HOLY MONKEY!!

Oh my,... Could it be?... YES, Im blogging!!!! Muahahahahaha! Did it scare you to come to this link and see new words!? WOOHOO!! I cant believe some of you have been so faithful. My visit report says I still get 10 or so hits a week. Maybe just spammers, but I rather believe you LOVVVE me! HAHA!

So what excuse can I give you that I havent blogged? LOTS of good ones. None of them truly as honest as... I am lazy. But sooooooo much has happened the past 9 months, I had to decompress by spewing it out of my fingers as they fly across the keyboard.

First of all... Jubilee. Wow, has she grown. She is still just a tiny thing, but getting taller every day. She is about 39 inches and weighs just 26lbs. She is in the older kids class in preschool and does very well. Her teachers say what a joy she is to have and has spent no time in the naughty chair. (Surprising considering we have a well-used naughty chair at home.) Jubilee is always cracking me up with the things she says and does and hopefully as I blog more I can pass those stories onto you in time. But for now, catching you all up on the past few months will be a full blog for today!

Im still working at Westport and Im having a blast doing it. HR there isnt what HR means in a lot of the rest of the world, but I like it. My office is always full, dealing with different issues. If confidentiality wasnt a factor, I could tell you SCADS of hilarious and odd, scandalous and fun things I get to deal with on a weekly basis, but just trust me when I say the content runs the gamut. Westport as a company is growing like mad. Currently we're #1 in North America when it comes to Megayachts. If you have an extra 35 million in your pocket and want a sea-fairing playtoy, you get a Westport. Its very exciting to be part of a company like this. Im so used to the human services field where its always bad news about finances, and red tape. I work with some great people too. Since I blogged last they moved me to the Interior Plant. I was at the 50 meter plant where they build our 164' yachts. The Interior Plant is where all the cabinets, upholstery, and design is created for the interior of the yachts. Its booming place! Since I started there the Interior Plant has gone from 180 people to 245. Does that give you an idea of the growth? Its amazing! I also got a new boss, who is fabulous, (and doesnt know about this blog so dont think Im sucking up!) and we have talked about some badly needed HR projects that I will get to head up. Im looking forward to getting BACK to work. ....did I not mention that Im not working at the moment... OH?? I'll get to that!

Gee, what else have I done in the past few months? ...hmmm.. OH YES... I went to NYC!!!!!!! WOOHOO! For those of you who know me well, know this has been a dream of mine for years. Since I discovered Grease and theater, oh yes... NYC and seeing a broadway show was the top of my to-do list. So, we did it! We took my Mom as the well-paid babysitter, hopped a plane and flew to New York. ...Or as Juju calls it, You Nork. Seems like it took FOREVER to get there with the anticipation. But once I got in NYC it was FABULOUS!!! I was in culture shock for about two mins, then I was HOME. I will never be able to afford to live in Manhattan, but I sooooo totally could. I LOVED it. Usually when I go, well actually anywhere for any extended period of time, I am ready to go home to my own house, bed and shower by the 4th day. After 4 days in New York I was ready to see how much it would cost stay another week! I was sad to leave!! Thats after of packing TONS of stuff into 4 days. We were not in the hotel room except to sleep! (Which was only about 5 hours a night.) I was worried about Jubilee and how it would be dragging a 3 year old around NYC, but it was wonderful. She was a trooper and loved it as much as I did. She kept calling it "her big city" and called our hotel room her new house. We stayed right in the heart of Times Square and spent the first day walking around, taking pictures, shopping and just being in awe of it all. Then that first night we went to the Lunt Fontanne Theater and saw The Little Mermaid.

Juju and Mommy are ready for The Little Mermaid!

The performance was amazing just as I had expected. The special effects and costumes were outstanding. The cast (or at least all characters that lived under the water), did the whole performance on heelies!! So it always looked like they were gliding gracefully under the water. Jubilee was in a trance! She LOVVVED it. She sang along with the songs she knew and was so excited when Ariel made her entrance onto the stage. During the play, when the Sea Witch was making her watery demise, the music was loud, at the fullest crescendo, thunder and lighting was everywhere, the Sea Witches tentacles were stretching out toward the audience from the sides and top of the stage, Ariel was singing loudly...getting her voice back and then in a swirl of fog, with a crash and boom, the Sea Witch fell through a trap door in the stage as she died. Everything was quiet and dark for dramatic pause. In that quiet moment when everyone was transfixed, Jubilee yells, "THE SEA WITCH DIEEEEEEED!!!!!!!!!" The entire theater full of people CRACKED UP laughing. OMG... Here I am, my first time on broadway, trying not to look like the Ghettosville bumpkin, and all of a sudden all eyes are on us! ACK! I was between embarrassed with my head in my hands and cracking up with everyone else!

On the second day we went sightseeing on a guided bus tour. If you are a first time NYC visitor, I HIGHLY recommend this. Its a hop on/hop off double decker bus tour and you get to go EVERYWHERE. We did it in two days. One day we did the uptown loop and the 3rd day we did the downtown loop. We saw it all and even tho it wasnt nearly enough time, we at least got to go everywhere for a little bit of time. We went up into the Empire State Building, saw the Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, Central Park, and every little cool neighborhood in between. On the fourth day we started by going to the Today Show where we met Matt Lauer and Al Roker. They were very taken with Jubilee who engaged them in conversation. Then we went ice skating at Rockefeller Center just across the street from The Today Show:

The weather was bitterly cold but that wasnt stopping us from doing anything! We had a BLAST!

Then Friday night we went to Grease. It was so wonderful to actually get to see my favorite production live FINALLY! However, they did water it down from the original format and the production was no where near The Little Mermaid, but certainly not a let down. I cant wait to go back and see the others on my list like The Lion King, Mary Poppins and Wicked. Im ADDICTED now! (Elizabeth, if you read this, we should meet up in NYC someday and see a show!)

We also saw a taping of David Letterman. If you happened to watch it on Thursday, Feb 14th, then you saw me in the audience mouthing the words, "Hi Juju!" to the camera. I looked like such a dork! While we were in Letterman, Mom was walking around Times Square with Juju and ran into one of her favorite soap stars! I forget his name, but he plays Cole on One Life to Live for those of you familiar. She was quite star struck.

We started our trek home on Saturday by checking out of the hotel, *sniff*, and shopping for souvenirs before hopping a plane. I neeeeeeeeed to go back! Soon!

Which brings me to the most recent excitement in my life and the reason Im not working right now. Surgery! Yes, more surgery. I think Ive blogged before about having Gastric Bypass and how sick I got afterwards. Because I was so sick and throwing up almost hourly for 4 months, that resulted in an incisional hernia. It was quite large. It made my tummy stick out so people thought I was pregnant! I lost a total of 170lbs just to have people think I was preggo. HA! Anyway, I needed to have that fixed. So on February 26th I had that repaired AND a tummy tuck done at the same time. Im two weeks out of surgery and feeling GREAT! As long as I keep pain meds in me, Im golden. It hurts a lot more than the first surgery did, but no where near as miserable because Im not sick all the time. Pain, I can handle. Im also walking hunched over because my new tummy is soooo tight. This is normal and I should be able to walk upright in about 3 more weeks. My back is not liking this part of recovery, but DANG my tummy is F-L-A-T!!! Ive not ever had a flat stomach except maybe as a baby??? Very strange. So now, Im just home recovering. Jubilee is taking good care of me. My mom was very direct with her in being careful not to jump on me or do anything to my tummy area. This is how that conversation went:

"Well, ... can I tickle her?"

"No Juju, you cant tickle Mommy."

"...can I tickle her leg?"

"No."

"...her arm?"

"No!"

"...Can I tickle her face?"

"No Jubilee!"

"....What about the BACK of her face?"

HAHA... When I heard about this I started laughing...which HURTS like mad to laugh. But couldnt help it.

So hows that for an update? WHEW! Im just sitting at home with my drains, (I call them my hitchhikers.), so give me a call if any of you feel like chatting. I have cabin fever BAD! ...Look! It even has me reduced to BLOGGING! HAHA!