ssshh don't tell anyone

My family doesn't have their tree so we borrowed one while attending the Pinkerton's Christmas party. Minot was fab. Grandma is in the nursing home but we brought over food and fun on both Christmas Eve and Day. It actually was great fun.

I ran in to JaMie B. (now H.) from high school on Christmas Eve. Last I talked to her three years ago, she was engaged. She now has 2 kids!! I stopped by to see them. Adorable.

Karissa, great to see you. I know you are reading. :)

My teeth

That is a filling on the first two and the back two are sealants. Fun stuff.

Why Proofreading is Not Copy Editing

AAAhhh I am so annoyed:

Brochure is basically ready to go out to print. New dude starts this week. Rewrites things/changes words/adds crap that does not need to be in there. Does he find any errors? mistakes? typos? misinformation?No. Does he improve it? Not necessarily. He does mark his territory though. He could have just found a fire hydrant and made my life easier.

I am in the wrong field

Today I went to the dentist. I hope my mother isn't reading this, but it had been well over a year, which is too long. My mother always emphasized good dental care and we went ever six months on the nose.

Anyhoo, I tried a new dentist who was closer to my work. The other dentist was near my house and she was too chatty for my tastes. So anyway, I call this dentist and make an appointment.

I got the cleaning. The place is nice. They have a computer that you can see your teeth. Anyway, all is going well.

I end up having two cavities. I am not proud of this, but it is not super surprising. I have been drinking more soda lately, and one dentist told me that would really affect your teeth. Plus it had been almost a year and half.

So then the office manager lady comes to talk to me about setting up an appointment for the cavities. No problem.

She is like WITH your insurance it is going to be $165 plus your $50 deductible. Now to some, this isn’t bad, but I have REALLY good dental insurance. At my old dentist, I only paid the deductible for the other cavity I had like two years ago. Or a $30 co-pay. It was not more than $50.

Note: The cost of two cavities without insurance would be $665.

(PS I would like to interrupt myself to note that I did not have one cavity through high school and I think I got one in college (maybe? Not even sure on that), so more or less, my teeth have gone to pot/I am not caring for them like I used to)

Moral of the story: I am changing my dental habits and I am going back to the chatty dentist. I can put up with her chattiness to save $165.

www.highschoolreunion.com

I feel pretty good about Christmas. I think I am done with shopping, which feels nice. I have to mail some packages and wrap a few, but overall, I am done.

I got a list of high school classmates' contact information (as part of the reunion committee's attempt at soliciting information). Anyhoo, it was fun to scroll through the list and just see the names. Lot's of people who responded are married. I wonder if you are married if you are more likely to respond quickly? I would like to look at the correlation line. Maybe alot of people are just married overall.

I found a friend on there, Christi, who lives in NY. I happen to be going to NY this weekend. I emailed her today. We're going to have lunch on Saturday. She's married and has a one-year old. Her husband is in law school. All that in one email. I haven't seen her in almost 10 years.

I think that the internet is really going to change who and how we stay in touch with people. If I had to track her down through a series of phone calls, it would never happen. One email later, done. That world wide web is amazing. In the words of a member of congress who will remain nameless, it "is the wave of the future."

PS that statement was made like a month ago

One hell of funny story

Seriously, global warming is real. Don't even try to argue with me. It is going to be 70 today and check it, it's December. wtf? And meanwhile the Midwest is getting pounded. Planet earth is sick.

In other news I would like to relay a story from a classmate of mine. The people in this story are cousins of her sister in law. Characters: Mother, daughter (age 5), son (age 3) and extras who are the random zoo attendees.

Mother, daughter, son are at zoo. Mother goes to buy snacks, turns and son is gone. No where to be found. Zoo shuts down. Everyone who works for the zoo is looking for him. It's a mad all-out search.

Son appears.

In the penguin cage.

No lie. (enter new cast of characters: penguins). He jumped over 2 fences to get in the cage and was literally just playing with them. Mother is mortified and leaves zoo.

Mother, son and daughter are driving home.

Son, "Mommy, I have to tell you something, but I know you are going to be mad."

Mother, "I am already mad, so let's just wait."

A few minutes pass.

Son, "Mommy, I think I really need to tell you something but you might be mad."

Mother, "Okay, what is it?"

Son opens backpack. Out waddles a baby penguin.

No lie.

She then had to call the zoo, which was closed and return the penguin. It had to be quarantined for two weeks. True story from classmates, sister-in-law's cousin. :)