Just a number

Boy, I don't feel like I'm 39! Of course now that I'm in my late 30s, it doesn't seem near as OLD as it once did. In fact, nothing seems nearly as old as it used to, and I'm sure many of you can appreciate that feeling.

When I was 23 or 24 and just out of college, my first job was as a social worker at a nursing home. One day one of my elderly nursing home residents asked me how old I was, and I told him to take a guess - "oh, I wouldn't put you at more than.... 38" was his reply. (Served me right for asking him to guess, didn't it!?) Of course he thought that was so young, but I sure didn't! One thing that I learned while working in long term care for the first several years of my career is that age is all relative - I can think of a lot of old 50-year-olds, and also some awesomely young 80 and 90-year-olds. I want to be one of those people, spry and full of piss and vinegar (in a good way) even in my 90s, like my dad's mother, Grandma G. Here's to you, Grandma - I want to be like just like you 50 years from now, when I'm 89!

In celebration of our birthday(s) this weekend, Dave and I had discussed going out to dinner Saturday night with the kids. But dinner changed to a quiet evening at home after we visited a nursery Saturday morning and decided we wanted this for our birthday:

Until recently I didn't realize trees were such an expensive purchase - AND, if you have a landscaper or the nursery plant them for you, the charge is half again what you pay for the tree. So if you buy a $300 tree, then it is $150 fee to have it planted - yikes! Good thing Dave's so handy at doing almost anything and everything outside; the nursery was very helpful in telling us exactly what to do, AND delivery of the tree is free.

I found this picture online, since our tree won't be delivered until this weekend. It is a weeping blue atlas cedar; we were looking for something unusual for the center of the berm in our back yard, and this fit the bill. I've been reading up on the care of this type of tree, and it definitely can grow out of control if it isn't trained, so we will have to keep up with it each year.

My boss and co-directors celebrated my birthday at our weekly meeting this morning, with a yummy pineapple upside down cake (my favorite, baked by friend and co-worker, Shana). I enjoyed one piece with everyone, and then sent the remainder of the cake back with Shana for her hubby and kids to enjoy; trying to stick with my healthy eating plan after an inspiring WW meeting on Saturday morning. And speaking of food and cooking, my boss (who knows I've been learning to cook this past year) gave me a pair of these stylish and practical Baking Beauty oven gloves - aren't they hilarious?

Mine are actually the black, with leopard print:
I'll love using them, I think they'll be so handy. (But it would be even better to get a pic of Dave using them on the back deck with his Big Green Egg- stay tuned, we'll see!).

That's all for now, off to bed.