Sorry this is delayed. I tried to post it via utterli, but it utterly failed.

Last night was the military ball, which I attended with That One. We were the second most good-looking couple there, second only to Country and her date. I had an absolutely wonderful time. Absolutely wonderful. It’s quite an awesome feeling to be dipped so low that your shoulder length hair brushes the floor.

Also, must learn to salsa, samba and shag (the dance, duh). When the man goes to a dance, he actually expects to dance. Who knew?

This is magic. Absolute magic.

This is Nexium, which the doc prescribed for me on the 9th. As I type this on the 20th, my stomach has hurt only once. I can still feel it churning as acid dumps into it, but it doesn’t hurt. I can eat again and life is good.

Oh, girls, what has happened to my face? What is the *stuff* on my upper lip? And, whoa! Do I detect a few on my face, too? Meet my new girlfriend, Sally. She makes me feel like a natural woman!

I originally started buying this stuff to wax other areas, but it didn’t work so well for that, mostly because I couldn’t see what I was doing very well, I think. It’s a champ for stray facial hair, though.

And in a merciless twist of life cycle fate, I am still using a blackhead extractor on a regular basis. Not chemical ones like that of course, just a simple little tool you can find at any store, but it works. And now I know exactly how a teenage boy must feel. Oh, no, I take that back. Teenage boys WANT facial hair.

On this day, I got another fly-by from That One. It wasn’t a purely social call, since he did have a bit of business to do in the city. I drove into town and we took my car to do the errands, since it’s much easier to maneuver than his….uh….insert brand of big truck he drives, because I can’t remember, but I think he said Freightliner???????

I took this picture while I was waiting for him to finish up his appointment. I looked down and the elements I saw pleased me, so I recorded them.

I also learned a couple of lessons on this day. 1) If a trucker says he needs to do laundry, get it from him the first time you see him on any given visit. After that, things will rapidly spiral out of control and the man will leave with his dirty clothes still dirty. That’s gotta be a real testosterone booster, because what could possibly smell manlier than a couple weeks of dirty laundry in a semi, hmm?

And 2). Well, never you mind about 2. Suffice it to say that I won’t be making that mistake again, either.

Hey, not the most flattering pic I’ve ever taken, but this *is* a documentary of sorts and on this day I finally saw the doctor. We talked about a couple of things and one of them was my belly. I’d been having some pretty severe stomach pains, and my friends thought I really ought to see about it since they don’t particularly like to see me writhing in pain.

I left with a scrip for Nexium. We didn’t discuss www.neutrogenaskinid.net, because even though some may think I am acting like an adolescent, my skin remains relatively clear. Although as I write this, I do have a wee zit beside my nose. Grrrr.

This is a photo I snapped with my phone. It shows Fourth Street, I think. Compared with 3rd and Front, this street has a lot of old looking, dirty buildings. Of course, the buildings on those streets are old, too, but they look nicer. Perhaps the city should look at the directory submissions for “downtown revitalization” and get a few more recommendations. Of course, since there isn’t anything of not actually ON 4th, they probably won’t do that, and this street with great potential will remain….not so pretty.

In case you were wondering what I was doing there, let me put your mnd at rest: I had papers to sign. Papers that have by now been filed and served.

And one day this spring, I am totally treating myself to a walking tour of downtown. I’ve never really done that, and there are so many interesting things to see.

On this day, I wrapped up a package filled with love for someone who needs it.

Those of you who follow along know that the past few weeks have been a bit…rough….for me. This box contains a project that took hours of my time, and helped me maintain an even keel through the things that were going on. The phrase “it could always be worse” totally applies here. Pretty sobering, right? Kinda like Fee with her gratitude knitting. (Yes, dear, I still remember what you said about that.) It’s a bit like energy auditing for your mental outlook–where are you spending your real self?

This is DaBaby. Isn’t she cute? And isn’t that one darling hat? She picked the colors herself! She also asked me several times a day while I was working on it if it was done yet. Alternating of course with “is that hole getting smaller?”, since I had taught her that was the thing to look for. She’s clever, that one.

That’s a scrape on her cheek, folks. She doesn’t need an acne solution quite yet. And if she’d much like her mother, she won’t need one until she’s well into her 20s.