Party's Over Said the Girls

Warning!!!!! Female talk coming. If you don't have the stomach for, and don't want to read my discussion of my breasts, now is the time to go away and come back another day when there's another post.

Seriously, breast talk follows. Mammograms, bras, breasts. Here they come. Consider yourself warned.

So, back to the topic at hand:

Yep, the party is officially over. With yesterday's mammogram, my personal birthday celebration came to a screeching halt. For those of you who've never had one, let me re-cap - and those of you who have, feel free to nod your head in agreement.

The office is very understated. Nicely decorated, but understated. Warm tones. Dimmed lights. All around "faux spa" I'd say. I arrived about 30 minutes early (they wanted 15). I was very excited and surprised that I got called back almost immediately.

I was shuttled to the nice little changing room where I was asked to strip off the shirt and bra, use the individually wrapped wipes to remove any deodorant (if I forgot and applied some - I had not), and asked to put on the dinner napkin sized modesty gown/cover up napkin. It was pretty and blue. It was not so much a hospital gown as a butterfly sleeved, halter top napkin. It was split completely from top to bottom, much like its cousin the hospital gown, but this halter top napkin's slit when in the front, not the back. Of course.

So, in I step to the "room" where the big machine waited. The very nice tech quickly exposed one of my "girls", hefted her up onto a very cold, grid-like platform, and instructed me to hold on to the handle. After much adjusting of Miss Left Side, the tech began moving the clear tray down. Smashing Miss Left Side. Smashing I say.

I was asked to pull Miss Right Side away from Miss Left Side with my free hand, look up, and get ready to hold my breath and be still. I don't know where she thought I was going with my left girlfriend gripped in the vice, but ok, I held my breath and remained still.

I looked down and my normally ample bosom was pressed to the size of a short stack of pancakes...very round and very flat.

After the smashing from the top, we released poor girlfriend, rotated the platform, and smashed her from the side. All I could think to myself was, "What would my husband be saying if he could see this?" It was pretty funny looking, and the thought of him seeing my girls like this almost made me laugh out loud.

Then, on to my second friend, Miss Right Side. Same thing: grab the handle, some manhandling by the tech to get her hefted onto the grid, and me giving a big pull of the other "Miss" to get her out of the way. Then, smash. Only this time, it felt like on the sideways compression that my ribs, way up under my arm, were getting pushed about. That kind of hurt, but at least it was almost over.

I swear the only reason we are given the "modesty, halter napkin" is to get us from the dressing room to the x-ray room, because I certainly wasn't covered at all during this procedure. This too is kind of funny and made me chuckle.

So, after the vice was released, I was handed a pretty white rose, asked to put my shirt back on, and was sent on my way.

Several times during the day I kept thinking to myself..."Self, this really doesn't seem like it's going to be as achy as the baseline mammogram you did when you were 35." I even thought this several times during the day.

Then, nightfall came. And bedtime. When I took off my bra, I swear my sweet, tender, lovely, wonderful friends felt swollen and hot. No kidding! And I swear when I took off my bra, all of the squeezing and mashing had caused them to hang much lower than before. I really am not kidding! I made my husband look, feel, and give his opinion. He was glad of this, but said he thought I was just imagining things on the extra droop, but agreed with the raised heat factor.

As I lay down, with my girls "let out of confinement" it started to sink in. The achy, wow why am I so sore, feeling. I wasn't as home free as I thought earlier in the day. This was true ache. Bruised even. I went back to the mirror to see if there was bruising anywhere. None. Whew.

And even today I feel like my chest has been involved with some kind of smack down. And "they" say this whole ordeal is even worse for my smaller breasted sisters. Well, all I can say is, we'll exchange notes after you've done this a few days before your impending femaleness arrives. Why didn't they warn me about this when I made the appointment? I should have known.

So in conclusion, my birthday celebration is over. With the mammogram, the girls need a rest from all of the celebrating!

Told you there would be lots of breast talk!

The Day I Turned 40

Forty is good! Although it's kind of funny that Sunday night I woke drenched in sweat. Did I say "drenched"? I really meant "swimming in" sweat. I think that was my body's way of saying "Welcome to the club!".

I was born at 8:06 pm on April 19th. That's about the exact time we left Mom and Dad's Sunday night and we had some fun commenting about how now it was officially my birthday. When we got home and tucked the children into bed, Legare stopped me as I was leaving his room...
"Hey Mom."
"Yes, Legare?"
"I just wanted to say Happy Official Birthday."

Sweet child!

So, let me run down for you the events of the birthday weekend - it was pretty fun! On Friday I was supposed to go to lunch with two of my girlfriends. We always get together on each other's special days. This time we were going to the new restaurant BLU that I talked about the other week. I was very excited.

Well, when we arrived (I rode with one of the friends) and got inside I could see my husband's face. I thought, "that crazy guy, he said he wouldn't meet us today, but he did!". I was kind of excited. Then I realized that he was sitting at a large table with 4 other of my friends and family. A surprise birthday luncheon - just for me! How wonderful. After my friend Lisa and I rounded the corner I was told that we beat 3 others getting there, my mother and two other of my best girlfriends.

My friend Lisa, whom I arrived with, is the new owner of the hotel and restaurant and she was the one who gently guided my husband to making sure he did something special for me. It was wonderful! The atmosphere is nothing but happy (how can it not be with the ocean as the backdrop?), the weather was sunshiny and perfect, and to be surrounded by my friends and family - well that was priceless! I could go on and on about this luncheon, but I won't.

OK, maybe I will go on. But not on and on. There were menu cards at each place at the table. My name, the occasion, the date and the menu choices were all printed out these precious cards. The champagne flowed for toasts, and even the gifts somehow managed to all be color coordinated with each other and with the restaurant. (I couldn't find my camera on Friday so I don't currently have pictures, but some were taken, and when they get emailed to me, I'll share them with you). After all of the guests had arrived, Bryan shared the first birthday toast with us and then left us girls with the luncheon.

After the wonderful lunch most of my friends had to get back to children, but me, my mother and the two original "going to lunch for my birthday" girls headed to the bar for one more celebratory libation. This celebration truly was perfect!

Saturday was garage sale time. After a breakfast in bed fixed by Legare (waffles cooked on the iron by himself and coffee just the way I like it with cream and chocolate sauce - my version of a mocha latte) we were off. I don't usually do the garage sale thing, but my neighbor (one of the luncheon celebrants) called, and since our neighborhood was having a community wide sale we thought it would be fun to tool around the neighborhood to see if we could find some treasures. We also went to neighboring neighborhoods to look around. And that's where my finds came.

4 bar stools for $1.00 a piece. These are going in the playroom to offer additional "lean to" type seating. At the next sale I purchased a slightly used HydroSlide Pro XL for $10.00. Pretty good bargain considering husband was going to be spending close to $2oo.00 for one on some not so distant day in the future. At the same house I also purchased a pair of Hush Puppies brand bucks for $3.00 for Legare. These shoes didn't even have a scuff on the sole - I doubt they had ever been worn. They didn't even have lace marks on the tongue! My neighbor got some things for her niece including a $3.00 smocked dress that didn't have any stains. Husband and I spent the rest of the day cleaning the leaves from the pool, pruning plants in the yard and enjoying the outdoors.

Sunday - the official day - we started off the day by going to the Marina Variety Store for breakfast (I had the special - a shrimp, spinach and portabello omelet), a quick jaunt to church and then to Lowe's for another part of my present, plants and flowers to plant with the children; these went on the front porch.

We then went to Mom and Dad's for a birthday supper of homemade meatball subs and homemade banana pudding. Did someone say YUM! I got that Hamby's Catering cook book from Mom - yee ha! - and a nifty cooler cart and beach/boat necessities from my brother and his family.

The day was great! The whole weekend was great! So far, being 40 has been great! I don't really know what all of the fuss is about. The only thing so far that does stink is the sweat (which actually hasn't "stunk" in the true sense of the word - ha), and today's mammogram. I would say the beginning of that procedure will mark the official end of my birthday celebrating.

But then I'll be quickly off to Lisa's birthday lunch to begin that celebration. She's 41.

Birthday Time!

I'm turning 40 on Sunday. Everyone keeps asking what it feels like, or how I feel about it. First - I love my birthday (maybe that means I like attention or being in the spotlight). So, the fact that it's my birthday is great! The fact that it's "4-0"....uhhh. Who cares, really? I don't feel 40. I hope I don't look 40 - but if I do that's ok too.

It does feel quite a bit odd to think that I've been on this earth for 40 years. That seems (sounds like) a long time, doesn't it? "Forty". 1, 2, ...skip a few..., 39, 40!

Let's just think about the number 40 for a bit....
- If something only has 40 calories - you'd be kind of excited, only 40 calories is pretty good!
- If donuts came in a 40 pack that'd be pretty exciting too (though I don't think I could eat them all at one sitting).
- 40 miles per hour is kind of on the small, insignificant side of the available MPH scale. I mean, it's hardly considered going fast unless you're in a neighborhood. And you definitely need more MPH than 40 on the interstate!
- you'd want more than 40 kernels of popcorn. 40 just isn't enough to fill the bowl.
- 40 minutes - a lot can get done in 40 minutes.
- But you can't watch a whole movie in 40 minutes.
- You can Ti-vo through commercials and make a 1 hour tv show less than 40 minutes sometimes! Hey, you just got some time back.
- an extra 40 lbs isn't so good - unless you're ordering a pig for a bar-b-que.
- having 40 friends is good. AND, they can help with eating that extra 40 lbs of pig at that BBQ.
- a classroom with 40 elementary children would be a lot!
- But...if you were teaching science in college, having only 40 students in your auditorium classroom would feel like you had failed in attracting students to your course. You'd want to fill that auditorium, wouldn't you? You'll need way more than 40.
- getting 40 presents for your birthday would be great!
- writing 40 thank you notes may take a while - but 40 presents! Wow!
- And isn't "4" just a nice looking number? Much more pleasant to look at than a "3". So I now get 10 years of looking at cute, little "4"!


See there, 40 just doesn't come across like a bad, or threatening number at all!
As a matter of fact, there seems to me more positive things about 40 than negative. And, since I only feel 28-ish, I'd say I'm rather excited to have a birthday on Sunday; even if it is the BIG 40. To date, I have no problems with 40. Not too old, not too young. Just Right!

Things

Things I've pondered lately....

1) Why have I been getting blood spots in the eggs again lately?
2) Ooops - I forgot about my slow cooking (being boiled) eggs - wonder if they'll be any good?
(and by the way - they were peeping again at the beginning of this really long boil)
3) How inspired can one get from an 8 year old who gave up sweets for Lent?
4) Why do men loose weight so easily?
5) How did I get so lucky to make such a great friend in my (now not quite so new) neighbor?
6) Am I really going to be 40 next weekend?
7) Why have I not wanted to take the time to write a good post lately?
8) Spring is good!