I'm going to be a Queen!

Or rather I'm getting a crown. I went to the dentist (hate them) to have the temporary crown put on and all that goes with that...until he'd cleaned out the old filling and saw an exposed nerve. Great, now that means I've just been downgraded to a root canal first. Lovely, I've heard these things are so painful. So more drilling, x-rays upon x-rays, little files shoving in and out, more drilling, pain. Finally, I think we are about done but he wants to take one more x-ray. Fine, my gums are already tore up, what's one more? The dentist and the assistant leave while I lay there and wonder if I can still work in my afternoon nap. Probably not.

The dentist finally returns and tells me that all the roots have been cleaned out; but... a big BUT, there is a canal that is causing him some concern. While using a file in the canal, the tip of the file broke off. Yes, you read that correctly, the metal file tip broke off and is stuck in the tooth. W H A T ?

He'd spoken with a specialist and was told most likely that piece will just act as a barrier. The canals would have to be filled in anyway before the crown could go on, I'll just have something different. But just in case, he's not going to put the temporary crown on, he'll just put some temporary filling on the tooth. That way, if the tooth still hurts in 2 days, then the temp crown won't have to come off.

So I am to call in 2 days and let them know if the tooth still hurts. If it does, then I'll be sent to a specialist who will try to remove the foreign object. If not, then I guess I'll be returning for the temp crown. Yippee. No wonder I love dentist.

I'm too old for school...

Ugh!! I'm am too old to be getting up for school. That's thirtyish for all who want to know. Last year (being last school in, like May), D's school didn't start until 8:50am. This year, since he's now in middle school, his school day starts at 7:28am. What a difference. Before I could sleep in until 8 am, now I have to be up around 6:30 - ok 6:45, love ya snooze button. The only problem is I still haven't figured out that I now have to go to bed sooner. I still want to watch The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. What's a girl to do?

Flip Flops and cards

It seems a lifetime since I've been here... At any rate, here is my latest projects...first, a get well soon card for my twin who 2 weeks ago ended up in emergency with an asthma attack, only to find out she had 10 blood clots on her lungs. We now know she has a genetic mutation that causes her blood to clot 5-10 times more than the average person, combined with her birth control pills, it pushed her over 30-35% above normal.

Second, I made a couple of birthday cards for friends...

Lastly, I made an album using $1 flip flops from target. I haven't added photos since I'm not sure if I'm going to keep it or give it away...

And of course, I'm working on my Florida trip, But that'll take a backseat until I complete my little brother's birthday card. Until next time...

Mrs. Photogentic Pancreas 2007

I have quite the photogenic pancreas. I know, who knew? I certainly didn't. It wasn't until I went in for an ultrasound that I found out.

I woke last Thursday to find that I had a pain in the middle of my back. Great. Slept wrong again. Am I ever going to be able to purchase a new mattress? (The answer to that hypothetical question is no by the way.) I made a vow to be more conscious of my sleeping position that night.

Well, that didn't work. When I rolled out of bed on Friday, the pain was worse. It hurt to take a deep breath. It hurt to walk upstairs. Oh no, I probably have a kidney infection. Never mind that I've never had a kidney infection so what one feels like I can only guess. Nevertheless, I was convinced that's what is was. Until I saw the doctor later that day. No kidney infection, no kidney stone. Probably muskle-skeletal I was told. A pulled muscle from sleeping wrong. Darn, I have got to get those dreams under control! But...because of the exactness of the location, the doctor wanted to send me for an ultrasound. Huh?

Fast forward to this morning. After falling out of bed this morning and making my way to the hospital, blurry eyed and caffeine free, I was lying on the ultrasound tech's bed. Warm gel (where was that when I was pregnant?) on my abdomen and then there my organs were. In shades of gray on the flat screen monitor. How cool! First up, my liver. A nice medium shade of gray with black spots and lines in it. Blood vessels I'm told. Everyone asks, the technician says, it's perfectly normal. Gotcha. Then the gallbladder. A dark gray blob . Basically we're looking for stones or a thickening of the sides. A lot of times gallbladder problems start showing with a pain thru to the back. But she didn't see anything there. However, she wanted to elongate it so I rolled on my side and watched it flatten out. Still nothing. Good. My kidney looks great. She even measured it. (I wonder what the normal size?) Lastly, she's moving the wand around the center of my abdomen, looking for what i'm not sure. Nothing on the screen is making sense to me. Until she tells me the white line running vertical is my spine. The pancreas lies across the spine but the stomach is in front of it so it's usually hard to see. The stomach is full of gas which is why it's virtually impossible to check the stomch with ultrasound. The gas explains the fuzzy gray nothingness I see. But a little twitch of her hand and I see a light shade of gray come into view. You have a very photogenic pancreas, she tells me. Ahh, what can I say...I've been blessed.

Caller I.D. and liars

Why do people lie? More specifically, why do they lie and say they tried to call you? A conversation I had with my ex last night went a little something like this:

Me: I'm calling to find out where your mom is. (She had been in the CCU for over 2 weeks and now the hospital said she was no longer a patient.)

Him: Didn't April call you?

Me: No

Him: I been trying to call you.

Me: Did you get my machine and leave a message?

Him: I got some digital recording. I know what your message sounds like but all I kept getting was this weird digital recording.

Me: According to my caller id, you haven't called since your mom went in the hospital.

Him: (Quiet pause). I must be hitting a wrong digit or something.

Uh huh, sure. Why do people persist in the lie when they know they've been caught? It's enough to make me scream: LIAR!! LIAR LIAR LIAR!!!!

Okay, occasionally the caller id fails but when i have 4 phones with caller id, come on.

Great American Scrapbooking Convention

I went to my first scrapbook convention today. I had to drive to Grand Rapids but it wasn't too bad of a drive. I was pleasantly surprised to find GR has a nice downtown area. Anyway, after spending $6.50 to park and $14.00 for admission for myself and my son, we were inside.

I'm not sure what I was expecting but it was smaller than I thought. I think there were about 70 vendors but I was through them all within 2 hours. My son and I did a few make and takes but for the most part, the lines were too long for those. So we browsed and I picked up a few items that I wanted. Not a lot since I thought the prices were a little high. Page kits were running a minimum of $10. Completed pages were running from $15. But it was fun and an experience.

They came. They ate. They left...

...a big mess.

After weeks of preparation and planning, it was all over in 3 hours. I actually started preparations over a month ago. Using a template I found, I started building the cake. Trace, cut, fold, trace, cut, fold... a total of 32 times. Then the fun began. More tracing and cutting but this time instead of folding it was pasting. But it was quite worth it. The kids enjoyed taking home a slice of cake filled with party favors.





With that cake done, it was time to move onto the actual cakes. I found something similar to the green cake online (where else?) and with needing another one, asked my son to design a monster of his own. I think he did well.

This marks my first time working with fondant. Interesting. Like play-doh, only frosting. I think they turned out great, even if it was almost midnight before they were done.




D's friends started showing up and in eerie teenage-style, immediately wandered off from the party. He's only 12. He's not supposed to started shunning me in public yet, is he? Okay, whatever.


After devouring the food that took so long to make, they were off to make water balloons. I had made 50 myself but after that, they were on their own. Bad idea. They polished off another package of them, even though I don't think they ever tied them off. Simply filled with water and threw them. No tying necessary. Silly me for wasting my time on that! Then it was off to Bonzai Falls, (an inflatable water slide), before finishing off with cake and 'make your own' sundaes.


A good time had by all...but now I want to pass out from exhaustion. I leave cleanup to nature and the wildest animals found in surburbia.