In order to prepare for a dentist appointment, I decided to brush and floss one  extra time.  You can imagination my despair when I discovered that the tube of toothpaste I have been nursing for ages, would no longer spare even a drop of minty freshness.  After a quick search of all the bathrooms, I was surprised to discover that there was no longer any adult toothpaste left in the house, and found myself holding a tube of bubblegum flavoured, spongebob squarepants toothpaste. The smell turned me off and I quickly brushed with baking soda and hoped for the best.

My family recently switched to a new dental office.  A very lovely office where everyone is beautiful, and friendly and nice.  EVERYONE.  In fact my husband and I both think its weird that everyone is so beautiful and so nice.  We are sure that they must be hiding some type of sinister activity behind their regular dental office jobs or at the very least must all be models.  We are not accustomed to nice and friendly service, what we have come to expect is silent, stony faced assistants who rarely offer a smile or kind word.

The kids love going to the dentist.  When they know they have an appointment coming up, they count down the days, and after they’ve been they keep asking when they can go back.  It’s very strange, I know.  It helps that they have never had a cavity or any painful procedures, but somehow I don’t think that would matter.  It’s fun there, even without video games!  And the treasure box!  It gleams enticingly from a nearby shelf, promising them a glimpse of its riches if they have a good check up.  And with gorgeous, smiling staff, they always do!

My appointment this day was to have a night guard made, since I have five kids and no longer care what I look like at night.  (In truth, I just needed a new one).

So, I was ushered into an exam room and the wonderful Monique came in with her cheery smile and announced that I was going to be a guinea pig for a new technique!  Ahem, I WHAT?   She laughed and said that this technique was much better than the old one, because it didn’t involve having any chokey, gunky stuff poured into a mold and jammed into my pie hole for hours for me to gag on. (Okay, I admit that those were all my words, not hers-Hi Monique!).  So, we were chatting and I was watching her fiddle with a weird looking device that she revealed is innocently called a cheek retractor, and although I was immediately suspicious, she assured me with her beautiful smile that it would all be fine!  She slipped it into my mouth and snapped it open, lifting my lips around it until they were pulled open, and tight.  It was eerily reminiscent of the speculum that doctors use for pap tests (sorry boys) and only slightly less unpleasant.

 I prayed that there were no flies in the office.

The good news was that I could still talk with it in, and I did, at least until Monique put her hands in my mouth, to do her thing.   Soon enough, my appointment was over and I left with my new appliance. 

Do you think when you leave the dentist office that the staff talks about you? About how stained your teeth were, how stinky your breath was or how you carried on a conversation as if you were simply chatting over coffee, regardless of the fact that there was a mouth speculum/cheek retractor in your mouth?  Nah, I don’t think so either, not at this place anyway, they are way too nice!!!

Diane of Pennsylvania!!!!!!!!!!Diane has won a custom, hand stamped necklace, to be chosen from the two that were kindly offered by Christi of http://www.moppetsclosets.com.

For those of you who didn’t win, you can still get your own beautiful, custom jewelry by contacting Christi at moppetsclosets or at http://www.handstampedjewelry.com.  I am still trying to decide what to order for Christmas prezzies.  I am going to ask my niece to visit the sites herself and choose something for me to buy for her, and as for me, I cant decide on what I want most, but I love the hammered sterling and copper necklaces.

A great big thank you to Christi for her generosity.  You are very talented and your work inspires me to shop!  Thanks again!

There I said it.  If you are on Facebook you already know, but now I’m saying it again.  40. Wow!! How did I get here?

I got lucky and was surprised with a birthday party at my brother and sister-in-laws home on Saturday afternoon.  They did a lot of work to make it happen and I soooo love them for it.  My sister in law, Maria, invited over 40 people.  She got so into it, that she even invited people I don’t know, and that’s ok, because I love to meet new people, although apparently these people wondered why they had been invited since they had never met me. Hummph, go figure?!

Apparently the planning and scheming behind my back began in April.  My mother was the one who provided names and phone numbers, stolen from my phone book while she was babysitting.  If she had run the names past my hubby he would have told her that I don’t have a friend named Brenda, and then Brenda, who is a actually a dog walking  acquaintance of my parents, would not have been invited to celebrate my birthday with me!

I’m glad there was a party in the works, because the only other reason for my hubby to be hiding in the laundry room with his blackberry at all hours was not one I could accept.  I was starting to wonder, what the hell is he doing in there? Who is he emailing?  Is he EATING CANDY????  Seems he learned how to text, when my sister in law’s questions and comments kept popping up on his Blackberry, and required answers.

I really didn’t have any idea that this was being planned, although looking back, there were signs I should have picked up on.  Like when I called my mom to chat and we did, briefly, and she made some comment about needing to go and talk to my hubby, and I said, he wasn’t home and she said ‘oh’ and that was it.  Apparently, he was standing in her front hall, looking at her, wondering why she had said that.  Then in the days leading up to the party, afraid she’d spill the beans, she avoided calling me.  And when I complained she didn’t love me anymore because she hadn’t called me, she lied and said she had called me, but didn’t leave me a message.  Well, HELLO, we have call display at my technologically advanced house, and I KNEW she hadn’t call me!!! 

I kept joking to my hubby and kids that I would act surprised when we got there, and I would show them my fake surprised expression and laugh, trying to tease them about NOT having a big party for me, and wow, they actually did have one!  I really don’t like surprises, and would have been stressed if I’d known it was happening.  It was a good thing I decided at the last minute to take a shower and wash my hair before what was supposed to be my family birthday dinner, and for a while there Paulina even tried her darnedest to have us all wear our PAJAMAS so we would be comfortable. 

There is one thing I am looking forward to and can say with certainty about my forties.  There will be NO more pregnancies.

NONE.

(My camera did not have charged batteries and so I am relying on my family and friends to email all the pics they took at the party.  I hate this because I am a photo addict and download my pics every single time I take some.  Now I am at the mercy of people who are not photo addicts and will likely not send me my pics until my next birthday, if I’m lucky.  Will post some when they arrive).

Just want to remind you all that the deadline for the draw is Tuesday the 29th of September. My kids will be selecting the winning ballot after school and I will post it immediately.  The winner will get to choose between two lovely, custom, handstamped necklaces, kindly donated by Christi from Moppetsclosets.  Check out her extensive and gorgeous jewelry collection, at http://www.moppetsclosets.com and/or  http://www.handstampedjewelry.com.

If you have already left me a comment as your entry, please remember to register for the site so that you are eligible to win.  And if you have already registered, don’t forget to leave me a comment to enter the draw!  To be eligible, you need to be a registered user, and leave me a comment telling me your favourite post so far.

Take care!

Took the gang to a chinese food buffet for dinner after hockey last night, and as usual they were excited and boisterous.  We tried to keep them quiet, as they all talk loudly to be heard over each other.  So for a while there, we were working hard just to quiet them down, but the lure of all-you-can eat with offerings that included ICE CREAM was far too much for them to handle and caused giddiness, nearing hysteria.

We let the older three kids select their own food and hubby and I each chose food for the twins.  I couldn’t believe it when I turned and saw what Jack had chosen for himself-a slice of pizza, and a plate of fries!! Where was the Chinese in that food exactly?

We got through the meal with only a few things falling to the floor and one spilled glass of water, but it was Jack’s loud burp/gag noise at the very end as we waited for the little ones to finish their ice cream that alarmed us.

“Are you going to throw up?”  I asked.

“Maybe” Jack replied, hand over mouth, “I ate too much.”

So off we ran to the washroom where we stayed until his colour returned to normal and the pain in his tummy resided.  Then we hightailed it out of there, and as we got to the door, Gregory said loudly “My tummy hurts, look how big it is!”

I prayed that no one would barf in the van on the way home, as that would have been BAD, but all was well.  And considering that Jeremy scarfed at least 10 bacon wrapped sausages, and made a total of 5 trips to the buffet tables, I’m surprised he didn’t have any tummy issues, but strangely, he didn’t.  One thing you can say about my family, is we really know how to get our money’s worth!