Category Archives: dentist

October 11, 2011 · 6:00 pm

Shopaholic Mama Goes Bananas…

…and artichoke and cantaloupe and spinach and strawberries.  I joined an organic produce coop at the boys’ preschool and today was the first delivery.  For $45, I got two reusable grocery bags filled to the gills with the following:

·     1 container of strawberries

·     2 bags of baby carrots

·     2 heads of spinach

·     1 head ofgreen leaf lettuce

·     1 bunch of bananas

·     5 yellow and green zucchinis

·     1 artichoke

·     1 head of cauliflower

·     2 cantaloupes

·     5 apples

·     9 roma tomatoes

·     10 yukon gold potatoes

·     3 large onions

Check out my beautiful bounty:

If I had walked into Whole Foods to buy all of this produce, it probably would have cost $145.  Right now I’m feeling as smug as an extreme couponer must feel when she gets a week’s worth of groceries for $1.59.  I’m far too lazy to aspire to that, but this – organic produce that I can bring home with me when I drop my kids off at school – I can do.

The challenge now is not to waste any of it. The fruit will be pretty easy to consume, but the veggies will require some effort.  Tonight we’re having salmon burgers from Whole Foods.  There’s spinach and feta mixed in and they’re delicious and I will not tell you how much they cost.  Okay, okay. They’re $5.99 each and worth every ridiculous penny.  At least I’m splurging on food instead of shoes.  Speaking of which, I’ve been pretty good with spending lately, but I digress.

Back to the bounty.  I’m going to make sautéed spinach and oven-baked potato wedges to go with the salmon burgers.  Tomorrow, I’m thinking of making pasta primavera with the zucchini, tomatoes and the remaining spinach.  Since we always end up with brown bananas in our house, maybe I’ll make banana bread this weekend.   Jessica Seinfeld’s book, “Deceptively Delicious,” has a great recipe for banana bread with pureed cauliflower hidden inside (it’s actually really good), and I also found arecipe on her Do It Delicious Web site for artichokes with a balsamic dipping sauce.  Yum.

Do I sound a little bit overly enthusiastic about all of this?  I probably am, but if cooking keeps me from obsessing about my root canal, which is now less than 48 hours away, then it’s a very good thing.  And who knows, maybe the boys will try something new?  It’s possible…  Maybe…  One can hope…

Leave a comment

Filed under cooking, dentist, food, shopaholism

October 4, 2011 · 4:17 pm

The Root Of It All

I dreamed that my tooth fell out again. I know what the dream means: loss of control, helplessness and anxiety.  It made sense literally and figuratively. 

Here’s the literal stuff.  Last Friday morning, we paid another visit to Riley’s dentist because he said the boo-boo on his tooth hurt.  Since his fall, we’ve been to his dentist more often than I’ve been to Nordstrom.  Thankfully there was no infection, but it’s starting to settle in that there’s no end in sight to this dental ordeal. 

And now I have one of my own.  On Friday afternoon, my tooth literally fell out.  I put a mint in my mouth and half of a crown on one of my molars crumbled into pieces.  I just came home from the dentist this morning where I was informed that I don’t need a crown restoration; rather, I need a root canal.

When the dentist said the words “root canal,” I cried.  He was very sweet and handed me a tissue.  I told him to ignore my tears.  I said it was just that I felt overwhelmed (…and helpless, anxious, and nauseas because my world was spinning out of control). Don’t worry, I didn’t say the stuff in parentheses out loud.  On the bright side, the root canal comes with a goody bag filled with narcotics to help with the pain, financial and otherwise.

Here’s the figurative stuff.  This Thursday, Dylan begins OT sessions twice a week to tackle his sensory issues.  I’m relieved to get started, but I’m also anxious about the hard work ahead and how long it will take to make progress.  Also, without getting into too much detail (some things truly aren’t meant to be blogged about), I’m experiencing some tension with a friend that I don’t know how to relieve.

Yes, the teeth falling out of my mouth dream made a lot of sense.

I have anxiety.  Most of the time it’s manageable, but when things start to feel uncertain,or they don’t have a definitive beginning, middle and end, or they feel unfixable, or they catch me off guard, or cost an unexpected fortune, I get frazzled.  Amazingly, I just described motherhood.

So what do I do about it?  The Lorazepam I took on Sunday afternoon definitely helped take the edge off, but I have to try harder than that.  I must admit, though, it made me much more patient with the boys at bedtime.

I decided to look back at some of my blog entries on shopaholism, because anxiety is definitely at the root of that problem, too.  “Reading.  Writing.  Running.  Yoga.  Repeat.” was a good read and a reminder to focus on activities that I can control (and that will keep me away from the mall), like sorting the three feet high stack of junk mail sitting on my dining room table or watching a show on the DVR.  Yeah, “The GoodWife” sounds really good right now.  Besides that, it’s back to the basics for me, or actually, the new basics: Reading. Writing. Walking (still too hot to run). Dentist. Repeat.

Leave a comment

Filed under anxiety, dentist, sensory processing disorder, shopaholism, therapy