Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin

It happened at work on Friday. My chin itched. I scratched it. There was a little bit of dry skin where I scratched, so I slowly scratched again to remove the peeling skin. That skin didn't come off. Then I realized it was a hair. It was 2 inches long. It was incredibly thick and wirey. It was growing out of a mole. HOW DID IT GET SO LONG BEFORE I EVEN NOTICED IT??

When I say I am looking forward to aging, this is not what I mean. It is enthralling is the clarity in direction and purpose that I often see in older-middle-aged women. Is there some way to get that power without extra hairs growing in unauthorized places??

(This isn't actually a picture of my hairy mole. That hair was gone long before I thought about taking a picture of it.)

Great Way to Lose Weight

The sticker I got after donating blood said "I burned 650 calories and all I had to do was sit."

It got me thinking.....if I donated blood every day............

Two days after donating I was incredibly tired and spent the entire weekend sleeping it off. Ugg... I suppose I was going to get sick anyways, but then after donating blood it really knocked me down hard. This donating blood thing to lose weight - it isn't such a good idea after all.

Life Begins at 30

I have been looking forward to turning 30 for about 5 years. Did that sounds strange to anyone? For the past 5 year, about 6 months before my birthday I started saying I was a year older. Why would I do that? It wasn't planned - it just happened. I was ALMOST one year older, so I would just end up saying the older age when someone asked.

Another not so surprising tradition of mine is to buy myself a couple of birthday presents. For the entire month of October. It was my 'blow the budget and celebrate myself' month. Since this is the Year of Embracing Simplicity, that month long shop-a-thon isn't going to cut it. So what could be a good present for myself?

Yes, I know it is a bit early to be thinking about my birthday present, but I have always been a bit odd. Even Aunt Sara (Grandma Grabbert's sister) called me a "Odd Duck" when I was a toddler. Although I adamantly denied it at the time, I secretly love being strange.

So I had been pondering this birthday conundrum for a month or so, and then I read in "This is Who I Am" about a woman who lost 50 pounds for her 50th birthday present. It struck a cord and I finally decided to lose 20 pounds as a final tribute to my 20's.

How did I choose 20? I really only want to lose 13 pounds, but the tribute to my 20's had such a ring to it that I couldn't resist. Standard weight diagrams say that someone who is 5'4" should weight 120 pounds. That ain't happening. I want to be 135, but I figure I can lose 7 more pounds to make it an even 20 lost, then not feel bad about gaining a few back.

How did the weight get there? One day I woke up and nothing in my closet fit, so I got on the scale and gazed in horrified terror as it kept creeping up. Sheesh. It is amazing how the creep can be so slow that it is unnoticeable. That is another reason I want to lose it slowly - I didn't gain 2-3 pounds a week, and I don't want to lose it that fast, either. I have time to take it slow and only lose 1/2-1 pound a week.

Do you have any healthy recipes or secrets you want to share to help me? You can count it as your birthday present to me (heaven knows I don't need more stuff.) Also, if you are around Minneapolis on October 24th you can consider yourself invited to my birthday party.