Partial to the bean…

The orthodontist appointment today went pretty well. Sammi is definitely getting a palate expander. They did a full panoramic X-ray, and the crowding (both of teeth that have erupted and the teeth that are still below the surface) is quite extensive. So she goes in for brief appointments on four of the next five Mondays (she has President’s Day off); at one, they’ll do a mold of her mouth, at another they’ll put little spacers between the teeth that the expander will be attached to, etc. I’m not clear on what’s happening when, but she’ll have the appliance in her mouth by early March, and then it’s a 6-month ride.

Sammi was quite apprehensive about the appointment, but she did very well and is feeling pretty fine about everything, EXCEPT that the orthodontist told her that she will definitely need braces later, which is THE COMPLETE OPPOSITE of what her dentist has been telling her. The dentist said that a palatal expander now would prevent the need for braces later, but the orthodontist feels quite differently. Ah well, one step at a time, I suppose.

The office is, of course, super-cool. There are two different raffles going on at all times. There’s a silly-hat-free-bowling-pizza party next month that Sammi can attend if she wishes. She got a cool free t-shirt. At every appointment she can earn up to four tokens (one for wearing the shirt, one for being on time, one for having nice clean teeth and one for taking care of her appliance); these tokens can be saved up and traded in for gift certificates at Starbucks, GameStop, iTunes, Amazon, the local movie theater, etc.

I didn’t really care for the orthodontist, to be honest. He found a small surface cavity on one of her molars, showed it to me, told me I needed to get it taken care of ASAP, then told me that again, then told me that again a little later, then told me again and then kind of stared at me for 10 solid seconds, then told me again. I GET IT. I think he pegged me as a neglectful mother who is going to let that tooth rot right out of Sammi’s little head. So he was a bit irritating, but Sammi was fine with him, and everyone else in the office is extremely nice, and, well, whatever.

I just told Sammi that her orthodontist appointment is tomorrow morning. She was not thrilled. Please think good thoughts for her; she’s really scared about this, but she really needs it.

I got to thinking about Santa the other day, and a little Googling produced this article, which revealed that, in 1998, our (real) Santa was 63 years old, lived in Texas, and drove himself up to our area every year to live here for about a month for his Santa gig. I’m guessing that he just got too old to keep that going. I also found this interview with him, which doesn’t really give any useful information at all, but is kind of cute.

The past week or two, I haven’t blogged much. Alice has been really stressed with a pile of end-of-semester work due, and I’ve been putting a whole lot of energy into helping her stay calm and productive. The stress paid off, though. She finished her research paper on pollinators, did a stellar 40-minute presentation on Celtic music, got all of her paperwork in to get credit for her first semester of high school, and had an absolutely glowing conference with her advisor today, who called her his best student (she has him for Algebra I and Japanese II). Sammi had her mid-year conference today, too, and I got to hear that she’s gotten over last year’s math anxiety and has become a gifted writer.

The girls have a long weekend off now, and we’re going to watch a lot of junky TV and relax. No homework to be done!!

“I am grateful my geek instincts led me to be a somewhat early adopter of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli anime. I have been hooked since I first saw Spirited Away, and I have found his work to provide a needed vaccine for my girls against the creeping illness of princess-itis.”

via Great Geek Debates: Disney Princesses vs. Hayao Miyazaki | GeekDad | Wired.com.

(I’m trying the Press This plug in to post this link to my blog automatically…)

Leila asked on the comments for the last post if we got any snow. Nope, no snow, and now they’re not even calling for snow at all in the two-week forecast. Supposedly this pattern’s gonna change, and winter weather will actually arrive later this month, and persist through March. I’m torn between really wanting some nice pretty snowy snow to play in and shovel and stay home from school for and look at and enjoy, and not wanting to be cold or listen to my family complain about being cold. So I can’t decide what to hope for. I do think I am ready for a long winter’s nap, and maybe even a week or two of hibernation. *yawn*

Every day for 2 weeks now, AccuWeather has forecasted snow for about 10 days from the current day. The snow never gets any closer in the forecast; it just keeps being pushed back every day to “ummm, late next week” and then “late next week” and then… Well, you get the idea. Goodness knows I got burnt by the big storm we got in October, but is it going to snow at all in the actual winter this year?

The girls and I are going to the Farm Show today, with the school. Yayyy!!

I made the call. I made the appointment. Sammi sees the orthodontist for an initial consult on Monday, January 30. Now do I get a cookie?

Remember when I said that this weekend we will be seeing Tintin? Yeah, not gonna happen. The girls and I are feeling punky, and Alice has a big paper to be working on, and she had to pass on a really fun babysitting job to make time for that, and we’re going to the PA Farm Show with the school on Tuesday and I’m already stressing about how I will manage that if I (a) feel this bad and tired all the time now and (b) won’t be able to do Neti pot every 4 hours that day. So yeah, it’s a stay-at-home and not-go-to-the-movies day here. I’m not complaining, because complaining would be bad, but I sure was hoping for some movie fun…

Okay, my birthday has passed. The holiday season is officially over. We de-decorated the tree this evening, although we left the lights on for one more night. I put away all the presents, I organized the wrapping paper and packed up all the bows. Christmas is over.

I have been really dragging my feet on calling the orthodontist for the initial consult on Sammi’s proposed palatal expansion. Like, really really slacking off on this issue. A truly motivated and aggressive person would have made that initial call at least a year ago, when the dentist first suggested it as a plan of action. There are many reasons why I’ve procrastinated — laziness, anxiety about money, hating to make phone calls, hating to put my child through any physical discomfort, etc. etc. I finally made myself make the call today, though. Turns out they’re closed on Fridays. GAH!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEEEEE! I’m 42 today!! 42 is:

• The answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything
• 3 X Alice’s age and 6 X lucky 7
• The * character in ASCII, which is “the wildcard character”
• A pronic number, an abundant number, a sphenic number, a primary pseudoperfect number, a Catalan number, a Størmer number, a pentadecagonal number, a meandric number and an open meandric number
• The time in minutes required to fall from one side of the Earth to the other through a tube drilled directly through the planet, assuming a friction-free tube.
• The number with which God creates the Universe in Kabbalistic tradition
• The number of spots, or pips, on a six-sided die

And here’s a song for the day, by 80s band Level 42. The bass in this song is sick:

It hasn’t been above freezing in 2 days. I took a triple-length shower today because it was warm in there, and all of the muscles that I didn’t know I’d been keeping all clenched to conserve heat all relaxed and I went, “Aaaaaaahhhh…”

You know me. If it’s going to be cold, it should snow. Otherwise why bother??