Picture Monday!

The past few times I went to write my blog I forgot to transfer the pictures of the Easter eggs to my computer. Today I remembered. And I finished my Snow Queen shawl completely today - I got the ends woven in and blocked it and took pictures of it. So, today's blog will be a picture blog. :-)

First, the bunny eggs. S's in on the left, J's is on the right:

Next, the Creeper eggs, with J's on the left and C's on the right:

Now, it's time for S's tiger and chick eggs:

J made an Ironman egg and C did one up as Homer:

And last but not least with the eggs, my rainbow egg and C's rainbow egg:

But we're not done with photos yet. Here are the pictures of the finished Snow Queen shawl. I am amazed at how it turned out. I shared the picture on Ravelry and I am humbled by the compliments I am getting there. I can't take all the credit - the designer did an amazing job and the pattern was so well written that it made knitting this easy. I am really excited now about the next mystery KAL.

This one shows a bit of the details.

J had two sessions of hockey today but C was able to take him so I was able to keep S home. Her eyes are looking better but she still looks like she's been up all night with the amount of red in her eyes. I decided to keep her home from soccer today because of how they looked but she should be good for school tomorrow. She's not contagious anymore so it's just appearance now and they keep improving. I expect by tomorrow she should look much more normal - at least I hope she does!

Happy Easter (to those that celebrate it)...

...and to those that don't, happy Sunday!

It was a fairly quiet day for us today. All our family lives far away, so we just had a quiet day with the four of us. I baked some blueberry muffins this morning which are the kids favourite. I tried a mix this time instead of making them from scratch and they came out pretty good. Not as good as my made from scratch ones but good enough for the kids to gobble them up.

The kids had fun looking for their baskets this morning and searching the house for eggs. S opened up a Kinder Egg and liked the prize inside. I really don't see why they are banned in the US. Silliness! She also enjoyed the mini Lego set she got and the Creeper that the Easter Bunny left for her. J liked his Halo figures and his Enderman stuffie that the EB left him. Yeah, the EB knows what the kids like!

The kids played outside with the neighbours for a while and later in the day we went for a drive through the countryside. The snow is slowly melting although Mother Nature keeps sending snow squalls to try to stop spring from arriving. Maybe one day we'll be snow-free. We'll see.

Supper went well because I kept it simple. We had ham, asparagus, peas, scalloped potatoes, mac-n-cheese for S who doesn't like the potatoes, homemade biscuits, and our holiday tradition of lime jello salad. People always look at me weird when I tell them about it. But once you try it you'll see that it's actually really good. What's not to like about jello, cream cheese, cool whip, marshmallows, and pineapple? Exactly! For dessert we had some cheesecake because cheesecake is good.

I did take pictures of the eggs the kids decorated but since I was on my way to bed and realized I hadn't done my blog, I will save those for tomorrow. I was busy working on my Snow Queen shawl and forgot about my blog entry for today. I'm so close to being finished with my shawl. I'm working on the bind-off but with over 600 stitches to bind off it takes a while. I'll finish it tomorrow and weave in all my ends. I'll take a pre-blocking picture of it to share. Of course I'll get post-blocking pictures too, but it will be a few days for those. I'm glad it's almost done because I want to get back to working on my Solar Flare shawl. But now I'm getting sleepy so all the knitting projects have been put to bed and that's where I'm heading now. Good night!

Oops, I did it again!

Okay, so I hadn't planned on having another Burger Love burger again so soon. I figured I would wait a few days and try another one. But after we worked hard this morning giving the house a good, thorough spring cleaning (even though spring is taking it's sweet time getting here), we went out for lunch. And yes, I had another burger today.

This is the Dubtastic from the Olde Dublin Pub. Things I liked - the fried risotto ball on top was delicious. I forgot to look to see if they offer it as an appetizer. If they don't, they should. The burger itself was juicy and had good flavour. The bacon was candied maple and it added a nice sweetness to counterbalanced the spiciness of the caramelized onions with jalapenos and the chili gouda cheese. The ODP spinach dip was good, but I found it made the bottom bun get soggy and it made the burger a bit messy to eat (they do bring you extra napkins and wet wipes). The romaine lettuce and hickory sticks added a nice crunch to the burger. The bun was fresh but needed to be a little heartier to handle the spinach dip.

I made sure to rate both burgers I've had so far on the website. I rated yesterday's Southern Jack a 9 and today's burger an 8. I will not be having a burger tomorrow! One, I need a break from huge meals like that and two, the weather tomorrow is going to be nasty and I don't plan on going out. :-)  I wonder if my neighbour will venture out tomorrow to try another burger. It's the end of day 3 and he's already tried 5 (he actually has had 6, just one of them he's had twice).

We did do a bunch of house cleaning this morning. The kids' rooms are once again put back in order and neat. The both are bad about putting things away when they are done with them so tonight I made them clean up and put everything away before they got to watch TV. That will be my plan for the next few weeks until they get in the habit of cleaning up when they are done with something.

I did actually get a little time to work on my Snow Queen shawl this afternoon. Unfortunately, I had to take out the one row I did since I made a mistake on stitch 12. Of course I didn't discover it until I was almost at stitch 624. I think it took me twice as long to unknit the row as it did to knit it twice. At that point I put it down and did other things. Hopefully when I pick it back up in a bit I will have better luck. It is the final clue that tells us how to do the edging and the bind-off.

Of course The Unique Sheep had to go and announce their next MKAL - The Once and Future King. This time it will be rectangular instead of circular and use lace weight yarn instead of fingerling. I want to do it because I am enjoying doing MKALs lately so I will be ordering yarn for it. But I won't order the yarn until I finish my Snow Queen shawl. Also, I want to wait a bit since I'm having trouble deciding on a colour for it. I'm hoping that the wonderful dyers at TUS will come up with some new special colourways for this MKAL like they did for the Snow Queen. Of course they came out with those right after I made my SQ choice. So this time I'll wait a bit and see what happens. I don't have to have my order in until June so I have a bit of time. I want something that will tie into the theme but won't be something everyone else uses, so I need to ponder it a bit.

The weather for the next few days is going to suck. Tomorrow is a mix of rain, freezing rain, and snow. Oh, and wind. Sunday is looking like a high chance of flurries. And of course Monday, when J has two different ice sessions for spring hockey, is listed as 'periods of snow'. That's never a good thing. I'm hoping that things will change between now and then. But for now there is a big, bright moon shining outside my window. I'll enjoy it for as long as I can.

Mmmmm Burgers...

Yesterday was April 1st, and around here that means that Burger Love has begun. Burger Love is an event that lasts the entire month of April. Restaurants around the island come up with one-of-a-kind burgers and the best burger wins the right to be kept on the menu. Some burgers are normal and then some are...unique. Like the burger that has ice cream sandwiches for buns...yeah. To see all these burgers, check out Burger Love's website. There are 60 burgers this year which means there is no way I am going to be able to try them all. And I'd be impressed by anyone who was able to try them all. That is 2 burgers a day. Good luck with that!

I did try my first Burger Love burger today. It is called the Southern Jack and it was really good. I had never been to The Whiskey Pub before so I wasn't sure what to expect, both food-wise and decor-wise. It's pretty much a sports bar but the food was really good. The bun was really fresh, the burger was juicy and full of flavour, all the fixings on the burger were fresh and tasty, and it came with a side of fresh-cut fries that were really good. The burger was a good size - some of the burgers on the website look like they are huge. This one filled me up but didn't leave me feeling overfull. All in all, a very good way to start off Burger Love. Here's a picture of the burger:

I'm looking forward to trying some of the other burgers on the list. As I try burgers at different places, I'll share pictures and my review of the burger. I'm hoping that Saturday the weather will cooperate enough to let me get out and try another burger.

Yes, the weather is looking bad for the weekend. Fun! Tonight we're suppose to get some snow and then that snow is to turn to rain on Friday. That's not too much of a problem - the garage has been dry lately even with all the melting. I'm sure we'll get a little water in but they're not calling for a whole lot of rain. Saturday is a bigger concern. We could get more rain or we could snow...like 15 cm of snow. It all depends on how the storm tracks. We'll most likely get snow since our contract with the snow removal people ended yesterday.

Won't that make for a fun Easter weekend? At least we don't have any hockey this weekend. They changed the schedule so we don't have to be in the hockey rink on Easter. I'm glad about that. We can have a relaxing day, looking for eggs in the snow. Or most likely we'll do the hunt in the house. I'll be working this weekend on making our special family dishes that we like to have for holidays so it might be gross outside but it will be fun inside.

Tomorrow is Friday, which means the final clue for my Snow Queen shawl comes out! I'm excited about that but also a little sad. I've really enjoyed working on it and will miss the excitement of a new clue each week. I do have the Solar Flare mystery shawl to keep working for the next few week. And I also have the Hobbit scarf that has been on hold while I've been trying to catch up on the Solar Flare shawl so I'll get to work on that again once the Snow Queen is done. Lots of long term knitting projects are keeping me happy!

A Sunny Sunday

Today was a nice, relaxing, sunny Sunday. We took it easy this morning - S watched some TV, I worked on finishing up my clue for the Snow Queen Shawl, and C and J played a game. When we got tired of being lazy, we headed downtown for lunch. I enjoyed some tasty, spicy halibut tacos and a half-pint of blueberry ale. I was worried about the beer making me sleepy, but after lunch we went to a local park and strolled along the ice-covered boardwalk by the harbour.

The harbour is still mostly frozen - there are a few areas where the ice has melted and there are definite cracks in the ice. I have a feeling a few more weeks of warm weather and the ice will be broken up and floating out to sea. The sun was warm and the walk was pleasant. The kids wanted to go to the playground but considering the entire playground was buried under about 3 feet of snow, we said no. Again, with the way things are melting, in a few weeks it should be a big, muddy mess of fun. I'll make sure the kids are in very old clothes before we go down there post-meltdown.

After our walk, we headed home. S decided to get out some of the presents she received yesterday at her party. She started with one of those melty bead kits where you put these little plastic tubes on pegs to make a picture. Then you cover the beads and iron them so they melt together and make a solid object. She's about 2/3 of the way done with a Hello Kitty picture. It's definitely a time consuming activity. After that she took a break for a while and watched J and his friend L play video games until they started being mean to her (yeah, they got in trouble for that).

Since the boys weren't being very nice, she asked if I could teach her how to use her Rainbow Loom. For those not familiar with the Rainbow Loom, it is a matrix of plastic pegs that you stretch rubber bands over then loop them in such a way it makes a chain. Connect the ends and you have yourself a little bracelet. She made one that is purple and black and began one that is pink, blue, and white for the classmate that gave her the loom.

Once she was done with the loom, it was time to start decorating the pony she received from our neighbour. It's a stuffed animal that you can colour on then wash it off and start again. It's soft and squishy and she had a fantastic time decorating it. She gave it a flaming mask, horseshoes, and lots of flowers. She received a lot of crafty type presents this year. In addition to the things I've already listed she got a friendship bracelet kit, a paper doll fairy kit, and a 3D kit that you build into a stage with ballerinas. And for her birthday from her grandma she got a potholder loom. She is her mother's daughter when it comes to crafts. :-)

And speaking of crafts, I finished this week's clue for the Snow Queen shawl. I'm getting very excited about it because this coming Friday's clue will be the last clue and it will tell me how to finish the shawl. I can't wait to see it all stretched out. This is one wedge of it, since it's too big to photograph it all at the moment.

I love how it transitions from the blue tones to the gray. The final skein of yarn will be mostly gray with just a tiny hint of blue. I really like how it is coming out.

I haven't taken a picture of the Solar Flare shawl I'm working on. The first two clues are out already and clue 3 comes out tomorrow. I'm a bit behind since I'm still working on clue 1, which covers skeins 1 and 2 out of 6; clue 2 uses skein 3. I'm guessing that tomorrow's clue will cover skein 4. I better get working fast this week if I'm going to get finished by April 22. The designer is going to have people vote for their favourites and the one with the most votes will win first prize, second most gets 2nd prize, etc. I think she's giving out 3 or 4 prizes but you have to have your shawl done by April 22. I should be able to get caught up this week since the kids will have 4 full days of school this week - Friday is a scheduled holiday for Easter. Yikes! Easter is coming up and I don't have anything ready for it. I guess I know what else I'll be doing this week!

Mother Nature Makes Me Sad

I have decided that the local school board lives to make me sad. They have announced today that school will be closed tomorrow. The kids were off school all this past week for March Break. They were to go back to school tomorrow. Now they get an extra day of March Break. And it makes me sad because I have been waiting since before March Break to get in to see my stylist and now I've had to postpone my appointment. I know, it is a minor thing with all the crazy stuff that happens in the world, but I was looking forward to it. Now it is schedule for Thursday. Guess what is on the weather forecast for Thursday? Flurries and/or rain. Mother Nature makes me sad too.

She is making me sad right now. We started out overnight with rain - at least I think so. I was sleeping when it started. When I got up this morning it was a very wet snow and that has continued throughout the day. Since today's hockey games were canceled because of the weather we ventured out downtown for lunch. We were hoping that the restaurant we went to was going to have their usual Sunday music but they didn't. There was barely anyone in there today. I did try their curry and it was pretty good. They served it with a side of mushy peas which were surprisingly good. I will definitely order that again.

On our way back from lunch we passed through multiple white-out conditions. I haven't been that scared in a long time. We literally could not see more than a few feet in front of the car. It was difficult to tell where the road went or if there were any cars stopped ahead of us. Thankfully we made it home safe. Just an hour or two ago I saw that the police actually shut down our bridge because of too many accidents caused by the white-out conditions. I guess the white-outs are expected to continue tomorrow, which is why school is closed tomorrow. I am so effing sick of this winter. Where is spring?

Since hockey was canceled today, the hockey association decided to add some stress to what was suppose to be a low stress day. The only after-school activity scheduled for tomorrow was soccer. But because today's hockey was canceled, they have rescheduled it for tomorrow, 20 minutes after S finishes up soccer. So I will be spending my early evening running back and forth between the soccer field and the hockey rink. That is provided both activities aren't canceled due to weather. I'm not sure how long the wind/blowing snow is to continue into tomorrow. I love Mondays....really...I do...

On a happier note, I did finish Clue 5 of my Snow Queen shawl. It is getting really big - I'm up to 552 stitches in a round. I can't wait for it to be finished! S had to help me hold it flat so I could get a picture of one of the wedges. I love how the transitions from one colour to the next are coming along. I'm starting to move away from the blues and into the grays.

I've also gotten started on my There and Back Again story scarf. I've finally gotten the hang of the double-knitting and am slowly making progress. It's definitely not something I can work on while watching TV. I have another TV watching project that is much easier. This is what it looks like, through row 24 of the first chart.

It is definitely a long-term project but I am enjoying it. It is fun to see the story slowly appear as I complete each row. I plan on letting the kids have some video game time tomorrow morning so I can work on it in peace for a bit.

Happy Spring!

Today is the first day of spring and it actually started to feel like spring here. The sun was nice and warm and there was some melting going on. I checked the garage a few times and thankfully it was water free. That will probably change with this weekend but I enjoyed it today. The weather is suppose to be nasty Saturday night into Sunday. Maybe this mess that's coming will be the last storm of the season. Seriously, 500 cm of snowfall is enough already, right?

This morning was busy because I realized at 9:30 last night that I had forgotten to bake brownies for the hospitality room at the hockey rink. Our rink is hosting the provincials (play-offs) and it's the host teams' job to provide food for the hospitality room. I was not going to bake two pans of brownies last night so I had to get up and do it this morning. They turned out perfect and I got them delivered to the rink on time.

Of course I came back from the rink and found the plows had come through widening the street, so there was a big pile of snow and ice at the base of the driveway. That is two days in a row now that I've gone out to come back to a blocked driveway. At least my neighbours' driveway was fairly clear and I was able to park there since they are out of town. The snow removal people hadn't come when it was time for us to leave for hockey so we had to hike over the snow pile to get to my car. It was nice to return home and find the driveway cleared again after hockey.

J played his first play-off game today. The two teams ended up tying, so they each got a point. They tried really hard to win but it just wasn't enough. They have two games tomorrow that they have to win if they want to reach the semi-finals. They recently beat the team they play first, so they know they can win but of course the other team is going to be looking for a win after losing to the younger kids. They have beaten the other team they play tomorrow too, so in theory they should be able to win both games. We'll see how it goes.

I started working on the new Snow Queen shawl clue today. It really is a lovely pattern. I plan on working on it some more this evening at least until I start to get sleepy. Once I get sleepy the knitting goes away because the idea of tearing out lacework just makes me cringe. I'll post a picture once I'm finished with the clue so I better go get to work on it!

Knitting on a Sunday

I am not going to write about the blizzard going on outside today that will last into tomorrow. Nope. I'm trying to pretend that I stayed in the house all day because I was tired and needed a break. Yup. That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

I will write about my knitting tonight. I finished clue 4 for my Snow Queen shawl. I am up to 480 stitches in a round. Yeah, it's getting big! It's definitely too big to get a picture of the whole thing, so here's one wedge.

I'm glad I had a chance to finish it while I was imagining myself sitting on a warm, tropical beach that is not covered in snow. Now that the clue is finished, my next project is the scarf based on The Hobbit. The scarf will be made with these two skeins of yarn:

 

I wasn't sure about the colours at first but C told me that the original cover of The Hobbit was in those colours, so that's probably why the designer chose them. The yarn is so soft and squishy - it is a blend of merino and silk. It will make a warm scarf - probably too warm for the warm, tropical beach I am imagining myself on. I was planning on starting it tonight but C and I have two episodes of The Walking Dead to watch and I want to be able to focus on that. Plus, I am feeling tired this evening and being tired plus working on something complicated never works out well for me. I will work on my easy shawl/scarf project and save casting on the Hobbit scarf for tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the official start to the kids' March Break. They don't call it spring break up here because spring usually isn't anywhere close to arriving. Considering there is an effing blizzard going on outside, and the potential for two more storms this week, it should make this week a challenge. It will be a busy week. J has a party Monday evening, hockey camp Tuesday through Thursday, practice with his team Tuesday and Wednesday, and then playoff games Friday, Saturday, and possibly Sunday. I swear he's going to be busier during his break than when he has school. S doesn't have soccer or her girl scouts this week, so that makes it a little easier on me. I'll be trying to set up some playdates for her as well as getting her to see Cinderella. She's been begging to see it but so far hockey and parties and effing blizzards are getting in the way.

I was just looking at the yarn for the Hobbit scarf again and thinking that the green reminds me of the lush green grass of summer and the yellow definitely reminds me of warm summer days. Maybe I will cast on the scarf tonight and remember how beautiful it is around here in the summer time.

Knitting and Hockey and Cartoons

As usual, today was a busy but fun day. It started out with some errands that included the whole family. After we were finished it was time to head downtown to our favourite place for curry. J actually skipped the curry today and went for a cheeseburger. That boy and his cheeseburgers! I think if he could he would have a cheeseburger every day of the week. S had her usual grilled cheese (I'm so glad she will eat those!). I really wish I had the recipe for the curry because I would love to have it more often.

After we came home the kids and C spent some time playing MineCraft while I finished up working on my newest Snow Queen shawl clue. As you can see in the picture below, it's getting quite big. I've finished transitioning from the colour 6 to colour 5. I didn't really notice the differences in the skeins until I looked at the picture. It's going to be really neat when it's done.

C then spotted the neighbours out on their rink and sent J out to get some skating time before his game tonight. I took S over and she was thrilled to see her friends over on the ice. S and her buddy S (yes, they have the same name) spent the whole time skating. J skated until his buddies showed up. That's when he took off his skates and joined all the other boys walking along the top of a 6 foot fence. The snow is so high on either side of the fence that it ends up being about a 6 inch fence. The girls eventually took off their skates and joined the boys walking on the "fence". I use quotes because I have a hard time thinking of it as a fence right now.

After skating time it was off to hockey for J. C took him because it was a late game and S is tired. She is still recovering from the nasty cold she had so I'm surprised she still awake. She and I had a fun evening sitting on the sofa watching Phineas and Ferb and eating lots of fruits, cheese, and crackers. 

If you've never watching P&F you should. We love it in this house - the kids love it in general and I love that they throw in things for the parents. Any cartoon that makes reference to The Rockey Horror Picture Show gets high marks in my book. The actor who was RiffRaff in RHPS does the voice of Mr. Fletcher in the cartoon. Of course the kids have never seen that movie but I have and it just cracks me up that he's in a kids show now. I have been known to turn on P&F when the kids aren't home. The show makes me laugh.

Just got an update from the hockey rink. According to C, J's team is up 4-1 at the end of the second period. He said that J is playing really well and scrapping for the puck with a kid who towers over him. My little hockey player! We have so much hockey coming up it's crazy. We're trying to make up for all the games we missed because of the effing snow (can you tell I'm done with snow?). There was a game Friday night, a game tonight (Saturday), a game Sunday, and a game Monday. Then thankfully there's not another game until Friday, which happens to be S's birthday. She's not too excited about being at the rink for her birthday but we'll make the day fun. The games this weekend are all far away too - Friday and Sunday are an hour and a half away; Saturday's is an hour. I'm glad that Friday's game is just down the road at our local rink.

Unless J's team decides to take a nap, they should be able to hold onto their lead and win this game. The more wins they get in the upcoming game will put them higher in the standings. Playoffs are coming up in a few weeks. Then winter hockey will finally be done! We'll get like a week and a half off before it's time for spring hockey. At least most of spring hockey is on island this year. Last year J was in a different spring program and we spent most of our weekends off island, plus practices at the rink that is 1 1/2 hours away. I'll be glad that practices are just 15 minutes down the road this spring. I am looking forward to a break from hockey though. It's been a long season!

Friday is for Conferences and Knitting

Today started out with not one but two parent-teacher conferences. First I met with S's teacher who gave me a good report. Apparently S is the center of the universe in her classroom. According to her teacher the boys all adore her and the girls fight over who gets to sit with her. The teacher had to enact a rule that S chooses who sits next to her and there's no grumping when she does. S is doing well with her reading and writing as well as in other subjects. Life is good when you're in kindergarten.

The second conference of the day was with J's teacher. He is doing well academically and reading is his favourite subject. He takes after his mother in that he often has to be told to put the book away and do his work. A part of me can't be mad at him for that because I used to do the same thing. But the other part of me knows the challenges he will face if he can't master being able to stay focused on school work. It's an ongoing process for him and we'll continue to support him as much as possible as he tries to teach himself to be more focused.

After the two conferences it was book fair time. I came home and got the kids and took them back over to the book fair at S's school. J tried to talk me into a $40 book but I said no. Sorry kid, but I don't even buy $40 books for myself...unless...no, not even my knitting books cost that much! It had a bunch of extra stuff with it like toys and you built stuff with it but nope. He ended up choosing a book on secret tunnels and hideouts (non-fiction) and an Adventure Time choose-your-own-adventure type of book. S chose a fiction book about bunnies and a non-fiction book about frogs. She seemed happy with her choices. My kids are smart - they know I will say no to toys but yes to books because I love to read and I like to encourage them to read too. And I like to get books from the book fair because I know it goes to help the school.

After we got back I finally got a chance to download my newest clue for my Snow Queen mystery shawl. I was a little disappointed at first because the clue has only 14 rounds in the pattern. Then I started working the clue. It isn't hard but egad, each row takes a LONG time. Right now I'm up to around 350 stitches per round and that number will keep going up. I was cooling some banana bread I baked today and set the timer for 10 minutes then started working on the round. I hadn't even finished it when the timer went off. Now, I'm not a super fast knitter but I'm not slow either. 14 rounds is going to take me a few days to get done. What have I gotten myself into?

In addition to getting my pattern today, my yarn arrived for the Hobbit scarf I am going to make. The yarn is awesome - a blend of alpaca and silk. It is so soft and snuggily. I had planned to make the scarf for C but it may end up being mine when it is done. It's a cool pattern that tells the story of The Hobbit in pictures. It will be my first time trying double-knitting, which is where both sides of the knitted item look the same, just in opposite colours. I read through the pattern directions and the designer did a good job explaining potential problem areas so I think I should be good to go for it. I'll probably start working on the Hobbit scarf as soon as I finish the current clue for the Snow Queen shawl.

I still have two short-term projects going on, One is a shawl/cowl combination that I'm making with some luscious merino/alpaca/musk ox yarn that I got for Christmas. The other is an infinity scarf that can be worn as a cowl or a scarf. I'm making that with some superwash wool. Both yarns came from a local yarn mill that is one of my favourite place to go look at yarn. It's probably a good thing that it's around 35 minutes away and they aren't open much in the winter. They are open every day between May and October, so I'll make sure I make a few trips out there and stock up for next winter. By then I should have knitted down my stash enough to justify buying some new stash yarn.

I am in a bit of project overload right now but I need something to distract me from all the snow that is piled up outside! So far is seems to be working...until I actually have to go outside. :-)

Doctors, and Dentists, and Thursdays, Oh My!

S had another rough night with lots of coughing and getting up twice. We decided this morning that it would be best for her to go to the doctor to make sure she didn't have a sinus or respiratory infection. Thankfully she doesn't. The doctor did swab her throat for strep but I expect it to come back negative. Neither one of my kids has ever had strep and they have both been exposed to it. In fact, I can't remember the last time I've had strep (if ever) and I know I have been exposed many times - by the same child. When I used to teach I had one student who would do two weeks of antibiotics for strep, be fine for a day or two, and then wham! come down with strep again. That kept happening for a three month period. I felt so bad for that kid! And yes, they finally found the right antibiotic to get rid of it. So if I was going to get strep, I would have gotten it then. I think my kids are very lucky and resistant to strep. We'll get the results of her throat swab by Saturday morning.

After coming back from the doctor I had a short break before it was time for me to head off to the dentist. C was able to watch S for me so I could go. Yay? I could have rescheduled the appointment but I decided it would be better to just get it over with. So I went and it wasn't as bad as I expected.

They did an incredibly thorough exam - they checked facial muscles, my thyroid, how my jaw opens/closes, and did a visual mouth cancer screening in addition to checking the health of my gums and my teeth. The dentist only found one major problem area - that effing tooth that's had two root canals on it. Apparently the tooth under the crown has broken. He said he had never seen anything like that before. Since there are no nerves left in that tooth, I haven't had any pain from it so I never knew anything was wrong with it.

Between a visual inspection and the x-rays, he decided that there is no way to save the tooth so it's going to come out. Honestly, I've had so many problems with that tooth that I will not miss it. Yeah, I'll be short a tooth but you know what? I'd rather it be gone than causing harm in my mouth. He said I've lost some bone where the tooth has broken and by taking it out it will stop any problems spreading to the tooth in front of it. There are some gum issues related to the tooth but hopefully those will get better once that tooth is gone, gone, gone!

The other thing he noticed is that my bite is effed up - I only use my 8 back molars when I chew instead of all my molars. The ones that aren't crowned are quite worn while the premolars look like practically brand-new teeth. He said that's probably what led to me breaking the tooth under the crown. He's recommended a mouth guard at night to protect my remaining molars from any teeth grinding I may do while I sleep. I doubt there's a way to change my bite easily, so I'll wear the mouth guard and know that probably one day I will have more crowns on those teeth back there.

So now I have a bunch of appointments for April - the extraction, having a couple of fillings redone because they are showing some wear, a cleaning and then a follow-up to the cleaning to make sure problem areas are getting better. I'm sure there will be an appointment for fitting the mouth guard too. Dental fun for me!

All in all, it could have been worse. It is Thursday after all. The dentist said that except for that stupid tooth everything looks pretty good for not having been to the dentist since before we moved. Yeah, yeah, I know. But the staff at the dental office was wonderful and didn't lecture me about anything. They just made me feel like they wanted to do what they can to help me have a healthy mouth. I walked out of there feeling good about how things went, which didn't happen often at the dentist I went to in Virginia.

Today is Thursday, which means tomorrow is Friday. And Fridays mean a new clue for my mystery Snow Queen shawl. I have been waiting all week for the next clue. I have other projects I've been working on but I am enjoying the Snow Queen pattern so much that it's hard to wait for the next clue. If I was hardcore (I'm not btw) I would stay up until midnight and get the clue then. I can wait until I get come from the kids' teacher conferences tomorrow to print it out and get started. But I am definitely looking forward to tomorrow!