Small Update

Just letting you all know Im home and recovering. There was no complications. I wasnt prepared for the pain as I typically think of myself as Superwoman when it comes to things that hurt. Im told Im dealing with more pain than a typical surgery because they completed three "surgeries" in one. Gastric bypass, gallbladder removal and hernea repair. I will write more when Im able to sit here longer. Thanks for all the well wishes.

Ok, Here's My Secret

I wasnt going to tell anyone this. And even as Im typing now, Im not even sure Im going to press the "publish" button. But I feel like trying to take this step in telling people.

I am having weight loss surgery.

This decision didnt come lightly. In fact for a long time I thought that surgery was way too drastic for almost anyone. I began researching WLS after I started researching PCOS. (Almost two years ago.) WLS is the only thing that comes close to curing PCOS. This is for several reasons. 1) PCOS makes it VERY difficult to lose weight. However, losing weight allieviates some of the symptoms. WLS makes it easier for someone who has PCOS to lose weight. Although, WLS is no where NEAR the easy way to do it. 2) The type of WLS I am having is called RNY Distal. (See Below.)

The Roux-en-y (or RNY) falls under the area of bariatric bypass surgery and is the most common gastric bypass procedure. In short, the RNY procedure reduces the size of your stomach and reroutes the digestive system.
Three major steps are involved in the RNY procedure: first, the stomach is stapled just below the esophagus, forming a 1-2 ounce stomach pouch above the staples.
The second step includes the division of the small intestines about one foot below the stomach. Then a new 1.5 centimeter opening (stoma) is created in the stomach pouch.
Finally, the open end of the small intestines is attached to the new opening. Food and fluids can now pass from the stomach pouch into the small intestines. The remaining end of the small intestines forms a "Y-shaped" intestinal junction at the base of the stomach. An opening is made to allow digestive juices from the bypassed part of the stomach to flow into the small intestines.

In this instance, "Distal" refers to the amount of small intestines that my surgery will be bypassing. Its the most amount of small intestines that can be bypassed. The reason this is important in my case is because the section of intestines that will be bypassed includes where sugar is absorbed by the human body. My body incorrectly processes sugar and food in general. Because of PCOS, my body turns absolutely everything into sugar, and of course, excess sugar = fat. So, instead of my body incorrectly processing sugar, it wont process it AT ALL. What this means is, after the surgery, I cant eat sugar. AT ALL. If I do, I will get extremely sick. Vomiting, diarrhea, sweating, elevated heart rate and blood pressure are the symptoms of whats called Dumping Syndrome. Basically your body is dumping out what it cant process. Its very painful - Ive seen my Aunt Donna go through it about 5 minutes after eating BBQ sauce that contained sugar. It wasnt easy to see her in so much pain, and I now am a witness of what will happen if I indulge in chocolate.

Emotionally, I feel like I am prepared to do the surgery. Taking this final step in telling people by broadcasting it on my blog is what I feel like - my final preparation. Its been such a long time coming and only VERY few people knew about it. I feel like Im coming out of the closet! HAHA So if you are feeling slighted that I didnt include you, please dont be. No one knew as I prepared. Aunt Donna knew first because she herself is one year out from her surgery - so I picked her brain like mad. My husband, my parents, my sister, and two other very close individuals to me are the only ones who knew about it - and they only got to know about a month ago. For those of you who I told I was having gall bladder surgery, I didnt lie. LOL They are taking my gall bladder out at the same time. I just omitted... Im sorry. :-)

Ive been overweight in some capacity all my life. It makes sense now that as the PCOS got more extreme, so did my weight. In preparation and research for my decision, I came across some interesting statistics. Only 5% of people who lose any kind of weight keep it off for over 5 years. Think about it....who do you know lost some weight - only to have it come back, (plus more), within 5 years? I only know one person who has kept weight off for that long. Carol L. She is awesome and VERY disciplined. She looks amazing! But that isnt the normal, and I know she constantly works at it. Ok, take some like me who has PCOS, and hereditary issues like the obesity gene, diabetes and thyroid disease. Someone who has all those strikes against them only has a 1% success rate of keeping weight off. Oh, and of that 5% of people who are successful?.... some of those are made up of people who have had WLS. So... this decision became a no-brainer on tail end of almost 2 years of research.

Life after surgery for me will be drastically different. Not just because of what I will be eating. Because the surgery causes extreme malabsorbtion issues, I will need to take vitamin supplements and protein drinks every day for the rest of my life. For the first 8 weeks I will be putting nothing in my body but water, clear liquids like broth, sugar free jello, and crystal light, vitamins and protein drinks. I will be taking about 22 pills a day, plus powdered calcium. Im a weenie at taking pills too,....so it will be a challenge!

I suppose I will eventually be posting pictures so you all can see my progress. Right now, Im not that brave for you all to see pics - or know the magic numbers. I know most of you see me often, but still...seeing my chub and my chub number on the internet is not something I want to do. HA

So...wish me luck and pray for me. My surgery is scheduled for Tuesday November 21st. TWO DAYS!

My Icky Eye...Oh yes, The Never Ending Story

So I once again tried the, "ignore it and it will go away" method of dealing with my eyeball. This only resulted in my eye getting worse. It doesnt like to be ignored, and like an obsessive ex-girlfriend, my icky eye keeps reminding me its still there.

Ive had several bloodtests recently to check my thyroid. My doctor seems convinced something is wrong with it. She said she is concerned about Graves Disease. Me...? Not so much. Even tho one of the symptoms is red bulging eyes. Im still going to do the thyroid scan this thursday. I go in to the hospital I swallow some radioactive iodine. I then go back 4 hours later and have a scan done of my thyroid. The iodine will have made its way through all my veins and organs and it will highlight the problem area - if any!

My preliminary bloodtests were not off the charts by any means. Which suggests that Graves is not an issue. Im still within the normal range - just high-normal. Also a symptom of Graves and hyperthyroidism is unexplained weightloss. *blinks* Well THAT certainly isnt happening! I just have an icky, rebellious, unrelenting eyeball.

Sadness

I wont mention any names out of respect for the family and my friend, but I do feel like I need to write about it. This is probably out of selfish reasons...trying to make sense of a senseless death...trying to pull a situation full circle after the circle had been interrupted prematurely. Closure in my own way I suppose.

I loved her...she was my friend. We connected on a few life details...even if they seemed shallow, we connected. She loved Jesus, make up, fun. Me too. She reached out to me. Sent me a note - told me I was an amazing person that made her feel good. That made me feel good. Then life changes. Life changes you. Life changes things. Choices are made. Lifestyles separate. I hadnt seen her in so so long. But she was still that girl who was my friend. The pretty fun girl with the gorgeous eyes and the gorgeous kids.

I should have reached out. Should have done more. Should have told her she was amazing and special. Should have kept the connection. Should have called her. Maybe the outcome would be different? That sounds arrogant. That my reaching out could have changed things. Who am I? But I cant help but wonder....and probably always will.

I'll miss the light she brought. Her laughter, her voice, her funny way of having a conversation while minding 3 effervescent boys. I'll miss my friend.

Sharing Pictures...

I know I talk a lot about Dylan and Mak on here, but I dont often post pictures of them. They are soooooo good with Jubilee. She loves them so much. Here are some pictures we had taken of all of them and some with just Juju too.

A Scary Looking Bunch!

Pumpkin Carving!!

Tonight was Pumpkin Carving night. Holly, Dylan, Makayla and Baylee came over and brought their pumpkins. We spent lots of time carving and scraping....here is our end result!

Jubilee enjoyed the pumpkins. Last year she would only touch the pumpkin guts once. This year she really loved digging in!

Happy Birthday Jason!

Today is my brother-in-law's birthday. He's old. But fun. We love him. As Juju as said all day today, "Happy Burtday Unc!!"

Im Now a Dove Girl

Ive never bought Dove products before, but Im going to start.

Anyone who knows me, knows Ive not always conformed to the mainstream concept of beauty. Stick thin waifs with fake boobs, a mystic tan, and a head full of bleach blonde hair extentions will never make my, "Wow, she's gorgeous" list. In fact, like most realistic women, I have come to hate the Hollywood/Media machine that takes talented beautiful women and turns them into Britney Spears or Lindsey Lohan.

I once had a friend,...who married another one of my friends - and they'll remain nameless. He became addicted to porn. Porn in all mediums that escalated to the break up of their marriage. His reason for leaving his wife and two children? "She wasnt good enough." The standard by which he was measuring his wife was a Porn Star. The perfect hairless body, the perfect fake ta-tas, the perfectly fake sexual experiences. To him, a woman should be, act, and look like the actresses, (using that term VERY loosely - no pun intended...hahaha), in porn films. I think society, the entertainment industry, and the media are doing the same thing. Creating these fake, unrealistic goals of what a woman should look like...most of us fall short and are being taught to be ashamed of it.

Check out this video: http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/ I love that Dove has put this together...and put it out there for everyone to see. Plus the Self-Esteem project is just what I think young girls need these days. If I had a ton o' money, I would put together a similar project. I think low self-esteem in pre-teen and teenage girls is an epidemic. I mostly certainly know, (partially by experience), that it is a pathway to drugs, eating disorders, self-image distortions, and a poor judgement and problem solving. Particularly when it comes to men. Imagine if some of those poor choices and self-hatred could be untaught? Or warded off all together? Imagine what an intelligent, confident young woman would not have to overcome if she didnt buy into the "Im not good enough" cult?

I am hoping I can instill those exact values in my own daughter. Spending her life comparing herself to her own goals and gifts and not those fake concepts of beauty and worthiness set forth by those around her. Believing in herself. That would be a beautiful thing.

Whats Happenin'?

Well, the short answer to that question is, not much. We're just living life and the days seem busy even thought there is not much to speak of. Just the daily grind of being the very entertained mom of Jubilee and what not!

Saturday we went to the Harvest Carnival. Its a fundraiser for Jubilee's Pre-3 school. We made a family trip of it taking Holly, Dylan and my Dad. Mom Botts was in Seattle with Aunt Jan. The five of us piled into the Grocery Getter and went to the local community gym where the parents of the Co-op transformed it into a Halloween/Harvest fun fair.

It was fun seeing all the kids in costume and even some of the parents in costume. It was also quite interesting to see all the kids, their parents, and how Juju interacted with them. Jubilee doesnt get much socialization with kids her own age beyond her one day a week at school. Once she hits 3, that will change since there are lots of activities for 3 years and up at our church, but until then, we're limited. And its something we need to work on, really! How do I know this? Well, I got my first clue upon entering the "play area" at the carnival and seeing Jubilee announce with moxie that every toy was, "MINE!!" When I explained to her that she had to be polite and say please, she would run up to a toy and say, "Kids! Please my turn? Kids! Wait! My turn please!" The other startling clue was when she went up to a boy Winnie the Pooh and pushed him because.... well, Im not really sure what infraction he committed - besides dressing up as Winnie the Pooh. But she wasnt happy. Jubilee was made to apologize to Pooh. Other than those mishaps in the play area, Jubilee had a good time. She ate pizza and candy, got her face painted and even had a picture key chain made with her cousin Dylan.

Among the adult activities was a silent auction and raffle. Nothing in the auction caught my eye, but the raffle had two packages with really good photographers so I entered both of those. Holly bought a bunch of tickets and spead them around to the various prizes. Including, and Im not sure why she did this, in the bag that went with the prize that she put together, and the Peninsula Daily News donated. It was a DVD player with a basket movie kit. It had soda, popcorn, and tons of candy. In fact, she bought all the candy and soda herself to go with the PDN DVD player. As she dropped her ticket in the bag she said, "Watch...the one thing I win will be the stuff I donated." Sure enough...she called me the next day to confirm her premonition. She had won the DVD and movie basket. HAHA

After the carnival we dropped Dad Botts off at his second home, The Eagles. Its a club, bar, pool table place. You have to be a member to go in and we sat in the Grocery Getter waiting for him to cross the foyer and enter the bar area. I like to do that because it seems like such a forbidden place. Im not a member so of course I want to go in. I like to look in the door as he opens it to see what sort of secrets lay inside. As my sister pointed out, we expect him to open the door and everyone to yell, "DAVE!" like they did for Norm on Cheers.

Jubilee is still doing great with using the potty. However she is no where near ready for no diapers at night time. She still has a very wet diaper in the morning. Yesterday I forgot to put a diaper on her when she took a nap and she woke up wet. The only day time accident she's had is at the store. Holly, Dylan, Juju and I went there to pick out stuff for the above mentioned movie basket. Jubilee loves balloons and I let her pick out one to take home. No sooner did we get back to the car when the balloon flew off her wrist and into the air. She stared at it for a minute and said, "Oh no!" Then the suprise turned to utter shock and sadness when she realized it wasnt coming back. She stared up at the sky and her balloon drifting away and cried the most pitiful cry. "My baaalllllooooooooooooooooooooooon!" Holly, the dutiful Auntie, took Jubilee back into the store to pick out another balloon. I was just going to let Jubilee mourn the loss of her Micky Mouse balloon, but Holly would have none of that. They went inside the store, got the balloon, and got in line to pay for it. This is where Jubilee stated she had to go potty. In these situations you can usually ask her to hold it and she will. But just then a man cut in front of Holly. The wait was more than Juju could bare, and she peed right there in line, on the floor. Holly said that instead of Juju feeling bad she had an accident, she just announced to everyone as loud as she could, "I PEED! I PEEEED!"

Thats all thats happenin'! I do want to do a special shout-out to my cousin Janet who made this AWESOME water hose art for the silent auction. She works her booty off all day and still had time to do that. Thanks Janet!

Conversations with Jubilee

"Mom-mom?"
"Yes Juju?"
"nooooo... I Jubee!" (Jubilee)
"Oh..Ok, Yes Jubilee?"
"Mom-mom?"
"Yes Jubilee?"
"Nooooo... I Gorgeous!" (Nickname from her Dad)
"Ok, Yes Gorgeous?"
"ummm...Hi!"
______________

"Jubilee, what would you like for breakfast?"
*finger tapping on her chin...* "hmmm.... woooorrrrmmmmmsss!"
______________

"Mom-mom?"
"Yes?"
"I want a baby brother."
*blinks* "You want a baby brother??!!" *wondering where the heck that came from*
"Yeah! PLEAAAAAAAASE baby brother! I want a baby brother!"
"Baby brothers arent all that fun. They stink, they steal your toys, they will toot in your face and they pee with the toilet seat up! Do you still want a baby brother?"
*pause thinking about it all* "..... YEAH!"
"No, we wont be getting a baby brother...sorry."
*crying hysterically like I just refused to feed her for a week* "PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZE!"
"No baby brothers. How about a popsicle instead?"
"...Okay!"
______________

In Safeway in a VERY loud voice:
"OH NO MOMMY! I tooooooted!"
*hurrying to hide on the next isle* "Ok, what do you say then?"
"Scoopsy" (excuse me)
"Can you use your quiet voice?"
"Cant! I HAPPYYYYYYYY!"
"You can still be happy and use your quiet voice."
"Like in library? I TOOTED AGAAAAAAIIIIIN!"
"Juju. Be quiet please. Yes, like in the library."
"Scoopsy..... I STINKYYYYY!"
________________

Thank You Steph!!!

I just had to post a little thank you to Steph who gave me a great idea for Juju's ill-fitting pants problem. I spent a couple hours, (yes hours, I know about as much of sewing as I do football), sewing hooks and eyes on Juju's pants. Right now she is comfortably wearing a size 18 month embellished jeans and they arent falling off her tooshy! Thank you Steph!

Ma Petite

I have run into a bit of a problem when it comes to Jubilee and her clothing. I say "a bit" even though it annoys me to no end because in the grand scheme of life, this is nothing to complain about. But, when you buy your kid an adorable outfit that you just love to see them in, you want it to fit, right?

Jubilee has always been on the small side. Even in the womb she was small. During the endless ultrasounds I was given, I never failed to hear, "Her limbs seem a little small...". Most of my family is short so Jubilee never really had a chance to be statuesque. However, as she has gotten older and grown, she has always stayed on the same growth curve....right around the 1-3 percentile. So, there was no alarm for her size....shes just petite and thats ok!

Except now, Im annoyed with how clothes are fitting. Its not uncommon to see Jubilee running around hiking her pants up. And, since she is potty trained, there is no bulk of a diaper to hold up the pants. So you get an idea of her size:

Weight: 23lbs
Height: about 31 inches

For comparison sake, look at Mr. Marcus stats here. Marcus is the handsome boy of some friends of mine in North Carolina. Jubilee is just a few pounds more than a 6 month old baby! Yikes!

Jubilee is 2 years and almost 5 months. In shirts and dresses she can wear 24 months...they are baggy but they are just long enough to accomodate her long trunk. Well, long in comparison to her legs. In skirts and shorts she can easily wear any thing from 6 to 12 months. For long pants and jeans....practically nothing fits. Either the legs are too short, or the butt and waist is too big. Its fall here now and Jubilee has no long pants to wear! We are resorting to lots of dresses, skirts, and even shorts with thick cotton tights. (which are ill-fitting also - bunching the length of the tights up around her thighs.)

So whats a Mommy to do? I cheat. Yep, Im that annoying person who switches sizes on the outfits in the store. Just last week we got Jubilee the cutest pink and burgandy jogging suit that came as a set. Top and jacket - 24 months, bottoms - 12 months. Somewhere someone is going to buy the same outfit in the reverse sizes. Oopsy! Hopefully some parents with a pair-shaped kid will be very happy.

I have also resorted to pinning Jubilee's pants in the back. Ive tried safety pins, (they are NOT deserving of their moniker), an office supply clip, and those gatherers that they used to put on the back of sack dresses people wore in the 90s.

Hopefully her little bum and legs will grow soon. Otherwise as an adult she will look like a tomato on toothpicks and we'll have to change her name to Bob.

Where Is My Little Juju?

Where did my little girl go? Everyone told me it goes by fast...watching your kids grow up. But seriously, did someone take my baby and replace her with this two year old going on 12?

Yesterday we spent an hour cleaning up Jubilee's room, packing old clothes up, and rearranging for her toddler bed. Up until now we were still using the crib and I kind liked having a place to corral her. But since she became totally potty trained for day time, she's been waking up at night wanting to go potty. So I figured it was time for a bed she could get out of on her own so she could start learning how to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night too.

Like almost every big change in Jubilee's life, I try to read up on it first so I know what to expect. I have heard some not-to-pleasant stories about kids being up all night, bouncing in and out of their new beds with the new found freedom. Bedtime suddenly becoming a nightmare and a power struggle and making the parent wonder if their child should ever have come out of the crib.

So I was prepared. We got some new Dora the Explorer bed linens. This was something that I wasnt thrilled about. I dont really like to put my kid in "character" type stuff. Especially clothes. I swore she wouldnt own any apparel with Disney or other cartoony characters on it... and to this day I only caved on a pair of super cute Boohbah tennis shoes that she only wears for play and a couple sets of Dora pajamas. But when we went to this really great 2nd hand store for kids here in town called Twice Upon a Child, I couldnt resist the Dora the Explorer sheets, pillowcase and blanket for 10 bucks!

Dylan and Makayla were here after school and they helped us rearrange her room and convert the crib into the toddler bed. As we were doing this, Jubilee got very agitated. She was VERY worried about her crib being taken apart. When we took the mattress out she kept telling us, "put it back! put it back!". I tried explaining she was going to get a big girl bed and that it was going to be cool....but she just didnt believe me. That is, until we got it all set up, Dora trappings and all. Well thats all it took! She climbed in and out of her own bed probably 50 times just because she could! When it was finally bed time we kept the same routine; shower, brush teeth, jammies, mommy's bed for one cartoon, read a story, then bedtime. She layed right down, snuggled her babies and went to sleep. No struggle, no up and down out of bed every 10 mins...nothing! Piece of cake!

Its almost 6am now and she should be waking within the next hour. We'll see if she gets up on her own or calls for me like she did in the crib!

Seriously tho, shouldnt this growing up thing go just a little bit slower!?

My New Parrot!!

I have a new parrot! She is very colorful, has blue eyes, and loves to talk up a storm! She has a playful personality, is so very friendly, and loves to play with all her toys. She is mucho smart too. In fact, she is so smart that she has taken to repeating everything we say! Even things I dont even realize are a part of my regular vocabulary. My new parrots name??
JUBILEE!

Oh yes friends... the time has come. The time where you stub your toe and a little curse word comes out in the painful aftermath - only to hear said curse word over and over again in joyful child-like tones for the next 10 mins. ACK!

Jubilee has always been a talker. She may have rolled over, crawled and walked late, but she talked early on and never stopped. I may have ignored the signs that my little parrot would be coming in full force soon. Like the time she busied herself in my bedroom and found condoms ....only to decide they were better kept in the microwave. When I pulled them out with surprise she asked, "Whats that!?" I answered truthfully...still in shock at seeing condoms in the microwave, "...condoms". So for the next 20 mins I heard a singsong of cheerful delight, "condomscondomscondomscondoms....CONdoms!!!!!!!"

There have been other words along the way she picked up - temporarily of course. When we camp Mom Botts makes the best breakfast concoction that my sister endearingly named Breakfast Crap. When Mom Botts once decided to stray from the original design of The Crap and got creative to make a different, (and not so good) version, my sister lovingly donned it, Crap the Sequel. So of course The Parrot soon picked up "crap". Once my Mom gave Jubilee an ice cream cone of a different color than she normlly gets at Mema's house, and Jubilee looked at it confused and perplexed... Mom asked her, "What do you got? What is that?", of course expecting Jubilee to say, "ICE CREAM!!!". Instead, The Parrot looked at the green ice cream and said, "Crap!"

So given all her history of picking up questionable words for a two year old's vocabulary, I probably should have been watching what I say. For the most part, I dont swear a whole lot. When Im angry I can rival a truck driver, but thats never around Juju - usually around Troy tho....hmmm. ;-)

Imagine my surprise when The Parrot came bouncing into the living room after her nap, found her new white dress shoes, picked them up with surprise and awe on her face and said, "OH MY GAWD!!" Not only did she just exclaim this, but she said it so crystal clear and with such gumption that she sounded like an old jewish woman gossiping on her stoop! It was then I realized that "oh my god" was a very regular part of my vocabulary and even tho it seems non-eventful when I say it, its quite the different story hearing it come out of a two year old's mouth! So...needless to say, we are now working on saying, "Oh my goodness" and hopefully The Parrot will follow suit.

Its October! Halloween is Coming!

Halloween is coming.... LOVVVVVE Halloweenie! Cool thing about Halloween now is I have a little person I get to dress up! Until she gets to the age where she wont let me pick out her costume anymore, Im going to have fun! Bonnie, a very nice lady Troy's Mom works with, gave Jubilee this dress:

We're going to add some black wings and a gold crown with some black feathers and call her a graveyard fairy. Fun!


Dylan and Makayla got costumes that are similar and we will be haunting various households on Halloween night! If we show up on your door step you better give them candy or we will unleash the fury of the graveyard fairy on you and your descendents! MUAHAHAHAHA!!

Oh Yeah! The Blog!

I have been awful about keeping up on this lately. Not that Ive really forgotten about it...my life just hasnt been interesting lately. Well...wait - I take that back. Lots has been happening, just nothing I can publicly talk about. There is one major thing going on in my life....it really has nothing to do with anyone else but me, but its big - to me. However, only a few (and by few I mean 4) people know about it and I like to keep it that way. So basically I just wrote that to let you know Im going thru something huge and you dont get to know. Neener!

Jubilee started Pre-Three School last week. She loves school. At this age school is nothing more than play, crafts, singing and reading...but she loves the interaction with other kids. I stay home so day care to us means grandma takes her overnight to give me a break occasionally. Socialization will be something I need to work at with Jubilee since Im hoping to either home school or some how afford private school. Jubilee loves to socialize, but getting the opportunity to do so is another thing. So in addition to school this year, we have started going to Pre-K Play Zone. Its sort of like Ghettosville's version of Gymboree. We show up 3 times a week to tumble and play with other kids. Jubilee is totally digging it. She is the only kid in both preschool and Play Zone that is potty trained.

Speaking of being potty trained, Jubilee continues to have no accidents most days. She had one due to being sick to her tummy, ( THAT was fun to clean), and you could tell she felt horrible about it. She kept crying, "My panties! Oh noooo my ponies, my panties!!!" (She was wearing My Little Pony panties.) When we are in the car and she says she has to go potty, I tell her to hold it and she will clasp her hands together really tight and say, "I hold it!!", and she makes it to the big girl potty once we get home. Good think everything in Ghettosville is only 10 mins away. The next step is potty training for night time. Im still waiting for her to wake up with a dry pull-up. Now may be the time to change the crib over to the toddler bed so she can get up when she needs to go potty. Am I ready for her to be uncorralled at nighttime?! ACK!

Jubilee has been two for 4 months now. I keep waiting for "the terrible twos" and they just arent happening. ....yet anyway. Jubilee really is a good kid, easy to discipline and seems to be learning manners and lessons. I know this will change at different ages and phases, but I guess I just keep waiting for it. Dont get me wrong, she spends time in The Naughty Chair with her nose on the wall, but I havent yet seen the big temper tantrum or any acting out that you normally see at this age. Makes me wonder whats coming! HAHA Some say it isnt the The Terrible Twos at all, and really its The Terrible Threes. We shall see.

One other notable thing I must brag about is I have given up soda. Some of you may be saying, "yeah...so....?", but if you only knew how addicted I was to Diet Mt. Dew, you would be patting me on the back! I used to drink at least 3 a day and at any given time had what seemed like 100 cans littering my computer desk. But I knew I was not getting enough water and in an effort to be more healthy, I decided it was time. I mourned for a day, then just quit cold turkey with caffiene withdrawl headaches that would bring a masochists to their knees for about a week. I now drink nothing but crystal light and water and I dont even miss Diet Mt. Dew!

Ok, Im done boring you with the trivial details of my life.....for now...:)

Mocha, Latte, Chapstick Grande Please...

Sorry for not having a post for you all the past few days. (Altho, I think I have all of a 2 member readership.) Both Jubilee and I had been feeling under the weather with some sort of sinus ickiness, but we're both feeling better today.

Today we went on a long walk and then decided to hit Costco. I love Costco. Where else can you get 36 rolls of toilet paper for cheaper than dirt? While we were there, Jubilee made friends with the young and old alike, always asking, "What doing? Shoppin'? What you name?" As I've said before, its a good thing Im not shy.

I was going to hit Safeway, (Or Safeco as the cool people call it ;-) ), but Jubilee was about to fall asleep by the time we got back to Port Angeles. Ah well, ...the much needed Cheerios and Raspberry Crystal Light will have to wait.

When we got home I put away the Costco groceries and Jubilee busied herself playing with my Garfield coffee cup. She spent lots of time and in great detail making the coffee. We dont drink coffee in this house. Ive never drank coffee, and neither does Troy, so we're not sure where she learned how to make it or even call it coffee. I know my mom and Troy's dad drinks it, but I dont think they have her in training to work for Starbucks. In any case, Jubilee knows all about coffee, sugar, and creamer and I bet can make a mean cup!

Besides my Garfield coffee cup, Jubilee has also taken to playing with my chapstick. Yes, I admit it. I have an addiction. I am a hopeless Chapstick fiend. It has to be Chapstick, and it has to be original flavor. I have been known to use the Strawberry kind now and then, but for the most part, Im loyal to original. I have tubes of Chapstick on just about every surface of my house. I have tubes scattered in drawers and cupboards so Im never out of arms reach of at least 3 tubes. Jubilee has discovered this. She now loves Chapstick too and I have passed my addiction onto my spawn. Before Jubilee came along, I was very particular about even the shape of my Chapstick. I knew how far up I wanted the lip balm sticking out of the top, and I applied the Chapstick in the exact manner it would take to get the perfect, smooth, round shape for optimum application. Now, after Jubilee has been invading my special Chapstick resting spots, all my chapstick has little grooves and gouges in them and looks like a little mouse has been nibbling on my perfect little lip balm for a snack! Good thing Chapstick isnt poisonous.

So after enjoying a nice, hot, pretend cup of coffee, (stirred gently with Chapstick), I put Jubilee down for a nap. I think I will take one too!

"Whoa, The Girl I Love, She's Got Long Wavy Back Hair"

Now Im going to have that song in my head all day.... Meh, thats ok. There are worst to have stuck in your head than Led Zeppelin. For example, yesterday it was the Go, Diego Go theme song. Dont you hate it when you have a song stuck in your head and you dont know all the words? This is what I was singing all day yesterday: "Go Diego Go...Go Diego Go! .... something something in spanish.... Go Diego Go!" After that, for a brief couple hours it was the Silly Songs with Larry favorite, "Barbara MANATEEEE! How I long for THEEEEEEEE......." *sigh* All of a sudden I really feel like I need to listen to some Disturbed. HAHA!

I have totally gotten off subject of what this post was supposed to be about and thats MY HAIR! I understand that for some of you this post can be filed under, "As if I cared..." But, like every girl needs to, Ive got to talk about my hair for a minute.

Its really grown.....long. The back, in the longest layer, is down almost touching the tattoo on my lower back. I wear it up a lot. Chasing a two year old makes that a necessity unless I want to use peanut butter and marker for a hair product. For those of you that have known me forever, know that Ive always colored my hair. At one time or another my hair has been every color in the rainbow. Sometimes those colors were on my head all at once! But for the past couple years Ive been dying it jet black. After having Jubilee it just became easy and cheap and, well, lets face it....I can rock the black hair. Naturally, my hair is a mousy ash brown. Not the brown that is rich and full of deep highlights....its a brown that makes you think of dog poo thats been dried in the hot sun of the Arizona desert. Was that too graphic? Well....you get the idea.

Lately I had been missing the fun of having different colors in my hair and decided it was time for a change. Knowing that lightening up box-dyed black hair was going to be a challenge, I researched for a good colorist in my area and came up with a quirky perky girl named Kristen. I brought pictures of the red/violet and blonde streaks that I wanted. Kristen did a GREAT job....however it is difficult lifting black dye off of longgggggg hair. So it didnt come out exactly how I pictured it.... but she still did a great job.

I might go back for the blond streaks since some of my hair is lightened up enough to get them actually blond instead of that brassy orange that bleaching dark hair always brings. My mom didnt hate it as much as she thought she would...so that tells me I need a little more done to it. hehe

That picture was taken a few weeks ago the day I got the color done. Today its still as bright as that. Like I said, she did a good job. Although I only wash my hair once a week....maybe once every 8 or 10 days....and that helps a lot with keeping color. If I wash it any more than that, its WAY too clean and I cant do a thing with it. Besides, considering my shower drain already looks like a black and pink Chewbacca owned the tub, I may be bald if I wash it any more than that!

Camping Freaks