I’ve had sore gums for a week or so. It hasn’t helped that I keep burning the roof of my mouth either. I thought maybe if I swished with some mouthwash before bed, that might help speed the healing along.
But there’s a problem: all mouthwashes seemed to contain sodium saccharin. Sodium saccharin is my bitter enemy. Any toothpaste containing this ingredient will leave my mouth feeling gummy, sticky, metallic-sweet. And, I’ve found out by experience, so will any mouthwash containing this ingredient. I went looking at the drug store anyway, hoping that there might be at least one mouthwash that did not contain sodium saccharin.
I found one! But it was yellow Listerine. I’d heard all kinds of bad things about yellow Listerine about it tasting terrible and medicine-like. I got it anyway. Guess what? It’s AWESOME! Yes, it has the horrible burniness of regular mouthwashes, but once you spit it out, there is no taste at all. AND no gummy, sticky, metallic-sweet flavor. Cool! I LOVE yellow Listerine. Thank you for leaving out the sodium saccharin, Listerine people!
And my gums feel much better, thank you.
I worked at school in the morning yesterday, then decided to make a trip to the mall. Denis gave me a couple of Kung-Fu movies for Christmas and I really enjoyed them. They’re sold at little kiosks in Arundel Mills Mall. I wondered if maybe they had a rental program, so I went down to ask them. Denis went along.
On the way down, Denis wanted to stop at G&M Restaurant for a crab cake sandwich. He had heard they were the best. It was good, but I’m no judge of crab cakes, so I’ll leave “best” or “not best” pronouncements to people who eat crab cakes regularly.
The Kung-Fu people at the mall don’t rent movies. Dang. What I would have liked about that is that all the movies are gathered in one place. If I want to use Netflix, I’ll have to do some searching. And who will tell me if they’re good or not?
Next I spent some time wandering around in other stores. My walking shoes have become split along the sole. It makes them water absorbent whenever it rains. While looking for a replacement, I stumbled upon some sneakers that smelled exactly like Band-Aids. It was amazing! I love that smell! I almost bought them for that reason alone, but they were too athletic-looking. What am I, some kind of athlete? Heh.
I had an unusual Monday yesterday. First of all, I was off of work because it was MLK Day. I would normally have spent the day doing nothing, but Denis was getting a cortisone shot in his lumbar spine and the doctor said he wasn’t allowed to drive himself home, so I took him. His appointment was in downtown Baltimore and lasted about two hours. While he was getting shot, I went to the Inner Harbor.
It was a ten minute walk from the hospital to the harbor. The weather was beautifully warm. I spent most of the time shopping. I looked around in Urban Outfitters, but I was too chicken to try on a top hat at the hat shop. I had mall pizza for lunch, got some bubble tea, then went to the Barnes and Noble that’s occupying an old power plant building. After buying an issue of The Economist magazine, I returned to the hospital and sat in the waiting area for Denis to come out. He was later than I thought, so I got a 30 minute nap. It was awesome.
I don’t much care for January. It’s the month that winter finally catches up with me. I can pretend it’s fall all the way into December. Then Christmas distracts me. But in January, it’s winter. Even though the days are getting longer by now, I feel the lack of light. I feel like a plant that isn’t photosynthesizing enough.
Yesterday I stopped at the grocery store for milk and junk food. As I was walking past the floral displays, I saw primroses. Primroses! It felt like something that had been tightening in my chest loosened just a little. I stopped to look at them for a little while. Even though people might have thought I was crazy, I took a picture. Spring will come again! The Early Dark will end!
Yesterday’s schedule was a full one. After a morning worship Celebration, we attended Treks, which are small workshops. The kids choose which ones they will attend. My guys got a little confused about the selection process and ended up just getting random ones. They did one on sign language, one led by the college-age band Captive Free, and one about families.
We took a break and ate at Damon’s Barbecue restaurant. They hand giant TV’s on the wall.
When I was done eating, I made a face with my leftovers.
In the evening, we had another worship Celebration, then a dance. More than half the kids chose to stay upstairs and watch the Ravens play the Colts. I stayed with the dancing kids. It was fun. Here’s a shot of the dance floor:
I danced a little bit on the sidelines. Here are the Rolaids I had to get from the front desk because I shook up all the food in my stomach and got indigestion:
This morning it’s been really hard to get my boys up. Now that a couple are awake, they’ll wake the others. We end YouthQuake with a worship Celebration, then go home.
