i must say that i never feel so good about myself as i do when leaving the dentist office. i might be failing in every other area of my life (i.e. teaching, neighboring, wifery, etc.), but nothing--absolutely nothing--will keep me from brushing my teeth.

today, for example, i went to a new dentist. i was embarrassed at the amount of time that i had allowed to elapse since my last visit to any dental office and admitted this openly to the dental hygienist. (i felt good about this move. i thought--in life so also in the dentist chair--honesty was sure to be the best policy.) to my surprise though, both the hygienist and the dentist were quite pleased with what they saw, attributing it to my wonderful "home care," as they called it (i love the esoteric language of any particular field of study).

so i walked out of dr. millet's office with my head held high knowing that even if dinner tonight were a disaster, even if others would parent their shi tzu better than me this evening, i had accomplished something good: strong oral hygiene.

i thought it wouldn't happen for a few more years....

but here i am. i just arrived home from walgreens with one transparent, days-of-the-week pill box.

because i've added like 17 new vitamins to my diet since finding out i was pregnant, i've found that i'm having a difficult time remembering if i took the pills or not....but yesterday, i remembered this tiny ingenious invention: the pill box. the transformation will be wonderful, i think.

previous conversations i've had with myself:

"did i take my 17 pills today?"

"i can't remember."

"well, retrace your morning. what did you have for breakfast this morning?"

"rice chex. but i had that yesterday. not helpful."

future conversations i'll have with myself:

"did i take my pills today?"

"well, let's see. today is tuesday and the tuesday box is empty.....so yes! yes, i did take my pills!"

--and there will be much rejoicing.

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craig's list

occasionally, i check out craig's list, and just for fun i'll sometimes peruse the stuff under "free." for some reason, i'm just curious about what people would rather let somebody else have for free than simply throw away or just give to goodwill.

anyway, here's my favorite item of the night. the post is entitled "free bread: bagels and rolls." pictured are 2 plastic baggies of bread items on a kitchen counter (see above). this benevolent phoenician writes, "free bagels and free rolls. they are good and soft. just come and get them. they will be on the table." but finally, "THE TABLE IS NOT FREE."

i guess everyone's benevolence comes to an end somewhere.

haircut gone wrong

in light of a baby that's on his/her way, we've undertaken certain.....shall we say....cost saving measures. the first is that brent cuts millie's hair himself. despite our great intentions, there was an unfortunate haircutting mishap that resulted in a much bigger bill than several of the best doggy trims money could buy. 3 or 4 stitches later (where our vet asked me "so who's the edwards scissor hands?"), we made our second cost saving move. instead of buying the plastic collar that prevents dogs from touching the wound, we took a piece of cardboard (i'm embarrassed to say that i think it may have originally housed a pizza), cut a hole out of the cardboard slightly smaller than the size of mildred's head, and proceeded to squeeze her fuzzy little mug through. surprisingly, our makeshift collar worked like a charm. see pictures for more proof.

word to the wise

a note to health care professionals: when a young couple comes in for their first ultrasound, avoid pointing out the yolk sac and jokingly stating that it's "not a second head" so "don't worry." they might not find it quite as hysterical as you.

lilypie

hey! now, check out our munchkin's progress on our blog--in utero! isn't this adorable? (see upper right pic.) so i've had a few friends use this or something like it, and i loved it so much, i thought i'd adopt our own little baby-in-a-peapod cartoon. so sweet. on september 3rd we'll find out the sex of the baby. can't wait! for now, i tried to use some more neutral colors for our little progress chart.