Tooth Model Books

What a week! I am finally catching up. Deep breath. The photographer from my publisher arrived Tuesday afternoon to begin three full, grueling days of shooting all the how-to and materials/tools photography for the book, which will be chronicled in Glass Incarnate tomorrow. Friday morning at 9:30 I got a call from Jessie's school. She was fine, but there had been a little accident...

It seems that the four and five year-olds had decided to mosh in their class. Jessie was on the top of the pile and when the boy on the bottom heaved up she flew out and right into a wooden chair... mouth first. The good news is that she didn't cut her lip. The bad news is that the force of the hit knocked her front tooth out. It snapped clean off. Her teeth were not even slightly loose so this isn't just a little early or right on time, it was a bloody, gory break.

I flew out of the house leaving the photographer, his assistant and my assistant with promises of "I'll be right back". Well I was, but then I had to leave again to take her to the dentist to make sure there wasn't any damage to the surrounding teeth that needed to be fixed immediately. And I didn't call her dentist--who is a very nice man but whose receptionist is a real bi... meanie. I called my dentist. The receptionist put me through to my dentist's partner (I figured my dentist was in the middle of a crown or something) and he said to come right in and he would look at it. Turns out the office was closed. The receptionist was there with her maltese puppy wearing her jeans and doing a little paperwork. The dentist was in a polo shirt and casual pants, just in to grab a few things before heading out of town. He told Jessie to call him Dr. Jay, and he charmed her into the chair. He looked over the carnage and declared her fine, but recommended an X-ray from her dentist this week. Then he found her a little envelope to put her tooth in and ushered us to the door after refusing any payment. The receptionist let Jessie pet the puppy.

We arrived home to find the photography team struggling manfully on without me, and I settled J down to watch a movie while we worked. Dave came home in the afternoon and took over the J, who napped for two hours and awoke refreshed for Fun Friday at the Y. Dave and I took our shattered selves to the Istanbul Cafe for Turkish food and belly dancing.

We got through Saturday in an exhausted daze. J had her interview with Atlanta's Young Faces Modeling Agency at 1:00 and I think it went well in spite of the missing tooth. They probably won't be able to use her for print modeling, but she's not really interested in that anyway. She wants to be an actress, and this agency represents a lot of the child "talent" booked for roles in the movies filmed in Atlanta. For the commercial division (the film side of the house) they care more about character than looks, and a missing tooth is not a liability (which it is on the "pretty" side of the house). This philosophy fits in with our household ethos better than the Jon Benet alternative so we are both a bit relieved.

Now there's today. We thought we might have a calm day to relax but at midnight J came down with a screaming ear infection and she was the one screaming. We all slept in short stretches the rest of the night between bouts of Tylenol-laced crying pain. Today, with a fever of 100.8, J reposes on the couch sleeping and watching movies (Chicken Run right now). Dave and I fill the new bookcases from the stacks of books lying all over the house. Delicious Library is turning out to be a disappointment for books (It was great for the dvd's and really good for the cd's too). But we will get everything sorted by category, shelved, and alphabetized today, and eventually we will have an on-line database.

And that is our weekend. Weight Watchers goes on throughout, and we prepare for the arrival of Dave's parents on Thursday for next weekend.

Bugs

A couple of weeks ago Jessie had another outbreak of "bugs" in her class at school. I reacted by immediately braiding her hair tightly in a cornet and not taking it down for five days. I took it down long enough to wash it, and promptly put it back up again for another five days--while it was still wet. I was in denial.

Tonight while I was bathing J and washing her hair I happened up on... something. I cleaned a bunch of hair out of the comb I used to comb the conditioner through, and there was something... small and black. I had Jessie get out of the bath (I was in it too) and get my reading glasses. I looked closer. It looked like a mature louse--don't ask how I know. J looked at it. She saw an antenna. Dave came in the bathroom and joined in the examination. He was of the minority opinion that it was a bit of schmutz. I wanted him to go to Publix for one of the little metal combs and a nasty chemical shampoo for the J. We were at an impasse. Then Dave reminded me of why I married him.

He took the object in question downstairs and examined it under the USB microscope I got him and the J for Christmas. Happily, he was right (shown at 60 X actual size). Science. It works. And he didn't have to shave his head.

Dieting

The Weight Watchers goes on. I had a long day today (the first day of the how-to photography for the book in the studio) and I just finished doing the prep in the studio for tomorrow's photo shoot. It's 11:00 pm. I am exhausted beyond belief, but I login to the Weight Watchers site to track my "points" for the food I have eaten today.

Me: "Wow. Even after two glasses of wine with dinner I still have nine points left today!"
Dave: "Ooh, you should eat a stick of butter!"

Bad Mommy

7:45 a.m. Jessie is snuggled down in a burrow of blankets with just her eyes and nose peeking above the sheet. I approach the bed:

J: Don't even.
Me: Don't even what?
J: Don't even think about it.
Me: Think about what?
J: Pulling all the covers off me.

I, of course, do, and there is much giggling and shrieking as I carry her into the bathroom to start getting ready for school.

Music and the Five Year-Old

J: Mommy, was Elvis Costello disgusting?
Me: Why do you ask?
J: Because he said so in his song.

Mind you this is in the car, out of the blue, with no Elvis Costello music anywhere around. My daughter, the empress of the non sequitur.

Scam Artists In My Internet!

The shame! Yesterday morning I put our sofa, chair-and-a-half, ottoman and two sets of slipcovers for it for sale on craigslist. Within an hour I got an email from harry_flex07@yahoo.com:

"Hello,how are you doing today?i will like to know if the item is avialable for sale.
thanks"

And it is right below the big header that craigslist puts on all email sent through their system:

** CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY --- AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY
** Avoid: wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home
** Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping
** More Info: http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html

Well, there are a lot of scam flags in the email (generic message, no mention of name of actual item, bad spelling and grammar--and what's up with that? Why do most of the scam/spam emails you get have horrible spelling and grammar? Is it because they are written by non-native speakers of English or just by criminal anti-masterminds?), but I reply anyway:

"Hi Harry,

Yes, the items are all still for sale--we just listed them today.

Brenda"

Now I shouldn't have put my name in the message, but there might have been a chance the message was legitimate (and pigs will fly out my...).

So I get a reply this morning:

"Hello i really appreciate your response to my earlier mail.like i said i will like to buy this item am okay with the price of $1580,i will add $50 for you to withdraw the advert from craigslist. I will also like you to know that i will be paying via cashiers check or money orders .I will need you to provide me with the following information to facilitate the mailing of the check or money orders.
1.Your full name
2.Your mailing address be it residential or postal address
3.Your phone number.
I will like you to know that you will not be responsible for
shipping i will have my shippers come over as soon as you have cashed the cashiers check or money orders.
Have a nice day.
Harry"

I snort into my coffee as I read his email. Yeah, right. He will pay me for the privilege of owning my used sofa. So I write back:

"Hi Harry,

Thanks for the reply. Sadly, the terms are unacceptable (see the craigslist advisory). Geez, Harry, do you think I'm a moron? Have a nice day!"

Now I wait for the American Kidney Fund to come and get all the VHS tapes, old PC software (including over 20 classic games like Quake, Neverwinter Nights, Thief and Max Payne), J's too-small clothes and shoes (I can't say "old" because I still have a lot of clothes from my graduate school days in the late 80's...), a 100 cd changer, a joystick, the ruthlessly-culled tupperware, books, blocks, Duplo... you get the picture.

Still Cleaning the Office...

Mom & Me outside my condo on the south side of Chicago circa 1994. When I get tired of pulling my hair out of the way I look at this picture and think "It worked..."

The Ruthless Divesting Continues...

I just finished cleaning out the tupperware cabinet. Yesterday I emptied bookshelves of old windows pc video games and windows pc software. Last week the vhs tapes were decimated. It is the new year and I am sweeping it clean with a vengeance. Really, it has nothing to do with avoiding balancing the check books and credit cards and entering all the expenses for my business into Quickbooks. Really.

It is another rainy winter day in Atlanta. Yesterday it was sunny and mid-hi 60's. J rode her bike, I left all the doors open for the fresh breezes to play in the house. Today J is cuddled up on the couch watching "Moulin Rouge" and I have no further excuses. I gird my loins (well, they are already girded), I refresh my coffee, I... ooh, do we have the Moulin Rouge soundtrack on cd? Maybe I should find it and rip it to iTunes so I can listen to it while I balance registers. If we don't have it, I bet I can find it on iTunes... "GET THEE TO THY DESK, WOMAN", I hear my husband bellow. More anon.