The Drool Cup Is Half-Full

I am home this afternoon because I had a 10:50 a.m. dental appointment that involved replacing three fillings (the only ones I have, that I must have gotten all at once a million years ago because they all decided to crack at the same time) in three different quadrants of my mouth, and it had been so long since I've had anything other than check-ups at the dentist that it didn't even OCCUR to me that I wouldn't be able to just meet some coworkers for lunch an hour later and then head back in for the afternoon, but oh holy crap NO. Two hours and fifteen minutes post-appointment time I had a racing heart from the epinephrine in the anesthesia and 3/4 of my mouth was totally numb. I'm pretty sure I was drooling. I couldn't feel my tongue which is a very bizarre thing and my lips felt like they'd just had collagen injections, but every time I checked in the mirror they remained their regular rather limp size.

So no going back to work then. I drooled my way home and flopped on the couch to watch 3 hours of Brother vs. Brother. I tried to eat some leftover minestrone soup and only felt the soup dribbling out of my mouth when it hit the bottom of the chin. I am that numb. And now vaguely achey in my jaw. Is this why people don't like the dentist?

[No pictures; you're welcome]

But the good news is I can now sit upright without feeling a pulse in my jaw and I will hopefully be able to feed myself by dinnertime, and AND I get to write a blog update!  In the middle of the day!  The glass I can't purse my lips enough to drink from is decidedly half full.

This morning was an adventure even before I was shot up with the maximum amount of dental anesthesia (red-heads need more pain meds; I proved this today).  Tropical Storm Bill hit us on Wednesday and left us with a beautiful rainbow and a less beautiful downed tree limb.  The giant limb landed EXACTLY why my beautiful new car Maggie sleeps, so I am very grateful I didn't work from home as I wished I had when I got SOAKED dropping the kids off at camp in a monsoon.  Getting soaked to the bone (my jeans were still wet in parts 5 hours later) was well worth not having to file another claim on our poor auto insurance.  And, since Maggie wasn't there to be crushed, the limb didn't damage a single thing!  It narrowly avoided our garage, our fence, and our house!  Half-full!

On the downside, it did take out the power lines running from the garage to the house, and the tree guys wouldn't take away the limbs until an electrician dealt with the exposed lines (reasonable, I suppose), so we can't open our garage doors.  But an electrician came by this morning and found that yes, that was still a live wire, so now we're just happy no one got electrocuted in the last 36 hours.  Half-full again.  What a GREAT two days it has been!

When the electrician knocked on the door at 8:32 a.m. I was stark naked standing in the bathroom, which was not ideal.  I had been trying to shower for the 20 minutes since James had left to take the big kids to swim practice and then summer camp, but just as I stripped Cora ran into the room brandishing two permanent markers like swords.  I can't imagine how she got to them as they are usually secured up high on a shelf, but I gently and lovingly yanked them from her destructive hands before she could redecorate the house.  Then, as I went to put them back in their formerly secure location, I found her enthusiastically scribbling with sidewalk chalk all over the playroom table.  No idea where the chalk came from or why it was inside and not on the sidewalk.  I wiped that off and walked back to the bathroom only to find her grinning and clapping and standing fully clothed, shoed, and diapered under the spray of my now warm shower.  I picked her up and she hugged me, and then leaned back with a huge smile, like MOM, this has been the BEST DAY!  And so we danced in the shower together and I was naked when the electrician came.  It happens.

Also yesterday, after getting soaked in the rain dropping the kids off in a down pour a half-mile from the parking lot at camp, I went on a surprise job interview!  So the fitness studio where I teach barre is having trouble with little things like organization and planning and paying their instructors, so while I hated feeling like a studio hopper I'd already started to quietly feel around for another, more stable position.  Then my studio owners had some issue with their lease and I showed up to teach on Tuesday at 5:50 a.m. and the floor was missing, so I taught barre (the barre was still there; I have some standards) on raw concrete. Then the owners canceled all classes after Wednesday and I have no idea what's going on, but multiple long stories short, I found myself crafting a "barre resume" on Tuesday night and was asked to drop by a new studio without warning on Wednesday at 1.

Now I haven't interviewed for a non-legal position since I interviewed to be a UT Orientation Advisor in 2001, and the owner characterized the meeting as a "studio tour," so I wasn't sure how interview-y I was supposed to be- should I bring my resume? wish I'd worn yoga pants? be prepared to demonstrate my moves? I took a late lunch and drove to the studio and was duly impressed with the new space and the owner's seeming business sense and professionalism (how nice!). I worked my barre philosophy, how I create the choreography for my classes, and my general love for barre into the conversation and he seemed satisfied. At the end he looked me up and down, a full head-to-toe perusal, nodded, and said, "yeah, you look fit." and then we shook hands and he promised he'd be in touch. I got in the car and burst out laughing. Definitely not the end of my legal interviews, but it honestly felt like such a perfunctory check-mark type of thing I could only be amused at my two very different working worlds. And then I drove back to my legal one to do some research on the extraterritoriality analysis for Section 17(a) claims. Such a weird day.

So we'll see what happens there. I just really want to keep teaching barre- I love it so much and teaching has been a fantastic way to keep the classes challenging for me (there aren't many that can make me sweat anymore as a student) and it's so much fun. I love coming up with new series of moves and downloading to music to pair with them. Barre has become the balance for my legal mind that I never knew I needed. And it's fun having a few hundred extra dollars a month and not paying for a studio membership so I can drop in to more yoga classes at other places. So hopefully I get hired. I have new ab moves and I just bought the rainbow yoga pants above and they need to be worn!