Grrrrr ... there's a mail thief in town

I thought I'd share the wisdom I gained this week in hopes of saving you the trouble of learning it yourself ... the hard way. Whenever possible, take your mail to the post office rather than putting it in your mailbox for your letter carrier to pick up when he/she delivers your mail. It seems there are mail thieves roaming the neighborhoods and stealing people's outgoing mail. Our mailperson confirmed this to be a common problem as did the police department when I called to file a report. It was just a fluke that I even realized this had happened. I had put outgoing mail in my box in the morning and went out a few hours later to add another letter. My first batch of mail was gone, flag still up and new mail had not arrived for the day. On any other day, I probably would never had been aware this happened until I started bouncing checks (because the deposit in my box never reached its destination) or the intended recipients of the other mail contacted me to let me know they never received my mail. If you do decide to put outgoing mail in your home mailbox, do NOT put up the flag. The mailperson will take your mail even if the flag isn't up ... the flag is ... well, just that - "a red flag" that there is mail in your box ready to be stolen. I will be making the trip to the post office in the future. Aside from the huge inconvenience and frustration this has caused, it also saddened me. I've always felt so safe in our neighborhood and been so trusting of the people I see passing by my home. This incident will make me a little more cautious in the future. In fact, I just about called the police on the guy checking the water meter readings today! I saw a car driving down the street and stopping at every few houses on my way home. I had already written down his license plate before I realized what he was doing!

On a more cheerful note, here's pictures from tonight of Everett brushing his teeth (kind of) and reading his bedtime book with Daddy. I need to get some pictures of the back of his head and his adorable blonde curly locks ... As much as it pains me, he just might be going for his first haircut this weekend. :(