Shopping Paris in 8 hours at Oh Happy Day.

hula seventy: there. If I were a better photographer these are the pictures I would have taken during our stay at the Palm Springs Ace earlier this year. Via Shutterbean.

Rue Montorgueil-Les Halles | David Lebovitz. Restaurant supply stores in Paris.

100 Favorite Dishes: Meatloaf Sandwich at Bakeman’s – Seattle Restaurants and Dining – Voracious.

flora and flying – You cannot make this stuff up: Paris for beginners -Part 1.

So how did having my wisdom teeth taken out go? Pretty well, but it won’t count as one of the favorite weeks of my life.

All of the advice and stories you shared were invaluable for keeping me from freaking out. Thank you so, so much. I’m going to share my experience and what worked for me below in the hopes that it helps a few other people.

Before you read the below know that I am not a doctor and I am only talking about my own experience here. If you are going to be getting your wisdom teeth out you should listen to what your doctor tells you to do. Also, some of the details below are totally gross so proceed with caution.

Before:

I made myself an ice pack device from socks (shown above). I heard about this homemade solution from a few sources but Jess from Hogwash sent me the best directions: buy knee-high basic tube socks (the kind without heels, I found a six pack in the mens department at Target). Overlap them at the toes and stitch two lines. The ice packs will fit in each side of the socks. The overlapped section goes at your chin and the ends of the socks are tied up over the top of your head. This means your chin will be comfortable and the ice will be held at just the right spots on your cheeks while a thin layer of cloth will protect your skin. I found a 2-inch overlap worked best. And DIY ice packs made using snack sized ziplock bags were the perfect size to slip into the socks.

I made DIY ice packs using Dawn dishwashing liquid. I don’t know if one needs to use Dawn specifically but I’d heard it from three places so I figured why mess with it? I’ve also been told you can mix a 25/75 mixture of alcohol/water to get a substance that is still a little pliable after freezing. I got four ice packs from a 14-ounce bottle of dishwashing liquid and triple bagged them in snack sized ziplock bags. (You’ll know if they leak because it will suddenly smell really fresh.) I also had bags of peas, official 6×6 gel packs and the smaller ice packs the doctor sent me home with on hand but I used the homemade ice packs tucked into my knee high sock device the most often. I also wore a hooded sweatshirt most of the week with the string in the hood cinched helped keep the ice snug to my cheeks and redistribute the weight of the ice packs. It was a very sexy look.

Lots of people recommended eating fresh pineapple in the days before the surgery because reportedly it helps prevent swelling. I ate a lot, about two whole pineapples. On the upside I had minimal swelling in the week after. On downside the pineapple irritated my gums and made brushing my teeth uncomfortable. You can also get Bromelain as a supplement, it’s the substance in pineapple that is supposed to help, but I have not heard stories from anybody on if this might work or not. I asked my surgeon about pineapple and she’d never heard of the advice. I wish I could tell you definitively if it worked but I don’t have any more wisdom teeth to take out. Also I don’t want to do this again.

Day of:

Bring some tissues with you, you’ll drool in the car on the way home. It’ll be bloody drool. Yuck.

I brought a scarf with me so when I left the doctor’s office with big white ice packs strapped (that they provided) to my head I was able to wrap the scarf around it and sort of cocoon into my own uncomfortableness. Add big sunglasses and I could nearly pretend I was glamorous while waiting in the car for Scott to pick up my prescription and drooling on myself. I looked kind of like this but more miserable:

I considered wearing flats to the doctor’s office so I could just kick my shoes off later but I was afraid they might fall off while I was in the chair so I wore boots instead. Turns out they needed to attach three electrodes to me and one was meant to go on my ankle. They put it on my stomach instead. So my advice is to wear regular shoes. Or a cropped shirt. Your choice. My doctors also said lots of patients come in wearing pajamas. Smart patients.

I was put under for the operation and when I woke up I was not happy or loopy. I was cranky and groggy and had dry cotton shoved in my mouth. It was the worst part of this whole thing. They had this bear sitting in the recovery area. I wanted to punch this bear:

For most of the day after the surgery my tongue, lower lip and chin were numb. Sipping liquids was out of question but I needed to eat something and stuck to apple sauce and pudding for the first day. Anticipating a lack of clean spoons (we never have enough) I bought a pack of plastic spoons and found they were far easier to eat off of since they had a bit of flexibility and they didn’t get cold in ice cream. Also, if you get clear plastic spoons you can peer at the light coming through your spoonful of jello.

The worst part of having a numb mouth was that I could not loudly whine about how unhappy I was. The second worst was that my smile was uneven, one side of my mouth would not go up, and I could not complain about how I would have a lopsided face for the rest of my liiiiiife. (I was back to normal by 8pm.)

I read a whole bunch of stories and it seems like a lot of people stop and get food (Wendy’s Frosty) on the way home but I needed a good two hours before I stopped bleeding into the horrible gauze. More advice that I found both from people and the information packet my doctor gave me is that that you could switch to biting on a steeped and cooled black tea bags (the tannins help stop the bleeding) but I couldn’t get off the couch long enough to bother. I also couldn’t talk well enough to explain to my loyal manservant how to prepare it for me.

More good advice given to me: have your couch or bed area ready to flop into when you get home. I had pillows, blankets, remote controls and laptop all in position so I could get straight to the drugged out television watching stage. Also, use pillowcases and towels you are willing to bleed a bit on. I didn’t get any blood on anything at home but if I’d been asleep all day it might have been different.

I didn’t spend the first day asleep the way some people warned me I might, I was groggy from the medication but my brain wouldn’t stop going. I was chatting online with a friend and she actually said I sounded too alert and asked if I’d been traumatized. So, apparently, pain medications don’t turn off my brain. Good to know.

Rest of the week:

For the first few days I stuck to pudding, ice cream, green smoothie juices and soup. Cashew Carrot Ginger soup was very welcome. After that I tried scrambled eggs and mashed potatoes. (Did you know Bob’s Red Mill sells instant mashed potato flakes? It somehow seems more dignified than other sorts.) I also ate overcooked Annie’s mac and cheese but I wish I hadn’t, anything that needed even that bit of chewing was too much for me. A full week later and I’m adding polenta with spicy tomato sauce, more pureed soups and I’m wishing I’d thought to make and stock up on my own gravy. I’m also eating mashed cauliflower, mashed peas and mashed sweet potatoes. Basically I’m still afraid of solid foods. I had two impacted wisdom teeth and they had to cut into the bone on my jaw a bit to wrench one from me, so you might have a much speedier recovery than I.

I read so much about the dreaded dry socket that I followed all the rules very carefully – no sipping through straws (hard to remember), no smoking of anything (not so much a problem), no aggressive gargling, no blowing your nose (also hard to remember). I was even a little worried about swallowing too enthusiastically. But it turns out I was also a little too gentle in cleaning back by the sockets. During a followup visit my surgeon showed me that after a week you can put that little irrigator thing way back there and squeeze away using salt water or diluted mouthwash. It’s gross and interesting.

I found I still needed to use ice packs for swelling five days after my surgery. As I mentioned above my swelling wasn’t bad but it was determined to stick around.

If your pill schedule is on a six hour rotation try to hit the 12noon/6pm/12midnight/6am cycle so you’re not waking up at 3 a.m. to take antibiotics.

And lastly, try to get an awesome oral surgeon who includes a card for a free cupcake in the little bag of stuff they give you on your way out. Incentive for getting back to chewing things:

If you’re getting ready to have your wisdom teeth out go see all the advice my most awesome readers shared and a bunch of questions over at Ask Metafilter. And you’ll feel better in a week, promise.

What is the difference in quality between Home Depot/Lowe’s porcelain tile and that from a specialty tile store? | Ask MetaFilter.

Flushmount Lighting Fixtures | Making it Lovely. “This is my least favorite category of ceiling lighting, but often in our homes, flushmounts are the only option that will work.” As a lady with 8 foot ceilings I highly appreciate this list.

The Brick House, paint dipped cord wrapped table legs. Simple and lovely.

Propagating Rosemary at Juniper Moon Fiber Farm.

This is neat! Bloggers have created cards available over at Jack Cards. Huge high five to Sarah Bryden Brown from Blogstar for setting this up.

Go buy them so we can have more awesome bloggers make more awesome cards.

By The Jealous Curator.

By Amy Furgeson of Old Sweet Song.

By Melanie Biehle of Inward Facing Girl.

Have you seen these yet? The genius pinata cookies? The sort of idea that makes me furious that I didn’t think of it first? I love these. The whole how-to by Sandra Denneler is over at She Knows, bravo.

Happy Cinco de Mayo! I’m still on painkillers so have an extra margarita for me.

These are all prettier versions of the foods I’m eating after getting my wisdom teeth out this week, pulled from my Pinterest boards.

Coffee jello from That Winsome Girl. I’m going to be making this to be the first thing I eat because, grrrr, need caffiene.

Julia Childs Mousse Au Chocolat from Sprinkle Bakes

Citrus Sorbet from The Cinderella Project

Rainbow Jello Shooter from Jelly Shot Test Kitchen

Layered Cheesecake Popsicle from Cutest Food (though the seeds here would technically pose a problem, I’m loving the idea)

Gelatin Typography at Plenty of Colour

Ice cream scoop on a stick at Martha Stewart

Sky Jello at Belladia

Styled Eats: DIY Picnic Baskets and Free Printable at Oh Happy Day. These are so cute, I look forward to a reason to make them.

Meet the Mini-Marthas! Suddenly, Hipster Homemakers Are Cleaning Up | The New York Observer.

How to Make a DIY Terrarium | Making it Lovely.

make grow gather – Posts – diy confetti napkins.

Cupcake Liner Mason Jar Tops · Edible Crafts | CraftGossip.com. A very simply idea makes a handy punch-through top for straws.

Thank you GLAD for sponsoring this post. Learn how you can reduce waste at your next party!

A few years back I baked pies in jars because I thought it was a cute idea. Later I brought pies on a weekend getaway and found the jars were a handy way to transport and serve them. I’ve been using jars as serving containers for parties and picnics ever since. I’ve talked about my love of jars before but I have not laid out all the reasons why, so here they are:

• You can seal them up to contain any potential mess while transporting food.
• After the food is eaten you can close the jars and contain any leftover stickiness until you get home to wash them.
• If you’re making a baked good you can bake it right in the jar ahead of time. If you’re headed out to a vacation home you can prepare and freeze the dessert, then bake one at a time as people get hungry. I’ve found that particularly nice as it allows people to graze if they’d like.
• If you’re seated on a picnic blanket I find them easier to eat out of than trying to keep a plate level. (I am a clumsy person and always end up tipping a plate at picnics.)
• They are water tight so you can fill them with ice cream or pudding and stick them in a cooler without worrying that water from melted ice will ruin dessert.
• They are a fun way to present the foods. Jars have become pretty well known on blogs and Pinterest but people at bbqs will appreciate the novelty and declare you a genius.
• Individual portions eliminate the need to bring extra serving utensils or use plastic wrap to cover a serving dish that doesn’t have a lid.
• Something I found at the last bbq I attended: it’s very simple to send extras home with people because the treat is already ready to go, you just hand them a jar.
• Similarly if you bring home leftovers they are ready to be stuck in the freezer for later.
• You can use jars to give out food as favors or as great packaging for a bake sale item. (Tip: I’ve discovered people are happy to pay a bit more for something in jar packaging.)
• If you’re setting out a few dips jars work wonderfully. For a cookbook club I brought pretzel sticks with three different kinds of mustard and jars worked perfectly for serving containers.
• My favorite: I have a very small kitchen and don’t have space to store the sorts of serving dishes that would be great to have for picnics but I can store a few stacks of jars in the back of my cabinet.

Small tip: Keep the box the jars come in, it makes the best tray to carry the jars either to your back yard or to a friend’s house.

The pies pictured above were ones that I brought to a friend’s house for a backyard cookout. After I got home and washed the jars I realized that nothing ended up being thrown into the trash through the whole process save the excess flour I wiped off the counter. Oh yeah, racking up those environmental points.

If you are using the jars for favors you can include a list of uses for after the contents have been eaten. Here is a list I included with a bunch of cobblers I made for a bake sale:

• Shake a vinegrette for a salad (1 part balsalmic + 4 parts olive oil + salt and pepper + maybe a touch of mustard + a drop of water).
• Use it to store dried annuals seeds in the back of the fridge until April rolls around.
• Use it to store leftover lemon juice or zest in the freezer.
• Use it to store that last 1/2 cup of buttermilk leftover from making pancakes.
• Throw loose coins in it and save up for a really good chocolate bar.
• Keep a stash of cinnamon sugar or vanilla sugar.
• Sip some nice bourbon out of it while sitting on a shady porch.

We use ours for salad dressing and bourbon more often than I would have suspected.

You can also use a larger jar to collect used flatware and transport it home where you can wash it:

Picnic season is almost here (yaaaay)! Do you have any tips for entertaining? Any clever things you’ve found that help keep trash to a minimum? Share so we can ooooh over your genius.

The Fastest Way to Chill Wine [VIDEO] | The Feed.

I’m searching for the creamiest, smoothest plain yogurt. | Ask MetaFilter. And I and always seeking the most French-like yogurt.

Yummy gluten free quinoa salad at Petite Elefant.

Sweet! How to Make a Chocolate iPhone – Hello Brit – Food. This is adorable, and I even have an old case I can use for this project.

pasta with garlicky broccoli rabe | smitten kitchen. This pasta with healthy green thing style of cooking is one of my long time go-tos.

Mini Furniture Waffle Iron · Edible Crafts.

Dinner for Two: Hot Hot Hot Chipotle Steak Tacos | Serious Eats.

Pretzel Ice Cream Cones! by The Cone Guys. Via Love From the Oven

Next week I’m saying goodbye to my wisdom teeth. Nothing drastic, it’s just time. In preparation I’ve been reading wisdom teeth advice and a few horror stories over at Ask Metafilter. I particularly like the question about the Tooth Fairy for adults. Here are my plans so far:

• Smoothies, green juice, ice cream, mashed potatoes and jello.
• Regular tea bags to chew on and peppermint tea to refresh. (Apparently my mouth won’t taste so good, surprise.)
• Bags of frozen peas to press on swollen chipmunk cheeks.
• My mascot, pictured above, of a plush Monster Tooth made by Sew Dorky that I bought a few years back knowing that someday it would be needed. I will hug or pummel it depending on how I feel.
• Journey on the PS3 and the awesome Amanita Design games from the latest Humble Indie Bundle.
• And to read I’ve already started Game of Thrones. I was afraid that I’d get all the characters confused but so far it’s been no trouble.
• The ability to sit on my couch feeling sorry for myself for a few days.

More information always makes me feel less nervous about new things like this. Did you have your wisdom teeth out? What do you wish somebody had told you before? Any advice on something I should have ready to go just in case?

A collection of cinnamon related goodness culled from my Food board at Pinterest.

Cinnamon Roll Pie Crust from Taste for Adventure

Pie Fries from Munchkin Munchies

Bacon rolled up in a cinnamon roll from Rainy Day Gal

Cinnamon Twists from Experimento 96

Heart Shaped Cinnamon Rolls from Poppies At Play

Cinnamon rolls in pretty tins from Pie Wacket. which TinEye could only track back to here but left uncredited. If anybody knows where this originated let me know. Thanks to Aryn and Liz for finding the source!

Two weeks in Italy, from Rome north to Tuscany and back. Where to go? What to do? Where to stay? | Ask MetaFilter.

mirrormirror: Vancouver in Five and mirrormirror: My Hidden New York

boston city guide | Design*Sponge.

Black*Eiffel: Travel log : Portland, Oregon. Lovely spots!

make grow gather – Posts – jem fabric store in nyc.

Offbeat Guide to Seattle Favorite Spots | A Chow Life | Foodie recipes and stories from a Seattle kitchen. Great list of spots!

I’m talking a little bit about working with ad networks tomorrow night at the Seattle Bloggers Unite meeting. Here are details:

The meetup will take place Tuesday, April 24 — 7 p.m. at Row House Cafe. Here’s the lineup of our distinguished speakers:

• Megan Reardon & Melanie Bielhe / Ad networks
• Marie LeBaron / Boutique ads
• Natasha Jarmick / Affiliate programs
• Amy Anderson / Sponsored posts

The restaurant is setting out snacks for us so there is an $8 entry fee. More details on the Facebook page. If you are hoping to learn a bit more about these things I hope to see you there!

I’ve found myself in the middle of some lack of inspiration and I decided to give into it. Recently it feels like nothing I try really works out: my very cool Easter project idea failed spectacularly (but I still have hope that I can do it for next year), I bought a pair of really comfy shoes I wanted to tell everybody about only to find that they squeak loudly when I walk, I cannot seem to capture what I want in my photographs. Graaah! Feel the power of overlapping small frustrations add up!

As part of my downtime I’ve decided to declutter the house, Spring cleaning for the house as well as my brain maybe? Shown above is a collection of keys that both Scott and myself have somehow collected over the years. With the exception of one we have no idea where any of these keys might work. There was a Nissan key in there and neither of us has ever driven a Nissan. That padlock was from my high school years and I couldn’t remember the combination even back then. So I’ve tossed the keys and my house became that much literally and figuratively lighter. High five, it’s working.

I’m making slow progress because I’m a very lazy person at heart. It’s overwhelming because this is the first place I’ve lived in for more than two years at a time as an adult and, predictably, I’m finding the amount of stuff you can shove into closets and forget about is incredible. Turns out I’m way better at shedding stuff when faced with the imminent threat of having to carry it all to a new home. These days it’s easier to pull everything out of a closet, toss a couple things and put it all back in, only a little more orderly looking this time. All the work and sense of satisfaction with none of the desired results!

I really need to get motivated, like Hulk Smash! style motivated. So far my plan is:

• Highbrow: Watch and re-watch this TED talk by Graham Hill on less stuff equaling more happiness. I found this though a article by Jessica Adamiak that I will revisit when I need to remember bullet points.
• Lowbrow: Watch episodes of Hoarders because nothing will inspire a craving for minimalism in me faster. Maybe I’ll write a prescription for myself to watch one per week.
• Read Dinah Sanders’ Discardia. It’s in Kindle forrmat as well as good old fashioned book. Something I like from the first chapter: “Your first Discardian act should be to let go of feeling bad about what you haven’t gotten done by now.” Done! (I know Dinah from way back, hi Dinah!)
• Rearrange my digital life as well. I need to set up a schedule (shudder) for backing up my iPhone, computers and cameras. And back up those back ups somewhere not in this house. I also need to rearrange and weed my bookmarks, Google Reader lists, Twitter lists, Gmail labels and be a better Facebook citizen. My hands feel heavy just thinking about all these things, but I know they’ll break me out of my current “I wonder if The Hairpin has posted anything new?” form of comfort surfing. Or at least I hope.
• Remember that trash and recycling pick up is early on Friday mornings. Remember that on Thursday afternoons.
• Acknowledge that crunchy snacks are a vital part of the process for me. Trader Joe’s Crunchy Curls are on the top of my list.

But I also could use help! Do you have any good motivations? Resources? Playlists? Scare tactics? Share, I beg you, if only so that I know I’m not alone in my sea of half-emptied closets.

These are my new earrings, geometric hoops from Pico Design. They are inspired on the HDM pavilion in China but I see the Asteroids game when I look at them. Stealth Asteroids!