Joey and I went to our semi-annual dentist (or rather, hygienist) visit today. I had a substitute person who was much more aggressive than my usual hygienist. It was slightly painful and my gums are a little irritate right now but I'm wondering if maybe I need to switch to a more aggressive hygienist all the time or was this one just too rough? I'm not sure. I'll see how the next visit goes and if I don't think she's working me over well enough, I'll switch to the other hygienist in the office (though I'm not sure how to go about doing that). At any rate, my teeth are ok--not great (I have an exposed root that has darkened and I need to go get it bonded next week to prevent decay) but not awful either. I need to use prescription toothpaste, though. Blech. I'm not crazy about toothpaste in the first place but prescription toothpaste--ick! I hope it tastes ok. Joey's teeth are perfect, as usual. But we need to give her bottom teeth more attention. She's been brushing her braces and appliance and top teeth very well but giving short shrift to her bottom teeth. They're in good shape still, of course, but they won't be if we don't give them equal time.

I love my dentist, though. He's just sweet and wonderful and the best dentist ever. When my sister was in paramedic school several years ago and needed a root canal, he took her on as a patient and allowed her to go on a payment plan because she didn't have insurance. He doesn't do that for everyone but because she was my sister and I was a long-time, reliable patient, he did it. I thought that was really great. He's the best.

Yesterday, my friend Carrie invited me over for lunch. I go out to lunch with friends often but getting invite *in* for lunch was a new thing. She also invited a mutual friend, Brittany. We had a lovely time--just us ladies--all civilized and everything. She made a delicious Asian chicken salad and we had fresh strawberries with sour cream and brown sugar (very tasty, I might add) and fresh pineapple. Mmmm...it was such a wonderful way to spend an afternoon. We enjoyed it so much that Brittany decided that she'd host it next week. I think this is the start of a new and wonderful afternoon tradition. I've been inviting people over to breakfast from time to time--every month or so--for my killer wild blueberry muffins from scratch but I haven't done much for lunch except with Amy. Not that she doesn't count or anything, but it's not a luncheon with her, it's just hanging out.

Speaking of hanging out with Amy, she stopped by for an hour yesterday with the baby on her way to Seattle for a few days. She thought it would be a good idea to feed the baby before she got on the freeway and I didn't mind one bit. In fact, I was hoping she'd stop by on her way up since she has to go right past my development. Her best friend (besides me, of course) is having a baby today and she wanted to go up there for the birth and to hang out with them for a few days. I think she'll be back Monday, maybe Tuesday. I almost can't wait until I'm babysitting the baby every third day because this once a week visit thing is killing me! I can't believe how much I love that nephew of mine. I've never felt that way for any other baby besides my own. It's really quite amazing to me.

Our rented piano is now out of the house. We bought a digital piano last month and needed to get rid of the acoustic piano that we'd been renting for the past year. Now we have a spot for the digital piano but I don't have a place for the pretty tchotkes I had on the piano so I had to order a shelf from P0ttery B@rn to go above the digital.

I should have ordered it a few weeks ago but I procrastinated. Instead, I ordered stuff from L@nd's End. Twice. Two pair of sandals, 3 pair of shorts for me, one pair of shorts for Ed. And I bought more summer pants and shorts and tops at T@rget and W@lMart. I've been spending too much money lately. I also bought stuff for Joey's Easter basket and for the Pagan Springtime Ritual (aka Easter Egg/Treasure Hunt). I'd better scale back, I think, or Ed's gonna put me on some kind of leash or something. Yikes! I just get in these money spending moods and it's hard to stop, even when I know I should.

I'm in a serious scrapbooking mood which probably explains why I've read 3 scrapbooking magazines in the past week or so. After my scrapbook outing with Delyn last Friday, I'm feeling the urge to set up a scrapbooking station again. I want to do it in the guestroom but the treadmill is down right now so I can't. I hate setting it up in the family room because it's just so inconvenient there but I like to watch (or listen to) TV while I scrapbook. Hmmmm...maybe I can set up something in our bedroom in the corner--I'm going to see if I can rearrange things to make that work. That way it won't be so much in the way and I'll still have a TV to watch.

I should get going and finish my laundry. I've got ironing to do, too. I get in ironing moods where I'll want to iron every wrinkly thing in the house and then I'll be over it for a month or so. Thankfully Ed has enough shirts to last that long or else he'll iron his own stuff. But he's running low on ironed shirts so I should get going again. I just don't know how to get that mood going again. Right now I just feel like taking a nap. :-)

Joey will be home soon so I'm going to get some clothes in the wash and tidy up some before she arrives. Later,

--L