So, before I left for Mexico, I asked people for recommendations for books to read. I was excited to have a chance to read guilt-free, without kids and other domestic duties nagging at me. I got a lot of responses, but I knew I'd only be able to read a few books in that time. I picked Karla's recommendation because she was the most enthusiastic, and only gave me one book. With other recommendations there were a few choices given, so I didn't know which to chose. Anyway, I appreciate everyone's recs and I saved them in a document for when I do have time to read more.
Karla recommended Jodi Picoult's "The Pact". So, my review, for whatever it's worth is - it definitely is gripping, keeps you wanting to read more and to know what happened. I would say it's worth reading, but it's not a favorite, because it was just too depressing.
I also had taken a few of my parents recommendations, and a few old favorites that I want to re-read eventually and that could be easy reading if I didn't feel like getting into something new (like "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card). After I finished "The Pact" I started "Princess Bride" - the book that the movie was based on. "Princess Bride" is one of my favorite movies of all time. For anyone that likes the movie I would recommend reading the book. There were a few areas in the book that were less interesting because it was so exactly like the movie that it was like watching it, only slowly because I was reading it. But overall, it was worthwhile because of the parts that weren't included in the movie or parts that differed from the movie. The passions and bonds between characters are more intense, and you are in on the character's thoughts. There's a lot more background on a lot of the characters. It's pretty easy reading - I started it in Mexico, but finished it in the 2 weeks afterward, just reading a little bit at a time. If you've seen the movie, you know what's going to happen, so you can put it down easier.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Saturday, April 28, 2007
CATCHING UP - MORE ON MEXICO
Before the trip my dad wanted me to know what to expect, so he told me to picture a 50's style dentist's office. I'm like...uhhh...I was born in 1979! So, I really didn't know what to expect. Some of my friends have expressed an interest in going to Mexico for their dental work, so I thought it would help if you could see what to expect! I didn't go there planning on taking pictures, so I didn't bring the camera - I also thought Mike would be using it to take pictures of the girls in their new car that arrived while I was gone. But I realized while I was there that I had my camera phone! I'd never used it for anything other than goofing around, so I didn't know how the photos would turn out. They're not great, but they're better than nothing! Along with the pictures of the dentist's office there are a few random photos from the trip - some of the sights (as far as riding around from place-to-place), from the hotel, and the nice spa I went to.
Overall I would recommend Dr. Lara. I stress that I only vouch for him, and not just any dentist in Mexico! He is the only one I've had experience with, and the only reason I even went to him is because my parents and other family have been going to him for over 10 years. If you're interested in him, here is the link to his site: Happy Teeth Dental
One thing I will say about Tijuana is that it was much nicer than I remember from when I was younger! I didn't want to be overdressed, so I just brought really casual clothes. But, it turned out I was WAY underdressed and looked like a total schmuck! I think that Dr. Lara thought I was a schmuck too...he was nice and all, but didn't make much conversation. But by Saturday I think I got into his good graces...I did bring one nicer outfit that I wore that day, and all of a sudden he was more interested in having a conversation. He said he liked my blouse (pronounced it bluce), and was serenading me :-) There was always Mexican musican music playing loudly in the background. I mentioned that I'd gotten one of the songs that I'd heard there over the few days stuck in my head and I only knew one line but I kept singing it in my head over and over. He asked which song and I sang the one line for him...apparently he liked my singing, and that sent him on a rant about how he loves music and singing, and does karaoke. Some how I got to mentioning about how Adrienne is interested in learning to play the harp (she's been interested for about 2 years now) and he was really interested in that and urged me to get her into lessons (which on a side note - I did call a teacher and they recommend some piano first, which I think will be good because if after some piano she's still interested in the harp, then I feel like she'd give it a good try). Oh, one thing that you wouldn't experience here in the U.S., but it didn't bother me too much - I could smell cigarette smoke in the dentist's office. He smokes in his office and not around any patients, but he also doesn't stink or anything.
One thing that I wished the whole time I was there was that I could speak even a little Spanish! I actually started a Spanish class last fall at O.C., but it was by telecourse, and it just was not working for me! So I dropped it. That was when I stopped going to school recently...I had been going 1/2 to 3/4 time since Adrienne was about 8 months old. On another side note - I'll probably be going back this Winter, but this time with no grants - we'll be paying my way, so then I can just do 5 credits. I'm only 15 credits from my Assocites. Anyway, back to what I was talking about...so I took that Spanish class last fall, but dropped it halfway through, and didn't remember any of it while in Mexico. I'll have to take it over to replace that grade I got...I really want to learn Spanish because I think it is the most practical 2nd language living in the U.S.
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| MEXICO |
Overall I would recommend Dr. Lara. I stress that I only vouch for him, and not just any dentist in Mexico! He is the only one I've had experience with, and the only reason I even went to him is because my parents and other family have been going to him for over 10 years. If you're interested in him, here is the link to his site: Happy Teeth Dental
One thing I will say about Tijuana is that it was much nicer than I remember from when I was younger! I didn't want to be overdressed, so I just brought really casual clothes. But, it turned out I was WAY underdressed and looked like a total schmuck! I think that Dr. Lara thought I was a schmuck too...he was nice and all, but didn't make much conversation. But by Saturday I think I got into his good graces...I did bring one nicer outfit that I wore that day, and all of a sudden he was more interested in having a conversation. He said he liked my blouse (pronounced it bluce), and was serenading me :-) There was always Mexican musican music playing loudly in the background. I mentioned that I'd gotten one of the songs that I'd heard there over the few days stuck in my head and I only knew one line but I kept singing it in my head over and over. He asked which song and I sang the one line for him...apparently he liked my singing, and that sent him on a rant about how he loves music and singing, and does karaoke. Some how I got to mentioning about how Adrienne is interested in learning to play the harp (she's been interested for about 2 years now) and he was really interested in that and urged me to get her into lessons (which on a side note - I did call a teacher and they recommend some piano first, which I think will be good because if after some piano she's still interested in the harp, then I feel like she'd give it a good try). Oh, one thing that you wouldn't experience here in the U.S., but it didn't bother me too much - I could smell cigarette smoke in the dentist's office. He smokes in his office and not around any patients, but he also doesn't stink or anything.
One thing that I wished the whole time I was there was that I could speak even a little Spanish! I actually started a Spanish class last fall at O.C., but it was by telecourse, and it just was not working for me! So I dropped it. That was when I stopped going to school recently...I had been going 1/2 to 3/4 time since Adrienne was about 8 months old. On another side note - I'll probably be going back this Winter, but this time with no grants - we'll be paying my way, so then I can just do 5 credits. I'm only 15 credits from my Assocites. Anyway, back to what I was talking about...so I took that Spanish class last fall, but dropped it halfway through, and didn't remember any of it while in Mexico. I'll have to take it over to replace that grade I got...I really want to learn Spanish because I think it is the most practical 2nd language living in the U.S.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Better Still
Okay, so I've still been better as far as not being nauseous CONSTANTLY. But, I have been throwing up now. Sounds worse maybe, but it's less annoying to have that happen randomly and be over, than to be nauseous all the time.
Off to Mexico bright and early! I'll be back Saturday night.
Off to Mexico bright and early! I'll be back Saturday night.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Better
Two days in a row of feeling better. Not ALL better, but better. Hope it keeps up. Only a couple weeks until the 2nd trimester, so that may be a turning point. (Let's hope)
Saturday, April 21, 2007
CATCHING UP - KAREN AND TYLER'S WEDDING
Tonight we went to our good friends Tyler and Karen's wedding. It was at the Gig Harbor Yacht Club and was really beautiful and classy, yet laid back - it was a Hawaiian theme since they were married there earlier this month. Our friends Kanoe and Brandon catered and the food was, as always delicious - I especially liked the cake! Not only did we get to see Karen and Tyler glowing and happy, but we got to see lots of other friends that we hadn't seen in awhile.
I'm assuming since this is online, that they won't mind if I share the link to their wedding site - you can see pictures there. Tyler's dancing with Colette in the last picture of the Gig Harbor Reception photo album. Colette and Adrienne had a lot of fun, and Colette had SO much fun dancing, she didn't want to stop. I kept telling people that we were going to have to drag her out of there kicking and screaming, and we did. Here are a few pictures of the girls at the wedding:
(Doesn't Adrienne look so old here?)
And one of Tyler and Mike:
CONGRATULATIONS TYLER & KAREN - WE LOVE YOU!
I'm assuming since this is online, that they won't mind if I share the link to their wedding site - you can see pictures there. Tyler's dancing with Colette in the last picture of the Gig Harbor Reception photo album. Colette and Adrienne had a lot of fun, and Colette had SO much fun dancing, she didn't want to stop. I kept telling people that we were going to have to drag her out of there kicking and screaming, and we did. Here are a few pictures of the girls at the wedding:
(Doesn't Adrienne look so old here?)
And one of Tyler and Mike:
CONGRATULATIONS TYLER & KAREN - WE LOVE YOU!
PICTURES
Happy Birthday to my sister Bryn today! And to my niece Rianne tomorrow!
Moments that mothers love to see:
This morning when I got up for paper route, this is what it looked like out the window (our future view):
While I was out there to take a picture of the sunrise, I took a few of the progress with the house - the footings are in, and the foundation will be poured on Monday. This is looking down to where the basement will be - I'm standing where the garage will be:
Turned around from the spot I took the last picture from - up to where it angles to the left is the garage, and the diagonal section will be Mike's shop:
Since I had the camera with me when I went outside to leave for route, I took it with me. Sometimes I see some weird, interesting, or beautiful things and wish I had a camera. I didn't have to wish today:
I called 911 to let them know about the loose horse (maybe I should look up the number for animal control and save it in my phone - I feel like I've been calling 911 a lot for non-emergencies lately). I was hoping the peacocks I saw a few weeks ago would be out - there were about five peacocks lined up on the door of a barn and it looked like it would make a really nice photo. Maybe I'll have to make a habit of bringing the camera.
Moments that mothers love to see:
This morning when I got up for paper route, this is what it looked like out the window (our future view):
While I was out there to take a picture of the sunrise, I took a few of the progress with the house - the footings are in, and the foundation will be poured on Monday. This is looking down to where the basement will be - I'm standing where the garage will be:
Turned around from the spot I took the last picture from - up to where it angles to the left is the garage, and the diagonal section will be Mike's shop:
Since I had the camera with me when I went outside to leave for route, I took it with me. Sometimes I see some weird, interesting, or beautiful things and wish I had a camera. I didn't have to wish today:
I called 911 to let them know about the loose horse (maybe I should look up the number for animal control and save it in my phone - I feel like I've been calling 911 a lot for non-emergencies lately). I was hoping the peacocks I saw a few weeks ago would be out - there were about five peacocks lined up on the door of a barn and it looked like it would make a really nice photo. Maybe I'll have to make a habit of bringing the camera.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Will it EVER end?
Feeling sick, that is. I am sure people are SO sick of hearing about how I'm feeling...I'm just trying to figure it out. I thought I was starting to feel better morning-sickness-wise a couple weeks ago, when that annoyance was replaced with the annoyance of the tooth pain. I was hopeful that after I got the root canal earlier this week that I'd start feeling much better - not so! But more on that in a bit.
I got the root canal done on Tuesday. I was actually quite excited to get it - which seemed pretty odd - most people aren't giddy in anticipation for a ROOT CANAL. But, as soon as they numbed me up that horrible pain was FINALLY gone! I have felt great in that regard, and can't wait to get everything done in Mexico next week - it is still annoying to eat because of undone crowns - so gaps in my teeth and the tooth recently worked on is still sore when I eat, but at least not the constant pain. For anyone that may have been concerned, I haven't needed any pain killers since right after the root canal - Tylenol has been enough now. A weird effect of getting the root canal is that I seem to have developed a temporary lisp. It's the same one I had when I was younger, so I find it very frustrating - it's the 's' lisp - I used to practice saying S's with the word "snakes" - I used to say it "th-nake-th". After a few days I was getting concerned, but today it's much better.
The day after the root canal - Wednesday - the day started out and I was feeling great and thinking I might finally be in the clear. I met up with some friends at a restaurant for lunch for a good friend's birthday party, and had a great time. But when I got home - sick AGAIN! Thursday I dragged myself and the girls to the mall because I needed to get a few things for a wedding reception we're attending on Saturday. I actually had a pretty good time shopping and spent quite awhile - about 2 1/2 hours - quite a feat with two little ones running around! But, it was also where the confusion about what in the world is up with me! started. Twice when coming from inside the mall to outside the mall I got suddenly very nauseous and threw up (once in the bushes, once - very unfortunately - in the parking lot). That is unusual because the kind of sick I've dealt with most of the time has been just feeling very nauseous, and tired. Now I'm actually vomiting! Ugh, making myself sick just typing about it - on to something else. So, it was fun shopping because I had in mind what I wanted and I actually found stuff I liked and for a bargain! I found a necklace I really loved at Macy's that was originally $90, and it was on sale for $22.50! And I found some heels that were originally $35 for $20 - so I paid about $45 for $125 worth of goods! Okay, after that break from sick-related stuff - This is why I'm really confused - Adrienne wokd up this morning and threw up! So, I don't know if in the last couple days I've been sick-sick, or pregnant-sick. I guess all I need to do is wait a few days and see what happens. SO SORRY about all that talk of sickness and complaining!
Today I had my first prenatal doctor's appointment. I guess I'd blocked out that the first visit is one of those intrusive types - so I wasn't prepared and left feeling just a little violated. BUT the upside is that things are looking good, and we were even able to hear the baby's heartbeat (it's a little early yet for that, so we were lucky). Mike didn't come, but the girls did, and Adrienne thought it was pretty neat to hear the baby's heartbeat. It's fun to have a child old enough to understand about what's going on with the baby - unlike Adrienne with Colette, or Colette with this one.
Hopefully I won't be whining and complaining so much in my next post!
I got the root canal done on Tuesday. I was actually quite excited to get it - which seemed pretty odd - most people aren't giddy in anticipation for a ROOT CANAL. But, as soon as they numbed me up that horrible pain was FINALLY gone! I have felt great in that regard, and can't wait to get everything done in Mexico next week - it is still annoying to eat because of undone crowns - so gaps in my teeth and the tooth recently worked on is still sore when I eat, but at least not the constant pain. For anyone that may have been concerned, I haven't needed any pain killers since right after the root canal - Tylenol has been enough now. A weird effect of getting the root canal is that I seem to have developed a temporary lisp. It's the same one I had when I was younger, so I find it very frustrating - it's the 's' lisp - I used to practice saying S's with the word "snakes" - I used to say it "th-nake-th". After a few days I was getting concerned, but today it's much better.
The day after the root canal - Wednesday - the day started out and I was feeling great and thinking I might finally be in the clear. I met up with some friends at a restaurant for lunch for a good friend's birthday party, and had a great time. But when I got home - sick AGAIN! Thursday I dragged myself and the girls to the mall because I needed to get a few things for a wedding reception we're attending on Saturday. I actually had a pretty good time shopping and spent quite awhile - about 2 1/2 hours - quite a feat with two little ones running around! But, it was also where the confusion about what in the world is up with me! started. Twice when coming from inside the mall to outside the mall I got suddenly very nauseous and threw up (once in the bushes, once - very unfortunately - in the parking lot). That is unusual because the kind of sick I've dealt with most of the time has been just feeling very nauseous, and tired. Now I'm actually vomiting! Ugh, making myself sick just typing about it - on to something else. So, it was fun shopping because I had in mind what I wanted and I actually found stuff I liked and for a bargain! I found a necklace I really loved at Macy's that was originally $90, and it was on sale for $22.50! And I found some heels that were originally $35 for $20 - so I paid about $45 for $125 worth of goods! Okay, after that break from sick-related stuff - This is why I'm really confused - Adrienne wokd up this morning and threw up! So, I don't know if in the last couple days I've been sick-sick, or pregnant-sick. I guess all I need to do is wait a few days and see what happens. SO SORRY about all that talk of sickness and complaining!
Today I had my first prenatal doctor's appointment. I guess I'd blocked out that the first visit is one of those intrusive types - so I wasn't prepared and left feeling just a little violated. BUT the upside is that things are looking good, and we were even able to hear the baby's heartbeat (it's a little early yet for that, so we were lucky). Mike didn't come, but the girls did, and Adrienne thought it was pretty neat to hear the baby's heartbeat. It's fun to have a child old enough to understand about what's going on with the baby - unlike Adrienne with Colette, or Colette with this one.
Hopefully I won't be whining and complaining so much in my next post!
Monday, April 16, 2007
Cheering Myself Up
So, I was bored and wanted to put a picture up so did a random search for one. This is what came up. This is from Christmastime 2003. I made beaded necklaces for all my sisters and sisters-in-law. I can't remember why, but I took pictures of each one. I think I might have emailed the pictures to show someone. This one is for Mike's sister Lynda who loves dragons:
So that was the random one, but now I want to put up the pictures of the other necklaces for fun. I LOVE doing crafty stuff like this, but we haven't had the room for me to do things without the girls getting into stuff, so I haven't done much over the years since I've been married. BUT, one of the MANY reasons that I can't wait to move into the house is because I will have my very own craft room! It will be such a stress reliever to be able to work on projects all the time.
This one was for Mike's sister Diane who likes cats (she and Lynda were a little harder to make necklaces for because they didn't seem like jewelry type of gals, so I wanted to do something that they would like because of the charms, and not because it was pretty - I think Lynda really liked hers and I saw her wear it quite often):
Rachel, Kristine and Karen were easier to make necklaces for. This is Rachel's (Mike's brother Robert's wife):
And Mike's sister Kristine's (daisies):
I liked the one for Kristine, so I made one for Adrienne:
And Mike's sister Karen's (sunflowers), it wasn't finished yet:
I guess I hadn't made the ones for my family yet, but I also didn't take pictures of them when I did. Oh well.
Sorry if that was boring, but it was fun for me and cheered me up. I'm still in a lot of pain and have been on and off the pain killers today. I'll let you all know how the root canal goes tomorrow - I hope it takes all the pain away, but maybe will just help to ease it until Mexico. Besides being in pain, I've also been a big of an emotional wreck - don't know if it's coming from being in constant pain, or hormonal, or what. I've just been weeping over the stupidest of things. This morning when I first started to fall apart I was talking to my parents over speakerphone - I guess I must have sounded pretty pitiful, because they swooped in and came to pick up the girls for awhile to give me a break. It was really nice, and much needed.
So that was the random one, but now I want to put up the pictures of the other necklaces for fun. I LOVE doing crafty stuff like this, but we haven't had the room for me to do things without the girls getting into stuff, so I haven't done much over the years since I've been married. BUT, one of the MANY reasons that I can't wait to move into the house is because I will have my very own craft room! It will be such a stress reliever to be able to work on projects all the time.
This one was for Mike's sister Diane who likes cats (she and Lynda were a little harder to make necklaces for because they didn't seem like jewelry type of gals, so I wanted to do something that they would like because of the charms, and not because it was pretty - I think Lynda really liked hers and I saw her wear it quite often):
Rachel, Kristine and Karen were easier to make necklaces for. This is Rachel's (Mike's brother Robert's wife):
And Mike's sister Kristine's (daisies):
I liked the one for Kristine, so I made one for Adrienne:
And Mike's sister Karen's (sunflowers), it wasn't finished yet:
I guess I hadn't made the ones for my family yet, but I also didn't take pictures of them when I did. Oh well.
Sorry if that was boring, but it was fun for me and cheered me up. I'm still in a lot of pain and have been on and off the pain killers today. I'll let you all know how the root canal goes tomorrow - I hope it takes all the pain away, but maybe will just help to ease it until Mexico. Besides being in pain, I've also been a big of an emotional wreck - don't know if it's coming from being in constant pain, or hormonal, or what. I've just been weeping over the stupidest of things. This morning when I first started to fall apart I was talking to my parents over speakerphone - I guess I must have sounded pretty pitiful, because they swooped in and came to pick up the girls for awhile to give me a break. It was really nice, and much needed.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Miscellany
Starting to feel better pregnancy-wise. Still nauseous, just not so overpowering.
House stuff is slow-going. They started on the foundation this week, but not much progress yet. Hopefully the foundation will be done in a few weeks by the time Mike's project at work is done. Then he and my dad can start on the framing. Mike has a lot of annual saved up so that he can go to work early, work 3/4 time and be home by noon to work for a good portion of the day and we don't have to feel it financially for a few months.
I had put a lot of things off until after the trip to Idaho and was going to be catching up, but this week ended up being about my teeth, and the next few weeks will be as well...so things will continue to be put off for awhile! ("Things" being beating down the clutter in this little place, hopefully for the last time until we get into the house! And doing some Spring cleaning like cleaning carpets and stuff - stuff that makes me feel sane.)
So the deal with my teeth is that I had been going to the dentist for the past year getting check-ups thinking that they were looking at my whole mouth for cavities. Turns out they were only looking at parts of my mouth and so were missing teeth that needed attention! If they had spotted them earlier I probably would have only needed fillings, but now I need 2-3 root canals, and 3-5 crowns (I had a root canal in January that needs a crown, and I may need a 2 1/2 year old crown replaced). I'll find out for sure what I need for EVERY tooth on Tuesday, I may need more fillings, but hopefully no more root canals! The reason it pretty much took over the week is because I was in a lot of pain (beginning on the trip) - it was about a 7 on a scale of 1 to 10. I made an appointment to go to the dentist, the soonest they had was for Thursday. But on Tuesday I went to the doctor to see about getting on antibiotics because I knew I must have an infection. I was in a lot less pain in January when I got the root canal, and needed antibiotics then before I could get it done. I hoped that getting rid of any infection would help with the pain too. The doctor did give me the antibiotics and also gave me permission to use more vicodin than I usually do (usually only about once a week for back pain) for the pain from my teeth. I took more of it on Wednesday while I was waiting for the antibiotics to kick in, which also wiped me out somewhat because it makes me loopy. I was able to get in to the dentist a little earlier on Wednesday and that's when they did some xrays and told me it wasn't looking good and referred me to an endodontist (Tuesday's appointment). They weren't going to do the xrays because of being pregnant, but the risk is low and I wanted them to do it, because I really needed to know what was up with my teeth! On Thursday I didn't use any pain killers because the pain was starting to subside somewhat (always hurts with contact to heat, cold, sweets, and pressure though), and on Friday I had a bad pregnancy sickness day. Saturday the pain was really bad, probably a 9 on a scale of 1 to 10, but I resisted the pain killers - without them the pain spreads to give me an earache, and headache, which then just makes me more tired. Today I gave in, and have been taking them all day - so I've been loopy all day, but at least without the pain I've been able to catch up on cleaning. I can't wait until Tuesday! I just hope the infection is down enough that I can get the worst tooth worked on. I'm going to get a root canal done for the worst tooth on Tuesday since we still have some insurance to cover it, but then for the rest of the teeth I'm making a trip to Mexico in a few weeks. So, that explains to you all how my teeth managed to screw up my whole week. This week I have that appointment on Tuesday, a prenatal doctor's appointment on Friday and a lot of things to do between - starting a new paper route, getting car titles transferred and insurance, getting the oil changed, making arrangements for the trip, etc...so still no time for catching up on that stuff mentioned earlier that I'd been wanting to do since before the Idaho trip! The next week I'm going to Mexico to get my teeth done! So it will still be several weeks until I can start on those things that will help me to feel sane.
Oh, so the deal with Mexico - depending on how much work I need done it would cost in the neighborhood of $5000-$7500 to do here. In Mexico it will cost me $1000-$2000 and that's including the cost of travel. My family's been going there for work for over 10 years with no problems, so hopefully it will be okay! We'll be getting our tax return back just a few days before I leave and it will be paying for my teeth! It was going to help pay down a credit card, but oh well!
Hope you're all doing better than me!
House stuff is slow-going. They started on the foundation this week, but not much progress yet. Hopefully the foundation will be done in a few weeks by the time Mike's project at work is done. Then he and my dad can start on the framing. Mike has a lot of annual saved up so that he can go to work early, work 3/4 time and be home by noon to work for a good portion of the day and we don't have to feel it financially for a few months.
I had put a lot of things off until after the trip to Idaho and was going to be catching up, but this week ended up being about my teeth, and the next few weeks will be as well...so things will continue to be put off for awhile! ("Things" being beating down the clutter in this little place, hopefully for the last time until we get into the house! And doing some Spring cleaning like cleaning carpets and stuff - stuff that makes me feel sane.)
So the deal with my teeth is that I had been going to the dentist for the past year getting check-ups thinking that they were looking at my whole mouth for cavities. Turns out they were only looking at parts of my mouth and so were missing teeth that needed attention! If they had spotted them earlier I probably would have only needed fillings, but now I need 2-3 root canals, and 3-5 crowns (I had a root canal in January that needs a crown, and I may need a 2 1/2 year old crown replaced). I'll find out for sure what I need for EVERY tooth on Tuesday, I may need more fillings, but hopefully no more root canals! The reason it pretty much took over the week is because I was in a lot of pain (beginning on the trip) - it was about a 7 on a scale of 1 to 10. I made an appointment to go to the dentist, the soonest they had was for Thursday. But on Tuesday I went to the doctor to see about getting on antibiotics because I knew I must have an infection. I was in a lot less pain in January when I got the root canal, and needed antibiotics then before I could get it done. I hoped that getting rid of any infection would help with the pain too. The doctor did give me the antibiotics and also gave me permission to use more vicodin than I usually do (usually only about once a week for back pain) for the pain from my teeth. I took more of it on Wednesday while I was waiting for the antibiotics to kick in, which also wiped me out somewhat because it makes me loopy. I was able to get in to the dentist a little earlier on Wednesday and that's when they did some xrays and told me it wasn't looking good and referred me to an endodontist (Tuesday's appointment). They weren't going to do the xrays because of being pregnant, but the risk is low and I wanted them to do it, because I really needed to know what was up with my teeth! On Thursday I didn't use any pain killers because the pain was starting to subside somewhat (always hurts with contact to heat, cold, sweets, and pressure though), and on Friday I had a bad pregnancy sickness day. Saturday the pain was really bad, probably a 9 on a scale of 1 to 10, but I resisted the pain killers - without them the pain spreads to give me an earache, and headache, which then just makes me more tired. Today I gave in, and have been taking them all day - so I've been loopy all day, but at least without the pain I've been able to catch up on cleaning. I can't wait until Tuesday! I just hope the infection is down enough that I can get the worst tooth worked on. I'm going to get a root canal done for the worst tooth on Tuesday since we still have some insurance to cover it, but then for the rest of the teeth I'm making a trip to Mexico in a few weeks. So, that explains to you all how my teeth managed to screw up my whole week. This week I have that appointment on Tuesday, a prenatal doctor's appointment on Friday and a lot of things to do between - starting a new paper route, getting car titles transferred and insurance, getting the oil changed, making arrangements for the trip, etc...so still no time for catching up on that stuff mentioned earlier that I'd been wanting to do since before the Idaho trip! The next week I'm going to Mexico to get my teeth done! So it will still be several weeks until I can start on those things that will help me to feel sane.
Oh, so the deal with Mexico - depending on how much work I need done it would cost in the neighborhood of $5000-$7500 to do here. In Mexico it will cost me $1000-$2000 and that's including the cost of travel. My family's been going there for work for over 10 years with no problems, so hopefully it will be okay! We'll be getting our tax return back just a few days before I leave and it will be paying for my teeth! It was going to help pay down a credit card, but oh well!
Hope you're all doing better than me!
Monday, April 9, 2007
Easter
Well our Easter didn't go like I described that it was going to, but it was still good!
I woke up feeling great yesterday morning, but then after being up for a couple hours I started to feel blah. Plus Colette woke up a snotty mess and I thought that the other parents at church would appreciate if I kept her at home! So we skipped church, but then later after naptime we went to my parents house and spent awhile there with family. We didn't go to Mike's parent's house after-all because they got home from Idaho later than anticipated. BUT, here are those pictures I promised!
Adrienne & Colette:
Adrienne, Kieran, Colette, and Johnny!
I woke up feeling great yesterday morning, but then after being up for a couple hours I started to feel blah. Plus Colette woke up a snotty mess and I thought that the other parents at church would appreciate if I kept her at home! So we skipped church, but then later after naptime we went to my parents house and spent awhile there with family. We didn't go to Mike's parent's house after-all because they got home from Idaho later than anticipated. BUT, here are those pictures I promised!
Adrienne & Colette:
Adrienne, Kieran, Colette, and Johnny!
Sunday, April 8, 2007
The Trip and The Aftermath
Okay, so I didn't say much in my last post about what this road trip was about.
The practical reason for the trip was to deliver our old family vehicle (Honda CRV) to Idaho Falls to get body work done on it by Mike's dad's best friend, at which point it became his parents vehicle; and also to pick up Mike's aunt's van (Pontiac Trans Sport) in Idaho Falls that would become our current vehicle. The logisitics and purpose for this trip surrounding those practical reasons had changed many times in the past few months leading up to it. Originally it was going to be our whole family going, and we were going to spend more time visiting with Mike's extended family on his dad's side. We were also going to go to Yellowstone. Then when it was looking like Mike was going to need to stay for work, the plan was for me to take my time since I would be driving alone, and instead of visiting with Mike's extended family without him I planned on visiting Linae in McCall, Idaho and my sister Calyn in SLC, Utah.
Mike's work had been back and forth about whether he was going to need to stay or if he could go, and the weekend before the trip it was looking like he would be needed to work 13-hour shifts that week. But by then I was feeling horrible everyday with "morning sickness" (all-day), and so I really just wanted to keep the trip as short as possible, but still bearable. So it got shortened up big time - going from being a 7-8 day trip, to 4 days. The hugest saving grace of the whole thing was that my niece Rianne was able to come with me to help out with the kids since she was on her Spring Break. It would have been completely miserable without her, I am SO thankful she could come - plus it was much funner with her along.
Tuesday we drove all day to Boise - it's about 8 1/2 hours of driving, not including stops, and it took us 12 hours. We left at 6:30 a.m. and arrived at 7:30 p.m. (jumped forward an hour into Mountain time). We made stops in Bremerton (breakfast), Auburn (bathroom) - and finally were on our way. I had scheduled breaks for 3 hour intervals at Yakima, WA, and La Grande OR - we spent about an hour at each place. Once we got to Boise we were all so pooped that none of us were hungry for dinner and just crashed. I was thankful that the kids were as tired as I was and we all slept for about 10-11 hours (can't remember exactly). We had 4 hours of driving to look forward to on Wednesday to get from Boise to Idaho Falls, but to break it up after being in the car all day on Tuesday we went to the Boise Zoo first. That is where most of the pictures from the trip were taken:
Here's Rianne with her shadow Colette. They were attached at the hip through the whole trip. Whenever Rianne would attempt to pull her hand away, Colette would pull it in and hold it to her cheek. Which of course Rianne thought was adorable and so continued to hold her hand.
This was a good photo op. The tiger was sitting right against the window, the closest I've personally seen such a big animal at any zoo. Colette was too scared of anything resembling an animal (as you'll see in a second), so I didn't get as many pictures of her as I did of Adrienne.
This is when we discovered that Colette was terrified of not only the animals, but anything that looks like an animal. We were trying to get her to pose on some of these animal statues:
Colette screaming:
Colette didn't seem to realize what she was sitting on at first, then...(screaming again)
Adrienne the prairie dog...
Something Colette wasn't afraid of...
Adrienne, the girly-girl she is, loved posing as a mermaid in a seashell:
On the carousel...
Our trip to the zoo was cut slightly short (we'd been there a couple hours) when I started having an allergic reaction to something. It's only been in recent years that I've started to have extreme allergic reactions (throat closing, hives, etc.), so I'm never sure what will set me off. So we quickly finished our snacks, made a pit stop in the gift shop and bathroom and were back on the road. After a stop halfway from Boise to Idaho Falls (Twin Falls) and getting a bit lost in Idaho Falls, we arrived at Mike's Aunt Sharen's house at about 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday night. Mike's parents had flown into Boise and rented a vehicle that they drove to Idaho Falls that day, and they beat us by a few hours. We got there for dinner, and after that I moved the things from the CRV into the van. Here is a picture of the new van (dubbed "The Disco Van" by Aunt Sharen's son)
Our stay at Sharen's was very short. In the morning we got cleaned up, ate breakfast, and were on our way back to Boise. I wanted to get there with plenty of time to relax and have fun before our long trip back on Friday. The van is a 1994, but has fairly low miles...as you can see here, I took this picture because of all the 7's.
When I left Idaho Falls I filled up the tank. We drove almost 300 miles and only needed to go 3 more miles to reach our destination in Boise where I was also planning on gassing up, when we ran out of gas (The gauge still showed plenty of gas!). Luckily when I realized what was happening we were directly next to an exit. I coasted down the exit and was able to pull off to the side of the road, but couldn't go any further from there. There was a station in sight, but I didn't want to leave the kids alone, and if I took the kids there would be no one to watch our valuables. So, I called 911 and told them it wasn't an emergency, but explained the situation. They were going to send someone out to help. This was the only major time that not having another adult along was a problem. After waiting for about 10 minutes (I'm sure it was taking longer since it wasn't an emergency), I tried to start up the car and it did...I managed to limp our way into the gas station and called 911 again to let them know. After that little adventure we were on our way to our fun-filled night.
We stayed in a Motel 6 the first night since we only needed beds to sleep in, but the second night we sprung for a little nicer hotel, a Comfort Inn with an indoor pool. We unpacked and immediately went for a swim. Then we cleaned up, ordered pizza (the girls got a kick out of that...we never get pizza delivered at home), and went to a nearby movie theater to see "Meet the Robinsons" (pretty good!). It was a pretty big theater (at least by our standards), so that made the experience more exciting. If we hadn't had our little running out of gas adventure we would have been able to see the movie in Real D - they use 2 projectors and I guess it makes the movie look 3D. Then we went for dessert at Denny's (right next to our hotel), and then to bed!
The drive back was so much better and faster. We were on the road at 7:00 a.m. and arrived home at 5:00 p.m. (gained back that hour going back into Pacific, so that helped). One thing that I did that made all the driving more bearable was to buy lots of new toys, books, videos, that I spaced out through the week. We even had a few things we hadn't used by the time we got back. I borrowed my mom's portable DVD player, which I tried not to use too much through most of the week, but on Friday I let it run as much as was desired by the kids.
The girls decided to get mildly sick the morning of the trip and were through the whole week (sneezing, coughing, snotty noses)...so they were given chewable vitamin C's constantly, which seemed to help. I felt pretty good through the whole trip, with only slight nausea along the way. But when I got home I just fell apart. I felt completely horrible on Friday night - nauseous, weak, body aches, headache, etc. Luckily I had arranged with Bryn to do my paper routes while I was gone, and even though I was back by Saturday, she delivered it then too. Good thing because I was so sick and tired. But by Saturday afternoon I was feeling better and was able to make it to an Easter party our friends had planned.
Mike didn't end up working 13-hour shifts after all and because of some problem at the shipyard things were held up and he was actually getting off early all week!!! So he could have come with us, but oh well! Then by Saturday they did need him and so he had to work that 13-hour shift while we were at the big Easter party! I didn't think to bring a camera, but the Easter party was a lot of fun. The party was planned by our friend Audra who was visiting from Utah, and it was going to be at my friend Amanda's house (Audra's sister), but because of the rain it was moved last minute to a nearby church building. There was a big potluck lunch, and after everyone ate, the adults went to hide eggs all through the church. All the kids got tons of eggs and seemed to have a lot of fun. Unfortunately I was one of the first to leave because Colette was in desperate need of a nap! I was too, and slept for about 2 hours while Colette did. SO, that's the trip, and our Easter so far.
This morning the girls woke up to their baskets filled up with goodies from the Easter Bunny (bubbles, puzzles, stuffed animal, and a chocolate bunny - wanted to go light on the candy!), and now that I'm finishing up here we'll be going to church with the girls in their fancy Easter dresses. Later we'll be going first to my family's for Easter dinner, then to Mike's family for Easter dinner! I'll also be getting pictures from Bryn of the girls and the girls with Bryn's kids - Easter pictures we had taken a few weeks ago. So I will post a picture of the girls in the Easter dresses later tonight!
I hope you all have a great Easter as well!
The practical reason for the trip was to deliver our old family vehicle (Honda CRV) to Idaho Falls to get body work done on it by Mike's dad's best friend, at which point it became his parents vehicle; and also to pick up Mike's aunt's van (Pontiac Trans Sport) in Idaho Falls that would become our current vehicle. The logisitics and purpose for this trip surrounding those practical reasons had changed many times in the past few months leading up to it. Originally it was going to be our whole family going, and we were going to spend more time visiting with Mike's extended family on his dad's side. We were also going to go to Yellowstone. Then when it was looking like Mike was going to need to stay for work, the plan was for me to take my time since I would be driving alone, and instead of visiting with Mike's extended family without him I planned on visiting Linae in McCall, Idaho and my sister Calyn in SLC, Utah.
Mike's work had been back and forth about whether he was going to need to stay or if he could go, and the weekend before the trip it was looking like he would be needed to work 13-hour shifts that week. But by then I was feeling horrible everyday with "morning sickness" (all-day), and so I really just wanted to keep the trip as short as possible, but still bearable. So it got shortened up big time - going from being a 7-8 day trip, to 4 days. The hugest saving grace of the whole thing was that my niece Rianne was able to come with me to help out with the kids since she was on her Spring Break. It would have been completely miserable without her, I am SO thankful she could come - plus it was much funner with her along.
Tuesday we drove all day to Boise - it's about 8 1/2 hours of driving, not including stops, and it took us 12 hours. We left at 6:30 a.m. and arrived at 7:30 p.m. (jumped forward an hour into Mountain time). We made stops in Bremerton (breakfast), Auburn (bathroom) - and finally were on our way. I had scheduled breaks for 3 hour intervals at Yakima, WA, and La Grande OR - we spent about an hour at each place. Once we got to Boise we were all so pooped that none of us were hungry for dinner and just crashed. I was thankful that the kids were as tired as I was and we all slept for about 10-11 hours (can't remember exactly). We had 4 hours of driving to look forward to on Wednesday to get from Boise to Idaho Falls, but to break it up after being in the car all day on Tuesday we went to the Boise Zoo first. That is where most of the pictures from the trip were taken:
Here's Rianne with her shadow Colette. They were attached at the hip through the whole trip. Whenever Rianne would attempt to pull her hand away, Colette would pull it in and hold it to her cheek. Which of course Rianne thought was adorable and so continued to hold her hand.
This was a good photo op. The tiger was sitting right against the window, the closest I've personally seen such a big animal at any zoo. Colette was too scared of anything resembling an animal (as you'll see in a second), so I didn't get as many pictures of her as I did of Adrienne.
This is when we discovered that Colette was terrified of not only the animals, but anything that looks like an animal. We were trying to get her to pose on some of these animal statues:
Colette screaming:
Colette didn't seem to realize what she was sitting on at first, then...(screaming again)
Adrienne the prairie dog...
Something Colette wasn't afraid of...
Adrienne, the girly-girl she is, loved posing as a mermaid in a seashell:
On the carousel...
Our trip to the zoo was cut slightly short (we'd been there a couple hours) when I started having an allergic reaction to something. It's only been in recent years that I've started to have extreme allergic reactions (throat closing, hives, etc.), so I'm never sure what will set me off. So we quickly finished our snacks, made a pit stop in the gift shop and bathroom and were back on the road. After a stop halfway from Boise to Idaho Falls (Twin Falls) and getting a bit lost in Idaho Falls, we arrived at Mike's Aunt Sharen's house at about 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday night. Mike's parents had flown into Boise and rented a vehicle that they drove to Idaho Falls that day, and they beat us by a few hours. We got there for dinner, and after that I moved the things from the CRV into the van. Here is a picture of the new van (dubbed "The Disco Van" by Aunt Sharen's son)
Our stay at Sharen's was very short. In the morning we got cleaned up, ate breakfast, and were on our way back to Boise. I wanted to get there with plenty of time to relax and have fun before our long trip back on Friday. The van is a 1994, but has fairly low miles...as you can see here, I took this picture because of all the 7's.
When I left Idaho Falls I filled up the tank. We drove almost 300 miles and only needed to go 3 more miles to reach our destination in Boise where I was also planning on gassing up, when we ran out of gas (The gauge still showed plenty of gas!). Luckily when I realized what was happening we were directly next to an exit. I coasted down the exit and was able to pull off to the side of the road, but couldn't go any further from there. There was a station in sight, but I didn't want to leave the kids alone, and if I took the kids there would be no one to watch our valuables. So, I called 911 and told them it wasn't an emergency, but explained the situation. They were going to send someone out to help. This was the only major time that not having another adult along was a problem. After waiting for about 10 minutes (I'm sure it was taking longer since it wasn't an emergency), I tried to start up the car and it did...I managed to limp our way into the gas station and called 911 again to let them know. After that little adventure we were on our way to our fun-filled night.
We stayed in a Motel 6 the first night since we only needed beds to sleep in, but the second night we sprung for a little nicer hotel, a Comfort Inn with an indoor pool. We unpacked and immediately went for a swim. Then we cleaned up, ordered pizza (the girls got a kick out of that...we never get pizza delivered at home), and went to a nearby movie theater to see "Meet the Robinsons" (pretty good!). It was a pretty big theater (at least by our standards), so that made the experience more exciting. If we hadn't had our little running out of gas adventure we would have been able to see the movie in Real D - they use 2 projectors and I guess it makes the movie look 3D. Then we went for dessert at Denny's (right next to our hotel), and then to bed!
The drive back was so much better and faster. We were on the road at 7:00 a.m. and arrived home at 5:00 p.m. (gained back that hour going back into Pacific, so that helped). One thing that I did that made all the driving more bearable was to buy lots of new toys, books, videos, that I spaced out through the week. We even had a few things we hadn't used by the time we got back. I borrowed my mom's portable DVD player, which I tried not to use too much through most of the week, but on Friday I let it run as much as was desired by the kids.
The girls decided to get mildly sick the morning of the trip and were through the whole week (sneezing, coughing, snotty noses)...so they were given chewable vitamin C's constantly, which seemed to help. I felt pretty good through the whole trip, with only slight nausea along the way. But when I got home I just fell apart. I felt completely horrible on Friday night - nauseous, weak, body aches, headache, etc. Luckily I had arranged with Bryn to do my paper routes while I was gone, and even though I was back by Saturday, she delivered it then too. Good thing because I was so sick and tired. But by Saturday afternoon I was feeling better and was able to make it to an Easter party our friends had planned.
Mike didn't end up working 13-hour shifts after all and because of some problem at the shipyard things were held up and he was actually getting off early all week!!! So he could have come with us, but oh well! Then by Saturday they did need him and so he had to work that 13-hour shift while we were at the big Easter party! I didn't think to bring a camera, but the Easter party was a lot of fun. The party was planned by our friend Audra who was visiting from Utah, and it was going to be at my friend Amanda's house (Audra's sister), but because of the rain it was moved last minute to a nearby church building. There was a big potluck lunch, and after everyone ate, the adults went to hide eggs all through the church. All the kids got tons of eggs and seemed to have a lot of fun. Unfortunately I was one of the first to leave because Colette was in desperate need of a nap! I was too, and slept for about 2 hours while Colette did. SO, that's the trip, and our Easter so far.
This morning the girls woke up to their baskets filled up with goodies from the Easter Bunny (bubbles, puzzles, stuffed animal, and a chocolate bunny - wanted to go light on the candy!), and now that I'm finishing up here we'll be going to church with the girls in their fancy Easter dresses. Later we'll be going first to my family's for Easter dinner, then to Mike's family for Easter dinner! I'll also be getting pictures from Bryn of the girls and the girls with Bryn's kids - Easter pictures we had taken a few weeks ago. So I will post a picture of the girls in the Easter dresses later tonight!
I hope you all have a great Easter as well!
Sunday, April 1, 2007
I'll be gone...
Not that anyone's checking this, but just FYI - I will be gone from Tuesday morning to Friday night. We're taking a road trip. I'll write more about it when we're back!
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