how i almost drowned at the dentist :/

I'm not going to name any names. Maybe I should, to protect readers from possibly going to the same dentist... If you are looking for a dentist, ask me which one not to choose, and I will let you know!

That being said, today Brian and I had an interesting experience.

Feeling spiffy with new insurance from my new job, Brian and I thought it was about time we made a trip to the dentist. We had been having some teeth sensitivity and we wanted to get it figured out before it got worse. Well, I called around to a bunch of different dentists trying to find the best deal. We pay a percentage, not a flat co-pay, so we still wanted one that was cheap so we wouldn't break the bank.

Sometimes you get what you pay for.

I found a really great deal. I'll admit it - it sounded almost too good. But, because they gave the good deal as a "BYU discount", I figured it was ok.

So, Brian and I show up for our 11:30 appointment at 11:15 (be proud, mom - you've always told me to go early to appointments). Now, I am not overly picky about how my dentist or doctor offices look, but this was something else! Brian and I politely tried to ignore the excessive cat and fish decorations, brown walls, heavy curtains from the 60's, carpet probably that old too, and... dental equipment that was probably older than both of us combined. Yikes. We were willing to let it slide and see how the dentist was (after all, decorations really don't matter that much).

I was brought back to a dark room full of filing boxes (the receptionist informed me that they were busy going through all their old patient files), sat on a really old yellow dental chair, and asked if I was pregnant. I said no and the dentist came in to do some x-rays. He was a really nice man. I don't have anything against old people, but he was really old. Maybe I can blame some of what happened later on his age. Poor guy.

So, he starts doing the x-rays and the machine keeps drifting. I don't even know how to explain it... Look at this picture, and maybe that will help.

Anyway, he was trying to take the x-ray but the joint wasn't tight enough so the little nozzle part that is supposed to be next to my jaw kept drifting down towards my chin. He eventually got a shot on both sides.

Now, maybe I've just been to some high-tech dentists, but as far as I know, almost everything is computerized nowadays. Not at this office. Our x-rays came out on tiny little films where you could barely see the teeth, let alone if there were any cavities! He said our teeth looked fine. We told them we had some sensitivity and he didn't care :/.

Now for the good part.

I walk into the next room where I am to have my cleaning and stuff. The dentist is showing Brian a model of a human skull and telling him some things about it. Well, the hygienist muttered under her breath on the way out the door that it is a real skull. Gross. Even better, I guess it used to be an ashtray! Haha.

Brian stayed to observe while I got my cleaning and "exam." I have never been so grateful for those stylish little bibs they give you in my life! I only wish I had been offered a face mask and eye shields as well. Well, the hygienist is nowhere to be found and the dentist starts with the cleaning. He has this supersonic water-pic/teeth cleaner thing he whips out so he can get under my permanent retainer. He decides to use that tool for the rest of the cleaning as well. Here's where it gets tricky.

Very nonchalantly, the dentist says, "Let me know when you're about to drown and I'll let you spit." As he starts the process, I can tell it's going to get messy. Suddenly I'm getting wet all over. The tool he is using is making a mist and drenching my face, the hose connected to his tool has a leak and is dumping water down my neck, and then let's not forget the small detail that he is pumping water into my mouth and he isn't using a suction device to get it back out! I can't possibly swallow with his hands and this horrible device in my mouth and so the water is just dumping out of my mouth on  both sides. Ahhhh! Brian is just chuckling behind me and the dentist just doesn't care that I'm getting a bath/shower along with my teeth cleaning.

Next he pulls out that whirling swirling toothbrush and dives in with that. I was just grateful that I hadn't drowned yet and figured this couldn't be as bad. Well, it wasn't as bad, but it was still plenty messy because every time he took the whirling toothbrush out of my mouth, he kept it running so it was whirling and swirling, throwing toothpaste and saliva all over everything in sight! Brian was kind enough to help me get some out of my eyebrows after we got home. I wasn't there for Brian's cleaning, but he said he had a similar experience with the whirling toothbrush.

Did I mention I hate going to the dentist?

We did not set up any return appointments. When we gave the receptionist (who was also the hygienist) our insurance card, she looked up incredulously and said, "You guys have insurance?! But, you could go anywhere with that!" Clearly we weren't the only ones who thought we were crazy for choosing this dentist.

Have you ever had a bad dentistry experience?

new(ish) hobby!

Painting!

I think I might have liked it without the green background better

inspiration for above painting...

And a little bit of springtime! 

#12 - typical day in my life

12. Describe a typical day in your current life


Well, I have several different types of days. Work days, days off, and Sundays. They are all pretty different! I'll summarize the three of them:


Work Day: I get up at 5:15, get ready and leave by 5:50 for my hour commute to Salt Lake. I catch a shuttle to work, clock in, listen to a "safety briefing," get report from the nurse I'm relieving, and get working! My work consists of taking care of critically (and sometimes not so critically) ill infants. I do all sorts of things with them from assessing their health status to putting in IV's to bottle feeding to giving all sorts of medications. Oh, and cuddling the older ones of course! It's a great job. So, I do that for 12 hours and then I drive home for another hour and get home around 9. If I work the next day I go to bed as soon as possible so I can get up at 5 again. If not, I usually stay up and hang out with Brian for a while. If I work nights it's a similar story except that the sleeping is all mixed around. It does crazy things to my sleep/wake cycle, let me tell you!


Days Off: This is where I need to become more productive. I try and get up when Brian gets up to go to school and we have breakfast together. Then, he goes to school and I am left all alone! What I do with my time really depends on the day. Lately I've been reading a lot, trying to learn the guitar, painting, cleaning the house, cook, calling friends & family, exercising (mostly running, but I hiked the Y last week!), etc. I think I need some more structure though.


Sundays: I get up, I go to church and teach the 5-year olds in primary, come home and try to take a nap, make dinner with Brian, Skype with the fam :), sometimes hang out with friends, etc etc. Pretty exciting, huh?


In other news...


Brian was invited to sing in the choir for the groundbreaking of the Provo City Center Temple - for more info about that, see this article. It was pretty neat! I felt lucky to have a ticket because I guess they were pretty hard to come by. There are definite perks to having a husband who can sing :D. 

This balloon crew decided to pop in for the groundbreaking and made a very impressive (and loud) appearance as the ceremony got underway. It flew right over the top and they waved to us all in the audience. I guess if you couldn't get a ticket, that's one solution!

Work is still going really well! I had 3 night shifts in a row this past week that nearly killed me, but I survived (hey, hey!). I am just looking forward to my trip in a few weeks to New Mexico! I really really wish Brian could come, but he has to go to school and study for the DAT :/. I make myself feel better by telling myself that it will be better that I'm gone because he'll have more time to study! Right? Right. For FHE last night, Brian and I started making plans for a trip of our own. We are planning on going to the most beautiful place in the whole world - San Diego (disclaimer: I have a feeling there are more beautiful places in Europe or maybe New Zealand, but for the states, this is a great place!). We are going to go visit some areas/people from my mission, hit up some amusement parks, hopefully see some relatives, and hang out at the beach! I seriously can't wait. By then all of this dental application crap will be over and done... except for the excruciating waiting part. Ek. Pray for us!


for more of the 30 questions project, click here!

Cinco de Mayo, grocery deals, baby shower, & question #11

Sorry for the lapse in posting - honestly my mind has been elsewhere! But, I thought it was time for an update and a few photos at least! First of all, price matching at Walmart is way more fun than I thought... we got 10lb blocks of cheese for only $7.50! And not just any cheese... Cache Valley cheese! Mmmmm queso! Along with that we got lots of other fruit (watermelon at 6lbs/99cents and oranges for 5lbs/99cents, strawberries 1lb/99cents (we bought lots and lots and lots of strawberries) and felt pretty good about our deals. Not trying to be boring with a grocery update, but come on, the cheese was a great deal! Oh, and just so you know, if you wash your strawberries in 1 part white vinegar and 10 parts water, rinse them, and dry them well, they won't mold for a long time! The vinegar kills the mold-causing spores and makes your strawberries last :). Either that, or you can just freeze them and use them later for smoothies (which is what we did with all the ones that weren't going to the baby shower).

You can see 1/4 of one of the cheese blocks that was grated by our handy kitchenaid in the corner of the photo. And all those strawberries!

Andrea had her baby shower this weekend (so excited for her!) and I decided I wanted to make this because I was in charge of the fruit:

Fancy, huh?! 

Well, it turned out great (thanks to Brian's efforts) and it was tasty too. The baby shower was lots of fun and Andrea is just the cutest pregnant girl ever. She could have this little girl any day now! 

We also celebrated Cinco de Mayo this weekend and had some friends over for a fiesta. We started the night by making mustaches, ate lots of Mexy Food, and watched Nacho Libre. Good times.

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Oh, and the next question on my 30 questions project is: Describe 10 pet peeves you have
First ones that come to mind:

1. Loud chewing
2. Having to repeat myself more than once
3. Bad driving
4. Dirty dishes left to rot in the sink
5. Spoiled, snotty children
6. No toilet paper in the bathroom
7. Excessive use of the words "Like" and "you know" 
8. Traffic
9. Rude people
10. Getting my pants caught in the back of my shoes

#10. Most embarrassing moment!

10. Describe your most embarrassing moment.

I am laughing right now just thinking about the one I want to share! Embarrassing things happen to me on the regular. For example, just the other day (night?) I was working a night shift and I really really had to, ahem, relieve my bladder. So, I finished up feeding one of the little babies and ran off to the loo. I guess in my haste I forgot to lock the door. So, there I was minding my own business and suddenly another nurse comes running into the bathroom (I guess she really had to go too). She was in such a rush that she was about 2 full steps inside the bathroom before she realized I was there. Whoops. She screamed (literally, screamed) and ran in the opposite direction while I just sat there and laughed. I kept laughing to help myself feel better but boy was I embarrassed. The worst part is that I didn't even see her for the rest of the night! I wanted to laugh about it with her so it wouldn't be awkward the next time we saw each other, but alas, I guess I might be dealing with that awkwardness on my next shift. Anyway, that story wasn't supposed to be that long because that's not the embarrassing moment I even wanted to talk about!

This one happened during my volunteer adventure in Guatemala. Everything is better in Guatemala after all!

Let me introduce you to the chicken bus. I wrote about them more here, but I will do a quick refresher. They are the public transportation of Guatemala. They will hold any amount of people willing to get on (I even saw a man hanging on the outside with his arms through the window to hang on once when we were going about 45 on a winding, bumpy jungle road! Anyway, you get on and then you are packed in there like sardines and then a man comes around gets your money. Oh, and they play very loud latin music for your enjoyment along the way. Oh, and they don't follow any traffic rules. Off-road? As fast as the bus can go? Not stopping for anything/anyone? Yep -Anything goes!

Ok, so it was my first week in Antigua Guatemala and I was loving it! I was there on a volunteer trip and I was ready to flex my volunteer muscles at an HIV clinic (which leads to another story...) up in the mountains of Guatemala. I was told how to get there and I would have to make a bus transfer at "the tree after the long fence before the market." Yikes. After going through the winding city, through the valley, over the hills, and into the mountains, I was lucky I got off at the right tree considering we were practically in a jungle.

And there was my bus! I was so glad it was waiting there so I wouldn't have to stand awkwardly by a tree in my scrubs looking like a lost tourist.

I jumped off the bus and got on the second bus with a little smirk on my face. I could totally handle this Guatemalan stuff! I greeted the driver and sat down without really looking around. As I sat there, however, I started to realize that all around me I could only hear children voices. I finally looked around and saw that there was a good reason for that - I was surrounded by Guatemalan kids! 

I was on a schoolbus. We were on our way to school. Bahahahahaha! I swallowed my pride and asked them if the hospital was on their way and they were so kind and dropped me off where I needed to go. Hahaha. I felt so dumb. The kids were nice though.

Here's the sugar on top. The next day I was waiting for my real bus and the schoolbus came up. The driver stuck his head out the window and offered me a ride again and I am happy to report that I took him up on his offer :)

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I have to brag a bit about the Mr.


Brian got at 90% on his chem final! It's the highest score he's heard of and it secures his A in one of the most difficult courses at BYU. He looked at me the other day and said, "Rach, I never realized before that I was smart." I always knew. He is going to do great in dental school!


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