Happy News!

For those of you who read this that are not on Facebook, my sister and Jason got engaged last weekend in Colorado. She has a lovely Tiffany set solitaire. They are planning to get married Nov 24, 2007 and live in Charlotte unless his work takes them else where. YAY!!!

The End of a Saga

So last weekend I dashed to Greenville after work to go to the Harry Potter Party at Barnes and Nobles and get the last book. We got to the party around 10- since everyone I went with had obligations until then. There were so many people there. Unbelievable. Around 1120 we had to line up and stand in a nice, hot, crowded line until the countdown at midnight. I have to commend B & N for their lovely organization of everything for buying the book! We were in the 60's as far as our place in line and it really didn't take very long for me to have my copy in hand. :-) I stayed up until 130 am last night to finish it. I am not going to give anything away- as some of my blog readers have not finished it- except to say that I was satisfied with the ending and that many questions were answered. I had a major mourning for a death of a minor character that I really liked- that was a 15 minute standstill, but other than that, I was satisfied. So feel free to leave comments about the book here if I don't get a chance to talk to you about it soon. It is unbelievable that it is over. Wow.

The Adventure of the Red Retainer

So after my lovely front lower tooth dying on me ( due to some trauma, I'm told) and requiring a root canal after abscessing last fall, I had some teeth out of alignment causing some pain. I went to the dentist and he did a little adjustments but sent me to his partner the next day for an ortho consult. This resulted in my being told that I needed a spring retainer to solve this problem. It was "easy to fix" and would only take 3 months or so. So I said ok. My dental insurance actually paid for 1/2 which was nice. So about a month ago, I went in for an impression to be sent off to make this spring retainer. I was given a page of colors after this impression was made and was told to pick a color. I was quite suspicious about this so I asked what this retainer would look like and what I was picking a color for. After a discussion about what it would look like and that the front acrylic part would be clear, I chose red for the inside. I was thinking that it would blend in nicely and not be noticable. So after three weeks, I went back last Friday to pick up my new retainer. I was shocked to find the WHOLE thing was red- even the front. I commented that I thought the front was supposed to be clear but apparently the lady who was fitting me didn't quite realize what I was talking about.

Being a gungho type person about my dental appliances, I gave it a go and wore it the rest of the afternoon. I went to Barnes and Noble and read some. My confidence was dashed when I got really odd looks from the guy working at Starbucks. The Red Retainer Had to GO!! I couldn't work with this thing that I am supposed to be wearing all the time for three months. What would my patients think?? And what about the strict dress code we have at the hospital anyway. Would there be a rule in the future regarding odd colored dental appliances thanks to yours truely??? Absolutely NOT!

On Monday, I called and spoke to the office manager who said she would look into it and could I come back the next day if needed. I told her I could because I was off of work on Tuesday. Tuesday am I heard from her bright and early and had an appointment for 2 pm. I tried to not really point the finger of blame upon any one person because I wasn't sure what had happened, but I had mentioned that maybe the lab person who made the retainer was new and didn't know. Well, wouldn't you know it, but they recently hired someone to have a lab in-house and he was new. I also learned that they haven't had a spring retainer made for someone in 11 years. So perhaps that was also a problem in recognizing that I would not be happy with a bright red retainer. In any case, I now have a clear retainer that was made that day and my spring retainer is back in the shop to get clear acrylic placed instead of red in the front. I am supposed to get it back in 3 weeks. In case you are wondering, if I am ever asked again about a color for something like this, the answer is CLEAR!

Tomorrow the girls go to "camp" and I go to Pheonix for my dad's graduation for his master's degree. We are planning on visiting the Grand Canyon while we are out there. :-)