The Ugly (Tooth) Truth

Sometimes it feels better to just not think about things, worry about things.  The old adage, "What you don't know won't hurt you" - doesn't that sound like good advice?

Not when it comes to teeth.

Due to my rational fear of subpar insurance and an irrational fear of dentists that may or may not have a vested interest with those that profit from putting braces on six and seven year olds, I have delayed the dental care of my children.  Prior to our appointment this week, the girls have been on a dental hiatus since we moved 900+ miles.  We brush, we floss, we change our toothbrushes regularly, but I put off finding dental care for various reasons, rational and irrational.

Essentially, I have been depriving my daughters of potentially bad dental experiences.  My record with the dentist has been very hit and miss.  The last trip was a doozy and I have not been back in a couple of years.

So the girls were VERY happy about going to the dentist yesterday.  They actually got spa treatments while their dental work was progressing.  Massage chair, parrafin wax treatments for their hands, aromatherapy.  All this distracts you (for a little while) until that scraper-thingy comes out.

The results were mixed.  Darby's teeth are in good condition, but all of the sealants that I paid for two years ago are gone, so now she has a whole new set of sealants.  If these are gone in a year, I will be sure that the latest racket in the area of dental hygiene is sealants.

Roxy's teeth - well, we know that her future will not be as pearly white as Darby's, or mine or Scott's for that matter.  Welcome to the world of novacaine, gauze, and setting off metal detectors with your mouth.

Would Roxy's teeth have been spared if I has bumped up her appointment by, let's say, a year?  The dentist wants me to believe that to be the case. 

Thanks for the guilt.  I was already in guilt-induced trouble for not putting Easter Bunny gifts in their baskets this year AND the girls got to share this fact with all the adults at our church.   (It is always fun to get shamed by church people on a religious holiday.  Now they think I'm down on Easter...)  The ugly truth is:  no matter what you do, you will not live up your daughters' expectations, your dentist's expectations, or your church's expectations.  But I will not be cowed by guilt for long - I will make up for these errors in one way or another, until the next trip to the dentist, or the next holiday I don't properly recognize.

The Pretty Pic

Our new color for Easter is brown.  And no, it is not the seventies down here in Georgia.

The sweetest part of Sunday, Easter:  our dogwood opened up that morning.  Now if only the rest of the trees in the backyard would come in, and the azaleas, and the red buds (they are just now starting in), and the hydrangeas, and then the blueberry bushes...

I sure do love spring in Georgia!

She's So Unusual

Pool School is So Cool

I guess every cool pool should have big, strong men in them, shouldn't they?  I can't wait to hear her solution for the public bathrooms...

Portrait of a Middle Schooler

Maybe it's more of a doodle, but I digress...

I do envy the straight hair - so does Darby, I think.

I Think He Loves Me

There are lots of things that you do for your spouse, things that you never imagined you would do, things that you hoped you would never have to do, things you love to do, and things you don't.  I think my husband loves me because he has agreed to do the thing on his To Don't list.

His name is Van Morrison.  He is coming to perform a concert in Atlanta.  I have been waiting to see him for 20+ years.  My dear husband cannot stand live music and concerts, crowds, Atlanta traffic, tempermental musicians,  or poetic music.

But he is taking me to this concert.  And he promised to take me to dinner at La Madeline before the show.

I think he loves me.

I do know that I am a big fan of Van the Man.  Most of my personal music stash was recorded by Van, followed by Ryan Adams (whom my husband cannot abide either.)  My "Stranded on a Desert Island" music would be Van's Moondance album.  I cannot pass up "Into the Mystic" - ever.  I turn it up loud and take a little vacation when that song in on.  And my husband is okay with all of this.

Thanks for my Mother's Day present, Scottie.  You are covered for my birthday as well!

Introducing "Old Blue"

I finished my quilt today.  This project was pieced together by my sister, way back in 2001 or 2002, for my kitchen table.  My desire to use blue and white in my kitchen prompted this project, and it moved to four different houses with me until finally it found its home on my dining room table.  I learned how to quilt in November of last year and kept plugging away these last few months to knock this baby out.

Blue and white color patterns are my favorite and have been ever since I was eight or nine and visited my great aunt Elvie (she was my grandma Tiny's sister.)  She was showing me all the quilts that all the ladies in Hopper, Arkansas worked on, many of which were made of feed sack fabric.  There were also some stained from their chewing tobacco, because while they worked, they would chew and then reach down to get their individual coffee cans for a spit.  My favorite (sans spit) was a blue and white quilt, and she sent me that very quilt for Christmas one year and I was very excited.  Some 20 years after receiving that quilt, Scott and I very unexpectedly found a straight pin that had been quilted into the quilt.

What I like about quilts is all the handwork that goes into them.  The more, the better.  My first quilt is all hand quilted by me, myself, and I.  It does make me proud that I have finished it.

Now I want to go out and get fabric and make some modern, colorblocked quilts for my girls.  I want to make a 1930s feedsack-ish quilt for my living room.  And I want to make a classic blue and white quilt for my bedroom.  I might even turn into one of those ladies that stock piles fabrics, just because.  (Won't Scott be thrilled to read that sentence...)

So, "Old Blue" is finished and it is not where I envisioned it would be, but I am happy just the same.