CRABBY

I'm feeling quite crabby this morning...and my kids weren't spared.

We just finished a four-day weekend full of teasing, whining, begging and fighting. OK, it wasn't all bad, but I'm crabby this morning and that's all I can remember right now.

We spent 4+ hours at the fair last night...most of them walking. (I think I'm going to enter something into the fair next year. Maybe one of my baby blessing afghans I made for the kids.) I felt the strain on the bank account from the very moment we paid $18 to get the family through the gates. I'm grateful that 3 of the kids were free! We only bought ice cream cones and let each kid pick one ride, but with parking and a quick stop in the Arctic Circle drive-thru for cheaper refreshments, we spent $77.02. We bought NOTHING from the commercial buildings and other booths. I couldn't bear to part with anymore cash. One day I'm going to look back at this and think that wasn't so much money, but right now, it is.

Anyway, we got home with less than 20 minutes before I had to go to my pres. meeting. I gingerly slipped off my sneakers and socks and slipped on my sandals. The rest of the night, my limp was more noticeable than usual.

So last night, I looked up my heel pain a little more seriously. I've been suffering most of this year; it isn't getting any better. I need to lose some weight, but don't have good enough mobility to exercise. And at the end of days like yesterday, the pain includes my calf muscle, too. I feel confident that I've self-diagnosed my problem with 95% accuracy. Plantar fasciilitis. Or policeman's heel. Or jogger's heel. Or tennis heel. Or lazy, fat lady's heel. (I made that one up all by myself.)

I can't avoid it any longer...I have to stop going barefoot. I have always gone barefoot. My bare feet to me are like feelers to a bug. That's how I know there is a spill on the floor, a fruit snack being smashed into the carpet, sharp objects lurking and waiting for little people to crawl on, etc. With shoes on, I feel clumsy. I trip on things more (since the floor is usually SO uncluttered) and step on people more. It's like walking blind through the house! I can't curl up on the bed or couch with shoes on. And I have to wear socks.

But even with so many reasons why I can't stand shoes, I can't stand the pain anymore. Since I don't have the luxury of staying off my feet, I have to do this. It's obviously not going to go away and it can eventually cause a whole list of problems (some I have already begun to see). I hope that a few weeks of shoes will heal my heel and I can toss those clunkers back into the closet! And then winter will come and I will have to dig them back out again.

A perfect adventure to start on a day that I feel crabby.