Today's trip to the dentist was a lot less draining than the first one, partly because no actual work was done on any teeth, but also because we pretty much already knew exactly what the orthodontist was going to say. The only things we didn't know were the price (although we knew it would be a lot, which it is) and how long the braces would have to be worn. We were hoping so dearly for the Invisalign option, but our teeth are just too crowded for that to be a viable one. I should have known, because yesterday the non-orthodontist dentist said that our need for braces was a legitimate health concern and not really just for cosmetics. Le sigh.

Anyway, we have until Monday to decide what we want to do about it. We're mostly leaning toward fine just do it, but the cost and time commitment are rather off-putting, so.

And then we came home and got some more work done. Translation work, not dental work. But not much, because we're still in a "blow everything off" kind of mood. We finished a rough draft of a simulpub chapter and now we're calling it a day. We figure it's fine not to edit it, because tomorrow's going to be a short workday, too, since Mom and Steve are coming down for lunch. That means tonight we need to pull out all the Japan souvenirs and Christmas presents we bought for people and label them so Mom can distribute them properly.

Other than that, we are tired. Oh! And when we were having lunch, we opened the door so Page could go outside, but she decided it was too warm outside and got settled by the dining room table. So I thought it was really odd when Athena kept glancing at the door and grinning. Page wasn't by the door, so what could possibly be so funny?

Well, apparently there was a neighborhood cat who had come along and noticed the open door. I guess it wanted to come in and look around some more, but cats are cautious creatures, and Athena caught sight of it when it had one paw hesitantly through the doorway. She thought maybe if she looked away, it would feel like it was okay to sneak in, so she tried resuming eating lunch...but the cat stayed frozen in place. Then I noticed what was going on, so Athena tried to explain, but she had to stop suppressing her laughter first. That's when the cat decided it wasn't safe and left. It's also when Page realized that something was up, and after that, she stood guard by the doorway until everyone was ready to move on.

Today I'm thankful for today's dentist trip not sapping all our energy, visits from neighborhood kitties, having time so that we don't have to finish that translation today (on second thought, I should probably double-check that; oh good, we do), having Bungo Stray Dogs to look forward to tomorrow, and also having Review Rednesday to look forward to tomorrow.