40 Days to Go!

Two weeks ago a friend came to the apartment for a photo shoot so i would have a head shot for my application for ICBB. This is just one of the photos she took. I have never done anything like this, and had a blast. She had never done photos like this, and knew nothing about bootblacking other than what I had shared with her. I think she did an amazing job. Can't wait to see the rest. 

40 days from now, we will be boarding a plane to Dallas for ILSb-ICBB. I am slowing getting things ready, and am so excited. Can't wait to meet the rest of the Class of 2015, see old friends and make new friends. I've given a lot of thought to this particular contest. I have never been more ready for something in my life. There are still a few things to gather, figure out packing, and make sure that our four legged children are taken care of while out of town. It will come together

I have so many things that I want to accomplish that at times I feel overwhelmed. I have watched the drama that has been going on in our community, and listened/read as people complain about things. There is a saying that says, 'Be the change that you want to see.' I want to be that change. You will not see me posting publicly about the different situations that are going on. What you will see is action. I will be reaching out to new bootblacks that are wanting to learn. 

When I came into the leather community I was surrounded by people that took the time to teach me what I wanted to learn, even when I didn't know i wanted to learn. LOL When I moved to Atlanta, I became a member of Atlanta PEP. LadyD had a motto that hung up on the wall in PEP that said "EACH ONE, TEACH ONE". That was 15 yrs ago, and I still remember that. She ingrained it into the members, and I still try to live by the philosophy. If LadyD, Mistress Kay, Master Doug Harris, boy bob, and other members of PEP and Sanctuary of the Dark Angel had not taken the time to teach me and others hungry for knowledge, I would not be here today. 

Then I moved to Phoenix and met some amazing bootblacks. They shared their time and knowledge to teach me not only the technical skills needed to become a bootblack, but to hold me accountable on my actions. Without them in my life, I would not be where I am now. Bootpig, Moe, Tabitha Arie, Bear, Whisper, Jayson DaBoi, Pony, and Redwarrior taught me well. It is my hope that I can pay them back by paying forward what they gave me. 

If you see me out and about, come up and introduce yourself. If you want to learn about bootblacking, no matter where you live, ask me. I will share my knowledge with you to the best of my ability. 

Keep on Shining On!

Upcoming Events

The next fundraiser will be sponsored by Arizona Men of Leather, and is their yearly Prison Party at Anvil. All funds raised will be given to the SW Leather Sir, Leather boy and Community Bootblack Travel fund. We are so grateful for their support. 

On July 18, there will be a BBQ Cook Off at Rainbow Cactus. Bring your BBQ, $10 to enter the contest. After the judging, plates of BBQ will be sold for $5. I will be bootblacking for the first time ever at Rainbow Cactus, and NikkiStarr and her Cactus Angels will be performing. Again, all funds go to the travel fund. 

Hanky Panky 2015 will be August 8 at Bunkhouse. There will be a drag show, demos, photo booth, bootblacking, jello shots, beer bust, and some auction items. The crowd will have the opportunity to chime in on my hot wear outfits. I have two, so will wear one the first half of the show, and the second during the second half. At the end of the night, the crowd will vote on which one they liked the best. The outfit that wins will be the one that I wear at ICBB in Dallas Labor Day weekend. 

August 15th, the title family will travel to Tucson for a fundraiser. More details to come as I get them!!!

Thank you to every one who is supporting our little family in our effort to get to Dallas to bring home three International titles!!!!

What a Crazy Few Months (long post)

It has been a couple of months since I have written, and to be honest I completely forgot I had this blog and was suppose to be writing about my title year. See, real life became real! 

On May 26th, I reported to Scottsdale Shea Medical Center for knee replacement surgery. This was a surgery that I have been waiting to have since I was first told it needed to be done in 1995. At that time, I was too young for the surgery so we proceeded to do whatever we could to nurse it along. I made it as far as we could possibly go. If I had not had it done when I did, the doctor said he could not guarantee how long the knee would last, and that my pain would only get worse. So I had it done. 

I had been told that knee replacement surgery was the most painful surgery to recover from. So I had mentally prepared for this pain. I figured I had given birth to three children, the last one being almost 10 lbs, how bad could this be. And to be honest, the pain after the surgery was not too bad. Of course, I was on some good narcotics to control the pain. However, me being me, I was determined to get off the IV meds and onto the oral so that I could get to rehab. Surgery on Tuesday, I went to rehab on Friday. Up to this point, the most PT I had done was to get up and walk around the floor in the hospital. I didn't see a therapist until Saturday, and oh my gawd!!!! Now I understood what people were talking about with the pain. However, I had a goal to be home by June 4, so I knew that I had to endure the pain. I made an agreement with my therapist. She could torture me all she wanted, but I was allowed to cry, scream and even curse. I called on the tricks I have learned in my SM play for processing pain, took my pain meds right before PT and worked. I worked hard. By Tuesday, I was able to pedal the bike the proper way...pedals going all the way around!!!! I walked the steps like a pro, and was able to get my knee to a 95 degree bend. I was allowed to go home on Wednesday. 

We had prepared the apartment for my return...making sure there was a clear pathway to anywhere I might need to go, things close to the bed that I would need. Home health came out to check my INR (was on coumadin) and PT came out a few times. However, all hell broke loose a week after I came home.

Cheryl (my partner aka Daddy Tyr) had to go back in for surgery. Seems her spinal stimulator had a major malfunction and was not working. Why it had to happen at this time, who knows. She had surgery June 15, came home two days later. Her caregiver hours were increased so she had someone here on the weekends as I was absolutely no use to her at this point. The first weekend she was home I had the migraine from hell for three days, so spent most of the time in the bed sleeping. On Monday, June 22, I had an appt with my pain management team, and while there got a call from Cheryl that her primary care provider wanted her to go to the ER IMMEDIATELY due to some symptoms that suggested some neurological issues. So I rush home, as much as I can rush when depending on cabs, and arrived just as her mother arrived. Called 911, and she was transported to John C Lincoln Deer Valley. Due to the stimulator, they were not able to do the test they felt they needed; so wanted to do a test using contrast. A BIG NO! Cheryl is allergic to IVP dye, and contrast dye. They said the dye is different than three years ago, so we reluctantly agreed. They said they would do a 13 hr desensitization protocol to help prevent any issues. I go home, and get a ride back to the hospital early. Find out the doctors have second thoughts about the contrast and decide not to do the test. Instead, going to observe and see what happens. We spent 24 hrs of pure torture. I wont got into details here, but will say that it was so very hard to sit there and watch the woman I love go through the things she was experiencing and not be able to do anything. I felt helpless. Finally, a doctor comes in to say they have decided that the stimulator needs to come out, but it can't be done where we were due to the surgeon not having privileges. So transferred to Scottsdale Thompson Peak for a 4pm surgery. 

The surgeon finally arrives shortly after 6pm, no explanation and extremely rude. Surgery only lasted about 30 min, and when the surgeon came out to speak to us he was rude once again. I was done, I wanted him off the case. He had not been to see Cheryl the entire time she was in the hospital, never called to see how she was doing. He even insisted that the stimulator was not the cause of the issues. HMMMMM, within 10 mins of reaching her room after surgery, Cheryl stated she needed to go the bathroom. That had been one of the issues, she never could tell. Other symptoms slowing began to disappear. The one thing that wasn't leaving was the pain. A new doctor came to take over from the surgeon, and we began to get somewhere. Consults with other specialists, new pain meds, and improvement. However, during all this she lost the use of her legs and could not walk. Which meant she could not come home.

Finally she is transferred to an acute rehab, way out in Sun City. This means it is difficult for me to get to visit, as I refuse to ask our friends to go so far out of their way. We survive on phone calls and texts, and her parents finally take me out there yesterday. It was so good to see her up, dressed in street clothes and her sick, dry sense of humor back. She even got up and showed us that she could walk. My heart soared. She called a bit ago and will be home on Wednesday. What a relief. 

Now, during all this I still have titleholder duties. A fundraiser for Sir Joe at Anvil, where I was to do a bootblack demo. I showed up, and really had a good time, even though I was absolutely exhausted and in a lot of pain. I had been doing an extreme amount of walking the past week, very little sleep and definitely not eating right. But it felt good to be out and supporting my title family. 

During all this craziness, I still have a contest to prepare for so do the best I can. Began to think about clothes, and all outfits are coming together nicely. If things work out the way I hope they do, I should have all the major outfits together in about two weeks. Finally got the new boots I had been wanting, a pair of tactical boots that are comfortable, will take a good shine and will be my day time, every day boots. This leaves my Corcorans for formal wear. Just need to learn my speech, prepare for interview and continue my work on fundraisers. OH, I finally got a chance to get my hands dirty and do boots. 5 pairs of them!!!!! It was so much fun as they were all different. I could feel the energy of the leatherman that they belonged to. It is such an honor to be allowed to care for another's leathers that take them on their journey. IT IS GOOD TO BE THE BOOTBLACK. 

In the last couple of days, I have been able to get back to the things that make me feel good...bootblacking, zentangles, and my clay. OH, and the Phoenix Mercury are playing again so have the games to keep me busy! Go Merc!!!