Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Warning, Blood Ahead

A couple of weeks ago I bought a new pair of shoes. Ballet flats, in the exact same shade of brown/tan as my beloved backpack. I match! The shoes are from Land's End, and very simple. They are also very stiff. I wore them for about 40 minutes the day after purchase and promptly ended up with a very large blister on my right heel. No biggie really, I expected it to happen. So when I wore them around the house again the other day and experienced no problems, I figured I was in the clear and could now wear them to go to a friends house. I figured wrong.
I got to my friends house and had to take off the shoes, something I would have done even if I hadn't given myself new blisters. I padded around barefoot for a bit and then sat down to look at some magazine and just happened to glance at the heel of my left foot. I didn't think that blisters bled. At least not that much. my whole heel except for the bottom was smeared with blood. My friend ran to get bandaids and ointment (which never stay on once the shoes go back on for some reason) and I ran to get paper towels. And to look at my shoe. The heel of it was full of blood. Blood had actually seeped out to the outside along one of the stitch lines, just a bit. I wiped the shoe (and my foot) off and applied the ointment and bandages, and stayed barefoot 'til I had to go home.
I walked home very slowly.
So now I need a few of those super-special types of bandaids, and a few pairs of trouser socks so I can break the shoes in before I go to St. Louis next month. Because, I WILL break those shoes in!!
In other news, a friend has purchased and now painted his brand new condo. And whoever put up the wallpaper we took down should have their eyes checked. It was that bad. Cream, tan, brown, and metallic silver. In the kitchen. And you should have seen what the paper in the bedroom closet looked like. Who wallpapers a closet? With criminally bad paper at that!?
Tomorrow a friend from back home comes into town. She'll be staying at my place while attending some kind of networking conference pertaining to radiology technicians. Thrilling stuff, I'm sure.
It appears spring has sprung, but I'm not so sure. I half expect a freak blizzard to sweep through Chicago and bury us all in 5 feet of snow.

--Little Bird is ready for spring

5 comments:

coyote said...

Shouldn't it read, "Warning, Blood Afoot"?

On wallpaper: Never use vertical stripes unless the corners are perfectly plumb. I had an aunt whose bathroom gave one motion sickness.

Little BIrd said...

This wasn't striped. It was some kind of basket weave pattern. It was sooooooo bad!
Where have you been by the way?

Jules ♂ ♪ said...

Let me tell you about blisters.

I was backpacking in the Olympic mountain range north of Seattle. It was a weeklong hiking average 12-13 miles a day with a 1 mile in elevation climb or drop per day, carrying a 45lbs pack. I had brought a really nice set of hiking boots that I have had for 3-4 year and put probably 150 miles on with no problems. I have even done two week long trips before this particular one. Well with the elevation changes and the long hiking day I started getting blisters on day two, now 25 miles from trailhead which was 15 miles from the closet inhabited area. So there was no turning back, and we had no days to rest in the itinerary.

I marched through, by the time it was all said and done on the seventh day of the trip (85 miles), both of my heels were bleeding regularly, several toes and points on the bottom of my foot were covered in blisters. I counted 11 blisters on both feet, some as large as a quarter and about an inch long. My hiking socks were dyed dark red with the constant absorption of blood. The only way I was able to walk out of there was a constant supply of Advil to reduce inflammation and dull the pain of my feet.

These were shoes that had served me well in the past, but I guess your feet can only take so much. By the time we were done with the trip, everyone on the trip had at least one blister, but I think my feet were the worst. Yes the trip was insane and probably one of the hardest I would be willing to do, but it had the best scenery.

coyote INFJ said...

There are magnificent uses of wallpaper, but so often it brings out the tacky in people.

I've been about, just not failing. Have you looked at the Learn From My Fail section? It's a hoot.

coyote INFJ said...

I forgot to warn you. Never lie to a x-ray technician. They can see right through you.