Beware of falling teeth!

Hey Gang! I owe you an update, but right now I have an interesting little story to share.

My poor little girl has really been fighting the sickness going around. She recently recovered from bronchitis, and just a few days later ended up going right back to the doctor for something similar. We now have her on antibiotics, steroids, an inhaler and breathing treatments 4 times a day. She is due for a recheck today to see if her lungs are clearing up. So please keep my baby in your prayers. The Dr. thinks it could be allergy related issues, but we just don't know yet.

But my story today isn't about my daughter, although you needed to know that tidbit to set up the scene. It's about my teeth. Yes, I said my teeth. So here's the scenario...

I'm in the doctors office on Wednesday afternoon. My daughter is getting a breathing treatment while I sit beside her and read. I have a small piece of sugar-free gum in my mouth. Suddenly, instantly and without warning, my front tooth falls out. BAM! And there it is, lying in my hand in all it's fake enameled glory (it's a crown). At this point I have no idea how to even react. I think I was in a type of shock. Seriously, at 35 years of age who wakes up and says "I wonder if my tooth will fall out today?" It just doesn't happen. Yeah, I could have stuck it under my pillow, but the tooth fairy can't give me near enough to replace what I paid for that crown, so I'll keep it, thank you very much.

My daughter's eyes grow huge as she realizes what just happened. Just seconds later the doctor walks in and starts listening to Rachel's lungs again. I sit quietly, my tooth clutched in my hand. And while I'm trying really hard to focus on what the doctor is saying to Rachel, it's difficult because I'm having flashbacks from my dentist visit a couple of years ago. If you don't remember that horrendous story, feel free to go check it out. It was a nightmare.

Now the doctor is talking to me, and again I'm trying to listen. I carefully ask her to repeat her instructions once again to be sure I have understood them, then I grab a kleenex and wrap my tooth up. The Dr. looks at me kinda funny and I explain what happened. She expresses shock as well, but then tells me of a substance I can use to temporarily glue it back until I can get to the dentist.

We make it home and my husband is waiting there. Obviously his first question isn't "Hey, did your tooth fall out at the doctors office by any chance?". He was concerned about our daughter and asks what the doctor said. I just start to tell him when Rachel blurts out, "Mom's tooth fell out while we were there!" I confirm the fact, then show him and in his state of I-cannot-believe-that-happened he recommends I call the dentist immediately. Sadly for me the dentist office just closed so I have to leave a message.

Anyone remember what it was like as a kid trying to talk without one, or both, of your front teeth? It's a little spitty. And a little slthurrish. And I ended up sounding like Slyvester from Looney Toons. Here's the message I left the dentist.

"Hi, thish isth Amy Dungan. I need to sthee the doctor asth sthoon asth possthible. My front crown fell out justh a few mintuths ago. Pleasth call me back at..." then left my phone number, which contains several "sthevens and sthixes".

I hang up the phone and my husband is doing his dead-level best not to bust out laughing. I give him the this-is-so-not-funny-and-if-you-dare-laugh-you-will-sleep-on-the-couch-for-a-month look. He laughed anyway. Since I generally have a pretty good sense of humor I tried to laugh too, but just couldn't make it happen. I think it's because smiling showed the missing tooth... wow did that look bad. I looked like one of those characters from some hillbilly show.

I won't bore you with the rest of the details of the evening - like trying to eat, brushing my teeth, sleeping, etc. But I will say it has a happy ending. Yesterday morning the Dentist got me right in and for $30 glued the crown back in place. I can eat, smile, talk... even chew gum without fear now. But I did learn a valuable lesson in all this. Next time I need dental work I will not be going with the cheapest dentist I can find, as I did two years ago. No, next time I'll just bite my tongue and deal with the bill.

My Celebration Quilt & Other News

Thanks to everyone who helped me celebrate my nearly 20 lb loss! I promised a pic of my reward, which was to buy myself a new quilt, so here it is.





A little story behind this quilt. I love decorating and each room has a theme. Our living room - Boyds Bears (my guilty pleasure). Our Kitchen - Coca-Cola. The dining room - flowers and lace. The downstairs bathroom - angels. The upstairs bathroom - fishing. My kids room - messy (I didn't choose this theme, they just come by it naturally). And our bedroom - Americana.

I've had my eye on that quilt for the last 6 months now. I kept saying I'd wait until it was on sale. When I finally decided I was going to buy it, which was yesterday, I was disappointed to learn that not only was it not on sale, but the price had went up $10! As you can see, I bought it anyway. Our bedroom was the only room in the house I had not really made the effort to finish decorating since we moved in over 6 months ago. I bought some really cute Americana themed drawings to hang on the wall, as well as some other little items that will look really nice with it all. These items were purchased months ago... and I still haven't hung them up.

I think part of the problem is my intense fear of plaster. Our old walls are made of it, and hanging anything on them scares me to death! I just know I'll go to hammer a nail in and the whole wall will come crashing down. What fun I'd have explaining that to my hubby! (Honestly sweetheart! All I did was try to push in a tack!) Yes, I know I'm being paranoid. But every time I think about it, I envision that little guy Scrat (or whatever his name is) from Ice Age trying to bury the acorn in the ice. With one little blow he separates the continents. I just don't want to be responsible for something like that! :0)

Anyhoo... back to explaining about the quilt. I was so anxious to get it, the matching shams, and what ever else might go along with it. I was disappointed to find that they only had the quilts and throws left. So my search continues for some throw pillows I can add. And I'll probably be going back for the throw soon.

I've learned a couple of things though.

#1. It's not always good to delay rewarding yourself. Sometimes it will cost you more.

#2. Rewarding yourself can motivate you to be successful in other areas of your life. (example: Finishing the decorating in my bedroom, which I will now do). It can motivate others as well. (example: Tess getting her pedicure, which she'd been putting off, to celebrate with me.)

In a little off-the-topic news:

I went to the dentist this morning to get an old filling repaired. The left side of my lip is still a bit numb. And I noticed it doesn't move much when I talk, which really looks weird. Only one tooth left to fix and I'm done going to the dentist for a while. I have another crown that needs replacing and I go in to start on that one in a couple of weeks. Can we say yippee? Nah.. me neither.

After leaving the dentist I rushed to my appointment at the mechanics shop. My muffler has been rusted out for a long time. My car is pretty noisy. Yesterday the area of exhaust just beneath the front seats blew out. THAT was loud! So I had to drive around yesterday with my car sounding more like a motorcycle. At times, when I would accelerate, it would be deafening! Today I'm $240 poorer, but I drive a quiet car. Now if I can only get the air conditioning fixed before summer kicks in.

Tired today...

Today is just one of those sleepy days. I'd love to stay in bed, wrapped in the warm blankets all day. Thankfully today isn't as cold as yesterday. We got down to 8 yesterday I believe. Not as cold as some of you poor people out there (-40 in some parts of the US!!!), but too stinking cold for me. I'm just not cut out to be an Eskimo. Hubby used to always talk about moving to Alaska... I'd love to visit but don't think I could live there. Speaking of Hubby, poor guy is stuck in Northern Illinois right now. The snow is coming down in torrents and the roads are getting too nasty to navigate. Instead of working he's sitting in his hotel bored to tears. We usually talk on the phone a couple of times a day when he's working out of town. We've already talked more than that today and I'm sure we'll talk again at least once or twice more since he has nothing else to do.

I thought we'd have a little fun today. How cold was it where you live yesterday? If you wanna play just post the coldest temp in your area, from yesterday, in the comment area. Then we'll compare and see who we should feel the sorriest for. LOL

I am up a pound today. Must be from all the ham I ate on Sunday. No biggie. It's just water and should disappear soon. I'm getting ready to workout on the treadmill, so that should help a lot as well.

My dental dilema may be coming closer to a resolution. We bought a dental discount plan for the whole family at a really good price. It covers all of us and we get about 50% off most procedures. According to the fee schedule I'm only going to have to spend about $1,500 to $2,000 on the work I need.. instead of over $4,000. Can't beat that.. next best thing to having insurance I guess. I have an appointment with my new dentist on Monday for a consultation. I'll let ya know how it goes.

Well, time to get on the treadmill. Have a wonderful day and keep warm!