Life at the Bus Stop

My life resumes with glamour jobs like waiting for the bus with princess Maddie and monkey boy Jakey.

Halloween 2010 Under Construction Already

Post written Nov 13. Was too depressed to publish the post until today. Enjoy! Today hasn't been the best day in the world. Tomorrow is Super Saturday (hallelujah!) so there were some last minute details to finish up, but nothing horrendous. Rebecca volunteered to watch Maddie Mae so I could be more free to run around. I let Jacob sleep in until 9:30. Fed him breakfast and headed out to drop Maddie for her playdate. Forgot my Costco card so had to stand in line for a day pass. Unload the supplies and groceries in the POURING rain. Select what can survive in the truck bed getting soaked and what needs to be in the cab. Rush to get Maddie at Rebeccas then off to do bus stop pickup. Drop off Anthony at his house from the bus. Lunch for three hungry, whiny kids. While they eat unload all the Costco loot throwing cold stuff in the fridge and freezer while leaving the rest littering the entryway and kitchen floor. Load back up in the truck to drop all the kids at Anthony's house so I can go to the dentist for my consultation. Remember I forgot to brush my teeth after all the kids are buckled in. You can't go to the dentist without brushing your teeth. Ugh. Drop the kids off and head out to pick up Brian at work. I figured there are so many high dollar figures floating in my head and theories about getting three new teeth, gum grafts, bone grafts, flippers, root canals and loads of other fun stuff, I need reinforcements to keep all the info straight. We go to the dentist who has arranged to have an endodontist and the lab guy (the guy who makes fake teeth) there to talk to me and consults with the periodontist via phone. Talk about mixed emotions. I've never had a "team" of doctors working on me/for me. I also have never felt like such a mess. It takes four professionals to fix my issues. Dang. The verdict:

• One root canal on a tooth I didn't even know was a problem. Possibly a surprise result of my trauma in the diving accident sixteen years ago that took out the other two teeth an eternity ago. It's dead as a door nail. She froze it with liquid nitrogen and I didn't feel a thing.
• One compete tooth extraction
• One bone graft
• One gum graft
• Three oral surgeries
• One FLIPPER - for the love of Pete (if you don't know what that is...count yourself lucky)
• Three crowns
• One titanium post screwed into my head
• More than one year of work in my mouth
• $10K - praise the Lord for insurance and the ability to spread the expenses out over three years

How does the post title relate to all this dental mumbo jumbo? I was laying on the floor being Jacob's jungle gym tonight while Brian read the kids an Amelia Bedilia book about Halloween and costumes and such. That's when it hit me. I'm gonna be a hillbilly next year. What could be more perfect? I'll have a flipper for the better part of a year, maybe longer while the bone graft and gum graft heal and grow strong enough to implant the titanium post in my upper jaw bone. Now I have to ask: Do you know what a flipper is? It's a retainer with a fake tooth glued in it. Yes folks. I will have a removable front tooth for a year. Classy. I know. Like I said, I'm going to be a hillbilly for Halloween. I'll leave my tooth at home and flaunt my hillbilly-ness. Glad I didn't give those old overalls to the good will afterall. Only time will tell if I'm really that confident in my own skin or if I will become totally self conscious and chicken out of my plan to go toothless.

Chair Theft Update - Crisis Averted

Upon Brian's return home Thursday evening I was, well, loosing it. People just don't believe me about Jacob. He is so pleasant when we're out. He's not pleasant at home. He screams. All day long. This particular day Jacob had been screaming from almost the instant he woke in the morning until 5pm when we all heard the familiar sounds of Daddy's key in the front door. Poor man. He didn't know what he was walking into. Honestly we only heard the key because I was out of scream at the moment. Jacob had shredded every last nerve in my frail psyche. Ben and Maddie had made a massive mess of cut up paper scraps, markers, crayons and staples all over the kitchen table and floor and were NOT interested in cleaning it up. Jacob was buckled into his high chair with a snack and screaming at the top of his lungs. I'd had it. I was yelling and angry, "Clean that UP!!" "Stop Jacob!" and the like. For anyone under the false pretense that motherhood is all glamor, you are invited over to my place for a reality check. Some days just suck. No. Some days really, really really SUCK rocks. But there are no smoke breaks for a mother at home (see my post Aug 3, 2009). We all heard the key in the lock and since no one ran to greet him, he tried to bait them with a friendly, "Fee fie fo fum..." I met him at the door and confessed in tears that it would really be best if I left now. The kids hadn't done anything wrong but I had and I needed to leave now. I NEEDED to leave NOW. He is a saint. How I scored a husband like Brian I will never know. He just said, "Okay. Go ahead." I knelt down and snuggled Maddie in my arms and told her she didn't do anything wrong. That Mommy was having a hard time and making bad choices so I needed to go on a walk. I told Ben he didn't do anything wrong either and that I loved them both and walked out. Now what? Tears streaming down my face I stood for a minute, then sat on the front step. Where was I going? I had no idea. Then I saw them. A bunch of kids hauling lumber over the hill and through the forest. Excellent. I was keyed up for a fight and here we go. I just had to follow them to find the stolen chair and I knew it. So I did. I could tell about where they were headed so I circled around the woods beyond their destination and came back right at them. There is a lovely group of post high school kids selling drugs in our neighborhood. Great, right? One guy got out of jail and can't find anyone to take him in so he's been living in the woods. The weather is turning cold so they were starting to build a shelter for him. As I approached I saw it. Right in the middle of their group with a kid sitting in it. A neon yellow tag still hanging off the right arm with my name address and phone number on it. I told them I wanted to know which one of them stole my chair. Of course they said it was theirs, they bought it and to get out of there and leave them alone. I picked up the chair and dumped the kid into the dirt. Showed them the NEON yellow tag with my name and one kid all of a sudden said he didn't know where it came from and it was just there when they came. Idiots. I told them they better not be found stealing anything else from my yard and walked back toward my house. Not twenty steps later I heard them all yelling at each other and fighting. Apparently they all decided that the guy who stole it was in trouble with the clan and wasn't allowed to come down there anymore. I turned around and yelled back how convenient it was that they already knew exactly who stole it. I didn't care who it was. Make sure no one messes with me again. I don't think they will. They were nice to me and my kids all summer. I took the chair back to the house and then walked to a friends house and sat at her kitchen table while she cooked dinner for her family. Turns out her day was just as bad. Only her problems were real. Good to put life into perspective. In the end we got the chair back so Ben doesn't have to buy a new one and I don't have to figure out what to do about the whole situation. I figure he's suffered enough emotionally to qualify as full punishment. I know he won't leave things out again.