To Hell in a Handbasket

Yesterday I had the lovely opportunity of spending the better part of 2 hours in Hell (aka the Social Security Office). I got a new card after Steve and I got married, but it went through the wash so I needed yet another new one.

There are many, varied, and unusual (thank you Ms. Martindale) sorts of people to be found at the Social Security Office. The first example of humankind at it's finest was the man sitting next to me (brain injured wife in tow) who quite obviously did NOT know the meaning of the word shower. After going outside for multiple cigarette breaks, he decided it was time to fill out the necessary paperwork for obtaining a card. He answered the standard questions: name, date of birth, address, etc, and then came to the question of Place of Birth. He thought about this for a moment, wrote in Valencia, and then asked me in all seriousness, "Do you know how to spell California?" He then proceeded to tell me that he needed a social security card to get a state i.d. so he could prove who he was when he went to court next week. And he wasn't even the best story...

Sitting about 4 people down from me was a young woman of about 18. She arrived just ahead of me, and so we spent about the same amount of waiting. After about 45 minutes of waiting for her number to be called she began to get quite antsy and impatient. She squirmed around, stood up, sat back down, lathered, rinsed, and repeated. After she became quite agitated she began to yell, "This is ridiculous! I've been waiting here for an hour and nobody has called my number! I don't have all day people! No one should be kept waiting this long for a stupid piece of paper!" Everyone in the place was giving her a wide berth and strange looks at this point. One brave soul leaned over and said, "Honey, we're all waiting here together, and we all have other places to be. We just have to wait for our turn." This seemed to calm the girl down momentarily until a woman came in carrying a pink slip of paper that allowed her to jump right to the next open window without waiting for her number to be called. This pushed our little friend right over the edge. She jumped out of her seat and started screaming, "Are you kidding me?! I've been waiting here forever, what gives that stupid girl the right to jump in line in front of me?! If one more person jumps ahead I'm going to start bashing heads in!" (She used much more colorful language than that, but I felt it inappropriate to repeat here. This is a family blog after all.) At this point the security guard decided to intervene from behind his glass. Something about the uniform must've scared her because she didn't utter a peep the rest of the wait.

After this lovely experience I got to go hear Mac play in the Elementary School band and orchestra concert. For being the only string bass player he did really well. As the band teacher was introducing each section they'd raise a hand or a bow to show the students who was who. So, the band teacher says, "Bass" and instead of raising a hand or a bow, what does Mac do? He flashes the "rock on" sign at everyone. Like this for example:
Apparently a little known fact of playing the string bass is that it makes you hard core. Who knew? He's also mastered the bass spin, although at this point it's more a nervous habit than anything.

I'm getting ready for our field trips this summer. We've already got a few cool places planned, and I'm taking a class next week about fun, free things to see and do in Salt Lake. I'm going to try and get us out to see things we haven't yet.

I'm pretty excited about the warm weather, but not so excited about the fact that now that it's warm our downstairs neighbors feel the need to do laundry every night. Considering that it's an older building we all share a dryer vent system, which means anytime they do laundry our apartment turns into a sauna. So not fun, but what can we do.

I think that's about all for now. I hope you're all enjoying the beginnings of summer as much as I am!

Update-a-licious

Things are still going well for us. Since I lost my internet access at work my blog life has slowed down a bit, but one of my nice coworkers is lending me hers for a few minutes (Thanks Carrie!). Our ceiling is finally finished. They cleaned the carpet and the couch on Monday, hallelujah that's done! However, when they cleaned the carpet they didn't bother to remove any of the black spots the workers tracked in over the 6-week course of fixing the ceiling. All I can say is, after everything we've been through here (and still planning on staying for probably another year) we'd better get our deposit back. Sometimes I get really antsy and start wishing we had a home of our own, and then I remember that anything that goes wrong with a home of your own, you get to fix. Including caved in ceilings. So we'll tough out apartment life awhile longer.

We got a chance to talk to Zach on Mother's day. That was really awesome. He sounds so great and like he's really found his niche in Hawaii. I'm sure he's a fantastic missionary. Just for kicks and giggles, however, is part of the conversation he and I had on the phone that afternoon.
Z: When I get home we'll totally have to come back here for a vacation as a family.
Me: Yeah, that sounds like fun but I don't know how well it'll work for Steve and me.
Z: Why is that?
Me: Well, we're planning on getting pregnant around the start of the year, so you could very well come home to a neice or nephew.
Z: Awesome! Here's what you should do... Just get pregnant in like February, that way we can do the 9 month countdown together!
Me: There will definitely be paper chains involved.

It was good times. My little bro is planning out my fertility-future. Shall we see how his plans hold up? Also on Mothers Day my l'il primary buds got to sing in sacrament meeting. I was incredibly worried about this. They practiced hard in Primary that day, and when the time came to go up to the stand I was surprised that even some of my Sunbeams that don't usually participate came up. Steve was sitting in the back row and he said he could barely hear the kids (I consider this quite an accomplishment since he doesn't hear me when I'm sitting next to him most of the time). All in all, it was quite a success. Now to get ready for Fathers Day...

I'm totally digging my new haircut. Part of me wishes it were a little shorter, but I still love it. It's so fast and easy. Curly hair is definitely my new best friend.

Well, I think that's about it for now. Hope everyone is enjoying the warm weather as much as I am!

Not quite THAT big...

My you all think big, but I'll end your suspense. The change is...



A new hair cut! Almost 2 inches off the total length, and a TON of layers all over. Here's a preliminary picture, I'll post more when I've actually done it.

Change is in the air..

I can smell it coming.

What do you think it will be?

Dental Fun

So, I got a notion into my head about a month ago that Steve and I needed to get in to see a dentist. I hadn't been in about 18 months, and it'd been more than 7 years for Steve. Well overdo, right? Anyway, I researched some dentists that accept my insurance, and discovered that my childhood dentist would take us. I was ecstatic! As a dentist he's fantastic. So, I made us appointments, and that's where the saga begins...

We went in last week for new patient visits. I had a cleaning done, some impressions taken, and discovered that I had a new cavity that needed filling. No big deal, right? Well, then comes Steve's news... mild periodontal disease. Lovely. He needed deep cleaning done over the course of 2 weeks, antibiotics injected into his gum line, and another check up in 6 weeks. It was also decided that my metal fillings would be replaced with the white stuff. Ok by me. Good thing we have a savings account. Anyway, we both made appointments for the next week and went on our merry way.

We returned today for the second half of Steve's deep clean and antibiotic treatment, and my filling replacement. They took me back first and got started on numbing me up... quite an achievement, apparently. It took on shot in my bottom jaw, three for my upper right, and two for my upper left. I'll take the shots over being able to feel the drilling, though! Anyway, long story short, they finished up his cleaning and my fillings and started to send us out the door. But wait! They needed new bottom impressions for me. So, we took the impressions, and started to send me out the door again. Hold on! They needed new top impressions, too. So, they finally finished all of the work, we paid our bill (don't ask how much, you don't want to know!), and we were on our way.

Only problem? Steve apparently had to be numbed for his antibiotic injections, so he can't feel his tongue or any part of his lower lip or chin. I'd take that, though, since I can't feel anything on the right side of my mouth, or the upper left side. I try to smile and I look like a stroke victim.

I guess it's a good thing anesthesia wears off...