Little Miss Indepedent (AKA "Toothless Wonder")

I don't know why I am surprised. She taught herself how to tie her own shoes. She started doing flips off the diving board at three. She memorized her best friend's phone number and calls her multiple times a day. She taught herself to read. And this week, she pulled out her first tooth.

I knew that two of Teensy's teeth were pretty loose, so I gave the one a good push. Then, she went into the bathroom to examine the wigglers and came back out holding her first lost tooth. "This is so awesome!" she exclaimed.

Here she is after the first tooth came out. It's obvious that the other tooth wasn't too far behind...

By bedtime, the other tooth was out (but I pulled that one, much to her dismay--she really wanted to be the one to do that one, too).

She was thrilled to be the first of my kids to get to use the Tooth Fairy Pillow that Grandma Margaret had made them for Christmas.


And now she makes me tell everyone we see that she has lost two teeth. As if one look at her smile doesn't show that development beautifully.


(I know she looks somewhat drugged in these photos; she was complaining about the flash and kept closing her eyes!)

A Simple Gal's Dream Come True

When they gave out eyebrows in heaven, I apparently only stood in line once. How else do you explain the single, uninterrupted fringed mass that stretches across my face?

Seriously, I've been dividing this bad boy into two for as long as I can remember. Back in the day, my sister, Amber, and I used to wax each other's eyebrows. (But the story of her waxing my eyelashes will have to wait for another day...)

In recent years, I've let some professionals have a go and then tried to "keep the lines" they've set up with some daily plucking at home.

A few years ago, I saw a segment on Indian threading on the local news. Immediately, I became fascinated and vowed to try this method of hair removal one day.

Last year, when I went to NYC with Amber and Quita we walked by a shop with a big "Threading Here" sign, but I had just gotten my eyebrows waxed so the timing wasn't right.

Well, a couple of weeks ago, I was in the mall with my dear friend, Tracy, and our girls, and what did we stumble upon? A kind, older Indian woman with a spool of thread just waiting to be put to work! "OOOOh! I've always wanted to get my eyebrow(s) threaded!" I squealed.

Tracy thought I was a little nuts, but she agreed to wrangle the girls while I enjoyed my long-awaited experience. She even snapped a few photos so I'd have a memento of the day (something other than perfectly-groomed eyebrows, that is).


Here's the low-down: I quite enjoyed it. I loved the feel of the thread rolling across my skin; it almost felt like a little massage. It totally takes away from the fact that the hair is getting pulled out of your skin by the root. I loved that this woman was using a technique that people in her culture have been doing for thousands of years. I mean, how cool is that?


I know, I know. I'm entirely too giddy about a method of hair removal, but what can I say? It's something I've been wanting to try for years and I finally got the chance! I'm not really one to dream big, so this was perfect dream come true for me.

How it Happens

When you smugly think that your household has nearly escaped winter without so much as a stuffy nose, you'll get hit. That's what happened in these here parts.

February was a bad time, health wise. Four of us suffered from the "Ultimate Body Cleanse"--I think you get the general idea of its two major symptoms--I'll spare you the details.

When that ended a flu moved in with its fevers, chills, coughing, sore throat, sinus ridiculousness and horrendous fatigue. The effects of that one hit five of us, including me. I haven't been that sick in my life. I have just now managed to get my house picked up and still haven't deep-cleaned.

And I managed to accrue a $17.80 fine at the library (which is less than a half a mile from my house).

Yes, all kinds of balls I had up in the air were dropping left and right around here. Including this blog, obviously.

Of course, it didn't help that I was in the middle of transforming the playroom into a bedroom for my two little girls when all the sickness hit. I had already been neglecting certain tasks around here to get that intense, special project done.

I'll get some pictures up in the near future (of the new room, not of our convalescence). Knock on wood, we won't be sick like that again for another 35 years.