My birthday is December 15. If you have been following the show (!), you know that every year I ask a birthday question. Here is this year's question.

Have I ever taught you anything? Or, to put it another way, is there anything you have learned from me? It doesn't have to be a specific skill.

A sub-question: Is there anything you are good at that you would like to teach me? Or show me? Or any place you would like to take me, should I visit you?

The implants on the upper left (numbers 13 and 14) are done!

I have asked my dentists to give me an estimate for ALL OF THE DENTAL WORK I need. This includes four (perhaps five) implants, as well as crowns and cosmetic procedures. Keep you posted.

Today is my birthday. As you know, I like to ask a question every year. So, without further ado:

Tell me something -- a story about how we met, something you've learned, an inspiration, as personal as you like -- that will keep my spirits high, and sustain me.

For this has been a hard year, and 2013 is not going to be any easier.

And thanks.

Yesterday I had two dentist appointments -- one at 9a to remove the stitches from Number 21's extraction, and one at 6p to take the impression for the temporary bridge in the same place.

Tomorrow I will get the implants placed for Numbers 13 and 14. I am told it will be much less awful than the extraction was. (It was horrible.) Yes, I know it's the day before Thanksgiving. I'll eat mashed potatoes and stuffing. Or maybe this. And I'll pick up the temp bridge in a week and change.

We move forward.

On this, the first day back at work after Sandy, I went to the dentist. He X-rayed my LL and, yes, Number 21 had a cracked root. And an infection, as it turned out. He gave me four shots of lidocaine and pulled out the post, crown, and root. (Of course I asked to keep it. Attention, elisem: A pendant, I think. But it will have to be coated with some kind of epoxy to keep it from degrading -- suggestions?) This brings my implants-to-come up to six.

It will cost me a total of $25,000.

I am determined to get all the work done in a timely fashion, which includes checking medical insurance to see if they cover the surgery, because the dental plan certainly doesn't. I am also fairly serious about crowdsourcing some of it, and have some good ideas for rewards. (Feel free to chime in below.)

In ten days, the stitches will come out, and I will go back to my regular dentist for a temporary bridge (what is known as a "flipper"). Then I'll go back to Mr. Implant and have numbers 13 and 14 placed. (I came up with this plan on my own, and my dentist agreed -- it was what he was going to suggest, pretty much. We both thought that it was pretty sad that I know enough to be able to do it.)

Right now I am in some serious pain, and on Vicodin and antibiotics, holding an ice pack to my jaw.

As for Sandy: The commute in (one bus, one subway) was easy, but not so the reverse commute. There were lines down the stairs and out the door at Port Authority, and the PATH train starts limited service tomorrow (but not to any of my stops, alas). They actually had to shut down Penn Station for a while. In the end, a colleague and I took a $70 cab ride home. And most people I know have similar stories.

Finally, an annoying scroll, but it's important.

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE TOMORROW.

Hi, all --

If you're not on Facebook (and if you are, please friend me), a quick update. I got power back on Thursday night, and thus have the full complement of services -- hot and cold running water, gas stove, land line, and now wireless again.

I know how lucky I am, and so have been trying to help out others.

The PATH train is dead for the time being, so I'm now going to have to take two busses every morning and evening, doubling the time of my commute, but it is a small price to pay.

Thanks for all of your well-wishes -- elisem really saved me by going online during the worst of it and calling to update me. And I'm grateful to those who passed my news along.

In dental news, unfortunately, I appear to have a cracked root on 21. More implants to come.

The dental updates are going to be thick and fast now, because I have decided to throw caution to the wind, spend a lot of money I don't have, and make a plan.

Today I went to the implant dentist. You see, Number 29 (which had been root canaled years ago) has a cracked root. It needed to be extracted. Thus, another implant in the making.

I will be getting five dental implants -- two on the UL (these were prepped in July and I did a pre-op today), one on the UR (which will require some root extraction), and now two on the LR. Each set of implants will take between two and five months, depending upon what has to be done (extraction adds a few months to the process). Each individual implant costs roughly $5,000.

You do the math.

And welcome to my future. I need a full set of teeth and I will do whatever I need to. A friend suggested that I try Kickstarter or Indiegogo to raise funds, or just ask everyone I know for $20.00. Of course, I would then have to give out some sort of reward.

What do you think the rewards should be?

Bold the ones you have and use at least once a year, italicize the ones you have and don't use, strike through the ones you have had but got rid of. (Raye's addenum: things in plain text with no change are things I simply don't have and never did.)

"I wonder how many pasta machines, breadmakers,juicers, blenders, deep fat fryers, egg boilers, melon ballers, sandwich makers, pastry brushes, cheese boards, cheese knives, electric woks, miniature salad spinners, griddle pans, jam funnels, meat thermometers, filleting knives, egg poachers, cake stands, garlic crushers, martini glasses, tea strainers, bamboo steamers, pizza stones, coffee grinders, milk frothers, piping bags, banana stands, fluted pastry wheels, tagine dishes, conical strainers, rice cookers, steam cookers, pressure cookers, slow cookers, spaetzle makers, cookie presses, gravy strainers, double boilers (bains marie), sukiyaki stoves, ice cream makers, fondue sets, healthy-grills, home smokers, tempura sets, tortilla presses, electric whisks, cherry stoners, sugar thermometers, food processors, bacon presses, bacon slicers, mouli mills, cake testers, pestle-and-mortars, and sets of kebab skewers languish dustily at the back of the nation's cupboards."

What of Dutch ovens, immersion blenders, pizza cookers, comals, stand mixers, handheld mixers...?

Back in late June, I took it as my mission to try every single flavor at Imperial Woodpecker Sno-balls.

The original post is here.

My project has come to an end. I tried close to sixty flavors, I did not gain any weight, and I made some new friends.

My favorite flavor remained Mardi Gras King Cake, although I also love Praline with condensed milk, and Blackberry.

My least favorite flavors were Spearmint and Banana.

The most boring flavor was Grape, or maybe Pear.

Neesa tells me that next year she will have more flavors, and she will be making some of the syrups herself. I am sated for the time being.

I went to the Implant Dentist today, who says that I am healing beautifully. In two months I'll go back and we'll prepare for the next step -- drilling the titanium posts into my jaw.

On Friday I go to Regular Dentist for a cleaning. ::flings tooth-shaped confetti::

Yes, two updates in one week!

I went to my regular dentist today to see what was up with unstable 10. Happily, not much -- it had been root canaled a few years ago and the post was loose. So he pulled out the crown, re-cemented it in place, and while he was at it did some drill-down and bonding on 9, which sorely needed it (no pun intended). The end.

I also made an appointment for a cleaning (of my few remaining teeth ::hollow laugh::) late next month.

And tomorrow it's back to Mr. Implant to check on how I am healing.

It has been a while since we have had one of these. So first, your usual handy diagram.

I went to the implant dentist, and he removed the crown on 14. Then he took out the roots of 13 and 14. When this heals, the titanium posts will be drilled into my jaw.

Alas, 10 feels a little unstable, so I am off to my regular dentist on Monday to see what the deal is.

Right now I ache, am on Vicodin and Amoxicillin, and hate my teeth. (On the other hand, I can still eat sno-balls.)

This is the sno-ball menu at Imperial Woodpecker, a pop-up that was open last summer, too.

A sno-ball is exactly what you think it is: shaved ice with syrup on it. Neesa, the owner, is from New Orleans (their sno-balls are the best, bar none). She uses a special ice machine, and (as you'll see from the menu) there are many interesting variations, including the traditional NOLA topping of sweetened condensed milk.

My Sno-ball Goal: Try every single flavor this summer. Neesa tells me that there are 46. (Edited to add: Make that 50. She added four new flavors!) (Edited to add: Two of these have sold out; I am sad to have missed Cucumber Melon.)(Edited to add: She added two more new flavors, Cranberry Pomegranate and Oscar the Grouch, which is Spearmint Cream.)(They have a "buy ten get one free" deal, so I will be getting a few freebies.) She already knows me well.

So far, flavors achieved since they reopened a few weeks ago:

- Mardi Gras King Cake
- Bananas Foster
- Orchid Cream Vanilla
- Dreamsicle
- Birthday Cake (this had a teaspoon of sprinkles on top)
- Coffee Cream
- Peach (not on the wall menu)
- Coconut Cream
- Praline (pralines are my favorite candy, next to tablet)
- Tiger Blood (strawberry and coconut)
- Butter Cream
- Creole Cream Cheese
- Tutti Frutti
- Sweet Lou's Nectar Cream
- Wedding Cake
- Blackberry
- Strawberry Shortcake
- Red Velvet Cake
- Key Lime Pie
- Spearmint
- Hershey's Chocolate (this was a half-and-half mixture with Spearmint, which I loathe, but as you have deduced, I am a completist)
- Cherimoya
- Hurricane
- Cotton Candy (this was blue, not pink)
- Marshmallow (not on the wall menu)
- Wild Strawberry
- Carrot Cake (not on the wall menu) with Creole Cream Cheese "frosting"
- Ruby Pomegranate (not on the wall menu)
- Blueberry
- Almond Cream
- Piña Colada
- Pink Bubblegum
- Ice Cream
- Peaches and Cream (Peach with condensed milk)
- Pear
- Guava
- Coconut (garretfw came with me tonight, and this was her pick. She loved it.)
- Lemonade
- Iced Tea (I had these two together, an "Arnold Palmer")
- Strawberry Daiquiri
- Raspberry
- Blue Raspberry
- Grapefruit
- Cherry
- Pineapple
- Tangerine
- Granny Smith Apple
- Cranberry Pomegranate (not on the wall menu)
- Mango (I had this with Cherimoya -- which tasted different from the first time I had it)
- Grape
- Bahama Mama (a fruit punch-like flavor)
- Banana
- Margarita
- Watermelon
- Mojito
- Root Beer
- Repeat: Praline with condensed milk
- Ice Cream Cream
- Mardi Gras King Cake, to bring it back around full circle

And the Summer 2012 Sno-ball Project comes to a sweet end on September 24, the day the pop-up closes for the year.

As I do most years, I celebrate Father's Day by asking you here for a story about your father -- good, bad, but representative.

Tell me about your father. I'd love to meet him.

As I do most years, I celebrate Mother's Day by asking you here for a story about your mother -- good, bad, but representative.

Tell me about your mother. I'd love to meet her.

As you all know, Diana passed away a year ago. Now, a year later, Firebird is reissuing three of her books with new introductions -- DOGSBODY (intro by Neil Gaiman), FIRE AND HEMLOCK (intro by Garth Nix, and it also includes "The Heroic Ideal," an essay she wrote about writing the book), and A TALE OF TIME CITY (intro by Ursula K. Le Guin).

Next Sunday, April 22, there will be a celebration of her life and work in Bristol, where she lived for decades. Publishers, friends, and family will speak -- nineweaving will be there, correct?; music from the Black Maria play will be performed; and other remembrances will occur.

And: right now we're having an ongoing celebration of her work on Tumblr -- the URL is http://dwj2012.tumblr.com. A blog tour is happening, and anyone can submit remembrances, stories, favorite quotes, etc. If you've already posted something you want to share, let me know.

Won't you join us?

Today is my birthday.

Those who have been playing along know that, each year, I ask a birthday question.

Here is the 2011 question: Is there something you have always wanted to tell me? (Note: If the thing you want to tell me is private, send a message to birthday at sharyn dot org.)

And thanks -- I read your answers year-round, when I need a lift.

Remember my teeth? You can bet my dentist does. I had a checkup today.

The result, for which I will provide a handy diagram for those playing along at home:

- Fillings on numbers 9 and 22 (he did the latter today)
- Bonding on 8 and 9
- Removal of root tips 2 and 3
- Implant at 2
- I need to use prescription fluoride toothpaste

None of this was a surprise. But then he added: 14 needs to be pulled and replaced by an implant. He gave me an X-ray film for the periodontist, with a note: Hopeless #14. Please remove. ::sobbing::

He also said something that I'll choose to take as a compliment: "Sharyn, you were born to have dental work."

Guess where I will be spending much of the rest of 2011?

Father's Day is this coming Sunday. So, I ask (as I do every year): Tell me a story about your father.

(You can find out about my own awesome father here.)