I fixed my mini-van! ALL BY MYSELF!!! Woot!
Wonder when my husband will notice? I'm not going to tell him, I'll just wait it out. Back in November, my left tail light went out. I haven't had a rear left blinker since! Santa put new bulbs in my Christmas stocking and Keith said he would change them.
In fact, my husband said he would fix my blinker at least once a week since November. It is February now, and I no longer believe him. I told him I was going to do it myself and he laughed.
I figured this repair was complicated. After all, my husband hasn't had time to devote to the project in months (and he had a 2.5 week break over the holidays from work). Curiosity got the best of me though, and I googled. The first thing that came up was a youtube video.
I watched it once, ran to the garage and got the tools and scurried out to the driveway.
Ten seconds later (give or take) I came back in the house rejoicing and high fiving myself! I did it! And it barely took any time at all. I can't believe it was so easy. My husband was home, but in his "man room" so he has no idea.
My tail light works again! My blinker works too! I fixed my van!
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Double the fun at the Orthodontist
I'm over a year into this orthodontic torture, and I've forgotten why I wanted straight teeth.
The other day I went to the orthodontist for my regular 4 week tweek. Fenna and Gracie were at school, Charlie was at his dad's house, and so I only needed a sitter for Libby. None of my friends offered to take her except one, and she was pretty busy so I didn't want to add Libby to her busy day. I'm getting tired of trying to find a sitter every month for a 90 minute time slot. I am starting to feel like I have to bed and plead. At first, my mama friends were eager to swap babysitting a little here and a little there, but they've gotten tired of that I guess. I'm going to have to start paying a real babysitter to cover my appointments. Anyway, I was lucky enough to get an offer from my next door neighbor and so Libby had a place to play while I went to the dentist. The neighbor has three dogs and so Libby was pretty excited to go to her puppy playdate. She took a bag of milkbones; she had a great time.
I told the sitter I'd be gone an hour, maybe a little more. My appointment was at 10am and I'm usually done by 11am. Ok, off I went.
I arrived right at 10:00. I was called back at 10:50. Seriously? What was taking so long? They must think the clients have no lives; everyone has ample time to sit in the waiting room endlessly. And they must think people enjoy it. Why else would I be there 50 freaking minutes? So far, the appointment isn't going well.
Finally, I was called back to the torture chamber and I waited for so long that I was happy about it. Maybe that's why they make people wait so long. Clever trick!
Leonard is my favorite assistant. He's big and strong and quick; he's smart, polite and has skills. The girls that work in there are too afraid to hurt me so they take forever and that just hurts more. The orthodontist came and looked me over and told Leonard what to do. He said to put on four more brackets on my very back molars and then change the wires to a thicker one. Leonard questioned him on the wire size, said ok and he got to work. First thing first, I must have the cheek spreader on today. Oh no! Not that thing! My face does not spread out that far. I've been told I have a big mouth, but it's not big enough for the face spreader. Torture!
And then he crammed triangle wedges in my jaw. Those things hurt! He blew dry my teeth, scraped them a bit, rinse, blow dry again. Then he glued on the brackets. Oh that glue stinks! Even worse than Leonard's bubble gum smelling gloves! But, he finally got done installing more mechanics in my mouth and I was good to go. My mouth wasn't happy but I was glad to finally leave, at 11:30! yikes.
While driving away, Ping! One of the brackets popped right off! Seriously? Nooooo! I pulled over and applied a wad of wax to the end of the wire and spit out the bracket. Great, now I have the end of a very sharp wire stabbing the back of my jaw.
I went and picked up Libby and offered her a picnic lunch at the park because she was such a good girl for my neighbor. My neighbor taught her how to play angry birds and use a drawing program on her iphone. Great, spoil my kid, thanks. She claims she didn't, but my kid already knew how! Amazing, kids take to electronics so easily.
A Happy Meal, a picnic blanket and a park made the afternoon almost perfect. The wad of wax on the end of my wire would not stay put so I was being stabbed, but otherwise the day was looking up. Until the other upper bracket popped off. Now I was being stabbed by sharp wires on both sides of my mouth! Ouch! I tried using french fries as padding. They were getting mushy and bloody. That was just gross. I decided to call for another appointment, and it was going to have to be today.
The appointment desk said I could come in but I had to be there after 2pm and before 4pm, no way could I go at 2pm because I wouldn't have enough time before I had to do the school pick-up and that usually takes an hour. I told her I'd be there at 3:15. Yay, only three hours of being stabbed. Wait, yay? Ugh, these braces are making me crazy!
When I went to pick up the girls from school, Libby fell asleep in her carseat. This worked out great! When she is asleep, she's a floppy ragdoll. Fenna was kind enough to take Gracie to the Starbucks next door to the dentist while I put Miss Floppy in the stroller and went in. They took me straight back.
The lip spreader went back on and the triangle wedges shoved back in. My mouth was still sore and tired from the first round of torture and now I'm laying here doing it again. The orthodontist came by and I should note, he's not the regular guy, he's the alternate doc. Leonard asked him if he should use a smaller wire since the larger wire was too strong and pulled the brackets off. The doc agreed, that was the problem. Geez, I'm laying here enduring a second torture and its all the dentist's fault. I remember my favorite teeth tweeker asked him about that earlier! Leonard worked fast with his stinky "fun flavored" gloves and stinky glue. Leonard rocks.
While I was laying in the chair in pain and trying not to gag, I thought to myself, "I should have gotten a boob job instead of braces. Same result: better looking. Faster. Probably less painful. And if I had a boob job, nobody would notice my crooked teeth."
The other day I went to the orthodontist for my regular 4 week tweek. Fenna and Gracie were at school, Charlie was at his dad's house, and so I only needed a sitter for Libby. None of my friends offered to take her except one, and she was pretty busy so I didn't want to add Libby to her busy day. I'm getting tired of trying to find a sitter every month for a 90 minute time slot. I am starting to feel like I have to bed and plead. At first, my mama friends were eager to swap babysitting a little here and a little there, but they've gotten tired of that I guess. I'm going to have to start paying a real babysitter to cover my appointments. Anyway, I was lucky enough to get an offer from my next door neighbor and so Libby had a place to play while I went to the dentist. The neighbor has three dogs and so Libby was pretty excited to go to her puppy playdate. She took a bag of milkbones; she had a great time.
I told the sitter I'd be gone an hour, maybe a little more. My appointment was at 10am and I'm usually done by 11am. Ok, off I went.
I arrived right at 10:00. I was called back at 10:50. Seriously? What was taking so long? They must think the clients have no lives; everyone has ample time to sit in the waiting room endlessly. And they must think people enjoy it. Why else would I be there 50 freaking minutes? So far, the appointment isn't going well.
Finally, I was called back to the torture chamber and I waited for so long that I was happy about it. Maybe that's why they make people wait so long. Clever trick!
Leonard is my favorite assistant. He's big and strong and quick; he's smart, polite and has skills. The girls that work in there are too afraid to hurt me so they take forever and that just hurts more. The orthodontist came and looked me over and told Leonard what to do. He said to put on four more brackets on my very back molars and then change the wires to a thicker one. Leonard questioned him on the wire size, said ok and he got to work. First thing first, I must have the cheek spreader on today. Oh no! Not that thing! My face does not spread out that far. I've been told I have a big mouth, but it's not big enough for the face spreader. Torture!
And then he crammed triangle wedges in my jaw. Those things hurt! He blew dry my teeth, scraped them a bit, rinse, blow dry again. Then he glued on the brackets. Oh that glue stinks! Even worse than Leonard's bubble gum smelling gloves! But, he finally got done installing more mechanics in my mouth and I was good to go. My mouth wasn't happy but I was glad to finally leave, at 11:30! yikes.
While driving away, Ping! One of the brackets popped right off! Seriously? Nooooo! I pulled over and applied a wad of wax to the end of the wire and spit out the bracket. Great, now I have the end of a very sharp wire stabbing the back of my jaw.
I went and picked up Libby and offered her a picnic lunch at the park because she was such a good girl for my neighbor. My neighbor taught her how to play angry birds and use a drawing program on her iphone. Great, spoil my kid, thanks. She claims she didn't, but my kid already knew how! Amazing, kids take to electronics so easily.
A Happy Meal, a picnic blanket and a park made the afternoon almost perfect. The wad of wax on the end of my wire would not stay put so I was being stabbed, but otherwise the day was looking up. Until the other upper bracket popped off. Now I was being stabbed by sharp wires on both sides of my mouth! Ouch! I tried using french fries as padding. They were getting mushy and bloody. That was just gross. I decided to call for another appointment, and it was going to have to be today.
The appointment desk said I could come in but I had to be there after 2pm and before 4pm, no way could I go at 2pm because I wouldn't have enough time before I had to do the school pick-up and that usually takes an hour. I told her I'd be there at 3:15. Yay, only three hours of being stabbed. Wait, yay? Ugh, these braces are making me crazy!
When I went to pick up the girls from school, Libby fell asleep in her carseat. This worked out great! When she is asleep, she's a floppy ragdoll. Fenna was kind enough to take Gracie to the Starbucks next door to the dentist while I put Miss Floppy in the stroller and went in. They took me straight back.
The lip spreader went back on and the triangle wedges shoved back in. My mouth was still sore and tired from the first round of torture and now I'm laying here doing it again. The orthodontist came by and I should note, he's not the regular guy, he's the alternate doc. Leonard asked him if he should use a smaller wire since the larger wire was too strong and pulled the brackets off. The doc agreed, that was the problem. Geez, I'm laying here enduring a second torture and its all the dentist's fault. I remember my favorite teeth tweeker asked him about that earlier! Leonard worked fast with his stinky "fun flavored" gloves and stinky glue. Leonard rocks.
While I was laying in the chair in pain and trying not to gag, I thought to myself, "I should have gotten a boob job instead of braces. Same result: better looking. Faster. Probably less painful. And if I had a boob job, nobody would notice my crooked teeth."
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