Adults Only

What's been going on?

1. I'm feeling much better. I'm still on antibiotics but they didn't have to "clean out" my sinus'. I am back to work as of yesterday (Monday). I saw the ENT on Friday and he did another probe up my nose. I'm all clear in the upper sinus'. I'm still draining and could relapse but I'm hoping I don't. My implants also look good. I saw the periodontist on Thursday who wants to see me again in 2 months.

2. Friday night we had a fire in our hills. At night it seemed much closer than it was so we got our important papers and things together in case in the middle of the night they said to evacuate. We didn't even let the kids know there was a fire or Paula especially would have been panicky and very upset.
I made Todd prepare the trailer for easy hookup. Normally it can take him 45 minutes to get it ready so he did some set up so in case he needed to hook up the truck we could leave faster. My mom was there to keep him on track. He didn't think all our preparation was necessary and kept saying so, but I didn't want to risk it. By morning the fire was out so he was right. Still...you can't be too prepared for that! We had ashes all over our cars, house etc. Even in our computer room where we'd left the window open.

3. Saturday afternoon my mom drove Paula to her house for the week. Already I've talked to her each day and she's having a grand time. Yesterday they swam in the pool at the club and she met a little girl who might be there again today. Too cute.
That night Shawna had a sleep over at Tyler's house which she LOVED.

4. Saturday night we had an adults only party at our friends the Coulthards, one of our school/softball families who we've camped with and adore. There were 8 of us. We had so much fun. For awhile the ladies chatted together and the men chatted together, then after dinner we all hung out around his backyard bar. They have the best backyard set up for summer parties. I laughed so hard my sides ached from their stories about Paula and Shawna during softball practices. I never make the practices since I'm at work so it was fun to hear what my kids do. We definitely need to do that again. Below is a picture of us all.

Left to Right: Danielle (married to Sam), Patty (married to Brett), Me, Johna (married to Steve), Todd, Brett, Sam, Steve.

5. Tonight starts swim lessons for the girls, although only Shawna is here this week. She's excited since she's been asking me for a year when do they get to go back to swimming. It's hecka expensive for the place I like to take them which is why I didn't sign them up for an entire year. But Shawna needs to learn her strokes and Paula hasn't graduated yet from the school so it's time.

That's it for the past few days. Busy busy as always.

Friday Friday Friday

Various things to blog about.

1. So Frontier airlines filed Chapter 11. They haven't cancelled flights yet but this is again not great news. They're not the airline we picked but "Whoops, there goes another one".

1. Today I had lunch with an ex-coworker. We've known each other for maybe over 10 years but haven't seen each other in 7. She works for one of our competitors now. It was fun to complain about our jobs. The same stuff happens everywhere no matter where you work. I forgot how much fun she is.

3. I'm hoping Todd takes the girls for hair cuts today. Paula's especially gets so tangled being so thick and long. Paula said she'd get layers which would really help the tangle problem. Shawna wants to grow her bangs out so she just needs a 1" trim. Her hair does not tangle since it's very fine and smooth. It's interesting to me how different their hair is.

4. I have my own hair appt tonight. Need to color in the grays. My hairstylist called to say she had an hour open before my appt if I wanted to come in early. I couldn't. She said that's fine, she needs to run some errands. She's out of wine. (she serves me wine while I'm in the spa). I told her to definitely get me my wine! She laughed and called me a bitch. haha We get along very well. She's drop dead gorgeous. Like model gorgeous. I always feel like I can't go in looking dumpy when I see her. Staring at her and then me in the mirror is like a polar opposite. She reminds me of a blond Eva Longoria Parker. She moved my appt to today from next week because next week she's having her boobs fixed. Again. 20 years or so ago she had her boobs done. Of the 5 problems you can have from that, she's had all 5. She's also had at least 5 surgeries to fix the problems. She wants smaller perky boobs now, not stripper boobs like she's got. She also wants silicone instead of the saline she has now. She's the reason I rethink getting a boob job. I'd love one, but I do not want to experience all her problems. She's got money. TONS of money. Her dh is a millionaire. I do not have money. I live check to check. As it is I'm financing my mouth. She drives a $150K convertible 2-door 500 series Mercedes. I.drive.a.minivan.

5. I'm closer to getting my braces off. The ortho says he's done, the periodontist says the Xray shows there is still enough space between the roots to do the implants, I just need the other dentist (he's in charge of the crowns) to approve the spaces he wanted closed. If I get all 3 to approve I'm scheduled for the surgery on May 25th. I can't drink alcohol a week before the appt so I had to make it after our Maui vacation since I KNOW I'm drinking there. The sheet also said not to drink after surgery for the first few months the implants have to heal. That might be difficult. Did I mention this is costing me a fortune.? omg Insurance really needs to add implants to their dental line. Everything else is covered at least partially like bridges, crowns, fillings, caps. Maybe even dentures. I see the last dr on Monday. If he approves I'll make an appt to have the braces removed. That same day I need to pick up a invisalign type retainer that will have a fake tooth in it. Then 3 days later or so my other retainer will be ready and it will have a tooth on it too. Otherwise I'll be a total hillbilly. In addition dentist #3 has to make a "guide" for Periodontist so he knows where to exactly place the implants. It's basically a retainer also but has holes or something where the implants go. Then the ortho will send over another retainer for the healing process. Oh, and since I'm paying to be totally knocked out for the procedure, I need to have someone drive me to the appt and take me home. If I drive myself, my car is stuck across the bay. Taxi's would be really expensive. The logistics of all this seem a bit daunting now but once it's over I'll be so thrilled.

Princess Leia's in the house

Today Paula gets to be Princess Leia for school. So are several other girls in her class. Her class decided on a Star Wars theme for "theme day" today. I braided her hair on both sides and twisted them into circles. I hope they stay. I'm just not a hair stylist. I've had the same style for years. It just varies in length once in awhile.

Tomorrow she and Shawna get to do "blow your top" day where they can wear a funny hat or funny hair. These themes force me to get out of bed earlier since I have to prep them.

Our dog Rosie has been making it known that she did not appreciated those 2 big dogs in her house Sunday. She has proceeded to mess (poop/pee) in the house since Sunday. I'm hoping she realizes soon the dogs aren't coming back. Belle will eventually come back but not for a long time I think.

Today it's snowing at my parents house! My mom called to say it was snowing and sticking. Very cool. I told her to take pics. They live in the Grass Valley, CA area around 1000 feet elevation so they don't get snow often. Yesterday we had a glorious non rainy day for the first time in awhile. I ran to the Goodwill to drop off some donations, looked inside for shoes for Paula. Didn't find any.

I have an ortho appt today. He has to push some teeth back so I'm sure tonight and tomorrow I'll be in some pain. Lovely. I also spent 2 hours today dealing with insurance for my ortho and an error in billing for Shawna's dentist appt in Nov. They billed Paula instead. Normally I wouldn't care but I just learned today that our insurance (Guardian) has a $1500 lifetime limit per person for ortho. One of the Xrays Shawna had in November was a panoramic and that gets billed thru the ortho area. Paula definitely needs braces someday so I don't want this charge going towards her limit. That and this particular office hasn't seen Paula in over 2 years. She doesn't like them. Only Shawna sees them. I take Paula to mine and Todd's dentist.

Shawna has her 5 yr check up next month. She'll get tons of shots. :0( Poor thing. I'm making Todd take her. Actually I'll probably go too since this is a new office and I want to meet the doctor. But when it comes time to do the shots I'll leave. No sense passing out in there eh?

Braces on longer

Today I had an appt with the Periodontist who is going to do my dental implants. It was a meeting to go over what the next steps are and to book the appt for the surgery. He took 4 Xrays and determined there is definitely enough root room to insert an implant in my front area spot. He wanted me to the Prosthodontist, who is in charge of the crowns to cover the implant nub. I made an appt for the implant with the understanding that I'll be getting an anesthesiologist. The cost of all this is enormous. But it's why I did the braces in the first place. The braces needed to move the roots so it all fit.

After making my Feb appt I drove to see the Prosthodontist (who I really like and respect) and he gave me news I wasn't expecting. First, my front bite is too far forward and needs to be moved back. I can agree to this now that he's made it apparent. Next, I have a small tooth next to my 2 center teeth. My moms side of the family have this condition and I inherited it in 1 tooth. The plan from teh beginning was we would move it to allow for a veneer. On the opposite side is #11 which is missing. In an attempt to move the roots, the spaces next to the 2 center teeth are 10mm...the same size as my 2 front teeth! How lame would that be if I had 4teeth on top all the same size. Bad. I know how this happened and why, (my root is tipped so to move it over the distance below got wider) but now how do we fix this issue.
1. We could put all 4 teeth the same size. NOT
2. We could do veneers on the front teeth making them larger while capping the other 2. Not my favorite idea because I hate messing with perfectly good teeth. Hence why I'm doing all this work in the first place to avoid another bridge.
3. He can add to the eye teeth using filling material and "beef" them up making them wider, filling in the space. My first choice as of now.

We can't do much more with the braces for this problem because I have a 3 part bridge on the upper right (if your me) which can't be moved using braces. AND you want all the teeth to be uniform, meaning both eye teeth s/b the same size, both front teeth s/b the same size, etc.

So I'm bummed.

Edited to say: I received a call from one of the dentists. All 3 did a conference call and the Ortho says he can lessen the space and push the upper teeth in. I have an appt for next week.