Self-improvement week

So now that we've been here a whole year, I decided it was time I made some changes. Some sort of milestone, I guess.

First, I got a second-degree burn on my arm when I touched that really soft side of my forearm to the iron about a month ago and after 3 weeks and a visit to the E.R., I could finally remove the bandage. Permanently. It's going to leave a nasty scar, but it matches the one I have on the other side of my forearm. Courtesy of a different iron. Good news is that I'm good-to-go for another ten years on my tetanus booster.

So, as you might guess, this has led to my new phobia - fear of ironing. Even though I've got that really nice strijkplank and a strijk, I have quit strijking. At least for now. Besides, I like that natural look like Old Navy shirts have. I think Jim does too :)

Next, I've been growing my hair out to all-one-length since I got to Belgium. Trimming to the point it was almost shoulder-length with no layers. I've done this about 20 times so it's a cycle I know all too well. So, I ask Jim to ask a lady at work, who obviously spendssome of her hard-earned salary at the salon, whom she might recommend. My only criteria is that they speak good English for obvious reasons (You may remember our neighbor Frere Jacques). So she asks her Genk kapper to recommend someone in Hasselt.

Naturally, I send Jim as a guinea pig.

His hair looks good, but not wanting to be anxious and impulsive, I wait a week or so and make my appointment with Halil. Despite the fact that he does not speak good English, I now have a new haircut. And turns out, Jim and I are almost twins.

Well, no, my hair isn't red, but we both have very short hair :)

Next, Ross inherited Jim's tendency to have a skin breakout from time to time and he's pretty much been on meds off and on for years. Until now. So we decide to visit the dermatologist in our neighborhood. He came highly recommended. We drop by his office to make an appointment and there are three people standing outside his door. We stand there for a few minutes and I decide to ask the lady who is 3rd in line why we are standing here. Naturally, she speaks English and she tells me we're waiting to see the doctor. Apparently onTuesdays you can stand in line and see the doctor without an appointment. Our lucky day. She proceeds to tell us he (the doctor) will begin seeing patients at 1:30. Okay. I glance at my watch and it is now 12:30. Yeah, we are going to stand in line, outside this office, on the sidewalk, for a solid hour. We did it and by the time 1:30 rolled around, there were 19 people in line! He did come highly recommended.

Incidentally, in his lobby was a picture of this flag, framed with the word Moratorium at the bottom. I was not familiar with the flag so while we were waiting Ross googled it. You may already know this painting.

It's by Jasper Johns and was a symbol of protest of the Vietnam War.

A toxic flag representing a national symbol spoiled by war.

That white dot in the center represents a bullet hole.

He (the dermatologist) also had other American flags framed throughout his office. He said they had no meaning and he'd never been to the States.

This one was framed above his desk.

It's by Keith Haring, known for creating murals in New York City subways.

Next, I've been wearing contacts since my over-40 vision became 40/40 vision. I did the mono-vision (one for close up/one for distance) for several years. Then graduated to wearing contacts only for distance and donning my reading glasses on my head at all times. Switching out with my shades which I also wear on my head at all times.

Now I have new glasses that do it all (with pain-in-the-ass clip-on shades because a second pair of do-it-all shades was another - let's just say quadruple digits in dollars). Did I mention things in Belgium are expensive? I probably could have gotten glasses, shades, and maybe lasik surgery for what I paid for these glasses, but I can see somewhat better and that's pretty important. Jim and Ross were nice enough to assist me in picking them out since it is a huge investment and glasses would soon be my most prominent accessory. When I went to pick them up I was surprised and even questioned if these were in fact the glasses I'd chosen. He assured me they were, but I had no idea they were dark brown. I thought they were champagne. My 40/40 vision kicking in.

So, here we are lookin' super-fine in our Halil haircuts and architectural specs. Well, okay, here we are lookin' like the middle-aged parents/grandparents that we are and that's just fine too :) And I use that term "middle-aged" loosely since I'm not holding out for making it to a hundred!

Several people have told me the new haircut and glasses make me look younger. To which I think - these people are not very good liars, I appreciate it immensely, and I must have really looked old before.

And I don't know where Jim found that ironed shirt.

Now if I could just lose those few extra pounds I gained when I was pregnant.

Whaaaaat? That excuse lost its shelf life?

Whatever.