It's Mothers' Day weekend, so do you know what that means?!  It means I turn another year on the odometer of life.  It seems like a pretty quick year, too.  I'm not sure that I actually feel _5 years old (I'll let you guess the first number).  Maybe I am actually that old... truthfully, I can never remember my age so that must be right.

   It seems like this year is a year of "all things new."  Would you like the little list of new things?

1. New pair of black dress shoes (my last pair was purchased when I was in 6th grade and though still good, it was just time).
2. New driver's license.  The other one was going to expire on my birthday.
3. New glasses... guess that comes with the birthday, too.
4. New tires on the Jeep.  Got tired (no pun intended) of filling up every two weeks because of a slow leak.  Besides, every time it rains in Houston I pretty much felt like I was skiing to work.
5. Interview for a new job (still haven't heard back and it's been over 3 weeks!)
6. New leaf blower/vac (the old one sucked up a rock and broke a blade off the impeller.  Now, THAT is an experience!)
7. New TV.  The 13 year old television we had is probably not going to make it 14 years... and since we are one of the few remaining families with only one TV, we went ahead.
8. New (to us) entertainment center.  The new TV wouldn't fit in our old entertainment center... and no, our new TV is probably still not as big as yours.

So, I'd be interested in knowing what new things have come your way.  Oh, and Happy Mothers' Day to all of you who have been blessed in those regards (and even those of you who wear the title but don't feel blessed... because you should feel blessed; you're job is the absolute most important on the plant.)

  I did it!!  My goal was to reduce my cholesterol from 212 last November to below 170 for this last check-up.  Today, I got the results...  169!  Now, I have to just keep it going.

  It really is forcing me to think about how much I eat and what it is I eat.  My downfall?  Desserts.  In fact, someone was telling me about an article with the 20 worst foods (healthwise) in America.  I looked at the list and really didn't see anything that I eat regularly or would even want to eat frequently.  HOWEVER, check out that worst dessert! Chili's Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream!  That is just a shadow of the Better Together Brownies I found at O'Charley's when I was in Louisville... a dessert for two (or in that case, for one William  )!  I can (and did) clean off a dessert plate like that in no time!

  So, why even bother working on my cholesterol?  I can really only think of three reasons: Nancy, Myles, and Chloe. 

  You know... I kind of miss xanga, I think.

A brief update on "things":

• Whether it goes so far as to be counted an addiction or not, I don't know.  But I've spent an awful lot of time lately at www.ogame.org.  There's a quote in Billy Budd by Herman Melville that basically says that it's just as hard to tell where one color in a rainbow begins and anoter ends as it is to tell between sanity and insanity.  I'm sure the same type line exists between recreation and addiction.  Your prayers regarding my time management around this game would be appreciated.
• Along the same lines as ogame, I found a similar issue with the facebook applications.  When you spend enough time with them to realize that there's nothing left to do with them, it highlights there pointlessness.  The whole testing of facebook smacks of the theme from Ecclesiastes.
• The children are well.  Myles can be very bratty in a polite sort of way (that won't sound right to you, but it makes perfect sense to me, his father).  Chloe is now 12 lbs. and 24" at almost 4 months.  Her hair seems redder every day <grinning ear to ear with great thankfulness and appreciation of God's handiwork>.
• The doctor has had me working on my cholesterol level by "low fat" diet and excercise since 3 days before Thanksgiving.  Tomorrow morning, I go in for my second check-up since.
• I interviewed for a different position in our company (Rohm and Haas) last Friday.  By the end of the week I should know if I'm getting an offer from the plant in Louisville, KY.  Relocation would follow.

I guess that's a long enough list for now.  I'm sure there is much much more, but it's bed time.

Been a while, hasn't it.