It all started when I decided to be domestic

It was a week ago exactly. With the Fourth of July approaching, I thought I'd be cool and make some Independence Day sugar cookies. It was a perfect way to occupy my time while Tom was at work that night—not to mention a splendid alternative to going to the gym. So I put on some good tunes and frosted the evening away. The cookies turned out cute enough that I found the whole experience to be camera-worthy. Stay with me, I promise this is going somewhere. 

When Tom arrived home, his excitement over the peppy music and the kitchen table brimming with fresh cookies threw off his normal routine, making it a little difficult to recall how it all went down later. Anyway, I last recall seeing my camera on the counter right by our table. And Tom doesn't even recall where he last recalls seeing his wallet. Tom first noticed that his wallet was AWOL when he was getting ready to leave for work the next night. Then, as I desperately foraged our home in search of it, it came to my attention that my camera seemed to have walked off along with it.

Boy howdy, we've searched our whole apartment—inspecting all the obvious places at least 18 times (couch cushions, under the bed, the trash, the complex dumpster, etc.), and all the illogical, ridiculous places at least 25 times (boxes in the closet that I haven't touched since we moved in, every kitchen cupboard and drawer, the dishwasher, behind the washer and dryer, inside the washer and dryer, behind the refrigerator, inside the refrigerator...). The part that really gets me is that our apartment isn't that big. And I'm not that scatterbrained. So the first creepy conclusion: in the matter of one evening, Tom and I managed to lose our minds enough to separately misplace two of our valuables in a place so well-hidden that mankind may never see either again. And the second, considerably more creepy conclusion after a week of neither wallet or camera popping up: someone may have waltzed into our abode and swiped both right from our counter. To our chagrin, there was a period of time that our door was left unlocked Tuesday afternoon. And just a few weeks ago—I was all worked up about moths finding their way indoors. Sheesh.

We've taken all the necessary steps to try and avoid identity theft—but if you happen to come across someone claiming to be a Mr. Thomas Giles, you might want to ask a few security questions just to make sure, ie: "How many grapes can you fit in your mouth at once," "What TV show did you watch on the day you were born," "When is the last time you willingly got a hair cut"....stuff like that.

And unfortunately I can't share my Monday-night sugar cookie photo shoot. I did take another picture of the remaining ones a few nights later with our one surviving camera (which we'll henceforth be keeping in a destruction-proof safe that we're going to bury somewhere in the Sahara Desert. Oh, and Tom swallowed the key...)

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th! We had lots of fun in Vegas with my family. I'll probably post something about that later. Probably.