Just when you think you have this whole "adult" thing down...

When my dryer caught fire in May of 2005, I found out that you're supposed to have your dryer serviced every year. The technician takes it apart and vacuums it and gets all the lint out of it. Who knew? My mother in law knew, she does it every year. But nobody told me that.

When Eric was about 7 or 8 months old he outgrew his "bucket" car seat: the removable seat with a handle. We bought him a new "convertible" seat that could be rear facing until his first birthday. For my car, we got a four-year-old Britax Roundabout. I called Britax and they said it was fine to use and we've been using it for Eric ever since. Now, I just found out that car seats have an expiration date of about six years. This seat is at least 7 years old and I've been blithely strapping my precious son into it and driving all over town.

Perhaps I'll write a simple rule book on how to be a grown up.