It occurred to me last night

as I was rubbing my chin that I didn't feel a pimple anywhere. I went to the mirror and checked. No pimples. I thought, and realized I haven't seen one in quite a while.

I'll be damned. Twenty-eight years of acne is finally over.

Glare report 10/25/04

I did not finish reading Fire and Ice, but I've read all the chapters that were germaine to my research. Today I started reading Icy Pleasures: Minnesotans Celebrate Winter. This is getting at my topic rather obliquely. It's not talking just about the St. Paul Winter Carnival (although that's a large part of it), but other events state wide: sled dog racing the the iron range, skiing competitions, carnivals in other cities, etc. It also only goes up until about WWII. After I scope out what's useable from this book, I imagine I'll move to researching in other directions, particularly in architecture, and in whatever Robert Olsen can direct me to. Still don't feel ready to write yet, but my backbrain says I'm adding good stuff to the mental compost pile, so I do feel I'm moving the project forward.

Life stuff

I am awfully distracted by life stuff. The car, putting the gardens to bed. I still need to plant those tulip bulbs, and there are still leaves to rake. We've been told we need to get some of Delia's teeth pulled as soon as possible to keep other teeth that are coming in now from going crooked, and so I have to scramble to find an orthodontist. And figure out how to pay for it, damn it. We can't wait even until after the first of the year, they tell us, when we will have money in the insurance account. The girls are testing for their green belts this Friday; I'm trying to hector them into doing their homework and keeping their room picked up. I haven't done anything to make Fiona practice her violin this week. I had been working out in the evenings, but now that the girls are back in school and their school schedule is back in full swing, it's not working; it's clear that I'm gonna have to bite the bullet and starting getting up at 5:15 a.m. again if I want to have any hope of fitting my workout in.

Wah.

We have figured out financing for the car, however, and it's not going to be too bad. And we did find the car quickly, too, and for a good price.

Edited to add: We did have two of Fiona's teeth pulled, and we are convinced that it helped her. Yes, we are going to be getting a second opinion on Delia's teeth, of course. I'm making the calls today. But I've seen the X-rays, and yeah, it's really true: in my (admittedly unexpert lay opinion) the teeth coming in have nowhere to go.