five for friday

1. After leaving a Winegar family Christmas party in Salt Lake last weekend, it took 40 minutes for us to drive the few blocks from Marc's parents' condo to the freeway. 40 minutes. It normally takes about 5. We got to a light where I was planning to turn left, and this policeman was in front of us. When the light turned green, he put his lights on, parked his car, and walked away to parts unknown. What the?

I sat there, trapped, for 3 cycles of lights, until someone in the right lane finally let me over. I have no idea what that police officer was doing or when he returned.

Remind me not to go to SLC again in December. Oh wait, we have to do it again next weekend...

2. This just makes my heart happy! It's the little things like this that I cling to when I feel my sanity is threatened.

3. Ditto. I caught this sunset this evening. The color of the setting sun on the mountains is great all year round, but there's something I particularly love about the pink of our Winter sunsets. I just happened to see it, and I grabbed my camera. 5 minutes later, it was all gone. It seems remarkable somehow, to be able to see something so beautiful and so fleeting every day.

4. Jill came over today for Creative Friday. I don't want to go out on a limb and say it was the most chaotic one ever, but... it might have been. Lucas finally returned to school today, after missing the whole week, only to call me and tell me that his gums were swollen and he needed to come home. Well, I didn't quite know what to make of that, never having heard that reason for missing school before. I talked him into staying until after lunch and then calling me if the situation hadn't improved.

Sure enough, he called again. When I went to pick him up, I inspected said gums, only to find a huge abcess! Guilt, guilt. (Can a mother ever escape guilt?) He did NOT have an abcess when I took him to school this morning. I was shocked that such a thing could develop during his short time away. Long story short, the pediatric dentist met us at his (closed) office. Apparently, Lucas's tooth is cracked and an infection took up residence. Never mind that he is already on antibiotics! It will need to be extracted, but evidently novacaine doesn't work properly when an infection is present, so it would have been extremely painful to pull it out today.

The dentist prescribed a different, stronger antibiotic to clear up the infection, as well as liquid Lortab! Who knew? My 9-year-old has pain meds now -- that is a first for us! And, get this, he is going out of town on Monday but doesn't want to let the problem linger for a week (good call), so we have to go in at 6:00 a.m. on Monday to get the tooth pulled. Huh. I didn't see that coming.

Anyway, Jill ended up leaving my house at 1:30, as we left for the dentist. It was a short Creative Friday. So short, and so chaotic, in fact, that I did not get one thing done! Not even one cut of paper! Oh well. Good thing it's about a lot more than productivity, eh? Jill still had half a cup of ice left as she departed, and that has never happened before. It was a sad commentary on our day. I'm so glad she was there to laugh with me. What else could we do?

5. Seriously? That is just for Lucas and Eva. The stuff Marc and Max are taking doesn't need to be refrigerated. (Technically, neither does the Lortab, I just thought it made for a better visual.)

I am the last holdout, and I have to stay strong. Somebody has to take care of everyone else.

Bonus #6: I made these today, because I really needed a treat. Marc just told me that they are his Kryptonite. That just cracked me up.