Poetic Rant

   I am not a poet, but I love to read and write. Today I have come to a head. I am sick of so much negativity. Life is not all rainbows and puppies, but when I see one, it is always followed by someone else tossing their own shit on it. It is not even theirs, it is the neighbors they pick up, claim their own, and complain about the stench.

   Some may say that I am unenlightened because I refuse to watch the news and read the paper. I pick through MSN and stay with Nerd and Science stories. I am not political. I find people are full of opinions and criticism, never a solution or the drive to seriously change things.

   I have power over my own life. Something I am rediscovering.

I can no longer look you in the eyes.

Playing the victim once again

Encased in negativity

Everyone to blame

None but yourself in truth

You wonder why I shrug

Why I roll my eyes

My voice is no longer there to catch you

I dropped the ball you say

I dropped the pretense I say

Pick yourself up

Make the change

Others will not hold your standards

You reach within arms-length

Your expectation reach to the stars

These lips are dry from kissing boo-boos

These eyes tired of seeing a scene on loop

These hands tired of wiping tears

These ears tired of hearing such white noise

Stop .

Mog Wants to Swim

   This weekend was a good one. Edison got his new life jacket Friday, but it was too short and needed to be exchanged to an XL. That should be here this Friday. He was bummed I said it had to go back.

   We still went to a lake on Sunday for swimming, so he was okay with me taking it away. The lake we went to was a new one for us and it was great. just peaceful, and small. It was perfect, and Edison had a blast. He even met another dog, a 5 month old Italian Spinone. He was solid creme and so friggen cute! He was not too into the water and swimming.

   Edison has been swimming every week, an is bulking up (muscle wise). He is also eating every day now, so hopefully he grows well and catches up to where he would have been without surgery and all that.

Talking Teeth

   Today I had a cleaning at my dentist's office. I also had the dentist look at a lower front tooth that was giving me issue with any pressure. I told him what was going on and that I suspected was moving around because of it's freedom from the prison of my upper teeth. He looked and agreed with my suspicion. He did say that if it got worse to let him know and then we would need to bring Dr. Miller, my ortho, in on it. They do not want the tooth to go madcap janky.

   The dentist was so geeked out over my upper braces, grabbing me a mirror and explaining what each bracketed tooth with end up doing. He even took on my word I use too often, janky. I about died laughing when he said it, and it was just great to see someone geeking out. You've gotta love such passion and nerdiness :)

   The cleaning went well, I was very anxious today, and my mind through it all was going 100m/h and I was internally going over in excess every thought that entered while having my teeth cleaned. At least I did not freak out this time. The hygienist said that I am doing a great job taking care of my teeth. The pocket in my two front lowers that was a 5 and had her worried an doubting it would reverse without numbing and really getting in there., is now a 3 a normal number.

  Yesterday was 2 weeks of braces, and there is more progress, pictures will be posted. I have been able to eat normally with some modifications:

• Cut all sandwiches in half
• Anything entering the mouth to be chewed needs to come in through the side at an angle
• The thinner, the harder to chew

My teeth are also crackling a lot. Had I not known this would happen, I would be freaking out. They are wiggly and crackling. I am consistently reminding myself that they will not fall out, because the sensation is like they are breaking and going to fall out. Sounds like an awake stress dream I have had.

Here are the Teeth 1 Brace Day, 2 is 1 week, 3 is Current

   

New Recipes Added!

     Today I added a Lasagna recipe. It is really 2 of my recipes in one. My basic noodles recipe, and my Marinara recipe. The meat added I use for lasagna, and for meat sauce. I also added a link to Autumn's Recipe for the French Bread I made this weekend, it is easy, and so yummy! Just visit my Recipes page! 

Week 1 with Braces

It has been a week of ups and downs.

Days 1-2 was pretty easy. everything was weird. There was pressure and mild headache here and there. I ate normal foods cut teeny tiny, but chewed with the molars.

Days 3-4 were miserable. The pressure was there, pain, my teeth would not take any sort of touching, and my molars were not coming down properly. I lived on little, my go to breakfast of Ramens could not be eaten even. Things were swallowed whole pretty much or just not eaten.

Day 5 was okay, I found out I could eat a a McDonald's McGriddle (pancake/sausage/egg). I deconstructed it all, but it was the most complete meal I had in a while.

Day 6-7 have been awesome. There has been a running of nighttime pain, but during the day I can eat!

The worst has been the not being able to clench on the bad days. I think it has caused me to randomly snap my teeth shut when in pain on those days. That is not fun at all. It is like a one time hard chatter. At first I could not pinpoint why I was doing it until last night. I was so tired, and all the chewing and toothy fun I had during the day made me too sore to clench and relieve pain. The next thing I know I am sitting there and my teeth snap down on one another once. It made me think. The pattern became clear, It happens when I am tired, too sore/painful, unable to clench. Now I know why, but it is still not cool!

Here are my 1wk progress photos, sorry about the nasty lighting: Top Brace Day (6/30/14), Bottom 1wk (7/7/14)

What a Weekend

My 4th of July was not fun. I had a hard day, the only thing I could eat at the cookout was the over-processed Swedish meatballs I brought, and part of a hamburger patty. No brownies because they were filled with walnuts even. I was really bummed, cranky form a lack of food and pain, and stressed trying to keep Edison stress free and out of the way of people who are not dog friendly. Tack on family that finds drama everywhere, and I was ready to be home.

We had to leave before all of the fireworks really started, Edison was stressing big time over firecrackers, no point in ruining other's fun!

The 5th and 6th were much better and busy. Saturday morning we had breakfast and took Edison out for his dread bath, and to the vet for cat food and to get Edison weighed. It ended up enjoyable! Edison walked loose leach throughout the morning. He stood still on the scale, weighing 116.7lbs. The bath, were he normally freaks and it is like wrangling a wild animal was smooth . He sat in the tub where we bathed and conditioned him. Edison even laid down in the back during the car ride, without issue as well it was awesome.

My brother and his girlfriend came over for a chit chat, they are in from Seattle, and is was nice. They are in for the week. Sunday, yesterday, we went to the movies and lunch together, then they and my mother came over and I made Cheesecake, Lasagna, and French Bread all from scratch. My little brother's girlfriend made us Bulgigo, a Korean beef dish. I watched closely so I can make it, it was AMAZING. We hung out and played Cards Against Humanity. While I had a blast, and would not change the day for anything, I was just exhausted, and done with the weekend.

Today, is very mellow. It is a good pajama day that is for sure! I closed myself up for the day, no windows open and am being a recluse. I also slept in.

Dog Blankets

     I have begun to delve into canine comfort. Having a 120lb dog freaking out in the middle of the night is just not something I enjoy. Some versions of the freaking dog may involve the vet, or some sort of event luke the up-and-coming 4th of July.

    I have made weighted blankets for children and adults who have needed the comfort. Whether it be caused by autism, hyoer sensitivity, restless leg ayndrom, weight therapy, and just because they are comfortable. I have seen them do wonders and thought why not try it to calm a dog?

    I tried using a weighted blanket on Edison during a storm and it helped. It got a little hot because I used a personal one, fleece and flannel. I have begun the process of picking material and planning out how to make the blankets last. I have thought of a few ways to make blankets upgradable with just some snaps and such, and even water ressistant.

    Edison's physical therapist seemed intrigued by the idea. I may make a prototype and shoot it her way to try out.it should be fun either way to see what I end up with.

Yay for Movement!

     It has been just over 50 hours and I noticed tooth movement! I was brushing and realized that my front lowers and uppers are not scrapping against one another. I thought it was in my head so I took a photo to compare, and we have movement!

The Upper Photo is today, the lower 1 hour before braces.

     I found out yesterday that spaghetti and ramens are not the same and while ramens are easy to eat, the spaghetti was not. It took me 65 minutes to eat half a small bowl of spaghetti, and 1 Italian sausage link. Today is a new day, even ramens are posing a new challenge as my bite has changed.

Braces Note: Bracket hooks create the perfect spaghetti and ramen noodle shelf 

24 Hours Braced

     It has been a day and then some since I have been braced. My mouth does not feel as though it is in a vice, and my inner lips and cheeks rubbed I did good. I ate well, although it averages a minimum of an hour eating time. That was two hot chili dogs. Any hour eating is my limit so far. For dinner I got in the 1/4 of a porterhouse that was tender, some potatoes, and some cauliflower in my hour. I was tired of mock-chewing and it felt so gross in my mouth.

     I have wax, silicone, and lip guards to help during time of complete frustration of pain from the brackets rubbing the inside of my cheeks and lips. I only used my lip guard once yesterday and that was from an hour. Lip guards are the shit, quick to take on and off, and awesome for a mouth full of razors in the beginning.

     Pain wise it hasn't been so bad. Early yesterday I took two Advil. Last night I had a dessert that consisted of ice cream and a Whiskey Sour. I think that worked better than the Advil!

Today this is what is going on in my mouth:

• Left Front Quarter - slight pain, pressure, and cannot chew 
• Left Back & Right Front Quarter - Slight pressure, pulling when clenching and chewing 
• Right Back Quarter - I hardly feel my braces, the slightest pulling when clenching and chewing

     So far I have learned a few things about braces. First, Tuna Salad is not so braces friendly. It is easy to eat, and yummy, but boy you cannot get it out without a Waterpik. It just hangs right on the brackets and wire for dear life. I think I will be keeping that as an At-Home only food.

     The next thing I learned is that Superfloss sucks o n braces. I really do not know what they were thinking. The threader build in is great, but then the line starts off as a fluffy cotton. It shreds on the wire and brackets, and gets stuck between the teeth. It may be great later on when things are in place, but for now it is not leaving my dental bag. I am currently using my normal floss and a threader, which is not so bad at all.

     Another thing that I have learned is the worse part of the braces, the thing that cause the most problems are the stupid tiny hooks on the brackets. The hooks are used for elastics during treatment. They are what causes the majority of rubbing. They grab every bit of anything that goes into your mouth. I got and ice cube stuck between my hook, tooth, and cheek! My teeth are already sensitive and angry so that was traumatic!

     The last thing I learned was you can still eat. Okay, I can still eat. It takes forever, but I ate solids. You are not automatically subjected to a all liquid and baby food diet with braces. Some people are, but it is case by case. That said it is still weird, annoying, and a pain to clean up the aftermath.

     Anyways here are some before, after, and such pictures. They are not beauty shots, so be warned they are up close and in my mouth.

Braces Photos http://shytnkaboodle.blogspot.com/p/braces-photos.html

Welcome!

Welcome! 

      Hi there, I hope you found what you were looking for by visiting my blog. It is my sounding board for recipes and crafts, therapy, and a general dumping grounds for life. Feel free to drop me a line or two in the comments.