Three

peaking of cleaning, I dug my My Friend Mandy, Jenny, and Becky dolls out of my parents' attic and cleaned them (and their extensive wardrobes) up for Helen's birthday present. I can't wait to give them to her tonight.

Happy Third! Birthday, Baby Girl.

Dear person who took my diaries

Dude, it's -5 degrees outside, and I didn't put the trash out till evening. It takes some kind of commitment to tear a hole in every single bag of trash I put out, including the food-filled kitchen bags that were in the closed trash can.

I understand taking the boxes of VHS tapes; I set those out hoping someone would. But thanks for reinforcing every irrational fear I have by taking my junior high and high school diaries. 'Preciate it! You're in for quite the whiny, boy-obsessed read! And the entry where I finally get my period--diary gold! If you were looking for sex, drugs, and drinking, though, boy did you pick through the wrong trash!*

I can't help but notice you left the elementary school diary behind. Too tame? Or maybe you left it because it was filled front to back and the others weren't. That's it--you're going to tear out the used pages and recycle the diaries! Paper salvage! Say it with me: paper salvage! I'm breezy!

Why couldn't I have thrown these out when I lived hundreds of miles away from my hometown? Or published entries from them myself?

But seriously. So people find out I had crushes on them. Or that they annoyed me. I wouldn't hold anything anyone wrote twenty years ago against them. Right? RIGHT?

[Lamaze breathing.] Paper salvage. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely paper salvage.

*The really juicy stuff was in the college notebooks.

New year, SOS

We have mice.

Christmas and Thanksgiving were great. Very low key.

So was the December visit with family.

Katherine had wonderful dairy-free food experiences.

She went on her first overnight trip without her parents, and it went perfectly.

Probably because she was with her grandparents and aunt and uncle.

One of my favorite relatives died.

I dreamed about visiting with her the other night.

I love having four children.

Four is enough.

I am in the process of a MAJOR house cleaning.

Hoarders motivates me.

Only the basement to go.

Tell me about your affordable basement remodel stories.

Graham is the best baby ever.

He's four months old and is growing way too fast.

I look forward to the space that will be created when we hand down baby items.

I never thought I'd say that.

I don't know how to do everything I need to do AND blog.

I miss you.

You are important to me, despite evidence to the contrary.

Have I mentioned the pinehole mice?