Most people dislike going to their dentist- let me rephrase that- most people loathe/ despise/downright hate going to the dentist. I am one of the oddballs who actually loves going to the dentist. Let me give you a little background on this strange phenomenon. I have been going to my dentist since I was four years old. That's right, to this day I still see my childhood dentist. My dentist is kinda like a member of the family- he has seen me through my father's death, puberty with a side of braces and acne, love gained and lost and gained again, college graduation, a Peace Corps stint and finally a wedding.Who knew!
I have had everything under the sun worked on in my mouth- braces when I was a teen, wisdom teeth out soon after, numerous cavities throughout life, a severe mouth injury which left my front teeth damaged and finally said front teeth being given lovely new facade. Through all this work, I kept wondering how much my dentists children's college tuition was and what percentage I contributed.
My dental hygenist is just as amazing as my dentist. She is a rockstar! She is a funny, beautiful woman who own a couple dogs and a vacation home outside of a ski resort. We have a special bond since she gets to look in my mouth every 6 months and remind of how flossing really does help and that I should do it more often. ( who really flosses as they are supposed to?) All the while she has never once made me feel like I was a bad tooth brusher or that I was the bad patient of the day. She is just an amazing person who cares so much about her patients.
As I close my eyes tonight, I will think good thoughts for my dental appointment tomorrow, because now that I have written about how great my dentist is, there is no way I could have a cavity, right?
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Daddy's Girl
Today is a special kind of day. Special in the weird sense of the word. My dad passed away on this day 24 years ago. I was so young and not able to fully understand how this would affect me- affect my mom, my life. Every year around the same time, I think about how strange it was to go to bed knowing he was alive and then waking up to him being gone. I have the same memory just rehashed differently every time in my head. I didn't know my dad long, but what I do know is that I am a daddy's girl.
All the odd traits I get from my dad. Mama Smith has made that very clear. She insists that I am exactly like my dad in that I always see the good and never worry. I am the laughter in the house, the baker of cakes, the chocolate fanatic, the Easter egg decorator and hider, the clutter magnet and the queen of hugging- all of which I got from dad. It is great that there are albums of memories from when I was a kid that involved road tripping it with Mama and Papa Smith. The white Cutlas Supreme with red interior that had the crazy luggage rack on the back. The pictures of us laughing at catching a fish with my goofy Sesame Street sweatshirt on and my dad wearing one of his many flannel plaid shirts ( which my mom incorporated into a quilt). The smiles that we all had that last year he was truly healthy. My favorite memory is one during the last few months he was sick and in bed a lot. He had such an active imagination, just like me and he was lying in bed with his feet up and his unforgettable white crew socks- the ones with colored stripes on the top- and he always had holes in the big toe area. His big toes would always be poking out and one day when I was with him he decided to put on a talking toe show just for me. I just remember us laughing and laughing and Mama Smith kept asking us why we were laughing so hard. It was our moment- my dad and I had that moment where only we knew what was so funny.
I hold onto that memory and when I feel sad about missing out on the whole father-daughter experience, I think about how he is always with me- in every bad joke I tell, every "ha" in my laughter, every sock that has a hole in the toe ( since I obviously got my long toes from him) and the silly movie, "Muppets Take Manhatten". Every day he is with me and I never forget that-
Love you Daddy and I hope you finally got new socks.
All the odd traits I get from my dad. Mama Smith has made that very clear. She insists that I am exactly like my dad in that I always see the good and never worry. I am the laughter in the house, the baker of cakes, the chocolate fanatic, the Easter egg decorator and hider, the clutter magnet and the queen of hugging- all of which I got from dad. It is great that there are albums of memories from when I was a kid that involved road tripping it with Mama and Papa Smith. The white Cutlas Supreme with red interior that had the crazy luggage rack on the back. The pictures of us laughing at catching a fish with my goofy Sesame Street sweatshirt on and my dad wearing one of his many flannel plaid shirts ( which my mom incorporated into a quilt). The smiles that we all had that last year he was truly healthy. My favorite memory is one during the last few months he was sick and in bed a lot. He had such an active imagination, just like me and he was lying in bed with his feet up and his unforgettable white crew socks- the ones with colored stripes on the top- and he always had holes in the big toe area. His big toes would always be poking out and one day when I was with him he decided to put on a talking toe show just for me. I just remember us laughing and laughing and Mama Smith kept asking us why we were laughing so hard. It was our moment- my dad and I had that moment where only we knew what was so funny.
I hold onto that memory and when I feel sad about missing out on the whole father-daughter experience, I think about how he is always with me- in every bad joke I tell, every "ha" in my laughter, every sock that has a hole in the toe ( since I obviously got my long toes from him) and the silly movie, "Muppets Take Manhatten". Every day he is with me and I never forget that-
Love you Daddy and I hope you finally got new socks.
Friday, September 17, 2010
10 things
One of my friends tagged me in her blog and since I have been on a sort of blogging roll, I thought I would oblige her request. This is a list of 10 things you may ( or may not!) want to find out about me.
* As a kid I always wanted to be an astronaut- mostly because of the freeze dried ice cream and my fascination of how the astronauts go potty in space. I mean, aren't we all a bit curious?
* I have a birthmark on my right arm that looks like Hawaii- it would be more appropriate if it looked like the Philippines, don't you think?
* I love being in love. I believe that you can be in love with anything you want to be in love with- for me it is my husband, my mom, Hammie my mom's dog, hotdogs and my neighborhood. I am a love junkie.
* I don't like disappointment- and especially disappointing the 2 people who mean the most to me, Greg and my mom. I know that no matter what they love me unconditionally but it still makes me cringe when I think about disappointing either one of them.
* I dream very vividly at night- and I talk in my sleep- oh, and i sometimes "act out" in my sleep. I once woke up in the middle of the night because I had been standing on our bed trying to fix the curtains. When I was woken up, I pretended that I knew what I was doing even though I clearly was sleep cleaning!
* I like being Catholic. When I was younger, I didn't want to admit that I was Catholic. I felt judged by people and wanted to rebel, so I stopped going to mass. I decided to make a change and embrace my faith. This doesn't mean I am going to shove my beliefs down your throat and make you uncomfortable, it just means I am spiritual and it is a part of who I am.
* I secretly want to become a vegan. No, not because it is the cool thing to do these days. But because I want a healthier lifestyle. That will never happen though! I mean, I do make smarter choices now, but let's get serious, I love dairy too much. Cheese mostly. Oh, and sour cream. Sheesh, and butter, too. Well, I guess I will just have to keep that secret, won't I!
* I knew my husband Greg was "the one" a month after we had been dating. It just took him a little while longer to figure out I was the one, too. I kept believing my mom when she said, " you just know when you meet the one". Guess mom was right!
* I am obsessed with finding the perfect lip stuff. I have more than enough chap stick tubes on my dresser- eventually Greg just finds one he likes and uses it since I never seem to run out!
* Baking sweets. Enough said.
This was kinda fun. I think you should do it too!
* As a kid I always wanted to be an astronaut- mostly because of the freeze dried ice cream and my fascination of how the astronauts go potty in space. I mean, aren't we all a bit curious?
* I have a birthmark on my right arm that looks like Hawaii- it would be more appropriate if it looked like the Philippines, don't you think?
* I love being in love. I believe that you can be in love with anything you want to be in love with- for me it is my husband, my mom, Hammie my mom's dog, hotdogs and my neighborhood. I am a love junkie.* I don't like disappointment- and especially disappointing the 2 people who mean the most to me, Greg and my mom. I know that no matter what they love me unconditionally but it still makes me cringe when I think about disappointing either one of them.
* I dream very vividly at night- and I talk in my sleep- oh, and i sometimes "act out" in my sleep. I once woke up in the middle of the night because I had been standing on our bed trying to fix the curtains. When I was woken up, I pretended that I knew what I was doing even though I clearly was sleep cleaning!
* I like being Catholic. When I was younger, I didn't want to admit that I was Catholic. I felt judged by people and wanted to rebel, so I stopped going to mass. I decided to make a change and embrace my faith. This doesn't mean I am going to shove my beliefs down your throat and make you uncomfortable, it just means I am spiritual and it is a part of who I am.
* I secretly want to become a vegan. No, not because it is the cool thing to do these days. But because I want a healthier lifestyle. That will never happen though! I mean, I do make smarter choices now, but let's get serious, I love dairy too much. Cheese mostly. Oh, and sour cream. Sheesh, and butter, too. Well, I guess I will just have to keep that secret, won't I!
* I knew my husband Greg was "the one" a month after we had been dating. It just took him a little while longer to figure out I was the one, too. I kept believing my mom when she said, " you just know when you meet the one". Guess mom was right!
* I am obsessed with finding the perfect lip stuff. I have more than enough chap stick tubes on my dresser- eventually Greg just finds one he likes and uses it since I never seem to run out!
* Baking sweets. Enough said.
This was kinda fun. I think you should do it too!
Apple nibbler
Greg and I were sitting on the couch tonight recapping our days ( which is something we try to do every night) and he told me about "our little friend". Here's the backstory: in East Sac, there are lots of trees. Big, Beautiful and old they sit throughout the neighborhoods. We are lucky enough to have a few in our own backyard to provide wonderful shade and of course the perfect spot for our hammock. Now, the inhabitants of our trees tend to be squirrels who like to nibble on our plum-like things high above our heads while we are resting in the hammock as their little juicy bites get sprinkled on our heads. Nothing says summer like an eye full of squirrel spit! We have noticed over the course of the summer, that the squirrels really enjoyed some of our plants- especially the tomatoes. Greg would go down stairs to water the plants and come back up to say that our fruits were gone. It didn't bother me too much, since our "garden" wasn't really much of a garden, but an experiment to see if I could keep at least one plant alive through the summer.
Cut to today's Greg story- we had gotten some apples from Mama Smith this past weekend. My mom is an amazing gardener. She has many fruit trees and vines growing in the yard in Madera. Whenever we go home to visit, we are sure to bring back some delicious bounty from her garden. We brought the apples back up with us, which my mom warned us that a few had some bruised spots and a couple might even have a critter or two in it, but they were still good fruit- we just had to cut away the bad parts. A few days had passed and the apples were still on our counter waiting to be made into apple pie ( which is my mom's specialty) . Alas, there was one apple that had gone soft and stuck to the counter. Greg decided to put some of the apples outside on the landing to our stairs in order to move the apples out of the kitchen. He thought nothing of it and went inside. When Greg went out to water our plants this afternoon- what did he find? He found an apple on the grass. How did it get there? The smarty mc squirrel pushed the apple off the landing and onto the grass, went down the stairs to retrieve it and decided to eat about 1/3 of the apple. Peels everywhere indicated that the sneaky little devil had snacked on Mama Smith's apples.
I just want to know, if the squirrel was smart enough to push an apple off the landing, is he smart enough to make a pie, too? Because if he is, count me in.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Hidden treasures
Just a moment ago, I came home from work. Sitting in the comfy rolling chair we have situated at our desk, I am remembering to jot these small thoughts down before my tiredness kicks in and the silliness of today is forgotten.
At work today, it was a little slow, which makes for the perfect time to "zone". In the retail world, this means checking to see what sizes we have out on the floor, what needs to come out from the back and just general zipping/tucking/folding. I was in our men's clothing area and as I was straightening up the clearance rack, I came across a pair of long underwear that happened to be a bit faded. Alas, upon closer inspection, these had been someone's own long undies they had lovingly used for a long time and decided to abandon in our store. The funny thing about these undies is that they were neatly hung onto a hanger as if the person was going to hang them in their closet at home. What could be better than this you ask? The crotch was blown out. Yup, ginormo hole right near the booty. That made me laugh out loud and also left me wondering about the history behind those abandoned holey undies.
As I ended the day, I was dusting one of the fixtures. What did I find? What was better than holey underwear? Chewing gum...Stuck on the top of the rack. It was even a freshie. Now that's what I call a great day at work.
At work today, it was a little slow, which makes for the perfect time to "zone". In the retail world, this means checking to see what sizes we have out on the floor, what needs to come out from the back and just general zipping/tucking/folding. I was in our men's clothing area and as I was straightening up the clearance rack, I came across a pair of long underwear that happened to be a bit faded. Alas, upon closer inspection, these had been someone's own long undies they had lovingly used for a long time and decided to abandon in our store. The funny thing about these undies is that they were neatly hung onto a hanger as if the person was going to hang them in their closet at home. What could be better than this you ask? The crotch was blown out. Yup, ginormo hole right near the booty. That made me laugh out loud and also left me wondering about the history behind those abandoned holey undies.
As I ended the day, I was dusting one of the fixtures. What did I find? What was better than holey underwear? Chewing gum...Stuck on the top of the rack. It was even a freshie. Now that's what I call a great day at work.
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