A Shake for Dinner...

So yesterday, I made a very expensive visit to the dentist office.  Almost a couple of weeks ago, I had an old cavity filling break.  I went in shortly after that and had them file down the rough spots. 

"Your Chariot Awaits";
Watercolor on 10" x 14" paper that I
painted last week.

This last Sunday night the old cavity filling broke off some more.  I couldn’t hold it off any longer; try as I might for next year’s dental starts on June 1^st.  So I called in the morning and managed to get in during the afternoon on Monday.  I skipped my lunch and went straight to the dentist instead.

 Almost 2 hours later, I come out with almost my entire right side of my face numb and starving for a lunch.  Did I mention that they have to use something stronger than Novocain?  Yeah, Novocain doesn’t work but a half hour on me and that’s if the dentist is lucky.  I swing by a fast food place and get some chicken wraps figuring they would be soft and easy to eat on one side of my mouth.  I try to eat at my desk when I get back to work.  I say “try” because I couldn’t feel my entire bottom lip at all.  Next thing, I discover is that I’ve bitten my lower lip and it’s bleeding.  What’s really sad is that a co-worker had to point it out to me.  I was rather oblivious and felt like I was walking around in a stupor.

Another two hours later, I still can’t talk right and another co-worker is answering phones in stead of me.  It’s time to go home and still half of my face is numb.  I swing by my last Spanish class and tell the teacher that tonight isn’t a good idea about practicing speaking Spanish.  After all, I’m struggling with just speaking understandable English. 

So I head home instead but I’m still starving because I could barely manage one chicken wrap.  Then it hits me!  Ice cream!  I can have a shake for dinner and I won’t bit my lips or the inside of my cheek.  Great!  So I swing by and get a peanut butter cup shake for dinner.  Hey!  Peanut butter has protein in it, right?  That’s kind of healthy but well, maybe not SO good for the diet... Oh, well!

May Day's, Running Bulls, & Month End...

Happy May Day!  Awww… the first of May and hopefully, those April rain showers will simmer down.  May flowers bring them on! 

This last Saturday I opted to go for a run outside than a bike ride.  While I was running along over to my favorite park, I turned a corner and I was in the midst of 100 other runners.  I felt really bad because all of them were passing me like I was standing still.  I was going an easy pace because I was planning on going at least 5 to 6 miles.  They were ladies pushing strollers that were going faster.  I almost felt like I was in the middle of the running of the bulls and I was waiting to get pulverized into mincemeat. 

I ended up going up on to the sidewalk just to feel a little more at ease.  A local running store was holding a free training run.  About a block away from my favorite park there was a water stop with a van advertising the shop.  Shortly, after the water stop they had the run turning around in the street and I was glad I was on the sidewalk.  I continued on and did a lap around the park where a bunch of Army ROTC kids were stretching out before they started running laps around the park.  I did the one lap and it was like I had the whole wide sidewalk to myself; plenty room to breathe.  As I headed back home from the park, the running shop was clearing away the water station and I was going along nicely at my own pace on a quiet street.  Awwwww… that was nice.  I managed 5.5 miles for the day.  It felt good.

Later Saturday, I was having a late lunch/early dinner and had thought I had broken my tooth.  I freaked a bit and couldn’t remember my dentist name, couldn’t find the number and was just freaking out.  That’s strange for me.  Then I calmed down and got to looking and thought it might have been a crown I had swallowed.  Waited and went to the dentist on Monday afternoon to discover that it was a broken filling and I would now need a crown.  Darn; another expensive crown that doesn’t go on top of my head!

Month in review…

1.)    Saving Money?  I’m at my goal pace plus an extra 4% more.  I haven’t sold any more paintings and I’ve been trying to build up a stock of paintings, cards, and etc. for the booth I’ll have in the Little Red Riding Hood Bike Ride. 

2.)    Uncluttering my life?  Well, almost a quarter of my bedroom is stacked with donations that I need to take to the Good Will.  I need to see about taking a trip on some Saturday afternoon to drop it off.  But I still want to go through some more of my summer clothes before I do.

3.)    Reaching my goal weight?  As of last Friday morning, I was within 8 lbs. of my goal weight.  I’m feeling pretty happy with that.

4.)    Cutting down on eating out?  Nope! Sorry!  I’m SOL here!  I’m really failing at this one of late.  I’m beginning to wonder if I should throw this goal out and start from scratch!  Of course, it would help if I got my act together and cooked at home.  But I just haven't been in the mood to do that of late.

5.)    Do 1 Century Bike Ride?  Yep, got this off the list!  I found out this morning I did win the lottery for RAGBRAI.  So I’ll need to start upping my average mileage to prepare for 472 miles in one week.  In other words, I may have to plan to ride my bike every where by the beginning of July.  

Stats for the Month of April…

368 miles Cycling

19 miles Running

30 minutes on the elliptical

And

I’m now up to 21 books read for the year!

Dentists & End of Month

I’ve been living the last two weeks with hot and cold sensitivity on the upper left side of my mouth. It’s been getting worse and worse. The last week, I’ve managed to lose 2 lbs. because I don’t want to eat due to pain. It’s my own fault. There’s one thing I HATE more than anything else--- going to the dentist’s office! It’s been 2 years since I went last and that was for an awfully painful root canal. I also didn’t care for the dentist that I went to; talk about a cold fish!

I decided I needed to go somewhere because it wasn’t getting any better. But I wanted to go to another dentist; preferably a nice person with some personality. A girlfriend recommended her dentist and we went by her dentist’s office one day. She introduced me to a gal in the office and the next thing I knew I set an appointment. I figured give it a try and everyone in the office I met seemed nice. Besides, I really did need to get my tooth fixed. It’s not an ideal way to lose weight, and I was praying to God that it wasn’t another root canal.


I like the new dentist. He walked in, shook my hand, and talked to me person to person. I felt like he wanted to get to know me before he started in with the dentistry stuff. That was nice for a change. When we got around to the dental talk he managed to be encouraging and positive. The last “cold fish” had made me feel about 2 inches high for not taking better care of my teeth. I also discovered that my body may metabolize Novocain at a faster rate because I had experience episodes in the dentist office where there was pain when there shouldn’t have been. The new dentist said we could try something else and that he had a policy of a no pain approach.


It ended up being a very deep cavity that was causing the problem. Oh BOY, did I luck out! It was pleasantly a no pain session. I didn’t even feel the needle. He was so smooth and gentle. Now for the next step and the next fix on my teeth is a crown. Tomorrow morning, I get to go in for that to be fixed. I’ve just started to get cold sensitivity in that area (the lower left) which the dentist says we need to catch before it becomes a problem. Meanwhile, I can see the dollar signs draining out of my pocket book; another reason I’ve never been fond of the dentist. But if I pay my bill that day his office offers to give a 20% discount. So, I guess it could be worse.

End of Month…

Weight- 8 more lbs. to go thanks to the dental situation.

100 SLC Porches- I’m up to 80 out of the 100. I’m a couple of porch paintings behind. But I’m hoping with the cycling season almost to an end that I’ll be able to catch up a bit.  The photo of the #80 porch painting is above.  It's a watercolor on 11" x 11" Paper.  To view the progress of the 100 Salt Lake City Porches Art Project, click here.

Uncluttering my life- The goodwill is still growing and I’m thinking I need to take that pile to the actual goodwill. But that’s just a thought so far.

Stats for the month-

16.5 miles running

358 miles cycling

1 hour 21 minutes on the elliptical

Read 4 books this month (up to 48 for the year.)