School, Books and Fifteen Laps

So this is the post to write when I can't think of anything to write right now, but feel obliged due to my long silence to write something.  I suppose I shall just tell you what I have been doing over this last week... :)

After a VERY long drive home from Victoria on Sunday a week ago, we were exhausted and spent the next three days pretty much just lying around and doing just what we pleased to catch up on some much needed sleep and energy.  Then Thursday last week, we hit the books again.  I don't know if this happens to anyone else, but after holidays, it always takes a couple of days for my handwriting to appear cultured and 'used' again... this time is especially bad and I am having to force myself to write slowly or the poor principal at Eastgate collage will have a hard time when he goes to read my work.  :P   Surprisingly though, my maths skills haven't suffered too much this time round.  I usually forget everything I have ever learned in holidays and have to re-learn it when coming back to our regular routine.  I am sure you all know what I mean.  ;)

This weekend just gone was my town's annual second-hand book fair.  My sisters and I all wanted to go, but we weren't sure that Mum would be up to taking everyone down, so I was the only one the voiced the desire to go and pick over hundreds of used books.  As a result, I was the only one who was dropped off at the showgrounds while Mum and Dad went shopping with Annie.  I assure you, I had a glorious time there, although it seemed too short a time before Mum came in to find me.  Because all the other girls had really wanted to come, I set about to find a book for each of them - after all, it is the exciting part of the fair, to find a treasure that you may not have read before, or finding one that you have looked for for a long time.  For its not being a Christian event I found some wonderful Christian books down there including Christie by Catherine Marshall, Treasures of the Snow by Patricia St. John, A School of Her Own by Atlanta Richards, and Early Evangelical Revivals In Australia or something like that by Robert Evans.  I also found more books to a series we have some of, and a book on Helen Keller that I thought looked good, as well as a set of Jane Austen's novels all in one volume.  (That was Grace's book.  Personally, I would rather have each story in a different volume but Grace is the queen of matching book sets and I knew that if I tried to get just one book, she would spend the next few years trying to collect all of the other books in precisely the same edition.  It was easier this way.  :P)

Our church supports some overseas missionaries who work to get water filtration systems installed where they can so that the people are healthy and can work to improve their level of living.  A lady at church decided to hold a fundraiser for the project by having people register to walk around the running track at the school (which is on the same grounds as our church) for as many laps as they can.  Elise wasn't well that day, so Mum and Dad stayed home with her, but Jess, Grace, Joy, James and I all participated.  The track was three hundred meters and when you did a lap, you stamped a stamp on your arm to keep track of how many laps you had completed.  As it turned out, we eventually had to go because everyone was leaving and our pastor was driving us home, but I walked 15 laps which is a bit over four and a half kilometers (although it felt longer than that.)  Jess did 14 laps, Grace walked 13 laps, Joy walked 12 and James did 8 laps.  Two days on and my legs are aching really badly.  They were't too sore yesterday, but it has kicked in now.  I suppose it is good for me, so I'll just wait it out - there is nothing else to be done about it anyway!

I have a feeling there was something else I was going to say, but I can't think of it for the life of me... oh well!  :D  Have a great week!

Day out with Dad

Yesterday, Jess and Joy had orthodontist appointments.  The original plan was that I would stay home with the little people as the appointment was about 45 minutes down the road and spanned the middle of the day when they would be having lunch and going down for a rest.  However, as the day of the appointment drew nearer, it was obvious I was going to have to go to.  My teeth were sore (which is an indication that they are moving around, and after you have had your braces removed, this is not what you want) and I was getting pain and swelling where my bottom left wisdom tooth is.  I assumed that my tooth was just coming though, but as it was pushing my other teeth as well, we decided to get it checked out.

At about morning tea time, Mum announced that her head ache she had been battling with all morning was really too bad to drive with, so Dad would come home from work and take us instead.  Dad got home and we left.  With the appointment at 12:15, we had to leave at about 11:30.  We drove along the highway admiring the almost finished road works and rejoicing that the speed limit is back up at 100 kph again!  :)

When we arrived at the orthodontist, there were a few people there and we had to wait for about forty minutes...

And I was called in.  I was a bit nervous about this visit because I really didn't want to be told that my wisdom had to come out.  (Perhaps I should have started singing "All I want for Christmas are my four back teeth"!  :P)  Dr. H. asked me if I was swollen anywhere.  He then decided to take a look himself and could see the swelling on my left jaw compared to the right side.  After he had a good look in my mouth, he explained to me that my wisdom teeth were trying to come through, but there wasn't enough room for any of them.  As he explained it, the top right tooth has 95% of the room it needs; the top left has 85% of the room it needs; while the two bottom teeth have only 80% each of the room they need.  All four teeth would have to come out.  He gave me referrals for an x-ray and for a dentist here in Hometown and told me that the teeth would have to come out in January, February, or March.

"Not February!" I begged.  "That's my birthday month!"  (I have a lunch date all booked in with Mum and I don't intend to miss it.)

Dr. H. laughed... and  kept talking.  He said that the reason I am having pain and swelling is that it is impossible to clean all around a stuck wisdom tooth and that if I get a fever and nausea, I need to get antibiotics.  Goodie.  :P

After I had been dismissed, I realized that the referral to the x-ray place was not in Hometown, but it was ten minutes from the orthodontist in the other direction.  We could use the referral in Hometown, but we would only be bulk-billed if we went to this specific pathology. At first we weren't sure what to do, but the lovely receptionist offered to ring and see if we could get in after we were finished at the orthodontist.  We were able to get in, so after Jess and Joy had seen Dr. H., we headed there.

There x-ray machine was quite a snazzy piece of equipment, I thought, even if I did have to stand with my teeth clamped together and two mechanic things holing my head still.  Have you ever noticed how hard it is to stand still when you're not allowed to move?  I had the shakes while the x-ray was being taken, but it came out ok and I wasn't in the room fie minutes before I ws walking out again with the envelope of x-rays in my hand.  Talk about speedy delivery!

Dad decided that he wanted to do some Christmas shopping while we were in a larger town, so we went form store to store, stopping to have lunch at the bakery (I had a pepper steak pie - yum! :D)  I really enjoy Christmas shopping and we were able to pick up some really nice gifts that I know the recipients thereof will love.  :)

It was fairly late when we started home, but once we reached Hometown, we dropped into the bakery to order the kits for our homeschoolers' gingerbread house day (I'll try to remember to take photos and blog about it.  :D)

We finally got home at about five 'o' clock.  It had been a long afternoon, but we really appreciated the time we got to spend with Dad.  It was really special to be able to do stuff with him when he would normally be at work.