Riding the Christmas Train

Who knew Chicago Transit Authority had a Christmas train? I had heard about it, but was one of the lucky ones whose L travel last night collided with the route of the annual Christmas train.

The inside of the train has upholstery on the seats in Christmas patterns, the plastic covers of the flourescent lights, above, are green and red instead of white, the poles are candy-cane painted, the advertising along the walls have cute little joke ads about the North Pole such as:
Need a new eye doctor? Come see Dr. Yule C. Better.

Doll makers and assemblers needed ASAP at The Toy Factory, run by Kris Kringle. Too cute!

Halfway through the train, there is no car, but a flatbed, in between cars. On it is Santa with his sleigh. He is shouting Merry Christmas, and Christmas carols were playing throughout the train and on speakers outside the train so those around could enjoy the train. There were CTA workers dressed as elves in each car, handing out candy canes as people entered and exited the train. I found out that Santa wears a battery-operated suit to keep him warm. Glad to hear he is kept safe from sniffles during his travels!

Dental Work, Take Two

I went back to my dentist for part two of the root canal today. Hooray! One more visit and we're all done! That's the good news.

Here's the bad news. My jaw feels like it's going to split in two and my gums feel like they're going to expell my tooth, they hurt so bad! Boo!!!!

Then, I had to go back to my dentist at 12:30 because my temporary filling fell out, I was already starting to lose my numbness, and it hurt my jaw even more. So now no talking, bc my tongue keeps rubbing against the filling and keeping it from setting, hence it falling out the first time an hour after I got it in. At least they didn't charge me for a second visit and filling. So now I'm sitting at my desk, in severe pain. I finally was able to drink some tomato soup down in order to take a lot of ibuprofen. I want nothing more than to go lay on a heating pad in my bed and sleep until another two hours go by and we can consider it 'set'.

My Dad, the Big Game Hunter

Those of you who know my dad know he's a big hunter and gun enthusiast. He just got home from his bi-yearly big game hunt, this year being a buffalo hunt. He went with a couple of his friends, plus my uncle Jim and brother Todd. I don't know if Todd got one, but know that Jim is still out there through Wed to catch a different type than Dad and his other buddies got.

I've only had buffalo meat one time, and I recall it tasting almost exactly like roast beef. I look forward to some yummy meals when I'm home for Christmas! (I'm going to lie to Amy about the meat in the chili at my Mom's and have her try some!!) J/K.....

Teeth

I remember Jessica Simpson saying on an episode of Newlyweds, "I hate teeth. I hate everything about them: I hate cleaning them, I hate flossing, I once didn't take care of a cavity for three years and then had to get a root canal."

While I don't completely agree with Jess (I'm all about fixing my teeth when I hear they've got problems), I don't like dentists and dental insurance right now. Here's been my last month....

Four weeks ago, I discover a crack in my back molar. I call my dental insurance. They tell me I need to pick a new dentist, and then I get to wait three weeks until Dec. 1 to go see said dentist.

Two weeks ago, my tooth broke.

Dec. 1, I see dentist. Dentist tells me I need a root canal and writes me a referral.

Dec. 5, I see endodontist. Endodontist tells me he won't do a root canal until I've had my wisdom tooth extracted and had gum cut away. He also tells me that I'm seriously infected, and it's infecting my gums. Then he says that he will have to do the root canal procedure to even see if the tooth is savable, but that it probably isn't. Translation - spend $1500 on dental procedures (that's after insurance pays) before we even know if the tooth is savable.

Dec. 6, I go back to my dental practice and see a new dentist. I was going to have the daggone broken, painful tooth I've been dealing with for a month, extracted and be done with it. The new dentist is also an endodontist and was like, "It's not that bad and doesn't look infected." She did the root canal right then and there. Not only is she able to save the tooth, it's not infected, and my gums are fine. Another fun side note - my first dentist didn't tell me I had two cavaties, but wrote it in my file. When I showed up this morning, the receptionist says, "Is there some reason why you don't want us to remove your cavaties and give you fillings?" In addition, I'm wondering why my first dentist wrote me a referral to see an endodontist instead of having me see one of the two that are in my practice.

While I could have been ridiculously irritated, I was just very grateful to get my teeth taken care of!! I go back next Friday for the final step in the root canal. YAY!!!

Hallelujah!!

No, I am not singing about the advent season. I'm rejoicing New Year's Day, when Chicago officially (legally) becomes smoke-free indoors.

What makes a perfect day?

This machine. In my office. We 'gifted' our office with this gift instead of buying each other gifts this year. What makes it really special? It was half price on JCPenney.com.


I'm enjoying my first latte...

Rosie in her Christmas dress.

Rosie (little girl I babysit) and her mommy.

To Whom It Concerns, My Name Is Alison

I have had...a day today. I decided my feelings about the day might best be expressed in drama form. Enjoy.

Scene: A cold, windy, dark Chicago early evening with a young woman standing on a sidewalk waiting to cross a busy street with no crosswalk lights. It's damp, with ice.

Said woman is shivering, hoping the stoplights on either side of the area will turn the right combination of red/yellow soon. A city bus is coming, slows down, and stops.

Said woman waves a thank you, and begins to cross street. As she reaches the middle, the oncoming car also stops. She begins to cross the other side of the street when...

Bus Driver, leaning out of open bus window and says: Hey pretty Momma!

Woman turns around, realizes bus driver is 'hollering' at her, and waves another thank you while saying: Thanks - have a good day.

Woman, aka Pretty Momma, crosses the rest of street and fades into the darkness.

Later that evening....

Woman is sitting on bed, with laptop, pulling up her online class. She has a group project and wants to see what her part of the assignment is going to be.

Project laptop screen on backdrop to see the name Andrea listed several times in the thread titles on the discussion board for group of four people.

Woman: Hmmm....my group is Cynthia, Bert, Sarah and Kate. It looks like Kate's our facilitator this week and posted what she wants us to do. Wait....there's no Andrea in our group. Maybe the professor shifted the groups and added someone....

Woman, after pause: Wait a minte, I don't see my name, Alison

Alison, after another pause, with a look of shock on her face: I think she means me when she says 'Andrea.' Wow. It's not like she hasn't seen/used my name multiple times in the past. To even get to our discussion board, you have to go past a list of our names, and my name's at the top bc both my names start with the first two letters of the alphabet...geesh.

Close laptop, fade out.

Bfast for the Girl On-The-Go

I've never been a big fan of smoothies. I love fruit, I love yogurt, so I should love smoothies. But I don't. I think it's the texture - I don't want to drink chunks. This is also the reason why I don't love the oatmeal cookie latte at a coffee shop in Lincoln Square - who wants to drink oats in their coffee? Not this girl.

I have been quasi-restricted to liquids the past few days because of some tooth issues. BOO!!! But I have an appt to get it all taken care of this Wed afternoon. I have had to get creative with finding non-boring ways to get calories and nutrients in my system (namely protein) and try to stay full so that I don't get light-headed, etc. I created a smoothie that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!!

I dumped the fruit (not juice) of an entire can of peaches or pears, about a half a cup to cup of vanilla yogurt and some milk into a blender. Then I added about five/six spoonfuls of the juice from the can. The canned fruit completely mixes with the yogurt/milk and isn't chunky. YUM!!! I can drink it through a straw.

This morning I put about a half a cup of cinnamon apple sauce, 3/4 to a cup of vanilla yogurt and some milk into a water bottle, shook it up, threw in a straw and viola!!!! Another tasty smoothie. If you like apple pie and ice cream, I promise you'll love this smoothie.