Wednesday.
This one will be another graft, and limits on eating while it ‘takes’, which is about 3 months. Talk about a way to go on a diet.
Not that I can’t stand to drop more pounds. I’m down 12 since January, on the regime we’re following: (Atkins shakes for breakfast and lunch and portion control on supper, plus splitting a meal when dining out) —but I am still sorry to afflict Jane with my limitations. She says no problem. So I’m going to be trying extra hard to find good things that will work.
As I recall, nothing hard and crunchy, like chips. A work around for that is the venerable chili pie; chips on the bottom, then chili and cheese and beam it. I don’t remember having any other restrictions other than hard candy like jaw breakers, not chewing ice, and not chewing meat off of the bone.
Chili pie, much as I love it, is kind of off the menu diet-wise, but our reduced portion diet says, well, in reduced portions (2 cups entree) rest veggies–we might squidge it in. We also do chili size (chili with spaghetti and cheese) and a lot of stir-fries. Here’s where my handy-dandy Korean stir-fry frozen meat slicer is going to get a workout: it cuts paper-thin meat for stir-fries, so it can get spiced all the way through and cook very fast. We use riced cauliflower for rice, so we get past the carb budget that way…and that is good. This thing takes a little learning curve, but it does mean edible: https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Vegetable-Slicing-Machine-Kitchen/dp/B06XG8P6R1/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1521410879&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=frozen+meat+slicer&psc=1
And pasta. Even the occasional sweet potato or Irish potato with ‘stuff’ on it, even chili, on the Irish.
So I shall miss a few things—my favorite seed bread is right out: filled with seeds, not so good. Pizza is not so easy. But with pasta and a huge spice cabinet, I can survive and maybe lose that next 12 pounds.
Not looking forward to Wednesday. Think kind thoughts. I’m going to be pitying myself a lot.
If you can find the low carb wraps (or make your own) you can make “flat bread” pizzas. Fewer carbs, pizza fun and flavor, and all good. 🙂
Ouch. Yeah, I can truly sympathize. Last year, after selling my house, I went in to get an estimate of what dental work I need, thinking hey, I could swing this now. Whoa. I was off by at least a factor of ten. (As in, the estimate was to pull all my teeth and put in implants, something like you’re facing.) The cost was a significant portion of the sale of my house and therefore my long-term savings while rebuilding my life. And I didn’t have dental or health insurance. So…this is still to do at some point.
The dentist’s recovery estimate was similar: while the whole mouth heals up, soft foods, going from a liquid to a soft diet, no hard foods, for 3 months or more, maybe up to 6 months. Whoa. Basically, the implants are, they put small screws into the jaws, upper and lower, about four each, and you get denture-like implants that screw down onto the anchor points, so you have better teeth than regular dentures, a bit better chance at more foods after you’re healed.
Three-plus months like that. I remember how I felt after my wisdom teeth were pulled. For about 3 or 4 days, I was very, very glad for some pretty strong pain meds, basically slept the whole time and glad of it, only waking for the bathroom and liquids and jello, pudding, ice cream, then soups, then soft foods, then finally on to solid foods again. — But the good news was, by the time I was off the pain meds and back to eating moderately soft and hard foods, I was OK. It did fine. But man, during those few days, I was very glad for the prescription and very, very out of it, and asleep instead of anything wacky going on. So it ended up fine.
So…I have a recommendation again for possible health and dental insurance and will be looking into it, but I have to build up savings before I can even think of actually going through with it. In the meantime, I am very snuggle-toothed (seriously, it looks bad, though my eating is mostly fine). As in, this is more than a Ferengi look going on.
So, if/when I get to do that, I will be going through much the same as you’re going to be doing on Wednesday. My deep sympathies! Oh, I get how you are feeling beforehand!
The past week, my friend forgot/skipped his appt. to pick me up so I could work on my storage space. I am hoping to get to do that this week. I fussed some last time, mildly but seriously, and I thought it took, but no, it didn’t. He has good intentions and means to help, but…doesn’t write it down or other (actual business) takes longer, or, well, the usual things. So I think this is a legitimate miss on his part, but — it keeps happening, repeatedly, and on my end, it keeps getting real old. I still like my friends and am glad for the help, and hey, I’m an adult, I remind myself, and trying to understand, but…dang, you know? — So I hope to get some more done on my storage space. Finding things is like a giant 3D puzzle the size of a small garage or shed. Most of which cannot and must not fit in my new apartment. Heh. So finding things is a surprise when needed/wanted item X shows up but not Y, and then Z or other letters show up along the way, to deal with. Heh. So there is some entertainment value and humor, and some, “Oh, dang, I don’t want to part with that, but there’s no way, no space for that to fit.” This will be dealt with, but it’s taking a long time.
So I might be up to my neck in boxes while you’re at the dentist. I’m sorry. 🙂
Funny thing: I somehow don’t have a recipe for Frito pie, and have not fixed it in ages. I will look it up on the web, which feels silly, since I think.I could guess the recipe, just not every ingredient or proportions. It is very funny how, when you don’t have something and want it, you want it more, even though it’s.a very normal thing and you know just what it is already. LOL. So, I’ll be looking up Frito pie, haha!
For international readers, “Frito pie” is a mid- to late 20th century family comfort food concoction, the sort of thing working moms and suburbanites made up and served at home or took to church / synagogue fellowship dinners and socials, game nights, etc. It’s cheap and tasty and neither too good for you nor too bad for you; emphasis on the cheap and on, it tastes so good, you don’t care if it’s actually healthy or not. — It’s probably more of a Southern or Midwestern thing, I don’t know, but I grew up with it often enough; everyone I knew did. — So, it is a layered, baked casserole dish, consisting of, at least, Fritos brand corn chips (these are a very specific and common US thing, I don’t know if they have them in Europe or Australia), plus canned chili (Wolf brand is what I grew up with) or hamburger plus taco or spaghetti seasonings, there’s cheddar cheese, and hmm, various other ingredients I’m no longer sure of, but vegetables, including sliced olives, possibly tomatoes, maybe sour cream, and for some folks, a little hot sauce or jalapeños on their serving, are common. It’s kind of a mid-America Anglo idea of a casserole of chili-cheese nachos…sort of, very loosely translated. Very. But it does taste good, it’s filling, and it’s cheap, and it’s, well, you can say it’s nutritious…enough? You would be truthful enough, and besides, your guests won’t mind, because it tastes very good. (I probably don’t want to know the sodium content and a few other things, but I could tell myself it balances out OK enough with the things that really are nutritious in it. Or at least, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it! Haha. — They used to include the recipe all over the place, from the company. So it should be easy to find, along with bazillions of variations from plucky housewives who worked and then fixed dinner for their families. Plus, y’know, a few husbands and single folks and poor college kids who did the same…. In other words, “Nandi, it is a time-honored tradition!” 😉 Sort of like pizza or jello fruit molds. Yeah, a lot more like those jello molds and other 50’s to 70’s concoctions! Hahaha!
CJ, if you want to chase me around the room with a shelalagh after bringing up Frito pie, just before your dental ordeal, you are most welcome, and it might give me some exercise to work off the Frito pie when I do fix it. Heh. (Frito pie and a shelalagh in the same paragraph? You’d think a stick for a piñata would be a mite closer.)
BEST WISHES!
I have a recipe, a post at Making Light, for “Chili-Dog Casserole” – ranch-flavored Doritos, Nathan’s Famous hot dogs, Hormel chili, lots of cheese, and pickled nacho rings (chiles) which go on one half of the casserole.
I think it’s pretty close to the same thing.
I could go for that.
URL for it:
http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/011758.html
(It’s linked in the recipe-index post: http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/010807.html)
Sees rather long, involved-looking recipe. OK, hmm…reading….
Ohhhh. This is most excellent and entertaining. Thank you!
Oh wow, it gets better as you follow along. Hahaha! :: Reading further. ::
Many thanks. I will have to try this. Put me in the “No tȧn caliente” category. Or the “He’s not tan, y no guy caliente para él” department. But still, this sounds good. Is it a bad thing that saying it combines lasagna, Frito pie, and hot dogs, all in some impossible amalgam? Nope, sounds good to me. Yeah, what do I know? :grins:
@BCS Got a medical university with a dental school close enough? Houston, is is? They should have one. I had the lower incisors replaced by a bridge that anchors on the canines. I had a quote of $7K, maybe, from a local dentist. I went to Oregon Health Sciences University’s School of Dentistry and had it done for half that! They do all my work now, not necessarily the most expeditiously, but affordably.
@BCS, off-topic.
I just found a link to a site that pronounces words for you in a bunch of different languages: http://www.pronouncekiwi.com/Groen-Links (Groen-Links is the Dutch Green-Left party).
The middle of the 3 Dutch options sounds the most standard Dutch, like a newsreader.
It doesn’t translate or tell you what language the word you put in is, so if you put in a Dutch word and ask for the UK pronunciation it sounds weird, but putting in a Dutch word and asking for the Dutch pronunciation seems to work OK, though I haven’t quite figured out how to make it say other words.
Thank you — I’m copying that link for later.
This reminds me to setup a new/different USB hub (powered) which may accept the blu-ray drive. (One minus about Macs: they do not include a DVD or Blu-Ray player anymore, and for some reason, you have to get a third-party software for playing Blu-ray Discs.) But the drive wants two USB ports and one must be powered.)
That should allow me the convenience of using the Dutch CD’s you’d sent, and others, at my computer, rather than separately. (I need to move the separate CD player radio, too.)
That will allow practice and audio and video besides.
—–
@WarriorOfWorry — Heh, if the flea powder doesn’t work well enough, or does a number on me too, I may vamoose for a day or two and ask a friend to set off a couple of ant/roach/flea foggers. The two cats are doing very well, much happier after the flea treatment (liquid dose applied to the nape of the neck). This weekend, I’ll get the flea powder applied to the carpet and do some housecleaning, and so next week we’ll see how that does. I’m not too convinced yet. So a round of foggers (one per room) may be in order still.
—–
Small progress today toward better income. Still little steps, but gradually better. This was a good step, though, and makes me feel a little better.
Separately, I’m still working towards font production. I have split off two drafts to see which method actually works better and looks better, in practice. One is going well; the other, I’m not sure of yet, although it ought to be better for what I want ultimately with that design. The thing is, I may then end up with an extra display style from the one that’s currently working well. I don’t yet know what my final decision will be. This is taking longer, but works toward teaching myself how to extend the “weights” of a font-family in actual practice, not just in theory in my head, for bolder weights. (I haven’t yet satisfied myself as to how I’d create a lighter or book weight from a bold or extra-bold weight.) — So there’s enough to keep me busy.
Fiction writing is…making a little progress in one way, but still, I have a mental roadblock or two going on, and I’m still at a couple of plateaux for structure and technique. One is, my personal issues keep wanting to intrude where they don’t belong. I’ve tried writing stuff to divert that and get it out of my system, but it still crops up, and, dang it, I don’t want/need that in a fictional plot or a characterization, unless I’m purposefully trying to do a story with that. (Plus I don’t know if the attempts to write it out of my system are helping vent it or are only reinforcing it.) — I still haven’t satisfied myself on plotting something out, and I keep wanting to write, rather than to sit down and plan out a story from start to finish. So I’m frustrated with myself. Er, I’m supposed to have some understanding of how to do this. Several college classes of literary criticism (English and French) plus pro experience with writing non-fiction (ad copy, articles, whatever) at work (years ago), and amateur editing of amateur web writers (fanfic and some others) … y’know, I did fine in those. Plus years of reading good fiction — I’m supposed to have some idea of how to do this. So I’m currently still frustrated with how I’m doing. It feels like I’m plowing the same field in ruts, over and over. — But I have seen a little progress, and ideas are flowing more again. So…newbie that I am, maybe I’m OK; just not satisfied with my slow progress still. — Er, I am mostly better about not doing overly long or repeating things, fiction-wise, but…I don’t feel I have that solved yet either. So…aarrgh.
But I want to get something completed, so I’m happy with it. — Output of words isn’t a problem. Output of stuff from stream of consciousness, just sitting there imagining and typing it in, is not a problem. (Heck, getting tired and looking up to find I’ve typed 10 or 20 pages of rough first draft in a day is not a problem, if the idea carries through.) But maintaining that and getting a complete story in? it hasn’t yet happened. I want it to happen this year, at least. I’d prefer twice or more, but so far, I’d be happy with once.)
I keep getting ideas for scenes or stories. They feel unrelated most of the time, or in similar but not the same story-universes. in several cases, there are recurring ideas or themes, as if my brain is trying to work out iterations of a few major things. But so far, when I gather any similar stuff together, it mostly seems too unrelated. — Maybe I need to bite the bullet and set some of those aside, throw those related ideas into a blender, so to speak, and write down what seems best, and use that as “the” thing? Some of these are variations on close to the same sort of alien species and some differ more, but are close enough that I’m not sure writing both as separate would be the best choice. Yet I have enough worked out in world-building that I like both sets. So I don’t get why my story-inventing brain has to be so darn uncooperative and contrary! :-/ But there are good portions and some nice world-building going on. — Uh, hey, I can’t spring forth ready-formed like Athena. I can’t be any of the fantastic writers I admire, right off the bat. But if I can write 10 to 20 pages of draft in a day sometimes, I should be able to put something worthy of a read down on paper (screen) by working at it. (I would’ve compared it to fanfic or literary magazine entries, but I still remember some of those, and some stories I’d edited online, as being good enough quality that I would’ve paid for them as a reader if they were published. And most published authors love good stories too, from other authors, both pro and amateur. Heck, beginners can write good stuff sometimes, whether they’re teens or senior citizens who’ve never written fiction before. And the pros, like CJ and many others, showed their own talents in their first works too, then blew those right out of the water with later skill and heavy talent, so…. So a beginner ought to be able to get more done. I’ve written little stuff and put it online. So this should be doable, dagnabit.
Heh…I think I need to stop this weekend and reassess, regroup, and restart. There’s got to be a way through this or around it that I am not getting past yet. And…I _like_ this. Getting to pretend, to imagine, to create a story and tell it through writing, that’s a really neat skill. I do get frustrated wanting to tell it visually too, or in audio or video. But there is something wonderful about written or spoken stories that can take you to that other world of imagination, where you get to be one of the characters, or along for the quest beside them, and do things you might or might not get to do in real life, and experience things you can’t always in real life, plus consider other ways of being, other ideas…all those things that go into a story. That’s what’s so great about reading or writing.
Are your dental problems from just growing old or of a misspent youth? Accident or neglect?
I admit that I have not always been good to my teeth, but fortunately my biggest problem has been not cavities but teeth breaking.
You have my sympathies.
How does Bren take care of his teeth? Now that he is visiting the island does he go to his old dentist? Do we ever get the intimate life of Jago’s daily routine?
From up here in very cold New Hampshire – Jonathan
I wuz the victim of an attempted assassination. I was on a mile-long downhill on a bike, and some jerk in a car (nobody else on the road) swerved at me as a joke. I bobbled my wheel onto a storm drain grating which had been set wrong (grid should NOT have been parallel to the road.) Dropped a bike wheel into the drain up to the axle—do me credit, I actually held it on the skinny center bar for one grid plate but the second one ate the wheel and threw me over the handlebars onto the pavement at about as fast as an ordinary bike can go. Dislocated my jaw—it popped back, but I lost the cartilege and the landing gave me a host of pavement burns—might have killed me, except I deliberately karate-chopped the pavement as I landed with both arms, vaulted forward a bit, and was also wearing a fat purse slung shoulder to hip…The coward in the car sped off. And I wish him many uneasy thoughts about what he did. 9 dental abcesses later, multiple root canals and 4 bridge (and my savings for flying lessons) later — I could put it behind me. So to speak.
AND after my scathing letter to the OKC street department—there is now a mile long sidewalk on that street.
Ah, I remember you mentioning this before. Again, my deep empathy. Unfortunately life gives us few do overs.
At any rate, much good luck on the dental work.
Jonathan up here in New Hampshire – waiting for more snow for a change.
Thanks, everyone. — Paul, I’ll look at that. PJ, I’ll look for Making Light and the recipe.
I’ve always had trouble with my teeth. My bone structure is good, but my teeth, not so much. Cavities as a kid and adult. As a 20-something adult, I got braces to straighten my teeth and went through the whole dental care routine. Hurray! — And then, after my parents were gone and I was taking care of my grandmother, I wasn’t taking care of my own dental needs. (Luckily, I was OK, health-wise.) Then in the last part of that and after, I got so low on funds, it wasn’t possible. Even my nutrition / diet went down because things were way too tight. Fillings etc. came out over a period of a few months, though they lasted more than twice as long as the dentist’s estimate from a few years back. That left me with my current situation. I sold my house a year ago, the only way to help at the time, and got the current apartment, and things are better. (If I can get my income and situation truly improved, things will stay better. Working on it.)
So…phooey. That’s just my uniquely weird situation, personality and biology going on. I honestly don’t think I eat more sweets or junk food or drink Cokes (or sodas) more than anyone else. One personal peculiarity: I have never been a big water drinker. I don’t know why, but that’s always going to be that way. Otherwise, I try to limit my intake of things and take care of myself, but ehh, I don’t get too strict about it. (I found that if I did try to get too strict, it bothered me in other ways, getting along with it. I’m already a perfectionist, and it felt like putting myself in a straitjacket. So I eased up and found what works for me.) So… not perfect, but I don’t feel I’m really that much different in diet than most people. (By natural appetite and metabolism and a little watching what I eat, I am not as overweight as both my parents were at my age, and this is a lifelong thing, so I’m not likely to gain too much more as I get older. I’m 52 now and still getting used to the idea (not liking it!).that I’m “middle aged” now and “getting older,” even though, yeah, it’s true…darn it. (Mostly, I’m OK; still working on eyes and teeth, but otherwise healthy.)
—–
I messed up: About a month ago, Goober’s flea collar split at the buckle, and I took off his and Smokey’s flea collars and put on regular collars, a vast relief from the bulky, stiff, smelly-medicine flea collars for them and for me. (Shortly after I moved in, we got fleas in, and for the first time ever, the two would put up with collars without pulling them off.) Now, they accept these collars. Well and good. I’d treated the whole apartment so well, I gave myself severe allergy/cold-like symptoms from too-liberal use of flea powder and then vacuuming it up afterwards. And for many months, we’ve been flea-free.
But it’s an apartment complex and people walk their dogs, there’s just enough grass and landscaping to say there is any (hah) and there are stray cats around at times. (I don’t see them, but I hear them.) And I’m in and out, and I get mail with occasional package deliveries. So…any insect eggs could hitch a ride.
I was overly optimistic (big dummy) and thought, well, it would be OK to give them a break and not apply the flea med, the liquid vial at the nape of their necks, and give them a break for the flea collar medicine to dissipate and not interfere with the liquid. OK enough in theory. Not OK in practice. This afternoon, I’ve seen two fleas.
I have to find which spot I put the flea med vials in, apply those, and watch the two to make sure they idon’t have side effects from the dosage. (One previous cat had a mild bad reaction that lasted a worrisome few hours, years ago, so I’m wary about such things.)
And yeah, I think I have flea powder left from last year’s war on the little horrors. So that has to happen also. I will try to guard myself better during application and then vacuuming, to avoid making myself have allergic symptoms for a week or two afterward.
Hoping the cats will do fine with the flea med application. As a precaution against irritation for them and me, I’m going to take off their collars for about 24 hours, to avoid the liquid soaking into the collar and causing problems, rather than soaking into their fur and skin as is intended. — Then I’ll replace their collars. (These are just nylon collars, not flea collars.) They seem to be OK with collars now, which is still a surprise for me. They both used to pull off any and all attempts, but I think they understood the flea collars last year and in the months since, were actually helping them, despite the bother.
So…oh boy…treating them and watching them, is the next thing to do.
Zero fuss for Mr. Assertive, (Smokey) who didn’t mind the dose at all. So far, he’s happy-go-lucky, and came back to say hi.
Mr. Non-Assertive (Goober) started just fine until he felt, ew, liquid on the back of his neck, and then, *sproing* off he went. Hard to hold a cat and a vial of liquid and a flashlight (to be sure I’m applying it in the right place and manner) at the same time. — But I know by now, no great exciting chase and rush and hoopla. Pursuit for Mr. Manners needs to be leisurely, with a most casual approach, no sign of a pounce, only friendly, if you’re going to have any chance of applying meds or getting him to the vet’s or in a carrier. Sigh. Finicky guy.
After some waiting and pursuit and application of the rest of the dose, and another *sproing* because that feels weird and like some trick, and he’s not having any — Some minutes later, and aha, he feels the coast is clear and he’s back again.
Good. No symptoms from either of them. Yes, I can smell the medicine a bit. Not going to pet them, so the meds go into their skin and not mine. Heh.
This was the “Advantage II” flea control liquid in the little vials. I wish there was some better way to do this. A handy-dandy Dr. McCoy hypospray would be ideal: no pointy needles until injection, so no risk to patient or medic. It would be much easier than making sure you open a vial and poke the hole in it, then apply it just right so the med actually gets to the cat’s (or dog’s) skin and absorbs, instead of rolling off, etc., or getting only a partial dose, or getting it on you or the floor, rather than the cat (or dog).
Neither my cats nor myself liked the flea collars when they had to wear those, but I knew they’d work, and so they had those for the fully active 9 months or so.
Now, they’ll get regular collars back on tomorrow, and for tonight, they’ll be free of collars, and soon free of fleas. And…now treatment of the house and furniture can commence. House. Apartment. I am still doing it, haha.
Heh, Smokey is fine and it looks like Goober’s fine too. Good. Glad if they are reaction symptom-free.
I’m going to watch a video tonight as a reward. Not sure what yet. — I got the box set for Stranger Things season 1, because it sounded good enough to try. — I’m likely to subscribe to Netflix again.
(I see I missed Stargate Origins and hope to see it. Looking forward to the return of the Expanse and the Orville and Doctor Who. Could not stand Star Trek Discovery, as much as I am a long-time Trek fan, and was both disappointed and offended. but your mileage may vary. Folks are, of course, free to like what they like.)
I got in a couple of used books and found a couple of backlist titles are now in ebook format, yay.
I was about halfway through two paperbacks and paused due to Real Life getting in the way. I am likely to restart one, and the other, I will need to find where I was, backtrack about a chapter, and pick up from there. hmm, may do that rather than the video tonight, it depends how I feel when I get there. 🙂
Reading printed books is harder these days due to changes in my eyesight. Reading ebooks is not ideal, but bumping up the font-size a good bit, and the biggest Fire HD tablet they make, help that to be doable and not too much of a pain. — I’m apparently a largely visual learner, but I am getting used to audiobooks more and more now, and many of these are well done. — I did not find, last time I looked, where Audible has hidden, these days, how and where to apply if you’d like to become a reader / voice actor / narrator for them. I’ve done enough amateur voice work (mostly fan-based) and I do well with a reading rhythm, so I’d like to see if that would work, if they’d hire me.
Going well here. — Going to attack my apartment (anti-flea measures!) tomorrow morning.
Dang, if only I could do a simple treatment that would completely rid the place of any and all chances of fleas. — There are some ways that being on a starship or space station, with high-tech methods (or voiding the atmosphere) are a real advantage. But I’m inconveniently stuck on Earth with no shuttle ride or transporter ticket offworld. Oh, if there were a chance at something halfway safe and doable on some colony, ship, or station…. My grandpa had “itchy feet,” and I have come to understand the urge…although I am a big homebody. Anybody who’d have as much stuff in storage as I do, to sort through…. But there is much to be said for a life of spacer adventure.
lol, I guess I wouldn’t be the officer out carousing in the space bars much, but hmm, maybe letting loose a bit would be a good thing. … I am at a point in life where not having a partner or boyfriend (what a strange concept!) or a roommate or housemates or many close friends to be with locally, is getting to me. I find myself wishing for that lately in ways I didn’t quite, and probably should have, in my teens and young adulthood. — Our path through life is so funny and strange, sometimes. I wish I could go back and explain it to my younger self, at whatever time, so that he would’ve genuinely changed how he felt inside, and done more about it. I wish, though, that I knew what would have reached that younger self, at whatever times it was needed. So again, life is odd that way. Most people have something or other to deal with, and that was one of the major things for me. (Still working on it at this point in life and wish it was resolved, with a partner besides.)
Wishing you all well. — Both cats have decided they’re fine and no more irrational human notions or potions are forthcoming. They’re beside me, hanging out again. So all is well.
BCS, yes, do look in to local Dental Schools. While their work often takes longer than a professional dentist’s (because it is dental students doing their best, accompanied by much supervision and double/triple checking by top notch dental professors) the pricing and diagnoses, etc. can’t be beat.
CJ, you really have my sympathy. My teeth are literally crumbling out of my mouth. (My mother used to apologize every time I went to the dentist because I got “her” teeth.) I’ve gotten (mostly) over the terror, except now my dentist of 2 decades is retiring and I have to find a new one. I have this weird torus in both the top and bottom of my mouth, so dentures are out unless I let them put me under and chisel out the bone, top and bottom (Not happening!) The other option is implants, way out of reach right now. I’ve given up anything that requires vigorous chewing for the duration. . .
BCS – Our family used to evacuate the house, pets and all, and set off flea bombs or flea foggers. As I remember, they worked pretty well on the fleas. They also left a chemical residue in the house (clean all food prep surfaces, etc.) and caused allergic reactions in a few of us kids. I wouldn’t really recommend this unless your carpet is moving. 😉
I have large tori, or had until the lower left was ground off in perio surgery about 10 years ago. They used a regular dental drill. Took about 3 hours, all I could stand.