Oh, Snap! And Some Thursday Things

I had a bit of a validating moment last week served up with a side of BOOYAH. Out of the blue, I got a text from Greg...I'm sure it was a single-at-Christmas loneliness thing. He asked how I was doing and we wished each other a merry Christmas. He said that his daughter has been living f/t with her mom since school started.  He said he "wanted to say hi to a person that seemed to care so much for me. I miss everything we shared together. I'm doing ok but I think I've made a few bad choices this year."

I said it was okay, we all do, it's part of the learning and growing process. It's difficult to find your feet after a divorce.

He said, "thanks for being an understanding and caring person. Maybe chat with you again soon?"

Wait for it...

"Oh, that's not necessary - I'm seeing an awesome guy who loves me for who I am and makes me feel great about myself. That was the lesson I needed to learn from you - love builds you up, not tears you down. You and I cared about each other but all you could see were my flaws and it made me feel so sad. It's crazy fun to be with someone who enjoys me for all my good qualities! I had my plastic surgery and am living on top of the world right now. You'll get there, too, because next time you'll try to love and accept people for who they are, if you care about them enough. I hope for and want that for you. Be well, Greg! I keep an eye out for you on the streets, will say hi if I see you. :) Give M. a hug for me, I have missed her."

Booyah. It felt good to say, for sure. And hearing from him has caused me to reflect on how much nicer it feels to be with someone who just likes me for me. With Greg, I didn't realize how much I pussy-footed around him, keeping my smart-assy comments to myself because I knew he didn't get my humor, etc. (I am not entirely sure Mr. W gets my humor, either, but at least he's game to try, haha. More and more, I think I am either getting weirder with age...or giving less of a isht what people think.

Anyway, that was nice closure. I'll admit - I miss him sometimes. We had fun. I liked to climb him like a tree, and he was the best.kisser.ever. Not worth the many trade-offs, though.

Kim and I have joked that my caliber of men continues to improve every time I go to the well. Mr. Wonderful, is, well, wonderful. We had a great time together over Christmas. He is incredibly thoughtful: he bought me a fancy new bike helmet (he texted later, "Designed to return you home safe after every ride, to keep your head cool on a long summer ride with extra ventilation and...to match your bike." Hahaha. He also bought me a stuff bag for my bike, and he put gingerbread and pumpkin pie Clif bars in it.

For the family, he had left a gift under the tree early, and the kids were excited to open it. This one was actually pretty funny...it's a hummingbird feeder. Which *I* am so excited about! I had noticed his tree in the front yard had several hummingbirds, and I said that I thought they went away in summer. Nope, he said, there are species that stick around all year, if you feed them. I said that our next door neighbors have feeders and the birds are so familiar they have named them.

Um, the boys were much less excited than I was about the hummingbird feeder. Alli rallied a bit better but the look on the boys' faces when they opened was priceless, hahaha. A little bit of horror, a little bit of disappointment and a little bit of polite brave face. Welcome to the world of children, Mr. W.

He had said I was easy to shop for, because when it comes to biking, I need *everything.* Ha! True dat. Still, he totally spoiled me. And he's lent me a bunch of stuff - waterproof pants and gloves, arm warmers, a balaclava (I struggle so hard with this word, haha, always wanting to say baklava. And then eat some.). He has one of everything, and c'mon, we haven't been seeing each other very long...I didn't know what the heck to get him! Besides biking, you know, we're still getting to know each other. And I think this year he said he biked 3500+ miles...so you know, that's a whole lot of biking. I ended up getting him a screaming yellow helmet rain cover...he said one day he had bought black but should have bought yellow for visibility. Well, there you go! Now he has one. :)

I'm enjoying him very much. :)

In other news, I did go on my second post-op bike ride last night...our standard Wednesday night ride that's a little hilly and a little long. O.M.G. I thought I was gonna die. It's amazing how quickly you get out of shape. Wow. On one hill I seriously wanted to get off my bike and rest. The rain was blowing sideways, it was dark and super windy. I had a blast. :) But wow, I've got some ground to regain when it comes to my fitness.

I wanted to stay home and watch Top Chef Seattle.

But I knew I'd feel better if I went out riding. :)

On Sunday, I ran a couple miles with my daughter. Well, we ran one, walked one. That also felt good, but was tiring. Baby steps. I'll get there again!

Six Weeks Post-Op and Happy Holidays!

Wow, I'm already six weeks post-op! Very exciting stuff. I am officially released from wearing my compression garment. I actually didn't wear it yesterday, when I ran a mile for the first time post-op. Ran one, walked one. It felt good - great, even - to run, but I swelled up like a blowfish afterward. Today, at work (yes, on Christmas Eve, bah humbug), I am again swelled up with a hard little Buddha belly. I may put that nasty old binder back on when I get home this afternoon.

Anyway, here are my six week post-op pics. Woohoo! I probably won't give you (m)any more nekked lady ones, because I don't know how much more things will change. Well, maybe at six months post-op we should do more nekked lady pictures, because the doctor said that's about how long it takes to see the final results. I am still definitely swollen some, which I can tell more by feeling than seeing. The nerves on my tummy are still a little odd - rubbing my belly feels a bit like rubbing someone else's belly! But that may not actually change...I knew that going into it. Also, I had that big scar on my tummy before the plastic surgery, and the feeling in that had never really been quite "right" since my spinal fusion back in 2004.

Six weeks post-op

Looking good, yes? I feel great. I still get a little tired. Last week was super busy, and admittedly, I spent a lot of time with Mr. W. Staying up a little later than I should, too. But just in general, my body feels like it's not quite recovered and I am pushing it just a little too hard. 'Tis the season! Other than that, everything is awesome.

I went on a 16-mile ride (flat) with Mr. W on Sunday and we made good time and while I was exhausted, I loved it. The running yesterday didn't physically hurt or bother me at all, but I was sore-ish in the afternoon. All in all, I feel confident that I can get back out there.

Laugh, I am going to wrap this post up as even I am a bit tired of looking at my naked torso. But I am super pleased with the results and thus far it is everything I hoped for!!

Sleep in Heavenly Peace.

Those poor babies. I can't even begin to fathom what all those parents and the community are feeling. 

As a mom, it's just too horrific to consider.

A Number of Thursday Things

Some bloggers do "Three Things Thursday," some do "Ten Things Thursday." I find that I generally have more than three things to say and not as many as ten things. So I will just say today is Thursday, and I'm going to tell you some things. :)

- Oh, hello, flat tummy complete with hints of ab muscles! It is fun to see things changing as I continue to heal. The doctor said I can stop wearing the binder/corset thing, first at night, then during the day. The compression garment goes away Christmas morning. They are an annoyance but really not any major concern of mine. Most of my clothes fit over them and I don't think I'll want to wear jeans over the scars right away, anyway. That might be a little tender!

- Hrm, hello, flabby boobs. You're still here, eh? Okay, I can COMPLETELY see how people become addicted to plastic surgery! If money were no object, well, I'd become the touch-up queen, haha. I just wanna fix this and this and this and this and...

If you knew how much I hate Carrot Top, you'd be shocked that I'd put a picture of it here.

- Thank you, scale, for reading 137.1 this morning. I know at this point all the extra weight is gone and I am all about maintenance and building a kick-ass athletic machine. But I cannot tell you how much it irritates me to have weighed more coming out of the plastic surgery to have skin removed than I did going into it. Logically, I knew to let it go, but emotionally, it was a slap in the face.

- I had another date with Mr. Wonderful last night (whom I have decided to abbreviate to Mr. W, or possibly simply "W," which I am undecided on, because "W" makes me think of George Bush, which does not create a positive mental association, but "W" also makes me think of the University of Washington, which is a very positive association. But I am a very lazy typist, and I sort of think the whole Mr. Wonderful nickname creates unrealistic expectations, yes?

(- SQUIRREL!) I sometimes think reading my blog must be like this:

- ANYWAY - I had a date last night with Mr. W. He very artfully wrangled his way into that one, first by telling me on Tuesday he was not going on Wednesday's bike ride, as he would normally do. He felt a cold coming on, maybe, but might have energy to shop. I had already said I couldn't go, but had to go buy gingerbread houses and other such materials. The kids and I are getting together with a friend and her family to do them this next Friday. I ask him what he's shopping for - he says, "gingerbread?" Well played, sir. We had a very fun evening and he didn't seem like he was getting a cold to me. :)

- And so, we are dating like high school. I like it. We haven't even held hands, haha. He stayed until midnight last night, which was all well and good for him, as he has today off, but I had to be up at 5 a.m. I told him I might just shoot him a wake up call when my alarm went off. He says that's fine, because his phone's on silent mode and he'll see it sometime late morning. So you know at 5:15 this morning I texted, "GOOD MORNING!!" And you know he shot back a response in a heartbeat - he was waiting on that one, haha. Asked me over to his place for dinner on Friday.

- Mind you, this is a college-educated professional man with no children and he is terribly taken with me, I can tell. Plus he talks to and engages my kids like they are people, which sometimes I even forget to do! (He really snuck past the whole separate-from-children rule with his "let me work on your bike" and "if you don't mind I'll just do all these other handy things for you." Tricked me.) Anyway, given his status and the fact he's interested in me, you just know he's criminally insane or something. Time will tell. :) If I were his best friend I'd be telling him "RUUUUNNNN!!!"  Seriously, good job, no kids? You couldn't NAIL me down.

- There is no small part of me saying "Thank God, he has no kids," hahaha. Sorry, I'm at capacity. :)

- On Sunday, I will finally be back on my bike! Come hell or high water. I miss it terribly. Mr. W. and I are going on a 30-something mile flat ride. I expect to do just fine. I hope to ride my Wednesday night ride next week with my bright and shiny new bike light.

- I have a 2013 calendar going on my desk with my events starting to flesh out. My dance card is filling up quickly! Alli wants to do a 5K a month, I want to do all sorts of biking events, I'm still trying to shove a couple sprint triathlons in there (I am a little nervous as people keep saying "ground support" to me and I have no ground support people. Perhaps Alli and Blake can be taught to be my support crew?). And then there's the big half marathon question! Yes, I want to do more - I really do. I planned to do See Jane Run again in July, but my new highly organized 2013 calendar tells me that it is in conflict with the Seattle to Portland ride. I will pick biking over running, just like I will pick a white cupcake with chocolate frosting over any other cupcake.

- I did a flash mob dance thing for our department's annual service award presentation on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Pictures to follow - I've heard they are coming. I assure you that old Julie would have never in a million years got up and shook my ass for the department. Now I'll do it for the mere privilege of being early in the cheese and crackers line. I was actually utterly destroyed with nerves, though...eek! But I survived.

- Umm, I think that's about everything. Tummy tuck report - check. Romance report - check. Biking report - check. 2013 event scheduling - check.

- OH!! We did our first family 5K this weekend! We're just considering Jen part of the family now. :) Perhaps I'll do a full race report later, but suffice to say Reid and I walked the whole thing, without one single complaint from him. Blake was going to walk with us, but as soon as the starting whistle went off, the competitive spirit took over and he bolted away, saying, "See you at the finish line." Jen saved the day, as usual, by being Alli's running partner and keeping her motivated and finishing strong. Alli wanted to finish in 46 minutes and she nailed it! Seriously, without Jen there it would have been a shambles because I could only walk, Alli was nervous about running alone and afraid she wouldn't keep herself motivated to run instead of walk, etc. Our household was in FULL DITHER MODE all morning with everyone strategizing what would happen if Jen didn't come along. But she did, and I am eternally grateful. :)

I love this picture. Absolutely cracks me up.

Freedom! One-Month Tummy Tuck Post-Op Appt

Yay, I just had my one-month post-op appointment and all is well. Doctor said everything looks fantastic and I don't have to come back for a couple months. My abdomen is still *slightly* uneven on the left side from the fluid build-up complication, but he said it will go down on its own within a few months. Actually, with the whole procedure, he has said all along you won't see the full results for a few months. I'm not worried about it - I don't think it's anything you can see unless you are me, looking straight down at my belly, or my doctor, looking at it specifically. And certainly you can't see it with my clothes on!

Worst case scenario, if it's still uneven at six months' post-op he said he will go back in there and do a little lipo. Let's hope it doesn't come to that! I want to heal and be healed. But it wouldn't cost me anything. Today they did ultrasound on it for ten minutes, which actually did a lot to soften that area up.

Happily, I have been released for full activity! He told me I'm like a race horse chomping at the bit at the starting line. Well, I don't know about that, but I am excited to do SOMETHING! It's funny how your body just gets used to all the exercise. Then when you stop - well, I don't know about you, but I'm nearly *vibrating* with excess energy all the time, just wanting to MOVE!

And now I can. He just said not to overdo it. And he said if I do overdo it, my body will tell me and I'll pay closer attention the next time, haha. He also said in two weeks I can start doing ab crunches and other ab exercises. Hrm, I'll take that one under advisement, hahaha.

And sooooooo...I'm doing a bike ride on Sunday. A nice flat route. My bikey-bikey friend, oh crap - let's give him a nickname right now, shall we?? Hmm. I'll tell you - so far, without so much as a kiss, this guy has driven me and my bike home, bought and installed fenders on my bike, changed all the light bulbs in my garage, brought me a box-load of CFL light bulbs (hahaha this one cracked me up - he works for the power company and I am perhaps one of their biggest abusers), remembers all my children's names (even I can't do that most times) and speaks to them like people, and my favorite, when he said, "You're moving around great - what kind of surgery did you have?" and I looked him square in the eye and said, "I lost a lot of weight. I had a tummy tuck." His response was, "Awesome! And you're already keeping up with the fast riders!" Big points earned on that one, and a sideways F-you to Greg, wherever he is. (Side bar: I'm a bit surprised I haven't seen Greg, as I walk the streets (woohoo!) at lunch and he works the streets. Doesn't that make us both sound naughty? Seriously, I go walking almost daily at lunch and he's on the electrical crews for the bus lines. When we were dating, I saw him on the street quite frequently without pre-arranging. Haven't run into him in awhile, but when I do you can bet I'm going to flash him. First the abs, then the finger, haha.

Oh, back to the nickname for my bikey-bikey friend as he's earned one. In the "Five Love Languages," I am a total "Acts of Service" girl. So changing my garage light bulbs? Purrrrr. Doesn't get much sexier than that, baybee. We'll call him Mr. Wonderful.

Anyway, I went out with Mr. Wonderful yesterday and he invited me to ride on Sunday...a nice perfectly flat route he is well-familiar with. He said we can go as fast or slow as I want, stop whenever I want, whatever it takes. I think I'll be just fine, actually. In this regard, I really am  a race horse chomping at the bit. :)

Now, back to Mr. Wonderful. Oh, we had fun! He's a nice boy. Do you remember the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High? The girl fools around with the bad boy, gets pregnant, gets her heart broke, etc. Then ends up with the nice guy at the end and the movie closes saying they are "Having a passionate love affair. But still haven't gone all the way."

Perfect. Post-divorce, I have myself plenty of little flashes in the pan and I still have one or two of them kicking around for my occasional amusement. :) But Mr. Wonderful is all like, wanting to spend time with me. Fun. Different. I do not see Lance Armstrong changing any light bulbs for me, haha. We're just going to go with this one, very slowly, and see what happens.

He invited me to play badminton on Thursday. Um, no. I do not think I should be jumping around badmintoning already. Plus, I would horrifically suck at that, and I told him so. I'm the one who got  a "D" in tennis in college, donchaknow. (That was a technicality, but still, a D is a D.)

He's only been divorced since May and with the biking training stuff coming up early next year, I think it's the perfect reason to just chill and get to know each other. We certainly have had lots to talk about. I can't say I feel fireworks flying between us, but I am very much enjoying spending time with him. I can say that of the men I have felt fireworks flying from the start...well, it has generally been a flash fire. :)

Duh - did I even say what we did? We went downtown Seattle and walked around window shopping. Saw the James Bond movie "Skyfall" at my most favoritest theater in the world, the Cinerama. Had dinner at the Chinese restaurant by my house (bahaha, I think I have a reputation there, coming in on a new man's arm every time. What can I say, it's good food!). He dropped me back off home and said hello to the kids - asked Alli how her orchestra concert went last week, chatted with the boys (see, he's just nice!). Gave me a hug and a quick kiss goodbye - hmmm, interesting.

Regardless, I think I'm done online dating. It is much more fun to hang around with someone like this, who already knows I swear like a sailor and drink like a fish. :) Whom I didn't have to hang my head in shame and say that I have three kids. ;) And he asked me out anyway. So much less pressure. Plus, right from the start he's seen me a sweaty, helmet-haired mess so anywhere I go from there is up! Yesterday he said he feels underdressed when he's with me: I told him with all this binder stuff I'm wearing my options are sweat pants or skirts and I thought he'd appreciate the skirt more. He wholeheartedly agreed. So he's not not interested in me, I think he's just like all gentlemanly and stuff. Cuh-razy!

Did I ever mention he's Asian? Chinese descent, I think - although we haven't talked about it. Although we talked about my background because I could not remember if Larsen's Bakery in Seattle was Swedish or Norwegian, and I said could feel my grandpa rolling in his grave as it was on my tongue to say "Same difference," haha. It's Danish, by the way. I'm an odd mix, 1/4 Swedish, 1/4 Eskimo and 1/2 whatever European muddling my dad's side threw together. Anyway - I have dated men from all colors of the rainbow, but never an Asian guy so this is uncharted territory for me.

Anyway, Mr. Wonderful said he'd swap out my bike pedals for me (purrrrrrrr) before Sunday's ride if I want him to, but I think a flat ride at my own pace ought to be fine. It's the hilly stuff I worry about!

And finally, back to the flat belly wrap up. Wow! Tummy is looking awesome. I'm so pleased! I still have to wear the compression garment for a couple weeks but I can stop wearing the corset-y binder. He's sent me off to buy some new silicon strips for scar healing/fading, so I'll be researching those, as well. I'll keep ya posted.

End of a Long Week

Whew! I've just finished the first week back to work and back to having the kids at home. They were even around a couple extra days this week, as X and I had horse-traded some days to accommodate my surgery recovery.

I'm doing great - surgery results are awesome! My only complaint right now, and it is a minor one, is that wearing a crotchless bodysuit for six weeks is NOT AS SEXY AS YOU MIGHT IMAGINE! Hahaha. That part I am tired of, for sure. It rides up on my thighs. It gives me wedgies. It annoys me to no end.

However. That's a pretty small complaint. I am guessing when I go back to the doctor on Monday I will be given a clean bill of health. Originally, he had said no running for three weeks after surgery, no biking for four. Then when I had my fluidy-complication, he said all bets were off.

Well, I'll show him - I ran for the bus yesterday morning without even thinking about it and it didn't bother me one bit. I stopped when I remembered I wasn't supposed to be running. Well, okay, I stopped when I got on the bus, but I chastised myself for running.

I did willfully run for the bus again this morning, but that was serious business, as if I missed it, it was really going to throw the day off-kilter. Again, no apparent problems with running. Although I do think of some horrible horror book I read when I was a young kid babysitting, I think it was called "Funhouse." Anyway, someone got gutted, and their final thoughts were they would be okay if they "just didn't fall down." Well, of course he fell down. With all this incision work on me, there's a little bit of "Wow, I hope I don't bust open like a Jiffy Pop."

Kinda looks like me right now.

Alright, more later. Tomorrow I'm either walking a 5K or bailing on a 5K because of the weather. I will talk to the most motivated 5K'er in my house, Alli, tonight about it. I registered the whole family (kids were free) so I'm trying to gauge a) if I feel like walking a 5K; b) if I feel like dragging two grumbling boys through a 5K.

Date on Sunday with bikey-bikey friend. (Seriously, I'm getting worse and worse at nicknames, if that were possible.) I'll have to take Kim's suggestion she cribbed from some book and just start calling them "Ex-boyfriend Number xx," bahahaha. I have been laughing at that for days. We're going to see uhhh, the James Bond movie. I don't care what movie we see, it's at my favorite theater so thass' why I chose it. 

They don't make 'em like this anymore. 

He's never been there. Prepare to be wowed, sir. It's gorgeous. It's one of Paul Allen's pet projects.

Back to the Real World!

I'm returning to work tomorrow after taking three weeks off following my tummy tuck surgery, instead of the two weeks I originally planned. I just needed a bit of extra recouperation time, nothing serious. I did have a minor complication arise: I was building up fluid on one side of my belly where fluid ought not build up.

That was a bit of a bummer because it required, and will require, a bit more attention from the doctor. On Monday, he said that on Friday he would have to re-install a surgical drain if the fluid didn't go away on its own. It didn't seem to be happening, so I was pretty sure I'd need the drain. In fact, on Thursday, based on our phone conversation, he said I would need the drain.

Happily, on Friday, he poked and prodded me with needles and decided no drain was required. I was still building up fluid, but not enough that a drain would help. He re-opened the incision about 1.5 cm and some fluid drained on its own. Likewise, he stuck the needle directly into my belly in a few places and drew out some fluid. I was numbed up, of course. :)

Tomorrow I'm back to work full-time and I'm pretty sure it will be fine. I'll do a bit of schedule re-arranging and take my shower at night for awhile. I am still trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey under my clothes! Compression garment, silicone strips over the scars held in place with maxi-pads...an elastic binder around my waist...ooooo, mama feeling sexy, haha. N-O-T.

Although I did see Lance Armstrong after my doctor appointment on Friday - he lives close by my doctor's and we strolled REI together. He's still smoking and biking, and now he's frenetically hiking every nearby mountain on the weekends. Remind me not to see Lance Armstrong in 2013, will you please? He's just so darn cute. Like. to. touch. And as we said about last year's holiday boyfriend, #funbutnottheone. And truthfully, LA isn't even all that fun. He is silly texts and a couple phone conversations a week, and stolen moments when he's not working swing shift or scaling mountains.

I told my daughter this afternoon that I turned myself into an exercise addict and then cut myself off cold turkey with this surgery and now I am depressed. Plus, I live in Seattle. I need to just spring for the $40 and buy the "Happy Light" from Costco. I am as Seasonally-Affected-Disorder as they come. Bah.

Oh, Seattle, how I love thee. And loathe thee.

Let's see...I've been out of the blogging mindset for a bit so how shall I catch up? I am very, very happy with my post-op tummy. The scars are a mess but will fade and they won't bother me. It will definitely be a battle to avoid the "if I could only fix this next" syndrome. However, I bought myself a couple of great bras while I was on leave and look like I got a boob job, too, haha.

I am burned out on the recovery period. Bah. And it's not even that bad. :) I am just a whiner. I'm not in much pain, I am nearly fully-functional, etc. Nothing to complain about. But tired of it. Oh! I'll see the doctor next Monday and he will start ultra-sound treatments on my belly to soften the scar tissue. This is extra-special treatment stemming from the fluid build-up, which he says will make my belly much harder than it ought be.

My bikey-bikey friend asked me out via text today, followed up by a phone call. I knew he was going to sometime. And I am happy, but also...hmm, don't fruck up my biking time, buddy. He leads a lot of the rides, and will likely lead the training group I'm in next spring for the Seattle to Portland ride, or the one I'm actually interested in, the Seattle to Vancouver BC ride. So this is dicey territory we're stepping into here.

He's very cool. Last week he came over and put fenders on my bike, as well as installing my new super-bright light. I had him bring the bike into the living room and he sat and worked on it and hung out with me and the kids. I made us a lame dinner (I had stocked up on frozen foods in preparation for my surgery) and he sat and ate and chatted with all of us for hours. Very nice man. My age - actually a year or so younger, he graduated high school a year behind me. No kids of his own, but he wished he had. Divorced. He was great, the way he chatted up the kids comfortably but without being weird or overly interested, if you know what I mean.

So let's see, so far he's carpooled me home, did all sorts of tinkering and such on my bike, replaced a couple light bulbs in the garage (oops - see, I was thinking we'd have to work on the bike in the garage, but it was soooooo cold, I decided there was no reason not to bring it inside. Hardwood floors. So it was cute when he texted me today. When he was over last, Alli was reading The Outsiders. I said that I had seen the movie 100+ times when it came out in 1983, when I was her age. Bikey-bikey (he'll get a nickname soon) said he had missed this phenomenom. I told him I'd have him over when we watched the movie. However, last night Alli and I found it On Demand and watched it.

He said, "I thought you were going to let me watch the Outsiders with you - maybe next time? What's our next adventure? I can install a bunch of CFL bulbs [oops, I had regular ole incandescents in the garage], or will you let me take you to a movie instead?"

I said yes, but that I wanted to get back to work and see how I did with long full big-girl grownup days. We'll have fun. Just please don't screw up my biking. :) It's like dating someone you work with, so fraught with peril, except I like biking so much more than work, haha.

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