1 Thankful Thursday #3

1)Online Banking & Quicken - Seriously this saves me hours every month. For several years I didn't really taken advantage of these. In fact for most of our marriage I've been 'behind' in Quicken by several (6-7) months. Hey, two full-time salary incomes with no kids spells financiall wiggle room. However, I've been up-to-date and reconciled in all our personal accounts at least once a week for nearly 9 months. It might give me an ulcer every time, but I'm so glad I'm not doing it by hand. My next goal is to carry this over to Nate's business account.

2) Clean air & Endorphins- About this time of year the valley smog soup really weighs heavy on my mood. If I had a crystal ball last fall I would not have purchased a season snowboard pass, but since its long been paid for (no refunds) I guess I better get my money's worth. I love to get away to Beaver Mountain for a few hours. It is truly amazing how immediate the effects of a crystal clear sky and clean fresh air are. The rush {physical & emotional} I get from racing down the hill is exhilarating. Bring on the snow!

3) Crockpot - I've been hungry ALL day today due to the smells wafting from the slow cooker on my counter. I don't think there is an easier meal than throwing a whole chicken on top of a chopped oinion, carrots, & potatos. It truely is plug-and-go. I tried to lift the bird out after 10 hours on 'lo' and the thing just fell apart. Talk about melt in your mouth! I might have to go back to Albertson's...their whole chickens are on sale for $0.69/pound.

3 Adventures in Bread Making

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In college my bread maker was my Mormon-coffee maker. Most nights I'd fill it and set the timer so that I could have a hot slice on my way to class. I continued the habit as a newlywed, but somewhere along the way my machine died. Nate bought me a new one, but I never quite got it figured out. After about 8 years in the closet, I pulled it out and gave it a whirl. My first few attempts were LESS than perfect. In fact they we completely inedible bricks. I tried more water, new yeast, extra wheat gluten...finally I figured out the right combination for white bread on the quick cycle. YUM! Warm bread from scratch with home-made strawberry jam in under an hour!!! Devine! I think my husband would vote for that for dinner every night of the year.

Tonight I'm attempting a box mix on the full 3 hour cycle. We will see.

2 Big Buisnes is getting BIG!

Here is Allie setting up a movie for her stuffies. She is playing 'pretend' so much more these days. While it is wonderful to see her imagination bloom, playtime seems to be turning into big-mess time.

Last week our wonderful neighbor babysitter, Kenzie, invited Allie to her school's child development lab. It was her first class at 7:30am, but Allie was up early and ready to go at 6:45am. She was so proud to tell everyone who would listen about the lockers, games, and art projects. I think Allie has always been about 15 in her mind.

Side note: we are growing out Allie's bangs. There are at the really awful length right now, so I am being creative pulling them back. UGH! I want to cut them so bad!

1 Sledding

Last week we went sledding with the neighbors. Thanks Teresa for inviting us. The girls had a blast. Allie was fearless! We had to hold Kylie in the sled while we kicked and screamed the first few times, but before long she was climbing on the sled of her own accord.

2 Thankful Thursday #2

1) The Book of Morman - I have started this great book once again. I'm setting a goal to read it through again by May. I say read, but this time around I'm also including listening to it on my mp3 player. Last night I downloaded a zip file {click HERE to go to the site} with the entire book broken down with a track per chapter. I played 5 chapters while I was on the treadmill this morning, but I'm not sure if I'll try it again. I struggled to keep my heartrate up and focus at the same time. Oh, well. I'm still excited to have another option.

2) Hot Showers & Baths - Really! Call me spoiled, but I don't think I could live without hot running water. I love to just soak in the heat and feel my body relax. Awh! Just thinking about it makes me relax.

3) A Wonderful Neighborhood - I'm so glad that my girls have so many little friends so close to us. It is wonderful to feel safe sending Allie out to play. I love that my kids are growing up in much the same environment that I did.

0 The Toothache, part 3...dare I say THE END???

Went to the dentist today. Spent an HOUR in the chair waiting my turn AFTER I had been numbed up. In fact I had to be RE-numbed (darn that other patient) since it had been so long, but other than that all went very smoothly. I'm still numb, go figure, but no massive swelling and most importantly no pain. I'm knocking on wood that this stupid tooth behaves itself from now on. I'm ready to eat solid food again.

2 Adventures in Digital Scraping & a word to the not-so-wise

As you've heard I've taken the plunge into digital scrapbooking. In fact, in a post below you can see my very first attempt at a Layout (LO). I was very excited on Friday to attend my monthly scrap night carrying one small laptop bag and show all my friends the many benefits of going digital. It was nice, but weird, not to make two trips into the building! However, the the smooth night took a turn for the worst when my brand new (under 3 weeks) external hard drive gave up the ghost when it got jarred. UGH! Thankfully Sam's Club exchanged it and nearly all my files are safe elsewhere, but I learned a very valuable lesson. You've heard it before, but don't rely on a single storage medium! Thankfully when I set up my new drive I just happened to burn DVD's of all my files before I deleted them from my laptop's hard drive. The only thing I lost was a week's worth of free, downloaded digital scrapbook files (I didn't store duplicates) and a couple hours I spent organizing, but at least I didn't loose anything of real value (pictures of my kids or work files).

So here is the fruit my labor, my first two 2-page spreads. One if from this January and the other is from a year ago. I'm not exactly sure whether to focus on 'catching up' or staying current. Maybe I'll alternate between 2007 & 2008?

{Want a closer look? Click on any picture to enlarge it.}

3 Thankful Thursday #1

* Note: My friend Hanne started doing a weekly post she calls 'Thankful Thursday.' I've really enjoyed reading it, so I'm going to try it out myself. I guess its kindof a New Years resolution of mine. We'll see how diligent I am. I'm excersising a bit of faith that counting my blessings will bring me an added measure of peace.

1) MODERN MEDICINE: I am holding a grudge against pain pills in general right now, but really I am greatful for ANTIBIOTICS. I hate to think how truly awful my tooth saga would be without them. And then there is the entire dental practice aspect. What would have been my options up 100 years ago? Pulling the darn thing?

2) NATE'S OPTIMISM: I am by nature a pessimist. I tend towards the worst case scenario, which is looking bleak right now. Nate however is the eternal optimist. Maybe that was one of the things that drew me to him in the beginning... no,it was his good looks and hot car. Either way, it has been a foundation I constantly lean on. I know I would crumble without his strength.

3) STAYING HOME WITH MY GIRLS: Being a stay-at-home-working-mom is definitely NOT the best of all worlds. In most ways it is the worst of both situations. All the chores and late work hours. However, I put up with all that for one shining perk: I get to be with my girls. They teach me everyday. For example, last week Allie wanted to go out in the snow. I defaulted to saying no, but when she asked 'why?' I had no answer. So out she went. Kylie was devastated to be left behind. She even put on her coat, hat, and scarf by herself and followed me around with a boot and mitten. Her cries were asking 'why not me?' Again I had no answer, so our we went. And it was actually FUN! Who would have thunk? Not me! I was amazed at how wonderful I felt pushing and pulling my girls up and down a small backyard lump of a hill. But it was invigorating despite the medication haze. We enjoyed it so much our ritual the past week has been a post-nap snow fling followed by hot cocoa as I make dinner. We've tubed down our Sorensen neighbor's sled hill and built snowmen despite my face looking like a chipmunk. Who cares? Not my girls!

5 Thanks for BOTH gifts!

Gift #1)
My sister Ellen and her new husband Stoddard had our family for Christmas. Aunt Elle created a "Just-Add-Snow" Snowman Kit! Everyday since then Allie has been begging to use it, but our snow has been the light, dry fluffy stuff that won't stick together. Well today it warmed up enough to start melting the fluff...so much so that it became pack-able. So a snowman-making we went. I had to enlist the help of our good neighbor Britney to lift the balls up onto each other since the snow was so heavy. Allie added some 'hair' and christened him 'Coat'.

Gift #2)
Please 'Oh' and 'Awh' at my first attempt at digital scrapbooking. {click on the picture to get a closer look!} My wonderful mother got me PhotoShop Elements 7.0 for Christmas &this is my first attempt at a digital layout. I'm rather pleased with it. I hope to become more fluent in all that this grand program can do. I've been busy downloading free files for a week and have now set the goal to make at least 6 layouts before I look for anything new.

6 Toothache, part 2

If you don't like going to the dentist, DO NOT READ!!!
(that includes you, Camille)

It seemed like it took forever for Monday to come, but eventually it did. Nate was out of town, so I took the girls to my wonderful in-law's home early in the morning and called the dentist hoping to get in right at 8am. They did work me in, but not till 11am. The x-rays still looked clear with no sign of an abscess, although I presented all the other classic symptoms. The root canal procedure start very smooth other than some fiery pain as the anesthetic injection spread to the area of inflammation. In fact, after about an hour I was getting board as the dentist started disinfecting the 3rd and final root canal.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, I was in the worst pain of my life. Childbirth times ten! I was shaking and tears poured as I forced myself to use all my control to stay still as the dentist worked quickly. He and his assistant scrambled, attempting to stop the flow of oozing fluid and reduce the pain. Later, he told me that somehow the disinfecting solutions (bleach and hydrogen peroxide) must had leaked out the end of the root into the surrounding tissues. Instantly I had a major inflammatory reaction, including massive swelling and fluid discharging into the bone, gum, tooth, and root. He had to abort the procedure. When the flow had stopped, he put on a temporary filling. Just typing about this brings me to tears. I can't describe how awful it was.

Even an hour later I couldn't stop shaking and weeping even though the pain was in check. I was in shock. I had to call my mother-in-law for a ride home. The dentist consulted with the pharmacist and they settled on a new pain prescription to which I "shouldn't" have a reaction to since it was only "distantly" related to codeine and hydrocodone. I was tentative...and I should have been. With the second dose I was shaky, woozy, and dizzy, not to mention the headache, all for a good 36 hours. No more pain pills for me!!!

Its been a few days and the left half of my face, from my eyelid to under my chin, is still swollen. Today its just puffy, but yesterday I looked like I had wisdom teeth removed, including some light bruising. (sorry Ellen, there will be no pictures - I made sure of that) Amazingly the pain has been fairly low and really only bothers me in the middle of the night. Oh, and I can't really eat much. Even chewing with the other side has been problematic since I have shooting pain if THE tooth touches food or the teeth below it. Don't point out that this could be the means for loosing a few pounds, because I made a cake for myself since I figured I could gum it up. YUM!

Mostly now I'm just dreading going back tomorrow to finish the procedure...that is if things have settled down enough. I want to get it over with, but what if it happens again??? Stay tuned for part 3.

UPDATE: my next appointment won't be until at least Monday, due to the residual swelling

5 Toothache, part 1

So its going on a month since I posted. I really meant to several times, but the holidays were just so busy. I took over 2 weeks off work, but all the festivities and a trip to Rexburg just ate up all my time. I'd like to post some pics, but I'm not sure I'll get to it.

Right now I am suffering from a major toothache. Its a tooth that has been a ticking time bomb since it was crowned about a year ago. The dentist had to get a bit too close to the pulp when crowing it. Over the summer it acted up, but some antibiotics cleared it up. I just had a cleaning 2 weeks ago and the x-rays looked great. The hygentist was actually able to scrape off a bit of extra cement along the gum line and I've been able to chew with it for the first time! I guess all that chewing must have upset if.

It started up last Tuesday/Wednesday, but of course everyone was out of the office for the long New-Years weekend. I did get an antibiotic prescription called in on Thursday (thank you Specialty Hospital Pharmacist for staying past noon closing time so I could get there). At the time I turned down the dentist's offer for a additional pain prescription since Ibuprofen was good enough on Thursday morning, but by Friday I was desperate and dug around our medicine cabinate. I know I don't do well with codine, but I decided it was worth the risk to take the Lortab left over from Kylie's birth.

Well, the first two doses helped a ton, but the 3rd put me in a semi-concious/semi-coma state for 4 hours and then I was gravely sick for 24 more hours. Vomiting, shaking, dizzly, gross. I am NEVER taking that stuff again!!! Today is Sunday & I seem to have gotten most of the toxins out of my system, but I still feel wozzy and have a headache...not to mention the tooth pain has spread to the entire side of my face. It even hurts to smile. I REALLY hope the dentist can work me in to his scedule tomorrow morning. Six days is ENOUGH!!!