I have a new favorite treat.  Our friend, Mr. B, was guest preaching at a little country church so we went up to fill a couple pews.  Anyways, his lovely bride gave me a bag full of fresh blueberries that she had just picked.  I ended up sticking them in the freezer and now all thru-out the day I grab handfuls to munch on.   That is a really yummy snack.  Our family is going to go up on Saturday and pick several gallons.  Emmiko also made a banana / blueberry bread.  yums.  I’m gonna make blueberry jam, too.  Can’t wait.

We also had fun with Rachel and her four sisters on Sunday.  Boy are they crazy.  Rachel is the oldest of 12 kids – I wish she would have brought her mom.  I’da liked to talked to that lady.

In other news, on Monday Ryann and Bo butchered five chickens – they are getting good and fast at that job.  That was Bo’s first time at butchering.  He did a manly job of it.

Yesterday poor Bo and Emmiko had to go to the dentist and get a bunch of cavities filled. Bo had to have one of his teeth pulled. I think they had fun.  Anyways, it was fun for me to see them with puffed up chipmunk faces. When they got back, Emmiko told me the nurse asked her, “Do you panic like your mom does?” when she told the nurse, ‘no’, the lady sighed and said, “Oh good, this will be much easier, then”.

I think I’m offended.

Wanna see my new kitty cat?

Also, congrats to Jess who is now a professional ice hockey princess. And thanks, Jess, for the Isagenix box you sent.  Good heavens that was a big box!  I love you.

In other other news, thanks for the tips on good math picks.  I think I’m convinced with Teaching Textbooks.  So now my question is… where is the cheapest place to get it? … or, is anybody willing to part with theirs for a reasonable price?

August 20th, 2008 - Posted in Uncategorized | | 8 Comments

I think it would be a great idea if somebody took the time to put together a resource compiling a list of materials specifically for the three types of homeschoolers – The Very Structured Teacher, The Sort of Structured Teacher, and The Very Lazy Teacher.  And then there would be a list to refer to with resources conducive to personal approaches. 

I’m sure there would be crossovers, but I would definitely include Explode the Code, AVKO’s Sequential Spelling, Bright Ideas Press Mystery of History, Jeannie Fulbright’s science books and Mike Venezia’s “Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists” set in the Very Lazy Teacher category because those books have made it possible for me to teach without wanting to chuck everything out the window and run away from home.

You’ll notice I didn’t list any math resources to include in the Very Lazy Teacher category.  I don’t think there are any.  You either have to not be lazy, or not teach math.  I take the latter approach. 

In other news, tonight we’ll have a gaggle of Canadians who we’re hosting for the evening.  My friend Rachel and her four sisters are taking a road trip and we’re one of the pit stops.  That will be fun.  Rachel is also the copy editor for Home School Enrichment –speaking of which, I think their new issue should be coming out pretty soon.

Lastly, I’ve really been enjoying Julie Park’s blog – it’s worth checking out.

Oh, but before I go, and this is for my own benefit so I can read back on it, last night (early evening) I had one of those times that get seared into memory.  When my girls were little (nine, four and three) I have this very distinct memory of being downstairs in the living room and watching all three twirling around and dancing in white fluffy dresses.  They were singing daintily, “Princess dance, it’s the princess dance, we are doing… the princess dance”.  At the time, even, I knew I’d always remember it because it filled me with awe of being a mom and caused me to realize moments like these would soon be gone – and they do go *so* quickly. My girls will never be nine, four and three ever again.

Anyhow, last night in the evening I was outside watching Geoff work on the riding mower and then he drove off to test it and my three boys started performing for me.  They had me pick out a tree for them and then they’d shimmy up like little orangutans.  They were all grinning at me, looking for approval and then swinging down and awaiting orders for a new tree to climb.  And then I told them to race, so all three darted off – eleven, eight and five tearing toward the apple tree– and little James was trying like mad to keep up, and Bo kept slowing down so Dippy could get ahead.  And I thought to myself.  “I will only have this right now” 

But I get to keep that memory forever.

August 16th, 2008 - Posted in Uncategorized | | 26 Comments

 ***Edit and Update *** Today, Aug 13th, is the only day you can take advantage of this great freebie from Laurie Bluedorn / Trivium Pursuit.  Check it out!

Ok, before I get started, this morning when I was in the bathroom, I don’t know what possessed me, but without thinking I started brushing my teeth before realizing I had *not* finished my cup of coffee, nor eaten breakfast yet.  That is not a good way to start the day.  It’s probably one of those classic pre-Alzheimer’s signs.  And now I’m hungry but I’m stuck with that overpowering minty meal-ruiner taste.

In other news, I love my favorite CA reading chum.  This showed up in the mail on Saturday.  *SO* exciting.  She’s the greatest.

In otherly-ish news, the other day Chickadee left me a comment which stung me to the quick.  I was accused of wishing away her summer… which got me to thinking, “Why the heck would anybody *not* want it wished away?”  So then I started thinking about summery things that people might enjoy that I normally reject and avoid, and then, to my utter amazement (even more so, to my *kids* utter amazement) I asked Geoff the Great to take us to the lake.  And then we actually went.  Twice.  See? I even have pictures to prove it.  See how hot it looks?  That’s the problem with summer.

James at the Lake

Dip at the Lake

Bo at the Lake

Ryann and Emmiko at the Lake

Coie at the Lake

Geoff at the Lake — he actually swam, too.  Gross.  Lake water is nasty.

Me at the Lake.  Yep, that’s right, I stayed *inside* the nice cool car the whole time and watched the fun from the window (when I wasn’t reading).  I’m pretty sure I had the most enjoyable time.  And I am still looking forward to cold-y-ness.  But I confess, we all had fun.

August 12th, 2008 - Posted in Uncategorized | | 32 Comments

I turn into a lunatic when it gets too hot.  I don’t know about you, but I always find August dreadful.  It is dreadful.  The only good thing about August is the nice contrast that it gives Fall.  It’s almost worth being so vapid and deflated after autumn begins to whittle thru the mugginess and then breaks out in vibrant colors and restorative cuffs of cool sharp breathable air.  I’m looking forward to that.

Look what I made:

Picture by Ryann

Peach Jam.  I don’t know what it is with our peach and plum trees… for the last three years they wouldn’t give us a thing, but now, all of a sudden they’re making piles and piles.  The peach trees still need help; they have some sort of blight.  The fruit doesn’t look good on the outside, but the inside is excellent, and my family has declared this peach jam their all time favorite.  For a spiritual application to the real life fruit anecdote, see James chapter 2

Ok, in other news, uh, I don’t think I have any news.  This last week has been a real dragger.  Although I did finish Wives and Daughters – I liked it.  And now I’m reading Daniel Deronda by George Eliot.  I am not quite smart enough to read George Eliot, but I’m getting thru it, and now that the plot is in full twirl, I’m really enjoying it quite a bit.  Moonstone came in the mail yesterday.  I’m supposed to get Moonshine, tomorrow.  J/K …but I bet I could make moonshine now that I’m an almost real life homestead farmgirl.  And then I could sell the moonshine to support my book habit.

In randomness… I almost wish I had a tv so I could watch the Olympics.  Gymnastics is the best.

Here Charley, this picture is for you.  Geoff had all the kids on the zip line again last night.  It still scares me when James goes – especially when he does stuff like this:

August 8th, 2008 - Posted in Uncategorized | | 24 Comments

Surely I’m not the only one in the world who is unable to sleep unless their legs are shaved, right?  I mean, golly, to have them all pokey is just intolerable and hardly conducive to a good night’s sleep.  I had to get up in the middle of the night and correct before I could finally nod off.

Anyways, I’m getting used to these “all year long Birthday presents”.  My sister is so funny.  On Saturday this birthday card shows up in the mail, and on the back of the envelope it says, “I FOUND IT! I FOUND IT! Here’s your long lost birthday card! …I can’t remember what’s in it, but I’m sure it’s pretty funny”.  It was.  It also had a $50 gift cert for The Olive Garden and a $25 gift card for Starbucks.  The only thing that could make this gift better is if she and Choncho could use the cards with us. 

In other news, my friend Maggie Hogan recently came out with more brilliancy.  Here is a clip of info about the newly unveiled Illuminations program (which is a perfect companion to the Mystery of History books – but would also be a perfect fit with any ancient history course).  Here is some info on it:

****** 

For years, our company (Bright Ideas Press) has had the motto of “Practical, Fun and Affordable Resources for Teaching Geography, History, and Science.” Now we are branching out into Language Arts, Fine Arts, and more but our basic goal remains the same.

Practical – you will not find any assignments to “write a ten page treatise comparing and contrasting 6 major world religions” or “build the Great Wall of China to scale out of cereal boxes and recycled tires.” We are R E A L homeschoolers who recognize that there is more to life than academics.

Our schedule also runs on a FOUR DAY school week! This allows for:

Co-ops or outside classes

Projects, experiments, field trips

Catch-up days

Real life! 

Fun – no, not all education is “fun” but we want to help you build “fun time” into your schedule. For some, this could simply mean having a great read-aloud and discussion time, for others it might be making costumes out of left-over fabric and duct tape, or enjoying ethnic cooking together. We want your family to build F U N memories of your homeschooling years! 

We believe Illuminations will be Encouraging as well. We are on your team to encourage and equip you to diligently train and teach your children in the way of the Lord!  You can email Melissa if you want more info: contact@BrightIdeasPress.com

*******

In other news, here is one of my family’s favorite meals.  Sheppard’s Pie. 

It’s so easy.  Make mashed potatoes, fry up some ground hamburger (with chopped onion) and then layer it : potateys, meat, potateys, cheddar cheese.  

Warning: It does not look pretty if it all gets stirred up.  So if you do make it, be sure to keep it out of reach of my naughty five year old.

Lastly, this morning when my husband was changing his shirt I noticed this monstrously savage, perfectly round black and bluish/purple bruise on his arm.  It was appalling; I asked him, “Where the heck did you get that?”  He looked down, pointed at it and said, “This? You wanna know where this came from?  It came from YOU and your big mouth when you bit me” And sure enough, it dawned on me that I had sunk my teeth in pretty good after he had pounced on me with the classic Pin and Tickle maneuver.  I was uncommonly proud of myself to see the mutilation I wrought.  I should have taken a picture of it.  I wrestle with no rules — plus I’m very claustrophobic, so if I get in a tight spot I go tornado and become elbows and all teeth.  I got him pretty good and I think I could have done some serious damage except my kids wrecked it up when they came in whooping, bellowing and shrieking to body slam him and ruin all my fun.

August 4th, 2008 - Posted in Uncategorized | | 19 Comments

I have a theory that consuming sugar free sweeteners like Splenda and Sweet n Low make you dopey.  Every time me and Geoff the Great start consuming diet soda, sugar free pudding, ice cream with Splenda etc, we get really dim witted, like, and it’s hard to concentrate and uh, I always forget, uh, what I

In other news, I’ve decided that I will, indeed, vote in this election – but only on the condition that Mitt Romney is selected as the candidate for VP.  Otherwise, I think I’m gonna sit this one out.

I changed my bedroom around yesterday.  I have ever so much more room.  In fact, you won’t believe this, but I’m putting all of that extra room to good use by working out again.  Yep.  It’s true.  I’m not sure how long that’ll last, but it sure makes me feel less lazy.  I hope I get less squishy.  I suppose you have to exercise for a prolonged period of time to proportionately reduce the level of squish, which means I’m probably going to just end up staying squishy. 

I wish I could be like Jess and join a softball team and an ice hockey team.  That sounds so fun.  I love softball.  But I refuse to pitch.  Once, when I was ten, I got hit smack dab in the face with a line drive right into the teeth.  It literally knocked me out.  And I literally saw stars.  Literally.  And my lip swelled up the size of a grapefruit.  Thus, my days of pitching came to an abrupt end.  I belong at first base only.  How’d I get on this subject?  Sweet n Low.

In other news, a most hearty congrats to my friend Christine Masloske who just had a beautiful baby girl.  That’s fun.  I can’t believe my own little baby is going to turn five next week.  He was such a cute little baby. 

He’s still sorta cute.   

Poor little fella.  Emmiko keeps ‘doing’ his hair.

August 1st, 2008 - Posted in Uncategorized | | 20 Comments

I have been busy non stop since Thursday.  Emmiko’s party was swell.  And all the girls got to go on the zip line.  I can’t believe how brave those little squeakers are.  It was a fun weekend, but Jess and Charley were sorely missed.

Ok, so Sunday was the big day when we got the new car – the Suburban… which seats nine… so theoretically I could have another kid and we’d *still* all fit.  Anyways, Geoff, Coie, Ryann, and Emmiko drove to GA to drop off the cutie Carr and pick up the new Ig-mobile.

It was nice because they were gone from 8am until about 10pm.  I laid around all day and finished, The Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins.  Ok, first of all, Wilkie Collins is a guy.  I had no idea.  Second of all, I don’t know that there is a better novel that’s been written in all the whole big world.  I LOVED IT.  I’m sad it’s over, but I’m being consoled with, Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell. So far so good.

WE LOVE HAVING THE SURBURBAN.  Yesterday we went out and picked up a dryer (we’ve been dryer-less for over a month) and then went and celebrated at a Chinese restaurant.  ALL OF US… riding in the SAME car together. Minus poor Coie, who had to work and missed out on all the fun.  And the front is a bench seat so me and Geoff can snuggle.  I am so happy.  Plus the AC works great.

Ok, so also on yesterday, before all of our dryer-picking-up-and-Chinese-food fun, I had to go back to the dentist for phase II of my root canal.  It was less stressful than last time.  Afterwards Geoff told me that the only time he took his hand off of my head was when they had to pass this four foot needle behind my back so I wouldn’t see it.  Shudder shudder.  When they were done (it took about an hour and a half) they told me, “Ok, now that’s just the cap, you’ll need to come back in three weeks so we can snap the crown on.  And whatever you do, be careful what you eat; chew on the left side of your mouth, and don’t eat anything hard like chips”.

So I nodded groggily, and then me and Geoff went out to lunch.  At a Mexican restaurant.  I got a soft taco, and, uh, chips and salsa.

About 3/4ths thru our lunch, the numbness started wearing off and all of a sudden I tasted something weird, and so I put my tongue back to where my new cap was supposed to be, and in a panic, I felt only HALF OF A TOOTH back there.  Boy did I freak.  So I told Geoff, “I think I swallowed my cap”.  He started laughing and I felt nauseous and nearly fainted.  So we went back to the dentist and I snuck up to the desk and whispered, “Uh… I, uh, I think I accidentally ate my new cap”  And there was a large chorus of nurses that suddenly rang out, “OH DEAR!! Bley-essssssss yer little haaaaaaaa-errrrt”  I hate it when people say ‘Bless your heart’, because in the South it means, “Boy you’re an idiot”.

So the nurse took me right back, looked in my mouth and told me, “Nope. It’s still back there”.  Apparently, they sawed my tooth down in half on purpose and it’s supposed to be like that.  I felt dumb, but I was really glad that I hadn’t eaten the cap after all. At any rate, I’m not going to eat any more chips just in case they really meant it when they said it the first time.

July 30th, 2008 - Posted in Awful Medical Procedures | | 31 Comments

My husband got one of those nifty navigation nerdules.  He’s in heaven.  And I have to admit I’m glad he got it because it really is pretty handy and helpful.  I drove two and a half hours to Chattanooga to pick up this Carr:

Isn’t she cute?

Anyhow, on the ride down, the TomTom was very helpful; my driving companion was “Jane” who has a very classy British accent and told me exactly when to turn, where to turn, when to get over to the left lane and confirm when I was to continue forward to get onto the ‘motorway’.  Except she says it “Mow-teh-way”.  We only got into a fight once, and that was when I had to pull off to get gas and bottled water.  She got a little snippy with me and kept telling me, “Tuhrn around as soon as pah-sibble and head back teh-wahrds the mow-teh-way”.   I had to keep snapping back, in my own British accent “No, Jane, I need petrol, stop being so deucedly bossy”.  We made up, though; we’re cool now.

Me and Geoff the Great will be dropping back the Carr on Sunday, and at that point we’ll be swapping that Carr for a new car.  Is that not brilliantly exciting?  I can’t wait to drive around as a big family all together in one vehicle again.  I still can’t believe our friends are just GIVING us their Suburban.

In the meantime I am gearing up for the rest of Emmiko’s little friends to come over for a birthday sleep over.  They are all sleeping outside in the tent which will make things remarkably less noisy.  I’m a great fan of less noisy. 

And, this was a surprise, when we were driving home from Chattanooga, Ryann called me about a very mysterious package addressed to Emmiko which had been delivered by UPS from a music store in Ca.

Is it not beautiful?  It had no card, but it didn’t take long to figure out from whence it came.  My dad sure knows how to get a household worked into a frenzy.  Emmiko is very excited – she has wanted to learn the violin for a long time.  I was content to let her just work on clapping or snapping.  Snapping and clapping is much cheaper, plus it’s easier to learn.  Last night she told me that she was gonna learn the violin really fast and then start playing songs with me (on guitar) and Ryann (on piano).  I will not be afraid of turning into the Partridge Family.

July 25th, 2008 - Posted in Mr. Grand | | 23 Comments

I feel like Kellieann, I never give movie reviews.  None-the-less, here it goes.  First of all, I recommend taking Ryann to any movie you attend.  I had more fun listening to her laugh her head off than anything else.  She and Bo are so similar. 

Anyways, it is Emmiko’s birthday this week, so Geoff the Great and I decided to take her on a movie date.  We all loved the first Batman… Batman Begins.  Matter of fact, the first time I ever saw that movie was on a double date with Kate Kessler and her man.  Boy was that was fun.  

Anyways, we really liked the first Batman so we’ve been looking forward for The Dark Knight to come out.  Geoff took Ryann and Coie on Sat night and I stayed home with the little kids, and then on Monday night Geoff took me, Ryann, Emmiko and Bo, while Coie held down the fort

Personally, I liked the movie – violence does not generally faze me or my family.  The Patriot and Master and Commander are a couple of our favorite flicks.  Violence / Grossness = not generally a problem.  And ‘violence’ was really the only thing in the Dark Knight that was an issue.   There was no swearing and almost zero romance. 

There could have been *more* violence during the movie, but I controlled myself.  The guy sitting behind was eating his popcorn really loudly – but what made me nearly come unglued was he kept sucking his teeth. Loudly.  Very loudly.  Right in my ear.  I had an urge to swing around and karate chop him in the jugular.  And then, right as the movie started, this human Q-tip came in and sat directly in front of me.  I’ve never seen such puffy white hair on a man.  It was literally obstructing the screen.  So I got up and went to the back of the theater and tried to eyeball an empty seat where nobody could bother me.  But the place was packed out.  So I ended up standing at the back for the three hours.  Actually, that’s not true.  After about two hours I finally got bored of standing and I sat down with my back against the wall.  It was nice.  I had the whole wall to myself.  My husband came back a couple times to offer me candy and to tell me I was a retard… as if I didn’t know.

All in all it was a lovely date and we all had fun.  Bo liked the movie, but the violence did bother him.  And I confess, in a couple of places it was a little over the top.  Emmiko thought the movie was great and Ryann thought it was hilarious.  I think I would have enjoyed it more as a rental. On my couch. Minus Q-tips and Teeth Suckers.

In other news, I got to spend Sunday with two of my favorite families Plus I met a new family that was entirely hilarious.  Maria’s sister is very cool.  Boy was it hot, but we still had a smashing time.  I love my friends.

July 22nd, 2008 - Posted in Uncategorized | | 24 Comments

I am not the only girl in the world who looks forward to long waiting room intervals at doctor or dentist offices.  Where else does one get a good chunk of uninterrupted time to read?  Not even being locked in the bathroom compares, because when you’re in the bathroom you can still hear them clawing outside the door to let you know: “James just licked my bowl of oatmeal and when I told him to stop he just laughed and started running in circles and now he’s outside with the cat and he says he’s gonna give it a bath in that one bucket you told us not to touch but I think maybe he’s trying to drown it because he’s just being naughty today so are you almost done in there because I need some toilet paper cause our bathroom ran out and bobo won’t help me find my pencil.”  My eye is twitching.

So anyways, on Wednesday I was looking forward to my dentist visit so I could finish my book.  But first some background… I told you a week ago that I went in and the dentist said I needed a cavity filled, right?  And then they said I’d have to wait until August because they were going on vacation.  I thought I could make that work, but nope, I couldn’t.  My jaw has been KILLING me.  So I made an appt with a different dentist, Dr Robert Self.  I am not kidding.  That’s his real name.  I went in at the appointed time, and then sat in the parking lot for over a half hour and started getting opposite of happy and gracious because the doors stayed locked and all the lights in the bldg were off.  I went home to call them, full of Self-loathing, and even their line didn’t pick up.  So then I got online and found the confirmation email they had sent – in order to send them a sweet little note in return about how hot their parking lot is – and I saw that my appt was scheduled for *Thursday*. Not Wednesday.

Ok, so since I was no longer appalled at the lack of professionalism on their part, I went ahead and kept my Thursday appt.  And guess what the new dentist said?  He said, “You don’t need a cavity filled… You need a ROOT CANAL”.  And all these nurses in black frothy funeral gowns floated in and they twisted up their green faces and chanted, “You’re gonna die.  You’re gonna DIE.  YOU”RE GONNA DIE”

So after the first two hot flashes passed, I mustered up some pretend sanity and told the guy:  “Nuh-uh, the other dentist just said it only needed to be filled”.  So he pulled out the X-ray and proved it to me.  And the reason I knew he wasn’t lying, is because he said, “It hurts all the time, right?  Cavities don’t keep you up at night, but what you have certainly would do that.  Root Canal”  

I told him, “Fine, I’ll come back, but I need to warn you, I have an inordinate fear of anything medical – seriously.  I feel like I’m gonna have a heart attack just thinking about it”  So he said, “No problem, we’re gonna give you some valium and then hook you up to the gas machine and you’ll sleep thru the whole thing”.

So the next morning (which happened to be yesterday) I took the little valium pill that he told me to take an hour before my appt.  And boy did that thing kick in fast.  Dippy came in to show me a letter that he got from Mr. Grand, but all the letters kept hop scotching.  Geoff the Great drove me over (I remember little of the drive), then he took me into the waiting room, and then they brought me down a hallway – boy was I feeling dopey – and then they put me in that diabolical chair and immediately – and I mean immediately – I snapped right back to my normal self.  No dizziness, no loopiness, no giddiness.  It was gone.  GONE.  When the nurse came in and asked me how I felt I told her, “Well I was nice and doped up, but, uh.  I, uh. I’m too alert.  I can’t do this. I think I need to go home”.  So she patted my arm (which normally would have really irritated me, but didn’t this time) and said, “Let’s talk to Dr. Self, first” So he came in, and by this time I was shaking and sweating and my heart was galloping, and he said, “Here, put this on and breath deep and you’ll be out in a couple seconds and everything will be fine” 

So I nodded and let them strap this elephant trunk over my face and started breathing.  After about three minutes I looked over at the nurse and said, “When’s this stuff sposed to kick in?”  and she sort of laughed and said, “It’s supposed to start working as soon as you breath it”  So I told, “I think your tank is empty”  and she said, “Nope, it’s full” So I said, “I think somebody accidentally filled it with regular air” and she said, “Ha ha”.  Then I asked, “Do you have it turned up?  Maybe you should turn it up” And she said, ‘we’ve been turning it up this whole time and now it’s going full blast – are you breathing thru your nose?”  Am I breathing thru my nose?  I was snorting my head off trying to get that gas to do its dumb job.  So we all just kept sitting there staring at each other and waiting for me to pass out – the Dr. was a lot more patient that I would have been with a panicked lunatic in my chair. 

After about three more minutes I said, “How bout you give me another one of those valium.  It worked earlier… maybe I just need a higher dosage”.  I felt pretty doctor-ly-ish because they all thought that was a good plan.  I ended up taking THREE, and the last one they told me to chew.  Ok… first of all, don’t take valium.  Second of all, don’t chew valium.  That stuff tastes like burnt sewage. 

The nurse said, “Honey, you just need to calm down –that stuff is sure to kick in”. 

Ten minutes later, now being totally doped up on enough valium to knock out a large elephant, and nearly hyperventilating as I furiously sucked that gas through my nose, I looked over at the nurse and said, “uh… what else do you got?”

Then Dr. Self said, “Look, you can come back some other day and we can try this again if you want, but seriously, the longer you wait the worse that tooth is gonna get”.

So I started maniacally inhaling that non existent gas and told him, “No, that’s ok, I’m ok, I think I’m ok, just get it over with” and then I started shaking so hard that my flip flop fell off.

I have to hand it to Self, both he and the nurse showed extraordinary patience.  So he told me to open my mouth – that was not easy.  As ridiculous as this sounds, I almost started crying.  After about 15 minutes I asked the nurse, “Could you please turn up that gas?  Please?”  And she told me again that it was all the way up and I should be knocked out cold”.  And then the doctor told me, “This is gonna take about an hour and a half, but you won’t feel anything because I’ve completely numbed up your mouth” 

That’s when I *really* panicked, and I told them, “Ok, listen, this will sound weird, and I’m sorry for being such a pain, but I can’t do this unless you bring my husband back here and let him put his hand on my head”.

So about 15 seconds later they were all making introductions and my husband had his thumb pressed into my forehead and was winding locks of my hair through his fingers.  And within about thirty seconds I was in this lovely, dreamy half conscious state.  Every time I opened my eyes my husband was standing over me gently pulling his fingers through my hair.  That dental procedure was the fastest 15 minutes of my life – at least it felt about 15 minutes.  Geoff the Great stood there for almost two hours through the whole thing.  When we left, the nurses and the dentist kept repeatedly telling him how glad they were to have him back there. Then we went home and I slept like a cow for the rest of the day and all thru the night.

In a week and a half I need to go back in to get a crown put on, which, naturally, means I’m a princess. 

July 19th, 2008 - Posted in Awful Medical Procedures | | 28 Comments