From the office....

So the other day I was cleaning this guy's teeth.  For confidentiality purposes I will call him "Dave".  "Dave" hadn't been to the office since 2008.  "Dave" had deep pockets and quite a few loose teeth.  "Dave" had a lot of bone loss.  "Dave" was a fun guy, and a good sport.  As I was cleaning his teeth and pointing out his oral condition to him, I said, "You know, 'Dave', you should really come and see us every three or four months instead of every three or four years."  You could see the wheels spinning in his head and he quickly remarked, "Well, the roads have been bad!!"  And before I could stop myself I blurted, "Good news, 'Dave'!  We're open in the summer now!  In fact, spring, summer, AND fall!!"  It was a good thing my friend "Dave" has a sense of humor.......

Nothing to report.

At least not for now.  I finally got my Oregon license (with anesthesia and nitrous endorsements!), so the hunt continues for a job that is at least 3 days a week.  Of course, if someone wants me to work more than that I am more than willing to oblige!!  I had a telephone interview not long ago, but he wanted to compensate me for my time by salary.  Wait.....what?  Yep, you read that right......salary.  How would that work?  He wanted me to work two days a week, and then on Thursday mornings have staff meetings till noon, and then every fourth or fifth Friday be available to answer the phone during business hours, even though the office was not open.  This is getting weirder and weirder.....What if I needed to cover for the other hygienist one day?  Would I not be compensated for the extra day of work?  In the end, he picked someone else, which I am okay with, for two reasons.  1.) The job was only 2 days a week and I am needing at least three.  2.) Salary?  Enough said. 

Deuce had surgery last week to repair his umbilical hernia.  He was so dang cute when we brought him home.  He was SO tired, but he would not lie down.  I don't know if he was hurting, or if he was scared to lie down, but he could not be convinced to do it that first night, so he just stood in the kitchen where we were making dinner and slowly close his eyes.  It was cute to see him trying to sleep standing up, but sad at the same time!!  No worries though, he is back to his wild, mischievious self.  He has stitches on his tummy so we can't have a bath for another week until we go in and have those taken out.  I am pretty sure he doesn't even remember the stitches are there anymore!! 

Jake and I joined a gym a couple of weeks ago.  I must say, I have been amazingly dedicated since then.  I have been going 3 days a week since we signed up!!  Now if only I could lose three pounds a week for a month, then I would be okay with that!! 

My next post I will try to include some pics! I haven't taken anything recently, but I think they do brighten up the page and distract you from my blah blah blah. 

Working out?

So this last week I became the newest member of World Gym. Goodbye, Chubby Shannon....Hello, Hot Stuff!!  Well, that is my intent anyway.  I went to work out for the first time on Saturday.  I did really well for not being to a gym for a while.  I got on the elliptical for thirty minutes at a really good pace!!!  I wanted to stop after about twenty minutes or so, but the machine has a digital display of how long you have been on it, and there was a girl that got on the machine right behind me and another girl that got on a machine two down from me, and I didn't want to look like a loser!!  So I stuck it out for the full thirty.  Then, I sprayed off the machine with the antibacterial spray stuff, gathered my things, and went home.  Where I promptly began heating up the oven an making some mozzerella sticks!!!  MMMMMM good!!  I had some with ranch and some with marinara sauce.  Yep, true story.  Don't judge me.  

Bring It Here

Have you ever wondered just how much your pets understand of what we say?  Last night Deuce, our six and a half month old weimeraner got a hold of one of my hair elastics.  Again.  He is constantly finding these somewhere and then he likes to slobber all over them.  I am afraid that one of these days he will swallow one and who knows what that could do to his little tummy.  Anyway.......so I look over and he has one that he is busily munching on.  Deuce!!!!  NO!  He looks up at me and cocks his head to the side.  Sometimes he can be so very cute.  NO I say again.  He happily pops up, leaving the hair elastic on the rug by the door and comes over to the couch where I am sitting and sets his head on my lap.  We don't chew on my hair elastics.  Now go get it.  Deuce cocks his head at me again like he is processing what I just said.  "Go get it" is not in his vocabulary.  He knows sit, stay, lay down, shake, and no, but that is all we have taught him.  I say it again for good measure.  Go get it.  Deuce turned around and went straight over to where he had left the elastic and picked it up in his mouth and then turned around and looked at me again.  I couldn't believe it.  So I decided to take it one step further.  Bring it here.  Okay, I KNOW he doesn't know this one.  Deuce does not play fetch at all yet.  Part of the reason is it's too cold outside to take him out and teach him.  The other is that he is still young and has such a short attention span.  Molly didn't do really do fetch very well until she was about a year.  Back to the story.  Bring it here.  And he brought it straight over to me and put it in my outstreched hand.  WHAT!?!?!??!?  Good job!!!!  So proud of my big boy!! 

Dental Humor

So the other day I get home from work and I go to wake Jake up.  And he says, "You stink."  "I do not stink, Mister-Sometimes-I-Don't-Take-A-Shower-For-A-Couple-Days." "Well, you smell like a dental office."  "You smell like you need to be in one!!!" I retorted, referring to his morning breath.  Love you, honey!!

Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering??

...so says Brain to Pinky before every one of his fanatical plots to take over the world.  Did you ever watch Pinky and the Brain?  I loved that show.  I kinda feel like them to crazy lab rats sometimes.  They run around with a crazy plan to accomplish the impossible.  Once Brain said, "This is the earth. And this is Pinky. You can tell the difference quite easily. One is a lump of inert matter hurtling blindly through the void. The other... is the earth."  Right now I feel like Pinky in this quote.  I don't know what the future will bring for my husband and I and our two dogs, and although it may seem exciting to some people, it's also quite frightening.  I have been working full time for the last month as a co-worker recovers from cancer.  She is an amazing woman, and I know that if I were in her shoes I could not be as strong and courageous as she has been.  Fingers crossed, she will be back to work after next week, and I.....well.... I will be back to my 8 hours a week.  There haven't been as many opportunities as I had hoped for here when I graduated from dental hygiene school.  I was confident that I would move back to Idaho and be employed very quickly, but that hasn't been the case.  Jake has been wanting to move to Oregon for quite some time now, so I have been checking the job boards for dental hygiene jobs there.  It seems like there are always jobs being posted there, a stark contrast to southeast Idaho.  So last week I applied for a license in Oregon, and once it goes through (assuming it does!!) I will start to apply for jobs there and see what the future has in store.  Can anybody make me feel better about this?  Because I really don't want to move....but I do really want to help out with the finances.  The Brain: "Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?" Pinky: "I think so, Brain, but if they called them "sad meals" no one would buy them."

Happy 2011!!

Happy 2011!! Jake and I rang in the new year with our great friends Chris and Patti.  I have some memorable pictures on my phone, but I am struggling to figure out how to transfer said pics to my new laptop.  So I guess I will just keep them all to myself.  This year I have decided to do new year's resolutions.  And in order to try to hold myself more accountable, I will post them on this blog for literally anyone in the world to read.  I only have three, and they probably sound typical, but I really want to try to actually accomplish these things this year.

1. Work out more.  Notice that I didn't commit to every day or a certain amount of time per day.  Such restrictions would definately hamper any progress.  I have an eliptical machine downstairs, so there is no excuse for me to not be getting on that at least a couple of days a week.  I bought stickers today to put on my calender every time I get on this or exercise so I can keep track of my progress.

2.  Floss.  I know half of you are screaming "WHAT?!?!?! AREN'T YOU A DENTAL HYGIENIST?!?!?"  Correct, my friends.  I am a dental hygienist that is well aware of the sheer havoc that not flossing is doing to my teeth.  And yes, I do tell my patients that they should be flossing every day.  I admit it.  I am a hypocrite.  Which is why I really want to try to tackle this resolution this year.  I also bought stickers for this on my calender.  Hopefully I will soon see at least one sticker every day for flossing, and at least a couple of times a week for exercising.

3.  Be a better wife.  I don't know how to explain how I will accomplish this.  Because I don't really know.  I do most (or all) of the cleaning of the house and the dishes, and I do all the laundry, but I never EVER cook dinner.  My wonderful chef (aka Jake, my husband), does ALL the cooking.  He's good at it.  But I don't know if it's always fair for him.  So tonight actually I am making dinner.  I'm cheating a lot (I got a frozen lasagna at the store), but it's a step towards this resolution.  This summer I want to be a better wife by keeping up the yard better too.  It's kind of embarrassing to look out the window and see the neighbor mowing your lawn for you.  On the other hand, I think Kevin and his dad like the little goodies I take over there when I catch them doing this.  But that still doesn't make it right.

Those are my resolutions for 2011.  I'm trying to make a better me.  And that's what it is all about!!