Friday, March 28, 2008

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS....




So what happens when you are in Salt Lake City and decide that you are going to wire your apartment for internet service and forget to take your wire strippers? You use your teeth of course..... and you chip your front tooth. Many of you saw me before I left with my chipped front tooth. Well about 2 days before I left I was starting to have a very sore front tooth.

Ever since I have been here in the Crescent City my tooth has been very sore and it had gotten to the point that I could not even eat it would hurt so bad. I finally went to the dentist and he told me I would have to have a root canal and then a crown placed on my tooth. I decided to wait for my Dental Insurance to start before I scheduled any work to be done. I went to the dentist today thinking I was going to get a root canal and before he started he said he wanted to look at the x-ray one more time. He looked and said "I think I want a second opinion on your root canal. The area where the canal of the root was suppose to be had calcified there was no canal that showed up on the x-ray. He sent me to a specialist who luckily could see me right away. Before I went to this other Dr. I was informed that the new dentist was not in my insurance plan so I would have to pay everything up front and it could possibly be up to $1,ooo.00 to get the work done. I was stressed but I was in enough pain I said I was going to this other dentist.

He took another x-ray wehre it showed that the tooth was actually cracked. He was hoping the crack would just be straight across and they could save the tooth.... how much is this goiong to cost me..... he removed the portion that was cracked and gave me the bad news that the tooth had an oblique crack so it went from my gun line up into my gum area... Sorry but we can not save the tooth. The dentist sent me back to the original dentist to have it removed and to take the mold for the new tooth. So tell me how much is this going to cost me. I went in to the dentist this morning thinking that that I would have to pay aobut $4oo.oo for the root canal and that included 1/2 payment for my crown. Well the good news was when I went to the second dentist no root canal was necessary he charged me $150.oo to remove the portion of my tooth that was cracked. Did I mention that I hate dentist because the shots are always painful and I can not stand the sound of the drill. Well anyway so far my dentist visit was 150 and counting. I returned back to the 1st dentist and had to wait for about 1 hour to get me in again. When I finally got in they took the molds of my teeth so they could order my falsie. Well the technician for got to give me the topical anesthesia and the dr. comes in and starts to give me the injection to numb the area where the tooth is to be removed. Oh my HECK I about had a fit. He says you should be numb enough for the shot and I said "THE TECHNICIAN HAS NOT GIVEN ME THE TOPICAL ANESTHESIA" oops oh well it is a good thing he is good looking or I would have left.... He gave me the shots and proceeded with the removal of the tooth. So know I am toothless right there front and center. So I went to pay for 1/2 of what was due and it was 200.00 so all in all the amount ended up being what I was anticipating but no root canal and I am just toothless.... Don't I look pretty?

I went to the pharmacy to pick a prescription for my medication and had problems because my health cards had not arrived and I thought I can not afford to get Vicadine without my insurance help. I finally got it all taken care of and got my credit card out to pay for my prescription. I about died when she rung it up even with my insurance.... NO NOT BECAUSE IT WAS EXPENSIVE I had to pay .62 cents. yes you read that right sixty two cents..... not to bad thank heavens for insurance.

Well that is my experience for the day at the dentistssssss.......

P.S. Sylvia I will send you the beads I need an address. I will also post next time a picture with the bangs that I cut myself....

Friday, March 21, 2008

WHEN IN ROME

As the saying goes “When in Rome, Do as the Romans.” So I decided to venture out on Saturday the 16th of March. There was a parade going to happen in the hood. The route was one block from my house so I decided to venture out and see what all the fuss was about. I tell you I need to get a hold of the Days of Forty Seven Parade committee and see if they can top this parade. Okay the floats and the bands and overall the parade in SLC can not be beat but tell me do they through out good stuff like shall we say CABBAGE, POTATOS, ONIONS, CARROTS, BANNANAS AND OTHER SUCH GOODIES. I think not. Oh and least I forget BEADS OF COARSE. Take a look at this picture of my stash. So I got beads but as they say what goes on at parade route stays at parade route… just kidding. It was a fun diversion from going through boxes. It was a beautiful day and I was glad that I ventured our. So if you want me to send you or your kids beads and stuffed animals etc. let me know.

I am still trying to get out of boxes but I am hoping that by this weekend I will be done with boxes and can begin decorating walls etc.

Here is my exercise for the week. I figured I would post so that Katie and Lilli and Dusty can see I am not as good as they are but I would love to have you guys keep me on track if you would.
Monday: lift weights for 45 min, Tuesday: treadmill 2.5 miles walking hope to eventually get to jogging and then running, Wed: weights 45 min. Thursday: treadmill 2.5 miles Friday: weights 45 min. I get up at 5:15 so that I can get to the Gym by 6:00 and to work by 7:oo. I am a morning person to exercise I find if I get it done first thing in the morning it is better because by the afternoon, after work, I find any excuse not to go. Oh I forgot that every day to get to where the gym is at work I walk down 3 floors and then three floor up to the office.

Work is going good I will post more this weekend about work and stories about Hurricane Katrina and what my coworkers went through. Some of them went through some pretty horiffic things.



Sunday, March 16, 2008

MY NEW HOME

Sorry for all the pictures but I thought you all might like to see what my house looks like. As you read this post I have asked for some suggestions on decorating. Please feel free to give me your thoughts and ideas. As you all know I am not the best in decorating but I think I would like to give it a try and make this my home....


Pedestal sink in the bathroom.

Shower curtain that I brought from Salt Lake. I think it looks great.

And finally the bathroom not to big but it will suffice.

More pictures of the kitchen and the washer that was in the house. I have acutally had the owner remove the washer and I am using my front end loader. The house is not upgraded electrically to use my dryer. I have asked the landloard to see if I can hire an electrition to come in and add the 22o line so that I can use my dryer. That would be nice.


This is a built in cabinet. It is actually pretty big. As you can see somebody decided that they would paint over the windows of the uper side of the cabinet. I think I may try and remove the paint. I think it would look much better.


An added cupord space in the kitchen the dryer is located on the lower right of the picture.
Behind the screen is the water heater.

This is obviously the Kitchen. I like the hanging pots feature. The stove is gas and so is the dryer.

Bedroom looking into the entrance when you come from the shop room area I don't know if you can tell but there is a about a 4 inch ledge that goes all the way around two walls. It is wide enough to place nick nacks on top of the ledge or small pictures.


This is still the bedroom and as you can see I have three huge windows in this room. It has a gas heater as well you can barely see the top of it on the lower left side of the picture.

Ah finally my bedroom. note the little closet in the corner. Right by the closet door in the first window is actually a window air conditioner. Note the blinds I need to do something different her. I do have a ceiling fan and the light again is not very good but I will see what I can do about that.


This is the light fixture in the shop room. Again the lighting is not very good in this house but look at the two large windows again in this room. It is simply amazing how huge these windows are.

This is the room that I am using as my shop storage room the only problem is that this is the only room with closet space. Actually there is a small closet in the bedroom but in essence this is the only closet. I chose this room to hold all of my wood shop equipment because it has a door that I can close and as you walk down the hall you don't see the woodshop equipment. Not that above the closet is also storage space.

This is the view from the office/craft room down the long hallway to the Kitchen area as you can see you have to go through this hall way to pass the shop room, then the bedroom and then the bathroom area and finally to the kitchen.


This is the light fixture in the office/craft room it does not give me a whole heck of light so I need to place a desk lamp on my office desk to give me some additional light. I also need to check into maybe getting better light bulbs in the fixture to help with the light. I like the fixture I think it adds character to the room. Note the big wall with nothing on it. I just need help on decoration. I have family pictures and Africa pictures that I will use to decorate. Once I get things up on the walls I will post my creations. I am open for suggestions again on decorating if you have any ideas. Also note that the picture below shows another great wall between the windows to do things with. Understand the from floor to ceiling it about 12 feet tall. the desk that I am currently sitting at to type this comes to the bottom level of the window seal so I have about 9 feet of wall space to work with.
Picture of the large windows in the office/craft room. the windows reach all the way up to the top in essence they are about 2 f eet wide X about 6 feet tall. As you can see the windows shades are just paper blinds. I need some help on decorations so if any of you have some ideas on how or what to do to dress these up please feel free to comment. Just so you know the bedroom has three huge windows similar to this one that also need to be addressed.

This is looking into the second room you come to when you walk into the house. I am actually using this as my office/craft room. look at the heater. It is a a gas heater and this is what keeps my office/craft room and living room warm. This heater reminds me of Guelita Caro's house i remember seeing these at her house when we went to Piedras to visit. It brought back fond memories of our trips to Mexico and visits with Tia Naela and the rest of the family. The entry way from the living room to this room actually has huge pocket doors. I will take a picture of this and post later. I can actually close this door when guests come if I chose and all they will see is the living room.



This is looking in through the front door as you can see I have an iron gate on the front door and it is a double door. I am really glad that both sides of the door can open and that when I do the breeze is just great.

As you can see I have a lot of decorating to do. As I have only been in The Cresent City for two and a half weeks and I have only worked so far for two weeks, I have lots to tell about Work. Stay tuned and also I will try and catch up on some other details. Like the St. Patrick's Parade I went to on Saturday. I will write more on this soon.

I HAVE ARRIVED

So I arrived in the area on Wednesday February 27. I was just glad to get out of the car and know that I did not have an 8+ hour drive ahead of me. I stayed in a hotel on Wednesday because I did not know what time I was going to make it into the area and so I had made arrangements with the apartment complex to meet with them first thing Thursday morning.

Needless to say when I arrived at the apartment complex I did not like the way the apartment complex looked like and I just did not feel good about the situation. I made a quick decision that I would stay in a hotel for a couple of days and see what came up. It would also give me time to look for another place.

I looked on Craig’s list and started looking for housing and also talked to people at work. I found the place where I am living and have been very happy with it so far. The location is great. I live in what is known as “The Lower Garden District” My house is two blocks from St Charles Street and two blocks from Magazine Street. These are two famous streets in New Orleans. I have many shops within walking distance as well as restaurants etc. I love the location. Here are some additional pictures of my house before all of my house hold goods were delivered.

As I mentioned before it is a shot gun house so it is long you need to walk the full length of the house to get to the kitchen that is the furthest west of the house then you have the bath room and hallway area next comes the bedroom and then a small bedroom/shop storage room and then an office area and then the living room when you walk in the house.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Okay so I am still figuring out how all this works but this is a little taste of what is to come in the next couple of day. This is the house I live in it is 1402 I love it. It is a shot gun house and there are four apartments in the house two on the bottom and two on the top we have the whole length of one side of the house. It is about 150 feet long and about 15 feet wide per side. Stay tune for more news latter.

THE MADDNESS BEGINS...

And so a new phase of my life begins. I am now living in New Orleans. What a change. It has been a great 2 1/2 weeks. I have an adventure to tell and I will begin by telling you all that yes I have decided to blog. I am doing this for two reasons.

1. I think this is easier to keep the family and friends updated as to what is going on in my life.

2. It is a good way to keep a record of what is going on and that way when I am old and want to remember back I have some kind of a record.

That being said this is not the only record I will keep. I am starting to scrap book my adventures and will have that as well.

So shall we begin. As many of you know I made my move on February 25. I left Salt Lake on Monday morning and decided to head east and then south. The road was a white knuckler when I went up through Parley's and up past Coalville etc. but once I past that area it was pretty clear all the way.

When I got past Evanston I began to worry because the road signs were warning that I-80 was closed between Lyman and Cheyenne. Needless to say I was a little stressed. I really did not want to get stuck in Lyman. It all turned out well when I got there the roads were clear and the road was open. It was just high winds and since I have a high profile vehicle I was worried (NOT). The rest of the road was clear just minor snow flurries through Denver and then it was clear all the rest of the way to New Orleans. No I did not drive all the way through without breaks. I drove the first day from Salt Lake City to Colby Kansas. It was about 11 hours in the car. The next day I drove from Colby Kansas to Canton Texas. Okay so I took a wrong turn and ended up going through Dallas before I realized it.

Sylvia let me borrow the GPS and if you make a mistake it tells you "Recalculating Route. Needless to say it ended out being about a 3 hour detour. Oh well it is after all a mystery ride and an adventure. this day I drove again about 11 hours

Okay, so back to the story I left Canton and headed down to New Orleans it is about an 8 hour drive from Canton to New Orleans. But all was well I made it safe and I was excited to be in the Crescent City. Actually I was in Metarie that was where my apartment was suppose to be.

Well I think this is enough for my first time blogging. Stay tune for my next installment. Oh I figured I would give you a little tease and show you what my house looks like here in the Crescent City.