Since I haven't blogged lately

Here are some things that are going on in my life:

1. Annie has her first loose tooth, which has made her the object of intense jealousy on the part of all of her friends.

2. We finally found the mail key. I had the box rekeyed about a year ago after we went two weeks without being able to find it (yeah, the post office loved us). It was in the car stereo I had replaced this yesterday (a long overdue birthday present), along with several Chuck E. Cheese tokens. You may remember that about two years ago I paid $77 to have $.76 in nickels, dimes and pennies removed from the same car stereo. Different kid was the cuprit this time. Now if I can just get the car washed and vacuumed really well I might not feel like I'm driving around a playroom on wheels. 

3. Annie and I got into a car with a stranger yesterday. We were walking home from Best Buy (the line for the car stereo install was two hours long, and Maren was waiting for me at home), along one of those East Texas kinds of roads with no shoulder and no sidewalk and (full) water ditches on either side. Anyway, a mom with a big suburban pulled over and told me to hop in. So I did. Great example I set for my kid, right?

4. It's sleeting. In April. In Texas. Too bad I was planning to put shorts on Isaac for Easter.

5. I'm in the very beginning stages of planning my dream house, which I hope to have built in two years' time. So far, this house is the current favorite design. So if you have any ideas for house-related things you love or just want to tell me that I'm crazy for thinking about building a custom home while still living five states away, you know where the comments go.

6. Now that I'm almost at my weight watchers goal, I'm simultaneously rejoicing that I'll be able to stop writing down every single lick of frosting I take (my food journal has things like "ten licks of buttercream" written in it) while worrying that without the structure of the points system I'll balloon. And to answer Emily, I'm running about as much as ever (10-15 miles a week) but I think the weight loss has more to do with the diet.

7. I recorded all of the episodes of Chefography on the food network a few weeks ago and Annie and I have worked our way through most of them while I fold laundry. So far she and Eddie both like Giada DeLaurentiis's epsiode best, but for different reasons, I suspect.

8. We decided not to try to go away or do anything too special for our 10th anniversary later this month. It's just not fun to go on a romantic getaway with a nursing baby. So we're saving our money and trying to decide where to go for our 11th. So far the current front runners are Lake Powell (Eddie's choice) or a cruise to Mexico (my choice). If you'd like to weigh in with your choice, you know where to do it.

9. My sister is getting married in 40 days.

10. School gets out for the summer in 45 days. We have an extra 2 1/2 weeks of summer break this year. Anyone with any brilliant ideas of how to fill it?

--originally published 4/7/07