News, news, news.

Either not much is happening in the news this week, or I need to look into better ways to get news. But I am definitely glad that I know Mariah Carrey wants white kittens and doves wherever she goes. Seems to be a conflict of interests, if you ask me.

Well, do you want the bad news first, or the good? Let's go in chronological order. Yesterday my mother came over and watched Abbie while I took Grant to visit his buddy the dentist. We know our dentist very well. Grant had his first serious cavity when he was 2. You may remember that Grant had a swollen cheek from a tooth infection earlier this fall. The back molar on that side was the problem, and still is. It needs a procedure called a pulpotomy. It's the baby tooth equivalent of a root canal. They drill all the way down to the pulp, insert an antibiotic tablet, then fill it back up. He also needs 7 fillings. Dr. Dooley says that if Grant is good and still and quiet, they might be able to get all of that done on his next visit, which is scheduled for Dec. 17th. If he's wiggly or uncooperative, it will just be the pulpotomy.

More about baby teeth: They usually don't require much work. If a child Grant's age gets his first cavity, the dentist (at least ours is like this) will sometimes leave it, unless it is causing the child pain, because they fall out. He says preventing pain and retaining tooth function are the only two reasons to work on baby teeth. With Grant, who has been having bad, fast growing cavities since age 2, we have to worry about him still having enough tooth left to chew. He explained that until Grant's 6 year molars are in, he can't really consider pulling any of the teeth. For his bottom molars, there is already less tooth than filling. On the good side, all of Grant's front teeth are fine, which is unusual for kids who tend to develop the fast growing cavities. Sadly, those will be the first ones to fall out.

Abbie did not see the dentist. Her teeth are perfect.

All afternoon, I had a terrible headache. Some people have suggested that maybe I gave it to myself by worrying how much money I'm going to need to fix Grant's teeth. And pay bills. And renew the car registration. And pay for Josh's class. And pay homeowners' association fees. And make it through Christmas. Motrin and lots, lots and lots of water did not help. I stayed home from taiko practice.

But! It turned out to be the best idea. It turns out I was getting sick. I am dizzy today, and my head feels too heavy, and my headache is now a sinus one, etc., but at least I didn't share my germs at practice. My current job is to get better before Thanksgiving. Wish me luck.

Speaking of jobs, I am still looking through a bunch of work from home stuff. My savior, Missy, sent me lots to look at, and I did a lot of that until yesterday afternoon. I've only applied for one job so far, but I have my eye on several. Might take a break today and just veg.

Now, for the latest news! Our mortgage refinancing came through today! Did you know that notary republics make house calls? I drank hot cider (has vitamin C) in my own kitchen while signing the new papers. And the best best news of all is that I don't owe any house payments until January 1!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!

In other news, I talked to my brother yesterday. So that is all fine again. I think he is even going to call my mommy today. Speaking of Mommy, I did some Christmas spying and sent a secret email to my dad at work telling him something to get Mom for Christmas. I love it when I can do stuff like that. I hope she likes it!

We're switching to the Wal-mart cell phone plan. (I pretty much hate Wal-mart, at least in the abstract.) Josh has a new cell phone. How is it that when we are dead broke, Josh still gets new toys? We still don't know what's going to happen with my phone.

I didn't sleep well last night. Geh.

My mommy gave us a turkey. I am not really a turkey person. I am a chicken person. Josh dug out an Alton Brown DVD and tomorrow we're gonna make some turkey.

For lunch we had chicken soup and toast. It was a huge hit.

Hope you are all about to have a fantastic weekend! Sick people like me hardly notice that it's Friday, but we sure know the first sunny day in a month when we see it! Go take vitamins. Don't get sick!!!