Fran Warde: Eat Drink Live: 150 Recipes For Every Time Of Day Frankly, I often spend more time reading cookbooks than I do cooking the recipes in them...but this book is special because the PHOTOS are so terrific as well! And it is rare to find a comparable cookbook so chock full of easy recipes for under $20.
I went to the dentist again yesterday for Part II of my root canal procedure. There was a lot of drilling and filing and some more drilling. She explained how she would fill the empty roots (FOUR in all) with little spikes of tree wax. This is the same material used to fill golf balls. To solidify and seal the material, she explained that she would heat it. It all sounded rather natural and sporty. And despite the lengthy high-pitched whirling of the drill, it sounded fairly simple and almost calming. Not.
I will admit that when you have a blowtorch just inches from your face, that the sounds of a dentist drill just aren't that scary anymore. There's something new to worry about especially when the dental assistant is holding the blowtorch with one hand and using the Spit-Sucker instrument with the other. Multi-tasking is not always a good thing. I kept a very watchful eye on the blowtorch right after raising my hand to ask whether or not the device would be inserted into my mouth. There's just not enough Novocaine in the world to withstand an open flame inside one's mouth (nor is there enough therapy I would imagine).
Of course, the dentist just used the flame to heat her sharp Pokey-Thingee to continue with the procedure. Smoke rose from my mouth. Smoke and flames. Seriously, I'll never be unnerved by the sound of a drill again. In all, this took two uninterrupted hours: from 5pm to 7pm...about the time it took for the Novocaine to begin wearing off.
Let me insert something important here...actually, a few important facts:
1. I really like my dentist. First, she is a woman with small hands. Secondly, we talk about kids and handbags and the virtues of the Old Country (she is young but her parents are from Romania).
2. She has told me several times that I have REALLY good insurance. This is true. My two root canals cost me fifty dollars. They cost my insurance company six-thousand, one hundred, and seventy-two dollars. (Yes: $6,172)
3. She has also told me that I need a lot of dental work. This too is true but what she didn't tell me was that she has put me on the Fast Track to Dental Health.
After she completed the packing and melting process she said something to the effect of "something something something...so if you'd like we can work a little longer and get some of this taken care of." It sounded reasonable at the time so I agreed. The beginnings of three crowns and two additional hours later, this didn't seem like such a great idea (not to me anyway, but then she's the one with two children under the age two who must attend college one day...I get the feeling that I personally am setting up a scholarship for them...okay, not so much me as Aetna Insurance).
First she pumped me up with more Novocaine, drilled quite a bit longer, took impressions, and then molded, refined and glued temporary teeth (3 in all). I left the ordeal at 9pm. I had been given the "legal amount" of Novocaine that can be administered in 24 hours. Had this not been so, I think I may have left with every tooth capped, cavity filled and a literal million dollar smile. As it was, I wasn't smiling, but I think I may have been drooling a little. I think perhaps, that she was doing both.
Today my mouth is so sore that I cannot open it enough to even fit a small donut inside my mouth. I know, I tried. Even though I broke the donut into small pieces, it still hurt significantly to chew. I'm thinking someone got the famous quote backwards....it's the doctor (or more specifically, dentist) that keeps the apple away....far, far away.
I know in a few days time that my mouth will feel much improved. In fact, I'd almost guarantee that it will be great feeling in just 5 days time....because that's when I go back for more. Pain isn't always about love, but these still make me feel like someone understands my plight:
Torch Song Playlist
Cry Baby - Janis Joplin
Love Hurts - Emmylou Harris & Gram Parsons
Please Heart, You're Killing Me - Eleanor McEnvoy
Did I Say That? - Meat Loaf
Crying - Vonda Shepard
How Can You Mend a Broken Heart? - Al Green
Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer - Joan Baez
A Case of You - k.d. land
Crazy - Patsy Cline
This One's for You - Barry Manilow (I know...I just can't help myself)
Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye - Natalie Cole
It's Too Late - Carole King
She Thinks I Still Care - James Taylor
Goodbye My Lover - James Blunt
I'll Survive - B.B. King
Piece of My Heart - Janis Joplin (no one sings pain like Janis)
Two hours and forty-five minutes seems longer when someone has crammed both hands in your mouth and endlessly prods and pokes and drills and sticks you with long hideous needles. Yet as I glibly strolled out of the dentist office, I thought to myself "that wasn't so bad." It's easy to be tough while the drugs are still working.
Then, the Novocaine wore off.
Suddenly, the egg salad and soft whole wheat bread I'd bought for dinner made sense (yes, even buying the egg salad instead of making it myself made sense too). I took my preventative Aleve but numb is soooo much better than not-as-inflamed-as-before the drilling began.
Speaking of drilling, most people I know would probably agree that the high-pitched sound of a dentist drill is the worst part of having four (yes, count them, FOUR!)consecutive (as in, all in the same visit) root canals. I went prepared for the harrowing noise of the drill by taking my iPod. All was well during the several shots of Novocaine (ahhhhh) and the scraping and other preps. But then the drill began. It is my belief that 30-foot concert speakers cannot mask the sound of a single dental drill. But the iPod did help; it gave me something to clench other than the dental assistant's throat.
A couple of days from now, when I can again enjoy a cold Pepsi and Ben & Jerry's Triple Fudge Chunk and other staple foods, I will be grateful for having subjected myself to the pain that follows Novocaine. Until then, I just keep listening to the calming sounds of my Playlist now titled Novocaine:
Heavenly Day - Patty Griffin ( I love this song so much it will be on almost every Playlist for a while) A Whiter Shade of Pale - Annie Lenox Across the Universe - Fiona Apple Broken Wings - Cherish the Ladies You'll Never Be the Sun - Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt & Jewel Dresses of Lace - Nancy Griffith Two More Bottles of Wine - Emmylou Harris Our Town - Iris Dement Corner of Your Heart - Ingrid Michaelson They - Jem Simple - k.d. lang
This is one of my favorites by Ingrid Michaelson. I try to keep this song in mind each day... especially when my students get a bit "off task." So far this year, however, they are the most delightful group of middle-schoolers that I've ever taught.
Find more from Ingrid Michealson at her WEBSITE. (Another favorite is The Way I Am)
I admit it. I have somehow become addicted to Project Runway. And to Tim Gunn (those of you that really know me are saying to yourselves - NOT Again?!) I adore the way he says "Talk to me." Men don't often say that (not straight men anyway); most often they are thinking to themselves "please STOP talking to me."
I've never fancied myself to be a designer but I do periodically delve into not-so-haute fashion and sewing. And now, thanks to Project Runway and my too many vacations over the summer, I am sewing again. With a vengeance (okay, I'm buying fabric with a vengeance, but the sewing really is following!)
During these sporadic bouts of domestication in my newly transformed Sewing Room, I listen to playlists in iTunes. Here is a sample of my latest:
Heavenly Day - Patty Griffin
There's a Hole in the Sky - Gary Jules
Homemade Hurricanes - Amplifico
Tree Hugger - Kimya Dawson
Many the Miles - Sara Bareilles
Easy as the Rain - The Little Willies
I Don't Ever Give Up - Patty Griffin (kinda like my Theme Song)
What If We Went to Italy - Mary Chapin Carpenter
The Puppy Song - Harry Nilsson
It's Amazing - Jem
Everybody Loves a Lover - Doris Day (yeah, I know, but I can't help that one any more than I can help being addicted to Project Runway)
On Tuesday afternoon, Tom and I went to the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair as we have for the past twenty years (since we were approximately 10 years old or so...haha). We often start at my favorite building which is the Old Timers Building...nothing like the over-eighty crowd to make you feel a little younger.
One of my favorite prize categories is "Fruit or Vegetables that look like something else" (NOT the official name, mind you). This year's winner was a little disappointing and each year I swear that I'm going to grow veggies just to find some award-winning mutants but it does seem like a lot of trouble to go to just for a ribbon.
Considering that the entries for fruits, vegetables, and flowers had been on display for four days, I think that they still looked considerably fresh. However, the temperatures have been unseasonably cool (hooray!), hovering in the low eighties in the daytime.
Sandy: Boo! (She commented to me today that some of my banners/photos are a bit "in your face" and thereby "a little scary." I would have to agree.)
Biggest pumpkin EVER!
The flower arrangements also held up well this year.
