Kathy's journey

[steph2.0]

Steph, why are you still on top of the fridge? Hey Laurie! You left Steph on the fridge. Will you please get her down from there!

I figure the problem will solve itself soon. It's so cold here that the snow will soon build up high enough that I'll be able to sled down.

And I'll bring my hatchet with me.

Stephanie

[Faith]

... She may just have to wait until I get better and decide to make that postponed Florida road trip. Besides she looks so cute up there. Sue will probably get her a ladder after she stops laughing...

Put some stuffed animals up there, she'll blend right in. Oh, and um, some dolls. Because, although she may be short, she doesn't really look like an animal.

[steph2.0]

Put some stuffed animals up there, she'll blend right in. Oh, and um, some dolls. Because, although she may be short, she doesn't really look like an animal.

You girls are so cute. I will hunt you down if I can fight my way through all these dolls and stuffed animals, and get Sue to bring me a ladder. I wish she'd stop laughing.

Stephanie

[Laurie]

You girls are so cute. I will hunt you down if I can fight my way through all these dolls and stuffed animals, and get Sue to bring me a ladder. I wish she'd stop laughing.

Stephanie

  Just leave the hockey mask at home.... It's a dead giveaway.

[steph2.0]

  Just leave the hockey mask at home.... It's a dead giveaway.

They don't make them small enough.


- Stephanie

[Faith]

They don't make them small enough.
- Stephanie

   ,
    -   \O                                     ,  .-.___
  -     /\                                   O/  /xx\XXX\
-   __/\ `\                                 /\  |xx|XXX|
    `    \, \_ =                          _/` << |xx|XXX|
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

GOAL!!

note: board offsets some of the art, but you get the picture, I hope

[KathyLauren]

Well, we survived the storm. 

It was pretty intense, but not as bad as the forecasts.  My peak wind gust measured about 43 km/h.  Since my wind gauge is sheltered, the actual wind speed was likely 2 or 3 times that.  It certainly had that freight train roar that you get when the wind is over about 80 km/h.  For the weather nerds, my lowest pressure was 95.4 kPa.  That's pretty close to the centre of the storm, because the official minimum pressure is showing as 95.2 on the maps this morning.

The power stayed on the whole time.  We are lucky in that, because about 1/3 of the province lost theirs.  I am really pleased with the preventative power of my generator.  Since I bought it, three years ago, we haven't had a single power failure!

Now we just have to deal with the cold.  It got above freezing during the storm, so a lot of the snow melted down to slush.  Which is now freezing as the temperature drops.  Our driveway is like a hockey rink.

TL;DR: All OK.

[Jayne01]

Happy all is ok!

Your generator seems to be working really well in preventing power losses!

[steph2.0]

I am really pleased with the preventative power of my generator.  Since I bought it, three years ago, we haven't had a single power failure!

Power Prophylactic!


- Stephanie

[KathyLauren]

Making progress on the transition front.  I have a draft version of my first surgery letter!     There's a change I might want to her make, so I'll sleep on it before confirming with my therapist, but, YAY, I have it!!!!

The second letter is going to take a while, but one out of two ain't bad.

[Jayne01]

Yay! Congratulations Kathy.

Jayne

[KathyLauren]

I had lunch today with a bunch of ladies.  There's a new Thai restaurant that opened a couple of towns down the valley.  It's the real thing: the proprietor is from Thailand.  So my wife and I, her friend N, and N's friends C and S drove down to check it out.  The food was great, and so was the conversation.

It was so nice to be accepted as a woman by other women.

N has followed my transition all along, but the last time I saw C and S I was presenting male and wearing a tuxedo.  As we were saying good bye after lunch, S said "You've changed a bit."  That might go down in the books as the understatement of the year.

[Laurie]

 It sounds to me like you had another very nice day.  Understatement is right.

Hugs,
   Laurie

[steph2.0]

Yeah, Kathy! That's so cool. I'm beginning to find what that's like. It's such a comfortable thing.

Changed a bit? Ya think? [emoji1]


- Stephanie

[Anne Blake]

Hi Kathy,

I have received such joy following your journey, thank you for continuing to share it.

S said "You've changed a bit."  I can't think of a sweeter way for a friend to say that she accepts and loves you!

"The food was great, and so was the conversation"; in my opinion, sitting and conversing with a group of women is one of the finer things about transition. I can't remember anything in the guy's world that comes anywhere close.

Keep it going girlfriend!
Tia Anne

[Cassi]

I had lunch today with a bunch of ladies.  There's a new Thai restaurant that opened a couple of towns down the valley.  It's the real thing: the proprietor is from Thailand.  So my wife and I, her friend N, and N's friends C and S drove down to check it out.  The food was great, and so was the conversation.

It was so nice to be accepted as a woman by other women.

N has followed my transition all along, but the last time I saw C and S I was presenting male and wearing a tuxedo.  As we were saying good bye after lunch, S said "You've changed a bit."  That might go down in the books as the understatement of the year.

Just don't let X, Y & Z know you had a gathering without inviting them and A, L, & S

[KathyLauren]

Just don't let X, Y & Z know you had a gathering without inviting them and A, L, & S

Today's report has been brought to you by the letter K.

[Cassi]

Today's report has been brought to you by the letter K.

[Jayne01]

It was so nice to be accepted as a woman by other women.

That is something I have yet to experience. It's great that you are being accepted this way. It must have felt very affirming.

Last time we were visiting NS, my wife, her sister, sister-in-law and I drove into the city to do some shopping. (I was the designated driver). Although I present male and nobody other than my wife knew about me, it felt really nice spending a day out with the girls.

I love Thai food. I have applied for some time off work over this coming Christmas/New Year. If it is approved, my wife and I are planning to head over to NS to visit her family. We should arrange to meet for a meal, Thai sounds good. [emoji39]

Jayne

[KathyLauren]

I just got home from my weekly electrolysis session.  For the past few weeks, the Marquise de Sade my electrologist has been working on my neck.  The hairs there are thick and bristly, and require an extra heavy-duty zap.  <Not allowed>, it hurts!  The EMLA cream I was using (2.5% lidocaine, 2.5% something else) wasn't cutting it, so I managed to find some Xylocaine (5% lidocaine).  It is marginally better. 

I was listening to a CD on my headphones and trying hard to keep my mind on the music and not on the pain, praying for the end of the CD to tell me that the session was drawing to an end.  The disc ended and I re-started it for the last few minutes.  The song was a real tear-jerker, and I was concentrating on the lyrics.  Between that and the pain, the Marquise figured that the session was over when she saw the tears streaming down my face.

You know what?  Crying actually helps with pain management!   

The poor lady felt terrible that she was inflicting that much pain.  I tried to tell her that it wasn't just the pain.  The music contributed at least 25%.

Tune in again same time next week.