Dentist says there's definitely swelling, but doesn't see any infection. So I have prednisone for the swelling and tylenol with codeine for the pain and am going to stick to soft food for a day or two. Bring on the mashed potatoes!

Huh. Yay mashed potatoes! Pain go away!

So, I'm not sure how much of this I have told y'all, but I went to a new dentist right before my giant vacation for what I figured was a chipped tooth. X-rays, etc, they set me up with a root canal on the day I am leaving and a pre-root-canal cleaning the day before. I go in for the cleaning and they only do half my mouth, the other half from broken tooth. Which seems off but presumably they know what they are doing. A couple of hours later I get a call asking if they can move out the root canal because if staffing issues. At this point I have antibiotics and pain killers and have been told that if I have a problem while I'm travelling I can go to one of their other offices so I move it to after I get back - yesterday. Yesterday they call me half an hour before my appointment to tell me they haven't gotten my crown and they want to delay again, they'll call me to reschedule when they get it. Fine. This morning I get a text saying "We missed seeing you, reschedule here". I am pretty sure it's just the automated texting system has not caught up with the actual person I spoke to yesterday, but I'm losing a little confidence in this whole enterprise.

I would too. By the time you straighten things like that out, I bet automation doesn't save all that much time.

Okay, I hit the sweet spot of prednisone, ibuprofen, and tylenol with codeine where my mouth doesn't hurt (yay!!!) but the NYT Spelling Bee is REALLY HARD YOU GUYS.

I am going to go eat salted caramel mochi, thank you Trader Joe's.

I'm up to "Nice" on the Spelling Bee with two Pangrams, that's probably good enough for me

Tooth ~ma to Steph and -t.

I am v. tired today, not having slept well. One ep of Slow Horses, then to sleep. Though, food first. Sandwich.

I am sorry for the dental pain, Steph and -t.

I have onerously done the paperwork for the life insurance, found my grandmas death certificate, investigated home inspectors, made a date with my aunt-in-law to ask for help planning a little get together, called my neighbor’s tree guy (they are taking down one of my trees and have to get a truck in. He is going to cut some branches for me for free, I think).

I also have to sort of pick up my life too, take care of some health issues and mental health issues I have been having, probably also since Barbie.

Anyone else watching Survivor? Because that was just WILD.

Oh my goodness, y'all. The world needs to lay off my Buffistas.

Hey, Bad Luck, you have the pointer stuck on Plei. Time to move it along to someone else—ideally a billionaire.

This, a thousand times.

And everyone else with the bad news and the stress and the hard family stuff — oof. I'm so sorry.

I'm doing fine overall, but the Hundred Days of May may kill this tired teacher. Aside from one 24-hour break when I ran up with one of my besties to see Tig Notoro in San Luis Obispo, I've been working nonstop schools days, nights, and weekends for the last three weeks. ND has been out of town, and I've been juggling work, vet visits for sick animals, physical therapy for my neck and shoulder, and all the final deadlines of my students' publications and schoolwork. I'm also REALLY ready to move back into our real house. We've been in a sweet, little guesthouse in Northridge during the renovation, but it's very small for two humans (sometimes), two big dogs, and two cats, three of whom are elderly and have various ailments. The good news is that we are moving back in during the first week of June. The bad news is that the cabinets were delayed, so we have no kitchen until probably late June. It's going to be tricky, but we can't afford to keep renting and it's getting harder to manage the logistics of the dogs at the rental, so back we're going.

Okay, must write a speech I have to give tomorrow, finish giving feedback on a dozen articles, and grade some things before bed.

That’s a lot to juggle, Pix. Good luck!

I’m at the library because it’s ltc’s last graphic novel book club of the year. I don’t think I’ve ever found a book club I enjoy as much as she enjoys this one. I’m so happy she has found more people into the stuff she is into than I ever did at her age.