Thursday, February 25, 2010

Bulb Forcing Update

You may recall that I bought and tried to force some bulbs several months ago. I have updated once or twice that the bulbs have not been progressing. A couple of weeks ago, I figured out why. I'm incredibly embarrassed to admit this, but I had them upside down. How loud of a "Duh!" can we get here? Once I got the cobwebs out of my head and turned them the right way (duh!), they've been progressing nicely. In addition to the original paperwhites, I've now added some bluebells, too. Neither of them required time in the refrigerator first. The other three types I have, hyacinths, crocuses, and striped squill, all require time in the fridge before forcing them, so they won't be started for another month or so.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Braces, part deux

It's been slightly less than two years since The Boy got his braces off. But that first set was just for practice. Well, not really. They were because the 5 baby teeth in the top front refused to leave when the adult teeth were coming, so they grew in behind the baby teeth. This resulted in my calling him, 'Shark Boy'; and also in his having those 5 baby teeth pulled, and braces put on to bring the adult teeth front and center where they belong. That whole business took only eight months, and we always knew that he'd need braces again someday. Someday was yesterday.

So far he's only got the top ones on. The bottoms will be put on in three months. And these will be on for probably two years, much longer than last time. He has somehow decided that it is his belief that he should not alter the body that God gave him (piercings, tattoos, etc - ha ha, his mom has both!) and almost did not get the braces at all. I have switched my argument encouragement from, "Think of how nice your teeth will look!" to, "You are going to avoid all jaw problems and tooth decay that comes from very crooked teeth!"

He is in some pain today. So much so that he could not do a very good job at brushing his teeth. I really hope that goes away soon. He needs to eat and to brush those teeth!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Friday, February 12, 2010

12 of 12 - February

It's time for 12 of 12 again!

9:30 am, kitchen
Coffee!!! I slept in a bit today. The Boy was with his dad last night, so I did not need to get up early to see him off to school today.

10:28 am, kitchen
Splitting kitty's pill. She takes 1/2 in the morning and 1/2 at night.

10:29 am, kitchen
And her liquid meds. In addition to her thyroid meds, she's back on antibiotics for about 6 weeks.

11:45 am, kitchen
This is our pepper mill. During dinner, we have taken to saying, "please pass the R2".

12:30 pm, living room
My new bookcase! I received it yesterday. It's not fancy, but it's someplace to put my books.

1:05 pm, grocery store parking lot
The boy had spacers put in his mouth (again) and the pain is making it hard for him to chew. I needed to stop at the grocery store to get him some soft foods. Like oatmeal. And Jello.
And - hey! Snowbank!

1:28 pm, car
Random picture of the sky, while I'm driving.

1:33 pm my parking lot
Just a couple of bags to bring in. They're in the front of my car, because the trunk is stuck, and has been for a couple of months. :(

2:35 pm, kitchen
Fresh mozzarella, tomato and basil salad. Mmmm.

7:00 pm, kitchen
New recipe: shrimp and ginger stir-fry with mushrooms.

9:20 pm, living room
My new knitting. I just learned to cable!

11:09 pm, bedroom
"Come to bed, mommy. Now."

BONUS PIC:
February 12, 2010, 2:32 pm
The Boy arriving home from school.

February 12, 2009, 2:35 pm
The Boy arriving home from school.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Today

Today was Jake's pre-braces appointment at the orthodontist. The appointment was supposed to be at 2:30, which is what time he usually gets off the school bus. So the plan was that he would NOT take the bus, and instead I would pick him up at school at 2:05, and then we'd drive to the ortho. Yeah.

So, I left the house nice and early, because I wanted the good space in front of the school. Got there, got my space, and waited. Another car pulled up behind me, also waiting to pick up a kid. She had this huge crystal hanging from her rearview mirror, and it was constantly catching the light and throwing it in my rearview mirror, and blinding me. If you are one of those people who hang shiny, reflective things from your rearview mirror, well, I love you, but I'm sorry, you need to stop. It's annoying. It's distracting. It's not safe. But, I digress.

Anyway, I waited. Then 2:05 came, and kids started to come out of the building. And I looked for my kid, and I waited. And I thought, "Oh, please don't be on the bus!" I just had a bad feeling. I waited 15 minutes before deciding that my bad feeling was right, and my kid was on the bus. So as I started driving back home, I called the orthodontist's office and begged them to squeeze us in later in the day, because we were not going to make the 2:30 appointment. After telling me they had nothing else for today, but unable to find anything else for us before the date we're getting the actual braces on, she relented and squeezed us in for today at 4:30. As I hung up with them, my phone rang. It was The Boy. At home. He said that as soon as the bus pulled away from the school, he remembered, but then it was too late. Argh.

I went back home, gave The Boy the evil eye (but then let him know it was ok), watched General Hospital and ate a salad. I started my third attempt on a gauge square for the knitting project I want to start. And then we finally went to the orthodontist.

The first thing the doctor saw when checking The Boy's teeth was that stubborn baby molar that Would. Not. Leave. His adult tooth had grown in, and the baby tooth had tipped to the side, but was still hanging on by a good bit of gum. He had been trying to loosen it and get it out of his mouth before this appointment, but he couldn't. So the doctor put some topical numbing stuff on the gum, and got that sucker out of there. After the bleeding stopped, they took impressions, then pictures, then x-rays. Jake even got a print out of the x-rays to take home. Then they put 5 spacers in, which was painful. And it really sucks to be sitting there watching your kid be in pain and not being able to do anything about it.

On the way home I stopped to get him some ibuprofen, ice cream, and powered breakfast drink mix. He's still in some pain. Tomorrow is going to be a huge snowstorm here, so I told him he can blow off school tomorrow if he wants, since they'll probably be dismissed early anyway, and then he won't have to do his homework tonight.

He gets his braces on next week, on Thursday. Stay tuned.