Anele, I know just how you feel. When I was young, I was cute enough, but never what you'd call pretty. I never liked my teeth either. My front teeth cross a little and are uneven and it's always bugged me. My parents didn't have the money for braces, and I've never had the money for anything either. As I've gotten older, I've gained weight, my neck has sagged to the point that I really have no neck, and I have puffy bags under my eyes. I started noticing that I looked just like my mother about 20 years ago and it scared me. I've always thought my mother was rather unattractive, and the older I get, the more I look like her. I get the "you look just like so and so" all the time. It used to be you look just like my daughter, niece, etc. Then sister, sister-in-law, cousin, and now aunt. I'm just waiting for great aunt. I doubt I look just like so and so, as much as both of us are probably non-descript. I am so non-descript that I am almost invisible. If I walk into a store at the same time as another woman, the other woman will always get waited on first, and I might not get noticed at all. It used to bother me, and now I just think I would be the perfect secret agent or private eye. I can go almost anywhere without being seen. I met a couple of high school friends yesterday for a day of shopping. One of them lives in our hometown and is still as cute as she was in high school. She made my day yesterday when she told me she saw a guy from our class that I barely knew and in conversation she mentioned that our group of ladies went to San Francisco this summer. He wanted to see her pictures, and particularly he wanted to see a picture of me. He told her he thought I was gorgeous in high school (I have no illusions; I wasn't) and when he saw my picture, he wanted to know if I was married, and if there was a chance my marriage wasn't going to last. lol I see that picture and think I am the ugliest woman in the group, so ugly that I wonder why my friends are willing to be seen with me. And yet, this guy didn't see me that way. It's possible he just couldn't really see what I looked like on a cell phone photo. And it's also possible that I'm not quite as ugly as I feel. Just plain. A blade of grass among roses. Still valued, just different. I'm going to give myself a break and try to start feeling better about myself. Do it with me, ok? You are a wonderful person, and I bet you are not seeing yourself as others see you. I love what graywings said about the female impersonators. I'd never thought of it before, but if a man can transform himself into a woman, just think what we could do! This post was edited by marti8a on Sat, Nov 16, 13 at 0:09

Gotcha. See, that's the difficulty with "talking" online, or even via text message--nuance is lost. No apology necessary. Last night I said to my husband, "Would you object if we had a wallpaper with bright purple monkeys on the walls of the powder room?" He didn't even look up at me when he sighed and said, "If that's what you think makes sense." Haha. Poor guy is so confused with all the Georgian/Federal jargon and then I throw this at him. I think I only need two rolls for my closet, more like just over one, but obviously I have to get the second roll for the extra few feet and about 5 for the powder room. I really love the dark green with the gold keys. That wouldn't make sense for the powder room, palimpsest? I can do the purple monkeys, but will it be too much with the black/white checker floor and the gilt and very ornate Adam mirror?

Judith, You have 13 months of sickness credits built up - but only get paid for 30 days? What kind of hurdles do you have to jump over to be "sick" - for a day or two? Or for a longer period? Often for a longer period you must have a doctor's message. Do you have a co-operative doctor? After all - you have some medical issues, don't you? If you have sick days' credit, that means that you get full pay for a day that you take off sick, doesn't it? By the way - try to get those credit card bills paid off FAST. Store cards usually charge 25 - 28%, and major cards 15 - 18%. If I loaned you $100.00 and required you to pay me $28. per year rent on the money, before one cent of the outstanding balance was retired, you'd call me a real stinker, wouldn't you? And - since most of the stuff we buy on card isn't deductible - you'd have to earn over $40.00 pre-tax in order to have the $28.00 after-tax to pay me the rent on the money. NOT A GOOD DEAL!!! Good wishes for the remaining time - don't get your shirt-tail tied into a knot over it. Shrug your shoulders - give yourself a big smile when you look yourself in the mirror in the morning, wink, stick out your fist, thumb up, and tell yourself that this is to be a lovely day. Good wishes for the next few days. joyful guy/Ed (financial planner - more or less retired, at 74)

He had the collar off during the day before I went to work (mid-afternoon), but the vet said it would be better to keep it on full time because the wound was feeling hot and she suspected he was licking it. She said he could easily undo all the progress we'd made. So now it's on him all the time except for the times (usually twice a day) when I sit with him in the bathroom and give him "intensive petting." :-) The soaks are down to one a day. This was done at my discretion; I'll have to see what the vet says about it. I notified the vet office that I ran out of DMSO several days ago, and they didn't seem excited about this, so I guess Mickey's past the point of needing it. He's still on an antibiotic, but that, too, is almost finished.