Shoes

Why do some shoe manufacturers think that all women like or need narrow shoes? I have wide feet and want my feet to be comfortable. They are finally making athletic shoes wider, but still not wide enough. I buy shoes from the men’s side of the store. Even though athletic shoes are being made wider, dress shoes are still horribly narrow. I would love to wear cute shoes but for my feet that is not an option. Do they think that women with wide feet do not want to wear cute shoes? The last time I wore a pair of dress shoes was at my brother’s wedding, even then, my shoes were off most of the time.

If you have not guessed by now, unlike most females, I despise shoe shopping. I am one of those rare people for whom the foot-measurer does not work. It always wants to say that I should be in a regular width shoe and about a half to a full size smaller than I should be wearing. Now I know most of you think that then I must buy my shoes in the morning, which is far from the truth. Many times I have gone later in the day after work; I used to be a cashier and was constantly on my feet. One time while shoe shopping in Montana, I think that I had tried on every style of athletic shoe and nothing fit. Finally after about one to two hours (that poor salesman was so patient) he said that he could order a certain style in size__. He assured me that if they did not fit I would not be responsible to purchase the shoes. Thankfully, the shoes fit and I finally had a new pair of shoes.

I go through this routine every time. I do not even shop at Payless. I shop at the one store that I know makes shoes wide enough for me—New Balance, but I still end up buying a pair in a men’s size. I come from a large family, so I had my share of “hand-me-downs” as a child; but my parents always bought us new shoes. We were never to have our older siblings’ shoes because my parents did not want us to have problems with our feet later in life. They also got us a good pair of shoes; they never went to Payless and paid $10 for a pair of shoes. Granted we did not have Air Jordan’s, but we did have a descent pair of well made shoes that would give proper support.

I hope that one day soon shoe manufacturers will “see the light” and realize that women with wide feet also like to wear cute shoes.

Allergies

Manufacturers, schools, and the public have come a long way in recognizing food allergies. As someone who cannot have gluten or dairy, I appreciate all the foods that have been made especially for people like me. I know putting “gluten free” on many products is a fad just like when everything from licorice to raisins were labeled “fat free.” But I am grateful none the less.

But I want to discuss environmental allergies. Perfumes, colognes (especially Axe), cigarette smoke all these and more aggravate asthma, hay fever, and cause migraines (to name a few reactions.)

I get so angry when I see people smoking in front of a building entrance. It is not right that I, and many like me, have to hold our breath just to get inside many places ranging from stores to apartment buildings. We have a right to breathe cigarette smoke free air and not have to worry about asthma attacks.

When it comes to perfume/cologne please do not use much. People have already used scented soap, shampoo, conditioner, hair spray, gel and or mousse. Then they add perfume, I am surprised that they are not arrested for attempting chemical warfare. Another thing that aggravates many people’s allergies are strong smelling flowers. I had to leave work early because someone brought in tiger lilies that caused me to have an asthma attack. Please do not put strong smelling flowers in your businesses or churches. They are beautiful, yes, but I and many like me would rather be able to breathe.

Then there is latex. Please do have latex balloons everywhere. I went into one college bookstore and latex balloons were all over the ceiling. They were having a promotion where a customer would choose a balloon, the cashier would pop it, and then a piece of paper in the balloon would have written on it the percentage the customer would save on the order.

Here is something many people without latex allergies do not think about: band-aids. I was looking for a latex free first aid kit. I went all over town—Costco, Wal-Mart, Target, etc… All the kits had latex free gloves, but none had latex free band-aids. I even asked a pharmacist and he said that he had never heard of a first aid kit with latex free band-aids. I told him that it did not make sense to have latex free gloves and band-aids with latex, he agreed. Whose dumb idea was that, hmm maybe if a person is allergic to latex the whole kit—including band-aids should be latex free, what a concept. I ended up buying a kit, substituting my own latex free band-aids, and giving the other band-aids to my parents.

Here is an allergy I doubt if anyone thinks about—sodium laurel(th) sulfate. That stuff is in everything ranging from soap to prescription drugs to toothpaste. Who puts detergent in drugs? I know of two right off the top of my head that have sodium laurel(th) sulfate—relafin and celebrex. As far as soap is concerned I have to bring my own small bottle of hand soap with me wherever I go. This stuff should not even be available to the public and it is an ingredient in baby wash and baby wipes. I wonder if it is one reason (not the only reason) babies develop diaper rashes. I read somewhere that it is used in laboratories to help breakdown human skin cells in preparation for examination under a microscope. No wonder I react to it. I hope and pray I am never in a hospital overnight, because all the soaps have sodium laurel(th) sulfate. If I ever am, I hope I can use my own.

I know there are many people with similar and other environmental allergies. So please, if you smoke move away from the entrance of buildings and if you wear perfume or cologne do not use very much, Oh and before you give anybody a latex balloon or put a band-aid on someone make sure he/she is not allergic to latex. Thank you. If soap severely dries your skin it might just be the ingredient—sodium laurel(th) sulfate.

Bad Drivers

There is an intersection about half mile from where I live, that I believe is dangerous. It is a four way stop. The problem is that many people do not think that the stop sign applies to them or they do not know what stop means. Just yesterday my sister and I stopped and turned left. We were in the middle of the turn when a driver coming from the opposite direction and did not stop, he does not even do a “California roll.” He gets about a third of the way through the intersection when he decides that he does not want to hit us and then stops.

Like most cities in the United States the one I live in is strapped for cash. I believe that is partially because of mismanagement of funds, but that is a topic for another time. All they need to do is have a police officer sit at this intersection and wait. Either the city would start getting some much needed income or the drivers would start obeying the laws.

While I am on the topic of obeying the law, why do so many drivers tailgate? Do not they know that the leading cause of traffic accidents is tailgating? I know there are some slow drivers out there, I have been behind my share, but tailgating to get them going faster is just a dumb move. What if the person has to break suddenly, there is not enough space between the driver being tailgated and the driver that is tailgating. Then the tailgater is cited and his or insurance will increase or the insurance could drop coverage (especially if this is not first time the driver has been cited.) Not to mention the probability of injury to both drivers and or their passengers. Was that really worth the extra 5-10 minutes the driver could have saved? I do not think so.

Many are tailgating trailer trucks. Now how stupid is that, are they thinking that they are going to intimidate the truck driver into speeding up.? I can see the thought process now: “If you do not get out of my way I am going to ram you with my sports utility vehicle.” Obviously these people must not know Newton’s Third Law of Motion: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Or for every force there is a reaction force that is equal in size and opposite in direction. So if the driver of the suv is going 75 mph and hits that truck trailer the result will be—you will be lucky to come out of the crash alive. But more than likely the driver of the trailer truck will fare much better. So breathe and relax and leave some extra room between you and the driver in front of you.