On the Road to Recovery

On Friday, two sweet women from my ward came to hold down the fort while I made my way to the U of M for dental care. Bless them. One of the babies blew out of his outfit. Sorry.

Did I tell you I got a GPS for Christmas? It has changed my life. I have a tendency to get lost easily. Usually, it's not a huge deal, I just drive around until I find what I'm looking for or I stop and ask for directions. I used to call my husband - when I had one - and ask him to look up addresses for me. Well, no longer! Now my handy little GPS tells me exactly where I need to go and if I still manage to get lost, she patiently recalculates and starts again. I've heard there is a way to change the voice to swarthy male with an Australian accent. I'm going to have to try that.

My kids are fascinated with the GPS and Calvin has conversations with it in the car.

GPS "In .2 miles turn right on France Avenue"
Calvin "OK lady, we'll do that! Mommy, did you hear that? Take a right!"

I've lost my train of thought . . . back to the toothache. After what may have been the most painful injections of Novocain ever, the dentist discovered my bicuspid (next to the tooth with the crown) had a white filling which had loosened, allowing decay to get behind the filling. She took out the filling, drilled out the decay, performed a root canal and then packed the tooth with antibiotics and a temporary filling. In four weeks, I have to go back and have that all removed, have the tooth filled with a permanent filling and then find another dentist to do a crown.
Teeth are expensive. I would like to formally lodge a complaint with someone about how crappy my teeth are. One of my biggest regrets of my childhood? Not getting braces. Thank heavens I had some money set aside for emergencies as this tooth is going to run well over $1000.00 - with no dental insurance. It makes me wonder what other people in humble circumstances do for dental care.

The very, very good news? My dramatic toothache is gone. I am sleeping again at night. The stomachaches from overdosing on Advil and Tylenol are subsiding and life goes on.

I planned to spend the weekend resting and recovering from the lack of sleep the week before. Instead, I unexpectedly had the kids and spent Friday night and Saturday morning at the 4th grade invention fair. Max was pleased with his invention and there were some pretty cute ideas at the fair. I babysat Saturday afternoon for three hours and the rest of the weekend is a blur.

The kids were out of school today and it was a regular work day for me. Calvin, Max and two of the boys spent the entire day playing Star Wars action figures, watching Star Wars and playing Wii Star Wars. Sophie had a little girlfriend who I was watching for the day and they made jewelery, baked and played games and American Girl dolls all day long. I spent the day chasing the newly crawling baby and the newly walking baby. It was busy and yet normal.

Did anyone make New Year's Resolutions? I've been thinking about mine and I will share them with you soon. It is somehow late already and I made a goal to be in bed before 10:00 tonight. I may just make it!

FYI, Max stayed in his too long footed jammies the entire day and Calvin stayed in this church outfit which he slept in last night. I have no excuses, it just happened.