Pain in the jaw...

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Mine was fabulous up on the Sonoma Coast. I didn't want to come back into the big bad city but really had no other choice. It was nice to hang with friends and cook together.

Monday back at work everyone was asking about everyone else's Thanksgiving, etc. It is fun to hear how other people celebrate the holidays.

Tuesday, I went to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned. I had just been there in May and thought I had a corn chip caught in my gum in the back of my mouth so he looked at it and said he thought I had gotten it all out and it looked clean and should close up. Well, when he got in there this time, it didn't close up, it got bigger! There was a hole in my gum between my two back teeth with something sharp inside (I could feel it with my tongue). The hygienist cleaned my teeth and then took me to the oral surgeon on the floor above them. The oral surgeon looked at it, took some photos and x-rays and then told me he would have to cut it out, whatever it was. It was moving a little when he poked it with is poker tool, but was stuck to my jaw bone on one side. He told me he needed to do a biopsy. I told him to knock me out and go for it if he had time. Gosh, I was hoping he had time, the element of surprise is ALWAYS better for me when it comes to this stuff. I didn't want to have to come back and have it done. I would be sick until then because I am so scared of the dentist. Thank God, he had time. He numbed me with Novocain and then got the scapul and cut my gum between my two back teeth. He pulled a bit with the forceps/tweezers and then showed me this rock that was growing on my jaw bone. It was the size of a tic-tac with sharp edges and hard as a stone. He made sure he had everything by taking a file and rubbing it against my bone and then packed me with gauze and told me to come back in a week for the pathology report. I got excused from work for two days but only took the one. I was traumatized, went home and slept and took a lot of Advil. Yesterday I was still sore, but not enough to stay home. Today, I feel almost back to normal. The mouth heals pretty fast. I am just waiting for the hole to close up.

Life is an adventure isn't it? You never know what is going to get thrown in your path. I love it. I think we have better coping skills when things hit us by surprise, it forces you to be in the moment and go with the flow - at least it does for me. If I would have had to make an appointment for the biopsy later in the week, I would have been so nervous about getting in the chair, it would have been awful. I dont like the dentist, although I am starting to come around because mine is so nice and hot too!

My one regret is that the entire time I had my camera in my purse and I didn't get one photo to document the ordeal. Well, maybe next time.

Keep on flossing!

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing you all a very happy Thanksgiving.

I am excited about this year. Tim and I are renting a house with 2 other couples and their dogs and are going to spend Wednesday - Saturday together. The house is up north on the Sonoma coast and I hope the weather is good. If not, we have plenty to do indoors.

I am looking forward to getting out of the city and spending time with my friends.

We have quite a spread planned for the big day and I think it is going to be fun to be in the kitchen with everyone drinking, singing and dancing. I hope the three girls don't get on the three guys nerves! We are pretty loud.

Anyway, happy trails and enjoy your Thanksgiving.

Remember all of the things you have to be thankful for.

Positive - Negative

Why is it more and more often I run into people that are more pessimistic and negative than optimistic and positive? Why is the glass half empty for some folks? Is it that hard for people to be positive? I have my bouts of depression and I know during those times it is hard to be happy, but at the least I can stay positive and know that it is going to get better. I don’t know, I think maybe I am a little too Pollyanna sometimes. I think that being negative and pessimistic causes disease and sickness – maybe I am the only one that thinks that way, not sure. Just some random thoughts knocking around in the brain of mine.

Only Tuesday...

I keep thinking it is Wednesday today – buzz kill when I noticed it is only Tuesday.
I have a busy week this week and I am excited!
I attended the Maltese American Social Club meeting on Sunday for the dedication of a Santa Maria statue that was made in Malta. It was really nice. The president introduced to most everyone there, it was hilarious, I was the youngest there by probably 20-30 years. I love it, I love having friends of all ages. I am going there tonight to attend the Women’s Committee meeting and dinner. We are having a meal and then packing boxes for soldiers that are related to club members serving in Iraq. It should be fun. I think we are ending by 8:00 PM though because the ladies told me they like to watch “Dancing with the Stars”. I am in the process of becoming an official member which is pretty exciting.
Well, I gotta make this one short. I gotta go get my Jeep from the shop. There was a recall on a part so I had to get it replaced. I am on BART today and want to beat the crowd.
Wish me luck!
Ciao!

A Couple Changes

There have been a couple changes made to my blog, thanks to beta blogger.
So, if you notice things are a little diffrerent, that is why.
I have added a sound bite to my profile, which is kind of neat. There is a way that it can actually record your own voice, I have yet to try that.
Some of the headings of my links changed a bit. I need to take some time and work on this a little and get used to it.
Hope you are having a nice day!

The Maltese Cross

A couple people have asked me the meaning of the Maltese Cross, so I decided I would post an explanation.

The Maltese Cross symbolizes the eight beatitudes of Christ's Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5.3-10).
Blessed are:
the poor in spirit,
they who mourn,
they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
the meek,
the peacemakers,
they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
the pure in heart,
the merciful
as well as 8 chivalric virtues shown above and the 8 languages of the Knights.

Bay-Lee's Page

New addition to the world of my blog, you can link up to Bay-Lee's catster page by scrolling down and looking on the right for the link with his photo. Click on it and you will enter catster, it is addicting for anyone who loves kitties!
Have fun!

Weekend Recap

Hope you all had a nice relaxing weekend and found the time to relax and do the things you enjoy. It is important to treat or indulge ourselves and I think too often we forget that.

Saturday, I stayed in my pajamas until about 1:30 PM and watched the E channel (so trashy but I love it) and went through all of the catalogs and magazines I got while on vacation. I can’t believe the amount of catalogs companies send out before the holiday season. It is insane. Instead of keeping the entire catalog when I find something interesting I have resorted to tearing out the page since the phone and web address is on the bottom of most every page in catalogs now-a-days. If I don’t end up doing anything with the page by the end of the month, I will recycle it. It seems as much as I try, I always have a pile of catalogs next to my couch and I am trying to get rid of that and just keep the pages in a folder in my magazine bin. I hope it works, who knows though I have trouble sticking to things especially things I come up with for myself.

I rode Apache on Saturday and the ride was a total 180 from last week, which was nice. I didn’t feel defeated and it lifted the cowgirl up inside of me after she was knocked down last week. Apache needs someone to work with him more than once a week but until that happens, I am that person. It is kind of nice though because we are bonding and I am learning his little quirks and he is learning mine at the same time. He did get spooked by something in the middle of the lesson which in turn scared me a little but then I had to settle him and tell him it was OK and to keep walking. He calmed down and kept walking like I told him. It was weird though, all of the sudden his neck came way up and his eyes were bugged out and he started backing up and once I started talking to him, he was fine. I am learning from him how to be assertive and speak up and be the boss – it is a good lesson in leadership for sure. We can learn so much from horses. When I was done riding Apache there was a girl there waiting to ride him when I was done. I felt like I wanted to protect him and watch her ride him since she claimed she could get him to move faster than the molasses I am used to. So, I went and took a seat on the fence and watched her kick and kick and kick and finally got him trotting, which was cool. I could tell he was not happy though and he was tired. Right when I was about to leave, the ride was over and the girl asked if I was going to help groom him before she put him back in his stable. Well, this is m favorite thing, so I said yes, and I ended up doing all the work because she was too busy walking around and sticking her nose in everyone else’s business. She said she would scrape his feet and shoes and did one and then walked away – gosh, some people, I swear. I was happy to have him to myself though. When I was walking him back to his stall she followed me and said, “I hope I never have to ride Apache again.” I told her she shouldn’t talk like that in front of him because he knows what she is saying. She just giggled and asked me if I had any carrots that she could give to her favorite horse. I told her she should give some to Apache since she just rode him but that went over her head, she didn’t get it at all why she should reward him. I handed her some baby carrots and went to spend time with Apache alone and “chat” with him. After I kissed him and told him I loved him I went home. I hope I don’t have to deal with a distraction like that girl next week.

Sunday, senior citizen day for Tim and I. We went to breakfast, went to Cost Plus, Target and the bookstore and puttered around. It was nice. When we came home we watched a great movie called World’s Fastest Indian staring Sir Anthony Hopkins. It is a great story about determination and making your own dreams come true – we loved it. Check it out, http://www.worldsfastestindian.com/

Monday is now here and the week is starting over, I am motivated for a Monday, which is nice. A change from the usual dread that comes over me when I enter my office on Monday’s. I am trying to be as positive as I can, do my job and save money for my next adventure. I need to keep in the present moment here at work in order to keep the stress down, but at the same time have something in the future to look forward to, to keep me going. What ever works right?
Stay tuned.
Ciao!

Back to the Old School

Well, ballet class started last night! I know some of you know that ballet used to be a part of my life a long time ago. Anyway, I decided, it is great exercise and I used to love it, so why not try it again. So, I started a 6 week class last night and I love it. There are only 3 people in the class so there is a lot of individual attention which is great. All of us in the class are in our 30's and all used to dance back in the day, so it is nice because the instructor doesn't have to explain each and every thing, we just jumped right in. Not to sound like a snob, but it was the first ballet class I have ever taken and not had a pianist in person in the room. We used CD's for the music which was cool. It was fun! I worked up a sweat and tried not to be to hard on myself for things I can no longer do that used to come so easy. It was fun to get out all my funky dance clothes, I love looking like a reject from the cast of Fame!

Tomorrow I ride Apache. I hope it goes better than last week. He was so slow last week, I now have to hold a crop (whip) and slap his ass when he doesn't move, I don't like that, but I also don't like having to keep kicking at him. It hurts my legs and my heart. I would be happy just riding him around in slow circles, but that is not what I signed up for. My instructor was getting frustrated last week as well as me. I think part of it was me not riding for 2 weeks. When I approached Apache I knew there was going to be a problem because he put his butt in my face when he saw me and wouldn't turn around until I opened my plastic bag of apples. Then he started kissing on my neck and nibbling at my vest. I hope tomorrow is a good day in the riding arena or I am going to be one bummed out gal.

Nothing else planned for the weekend. Just taking it easy. I need to clean house, do laundry and all the other fun stuff that gets piled up for the weekend. I was trying to get my chores done during the week but it seems my body wanted to sleep more than work around the house so I gave in.

Anyway, ya'll have a nice weekend ya hear?
I am still basking in the buzz of my Malta trip.

Love you all!
Ciao!

Sleepy Head

Is anyone else as tired as I am after work these days?
Seriously, I have been sleeping so much, it is insane, like between 10 and 12 hours a night.
Maybe because it is getting dark earlier, not sure, but geeze, I am having a tough time getting up in the morning and have been falling asleep by 8:00 PM. Not tonight though, America's Next Top Model is on!
Well, I am on my way out.
I know, I haven't written in a couple days, but promise to tomorrow.
Ciao!

PS - Still searching for the perfect cappuccino - Bucci's in Emeryville is the closest so far.