Been to the dentist lately?

When was the last time you went to the dentist? Do you remember? Has it been at least four years? If so, I urge you to go right away. Find a dentist you can trust, one who is caring and sympathetic, one who won't torture you in the chair.

I have had a root canal and a crown which was done by a dentist at a certain clinic which I will not name here, and the crown has fallen out twice. Now, mind you, it's been a while since I've had a cleaning, but after the crown came out a second time I refused to go back to the dentist that put it in. I called my insurance provider for my dental coverage and they suggested I look at their website for providers. I found a dentist, went to have them do complete x-rays, and today I went in for a cleaning. Well, I was there 1.5 hours and the hygienist worked on my lower teeth only because they were so neglected (however, I didn't feel bad because she told me that it's very common for the lowers to get all the plaque).

Now, the only reason I'm telling you this is because you (and your teeth) will feel so much better when it's all over. My mouth might start to hurt a little bit later in the day and my gums might be a tad swollen, but that's nothing a little warm swish with saltwater won't cure.

I did it!

Sometimes I amaze myself. I think that by talking about the fire issue here, I managed to figure out the problem with my poorly-built fire. I also think it was due to poorly-placed fire starter. After all my attempts and after all my posts here, I used the torch to start the fire again, but I had it on higher so that it had more gusto and more flame was hitting the wood. So now, I am proud to show you my creation. The door wasn't closed so that air could get in:



Sorry, you'll have to turn your head because even though I caught it straight on, it has decided to go horizontal on me.

Efforts of building a fire

In the woodstove, that is. It is chilly in the house, which I do believe I mentioned in an earlier post today. My husband is at work and the house is cold. I put some wood in the woodstove, along with a chunk of fire starter. I laid out the wood in a grid pattern so that hopefully once the fire gets going, it will latch on to all the pieces. I'm still cold. The only thing burning is the chunk of fire starter. I thought it would be marvelous if my husband came home to a warm house, but I think I've failed at fire starting once again.

Maybe I should join the Boy Scouts. Maybe I should look for a YouTube video. I did just add two more pieces of wood to hopefully catch the flames that the fire starter is making. There is enough wood in that box now to keep the upstairs warm... if it would only start. If I succeed, I'll let you know.

Brr? What happened to the sun?

The past few days have been incredibly lovely with low-70s temps and a lot of sunshine. This morning, however, is a completely different story.

I woke up to see clouds outside my window along with sprinkles coming out of the sky. When it was time for my nine-year-old son to get out the door for the school bus, I noticed he was wearing the same exact thing he had on yesterday - t-shirt and shorts. Um... I told him, "You wore that yesterday and it is NOT warm out today." He said, "I like this outfit." Well, he's a kid and doesn't realize that once you get to be an adult, if you wear the same thing twice in a row, people will look at you funny.

Anyway, so it's cold outside and that means that it has cooled down indoors as well. And here is where the novice fire-builder comes into play. I always leave the building-of-the-fire to my husband as he is downright the best at it. He knows how to stack the wood in order to get the flames to go. He knows exactly where to place the little piece of firestarter so that it catches onto nearby wood so that the fire will get going really good. Whenever I try to do it, it takes a long time for the fire to actually start, and to keep it going is another story entirely.

So I shall sit here and ponder about it for a bit. Or turn on the furnace. Which I really don't want to do because it's electric heat and we all know how expensive that is to run.

The Pioneer Woman is in town!

I am beside myself. This day has been on the calendar for a long time. Well, of course the actual DAY has, but the event... I am so excited! Tonight is the book signing where I will get to see Ree Drummond live, in person! I watch her show on the Food Network and I read her blog and she seems so normal and fun. I have two of her cookbooks which I would like to have her sign. Every recipe I have tried has turned out amazing! Hubby mentioned I should bring my camera so as to hopefully get a picture. Now, if only I could figure out how to get the pictures off my camera. I have a new camera and haven't figured that out yet.

Bathtub drain

I took the kids with me to church yesterday. When we got home, hubby announced he had fixed the bathtub drain. Yay! The problem we had with it was that the lever to hold the water in with hadn't been working at all. It wouldn't move. This is the only tub in the house, so when I learned that I couldn't take baths, I was not too happy. Anyway, when we had all gotten into the house, hubby said, "Everybody come into the bathroom so I can show you how this works." All four of us stood in there, looking at the new drain. It's one of those pull-up-and-twist types, and he said that it drains real fast (our old one took FOREVER to drain, sometimes hours). He said that if anyone wanted to take a bath ever, they'd have to make sure the water level NEVER gets within two inches of the round silver thing (he didn't call it that, but I don't know what it's called - it's the thing under the faucet) because, and get this, if the water touches and/or goes over the round silver thing, THE DOWNSTAIRS WILL FLOOD. Omg.

Excuses or just lack of time?

I'm pathetic. I can't even post in a timely manner (i.e., daily, weekly, monthly). I just come along when I remember I have a blog. Sorry.

In any given day, specifically a weekday, my routine consists of (in no particular order):

* showering and getting ready to sit at the computer for 8+ hours
* making sure kids get out the door in time for the school bus
* doing my at-computer job for 8 hours or so
* playing my daily games on pogo.com
* visiting the message boards that I moderate or administrate
* eat
* help kids with homework (this also may include helping hubby with his)
* cook dinner
* write a letter
* do any chores that need doing (not ones the kids are supposed to do)
* drive kid(s) to before school and/or evening activities
* keep the woodstove going
* take dogs out to do their duties

I try to finish the day with a good book. Evening t.v. ain't the best, and even though hubby may like to watch it and fall asleep, I'd rather read a book.

So as I sit and drink my Diet Coke and type this, I have in my head all the things I need to do today before bed. I haven't quite eaten lunch yet and it's 2:31 p.m. In 30 minutes, my oldest son will arrive from school. He'll want a snack. Twenty-four minutes from then will be three more kids (one of which is mine) arriving and in need of snacks. I'll try to be done with any computer stuff by then because it is near impossible to get anything done with three kids age 10 and under wanting my attention. For some reason, my oldest (age 15) has got this all figured out and ends up in his room with the door closed. Gee, thanks, Jared! Grrr...

Ok, enough rambling. I'll try to post tomorrow... but tomorrow is full of activity (besides work) as I will be able to go bowling with my 9-yr-old son at his school. Should be interesting. Maybe I'll snap a few pics so I can show you (whoever reads this... does anybody read this?) what went down.

Bye!