Chronicles of Nani - Plan B

The best laid plans of mice and Nanis…

When we last left our face in the recliner talking about home health aides, things ended with the happy announcement phone with an aid that was going to come in every day while my husband was away. Now is where the “best laid plans” mine comes in.

The nurse who was coming in to do aide work for the week is terribly allergic to cats. I don't usually think about the cats first I worry about the Hoyer lift first

So we had to come up with Plan B, definitely some thing I learned and taught my nieces about from Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People Book. "Always have a back up plan.”

That works for any plans anyone has, but it also works for when you suddenly find that you have a chronic illness or you end up in a wheelchair. That's definitely a situation where your best laid plans for life change.

It also prompted me to look up the phrase "the best laid plans of mice and men," because I was curious about exactly where it came from. A Scottish poem written by Robert Burns in 1785. It's fascinating how many books, other poems, movies and even a Jethro Tull song have mentioned parts of that poem or parts that are translated from that poem. The Wikipedia page (It's not a very long page) is worth reading just to find out how many things you've heard it in. Very cool!

Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits:
www.franklincovey.com/the-7-habits/

Robert Burns’ poem To A Mouse:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_a_Mouse

Chronicles of Nani - Home Health Care

Whether it's a chronic illness or a wheelchair or both, we all have a need for assistance. Sometimes it takes a while before we admit that. It's human nature to try to be determined enough to do it on your own as long as you possibly can. But when you do need that help you need either someone that lives with you and is there 24/7 or you need a home health aide that can come in and help you with the things you can no longer do alone.

There are a lot of us that need more than someone to just keep us company, microwave a meal or play a game of checkers. I can't move without a patient lift and I'm not capable of cleaning myself without assistance. Those types of home health aides are not so easy to find. Back to, as I've said before, “home health aides are the most overworked and underpaid members of the medical pyramid." Truly skilled people are so underpaid that they either move on or continue with school to become qualified for a better paying job in the field.

In the area where I am it is especially difficult to find not just qualified for my needs, but Home Health Care at all

This weeks vlog has happy moment and sad moments. And keep your eye on the left side of the screen if you just want to see lots of cat and kitten play video bombs!

Be sure to stick around for my happy ending slate!

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The Chronicles of Nani - MouSe

The Chronicles of Nani - MouSeThis weeks video starts with a great daddy /daughter day that Pop and I shared. Then it goes on to tell you how I describe MS in simple non-medical terms!

Premieres at 8:00 AM

Finding Holiday Spirit With Candy

This is my signature GingerScraps for this month:

A couple of nights ago, after not having been hungry for dinner finally feeling hungry at 2 o'clock in the morning I decided, to go through my jar of candy and see if there was anything that sounded good to replace dinner.

Now of course, I'm a Chocovore. Okay that's the term that was created by Krave cereal when it came out to promote that it has real chocolate inside of it. I decided to adopt that as the reality of my style of eating because chocoholic makes it sound like it's a problem. I'm a very proud Chocovore!

If you've read some of my recent blogs, you know that November was pretty much a crappy month for me. I mean seriously, MS makes things heal slower than normal. So I have to deal with the opioid paranoid government saying I can't have painkillers for more than a month because broken feet should be healed by then, regardless of what my doctor says when she knows that because of my disease it will take two or three months for my feet to truly heal. So there's the general me angry with the government because someone who's actually in pain isn't allowed to have painkillers. So getting around that my CNP (my doctor is a certified nurse practitioner) increased my tramadol at least for the next couple months from the five a month, which is actually that I take three and have 2 that I can use if needed, and increased it to the maximum dosage of eight a day to take 2 every six hours. Now that the pesky government is out-of-the-way , so the ever so brilliant health insurance steps in and says I can't have that many tramadol right now because I've already been given enough tramadol to have 8 day. That doesn't really work because I used PillPack pharmacy and the tramadol isn't in a bottle but it's in separate packs over the course of the day. So I've had to rip apart a week’s worth of pills to steal the tramadol to and the right amount to packets that already have it in it and when the insurance company is okay with them sending me a bottle of extra tramadol to last until the end of the month I'm going to have to figure out how to reassemble the packs I've had to tear apart.

So right now my bad mood can be attributed to the government that doesn't allow people in pain who really need painkillers to have them while there are emails that come in all the time letting addicts find it whenever they want it. The insurance company who has my brain that's already jumbled from all of the painkillers I took last month having to organize how to disassemble my perfectly assembled pills they come in every month. (at least PillPack was allowed to ship the extra tramadol on Friday so I might have it by Monday which should probably only screwup a weeks worth of prepackaged pills.) I'm also angry because MS has got my feet so screwed up that I can't even place them on the floor trying to adjust myself in the recliner without a great deal of pain. Also my feet are still swollen and bruised. I have aides who come in 4 or 5 hours while David is at work. But David does work at least a good 8 hours plus lunch and drive time and if he is at an early meeting he somehow never gets to come home early when he starts early.

Now the last couple nights he's been at the casino in a poker tournament. I'm not really complaining when he is it doing successfully playing poker, but the more successful he is at playing poker more time I'm sitting at home alone and in pain. When it comes right down to it December started with me still as miserable as I was since the sixth of November when I fell broke bones in both my feet. I also bruised and cramped one knee and knocked one of the bulging discs in my back the back so that I've been receiving sciatic nerve problems every time I move back. I'm still in pain from all of that stuff because MS listens to the government and the insurance company and laughs at them hysterically.

What the king brought his broken little princess

So now the piece of candy and how it changed my holiday mood for the better… I hope at least for the rest of the month. I pulled out of the candy jar a couple of nights ago because I wasn't hungry at dinner and got hungry ate about 2 AM. I pulled out a couple of Mr. Goodbar miniatures because Mr. Goodbar has been my favorite candy since I was a child and I figured my inner child could use the chocolate comfort food. I also pulled out of couple of Tootsie Rolls, because I just like Tootsie Rolls. But I found one of the two Pocket Coffees left that my dad brought when he stopped over on his way home from doing a construction project with my brother over the weekend. After a hug and a kiss that I desperately needed, he brought lunch that we shared and he brought me chocolate including Pocket Coffee, which is one of my favorite candies as an adult. I set the Pocket Coffee on the armrest of the recliner while I ate the two mini Mr. Goodbars and I began to cry. No matter what and no matter how bad things are, I can still say without a doubt, that I am loved. I think I needed reassurance of that lately. My dad made a point of stopping to comfort his little princess. I think the candy made me cry because it reminded me that I really am still his little princess I needed to remember that. No matter how lonely I may feels sometimes, there are still plenty of people who love me. I am not alone. I am loved.(Just a little bit of a pain in the foot right now)

I collected a bunch of pictures from Christmases in the past and used Aprilisa's Winter Magic kit and created trhe signature, that included one of the photographs I took of that precious Pocket Coffee. I created the signature that made be happy, that made me smile.

Happy Shopping

Saturday was a holiday shopping day for me. I like internet shopping because there aren't the crowds I didn't enjoy shopping in before the wheelchair. But honestly, I do miss the decorated malls and the peppermint lattes!

I would have been exhausted doing everything I did in person. I started surfing around noon. David was home so we shared talk, music and meals. There is no way he'd spend the whole day Christmas shopping with me and not be miserable. With me cyber shopping, he could play poker online and I could still show him things I saw in stores. I enjoyed the social part of shopping and he didn't have to step foot in the estrogen-filled stadium of "shop til you drop."

I'm doing Secret Santa with a women's group I'm in. My Santee is someone I've never met before. It's just like the Secret Santa Soirée was done only I don't have years of her blog to get to know the person I'm giving to. I just have her Facebook wall. We life-bloggers and craft bloggers share more details about our passions and preferences than is usually shared on Facebook. Still, between the Facebook Wall and her paragraph about who she is and the things she likes I was able to have several ideas that I could pursue to find just the right gift. I found it around 11 o'clock Saturday night. There was one other person that I was shopping for but I knew what I wanted to get, down to two possible pictures of it in my mind. I found one of the pictures I had in mind after a couple of hours but, as is a regular shopping thing, I found something else that I just loved. I hope it's opened with as big a smile as it gave me to find it. I'm behind on my page-a-day scrap goal for December already, but it was totally worth it to spend a day traveling all over internet stores and finding the right gifts for two different people!


When shopping the specialty stores to collect my traditional Italian goodies and other special things for the holidays, I like to find occasional edible presents and I also like to try something new myself. In years past I tried cranberry mustard, rum cake cookies and even chicken tortellini.

This year I tried a jar of creama di pistacchio, pistachio cream, from Supermarket Italy. At first glance, it's a jar of green goo. It's greener than I was expecting from the photograph online but since it was creamier, than Lake Erie water during an algae bloom, I decided I wasn't so grossed out that I couldn't give it a try.

O-M-G... I swiped my finger on the pistachio cream that was on the lid and the taste is amazing! If you like pistachios imagine peanut butter only with pistachios. The flavor is a little more pungent than peanut butter but that's because pistachios are a little more pungent than peanuts. Where I could take a spoon and just scoop peanut butter out and eat it, I really think I need crackers or biscuits for the pistachio butter. But, oh my, it is good!

I talked to my dad last night and told him about it. I also wanted help on the pronunciation of pistacchio, pistachio in Italian. Pop said, no kidding, that he didn't remember ever saying pistacchio when he was a kid and only remembers saying it in English. Since I'm not bilingual, I've never thought about there being things you'd learn about while speaking in the new language that you didn't know the word for in your original tongue. I was told that when I was learning to talk I had to learn the English word butterfly because I first saw butterflies often at the park with my grandmother. Noni called them "farfalle" and I didn't know that word was a different language than the one I was learning. Of course since I don't actually remember that one, I don't remember how it felt. I still think it would be more strange to an adult. I also think it's a bigger deal to me than Pop.

Oh, we decided because of the vowel sounds and double-c, it is pronounced
| pee-STAH-chee-o |

Finally A Quiet Night

A peek in to the soon-to-be bathroom!

Wow, a little bit of quiet! It’s been a busy couple of weeks in Naniland. After that first weekend of the trip I sent David away on, things shifted back to sort of normal.

Pop started work on the skeleton for the new bathroom and spent the night before Kelly got in and was my caregiver . It was just like the old days! I mean really old days; the kind that includes jokes about remembering my mom's favorite old stories that included my dad and grandfather holding a diaper with the naked baby laughing on the bed because they didn't know what to do with it. Yeah, those kind of old days. Picking up dinner to have together and chatting while he's working didn't bring up the naked baby stories. Those were just giggles with the help boost me up from the chair to get in the bathroom times.

On the Tuesday of that week Kelly got in and she was there the rest the week and through the weekend until David got home. Pop was in and out working during that time and Greg, our family friendly whose also a plumber by trade, was in to check out the site, existing plumbing and what he would need to do the rough plumbing work. Oh yeah, during that time we also had Electric contractors into redo our breaker box several other projects including reroute Electric were necessary for the new bathroom.

The coolest thing the electricians did was this:

They put in a new socket for the microwave on the other side of the kitchen where we can put the microwave for I can reach it. That means I can warm up hot food when David's not home. This was dinner tonight:

Now before anybody says the macaroni and cheese in a cup is not such an incredible dinner remember two important things. First off, macaroni and cheese is comfort food and it's ALWAYS an incredible dinner. Second, and this is the bigger thing, I haven't been able to heat anything up since last December when I quit trying to heat soup because I often spilled it in my lap. So tonight I had hot food for dinner and I didn't have to pay for it. I really didn't have to pay for it either. David bought the macaroni and cheese cup. –smiles–

Right now it's the first day in a while that no one's been over and I haven't had to answer the door for something being delivered. I have a half paneled Half skeleton bathroom with a door that closes, although some walls that you can still see-through, with rough plumbing and fixtures in it. That even includes a toilet that's a few feet away from where it's eventually going to be. Earlier this week when Pop and Greg we're working on the rough plumbing Matt, from Accessible Renovations, the company that did my ramp and grab bars, stopped in to be sure where things will be located and that there's proper fortification in the walls for when he does the grab bars. I joke that it's the kind of "potty talk” a woman wants to have with three construction workers!

Greg's handiwork and my future sink!

While they did the rough plumbing Sheri had come over because it was her birthday Wednesday and I took her out to Ya Halla for lunch. I told Pop on Wednesday morning that I kind of felt bad taking off for lunch while they were working. He asked “why do you feel guilty? Where you going to jump in and help us with the pipes?" When I told them I could at least get coffee he told me he knows how to work the coffee maker. He really wasn't going to except me canceling plans for Sheri's birthday. That's good because I would've felt guilty about that too. And lunch was SO good!

So now October has begun. I should have a working bathroom in a couple weeks!

New Things

It's been a week of lots of new things. I'm getting settled in and cozy with Joey, the MacBook Pro, finally a computer worthy of being named after Joey Votto.I'm loving having a Mac again! I'm getting comfy now with the dictation software that's part of Pages, the Mac software for documents. The cool thing about Pages is that, unlike its predecessor, AppleWorks, Pages reads and can save in .doc format. That means it can read and communicate with Microsoft Word documents. Very cool!

I finished my first scrapbook page with the new computer. Photoshop works the same as it did on the old computer and I'm having pretty easy time getting used to the smaller screen.

Credits: The Autumn Knocks by GabisCreation

David left on his stress detox vacation Friday. Taking care of me can be a pretty high stress job, especially when you work a full time job already. Chapter 4 in “The Care and Feeding of Your Caregiver” stresses the importance of caregivers having a break from caregiving. That usually means a girls week for Kelly and me. Right now Kelly has some family stuff going on and can't be here till later in the week. That means I get to try something new. I have home health aides that come in a couple of times a day to help out with things and basically do a wellness check. It’s not too bad and rather helpful, especially at night to make sure I'm safely tucked in. I have “me time” to scrap or read or whatever without feeling like I need to be a host to someone in my home but I have someone who is there a few times a day to help me with the things I can’t quite do on my own.

The only bump in smooth sailing has been Marco. Marco likes to try to “run the gate” when the door opens. I blame his daddy; David is such an enabler. He lets Marco go outside and do his roll around ob the driveway and eat some grass before he sends him back in. Of course, I can’t do that. He ran out in the rain Friday night when the “tuck me in” caregiver came in and she had to chase him down in the driveway and bring him back. Did I mention it was raining? Then yesterday when the delivery guy brought my dinner, he did it again. The poor guy was holding the keep warm bag with my dinner, the re copout and pen for my signature AND chasing the cat. Marco didn’t get any further than the steps on the porch last night, but jeez, Marco! On my paperwork for the caregiver agency it says that I have three cats; Kaline, Carla and Marco. There is a note that says to watch out for Marco because he tries to go outside and none of the cats are outdoors cats. He tried to do the entitled “I’m just going outside” march when the assessor came in to meet me too.

Pop will be here tomorrow to get started on construction on the downstairs accessible bathroom with shower! He’s staying tomorrow night and is going to be Construction Guru and caregiver so I don't have to pay for the wellness checks. I am totally excited about the new bathroom! Add that to the new top half of my power chair, that's hopefully in the final process of being ordered, and they'll have a lot of independence back. With the lift mechanics in the new chair, I’ll even be able to stand a little, good for edema, and reach the controls to cook!

As long as everything goes alright for Kelly, she’ll be here Tuesday for the rest of the week and we will have our "girls time” for the rest of the week. It’s been a new world this week, but it’s a good new world.

Vacation Time Woes

David and I were supposed to leave on our June vacation Saturday morning but we are still in Toledo. There are lots of issues from a rainy forecast to a 911 call, or two.

The really rainy forecast means the natural light won’t be good for train photographs, there is a higher possibility minor league games would be rained out or delayed and my barometric body will ache more! That’s not such a matter because after a couple of failed attempts at getting in the shower last weekend. One of the EMTs was there for both the call where the transfer chair broke and I needed help transferring to my manual wheelchair Friday night and then on Sunday when I actually belly flopped in the hallway getting up that last step. He mentioned an Aunt with knee problems that mimic the hyperextension and foot drop I have and commented that our stairs and bathroom setup was dangerous. After Sunday he also suggested that we should give up the thought of me being upstairs at all. He’s right, but the shower is upstairs!

My dad started the plan to turn the extra room off our kitchen, that we use for mostly storage now, into an accessible bathroom with a roll-in shower in March. That’s still a couplafew months in the future and it’s not my intention to wait that long for a shower!! We went to a local hotel with a good roll-in for a night and I got a good shower, but I really had to admit that the hotel bed lacked the back support for a decent night’s sleep and I dreaded the thought of folding into the car all week.

So here’s the deal: The bad weather means David got to go play in a couple of poker tournaments at the local casino. That’s something he’s wanted to do and he figured out that it was about even cost to traveling for a day (except that traveling doesn’t have a chance of winning the money back!) I’m staying home this trip and I moved my appointment at The Ability Center up. I hope they can steer me in the right direction for a hospital or nursing facility that will do an assisted shower on an appointment basis until our renovated bathroom is done. I’m also seeing about a home health aide to help me with some things while David is at work, including using that shower when it’s done. David will be going on at least the last half of our vacation because the time and place choice was to attend our niece’s high school graduation. Emma’s been legally my niece for 6-12 years but David’s niece her entire life! Even if I can't go, he needs to. I feel bad that I won’t be able to go. I’ve been to Tori’s and Rina’s ceremony in 2012 and Ben’s in 2013 and I was really looking forward to being at Emma’s too.

Looking ahead, we’ve stepped up looking at used vans for a second car. Something I can drive the power chair into the passenger’s side and not have to climb in the car to travel would help beyond telling! If the upgrades my therapist wants on my chair happen, combining it with a van will make traveling comfortable again. Keeping my fingers crossed!


When I haven’t been waiting for paramedics and crying in frustration in the past couple of weeks I’ve been working on my scrapping and reading goals. I’m close to finished with “Chasing The Scream” which is nonfiction about the war on drugs history and future. It’s a great book that really makes you think. I’ll be doing my book review soon as I’m close to the end of a fairly long book and I’ll give some of my thoughts in that review. After such a serious read, look for my next book to be a fiction thriller again.

Last month was a banner month for my page-a-day scrap goal! I’m ahead again this month too. I’ve been a little creativity-taxed the past couple days, so I used templates for three layouts Saturday and one Sunday morning.


I’ve done some more Art Journaling, my scrap poetry and therapy.

Credits: I’m Your Biggest Fan by Seatrout Scraps, 

Hope Floats by Pixelily Designs, inspired by the song Hero by Loma Vista

Credits: Twilight by Red Dog Designs, Distressed by Created by Jill Designs, 

Alpha from Secret Agent by Just For Fun Designs

Remember the therapy pages are to get the negativity OUT of me and into pixels! It’s not like I’m going to cut off my ear or anything.

And with that comment my mother is looking down at me and I can hear the heavenly echoes telling me Andy Warhol’s work is "an inspired stock boy." :) We always had a fun running argument about the quality of Van Gogh vs Warhol.


Here’s a recent one that’s not so dark! It was for the template challenge at Gotta Pixel:

Credits: Kitty Love by Kristmess Designs, challenge template by Lindsay Jane

And here are this year’s crocuses that I scrapped Sunday morning:

Credits: Signs of Spring Monthly Mix by Gingerbread Ladies, 

“Selfie” hop template by Dear Friends Designs

I didn’t use a template for this one a while back, but I ended up creating a template based on it!

Credits: I’m Your Biggest Fan by Seatrout Scraps, 

Template by Digitalegacies Designs

Of course, if I made a template, there is a freebie!

Click image to go to download

Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Pumpkin

If I tell you to grab a cup of coffee for this read am I an enabler?

Welcome October…Welcomeish October. I have been SO COLD all day! The picture up top is my attempt to warm up. Yes the popcorn bag is a little scorched. I put it in for an extra 15 seconds to try to get more of the kernels to at least half pop. A few singed pieces are way better than rock hard kernels that never reach any point of their potential. And while I don’t like it burned, I actually kinda like popcorn that’s singed a little. My cup’s contents are courtesy of my last Gevalia K-Cup. That leads to two “let me tell yas.”

Let me tell ya about my cup! Back in 2012 I talked about the coffee mugs Kelly and I swap when we get together. I shared one of the mugs I’d found from 20 years prior in my storage and it was her obligation to find our mugs this time. She found the flowered mugs that hold about a Keurig cup and a half of coffee. She chose orange for hers and picked out my favorite shade of my favorite color for me!

Now as for the second thing, let me tell ya about the K-Cups and the pumpkin! I'm expecting a shipment from 11th Street Coffee tomorrow...afternoon. I'll be swimming is seasonal goodness, but I need morning coffee. So a desperate phone call to one of my favorite dealers brought a 12-pack of Signature Blend to get me by for tomorrow morning when David got in.

I totally blame Kelly for me losing control of my vices! I was only counting points for the first half of the days she was here before the cookies, candy and donuts…or habanero quarter pounder with Kelly’s preferred 5-gallon bin of fries, before the pumpkin bread, pumpkin seeds and pumpkin spice lattes. And did I mention donuts? Oh I did, but the pumpkin donuts are worth mentioning on their own. And I was up to a latte and 4 cups of coffee a day. I gained a little; thankfully I can’t balance on the scale so I don’t know how much I can just feel it in my shirts, and I’m still on cup number 3 today, but I’m not ashamed of that. I’ve circled the wagons and I’m slowly climbing back on because I can’t climb fast. Okay, I can probably figuratively climb faster, but I’m sticking with this story. She reasoned “We see each other every couple years.” I rationalized, “Yanno, you’re right. How much damage can I do in 3 weeks?”

So here I am back down to 3 cups a day and counting every point of that 10point popcorn and coffee snack. I had a 5-point salad for lunch in anticipation of microwave popcorn! Give a full week and 3 weeks of damage will be gone and I’ll have great memories of weeks I concentrated more on treasuring my friends than controlling my vices.

She’s Got Legs, But Don’t Know How To Use Them

Credits: Broken by Karen Diamond Designs

I've started art journaling when frustration is getting to me and it's doing a great job of getting the negativity out of me!  We'll call the art journals part of my "Blue Period" Nani Picasso! LOL

For the first week Kelly was here she was my caregiver while David was on a “vacation from Nani.” I talked about that before; it was my idea that David needed a vacation without worrying about me. The timing of Kelly’s visit was perfect for that! Kel did a great job filling in for David, well except the kiss before bed and keep me warm which is in his vows, but not her friend vows. In fact I don’t recall that we ever took friend vows out loud. Kel didn’t have his proficiency with the craft of leveraging my legs up the last step into the upper floor of our house. There’s angle and lifting that I don’t know because I’m worrying about my part of getting me up that step. That did result in a couple nights of me not going upstairs and sleeping in my chair and one 2-day stint upstairs after an attempt to get me up to the second floor resulted in EMTs putting me on the bed. Oh, I’m okay, so is Kelly and on the bed I where I wanted to be anyway.

The third week was the one that got my watching-what-I-eat the worst, but I’m really not complaining there! Rina came and spent 4 days with us. She’s my niece, not daughter, although I was there as a guardian-teacher often when she and her sister grew up, and maybe that makes it even more special that she chose to spend her time off with me. She helped Kelly help me and after we figured out what needed to be done they got me in and out of Rina’s van with relative ease so we could go on a couple trips to Michigan. We went to Pop’s house for a great day with him and Aunt Judy and enjoyed the meeting of the Italian lunchmeats and cheese we bought at Sofo with the sautéed greens and piada he made; wonderful Italian Soul Food! Then the next day we picked up Scotty and went to the apple orchard (many donuts.) Then we all met Sheri at Dunkin Donuts and headed to Olive Garden for dinner. Of course, there had been dinner at Ya Halla the first night Rina was in!

Rina, Kelly and me at Ya Halla

Don't Eat That!!

Happy Hump Day! Okay, really it’s gray and dreary hump day in Toledo today, but the key to making it through gray and dreary days is the inner sunshine, right? We had a nice challenge to start the day today, courtesy of our sweet Marco.

Marco turned 11 months old on May 1. It is our sincere hope that he’ll be a year old on June 1. This morning David took out his ONE pill he takes in the morning; yes I’m a little jealous of the “only one” part. He opened the bottle, took out a pill and set it on the couch arm while he closed the bottle. Even I can take a pill out and put the cap back on the bottle in less than a minute. In that brief period of time Marco jumped up on the couch and ate the pill! I was on the phone to the vet in pretty quick order.

The medication, Prilosec, is sometimes prescribed for cats and dogs but not in the amount for an adult human. The vet said we needed to ether give him a capful of hydrogen peroxide right down his throat to induce vomiting or bring him in to the hospital so they could induce vomiting. The medication wasn’t dangerous in a dosage right for his weight, but the pill he ate was about 4 or 5 times more than he’d be prescribed by his vet and we needed to get the medication out of him. (I do kinda wonder what a cat eats that gives them heartburn, but Marco will eat anything that he thinks might be edible.)

David fed him the peroxide and put him on the enclosed porch so we could monitor him and when he did throw up it would be someplace easier to clean and we’d be able to inspect to see if indeed he threw up the pill. It didn’t take long for him to throw up after swallowing the peroxide and he threw up his breakfast and green goo that was the partially dissolved pill.

I wish there was some way to get him to relate unpleasant experiences with eating things that aren’t food. He spent some time at the vet a while back and had to be given medicine and a laxative he didn’t like because he found, and ate, a piece of Styrofoam.


In the word of more pleasant news, last weekend was SEMMantics, the regional Mensa gathering that was responsible for David and me getting together in the first place! This year David was the Carnelli, a word association game, champion and I won the first place award for the cribbage tournament. I play cribbage once a year and always have to relearn the game, but having learned it before I guess I relearn well! On Sunday after nine years of meaning to but never doing it we made it for Mimosas this year. David hadn’t had a mimosa before but I recalled the first time I’d had one. It was in Toronto and I was at Sunday brunch with my parents at the CN Tower’s revolving restaurant. The waitress asked if I’d like a Mimosa when drink orders were being taken. I was 20 years old and we were in Canada; heck yeah I wanted champagne with my orange juice! Alcohol to drink with breakfast is not a common thing for me, but it’s a neat once in a while pretentious start to the day.

Since we were back in my ”old stomping grounds” we met Scotty for lunch and David indulged me with a stop at the Dunkin Donuts where I met all 3 of my closest friends to get a cup of coffee for the road and a couple donuts for us Monday morning.

Monday we had a late lunch/early dinner at Pop’s. I hadn’t seen my dad since Christmas so I was really looking forward to seeing him and Aunt Judy. Pop grilled marinated chicken and pork with zucchini, tomatoes and peppers, some with and some without Italian breadcrumb stuffing. David and I stopped at Sofo on the way out of Toledo to bring Pop a couple of his favorite baguettes and he roasted garlic on the grill to spread on it; SO GOOD!

After dinner we drove to Lansing, because Pop lives so close, and caught our first baseball game of the season. The Lansing Lugnuts beat the Fort Wayne Tin Caps 4-2 in a fairly quick game for David, me and 5 other people. There were more than 7 people in attendance, but on a chilly Monday night in the beginning of the second month of the season it was far from a packed house.

Yesterday was rest and recuperate time for me. The good news about that is as achy as I was by the time Monday night came around after spending three days in my less comfortable and less support manual chair I was less tired and achy than usual! I guess the stretching exercises and once a week therapy is doing more good than it seems like it should. Add to that back on the diet wagon and eating better again and I recover better.

Nani’s Avatar & Siggie at Gotta Pixel

Credits: Defining Me by Aprilisa Designs, coffee mugs from I Love You A Latte by 

Double Dutch Designs, signature challenge template by Aprilisa Designs

I scrapped for the first time since May1. I did my avatar and signature for May at Gotta Pixel, which is where I do most of my challenges during the month and put the squares in place for last week’s Random 2014. The folder on my desktop says “2014: That’s So Random.” It’s essentially a scrapbook diary.

Week 16

Credits: What Happened Today- 2014 by Kitten Scraps, A Work In Progress by Inspired Designs, Cat’s Love by Friendly Scrap, Beautiful On The Inside by Aprilisa Designs, I Love Donuts by Aprilisa Designs, Afternoon Tea by Booklady Designs, Everybody Talks by Wendy Tunison Designs, My Tunes by Simple Girl, word art by TLC Creations, Jelly Beans by Harper Finch, Easter Freebie by cajoline-Scrap designs,

When the year is done and I’m ready to make a cover, I’ll decide what the random title will be!

Now I need to catch up my book reviews with the book I finished while Joey was visiting the Geek Squad and get my cheer-voice ready for the game tonight. Sorry to my Red Sox fan readers, but you know there are two teams you can’t depend on me to give support on your side when Boston faces them; GO REDS!

The All Day Post

Good soggy Wednesday! That is not a complaint about the weather, I’m glad for the rain. I had one of those mornings where I woke up and could barely get up off the bed because my back hurt so bad. Then when I did finally get out, after a generous coating of Icy Hot, I could barely walk to the bathroom or moved to get dressed. It never hits me why this happens but later after whining about how much I hurt I noticed how dark it still was at 9 AM. I usually remember that the barometric pressure just before it rains really wreaks havoc on my back and knees. Salvation comes when the rains come down, the pressure changes and I can walk again without the discomfort instead of pain.

In the boring world of talking about health, which makes me sound like an old lady, I get the pleasure of being crammed into a tube like sausage meat with supersonic earplugs for 90 minutes of MRI fun! I have prescriptions for two MRIs and I’m getting them done back-to-back so I only have to be stuffed in once. That’s my annual brain MRI for my MS doctor and the lower spine so I can see a specialist about steroid injections. I know I didn’t really want those but the discomfort and weakness has become pain and weakness more often than not. Hopefully, ideally, if I get rid of some of the pain I’ll be able to exercise better and get my muscles a little bit better.

Rina at Fogo, table-side service with 16 different meats

Pop will be 69 years old on Friday! We celebrated in Indianapolis on Sunday. With Pop, Dave and me all living in different states now we take turns choosing the restaurant in our home state and gathering to celebrate Pop the weekend before or after his birthday. This year he chose Fogo de Chao, fantastic Brazilian steakhouse. Fogo de Chao is a fabulous dining experience great food! After an extensive salad bar that includes luncheon meats and cheeses you flip your coaster so the green side is up and “gauchos” who rove the room with 16 different types of meats stop to cut off whatever choices that portions you desire. It’s definitely not a vegetarian restaurant!

I got my Santee for this year’s Secret Santa Soiree, hosted by Suzanne at The Colorado Lady. I always love the day I get to “meet” the person I get to shop for! I won’t say anything about her except that I already have ideas dancing in my head and it’s going to be a ton of fun to find gifts for her!

Okay and last for now, remember I said I was going to do some sort of giveaway when I reached 100 on the Google mug rack? Well I was there, right at 100 for about 2 weeks, Now I’m at 98. I’m going to convince myself that those 2 left Google and not The Chronicles of Nani. It’s NOT that I have followers who were only loyal as long as I was loyal to the memes!

I need to really wrap this up now! I’ve been writing a paragraph at a time all day. I’ll have more thoughts soon!

I’m Ba-ack Hodge Podge

No, it’s not a weird Terminator Hodge Podge! Separate from the usual Wednesday questions, I’m back from our trip East. In addition to some great train photos, 4 baseball games, perfect bananas, the Turkey Hill Experience (and sample scoops of THREE ice creams), David and I are now the proud Uncle and Aunt of three high school graduates! In addition to Rina and Tori last year we planned our spring/early summer vacation around Ben’s commencement ceremony and party this year. It was a nice weekend with family and getting to meet Ben's friends and their families.

Our 12 days started with a Heritage Unit and a baseball game on the first weekend and ended with a Heritage Unit and a baseball game on the last day. The baseball was balanced by extremes seeing The Red Sox at Baltimore on the first Sunday and the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, Class A short-season affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. The home teams won all but the last game we saw. That was good except that we cheer for the home team unless we have a vested interest in the away team. It would have been nice to see a Scrappers win and the Orioles would have been more polite hosts to surrender a loss to the Red Sox!

The game in Baltimore was my birthday gift to David. I took him to Red Lobster for dinner on his actual birthday a few days before we left and I jokingly gave him a FIVE BLADE RAZOR! The men’s razor was a freebie I got in the mail the day before, so I presented it to him as his “first present.” Even though the Red Sox lost, I think the baseball game was his favorite event of this year’s Davidfest!

I’ve been catching up over a week’s worth of home obligations and projects, so I haven’t even sorted through my photos from vacation. I’ll post a few at a later time. Now, let’s join Joyce at From This Side of the Pond for the Wednesday Hodge Podge!

1. Summertime is a season of reunions, weddings, and other family celebrations and gatherings...are any of the above on your calendar in the next two months?

Nothing really planned. Nanifest XLVII is a one-week festival with the 29th on a Monday, so it runs from 5PM on Friday, July 26 to Midnight, Sunday, August 4. No events are planned yet.


2. June is National Iced Tea Month...are you an iced tea drinker? If so, how do you like yours (sweet, flavored, etc)?

Turkey Hill makes a ton of iced tea drinks and one of the sample stops at The Turkey Hill interactive museum was iced tea. I tried the peach iced tea there. I usually like my iced tea sweet now although I used to drink it plain. I still buy plain and add Splenda for the sweet taste without the sugar calories.


3. When were you last nervous? Looking back, was the 'event' actually nerve-worthy?

I was last actually nervous when I was going through testing for everything including heart problems, terminal illnesses and a brain tumor when I was being diagnosed with MS. I’d call those things VERY nerve-worthy! But they did make it a relief when the MS diagnosis was confirmed.


4. The bristle toothbrush was invented in China on June 26, 1498...not sure how that date was pinned down so precisely but, on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being sick to your stomach and 1 being not at all, how nervous do you feel when you're headed to the dentist? Do you see your dentist twice a year?

I’d say my dentist nerves are 1, only because I wasn’t offered 0! I see my dentist twice a year and if it were free, I’d look forward to it! I brush and floss every day and the dental hygienist always has compliments about how well I take care of my teeth.


5. What's making news in your town this week?

I guess the state budget? It includes more limitations on women’s rights, which I find irritating because it has nothing to do with the budget. I guess they squeeze those things in wherever they can. Ohio is a somewhat backwards white-man-loving state, after all. We wouldn’t want to appear like we care about 21st century problems or have even read the first amendment or make it seem like we look at equality as part of the country’s social future.

All right, that’s in my state, but I don’t think anything in town has grabbed my attention in a ranty or happy way just now.


6. Curtains, drapes, blinds...your window treatment of choice? Are there any bare windows in your house? Is that by choice or because you haven't gotten around to covering them?

I don’t really care what’s covering the windows; I just want them covered when the lights are on at night.


7. Summertime is officially here (in the Northern hemisphere anyway)...what one song is a must-have on your summer playlist?

Back when I drove, it was officially summer when it was warm enough to drive the Camaro with the windows down blasting Motley Crue’s Wild Side on the stereo. Really, when the “new” Camaro was released and the first commercials in late 1993 were out, they showed the fun car and said “soundtrack not included” at the end of the ad. When I got my car the first stop after work was the music store to get A Decade of Decadence, Motley Crue’s Greatest Hits, on cassette to have a soundtrack for my car. That was my summer driving song.

When I’m not driving, I love classical music, especially outside or with the windows open. Marche Slave (Tchaikovsky) is one of my favorites in the summer.

Marche Slave (MP3 plays in another tab)

(If you read my playlist yesterday, you know my taste is eclectic enough to love Motley Crue AND Tchaikovsky, always has been.)


8. Insert your own random thought here.

I had really hoped to have a lot of the 30 Day Blog Challenge done and scheduled ahead of time during vacation. I also wanted to check emails and comments, maybe add some blog material, keep up with my comments as a Sugar Cookie a Ginger Scraps and scrap a few pages on my “Lasix mornings" when David would go out in the morning and I’d stay in the hotel and let the medication run its course so my feet wouldn’t swell up so bad while traveling. That really was my intent. Well, I didn’t get all the days prewritten and scheduled, I got ONE scrapbook page done in 12 days and the last two days I was in socks because my shoes didn’t fit.

We’re still tweaking the every other day or three with a hotel morning for me plan; it will work!

But today is Day 26 and I’m jumping back in real time with the challenge hosted by Katie at So, Funny Story…


Plans for the weekend ahead

We’re planning a Father’s Day get together with my dad. We were in Baltimore on Father’s Day. I left him a message from Orioles Park and talked to him on the train after the game, but we’re actually celebrating with him this weekend. I’m, putting my grocery list together to make cookies. You see, Pop is where I get my fiendish cookie cravings from; a hereditary factor, you know.

Father's Day 2011

He’s going to grill, which almost makes it more of a treat for me, except that many years ago Pop established his greatest Father’s Day wish, “just stay home.” Now that I’m not living with him anymore, I try to “come home” for Father’s Day every year.

Happy Popsie's Day!

That's what I celebrate today.

He's been a dad and my Popsie for 47 years!

1966

2009 at our wedding reception.

My name tag says "bride" his says "father of the bride"

Starting The Week Off Right

Good Monday morning!

Kelly got here safe and sound Saturday evening. David left on his week-long vacation last night, adjusting his hotel nights for the weather. It’s cool because it meant he got to see Kelly a little, although wee were gone for a good chunk of yesterday, before he left. Yesterday was the last day of my dad’s vacation week, so we went to Pop’s for an Italian soul food lunch.

The Ultimate Comfort Food

Pop made piada, and Italian unleavened bread, served with seasoned pan-fried greens an Italian lunch meats and cheeses. Hew also made a plate of cosione, those seasoned greens fried up in rolled out pasta pockets. The piada and greens was my request when he asked me what I’d like him to make. He chuckled as I told Kelly it was “soul food” because it was the meal that brought back happy family memories from my childhood. The chuckle was not in calling it my soul food; it was because it gave a term and an explanation to the fact that that meal is the one that is most requested by my brother and both of my aunt’s kids when they get together for a meal with their families It is that meal that satisfies the taste bids, stomachs and inner-children of all four of us.


While Kelly is still sleeping, remember it’s an hour earlier according to her Missouri body-clock and besides I’m an early riser, I want to get my Monday Quiz About Me hosted by Acting Balanced and Touristic done so I have some time to read and answer some question #5s before our day starts!

1. What is the most interesting fact you have learned recently?

It has to be that fact that my brother, cousins and I all request the same family meal when we visit my dad!


2. The alarm goes off on Monday morning. What is your first thought?

Okay, I’m a dork here; my every day alarm is set for 7:05 AM on my phone. I’m rarely still asleep when it goes off, but I have it set so I am sure to be awake to take my morning vitamins and medications. This morning, I was sitting in front of the computer reading a news story with the phone sitting next to the keyboard. When it went off, I jumped. That’s more common than it waking me up, so I’d have to say that my usual thought when the alarm goes off on Monday is some sort of surprised expletive and “Gee that’s loud,”


3. What is the most memorable movie line of all time?

Hehe…today it’s “I’ll be back,” specifically from The Terminator, because I just finished this scrapbook layout last night:

Leaf Terminator

Credits: Fall Festival; Papers by Inspired Designs, 

Elements by Kathy Winters Designs

4. Describe a situation that always seems to try your patience.

Waiting. I hate waiting in traffic, for an event, I even go nuts waiting for David to be ready to leave the house when we go somewhere. The only thing I really don’t mind anymore is waiting for the doctor.

As I explained to David last week when we were waiting in the doctor’s office, when I was the one getting a diagnosis I didn’t want to hear and had lots of questions about, I was glad that the doctor game me his time to answer my questions and not hand me a pamphlet and say he had other patients waiting. It totally changed my perspective on waiting in a doctor’s office. But if a friend is meeting me for coffee, they’d better be less than 15 minutes after the scheduled time or I expect a phone call!


And don't forget to add a 5th Question on your own blog so we can answer as we hop around!


When a dear friend or family member is visiting from out of town, what thing do you make a point of doing together? (ex: board games, a meal out, attending a museum or event…)

When Kelly and I get together, whether it’s in Toledo, Missouri or someplace out of town for both of us, there is always a coffee shop involved at least once. We both enjoy, what her ex named “five-dollah-coffee,” and the chance to sit down and talk…and talk and talk and talk! It’s often where we pick our mug for the visit. We always select a coffee mug when we get together to commemorate or visit. We each buy one of the identical mugs and trade them. It’s our tradition!

Oh, by the way, we have NEVER paid five dollars for a cup of coffee. (Sorry Carl, you were a victim of your own exaggeration on that one!)

Friday Fun

This week’s statements:

1. When I was little my mom _____
2. ___ is my favorite condiment
3. I don’t like to celebrate____ because____
4. My ____takes up more space _____ and I can never__________

My Answers:

1. When I was little my mom didn’t work. She started working part time once my brother and I were both in first grade and full time after we were in middle school.

2. Honey mustard dressing or just honey mustard is my favorite condiment

3. I don’t like to celebrate someone else’s bad fortune, no matter what I think of them or how much I can see they set it up themselves because I’d feel less deserving of my own good fortune if I did.

4. My computer backup takes up more space on my extended hard drive when I do it without tech support and I can never figure out what command I’m getting wrong. Tech support does it by remote and it’s a 6 or 7 hundred MB file, I do it, 10 GB. (shrugs)

1. Thunder storms- love them or hate them?  

I like to watch or listen to them, but I don’t think I’d say “love” them. I do hate tornado warnings.


2. Do your kids get back to school clothes? 

Nope, my kids don’t wear clothes.


3. Do you golf? Do you watch it?

No and no. I used to enjoy mini golf.


4. Showers or baths?    Showers


5. What's the strangest meal you ever ate? 

Hmm… I don’t know that I’ve had anything “strange.” I ate fried squid a lot when I was little, but I don’t care for squid now and very little fried. I think fried fish is strange! I’ve tried alligator and escargot. But those aren’t strange, just not common. I guess it was strange that I had malt-o-meal for dinner last night or that I njoy Parmesans cheese and butter in oatmeal.

**  I went peach-picking on Wednesday with Tori, Rina, Pop and my cousin’s sons OS and ES. I brought home enough peaches to have plenty to eat and still make a peach crisp and a small batch of peach butter next week.

It’s sad that the dry summer has made even U-Pick places more expensive this year because there is just less you pick. The peaches are on the smallish side, but still tasty. We picked a few plums but the blueberries were just too small to bother. I also picked up a peck of early apples in the store. It was fun, as it always is!

**  While the drought hasn’t been good for fruit, soybeans or corn in this area, it doesn’t seem to have had an adverse effect on the growth of poison ivy!

This poison ivy bush is right next to one of the peach trees in the U-Pick orchard. We shared warnings with each other and especially the kids, but ES recognized the poisonous to the touch bush and was warning us all too!


** After peach picking, Pop and the boys headed back home and Tori, Rina and I went to Ya Halla, our favorite Middle Eastern restaurant for our traditional “must eat there when in town” meal. We had our humus and tabouli appetizers, well, Rina and I had the tabouli, Tori isn’t a fan, but she had more hummus as the side dish with her meal. Then in lieu of dessert, we got more “Middle Eastern Crack” to go; a small for me and a large for the girls to take back to Papa’s house with them. Since we had a “linner” or “dunch” I had my take-home hummus for an evening snack and then finished it for lunch on Thursday.

Nani, Rina and Tori at Ya Halla

The next time I see the girls now, they’ll be college students and adults. Wow. They have grown into incredible young women who I still totally enjoy spending time with!


**  I have to show off and brag! I got a package in the mail yesterday that is just beautiful and definitely made me feel all warm and fuzzy! Kelly sent me this as my last birthday present this year:

She gathered the elements and put the Pandora-style bracelet together for me! It’s so personal and so special. The beads are beautiful and the charms are perfect, including a train, dangly baseball, chocolate bar, coffee cup and of course a Best Friends. I look at it on my wrist and it makes me smile and miss her a ton, but love my BFF even more! After 23 years, yeah, she kinda gets me!

Feeling Scrappy

I hope everyone is having a nice Friday. I know for many this is Good Friday and the beginning of the weekend that commemorates the beginning of Christianity. My Mom became Catholic before she got married so she and my Dad could have a full Catholic church wedding. She was probably a more devout Catholic than Pop. Then again, Pop is probably the most devout American I know. If it’s something you want and work for, it ends up meaning more. Many of us who still practice the religion we were brought up with or are citizens of the country in which we were born don’t have the same passionate appreciation as those who embraced something different, their choice. I’m not at all saying anyone is less American because they were born here or less faithful because they never changed their spiritual path. I’m just saying that a naturalized citizen or someone who has chosen to spiritually redirect themself has a special appreciation for their status.

Mom was that way religiously. I think some of her views are why I think if you are sacrificing on Good Friday, eat hamburger instead of lobster. The church’s reason for making Fridays fish days long ago was to encourage the wealthier people to support the poor. Instead of eating more expensive meat, support the local fishermen. It’s definitely flipped now. So, instead of buying the more expensive seafood, support your local franchisee and the people they employ and have a Quarter Pounder. That’s not my official recommendation; Practice your faith and spirituality the way that is fulfilling for you!

I’d say enough of the religion talk, but I know there’s a question coming up in that area! :)


I’ve been a bit scarce in Blogland this week because there’s been a bit going on outside of The Chronicles of Nani. There’s been White Tornado stuff, a few other fragments and scrap stuff. I’ve pretty much adopted the challenges at Ginger Scraps as my main monthly challenges. I like the variety and the bonus plan is awesome! I have a couple favorite designers are there too. I still do challenges at The Studio and Gotta Pixel, but my main challenge place is Ginger Scraps now. So, take a look at a few challenge layouts I did in March!

April Desktop (Nani’s Pandora Dreams)

Desktop Challenge

Credits: template by Sugar Kissed Designs, Kit - El Mojito by Twin Mom Scraps

Here’s one using the Photoblog from last Wednesday:

Kaline’s Court

Inspiration Challenge

Credits: The Cat’s Meow by Jen Yurko

And Finally…

Mississippi Steam Train

Template challenge

Credits: Template by Twin Mom Scraps, Kit - Stippety Strpiety by Twin Mom Scraps, additional elements from Travel By Train by Volshebnica Designs, additional papers from For Us by Pretty In Green

(Title linked to gallery to read journaling)

Okay, now let’s look at some of the usual Friday Fun! Let’s check out the Five Questions from Mama M at My Little Life!

Five Question Friday



1. Would you prefer having people over for dinner or going to their house?

Actually, I’d prefer to go out. Restaurants have to be wheelchair accessible by law, so I don’t risk anyone feeling bad because I can’t do steps or get around in their home. Also, if I’m at someone’s house enjoying their hospitality, I want so badly to help with cleanup. I can’t really do that in a house I’m not familiar with because I don’t know where I can grab to steady myself. Yes, that’s all about me. I’m just not comfortable letting a friend or family member wait on me while I do nothing in return. I’d love to have people over…after the White Tornado project I complete. I’m still embarrassed to have the bug-guy in the house and we pat him.



2. Favorite Bible verse and why?

The verse from Ecclesiastes the 1965 song, Turn, Turn, Turn, by the Byrds was based on. It’s a wonderful message, and a great song. It was the verse I chose for my Mother’s prayer cards because it was one of her favorites too.


3. What was the first concert you ever attended, and the most recent one?

First concert was Kiss with Cheap Trick July 13, 1979. Most recent was Rush last year.


4. The year is 2025. What are you doing, and what have you done?

Oh my, I’m almost 60!

I tell everyone I’m 59 already, although I won't be 59 until July, and David gripes because I’ve always done that. He has probably told me, “Start acting your age! You’re old. Be just a little bothered by it?”

I have a graphics job, a power chair and I’ve mastered the hand controls in my van and actually don’t mind driving as much anymore. I’ve been doing public speaking engagements about keeping your spirit happy while facing challenges for a decade. There is decent money in the public speaking stuff and David and I have had the train layout with a house over it, including my coffee lounge, for a few years.

My face is finally starting to look like I might be able to have gray hair with it.



5. What's your favorite Easter treat?

No question; Hershey’s Candy Coated Milk Chocolate Easter Eggs!

I’ll try to post some more this afternoon! Everyone have a great Friday ad a wonderful Easter weekend!

Monday Mug Shot – Big Mac

It’s a chilly but sunny day today! It’s our Sunday but David is out railfanning with Mike. I was invited too, but I’d taken a scrap day on Saturday and got four pages done followed by groceries yesterday morning before David and I went out and did some local railfanning that included getting the Seneca County Bicentennial Barn. So, I’d pretty much had a traditional weekend and 2 days away from the White Tornado project. We’re considering a possible vacation and Kelly and Dave are coming back in June, so I have, at least in my own mind, a deadline. I don’t want to go out of town or have guests over until at least the organizing part of the project is done. I have 2 months and there will still be normal life happening. I need to step up the progress!

So how about a cup of coffee? How about a coffee cup?

Monday Mug Shot

Mackinac Bridge

Mackinaw City and St. Ignace, Michigan

I figure since I’m from Michigan it shouldn’t be a great shock that I’ve been to and over the bridge that connects the Lower and Upper Peninsulas of the state. When my brother and I were very young and my parents were just starting out as a family, we were avid campers. Camping was a fun vacation, a good learning experience and affordable for a couple just starting out with very young children. We very often went to a number of Upper Michigan State Parks; Indian Lake was a family favorite. We’d leave either Friday night or Saturday morning and be gone for the week, sometimes a long weekend.

When we got to the Mackinac Bridge, even if it was at night and we were sleeping, our parents would wake us up so we could see the bridge. I know they did that, but honestly don’t really remember it. I still appreciated that they did it. That’s what gave me the idea of quelling Tori and Rina whining about going to bed when they stayed with us when they were little. I remembered that I didn’t want to miss anything when I whined about going to bed too. I also remembered how much I appreciated being awakened for the bridge, even if I fell back asleep and didn’t remember it. So after an especially rough night trying to get them to bed, I woke them up at midnight to see a cartoon debut on Cartoon Network. They thanked me but went back to sleep. They didn’t remember any of it in the morning when we talked about it, but never gave me any trouble again about going to bed because they knew I’d wake them up if there was something really cool. Maybe that was my parents’ thinking with waking us up to cross the bridge?

The amazing thing about crossing the bridge during the day is Simon and Garfunkel’s Cecilia was always, and I mean always, on the radio when we crossed. Truly amazing! Mom and Pop liked the song and Dave and I liked the song and it didn’t matter how amazing a coincidence it was. We just sang and enjoyed crossing the bridge. Years later Mom confessed that she had a very old school battery-operated cassette player in the car when we camped.

Pop worked in construction, so our camping trips were usually in the spring or fall, when the workday was shorter and the workload was either still building for the season or waning. Cool thing was, especially during the week, we were usually one of only a few campsites that were full. This is how I fell in love with squirrels. At five or six years old, when there was no one else in the campground, I was allowed to walk all the way 2 campsites away with my bag of peanuts in the shell to sit at a picnic table and feed the squirrels. I was told to never touch the squirrels, throw the peanuts out for them on the ground. That worked at first, but as I got older, I started putting the peanuts on the table. The squirrels were slightly tamed by fall with a campground full of humans leaving them scraps all summer. One time I bravely put the peanut in my open hand and the squirrel on the table with me took it from my hand and cracked it open on the table to eat it. Most of the time, they took the peanuts to store away for winter. To this day, I love squirrels and they remind me of that moment when I was a child that I felt very special because the squirrel trusted me.


I love how sometimes writing takes on a my mind of its own. When I started writing today’s Mug Shot I thought I was going to write about the first time I drove on the Big Mac, as the Mackinac Bridge is known. Maybe next week I can repost the mug with a different story. So many of my mugs are reminders of multiple stories.

I’ll be back at my next break with Meet Me On Monday!