Sitting on Hold...

Yes, I am literally sitting on hold. But it has slowed my day down and given me time to sit a think... Smooth road, Smooth sailing... Why does life find it funny to throw in a speed bump or wave?

As many of our readers know, I have a love/ hate relationship with my mother. To be honest it's more of a tolerance/ dislike relationship. I don't know why, but she is the one person on this earth that can get under my skin. I have patience stronger than most, until you throw my mother in the mix. She makes my stomach knot up and I get more anxious than I can sometimes deal with... I can't help but wish that the clock would fast forward and my children were 18 so I never had to speak to this woman again. I don't by any means want my children to grow up a moment quicker than they have too, but oh to be blessed finally with never having to see or talk to her again!

I was torn with wanting to invite her to Jack and I's wedding.. On one hand, she is my mom and isn't your mom, if alive, suppose to be there on your wedding day? But on the other hand, I don't want her bad energy and judgmental ways to be a black cloud on our very special day.... I have finally made the decision that I will not be inviting my mother to our wedding. I want to enjoy our true family and friends without anxiety or stress. I feel that having my mother there will only be an attack on me, my love and my self esteem. Some may not agree with my decision, though I know I will be supported and respected for it anyway. So there ya have it... Book closed!

And yes I am still, 45 minutes later, sitting on hold!

Loves,
JGirl

Wow, what a rush!

So I did it.  I ran the warrior dash.  I have to say its one of the most fun things I've ever done!  The competition was awesome!  The comradery was incredible.  I'm sure I've mentioned more than once that I do not love running but this was empowering, uplifting, and downright awesome!  I ran with 2 great ladies while 2 other great ladies were our cheerleaders!  One of whom is my love.  This is one of the few times I've enjoyed competition.  I was competing against myself and that was fine with me.  I just wanted to do each obstacle, run the best I could, and finish.  And in my mind I did all three with flying colors!

Pop the Question

It's has been so long since I have actually sat down and wrote on our blog.. What an amazing journey this has been... I have watched my boy become a man and all I can say is "How lucky am I?" Well now we turn the page and a new chapter of our life begins... This Boy asked This Girl to spend the rest of her life with him and of course This Girl said yes! And so now... We are planning a wedding like no other!!! :) Get ready for a celebration of love!!!!! And nothing but unique, because let's face it, it's what we are!

Loves,
JGirl

My Warrior

He did it! Jackson completed the Warrior Dash, mud pit and all! I am so proud!!!

Warrior Waiting..

We are 20 minutes in to my guys final must do of the transition... The last leg of the race if you will... The wait is killing me!

- Jgirl

The warrior dash in Tulsa Oklahoma

Ok, we are on the road to Tulsa Oklahoma so I can run the warrior dash.  When I got my top surgery, I wanted to do something for myself.  I'm sure I decided this while on meds. Haha. Anyway, I wanted to do the race somewhere "cool" like Boulder or Austin but decided on Tulsa because of proximity to where I live.  No offense to Tulsa but its not a place I would choose first for vacation. 
Anyway, I had plans on training hard, thought this would give me that motivation to get my ass in shape.  Well, of course I didn't train very hard, did some weight training but no cardio.  So we shall see how well I do.  I'll post some pics.  Better sign off, writing this blog from the passenger seat is making me car sick. Great...
Later, Jack

My take on DI surgery

*I wrote this blog a while back and found it in my drafts.  I'll go ahead and post it as I want to get my story out from my point of view.  I'll update some more later*

Ok, now I want to talk about the surgery itself.  As much as I researched, as much as I talked with other guys, as much as the surgeon tried to explain everything in detail....I wasn't prepared for the recovery, not at all.  Now in the past I've considered myself to have a mild pain tolerance.  I don't like pain but when it happens I can suffer thorough it.  And I was a good patient.  I stayed down and chill for the first two weeks.  Then I started slowly getting around.  I wanted to be so careful as to make sure I got the best results possible.  Then I hit my 6 week mark and thought that was it.  I had the notion that at 6 weeks it all magically healed and I was perfect again.  So around that next week I needed to get back to work...well, work that I can get anyway.  I'm doing gardening for home gardeners.  I only worked about 10 hours over 2 days which isn't much. But man did I pay for it.  I was swollen and had the most pain since the surgery...more even because first couple of weeks after surgery as I was on morphine and felt no pain!
So I'll be honest...I've been incredibly frustrated at how long it has taken.  All the meanwhile my sweet nurse girlfriend kept trying to tell me these things but I just thought I was different, I was strong and healthy.  Ugh, don't fool yourselves.  Listen to your body.  Mine was bitching and moaning longer than I ever expected. 

So much to catch up on...I'll start with biggest news first.

So, here it is...me! The real me, the me I've wanted for so long. I am incredibly blessed to have been able to get my surgery. I'm not sure if you have consistently kept up on my inconsistent blog but if you have you would know I had been very unhappy at work. And I suspected they were edging me out. So in December they dissolved my whole department. Those bastards after slaving us away all summer, apparently in preparation of this event, let my whole crew and I go 2 weeks before Christmas. Well besides wanting to say a big FUCK YOU to them, I should actually count my blessings. My surgery probably wouldn't have happened without being let go. I wouldn't have been strong enough to take 6 weeks off and come back a different person. So maybe I should thank them....maybe. So timing is a funny thing. And I suppose fate has a bit to do with things as well.

So anyway, I scheduled my surgery with Dr Peter Raphael in Plano TX for late April. I had actually cashed out my 403b to assist with being unemployed and decided to just go ahead and pay for the surgery with it so I could start out new employment as the real me. I would highly recommend Dr. Raphael. Beyond being a charming nice individual, he is a gifted surgeon and lets you know what your role is on getting the best results. This is a 50/50 situation. One must prepare beforehand and then care for themselves properly afterwards to help the surgeon achieve the best results. Now I'm not saying some surgeons don't botch surgeries but I think sometimes people in general think plastic surgery fixes them without having to do the homework. His homework for this surgery was to do chest exercises. Build my pecs up so he could see my natural lines and work around them. Well, I probably got serious about 7-8 months beforehand about exercise in anticipation I might be having surgery...then once I had the date, it was on like donkey kong. I focused primarily on my pecs and shoulders. And let my tell you, I don't love working out. It's just another chore to me like laundry or dishes. But it had to be done, reluctantly. So there you have it. A short update on what I've recently been up to. I'll write another one about the actual surgery and recovery and such. If anyone has questions, post on the comments and I'll answer them in my next blog.

Gifts from my pets....

So, here are the eggs my chickens have been gracing us with. They are yummy, though I have to be careful how many I ingest in a week as I've recently found out I have high cholesterol.
Oh well, I needed to start watching anyway, it's hereditary I'm sure of it.

It's been ages...how ya been?

Ok, if any of you are even still reading, we apologize for the greatest of Blogger sins....dropping of the face of the earth.  Well, there's been so much going on that it will take a while to catch up.  So with my nifty new Blogger App, that may become easier.  So, ill start writing drafts story by story as to not be one convoluted mish mash of events.