Saturday found cash on the sidewalk so bought a book and another matcha latte

[shadowkat]

Had the required dental visit - which I do, infrequently. I get the same lecture every time: you should come every six months, if not sooner, you should wear mouth guard or you can do botox injections -

Mother: Botox injections! You got to be kidding me!
Me: Don't worry, I turned them down. Insurance wouldn't cover it anyhow.
Mother: I should hope not. You do not need botox injections to prevent grinding. (After that mother was highly skeptical of the dentist's accuracy. She was more than a little appalled).

Apparently the botox relaxes the muscle that automatically starts the nightly grinding. I can't wear a mouth guard - because my mouth generates too much saliva and I choke and can't sleep. I tried it multiple times, with multiple mouth guards and finally gave up. The other way to relax this muscle and keep it from doing this is to say the letter N and do that frequently.

Mother: Did they clean your teeth thoroughly?
Me: Yes.
Mother: Are you certain?

Seriously, it was about as well as they ever do it. Have I told you how much I hate dental appointments? There's a reason I procrastinate.

Mother: You have x-rays at every visit - that's not good. I'll go three to four years without an x-ray.
Me: Well so do I. You are forgetting that I don't go that often - it's often two-three years, sometimes one between visits. They kind of feel the need to do them, and I ask for them. Because two to three years.

I'm fifty-eight and I've never had a cavity in my life. It's partly because I cannot stand to have anything on my teeth so clean my teeth thoroughly. I own a water pick, and floss, and two electric tooth brushes. I'll probably end up with crowns, but not due to cavity's - due to grinding. Also, they are worried about the gum inflammation - which could be aggravated by diabetes. So, they managed to talk me into booking an appointment at the very end of February, about six months from now.

They had different flavors of tooth paste. Bubblegum, Vanilla, Mint, and something else. I chose mint, because toothpaste really shouldn't have any other flavor other than mint. It's toothpaste.


Because I slept badly the night before - due to various factors, inclusive of being aggravated by the building management's incompetence in scheduling building inspectors and high blood sugar - I didn't walk as far as planned today. Also Transit was doing track work - so the trains were screwed up again. Lots of construction work everywhere - I live in a city that is perpetually under construction.

On the way to Lofty Pigeons books, the only book store that doesn't appear to carry a lot of Stephen King or Neil Gaiman books, I found a twenty dollar bill and a ten dollar bill on the sidewalk. I looked down, saw what I expected to be a one dollar or five dollar bill, and it was a twenty. Then looked around to see who dropped it - there was no one nearby. So I decided the Universe wanted me to buy a book today. It was also in the exact amount as the book I wanted to buy - $30.00.

So I did manage to buy the book I'd been hunting everywhere - since I read about it on coll's journal - "The Antidote by Karen Russell". I kept talking myself out of it - telling myself to buy it on Kindle (except I tend to lose track of the things I get on the Kindle, also I don't really own them outright? If I stop using the Kindle - they go bye-bye.)

***

The Sourdough Foccacia Bread that I bought yesterday is amazing. That has got to be the best sourdough foccacia gluten free bread that I've ever had. It doesn't require anything - not even really butter. You know it's good bread - when you can eat it plain. I decided to do a ploughman's lunch, with the bread, some hard swiss cheese, brie, some hard salami, English Mustard (Frackles), dill pickles, celery, carrots, olives, and some lettuce. It was lovely. And for desert - another piece of bread with butter, plus the unsweetened matcha latte (unfortunately only the ones in the city have unsweetened almond milk, the ones in Brooklyn - I had to get whole milk or skim, because their nut and oat milks have agave.)

I've decided I may order the bread, and pick it up on the way home from work sometimes. You can do that. Or get Doordash to deliver it.

All in all a productive day. I even got my allbirds shoes, which I can wear without socks. Although I'm wrestling with getting orthoshoes - with inserts. You can get them with FSA, but I don't think I have enough left on the card - with the dental appointments, and soon, contacts, plus other meds that I put on it.

Here's another wall mural or Brooklyn Street Art - that I saw on the way home from the dental appointment.

Comments

[kazzy_cee]

I go every six months to the dentist (not that I have anything done other than cleaning usually). I like that they check your general oral health, including a cancer check. A friend who had cancer in her tonsil and soft palate was referred by her dentist, who spotted it very early (and she has made a full recovery, thank goodness).

[shadowkat]

Yes, I'm bad about dental visits. It is partly cost prohibitive? Average dental visit can cost anywhere between $130 (copay) to $800 because my insurance actually doesn't like to pay more than $20 if that. So in truth - the insurance is doing the copay, while I'm taking on the full cost. People in the US are known to have to spend anywhere between $1,000-$10,000 on dental annually alone.

[mtbc]

Congratulations on finding tasty gluten-free bread, not easy!

[shadowkat]

Thanks. No, it is not easy at all. People like to make it vegan - which can often make it worse. Paolo bread is a crumbly gooey mess. Sourdough is a good approach - because no yeast is needed, and if you don't have gluten it's kind of hard for the yeast to make it rise.

[colls]

I went to the dentist last week as well, so can commiserate on that note.

I hope you enjoy The Antidote, it was different so I imagine it won't click with everyone.

[shadowkat]

I have a lot of books - some click, some don't. And I'm moody. But it intrigued me - mainly the idea of how to use stories and storytelling.