Parenting/Family

Implants

rmiles7721September 2, 2007Parenting/Family

I’ve had false teeth for about 17 years now. At the time the dentist spoke with me about getting dental implants but back in 1990 they were very cost prohibitive and at that time my insurance would only pay so much. As a matter of fact I ended up getting them done right near the end of the year so that the bottoms were done in December and the tops in January. My dentist at the time told me that I would not be able to get implants down the road because of the way that they were implanted into the gums.

Jump forward two decades later and a few months ago I dropped the bottom set. I think I blogged about it as a matter of fact. Anyway, it snapped them in half. I tried one of the repair kits and they felt worse than before. I ended up taking them to the dentist that my wife and kids use. Heck, I haven’t been to the dentist in years. They re-fitted them and then started talking to me about implants and surgery.

Apparently now they anchor a metal pin in the jawbone that mimics the root of a tooth and the teeth snap right on like snap-on tools or something. Very cool looking from what they showed me. They feel and act just like normal teeth and you clean them just like normal and they are easier to eat with than dentures because they are much more stable since they are anchored to your jaw instead of just hanging around the gums. Although if I get them done it will be here at home, I found a bunch of the information from Dental Implants in NY when I was researching it. I think the doctor was offended though when I asked if I could get a set of vampire teeth for Halloween.

Morning…

rmiles7721August 30, 2007Parenting/Family, Travel

I think I am starting to really like the way that I have the twitters set up as one-liners in between the entries. With the Google News is really was a bit much but a lot of times even when I am at home I get a fleeting thought and it really isn’t something I want to waste the time to write an entire blog post about (although that has never stopped me before) but I do want to get it down and share it.

The wife and oldest daughter have dentists appointments today. I know how much fun that is. I haven’t had to worry about it in years since I have dentures. I have been seriously considering getting implants though, but I am not sure how much my insurance carrier will cover and the thought of someone jamming metal sticks into my gums and jawbone also lends a flavor of serious fear and loathing to the entire prospect. I’m not sure that is an ordeal that I really want to go to.

Obviously I managed to get today off as well since I am here writing. No scheduled posts, that’s the rest of the week. I haven’t had two days off in a row in four weeks and was getting pretty damned stressed out about stuff so I need the break. After today I have to go until Saturday the 8th before I get a day off, then I work four more days until my vacation. As I mentioned in the last post I just reserved a car, actually a mini-van for the trip. Since the boy and his gear will be coming home with us we needed to make sure we had plenty of room for him to stretch out. I’m not sure if he will want to spend the trip home eating or sleeping. Probably a combination of both.

Top Ten Hints Your Engagement is Doomed

rmiles7721August 25, 2007Parenting/Family

Since I have several sponsors and I do the paid posting thing I get around to different businesses sites and check out their blogs as well as the sites themselves. More often than not they are pretty cut and dried if not boooring. Not that I don’t find a wealth of information, it’s just that some days I have a hard time keeping my head from hitting the desk and having drool start forming. I am one of the unfortunate ones that used to occasionally have that happen to in school, normally in science or math class.

Anyway, I was over at JR Dunn Jewelers earlier (this is the part where I plug them). JR Dunn is a premier Jewelry showroom with two stores in South Florida. Their reputation for integrity and fine diamonds precedes them and as a family owned business instead of being one of the huge conglomerations you know you are going to get personal service whether you are shopping for a new engagement ring or looking for a diamonds for your 20th anniversary (OK, end the plug).

Here’s the good part. While I was there I stopped by J.R.Dunn’s Jewelry Blog and found the post referred to in MY title, Top Ten Hints Your Engagement is Doomed, which derives from real life examples if things that they have actually heard in their stores. My favorite is #5, “You asked out the sales lady who was helping you with your engagement ring purchase“. Man, I can relate to that. Running restaurants, I have seen on more than one occasion, a lady get up to use the restroom and just as soon as she is gone the gentleman starts to hit on his waitress. It’s hilarious but kind of sad all at the same time. I always feel sorry for his companion and I am sure that they feel the same way. Why on the world would you go shopping for an engagement ring and then hit on the salesperson? Save your money dude because you are going to need it for the divorce later.

Are more guys like that? I can’t say I don’t look but I certainly don’t ask other women out. That’s just not right, not to mention the fact that my wife would probably kill me if I did and she found out. Over the last 41 years I have come to value my life for some strange reason.

I also like #3 in the list as well, almost as much as #5. #3 is “You offered to pay for breast augmentation instead of a ring.” Now THAT I can understand…

Drug Treatment

rmiles7721August 18, 2007Parenting/Family

One of my employees is this guy that I hired in 1995 or ’96. He was just a kid back then. He has worked for me once or twice over the years and each time I’ve noticed that he has gone farther and farther in his drug use. The fact is it is a pretty rampant problem with quite a few of our employees. This last year he finally came to a couple of us looking for a referral service so that he could get into a drug treatment center and get his act together. We did what we could and he’s back at work for me now and doing a pretty decent job. I’m glad to see that because he has two beautiful children and needs to keep his nose clean in order to be able to see them and spend time with them.

Only a few more weeks…

rmiles7721August 15, 2007Parenting/Family

I was wandering through Wal-Mart looking for strapping tape yesterday when I ran across a bunch of paintball equipment among the sporting good section and it got me to thinking about how much the Boy loved to go out with his buddies and their paintball gear and spend the afternoon just having a good time. The could go through two huge cases of paintballs in one afternoon. I almost broke down then and there and purchased a bunch of paintball guns and paintball gun parts. I would probably be better off ordering through an online paintball store though, which is what kept me from making the purchase. That’s one thing I never had the chance to do with him that needs to be rectified soon. He will be home for ten days around the middle of September and prior to me going back to work from my vacation I would like to do a couple of things with him. Maybe now that he has spent the last few weeks at boot camp we could play a couple of games of MilSim paintball.

Stuff To Do…

rmiles7721August 11, 20071Parenting/Family

Although I would enjoy going to Atlanta this evening to get together with some folks I think we are having company at the house for supper. In addition to that I have a manager off today so I need to stick around the general vicinity just in case something happens at work and I need to get there fast.

Even with him being off everything should go well today. I have a cook as well as a manager trainee and my new relief manager going to be there. It should be a cake-walk as long as everyone shows up for work. That’s the hard part I suppose.

My old relief manager has pretty much disappeared on me. He has been working two different jobs the last few weeks, and is single and fairly young so spends a bit of time partying when he would otherwise be sleeping if he was smart. He no-showed on me three times the last ten days he is working and I think he is just too embarrassed to come talk to me and apologize. It’s not a huge deal with me. I know he’s been working his ass off and if he comes back around later wanting a job I will be more than happy to give him one.

Tees With A Twist

rmiles7721August 7, 20072Parenting/Family

I have always like funny, cool T-shirts and apparently my son has inherited my taste for them as well. I used to have some pretty rude ones as a matter of fact, but over the last twenty years they have mostly fallen apart never to be replaced. I still wear the ones that I have occasionally as well as some of them that I snagged from the boy while he is at Boot Camp. I did find a couple of sites on the Internet that sell twisted T-Shirts, one I particularly like is Tees With a Twist.

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They have plenty of different shirts but of course the first link I had to click on over there was the Naughty Tees section. They also have political, sexy, whimsical, emo tees, and several other categories to choose from. I guess this one is my favorite for some odd reason…

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There are some really cool Sci-Fi and Fantasy shirts over there as well. I haven’t really had time to go through them all but I know where I will be spending some of my left-over clothing money next month anyway. There’s nothing more comfortable than a t-shirt and a pair of jeans.

Overslept

rmiles7721August 6, 20071Parenting/Family

I should have been up about 45 minutes ago. Damn I didn’t want to get out of bed this morning. I stayed up too late working last night. Can’t do that too often anymore because it is starting to kick my ass. I have two more days until I get a couple of days off and boy am I going to enjoy them this week.

Summer vacation is almost over for the girls. The wife is back to work today and the girls start school on Thursday. RePete starts pre-k this year. I just seems so amazing to me that she is old enough to be starting elementary school. No more amazing than having a son in the Marine Corp though. I don’t feel old enough to have a son that’s an adult and I damn sure don’t act like it most days.

I think I will sit down and write him this afternoon. I am awful about writing letters no matter who they are too. It’s just not something that I am very good at but I know he will appreciate it.

Baby Shower Decorations

rmiles7721August 3, 2007Parenting/Family

Normally I don’t get too involved in the daily lives of my employees but I have known some of these girls for literally most of their lives and one of them asked me for advice on her baby shower decorations. Her mother worked for me for several years and she came to work for me back in October of last year so even though I apply the rule to stay out of their personal business that just means to me that I won’t attend but it doesn’t stop me from helping them out if I have the chance. Having had three children of my own and going through this already gives me a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn’t so I suggested something along the lines of a Winnie the Pooh baby shower.

Parents and kids alike love Pooh. It doesn’t matter how old they are. It just brings back happy childhood memories for most of us. When we took the kids to Disney in 2005 one of the prized possessions that the youngest girl brought back was a stuffed Pooh Bear that I got for her.

Anyway, whether I am attending the shower or not is pretty much a moot point because planning is what I am good at, which is why she asked me for help with her baby shower and help picking out decorations for it.

I did give her one other suggestion for her baby shower theme just in case she didn’t like Pooh and that was to have a Precious Moments shower theme like the one at Party Pail. They are both fairly inexpensive and include Thank You Cards, a centerpiece, plates, napkins, tableware, a tablecloth, balloons and streamers to decorate the room with.

Now obviously I can’t have children but having three of them I know that being pregnant is no picnic so why not have a little fun with the baby shower in the meantime? Not to mention the fact that I just enjoy a good party, even one centered around children. That’s one of the reasons we normally have our children’s birthday parties at the house rather than someplace else. The other one is because I am just cheap like that.


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Finally A Day Off

rmiles7721July 31, 2007Parenting/Family

It’s been a pretty darned long week. I managed to get some major clean-up finished at my worst store since the manager has been on vacation. I straightened up all of his stuff as well and got everything organized, since being neat and organized seriously helps speed up the job. We’ll have to wait and see how long that lasts. My boss and I are supposed to be meeting there in the morning for a little chat with the manager and that should prove interesting to say the least.

I have to run to Carrollton at some point today and visit the Social Security office. RePete is starting pre-K this year and I need her Social Security card. Not that I am going to allow the school to have her information, but I need her SS card anyway. The letter I received from her school showed proof of residence and SS cards among the items we are supposed to bring next week. Being against giving out my children’s social security numbers, I did some research and they have to let my daughter in when I refuse to give it to them, so I will be making an ass of myself at some point next week, not that that’s different from any other day of course..

Today should prove to be a fairly busy day as well. I have a ton of posting that I need to do, I have a computer to fix, and I need to get my closet cleaned out. Cleaning the closet will be the hardest part of the day. Computer equipment, old clothes, receivers. Hell, there might even be a dead body or two lying around in there.