Mo and Me (M&M)

Me again! Sorry it's been a few days. I was waiting to show Mo my beautiful, braceless teeth. You see, I hadn't told her when I was getting them on, and I didn't want to tell her when I was getting them off. That's why I haven't posted in awhile. :)

When I got them on, I didn't even say anything like "I'll be getting my braces on soon." So one day, when I had just got them on (this was in January), we went sledding on the hill in my backyard. She had gotten there first, and I decided to go down standing up.

Obviously, I wiped out a little over halfway down, and laughed out loud, exposing my shiny teeth. When I looked up, she was staring at me, and I sent her a big grin.

This time, I gave her a few weeks' notice. "My dentist said I'll be getting them off in two to six weeks."

So yesterday, we were talking about Spencer, and I was trying to keep my mouth shut (or as much as possible--hey, I like talking!). So she said something like "Look on the bright side of things!" and then abruptly stopped laughing and started staring.

Because I had laughed.

And exposed my new beauty. :)

And, if you're wondering why I didn't want to tell her, it's because we have a long history of her pulling whatever the big news is right out of me. When I turned nine, she finally got me to tell her I was getting my ears pierced (well, more like she guessed it after some pretty huge hints). Later in fourth grade, she got me to tell her that I was getting glasses.

We talked a lot about braces. Once we had a big long discussion about wanting braces so badly. We both knew we would be getting them eventually. We talked about how much we wanted them, what they would feel like, what colors we would get, how we knew it would hurt but we just wanted it over with, how we would miss gum...my dentist told me that I would get my braces on the summer I was 13 (turns out that's when I got them off). So in November of 2008, when he said I would be getting them on in a matter of months, I decided to keep this from her and surprise her.

So that's what I did.

Well, looks like this is my last blog :'( Short and sweet. It's been fun. My dad thinks I'm too exposed or something. Only like 3 people were reading it anyway. Luv ya! Bye.

Braces

Yesterday I got my braces off--finally! I had them on for EXACTLY seventeen months. They were pretty much a pain...

Getting them off wasn't horrible. Here's how they did it:

First my dentist/orthodontist, Dr. Thomas, broke the brackets off. It didn't hurt too much. Well, some of them hurt, others didn't. The ones that didn't hurt, I just kinda felt a jolt. The ones that did? YOWZA! Some of my teeth are pretty sensitive.

Then they had to take off the rings on my back molars. Those are the things that hold the wire intact. That didn't hurt too much, but they were really cemented on there. One wasn't cemented as hard, and came off pretty easy. But the last one they really had to work and I was in PAIN!

Once all that was off, the flaky cement swirled around in my mouth and I almost gagged. It tasted horrible! I remembered when I had to get the rings cemented on and swallowed some of the cement accidentally and couldn't eat that night. I couldn't swallow, obviously, so I just held it with my mouth closed. They let me rinse out my mouth.

So then I had to get my teeth "smoothed," so that the excess cement would be gone and my teeth would look normal, instead of bumpy. This meant that one of the assistant-people (she was one of two people who were allowed to use the smoother there) had to rub this thing around my teeth. It blew a bunch of coooooooooooooollllllllllllllllllllllllllldddddddddd air on my teeth, and my arms got goosebumps. It wasn't too bad, except when she did some of the teeth a long time, they would get really cold, and my front bottom teeth are very sensitive to cold.

Then another lady had to take molds of my teeth. So there's this big metal thing they put over your top or bottom teeth, which takes up a lot of room in my mouth. Imagine that, filled to the brim with icky sticky goo. It's not pretty. They have to hold it in there for two minutes or until it hardens. The only cool part was that it tasted like spearmint. But when she was taking the molds for the bottom teeth, this little piece was at the back of my tongue and I almost gagged. I pushed it out onto my lip, though, and took it off. Bleah... and then the bottom mold wasn't right, so she had to do it again.

So we left, and Dad went back at 5:30 to get my temporary retainer. So I'm wearing it now, and I can't stop staring at my beautiful new teeth. ☺

Me and Sports

Last night I went clogging with my Sunday school teacher/friend, Sandy. (I didn't dance with them, obviously, because they're at the end of the year. I just watched.) Clogging is like a mixture of an Irish dance and tap dancing. I got some videos of them clogging with my camera, but my battery went dead and I was not happy.

She's trying to get me hooked so that I'll take the beginner's class in the fall. It looked fun, and I want to do it, but I want to do it with someone so that I'll know someone there. And she'll be in the Basic Intermediate. I didn't know there was more than one class. I thought, if you take the Beginner's once there, you just take it again and they teach you a few new things besides. But they have more than one class.

I was getting exhausted just watching them. "1, 2, basic step go!" "1, 2, a rocking chair go!" "1, 2, heart step go!" Something like that. Over and over. They would practice a step (which would require a series of taps, maybe mixed with a swinging of the legs or maybe the Grapevine), then several steps together. "4 basic steps, a heart step, 2 fancy [something], 2 basic steps, and repeat." Or something like that. There was one kind of move called fancy something (in the "quote" I put "something" in brackets because she didn't say that, I just can't remember what it's called). Then she would play a song, and call out the moves while they danced. Sister Sandy (No, she's NOT a nun, that's just what our church calls the women. Yup, men are "Brother.) said it's great exercise.

Maybe I should do it. I don't get much exercise. Yesterday I vowed to not have any dessert today, because I had a brownie after supper and you know I had a Blizzard before that, which is like a bowl of ice cream times 10. Okay, maybe two-and-a-half, but it's still a lot. So this morning I got up, and played Wii Fit Plus for over an hour. I burned 159 calories on the plus side. Like I said, I don't get much exercise.

I've never really been involved in sports. In kindergarten-2nd grade, I played soccer. Kind of. It was more of a social thing for me. I would run with all the other kids, not really going for the ball much, just running behind them/with them. There would be another person in the back, running with me (from the other team), who I would make friends with. "Hi, I'm Kaytlan." "I'm Sarah." Her jersey color is cooler than mine. The snacks were fun, though.

In fourth grade I played basketball. Actually played. I'm not saying I was star player, because I wasn't, but I participated. It was at the Y, so it was just practicing and scrimmages and three games. We lost the first two and won the last one. Our jerseys were purple, which I still didn't like. I think we were the Purple Tigers. I got us two points in the last game, the one we won, which I was immensely proud of. Immensely. "If it hadn't been for me, we only would have gotten thirty-two points!" Of course, I had new glasses (because my eyesight is so horrible, if you poked out an eye, it would probably improve. Depending on which eye you poked out). So they fell off, a girl on the other team (who I was guarding and who was guarding me) picked them up for me. Duh I made friends with her! Plus I saw her afterwards at Taco Bell.

Fifth grade was two things: Volleyball, and Track & Baseball. Volleyball was awful. The teacher was an old, chubby guy who sat on his chair and yelled at us. He had this weird accent too, and smelled like sweat. Had he taken a shower in the past year? I think no. "If da ball's tooo high, scoot BAHCK!" Mo and I imitate him to this day. On the plus side, we voted on what color jersey. Red! YES! Track & Baseball wasn't great either. The teacher wasn't the best. Plus I stink at running, pitching, catching, and hitting. That's a problem in track and baseball.

6th grade and up, I'm now taking gym. A different sport every month. I go once a week. You don't have to be good at sports to go there, although the boys are pretty agressive. I try to stay out of their way when the sport is something like Dodgeball or soccer on the last day. I hate getting stepped on.

For me, sports is just exercise. I play Wii, and I'm good at those sports, so I think I'll stick with that and gym. :)

Gotta go eat breakfast! Happy Wednesday!

A Good/Bad Day

Spencer is in bed, my aunt is here, I just had a Dairy Queen Blizzard, life is good.

Right?

Wrong. My iPod's battery is dead (again), I just found out that a fun writing thing at the library is every other Wednesday at the exact time as my youth group, and one of my best friends will not be leading VBS (Vacation Bible School) with me this year. So, obviously, I'm not doing VBS without her, so forget VBS altogether!

Oh well. Life in general is good. I'll be going to camp in a few weeks, I have youth group, I have a family that loves me and about four best friends. I can't really complain. It's just...

I was really looking forward to writing and VBS. Now I get neither. But I have a blog, for now, so that's writing. And I'm working on like 3 novels (writing them) right now. I was just looking forward to writing with other people. And VBS? I know that helping take care of a bunch of loud, out-of-control five-year-olds for no pay for five days in a row sounds like drudgery, but it's actually fun. And I do it with one of my best friends (Em) and her friend who is also kind of my friend, except I only see her about once a year.

Before 2009, though, I only saw Em about 3 times a year. Then we went through a scare which included her almost moving to Tennessee (we live in Ohio) and us vowing to spend more time together. She ended up not moving (thank God) and we're trying to hang out more.

Anyway, I can still join some libraries' photography contests. That should be fun. I have some pretty awesome photos I want to enter.

Two days ago, another one of my best friends (Mo) experienced having a sister graduate. Her only sister. Well, from high school. (I used the whole "experienced" thing because I wasn't sure how to put it. "Another one of my best friends' (Mo) sisters graduated"? That didn't sound right. So, no.) I got some adorable pix of their family (Mo's sis in her graduation robe), just her sister, and their dog. They have a this one-year-old dog. Can you say adorable?

The pictures were adorable cuteness and darling-osity. (I don't care if that's not a real word. I write my own dictionary as I go.)

I can't figure out how to get movies from a DVD onto iTunes. It's mucho...confusingo. If any of you from my Spanish class are reading this, I'm sure you will agree that that is SO the correct way to say "confusing" in Spanish. Okay, so the real right way is confuso. Whatev. Close enough. TGFT (thank God for translation2.paralink.com)

I'm gonna go now. BMT (Blog More Tomorrow!)

June 7

I am now babysitting my little brother. He looks adorable in a Cleveland Browns hat that is way too big for him. He wants me to try it on too. "Eh, aah!" He's an attention-grabber, alright.
This is the summer before my first year of high school. I can't wait. Even though I am homeschooled, I will be going to a co-op to take some classes, including Chemistry (I will be doing Algebra II at home, 'cause that's the way I like it--plus I begged a little.)
My iPod touch's battery was dying a slow and painful death, and for some reason I insisted to suck all its life out, so I decided to try a blog. I have no idea why. I like writing, and I just saw "Julie & Julia," and I was bored, so I thought I could just try and see how it works. When I said "Continue," I had no idea that that would create the blog, so Click! done, "What?! That's it?"
It might be fun. Like a journal. I'm pretty sure no one will end up reading this, so it's not like my parents will be mad. There is a sensible explanation.
Right?
Anyway, I'm 13 (almost 14, Dad! Yes, it's true, stop denying it!) and just finished 8th grade (aka middle school) last Friday. Hopefully I will get my braces off on Wednesday. I have seen the dentist last Wednesday, last Friday, today, and will see him again on Wednesday: a record high. 4 times in a week. One of my best friends has seen her dentist about three times since she got them on, in October. Oh well, I don't hate going. The waiting room has Wifi :)
My brother, Spencer (that's his middle name; I'm not putting his first name, you know, for security issues. Not that there aren't like a thousand people with his name, and not that my parents haven't posted, oh, a thousand pictures of us on FB, I just don't know if they'd be mad.) Anyway, Spencer is doing whatever (aka getting into everything--I'll be right back)
"Thank you!"
I say that to him a lot. "Thank you" meaning "Thank-you-for-giving-me-that-thing-that-you-probably-shouldn't-have-which-you-will-give-to-me-right-now!" When he does something that he knows he's not supposed to do, does he try to hide it?
Of course not, don't be ridiculous.
He calls attention to it. "Aah, ahh!" "I'm touching, I'm touching, na-na-na-na-na-na!" (He doesn't talk, I'm just interpreting for him.)
He is currently banging one of those colored plastic cups on the hard floor. And the table. And me. Needs more attention, can you believe it? How much more attention can one almost-three-year-old get? At supper he's got all three of us (Mom, Dad, me) clapping and singing and dancing around just so he'll eat.
Needless to say, he enjoys the show.
A week and a day ago, we got back from Washington, DC. A wonderful vacation. Which we will cherish forever, because I took over 850 pictures. Two or three videos, and 869 "images" total (a few of them being of one of my BFF's) so probably about 860 pictures. We saw the Pentagon, the Arlington cemetery, the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, the Mall, the World War II Memorial, the Washington Monument, the Capitol, the White House (from the outside), the Holocaust Museum, the Air & Space Museum, and...a few other places. Oh well, I have pictures.
We saw the actual ruby shoes that Judy Garland wore in "The Wizard of Oz." And Apolo Ono's speed skates. And Carol Burnett's dress in "Went With the Wind."
Not "Gone With the Wind," although that's a great movie (I wept), Carol Burnett did a two-part series called "Went With the Wind." Look it up on YouTube. It's hilarious. Especially if you've seen the movie.
Okay, I'm going to do my chores now. Wow, I ended up writing a lot. We'll see what my parents say ;)