How Many Licks Does it Take. . .

OW!

To get to the Tootsie Roll Center?

Abby's Mom here - I thanked Abby for doing posts the last couple of nights. I still feel like death on a stick and need THIS

as a hat but I had to go back to work today.

Yes, that's a scorpion in the middle of that sucker.  My husband travels internationally a lot and on the longer trips, he sometimes brings me home a silly and often tacky gift from a local gift shop (as well as some really cool things).

But I thought of that sucker while my jaw thawed out from an emergency trip to the dentist today.

When you have to start the day in an expensive suit with heels, it can only go downhill.

I had some business that required serious suit-like adult clothing to testify in (hey, the black suit matches my lunch bag that looks like a battery!)  I even attempted something with a scarf, a subtle animal print, draped around my neck since the silk sheath under the suit jacket was a bit too low cut for the setting.  They make it look easy to do scarves like that in magazines.  I ended up looking like I had a marsupial attacking my throat and gave up and changed blouses.  Between that and wheezing and snorting throughout the entire process I probably had all the courtroom presence of  a cross-dressing Barney Fife on Ambien, but duty called.

But despite the grown-up activities, I still snuck in my daily Tootsie Pop between, for lack of a better word, "events" (Grape). Of course, I bit it. I always do.  Only this time, I bit it a wee bit early, so instead of the chewy center I got a piece of enamel.

Which had previously been part of my left rear molar.

Recess!  (Revert to 3rd-grade mode)

Fortunately,  it was time to break for the day, so my dentist worked me in, as he had a cancellation.  It didn't hurt at all, but the sharp and rough areas were going to bug me over the next three days.

I did get some teasing about "how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop"  as the dentist and his assistant were of that age that they would remember that commercial.

Dr. E. fixed it with some resin that was the color of my teeth  (C1 and C2 were considered and we went with C1)  I told him "don't use C4, as if I bite another Tootsie Pop I might explode."

Never make bad jokes to a man with a drill in his hand.

As it was just one corner, he bonded the resin to what filling was in that tooth and the remaining tooth itself (after doing a bit of drill work), after building up a little shelf of some sort as a platform for the materials. He then shaped it and smoothed it so it looked and felt just like a tooth. It looked totally natural and cost 1/5 of the cost of a crown another Dentist may have likely tried to sell me. He said it won't last a lifetime, maybe 2- 5 years. With the expenses for Dad's nursing care, I'll take it for now.

This is a Dentist that makes sure there are some actually GOOD magazines out in the waiting room, NOT 15 copies of Sports Illustrated all from the 70's.  I knew he'd take care of me.

Seriously, I have the best dentist on the planet, and he entertained me with stories, while he worked away, about shooting a firearm long range, prone, with his wife and a Biathalon instructor on a vacation.  I could only mentally nod while offering such valuable shooting tips as. . .

"arrghhhlll"

With a tooth that looked better than it did waking up this morning, I was out in an hour; some gas for the Truck, then back to Secret Squirrel headquarters to drop off some papers while my lips unfroze (Slurpee--bad idea)

But home soon beckoned, quiet, the Zen of a peaceful Bungalow, a colorful throw rug, a loving, obedient dog who plays with her toys as gently as she does me.

Usually. The floor looked like the back of my truck tonight - filled with mounds of wadded up tissues.

Apparently, the Angry Bird Sound when she bit the Green Pig Angry Bird Toy unleashed something primal after weeks and weeks of  nuclear build up. Sorry Abby - you've lived with us for HOW many months without destroying a toy again, but no more unsupervised visits for you!

She feigned sleep when I came in but I caught her with an eye open.

I'm going to feed Abby, blow my nose (again) and have a glass of wine. Then I'll see if my inventor husband can come up with a patent for that TP hat.