Molly and the dentist

I was finally able to take Molly for her sedated dentist appointment this morning. I've had to reschedule two appointments because of colds. But this worked out because Russ didn't work today so could stay home with the other kids.

Molly was all happy when we got there. Did very well for the x-rays they took so they could have updated ones. Clapped when they were done. Grinned and was all happy up until the point where they gave her the numbing shot before giving her the sedative. She really did not like that at all. But the sedative worked quickly and I went out to the waiting room while they worked. They came out to get me sooner than I expected. She woke up pretty fast and kept trying to sit up so they couldn't do any more work on her. They said if I reschedule with certain dentists, I will get in sooner, but will likely have to come back two more times. If I reschedule with the owner/dentist, it will be longer before I can take her back, but will only have to take her once. Russ thinks we should opt for the sooner and two more times. I'm not sure because I don't know that I want to put her through this two more times, but I can see the advantages of going in sooner and being able to come home a little sooner than if we go for the one. Obviously, I haven't rescheduled yet. They had me move the car to the back door so I could carry Molly out of the recovery area and straight to the car, so I didn't go by the front desk.

Molly kept asking when we could go home when we were in the recovery area. She's still a bit loopy. They had her eat some of a popcicle and drink some water and waited about 10 minutes to make sure she could keep it down. Of course, she hurled on the way home. But she's happier at home. Just have to take it easy for a bit today.

Sometimes I think I should learn to say no....

A little over two weeks ago, the ward choir director called me up and asked me if I would be willing to sing a duet with another girl in the ward as part of our Christmas program. I sing with the choir, but really didn't expect her to call and ask me that. I guess the people she had previously asked to sing were no longer able to do it. I hemmed and hawed a little, but in the end said sure. Mostly because I can't bring myself to say no when people ask me things like that. Now if she had asked me to sing a solo, I probably would have hemmed and hawed even more and I hope I would have said no. I don't do solos. I laughed when she told me we would be singing Away In A Manger. That song had been running in my head for at least a week before she asked (and is still stuck in there).

A few days later, I came down with the cold I have previously mentioned. That worried me. I was to sing the soprano part of the duet. When I have a cold, I really can't sing all that high. And for the last verse, the music called for me to go up to a higher note. I joked that since Stacey would be down, I could always have her sing for me. The cold got better and I just have an occasional cough left and in my practicing at home found that I could hit that note. Not quite sure how good it sounded, but I could hit it nonetheless. Last week at this time the only way I could hit it is if I cleared my throat first, which doesn't really sound good in the middle of a song.

Well, today was the Christmas program. We have Sacrament meeting last in my ward, and during Sunday School I found myself getting nervous, even though we met early before church to practice some of the program. The choir sang background for the second verse of the song with loos and las. They wanted to practice that part because it wasn't quite as straightforward as it sounds. I pretty much did a solo for the practice while they did that and did fine, so I wasn't quite as nervous. Then it came time for me to sing during Sacrament meeting.

Let's just say that I'm glad my voice didn't shake as much as my hands. I should have left my music at my seat since I knew all of the words, but I wanted it in case I ended up needing it. Didn't use it, but I'm sure others could see the papers shake with my hands. Despite my nervousness, I think I did okay. A couple of people told me I sounded really nice. One said that it sounded "more beautiful with each note." So I guess it turned out fine that I didn't say no, but I still sometimes think I really should learn to say no.

More Santa pics

We finally remembered to go pick up our pictures from Bowman's, one of the local grocery stores. I thought the pictures turned out cute. Didn't know they got one of Lys with her finger in her nose. She wasn't happy about sitting on Santa's lap and immediately stuck her finger in her nose. I moved her hand and they took a picture after that, but I didn't know they got one before I moved her hand. Kind of funny. Unfortunately, I can't find one of the pictures they took of Emma. Russ keeps telling me to ask Jimmy about it. Guess he looked at all of the pictures at one point. Anyway, here are the pictures.

TV (Useless?) Info

I came across an article online today that stated that Monk and Psych will air on NBC on Sunday nights in March. Wonder if they will start from the beginning of each of those shows, or if they will air the latest season (which resumes on USA Network in January). I assume they won't be new episodes because of the strike (which is why they are going to air the shows). Of course, if NBC follows suit of how they usually do things, the shows won't get the instant ratings they want and so will pull them from the schedule without giving them a chance to build an audience. Yes, I'm actually complaining about another show that NBC is doing that to. Journeyman. Wednesday night will be the final episode of the show. I quite enjoy the show and will be sad to see it go. But such is life. Ah, well.

Congrats Lisa!

I just wanted to congratulate Lisa on her entry winning the montly contest on the Wallace and Grommit website. Her sculptures of Preston and the cooker were very well done, and it was a deserved win (in my opinion). Here's a link to her entry. http://www.wallaceandgromit.com/creations/view/311 Again, congrats, Lisa!

People are nice

Tonight as I was laying on my bed (I've had a bad cold the past couple of days...starting to feel better, but not nearly as bad as I used to be), the doorbell rang. I went and answered it to find some guy I didn't know standing there, holding a wrapped package. Okay, I looked up to find him standing there. He was pretty tall and I'm short. Anyway, he looked at me and said, "This is for Cindy," and handed me the package. I was taken off guard so said, "Oh, okay, thanks," and took the package from him.

The girls were thrilled. It was a present! They wanted to help open it! The present was nicely wrapped, complete with a card and a felt-ribbon bow. I decided to open the card first. Since surely the guy gave it to the wrong Cindy. The card was a simple card with a lamb on a hill overlooking Bethlehem and the star. The inscription inside read, "May the quiet peace and gentle love of the first Christmas be yours today and always." Not that the inscription really has anything to do with the story. Just thought I'd tell you what it said. Anyway, someone had written in the card, "Merry Christmas Cindy. We hope this fits. From Secret Friends."

I decided to go ahead and let the girls help open it. Emma and Lyssa each took one end of the ribbon to untie the bow and then Molly untied the knot. They eagerly watched as I unwrapped the paper to find a JC Penney clothing box. I opened that to find a very nice black skirt and a white turtleneck sweater. Lyssa started jumping around and asked if it were for her. Even started trying to take off her shirt so she could try it on. I took them downstairs to where Russ was sitting at the computer and showed him. I then took them and tried them on. They fit quite nicely, actually.

The point of this whole thing is to say that people are nice. Yes, I do wonder who did it, but I also know that part of the fun is in the not knowing. Even though I'm sure I'll spend some time trying to think of who it could possibly be (don't have a clue at this point). So if anyone who reads this is the person(s) who did it, thank you very much.

Ward Christmas party/Santa

Saturday night was our ward Christmas party. We had a good time. They had activities just for the kids and homemade soups for the dinner. I actually don't think they expected as many people to go to it as did. They ran out of the paper bowls and had to get some of the bowls from the kitchen. Ran out of rolls, too. They also had a big jar of bubble gum and had the kids guess how many were in there. The closest would win the jar, and the next closest would win a bag of gum. Jimmy guessed 300 but didn't put his name on his paper. There were 303 in the jar. One girl guessed right on. Another boy guessed 300 like Jimmy did, and so he got the sack. His family was nice though (well, nice for Jimmy..maybe not so nice for us) and came over to our house after the party and gave him some of the bubble gum.

We had taken the kids over to Bowman's earlier to see Santa (Santa comes on one Saturday and they give free pictures...we pick them up Wednesday), but they were still excited to see Santa there. Lyssa wasn't though. She wasn't thrilled about sitting on Santa's lap at Bowman's. She was actually better sitting on Santa's lap at the party. At Bowman's she wouldn't even look at Santa and pretty much frowned the whole time. Could be that she was better at the party because I told her that Santa had a small gift for her.

Anyway, here are a couple of pictures from the party.

This first one was actually the best picture we could get. Only one where they were all at least sort of looking toward the camera.
Put this on as an example of another where only Jimmy was looking at the camera.
This one was supposed to be of the kids in line to sit on Santa's lap, but Lys came running up as I took the picture so it didn't quite turn out like I hoped. They never were quite in line like that again.

Dentist...sort of

I took Molly this morning for her dental appointment. Things started out well enough (even though I haven't received the dental insurance cards yet...I printed up proof from the internet and that worked for now). Then they took her back. Asking the usual questions, they asked if she has a cough or runny nose or any congestion at all. Well, she's had a cough for a little bit and sneezes occasionally. Lyssa has an obvious runny nose, but Molly doesn't. After the dentist looked at her, he suggested that we postpone her appointment, as it is a sedated one. Her lungs sound fine, but she does have a little bit of drainage (which is probably causing the cough). He explained that when they are sedated and have some congestion, it tends to get worse. And if the drainage hits the vocal cords, they react by closing off the airway, which isn't good. He basically said, "If it were my child, I'd postpone it because the teeth aren't so important to risk it."

I rescheduled for 2 weeks for the 19th. And I'm hoping she is better by then. But at least this way I should have the dental card when I go and won't have to make another trip to the dentist to give them that.

Yay!

While searching through the house for a spare pacifier for Lyssa, I found our missing camera! Yay! Of course, I have since discovered that our new camera takes a different sized memory card. Either that or I'm just dumb and can't get it to go in. I'm voting on the first since the manual said something about a photo card. Of course, I had looked where it was when I first discovered it was missing, just not deep enough. I found it between cushions of our couch. Just kind of shoved down into the hide-a-bed a bit so it wasn't easily seen. And when I looked at the pictures that were on it, I assume it was Jimmy who had it last (as usual).

I also broke down and put up some Christmas lights today. Didn't feel like getting up on the ladder and putting them along the roof line like usual, so I just put the ones that we have for the bushes and a shorter strand along the porch. It seems that when I find one thing, I lose something else though. I now can't find my thingamajig that you screw in where the porch lightbulb goes that has the places to plug in power cords so I can plug in the lights and control them with the switch. I know I have two of the things since I couldn't find the one last year and bought a new one and found the old one as soon as I got home with the new one. So while I have the lights put up, they aren't plugged in or anything. Ah, well. Maybe Russ will know where they are. And maybe I can get him to help put up the Christmas tree today. I'm thinking both are unlikely, but worth a shot, right?

Thanks again to Mom and Myrna for taking our kids overnight when Russ had his work party. It was much appreciated.

Emma's party and cake

We finally got the film developed from Emma's party. The quality isn't that good, but it's better than nothing...isn't it? I'm posting just a few pictures. I have two of her cake...one before I put the dog figures on it and one after. Unfortunately, they are really hard to see in the picture. Really wish I could have found our camera (still haven't)...but at least this way I have some type of picture. Too bad you can't really see the bones I did for the border. I was kind of proud of those.




This last one is just for fun. This is the picture Russ took that was mentioned in the earlier post about the joys leading up to and after Emma's party. (Photo has been cropped from the original.)