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Scott did the upgrade to my laptop hard drive this morning while I was still asleep. I'm not noticing any difference just yet. I'm not sure I will except when I want to put in more music.

Cordelia's appointment went fairly well. I asked them to do the shots right away so that she wouldn't have time to get so worked up about them. They did them fairly quickly, but she was in tears well before the nurse came back to do the shots. She had two, the third of the HPV sequence and the second of the hepatitis A sequence. With that, she should be done with shots (except flu shots) until she turns sixteen.

This year, Cordelia had a form to fill out. I'm pretty sure I wasn't supposed to give input or read what she wrote, but she was very worried that she wasn't doing it right and, especially at first, needed me to read the questions out loud. There were a few questions she tried to get out of answering by claiming she didn't know, but I'm pretty sure, since they all had to do with what she eats and how much exercise she gets, that she simply knew that the honest answers weren't what the doctor was going to want to hear.

We got a referral to a dermatologist. The doctor we saw recommended that, in the meantime, we try Cordelia with 2% benzoyl peroxide products. Unfortunately, Scott and Cordelia weren't able to find any in the stores yesterday, so it looks like we'll have to go online. The doctor warned us that insurance companies are very bad about covering the second and third line medications for acne and added that 'generic no longer means cheap.'

The doctor recommended that Cordelia get a period tracking app for her phone or her iPad. I'm going to have to make sure she does and make sure that the cost of it doesn't come out of her fun money. I think this is something we ought to pay for for her.

Cordelia's eye exam didn't turn up any problems. It wasn't a very in depth check, only about five minutes of looking at various things, but I think it would have given us some idea if there was a problem that needed a more serious check. I make sure she gets an eye exam every year because Scott and I are both near sighted and had glasses by her age. I will be very surprised if she reaches adulthood without needing glasses.

Scott's father had been working in our yard all during the time while we had appointments. After we got back from Cordelia's appointment, Scott went out and worked, too. They got rid of a lot of weed trees that were trying to destroy our garage and the garage of the lady who lives next door (she can't reach those from her property, and she's in her 70s, so we take care of them when we can). Scott's father stayed until about 4:30. I was surprised by that because traffic gets nasty after about 4:00, and he and Scott's mother are usually careful to leave no later than 3:00 (or to stay until after 6:30).

We went to the library after Scott's father went home. I returned the CD that I'd previously paid for. They didn't charge me any more money for it, but the lady behind the desk told me that, if I'd found it sooner, they'd have given me money back (the deadline for that is three months. It's been four). She offered to let me keep it, but I didn't like the music on that CD, so I didn't see any point.

At some point, I need to wander around the library and figure out where everything is now. They rearranged all of their collections considerably earlier this summer. There was a map at the front desk, and I looked at that. All of adult fiction except audiobooks is now on the second floor. So are all of the adult CDs. The teen section is on the first floor now (it was on the third floor). I didn't actually register where the adult DVDs are or where non-fiction is or where periodicals and reference are.

Scott did laundry on Tuesday, but he still hasn't brought the clean clothes upstairs. I'm going to have to prompt him on that because I'm running out of clean clothes. We haven't made Cordelia do laundry yet, and we should because she won't do it on her own, no matter how many times she wears her clothes. Scott bought a new laundry basket a few weeks ago that he's really pleased with because it has two compartments and can hold two loads of laundry at once. He thinks that will save effort. I pointed out to him the other day that I can't actually carry two loads of laundry at once, not even when I'm fully recovered. I need a separate basket for each load.

We have about eight hours left on the book on CD that I got for our vacation driving. I'm not sure we'll get through much more of that unless we do go up to see Grandma. Scott and Cordelia really, really don't want to make the trip. It's three hours each way, and, given the things we need to deal with down here and the difficulties in finding lodging, we'd have to do the entire trip in one day. It would have to be either tomorrow or Saturday as the car goes in for work on Friday and will take three to six hours to get done. (Today is out because we're having friends over tonight. If we left right now, we still probably wouldn't be back in time.)

One of the players in Scott's game has dropped out for at least the next several months, possibly longer, in order to be at home with his wife and daughter. His daughter is fourteen months old, and it's about a half hour drive for him to get home after the game sessions. I wouldn't be surprised if he's gone longer than he expects, though. Scott has said that he's going to keep the spot open for this player and not try to add anyone else to the game. We will miss his character because he has a skill set that none of the other PCs have.

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Scott wants to take Cordelia clothes shopping. He has no idea where to take her, though, and I'm not up to doing it. If we went to Target, I could probably get a scooter (if I was lucky), but I don't think the Penneys or Sears or Kohl's have such things. Also, Cordelia's at a difficult age-- She's twelve and 5'2" but still pretty skinny. She could conceivably wear misses sizes or women's petites, but clothes in the kids' area are more likely to be to her taste.

I'd love to order her some knit pants online. I know a pretty good line that lasts a couple of years and has pockets. They're similar to things she's liked before, just heavier fabric, a bit less skin tight, and actual pockets. I'm not at all sure of her size, however. Well, and Scott's adamantly against ordering clothes for Cordelia online. He wants her to try everything on before we buy it. Never mind that that doesn't lead to notable success. She still decides, after one or two wearings, that 75% of what we buy for her isn't at all acceptable, either because it's not comfortable or because she doesn't like how it looks after all. She got through most of last year on two pairs of pants even though we'd bought her about nine pairs.

She refuses to wear any kind of jeans. I'm not sure if it's the texture or the way they're cut. I could certainly see issues with the cut since there's not a single pair we can find that doesn't show off a girl's butt crack when she sits down.

I'm not as worried about shirts just now. I figure we have a bit more wiggle room in terms of timing for those. Cordelia's also willing to wear a broader selection of shirts than of pants, so shirts are a lot easier to find.

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The xylitol gum and hard candies my dentist gave me samples of yesterday appear to be only barely available in the US. I did some minimal googling, and the brand (Miradent) seems to be Australian. Amazon carries the stuff in a very limited range of flavors (mostly mint) that are very, very expensive. $35 (plus shipping!) for 200 small pieces of gum seems far too much. There's a manufacturer site (Hager Worldwide) that prices the same thing at $33 (I can't figure out the shipping costs), but they seem to only sell to 'dental dealers' and not direct to customers. I found one dental dealer website, but they won't sell to 'consumers,' only to dental offices and won't reveal prices to anyone who isn't logged in.

It's a pity because Cordelia and I have been enjoying the gum. My psychiatrist very strongly suggested gum as something that would help my dry mouth, but I've had an awful time finding something that didn't contain aspartame.

I suppose I can call my dentist and ask if they can sell me more gum, but I suspect the prices would be beyond what I'm willing to pay.

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I'm waiting to hear the results of my sister's breast cancer genetic test. Those are supposed to come today, and knowing the results matters for me and for Cordelia. Of course, letting me know may not be high on my sister's list of priorities or on my mother's. My sister's surgery is tomorrow, and I know she's having an awful time with the waiting. I'm hoping that she and Mom are doing something fun together today, something to distract them both.

My sister's in Atlanta, so she's in the same time zone I am. I would expect the results before the end of the working day. Of course, if they don't come in today at all, it may be a week or so before I hear simply because my sister may not be in any shape to get the results. I'm not sure she'll be able to lift her arms enough to hold a phone by her ear, and I'm pretty sure the doctor won't share the results with Mom or my BIL unless my sister signed something clearing it in advance. She might have done that, given the surgery. I expect the hospital encouraged it.

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I talked to my sister. The genetic test came back entirely clear. Her surgery is scheduled to start at 1:40 tomorrow. She's not entirely clear how long it will take, but she thought at least until 6:00. Mom will call me when it's all over, and I'll call our sister (who will call her mother) and our father (who neither of us would ever ask Mom to talk to).