Braces...Again!?!?

Greetings:

Yes, I got the dreaded recommendation to get braces or Invisalign.   I've had a crooked tooth for years (my own fault for not continuing to wear my retainers at night).   It's moved more and I've actually had some pain with it so I mentioned it yesterday at our sixth month check-up.   Turns out they are concerned about bone loss in that part of my jaw and the teeth around that problematic tooth are a little loose.   I had never noticed they were loose until the dentist had her fingers in mouth and were examining things.   FYI, it's not like they are super loose but they are moving WAY more than they should be.   I am going to contact my dental insurance tomorrow and start making a plan of action.    Invisalign is only like 7K...looks like I need to turn in my pop cans for some money.  

I've started reading "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire".   Thanks to LeAnn I have some decent books to read.   I did read "The Bridges of Madison County".   It only took a few days.   It's a very short book.  I'm actually glad I saw the movie first in this case because the book was quite romantic but a little boring.  I'm sure I would have stuck it out and completed it since it was so short but it was nice to know how the story ends before touching the book.  

I'm actually watching the Swedish version of "The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo" at the moment.   My coworker owns the trilogy and swears the Swedish version is better than the American version with Daniel Craig.   I'll be the judge of that.   So far it's pretty good but it requires the reading of sub-titles.

This year I am feeling much more prepared for Gavin to start school.  Usually I'm rushing to get his athletic physical done, pay the registration fee, etc.   Other than a couple school supplies, he's ready to go.   I need to attend an open house type of event on August 17 so I can pay for his school pictures.  Ankeny has them taken before school starts.   They are also assigning them Chromebooks this year for the first time.   I won't have to share my laptop with him anymore, in theory.

I had to go into work today for a meeting related to student teaching supervision.   I felt really out of place as I was the youngest one in attendance.   Most supervisors are retired teachers.   And most of them were pretty unhappy after today's meeting.    We are now using a database system for the student teaching process and the training for it was horribly organized.   I know how to use it (somewhat) because I played around with it in the spring.   I have to go in tomorrow to help a new grad student.   I'm not going to rant on here but she's going to hear about how unhappy I am to come in tomorrow.    She has to miss all of the new grad student orientation so she's panicking about some things.   And she should be.

We have a hog roast to attend this weekend for football.   It's for juniors and seniors only.    All families are introduced and the coaches are going to speak to everyone about the mission, expectations, etc.   We were asked to go to Sioux City this weekend with Dan and his family but I didn't want to miss the football event.   It's Dan's birthday on Saturday too.   He's the big 4-2.  My gift to him was a ticket to see Jim Gaffigan.   It was a funny show.  

Guess that's enough of an update for now.