I noticed it's been a while since I blogged. Maybe you noticed, maybe you didn't. I can't think why I haven't felt the need to say much lately. It's not all because of the death of my mom, because there were certainly a few shareable stories there. The other day I ran into a friend I hadn't seen for a while and she asked me what I've been up to. I honestly couldn't think of a thing. So I told her mostly I've just been sitting around being menopausal. I think that might not have been an exaggeration.

Anyway, one thing I haven't been doing is clawing at my skin, which is new for me, and I'm excited enough about it that I have decided to heave myself into a sitting position and share.

First off, I love my dermatologist. If you ever need a good one, and you're in the area, and your condition will allow for a three-month wait to get in to be seen, I can highly recommend this guy.

Secondly, as much as I love my dermatologist, I have to ask if prescribing coal tar shampoo was really the coolest thing he could have done. I smell like downtown San Francisco in the summertime. People wonder where the road work is going on when I walk by. Still, if it's a choice between Market Street and scalping myself, I guess I can handle the steamy hot tar smell if you can. Just don't get too close.

Next, I feel it's my duty to share something I found fascinating. For years I have had this terrible itching on my feet, along with the cracking and other grossness that usually comes with (I thought) summertime and sandals and bare feet. I've been told by several doctors that I had athlete's foot, so I have used medication for that for a long time with almost no results. I just assumed I was using it incorrectly or not consistently enough. Turns out that the eczema that starts on my scalp and makes me use coal tar shampoo is also showing up on my feet. (I will not have to put coal tar on them, although I'm starting to wonder if the disgusting, smelly, black ooze my mom used to put on my legs back in the sixties before they invented steroid creams wasn't some sort of tar ointment.) So the moral of that story is, if your feet itch, you might have eczema. Especially if you already have eczema. And it turns out if you have seasonal allergies and/or asthma, you're a lot more likely to have that fun skin condition as well. My doctor appointed me the Eczema Club President, so I think I'm qualified to diagnose. Or at least advise.

So that's my story. To sum up: grieving, menopausal, lazy, tarhead, lovely feet. Hopefully I'll be back in the swing of things soon.