Happy Teeth

I'm pretty lackadaisical about my health, physical and dental. Part of that is being raised in Christian Science, part penny-pinching scroogishness and partly simple laziness. The last time I visited a doctor was in college, and my last dental visit was in Kansas City, when I had my wisdom teeth yanked. I thought that my insurance had it covered, since I'd been paying the COBRA after loosing my job at Sprint, but oops, no - had to pony up the full amount myself, in addition to being comepletely out of it for three days.

I spent most of those three days on the green couch, feeling very woozy. And I'm still sort of pisssed about the insurance thing.

Overall, I'm pretty healthy. I don't exercise as much as I should, I have weird snack cravings, and I weather colds with a lot of bitching and a sort of tiny, subdued glee that I have an excuse to miss work and get paid for it. I bought an electric toothbrush a few years back while I was insurance-less, just as a way to get myself to brush my teeth more often and more regularly (it's got a little beep every thirty seconds to tell me to switch mouth quadrants.)

Now that I do have insurance, I've had 'Make a dental cleaning appointment' on my to-do list for... too long. But, well. No close clinics on the plan, the moving thing, the no car thing... the list of excuses goes on. Then, last week, I noticed a poster in the hallway here at work with a toothbrush trial.

They're giving me $135 for trying out a new toothbrush, with free exams and a cleaning. And I've just had the qualifying exam, so my gums are frighteningly bright pink (think Barbie), and very healthy. Whee! They're just looking at gums, not cavities, so after all this I'll still need to find a regular dentist, but this is a very nice excuse for further procrastination.

Pickles and other dreams

'tis the season for fresh veggies, and for the more crafty sorts, it's also the season for canning said freshness. Growing up, our little sub-division was built on an old apricot orchard (a distrubing trend of California agriculture disappearing under the morass of city sprawl, but I digress) and while I wasn't too fond of them raw (at the time - I now appreciate the treasure I had) I loved the dried apricots, and we had so many of the bloody things coming out our ears (11 trees, just in our yard) Mom bought a dryer and we made our own.

Besides the yearly mess of mincemeat, that's about as close to an old family canning tradition as I come.

Not that I'm averse to starting a new one. Meg has talked about having a canning party as soon as the first asparagus crops start ripening, and I know I'll want to do something with the extra fruits and veggies that I'll get with my Market Basket.

I did a little research today. Ah, Google is my friend.
UGA hosts the National Center for Home Food Preparation and
Clemson University hosts a page on Food Safety and Preservation.
To can all by myself I will need:

• A Pressure Canner - The Pressure Cooker Outlet seems to have better prices than a quick scan of eBay.


• The Ball Blue Book - I can get it with the Canner at the PCO or try and pick up a copy at the library sale. (Have to remember to mark that on the calendar)


• And of course, Jars, Rings and Lids
  
  Ball sold their jar manufacturing business to Alltrista, but the buggerers don't sell their jars on their website. The kitchen sink, it seems, but no jars. And I'm really unsure of which retailers to check locally. I don't recall seeing them at QFC or the local hardware store, but I may have to look twice. Failing that, I did find them here:
  
  
  • Wells Can, a Canadian company just up in BC with some fair prices, though shipping might suck.
  
  
  • Kitchen Krafts, though the spelling of the name does make me cringe.
  
  
  • Aubuchon Hardware, which seems to be a Northeast sort of place.
  
  
  • Village Kitchen, which while their stock is pretty - wow with the expensive. (You import from France, you pay through the nose, it seems.)
  
  

I'm more than interested in where to find jar locally (Seattle) and what people's experiences with different pressure canners have been.

Misha, Call Your Mommy

I get home from dance practice to see this on the white board. I love my Mommy. We talk about gardens and calligraphy and canning, and then Dad and I talk about computers and business and stupid people and Dune. And I boast to both of them about getting paid for using a toothbrush, which I'm still stupidly thrilled about.

But between that and finally mailing Wendy about my story (I've decided to go with Itch), I haven't eaten dinner. So while I really wanted to say something brilliant when I clicked the update link, my stomach is trying to consume my backbone, and I really need to remedy this before my bedtime looms too quickly.