Thursday/Friday Recap

Yesterday was...interesting and not completely in a good way. It started out with me helping S put on a sweater and the muscles across the middle of my back seizing up. It made moving rather tough. I loaded up with pain relief and a very hot shower and it helped to loosen them up enough that I could move without wincing in pain.

I had my dentist appointment yesterday. It started out with a check-up and I got a good report! My gums around where the cursed tooth was have healed up nicely and my over-all mouth health was good. She did some scraping because I swear that even if you have the most plaque free mouth in the world they still have to do some scraping to make you feel like they are doing their job. :-) My appointment was scheduled for 90 minutes but it only ended up taking 45 minutes, so yay me!

Of course my appointment to get my night splint fitted didn't start for another 45 minutes so I plopped down in the waiting room with my book. But my dentist is awesome (I never thought I'd say that!) and he squeezed me in between two patients. I was altogether finished about the time I was suppose to be getting started.

The night splint is...interesting. It will definitely take some getting used to. I didn't sleep well last night, probably because every time I rolled over my back would hurt and it would wake me up. Then I'd be aware of the splint and it would feel weird again until I fell back to sleep. I think tonight I will take something to help me sleep because I really need a good night's sleep!

Today I ran some errands and then met C downtown for lunch. I did a lot of walking downtown today and it seems to have helped my back loosen up more. I am almost back to moving normally. I will just need to keep getting up and moving around tonight before I go to bed to keep it loose.

When the kids came home they went out to play with their friends. J got invited to spend the night at a friend's house tonight. I think he will have a good time. We'll see if the boys get any sleep tonight. We don't have anything on the schedule tomorrow so J will be able to take a nap tomorrow if he needs to.

Yesterday I finished one of my knitting projects. I finished the Song of the Seas cowl. I took a picture although it still needs to be blocked.

I was winding up some yarn for the shawl I'm working on and it was such a disaster today. What should have taken me maybe 5 minutes ended up taking me over an hour. The yarn was so tangled that I had to wind it by hand to get all the tangles out. Then once I finally got the tangles out and started to wind it up it got tangled again! I got to the point where I just cut the yarn and made two balls instead of one because it was such a disaster. The yarn is silk but it doesn't have a smooth finish so it tends to halo as you're working with it. Those halos seem to catch on each other and for tangles. I finally got it done though. After I was done with that yarn I wound up some other yarn for a new project. Lucky for everyone that yarn wound up perfectly.

Shellac nails update: Today is day 3 with my shellac nails and so far, so good. By this point with normal nail polish I'm usually starting to see some chipping but I haven't so far. The only place I'm seeing any trouble is on a nail that had started to split in a way that my nail tech couldn't fix it. She buffed it down and the shellac has been acting pretty good as a patch. Today I did catch my hair in that spot  and it has started to crack but it's because of the split, not because of the shellac. The first day I was trying to be careful but by today I was doing things like I normally would if my nails weren't painted. Here's how they look today and vs Wednesday (for comparison). So far I'm happy with them. We'll see how they continue to do!

Wednesday Nails

Friday nails

Nails, Knitting, and Soccer

Today I went and had a manicure. I usually don't get manicures because a day or two into having my nails painted the polish starts chipping off. Even polish that's suppose to last 14 days only lasts me 3 or 4 days. But this time I went with the shellac polish. I chose a fairly neutral colour so that if it should start to chip it won't show up as much.

It's a nice light grey colour and goes well with the red I chose for my toes. I just chose regular polish for my toes because they seem to do better than my fingers, probably because I'm not constantly washing my feet like I do my hands. :-)  Anyway, I will be documenting my shellac nails from now until my next appointment in two weeks to see how they hold up. I'm rough on my hands, so it will be interesting to see what happens.

I remembered today to take some pictures of my knitting projects. This is a cowl called Song of the Sea and I'm using my Sip-n-Stitch yarn for it. The pattern is suppose to look like waves, starting with small ones and then moving to medium and finally ending with large waves.

I'm also working on a shawl with some silk yarn that I got from Belfast Mini-Mills here on the island. The shawl is interesting because every other row you increase one stitch so you end up with a swirling curve. I tried to get a picture of this but it's tough because it's getting big. I like the lace sections that come in between the garter stitch sections. It ends with a lacy section and has a fancy edging. I'll get there eventually!

Last night S had her first summer soccer session. She and some of the other girls on our street are signed up although she ended up on a different team than her friends. But she has a classmate and a fellow rink rat on her team so she's happy. The people running soccer this year are so much more organized than last year. Last year all the kids got white shirts but this year each team has it's own colour shirts. Also, they only had six of the 12 teams come at a time so there seemed to a lot less chaos going on. They had two teams per field with a coach and a tween/teen assistant to help them. This allowed the coach was able to work with one team teaching them a skill while the assistant worked with the other team playing a fun game. Overall, I was very impressed with how the first practice went. I hope this continues through the rest of the summer.

Tomorrow I have not one, but two dentist appointments. One is a check-up to see how things are going now that my cursed tooth is out. The other is to see if the lab made my night splint correctly. I've been sticking to the plan that the hygienist gave me at my initial cleaning so I expect she will be happy with how my mouth is doing.  I'll find out tomorrow!

Pampering and Knitting

Yesterday I did something I haven't done in a long time - I went and had a pedicure. I was waaaay overdue. It was fun to go and be pampered for a bit. I found a nice place not too far from the house where it's just the client and the owner. I chose a funky colour for my toes:

I will be going back in a few weeks to get a mani/pedi using shellac on my nails. I am very interested in seeing just how well the shellac holds up. I'm very hard on my nails - I can manage to chip long-wear nail polish in just days, including the new gel nail polish that is suppose to last 14 days. Last time I used it it lasted 3 days before it started chipping. I've heard good things about the shellac so we'll see.

Last week I went and had my hair coloured and trimmed and I forgot to share a picture of the new look. I went with a lighter base colour and added highlights. I'm always envious of my stylist because she can get my hair so straight. I can never reproduce it at home.

Today I had my first dentist appointment to start the night splint. Oh, what an experience that was. It's been years since I've had impressions done and they haven't improved it at all. The hygienist put the bottom stuff in and I immediately started to gag. It's that nasty oozy feeling that always does it. For the top she tried to make the stuff thicker so it wouldn't ooze as much but then she didn't get a good impression so she had to do it again. I did fine with the second top impression until it was time for her to remove it. Then I started gagging like crazy. I was a mess with my eyes watering and some drooling going on. At least I didn't throw up on her, although I will admit I was worried that I might. Everything after that was easy-peasy. In two weeks my splint should arrive and then I get to learn how to sleep with it in!

Tomorrow I get to take my car in for an oil change - wheee! It always seems to take longer than I think it should. I will make sure I take both my book and my knitting with me so I can keep myself occupied.

I finished my Game of Thrones Mystery KAL. It ended up being a turtlenecked shoulder warmer which is cool except for the fact that I ran out of yarn before I finished it. I still had 3 rows to go when I realized I would only have enough yarn to bind off. I double checked my gauge and it was correct so either I did something wrong or they shorted me on yarn. I have been reading comments on Ravelry and I'm not the only one who ran out of yarn. It's frustrating to buy a kit for a project like this and think you'll get enough yarn in the kit. I'm curious to see what the designer has to say about it.

 Here's what it looks like off and on:

I'm still waiting for my Once and Future King yarn to arrive. Hopefully it will be here tomorrow!

Happy May Day!

Today felt like a Saturday even though I know it is Friday. The kids didn't have school today because it was a PD day (professional development) for teachers. I got to sleep in a bit and the kids were already up when I got up so that, combined with the fact that we had hockey today, made it feel like a Saturday.

J had game 2 of his tournament today. They tried really hard again and managed to score three goals but unfortunately the other team scored more. J played really well again and got two assists which made him happy. Right now their team is in last place for the tournament but that could change if they get a win or two in tomorrow's games.

I was supposed to have a dentist appointment today to start working on the night splint to keep me from grinding my teeth at night. But shortly before 10 o'clock this morning I got a call from the dentist's office letting me know the dentist was sick and they had to reschedule. So now I don't go in until the end of the month which throws off all the other appointments I was suppose to have. I'll have to get in touch with them next week to see about moving all the other appointments. At least these appointments are easy - no needles, no drilling, no yanking teeth out of my mouth.

S had a good day today. She got to play with her friend across the street who just got back from months in the States. Her father plays professional hockey and they were down in North Carolina for the season. They got back home Wednesday and S has been waiting anxiously to have a play date with her friend. They played over here for a bit and over there for a bit. I expect there will be lots of house/yard jumping this summer since all the girls are around the same age and love playing together.

Burger Love is now over so when we went out for supper tonight it was easy to get a table at the restaurant up the street. I am curious to see which burger won the most loved burger. I heard from a lot of people that they loved the one burger that I did not like. Considering they sold over 5000 of them, they probably have a good chance of winning but it's definitely not a burger for me. There were some burgers I wanted to try but didn't get to but that's okay. I ended up having 9 burgers for the month and that was a lot for me. There was one woman who has been dubbed the "Queen of Beef" because she had 65 burgers for April. Now, considering there were only 30 days in April that means she had at least 2 burgers a day. I cannot imagine what that does to one's body having 65 burgers in 30 days, especially when some of those burgers were huge. It is crazy! They will announce the winner next week as well as announce if they managed to set a new world record.

Since it's finally May, it should be time to put away winter coats, right? In most places yes but not here! Today it was a high of 3C/38F. Yup, on May 1. Our tulips are coming up and I swear they have to be some extra-hearty strain of tulips because they continue to grow even though it is still cold out there. By Monday it's suppose to be up to 15C/59F which is going to feel downright hot after all the cold weather we've been having. It may be time to break out the self-tanning lotion so I don't get mistaken for a snowman if I need to put on capris/shorts on Monday. :-)

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to the Dentist I Went

Today I had yet another dentist appointment. This one was to redo some fillings on the right side of my mouth that were showing wear. The dentist did check out the left side of my mouth where the Tooth of Doom had been. I am happy to report that he says it is healing nicely and that I don't have dry socket or any other problems with it. I was very relieved to hear that.

Amazingly, it only took one round of Novocaine to get me numb for the fillings. I don't know if he gave me a bigger dose this time or if waiting extra time did the trick, but I was good and numb. I tried to talk and I sounded so goofy because half my tongue was numb. Once he got started it didn't take long for him to do the work and it wasn't as stressful as the extraction. Of course half my mouth was numb for a good three hours afterwards which made doing things like eating impossible and drinking tricky. I felt like I should be wearing a bib although I didn't end up dribbling anything on myself.

It has been a gross day today. The weather has been cold, windy, and wet. I ran a few errands this morning and it was misty and when I took S to her Girl Scout meeting it was raining. On the way home from that it started to sleet and I saw a few snow flakes here and there. I miss the sun. It's suppose to come out this weekend.

Ah, dramatic 6 year olds. S had to go today and get a vaccination. C took her to it because I was busy as the dentist. The nurse (whom we know) gave her a tiny band-aid where she got the shot. Because she has a band-aid, it requires her to freak out at shower time and wail like a banshee. Seriously. Oh, and she has a band-aid on her ankle that she insisted she needed the other day because she scraped her ankle. There was no blood but she needed a band-aid. And because of these band-aids she thought that she couldn't take a shower. From the way she was wailing you'd think we were asking her to swim with sharks instead of just taking a shower. I think a certain little girl is tired. As soon as she's done and in her pj's it's off to bed for her!

Thursday Round-up

Today is Thursday and we all know what that means - the new Star Wars trailer came out! So, if you haven't seen it what are you waiting for? Go watch this! R2-D2, Chewie, Han, Luke's voice. I am hopeful that this movie will be good because I grew up watching the good Star Wars movies and I so want this new one to be like those and not like the crap they made recently. We can hope, right?

In other news, J was home sick today. It seems that his sister has decided to share her cold with him...and me too. J had a grumpy day at home because he didn't feel well and he's on a video game break right now so he kept saying he had "nothing to do". Of course he has toys, books, drawing supplies, etc. But no, he had "nothing to do." I'm hoping he'll feel well enough to head to school tomorrow because another day of him home sick may end the video game break.

While J's cold seems to be in his throat, mine has settled into my nose. Lots of sneezing and snuffling for me today, which is soooo much fun (insert sarcastic voice here) with my healing gum. It seems to be healing from what I can tell. The gum itself doesn't hurt but that little area in the way back of your mouth where the top and bottom jaws come together, where they give you novocaine injections, hurts when my pain med wears off. I'm hoping that will be better tomorrow. Oh, and I thought it was awesome that the dentist's office called me today to just check up on me and make sure things were going okay. I really like this dentist and his staff, and I don't like dentists.

I was actually able to eat a regular meal this evening. No, no burgers yet, but I did eat chicken, broccoli, and noodles and with little to no pain. Of course I kept all my chewing to the non-hole-in-my-gum side of my mouth but I was able to eat which made me very happy. I will continue to avoid hard/sharp things for a while but I should be able to go back to eating fairly regularly, just with cutting things up for a bit. It makes it easier keep food on the right side of my mouth.

Yesterday evening before bed S announced to me that she wanted to get her ears pierced. Now, she and I had discussed that topic many times and she had always said no. Last night was totally unprompted by me so I said sure we could do it today. I reminded her this morning that when she got home we'd go do it and she said okay. When she got off the bus she didn't throw her usual want-to-go-over-to-someone's-house fit but hurried home to go get her ears done. We drove to the local mall and found the store that did ear piercing. S had some nervous tears which I think came from just not knowing how it was going to go but she never once said she didn't want to do it.

The very nice women at the store were wonderful with her. They got her calmed down and distracted her while they were getting ready to do it. Once they actually "pulled the trigger" there was about a minute of crying afterwards. Some cooling cleaning solution, a view of her new Rainbow Dash earrings, and two lollipops soon cleared up her tears. By the time we paid and walked out to the car she said her ears were feeling normal. Now we have 6-8 weeks of cleanings and earring turning before she is considered all healed. She is very excited to be the only girl in her class that has earrings.

Today was a big day for S. In addition to getting her ears pierced, S lost not one but two teeth today. She had two baby teeth that had become fused together at a very young age. We didn't even realize that they were loose until C was helping her brush her teeth this morning and out they popped (she has been slacking on the brushing because of loose teeth). So tonight she gets a visit from the Tooth Fairy and since technically she lost two teeth, she gets double the normal money. I'm thinking that the Tooth Fairy may have to leave her a note saying how fantastic her new earrings look in addition to the money. I think S would totally love that. :-)

I think now I have to go watch the Star Wars trailer again because it is awesome!

And It's Outta Here!

Warning - if you're squeamish about the dentist, don't read any more.

Today was the day that the dentist extracted that troublesome tooth. It has caused me so much trouble over the years and I was glad that he wanted to take it out. I had wanted it gone for years but my previous dentist wanted to leave it in. I don't know why. I understand wanting to keep your teeth for as long as possible but with all my troubles I think I would have been better off without it.

I was a little nervous going into the dentist's chair this morning but I thought everything would be okay. He said it would be fairly easy to get the tooth out. HA! My tooth had other plans for him. First, it took forever and pretty much the maximum amount of "freezing" (aka Novocaine) for me to get numb. I had two shots (two top, two bottom) in the back of my mouth and we all thought I was numb until he started poking the gum around the tooth. Then he discovered two spots where I wasn't numb so he injecting his freezing stuff directly into those parts. Sounds fun, eh?

So once I was finally numb he started out by removing the crown. Oh yeah, that was fun. It didn't want to come off at first. He did a lot of pulling until finally it popped off. Next he had to remove the tooth. Since the tooth was broken, he had to take it out in pieces. He used the drill on it although I'm not sure exactly what for. With the drill and a mirror in my mouth it was hard to ask questions. The first part of the tooth he removed came out fairly easy so we all expected the rest of it to be the same.

Alas, no, that was not meant to be. He had to pull and drill and it still wouldn't come out. He was beginning to think the root was wrapped around my jawbone. My mom said my dad had that happen with one of his teeth - the root was hooked on to the bone. Finally, just when I thought I'd be stuck with part of my tooth still in there, the damn thing came out. I think the dentist cheered but I'm not sure. At that point I was trying very hard not to cry because even though there wasn't any pain there was a lot of pressure and pulling.

Once he got everything cleaned up I was given gauze to bite on, which is fun to do with a numb mouth and an open wound in the very back of my mouth. No hard foods or hot liquids for today (at least), no straws, no swishing or mouthwash for a while, and an antibiotic to make sure it doesn't get infected. No pain meds - just over the counter stuff unless it gets really bad. I have been trying to eat what I can - yogurt, soft fruit, stuff like that. I did have some soup at supper and that was a mistake. Even though I didn't make it very hot, it was still too hot and made the injection area hurt. Or that could have been because my pain med was wearing off. Either way, I will have to avoid hot things for a bit. Ice cream, anyone?

As far as I can tell, it's actually where he stuck me with needles that hurts. The pain seems to be focused at the back of my mouth where my jaw flexes. Ice seems to be helping until the pain med kicks in. So, what I think both of us expected to be easy turned out to be a pain in the ass. I'm glad that this is the last major work I have to have done - at least for now. In a few weeks I go in to have some fillings redone but he looked at them and said they should be a piece of cake. Mmmm...cake. I think we have some cake. Yes, I'm hungry. This stupid soft food/liquid diet is not fun. I can't wait until I can eat a big, juicy burger again. Hopefully that will happen in a few days.

What day was it today?

This morning I was beginning to think it was Thursday instead of Friday. S woke up early this morning saying she was hot, dizzy, and couldn't open her eyes. The eyes part is from the medicine we have to put in them for the pinkeye she had last week. Thankfully we've put the last drops in tonight so tomorrow morning should be the last morning for that problem. The hot and dizzy was because she finally got the cold the doctor told us about last week. She has a nasty cough and was feverish this morning. Thankfully some medicine brought the fever down. I expect tomorrow morning will be the same as this morning because it usually takes her a few days to shake the fever part.

C was able to stay home with S this morning so that I was able to head to the dentist. While going to the dentist isn't on my top 10 list of things to do, I know I needed to go. The hygienist used some ultrasonic cleaner on my teeth to start with than turned to the medieval torture devices, otherwise known as dental picks? scrapers? I'm not sure what you call them but she used them on me. Between the cleaning and having to keep my mouth open for a very long time, I'm sore tonight. Next up with the dentist is the extraction next week. While I want that tooth out I'm not looking forward to the recovery.

After my dentist appointment, C had to take his tire to get it fixed. I noticed yesterday that his one tire seemed very low...to the point where it was flat. He took the tire off yesterday evening and J discovered a nail in it. So C loaded the tire into my car off he went to get it fixed. J had a fun time yesterday helping C take the tire off. He wasn't home from school yet when C put it back on. Next time a tire needs changing we may have to let J help.

C ended up taking J to hockey instead of all of us going to practice since S is sick. And in a way, I was glad I didn't go, although I do want to see him on the ice. The weather this afternoon was icky - cold, windy, and rainy. Of course with the rain I always worry about water coming into the garage. When he got back from hockey, C made sure the channel he had created the other week was open for the water to flow down. So far the water has stayed out of the garage. We'll continue to keep an eye on it until we head to bed.

C said that J did well again at hockey. He is continuing to work hard and do his best. We hope he can translate that into having a good game tomorrow. I want to go to the game but if S is still sick we'll have to skip it. She's suppose to go to a birthday party tomorrow but considering how sick she was today, I doubt she'll be going anywhere tomorrow. I would like her to be well enough to go out to lunch on Sunday for my birthday and back to school on Monday because she is suppose to be the special helper on Monday. She has missed her past two special helper days because she's been sick both times. At least this time she got sick a few days before her helper day instead of the day before.

My mom sent me some beautiful mink yarn in shades of blue for my birthday. I will take pictures of it and the Casterly Rock yarn tomorrow when the light is better. I forgot to take the Casterly Rock picture this morning like I planned. I have also decided on the colour I'm going to use for my next Unique Sheep MKAL based on The Once and Future King. I decided to use the colour called The Raven and the Fox. It's hard to describe the colour so here's a picture of it:

That yarn base is different than what I will be using. Different yarns take the dyes differently, so I contacted the wonderful ladies at TUS to find out which yarn base in the weight I need will most closely match the picture. I was happy to find out that the yarn I wanted is the one that will be the closest match. It's a blend of wool and silk. It will be 3 to 4 weeks until my yarn ships, but that's fine because the KAL doesn't start until July. Yay for summer knitting! I will have to beach proof my project bags so I can take it to the beach with me. Ahhh...beach...with today's weather I can't wait for summer and the beach!

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!

Snow, melting, and the dentist

Surprise, surprise! We woke up to snow and ice pellets (sleet for you southern people). Guess what? The kids had school! Most of the icky weather cleared out by noon and then the sun came out so it was good that there was school. It actually warmed up to above freezing, which around here means you might need to break out the shorts. Okay, maybe not but it definitely feels good to have warmer weather. Too bad the warmth isn't sticking around. Tomorrow the temperature is going to be cold (aka below freezing). The weather people said spring is going to be late this year up here. Apparently we won't see any signs of spring until late April. Yay?

Of course, with the warm-up, the bajillion feet of snow (okay, slight exaggeration) started to melt and that snow melt started sneaking into the garage. Thankfully it was slow enough that I was able to keep on top of it and keep the garage from flooding. We have a drainage pit in our garage that catches the water but it doesn't drain anywhere. The water runs in there which is nice but then it needs to be vacuumed up. When the thaw finally goes arrive I plan on getting a pair of waterproof insultated fisherman's gloves because that water is going to be freezing cold. I have enough problems with cold fingers and toes as it is, I don't need to add to it with snow melt!

As I said, the kids had school today although only one kid actually made it to school. S came home Monday with a nasty cough. She was coughing some yesterday and we encouraged her to rest in hopes she could shake that cough. That was not meant to be. She was up twice last night because of her coughing with the second time involving a fever. I got some ibuprofen into her and got her back into bed. When she woke up this morning she had added a runny/stuffy nose to the cough. At least the fever seems to stay at bay for most of the day. So...she stayed home. We did manage to get her to rest and drink a lot of water today but that cough is still hanging on. I suspect that she may stay home tomorrow, which would be fine with me.

Why is that, you ask? Because tomorrow I have a dentist appointment - a two hour long (or possibly longer) dentist appointment. It is my first time going to this dentist so they have lots of things to do - pictures, x-rays, an assessment of my gums, teeth, facial muscles, etc. Sounds like fun, eh? All that and they won't actually be doing a cleaning at this appointment. That gets scheduled later. I hate going to the dentist. I was trying today to figure out why I hate it and it's because I've never had good appointments.

I think it started when I was young and the orthodontist put me in braces for FOUR years. Yeah, you read that right. FOUR YEARS. And that included one of those oh so attractive headgear things as well as retainers when I was finally done. Then as I got older there were three nasty root canals on two teeth - yeah, one tooth needed to have a second root canal. And then I ended up with major stomach problems from the antibiotic the oral surgeon gave me to help with second root canal on the same tooth. It took years to get my stomach back to normal.

I've had a strange deep cleaning where they pulled the gums back from the teeth slightly to clean below the gum line. Doesn't that sound fun? At least I was numbed up for that. And then there were the cavities the dentist said I had. I still question whether I actually had them or not. One thing I've had very few of is cavities at least until I started going to a dentist in Virginia. Then it was suddenly I had a bunch of cavities. It made me suspicious. And the more I went to this dentist, the more resistant I became to the Novocaine. The last time I went to have a cavity filled they had to give me 3 shots of Novocaine before I was finally numb. My mouth hurt so bad after that - not from the cavity being filled but the stupid shots.

So, if S is still sick tomorrow and needs to stay home, I'll have to reschedule my dentist appointment. And honestly, I won't mind rescheduling. I don't really want to go but I'm trying to set a good example for my kids. They have both been recently and they had very easy appointments. I doubt mine will be as easy as theirs, considering their appointments lasted 45 minutes at the most and that included a cleaning. But I will be good and go if I'm able. And if I can't I will be good and reschedule it for another day when hopefully both kids will be healthy. With things have been going, that may be a while!

Bankrupting the Tooth Fairymo

Today featured not one, but two trips to the dentist. I called yesterday to get appointments for the kids to see the dentist because they were way overdue. To my surprise, they were able to get J in at 8:00 this morning and S at 1:00. Both kids were nervous because it had been too long since they went to the dentist. S almost broke down in tears when the hygienist called her name, but the hygienist could tell S was nervous and did a great job putting her at ease.

In fact, both hygienists we saw today were fantastic. They were patient with the kids and took the time to explain what was happening so they would be at ease. The dentist said both of them are doing well with their oral hygiene - no cavities and very little plaque. At the end they each got to pick out a toy from a treasure chest-type box. J chose a hockey card while S chose a seal that grows when you put it in water.

The dentist himself was great. He was friendly and took the time to chat with them. It turns out that the dentist has a daughter who is J's age. They are both in the same school and in fact were in the same Grade 3 class last year. It truly is a small world here on the island. And even though the dentist is great, I'm still grumpy with him. Why you ask? Because what he told me is going to bankrupt the Tooth Fairy. He told me that J has 2 wiggly teeth, with at least 2 more on the way within the next three months. His first molars are all getting wiggly and probably within the next 6 months the second molars will start loosening up. And S already has one very wiggly tooth on top. But he noticed that her other top tooth is starting to loosen up and that two teeth on the bottom would be joining the party soon. My kids are going to be toothless wonders soon. Time to start serving them oatmeal and soup.

So, that's at least 7 loose teeth coming in the next few months. And the Tooth Fairy set a very bad precedence by giving the kids $5 a tooth, so that's at least $35 she's going to have to pay out in the upcoming months, if not more depending on how many teeth J ends up losing. See, she's going to go bankrupt!

The kids will be happy though. Both of them are trying to save up money to buy new iPods. Yes, even S wants an iPod (she doesn't have one yet). They both saved most of their Christmas money and I'm pretty sure there is money for them in their Valentine cards from their Nana. Add to that the potential Tooth Fairy money they will get and I think they will have a good deal of money soon. We told the kids that if they could save up half the money we would put up the other half. I haven't looked at the price yet but I bet he's going to come close.

I'm just glad I can check off going to the dentist for the kids. I was a good mommy and made myself an appointment when I made the kids. Mine is in a few weeks - joy! My appointment will be much longer than the kids since they do a comprehensive exam of adults that apparently lasts 2 hours. At least they have TVs in the exam rooms to watch. Still, I'm not looking forward to going to the dentist but I will follow my kids' example and go with a smile. At least I will try. :-)