Tid Bits, Fragments and Festivities

Cluster made with Eggy Easter by Studio 4 Designworks

You’d never get a cat to agree with this, and in truth it’s odd to hear it from me, but for some things colds are better than warms! After the truly nasty beating the crocuses took from the recent heavy wet snow I thought they were going to be worse than last year. Well, the snow beat up the yellow crocuses, the first ones that budded. But the purple, white and purple and white stripes came up through the snow after it fell and look!

They look so much better than last year! Even the yellow ones are okay, although not as strong as the ones that budded after the snow. It's the snow falling heavy and wet that they didn’t like. When it gets heavy and wet as it’s melting it’s okay.

The narcissus family looked okay last year and I do already see daffodils starting to bud. We’ll see in a couple weeks how bad the tulips really got it last year. I have a feeling that some of the tulips were discovered by bur roughing critters too. I’ll see how many have survived and then I can make my decision about whether or not it’s worth it to try to replace them. I know there was no sign of my favorite tulipas last year. That was a group near the front of the house and more. Mom always griped at the rabbits because she blamed them for eating her tulips. I think maybe I’m seeing that tulip bulbs are just plain tastier than crocus and narcissus.


Now this week, I‘m joining Mama M at My Little Life for Five Question Friday

1. How often should adults have birthday parties?

Well, everyone who’s been a regular at The Chronicles of Nani for a while knows I celebrate my Birthday Festival every year; from 5PM the Friday before my birthday to midnight the Sunday after, Friday the week before and Sunday the week after when my birthday is on a weekend. During my festival I plan fun things to do, try to see or at least touch base will all of my family; the friends and relatives who’ve made the past years ones to celebrate. There must always be ice cream since my birthday s in the heart of summer and at least one baseball game, preferably with fireworks. Cards and balloons are always welcome and I don’t expect anyone to pay for my meal if they drive all the way from Michigan or Indiana to celebrate with me.


2. What was your room decorated like when you were a child?

In Southgate, were we lived until I was 9, it was red carpet with red and white wallpaper, I don’t remember exactly what was on the wallpaper but it was a little girl’s design. The furniture was white wood in the most common little girl’s furniture I’ve seen from the early 70s. It was still nice for me at that time.

When we moved to Novi I got to pick out my own room décor. I kept my white bedroom set and had green-yellow-white carpeting that I thought matched my wallpaper well. That paper I picked was yellow gingham tulips with green leaves on a white background. I hated that combination when I was 21 and redecorated in the formal urban motif, but as a kid I loved my room.


3. Do you have any traditions for Easter? If so, what? and do you have a why behind that?

We don’t really have any tradition anymore since my relatives are more spread out. My dad has the day off on Easter this year and invited us to dinner, but David doesn’t have that day off this year! As a kid we did church, Easter baskets (although I really never believed in the Easter Bunny) and dinner at Noni’s.

Now David and I exchange candy; my inner child still needs a chocolate bunny.


4. Do you get Good Friday off? If so, any plans?

As a non-working disabled person I pretty much have every Friday off right now. When I can start working again probably not because I don’t think a lot of businesses recognize Good Friday as a holiday.


5. Did you wear hats and white shoes to church on Easter? (Or was that just in the South?)

When I was little I had the hat, shoes and white gloves for church on Easter. Pop bought corsage for all “his girls” two carnation corsages for Mom, each of my grandmothers and a one-flower one for me. My chest was too small to support two flowers during the corsage years!

Dave, Mums (great-grandmother) and Nani

Easter Sunday 1969

Now I have a couple more tid-bits, we’ll call those fragments and share them courtesy of Mrs. 4444 at Half Past Kissin' Time!

**  We don’t really have any available Girl Scouts in the family or traveling door to door in the neighborhood and another year without Samoas is here. I’d say that Girl Scout Samoas are my favorite of all cookies. I should get a source and buy a case a year. A proper serving of Samoas is 2 cookies, although I could probably eat a box in 2 sittings with a big glass of milk, for all of my weekly extra points.

Last year, when there were no Samoas in the house to slowly ration to myself, I did some experimenting in the Nani laboratory and created Cafe Samoa. It’s sugar free and a zero-point treat. While it’s not quite the same, the taste does quell my insane Samoa craving.

Café Samoa – 1 Island Coconut K-Cup, 1 level scoop Ron & Franks SF milk hot chocolate, 1 pump DaVinci SF Caramel Syrup

I just got an email ad today that tells me the Island Coconut K-Cups, of which I always buy an extra box for the winter when it’s in season, is available again. Of course, if you aren’t counting points and don’t need sugar free, you can use regular hot chocolate and caramel coffee syrup.


**   Yesterday Tori and Rina were driving home from Pop’s house where they’d spent a couple of days. The problem with going to different schools is having different Spring Breaks! Tori is home for break but Rina still have a Thursday night class since her break was last week. So after Rina’s Monday class they drove up to Michigan to spend a couple days with their Papa. Since Rina’s next class day is Thursday, and she’d already made arrangements with her earlier class instructor, they had time for brunch with Nana on the way home.

I took the bus to Cracker Barrel and they brought me home. We hadn’t been to Cracker Barrel together in a long time and it has always been a favorite place for us. We all got breakfasts and caught up on school news and things going on in Indiana. We also talked about what we needed to do to make sure they got their passports so we could plan a weekend with a day in Canada sometime not too long after their birthday. They’ll turn 19 this September and we’re looking forward to a nice dinner, with a legal cocktail and glass of wine with the meal and a visit to the casino. I think Rina is more excited about being able to have a glass of wine in a restaurant but Tori is excited about a roll of quarters and a slot machine.


**   The most consuming something new in my world right now is that I’m getting a power chair! I’ve met with the mobility rep from the company who determines if the chair is an actual need and placed the order with the assistive technology pro, who determines what exact features I need and does measurements so the custom chair fits me and fits through the door. So far everyone is pretty confident that it’s a real need and insurance will accept the claim. The next step is the physical therapist visits to confirm that the chair ordered is indeed the right chair and addresses all of my needs. Who’d have ever thought there was so much involved in powered mobility assistance?

Pending the okay from insurance after they get together with the chair company and my doctor, the chair will be delivered in about 5 weeks. So that’s how much time we have to get the ramp and threshold ramp for the door. We’re going semi-permanent on the ramp since using the space on the front of the house for a permanent ramp would actually negatively affect the value of the house since we have stairs and the house cannot be made ADA accessible. So n thought I have is that if we have a portable ramp we can travel with it for moving the regular wheelchair when we visit family too. I kinda like that idea too.


**   Morgan Report: It will be seven weeks on Sunday since Morgan came home. We have the Feliway plug on the landing of the steps upstairs which is the one place all the cats pass every day. So far there hasn’t been a change in behavior. Kaline and Carla still pretty much stay upstairs all day and the growling and hissing is still there. Morgan still attacks provoked or not. She wants them to stay upstairs and acts to prevent them from coming down. I wish she understood human English when I tell her that the aggressive behavior is going to end up costing her a home is she doesn’t settle down. It could take up to 4 weeks for Feliway to really change any behavior, so we’re still watching and hoping.