Must blog

I really dislike blogging from my iPad. But it's either that or no posts until I get home, and I don't want to do that either.

Little Hattie is so sweet, I love holding her. Macy has such a firecracker of a personality, she makes me smile, and Stella is a very diligent student. She is learning to read and finds all the words she knows when I read to her.

Scott and I are meeting for lunch tomorrow, and he has promised to not let me eat too much. Paige has lost 15 pounds in 6 weeks, and I've lost then gained, rinse and repeat, the same 3-5 pounds. Definitely need to get losing. Especially since Chris' wedding is in feb and I would be greatly pleased to be down 30 pounds.

Grandmother Hill

I can't put any pics on because I didn't bring my laptop with me. It's harder to post with my iPad, so this will be short. I have been here just since Sunday, and leave tomorrow. Back to Paige's, very excited to see my little ggrrls.

I hadn't been wearing my splint, for a variety of reasons, or taking the pain or muscle relaxant pills. I started to get dizzied, more headaches, yesterday ringing was so loud it was driving me crazy, and then my jaw started hurting! Rick asked if I had called Doc Peppard yet about just doing orthodontics, no, so he said he would. Talked with him this morning and they both have convinced me to continue with the splint therapy. I have worn it since yesterday and also started the meds again. I must say I have felt better today.

Seattle skyline

Alyona sent this pic. I love city skylines, especially at night. We have some great pics of NYC night time skylines, taken from across the Hudson in Jersey City. I now wish we had done more northeast coast things while we were there. But we thought we had plenty of time....

Broncos football game

The menfolk's Bronco weekend in Denver was last weekend. They had a grand time as usual. They have been going to one of the Bronco's Denver football games for 4 or 5 years. Scott and Kincade always stay at the same place in Glenwood Springs (I love that town), sometimes joined by Rick and Chris.

Twelve years ago, 2001, Jason and Rick went to the last game held in the Mile High Stadium. And now with Peyton Manning the quarterback, doesn't matter if they're Bronco or Colt's fan, they love to see him pulling the game out of a loss in the last quarter or last few plays.

The only football game I have ever watched from beginning to end (and that includes when I was a high school cheerleader) was in 2007, when the Colts won the SuperBowl. I remember I was doing a lot of subbing and the teacher's lounges, especially the elementary school in Mill Creek, were all decked out showing Colt spirit.

I just read a little about the beginnings of the sport in "Imprimis," conservative pamphlet put out monthly by Hillsdale College. The first intercollegiate game was in 1869 between Princeton and Rutgers with 25 players to a team, 11 each side on the field playing. The pamphlet said it isn't "a contact sport - it's a collision sport." In the early days, without the safety equipment and rules now used, it wasn't unusual to have a dozen players die every season. In 1905, 18 people died playing the game. "Players would wrestle for advantage by throwing punches and jabbing elbows...even try to gouge their opponent's eyes." The usual hue and cry about this "savage" game that was a "huge training ground for young gladiators, around whom as many spectators roar as roared in the (Roman) amphitheatre" commenced. The New York Times ran an editorial about Two Curable Evils - the first evil was lynching and the second was football.

Teddy Roosevelt, a man's man if there ever was one, loved the game and threw his weight behind supporting it, even as he played in it for Harvard. The early game looks little like what is played now, as rules became more formalized and safety equipment became required.

But some type of football has been played for centuries. There are reports of early settlers at Jamestown, Virginia playing games with inflated balls. Even Shakespeare has some mention of football in a few of his plays.
       
At any rate, the guys look forward each year to their annual pilgrimage to Denver, paying homage to the Broncos and football.

Teeth, Jaw, Splint therapy

Several people who read the last blog commented on those loverly teeth. I looked and looked to find those. Funny, huh? Huh? Yeah, funny.

Started the Splint Therapy on Thurs. By Thurs evening, my ears were ringing like crazy, I was dizzy, and was starting to get a headache. I wore the splint until Fri mornig and then took it out. It must be moving my jaw (or at least holding it in place) and my ears didn't like it. Turns out my ears don't like much.

Sat morning I put the splint back in, determined to give it a good try. Meanwhile, I'm getting dizzier, the headaches are coming back, the ringing is settling a little, but not as low as it was before. So I wore the splint off and on, first saying I wasn't going to do it, my main complaint had always been the ringing ears, then saying I would do it and fix my jaws and perhaps it would help. Yes, the docs were more concerned about the effect of my misplaced jaw on the joints and discs, but the ringing was what was driving me insane (if I hadn't been that way already).

I decided to still go to my appointment on Wed and talk with the occlusion specialist about this new development, and ask for another 2 weeks before I make my decision.

I got up this morning, dizzy was high, ears ringing medium, but slight to no headache. And now, at 5pm, the ringing is back to low, dizzy is low (but it had been gone) and no headache - well maybe a little on the top of my head.

Now I'm thinking maybe I can do the therapy, but I'm still going to ask him if I can wait 2 weeks before I make my decision. He has emphasized that once I start I must continue, there is no going back. That's my plan and I'm sticking to it - unless I change it.

So if you all thought you wouldn't get to hear anymore about my ears, you're wrong. The saga continues. Everyone gets to share in the pain.

Mouth, jaw, teeth...

I saw the occlusion specialist again today, he had the splint ready, fitted it to my bite. I need to wear it 24/7 for the next week, see him again next Wed and make my decision of whether to go forward or not. If not, I can use the splint as a mouth/night guard.

After looking at the molds of my teeth, peeking inside my mouth, and looking at x-rays, he said I would need to have orthodontics and jaw surgery at the conclusion of this splint therapy. Misaligned jaws are something I was born with, and then the braces I had at age 37 just messed it all up even more (and perhaps the braces when I was 10, but really orthodontics knowledge and ability was not like it is now at 50 years later). I'm missing adult teeth and still have baby teeth, which is partly what caused the orthodontic problems (the orthodontist got my teeth straight, but that was not the main concern). I should have had surgery on my jaw in my teens or early 20's to get the joints aligned correctly.

My sister Cheryl has also read stuff about leaning your hand on your jaw, sleeping, especially at a young age on your side and side of head, and that this can cause jaws to shift. So if you lean your hand on your jaw, quit.

This will take 3-4 years to complete, cost about $20,000 - $30,000 (little of which insurance will pay), and hopefully, my teeth will no longer look like the above pic.

And I hope the ringing has stopped - or at least lowered!!! But the volume is not bad now, most of the time. Dizziness is mostly gone, and headaches are gone.

And that's my sad tale.

Trees

Because of the new houses going up in back of us, we are getting some trees and other landscaping  along the back. Sat we went to 2 nurs and looked at trees, bushes, grasses, ground covers. We decided which place to have do the work, he sent a plan on Sat evening, we tweaked it a little and I went yesterday and looked at the trees he will bring.

One of the houses is framed out - just looks and feels like it is on top of us. We got really used to having nothing there and don't like looking out our backyard and seeing this house. I guess we don't get everything we want.

Macy Renee Upstill

It's so much fun having all the electronics we do - it makes keeping in touch with each other much easier - since we live so far away. We FaceTime, text, and send pics thro our streams and can then comment on the pics.

Kincade sent this pic. Stella used to wear that little crocheted hat, that's also a dress Stella used to wear, as are the boots. But little Macy looks just as cute as Stella did when she wore them.

Hair

I last went to Kirby (hair stylist) 5 or 6 weeks ago. On the spur of the moment I decided to change my style and saw a cute cut pic, he thought it would be different and look nice. I hated the cut. It was odd. Time to get it colored and cut again, so I called up the other recommended person here in Cedar Park, got an appointment and yesterday afternoon she did it. And I liked it. She did a good job, and started the style on the way back to what it was before and I liked.

When it was time for her to blow it dry and style it, I said I needed to put in my ear plugs because I have tinnitus. Turns out she does also. When it first happened about 1 1/2 years ago, the ring was loud and about drove her crazy. Sounds like me. She has TMJD and also had to have surgery on her jaw discs, which I don't need. An ENT is helping her with the tinnitus and thinks it might be related to her allergies and sinus problems, so she is on allergy meds and antibiotics and believes it's getting better. The stylist in the chair next to hers had to have jaw surgery in her teens, because of problems she was born with.

This all makes me feel better and feel like I'm not being picked on by some cosmic force, but indeed, bite/jaw problems and tinnitus have happened to other people. And it's not the worst thing that I may have to deal with in life. Even tho last Feb, March, April I felt like it was.

THIS is why I still talk about the tinnitus with people. Plus if I hadn't, I wouldn't have discovered the book Turning the Volume Down (courtesy of my VT), which has helped me a lot to understand and then have a plan to go forward.

But back to my hair, this is what it looked like:

and this is what it now looks like:

Halloween ggrrls

Adorable little things. Paige's 2nd fav holiday is probably Halloween, so of course her kids like it and she dresses them in Halloweeny outfits. Stella announced she wanted to wear only Halloween type clothes until the big day. Ummmm, I don't think she has enough orange and black to do that.

I love prickly pears

Some of these grow to almost tree-like, definitely large bushes.

The Alamo

The fort has been completely rebuilt. An officer at the time had the old fort torn down so it couldn't be used by anyone else.

Outdoor theatre along the River Walk

The stage is across the canal, the audience sits on the grassy ledges. It would have been fun to have attended a play.

River walk in San Antonio

We really enjoyed our stay in San Antonio;the River Walk was fun and quite pretty. Lots of hotels, restaurants, shops along the way.