Look, Mom - no cavities!

I feel the need to brag a little bit. I had my six-month dental cleaning yesterday and had no cavities. But what's really impressive is that I've NEVER had a cavity. Not one. No fillings either.

Which means that if I can make it to my next cleaning in six months cavity-free, I can proudly claim to have no cavities at age thirty, ahem, twenty-nine. I consider that a pretty impressive feat! But do you think cavities are inevitable? I mean, how long can this continue, right?

From age seven to sixteen, I had some kind of metal in my mouth at all times. My teeth were a real train wreck and needed lots of help. I had expanders, retainers (front and bottom), lip bumpers, head gears (oh so attractive) and braces. I still have a permanent bottom retainer today. I guess I adopted good brushing habits from hearing my orthodontist preach to me enough times about how important it is.

However ... I don't floss. Ever. Gross, I know. There's just something about watching food particles fly out of my mouth and stick to my mirror that makes me cringe. I usually floss the morning of my dental cleaning (like I really expect that to fool them?), and when I'm in the chair I vow to the hygienist that I'll do a better job, but by the next day, I'm over it. The hygienists always comment on what beautiful teeth I have, but when they start the dreaded plaque scraping, my sensitive gums bleed and my whole mouth turns into a horror film.

But if I want to shoot for the Guinness World Record of Oldest Person to be Cavity-Free, then I really need to get serious about this whole flossing thing. Kent flosses almost every night and puts me to shame. Should I tape a reminder to my bathroom mirror? Put floss on my pillow every morning so that I can't go to sleep without flossing? How do you hold yourself accountable for things that you HATE doing?

Insert witty, creative blog title here

I've been wishing lately that I had given more thought to our blog before I started it almost two years ago. I come across so many blogs with catchy, clever titles .... ours, not so much. I was just so anxious to join the world of bloggers that I just threw a lackluster title up there in order to fill in that required bit of info to complete the set-up process.

And as much as Kent enjoys reading "our" blog, he's not exactly a contributing writer ... so should I transform it more into "my" blog? It doesn't help that I have total blogger's block when I try to think of a creative title. I can't change it yet, because I have yet to come up with a title that I am in love with. But if/when I do, should I take the plunge and make the change?

Help, I'm having a blog-life crisis, and could use some advice!

Bad Neighbors?

How friendly are you with your neighbors? I always thought that we were "above average" on the friendliness scale. We wave whenever we see them outside, we stop and have the typical lawn/weather chat every now and then, and we even gave Christmas goodies to our neighbors on our immediate left and right.

Yes, I thought that we were good neighbors. Until yesterday when I walked to our group mailboxes a few houses down. On my way back, I stopped to say hello to our neighbor caddy-corner from us who was working in her yard. A few days before, I noticed some orange spray paint on our curb, and saw that she had the same paint on her curb. I asked her if she knew anything about it (she always seems to know everything that happens on our street), and she said that the city was going to re-do our curbs. I didn't feel too out-of-the-loop at this point, because apparently she and her husband were the ones who complained to the city about the curbs being poured wrong initially. They complained enough that the city agreed to re-do them. So, I considered that insider information.

She then informed me that our immediate neighbors to our right are expecting their first child. Oops. Didn't know that either. That bottle of wine with attached spices for mulled wine that I gave them for Christmas probably wasn't a big hit! I think she's almost six months pregnant now ... but she's been hiding under sweaters and coats for the past few months. Eventually I would have noticed ... right?

We continued to chat and she mentioned that her immediate neighbor (our neighbor directly across the street) might cut some of his trees down. He never liked the ornamental pear trees, but his wife had wanted them planted a few years ago. But now that she had passed, he might cut them down. What?!? How could I not know that my neighbor had passed away? And not just recently, a few months ago. Granted, she rarely came outside when she was alive. Almost all of my interactions with them was chatting with the husband about plants and trees (yes, he's elderly). But I still felt really bad. I should have known. I should have taken over food. I should have done something. Maybe I still will. Is it too late? Are we bad neighbors?

Finders Keepers?

Yesterday something very unexpected happened. The hubby and I were getting ready to go workout. It was yucky and misting out, so I grabbed a sporty, waterproof jacket that I rarely wear (gosh, I wonder why I hardly ever wear it ... oh right, it almost never rains here!). I put my hands in the pockets to straighten them out, and felt something in the right pocket. Intrigued, I pulled it out and it was A FAT WAD OF CASH! Not just a few ones, but fives and tens and twenties! Holy cow! I counted it up and it totaled $145! Woohoo! But wait ... where in the world did this come from? I racked my brain trying to remember the last time I wore that jacket and why I would be carrying SO MUCH cash. I never carry very much cash, let alone $145.

Then more thoughts started to flood my mind. I'm a pretty organized person, and these bills were all mixed up in no order whatsoever, and definitely not all facing the same way as I would have had them. Then the inner dialogue began ... Is this money even mine? Who else's could it be, Jenna? I don't know, did I let someone borrow my jacket? Don't you think you would have noticed $145 missing? I mean, that's a big chunk of change!

I considered this news Facebook-worthy, so I updated my status to let everyone know of my good fortune. Some of the comments were along the lines of, "I love it when that happens!" and "Gosh, I'm happy when it's just $5!" But that's the thing. This NEVER happens to me. Like I said, I'm a pretty organized person. I don't have a habit of leaving things in my pockets. I can honestly say that before this instance, I don't recall ever finding money in my pocket.

So is it mine? More than likely yes, but who knows for sure. Finders keepers, right? You're probably saying, "Geez Jenna, stop over-analyzing the situation and just enjoy your find and go shopping!" And I will end up going shopping ... boring, responsible grocery shopping. But that's OK, because it's still a great way to start off the year. Maybe 2010 will be lucky for me!