Warts and All

Every evening, we have a pleasant family ritual that we follow. After dinner, we watch a little History or Science Channel or Animal Planet. Then DD and I cuddle and talk or read in my big comfy chair, while DS and DH delete enough shows on the DVR to record the shows that they won't have enough time to watch tomorrow. (Isn't Dish techonology wonderful?) After that, DD gets on her pajamas and plays with her stuffed animals or little plastic characters while I soak my feet in a basin of hot water with jojoba and peppermint oil in it. Then she brushes her teeth and washes up before bedtime while I put a banana skin on my foot.

Actually, I put it on my toe and it's not a whole banana skin, just a small piece that I wrap around the end of my toe and secure with two bandaids. Although my family still falls about laughing when they see me doing this, I will continue to do it no matter how much mock they make of me.

And I am not alone! No, according to what I read, there are probably at least a million people doing this very thing somewhere in the world every night. (Mind boggling, isn't it?) And, according to quite a few of them, and definitely in my case, it's working. Why do I put a banana skin on my toe? BGL (big Groucho leer), because a coconut shell would fall off.

But, seriously, or as seriously as I can speak about putting fruit debris on my digit... Banana skins are supposed to cure warts. Some folks say it's the potassium in them. Some say it's something else. I don't have a clue why it works. All I know is that I had a large plantar wart on my toe a week ago and it's almost gone.

I noticed it about a month ago. It was sore and red and then rather quickly turned into a typical wart. It seemed to grow at an alarming rate and got more and more painful, until I decided that I'd have to go have it removed. But before I called the doctor, I did some research on the Net and found this site, the Folk Medicine Archive. It was there that I read about the banana skin cure for warts and saved myself a lot of aggravation.

I'm going back there right after I post this to let them know that the cure worked for me. I'm so impressed with it that I'm wondering if it'd work on my Rosacea. Some people think Rosacea is caused by a virus and so are warts, so who knows? However, the logistics of spending the night with banana skins taped to my face is daunting, not to mention that I'd have to go to a motel for a week, because my family would laugh themselves sick. Maybe I could devise a way of holding them in place with a ski mask or wear my scarf in the house. I guess I need to work on this.

Then there are the other cures I've read about recently. Apple cider vinegar for high blood pressure - mine is creeping up there. Blackstrap molasses for younger looking skin. Turmeric for arthritis pain and inflammation and cayenne pepper for sore throats. Yanno, I think I'm going to put all of this together in a glass, add some sparkling water and take it nightly. Of course, it'll probably taste horrible, so I think I'd better add a shot of whiskey. And maybe I'd better chase it with a big piece of chocolate, because I know for a fact that chocolate can cure anything. I'll let you know how it works.