Monday, November 30, 2009

Got Medicine?

Yesterday morning my computer contracted a virus. It was brought on by a worm. Who does this? And even more importantly, WHY would someone do it? My sweet hubby stayed in my office ALL day long trying to get it fixed. He ran this and that and the other thing. Finally, after many hours of sitting and waiting and wishing, it was nearly cured. I say nearly only because there is an application that I can't use, but hopefully, his brilliant mind will figure that one out today.

Suz, Crystal, a friend of ours, Teresa, and I went out on Friday shopping. With my kids at the ages they are, I really didn't have a huge need to be there when the sales started. But it is as much a part of my holiday tradition as anything else, so of course, I didn't miss it. I was at Wal-Mart at 4:30. Suz and Teresa never even went to bed. I think they were at Old Navy or somewhere at 2:30. My age tells on me when I don't get my sleep, so I stayed at my house and slept and met up with them at Wal-Mart.

I thought the crowds were just as huge as they usually are -- and just as annoying. What's the deal with people overlooking the personal space of others? The stores were so hot and I felt like the swine flu virus was just floating in the air. Are retail stores in cahoots with doctors? I don't know, but it sure seems so. The good news was that there were lots of places to sit and take a break. The bad news was that there was always someone else sitting there.

I was so exhausted after 18 hours of straight shopping that I didn't feel like I could safely drive the 50 minutes to my house from hers. Instead I spent Friday night at her house. When I got to bed, I was so tired that it took awhile to fall asleep. The next morning when I woke up, my biceps were sore. I guess from carrying all the stuff around.

All in all, it was great fun. We shared many laughs and took in some amazing people watching. So Day After Thanksgiving Shopping 2009, done.

Jeff and I went to Ronnie and Nan's Saturday night to watch what ended up being an awesome Georgia-Georgia Tech game. My stomach was in knots the entire night. This was a biggie. Thankfully, the Dawgs came out on top. Nan made delicious chili with all the fixings. She's such a good cook. She had all of her Christmas decorations out and they were beautiful!!! She said she had worked so hard that her back was hurting. If you happen to read this, thank you, Nan, for a usual good time!

I have a luncheon today with Suz and the other girls I work with. It's in Buckhead and it'll be nice I'm sure. Maybe I can get a picture to share with y'all.

Hope everyone had a good Turkey day. We sure did.

Till next time. . .

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Thanksgiving Morning

I love Thanksgiving morning. I love the smells coming from my kitchen. I love the quiet in the house. And I love to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

When my boys were little, I would watch the parade while reading the ads for the big shopping day Friday. I would hurry out early in the morning to make sure I got my Thanksgiving Day paper. At times they would be hard to find and I never wanted to miss out on anything. I don't even buy a paper now. I'm sure that it's filled with coupons and such, but I usually accidentally leave my coupons at home, which stresses me out.

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade has such interesting facts. The picture I posted above is from the parade in 1941. This was the Thanksgiving before Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7th. This was the last year the patriot was used. He was donated to the World War II effort. The parade wasn't held in during the war. The balloons were deflated and donated to the War effort. Some of the floats tower 10 stories above the street. Macy's is the second highest user of helium. Who knew?

Anyway, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade definitely is a tradition for me. It is the perfect start to Thanksgiving Day. That and a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, which, by the way, will be on TV tonight. Do y'all have any little things that you do that are traditional for you?

Okay. Gotta go stir my mac and cheese. Hope you all have a very happy Thanksgiving, that your turkeys are perfectly golden and moist. That your pies are creamy and spiced just right. That your potatoes have no lumps. And that your rolls rise to perfection! But most of all, that you get to enjoy your traditions with family and friends.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Thanksgiving Number One

I am so lucky. I have three Thanksgiving dinners. We have Thanksgiving with the Kimballs, which is my mom's family from South Georgia. Then we have Thanksgiving with the Kellys, Jeff's family. And lastly on Thanksgiving night, we have Thanksgiving with the Howells, my dad's family.

Last Sunday afternoon we had the Kimball Thanksgiving. All of my South Georgia family came up here. Look at this little angel saying the blessing before we ate. I wish y'all could hear him pray. Each time it's a different blessing. He's really thanking God for the blessings in his life. So precious.
MaMa and PaPa Kimball had three boys and only one girl. Then they had four granddaughters and two grandsons. Then they had seven great-grandsons and only two great-granddaughters. They saw all of us except for Hannah Leigh and Emma. Hannah was born about a month after MaMa died and three months after PaPa died. If they could've known her, they'd have loved her so much. PaPa especially loved his granddaughters. He definitely had a soft spot for little girls. He'd look for ways to spoil us. Mainly with trips to the store to get a little brown bag of candy. I'll always wonder why they couldn't have lived a little longer so they could see their last granddaughter.

Here's a picture of the pretty girls. Hannah, Alayna and Emma. Emma's Jackie and Rick's little girl.

My variety of pictures from Sunday weren't very good. I thought I was making good ones. Then when I got home to download them, I was disappointed. I'll try to do better at the other two Thanksgiving dinners.

I'm done working for the week. Yee-haw! I had a four-and-a-half hour deposition today. I was so tired when we were finished. But now I'm done and I'm ready to get my Thanksgiving on!

I decided not to do any more painting right now. It's so much trouble and I'm wanting to get my Christmas decorations started. I told daddy that we'd hook back up for the painting after the New Year. I'm sure by then I'll need something to get me out of my doldrums.

Jeff's team lost the Super Bowl. Gasp. I know. It was unreal really. They were undefeated all season and then they just couldn't get in their groove Saturday. It was sad. The kids were sad. The parents were mad. The coaches were sad and mad. I ended up being ultra, ultra mad. There are a few things in my world that you don't mess with. 1. My husband. 2. My kids.
3. My family. Those three are off limits to everyone except me.

I don't know how it is in other sports or football in other parts of the country, but around here, parents get downright ugly about things. I think they think the coaches are paid for their time and work. Boy, don't I wish they were. It's all well and good till a loss comes along. People really show their true character then. Anyway, I was sorry for Jeff. He had worked so hard all season and was so proud of his team and what they had accomplished. Then a few of the parents had to go and show their butts and ruin it all. What horrible examples people set for kids.

I know this post ranks right up there among my most boring ones, but I wanted to post about Jeff's game and Thanksgiving with my South Georgia family and share the couple of pictures with y'all.

Hope everyone is ready for Turkey Day!

Till next time...

Friday, November 20, 2009

Can You Smell That Smell

Cam says I have a nose like a coon dog. It's true. I really do. I smell everything. It's probably my strongest sense. Smells take me to all different places in my life all the time. Sometimes it's good; sometimes not.

A female with an unreal sense of smell living in a house with two hunters and a husband who coaches youth football isn't always a great thing. You never know what you might encounter at any given time.

For example. Last night -- all night -- I kept smelling this very strong, very bad odor. It smelled like electrical wires burning or plastic burning or something like that. At that time no one was here except for Cam and me. He swore he couldn't smell anything. Nothing new there. That's when he made the comment that I have a nose like a coon dog. I was sniffing everywhere trying to determine where that smell was coming from. It was awful. I'm not exaggerating either. It was bad. It seemed to be in the air and not coming from any particular place. So I'm sniffing around trying to find the source of the stink. Later when Ross came home, he smelled it too. He thought it was plastic burning. So I'm still looking for it when I came across this.

Friends, this is the paperwork from a package of Doe Estrus Wafers. If you're like me and have no idea what they are, here's what I found out: "They contain urine collected from one single doe during estrus cycle. Lure is blended with highly attractive musk." All I can say is thank goodness I'm not a boy deer or a hunter. That smell was H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E. And Cam had those wafers laying around like they were Glade air fresheners. If you get mad at your hubby and want to be really cruel, put some of these under his pillow. Who knows, though, since they attract boy deers, they just might attract men, too!

I had lunch with Ethan today.

I took the turkey cookies and let him pass them out to his classmates.

He had told his teacher I was coming and bringing cookies, so I think he was excited to have me there. He's such an affectionate boy. He just hugged me when I got there and put his arm around me when we were walking out of the lunchroom. Sweet. Sweet. Sweet.

Of course, there was, as there always is, the typical annoying kid. You know the one. The one who won't shut up. The one who won't let you visit with the kid you're there to see. The one who wants to show you all the gross things they can do with their eyes. The one who begs you for an extra cookie when you don't have enough to go around. Yeah, you know the one.

And it took me on a nostalgic trip down Memory Lane. Both Ross and Cam went to elementary school at the same school Ethan goes to. I bumped into Ross's third grade teacher. She recognized me and said hello. She wanted me to tell Ross hi for her. Wow. It's really strange because the teachers that were there when my boys were there are obviously getting older and there were some teachers there that looked young enough to be my kid! OMGosh, I hate getting old. I wish that time would slow down a bit. Life's going by way too fast for me right now.

I saw Cam's kindergarten classroom. The image of him standing in that room on his first day of kindergarten telling his teacher that he "bringded" his lunch is forever burned in my memory. I left the school with a big lump in my throat and a tear in my eye.

Left there and went to Lowe's and Home Depot looking for more paint. I don't understand those two stores. Each one of them had only one person working in the paint department. There was a long line in both stores. You know how long it takes to mix paint. What's the deal? Why don't they hire some more people? I mean, it couldn't be all that hard to do. God is teaching me patience in the strangest ways. Geez. I wish He would hurry up. I'm getting impatient while waiting on my patience.

Hope everyone has a great Friday evening. Not sure what we'll be doing. Jeff's team is playing in the Super Bowl tomorrow at noon. I'll have some pictures of my sweetie doing what he loves to do almost more than anything.

Till tomorrow.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Turkey What

Turkey cookies. I made these tonight to take to Ethan's class tomorrow. I made them for him last year and he reminded me of it Sunday night. So being able to take a hint, and not being able to turn him down, I agreed to make them for him again this year. I must admit, I enjoy having a little boy want me to do something like that for him. I always did things for my boys and their classmates when they were little. Now all they want is my debit card. Such is life, I suppose.


I mean, obviously, they don't look exactly like a turkey, but kids love them. Here's what you need to make them:
1 tub of chocolate frosting
miniature Reese cups
candy corn gobblers
fudge striped cookies
Take a cookie. Frost the top of the Reese cup. Put the frosted side down on the cookie. Then take the candy corn gobbler and put a dab of frosting on it and stick it onto the Reese cup. Frost another cookie just a little and stick it to the Reese cup. Voila. Turkey cookies.

Cute little things, aren't they?


Worked this morning and then went to get my hair trimmed. It was so nice to see the sunshine today. It's not going to be around long though. I think it's supposed to rain yet again Saturday night. Ugh. And into Sunday. Double ugh. We're having our Thanksgiving with my South Georgia family Sunday afternoon. We're going to my cousin and his wife's house in Cumming. So we're having South Georgia Thanksgiving in North Georgia. That should be a lot of fun with all the kids cooped up inside with it raining outside.


Finished up my painting. Now I'm ready for my dad to come next week and do the rooms he's going to do. I felt like my arm was going to fall off today while I was finishing. That's such hard work. But it looks very nice. I've got to go tomorrow or Saturday and pick out the color (s) for the rest of the rooms. I'm pretty undecided what I want to do.


Cam and Ross have been hunting quite a bit and haven't gotten anything. Cam saw a doe this morning with her fawn. He kept waiting for the big, bad buck to come along behind her, but he never did. Oh, well. Maybe tomorrow. Cam's never killed a buck before. I would really like to see him get one. I think he's going down to his hunting land tomorrow afternoon to stay till Saturday night.


Have y'all heard of Pandora? It's free Internet radio. You choose the song or artist or genre that you want to hear. It then plays songs from that genre. Amazing really. I've been listening to Christmas music all evening. Loooooooove it!

Guess that's it for Thursday. Till tomorrow. TGoodnessIF!

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Long Time, No Write

This week I've been playing catch up. After nearly two weeks of doing nothing, I've been pretty busy. Last night Suz and I went to Lenox Square to do some "Christmas Shopping." I put "Christmas Shopping" in quotes because this is the second shopping trip that we designated to "Christmas Shop." Well, neither of us did much "Christmas Shopping." Like Suz said, at the rate we're going, we'll be through with our shopping by this time next year. The stores just don't have anything that blows my skirt up. And has anyone else noticed how expensive things have gotten? Outrageously so. We had our usual exceptionally good time anyway. We had dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. And got a sneak peek at the Macy's Great Tree, an Atlanta tradition since 1948. It's not fully decorated yet, but it will be by Thanksgiving night when it will be lit. I love this tradition. The Macy's Great Tree tradition goes along with the Pink Pig, which I rode as a little girl back in the '70s.

My mom has had a cold since Sunday morning. Sunday Night Supper was at Steak and Shake this week. The food was mediocre, the milkshake too sweet and the service awful. And this table was rocking the house!

Ross had been on an evening hunt, but joined us afterwards. Can you see him? He's all in camouflage. Suz and Alayna can flash a smile on command. Cute, huh?

On Friday afternoon, I made some cookies. They were a recipe I got from Tammi, one of my favorite bloggers. Visit her. She has great recipes on her blog and lots of good family stories. She has beautiful, funny grandkids. She doesn't look old enough to be a Nana, that's for sure.

Anyway, the recipe was for pecan sandies. Oh, my stars. They were so good. The secret ingredient was the toffee chips. And they call for whole wheat flour, which I've never used before. I took a plateful to my deposition yesterday and everyone thought I was such a good cook. Ha! I definitely give Nana's Kitchen Pecan Sandies five stars!

Word of advice. It's a big recipe. My Kitchen Aid mixer was slinging cookie dough everywhere. Bandit never left my side the entire time I was chopping the pecans and mixing the dough. Nuts and dough were flying all over the kitchen. Her quickness paid off for her in a big way!


Worth the mess. Visit her blog and get the recipe. She has all her recipes posted in the sidebar of her blog. It's filed under cookies. Just so you know. Don't want you to have to think any more than necessary. I try to be helpful, you know.

Saturday night Nan, Ronnie, Jeff and I had dinner at Monica and Bob's house. They are such great cooks and entertainers. We had the best time watching a very exciting Georgia game. They made grilled chicken breasts with southwest rub, black beans and rice and the absolute best cornbread ever. It was so light and fluffy. Not so much cornmeal and more flour. Yummy. Thought y'all might like the recipe for the chicken and the cornbread. Here you go:

MONICA AND BOB'S GRILLED CHICKEN WITH SOUTHWEST RUB
Pound your chicken breasts till they're all evenly thick. Then grill them.
Top with Paul Newman's Southwest dressing, bacon strips (cooked), sauteed onions (if so inclined), and shredded sharp white cheddar cheese. Place on baking sheet and put in oven until cheese melts.

MONICA AND BOB'S JALAPENO CHEDDAR CORNBREAD
Ingredients
* 3 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 cup yellow cornmeal
* 1/4 cup sugar
* 2 tablespoons baking powder
* 2 teaspoons kosher salt
* 2 cups milk
* 3 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
* 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted, plus extra to grease the pan
* 8 ounces aged extra-sharp Cheddar, grated, divided
* 1/3 cup chopped scallions, white and green parts, plus extra for garnish, 3 scallions
* 3 tablespoons seeded and minced fresh jalapeno peppers
· Directions
· Combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the milk, eggs, and butter. With a wooden spoon, stir the wet ingredients into the dry until most of the lumps are dissolved. Don't over mix! Mix in 2 cups of the grated Cheddar, the scallions and jalapenos, and allow the mixture to sit at room temperature for 20 minutes.
· Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 by 13 by 2-inch baking pan.
· Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top, and sprinkle with the remaining grated Cheddar and extra chopped scallions. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool and cut into large squares. Serve warm or at room temperature.

I should have made some pictures, but I didn't. Sorry. Oh, and we made Smores over their fire pit after the Dawgs won the game!

I got a nice surprise on Sunday afternoon. My mother- and father-in-law came up for a short visit. They knew I had not been feeling well earlier in the week and they brought me these.

Tulips. One of my favorite.

Remember when I wrote about my amaryllis bulbs? Well, look at them now. Three different ones planted at the same time. One is in bloom. One is growing and looking good. One looks -- well, we'll just say that it looks like it's still thinking about things. Isn't that crazy? I'll keep you updated as they grow. They are so beautiful.

I've been doing quite a bit of this too.

Yep, that's right. Painting. That of which I do not speak. I think it's in my blood. I definitely have a love/hate relationship with painting. Next week, though, I'm calling in the big dog. My dad is coming to paint my dining room and kitchen, laundry room and half bath. He'll probably get all that done in two days.

Jeff has been shampooing our carpets for the last two days. He's doing such a good job, too. You'd never know that this carpet is 15 years old, has had two boys grow up on it, and house trained a puppy on it. It's got some rough places, but all in all, it looks pretty decent. Not new, but not 15 years old either.

I've been planning what all I want to cook for Thanksgiving. I'm going to try to make some of my family's favorites. Corn, cabbage, cranberry sauce. What are y'all making?

Have y'all thought about Christmas music yet? I've not only thought about it, but I've been listening to it. I know. I know. You probably think I'm nuts. I just enjoy it so much, so I've decided to go ahead and break out the CDs. I made my list of what I want to download for my iPod. I'll put my favorite Christmas CDs on it, but I've got about 50 songs I need to buy. I'll sooo get my money's worth. I have to drive a lot for work and I love to listen to Christmas music while yelling at other drivers. Gets me in the real Christmas spirit.

So that explains why I've been neglecting my blog the last several days. I've just been plain ol' too busy. Hopefully, though, I'll be back to my regularly scheduled blogging.

Next up. . .

Till next time.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Life from the Dentist Chair

So I went back to the dentist today. For the second day this week. To spend another three hours. And no, in case you're wondering, like my Auntie Theresa, I'm not having an affair with my dentist. Even if I wasn't happily married and even if he wasn't hopefully happily married and EVEN if he was Ryan Gosling from The Notebook, I'd have to pass on that one.
After all I've been through, I just couldn't be married to a dentist. Yeah, you're right. If all of the above were true, and he looked like Ryan Gosling, I'd forget about him being a dentist.

But I am so happy to say that I think I have turned the curve. I am FINALLY feeling more like my old self. Not that that was all that great, but hey, it's me and I'll gladly take it.

One can find the strangest things to do while waiting an extremely long time for the dentist to come in.
The room I was in today was what they call "The Florida Room." It looks out of these ginormous windows. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day. "The Florida Room" was a perfect place to be if you had to be at the dentist at all. I felt like a lizard tanning on a rock.


My dentist office plays CNN constantly on TVs in every room. The waiting room included. After this experience, I am pretty caught up on all current affairs.

For example, did y'all hear about the little girl who had a cold a couple of weeks ago and now she can't stop sneezing? She sneezes about 12,000 times a day. Can you imagine? She's perfectly healthy otherwise and the sneezes don't hurt or anything. She's a quiet sneezer too. Not the loud, lung clearing, earth shattering sneeze you hear some people do. Hers is a quite little achoo.

And did you know that NASA has reported that there is water on the moon? Interesting. Balloon boy's parents pled guilty today.

There were so many other headlines and news breaks that were sad and a few that made me disgusted and mad. I really don't know how they stand to listen to that all day.

While I was waiting I was listening to my iPod. Martina McBride's song, I Have Been Blessed came on. What a beautiful song. I think that sometimes I take for granted so many things. Most of all I take for granted feeling good. Do you? I am a horribly impatient patient. I don't suffer well.

From this experience I have learned that if I want to take a day or two -- or seven -- to just lie around and do nothing, I don't have to be sick to do that. Whoever said you have to be sick or in pain to rest was nuts. And probably extremely ridden with OCD. Rest is one of life's pleasures. You can't enjoy it if you're not feeling well, so take time and enjoy it when you can.

I was feeling so guilty that, since work's been slow the last two weeks, I didn't spend my days doing something productive. But then I realized I should be thankful that I wasn't having to turn away good work because I was sick. Another lesson learned. Enjoy the moment. Next week looks to be very busy. And I will try to enjoy that moment too.

Most of all, I've learned that my life is good. It's so, so, so good. Even the everyday little things are good. If you can drive to see a play, be thankful. If you can eat chips and salsa, be thankful. If you can make it through the day without taking a pain medicine, be grateful. And I am.

So I will close by saying, till next time, LIVE, LOVE and LAUGH!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Fits Like a Puzzle

Yesterday I went back to the dentist. After at least eight Novocaine shots to deaden my mouth, SUFFERING through a series of very painful tests on several of my teeth, he concluded that, not only do I have an abscess and infection in my gum, but am also SUFFERING -- and I do mean SUFFERING -- from TMJD. It was an AH-HAH moment of epic proportions.

I went to the ear, nose and throat doctor once before complaining of an earache. He didn't find anything wrong with my ear and thought it could be TMJD. Each and every time I have a migraine headache, I also get very bad ear pain. The pieces fit together like an ugly puzzle.

I came across this article and thought it was so interesting. It's kinda boring, but you never know, by sharing it I may help some other poor soul get a diagnosis.

This article was printed in Oprah Magazine.

Frequent headaches? Ear pain? The cause may be a TMJ disorder, a condition that often goes undiagnosed.
The sufferers are primarily women, and there are 10 to 30 million of them: They develop a snap, crackle, or pop in the jaw—and it isn't their cereal. They have a temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder. If any part of the TMJ system of muscles, tissues, ligaments, and bones dislocates or becomes inflamed, the disorder can result. Experts aren't completely sure what causes the problem. It may be a chronic clenching or grinding of teeth, or trauma to the jaw from, say, a root canal (when you have to keep your mouth open wide for an extended period), or whiplash. Arthritis may play a part, yet for a significant number of people, TMJ disorders begin for no obvious reason.Some of the symptoms—headache and ear pain, for example—can be mistaken for migraines or ear infections. Other symptoms include neck pain, a clicking or popping sound when you open or close your mouth, and jaws that catch or lock up. You can do a simple self-diagnosis by using the test on this page, suggested by James Fricton, DDS, a professor in the division of TMJ disorders and orofacial pain at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry. Most of the time, sufferers can find relief by reducing the amount of wear and tear to the joint. Your dentist might suggest avoiding chewing gum and may prescribe a nighttime bite guard to minimize clenching and grinding. Some people find relief with muscle relaxation techniques, but for chronic sufferers, prescription drugs or even surgery (to repair or even replace the joint) may be recommended.The Test: While opening your jaw slightly, place a finger over the joint in front of your ear, and then open wide until you can feel the joint move. If you feel the joint click or if it's tender when you press, you may have a temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There has been one shining spot to all this SUFFERING. Suz and her family sent me the most beautiful, cheery flowers yesterday.
I have found myself moving them from room to room so that I can enjoy them wherever I'm at.
Alayna was in a Shakespeare play last night. It had been postponed twice. She was soooo excited about it and knew that, of course, I wouldn't miss it for anything. Except maybe excruciating pain. When I called her to tell her, Suz had already told her and she was sobbing. She was soooo disappointed. She knew I was hurting and she didn't want me to come if I couldn't, but she was so sad. I pulled up my boot straps, asked Cam if he'd come along for the ride, and off to Buford we went. In the pouring down rain.
She was beautiful. And, get this. Her mom made her dress out of a Goodwill find! She made the hairpiece too.

Couldn't resist having my picture made with the beautiful "Hermia".

By the time we left to come back home, all the shots of Novocaine had worn off. I couldn't take any pain med because I was driving. It was a rough ride home. But I made it to her play. And it was worth it all.

It's nice to be loved. Especially by a child.

Till tomorrow. . . Have a good Wednesday!

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Make It Four Out of Seven

Four visits to the dentist in one week. That's crazy. I had to go to the emergency dental office this morning. My tooth has been hurting so bad since I got the root canals on Thursday. I have been in excruciating pain. I think the medication I was given for pain was as effective as a Flintstone vitamin would have been.

When I went back today, they had to open the tooth up again and get some of the infection out. He put some medicine in it and closed it up. I've got to go back next Friday and get it cleaned out again. Hopefully, it will be all better by then. It's still swollen and very numb from the five Novocaine shots I got. I dread the minute the feeling comes back. I have a new prescription for pain medicine and I'll bet you can guess what it does to me. Yep, that's right. Itch. But maybe I won't be in agony anymore. Or maybe all the places I've scratched raw will divert my attention from my tooth. Either way, not a good day for me.

Went shopping with Suz and Nan yesterday. We ONLY shopped for five straight hours. I wasn't feeling all that great, but thought I could handle it. What's the difference really, walking in pain or lying down in pain? And like my favorite Bible verse says, A merry heart does good like a medicine. With those two I got a heaping dose of laughter and it did my toothache good.

I had planned on going to Jeff's last regular season football game today, but that didn't happen. His team finished the season undefeated and they'll be in the playoffs next Saturday. I'm so proud of him!

Can't dig up anything else to say, so I guess I'll just say. . .

Till tomorrow. . . Live, Love and Laugh. It really is the best medicine!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Amaryllis by Christmas

This time of year I force amaryllis bulbs so they'll be in bloom by Christmas. Last year it bloomed on Valentine's Day. It grew as tall as a cornstalk and only had one flower. I check on their progress every day and you can literally see them grow. They're fun and beautiful, especially when they do right.

I remember one year I had forced one and it was absolutely gorgeous. My PaPa Howell was at my house for my dad's annual birthday supper. He commented that he had never seen a flower so pretty. It was a dark red one.

I checked a to-do off my Holiday To Do List. I bought these amaryllis bulbs Sunday and started them today.


The last two years they haven't done well for me. In the past I've planted them in a pot with the dirt supplied with the bulb. This time I'm doing something a little different. I read that you can force the bulbs without dirt just by using these.


I'm using tall vases hoping that they'll help support the tall stem. I put about three inches of the river pebbles in each vase.

The bulbs that you buy have lots of dead, dry roots on them. Pull those off.


Then set your bulb down in the vase, root first. Duh. Sprinkle a few more pebbles around the bulb for support.

Then add water. Very important for the water not to touch the actual bulb. It could cause it to rot.
Place them in a warm, sunny window. At night I'll probably move them away from the window because I don't want them to get chilly.
Hopefully, if all goes as planned, I'll have three beautiful amaryllis by Christmas. I like the vase on the left in the picture. The one without the ripples. I like the look of the bulb in the glass.
Oh, and don't worry. I'll keep you updated on their progress. I become a little obsessed with them. Okay, so a lot. Gah. So easy and so beautiful!
On another subject. Have any of you ever been to a dentist office three days out of five? After tomorrow I will have. As y'all know, I get migraines. They've been coming a lot more frequently and I couldn't really understand why. I also have this tooth that's been bothering me, but I put it way back on the back burner. I have a severe phobia of dentists. That's another topic for another day. Maybe one day I'll really elaborate on that phobia. It's pretty funny actually.
Anyway, the tooth that's been hurting is a tooth that has had a root canal and a crown on it already. If the root canal had been done correctly, I shouldn't be feeling anything in the tooth, especially PAIN.
The dentist told me Tuesday that the root canal wasn't done right and that there are still nerves in there, thus the pain. And upon his examination and x-rays, he discovered that the tooth two away from it is abscessed. Say what? It has a crown on it, but not a root canal. So today I get the pleasure of having not one, but TWO root canals. This isn't good news for a girl who breaks out in a cold sweat merely walking in the door of the dentist office. I've had two C-sections, a hysterectomy and kidney stones. I do believe going to the dentist is worse than any of those.
On the positive side, I'm hoping that maybe my headaches will let up and I'm excited I'll be able to drink cold drinks without feeling like someone's drilling through my skull.
Haven't gone out for any jobs this week. It's been uncharacteristically slow. I've learned to enjoy the slow days because they give me a chance to catch my breath.
I've got a fun day planned for Friday. Suz, Nan and I are going to Lenox to shop and have lunch. I can't wait. With those two I know it's gonna be a blast! We're going to do our part to stimulate the economy. Hoping to buy a few Christmas gifts.
Till tomorrow, when I'll have full details of my dentist visit, Live. Love. Laugh. I'd rather be going for a pap or mammogram. Ugh.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Crazy

Yesterday I went crazy.

And that caused me to do something, which I wrote of here and declared never to do again.
But the paint was so irresistible. It looked like melted caramel in the bucket.
Deer Path it was called. I learned of it from a fellow blogger, who inspired me to do some improvements in the boys' bathroom.
It is a small room, of course, so it should be such an easy project. I went at it with a good attitude. Optimistic I was. Eager. Excited. All of which were short lived. After about 10 minutes, I was wishing I had never started. A ladder in a room that size isn't safe. Painting in your slippers isn't safe either. I am learning lessons all along the way in the course of my painting adventures. Some things I have learned are:
1. Never ask for the opinion of your kids. They will vary greatly and all will be intended to discourage you. Example: I asked Cam what he thought of the paint. He replied that he would like it more if it were darker. Before I could even ask Ross what he thought, he asked me why did I use such a dark color. Help me.
2. As I said before, never paint in your house slippers. Especially brand-new ones that you bought while you were out shopping after a depo wearing shoes that were killing you.
3. Always wear something to cover your hair. After many washings, you will still have paint in your hair if you don't. BTW, my scarf had a big paint spot on it when I took it off. Some lessons I do learn.
4. Get rags for mistakes. In my case, get MANY rags. Wet ones and dry ones.
5. Make sure you have everything you need before you get stuck in a small room with a ladder.
6. Remove everything from the room, if possible. I found myself moving things from one place to the other. Finally I just put it all in the tub. Which was great until I needed to get in the tub to paint around it.
7. Stretch. You will inevitably find yourself contorted in the most unusual positions.
8. Take a nerve pill before beginning any paint project.
Look closely at the picture below. It further proves that yesterday I went off my rocker.
Yes, you are correct. That is a whole chicken in that pot. I don't really DO whole chickens. I only eat white meat. The mere thought of handling a whole chicken grosses me out. But yesterday, while I was temporarily insane, I bought a whole chicken to make chicken and dumplings.
I called my mom and asked her how she made hers. When she was going through the whole spiel about how she makes her dumplings, I asked her if she'd ever used these.
Her reply was that she didn't even know they made them. My mama rolls hers out from scratch. What a woman.
I made semi-homemade chicken and dumplings. Ross said they were almost as good as my mom's. Jeff thought I should've broken the dumplings in pieces. I said I hoped they enjoyed them because I won't be making anymore anytime soon. BTW, if someone ever serves you chicken and dumplings, consider yourself loved. They are a lot of work. And I was so sick of that chicken, I didn't eat a bite of them.
Today I'm back to my old self again. I have a few other rooms I'd like to get painted before the holidays. I think I'll call my dad. He's a professional, you know. He doesn't even have to wear a scarf.
Till next time. Happy Tuesday!