Scrapbook retreat & what I've been working on at home

Taj Mahal

Elephant ride in India

Smokin' the hookah!

Meeting the Dalai Lama in Japan.

Florence

I gave a KIVA loan to a woman in Cambodia so she could buy some pigs.

Jim & I had a game night this past winter.

Floating on the Current River with the family last year.

Visiting Pawn Stars in Las Vegas.

The demise of our Bradford pear tree. (don't mind the toes!)

My pond & gardens in Florissant (boy, I miss them!)

This layout had a fold-out which I don't do too often but Barb helped me.

One of my favorite flowers.

Me & Angie

Our Integra-sealed deck

Our French lop rabbit from when the kids were young.

Some of the characters Jim & I met on our resort in Jamaica.

Next up - cousins scrapbook retreat at Kentucky Lake - woo hoo!!!

What's in your backyard?

Friday evening I was getting dinner ready and out my kitchen window I spied this owl.  I started yelling to Jim who was upstairs but he couldn't hear me because he was playing his guitar so I ran up there to tell him to look out the window.  I then ran back downstairs and grabbed my camera to get some photos.  Unfortunately, my flash kept going off so I didn't get that many good shots.  We can hear the owls quite often at night but haven't seen one so up close & personal.  It was pretty cool.  He knew we were watching him because he turned his head and stared at me in the window a few times.  He stayed there for about 5 minutes and then he flew away. 



Jim's Collection

I bet you didn't know that Jim likes to dress up once in a while.  I don't mean like a cross-dresser, just crazy wigs & masks & stuff.  Here are some pictures of his different looks...

Jim in his "bandana with attitude" that I gave him for his birthday.

Jim in his half mask that I found at the Goodwill store.

Jim always dressed up & painted his face like Ace Frehley from Kiss when we went to Mardi Gras and he lost his wig so he asked me to cut this one for him.

I guess I didn't too good of a job because he bought this Ace Frehley mask on-line.

I love my Sonicare!

Yesterday morning I went to the dentist for my 6 month check-up. The girl who cleaned my teeth told me that there was hardly any build-up and she commended me on doing a good job at home. I credit the Sonicare toothbrush (the best investment ever and I wish I’d bought one years earlier!) I bought a year or two ago when I was told that I had bone loss due to not flossing properly. At that time, my dentist said there was some medicine that she could insert into the worst areas which may or may not help to get rid of the inflammation & rebuild the bone. I think the cost was $45 per application. I told her to do the 2 worst spots and I’d consider the rest at a later time. Anyway, I was freaking out thinking I would lose my teeth so I went to a specialist who told me stuff I didn’t really understand so I decided to do nothing. So since that time, I’ve been waiting for my dentist to mention about the bone loss again and she never has.

Anyway, when the dentist came in to check my teeth after my cleaning yesterday, she told me that I had chipped part of tooth #15 which is the last tooth on the top left hand side. The thing is that it has a very large filling and if the tooth starts breaking off I could have problems so she advised me to get a crown. After she got done checking my teeth, the hygienist said she needed another x-ray of that tooth so we went back into the x-ray room. As she was pulling my chart up on the computer I told her about the bone loss dilemma a while back and commented that nobody has said another thing about that and I was wondering why. She looked at my chart and said the reason nobody has said anything more is that everything is either the same or better and they would only say something if it was worse. Really? They made a very big deal about it back then so I’m skeptical. Could it have been an easy money-maker? I’m not sure and I want to believe that my dentist isn't like that. I’ve been going to her for many years and I even drive back over to Florissant because I don’t want to go to a new one. I think the hygienists do a good, thorough job on the cleanings and I’ve been to other places a couple of times when my insurance changed where I didn’t get the good, thorough job. One time I remember that the hygienists at the new place only cleaned my front teeth. Another time they only flossed some of my teeth. So, needless to say, I think I’ll stick with the dentist that I know does a good but perhaps too thorough of a job.  

My part of the cost of the crown would be $285 which isn't that bad but I don't want to rush into anything so I think I'll wait.  It doesn't hurt or bother me at all and I think the tooth has been chipped for quite a while.  I'm going to practice Ronnie's philosophy, "if it isn't broke don't fix it!"

Memories....

Last Sunday Jim & I took his Dad to see his sister-in-law, Aunt Helen at a retirement home in Wentzville.  It was the first time he had been there and he’s been checking out retirement homes in the area recently.  It was also the first time I’d met her because she’d been living in Florida for years.  She’s 84 years old and very chipper.  She was well-dressed & talked like no tomorrow.  Her apartment was very nice and the retirement home was a family-owned place and we met some of the family that were working while there.  They were very nice & knew all the residents by name.  It reminded me a lot of where Mom was at Brentmoor before it was bought out by the conglomerate.  We all went to lunch and afterwards we dropped Dad & Helen back off so they could have some time alone to talk while Jim & I went to Rural King to pick up some bird seed.  There was another lady at the home that Helen had met who knew Dad so he met up with her, too.  When we went to pick him up, he was in a hurry to get out of there.  Ends up, his girlfriend, Jo called while he was talking with Helen and he was supposed to go over to her house.  Jim & I hoped that at their age, there was no jealousy going on.  Anyway, I teased him on the way home that he’d have the pick of the crop if he moved into that home because we only saw women.  We dropped Dad off and I guess I didn’t realize how much the home reminded me of Mom until Jim asked if I was okay and the tears started.  It’s coming up on a year since we lost Mom.