My dentist removed the part of my tooth that was starting to separate from the cavity. He recommended I try and get the dental surgery right away, so he can put a crown on the tooth. He took xrays of the tooth, and the tooth is cavity free but my filling was just old and deteriorating.

He said if it didn't hurt too badly when I ate food, he wouldn't have to rebuild the tooth before the dental surgery. He knows my insurance only covers a certain amount of dental work per year, and he wants to make sure that I have enough insurance to cover the dental surgery and the crown.

My pre-tax medical flexible spending account will cover most of the crown, but not all. I put away $1,500 for the year, but I've been using it to pay for other expenses. My new glasses costs me $400, I bought $100 worth of contacts, I expensed all my medical doctor visits, the consultation visit to the dental surgeon, and all my chiropractic visits as well. The money went so quickly.

My dental insurance will only pay for 80% of the dental surgery, so the balance will paid with flex spending money. By then, I'll only have enought left to cover about 70% or less of the crown.

I wish I could put off getting the crown till next year, but with part of my tooth gone and some gum area exposed, I can't. My dentist is very good about the dental insurance thing. He said something about charging today's visit to last year, so I don't use up my dental insurance money for this year. I'm not sure how he's going to do that, but he said he could. He then said he was only doing it because I was long term patient. My dentist is so nice. I'm really grateful to him for doing that.

My dentist asked me if I lost weight, and I told him yes. He said I looked really good. He was happy with me and not his usual cranky self today, because he said I was taking better care of my teeth. He requested that I buy an hour glass egg timer, and brush my teeth until the timer was done. The timer goes for about three minutes, and I've been doing it because he was scolding me during my last visit about the state of my teeth.

He says it's really made a difference in my teeth and gum care, that I now brush longer. So if your having peridontal problems, buy a three minute egg timer and brush your teeth for that long. It seems to really help.

SARS gossip on Muni. I took the bus to Union Square, and heard this chinese woman coughing. The couple in back of her jokingly said "I hope you don't have SARS". Then the woman said that her mother was in the hotel in China on the 9th floor when the breakout happened, but said her mother was fine.

How scary is that? I was sitting only two seats away from that woman thinking, her mother might have brought back SARS and gave it to her daughter without even knowing it. Every time somebody coughs and tells me they have a cold, I also jokingly say "I hope you don't have SARS", but perhaps it's not a laughing matter anymore.

It was fun bopping around Union Square, and sitting in every couch I could find. Sofas are so expensive. I did find a couple I like, but they were comparable to the one I liked at Ikea, so I'll probably end up getting my sofa there one day.

I tested out the firmest mattres I could find at Macy's, the extra extra firm one, but it still didn't compare to my hard futon. The salesman told me that I wouldn't find a mattress as hard as a futon, and I think he's right. I think he was sneering at me because I told him I sleep on a futon. How rude! I love sleeping on a futon, and I rarely have problems, which is like the most common ache in the world.

My chiropractor keeps asking me if I have lower back pain, because he says everyone else does. It makes me wonder what kind of mattress the people with lower back pain sleep on.

The only time I had lower back pain was when I took a yoga class, after not having done yoga in a long time. I took the yoga class, and then went to the gym to do a serious weight lifting session, and it was the combination of using back muscles during yoga that hadn't been used in a long time and the weight lifting that threw my back out.

I didn't even know what was wrong with me at first, having never had a back pain before. I called a friend of mine to tell her what was happening, and she said I threw my back out. I called my doctor, and he said the same thing. He told me to take some aspirin, lie on the floor for awhile and rest. In three days it was gone, and I haven't had any back pain since, and I continued to take yoga class and lift weight afterwards.

So my busy Saturday continues. I bought a futon cover for my futon so it won't get too dirty when the movers take it to the new place. The sales guy made a sales pitch for buying my bed at his futon shop. He had a futon which I really liked the feel of, and which looked great sitting on a bed frame since it's shaped like a regular mattress. He also had a cherry wood bed frame that with free delivery, which costs about the same as the one I was thinking of getting at Ikea.

I have slept on a futon for years, and now I'm used to very firm mattresses with no give. I don't know if I could go ever go back to sleeping on a regular mattress. I think the reason I rarely have back problems, unlike most of my friends, is because I sleep on a hard as the ground futon.

I have one of those old fashioned japanese futons, which my friend says is basically like sleeping on a wooden plank. I really like it though, and can't imagine sleeping on anything else.

I wasn't planning on buying a bed until the end of year, but the futon guy is selling the futon bed I tested for 50% off. It's so tempting. I told him I was moving, so he said I could put 20% down, and pay it off in three months. It's tempting, but after the cash outlay for my car accident, the thought of plunking down another $1,000 for the futon and frame in three months is just too much for my finances right now.

It's not like I don't have a bed, because I do, but I was thinking of buying a new bed and frame, just not until the end of year. My intuition tells me to wait. It's a Mercury retrograde, I haven't even gone to check out the regular mattress stores, and I think if the economy keeps tanking the way it is, by the end of year, I'll be able to get the same deal.

Now, I'm off to Union Square to get my hair trimmed, and to see my dentist about my tooth that's about to come apart from my cavity. I'll check out all the stores as well, and look at couches and bathroom accessories.

It's only 12:30 pm and I'm exhausted. I've been running errands since 9 am, and I still need to make a trip to the new place tonight to move some fragile items. By the time the day is over, I'll be ready for bed I think.

I picked up my new apartment keys this morning, and I was planning on spending Sunday moving a few things over to the new place after church, but I forgot that I bought tickets to attend a workshop at the New Living Expo.

I love the New Living Expo. It's like a fair for new age living with over 250 exhibitors, over 150 speakers, natural foods dining, expo bookstore, all connecting body, mind and spirit. I especially like visiting all the exhibits. All the alternative cures and vitamin people will be there, the crystal people, healers; it's new age california woo woo galore.

I also forgot that after the Sunday church service, the deacons have an ice cream social, which is always held on the Sunday after Easter. It's a deacon fundraiser, and a way I think to celebrate all the restrictions churchgoers have put on themselves for Lent, like Lent is over so now you can eat and enjoy yourselves. I'll definitely have to attend this event, even though I'm not a big ice cream eater since I'm supposedly allergic to dairy products. Ice cream gives me a runny nose.

Saturday is another busy day. I have to go to the chiropractor for another ultrasound treatment, and then I have to go to the dentist so he can looked at my cracked filling. I was hoping to spend the rest of Saturday relaxing, but with my Sunday now booked, I may move some stuff late Saturday afternoon instead. The electricity won't be turned in the new place until May 1, so if I move anything it has be during the day while there's still light. I'm definitely going over tonight after work, to measure the rooms so I can figure out where my furniture needs to go. I'll probably start moving some of my office stuff to my new place, just to start that process as well.

OY!!! It's already started raining too! Such yucky weather for an April, but I don't mind because it's been a dry year and we definitely need the rain.