The Importance of Health Insurance

Well, its a good thing we had health insurance. We just got our statement for my trip to the emergency room. Without the insurance, it would have cost over $1500. As it is, we only have a $50 copay.

Meep.

Obligatory Kitty Pictures

Jasmine bein' cuddly.

Yes, she knocked it off the couch. :P

Gardeny Stuff

Just some little backyard updates.


Here's the azalea. Its two to three times larger than when we bought it... it came in a quart sized pot, I think. I left the fence in the picture for scale. Anywho, it was happy happy grow grow for awhile, until last week. Then, suddenly, it went put. It folded up and dried up and shriveled in on itself. We thought maybe it was getting too much sun, so I dug it up and moved it to the back corner of the fence. Digging it up was too easy. Turns out it was rootbound... all these months and all its roots were still in the shape of the original pot! So, as soon as I dug it up, I stuck it in a bucket of water and let it sit there while I worked around the yard. It perked up almost instantly. By the time I came back to the bucket, less than an hour later, it was halfway back to normal. Seeing that it was rootbound, I worked in the water for awhile loosening up the roots and separating as many as I could. Then, I stuck it in the ground, filled the dirt back in, covered it with pine needles (both for the acid and to kill the weeds), and poured three buckets of water over it. Tada! Instant happy plant! There were still a few folded up leaves yesterday (I did this two days ago), but its all back to normal now. Yay!


A view of some of the zinnias. We're really starting to think that's sunflower, back there. Its getting really tall. It looks like it wants to be as tall as me before it blooms. Oh, and its growing fast. That's nasturtium way down at the bottom.


Our happy rose. This is the one we bought in a gallon pot when it was too tiny to hold up its flowers. Hee. Its missing a bunch of leaves, and a couple of stems, because I had to prune off some blackspot. Grrr. But its still doing pretty well, and its about three feet tall.


The hydrangea in front. There are three other hydrangeas, but none of them look interested in putting out flower. Mrr? Perhaps they're too young?

The mini rose is pleased that I pruned back the lindheimeri. It never had leaves as big as those on top before. And this is after I pruned off a bunch of blackspot. Go mini rose! I can't wait to see how big it gets! And maybe it'll bloom again! Squeee!

Little Flowers

Ahah! They're zinnias! Unfortunately, they're also annuals. *sigh* But at least they're pretty for now, right?

AC + Gardening

We gots a new air conditioner! Thanks, mom and dad. :D It works well, but it pulls a lot of power, so we have to be careful how much we run at the same time. This house really needs to be rewired.



Oooh! Big box! Exciting!



Today we worked in the garden. We found a couple of young rose-of-sharons in the black-eyed susans, so we transplanted one to the middle garden. Cross your fingers! We also trimmed back the lindheimeri, to give the mini rose some more breathing room. Yes, that's trimmed back.


Here's all the stuff that was trimmed off!


We also transplanted a couple of clumps of black-eyed susans to the opposite fence. Again, cross your fingers! You can't even tell they're missing. :P


More little flowers coming out! They've got a lot of petals (like mums), and they come in pink, red, purple-pink and yellow. Still not sure what they are. :P

Apprenticeship, Etc.

Well, I applied for the apprenticeship today. They're doing the applications now, the test in December, and interviews in January or February. No hires until April and August. :( Oh, well. Its still a good job if I can get it.

In other news...

Oro is bad. He snuck past Patrick out the front door this morning. Patrick didn't see him until he was pulling out and saw a bad little orange kitty munching on grass on the front lawn. Lol.

Annnddd... when I planted my little seedlings, I just used the seeds that escaped to the bottom of the bag. So I have NO IDEA what I planted. Even now that there are flowers. Help? Here's my ickle flowers for you to identify:


And my teeth are doin' fine. No complications so far.

PS. Its really, really hot. Really hot. I ain't goin' outside any more than necessary. Nope.

Wisdom Teeth Update

Well, apparentely they didn't hit a nerve, which is pretty good for a full bony. Yup. Apparentely my lips were just the last to lose the numbness. So everythings back. The Ibuprofen has, so far, been plenty of pain control, and I have yet to take any of the narcotics. I mean, its sore, but its not painful.

I was a bit worried for awhile, since the first 24 hours are when your blood clots develop, and I didn't want to get dry socket in my upper teeth. (I couldn't get it in my lower, 'cause they hadn't erupted, so they had gum to stitch back over the socket, but the top two HAD erupted, so there was nothing to cover them with, and they really needed the blood clots.) The reason I worried is because I have a funky way of swallowing (according to my old orthodontist), and I noticed that it happens to put alot of suction on my back teeth, exactly where I don't want it. So I took the gauze they gave me and bit down on it until I ran out, then concentrated on swallowing properly for the rest of the day/night, which wasn't fun, 'cause it made it hard to sleep. 'Specially with mister Toss-and-Turn smacking me in the face at night. :P Oh, and it was hot. On the bright side, it meant I woke up early so I could take my six hour dose of ibuprofen, then I went back to bed. Now I feel better. :P And I get to start on soft food tonight!

Oh, oh! I forgot. Kinda funny thing... apparentely sedation has a funny effect on my memory. I can never remember the first fifteen minutes or so after I wake up, even though I was awake and talking at the time. Patrick says when he first came back to see me, they showed me my wisdom teeth, and I commented that one of them was cut in half. I have absolutely no memory of this whatsoever. Man, I wanted to see my teeth! Lol. I thought I woke up later than that. When I was sedated for my jaw, I think the same thing happened. Although, that time I could tell that there were bits I was only half-remembering, so I had a clue that I had forgotten stuff. Heh.

In other news, I go apply for the apprenticeship thing tomorrow. *sigh* Hopefully that will go well. And, perhaps, if we have time, I can apply for my driver's permit. It recently occurred to me that this is probably a good time to get a license, since Patrick needs to have his wisdom teeth out, too. Yep. Anywho, wish me luck on stuff. (BTW, yes I have driven before. I just gotta get used to it again, in a larger car, and New York has rather strict laws on getting a new license if you haven't had one in more than a year. Which involves taking a six-hour pre-licensing course. Grr.)