Transitioning And Wigs - Pros, Cons, And Misconceptions...

I haven't been very active here the last month or so.  I suppose part of it is simply the time of year as looking back to last year the same thing happened about this time.  But I think the bigger reason, at least this year, is that I'm finding less things to get animated about.  Part of that is because many of those things that might have gotten me animated in the past have long since been covered here; and part of it is simply that I've come to the realization that for some things anything that I might say or write will only serve to upset some people and as such I've tried to become more selective with my topics.  This last point is actually a large part of the reason why I haven't written much lately as I currently have 4 different posts started here that probably all fall into that category.  Yes, they will likely all end up posted sooner rather than later, but I didn't want to just bang them out like I often do, but rather spend the time to give them the thoughts they truly deserve.

That all being said, a comment to a post on Reddit earlier gave me tonight's topic and that is wigs.  The original post really doesn't matter, but the comment in question had some information in it that I believe was flat out incorrect and likely from someone who has never worn a wig, or at least not one that is a very good one.

As I've talked about before I'm personally relegated to wigs.  My hairline was receding from an early age and it's so thin in the front of my head that it would never look right.  Yes, I've tried to grow it out some and yes I realize there are things that could help it.  But based upon the efforts I've made, it wasn't going to be good enough to make me happy and looking at my family, the long term prospects weren't good so I've went the wig route.  So with that being said, I thought I'd touch on some of the Pros, Cons, and what I feel are Misconceptions, about wigs.  As always these come from my personal experiences, others may feel differently and I respect that, but that doesn't change the experiences I've had nor what I'm about to share.

Let's start with a few Cons since that often seems to be what people lead with when the discussion of wigs comes up.

1. Cost.
• Yes, there is a cost associated with wigs.  The nicer the wig, the larger that cost tends to be.  A nice human hair wig can easily run well over $1,000 depending upon where it is purchased.  However, I've got several here that while they are not human hair, I feel they are very nice and all of them have been under $300 and most of them in the $100-$200 range.  Additionally, I don't have the expense of going and getting my hair cut/styled which can easily offset the cost of the wig.
2. Comfort.
• I can't really argue that a wig is as comfortable as natural hair.  However, I will say that the construction of the cap does make a difference and of the wigs I have, the last couple have been nicer wigs and they are in fact far more comfortable than the early, cheaper, wigs I had bought.
3. They look un-natural.
• I feel this depends upon the quality of the wig.  Yes, many cheaper wigs do look "fake", I won't argue that.  However, plenty of nicer wigs (even synthetic hair ones) can look perfectly real.  Just looking at my first wig versus my most recent one there's no real comparison between how they look - the newest one looks far more realistic than the first one did.  I will say that my second favorite wig isn't one of the more expensive ones I have - it's a nice short lace-front model, and while I love it, the way the hair falls on it - it often exposes the wig cap which is frustrating.  From a distance it's not really noticeable, but up close if you look for it you can see it.  Now most people probably wouldn't be looking and even if they saw it, it might not register, but *I* know it's there and I can see what I call the "Triangle" where the hair is parted if I zoom in on the photo below.  Now I will say that some of the blame falls on me as the wig isn't designed to be parted like I have it, it's designed more for a side part, but I really liked how it looked on me done like this - at least until I noticed the triangle.

Now in fairness, a few Pros.

1. Easy to change hair-style.
• Now let me qualify this.  Some wigs can be styled more/less than others, but I'm not really talking about this.  Rather the fact that I have wigs in varying lengths, colors, styles, and I can chose to wear whatever one I want at any given point.  Now for me, I don't tend to do that very much, but it is an option.  Albeit, one with the expense of multiple wigs.
2. Maintenance Cost.
• I sort of touched on this under the "Cost" point in the cons section, but the reality is that while the wigs do need to be shampooed and cleaned on occasion, that is still cheaper for me than many women would spend going to the hair salon.  Additionally, since most of my wigs have "hi-lights" I don't have to worry about having those redone or any root problems which is nice.
3. It can be taken off at any point.
• This is a huge pro for me.  Before I was "full-time", if I needed to present as my old-self, I could simply lose the wig and go back to my regular (usually bald) head.  For that matter, if I come home and I'm hot or simply don't feel like having hair in my face, again it comes right off and goes on it's stand.  This is especially nice for me since I do really like long hair and if it were my own I couldn't do that.  Yes I know if I had my own long hair I could pull it back into a ponytail or put it up some other way, but there are times when it's nice to have a bare head.

Lastly, what I consider some Misconceptions.

1. They require either some of your own hair and pins, or glue to stay on.
• This is what actually pushed me to write on this subject.  While I'm sure with some wigs this may well be the case, the 5 or 6 I have do not suffer from this issue.  Yes, even my cheaper wigs aren't super cheap for many (I think the cheapest one was around $125 or so), but I've never had any issues with them coming off.  And this includes wearing them in the hospital as well as on occasion sleeping in them - not that I make a practice of that, but it has happened.  
2. They are heavy.
• For some wigs this is the case.  Among mine I can tell the difference between the first one I got and the most recent one, and they are loosely the same length.  But depending upon the cap construction and the hair type, they can be very light and I'm to the point where I don't really notice any of them when it comes to this.
3. They are difficult to deal with.
• This one really puzzles me.  I think mine are incredibly easy to deal with - at least provided that I give it the proper care by storing it on it's stand and making sure it gets shampooed and/or cleaned as needed.  Yes, I brush them out after each use, but even that only takes me a couple of minutes.  If anything I think it's easier to style the wigs on their stands and then simply tweak it as needed once I put it on versus having to do it in front of a mirror on my own head.  Now perhaps I'm in the minority on this, but it is definitely how I feel about it.
4. They don't style like real hair.
• This sort of goes with the above point, and I can understand this to an extent.  My first two wigs, because of their cap construction, didn't style as nicely as my last few do.  And even of those last few, the last one (a mono-filament one) styles easier than the two lace-front models do.  Now, the thing is, I paid more for the lace-front wigs than I did for the first couple; and I paid more for the mono-filament one than the lace-front ones.  When/if I decide to go with a human hair one, I'm sure that will style even better.  I guess the point I'm making is that yes, cheaper wigs may well not style like real hair, but as you go up the chain, I believe the difference becomes less and less, and even with my mono-filament model, the consensus around the house here is that it styles just as easily as J and/or M's hair does.  

The bottom line is that wigs aren't for everybody.  And truthfully, I wish I didn't need to wear them to be confident with my appearance.  However, I do, but that doesn't bother me as I am happy with them.  And as I've talked about above, there are upsides to them as well.  And believe it or not, plenty of cis-women wear wigs as well; so it's not like simply wearing a wig differentiates a trans-woman from a cis-woman.

With that I'll bid everyone a good night and a (few hour belated Merry Christmas).

- M

Some Of My Favorite Recipes - Part 2...

Just as with the first post on recipes, below are some of the ones I've done recently, they all range from "very good" to "exceptional" - although tastes may vary.  I've included the original links, any modifications I've made, and some thoughts on each.

Peach Dumplings

The original recipe that I got came from HERE.

I'm not really a peach person, and as such I've also made this with apples and mixed berries, but J and M really like it as is.  The modifications I've made to the recipe are:

Recipe Modifications:

• I don't separate the crescent rolls, I keep them as 4 "squares" instead of 8 triangles and make them double sized.
• I tend to use frozen fruit that I've thawed, though I have used fresh as well.
• As I said above, I often use fruit other than peaches, sometimes apples, sometimes mixed berries, and so on.

Thoughts:

Not much to say here, these are really good and make a great dessert or a nice breakfast on the weekend.  Very easy to make.

Taco Calzone

The original recipe that I got came from HERE.

This is a quick and fairly easy dinner and actually one I like.  I will strongly suggest fresh grated cheese, not only for this recipe but for any recipe calling for shredded cheese.  Despite what I thought for a long time, it really does make a difference.  The modifications I've made to the recipe are:

Recipe Modifications:

• I do tend to double the recipe for us as one of these often isn't quite enough if 4 of us are eating.
• I often (but not always) use the cheese flavored taco seasoning.
• I also put some cheese down first and make sure the meat is plenty cool.  Otherwise the dough gets too mushy to roll up.
• I also tend to brush a little butter and sprinkle some parmesan and oregano on the top of it right before it's done cooking, but some may prefer it without those.

Thoughts:

This is a quick and easy recipe, but I do strongly recommend that the second bullet point is followed as if the meat is too warm, the dough tears really bad.  I've also made this as more of a "pizza calzone" by swapping out the beef and taco seasoning with some pizza sauce and things such as pepperoni, mushrooms, sausage, basically whatever we have handy that would be good on a pizza.  Regardless, this is a great dinner.

Pizza Egg Rolls

The original recipe that I got came from Facebook, but I can't find the post anymore

Recipe:

The recipe is basically just the following items:

• Egg roll wrappers
• String cheese - mozzarella is great, but so is pepper jack
• Pepperoni slices

The instructions are simple:

• Place egg roll wrapper in diamond position.  Place 3 slices of pepperoni in middle.
• Place string cheese on top.
• Fold corners over cheese.
• Fold bottom corner over cheese and roll until tightly sealed.
• Moisten corners with water to seal.
• Fry at 375 degrees until browned.
• Drain on paper towels

Recipe Modifications:

I do tend to double the pepperoni and as I mention below I also split the cheese lengthwise.  So I have my three pepperoni's, half the string cheese, three more pepperoni's, and the other half of the string cheese.  This can make it a little more challenging to roll the egg roll without tearing it, but I find it gives a better end result; but to each their own.

Thoughts:

Now I personally split the cheese in half lengthwise and layer it as cheese, pepperoni, other half of the cheese.  This seems to allow it to melt better.  I also fry in an electric skillet with enough oil to submerge them, but you could use a deep fryer instead.  Very simple and tasty recipe, although I tend to use it as an "appetizer" as string cheese tends to be a bit pricey based upon how many everybody eats when I make this as an entree.

Brownie Batter Dip

The original recipe that I got came form HERE.

Made this for last year's Superbowl.  M normally makes a spread for us to sit around and much on before/during/after the game and I wanted to do something a little different.  Was actually better than I expected and pretty easy to make.

Recipe Modifications:

No recipe modifications for this.

Thoughts:

A nice "different" kind of dip.  It's not something I'd make often, but more as a "special" thing.



With that I'll wrap this post up.  As I said above, tastes differ, but I would have no qualms recommending any of these recipes as they are all exceptional.  I wish I had better pictures, I've started taking some of the things I've made recently, but the only photo I have for these is one of the Taco Calzone after it came out of the oven from a while back so that will have to do.  And it really does taste better than this picture makes it look. :)

- M

Early Christmas Presents...

I've never been huge on Christmas, and I'm not really sure why.  As I've mentioned before, my mother treated me as an adult at an early age and one of the "upsides" to that - at least I felt - was that when it came time for Christmas she basically gave me a "budget" and allowed me to pick out what I wanted.  It meant that there weren't any surprises - well that's not true, she'd get me a couple of surprise gifts - but mostly I knew what I was getting which made me happy.  My siblings always got more, but I got *what I wanted*.

As I grew older I got a job and bought the things that I wanted, which really outside of some video games and/or computer hardware wasn't really all that much.  When I got married to M and we had our daughter P, Christmas somehow became a competition between my nephew and P.  Well really my mother and sister versus M, which agitated me to no end and which further soured me on Christmas as I guess I'm naive, but that's not what I felt it should be about.  I finally put a stop to that on our end, though they continued to try and "win" - whatever that meant.

I personally hadn't changed much, I still pretty much had what I wanted - M had gotten me a projection TV at some point and we bought a nice Bose Acoustimass 15 surround sound - this was about the time DVD's were getting big so it was a nice setup.  But beyond that I got to the point that I didn't need/want anything for the holidays.  Over time as I separated from M and ended up with my wife J, that didn't change and really still hasn't.  I always get things for P and J, and usually something for M, but I really don't want anything myself.

This year I made two exceptions though and for the first time in a long time I was able to buy these things and not have any buyers remorse.  The first purchase was online on Thanksgiving.  Best Buy ran the LG Tone+ bluetooth headsets on sale for $40 (they list them at $70).  I know they are a year old model, and truthfully I've never been a headset person.  On top of it, I don't use my phone to listen to much audio, the only real audio I listen to away from the computer is usually when I'm walking and that's on an iPod Shuffle which doesn't have native bluetooth.  However, the various models of these LG headsets were spoken of very highly in a couple of Google groups I'm in and they were on sale, so I ordered three - one for me, one for J, and one for M - which made them another $5 a piece cheaper for buying three.

Suffice it to say I love them.  I've been using them around the house when I cook since J often calls on her way home from work and I can talk to her hands-free now.  I've also been using them for my walks.  I miss the iPod, but I can stream ESPN radio on my phone - both live and podcasts, and I guess I need to get around to loading Pandora or some other streaming since T-Mobile exempts many music services.  I guess I should write a full review on them at some point, but to keep it short here I cannot recommend them enough.

The other purchase was a bit more foolish - a 50in 4k Vizio TV to replace the older 42in LCD one in J and I's bedroom.  We didn't need it, and honestly part of me questions if I should have spent the money, but to be honest it is very nice.  There isn't a lot of 4k content out there - some on Netflix, some on Amazon (I guess I need to join their Prime), and some online stuff.  But even the regular HD stuff looks so nice.  Now part of it is that we went from a 720p to this TV, although it's not just that as the 73in in the living room and the 65in in the game room are 1080p and this picture does look better than those as well.  I can only think that as 4k content becomes more prevalent we'll be even happier with it.  The fact that it's a Smart TV helps too - I had various ways to do things on the older TV (A Logitech Revue box, a Chromecast, and so on), but it's nice to have it native.  If I had a complaint it's because the Vizio sound bar we have in our room is a year too old to be controlled via the TV, but even that is a trivial gripe.

I think at this point I'm back to not really wanting anything for myself (SRS being an exception <G>), but it was nice to pick up a couple of "toys" for myself for a change.

- M

Holidays....

It's been a little show here the last few weeks - I suppose in a way that's good as it must mean that nothing has agitated me. :)

However, since I do miss writing here I thought I'd write about something and I had a topic all ready to go - but when I got here I thought I'd write about this instead.  The holidays around here have gotten to be a little "ho-hum" for lack of a better word.  M/M2/P are all on a set schedule and have the same shifts/days off every week and J is on a rotation that for the most part doesn't change.  So depending upon when a given holiday falls they all may or may not be working.  Since those four pretty much make up my family these days, despite the fact that I'm normally off on those days they end up being just about like any other day of the year.

Thanksgiving this year was a good example.  I personally get Thanksgiving and the day after as paid holidays and as things are I'm on vacation all week this week, so between that and the two weekends I'm on an 11 day vacation, and the Wednesday prior was a "BVD" (Boss Vacation Day) so it was almost another vacation day as well.  However, with Thanksgiving being a Thursday, M/M2/P all had to work that evening and with them in retail they actually went in 5 hours earlier than normal so they had went to bed early that morning.  J had to put in an extended day as well and had to turn around and go back 7 hours after she got off which accounting for driving time, trying to eat something, and getting to bed/ready in the morning meant she'd be running on about 4 hours sleep.

That made dinner an interesting proposition to say the least so in lieu of "traditional" - we went with progressive and had a "nacho bar" setup - two triple crock slow cookers with various things in them:  black beans, re-fried beans, seasoned ground beef, seasoned chicken, some fajita veggies (I got hooked on putting those on nachos from eating at QDoba), and some white queso.  Then I had the big slow cooker setup with nacho cheese; and then various things in dishes that could be refrigerated as necessary: shredded cheese (cheddar/pepper jack mix), jalapeno slices, sour cream, habanero Rotel, habanero salsa, corn salsa, hot sauce, a couple of different kinds of tortilla chips, and probably 1 or 2 other things that are slipping my mind at the moment.

While it wasn't turkey, etc., it actually worked out very nice as we were all able to graze as we see fit.  As I said above M/M2/P ate early and went to bed for work, and since J was at work, it left me to putz around.  I got some work done that I should have gotten done earlier in the week and watched some football off and on.  It's funny, I will watch sports here and there, but it doesn't have the appeal that it used to so I actually spent a lot of time channel surfing.  When J got home, I was able to have the cold stuff back out so she could eat and get to bed since she had to be back up so early.  I on the other hand stayed up all night as M2 didn't want to work an extended shift and as such he got off several hours prior to M/P and I had committed to coming and getting them so he didn't have to.  That turned into an expensive proposition as I ended up picking up a Vizio 4k TV for J and I's bedroom.  I had been contemplating replacing our older Sanyo (42in LCD) with a newer Smart TV and while this 4K model was a bit more than I had planned on spending, I will say it looks nice.  Now if Netflix would just add some more 4K programming for the extra $4/month it's now costing me I'd be much happier with it. :)

For whatever reason, J has not mentioned visiting her parents for Thanksgiving, which surprises me a bit as I expected she would.  I know her work schedule has been a little rougher than normal, but really not much different than last year and she wanted to then.  But it's her family and her choice.  As far as mine goes - well little has changed on that front and truthfully at this point I'm not sure that I really want it to.  There were times over the last 12+ months where I did miss the whole "family thing".  Let me be clear, my "chosen family" of J/P/M, and even M2, make me very happy.  However, M2 is not really very "social" to say the least and as such there are times when M isn't either.  P is at that age where she wants to do her own thing, so quite often that really leaves J and I.  I've been fine with that for the most part, but ironically enough it was spending time with her parents last year at the holidays that I think made me contemplate the lack of relationships with my own parents and siblings.

I still believe now just as I did at the various times when those relationships were severed, that there were valid reasons for doing so.  I felt that the fault for the way things were fell on each of them - and truthfully I still do - and that the onus for "fixing things" also fell on them.  But, over the last year or so I wondered if perhaps if I should be the person to make the first move and see about reconciling things - in reality life is short (as was made painfully evident by the episode a few months ago) and each day that this continues is a day I'll never have with any of them.

However, this past week or so has made me realize (hopefully once and for all) that my "family" is who is around me and who accepts me - they are my "chosen family" and they are the ones who really and truly matter to me.  My "birth family" - well I'll love them for what they are, but at this point I really and truly don't think they'll ever be a part of my life again.  Normally I would have thought that it would make me sad to type that - you have no idea how often I end up crying while I'm writing here - but in this case it doesn't.  I wish them and their chosen families well, but for me - I have all I need right here in my room, across the hall, and down the hall.  Those are the people that really and truly care about me, and that I really and truly care about.  And regardless of how anyone may feel about our Thanksgiving dinner or anything else, what we all have works for us and in reality that's really all that matters.

- M

Getting Out And About...

This time of year I don't seem to get out and about as much.  Part of it can be attributed to the weather, but the bigger part of it is that everybody else in the house works retail and this is a busy time for them.  However, I've made a concerted effort to get out more this year, even though in some cases it's meant me going out by myself.  Don't get me wrong, I greatly enjoy my times out and about with J and/or M.  Not that I don't enjoy times out with my daughter P or M's husband M2 - but the two of them are more anti-social than I ever was so it's not often I get out and about with them.

That being said, I have found that for perhaps the first time in my life I really do enjoy getting out of the house by myself.  Yesterday was a good example of that.  I had an appointment with Dr. Swenson who handles my HRT.  Initially I was seeing her every 3 months, but we had settled into every six month visits since my dosages were stable and I was doing well.  I normally schedule her appointments on Tuesday or Wednesday as that way if J's schedule doesn't allow her to go with me, then I know M will be off and can go.  It's not that I "need" somebody to go with me, but it is a 90 minute drive each way and it's nice to have company.  Plus, Columbia is a nice college town and if I have somebody with me, we'll usually have lunch or dinner and/or do some shopping up there.

This particular time I had chosen a Tuesday afternoon at 4pm which means I needed to leave about 2pm so I'd have some cushion in case of traffic/etc.  J's rotation was such that she had to work, so I had assumed M would go.  However, we had an issue with the front door (it was replaced a few months ago) and she scheduled them to come out yesterday morning.  Coupled with the fact that she does work overnights and Monday night was a work night for her there was no way she'd be up for the trip so I ended up going myself.

Since Columbia is off of Interstate 70 and we live very close to 70, it's really an each drive and at that time of day traffic was light.  I had grabbed my iPod and plugged it into the car stereo and the trip went very quick and I was up there about 30 minutes early.  I actually got taken back right on time - I will say that is one thing I appreciate about Dr. Swenson and the clinic up there - they are almost always right on time, and even nicer, once you go back she's ready for me as soon as the nurse gets my vitals and I don't sit there for 10 or 20 minutes waiting.  As much as I love my regular GP, I definitely can't say the same about them.

The other thing I really like about her is that it's not a "rushed" visit ever.  I think I was back there about 25 minutes or so, which was a bit longer than normal, but we were going over my ER/Hospital visit from a couple of months ago and then we spent some time discussing my medications, including potentially adding Progesterone to the mix after I get my blood work done again.  She actually brought that up which surprised me a bit since I'm at nearly two years HRT now (23 months) - but assuming my labs are clean I figured it was worth trying; although if it brings on the moodiness I've read about so many others having with it, J might not think it's such a good idea. :)

I had initially planned on heading straight back home afterwards since I was alone, but I was feeling good and decided that there was no reason I shouldn't have some fun while I was out.  So I went and had some lunch - fast food as I was starving and wanted to eat *right then* - and that was a pleasant experience.  I even managed to remember to try and use the "girl voice" - which is something I often forget to do when I'm out by myself.  I may or may not have been read - nobody seemed to give me any undue attention, but it is a college town and I was eating near the clinic and they do deal with a fair amount of trans-women/men there so it may have simply been that it's simply not out of the ordinary for a trans-woman to come in.  Regardless it was a pleasant lunch - though it would have been more fun to have had somebody to talk to.

From there I actually did a little shopping, I only ended up finding a couple of small things I liked (a scarf and a necklace), but it was nice to be able to browse at my own speed for a change.  Again, I love shopping with J and/or M, but sometimes I feel rushed when I'm with them, and while they are both trying to help they often tend to focus on things for me and I'd rather they were looking for themselves - so without them I could focus on myself.  I would have liked to have spent some more time up there, but I did have a prescription for some pain medicine that was a "hard copy" and I wanted to get it back to the pharmacy in town and get it filled so I headed back sooner than I wanted to.  The drive back was a bit busier and in the dark, but it always goes quick coming back.  Once I got back into town I ran into Wal-Mart to get my prescription filled - I elected to wait since they said about 30 minutes, so I browsed the store for a bit.  I normally avoid that store since it's the one by the house where M/M2/P work and where J worked before her promotion.  I don't think I had been into that one since I started my transition - with the exception of the visit J and I made a few weeks ago when she was doing her store visits.  And that day we were in there looking at specific things about the store and I really didn't get to just look around.  I didn't really find anything I liked - which surprised me as I often do when I hit a Wal-Mart, but it was nice again to just look around.  I will say the ladies room in the back could have used a cleaning, but otherwise it was another pleasant experience.

Once J got home, she and I ran and got something for her and M's dinner - I was still full from lunch and really too tired to cook as I had planned.  It was nice having some time with her, but I wouldn't have traded the day out by myself for anything.  I need to do those kinds of things more often - not at the expense of my time with J and/or M, but in addition to.  It was a confidence booster and really almost therapeutic for me and that's always a good thing.

I do have some pictures of my outfit, but they are on the camera and I left that in the car, so I guess I'll save those for another post and instead I'll use a picture of the fish tank from the Doctor's office for today's thumbnail. :)

- M

Some Of My Favorite Recipes - Part 1...

As I've mentioned before, since I've chosen to transition I have taken to doing most of the cooking.  I don't think one necessarily has to do with the other, that's just how it worked out.  The vast majority of what I cook comes from Pinterest - come pretty much "as-is", other recipes modified a little or in some cases a lot.  Below are some of the ones I've done recently, they all range from "very good" to "exceptional" - although tastes may vary.  I've included the original links, any modifications I've made, and some thoughts on each.

Crock Pot Pulled Pork

The original recipe that I got came from HERE.

I'll be honest, this one surprised me more than any other recipe I've made in a long time.  I'm not a real fan of pork in general, much less done in a crock pot; but this is an exceptional recipe.  The modifications I've made to the recipe are:

Recipe Modifications:

• In lieu of regular salt, I used a 50/50 mix of salt and seasoned salt.  I more or less do this with everything I make.
• I do use 3 onions halved under the pork instead of 1, as I'm using a large crock pot.
• I cook it closer to 12 hours.  

Thoughts:

The last bullet point is the biggest thing - the pork really seems to change around the 8 hour mark and while it's good then, I've found that by leaving it for 10-12 hours does make it better.  If you are pinched for time, 8 hours will be fine, but for us, the extra few hours is worth it.  J and M usually will put some BBQ sauce on theirs, but I personally eat mine as-is - it's that good.  We've eaten it several ways:

• As-is on the plate.
• On buns as sandwiches.
• On nachos.
• As taco and quesadilla filling.
• This last time I used it in lieu of chicken in the "White Chicken Enchilada" recipe.

Of all the things I've made the last couple of years this is quite possibly the best of the bunch.

Parmesan Crusted Pork Chops

The original recipe that I got came from HERE.

Again, as I've said above I'm not a fan of pork, but these are good.  Additionally, for a "Food Network" recipe, it was remarkably simple.  The modifications I've made to the recipe are:

Recipe Modifications:

• I usually use the thin boneless pork chops as everybody prefers those to the traditional "bone-in" chops - but I have used those at times and they work just as well.

Thoughts:

Not much to say here, recipe is very simple and fairly quick.  I ate a lot of pork chops as a child as I spent a lot of time at my Grandparents and they had them often.  I never really cared for them, but these have pretty much changed my mind.

Kentucky Biscuits

The original recipe that I got came from HERE.

Recipe Modifications:

No recipe modifications for this, although see the note below.

Thoughts:

As I said above, I did NOT modify the recipe itself.  However, what I do tend to do is to melt about a half stick of butter in the microwave.  I then stir in a little honey - I do a bit at a time until I get a nice consistency.  Once the bread is done and I remove it from the oven, I then pour the honey butter over the top of it and let it run down into the pan.  We've had these both with and without the honey butter and all three of us (J, M, and myself) all prefer it with the honey butter.

Chocolate Chip Lava Cookies

The original recipe that I got came form HERE.

J, M, and I went to Red Lobster a few weeks ago for their "Endless Shrimp".  M ended up ordering dessert and got their "Warm Chocolate Chip Lava Cookie".  Looking at it, I decided that it was something I could make and a quick search turned up the above recipe.

Recipe Modifications:

No recipe modifications for this, although see the note below.

Thoughts:

I did not modify this recipe itself, but instead of using a regular muffin pan and making 12, I used a large muffin pan and made 6 so that they would be closer in size to the one from Red Lobster.  I did make the mistake of not letting them cool enough before trying to remove them and a couple of them fell a part.  Next time I need to let them cool further and then warm them up before serving if desired.  But despite their appearance, they were exceptional.



With that I'll wrap this post up.  As I said above, tastes differ, but I would have no qualms recommending any of these recipes as they are all exceptional.  Since I don't have pictures of any of these items from when I've made them - I did but I lost them when the SD card in my phone corrupted - I'll close with a photo I ran across while we were doing the great phone swap around a couple of weeks ago.  It's from June of this year, we were out to lunch with M and I think it's a nice picture of J and I. :)

- M

Transitioning In Relation To Others...

I was sort of struggling for a topic for today, but as luck would have it I ended up in a thread on Reddit that struck a chord with me.  The gist of the thread was in regards to viewing other trans-women's "timelines" and in her words those made her feel "ugly and worthless".

This did resonate with me as I had struggled with the same thing early on in my transition.  I don't know that I struggled with it as much as this person did, but it was frustrating to me to see just how successful some people had been with their transition when it came to their appearance.  I knew going in that at my age - nearly 42 at the time - that I likely wouldn't see nearly as many changes from HRT as people who were younger than I was (in some cases half my age or less); but despite that it seemed like I wasn't seeing hardly any changes.  I would look at timelines of others and see just how pretty they looked and how they looked when they started and it would depress me as I felt I'd never pass much less look as nice as they did.

As some point, and I can't really pinpoint exactly when, things sort of changed for me.  I realized several things.  For one, the reality is that many of those people started from a better place than I did.  By that I mean maybe they had a more feminine face or nicer hair or any of a multitude of things that I didn't have.  Upon giving this some serious thought it dawned on me that instead of focusing on the end results of others, perhaps I should look more into the changes - the "delta" if you will.  If I were to play basketball with someone and spot them 10 points - they'd start out ahead 10-0.  If at the end of the game it was 21-11, well despite the fact that they would still be ahead of me, the reality is that we would have scored the same amount of points.  For that matter the score could be 21-15 and again they would still be ahead of me, but I would have outscored them 15-11.  In my case reality is that perhaps the score would end up say 21-8 or something, but being outscored 11-8 - well that wouldn't really be all that bad in my book.

The second thing I realized is that looking at these timelines carefully, in the vast majority of them it was apparent that over time that they had become more proficient with their makeup, their hair, their clothing may have become more flattering, and so on.  Those for the most part are all skills that can be acquired with the requisite effort and at the time I not only had not really had the time to become proficient, I also hadn't been giving it the effort that I should to try and achieve the results I really wanted.

Lastly, I realized that I should see these timelines as an inspiration; both from a perspective that others were going through the same things I was, but more because of just what kinds of things were possible.  Maybe I could/would attain as much progress as some of them, maybe I wouldn't, but despite how I felt about myself at the time there was no reason I couldn't make the same kind of effort and see what would happen.

Now 28+ months since I made the choice to transition I can look back at photos from early on versus now and see changes - changes that may or may not be more/better than others, but regardless of that, changes that make me happier with myself.  Yes I still have days where I'm not happy with my hair, makeup, etc., but even on a bad hair/makeup day I still feel I look far better than I did 2+ years ago.  But even if I didn't, I definitely feel I look happier.  I consider that a success and I attribute a portion of that success to all the wonderful people who have posted pictures of their progress.  Those pictures ended up inspiring me to work towards what I want.

So for the woman who felt "ugly and worthless" because of the progress others have made - you shouldn't.  Be happy for those women and what they have accomplished, but more importantly realize that their success in no way defines or diminishes you, I, or anyone else.  I'll never be as financially successful as Bill Gates or Warren Buffet, I'll never be as pretty as Jennifer Aniston or even Laverne Cox, I'll never be as athletic or as smart as many people, and so on.  But regardless of any of those facts, I'm happy with my transition, and more important I'm happy with my life and I hope you can find your happiness as well.

I'll close with two photos - the first one is from a week or two ago and the second is from my first time out as Madison.

I'm not overly ecstatic about the first picture as it was cold and as such I'm in jeans and I really prefer a skirt or dress, and I've put a good 10lbs on recently; but in reality those are what I feel are typical "female concerns".  I will say that compared to the picture on the right - I don't feel there is any comparison as to which is better (though I do miss that top on the right <G>).

So with that I'll wrap this up, have a great weekend. :)

- M

So Apparently "I'm The B*tch"....

I've sort of stewed on this for nearly a day now as sometimes I tend to write things when I'm still more emotional than I should be and I end up not being happy with what I wrote.  In this case, I've decided to go ahead and do so for two reasons.  The first being that the incident that is behind the topic was not an incident with J and I, but rather with me and someone else close to me (who shall remain nameless); and secondly being that while that incident is the basis for this post, the things behind the incident seem to happen to me - and I suspect many who may read this - far more often than they should.  With that out of the way...

I've talked once or twice before about the fact that J and I both are naturally very submissive and how that tends to get us sh*t on far more than we should and often by people who really shouldn't do so.  It doesn't make it right that it happens, but us being us - well we deal with it and move on.  At least most of the time we do, I'd finally had my fill of things coming from someone in particular yesterday and decided enough was enough.

I'm a firm believer in concepts such as "keeping your word", "you give what you give" and the "Golden Rule" - which for those that aren't familiar with that term is basically (paraphrased) "do unto others as you'd have them do unto you".  For me at least that doesn't mean that I truly expect reciprocity for anything nice I chose to do; but what I do expect is that when I'm nice to someone I don't expect to be sh*t on in return.  I think that's a reasonably good way to live and a fair expectation, but unfortunately far too many people didn't "get that memo".

In this person's case I do a *lot* for them, both just because as well as because they ask for this or that.  It is a person that in general I do like and that I do care about so I do those things because I chose to.  This person in general is a fairly decent person; although they are the kind of person who given a choice of doing the "right thing" or the thing that is "best for themselves" will often choose the latter and that is something I have a hard time dealing with as while I cannot sit here and say I never do what's "best for me", the overwhelming portion of the time I do in fact choose the "right thing".  And just to be clear I'm not really talking about things where the options are "the right thing that is also horrible for me" - that would be an easier things for me to deal with.  In case I'm not really clear, let me give a simple example:

This is the kind of person who would see a spill on the floor and could either "clean it up" or "ignore it" and they would most often choose the latter as they'd figure someone else would clean it up for them and they wouldn't have to do anything.  

Sounds trivial, doesn't it?  And in a vacuum it is, but consider the behavior when it applies to a vast majority of the interactions with this person.  And yes, before someone says it, I and/or J could choose to cut this person out of our lives and honestly at times that's been a consideration.  But despite the "body of work", I find it hard to do so as like I said above the incidents themselves are really mostly trivial taken by themselves and I do care about this person.

So yesterday I decided enough was enough.  I had done quite a few nice things for this person over the - well let's say about the last week.  I asked one incredibly small favor from this person.  Since they were going to be out and about and going to a particular store where I needed something - I asked them to pick it up for me.  I was clear on what I needed and gave them money in advance so they wouldn't have to "front me" - even though we were only talking about a couple dollars.  Well as it would be the person committed to taking care of it.  And yet, they "forgot" and didn't do it.  I might have been able to handle that on it's own, but instead of a simple "I'm sorry" or something, the person managed to try and blame it on me via some of the most creative logic I've ever heard.

I finally couldn't keep things inside any longer and let them have it pretty good.  There was some back and forth, but as is typical the person really didn't have any justifiable reasons for anything that I brought up.  Finally the best they could some up with was that I was a "b*tch".  I found that one amazing - I was a "b*tch" because I was finally tired of this person treating me like sh*t?  Really?

Well as I said I've thought about that for nearly a day now and you know what.  So be it.  If expecting to be treated at least reasonably decent makes me a "b*tch", well then I guess "I'm The B*tch" and I'm fine with that.  I will say that later on last night the person in question made an effort to smooth things over and me being me decided to accept what was meant as an apology; but despite that I will say that at least with this particular person - going forward the expectations are now different.  I don't expect them to suddenly become some different person, but I do expect some sort of effort and I will no longer just sit back and "take it" when they sh*t on me.  If they can't/won't make at least some effort then perhaps this person doesn't belong in my life and I hope it doesn't come to that, but I'd rather "be the B*tch" and take a stand over some of the sh*tty things people do to J and I, than to continue to be the doormats we so often end up being.

With that I think I'll wrap things up for now.

- M

Being Recognized As The "Old You"...

I can't speak for everyone, much less anyone, but one of the more frustrating things that I've had to deal with while transitioning is being recognized as the "old me".  For me at least there seem to be two distinct sets of circumstances where this happens and after having one of each of these occur again today I thought I'd vent about it a bit.  Perhaps "vent" is too strong a word, I'm not so much upset about it - I just thought I'd share some of my experiences and give my thoughts on the subject.

As I said above for me I tend to group these "recognitions" into two types - both of them are people that knew me "PM" (pre-Madison), the difference being that the first group consists of friends and family , and the second being non-friends/family such as a nail salon, restaurant, etc.  While both of them do have an affect on me, the latter tends to bother me more for reasons I'll get to below.

So lets start with the first scenario and that's friends/family that knew me PM.  As I've mentioned here many times before, the vast majority of friends that know about my transition have been very supportive and most seem to be genuinely happy for me.  However, there is one "friend" - and I'll use the term loosely as we were never so much friends as much as co-workers.  He was somebody that I did like - and those were few and far between at the job in question - and I believe honestly liked me.  He got laid-off (company's term) - in reality he got shafted as he was in their opinion over paid for what he was doing after some business circumstances changed.  Perhaps he was, perhaps he wasn't, but the way they handled him was flat out wrong.  It was so wrong, and the powers that be knew it bothered me so much that they took it upon themselves to discuss it with me the day it was to happen - BEFORE they told him, although they kept me "occupied" while it went down so I couldn't say anything to him.  I did take it hard and it did contribute to me eventually leaving the company.  We stayed in touch loosely over the years, though it's been a while so I guess I should drop him a note to make sure he's still alive and kicking.

Well, he was the one "friend" who I shared my transition with that wasn't overly supportive.  He just seemed to be unable to understand why I would do it - and I do understand that, in fact I expected that reaction from more people than I got and of all the people I did share with he would have been the one I most expected this reaction from.  Actually he probably took it better than I expected.  I did share some photos of myself with him around that time, and looking back they weren't very good photos.  Like so many women, both cis and trans, I'm critical of my own appearance; but even being as objective as possible, those early photos simply *were not good*.  He made a comment about them that some might have taken as hurtful; truthfully I can't recall the exact quote and I guess I don't have the email any longer, but it was something along the lines of he still saw me as "male".  As I said, some might have taken that as hurtful, and I won't act like it made my day or anything, but after I thought about it for a bit I came to a realization.

That realization was that no matter how much I changed (or didn't), some people such as him would always see the old me, or at least some of the old me there.  I really did give that some thought and I thought about my friend D and while she looks great and anyone reading this would probably not have any idea she had transitioned, in my mind I can still see her as she looked pre-transition.  Now, me being a trans-woman as well, I try not to give thought to the fact that she has transitioned or to recall images of her pre-transition, but I can understand how not everyone may chose or even be able to do that.  Perhaps in a perfect world it wouldn't be this way, but for me at least - and many others I suspect - it is reality and it is simply one more thing to deal with.

I do think that this scenario is a contributing factor to many people going stealth after their transition.  I've seen so many transition timelines that I couldn't even begin to count and there are many who if I only saw the last image in the timeline I would never give any thought to those people being trans-women; but when seeing the whole timeline it does make it easier in many of those timelines to see the transition.  By going stealth I think it makes it easier for them to no longer be seen as a trans-woman and simply be seen as just a woman.  I know it's something I've struggled with when it comes to sharing pictures, be it here in this blog, on Facebook/Google+, Reddit, etc.

While this example was a "friend", I think for some (including me) that family can be even worse.  In my case, my family saw me grow up from a baby into that 42 year old and that's a lot of history to be able to just up and forget.  That doesn't mean that I didn't expect them to make the effort, and frankly for the most part I've been sorely disappointed.  I was reminded of that fact just today.  M and I went to get our eyebrows done - unfortunately J had to work - and on our way home we stopped by a QuikTrip for something to drink.  M ran in to get our drinks and I sat in the car.  As fate would have it, I looked up and out walks my father.  We unknowingly had parked right next to him.  He looked directly at me and I know he recognized me.  He stared for a moment, sort of shook his head and proceeded to get in his car.  He sat there for a bit, until M came walking out towards the car and when he saw that she was heading towards my car (she had been driving), he more or less tore out of the parking lot.  When she got into the car she confirmed that he had recognized her in QT.  As I've said before, I've had nothing to do with him since long before my transition, but I know for a fact that he's well aware of it and has avoided me at a couple of family functions I've attended.  I obviously don't know what exactly was going through his mind, but from the way he acted it was as if he simply couldn't/wouldn't deal with the fact that I'm no longer <old name> and his son, but rather his daughter Madison.

It's funny, in an area the size of St. Louis, the odds of the two of us running into him are mind boggling, but his reaction was just about what I would have expected it to be.  I really don't believe he'll ever see me, much less accept me, as Madison and for that reason he'll continue to not be a part of my life.  I've long since made peace with that realization, but it still isn't a great feeling to be reminded of how things are when it comes to my family.

Well I've babbled quite a bit about friends/family, but I do want to touch on being recognized as the old me by non-friends/family.  I was also reminded about this today when M and I went to get our eyebrows threaded.  As is always the case, they recognized us right when we walked in the door.  Now, you may be wondering why that's significant.  Well I firmly believe it's because I personally stand out to them.  We've been going there for a couple of years, since right before I started my transition.  So when I first came in, I was going in presenting male and over time I started presenting as Madison.  However, they've seen me all through my transition.  As I said early on, regardless of what I look like now, looking back I definitely look better now than I did 2 years ago, a year ago, or even a few months ago.  I really and truly believe that if I were to go in there today for the first time that they may well still read me as a trans-woman, but that I wouldn't necessarily stand out the way I do with them having seen me throughout my transition.  Now that's simply speculation on my part, but that's truly what I believe.  Sometimes when we go it's J, M, and I; sometimes it's J and I, and sometimes it's M and I like it was today; but I'm the only constant.  Considering we only hit there every 2-3 months, I really have to believe that this is the reason.

I draw the same conclusion from where I go get my nails done.  Now I haven't had them done in a long, long time (way too long); but I was going in there pre-transition and into my transition and while they didn't bat an eyelash even when I came in presenting male, they always recognized me then and into my transition.  Again, I'd say the same things as above, I really do believe that if I were to visit there for the first time today as Madison that I simply would not stand out to them, but I do.  I could cite other examples, but I think I've made my point here.

It's not necessarily a bad thing that it happens like this, since I do seem to stand out at certain places we are recognized as "regulars" and it seems like our service is often better because of it.  However, all things being equal it would be nice to just be seen as any other woman and not the "girl who used to be a guy" which is how it seems sometimes.

So with that I'll wrap this up with a photo so there's a thumbnail on this post.  It's not from today - I guess I'll use that one for my next post.  This one is actually from a few weeks ago - for whatever reason I never used it here.  It's my favorite skirt with a new-ish top.  I wasn't sure that I really liked it when I bought it, but looking at the picture now, I do think I really like it.

- M

My Gender Marker Change, A Year Later...

Well, a year ago today the court granted my legal gender marker change.  I actually went to court on October 4th, 2013 and my name change was granted that day; but there was a 30 day hold on the gender marker change.  At the time it was a big deal to me as this state technically requires surgery in order to obtain an updated gender marker so I wasn't sure if I would actually be successful in court or not as I was pre-op.  Now let me say that I do know a few people who have managed to get their licenses updated pre-op in this state, but that is hit or miss and as such I had not tried because of that.  I suppose going to court was also hit or miss, but I had some help from a nice woman who had done it before me as well as a nice lawyer who made it very simple.

At first I was actually almost ecstatic - I suppose I felt somehow validated that I was "legally" considered "female" even as far as my birth certificate went.  Looking back I guess it's kind of silly to have felt that way as does it really matter all that much what that little piece of paper known as a birth certificate said?  In reality probably not, but at the time it was important to me.  I did start changing my name (and gender marker where relevant) over time - although there are still a few things I haven't updated for one reason or another.  I will say that one thing that it did really make a difference for me was my license.  As I said above - perhaps I could have gotten it changed anyway, but that would have depended upon the kindness of someone at the DMV - so to be able to have a court order in hand made it a fairly painless process.  But back to the license - getting it changed allowed me to start feeling comfortable using the ladies room.

As the title says, I'm now looking back on this a year later and thinking about what has/hasn't changed because of trip through the courts.  I will say from a positive perspective I am now completely comfortable using the ladies room.  Not that I've had any issue(s), but if someone where to make one I am legally female and I would like to believe that this simple fact would preclude any issues.  But what about beyond that?

Well in reality, while there have been plenty of changes for J and I both individually and together; really almost none of them relate to the gender marker change.  Yes I'm now on her insurance as a "Female", the same can be said for my Doctor's offices, but the reality is that those changes don't mean much of anything other than to make me feel good.  Otherwise, beyond some cashier wanting to see my license, I don't know that it really mattered all that much in the grand scheme of things.  The truth is that the court order, the birth certificate, or even my license are just pieces of paper and they don't really and truly mean much to me.  They could say I was a Vulcan for all it matter, I know who and what I am and I know how J and the others who care about me see me and really *that* is all that matters.

So in hindsight, I guess it was still worth it - if for nothing else because it has made using the "right" bathroom much more comfortable for me; but beyond that I'm not sure if I could go back a year that I'd go through the trouble to do it again.

- M

So Much For The Note 4 For Me...

We've been with T-Mobile for several years now, as well as a few years a while back.  We had been happy with them way back then, but at the time they discontinued detailed billing and I needed that for work, so we left for Verizon.  However, we eventually went back and have been happy since.  When we did go back, I went from a BlackBerry on Verizon to a MyTouch 4G and was reasonably happy with my first Android phone.  About 18 months ago our contract was up and T-Mobile was moving away from contracts and doing phones via "payments".  I was initially a bit leery of this, but we went ahead with upgrading anyway.

At the time J, M, and M2, went for a Galaxy Relay as those were keyboard phones and I opted for a Galaxy S3 (this was about a month before the S4 came out); since P is a touch careless with things we opted to give her my old MyTouch 4G.  I had the phone for about six months until I lost it at the airport.  I ended up replacing it with the S4, although I strongly considered the Note 3 as it had just came out and looked really nice.  I thought the S-Pen would be a plus since I had used a stylus on a couple of different Treo's back in the day (one with Palm O/S and one with the Windows version).  However, the Note 3 was brand new and I'm not normally one to grab a brand new device so I went with the S4 since I had been happy with the S3.  I did actually get the S3 back a few weeks later, somebody at Southwest Airlines found it and tracked me down, so J took it and passed her Relay down to P.

Flash forward to about June of this year.  The original 4 phones have been paid off (several months early) leaving just my S4 to pay on, and I thought it would be prudent to start replacing phones.  Since M had been having trouble with hers (self inflicted I believe), I focused on her and M2 since I figured they'd need "matching" phones - them being how they are.  M2 was sort of a d*ck about it so I figured leave him be, but I pushed M and convinced her that she should go with something more mainstream as the Relay was such a niche phone it didn't really see much of any updates like the more popular phones did.  I strongly suggested an S5, a Note 3, or an iPhone 5s.  But she kept dragging her feet.

She finally took a look at things and decided she might like the Note 3 which made sense since she also had a Treo back in the day and loved the stylus.  However, by now it was September and the Note 4 had been announced so we decided we'd wait for that.  J decided she wanted one too, so we figured we'd get M's and then a few months later get J one too.  So M pre-ordered hers and it arrived a couple of days before release day.  However, she wanted an Otterbox - and I couldn't really argue that as I have one for my S4 and it's been great.  Those were released on the release date of the Note 4 but not in the color she wanted so she let the phone sit for nearly two weeks.  Finally I convinced her to order what she could as the holster only comes in black anyway and the slip cover she wanted (pink) was available.  The only real issue was the shell and I told her we could replace that later on if she wanted.

So the case came last week and we moved her to the Note 4.  I helped her get some things setup on it and it seemed to be a really nice phone.  What really got me was how nice the display was, pulling up some movies on Netflix - they looked great and I guess I drooled a bit.  As things were, we normally don't insure the phones, but after the fiasco with my S3 being lost we had put insurance on my S4.  Well somehow instead of just insurance I also ended up enrolled in the "Jump" program and since we were now in October my phone was just over half paid off which means I could "Jump" to something new.  I initially wasn't keen on that as I had intended on eventually passing the S4 down to P when I went to something else; but after toying with M's Note 4 - I really did want one.  I was in a bit of a quandary as I felt bad replacing my phone prior to J, and I know the S6 is expected out around late March or early April and I love my S4.  However, after talking about it, J agreed to wait until the S6 came out and if I wanted that she'd take my Note 4 and if I wanted to keep the Note 4 we'd just get her one at that point.

I wasn't able to get a black one - they were back ordered, but we found a couple of T-Mobile stores with white ones in stock last Thursday so we got me one and I ordered my Otterbox.  I toyed with the phone over the weekend, but by yesterday I was having some second thoughts.  The Otterbox had come by then and the phone is a bit bulky for me and since I normally wear skirts/dresses as much as possible the holster wasn't readily going to do a lot for me.  The Bluetooth is apparently 4.1 and my FitBit One was having issues syncing with it - and I really do use that app more than any other.  The S-Pen worked just fine, but it's been so long since I used a stylus on the Treo's that I really didn't like to use it.  Other little things annoyed me - some as simple as the appearance of the weather widget or the way the settings screen looked (no tabbed interface).  I'm sure I could have learned to deal with all of those issues - other than the FitBit and even that I'm sure will get addressed by an update to the Note 4 or the FitBit; but I just wasn't happy with the phone and that's a problem with what it cost.

I debated returning it since we were within the time frame to do so, but I hated to eat the cost of the Otterbox and I knew J did want one so we settled on keeping my S4 - we hadn't mailed it off to T-Mobile yet and putting me back on that, moving J to the Note 4, and giving the S3 to Paige.  Unfortunately for me we made this decision about a hour after I had factory reset my S4 so I spent lots of time tonight getting it back to how it was before - though I still need to get a few apps such as Touchdown back on there.

I'm assuming J is happy with the Note 4 from the little time she's had with it so far and really I feel better about her having it now as I'm fairly certain I will want the S6 when it comes out and I just don't feel right about using the Note 4 for several months then giving it to her - just seems selfish.  Of course the downside is that I know have to pay off the remainder of the S4, but so be it - and P will end up with it when/if I do upgrade so it's not all that bad a deal, especially since I have a fairly new Otterbox on it (the holster of the other one broke and when they replaced it they replacements for all the pieces - they really went above and beyond).

I'm sure some/many/most people will be happy with the Note 4 - and perhaps if I used my phone for more I would too - especially things were the display would shine such as Netflix or if I thought I'd learn to like the stylus.  But I just don't do all that much on it as I'm almost always in front of a PC (well multiple PC's) and the stylus was alright as a plaything, but I'd rather type than write, so the Note 4 just wasn't for me.  The issue with the Bluetooth and the FitBit was really just the excuse I needed to go ahead and give J the phone now versus later, so I suppose I should actually be grateful for that.

Well it's late and I need to nap before work, so with that I bid you goodnight.

- M

An Up And Down Two Weeks...

I've been a little quieter here the last couple of weeks and I'm planning on rectifying that.  The main reason has been time or lack thereof.  About two weeks ago M was having issues and visited her regular GP and her OBGYN and had several tests done, etc.  I chalked it up to her being her and didn't give it a lot of thought.  I had planned on taking that Thursday/Friday as vacation days as with what I currently have plus what I'll accrue the balance of the year I'd have about 10 days I would have to use or lose.

That Thursday, J and I spent the day driving all over creation as she had to visit several other locations to observe something she was spearheading.  It was about 350 miles of driving all told and between that and the actual time spent at each site we figured it would be a good 12-14 hours so I told her I'd go with her to keep her company.  It was actually a great day, albeit long.  We ended up being gone 15 hours or so as we had figured in "lunch time" - which we actually cut short and more or less ate in the car, but we didn't figure in "dinner time" which we actually stopped for and had a nice dinner.  Here's what I was wearing - unfortunately when we left the house it was too dark for a good picture outside, so J and I stopped off during the day to get this and I was a bit worse for wear by then. :)

Of course that meant I didn't get a picture with her that day and that's a touch of a downer as her outfit was really cute.  As for me, I'm not a big "jeans person", but it was a big chilly that morning so I made the sacrifice.  I do really like the top, I can't recall exactly where I got it (Ross Dress For Less?), and despite the fact that the scarf turned into a "crumb catcher" at dinner - I even got comfortable wearing it all day.  Actually it was sort of a nice test in a way as all told I ended up being out and about for the 15+ hours, plus a good hour before we left and a good hour after we got home - and I still looked reasonably good and even more than that my face still looked pretty good.  The laser really has done quite a bit for me.

As good of a day as that was, Friday took a turn for the worse.  J and I had planned on getting our eyebrows done and then we were going to see a movie and have some lunch out before I had to come home and make dinner.  Well M was still feeling ill and actually ended up in the hospital for surgery to remove her appendix.  It went well and she came home the next day, but she's sore - I can relate - the surgery to remove my gall bladder was a similar procedure.  If she had a less physical job I'm sure she'd be back already - I went to work for a couple of hours the day after my surgery and was back full time a week later - but her job is physical so she'll be home for a few weeks.  I'm sure it's hard for her and truthfully it's starting to get on my nerves a bit.  We've all went out of our way to pick up the slack for her and while she is appreciative of that - she's also sort of let herself become very sedentary.  If she continues to do that for the next couple of weeks, she's going to have it rough when she does go back to work and she just doesn't seem to see it.  I'm not saying she needs to overly exert herself, but a little walking or something would probably do her some good since she's now going on 11 days since the surgery, but I digress.  Unfortunately for her, she, along with M2 and P had taken some vacation next week and were going to take a little roadtrip, and apparently now they aren't for several reasons.  So I'm guessing she'll be having some severe cabin fever over the next couple of weeks. :)

Despite our day being turned upside down due to M's medical issue, J and I have been far better lately.  We just celebrated our 5th anniversary as I mentioned HERE.  I love her more and more each day and I cherish every day with her.  If I have a regret it's that we didn't find each other sooner. :)

With that being said, I did have another downer and that's over insurance and SRS.  As I had mentioned before J's open enrollment was coming up and while I didn't expect them to cover SRS this year (I figured *maybe* next year) - I still held out hope.  And that hope was dashed.  That in and of itself wouldn't have bothered me, but from what I can tell the insurance company they use *will* cover it, so her company chose to exclude it this year and that upset me.  Probably more than it should, but it did.

So because of that I looked into having the surgery without insurance and as I've said before it's probably doable, but a stretch that I wasn't willing to make.  I'm still not sure that I am, but I did start looking into it seriously.  Specifically into a surgeon I had previously dismissed - Dr. Harold Reed in Miami.  I had ruled him out for three reasons:

1. He does his procedure "outpatient" and that scared me a bit as it is serious surgery.
2. Miami seemed like it was too far to drive and if I had to fly I might as well fly to Montreal for Dr. Brassard (as one example).
3. I couldn't find much (current) information from people who had seen him.  Most of what I found was years old and that really concerned me.

Well, as I said I looked into him again and with regards to the three concerns above, I felt I had answers for each:

1. Yes he does do it outpatient, but after having my orchi done outpatient I was a bit more confident about being able to handle that.  Now I know it's a much more involved surgery, but you are there the first night and after that he does visit every day and really I figured I'd just as soon be in a hotel as a hospital those days.  Additionally, it was highly likely I'd be able to return home a few days sooner than most other surgeons which held an appeal.
2. In reality Miami is about 17-18 hours by car which is too far to drive in *one day*.  However, from here Atlanta is almost exactly half way and is about 8-9 hours.  That's about the same drive as we made to Detroit for my Orchi and we enjoyed that drive.  Granted we'd be making that size drive two days in a row - but we also would have the option to spend a "layover" day in Atlanta and do things like visit the Coca-Cola Museum, CNN, etc.  And I do truly dislike the airport "experience" so being able to make the drive would be nice.
3. I did actually find some more current experiences of his and they were all positive.  Now there are negative comments about him floating around, but the same can be said of other surgeons such as Dr. Bowers, and even some of the surgeons in Thailand.  Others may disagree, but I felt comfortable enough with what I had learned to trust him to do my surgery.

Now I haven't touched on cost, but he is cheaper that most North American surgeons - partially (mostly?) I'm assuming because he doesn't do the surgery in a hospital.  I won't lie, that was *a factor* - not *the factor* as this is a life altering procedure, but definitely a factor and the expense including our travel, etc., would be doable now.  Still a bit of a stretch, but I felt we could handle it, so with that said I contacted him and he was very gracious in answering some initial questions I had.

However, the first question was the deal breaker and that had to do with my weight/BMI.  He would want me to be at 175lbs which is actually a stricter requirement than even Dr. McGinn - she wants a <28 BMI which for me is about 180lbs.  Had if he had said something along the lines of what Dr. Bowers wants (210lbs) I probably would have scheduled something on the spot.  However, if I have to meet that weight requirement - well then I feel I might as well pursue Dr. McGinn as she's a bit closer and was one of my preferred choices anyway.  By no means am I disparaging Dr. Reed over this - I understand his rationale - I just feel that if I'm going to have to spend the time to lose another 30-40lbs I might as well go with somebody who was among my first choices.  And truthfully I guess that reality was that it was a long shot to do something too soon anyway as I haven't started having my hair cleared in that area yet - I have my next laser appointment in a couple of weeks and she's going to do my face and back of neck as she's been doing and possibly start down there - provided it's healed well enough from the orchi (I'm fairly certain it has).  I'm sure that will take several sessions and probably some follow up electrolysis to get cleared.  I know it's not technically a requirement for many surgeons, but considering how much body hair I do have, I'd rather be proactive about it and not have to hope that they can get it all during surgery.  So I've rambled on enough about this, lets move on to one more positive so I can wrap this up.

As I've already touched on our 5th anniversary, I'll take about Sampson - I wrote about him HERE.  What prompted me to write about him then was that he had been recently diagnosed with early stage renal failure and he's having been having more and more trouble getting around.  As it turned out, Emily actually passed shortly after I wrote about all the cats - at the time I figured it was 50/50 as to if it would be him or her.  Well Sampson had a vet visit the other day and all things considered the vet says he's doing fairly well.  That doesn't change the fact that he will eventually succumb to the renal failure (or something else), but for now he's got a reasonably good outlook and while some might not find that a positive - I do.  If you had asked me back in July when I wrote about the cats I would have said that I wasn't sure if Sampson would be here with us in November - and not only is he in fact here with us, he's actually doing pretty well.  For that I'm quite grateful.

One more positive - J just finished her rotation last night and has her two days off.  Unfortunately I have to work, but I'm sure we'll have some nice quality time together which I'm looking forward to.  As I turn around and see her sleeping I can only think about how beautiful and wonderful she is and how much she means to me and those thoughts are what I will go to sleep to in a couple of minutes.  I love you sweetie - and you too Sampson (he's lying in "his" desk chair next to me as I type this).

- M

Happy 5th Anniversary

Actually my anniversary with J was yesterday; but I didn't get a chance to write this until now and it's after midnight.  J and I have actually been together going on 9 years; but it took us a while to get married.  In fact, we might not have gotten around to getting married when we did if not for an unfortunate situation that was going on - but that's really beside the point.  While our marriage was pushed up because of that situation - it was actually long over due.  We had talked about doing something special like going somewhere to get married or even up in a hot air balloon, but as it was - it was a small private ceremony with her parents, M/M2/P, and us along with the person who performed the marriage.  While I hate to do it since it's a "pre-Madison" picture - here's one from our wedding day.  And *yes* I know the date says 10/25/09, but somebody (probably me) had set the camera date incorrectly. :)

Looking back over the last five years there have been plenty of ups and downs, and lots of changes - both good and bad; but one thing has never changed.  And that is how much we love each other.  Well perhaps even that is not true.  I honestly believe that I love J more now than I did then.  It's not that I didn't love her then - or even prior to that - but it's different now.  Has my transition played a part in that?  I'm sure it has, but it's more than that.  Before I loved J and was glad that I was with her; but now I not only love J, but now I realize that I *need* her.  I know the line is a huge cliche - but she really does "complete me".

The fact that she loves me as much now - if not more - as Madison than she ever did as the "old me" - well that is just one more in a long line of reasons that I know I've been blessed to have such a special woman in my life.  That's not to say we don't have issues from time to time - we do; but as I've mentioned before I really have a hard time believing that any relationship doesn't have issues from time to time.  And again as I've said before I think how you deal with those issues that defines not only who you are, but what your relationship will be.  This is where I think my transition has had the most effect on things.

I've said it before and I'll repeat it now - I'm like a "shooting star" when it comes to getting angry.  I get very mad for a very short time and then it's all gone.  That's hard for a person like J to deal with as she doesn't get angry hardly at all and she often has issues dealing with me when I'm angry.  As I've transitioned, I can't say I don't still have my moments, but I really do believe they are far fewer than they were before and I think they "burn out" far quicker than they did before.  While I wish those moments were completely gone - and I'm working diligently on that - I can honestly say that I'm learning to let things go now that would've caused a fight in years past.  I firmly attribute this bit of progress to my transition.

But this isn't about issues - this is about all the wonderful times we have had and continue to have.  I can honestly say that every year we've been together has been better than the prior years and I firmly believe that this will continue to be the case and nothing in this world makes me happier than thinking about that.  I'm sure she'll read this - so to you J - let me just say how much the last five years (and those years prior to our marriage) mean to me and how much I look forward to every day we will have together going forward.  You mean the world to me and I love you more than I ever thought I could love anyone.  Happy Anniversary sweetheart. <3

- M

Review: Taco Bell Breakfast

I actually started to write this review a few months ago when Taco Bell first rolled out breakfast in our area and for some reason never did.  However, this past Saturday I happened to be up early (that's another story) and decided to take my daughter P to get some breakfast.  P being who she is really wanted chicken so I took her to White Castle to get some chicken rings, but I wanted breakfast.  I had been seeing quite a few Taco Bell commercials recently and decided to give their breakfast another shot.

Now the first visit a few months ago, M had brought me a couple of things home, specifically the Sausage Flatbread Melt, and a Sausage Waffle Taco.  The melt was pretty good, albeit a touch on the smallish side.  However, the Waffle Taco was a bit of a disappointment.  Perhaps my expectations were too high, but the waffle was on the soggy side and it also was smaller than I expected.  Now as to the soggy part, yes it was brought home to me, but we also only live about 1.5 miles from Taco Bell so it's only a couple of minutes home.  As far as the size of both, I suppose it's typical advertising as the finished products - especially in the restaurant industry - never seem to match up with is shown on television.  I'm not saying either was "bad", they just weren't good enough for me to try them - or really any other breakfast items from there again.  At least until now.

This time I chose to sample the Steak and Egg Cheesy Burrito, and the Steak A.M. Crunchwrap.  Unfortunately, by the time I decided to picture(s), I had already eaten the burrito and actually had taken two bites of the crunchwrap as well.  That being said, here's what's left of the crunchwrap.

Since that's what I have a picture of, lets start there.  Per Taco Bell's website this is how they describe it:

"Fluffy scrambled eggs, a golden crispy hash brown, real cheddar cheese, marinated premium thick cut steak and creamy jalapeno sauce wrapped up in a warm flour tortilla and grilled, so it's good to go."

As to what I thought of it - well I'm not sure the picture does it justice, but it's again on the smallish side.  I've had a few Crunchwrap Supreme's in my time and normally they are big enough that the tortilla doesn't quite close on the folded side and this not only did close there was a fair amount of overlap - more than I felt the picture on their website shows.  The hash brown was a touch on the soggy side, not horribly so, but considering I was probably eating this within five minutes of leaving Taco Bell I would have expected it to not be as soggy as it was.  Beyond that, everything was as it should be and actually it tasted pretty good.  I don't think there was nearly as "stuffed" as the photo on their website - but as I said above that's a fairly common complaint with most every restaurant.  

Now to the burrito.  Again per Taco Bell's website:

"Fluffy scrambled eggs, lots of warm, melted cheddar cheese, marinated, premium thick cut steak, and creamy jalapeno sauce all wrapped up in a warm flour tortilla.  Also available in Fresco Style."

Frankly, I was more impressed with the burrito than the crunchwrap.  From a size perspective, it was about what I expected and resembled the website photo.  The contents were evenly distributed and truthfully it was one of the better things I've had at Taco Bell during any day part.  I'm not sure if it was good enough that I'd make a special trip to Taco Bell to get it, but it was good enough that if I were to be going there for breakfast it would be one of the items I'd lean towards ordering.

Some final thoughts.  The total for these two items was nearly $6 with tax - $2.99 for the crunchwrap and $2.49 for the burrito.  While it's a little more than I'd normally spend on a fast food breakfast, I also would note that the pricing is in line with Taco Bell's lunch/dinner items containing steak.  I could have opted for either a sausage or bacon crunchwrap and the burrito also comes in bacon (and maybe sausage too) - and those options would have been at least somewhat cheaper.  As such I'm by no means saying their pricing is "out of line" with other fast food restaurants - I'm simply not much of a breakfast person and normally if I were out at that time of the morning I'd probably just grab a cheap sausage biscuit from somewhere.  

The food itself was good (the burrito being the better of the two), but not great; although that's a typical fast food issue, but the calorie count was incredibly high.  I believe it was about 650 calories for the crunchwrap and around 450 for the burrito which turned that into 1100 calories which is at/over half of my limit for the day.  Now the burrito is available "Fresco Style" which would reduce the calorie count from 450 to 320, which is more palatable - albeit probably not as tasty either.  

So to summarize these items have changed my mind a bit on Taco Bell's breakfast offerings, but not enough to decide to just up and go there for breakfast.  It's more along the lines of - if I was out and wanted something quick to eat I would consider visiting there.  I would definitely have to just grab *one item* and not two as I did here and it would likely be the burrito as it was the better of the two items and the calorie count is much more in line with what I can/should consume for breakfast.

- M

One Nasty Comment....

I wrote a couple of entries over the weekend - which I've since removed.  I wrote them for a couple of reasons, one because I was a bit frustrated over how this past Friday/Saturday went for J and I, and a second because as I said in the first entry - I do tend to try and be very "positive" here when I'm writing about personal things and I think it's important to show that it's not always positive.  Perhaps there are people out there who have never had a disagreement with their spouse/SO/etc - but I've yet to meet one.  I'm not saying I like to have disagreements with anyone, but I do firmly believe that it is inevitable that they will occur.  I also firmly believe that how those disagreements are handled really and truly define a person and by extension the relationship in question.

So why did I remove the posts in question?  Well, partially because despite them being posted on two separate days, they were written "back to back" - it just happened that one went up right before midnight and one right after.  Not that it matters that they were written back to back, but what does matter is that I wrote them when I was still a touch upset over things instead of waiting.  I do try and normally hold off on writing things so I can have a less emotional perspective before I share my thoughts and in this case I chose not to do that.  Once I did go to bed that night (well morning) and get some sleep I did decide that I would at a minimum go back and edit the posts with more of an objective viewpoint, if not flat out delete them.  However, before I was able to get to doing that, a comment was posted on one of them that upset me more than a bit and that's the impetus for this post.

The comment made a negative reference to the state of my marriage to J.  I was frustrated when I wrote those two posts and I'm certain it showed as it wasn't a great couple of days for us.  However, I would really like to think that anybody who has read much of anything in this blog would know how much J and I do love each other and how much we mean to each other.  Since the comment in question was made by someone that I really don't know, but rather only an acquaintance from Google+ - then perhaps they had not read anything prior to those posts and as such perhaps the comment wasn't intended to be mean/hateful (which is how it came across).  However, in that case I would like to think that before making the comment that was made that the person in question might have taken a few minutes to read some other entries to get some context on things first.  On the other hand, if they had read much else here then I can only believe that the intent of the comment was to be mean/hateful and that really does bother me.

If it would have been from someone from say Facebook - well the friends I have there are honestly almost entirely people that I (or at least J) knows personally.  I strongly doubt any of them would have made the comment as they do know one/both of us; but even if they had - well at least I would have known for sure it wasn't made with malice.  In this case - well I'm not so sure.  That bothered me as the people I'm acquainted with on Google+ are only people that would know me as "Madison" and as a trans-woman and in general those people are normally very understanding and supportive of not just me, but also each other.  And I definitely didn't find the comment supportive in the least.

Now this is probably strange to say considering the content of this entry so far; but while the comment did bother me a bit - it really didn't have much of an affect on me.  I was at a minimum going to modify the posts regardless and I was considering deleting them anyway.  However, it did get me to thinking about other people who have taken down blogs, ceased being active on places such as Reddit or Google+, or in some cases simply went completely stealth.

I cannot being to speak to the reason(s) why any specific person might do those things, and there are a lot of possible reasons.  Among the ones that come to mind as things such as:

• Experiences becoming less relevant.  I've detailed things here such as my Orchiectomy, but as time goes by that will become less relevant as Dr. Arnkoff will retire at some point so what was specific to him will no longer be relevant.  Medical procedures evolve over time, and so on.
• Some people may simply feel that they "no longer have a dog in the fight".  To an extent I feel this way about a lot of things.  My birth certificate has been changed to show me as being Madison and being "Female", which means that I no longer pay as much attention to the laws surrounding doing something like that.  Other common topics such as HRT, shopping, and so on - well it's the same thing.  Those are "normal things" for me by now and as time moves on it's harder to think back to how new (and in some cases even "scary") those things were when I first started.  I imagine that once I have SRS, I'll reach a point where I'll feel the same about that as well.  Even with those things being said, I do still try and be active here and elsewhere; but I can also see how it would be easy to cease doing so.
• As a corollary to the above, some people may simply want to not think about how things were "pre-transition".  I don't personally feel that way, but I can definitely understand how some people would simply prefer to forget about or not discuss things pre/during-transition.

However, the comment I referred to above brought another reason to the top of my mind.  Be it via a blog such as this one (or a better one <G>), via places such as Reddit or other web forums, or even social media such as Facebook or Google+ - people are choosing to share things.  Some more than others and some get more personal than others - maybe even more than they should (probably including me).  In doing so, it means opening up for criticism at times and negative comments at times, but it still doesn't mean that I - or anyone else who does open up - likes those.  

I'm not saying that people have to be all "rainbows and unicorns" when it comes to comments,etc., but when someone does go out of their way to be mean/hateful/etc., all that does is encourage people to quit sharing and I firmly believe that this happens far too much.  I'm all for differences of opinion(s), but it just boggles my mind that some people cannot express a difference in opinion or viewpoint in a civilized manner.  Even as open as I am, when I see some of the things that are said to not only myself, but even more to others, it makes me question why I am open and why I do share things.  In my case I usually let them roll off my back - as I've mostly done here (despite the diatribe I've written), but a lot of others may not see it my way and who wins when they "take their ball and go home"?  I share partially because it's a good outlet for me, but mostly because others have shared before me and it's made what I (and J) have undertaken a far less scary proposition and I truly believe a far easier journey that it would have been otherwise.

Ultimately the people who read this probably are not the people that I'm talking about and I suppose that's a shame, although I suspect most of those people probably wouldn't take any heed of it anyway.  But in this case it's made *me* feel better to vent *my* thoughts on it and as such it's been worth the time to do so.  So with that I'll wrap things up for now.

- M