The Dentist

Throughout my journey in life, I have encountered many situations and experiences that have made me uncomfortable. Over the years, I have learned to work through a lot of them and now they just simply don't phase me. However, going to the damn dentist is not one of them. Let me be completely clear......I HATE THE FREAKING DENTIST. I don't have anything against him personally, I just don't want anybody sticking their freakin' miscellaneous items in my mouth. Seriously....hooks, scrapers, water picks, plaque removers, that little spinning thing that they put the sandpaper toothpaste on, jaw props, anything with suction, fingers, thumbs, entire fists or whatever.....I really don't want it in my mouth. Some people have fear of heights, or flying, or getting in elevators. I am ok with all of that.....I just really don't want you to insert anything close to my lips, my gums, my teeth, or as my fifth grade teacher called it, my biscuit trap. Now, I realize it is a necessary evil. And yes, I do like having teeth. But come on..... I would honestly rather you wax my entire body. I just assume stick my tongue to a frozen pole. Or go ahead and yank off a toenail with a pair of pliers. But please dont make me lay back in the chair with the bright light and hear the wonderful noises of grinding and the smell of smoke.

This is how bad I despise it......I had not been to the dentist in almost 15 years. That changed last year when my lovely wife talked me into going. She has a high school friend whose name is Matt McCracken who had become a dentist in town. She begged me to go. I agreed to, but only if they gave me the gas and they promised me I would be passed out and incoherent for the entire ordeal. Of course that didn't happen. They didn't even put me in a room that had the gas. However, they knew I was serious when I got out of the chair complete with the bib on and all of the cleaning tools were flying across the room. After Matt settled me down, they offered to give me injections to deaden everything as if i was about to get fillings. I accepted and for the first time in 15 years, I got my teeth cleaned. And after all that time, I only had two cavities, and two areas he wanted to keep an "eye" on.

What brought on this rant? Last week, I was enjoying my evening cereal when something got lodged in between two of my teeth. After i flossed it out, I noticed that I had hard white bits of something coming out of my mouth. I figured that surely it wasn't pieces of tooth. After five days of moderate pain, I knew I had to go to the damn dentist. Long story short.....it was a chipped tooth next to a cavity that was catching food and inflaming my gums. Two hours of drilling later, I have new fillings. Now, please explain to me how after 15 years of no problems I go to the dentist and start experiencing issues. You are right.... there is no logical explanation. Ok....I feel better now. If you need a dentist in Tuscaloosa, I do recommend Dr. McCracken at Dentalworks. I just hope you don't see me there.

Below is the Dentist song, complete with the drilling and the smoke. It is performed by Steve Martin and is from the movie "Little Shop of Horrors." Until my next rant........

Playhouse Disney Live! Video

So....here it is, in all of it's glory. Playhouse Disney Live. The first one is of the hotdog song. I tried to get Savannah on it, but it was very dark. At one point, you can see her raise her arms up, but it is not clear at all. The second video is just part of the show where they introduce all of the Disney characters that made the show. "Here is Goofy!!" And the crowd went wild!

Add Another

What a crazy week.....but not as crazy as my brothers. About three days after learning that Lynn's sister Pam was pregnant again(see post below), Matt calls to tell me that he and Kerrie are expecting also. Even stranger is that they are both due days apart from each other at the first of November. Me and Lynn have officially hit the Aunt and Uncle jackpot. And if one of them has twins, we'll have to take out loans to buy Christmas presents. The going odds on Matt and Kerrie having a boy......3000:1.

Playhouse Disney Live!

On Sunday, March 16, Lynn, Savannah, and I went to see some of Savannah's favorite characters as part of Playhouse Disney Live. It was held at the concert hall at the BJCC in Birmingham. If you are not familiar with Playhouse Disney, fear not. Neither was I 17 months ago. It is basically a 24 hour animation network for kids. It includes Mickey Mouse of course with all of his crew, Tigger and Pooh (new spin on the classic, but at least true to it), Little Einsteins (group of kids who fly in their rocket ship to visit all of the earth's sights while playing classical music....seems educational), and Handy Manny (a hispanic carpenter).

One of Lynn's wishes for her birthday was to take Savannah to the concert. I was concerned that maybe she was too young and wouldn't know what was going on. I really didn't know if she would make it through the whole thing either. But was I wrong.......she never missed a word. She smiled and laughed almost the entire time. It was really fun to watch her. The hot dog dance is her favorite. I have some video that is being stubborn and does not want to post that I will try to get on later.

This is Savannah's sign language for "more." Whenever she eats or drinks something and she wants more, she makes this sign. At the Playhouse Disney Concert, she made this sign when Mickey went off the stage. More Mickey please.

Storyteller

Mark caught this picture of me, Savannah, and Natalie the weekend before Lynn's birthday. The sun was coming through and made our faces glow which looked really cool. Mark takes some good pics.


I will be giving a full book review of "Baby Mickey's Nap" in an upcoming post. Check back soon.

Pam and Mark Visit for Lynn's Birthday

Finally, after months of hiatus, Pam and Mark decided they would come to Tuscaloosa (and Buhl and Samantha) and actually visit their relatives. To be honest, I don't blame them for the frequency of their travel. Hauling a baby to a from Cartersville, Georgia is very tiring. We have done it twice, and it was quite exhausting.

Anyway, Lynn's birthday was on the 12th, and Pam and Mark and Natalie decided to come visit the weekend before. We were confused as to why they would come then only to have to turn around and come back for Easter. It ends up that Pam had a gift for Lynn that couldn't wait..... It was a stick.

But not just any stick.......(notice the look on the babies faces)

Yes, Pam is pregnant.

And no, it was not necessarily planned. But everyone is very happy nonetheless. And yes, I feel for Mark. In 8 months they will have a newborn and an 18 month old. You are a better man than me my friend. And no, there is no pressure on me or my lovely wife to have another one right away, so there is no need to mention it.

After the announcement was made, we had some fun with the existing babies in the tub. Here are some pics. Congrats Pam and Mark!

Message to James Spann

The picture below was sent in to ABC 33/40 on the Saturday morning the weather decided to spit some snow at us. Again, nothing measurable, but it is nice to see it coming down for a little while. Momma Mason sent the email below to me....apparently it was a big hit in the weather office......

"James Spann and the other announcer where showing a picture from Elrod. Everyone was writing the name of their towns in the snow and sending them in. James said something like is Elrod a suburb of Buhl or are Buhl and Elrod a suburb of Coker?

So your daddy wrote this on Mark's truck. When they showed it on TV James Spann said, well that settles it, Buhl is bigger and he really laughed!"