Mentalpause

I walked into the store yesterday, said hi to the gals, and told Sheri, "I have a few things to talk about with you."

Sam said, "You must be pregnant."

I looked at her in disbelief, and said, "Bite your tongue." Then we all laughed.

Sam explained that the only reason she said that was because that's what a lot of pregnant women will do--just walk in and say that they have a bunch of stuff to talk about.

That's a relief. I thought she meant I looked heavier than usual! Anyway, in my case, I only said that to Sheri because I'm forgetful!

I have to do better about writing everything down. I just finished a book from the lirbary called Mentalpause. It is hilarious! It's written by a woman named Laura Jensen Walker, who is a breast cancer survivor. The book is targeted at the over-40 years folks and is a bunch of vignettes about going through early menopause. Laura went into early menopause after her bout with breast cancer.

Anyway, the reason I mentioned that I have to write everything down is that the first chapter describes what mentalpause is:

"...it's not just menopause, it's mentalpause.
My memory is gone.
I'll be in the middle of an important conversation, start to begin a new sentence, and poof, it's vanished. Lost forever in the Bermuda triangle of mentalpause.
Or I can't remember names of common things around the house.
Like door.
Sink.
Husband.
I'll be explaining something to whatshisname, perhaps discussing a project that needs to get done, and the name of the item I'm discussing simply eludes me (although the project doesn't much to my husband's dismay).
Finally, I point at the offending object in frustration and say, 'Whatever that thing is called. You know what I'm talking about!' "

Well, at least Laura has a reason for losing her memory. I'm not even going through menopause, but yet I'm experiencing mentalpause for sure. What's MY reason????

I watched a segment recently (don't ask me when!) on The Today Show that talked about a menopause survival kit. Did you know that two of the items that you need in there are sticky notes (i.e. Post-It notes) and a lightbulb?

So you're probably asking, "Why a lightbulb?"

It's because you need more light (helps with your mood to think it's sunny), so they suggested stocking up on brighter bulbs. Hmmm...in my case, I just know that I see better when a room has more light. Blame it on my failing eyes.

As for the sticky notes/Post-Its, well, it's fairly self-explanatory. You write things down so you don't forget them!

Last night, my friend Glenn and I tried out a new Japanese restaurant. One of the discussions we had over dinner was about turning 40. We are both stressed out about it. Who knows why we have such anxiety? The one thing is that we're wasting these last few months of being 39 by stressing about aging! ;) Anyway, it's nice to be able to commiserate with someone else about the whole issue of turning another decade older. People over 40 have no sympathy, and those under 39 just think you're crazy or tease you about getting older. Yeah, nice. Oh, and the Japanese restaurant? Glenn and I both gave it a thumbs up for great food and ambiance.

On another note...guess who was guest starring on Rachael Ray today...LL Cool J! Now I think LL is totally hot. Have you ever seen his abs? Wow! And lucky me, I got to see 'em when Rachael "beat" LL at strip air hockey. LL was on the show to promote his book about getting in shape. Boy, talk about inspiration...LOL!

I leave you with this quote from Mark Twain: "When your friends begin to flatter you on how young you look, it's a sure sign you're getting old."

Just yesterday, Sam told me she thought I was 29. I'm so in trouble!