Hope everyone out there had a very Happy Thanksgiving!  We were a bit lonely down in Florida by ourselves and would have much rather been with family, but we made do and managed to put together a delicious, traditional meal.  

Between the two of us, Barry enjoys baking more than I, so he started getting us into the Thanksgiving spirit ahead of time by baking a "test" pumpkin pie to try out a new crust recipe about a week before the holiday.  We gobble, gobbled that up in just a few days.  We decided the crust would be better with a bit less oil, but it was still plenty tasty. 

He also baked a wonderful pumpkin-chocolate chip bread that was decadently delicious. (Yes, I am a lucky woman!)  We were getting into the Thanksgiving spirit and loosening our belts already!

​Who says you need a fancy gourmet kitchen with a huge granite-topped island to turn out a respectable Thanksgiving Day feast?  We managed pretty well in Pearl's teeny-tiny RV kitchen, though we did have to plan pretty carefully and stretch the tasks out over a couple of days.  We also bought a few things that we might have made from scratch, given a better kitchen, but that was okay too; Martha Stewart brand perfection is not required in an RV (or anywhere, really!)

We don't have a full-size oven, and only one burner of our induction cooktop works properly, but we managed to cook our entire meal in our large convection/toaster oven, one burner on the cooktop, and the microwave.  Here's how we did it.

On Wednesday, aka Thanksgiving Eve, Barry baked the pumpkin pie.  He always uses his mother's recipe for the filling, which he loves because it uses molasses along with brown sugar and makes the filling nice and dark.  My contribution was homemade cranberry sauce with fresh tangerine juice and maple syrup, a new recipe I found online and wanted to try.  It turned out so very good.  

On Thanksgiving Day, Barry made his mother's sweet potato casserole recipe (with crushed pineapple, yum!) before roasting the boneless turkey breast we'd purchased at Aldi.  The three-pound breast was the perfect size for two of us for several meals and for our oven and came out super moist and perfectly done.

After he took the turkey out to rest, I made stuffing on the stovetop, adding chopped onion, pecans, and apple to the packaged seasoned dried cornbread I'd bought.  The spinach and gravy were both simple microwaved store-bought "cheats", but they tasted fine and kept things simple.  The potato rolls from Publix' bakery were soft and melted in our mouths.

All in all, a fine no-panic feast!

The crust was perfect this time, and the pumpkin pie just as good as ever, especially with a little whipped cream on top! 

Paisley enjoyed a couple of turkey scribblin's and some gravy on top of her food.  She'll be bugging us for leftovers for the next few days.  But who can argue with this little angel?

I'm pretty proud that my cycle computer rolled over to 3000 miles for 2017 during yesterday's ride.  My original goal for the year had been 4000, but after my accident in April, I wasn't sure how much I'd be able to ride going forward.

I ended up taking close to four months off the bike; riding outside, that is.  We ended up buying an indoor trainer, and starting in June, I was able to put in a few miles during rehab of my fractured jaw and thumb.  If you look closely you can see the leftover bruising on my face and neck here.

Once my oral surgeon released me from care at the end of July, I was able to start riding on the road and bike trails again in August.  My thumb was a bit sore at first if I hit any bumpy spots on the pavement, but I don't even notice it now.  I'm just so pleased to be back out there doing what I love.

And being at an RV park here in Florida, there is often this reward after getting heated up on the bike....

Since I've been back to riding outside, I've logged over 1300 miles.  And the year isn't over yet!  

I realized that I hadn't done any posts on my braces here since I got them put on two and a half months ago (see that blog post), so thought I'd do a quick update.

Braces are working out pretty well, although I did recently have three brackets pop off in a week!  These were all brackets on back teeth that are crowned.  Even though Dr. Ogden "sandblasted" the crowns to rough the sides up a bit, the brackets just don't want to stick as well to crowns as to natural teeth.  I had read this on various braces forums.  In my case the brackets were re-glued, at my last two appointments, and I'm crossing my fingers that they don't keep popping off.  If they do, I'll have to have the back teeth fully banded (like all my teeth were when I had braces as a child), and that can be kinda painful, as I recall.  

I've gotten more adept at the routine of brushing and flossing with braces, so it doesn't take nearly so long as at first.  I am also using a special mouthwash, ACT for Braces Care.  Unfortunately, the first mouthwash I used, Colgate Total Pro-Shield, caused some staining on my teeth, especially the backs and the tooth-colored fillings, so I had to toss it.  I read in the Amazon reviews that staining with this type of mouthwash (containing an ingredient called Cetylpyridinium Chloride, abbreviated as CPC) can cause tooth staining in some people.  Fortunately, it should be able to be removed at my next dental cleaning.  Still, super annoying, especially a month after having a thorough cleaning and polishing!

I can definitely see some positive changes in the alignment of my teeth since getting my braces on.  My bite has improved a little, but it will take elastics, which come later, to make the biggest difference. 

my bottom arch has definitely improved.  One of my incisors was tipped quite a bit out of alignment and has now come up and into line with the other three.  And although you can't see it in the photos, from above, the lower arch now has more of a curve to it, instead of being two straight lines of pre-molars and molars and a straight line of four incisors.  (Note:  I had my two canine teeth on the bottom extracted before braces as a child as they were coming in very low on my jaw, so I've always had kind of an oddball bottom arch without them.)

These photos show brace day vs. now.  I don't see as many changes up top as he's been using a very light wire there, but the lowers have definitely improved.

Although it looks like the midline (the line between the central incisors where the top and bottom arches meet) is better in the more recent photo, that is just because I am not biting down.  I actually couldn't comfortably do so as I'd just come back from the orthodontist, and I couldn't bite down well due to wire changes (ouch).  It's settled down again since then, and the midline is like the photo on the left when I bite down.

You can also see how white my teeth were when I got braces put on one week after a dental cleaning, and when I was using whitening toothpaste.  On the right, they're looking a bit stained.  Some of that is from the bracket glue darkening, some likely from the Colgate Total mouthwash, and some from lack of intense whitening toothpaste.  They won't let you use that in braces to avoid two-toned teeth when you get debraced.  I definitely plan on going back to it after as well as using whitening strips for awhile.  I do like having white teeth!

At this most recent appointment on Monday, I had a heavier gauge wire put on the top arch, so I suspect to see some more straightening of the top teeth before my next appointment on December 11th.  I am going to ask Dr. Ogden then when he anticipates putting me into elastics; I am ready to get the party started!