could it be? I knew neither of my kids wore one. Then I remembered that my husband had recently been to the dentist, so I phoned him, asking if he had gotten a bite guard at his last appointment.

When I told him about finding the bite guard on the bathroom counter and it not belonging to anyone else, my husband laughed and said "Umm, sweetheart, it is your bite guard!" 

Until that moment, I had completely forgotten that I did in fact have a bite guard, purchased at Shoppers Drug Mart, that I had kept for emergencies. Somehow, over the course of the week, it must have gotten moved or placed in a different spot on the counter in the bathroom. I didn't notice it at all until I saw it on the bathroom counter, after my parents left.

I'm sure my parents and my nephew had quite the laugh when I had to text them back and claim ownership of the bite guard! They already know that my short-term-memory is awful due to the constant, chronic pain that I am in, but even I didn't think it was THAT bad!!

However, this wouldn't be much of a "flashback" post if I only talked about something that just happened last week. So, in keeping with the theme, I would like to point out that several years ago, I'm sure we laughed a whole lot harder and a whole lot longer when my mom misplaced her partial plate! 

For as long as I can remember, my mom has had a partial plate (two back molars, one on each side on the bottom of her mouth). We would often see them soaking in their solution on the bathroom counter or sometimes just in a glass of water on her bedside table.

Knowing how important my mom's partial plate is, when she "lost" it many years ago, we all scoured the house looking for it. Of course we looked in all the "obvious" places, the stand beside her bed, the bathroom counter, the floors in each of those rooms, the pockets of her bathrobe, etc. We didn't have any pets at the time, so that wasn't a concern, but we just couldn't find it anywhere!

A couple of hours later, when my mom finally discovered her partial plate, in of all places, HER MOUTH, I innocently said to her, "Geesh Mom, if they had been any closer, they would have bitten you!" I was just a little to young at the time to fully understand how funny (and accurate) my comment was, as I was simply repeating a phrase that I felt would fit in that situation.

Anyway, losing my precious bite guard last week reminded me of this event and I felt it a perfect "flashback" to share for this weeks post.

#Flashback, #FlashbackFriday, #MemoryLane, #Memories, #RememberWhen, #Orcanut, #Family, #FamilyVisits, #Parents, #NovaScotia, #LeftBehind, #PurpleSlippers, #BiteGuard, #Dentist, #Migraines, #ChronicPain, #ClenchingTeeth, #GrindingTeeth, #Pacifier, #Bathroom, #ShoppersDrugMart, #Laughing, #Funny, #PartialPlate, #TeethPulled, #WhatDidIWeForget, #WhatDoYouMeanItsMine, #IYouTheyForgotSomething, #AnyCloserAndItWouldHaveBittenYou