Before

All I have left is a "wake up" until my hair cut. Yay!! Tomorrow, I'll lose probably 2 pounds without doing anything other than handing over a million dollars to a "celebrity" hair stylist. I've shopped around town, and I've landed at a salon that's about 2 blocks from where I work. I can't wait.

Ben took "before" pictures this morning, which I'll update to this blog this evening. I look fabulous. I know. Hopefully, I'll look better tomorrow night. I'll try to get some "after" photos posted tomorrow or Thursday. Hopefully, everything will turn out ok. Hair people tend to shy away from such dramatic changes, especially if they don't know me. But let's face it, people. I hate having long hair. I'll do it for a while, but it's always with the purpose to "give back to the kids." I recently joked that it's been so long since my last trim that most of my hair is damaged-ends. A friend said that kids have small heads, anyway, so they should be fine.

I finally made it back to the gym today, after a week off. It was horrible. First off, I'm tired. It's been several long days, recently. Stress has also been taking its toll. But I did get to talk to Scooter yesterday - twice! She sounded pretty good. I think she's looking forward to coming out here, but I've been made somewhat of a villain for not letting her play her last soccer game in Omaha. Her last game is at 2:30 on Sunday, with a little party afterward, and well....if we flew out after that, we'd have to take a 6pm flight or later. There aren't many flights leaving that late for PDX, in fact, I think there's just 1. And it doesn't get in until after midnight. So...no. We're leaving Omaha on Saturday. Flights are already booked.

I think I've been made a villain anyway, but in 7 year old terms, soccer is the sticking point. But you know what? She's 7. There can be 10-14 more years of soccer (if she chooses to continue to play), and she needs to get settled in her new home before school starts on Monday for her. I think if I sat down and gave her the choice of hanging out with her brother or playing soccer, Bubba would win, hands down, every time, anyway.

She was excited when we talked on Sunday, about going to the park yesterday with her dad. Last night when we talked, I found out that they spent a whopping 15 minutes at the park. Well...it's a good thing she wasn't allowed to go to the Children's Museum with my mom, then. She would have really missed out on some quality park time with her dad. He has not responded to any phone calls or emails. So...I guess when he told Scooter that she won't be going to summer camp with my mom, no amount of negotiation will sway him. Argh. Scooter looks forward to that camp every year. It's a great, wholesome, opportunity for her to hang out with her 9 cousins for a week. You should see them at that church camp. They're like a little gang. Unstoppable - except by the ex. So...she may miss this year as we wrangle with the courts to see if it's possible to make him abide by a court order. It seems like it's not possible, as he's gotten his way every time thus far. I guess time will tell.