Monday's musings...

High time for an update I think, especially given the nature of my last post.

My mind is slightly better, in that all the advice I received, especially from Sue and Sam on here, Holly on f/b, and from all of my other friends, was most helpful.

The busy-ness of life also has played it's hand which has not allowed me much thinking time lately.

My plan is when I feel ready, I am going to go to my GP and ask if I can be referred to a psych.

Opportunities to dress have stopped again, due to Son being here in the daytime again. He is also still very much under the threat of redundancy, bless him. Not fun when you are 25 and reasonably intelligent. He actually has turned out to be one person I can openly discuss my T-ness with, and I've felt so comfortable I've worn eye make up in the day and there has been no issue. I couldn't get away with that with the girls in the house.

On that subject, no 1 daughter is still in boyfriend mess. There is a lot to do there, and both me and Mrs T have no real idea how to snap her out of her upset? We've both stayed out of it so far, but it's getting harder and harder.

It was our anniversary on Friday last, and although we don't celebrate, the interim ones, I made her a card. It was our 27th. I wrote some words in the card to re-assure her that I will always love her, whatever the future throws our way.

The week-end was quite good. I decided to cook a 3-course meal for Mrs T on Saturday and it went down really well. (Actually, I was quite proud of myself. Home-made Prawn and Spring Onion Ravioli to start, Bangladeshi Monkfish and Prawn curry as main, and a wicked fried Banana with an amazing home-made sauce for dessert.)

As I had pasta left over, I made some more Ravioli (cheese and ham) for a starter last night, all served with a home made garlic sauce.

One more thing I did yesterday was to sort out and clean the spice cupboard. I was always moaning at the state of it, so Mrs T 'encouraged' me to do something about it.

I suppose all in all, a big brownie points week-end.

So where to next? In 2 weeks, I intend to push Tina's boundaries once again by going to Sue's London lunch. I haven't been before, but having been in Sue's company on two previous occasions for eating, I have no worries about going. The hard bit is leaving the house in daylight, (not being out to anyone much else), and travelling on the train. I am not too nervous. Actually very, very excited.

I guess I see it as another milestone 'ticked' on the path to acceptance?

I'm also booked into Sparkle and have my train tickets, so as per last year, I'm looking forward to that too.

It's not surprising as I really believe that when I am fully out in public I am proving I am the real me.

That's all I have to say today. Until next time good readers.

Tina
xx

Where is my mind?

I've chosen the title due to my topsy-turvy feelings, which I am trying to get my head around right now.

I'll try to explain...

It's not that I am down in the dumps too much, or the reverse - it's where I am at and where I am going that is filling my thoughts today.

I've just spent 2 days dressed, after a while of not being able to do much. The feelings of euphoria and 'rightness', came flooding back. So much so, that I was very close to not changing back, when people were due home. This happened both days.

So it started me thinking? Am I content with how I am now, with occasional dressing and the odd journey out?

Well, if I'm brutally honest no, I'm not. The feelings I have when I am dressed overwhelm me. I just feel so, so good! So, so right. But where to go? Just more dressing? No, I don't think that is the whole answer. OK here comes the bombshell number one - I think I'm actually ready to go full time! There I've said it!

Yes I know the problems that would bring and I probably haven't even thought of all of them...and I know this is very much a selfish feeling and desire. I do increasingly feel its right for me though. Perhaps I could do with some help to talk it through more?

Well there we are, my scrambled head. But wait, that's not all...

Today, it got worse. I'll go straight for it...there was I just relaxing after lunch before returning to work and a thought struck me. Could I actually ever see myself having GRS? Whenever I've had that thought (being part of Angels means your surrounded by this course of action) before, I've always ruled it out.

Today was different. For the first time ever, the answer was "yes I could". Bombshell number two. Furthermore, I let my mind wander a bit more and I think, actually, this is what my goal may now be? The problems with that are of course even more serious than going full time. All this has rather taken me aback and I feel almost guilty for daring to think/dream along these lines. I want to tell Mrs T, but I'm very afraid of the consequences.

Perhaps it's just a silly phase that I'm going through? (Ouch, my head hurts!)

Well, that's a load at least down in words, which helps a bit.

What else is there to say today? Well, I've been experimenting further with a half and half eye shadow look, with pink in the first half of the lid and grey in the second (towards the outside of the face). I have to say I love it! I need to try some more colours, but I'm getting much better at blending (my recently acquired brush/blender from Avon is great). I've also started to go a bit heavier on eye liner, which is giving me a sultry, (dare I say even sexy?) look.

I wanted to take a picture, but I've been lazy in the face hair department (failed to buy expensive blades), and so I wasn't happy with the overall look today. Need to go shopping. So much Tina needs!

I did want to go to the Nottingham Invasion, but a combination of things - Mrs T mostly (I did so enjoy the A-Team comments on Facebook!), will prevent me going. I really want to meet some more people as well as the lovely girls I already know. The good news is that Sue is organising a London lunch and at last it looks like I can go. I HAVE to go, for so many reasons.

Yesterday I finally got around to seeing the last episode of "My Transexual Summer", and I have to say I cried a lot at the end. I loved the programme, because I am one of them. I'm the same. I wish I was as young as some of them, but hey ho, I'm glad I am what I am.

Well that's it. A fairly serious blog, but being trans isn't all fun.

Thanks for reading.

Tina
xxxxx

Post-Easter musings.

It's been a while again. No excuse really.

Things are settling down still here in the madhouse.

My femme feelings are as strong as ever, but dressing time is now back to a premium again due to my Son being back on nights. It's Easter hols which means a full house anyway due to school-based other householders. Bah!

I failed miserably to post another pic I took during the last dressing time. I called it 'all dressed up with nowhere  to go', which summed up my feelings nicely. Anyway, here it is.

Need to add a vest top underneath as it's a bit see-through...

Managed to get some shopping time last week, which resulted in another top from Yours. Got some shoes from them as well, but unbelievably, they didn't fit -too big!

Ordered some new clip-on earring adaptors after following a link on the 'Pierced Ears' thread on Angels. Looking forward to trying them out. Wish I get get my ears done, however, Mrs T will not allow. Any suggestions of how to persuade her?

Still no prospect of any trips out yet, which is annoying. However, booked in for Sparkle now and looking forward to it very much.

Oh, I nearly forgot. As no one apart from Mrs T was in the house all of Sunday, I asked if I could dress for the afternoon. She didn't say no, so I did. I didn't go too OTT, just leggings and the top in the previous post. Had a great result on a two-colour blended eye-shadow theme, grey into pink, which I copied from a girl I saw on the train the other day. It was the first time I really got blending right. Can't wait to try that out again. Need to get some more colours now. Is there any end to this shopping? :-)))

I could tell Mrs T didn't really like me being dressed in the house, but it's not as if she hasn't seen me dressed several times now. I thought actually it was another small victory in my quest for acceptance (if not full-time-ness!)

and that's where we are.

TTFN!

Tina
xx

An update...

It's been a while since I last wrote anything. Mainly due to lack of time. It sure has been busy of late.

Things have settled down in our household a little. It has been a tough 2 weeks or so with my daughter. She was also doing quite well of late, having got to the 'resigned to what is what' stage, and having reached the 'angry' stage. That was until she got an awful text last night, and now we are back to square one!

What it is no longer doing is affecting me as Tina. This due to one essential thing - my son is off nights and on days for 2 weeks. Therefore the house is all mine from 8:30 to 3:30 Tuesday to Thursday, and that means during those times, I live as Tina...and bloody good it is too!

The immediate benefit has been that I've been able to try some new things on that have been bought weeks ago.

Yesterday, I wore a black pencil skirt from New Look. I've not tried this style before, and it made me look a bit younger I think? Showing knees too! I wore it with my bright red knitted top from Marks. I felt great! I took loads of pictures as well. Here's a couple -  one thing that perhaps I shouldn't admit was that with this look, for probably the first time, I felt sexy as a woman!

Today I was able to try a new floaty long top from Yours. Mrs T suggested wearing with leggings and I think it looks OK, but does nothing to hide my size. I like it though. Must try with jeans! Oh well, there is always tomorrow!

Here's today's look - 

All that continues to bug me now is not going out. I feel so, so comfortable being a woman, I just want to be like it all of the time. One day, I just know I will burst and tell everybody...

Until the next time readers,

Tina

xxxx

Post-weekend thoughts...

I meant to write something yesterday, but ran out of time. A good thing I did as it turns out.

I'm very grateful of the feedback from my last post as it all rung true and although I was almost in the mindset of acceptance of my situation, I wasn't quite there.

The week-end has allowed time to reflect.

Going as a family to the comedy was good, but not 100%. Firstly, my daughter wasn't very well, but still struggled through, and secondly, the show was OK, but not 'laugh a minute'. Still, beggars can't be choosers, and as I didn't express any desire to see the particular show, I have to be grateful of birthday surprises. (The wicked Tina side of me would have much more appreciated "here's the train fare to London so you can lunch with Sue and the other girls.")

Sunday, I spent doing nothing. I haven't done that for ages (apart from when unwell). I just sat and did nothing, apart from watching the footy on TV and playing some games on Mrs T's laptop.

Monday comes, and I am already stressed about the week ahead. Still stuck in a job I don't want to do, but also having to cover for someone on leave as well. Roll on Friday. House full of kids as well, so not even time for a little practise make-up. Did book a night away for a family birthday in a couple of week's time, which might involve some shopping time (hooray!). Then it all went yuk...

As suspected, (is it my womanly side that allowed this?), my daughter's relationship of 2 years+ has hit the wall. At 10 pm in the evening as well, when me and Mrs T were out at a meeting, and said person was all alone here at home. I'm not going to bother with the detail, but we had to leave the meeting and return home as my daughter was hysterical.

It took until gone midnight to calm her down. I know this is just the start as well. She has staked the rest of her life on this chap. Total, unconditional love being given.

Life, ain't like that, and when it does come all crashing down, it IS the end of the world. I know, I've been there, done that, got the vest top...

So we'll have to park Tina even more I suspect, as I can't have anything to distract what will need to be done, and we all fear the worst in these situations. It didn't help that I also was reduced to tears last night. No surprise there as that is what I generally do. Part of what I am.

There is much then to ponder as we move through the week. Who knows what later will bring. (all is quiet at the mo, as people are still asleep..)

We all need this like a hole in the head...

Until next time, kind readers.

Tina
xx

Friday ramblings...

Having got that first post off my chest (comments anyone?), time to let the old thoughts flow.

It's been a crap time recently, and especially this week. It just seems that everything is going wrong at once. Of course the consequences for me are that not much T-ness is available.

Just to get it all off of the chest then...

Mrs T - Still has major problems with Tina, and insists that I don't understand. I find it's the other way round in that she doesn't understand just how damn frustrated and serious I am about my situation. Anyway, I have to also feel sorry for her, as her mother and sister have gone and put the boot in yet again. It's a long story, but in a nutshell, they did things behind her back that were awful. Mrs T cannot forgive what they did, and they add insult to injury by continuing to not only blame her (she is blameless), but have added other hurtful things.

The current episode relates to a significant birthday coming up and the tone of the invite that was sent to Mrs T.  Without going into detail, it was totally impersonal and that was from mother to daughter! So much so, that Mrs T didn't even notice that 'Bob' had not even been invited... I'm not bothered about this at all, as I decided that I would cut them out of my life some time ago for what they had done to Mrs T... The inevitable call came this week to see if the invite was received, and her sister managed to turn it round to say it was Mrs T's fault once more. Her fault for receiving an awful invite and having the audacity to be annoyed about it!

So I feel sorry for her for sure. She should also cut them out of her life as well. They are not worth it. However, it is her 'duty' to still keep in contact with them.

The kids - No.1 son has been told he's under threat of redundancy this week. Looking like 65% chance of being shown the door. Not good at all, and that adds to Mrs T's woes. No. 1 daughter is having issues with remote boyfriend. They have been together for over 2 years and if it now goes wrong, she will be a mess. The messiest of messes. Not good. Another burden for Mrs T too!

So it's been a rubbish week. No. 1 son's job still means I can't dress at all at the moment. A real pain! I'd defaulted to just wearing some eye make-up in the day. Guess what? Yesterday, I forgot I had it on and the Mrs caught me (again). Last night over some drinkies, she had a right go! More tears etc. She accuses me of wanting to add to what's accepted bit by bit. This is not my intention at all. I just want to have some Tina time, even if its just some eye-shadow! Anyway, I got the hump and had more beer back home and now have a rotten hangover. Stupid Girl!

Oh well, that's Friday. I  wonder what the w/e will bring?

First ramblings from the mad house...

OK then, here we go with my very first blog...

So, why write it?

Good question!

I'm not of a mind that really follows fashion, and teccy-wise, I like to leave it a good while before trying anything out. I also have come to a point in my life where the technology and my needs have collided. In a nutshell, my state of mind needs somewhere to 'brain dump', and this appears to be as good as anywhere...

So, what is up with my state of mind?

Well, that's easy...(ish)...just over a year ago, a sequence of events started which has had a profound effect on my life. In short, I dared to explore my inner feelings, which I'd successfully buried for many years. Although I can't say hand on heart that these feelings have ever been strong, looking back, I've always thought I was a bit different. A year of deep thinking has convinced me that I am indeed different. (I know it says on the blog that I am female, strictly speaking, I'm not).

That is enough to confuse any reader I think?

To make it clear, I never was comfortable with playing boisterous sports and games. Nothing wrong with that. I never played with dolls, until 'Action Man' came along, and then was ridiculed by my mum for 'playing with dolls'. I always thought at the time "what's wrong with playing with dolls anyhow?" I also had a best friend at primary school who guess what, was a girl. (Seasoned T Girl blog readers will see where this is going now I think). I did all the boys things, football etc, but to be honest, I was physically rubbish. A wimp.

All of my time at school, both Primary and Secondary was spent bullied. I was scared all of the time. I did nothing. Told no one. I was quite good in Primary. One of the top stream, you would call it. Perhaps this was a gender trait? Secondary was not great. I seriously under-achieved. coming from a small church school, I was not prepared for a big comprehensive. I would have been able to go to grammar school, but it was a bus-ride away, and my mum convinced me I was scared. I didn't need to be convinced.

I started trying on some of my mum's clothes from and early age. I had always associated this with a sexual act, but years have actually proved that the actual 'excitement', was doing something you are not allowed to do. I can clearly remember feeling that I felt 'better' with girl's clothes on. Later on, when the news/TV first touched on the fact that gender could be re-assigned, and that there were people who were born 'in the wrong body, I thought 2 things - "I don't think I'm in the wrong body, surely, I'd know for sure?", and surprisingly "I'd like to have that done. I'd like to have boobs etc". I still cannot reconcile those thoughts.

To cut a long story short, I carried on secretly dressing into married life. Not very often, and not very seriously. I did buy some underwear at one point, but hid them, which seemed to be an annoyance, mostly. One thing perhaps that I did wrong was go from living with parents at home, to being married. I think things would be very different if I had of had some time on my own, or gone to Uni. I might be a post-trans woman by now I think. Who knows?

Back to the dressing. Late in 2010, I'd had another bought of using my wife's clothes, and two things happened. Firstly, I got fed up trying to fit my overweight frame into my wife's size 18 clothes, so I decided that I'd buy some clothes of my own. I'd been active on Ebay for 2-3 years on a hobby, so it was easy. Secondly, I lost the sexual connection with dressing. It just felt normal to dress that way. Actually, I think the previous note about the 'excitement' of doing something naughty was what went away. I just did not see why I should consider it 'naughty' any more. I've not changed my opinion since.

Before I continue, in order to clear all of the 'negative' crap from my brain, I need to 'own up', to something that I have told nearly no-one. In my early days of secondary school, I was also in a local church choir. During this time, I was 'groomed' by the choir master's assistant, and had a gay relationship with him, and another boy in the choir. I also ended up having a gay relationship with my best friend at secondary school at the time. I as always of the opinion that this was just puberty and sexual experimentation. The term 'Grooming' (and indeed the word Gay), had not come into regular parlance in those days.

I've been straight since, at one time being quite homo-phobic, due to my reaction to discovering what 'Grooming' was. I've long thought about this time, and in all honesty, I don't really feel I did anything wrong. I know I enjoyed what happened at the time. Again, the mystery in the T world is "was this me just being a submissive female?"

Back to dressing again - I went a bit potty on Ebay and things were due to be delivered. I'd ordered skirts, make up, etc. Not something to be easy to explain if the wrong person opened it. I had told my wife 'loosely', about having cross-dressing feelings once. I'd also been caught with make up remnants on. Given what I was feeling, and the imminent deliveries, I decided I would tell her.

We were due to go away for the w/e, (to Manchester of all places, and at the time I had no idea what it meant as a T place, nor heard of the village!) On our first evening, we sat enjoying a drink in one of my favourite pubs - Bar Fringe - and I came out to her. To cut a long story short, this was received OK, and I had gone to great lengths to explain that I wasn't looking to transition etc, just dress in my own clothes 'occasionally'. I realise now that she might see this as me having lied, but I don't believe I did, because I was just at the start of learning myself. The w/e ended with a couple of shopping trips, and my very first pair of heels. All was great!

By way of an explanation, where I was in Manchester T wise, was very naive. I honestly thought that just dressing in isolation was all I was looking for. This has proved to be way wrong. I've gone much further than that, and I want to go much further still. I can therefore sympathise with my wife's state of mind having expected one thing, and had subsequently experienced me going much further.

Now we are a year on, many things have happened. I joined the UK Angels site as soon as I was back from Manchester, and the real process of learning started. It continues today. During this year, I have leaned much about how difficult it actually is to be a girl all of the time. I have also met some wonderful people with a similar T outlook. I've also been able to help some others on Angels who are newer to this than me. My greatest achievements have to be the three occasions I have been out in public fully dressed and purporting to be female.

It has not been without pain. Being in a marriage when this happens is not easy. You are automatically on the back foot. I've taken loads of advice and followed it, mostly, but the fact remains, that although I get help with one or two things like "does this look OK?", and the fact my wife loves the new me that wants to go shopping all the time, things are not OK at all. To put it bluntly, my wife hates everything about it. She wishes it never happened and would go away. Of course I have not changed in my love for her, and she insists that she loves me too. She always says, usually after a big crying session, "we'll just have to get through it!". This is all well and good, but I have no doubt that my feelings are not going to diminish or stop.

This then brings me right to the point of starting this blog. At this point in time, I feel totally frustrated at my situation. I want to be what I want to be, and I'm 99% sure that this means being female most of the time. I've been close to tears quite a lot recently whilst thinking this through. I just want more Tina time, and I also would like everyone who knows me in my male persona to know about Tina too. I'm just getting tired having to pretend. I know that this all goes against all advice I have had, and I would be considered as stupid to push things too far. The consequences are very serious, I know, but my heart really is ruling my head right now.

Having said all of that, the most likely situation is that nothing is going to happen anytime soon. I am pragmatic enough still not to press the 'self-destruct' button. However, it does nothing for the level of frustration I feel.

That is all I have to say in this first post. More than enough of baring the soul, for anyone to have written, I think?

One thing I do know, (but I wish I could have some sort of definitive medical answer), is that I am trans-gendered. Perhaps bi-gendered is a better description?

Tina
xx