Bye Bye Molar!

 Anya says- No I can't watch!

Bye Bye Molar! 

So after going through my process with the two dentists we realized that we were going to have to pull my back molar. I'm having that done tomorrow morning. Basically I had the infection inside the old root canal from my tooth being cracked just a tiny bit. I did a week of antibiotics which seemed to help quite a bit. I was put on an antibiotic I never used before called Clindamycin. I had a really odd side effect as in I lost my appetite and got really lethargic. In the past taking antibiotics I've never had this happen. So tomorrow I will tell my dentist to put a note in my chart I will not be using that ever again. Soon as I went off of it my energy started coming back and I got my appetite back. I did make sure I was eating protein and drinking plenty of water. It was really weird to sit down to a meal take about five bites and go I'm done. Anyway it's bye-bye molar tomorrow. We'll see how I do for a few months and then I may have a dental implant done to replace the tooth. Luckily I have zero co-pay on my dental insurance! I will be resting and doing ice on my cheek this weekend and hopefully it won't be too bad. Netflix here I come. Send me some good energy please, thank you!!!

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Look at those big teeth! 

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly-

This title best sums up my last two weeks! They're not in any particular order as far as how things have been going, and why I have not been posting until today. Hopefully this post will make sense since I am currently on painkillers! Weather has been great, 60 degrees today! So...

I was having trouble sleeping starting about 2 weeks ago and was getting more and more tired. I have sleep apnea but it is very well controlled with a dental device. I started waking up more at night, tossing and turning, and was thinking maybe I needed to get a replacement dental device? That was the ugly part. I then realized what was really keeping me awake with my IT band along my left thigh. I did some stretching and heat and a few other things. Went to bed that night and slept really great! I did a couple more nights in a row and problem solved, got my energy back.

I decided to bite the bullet and bought a nice L.L. Bean down parka online. Mine was toast from 25+ years of use.  It arrived and it was too big, which was pretty aggravating. So I shipped it back for a smaller size and called to follow up a week later. I was told it was out of stock. Bummer! The next day I found the exact same parka new on eBay for about $120 less. That's a lot of money but I wanted one that was going to last. The reason this one was so inexpensive is there was a small repair done on it, done very professionally, doesn't really show. Beautiful! I called L.L.Bean the next day after getting an email saying my replacement had shipped. I told them I had said to cancel my order and they said oh it's already shipped. I was not happy since I told them the day before to cancel the order. Luckily it turned out it actually had not shipped and they were able to cancel it. I got the eBay new parka really cheap, in the right size. It arrived yesterday and fits great!

Sunday night we were having dinner and I noticed my bottom rear molar was a little sensitive. The next morning not much. Mid-morning yesterday I was speaking and it felt like an ice pick went through my jaw! It only went downhill from there. Luckily I had called in first thing in the morning to get an appointment with my dentist but it was at 5 p.m.. I didn't want to wait with this excruciating pain the whole day, so I called back and they got me in at 9:30 a.m. today. I visited with the dentist and the first thing he did was give me a shot of Novocaine, since I had only gotten about 2 or 3 hours of sleep from the constant throbbing all night. The Novocain kicked in and suddenly my mouth felt fairly normal. I'd had a root canal done about 20 or more years ago and they felt there was possibly an infection down in there. They gave me a referral to a root canal specialist down the street. Part of me was thinking how much is this going to cost! I went to my car after the exam with my prescriptions for pain pills and antibiotics and I called the other dentist's office. They said miraculously they had just had a cancellation and could I come over right away? I said I will be there in 5 minutes and I was. The short version was they felt it was either an infection in the root canal or the tooth was cracked.  They asked me if I wanted to do a 3D Dental x-ray before I left or at the appointment? For some reason I thought we should do it right then. The Dentist came back in and said well we have a big change. He showed me the X-ray and there was a big infection down in there and looked like the tooth is cracked. He said we were lucky that we did the 3D x-ray then to catch it. So I called my other Dentist back and have surgery set up for next Saturday morning. So as much as I don't like having a tooth removed there's not any other option. The good news is I have really good dental coverage! 0% copay. I can see how I do further down the line and maybe can get a dental implant if needed, to help my chewing. My wonderful dentist actually offered to do the surgery today but I said no, not on 2 or 3 hours sleep thanks. So I started my antibiotics which should help a lot in the next 24 hours or so and some pain meds so I can sleep. I will say it was one of the more whirlwind dental experiences I have ever had, and definitely the worst dental pain I have ever had, a strong 10 +. OMG.

Next Dave and I decided to get a exercise bike after I found out I have arthritis in both knees. My ortho doctor recommended an exercise bike since it's non-weight-bearing instead of the treadmill we were thinking about getting. We did a lot of research through Consumerreports.org, only $10.00 a month to subscribe. We found a Schwinn A10 exercise bike at a store that we liked that was $400. We figured it would be a good investment in our health since we both need to lose weight. While we were there looking at it I noticed another exercise bike in the other row across from it with a little tiny price tag on it. It was $250. We both tried it it worked great, it's smaller and easier to move around the house. It's also nice and quiet. The other day on my lunch break I got on the exercise bike and did 10 minutes and it works great! 

When my TV kept dropping the internet signal, it turned into a router issue with my work computer. Short version, after multiple phones calls and a visits from a tech it's all now working fine. Zero cost, just a few hours of my time lost. So those are the highlights of my 2 weeks. How is your week going?

Using Tattered Angels Water-Based Wood Tints, Thrifting Scores! Simple Classic Chili

 

Using Tattered Angels Water Based-Wood Tint-

The new snow is melting a bit and birds are out in force! I put out some food this morning-

And my November bulb finally bloomed! Almost like a touch of Spring! 

I never got around to posting this project so this is a good time. I bought a Ikea Moppe little chest online several months ago. I sat it aside because I wasn't quite sure what to do with it-

Ikea.com Moppe

I thought about painting it or staining it or something else? I was in Hobby Lobby where I ran across this product that I never seen before. It's Tattered Angels Color Wash Tint, which is water-based!!!

Hobbylobby.com

It comes in lots of different colors and I suddenly thought that might be the perfect solution! I wanted something sheer, so the wood grain would show,  but something with a little bit different finish. This was just the ticket! For $3.00 a bottle I bought two figuring that would be enough, which it was. I have about 3/4 of a bottle left. So here's how you use the tint and I have to say I really love the way it came out. The pictures don't really do it justice. First I chose the Weathered Copper Verdigris color. It's green with very fine Copper powder mixed in. No odor, simple soap cleanup. First I laid out some scrap wood and did a test drive-

I did one coat, then the top section with 2 coats. Didn't like the 2 coats mode personally.

Nice and sheer!

Note the Copper powder

I laid out plastic bags to paint on top of. With the Copper powder you need to keep stirring and mixing!

This project was so simple I'm not going to put a lot of directions here. Basically the manufacturer recommends using a brush, so do not use a sponge brush, but one with bristles. I found with the Copper powder you don't want to over-brush or you move the powder around too much. Just let it soak in. So basically you want to use a light hand. I used about a 2" wide craft brush, and clean up is a breeze since it's just soap and water!

Here we go-

I did all the sides, in case I decided to add knobs or pulls later-

Since it is a water-based tint the manufacturer recommends using some kind of a polyurethane sealer, which I did. I used clear Varathane with a satin finish. I did use a sponge brush, because I didn't want to have to use mineral spirits to clean up. It didn't seem to affect the tinted finish at all, Copper powder stayed put. Dried in a hour or less, but a little smelly. I had to do indoors since it was so cold out- 

Love it!!!

Cute ceramic mitten napkin holder! $2.00!

Thrifting Scores! 

We dropped off some donations a few days ago, and scored some fun things! First  I found a set of four prints, oak frames, nice matting! $1.00 each, about 9" by 9". Two frames had a little wear, Old English took care of that! Will probably put over the dining table in the summer, in a grid- 

The clerk put them in a nice, new (donated) insulated bag! Free! She said she didn't want the prints to break, how sweet of her-

Three piece Pier One stoneware condiments containers, made in Portugal, $4.00-

Two new stocking holders for the Grandson's stockings, $2.00 each-

Some fabric Union Jack British flags, for a special project soon (more later), $3.00-

Mini bunting, $5.00 from Etsy-

Lot of yellow goodies, from Ebay, $5.00

Simple, Classic Chili-

Usually I make veggie chili, but was ready for something different. I made this on a cold, snowy afternoon, perfect! Here's a basic recipe I used, and you could use black beans instead, or ground turkey. You could add bell peppers, Jalapenos, etc. 

Recipe-

1 TBL Olive oil, 1 medium white onion diced, 1 pound lean ground beef

2 1/2 TBL Chili powder (or to taste), 2 TBL Ground Cumin, 1 TBL Garlic powder, 

1 1/2 TSP Salt, 1/4 TSP ground Cayenne pepper to taste, 1 TSP Chipotle powder to taste

1 1/2 cups beef broth, 1 -15 oz. can  diced tomatoes, 1- 16 oz. can Kidney beans, drained and rinsed

2 TBL tomato paste

Add oil, meat and onion to pot, brown, then add spices, beans and tomatoes. Next add broth and the paste, cook down. Adjust flavors as needed. I doubled this to freeze some.