Just one week to go

Here I am, one week away from getting wired. I'm not sure if I am more anxious/stressed about that, or turning 30 in three days. Both have their good and bad points. Turning thirty really isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but somewhere in the back of my head is a wee voice screeching "OLD HAG!" at me. I think its because of the way society treats aging women. Beauty is all about youth when it comes to marketing. I guess having the braces on will young-ify my appearance a bit but I will still have the crinkles in the corners of my eyes when I smile and that bone-tired exhaustion from a stressful workday on my face from time to time. Never had either of those when I had braces as a teenager!

I have been running my tongue along the front of my teeth a lot the past few days. On days when my brackets are digging into my cheeks and there is constantly food-bits stuck in unreachable places (for my tongue) I hope I remember how nice it feels to have lovely smooth teeth. I am also worried that I will hate my adult smile with braces on them. I've read a lot from people who are terribly self conscious of what others think of how they look in braces. Most of my friends and coworkers know about the journey I am taking with my teeth and jaw and are very supportive, but I keep wondering about that girl in the mirror. She is brutally critical and sometimes I just don't like her. Bad hair days, breakouts (nope, haven't seemed to outgrow those yet), dark circles and the like mock her and make her scowl back at me. I predict the first couple days I will be smiling/grimacing at my reflection in the mirror or avoiding it altogether.

I hope I don't have too much pain with teeth moving and I hope the insides of my cheeks don't get sliced up like they did the last time I wore braces either. I will be carrying orthodontic wax everywhere and will keep a healthy supply of Advil at hand… I don't do pain well! Until next Thursday however, I have a stagette party to attend, a birthday to have, and loads of work (at home and at the office) to keep me busy. It feels like I have been waiting for September 2nd to come forever, and now that its so close I'm hoping this next week flies by!

I'm not above asking for help

I had a long chat with my mom last night and told her about this blog, after telling her exactly what a blog is. “You’ve had it since January and I am only finding out about it NOW?” was her exclamation. LOL She shouldn’t feel bad, the only person who knew about it until quite recently was my husband. We also had a wee laugh over the name I chose. I wanted something memorable, and I think the one I have does nicely. She chuckled over my account of taste testing baby food, then we talked about how when I was an infant, I never ate pre-made baby food as she made everything I ate. I expect I will ask her for much help when I am in the healing stage!

Tonight I went on errands to get some things in preparation for my (ugh, 30th) birthday party this Sunday afternoon. I am coordinating with my mom and stepmom to make sure I have many of my favourite foods at the party. I am absolutely going to try blending a few things together and seeing what sort of things I will find palatable. I am curious to see what I can make!

Experimental Sundays - the first one

So, a lot of bloggers do theme days... Wordless Wednesdays, Thankful Thursdays and the like. I have decided that for me, I’ll have Experimental Sundays. No, I know that doesn’t have the same pithy alliteration but I like it. And besides, it is generally the one day of the week that I am almost always home for a good part of the day and I can take the time to try different recipes.

Today is Sunday, and I decide I am finally brave/hungry enough to try the baby food I bought the other day. In keeping with the whole always-prepared thing I seem to subscribe to, I thought I’d pick up a few flavours of baby food to try in anticipation of my future with a jaw wired shut. After reading labels, I figure I can totally make most of the blended “foods” myself like sweet potatoes and squash and such so I stuck to mostly to the fruits. Right now I am sampling “Strawberry Dessert”. Its... interesting. And according to the label, the nutritional goodness is low. Hmmm. I am okay with making/blending my own foods but I was hoping to have at least a few simple shortcuts in the way of pre-packaged “food” meant for babies. I really don’t think I could eat too much of it. It’s curiously bland but you totally get the flavour they were going for. I'm not terribly eager to try the "Turkey with Vegetables" I bought.



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Note to self: when you get the bright idea to use a pretty cloth as a photo backdrop, iron it first

Sippin' a Smoothie on Saturday

I woke up this morning with epic jaw pain. I hate mornings like this. There was toast being made in my kitchen and it smelled soooo good I decided to make some and chew through the pain. Bad idea. The dog helped me finish what I wasn't able to eat. It's going to be a painkiller kinda day :(

So, I plugged in my new single-serve blender and made myself something filling that I didn't have to chew. I made a smoothie with frozen strawberries, fresh blueberries, plain vanilla yogurt and some Ocean Spray "Tropical" juice blend. This new blender is awesome. Its compact (it will be coming camping for sure!) and blends up solid frozen berries something wicked. It comes with a blending lid AND a travel lid so you can blend your drinks and take it to work, it totally fits in our SUV's cupholder! And as a bonus, it was only $14 at Walmart! If you're in the market for something like this I would definately recommend it!

T-minus 2 weeks

Well with less than two weeks to go until my braces are on, I’ve been thinking a lot about the journey I’m about to embark on. I wonder and worry about the pain/discomfort my mouth will be in, and what foods I won’t be able to eat or at least have to eat differently. Monday night hubby and I had corn on the cob for supper. Ohhh… it was brilliant! Sweet and tender and messy.

I’ll miss bacon breakfast sandwiches from Tim Hortons too; they are my I-didn’t-have-time-to-make-breakfast meal on work days. I have borrowed some books from the library to try and get some creative meal ideas for after the surgery too. I want to start trying some things now just in case I end up hating certain concoctions! In addition to foods that will be good for a mouth healing from surgery, there are some really yummy sounding recipes! There is one in the I Can’t Chew Cookbook for a curried chicken salad that I am eager to try! Even more with spinach and green beans and cheese that sound healthy and delicious.

Since I am having clear brackets on my top teeth, I will have to be mindful to avoid/limit my intake of things like tea, coffee and curry that could easily stain the brackets. For the record, those are three of my favourite things. So tonight I am making a huge skillet of Butter Chicken with extra added curry paste. It will get the jars out of my cupboard and thereby removing at least some temptation!

Getting Closer!

I am getting closer...
In 20 days, I will be 30 years old (gulp)
In 24 days, I will have braces.
Some days it seems like no big thing, some days it feels like I am starting a hell of a journey!

Anyhow, I hauled out the camera tonight and with the assistance of my husband, took some mouth "before" pictures:

Okay... not pretty but here is my bite. At first glance all seems okay, but then I see the sideways slant and width of my bottom jaw and I am anxious to start the process of fitting all my teeth in my mouth in a sensible and pain-free way! You can see the broken right front crown where it was bonded in place!

Profile - not smiling

Profile - smiling

Natural smile!