Chapstick and Vicks

Well folks, tomorrow is officially Annettepalooza.  Tomorrow's palooza  marks the 15th Anniversary of my 30th birthday, that's 45 in actual Annette years.  It has flown by so quickly I hope I am able to pace myself these next 45!  I love my birthday and the countdown to my special day is my claim to fame among my friends.  I have made many new friends this year and have gone really easy on them in regards to the countdown, if they only knew!  I have been known to schedule a daily email that goes out to remind a select few  how many shopping days are left till the blessed event.  It is of course a joke and in no way meant as a serious hint to purchase!

Wow, 45!  I wonder what 45 is supposed to feel like?  If it is true that you are as old as you feel, well then most days I feel like I'm in my 20's with a few days of 70 or so sprinkled in.  Things are sure different than when my parents were my age.  When my mom was 45, I had already been married for 2 years.  My kids are still in public school.  I have always heard that having kids in the house keeps you young, I don't know if I would quite put it that way, but it keeps you that's for sure!  For one, it keeps you on alert because I learned the hard way that seemingly ordinary things are not always, well, ordinary.

Case in point; my children have the uncanny ability to make crap magically appear out of nowhere when they are in my truck being chauffeured around and they then leave it in there upon exiting the vehicle.   I went from one such drop off point directly to the store.  Before I went in the store I grabbed the chap stick that Alex left behind and used it quickly, without the aid of a mirror, cause us moms are good that way,  then I ran into the store for a quick purchase.   I began to notice that I was getting a lot of stares while in the store and the cashiers comment on how I looked festive went way over my head.  I get back in my truck and take a quick glance in the mirror and that's when I notice that my lips are covered in silver glitter.  Well, that explained the looks!  I have certainly learned to double check before I use any seemingly innocent beauty product of the girls.

I am now at the place where I am more comfortable in my own skin than I have ever been in my life, while at the same time I feel like my body has staged a coup against me.  While trying to thread a needle the other day I noticed that I could see the eye of the needle and I could see the end of the thread but I couldn't marry the two up, very frustrating.  I actually considered putting on some 3-D glasses since wearing contacts and squinting one eye shut wasn't working for me.

I have now swapped places with Ray when it comes to who is too hot and who is freezing, who'da thunk it.  The smell of Vicks Vapo Rub I now find comforting instead of smelly when I'm not feeling up to par and I have traded in my birth control pills for 81 mg of aspirin coated with Calcium.  Before when trying to decide if I wanted to go out and do something with friends I took into consideration is it a work night, how much will it set me back money wise.  Now I ask myself, can I wear my lounging clothes if I go?  Will a line to the bathroom at this event be longer than a 15 minute wait?  Is this being aired on TV, can we watch it from home? Is there a chance I could break a bone?

Yes, my way of thinking has definitely changed as I have gotten older, I wonder what I will be like at 80!