Brace Face

Gosh, I can't believe it is FEBRUARY already. Wasn't it Christmas just last week? We had a great holiday season. It was nice to all be together for a change. I got an awesome new camera for Christmas. It's a lot more sophisticated than my old camera, so I am still trying to get the hang of it.
We've all been pretty busy. I had to go to San Antonio for about a week last month. It was great because I got to visit our friends in Harker Heights and talk to the house designer about some changes we wanted made to the floor plan. Chris and Angela's house is fabulous! I hope our house turns out as well. Ang was busy finishing up the decor while I was there. She and I have very similar tastes and I am not a born decorator, so she's going to help me once we get ready to decorate our house. I'm so excited! I've always wanted to have a nicely decorated home, but I just don't have a clue as to what to do or where to start, so our house tends to be rather plain. I also got to visit our old friend Bill and meet his wife. We went out to dinner one night and had a very nice evening. There was a girl at the restaurant whose birthday it was. Someone announced that she had gone to the San Antonio auditions for American Idol (she didn't make the cut) and persuaded her to sing "Happy Birthday" to herself. She wasn't that bad, but she wasn't that good either. She seemed to think if she sang louder it would cover her faults - it didn't. You have to give her kudos for having the courage to get up and sing in front of a bunch of strangers and open herself up to criticism though. I wouldn't do it, but... I know I can't sing well. I wonder how many of those people they show talking about how good they are but who end up being horrible singers are truly that deluded. They have ears, don't they? I'm sure there is a percentage of them that just want to be on television and get some notoriety out of it. It worked for William Hung. In his case, I watched and interview with him and either he's a really good actor and is milking it for all it is worth, or he truly believes he can sing.
Cliff has been busy preparing for retirement and scouting out job prospects. I'm a bit nervous about such a big change in our lives, but I know everything will work out. We're just not 100% sure we will end up in Texas as soon as we'd like. Allissa will be crushed if we don't go to Texas. She really wants to start high school with her friends. I'm a little more ambivalent about it. On the one hand, I wouldn't mind going to the East Coast because I have some really good friends there and it would be closer to most of my family. On the other hand, we have been talking and planning on Texas for such a long time already. I just want to get started on those plans. We also have very good friends there. Really, they are like family to us.
The other thing that has happened is that I finally got my braces. Yay! I have been waiting for years. I'm still anxious though because I've had periodontal problems in the past, so I keep thinking that something is going to happen and they're going to take the braces off and I'll never have straight teeth. I've been taking really good care of my teeth though. The brackets and wires make it a little more difficult to clean properly so I brush after I eat or drink anything besides water. I try and take my time and brush very thoroughly. I bought one of those waterpik things and I make sure I floss every single day as well. I was pretty good about that before, but sometimes I would skip. Flossing with braces was the hardest thing to get the hang of. Especially the first couple of days because the spacers had pushed my teeth forward and my front teeth were super tight. It hurt really bad when I was trying to get the floss between them even though I was using super fine floss. But they've moved back so it doesn't hurt anymore, thank goodness. I've gotten a lot better at flossing without getting the floss tangled up in the brackets. I don't have to look in the mirror anymore. Which is good because I generally floss at night while I'm watching tv. I know, it's kind of weird, but it's so much more convenient to do it that way. Otherwise I'm in the bathroom for 30 or 40 minutes and it's boring, so I end up skipping things sometimes. Anyway, I have the brackets on my bottom teeth, but I don't have the archwire because I have to have one tooth extracted. I have an appointment for that on the 14th and I think he is going to put the archwire on that same day.
Allissa is doing well. She was on the swimming team and enjoyed that a lot. Swimming is over now, but she is starting volleyball. She thinks she may be on the advanced team for that. She'll find out on Monday. Other than that, there's not a whole lot to talk about. Have a great day!