Another River Walk

Audrie wanted to go walk by the river again and see Mommy. So I texted Cassie to see if she was available.  She was. So we walked and walked. Connor even walked some of it and pushed the stroller. That is reminiscent of Audrie when she was younger. While we walked three miles of sidewalk, I'm sure Audrie and Cassie walked much more. We met lots of dogs and Audrie is finally starting to ask first. There were a lot of people walking, bike riding, strolling and rollerblading. It was a lovely afternoon.

Crowns

I'm in the process of getting two crowns for cracked teeth.  Well technically one tooth was cracked from old fillings and the other tooth has a cracked filling.  My initial assumption was I would need a root canal on the cracked filling tooth, not realizing it was a cracked filling.  So I knew my normal dentist doesn't do root canals and I can't afford a specialist.  So it was time to find a new dentist and that is a daunting task.  Dr. T has the best dentist hands ever and it meant going back to dentists who aren't gentle.
Dr; Lee had an ad about no insurance patients so I gave him a try.  My first appointment I had X-rays and an exam.  I got charged $48 for the X-rays and the exam was free.  He suggested the more expensive crown for both teeth and no root canals.  Each crown is $990.  Ouch, but okay.  So I figured about $1300 per crown by the time we add in all the extras like the crown prep.  Thinking that is still a pretty good price.  I scheduled the first appointment and it was for the oldest cracked tooth first because it was sensitive to cold and now warmth.  And the cracked filling had no symptoms.
On the next appointment I got the crown prep done.  Easy peasy.  I have found a dentist with hands damn near as gentle as Dr. T's.  Didn't even feel the shot.  Went up to the desk to schedule the real crown appt. and the charge is $990.  No other charges at all.  What????  Yup.  $990.  Other than not liking it at all....got to like that.
Next week I get the first crown and then we start the second crown.

Home Town

Mom decided she was hungry for a Denver Omelette.  So she took us out for lunch at the Hockinson Cafe.  While there we ran into the Eldreds.  I hadn't ran into Dave in years, but I run into his wife once in awhile.  Kai was with them and he is a young man now.  Funny how that happens.  Then I saw the Cossmans out and about having lunch.  Saw some other familiar faces and talked to a member of the motorcycle club my brother belongs to.  Kind of nice to have the home town feel and see people you know when you go out.

On another note.....Poor Connor.  He fell off the bench of the picnic table at the playground. Face first.  Scraped up his face some more than it already was.  And man did it bleed.  Carried him home and cleaned him up.  He was not a happy camper at all.  I think he hated the clean up worse than the fall and scrape.  Wonder what they are going to think tomorrow at daycare?

Mom's BBQ

No pot is safe from him.

 Dancing/

 The lilac that I gave Mom when she first moved in there in 2001

Checking out the ants nest.

We had a lovely BBQ at Mom's house. She bought pepper steaks and Pat bbqed them up. The little kids played in the backyard. Audrie sat in an ants nest and freaked out. Lucky it was tiny ants. She was okay with looking at the nest later. The food was delicious and the company great. Mom so liked having us over to her house for a change. You almost would have thought it was her idea instead of Pat's.

Passive Aggressive

I'm the queen of it. And yet Dave plays that game too. He let Audrie get by with no nap and then told me she might be cranky tonight. He knew we had dinner plans.  Lucky she only had a small meltdown when we first got to the restaurant and then she was fine.

Our Evening

The littles and I had dinner with Jacob at Thai Lotus.  Haven't been there in ages.  Sam asked all the right questions and wanted to know if I had seen David lately.  Jacob is looking for a new job.  Said this last week with only his bookstore job was driving him crazy.  He just spent four months working full time for an accountant through tax season.  Figured he was getting about 60 hours a week between the two jobs and now he is down to 20 with just the bookstore.  We talked about going dancing next weekend.
After dinner the littles and I hit Great Clips and got them haircuts.  Connor looks so trendy now and Audrie is all cleaned up again.  They should both feel better for awhile and definitely look better.  Haircuts were on sale so that made Nana happy.

Life

Mike is back in jail. I let Dave know to keep him apprised.
Today I'm going to let Dave have the kids for a few hours under the condition he doesn't drink or get high on his pain pills. I almost changed my mind when he gave me the same old song and dance about how sober he is and he only uses the pills occasionally.
I think Cassie is back using also. But I will still give her opportunities to be with the kids. Guess those will be early in the day also, just like Dave.