Feliz Cumpleanos to Me!

32 years ago today my mom was relieved to have the giant baby elephant out of her body. That baby elephant? Was me. I was the last baby in the country to NOT be induced when over two weeks overdue. In St. Louis. In July. With no air conditioning. And she lived to tell about it!* For that alone, the woman should be nominated for some sort of lifetime achievement award.

I was due on the fourth of July. My parents planned on naming me Betsy Ross Bramstedt (my maiden name). So I waited until July 28th to make sure THAT wouldn't happen.

Ok, enough Baby Story: 1977 Edition.

What have I learned over the last year?

1. Never underestimate the ever-looming zombie threat (a special thank you to my blogger friends for that one).

2. How to properly floss my teeth. Yeah, I was doing it wrong all along. You should really ask your dentist if you are doing it right.

3. How to properly wash my hair. Again, why am I the last to know there is a right way and a wrong way!? Don't wash your HAIR, wash your scalp. And you only need a wee little amount and not the handful of shampoo I was using before.

4. I have learned many lessons in humility. Ugh. Too many to delve into here.

5. The Book of Esther. I never got into it before this past year when I spent twelve weeks studying it. "God" is never actually mentioned in it .... ah, yes grasshopper, but God is written all over it.

6. My New Year's resolutions NEVER last all the way to my birthday.

7. Ten pounds: gone are the days of easy on, easy off - and here are the days of easy on and get-on-your-knees-and-pray-about-getting-it-off, ever.

This is boring. Here is a picture of my new hair do. Taken in the ten minutes I had between leaving the salon and meeting hubs and his fam for dinner. So, it will never look this good again.


Here's another bit of info I learned this year. Don't go out into the sun and water (pool or beach) for a week after you have your highlights done. BUT you can put conditioner with UV protection on your hair and then cover it, like this:
But leave your sunglasses on or else you might be compared to a cancer patient - especially since you waxed off half of your eye brow. I'm not talking about you anymore.... :-(

That pretty much sums up my 31st year - now concluded.

*I have heard about it from her many many many many many times