We just got home from a visit to see my dad, and mow his yard. It only took 4.5 hours to mow this time, and I didn't discover any new yellow jacket nests. My dad should be going home either Monday or Tuesday, there still seems to be some debate on the day. Due to several health issues (including hearing and vision), we have taken his car keys. It's going to be a rough week, but luckily I won't have to deal with it. Tomorrow (Monday), I'll be on the road to Colorado Springs for another visit with my electrologist. I'll also be seeing my hair stylist, and she doesn't know that I had a hair restoration procedure back in February. If all goes well, I'll be home next Sunday (28 July).

Love always -- Jessica Rose

@Jessica_Rose
Dear Jessica:
Thank you for sharing about the visit and lawn mowing "adventure" at your Dad's home.
It appears that your visit with your Dad went as well as could be considering the
action of taking of his car keys.

Have safe travels as you continue on to Colorado Springs.

I will be eagerly looking for your return and seeing your new hair style ... picture please
but only if you feel comfortable sharing and posting.

HUGS, and more HUGS,
Danielle [Northern Star Girl]

@Jessica_Rose
Dear Jessica:

It's your Special Day coming again on tomorrow on Saturday, July 27th
Another day older and another day wiser!!! 

Wishing you a very, very    H A P P Y  B I R T H D A Y
                                                                                               

Many HUGS,
Danielle
                                                                          

Have a very happy birthday my dear XXXX

Happy Birthday, Jessica!

Like fine wine and all that. You continue to be awesome!

Happy, happy BIRTHDAY Jessica. Another trip around the sun. Yeeha!
Congratulations
Hugs Gina

Hi Jessica

Just another day in the life of the one and only, Jessica

---

---

May all your dreams and wishes come true, from an admirer down under.

Love and Hugs
Sarah B
Official Greeter

I will say it here too.  Happy birthday Jess!

Chrissy

My thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes. Although I was on the road part of the day, I was able to spend lunch with three of my best friends. It's a bit odd when I think about it, though. Before my transition, I don't remember ever meeting with friends to celebrate my birthday. Sure, I had celebrations with family and maybe even co-workers, but never with people who are simply good friends.

Before posting about my trip, I had something happen today that I had to mention.

After returning from Colorado and unloading our car, I did some grocery shopping. It turned out to be quite affirming! I think I was in the baking aisle. A very friendly guy walked over, placed his hand between my shoulder blades, and said 'did you run track, or maybe play volleyball or basketball?'. I said I didn't. Then he said 'you have a very athletic build. You're even taller than my ex-girlfriend, she was 5' 11" '. We talked for several minutes before parting, covering where we were from and how long we had lived in Arkansas. About 10 minutes later, we bumped into each other again. Like old friends, he placed his hand right between my shoulder blades once more. That's when I noticed the 'Trump' pin on his shirt. I guess I was misinformed. I thought 'those' people didn't like people like me, but he was certainly being friendly. I wonder how long it would take for his head to implode if had mentioned my deadname?

Love always -- Jessica Rose

Four hours plus seems like a long time for mowing.  Thanks for helping out your father Jess.


Chrissy

One more short post before I discuss my trip...

While I was in Cleveland at the end of June, I did a little shopping. I saw a dress I instantly fell in love with. However, it was damaged. I was also pretty sure it wouldn't fit. I decided to try it anyway, and it fit perfectly. I looked more closely at the damage. One of the straps had detached from the front, and part of the mesh overlay was not sewn properly. I knew it would be easy for a seamstress to repair, and one of my daughters had recently began sewing her own clothes. I decided to buy the dress (it was only $12), and see if my daughter could repair it.

I sent some photos of the damage to my daughter, and she was pretty sure she would be able to fix it. I mailed the dress to her, and about 10 days later she sent it back after making the repairs. I think it was worth the effort. Like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree, sometimes all it takes to make something beautiful is a little love.

Love always -- Jessica Rose

A great dress for a great lady. Thanks for sharing.
Glad she was able to repair it for you.

Hugs!

My recent trip to Colorado Springs went well. I left around 9:00am Monday morning, and spent the night in Clayton, NM. I woke up way too early Tuesday morning. I didn't want to wait around until the hotel began serving breakfast at 6:00am, so I got back on the road. I stopped near Walsenburg CO, for gas and breakfast. I arrived in Colorado Springs around 9:30am.

My first scheduled stop was at 11:00am, so I decided to do a little shopping. I visited a Ross store, then Marshall's. My scheduled stop was with someone who has become what I call a 'business friend'. He has an FFL (Federal Firearms License), which allows him to perform legal firearm transfers. After completing my business with him, I visited another Ross store and a TJ Maxx (in Arkansas, I tend to find most of my clothes at TJ Maxx, while Ross seems to be better in other states). By then, it was late enough that I could check in to my hotel. After settling into my room, my stomach told me it was time to eat -- I had skipped lunch. It had been a long day, and I just want something simple, so I went to Subway.

Wednesday morning, I was able to visit Kris for some electrolysis. After about 1.5 hours with Kris, it was time for me to visit my hair stylist. I had not seen Amy since Dec 2023, and my hair really needed some TLC. The first thing Amy noticed was the back of my head. She though there had been a lot of breakage, because there seemed to be a layer of 'missing' hair. I told her the 'missing' hair was due to my hair restoration procedure. It wasn't missing, it had been moved! Once she looked a bit closer, she could see all the new hair. Amy said it was looking great. She colored my hair, did a 'Brazilian Blowout' (it softens my hair and makes it really smooth), then styled it. The appointment lasted about three hours. After the appointment, I went back to my hotel to freshen up before meeting friends for supper.

After freshening up, I met the softball coach I used to work with and his wife for supper. I worked with coach R for six or seven years, taking photos at nearly every game. I had brought him a present, an external hard drive with all the photos I had ever taken of his team -- around 420,000 of them. That made him smile. We had a great supper, and chatted for well over an hour. I hadn't seen them in three years, and it was really nice to catch up on each other's lives.

I was able to meet with Kris on Thursday for more electrolysis, then I made a visit to the 'Wines of Colorado' in Cascade, CO. It's a restaurant, but they also sell wines from a few Colorado vineyards. Our daughter K loves their Plum wine, and they have several other varieties which are really good. I always buy several extra bottles for K, and for the neighbor who has been helping my dad out these last few years. I was driving around town most of the day and skipped lunch again. I had some blackened salmon for supper at Outback

I didn't have anything planned for Friday. All week it had been really smoky due to fires in Canada and the north-west US, so hiking was not on the menu. I decided to do a bit more shopping. I found a nice skirt at Bass Pro, returned a few items at Ross, then checked out Sportsman's Warehouse to see if they had anything I needed. I had a late lunch at Subway, then went for a little more electrolysis. Kris spent about two hours on my arms and hands, then declared to be 'all done'. We went out for a late snack, and set up time to meet on Saturday.

Saturday morning was beautiful. The smoke had cleared, and I could finally see the mountains. For my birthday, Kris wanted to visit a local indoor firing range. I know that may sound odd, but Kris knows I hadn't been able to practice in a long time, and she was interested in learning. We had a great time at the range. The range officer even came over to help both of us improve our grip, which can have a significant impact on accuracy. After an hour or so, it was time to leave and meet some friends for lunch.

Kris and I met up with Brenda and Rayna at the Aspen American Grill for lunch. They mentioned to the staff that it was my birthday, and they gave me a warm brownie with scoops of chocolate and vanilla ice cream! My friends even sang 'Happy Birthday' to me, it had been a long time since anyone had done that. We talked for several hours, but eventually I had to get back on the road to begin my trip home. I made it to Amarillo TX for the night, and got home around 3:30pm on Sunday.

Love always -- Jessica Rose

@Jessica_Rose
Dear Jessica:
I certainly and very much enjoyed reading your recent updates and also I think that your picture in
your new dress is wonderful looking, and the person in that picture is beautiful.  I love how the dress
fits you perfectly and shows all the good curves and cleavage.....  and your hair is fantastic. 

I am glad that you were able to meet with and celebrate your birthday with your Colorado friends.
Please share with me how Rayna is getting along.  I miss her updates and the photos that she once
frequently shared on the Forum.

Thank you again for posting your wonderful and positive update.

I am happy to see that you updated your Avatar/profile photo with your latest picture... very nice indeed.
Please keep you updates coming! !!!
HUGS, Danielle

Jess, I'm not sure how you do it. It sounds like a lot of fun, but I would be exhausted and end up sleeping for a week. Glad you had a safe trip and were able to catch up with old friends. That is wonderful!

Thanks Danielle and Lori! My trips can be exhausting, but I try to always have something planned. Most of the time, I don't know what I'll be doing until a few hours ahead of time. I try to keep a mental list of options, that way I can make the best use of any time I have available. As far as the new photos, I still have a hard time believing that is me. My first reaction is 'wow', then my brain kick in and says 'no, that's just you'.

Last Friday, Susan and I went to Plano, TX for a check-up with Dr. Lam. My appointment was at 3:45pm. Before we left home, I sent an email to let them know that I would be there for my appointment. Around 12:30pm, while still on the road, we got a call. Apparently they had no record of my appointment! They did have an opening that afternoon and asked if I could get there by 2:00pm. Luckily, we were only about an hour away.

We arrived around 1:45pm and did some paperwork. The staff apologized about the mix-up. They had recently switched to a new computer system, and my appointment did not transfer over properly. They ushered me into another room for some 'after' photos. Although the transplanted hair above my left temple is still filling in, the right side looks great. Dr. Lam said it isn't uncommon for some areas to grow in more quickly than others, and he said everything was looking good. They asked me to come back in early February for another check-up.

After visiting with Dr. Lam, we checked into our hotel. It was still too early for dinner, so we decided to do a little shopping. We visited Marshalls, Nordstrom Rack, and a Ross. Then it was time to head to Maggiano's Little Italy for dinner. Susan had eggplant parmesan, and I had some lasagna. After dinner, we went to Macy's before heading back to our hotel. It had been a long day, and we were both tired.

I didn't sleep well, and woke up around 4:00am. I decided not to hang around for the hotel breakfast at 7:00am, so I started repacking our luggage and loading up our car. I think Susan woke up around 5:00am. We cleared the room and were on the road to my dad's house at 5:30am. There were a few thunderstorms in the area, but nothing too bad. The good thing about leaving so early is that there was very little traffic. We stopped around 7:30am to get breakfast. We got into town at 9:30am, so we decided to visit a few stores before going to my dad's house. We like to visit TJ Maxx and Ross whenever we are in the area, I get most of my clothes from those two stores. We also picked up a few groceries at Walmart.

We arrived at my dad's house around 12:30pm. After carrying in our luggage and changing clothes, it was time to mow the yard. They must have been getting a lot of rain, because the grass was 8 - 10 inches deep. To keep the mover from stalling, there were places I could only cut in strips five to six inches wide. It took about four hours to finish, another hour to edge, and about 30 minutes to blow the clippings off the driveway and sidewalks. The temp was in the mid-90's, with a heat index of 105. I went through a lot of Gatorade. After cooling off, my dad asked if we could get him a McDonald's cheeseburger for dinner. I cleaned up a little, then drove Susan and my dad into town to pick up supper. After we got home and ate, it was time for a trip to see my brother. My dad doesn't have 'city' water, and water from his well has a strong sulfur smell. After mowing, I go to my brother's house so I can shower. We got back to my dad's house close to 8:30pm, and he had already gone to bed.

Susan and I woke up at 6:00am Sunday, and my dad got up about 30 minutes later. Once again, a trip to McDonald's was in order. My dad likes their 'Big Breakfast' with hotcakes and sausage. After breakfast, I wandered around my dads place trying to find interesting things to photograph. At 11:45am, we drove to a local cemetery to place some fresh flowers on my mom's grave, then we went to Outback to meet my brother and his wife for lunch. After lunch, we all went to my dad's house. My sister-in-law 'reloaded' my dad's daily medications, while Susan and I began packing for our trip home. We got home at 5:30pm Sunday, after an uneventful drive.

Some of you may remember that my dad was a victim of financial abuse by his 'yard man'. One of the banks involved has really stepped up. After reviewing their banking records, they said this is a 'slam dunk' case of exploitation. They are going to ask for a different detective to be assigned, because our current detective is less than enthusiastic about the case. The 'yard man' has already found a new victim, so the bank has frozen his account. Some additional law enforcement agencies have been notified.

Love always -- Jessica Rose

That is very high grass.  Can your brother help mow, or does he already?  That is a lot of time for edging too!

I think it is nice that you a being a great, caring daughter. 

It is too bad your dad had to be "taken" by a crook.  Sad.

Chrissy

My brother and his wife both have health issues which preclude them from trying to mow such a large area. There is a neighbor who volunteered to help, but I don't want to ask him on short notice. My dad doesn't like non-family members wandering around his place -- even if they are working. He's a founding member of the 'get of my lawn' society.

The mower blades need sharpening, which would probably speed the job up a little. The string trimmer my dad has is really for light duty. A larger one would cut the edging time in half. I have a larger one at home, but it isn't designed for travel. I may just buy a larger one and leave it at my dad's house.

Under the right conditions, St. Augustine grass can grow very quickly. Mowing it more frequently would be preferable, but I can't go down there every weekend.

Love always -- Jessica Rose

Susan had some oral surgery Friday afternoon, so she's on a jello, yogurt, cottage cheese diet for now. She's doing well, but it may be a week or so before she can start eating more solid food.

I've had a long day. Something woke me up at 3:00am. I am rarely able to get back to sleep. I carefully got out of bed so I wouldn't wake Susan. I got dressed, then went into the kitchen to fix my usual breakfast, a large blueberry muffin and Diet Coke. I carried it over to my office, then closed the door so I wouldn't disturb Susan.

While eating, I checked the news to see what was going on in the world. I also started down a chain of music videos, trying to find some new tunes, or at least something I hadn't listened to in a long time. I also straightened up my office a little.

Susan got up around 6:30, so I went into the garage and finished waxing my Honda. I had started work on it Friday evening after a thorough wash. It still looks pretty nice, especially when you take it's age (9 years) and mileage (156,000 miles) into account. When I was finished, I asked Susan if there were any groceries we needed. so she started making a list. Not long after, I got a text from work.

I'm on call this weekend, and one of our utility processes had failed. The process collects and stores performance data, which is handy to spot trends and troubleshoot. It took me about two hours to resolve the issue and monitor it until completion. The grocery list was ready, so I headed to Walmart.

It was a bit more crowded than I expected, but I was able to find everything on the list. They even had some tomato cages on clearance in the garden shop, Susan wanted a few to use in our garden next year. I also picked up some insect repellant, it seems I always get bitten by something when I mow my dad's yard. After gathering all of the groceries, I checked out and went home.

I had a turkey sandwich and some baked potato chips for lunch, with a mint Oreo cookie for dessert. After lunch, I decided to get in some exercise -- a one hour ride on our exercise bike. After cooling off a little, I changed into some outdoor work clothes so I could mow the yard. It's been dry for the last week, so the grass hadn't grown much. Unlike my dad's yard, our only takes about 1.5 hours to mow.

After mowing the yard, I decided to wash our Toyota. It had been 6 - 8 weeks since the last wash. After drying it off, I used some ceramic spray wax to freshen it up a bit. Once the waxing was complete, I had some microwave pasta for supper, and finally a nice, long shower.

After all the excitement of transition, getting back into a normal routine takes a while. Depression is quite common after transition. I mean, once you've climbed your personal Mt. Everest, everything else just seems so mundane. The point though, is that now I am living my life as the person I always wanted to be, the person I dreamed to be. Yes, my life is somewhat boring. However, I am no longer hiding behind a mask.  I am no longer ashamed to be myself. The clothes I want to wear are hanging in my closet, not hidden away in a box in the attic or basement. I am Jessica, welcome to my life.

Love always -- Jessica Rose

@Jessica_Rose
Dear Jessica:
I so very much enjoyed your posting describing your day's endeavors...
...including waking up at an early hour at 3:00am.

You described your busy day in detail... and I got physically tired just
reading all the things that you accomplished.

I hope and trust that your Susan heals up real fast from her oral surgery.  I have
I am a trivia nut, my mind is full of useless information and facts... and I
know that the mouth is the body part that heals the fastest... 

                What part of your body heals fastest?
      https://www.smilesbyshields.com/healing-power-of-the-human-mouth/

Again Jessica: I have been enjoying your postings all around the various threads and
topics here on the Forum.

As always, I will eagerly be looking for your next postings as you share and comment about
whatever is on your mind.

HUGS, and more HUGS,
Danielle [Northern Star Girl]