So it's September...

Which is my favorite month by far, but it's been a crazy year for us all. I started a post back in the winter about the seemingly pressing issue (at the time) of the kids trying to qualify for gifted and magnet programming (she did, he missed it by a hair, oh well, it's almost time to test again). Little did we know school as we knew it would be ending soon.

I took the kids on a great trip to Boston for President's Day weekend when things with Covid were starting to look hairy and then the shit really hit the fan. We stayed at the Seaport and the Boston outbreak really took off the week after we were there. Our planned trips to NYC for Spring Break and Nantucket this summer unfortunately couldn't happen safely.

The kids have been home for six months (now two weeks into 3rd grade) and for the foreseeable future, ditto the working husband, and my work project got put off in early April (and just got green lit again today for next month!), so I've been experiencing my very first taste of compensated unemployment, yet not at a lack for seemingly endless things to do. 

We found a new (to us) house in April near our old one and then moved in in June. We bought it from a lovely old lady whose late master carpenter husband built it with his friends 50 years ago and they raised their six kids here and (bless her busy perfectionist heart) she had the whole house completely redone to sell it (so I didn't have to!). We were thinking of building new, out of desperation, but I didn't think I (or our marriage) would survive that many decisions. I couldn't talk the kids into changing schools where we are all happy and the hubs didn't want to relocate either. It's rooms and closets are bigger and it has an amazingly huge yard, which is hard to find in our built up suburban area, and it's been a wonderful change, especially given all the time we've been spending at home. Now we just have to sell our old one of 15 years... 

Where the hell does the time go? A decade ago I was still trying desperately to get pregnant. 25 years ago I graduated from high school and moved to Boston and left Wisconsin forever. My first boyfriend from my new life in Boston just died a few weeks ago. My college bio classmate Maeve died in April, along with her 8yo son. Yeah these are crazy times. We are all still healthy, thank goodness, and my family is going crazy not being able to come see our new place.

The kids have done great with their upper expanders (now out after a long delay, they were due to get them out the day everything shut down), now a retainer, and lower braces. And the lowers come off in a just a few short weeks. We thankfully didn't lose any treatment time even with three plus months of no adjustments.

It has just started thankfully cooling down after yet another record setting hottest summer ever. It felt like a very long sweaty hotflash. Next big project is putting in an inground pool (next spring hopefully).

He's not even taller than her, they are both 4'9" and climbing, it's just hair...

Watch out THIRD GRADE!

Braces: the 30 year rewind

I first got braces some 30 years ago (when I was 12) and had them for 2 1/2 years. The old school metal kind with the headgear (aka the devil), the whole deal. It was painful and generally bad, particularly because junior high/middle school (we had a conversion at 8th, so I got out after serving two, thank goodness) sucked, but I'm thankful my parents (who didn't have money to throw around) got them for all four of us because they thought it was important (thanks mom and dad!). I wore my retainers for a long time, but they would break (I apparently clench/grind my teeth when I sleep) and since I no longer live in the town where I grew up (hallejuah!), I stopped getting them replaced at some point, I don't even remember when.

So I had noticed that my teeth, mostly my front lowers, had shifted a bit over time, as happens. I had thought about getting them fixed, but it wasn't a high priority in the whole scheme of things. As I noticed one tooth was wearing because of misalignment, I figured that was my sign to do something. I've had this ridiculous desire to die with all my teeth (hopefully in old age) and so far I'm cavity free (it's the little things).

I had gotten a quote for Invisalign from my dentist a couple of years ago, but then didn't do anything. I decided early this year to go to Smile Direct Club and check it out and when they came back with a quote that was the same, but with no dentist visits, I decided to go for it. When I got my plan it was longer than I'd hoped, eight months, but the time goes by.

My only complaint is with invisible aligners, you have to wear them 24/7, except when you are eating/drinking something other than water. As someone who likes to eat small meals and nurse an iced coffee or latte for hours, it's been a big adjustment. You have to brush every single time you put anything in your mouth. Don't be like the guy my dentist told me about who drank black coffee with them IN for months, making his teeth black. They were able to clean them, but that's nasty.

Of course since I got mine, they came out with a night only program (same price, longer treatment), which I would have done instead in a heartbeat. I'm officially done this weekend, but have to wear them at night forever now, or revisit my crooked fate once again.

Just in time for the kids to get their braces next week!