Short and ...well, short

I write blog posts in my head. In the car, while I'm doing dishes, while I'm standing at the playground. But when I actually have time to write, those scintillating posts turn out to be...well, not as substantive as they were when I was sitting in the car waiting on road work traffic. Or, I forget what exactly that great idea was. So, here I am, starting another bulleted list. Hey, maybe the next post will be literary, profound, and touching. And not a list. For now, though, here are some recent happenings and observations.

• A piece of filling fell out of my tooth Saturday night. So, Monday I had to get the whole filling drilled out and re-done. The dentist was great. I've had some not-so-great experiences in the dentist office, so I'm always wound pretty tight when I get there. But there was no pain, not even with the shot.

• Tuesday I took Katrina to the pediatrician for her persistant cough. He was as convinced as I that she had some sort of environmental allergies. So they did a prick test for about 10 different things, and she came out clean on all of them. By the way, Katrina was amazingly calm for the whole thing, from the little lancet pricks to the 20 minutes of holding her arm still. Since the allergy test was negative, the doc thought she might have a viral infection. Anyway, we came home with another cough syrup and a 7-day supply of Singulair, an asthma treatment. If these don't work in a week, I'm supposed to bring her back to get some inhalant treatment.

• I've been trying to lose some weight. I've lost about 10 pounds in the last few months. Mostly because I started exercising again and am keeping a bit of an eye on what I'm eating. One of the perks of being a Dept. of Defense ID holder here is that the on-base gyms are free, including a number of classes. Two or three days a week, I drop Katrina off at school and go to a step aerobics class. So this morning, I noticed that the songs were pretty cheesy 80s songs set to a dance beat....and even as I thought how cheesy they were, I was be-bopping along with them. "Let's Get Physical," "Billy Jean," "Fame," "Mamma Mia," "I Will Survive" (OK, not all 80s), and ..."It's Raining Men!" The cool-down was a slow song from Grease that I can't remember right now. Two songs by Olivia Newton John in one hour. And I was totally into the music. How uncool am I? Don't answer that.

• Why I'm a fun mom but a terrible housekeeper. Last week was gorgeous weather. Sunny and 75 degrees pretty much from the moment my sister and brother-in-law left (sorry, guys). So for three days in a row, I packed a lunch and took Katrina to the park for, like, the whole afternoon. We barely got home in time to start dinner, and every day, she wanted to stay longer. And honestly? So did I.

All right, I promised Katrina I'd put together a puzzle with her, so I'm off. Unfortunately, it's cloudy and 50 today, so not a prime playground day. Puzzles it is.