Dental Dilemna - Day 10 of 31 Days of Blogging

Grace has bad teeth. Sometime during the development of her teeth two dentists now have told us that she must have had a high fever which damaged the enamel of her teeth. She's already had six fillings and a couple of weeks ago we noticed one of her back molars looked like it had cavities again.

Saturday she was eating a piece of sausage and it got caught in another back molar and she couldn't get it out. I tried dental floss and brushing and I couldn't get it out either. As I was trying to dislodge it, I realized there was a hole in her tooth. Great.

She had an appointment today after school and the dentist put a stainless steel crown over one back molar and a temporary filling in the other. We have take her back in a couple of weeks for a more permanent filling. Her front permanent teeth are also discolored. Bryon and I were not happy with the demeanor or the explanations the dentist was offering us.

We've taken her to two dentists now. One was too rough and this other guy is a jerk. I think the next step is going to be to take her to Springfield to a pediatric dentist and try to develop a game plan for the long term for her dental care.

It's very frustrating. She didn't mind the stainless steel crown because one of her girlfriends at school has four of them. One day she won't be so happy about that.

Bieber Fever - Day 9 of 31 Days of Bloggin

Grace has a slight case of Bieber fever. How she even knows who he is is beyond me but she does. Everytime she sees him on something she's all, "Ohhhhh Justin Bieeeeber".  It drives her daddy crazy. Of course that's what we girls do right? She got the Birthday Express catalog and they had a whole Justin Bieber party kit. She wanted it even though we aren't doing a big party this year. Her request by the way.

Luckily for her she got invited to a girlfriend's Justin Bieber birthday party just yesterday so she got her Bieber fix after all. She picked out a Justin Bieber book at the book fair at school for her friend Mattie. It was a hit.

I remember reading tons of issues of Tiger Beat and Teen Beat Magazine when I was young. I don't remember how I got those magazines. I doubt I had my own money. My mom must have bought them for me. I just can't remember but I loved pouring over them and all the teen celebrities. So here is Tiger beat today. Note who made the cover.

 

Later as I got older it was Seventeen and Circus magazines that I coveted. I must have read a hundred issues of those magazine through my teen years. I'd cut out pictures and words and make collages to hang on my walls. I had my share of long haired rockers on my walls too. I had a huge poster of David Lee Roth behind my door. I couldn't find the exact one I had online but it was almost life sized and hung behind my door. It was similar to this... I'm sure my parents were thrilled. Mostly I remember he was unclothed except for some devilishly tight red leather pants ;)

My issues of Teen Beat and Circus were similar to these...

I also had lots of half naked men bedazzling the inside of  my high school locker at school. My Aunt was the Home Ec teacher and would sneak down there to check out the eye candy from time to time. My locker was very popular. 

So now we have an almost seven year old and here we go. Wikipedia said those teen magazines were targeted to 10-16 year olds. The only thing saving me from having to buy them for her yet is that she can only read about 75 words right now and it's just not the same if your mom has to read it to you. 

I think her daddy is hoping her wall posters continue to display puppies instead of half naked rock stars for a long time.

Meet Belle - Day 8 of 31 Days of Blogging

 Meet Belle. Our new chocolate lab baby girl. She was a surprise today. We had no intention of getting a new dog this weekend but our friends the Hugglers were at Wally World and saw these guys in the parking lot for sale.

We were planning on getting a yellow female but this little one was the runt of the litter and oh so cute. We've had a yellow lab (Daisy) and a black lab (Briar) but never a chocolate so Bryon and Grace out voted me and we came home with the chocolate. It wasn't much of a hardship.

Right now she's asleep on top of Bryon while he watches Huskers football on the couch.

I'm sure it will be a long, long, long night of whining which will start very soon. And then there's the getting up to take her out every couple of hours. 

She's a couple of days shy of eight weeks old and will probably end up being about the size Daisy was.

 

Life around the Medley house is about to get shook up again.  I'm just praying she's lazy. Very, very lazy :)

Book Reruns - Day 7 of 31 Days of Blogging

I was talking to a friend the other day about books and reading and she told me how much she likes to read some books over and over again. I can't do that. For me the thrill is gone after the first read through. As much as I'd like to relive the little charge I get out of a really great scene or entire book, it's just never the same again.

While I don't have a very good memory for trivia or details and couldn't tell you character names or much at all about any book I read more than a few weeks ago except that I enjoyed it ... or didn't, as soon as I start reading it again, it all comes back to me.

Song lyrics are the same way. I couldn't recite the lyrics to any song just off the top of my head but as soon as it starts to play, the words come back to me. I'm pretty sure this is not a unique ability. I just think that recall is the same thing that happens with books for me.

I've only reread a handful of books through the years and while I did enjoy them the second time around, it wasn't as exciting. Reading a new book is such an adventure. You just never know what's around the next corner. Or in the closet. Or under the bed.

This summer I reread The Stand by Stephen King. I've also read Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury maybe four times. I've read To Kill A Mockingbird twice and Sue Hubble's A Country Year as well. Other than those, I can't think of any others I have reread. There are probably a few.

Of course book sellers like to try to trick us with new covers every so often. I've been duped more than once into buying the same book twice. They just make them so darn appealing and I totally judge books by their covers so I'm a complete sucker.

I'll bet if I just opened it up and started reading though, it would all come back to me.

My friend Deanne likes to read Dick Francis books over and over. She finds them comforting like literary mashed potatoes.

What books have your read over and over?

Read on.

Gym Time - Day 6 of 31 Days of Blogging

I made it to the gym late this afternoon. It's only the second time in two weeks. It's not that impressive; twice in two weeks. It's barely better than nothing at all but it's a start. I'm a great starter.

Last week I went in and pinged around on the equipment and managed to waste an hour and have some sore muscles the next few days so I suppose it was something. But it felt pretty aimless overall. Today I asked for a consultation and a body analysis, glutton for punishment that I am. A very, nice and perkily fit girl named Taylor measured me and my fat and determined that 109 pounds of me is essential parts... 66 pounds of me is fat.

I had 37% body fat. Now that is impressive.

She helped me develop a six week plan for strength training and optimistically suggested I do 30 minutes of cardio 3-5 days a week. Uh huh. I would love to do that but I don't see how it's going to happen.  I'm going to try. I'm more likely to make the three than the five.

I used to be in a shape other than round and would like to be again ... like tomorrow. The absolute simplest exercise she suggested took absolutely no equipment and was excruciatingly difficult. The plank. Seems simple; stretch out and hold it for thirty seconds. Repeat. Taylor suggested three times. I did three times. I wasn't feeling like a hero so three was all I did.

It was a lot harder than it looks.

Or maybe I'm just in a lot worse shape than I'd like to think.

Either way ... plank I did along with ball wall squats, leg abductions, dumbell front raises, dumbell curls, tricep pushdowns, 15 minutes on the bike and 15 minutes on the treadmill carefully keeping my heart rate at 145. Exercising is very complicated. But, I like a plan and now I have one. All I have to do now is implement it.

Aye, there's the rub.

Meet the Authors - Day 5 of 31 Days of Blogging

A couple of weeks ago I went to St. Louis with two girlfriends to see two of my favorite authors; Charlaine Harris and Laurell K. Hamilton . Of course they both write vampire novels so they are right up my alley. Hamilton lives in St. Louis and her Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series is set in St. Louis mostly as well. Harris lives in Arkansas and her Sookie Stackhouse series was the basis for the HBO series True Blood. The first season of the show was pretty true to the first book and even used a lot of the dialogue. After that, the show pretty much went off the rails, in a good way I think, and now they are basically two separate but equally wonderful entities. Hamilton and True Blood are not for the faint of heart. Luckily, my heart is strong.

Both ladies participated in this author's evening at Christ Church Cathedral in St. Louis which is down by the Arch. It was an awesome church and it was packed. It is an Episcopal church and the Dean of the church welcomed everyone and gave us some history of the cathedral. He was so kind and enthusiastic it made you want to go to church there some Sunday just to please him.

The event was a fundraiser for the St. Louis Public Library. Tickets were only $28 and you got to choose a signed book from one of the two authors. I chose Charlaine's The Sookie Stackhouse Companion.

We got second row seats which were awesome. Both authors stood on a little stage up front and instead of a program they just answered fan questions for an hour and a half. I sat next to a very nice lady named Beth Sorensen who just published her second mystery book. She was there for a Mystery Writer's conference.

I got in line to ask a question but someone in front of me asked it before I made my way to the microphone. It was a fun night. I was a little nervous because usually when I go to a concert of someone I really like, I'm disappointed in them in person and then I don't listen to them anymore. Thankfully that was not the case with this event. They were both great. I wasn't disappointed at all.

In fact, it just made me want to go to more events like that.

There's a Book Lover's Convention in Chicago in April and I am really thinking about going instead of driving Route 66. They have lots of authors I like there and writing conferences as well. I'll probably wait until the last minute to decide so we'll see.

I'm on the hunt for the next opportunity.

Something About Nothing - Day 4 of 31 Days of Blogging

The Nothing Pitch - Seinfeld on You Tube ... Click Here To Watch

See, I told you this would happen. It's only day four and I have nothing to blog about. Every day is just not blog worthy. Today, I went to work, made a few stops, had lunch with my favorite contact person, came home and warmed up leftovers for Grace so we could rush off to her makeup soccer game in Marshfield. Then when I got home, again, I had to make a spaghetti casserole thing so I could take it the church dinner tomorrow night. I was supposed to make brownies too but then I spied the package cookies we had bought for the Sunday felllowship we skipped so, I'm taking those instead.

See, not blog worthy. Instead of a quality post you are getting a lame stream of consciousness spew.  I've been sitting here tonight trying to come up with something. I've got nothing. I asked Bryon for an idea. Bryon suggested I write about how great he is. Not too surprising really. He is pretty great but if I write too much about that his head will swell up and explode. I don't want to clean up the mess so what else you got for me?

He also suggested writing about nothing, like on Seinfeld. I told him that would be a very, very short post. Of course then I had to go to YouTube and find The Nothing Pitch and watch it. I have seen every single episode of Seinfeld so many times. A solution to pretty much all of life's problems can be found in a Seinfeld episode. They should make a book The Zen of Seinfeld. They probably already have. I should Google that...

See how it is... you start to write something about nothing and the next thing you know you're pinging all over the internet like a cosmic ADD maniac.

Sometimes I think just writing, anything, helps break loose more ideas. Creativity spawns creativity. I did no writing on my book today. I feel like I need a good long stretch of time to clean up my plot flaws and proofread before I can go on. I don't see how that is going to happen right now. 

I have been reading Stephen King's book On Writing and it's been very inspirational. I need all these little tricks and pushes of affirmation to keep myself motivated. Especially on days like this. When it seems like there is nothing to write about.

Okay, I'm going to stop complaining now. I'm starting to sound like Harry Potter complaining about homework in book five.

I'll try harder for tomorrow. Really, I will.

A Gift of Math - Post 3 of 31 Days of Blogging

Last Friday Bryon picked Grace up from school and went for her annual IEP meeting for her speech therapy. We've had her in speech therapy since she first started to speak and she's done great. They are working on her L's, ch and th sounds mostly now and it looks as though this will probably be the last year she'll have to do it.

I remember going to speech therapy myself when I was small. I went to one of the little trailers between the brick buildings and practiced my s sounds. I guess that runs in the family.

The meeting on Friday was with the school counselor, speech teacher, principal and Grace's teacher. They told Bryon they think she might be gifted in math and suggested we send her to Drury's Summer Quest program this summer for a gifted day camp. I looked it up and it's $200 for a week in June. We'll probably send her. She's pretty excited about the possiblity.

One thing I know for sure is that she did not get any math genes from me. If there are words and numbers in a problem ... I'll pick C every time. And if it's not multiple choice, then it will just be blank because that is exactly the one and only answer that comes up in my brain. A blank. My dad is a banker. My mom worked in a bank. My brother is very good with math. I am not.

I clearly remember my dad sitting me down at the kitchen table one day when I was sixteen and trying to show me how to balance my checkbook. I just couldn't do it. I always told him I was balancing it and went through the motions but it was never right. I finally just started keeping a cushion in it of at least $100 so I would never bounce a check. I haven't balanced my checkbook in 27 years. And yeah, I had to use the computer calculator to figure that out.

If I am asked to do math on the spot, in my head ... forget about it. There is this little black window shade in my mind with a pull dangling down the middle of it that slowly closes to block any possible math answers from getting through to see the light of day. It's a blackout shade. It's a total eclipse of the math.

So if Grace has a chance at working some math wonders, more power to her. I think she's also going to be a good reader and writer. She'll be unstoppable.

She'll just have to ask someone else how to balance her checkbook.

Hay, House & Honey - Post 2 of 31 Days of Blogging

This is a hay bale from our field out front of our house. We haven't done anything to improve the pasture since we bought this place ten years ago except brushhog it. The field is full of orchard grass, fescue and brome grass. It's really not all that great, but a guy stopped by a few weeks ago and asked if he could bale it and have the hay. We were just going to brushhog it down anyway so Bryon told him he could.

I'm sure he's just going to sell it somewhere, but it was cool to know that he got fourteen big round bales off of our that field. That would be enough to feed a couple of calves all winter probably. If we ever get any fencing put in at least we can have some decent grass and hay for them. Everyone tells us if we lime the field in the spring the grass will get a lot better. Maybe this will be the spring we do it.

We've been pretty consumed with our house lately. Specifically the log siding. Log siding is very cool. It looks pretty and rustic and natural. It is also a tremendous pain in the ass. Every three years we have to clean the entire house and re-stain it ... by hand. We stained every log before we sided it to begin with. Then three years later we rented a boom lift and Bryon washed the entire house and I stained behind him. It took us three whole days from dawn until dusk. It was not easy. Then we sat back and didn't think about it much more.

We weren't eager to repeat the process. This year though, it's starting to look really bad with lots of black junk on it. Bryon started cleaning it like he had before and this time things didn't go so smoothly. It had been six years since we last did it. We waited too long and it was too far gone to take the easy three day route. So now, instead of just cleaning it and then staining, it had to be completely sanded down to bare wood. I've spend five hours sanding two ends of our house, our friend Aaron has spent nine hours working on it with us and Bryon has probably spent forty hours on it already. We still aren't finished with just the two ends. We aren't even going to do the front or back until spring. It's a daunting task.

Bryon was hopeful we could just pay to have it done. We got a bid. The bid was $4,500. There was just no way to justify spending that much on it. Not yet anyway. We are seriously wondering now why we didn't just brick it like everyone suggested. Oh yeah, because we hate brick that's why. Unfortunately we are also starting to hate logs.

On a brighter note, I robbed my bees last weekend and I have about a gallon and a half of honey drip, drip, dripping into a bucket in the kitchen in my homemade extractor. I think I'll try to put it into jars tomorrow night. Hopefully that will last a while. There's nothing better than homemade honey from your own little bee slaves.

Life is good in the Big Cedars even if it is a lot of work sometimes.

A Leap of Faith - Post 1 of 31 Days of Blogging

Today was the second ORA (Ozarks Romance Authors) meeting I have gone to. It was fun. Last night I surpassed the 50,000 word milestone and decided I'd take my first ten pages to the ORA critique group. I printed out 10 copies stuffed them in to my folder and went back to work on my story.

As I read through those first ten pages again, I realized that nearly every paragraph started with "My" or "I". Apparently that's an inherent hazard of writing in first person. I had not done any revisions or rewriting yet, I just wanted to plow through and get the story out and onto paper so I could see that word count rise and validate all the time I was spending on it. I'm still 20,000 words short of a publishable length but it's two thirds finished and I don't have the ending written so I'm not worried yet.

I reworked those first ten pages and cleaned up the obvious and glaring mistakes and reprinted them, exchanged them for the first set and took my folder downstairs.

I still wasn't sure I was actually going to let anyone read it yet. I wasn't quite ready for the dream to be crushed.

This morning I got up and headed to ORA. One of the members, Beth Carter just had an adorable children's book published and since she had a book signing across town the critique group was only three members today. I was still waffling as to whether or not to offer it up for sacrifice. I did.

You have to read your work aloud while the others read along and make notes and marks as you go, then at the end each person takes a turn critiquing your work ... aloud ... in front of God and everyone. I was a little scared. I read fast like I was trying to rip a Bandaid off a hairy arm so it would hurt less.

They did not eviscerate me or my first ten pages so hope still springs eternal. They gave me some good suggestions and wanted to know what happened next. That's a good sign since none of them really dig paranormal romance.

Before I left, I gave a copy to two other members to read and critique and I know they are both pretty tough and thorough from hearing them at the last meeting but at least the debut wasn't met with utter disgust so I suppose that's something.

The dream is still alive.