I was smart

Smart to arrange for Print Shop to take delivery of the skiier, that is.

I got an e-mail today that says it just shipped out. (Sigh.) This was something ordered on, I think, the third of this month?

It should arrive there on Wednesday of next week. When I'm gone. (I'm not even sure Print Shop is open then but I presume UPS  or whoever the carrier is won't try to deliver when Print Shop isn't open).

But, golly day. I FINALLY get some information back from them. (And now, who wants to bet I get endless spam from them, like I do from Vermont Country Store and other retailers I made the mistake of ordering online from?)

I will say I think I'll keep doing the Dance X workout. I'm thinking, if I can work myself up to it, do that three days a week (maybe, MWF) and the skiier two days (T, Th) and take weekends off. That means different muscles get worked AND less wear and tear on the skiier, which, as I noted, is NOT as well made as the first old (US-made) one I ever had was.

(If Nordik Trak really wanted to become a top notch company again? They'd make the skiiers like they used to. They'd probably be over $1000 but if I had, say, a fifteen-year guarantee on one, and a better way of getting spare parts, I would SERIOUSLY consider it. I'd rather pay more for something that's well made and lasts than pay less for something less well made. And I'd pay more for something made HERE, by employees I was fairly sure were making a reasonable wage....)


***

My teeth (or perhaps my phobia about my teeth) is getting better. It no longer hurts to bite down on "moderate" food (I still don't enjoy crunchy things, but there are few crunchy things I "need" to eat). I did chew very carefully (and on the back molars) the one pecan on top of my serving of sweet potatoes today (I have been mostly "off" nuts, partly because of tooth-fears, partly because I'm starting to have a sneaking suspicion that possibly, just possibly, tree nuts contribute to my hives). But I don't visualize that front eye-tooth (the one with the "calcified canal") as snapping every time I eat like I was earlier. Crunchy breakfast cereal still isn't terribly fun, though.

That was PARTLY the pain - probably caused by a persistent virus in my sinuses. But also, I do think I've developed a tiny bit of tooth-fear, though that could be partly a result of weird hearing sensitivity from the whacked-out sinuses - I mentioned how much I hated the sonicator, because it was "loud" on my top teeth? Chewing has been the same way. I've had moments of fear when a cranberry seed (from dried cranberries) or even a particularly tough chocolate chip fractured in a strange way - I'd hear it, and go "OH NO, I broke another tooth" only to find my teeth were all sound.

I don't know if there's a way to fix this or if I just have to learn to live with it. I wonder if the sinus-irrigation has shaken something loose somewhere, like in my eustachian tubes, and I"m hearing top-tooth stuff more clearly than I had or something. It's getting better or I'm learning to tolerate it more but I'm still cautious. (Though maybe, with bad softy British-Isles-heritage teeth, chewing carefully is a good idea anyway).

At least I was able to eat today's departmental Thanksgiving lunch (turkey, sweet potatoes, cranberry salad, and a fruit relish - I skipped the dressing (celery) and the green bean casserole (just don't care for it)) without incident or worry.

(Oh. We also had potstickers. I whispered to my Best Frolleague Forever who was sitting next to me, "We need to hire more International faculty - our new hire, who is originally from China, brought the potstickers. Shades of grad school and how I looked forward to the seminar-snacks that Dr. J's lab sponsored - several of his students were East Indian and they made samosas and all kinds of interesting and good foods. It always made the labs that had students who were mostly (a) American, (b) male, and (c) people who didn't give that much of a care look bad, when they'd bring in a bag of chips and a six-pack of sodas).