Dentist appointment...

[mistressofmuses]

I remain frustrated by things taking time. I have lots of time when I get home from work, and then by the time I do things, I have much less time, and with less time, I can't do other things. This seems unfair.

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Had to go get a filling yesterday. It was fine. I appreciate that my dentist goes for higher caliber numbing for me, because I very much do not want to feel the process, lol. BUT I do hate *being* numb for an additional four or five hours out of the day where I can't do much. Also, today my whole jaw feels bruised from the injection sites, and yawning feels like I got punched.

Also, today I feel something weird on the other side, something that kind of feels like a hole at the base of one of my teeth (??). I didn't notice it yesterday, and the dentist didn't say anything while poking around in my mouth. It's not near where I was getting the filling. But now I'm concerned. I'll probably give them a call and see if they think I need to come in. But if I do (and especially if this is another filling I need or something) I don't know how to pay for it. :/

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Our rent is going up. Not by an obscene amount like I've seen some places, but it'll be an extra $75ish/month. That's enough that we'll feel it.

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My mom texted me a picture of tadpoles today. She's in New Mexico, and there are temporary puddles in my aunt's driveway, which is where the tadpoles are. They're one of the species of toad that goes totally dormant for most of the year and only comes out during the brief rainy season to make more toads. I hope the tadpoles grow fast!

Comments

[spikedluv]

Teeth suck. Why is it so expensive to keep them up? I hope you don't need another filling.

Oh, yikes, that sucks about the rent.

*hugs*

[mistressofmuses]

Teeth are stupid! I hate them being luxury bones! And I really hope I don't need ANOTHER filling. I just can't tell what the weird thing is!

And yeah, the rent thing is a bummer. It's not a BAD increase, objectively, but subjectively I know it makes it that much harder for us to build up any kind of savings.

Thank you!

[olivermoss]

Teeth are a pain. Huh, that would be really weird if your dentist missed a cavity big enough to be be felt, but if one is there it's best to deal with it as soon as possible. I hope it's something random like a bit of stray cement got caught and is making a false ledge.

[mistressofmuses]

Teeth are stupid!

I can't imagine my dentist missed a huge cavity! I also had a cleaning a couple months ago, and nothing was noticed then either, so that seems super unlikely. I just can't tell what it is. It feels like it might actually be more of an issue with my gum that's exposing a weird part of the tooth that wasn't previously. But it doesn't HURT the way I'd expect a sudden cut along my gum to. And it doesn't feel sharp the way I'd expect if it was damage to an existing filling. Of course it's a spot I can't get a look at! I hope it's not a big deal, but I know I should get it taken care of sooner rather than later just in case it is. Bleh.

[olivermoss]

Yerg, that's disconcerting, to be worried something's wrong.

[chemicalcain]

$75/month is a sizeable chunk for rent to increase. I've seen worse, but in some places, the legal maximum is $50 within the year. I hope you don't feel the difference too much.

I also hope whatever is going on with your tooth turns out well! Sometimes recovering from a procedure can make other spots feel weird, but it never hurts to call and ask for your dentist's opinion.

[mistressofmuses]

I've seen much worse - people complaining about several hundred dollars in increase, or 30-50% hikes... So compared to that, I know this isn't the worst. (Though we were told that if we choose to go month-to-month instead of signing the lease, rent will go up by $300/month.) $75 won't kill us, but I am frustrated because it seems like yet another stumbling block in the way of establishing even piddly savings.

And yes, I'm hoping the tooth thing is a non-issue, but I can't see the spot, so I probably will have to get it checked out.

[chemicalcain]

I think a lot about this Discworld quote:

The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles. But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet. This was the Captain Samuel Vimes "Boots" theory of socioeconomic unfairness.

It rings true to me, as someone who wants to buy a house partly because it would be cheaper to pay a mortgage than rent. But it's really hard to save up that down payment when you're paying rent, so.

[mistressofmuses]

That really is such a good quote, and describes such a common situation so well. There have been SO MANY times in my life where just *having money* would have made things so much damn better, and having the money upfront would have saved me a ton in the long run.

I would love to have a house someday, and it's so frustrating that saving even very paltry amounts each month feels nearly undoable!