5 Things Friday
Five things I’m Thinking About…
- Did you grow up believing that eggshells sharpen your garbage disposal blades, so always put them down the sink? I did, until this post popped up on Facebook several years ago. Perhaps it does sharpen the blades, but it also clogs up your drains. If you can compost, that’s the best place for them. If not, then the trash I think.
- Last May, I had a crown put in on one of my lower teeth. Everything was fine until late December or early January, when I went to Costco and came home with a bunch of ultra whitening toothpaste. I decided to use it every day, which was a huge mistake. My teeth are far too sensitive for that, and my mouth hurt. I stopped using the toothpaste, and most of my teeth slowly stopped hurting, but the tooth with the new crown was still bugging me. The gland underneath my jaw was a little swollen. Allergies? An infection? I don’t know. I ignored it for awhile, and eventually went to the dentist. She said it could be that the bite on the crown wasn’t quite right, so she ground it down a bit and sent me home. I bought a drug store bite guard, to replace my old hard plastic one, circa 1995. My tooth felt better for a day or two, and then worse again. I made an appointment to see the dentist again (about 4 weeks had elapsed since my last visit), and in the meantime, I stopped wearing the bite guard. The dentist ground the crown a bit more, and gave me a referral to see an endodontist. First thing Monday morning, I called and made an appointment for a consultation, they had an opening at 4pm that same day, so I went ahead and took it. Guess who needed a root canal? Yep. Ted and Maya both have cavity free teeth, which I hope means this will never happen to them, but my mouth is full of old fillings. Anyway, it’s 5pm, which I think is closing time, but apparently it’s root canal time, because they plop me down in the chair and go for it right then and there. The endodontist blames the toothpaste and the crown combination. I think it was the bite guard crown combination. Who knows.
- Getting a 5pm root canal changed our dinner plans. I had already veered from my planned menu, and was going to make chicken Parmesan (with goat cheese mozzarella) because we had some leftover pasta sauce in the fridge I wanted to use. Instead, we had leftovers on Monday, and the chicken on Tuesday. We tried the Crispy Tuna Cakes on Wednesday, and the recipe was declared ‘a keeper’, and on Thursday, Maya made the salad with the pickled onions and avocado and grilled some chicken.
- Happier Monday news is that Maya got a new job! She has been trying to figure out what she wants to do for awhile now. She considered teaching, considered fashion somehow, and has decided that she would like to get into publishing. Publishing is hard to get into, though, and most places are in New York, about 3,000 miles from here. Recently she saw a job posting for an admin job that would get her foot in the door at a small publishing house in San Francisco, and this is the job she will be starting on May 1st. YAY! Today is her last day at her current job, one that she has been unhappy with for awhile. I hope the new job leads to many good things for her. <3
- I’m not sure how I feel about this. (Picture taken at the drug store yesterday.) I mean, I’d like to think I’m there to help a sister in need. So I’m taking it as a positive. Still.
Have you ever had a root canal? Do you think harsh toothpaste could be the culprit? Did your meal plan veer off track this week? How would you feel about having a contraceptive share your name?
32 Comments
Kyria @ Travel Spot
I don’t know anything about root canals, except that my old boss would say (if he found something he did not want to do) that he would “rather have a root canal,” so I assume it is not fun. However, I also assume that using a harsh toothpaste for a short period of time would not affect you that fast, would it? Like I said, I am no expert.
Yay for Maya’s new job; it sounds like a great opportunity to test out a new industry to see if she enjoys it. I really do think that we should have an exploratory year our first year of college, where we try out a new industry each month so we can see what it is ACTUALLY like, rather than having this idea in our head of what a certain job will be like. Then we can choose and go forward. Picking your major in HS is a strange thing to me. Hopefully for Maya, this will be something that works for her!
J
Kyria, what a great idea for that first yea of college! I know some colleges don’t have majors the first year (my niece is at one, Smith, unless I’ve misunderstood or misremembered), but I love the idea of getting to try different industries.
I had braces, which were horrible, so anything I go through with my mouth is compared to that. A root canal is not fun, but it’s not nearly as bad as braces.
Beckett @ Birchwood Pie
lol on Julie the emergency contraceptive. I think that the concept of using a name is great, but out of all the names out there what are the odds that they would pick yours?
Woo-hoo for Maya! It’s a double win of getting her in to her industry plus getting her out of the unhappy job.
I had a root canal back in college and all that I remember is that every time I drank hot liquids I felt like I was getting an electric shock so that’s what sent me to the dentist. It wasn’t the root canal itself, it was the symptoms that were so unpleasant.
J
YOu’re right, the root canal itself was fine. I lived with the symptoms for several months, trying to convince myself I didn’t need a root canal. Why? Who knows. All I know is that my mouth feels SO MUCH BETTER, which is a BIG relief.
Elisabeth
I’ve never had a root canal. Here’s hoping I get to avoid that experience…But I had a lot of tooth issues as a kid and had to have 4 baby teeth pulled. That was not fun. I’ve also had 3 of my 4 wisdom teeth removed. BODY/MOUTH MAINTENANCE is no joke and takes a lot of time (and money).
Yay for Maya! That’s wonderful news <3
J
I hear you on the dental woes. I spent a lot of time in the dentist chair as a kid…braces, cavities, etc. I also lost teeth, 5 permanent teeth, due to overcrowding. Having my wisdom teeth removed wasn’t too bad. When my daughter had hers removed, she got dry socket, which is very painful. BAH!
I hope no one ever needs a root canal, BUT I also hope if anyone needs one, they can get it quickly.
nance
Great news about Maya, especially since she was unhappy.
I think I’d be thrilled to have anything in Women’s Reproductive Care named after me, especially in this anti-woman, anti-woman care climate. Heck, I’d probably even take credit for it, depending upon who I’m having a discussion with.
Just contemplating extensive dental work makes me anxious. I have a terrible phobia of dentists since childhood. The minute I’m in the chair, I start tearing up and shaking. Any procedure at all requires sedation. It’s awful. I’m glad you’re getting some relief from your pain and got an appointment fairly soon. Better days now!
J
Nance, you’re a genius! I am absolutely going to start taking credit for Julie the emergency contraceptive!
NGS
I have to use prescription toothpaste because my gum recession is so bad that there are exposed nerves. If I go so much as a single day without this toothpaste, my entire mouth feels like it is in flames. This is unfortunate because the toothpaste comes in a dumb, dumb bottle that leaks when it is not directly upright and that makes it hard to travel with. *sigh* I now have a complicated system of rubber bands and Ziploc bags to ensure that my super expensive toothpaste makes it to the destination and isn’t all over my clothing. So, basically, I always blame toothpaste.
I thought Maya’s new job was promoting you at first because all I saw was the image. LOL. Wouldn’t that be an awesome job, though?
J
Oh Engie, that sounds horrible. Have you had the surgery where they take tissue from one part of your mouth and replace it in the gums? We all need that around here, but none of us have faced it yet.
NGS
I’ve had two rather major surgeries on my gums and they are beyond the grafting stage. At this point I’m just trying to hold on to my teeth as long as I can. *sigh* Bad genetics are bad.
Suzanne
Oh congrats to Maya! How exciting! I hope she loves the work and that her new company is a good fit for her.
Yes, I have had a root canal. The thought of having a SURPRISE root canal makes me dizzy with horror, though, although I’m very glad it seems to have worked out for you.
J
Suzanne,
I actually thought a surprise root canal was the way to go. 1. I had no time to dread it. 2. I didn’t have to cook dinner!
Ally Bean
We didn’t have a garbage disposal growing up so I never heard about how eggshells could sharpen its blades. That’s news to me. I do know that putting eggshells into your garden draws squirrels to your garden, they forage for the shells to nibble on.
Yay to Maya. It sounds like a it could be just what she’s been waiting for. I wonder what it’ll actually be like working for a publishing company.
J
I’m glad you told me that Ally, because the post suggested using eggshells in your garden and I was considering it. But the squirells do damage enough around here already, I certainly don’t need to bait them!
Margaret
We can now put eggshells in our yard waste. I knew they were bad for the disposal although I used to put them down there along with potato peel–very bad. Congratulations to Maya on the new job! It’s exciting when we find a position in something we’d like to do instead of just settling for a job because of financial security. I don’t understand why the toothpaste would have affected your root. I suspect you needed a root canal for the crown originally and it eventually announced that fact!
J
I’ve done the potato peel thing, and clogged things up horribly.
I suspect you are right about the root canal. Sigh.
San
Haha, I didn’t put two and two together at first… no, I wouldn’t want an emergency contraceptive be named “San” LOL
Yay, great news for Maya. Congrats on her new job (and figuring out what she wants to do!)
I am sorry about the root canal. I haven’t had one done, luckily, but I do have two crowns.
J
Thanks San, I hope you never need a root canal, but if it happens, it’s not horrible. The discomfort while you’re determining whether you need one or not, is the bad part.
Nicole MacPherson
Congrats to Maya!
Ohhhh dental pain is the worst. I have never had a root canal but I have heard things!
I don’t have a garbage disposal, so I’ve never thought about it! I always composted them in Calgary – we had a citywide green bin service – and I just got a composter here so that’s what I do.
J
Thanks Nicole! I’ll admit it was a bit of a shock to hear that you weren’t supposed to put the shells down the drain. And dental pain IS miserable.
Daria
Congratulations to Maya! Wonderful news!!
Root canal? Never had one, but I heard that it can be painful. I think that may be the reason why I always have gone to the dentist regularly, despite my terrible dental anxiety. If they would have plopped me into the chair I would have fainted. I usually need to mentally prep myself, even for a filling.
J
Thankfully, I don’t have dental anxiety. I’ve always tried to take good care of my teeth as well, but when I was a kid there wasn’t fluoride in the water, and we didn’t have insurance nor money, so I have a mouth full of old fillings. The problem is that eventually they wear out and your teeth crack, and then you need a crown and / or a root canal, which is where I am. I was kind of glad to have it sprung on me like that, no time to worry and dread it. I had braces as a kid, and it wasn’t nearly as bad as that.
Tobia | craftaliciousme
Booo for the root canal. No one needs that.
Luckily I never had to have one and I dont want to start now.
Congrats to Maya for landing that job and I hope it brings her joy.
J
Thanks Tobia, I hope you never need one too! But if you should someday, it’s not that bad.
Lisa’s Yarns
Ugh the root canal sounds awful! I also have so many fillings from cavities and had 2 in the last year! It is so depressing. Paul had 2 small cavities so he seems to have my terrible teeth DNA. I have avoided a root canal so far and hope that remains the case for awhile.
We have city wide compost in Minneapolis which is such a good thing because we live in a 1925 home so our plumbing system is not designed for garbage disposals. So we put very very little down it since we have the compost. But my mother in law will put banana peels down hers which I think is INSANE and a terrible idea. But their house was built in the 90s so I guess the pipes can handle that sort of thing? I would never do that though!!
Congrats to Maya!! That is so exciting!!
J
Bananas! ACK!
Ernie
I once hard boiled anout 3 dozen eggs. Maybe it was 6? We were heading to Glacier National Park. I peeled all the eggs and put them in a cooler so we had an easy early am breakfast option for the kids. Our plan was to wake up at 4 am and drive around watching wild life. Well we learned 2 things. 1. Egg shells do clog garbage disposals. We had to call the plumber before we left town. And 2. Hard boiled eggs don’t last long once they have been removed from their shell. Even though thry were in a cooler.
I’m so excited about Maya’s job. I love Kyria’s idea. I think it is?silly to expect kids to know what they want to do. The system could use a revamp.
I have not had a root canal. It sounds horrible.
J
Oh goodness, I hadn’t thought of the number of egg shells being an issue. I’ve done that with potato peels, for sure.
Stephany
What an exciting new adventure for Maya!
I’ve never had a root canal and I hope I never have to get one. I hate anything dental related, so I just want to get in and out of the dentist’s office as fast as possible. If it was the toothpaste that did that, that’s CRAZY.
J
I know, right? Who knows if he was right, but he’s the doctor, so maybe?
Anne
Oh, ugh. Root canal. I’m here in bad tooth solidarity with you, Julie. I grew up in a town without flouridated water (btw, it STILL does not fluoridate the water, because it’s [honest to Pete, they still say this] a “communist plot”). My teeth are AWFUL. Crowns all over the place and yes, a root canal a few years ago.
Best part? My endodontist used to live down the hall. I was unlocking my door one day and he said, Anne? (I’m thinking, I only met you once! And you stared at my tooth, not me!). Nice guy, fortunately (not a stalker, happily partnered, whew).
Go, Maya! Figuring out what you want to do is one of the hardest things in life – and I can never figure out why we think that 18 year olds will know. One of the best independent study experiences I had – as a prof – was when a student said to me, “This has helped me realize I don’t want to be a nurse; I’d rather work in a lab, at a bench.” You know what? Good for you! I’m glad you realized that now! 🙂 So I hope this is Maya’s “I’d rather work in a publishing house” moment, and that it all works out swimmingly for her.
Sorry for the long comment; I am feeling verbose, clearly. 🙂