This one is self-explanatory. I got home late, so in the clothes I was wearing, I went in my backyard and did a physical celebration of aging. A really, really bad cartwheel. It hurt my arms and my legs (which were bent anyway).

But it was fun. And there’s some pathetic audio to go with it. (Well there was… but I switched it for a still photo)

My sister-in-law suggested I choose my Top Ten songs, and I thought it was a great idea. One caveat is that this list will change. I have been compiling it in my head and on paper for the past month, listening to satellite radio and ‘remembering’ songs I hadn’t thought of for years. Some of those made the list, and some didn’t. But I also heard a reference to the movie The Princess Bride this week and realized that it could have easily replace Ferris Bueller on my decade movie list, so I know the following Top Ten is a perpetual list in progress.

Songs (in no particular order):

One Day More (Original Broadway Cast Recording of Les Miserables)

This song is completely brilliant. I love the layered voices of most of the main characters, the power, how it builds to the end, and the meaning of the words too. Everything is coming to a head.

Goonies R Good Enough (Cyndi Lauper)

This song is happy and energetic. I loved the song even more than the movie. I still remember the video, with all the WWF wrestlers, and I recently downloaded it from iTunes. Another great message: it’s good enough for me.

You’re in my Soul (Rod Stewart)

I actually have never owned a copy of this song and this might not be the name. But it’s an upbeat love song that I have always loved. You’re in my heart, you’re in my soul. You’ll be my breath when I grow old. You are my lover, you’re my best friend. You’re in my soul.

Everybody Hurts (R.E.M.)

Sad song that makes me think of a few people I’ve lost to darkness along the way. From the completely awesome album Automatic for the People, which features multiple times on this list.

The Flame (Cheap Trick)

When this song came out, back in the late 1980s, this was my favourite song. I declared to my family, while driving in Collingwood, that this was my favourite song of all time. My mother may have made a sarcastic comment about ‘how long that would last’ and voila! It stays on the list forever. As fictional character Barney Stinson would say, Challenge Accepted.

Honey (Bobby Goldsboro)

Saddest song ever. Makes me cry, every single time. In fact, I can’t listen to this song unless I’m able to stop what I’m doing and cry. “I came home unexpectedly, and found her crying needlessly, in the middle of the day. And it was in the early spring, when flowers bloom and robins sing, she went away… One day when I was not at home, while she was there and all alone, the angels came.” Cue tears. Seriously, I just listened to it while typing, to get the lyrics right, and I’m crying. What a sap.

Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (Gordon Lightfoot)

Love this song. Also a sad one. I think we sang it in music class in elementary school. Now I always check the 70s channel on satellite radio to see if it’s playing. I will download it soon.

Lose Yourself (Eminen)

Feels a bit cliché but the lyrics of this song are very inspirational. Fictional characters are also pumped-up by this tune.

Head over Heals (The Go-Go’s)

I’ve never noticed the unnecessary apostrophe in The Go-Go’s name before. After their biggest hits, Vacation and Our Lips are Sealed, they released Head over Heals in 1984. I loved it. Fun song, good lyrics. “One half’s just breezin’ past, and one’s just hangin’ on… just keep goin’ strong.” Lots of piano too, and back in 1984 I took piano lessons.

Ha – I just looked up the lyrics to that song and it seems it was a bit darker than I always thought. One hand’s reachin’ out, not breezin’ past. And instead of spurring us to keep goin’ strong, she says her weaknesses keep goin’ strong. Boo. I think I’ll keep my more positive lyrics.

Nightswimming/Find the River (R.E.M.)

The last two songs on Automatic for the People. I always loved the nostalgic feel of Nightswimming but now I love Find the River just as much. I refuse to choose between them, so it’s a tie!

I had on my list, from the beginning, that I would pay for the person behind me in the drive thru. In fact, it was supposed to happen during the first week. I bought my breakfast at McDonald’s and despite being very unhappy to learn that they’d dropped the biscuit sandwiches back in the spring, I asked to pay for the car behind me. The nice woman said sure. She rang through my breakfast, kept my change, and then brought up the next order. She looked puzzled for a moment, and then she said that ‘their order is already paid.’

What?!?

I drove off wondering if that is their policy if people offer to pay, as it can get confusing if everyone starts paying for the car behind. But I watched the car in my rear view mirror and the driver didn’t seem to stop long to pay. I wondered if I’d try to pay for a person related to the owners… someone who never pays!

Fine. I decided that the drive thru thing hadn’t felt great anyway. I’d been so stressed about it as I drove into town that I thought I should do something else. But I never found an opportunity to do a good deed for the rest of the month.

Then on the last night, my Birthday Eve, I went through a different McDonald’s drive through for a happy meal and got a Smurfette toy. She’s holding a pink birthday gift, which I thought was fantastic. There was nobody in line behind me so I just drove home.

On the way home I decided that instead of paying it forward to a stranger, I would make a more sizeable donation to Mackenzie Richmond Hill hospital, formerly York Central, where my grandmother passed away 30 years ago. This feels better to me, as it has more personal meaning. I’ll do something nice for strangers when the pressure is off.

I love scones, and not just because DC is British. They are so yummy… Just sweet enough while being thick and soft. And adding cheese makes them even better.

Just don’t add raisins because baked raisins are too squishy.

I added ‘bake scones’ to my list because I am not always successful making them and I want to practice more. I even have my Mother-in-Law’s recipe – authentic British recipe! – but mine are never as good.

I only wish I’d made scones early in the Top 40, as making them after my birthday party, when I was surrounded by leftover food and sweets, seemed silly.

I made the dough, and it went pretty well. I have a note in my handwritten recipe to form the dough by rolling, not squeezing it. This is before the rolling-pin stage and it may be where I’m going wrong.

I rolled the dough with my rolling pin and cut out circles using a glass. Afterwards I remembered that I’d bought a round cookie cutter just for making scones, but it was too late. I made only eight scones, instead of the 12 the recipe promises, likely due to my largish glass.

They were delish. They didn’t brown on top but they were cooked through and very tasty. I ate 2.5 before bed!!

We like to eat breakfast out, so we added a decadent weekday breakfast to my list.

Eating out before work means leaving earlier by 30-40 minutes in the morning. That was not easy since I already leave by 6:45 a.m. It was worth it though, as a fry-up on a weekday is relaxing and very filling.

I had scrambled eggs and bacon with home fries and toast, which was delicious. The tea was pretty good too, and I am really particular about my tea.

Overall it felt like a huge indulgence that required very little investment. Too bad we forgot to take pictures!

I have very tight shoulders and I clench my jaw. I used to go for regular massage therapy, to help ward off headaches that come with such tension. It worked too, until I didn’t have health benefits anymore. Then it was too expensive.

Eighteen months after my last massage, I booked in to my old clinic with my regular therapist. It was great to see her, and she took it easy on the knots which made for an enjoyable massage.

Another indulgence well worth the money in the context of my 40 Things in 40 Days.

I love live music. I don’t go to many concerts because for a while, (the entire decade of my thirties), it seemed all concerts cost $120+ per ticket. Because of this, I’ve missed listening to live music.

As a kid I always went to Kingswood Music Theatre at Canada’s Wonderland. I used to see Honeymoon Suite, Kim Mitchell and Gowan almost every summer. One year I saw Henry Lee Summer open for somebody else, and he was so fun, we went to see him later in the year when he headlined. In fact, I believe it was on my actual birthday and my brother took me, along with his friend EW. I think it was the year I turned 15.

Another year my brother got me front row tickets to see The Bangles at Kingswood. I feel like that was a birthday present too… but I don’t remember the concert being in September. It doesn’t matter. It was just great to get these amazing seats to one of my favourite bands. After the show one of the road crew ripped the handwritten playlist off the monitor and gave it to me. What a thrill that way…I still have it. Come to think of it, I still have my Henry Lee Summer concert t-shirt too. I wear it for gardening now.

I saw Debbie Gibson play Kingswood as well. My brother got those tickets too, but I don’t think they were meant as a gift for me until he realized his friends would never let him live it down if he went to a Debbie Gibson concert. His loss was my gain as she put on a fun show.

I used to go to concerts with my best friend at the Forum at Ontario Place. It was the concert venue the pre-dated the Amphitheatre. It was ‘in the round’ so the stage turned, giving many more people a front row seat. The best part was first-come, first-choice seating so we’d be in line at Ontario Place when it opened, then run through the park to the Forum (along with a bunch of other concert goers), then listen to our Sony Walkmans, read magazines, and take turns wandering off to pee or buy food while ‘holding’ our first row seats for the whole day. That meant ten hours of sitting in our seats, before the shows even started!

I also saw Ricky Nelson at the Forum, with my friend’s family. It was something, as he was a big, big name in his day and he died not too long after the Toronto concert.

Much more recently, I saw Elton John play one of his ‘me and a piano’ concerts at the GM Centre in Oshawa. He came on stage right at 8 p.m., as advertised, even though about 1/3 of attendees weren’t yet in the building. We all arrived late. Luckily, I didn’t see his entrance but I heard it as we were rushing around the arena to our section. Elton John is amazing. He played all his hits, and that is a huge number of songs, and his piano playing sounds exactly like the original recordings. I was thrilled and would go see him again in a heartbeat.

This year, for my Top 40, we wanted to go see Mumford & Sons. They have a great reputation for being completely awesome live. Unfortunately, we didn’t sign up for a ‘password’ on their website so we never got the opportunity to buy tickets. We’ll have to pay more attention and not miss out next time.

Instead, to fulfill my list, we headed into our small town to see a free ‘Concert in the Park.’ It was New Orleans swingy jazz, which I thought would be a great way to spend an evening. Too bad it rained, and when we arrived there was a family eating a picnic in the local gazebo that doubles as a stage. No sign of a band or a concert.

Just like the super-hot curry, seeing a concert didn’t work out as planned. But on the bright side, I did book my Cyndi Lauper tickets during my 40 days so I’ll just have to count that.

It’s not a big birthday celebration until you’ve had a party. I decided, in order to take away all expectations of surprise parties, because I don’t really like surprise parties anyway, to host my own birthday party!

I invited a few close friends and family to come over for a ‘traditional birthday party’ with food, cake, balloons, games and music. The food was pulled pork, hot dogs, mac and cheese, various salads and tortilla chips with dip. The cake was 40 cupcakes – most of which I still have in my kitchen.

The game was a scavenger hunt on my property. Teams had to find ten different items, some of which they had to wear back to the starting point (e.g. gloves, button, apron) and some of which they had to take a digital picture of, to prove they found it (e.g. bicycle, broomstick). I had a blast setting up the scavenger hunt and the teams seemed to enjoy completing it. But it was over in less than five minutes. Next time the hunt will be much more difficult. You’ve been warned!

I had a great time at my party, thanks to all my friends. Everyone was happy and helpful and the kids were entertaining too. I hope to keep the chalk messages on my front door for a long time.

The balloons were most fun when I was bringing them home. For sheer delight with an element of danger, just drive around in a tiny hatchback with 13 helium balloons in the back seat!

I love to get a pedicure but I often don’t spend the time or money to do it. I added it to the list as one of my indulgences, and left it to the end so that I would actually have lovely toes for my birthday. I might as well face forty as pretty as I can be.

There’s a new nail bar in my town, close to my pet supply store. In preparation I went in a few weeks ago for a price list and it was empty! There were two women clearly waiting for customers and I felt kinda bad just asking about prices and then leaving.

So naturally, when I showed up for my pedicure at 5:15 pm on a Thursday night, it was packed with customers and estheticians. I actually had to leave and go back later.

I chose a lovely blue colour, almost a teal, for my toes. It’s been a favourite colour for awhile, and I’ve purchased a watch and a purse (handbag for you Brits) in a similar colour. It’s also close to the colour of my bathroom.

The pedicure was lovely. She cut my nails short enough, which is surprising. They always leave them too long and it drives me crazy to have long toenails. The massage was very enjoyable – not too soft and not to strong. And as usual, the very best part was the massage chair. I would love to have that chair instead of a Laz-Z-boy in front of my TV.

Hopefully this new shop is successful, so I can go back again sometime.

Check out this lovely blue on my wonky toes!

They say something like 80 per cent of women are walking around in the wrong size bra. Personally, I have a huge ribcage* so I have always had trouble finding well-fitting brassieres. For that reason I always planned to go for a professional fitting. Also, when you have to try some on by yourself, then get dressed to go and choose a few more, it gets very frustrating very fast, and I usually give up.

I’ve read how to measure yourself for a bra several times, so I couldn’t understand how I could be wearing the wrong size. Good news – I wasn’t. The problem was that I had no idea how a bra was supposed to fit. I always wore them too loose in the straps and too loose around my ribs. At my fitting I kept saying ‘that feels too tight’ and she would check and tell me if was supposed to fit that way!

I got one new bra, at a price might make my father-in-law pass out. I knew it would be expensive but I’d already decided that one good bra would be worth it. Unfortunately I can’t wear it under t-shirts because of the type of bra it is. Maybe in the long run I should stop wearing so many t-shirts. I am almost 40!

*I illustrate the size of my ribs by sharing the story that at age 12, as a skinny little thing, I could not zip up my mother’s wedding dress. I didn’t have any boobs at 12… apparently I was all rib.

Here’s a photo of my new bra hanging up beside the measuring tape in the dressing room.