Never as bad as you think!

This weekend was lazy! I got my wisdom teeth and two broken molars removed on Thursday after a root canal on Wednesday. I was severely dreading both procedures, but neither one ended up as bad as I was imagining. When I told people about getting my wisdom teeth out a lot of people asked who was doing it. When I told them my dentist was doing it, they all thought I was crazy and said I should go to an oral surgeon. My dentist is cheaper... and he's never hurt me before, so we'll stick with that plan thanks. I went in and he gave me this release paper to sign. As I read through it I got really nervous and felt as if I was signing my life away. After I was in the chair, he took the release and went over each part in detail. He assured me that each one of the things on it were extremely low risk and I felt assured. One of the things he was worried about was the tooth that got the root canal was weak and right next to the wisdom tooth. He warned me about that and on we went. He also recommended nitrous oxide (laughing gas) in addition to the novacaine, to which I also agreed. I've never had laughing gas before, and I'm not sure I want it again. It made me feel very disconnected and slow. He started by numbing me really well. I couldn't even tell if my mouth was open for most of the procedure and it must not have been because at one point he stuck in that thing that forces your mouth open. He started on the top molars. They broke several months ago and I've been getting food stuck in the hole for a long time. It was time to let them go. The teeth had a hard time agreeing with me about that and it took some effort to get them to let go. He had to break them in three pieces and then work them out... good thing all I could feel was pressure! When he finally got those out (it took about 45 minutes), he moved on to the wisdom teeth. My top wisdom teeth are nonexistent so I just had to worry about the bottom ones. The x-ray showed text book teeth. No crazy roots, no weird bends. They're called conical because they have a root that looks like a cone and usually come out nicely. Luckily for me that was the case, and had I not spent 45 minutes in the chair for that molar the whole procedure would have taken about 5. They slid right out, in one piece, and by that time I was sniffing oxygen trying to return to normal. He stuck gauze in the holes and gave me some last minute instructions as I proceeded to come down from the laughing gas. He told me to get ibuprofen for the pain and prescribed amoxicillan for the possible infection from the molars and sent me on my way with a handful of gauze and his cell phone number in case there were problems. Thursday night I was feeling pretty good once the numb wore off, and thought huh... piece of cake! At two in the morning, I woke up thinking I was going to die. It hurt so badly so I took some more meds and willed myself back to sleep. Friday and Saturday I spent lying around DVD's. Saturday I was feeling a bit better, so I made myself fried eggs for breakfast. The stupid root canal tooth broke eating an egg! Really! I guess it's true that it was a weak tooth. I'll go in Monday and see if it's bad or just something the crown will cover once I get it. I was afraid to eat anything after that so I just had some rainbow sherbet and lots of water. By dinner time I was starving, so I ran to Subway and got a meatball sub with just cheese, not toasted and ate it with a fork and knife and very carefully! It worked out pretty well and I felt full for the first time in 3 days. Today is my dad's unbirthday (leap year baby) and hopefully I can chew dinner, because missing out on my mom's cooking is a tragedy! Anyway, back to work tomorrow and I think I might be okay. It's nice when what you imagine is worse than the reality! At least I don't have to worry about wisdom teeth ever again!

Fat is yucky!!

At the beginning of this year, I decided to get healthier. A few years ago, my mom came home from the library with a book called, "And the Fat Came Back." It's written by a woman who had tried so many diets and was frustrated because she'd lose weight using most of them, but the fat always came back. Shortly after reading it the first time, I went on Amazon.com and bought it. Then it sat on my bookshelf collecting dust for several years. Her book is a ten week plan, that she is adamant is not a diet, because we all know that the root word for the word diet is die... you all see where this is going. Anyway, for the first few weeks, you give something up for one week and then add something else in. By the end of 5 weeks, you are drinking 72 to 96 oz of water daily, and eating 3 fruits, 4 cups of vegetables, and 6 whole grains daily. Then you work on exercising, strength training, and counting fat grams and controlling how many you allow. I've been doing pretty well. Most days I acheive my goal of 3, 4, 6 and drink my water and on the days I miss, I reevaluate and recommit the next day. One of my favorite things about this plan is that it's a life style change, so it works and it's pretty fun! Also, one of the things she talks about, is not beating yourself up for messing up. So you ate a pint of Ben and Jerry's with a package of oreos. Tomorrow go back to peas and grapefruit, and you'll be fine! This is the week I'm supposed to count my fat grams and keep them between 22 and 45. It has been kind of rough, between my work schedule and planned activities that did not very well coincide with my eating plan. Not that I'm complaining, because let's be honest... that fondue was so worth it!! (Girls night!!) I decided this week would be like a holiday week and I'd start counting fat grams next week, because I've been at work a lot more this week too, and let's face it, it's expensive for me to take food to work, where I eat fat for free. Today I had a short day at work because I had an appointment with an endodontist (yes I need a root canal!). I ate Subway for lunch, which isn't all bad, but mixed with the fact that I haven't been very good about my 3, 4, 6 this week, or drinking enough water, I felt really tired and cranky! I was trying to figure out the problem. I go to bed at the same time, get up at the same time, etc. But today at 4:30 I was asleep on my couch. After groggily waking, and getting ready to go to Young Women's it occurred to me that the reason I've been feeling so good is because I've been really diligent about taking care of myself (losing weight and inches) and my body is not used to this abuse! I used to be the fat queen of America. I work and eat fast food daily for goodness sake! I used to eat chocolate cake for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and now I go 2 days without my fruits, veggies, and whole grains and I am the poster child for this book!! IT WORKS!! Tomorrow, I'm back on it. I'm going to make sure I eat healthy and get enough water, because I do not want to feel like I do today. Fat is yucky!! I need some veggies!

Rory Elizabeth's 1st Birthday

Today was my niece Rory's first birthday party! She is such an adorable kid!! I forgot my camera so you'll have to check out my family blogs for pictures, but my favorite part was when they stuck the cake in front of her and she freaked out when a little bit of frosting got on her hand. We finally just had to take it away because she wasn't enjoying it even a little bit. Maybe next year! She made a haul on presents. Her daddy even said they needed a bigger house to get it all in! She got lots of new clothes (stylish summer for her) and lots of fun toys... mostly horses! Anyway, Happy Birthday Rory... hope it was as good for you as it was for those of us observing! And a big thanks to your mommy and daddy for making it happen! Todd and Nicole never do birthdays small and it's super fun to celebrate with them!

Michele's Wedding!!!

About 7 years ago I lived in the most amazing singles ward ever known to man! I met so many fabulously amazing people and made some everlasting friends. Today one of the greatest in the group was married, and I was blessed to be able to make the reception. I forgot my camera, but had such a great time catching up with the other fabulously amazing people that made time to make it, I am just giddy! It was so fun to see people from so long ago who still know my name and care about who I am and what's going on now. I just want to express gratitude for the opportunity to hang out for a couple of hours with people who I hope will be my neighbors in the Celestial Kingdom... it's definitely worth working toward!

Numb!

Today was my third trip to the dentist in as many weeks. I'm sure there are so many people out there that LOVE the dentist, but until 3 weeks ago, I hadn't been in 10 YEARS!!!!! Memo to everyone: Don't wait 10 years to go to the dentist. Today I had 4 fillings done and I can't feel the left side of my face or my nose. I should be so grateful for the numbing feeling, but I still can't get the sound of the drill out of my head. I'm sure I'll dream in dentist drill tonight! Anyway the good news is I have a really great dentist and hopefully within a few weeks I won't have to see him again until my cleaning in July. Just a oral hygiene tip for all of you: Visit your dentist! He knows you don't like him, but if he's like mine, it won't be near as bad as you're imagining.