The #Ocean, #Crafting Kits, Memories, Shoes, Toys, Weather, Dentist Appointments, And Kitchen Accessories

(Above photo of the ocean taken on August 23rd 2019).

Since it's been a couple of weeks again, I've got another post filled with two weeks worth of random stuff for you. Enjoy.

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For those who like to know: my August Makerly kit was a dream catcher kit.

I really need to start doing these kits again... I'm getting quite a stack of them now.

We need to finish that unicorn - well, alicorn, if you want to get technical, since it's got both a horn and wings - we're meant to be finishing the painting job on too. It's almost done, but we keep not getting to it. Soon, I hope.

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I got some new shoes. I didn't want to go shoe shopping, but I needed some, since I'd almost worn through the soles of mine. Not surprising, since it's been a few years since I had new shoes.

Anyway, here they are, for anyone who might want to see them:

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I always get Lilie and Logan a present when I do a Pets @ Home order to get their food and such. This time it was dinosaur teddies, because I saw them, they were on sale, and I happen to like dinosaurs. Here they are:

I have some photos of the dogs with the dinosaurs, but I'll let one of them show those to you in their next post.

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August 11th was the anniversary of when we lost Kero. It's been five years. I still miss him like it was yesterday.

I miss all the furbabies I've lost. But - for those who might be new here, so don't know - my Westie boy, Kero, was very special to me. I mean, they're all special to me, but... Well, I'm sure you know what I'm trying to say. So I found losing Kero the hardest, and am still finding it really hard five years later.

I'm glad we have Lilie and Logan, and I love them to bits. But they can never take Kero's place in my heart, or fully fill the void he left in it when he crossed over the rainbow bridge.

I tried not to think too much about it around the day. Facebook didn't help, since most of my memories lately have been things involving Kero, including a post I wrote the day after we lost him about how I was missing his barking, even though I'd probably have had a headache if he was there to bark, since there was plenty going on he would have been barking at that day. I still feel the same way.

I wish Facebook would show me more of my non-Kero related memories than my Kero related ones.

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I had dentist on August 14th. I was completely convinced for some reason it was at 11:00am, so got there a little before 10:30 for the appointment, which was a bit earlier than I needed to be, but not by much... Or that's what I thought. Turned out it was for 12:00pm, so I was actually more than an hour earlier than I needed to be. Good thing I had my Kindle with me, so I at least had something to do for that extra hour. Hey, at least I had the right day, and wasn't late!

They put a mask over just my nose, and gave me gas and air to have me slightly sedated while they did the work. Then he shot as much of the anasthetic stuff as he could in to my gums. Even with that, the best he could get was for me to be numbed and relaxed enough that the pain was slight enough that I could tolerate it enough to tell him to just do what he needed to do.

It wasn't so bad with the filling that needed replacing... I only felt a bit of pressure and slight discomfort with that. But the pulling of that tooth they broke during surgery earlier this year had me clenching my fists enough my hands hurt, even with everything he'd done to get me relaxed and numbed. But, hey, at least I didn't hit or bite him, and he was able to do it.

To be totally honest, I mostly just tolerated it to get it done. Partially to try and avoid being given stronger sedation via an IV, and partially because the tooth had started really bugging me. Enough that I was using clove oil to help deal with it, like people used to use on the gums of teething babies. For those who haven't done that: it works fantastically, if you like - or are prepared to put up with - the taste. It only gives relief for a few hours though, so you'll want to be prepared to apply a few drops to the sore area of the gum a few times a day - just so you know.

Afterwards, I sat in the waiting room for a bit, because he seemed to want me to. I wasn't concerned myself, since I was feeling OK - despite resembling a lopsided chipmunk - but I stayed for a bit to make him feel better. Then I came home, where I was greeted by two incredibly excited puppies, and the smell of the soup I had cooking in the slow cooker.

I don't usually do soup at this time of year. But I thought it would be a good idea for dinner the day of a dentist appointment, since it would be easier to eat with a potentialy sore or still slightly numbed mouth. It was fitting as it turned out, since it was a chilly and rainy day more suited to October than August, so soup appropriate weather. In fact, temperatures have been cooler most of the time over the past couple of weeks, and within the comfortable temperature range even when they weren't. Mostly it's been dry though, with only a few days as rainy as that day was. It was really nice, in my opinion. At least, until this past weekend, when temperatures rose again, and it was up in the high 20s, which I didn't like at all.

Anyway, as it happened, there was another reason besides the weather that I actually ended up glad I was planning soup for dinner the night after my dentist appointment (and the following night too). It turned out to be hard enough eating that. I guess a bit of tooth broke off and stayed in the gum. Not sure if the dentist realized and didn't think to mention it to me for some reason, realized and that's why he advised me to take painkillers when the stuff was starting to wear off (and gave me some spare gauze stuff to use if it hadn't stopped bleeding by the time I came home, despite having changed the gauze just before I left, and knowing I didn't have far to travel to go home) or didn't realize at all. All I know is, I definitely noticed afterwards, when the stuff wore off properly. Ended up on painkillers for a couple of days, and then using clove oil for a couple more days, because it made the healing a bit awkward and painful. Actually, a lot painful.

It's over with now though... Thankfully! Well, apart from some of the pain, since that's not completely gone. It's not as bad as it was at first though, I can eat normal foods again (though with some discomfort sometimes, if something rubs against the sore area) and I'm not reaching for pain relief the moment the previous dose runs out. In fact, I'm only bothering with any for bed time now. Hopefully the last of the pain will go away soon. Kelly - who had something similar happen in the past - assures me it will.

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Our kettle died ages ago - I did mention it on here - and we kept not getting around to replacing it. We'd just been boiling water in a pot to make hot drinks in the meantime. That way takes longer, but it was better than having no cups of tea.

Unfortunately for me, that meant there were no cups of tea when we had the cooker issues. On the bright side, that fact helped me get around to replacing the kettle, since I wanted tea, and at least I could make a kettle hurry up and arrive.

So, as of two weeks ago, we have a new kettle, which was being tried out within minutes of arriving, since I hadn't had a cup of tea in about a week by that point, and wasn't about to wait any longer. Haha!

I've honestly not gone that long without tea before in my adult life. Even in hospital there was tea. Not great tea, but tea all the same. I don't drink cup after cup of tea most days, but I usually have at least one cup in a 24 hour period, whether herbal or regular. So, I'm sure you can imagine how amazing that first cup of tea after all that time tasted to me, even though it was just a regular tea with almond milk and sugar in it.

Anyway, I also got a tofu press, which means I no longer have to either stand for ages pressing down on a chopping board that's on top of tofu, or find something heavy to do it for me, if I want firmer tofu. It also means I'm more likely to do recipes involving the firmer tofu, since pressing it will now be easier. A tofu press is something I've been wanting to get for a while. Since tofu is something I use a lot - it makes a great meat substitute, and a tasty alternative to scrambled eggs - I'm sure my little tofu press will get plenty of use... Almost as much use as my kettle. *wink*

Oh, for those who might be wondering: no. We don't have the hob replaced on the cooker yet. I'm not impressed.