I love the shore

In New Jersey, you don't go to the beach for the day. You go down to the shore. (No matter which direction you are heading, it is always "down.") Once you are down at said shore, you then sit on the actual beach (which is the sandy, oceany part). Just thought I would clarify that first.

Every year, my family makes our annual pilgrimage to the shore. This has been going on for generations and is awesome. We rent a house and stay down for a whole week. This is truly the only way to enjoy the shore. If you come down for one day, you have a lot of fun and all, but then you have to make the drive back, with sand in your pants no less. We do it right. You sleep in, maybe ride bikes or play mini-golf in the morning, spend the entire afternoon playing/roasting on the beach, and then clean up to go play on the boardwalk at night. And the kids love it because, as my niece put it, "there are no bedtimes at the beach house."


Many pictures are sure to follow and the story of our fun trip to the aquarium, but I just wanted to put my love of the shore out there.

My Face Hurts

So yesterday was the much dreaded root canal. And if that wasn't bad enough, I had to be there at 8 AM. Voluntary torture and I had to wake up early for it? Evil! It started out not so bad. They have a head-set so you can watch a movie as they destroy your mouth. And they used one of those things to keep my mouth open for me, so I just blocked out everything they were doing and enjoyed my movie. For two hours, there was nothing but drills. I think I can live the rest of my life without ever hearing a dental drill again.

When I originally went in, they told me that when I came back, they would put in a temporary crown, and do the real one about two weeks later. But when I went in yesterday, they said they were going to do it all in one shot. They apparently have machine that can shape the porcelain tooth right in their office. So this maybe two hour appointment turned into 4 1/2 hours at the dentist! Ahhh! In between the stuff he was doing on me, the dentist worked on about 7 other patients. I really wanted to smack the guy I over heard saying that it was so painful to have your teeth cleaned by the dentist.

After my new tooth was shaped and polished (it's very smooth), the dentist came back in to put everything in. What is it with dentist and treating your mouth like it can't feel pain. By this time all the Novocain had worn off, but this guy was shoving his entire fist in my mouth. He cracked the side my mouth and my cheek still hurts today from him ripping over to the side. Not don't get me wrong, this dentist is awesome, but I think by the end he just wanted to get me out of there. When we were almost done, he kept telling me to open wider. Finally the nice hygienist reminded him that my jaw had been open for 4 hours and might be a little tired and sore. When it was all done, I walked out with a nice-new-shiny tooth, a fat lip, and a whole lot poorer.

Cheer Up the Raining Day

The weather so far for this summer officially sucks. It is cool, rainy, cloudy, and the sun only seems to come out for very brief intervals. So here's something to brighten your cloudy/rainy day.

Adventures in Dental Care

I seriously brought this on myself. I haven't been to a dentist in over 3 years. Now, that's now entirely by choice. The last time I went, I was still on my parents insurance. And now I have a job and medical insurance, but no dental. So about two weeks ago, during the last week of school, one of my top left teeth started killing me if I ate or drank anything cold. But I got by. I chewed on the other side of my mouth and lived on Tylenol. After about a week of this, I figured it's probably something more serious then tooth sensitivity. So I made an appointment, fully prepared for the boat-load of money I'd have to shell out.
The dentist is nice and everything, but after taking the x-rays, he makes a noise you don't want a dentist to make: "Oh boy!" Turns out I have a huge (I really do mean huge) cavity in my tooth. Then he says to two words you never, ever want to hear: ROOT CANAL!!! Ahhhhhhh! So they drilled and I have a temporary filling, which tastes absolutely terrible by the way), and an appointment for next week.
Let this be a lesson to everyone else: a.) get some form of dental insurance (this is costing me close to $2000), b.) don't wait three years between dentist's visits. It hurts physically, emotionally, and, worst of all, financially.

Stripper Names

The other night my roommate, Abby, and I were just sitting around when I came across something absolutely fabulous on Facebook: "What Would Your Stripper Name Be?" After much squealing laughter, we had to try it, of course. Abby went first and got the fabulous name of "Bambi." Pretty appropriate considering her love of all things Disney. Then I took the quiz and got the best stripper name ever: "Peaches." (And it must be said with a southern accent to get the full effect. After you do one of these quizzes, it asks you if you want to publish the results where all your friends can see, and comment, on it. I did actually stop and think for a second about who might see this: family, co-workers, parents of my students. But, hey, you only get to be young and stupid once. So I published it and didn't really think about it again, until Sunday.
I sat down in Relief Society with my friend Angie and we visited for a few minutes. Just before the meeting was about to start, I hear behind me, "Hey Peaches!" In all honestly I had to think about this for a second because there used to be a girl in our RS named Peachie. Then suddenly it clicked. I turned around to see Naseem, my former visiting teacher, grinning from ear to ear. We got laughing about it and I had to explain to a couple girls sitting around us after RS was over because the Bishop's second counselor was sitting behind Naseem. But the best part is that I got everyone to take the quiz too. We now have Peaches, Bambi, Bubbles, and Candy. And we greet each other as such. Although I am the only one dumb enough to post it (twice now). :)

I finally gave in!

I counted the other day and realized that I live vicariously through no less than 12 other people by way of their blogs. I check them often and love people's stories. So, now that I have tons of free time on my hands (aka- Summer Break), I thought I might just give it a whirl. Now I'm not sure if anyone will enjoy it or not, but welcome to my world!