Thankful

I am thankful to be an American and live in a country that allows me many freedoms. I am thankful for my relatives that have suited up in a uniform, flown the helicopters, directed with air traffic control, and helped provide eyecare to our military. I am thankful for the men that fought many years ago to allow us to have the great country we have today. I am thankful for the men that continue to fight right now as I type this so that not only us, but others in the world can have peace and rest. I am thankful for all of these men and women (past and present) that choose to serve and fight on my behalf so I can go on with my daily life without fear or worry. To my country, though I may not tell you often, I love you and am proud to reside in you. To my protectors, thank you for looking out for me as well as the rest of your American brothers and sisters. I hope God blesses and protects each of you and your families.

Thankful

I am thankful for family and friends. I am blessed with an amazing family. I have parents who are wonderful and would do anything for their kids and grandkids. They have provided me with great examples and given me more than words can express. I have brothers who are protectors, confidants, and best friends that I look up to like no one else. I am blessed with sister in laws that are truly my sisters in every way and who are smart, beautiful, and so talented in many ways. I have a niece who is the prettiest and most fun 12 year old I know. I have a nephew who is a little scutter bug that gives the best hugs and kisses in the world. I have a grandmother who is kind, patient, and loving who sets a good example for all of us. I am thankful to have had relationships with grandparents that have already passed. I am thankful for the memories I shared with each of them that continue to bring me comfort and peace. I have an extended family of aunts, uncles, cousins, 2nd cousins, etc. across many states that no matter when or where, if you need support, a listening ear, a laugh, encouragement, a bed to sleep in (list could go on forever!)...they would be there, open their door, or answer the phone for me. I have great friends (new and old) that have touched my life in so many ways and have provided memories that do in fact still make me laugh, smile, and touch my heart. All of these people, family and friends, are amazing in so many ways and I am thankful for their presence. Without you, life wouldn't be near as fun and certainly not fulfilled. To each one of you...I am thankful for you.

Thankful

Since it's the week of Thanksgiving I thought I would write the next couple of days about what I am thankful for.

I am thankful for a God who loves me. I serve a God that never points His finger and never raises His voice, though at times I may need it. My God loves me unconditionally and blesses me endlessly, though I am not worthy. I am thankful for my God because He believes in me and knows what I can do and is always with me when I try. My God is also there when I fail or fall short. Though I may be physically alone, I know that I am never really alone because He is always there. My God loves me when I get upset and lets me know that everything will be alright. My God shows His love to me every day and there is no greater love than what He gives. So today, like every day, I am thankful for a God who loves me.

So far in October...

Fall is officially here and has never been more present this year than it has over the past 2 weeks!!! It's my favorite time of year....leaves changing, cool nights, bonfires, hot coffee and chocolate, football, and baseball postseason (see footnote at bottom of post for my Cardinals lament). I love fall!!!

Early this month, I got to meet my friends, Scott and Kristen Mattingly's new bundle of joy, Dalton Benjamin. Scott is currently working at Fort Campbell and finishing up some training before he heads to their duty station Savannah, GA. So, Kristen had the baby in KY and before she makes her trek back to GA, my friend Julie and I drove over to see the little cutie. He's a sweetie and quite the little tike. However, I think he'll be a big basketball player like his dad and have a beautiful smile and voice like his momma!!! He's a cutie.

Dalton Benjamin Mattingly

Also earlier this month, my niece Kalee had her 12th birthday on October 4th. Yes, she's 12. Raise your dropped jaw...yes, she's 12. She embarked on her middle school voyage this year with 6th grade, and every day there seems to be something about her that is older. I'll honestly say that I do not like it at all!!! I look at her with her neverending long legs, her tall height of 5'2", size 9 shoe, model-esque build, and I think this can't be happening. My little "Way Cool Buddy" (for you guys that don't know, that's what we've called each other since she was a little bitty thing) is growing up and not only does it make me sad, but it makes me feel really old. However, it does make me also very excited and proud to be her aunt. I'm looking forward to watch her grow up in these upcoming teenage years and see her transform into a woman (scary, but exciting!).

The second weekend in October, Matt and I went to Alabama to visit friends and meet a new little friend (Lizzie Ruth!). This was Matt's first trip to "Alabama the Beautiful" so I was not only excited to show him where I adventured for a wee short stint last year, but also introduce him to some great friends and people. It was a little wet due to the extended period of rain (I think it's been a consistent rain cloud over you guys all fall!!!), but the rain quit at the appropriate time. We had a great weekend of meeting/seeing friends, soggy/muddy golf, college football, sightseeing, lion visiting, beautiful worship at CrossPoint, and safe travels. It was a great time!!!

Lizzie Ruth Bridges

My friend Amy is an Auburn grad/fan and I had to support the Hogs (AR won!...sorry Amy B.)

Leo smelled me and Matt when we went to visit he and Una at the lion habitat on the University of North Alabama's campus. Kind of eerie.....I think he thought we were an afternoon snack.


Sweet Ava

Callan, Bonnie, and Henry playing.

Callan was a walking machine. Way to go!

my secret handshake buddy, Bonnie :)

I also had the recent pleasure of meeting another new little friend. Matt's niece (he's a first-time uncle) was born on Friday, October 16th. His sister and bro-in-law are the new proud parents. Lanie Grey Mills is her name and she dropped in weighing 6 lbs 13 oz, 20.5 inches long. So basically in comparison to my niece and nephew, she's a peanut (Wes and Bonnie have champ/hoss babies...9 lb-ers usually!). She's really pretty, and has got everyone in a happy buzz. Hmmm...wonder when I can convince my brother and Jennifer to get one of their own??? ha (j/k Jen...I know...when you guys are ready...but an aunt can dream right?).

Lanie Grey Mills


showing off his niece

And as my footnote, I want to say a few words about my beloved Cardinals. We've all been in saddened state over their quick demise in the post-season. As devoted Cards fans, and members of redbird nation, we live for the spring and watch our boys all season and hope for a post-season birth (or as we Cards fans say, "Red October"). Well 2009 brought us a post-season appearance that was short lived. To my boyfriend, Adam Wainwright, great job, the CY Young is yours, and see you next spring honey. To my old boyfriend, Chris Carpenter, stay healthy and bring the heat again next season. To our MVP, Albert Pujols "El Hombre," help bring us back to October in 2010. And to Tony LaRussa.........time to throw in the towel old man!!! Your time is up (though my dad said your time was up a long time ago...only because he doesn't like you). Let's get us a new manager to start off 2010 on the right foot. Now, if you're a Cards fan, I'll ask you to quietly have your own moment of silence for the mourning of our 2009 post-season departure. And if you're not, then just laugh at me because I'm a crazy fan :)

the boys are sad and frustrated

Wainwright (aka my "boyfriend") pitched great in game two...too bad it didn't work out for a win.

Smart Girls Do Dumbbells

So towards the end of July I read in a magazine about this book called "Smart Girls Do Dumbells." Yes, it's just me and I have an easy work schedule, but I was finding it difficult to get motivated on consistently working out. I run and walk fairly consistently, but I wasn't doing anything else. Plus, we have only one gym in the big ol' town of Dexter, and I'm not a member nor did I think I would use it much this time of year. SO...I got interested in this book, read some good reviews, and I ordered it. The book basically shows you 30 different exercises, provides 30 different schedules, that you can do in about 30 minutes. I thought that this would be perfect because I could now run/walk or whatever and then only have to devote 30 min or so of my day to weights for toning. So I gave it a try. And let me tell you...I think it's great!!! I started around the first week of August and I'm still continuing to do it. It's easy and I think I can tell a difference. Maybe nobody else can tell, but I can and that's really all I wanted and what mattered to me. I feel better and I think it's a good little program. Granted many of the exercises I already knew how to do, and someone can easily go online and get a exercise routine with many of the same exercises. But this book just frames it all so well and it's nice to just turn in the book and see what I'm going to do for that day. After my 30 days were up, I began to switch routines. One could easily just start back over, but I've switched things up to have more variation. Plus the book breaks down the weights into beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels so you can move up in difficulty when needed. SO, if you are wanting something quick, easy, and low cost....y'all should try it. Smart Girls Do Dumbbells!!!

It's Been a Long Time...

Wow!!! I'm so behind with the blogging it's pathetic. I guess I haven't had anything crazy happen, so I've felt my life hasn't been too newsworthy. Oh well...maybe I'll try to get better with keeping on here.

So this past weekend I celebrated my 26th birthday (it was yesterday actually). Yes, 26 is not much different than 24 or 25. However, I do feel closer to 30 than I have ever been (not sure how I feel about that), but as usual my mom gave me some words of wisdom and that 20 years from now I'll look back and think about how young I was at 26. So true, mom. You tend to always be right about things like this :)

Anyway, it was a really fun weekend celebrating with friends and family. I went to an 80's themed birthday party and decided that I'm glad I was just a kid in the 80's. The maintenance and preparation to get ready in the 80's is way too time consuming. Not to mention the damage all of the Aqua Net and curling iron heat does to your hair.....sizzle sizzle sizzle, then sticky sticky sticky. It was an awful combination on the doo, but it looked pretty fabulous I must say. Plus, our costumes turned out to be pretty cute. So here's some pictures from the weekend. And yes, this is Matt for all of you wondering and wanting to know what he looks like.

Beating the Boredom

Yes, that's right...I've been trying to consume my time with projects that will keep me busy. I know you're thinking, "What?! You're actually bored in rural southeast Missouri?" I know know...how could I be? :) But seriously, being back home has been great (being with family and such), but not working right now is driving me insane!!! After the first week of not working, I thought that it was nice to have a break. But by mid week of week 2, I was ready to work again. Well, since my starting date with my new job will most likely not be until early September, I have quite a bit of time on my hands. I will be headed to Washington D.C. next week with Jennifer for the American Optometric Association's annual meeting, so I'm very much looking forward to the trip. After that, I will begin another round of online MBA classes (I'm taking two starting in July---accounting and statistics---oh boy), so that will take up some time. However, until then...I've been working on some projects. My only problem is that I finish the projects too fast!!! :) Here's some pictures of what I did for my mom and dad...

Here's what the cabinets in one of their bathrooms looked like before...

And here's what they look like now....

I distressed them. I have always wanted to distress cabinets or furniture. I re-finished my parents cabinets in their guest bathroom last summer (the pic of the mahogany stained cabinets), but I have never attempted a distress finish. I'm pretty proud of my first-time results.

I also painted the bathroom...

And I put up a new light fixture...

Quick sidenote....if you haven't heard...I sold my house! I had a buyer accept my offer about a week and a half ago, so I am very relieved. Though my house was still my little official tie to AL (making me still a resident I guess), I am glad that I don't have to worry anymore about whether it will sell during this recession. A definite answered prayer!!! I will close in July so to all my Florence friends, I'll be back down soon :)

Bama Nostalgia

So I just want to start out by saying that the people I have met and the friendships I have made in AL are amazing. I have been blessed beyond measure!!! I very easily could have moved to AL last summer and been 100% miserable, but because of the wonderful people I know in Florence, I have been crying today and overwhelmed with nostalgia. So this post is for the people I love and know in good ol' Flo-town, Alabama. Here's to you!!!

What I will miss...(aside from each of you!)
-CrossPoint (nothing like it!)
-hearing the Tone Rangers at Peak (you guys are wonderful!)
-Sonseeker class! (do you guys want to move to Missouri?)
-Ricatonis (yum!)
-my own place
-Diebert Park
-driving over the O'Neil Bridge and looking at the pretty TN River
-everything will always be a Coke here...."do you want a Coke?" Me: "Sure!" You guys: "What kind?" :)
-the sweetest tea you can imagine at every restaurant (though I would limit myself to having it only on special occasions)
-Shoals Creek...its just pretty to me when you drive over the bridge
-having a Target, Petco, mall, restaurants (aside from fast food) within a 2-3 minute drive...back home, these amenities will be about 45-50 minutes away :(
-living in the state where there are actual Robert Trent Jones golf courses...I say this b/c back in Missouri, there are commercials all the time about visiting AL and playing golf at a Robert Trent Jones course. Not that I have played there, but that it's just kind of random to me when I think about all the commercials I used to see before I moved here.
-eating at all the local places and trying them all out...you know Jen's Cafe (ha!), Sweet Basil (yum!), Victorian Tea Room, etc.
-Books A Million dates with Amy B....how will catching up on celebrity gossip ever be the same without you???
-baseball talk/banter with my previous co-worker Ben Kachelman...the Cards will always be #1...and Zambrano will always be my least favorite pitcher :) Cards=Great, Cubs=Bad
-being asked the ultimate end all, be all question..."Who you for?!" Well, after several months of being an AL resident, I have made a choice between Alabama and Auburn. For all of you who asked me this question repeatedly, my answer is....








Gotcha...I still don't really care who wins between the two...how about a War Tide or a Crimson Eagle maybe???

Funny/Fun Moments to Me:
-almost losing my front teeth while tubing with Magen Medley on Shoals Creek....Lee was driving, Magen and I hit each other...ouch!
-Melodie's dance moves...I wish now I would have "you tubed" you. Beyonce ain't got nothing on you :)
-the recent shake ya face extravaganza (Will is by far the champ!)
-stopping by Mars Hill one day to say hey to Amy B., and I ended up going into Brooklyn's room and taking a timed 100 multiplication facts test with her kiddos...loved it and wish I would have gone back to do it again before school got out!!!
-the few "set up" dates I went on while I was here....classic!
-the first time I heard little Bonnie Thompson's voice...one of the highest pitched voices ever, but yet one of the sweetest, cutest voice ever as well (Secret Handshake Bonnie girl!).
-getting covered with ticks last August while hiking at Bankhead...what was I thinking?!
-the day I moved to AL...I locked my dog in my car in the pouring down rain...I was wondering at the time if it was a sign...but it wasn't :)
-road trippin with Amy Camille........Mimi's Cafe, coaxing me into wearing a facial mask (still not a fan!), shopping, and laughing......loved it!
-Scarlett's Britney Spears impressions....oh baby baby!
-Upward soccer...didn't know much, but being a referee was quite fun!
-Saturday football games/hangouts...
-learning to play Nertz (and it has become one of my favorite card games)
-and Kimberly having to count my points after each round of Nertz :) "Hands up and don't touch your cards." ha!
-the Sunday lunches with Magen and Lee...you both have wonderful families!
-and at one of the Sunday lunches with Lee and Magen, I had my first encounter with chicken stew. It's good...not bad at all!
-McDonald's and Books A Million night with Henry Mann....he is one cute/sweet kid!!!
-my tour of AL driving to Enterprise/Dothan........B'ham is pretty, Montgomery not so much, there a GREAT shoe store south of Montgomery (Sykes and Kohn or something?), Dothan has a cool drive in movie theater, and AL is kind of a big state...it takes quite a while to drive from north to almost at the AL/FL border.
-some of you will remember this...."These are really good green beans." Waitress, "Thanks." "How do you cook them or what do you do to them?" Waitress (said in a very twangy accent), "We cook the fire out of em." Hysterical laughing followed.
-Monday night Bachelor viewings......though I have boycotted it since then, every Monday was on the edge of our seats Amy!!! I'm sure my boycott will cycle back though, and I'll eventually get sucked back in :)
-the Space Center (solidified why I never ever ever wanted to be a astronaut...but it was cool nonetheless).
-puking all over myself enroute to AL from Missouri back in November. Gross, but kind of makes me laugh now.
-the surprise going away party


-BASICALLY....everyone I've met, built relationships with, worked with, friendships, etc. have impacted me greatly and I have been 100% blessed by each of you. I LOVE YOU ALL WITH ALL MY HEART!!!

And no worries....I'll be back to visit :)

Moving Time

Wow...I'm such a lazy blogger. I guess it's because I haven't had anything very interesting to write about lately, but with this post I do have some news.

In case you haven't already heard, I am moving back to Missouri. I have been offered a job at a practice in Poplar Bluff, MO (about 25 min west of my hometown). It is actually the office where my sis-in-law, Jennifer works some half-days a week. She has her own practice in Dexter, but works for another doctor in Bluff 4 days a week. The offer was just too good to refuse and the fact that I can work and be back with my family is very exciting to me! So, with that news said, I have put my house on the awesome market that is currently going on (typed with sarcasm), but am praying for the a quick sell!!! I've had someone interested already, so let's hope that it goes through and goes well. I will be finishing my job here at the end of May, and if my house sells will be moving at that time too. It's all very sudden, and really a lot faster and more sudden than I had planned or anticipated, but when life throws you a curve ball, you try your best to swing and make contact :)

Unfortunately with this change and sudden news of leaving soon, I will be back and forth between AL and MO over the next several weekends, and will not be at my church in AL. I will definitely make it to Wednesday night Peak over the next several weeks, so be sure to expect a hug from me over the next few weeks because each person I have met and each friend I have made over my stay in Florence has touched my heart and I'm so glad I came :) But no worries...I'm certainly making some visits back...I have babies to see (once they are born!) and friends to visit so you'll certainly be seeing me!!! :)

Oh...and I hope to be a better blogger once I leave and I plan on keeping up on everyone else's better as well :)

Quiz Answers

Geez...not many of you seemed willing to take a stab at the quiz. Oh well...here are the answers:

$1---George Washington
$2---Thomas Jefferson
$5---Abe Lincoln
$10--Alexander Hamilton
$20--Andrew Jackson
$50--Ulysses S. Grant
$100-Benjamin Franklin
$500-William McKinley
$1000-Grover Cleveland
$5000-James Madison
$10,000-Salmon P. Chase (Secretary of Treasury)
$100,000-Woodrow Wilson

For some more little factoids...denominations of $500 and higher were discontinued in 1969. And the use of $100,000 bills are only used in transactions between the Federal Reserve System and the Treasury Department.

And I believe Bill Clinton is on the $3 bill Jud..or at least the ones that I've seen :)

Money Money Money Money....Quiz

So I totally meant to post this fun little quiz back in February...but seeing how I've been on an overly lazy trend with my blogging, it didn't get posted :)

So here's the quiz...do you know the names of all the guys on the bills???? Post your answers (without looking up the answer) and I'll post the right answers later. Good luck!!!

$1
$2
$5
$10
$20
$50
$100
$500
$1000
$5000
$10,000
$100,000

The Finally Post of the Lazy Blogger

Okay okay...so I've been a little lazy with the whole blogging thing. Actually, I've felt nothing really funny or weird has happened to give you a quality read that is the essence of Katie. But after several mentions from people that my blog is boring with no new writes, I've caved and decided to fill you in on what has happened since my last post. Oh, and for those of you who are losing sleep at night about my toe...it's still attached and much better I think.

So the end of January really didn't reveal any news worthy happenings. However, February was a month of busy weekends with me not being in AL much. The first weekend of February I made the long trek down to Fort Rucker, AL to visit my Dexter pals Scott and Kristen Mattingly (oh, and baby Mattingly in Kristen's belly...they're prego!!!). It was a weekend of beautiful weather allowing us to have a great day for hiking, so we drove into Georgia and hiked at Providence Canyon. We took the dogs and had a great time. And on Friday night I experienced my first drive-in movie. Who knew that Dothan, AL was such a happening place? I had fun with the Mattinglys (as always) and am looking forward to visiting them at their next duty station in Savannah, GA this summer!

Now February did bring some rather exciting news early in the month. Yours truly was selected as employee of the month. Umm, yeah...I'm kind of big deal. I hope that each of you reading this feel way cooler knowing that your friend was employee of the month :) Actually it was really cool...I got some gorgeous flowers and a an awesome kitchen knife set!

Then Valentines weekend came about and since I was flying solo because George Clooney had cancelled our date, my friend Amy Browning and I set out on a trip to good ol' Little Rock, AR to visit my cousin. I mean if you want a good time, you go visit Jill Mercing right? My thoughts exactly. We had a great time seeing some of my family, hanging with Jill in her new digs, shopping, and celebrating the day of love as strong, brilliant, beautiful women! :)

The last weekend of the month brought me heading home to D-town. I hadn't been home since Christmas so I was pretty excited about seeing my niece and nephew. The brothers and their women were out of town on eye business (they went to Cali b/c Jen and Bon had a meeting and the boys tagged along), so my parents had Kalee and Jackson all weekend. It was a lot of fun being with them every day, and I surprised Jackson Friday morning when I went to wake him up. He didn't know I was already home and he woke up with his blanky in hand and grinned really big and said, "Katie." He is sooo funny and a total live wire...going and going constantly! Kalee is as beautiful as ever and is growing way too fast for all of us! I will say that going home was quite an eye opener to all the damage that Southeast Missouri acquired from the ice storm in January. My parent's and bro's yards are mostly cleaned up now, but there are lots of trees missing they had to cut down, as well as heaps and piles of brush that they've cleaned up. (I'll show you a few pics from when the actual ice storm hit that my mom had taken). And Saturday/Sunday gave us a nice blanket of snow before I left. I was happy because it was the most snow I'd seen all year (poor AL is not the snowiest place on earth), plus it was nice to be at home to see it. Here's some pics from the weekend.

And on the note of my Maggie....she is now weighing in at a light 55 lbs. (though she's basically finished growing-thank goodness!), and is a full bag of tricks. Recently she managed to pull some plastic bags on my pantry shelf into her kennel while I was at work and had a fun afternoon by shredding them all to pieces. She's definitely entertaining!!!

So there you have it America....the fill-ins since my last post. I'll work on being a better blogger in the future :)

Toe Follow Up

After much debating a week ago, I decided to suck it up and go to the doctor last Friday. My toe was red, swollen, and a little sore and I figured I should get it checked out in case it rotted off or something. I was pretty crabby about going, basically because I didn't want to have to wait forever, and since this is the 3 time I've been to the doc since I've moved to AL. I haven't been to the doc this much in the past 5 years of my life! My new thoughts are it wouldn't be normal if I didn't have something weird occur that would cause me to need to see the doc (ticks, puking, fat toe). Well, much to my surprise, I only waited 10 minutes tops! (I'm guessing when the nurse reads the sheet you fill out when you first check in...you know "what are you here for"....that they read I have a swollen toe and thought "this won't take long," so I got back fast!). The nurse takes me back and has me take off my shoe and sock and says, "Oh my goodness..what did you do? Did you break it?" Of course I go through the story of how it's been like this since November, etc. Shortly after, the doc comes in and says a similar sentence of, "What did you do?" After tapping, squeezing, and touching the toe, he decides that he has no idea what it is or what could have caused it. He first thought it looked similar to "hammer toe" which he explained can occur in diabetics that develop peripheral neuropathy. The circulation is poor in their extremities and eventually the toe will "keenk" (I have no idea how to spell that word) up, giving the look of a "hammer toe." But, he went on to say that my toes were nice an straight and since I'm no diabetic, most likely not the diagnosis. I asked him if it looked like it needed to be drained or lanced and his reply was, "Good idea. Let's do that. I like stabbing things." So he comes back with a needle and stabs my toe. The disappointing result was that not much oozed out. I was really expecting a geyser or gush, but it was really uneventful. However, he did swab it for a culture to see if it was infected and what it could be. So I left on my merry way to get my Rx of Doxycycline filled.
Since then, the toe doesn't seemed to have changed. I've been on the antibiotic for almost a week and it is still red (and leaning more towards purple in some spots) and fat. The nurse called yesterday to give me the culture results and they were normal. So....at least it's not staph or anything like that, but it's still a mystery. I'm thinking I'll finish the antibiotic I guess and if it's still the same I'll ask him where I should go next. Who knows?....it's a medical mystery. I'm just hoping it doesn't fall off. That may not be too good for my flip flop wearing or my dating life.

The Case of Nasty Toe

Okay, so I've had a little issue with one of my toes (right foot, second digit) since back in November (I think...I really can't remember how long it's been there exactly). However, whenever it was, my second toe was really itchy. I was unsure of what it was exactly, but I put some cortisone on it, and just forgot about it. Well, it finally quit itching (or at least I thought), but I noticed that it looked like a raised red bump right over the joint. It almost looked like when you get a blister except it was not clear/fluid filled or soft. It was red and hard. So over Christmas break I showed my dad and mom and they asked me if I had been bitten by anything? As far as I know, I don't remember getting a bite, but who knows? Well, that was about 2 weeks ago, and since then it has gotten bigger/more swollen/and now it actually hurts a little. And of course, when I thought I was itch free, the other night it was driving me crazy!!! It hasn't been itching since Sunday night, but it's still red, swollen, and slightly painful. I decided to self-diagnose myself via webmd today at work. The closest thing I could find was a boil. I asked around the office to see if anyone had ever had a boil or knew anything about them, but all responses were "no." Most of the signs meet the diagnosis of a boil, except for the itching so that's throwing me for a loop. I don't think it's athlete's foot, ringworm, etc. I have had ringworm (in high school) and itched constantly! The home remedy (assuming it is a boil) is to clean it twice a day as well as apply a moist, hot towel to eventually soften the skin so the boil will "open up." Well, first of all it says to do this remedy right when you first notice it (so I'm almost 2 months behind), as well as 4-5 times a day (who has time for that!). SOOO, I have no idea what it really is, thus I may have to go to the doctor. That makes me irritated because I really don't want to have to pay a $30 copay for the doc to look at my nasty toe....but then again, I also don't want my toe to rot off!!!! But here's a lovely picture of my nasty, jacked up toe (it's the best pic I could get of it. I know it looks similar to a blister, but it's not. Plus, if I could get a side view shot, you'd see how swollen it is)......any thoughts as to what it may be????? Why don't you all guess and then when I go to the doctor I'll let you know who had the best or correct diagnosis! What a fun/weird/gross game this will be :)