Dentists and Boxes and Stuff

So, it's almost Christmas which just isn't as exciting when you are an adult and you know there is no Santa and if you do play Santa you are the one paying the bills. Keith has been snooping in his stocking. You'd think a 53 year old man wouldn't be all excited about what's in his stocking and how disappointed is he going to be when he finds out that it's SOCKS right?

We are traveling again this year, not just one trip but two. Saturday with my family and Sunday with his. We were invited to spend the night at his brother's house and I'm like no thank you, I'd rather drive back and forth. I just don't sleep well anywhere but in my bed and not even that well there and I just don't want to spend the night at anyone's house. Especially someone's house where the two brothers really don't like each other all that much and we'd have to sleep in one of their teenage son's beds. Plus, the outdoor cats need to be fed each morning and night because if you just leave food out the stray cats come and eat it and we don't have anyone nearby that we could have feed them. Our lesbian neighbors don't feed their OWN animals half the time, plus it would be weird asking someone to come feed our cats on Christmas morning before they open their presents. So, we will be making two trips. I did buy Keith a comedy CD from the Bob and Tom radio show that I'll have him open before we leave on Saturday so we can listen to that on the way down. Then he'll probably want to listen to the other CD that I got him on the Sunday trip, the Tony Bennett duets CD which I know I won't like because I don't like that crooner music (those darn kids and their crooner music!) but he likes it and that's why I got it for him.

We went to our new dentist on Tuesday. Our appointments were consecutive, starting at 5 pm which is a very strange time to go to the dentist, but this dentist actually stays open until 7 on certain days. Keith refused to go back to our old dentist after his experience with his crowns where he was in the chair for 4 hours while the dentist worked on an assembly line of patients all at once and he ended up with constant jaw pain and tooth pain from the crown and had to go back and get pain meds and have the dentist tell him that his jaw pain was from TMJ and not sitting with his mouth open for 4 hours. Then we didn't have insurance for a while and then I just procrastinated at calling a new dentist so we hadn't been in for cleanings in almost a year. This new dentist's office is much more up to date than the old one, with digital x-rays and one day crowns and a much newer office. But it's still a dentist's office which always fills me with dread and anxiety.

Anyway, Keith went in first and got his checkup and teeth cleaned and didn't have any cavities so he doesn't have to come back for 6 months. Then after a long wait where I'm thinking they forgot about me, I go get my checkup but don't get my teeth cleaned because I need the deep cleaning and all that, and they don't have any appointments for deep cleaning until February, but they have this new laser thing that cleans under your gums that is like totally painless so we'll see how that goes, and they also will irrigate with this antibiotic wash stuff and since it's been so long since I had the deep cleaning we really should do the whole nine yards which of course the insurance does not pay for. I also need a crown on a tooth where the filling is broken and there is not enough left of the tooth to just fill it again. But I'm getting the one day crown that takes about 2 hours. In a few months. After I pay the $600 for the deep cleaning. Then I'll pay the $500 for the crown. The dentist told Keith that his crown that made his jaw hurt was basically the worst crown job he'd ever seen and they could replace it but the insurance wouldn't cover any of it because they only let you have so many crowns done in a certain number of years and it would be $1000 but we are just going to wait on that. We could dispute the first crown with the dentist and insurance company but since we waited so long it's probably not worth the effort.

So, anyway, gotta love a new year that's going to start out with saving up for dental work.

We got a box on our doorstep on Monday from Crate and Barrel. Keith's brother Brad (well, actually Brad's wife Wendy) always online shops for gifts for everyone and each year we get something sent to us for our Christmas gift which they really don't need to do but it's really nice of them and how smart is that to have everything just directly sent to the people on your gift list? No wrapping, no waiting in line at the post office. Smart.

Anyway, the box had some cute ceramic travel themed plates in it, plates that you could use for little snacks or just as decoration because the artwork on them is really nice. But, the best part about the present was of course THE BOX!

Day Three of Kitchen Floor

Hmmm...no floor yet.

Keith went to all the home improvement stores yesterday to get the right kind of glue and the right kind of trowel that our flooring calls for and of course none of the home improvement stores carry it because all the wood flooring that they sell nowadays doesn't need glue. That must be why our flooring was so cheap when we bought it 3 or so years ago.

The flooring stores that would possibly carry the right glue were all closed yesterday, it being Sunday, so today he has to go in search of glue again. After he goes to the dentist.

He spent yesterday scraping the rest of the old glue gunk off the floor and making new thresholds for the pantry and laundry doors.

Handmade thresholds:


To make the threshold fit with the new pan for the washer under the washer he had to do the threshold before putting the washer back in the closet, so the washer has been sitting in the middle of the kitchen for two days.


A little difficult to do the laundry and walk around the kitchen this way.

Here is our floor.


And here is Mimi going nuts over all the BOXES!! that the flooring came in.


BOXES!


AND MORE BOXES!


SO MANY BOXES!!

THE BOX!

A month or so ago I ordered a case of 100 poly mailers on the internet and they came in a nice sturdy shipping BOX. Ordering your mailers on the internet is about 1/3 of the cost of buying them at walmart and I was tired of buying a package of mailers every few days so I invested $20.00 on the big BOX of mailers. I was very happy to get the big BOX of mailers but the cats were even happier when they saw A BOX! A BOX! A BOX! WE LOVE BOXES!!


So, THE BOX sat next to the computer desk for a few weeks with Mimi and Lucy digging at the flaps trying to get inside THE BOX because A BOX! OMG IT'S A BOX! Well, after finding a few mailers with kitty teeth holes in them because getting into A BOX and chewing on whatever is inside THE BOX is kitty heaven indeed, I thought maybe I should put THE BOX inside the closet so that my mailers would not be completely unusable due to numerous kitty teeth holes in them. Not to mention what a buyer would think when they got their order in a mailer with kitty teeth holes all over it.

So, I put THE BOX in a corner of the closet, but Mimi and Lucy knew something was up and where was their BOX!?! For the past week or so every time I've opened the closet door to get something out or throw something in there at least one cat has taken the opportunity to sneak inside that closet in search of THE BOX. I've had to check the closet before shutting the door to make sure no cats would be shut inside the closet. Inside their BOX.

Sometimes it takes me a little while to figure these kinds of things out, but I thought life would be simpler if I just gave in and found someplace else to store my mailers other than inside THE BOX, and just left THE BOX out where kitties could play in it to their little hearts content.

So now THE BOX is empty sitting in the bedroom for the cats to play in and the mailers are sitting in a plastic tub that I will eventually find a place for. Score one for the cats.