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 - Short Stories 2

The editor promised there would be Short Stories 2 because I talked too much in short stories 1! (She knows me so well you’d think she was me! 😉)

So here are the last four stories I discovered in my early smash books.

Smash Book video on YouTube

Chronicles of Nani - Life Got Really Normal

Life with a chronic illness and in a wheelchair we all create and live with our own kind of normal. I had a few wonderful days of exactly that, including enough energy to accomplish "too much to do." With MS they don't last forever, but when they do it's heaven! Everyone enjoyed having me around, ESPECIALLY me!

Please come and enjoy with me a great weekend including a new kitten!

(Thank you David, Mike, Claudia, Sheri, my Dad & Aunt and Casey, the sweetest little kitten around, for making my world fantastic this weekend!)

Chronicles of Nani - Know Your Limits

I was still tired and you can hear it in my raspy voice, but the vlog must go on! 

After celebrating my birthday with things planned for three days in a row, it took me another 3 1/2 days to start to recover and get my normal energy back. It was totally worth it, but it's a lot easier to do if you know what your energy limit is and make an effort not to overdo it too much. In my life before multiple sclerosis, I tended to overdo it anyway. But it takes me longer to recover now. There was a time when I worked 2 80-hour weeks in a row producing a hockey game for a charity I really believed in. My boss told me she didn't want to see me for three days after the production was done. Now, I carefully schedule how long it takes me to complete a simple vlog once a week and that requires a few hours of rest in between and after. My energy limits changing is probably one of the hardest things multiple sclerosis has made me adjust to. 

But you can do you things that are fulfilling and things that are fun even if you are living with a chronic illness or are always in a wheelchair. You just have to learn to adjust what your limits are and go ahead and push them! Just PLAN your time for recovery, so you can push those limits again.

Chronicles of Nani - Story Time: Norfolk & Western 611

It's not just a story I'm out though streamliner festival at Spencer North Carolina in 2014, what it is, is the connection of that festival to a fantastic family day riding behind the Norfolk & Western 611 steam engine in 1992. I have fantastic memories of both - one was a trip where I climbed up into the cab of the locomotive and one was being able to travel on the museums train trip in my wheelchair.

Two very special memories forever connected by one very special locomotive.

The Chronicles of Nani - First Story Time Part 2

And so the story continues… OK, so my brother is expecting twins and they found out a week after I got my new car. So once again the 1994 family glory returned to him. It took me 16 years (yeah I say 15 in the video, but the correct number of years was 16 because our "teen sitting" trip was March 2011) but I did get even for stealing the thunder of my new car. LOL 

I adored those twins from the moment they were born and we’ve done so many things together their whole lives, but that weekend in 2011 was just awesome on many levels!

The Chronicles of Nani - Coffee, a le cyber-café

Don't worry if you don't speak French! There's only a little bit of French at the beginning of the vlog and there are subtitles in English. I just wanted to show off that I still actually remember some of my high school French. (I took French 101 and 102 in college because I needed some "easy" elective credits.) I only had to look up one word in the intro that I speak in French.

But this video is about COFFEE! It talks about my personal coffee history, what coffee actually means to me, my favorite coffee and the ridiculous tendency to judge people by their choice of coffee. 

So, stir up your favorite cyber coffee shop beverage and enjoy!

(BTW, demitasse means "small cup." I do realize that every time I say "demitasse cup" I am being redundant.)

The Chronicles of Nani - Support

Things didn't go as planned and this week's vlog ended up being done on a day that started with tears and almost no will to record. Instead it was plans changed and this is why the day started with tears. I think it turned out pretty good.

The Chronicles of Nani - Happy Thanksgiving

 I'm starting to get my act together! At least I'm on time with the video this week! 

From the earliest back that I can remember to the present day Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Remember, I said from the earliest Thanksgiving I can remember. Of course before that Santa and I had a pretty close penpal friendship.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING to my Internet family whether you are a new regular at my cyber coffee shop or you've been here since practically the beginning (I love you Edna!)

The Chronicles of Nani - Be Proud That You Did

If you're up to join me at 8:15 AM when the blog premieres, come to YouTube and we can chat over morning coffee. (Even if you don't usually come to YouTube to watch it, another subscriber does my ego some good.)

This week I talk about how my career and cable production started, some poetic-ish verse that first debuted right here in 2017 and some reminiscing about my dad and I are turning 13 in sort of the same place!

I hope watching The Chronicles of Nani videos is as much fun as they are to make.

The Chronicles of Nani - My Mom

my newest vlog!

Weekend Playlist February 17

Happy Sunday! My weeks are so busy right now that I feel like I’m working full time again, only instead of getting a paychecks, I’m writing checks. -sigh- There are two things I miss the most. I don't get to scrapbook anywhere near as much as I'd like and I don't get to blog as much as I want to either, especially during the week.

But a scrapbook page may take to a week to do a simple one, and I may only post one or two blogs a week, but at least I do get a little bit the fun part of my life. Because of the MS and several other things that I have going on in my world , I talk to nurses and psychologists from the insurance company and a couple of other providers pretty much every week or so. One of the questions that they always ask, I think it's pretty much a boilerplate question to check for depression because it's also one of the questions that they ask at Cleveland Clinic when I go in to see my MS doctors too, is "do you find that you have little interest in the things you enjoy doing?" Last week when I spoke to my case manager from the insurance company I answered honestly, "oh it's not that I don't have interest I just don't have time for the things that I really want to do."

So as it is on Sunday, here are the last five songs from my music library on shuffle: (As usual, please don't judge!)

No Such Thing As A Broken Heart, Old Dominion

We Found Love, Rhianna

Blurred Lines, Robin Thicke

This Is Your Day, 112

Video Killed The Radio Star, The Buggles

I love irony. Video Killed The Radio Star was recorded in 1979, but is remembered eternally as the first video shown on MTV at 12:01 a.m. on August 1, 1981. Do you remember when music videos were new? Do you remember when MTV actually played music videos?

Things move, things change. The Walkman, which actually came into existence before MTV, gained popularity. Remember putting a cassette in a little contraption with earphones? You could walk around, ignoring everything around you, listening to your music getting hit by a car crossing the street because you were ignoring the don't walk sign. Then it grew into a CD player that you could carry around with you. I had one of the CD players that I hooked up to the cassette player in my car so I could listen to CDs in my car. When those first came out the biggest problem was every time I hit a bump in the car the CD skipped. Eventually they made CD players that were a little more stable but by then MP3 players were coming out and cars had CD players instead of cassette players in them anyway.

In the history of the car it didn't have a radio at all and then there were AM radios, and FM radios, and then eight track players… for there is always been something to kill the last kind of star, hasn't there?

My great-grandmother and I were always very close and from the time that I turned 16 and got my license we would get together every Tuesday for coffee and sit and just talk for a few hours. I absolutely loved those nights because we just loved sharing stories. When I was on the high school radio station in 12th grade, she was just close enough to get the station in and listened to us every morning. She was tickled when every now and then my partner would dedicate a song to “Opal, one of our favorite listeners.” I did the news and had to be very careful to make sure it was accurate because I think I was her most regular source for national and local information. There were a lot of times during the 7:30am slot, I think she may have been our only listener too.

She shared stories with a smile about how the world had changed in her lifetime. When she was born they didn't even have electricity or indoor plumbing. and now her great grand daughter can drive a car to come visit her and even bring ice cream. She was in our cable area and sometimes watched my sports programming, I think mostly the end to see my name on TV. My boss, the Executive Producer, and me, the Producer on the fist page of the credits. She was alive when women won the right to vote, the 19th Amendment ratified the year she turned 14. She was a line inspector at Ford Motor Company and boasted a photo of the truck I drove for productions work for everyone to see. She saw the first Mustang come off the assembly line and wanted one of the "Pony Cars" since you first saw them. Her last car ended up being a Mustang (a cute, four-cylinder muscle car) with my mother my grandmother telling my father and grandfather “don't you dare even think about talking her out of it. No man is selling the WRONG car this time.” One of the things she bragged about with that was in the last 70 years, at the time, the women in our family had gotten stronger because we don't give up and we don't let ourselves get old.

She always smiled and reveled in the changes in the world and how most of them made life better. She is without question how I learned to appreciate changes in the world and changes in our personal lives in general. She probably has a lot to do with my interest in domestic history over learning details about wars. And don’t get old - My great-grandmother loved the old gospel and country music she grew up with. She was also a fan of REO Speedwagon.

She is definitely the source of my eclectic musical taste and I will always love her for that. My mother’s tastes were the same kind of defying the demographic. I'm the one who introduced HER to Dmitri Shostakovich and SHE played Toad The Wet Sprocket for me. My great-great-grandmother had an Elvis scrapbook because she loved his music from the first time she heard it and the family remembered quote was “That boy is definitely going to change things!” That love of current music seemed to skip a generation with my grandmother but she learned how to use a computer in her 70s, so we'll give her a pass on the music.

As I said before I love irony and then love domestic history. Video Killed The Radio Star is an important part of our culture’s musical history. Yeah now when you think about how many videos you don't see on MTV and how we put earbuds in our phones and listen to either our personal playlist or whatever RADIO station is on our music service and that kind of makes you think maybe TECHNOLOGY killed the video star.


Now of course it's very hard to find someplace that will allow you to embed a video to share it anymore. It's a silly song and not an impressive video but it's a piece of history. So if you would like to experience a little bit of history here's a link to the video:

https://youtu.be/9ffoTMBlAOA

Weekend Playlist February 10

I'll talk about it more in the next couple days but with the first weekend Sunday of this month being Super Bowl Sunday and a very special young lady’s birthday, Weekend Playlist last Sunday was not meant to be!

Standard Disclaimer: (stolen from Stephen Colbert with no shame) my musical taste ranges from a shocking “you like what?” to “don't judge me” and pretty much everything else in between. I have very eclectic musical taste and I'm proud of that.

Here are the last five songs that played on my iTunes library on shuffle today:

Butta Love, Next

Love Ain’t, Eli Young Band

It Doesn’t Matter, Allison Krauss

New, Daya

Count On Me Bruno Mars

Two children in a photo on this month scraplift challenge at GingerScraps made me think of the darling video for this and that song inspired me to use this exact photo in creating my layout

Heather took the picture in the scrapbook page. Possibly because she was the only one of us that was still awake enough to hold the camera still.

We had a few very busy months at work in both the Canton and Hamtramck offices. And it was a weekend in mid-May before things were going to get very busy again that we had no productions going on in either of our locations. I came up with the crazy idea that we should definitely leave work as soon as the building closed on Friday and not plan to be home until Sunday. My coworkers we're pretty much as insane as me and as tired and knowing that we were going to be even more tired on the weekends coming up. John didn't work with us but somehow my friends all just sort of”worked" together and whenever I had a crazy idea John was usually the first one to say “I’m in"

John had the vehicle that was big enough for all five of us. Tracy And Rich met us at closing time when Heather and I locked up the office on Friday night. We piled into John's car with our luggage for the weekend. The guys drove first leg, John at the wheel and Rich’s special brand of humor making sure staying awake with no problem. We stopped at a rest area about halfway there grabbing snacks and coffee and the girls woke up and I drove the rest with Heather and Tracy (we easily enjoyed three hour dinners talking for many years after that so it was easy keeping each other awake) while the guys got some sleep.

The street lights, for real!

When we got into Hershey we stopped for breakfast and I started my day with chocolate chip pancakes! After breakfast we stopped at the Hersey Lodge Hotel for our reservations were for the night on the outside chance that our room might be ready. It was and they asked us how many guests will be staying. We had reserved a double with a cot and they asked us how many guests were staying and we said five. They gave us five full size Hershey bars and the keys to our room. It’s not at all an inexpensive hotel, but 5 sharing a room makes it affordable.

Then we went to Hershey's World Of Chocolate where we played with anything chocolate interactive we saw, including the cart ride where you get to see how Hershey's chocolate is made including the ever important Hershey's kiss that started everything. When we got off the ride they handed everybody a full size Hershey bar. This city really was a Chocovore’s Dream!

And yes, there existed 5 of these

But it didn't stop with just the chocolate! Our next job was Indian Echo Caverns in nearby Hummelstown for some safe, tourist-style spelunking. As we got to the end of the cave we got to look up and see were ALL the bats sleep during the day. I thought that was totally cool and I believe Heather said it was totally not so cool.

The last thing of the day that we couldn't resist, is right next to Indian Echo Caverns is Indian Echo Mini Golf! I don't remember who won the golf game. I do remember that we were all getting hungry for something not sweet and were getting pretty tired by the end of the day.

The picture in this photo that Heather took was the other four of us after dinner at the Hershey Lodge going up to our room. If it looks like we're all about to follow totally asleep right where the pictures taken it's because it's true. But it was a great weekend.

We did finish off Sunday by going back to Hershey world and going to the outlet store to buy lots of chocolate to bring home. (When it's May, you want to make sure the chocolate is in a cooler or in the area where the air conditioning really kicks in the car) One thing we had to make sure we did at the gift shop was to get something REALLY nice for Tom. There had to be somebody from the full timers that had the mind the store on Saturday, for public access producers to work on their projects. There had to be a nice chocolate gift for the one of us who got left behind.

Nearly a quarter century later these people are still part of my family. I am one lucky woman to have collected such wonderful extra brothers and sisters in my journey so far!

I think in certain aspects copyright laws are a little overprotective. Videos, first off, ARE advertisements to begin with so, it's kind of stupid to say that you can't share an advertisement for free. But more and more that is beginning to happen. Remember when I couldn't show Elvis Presley singing It's Now Or Never? So what I'm leaving you with is the link to the official video. It is totally worth going to check out this video because it's adorable!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JNtAtGGNRU&list=RD4JNtAtGGNRU&start_radio=1&t=12

It's 2017

I got out of the house yesterday and went to Dayton with David and Mike for BORTrail. There were many great train shows, including David's, his first sound show since 2012. He's been showing pictures and talking about them for the last few years. In 2012 I edited the music video on Stupid, my old Windows computer, using the software that's considered raIlfan standard.

The problem with raIlfan standard video software is the average raIlfan concentrates on taking good photos. The show software is easy to use but not exact. But I am a former video professional. I can't help the fact that I see tiny mistakes in video production and "good enough" is just not enough for me. The accepted software can edit deceptively exact, but the file plays differently in every computer. That means the show I was up all night to perfect in 2012 played with the photos and music out of sync. Regardless of what anyone else noticed, I was totally embarrassed. It was simple enough software that I told David I'd show him how to use it, but I would never edit with it again. I was looking for a good Windows movie maker that I could make a finished program and save it as a complete movie file. Well, the past 4 years have been pretty involved in a not so great way for me. I've been a little too busy to search for new software.

David and Mike grabbing a last of the year train pic on the way the BORTrail.

Fast forward to last week. As of September 2015, I'm a Mac-girl again! The MacBook Pro came with iMovie already on it. That's the software that I used professionally when I had my own business back in 2004. There hasn't been anything that I needed to do a music show for so I hadn't used it. The latest and greatest updated version at the time that I bought the MacBook Pro has been updated since 11 years prior so there were a lot of things that I had to learn and get comfortable with the new features and new interface. After a few screams and grumbles I was able to do the editing and even enjoy putting together David's music bed and show. I daresay I was even proud to be in the credits as the editor.

So between train shows, getting to watch a show that I edited and spending the afternoon and evening with men and women I truly enjoy being with and have terribly missed it was a pretty great ending to the year.


Today I'm wrapping up the last of my 2016 and getting ready to start 2017. That's probably going to take a couple days but it usually does. I just usually start that closing one year and starting the next at the end of the previous year not at the beginning of the next year. But after the way I started 2013, I will always remind myself that it beats starting the year in the hospital.

Welcome to 2017! There's gonna be more to come soon including my goals and projects for the year, some new ideas and the first freebie of the year. Stay tuned

American Hamburgers

Nani, Noni and Mom, circa 1983

So I'm not going to make excuses for not keeping up on things in the blog-world. The truth is I'm still having some problems hit and miss which includes the height of the new chair not being able to comfortably get in front of the computer, so I'm not on it unless I'm lounging back in the recliner. I still need to form a working normal for myself. I've been feeling like a bit of a hermit so for the most part when I get on the computer, I'm scrapbooking. That doesn't mean that I'm totally a hermit. I'll check my email and I visit Facebook, but I don't post a lot of anywhere right now. I am always getting on my own case for that and I'm trying to inspire myself to become involved with the world again. Politics has been very frustrating and almost painful. I post a little about that because I'm ripping my hair out with the idiocy that's going on in the presidential election this year. There seems to be a lot of people that are not fact-checking, they're just reacting to false statements. It frightens my "ugly-cripple-anchor baby" brain. It's just going to take some time before I'm ready to venture out into the world again.


I was looking at digital coupons to add to my Kroger card and one of the coupon choices was this:

White Castle condiments at Kroger?

It made me think about how long it's been since I've been to a White Castle. Ruthie, my aide, said that she hadn't been to a White Castle in 12 to 13 years, or half of her life. For me I don't think I've been to a White Castle since my grandmother passed in 1989 that got us both reminiscing about White Castle.

For me, White Castle was the American hamburger. What I mean is there was a White Castle on the road on the way to my grandmother’s house. In the Italian grandma tradition, Noni cooked... everything… constantly! Of course friends and family visiting, especially family, would encourage her every now and then to take a day off and just let us bring dinner in. She would have none of that, also in the good Italian grandma fashion, she loved cooking and cooking for people. But every now and then Noni would actually feel like taking a day off. When she wanted the day off she would say "I don't feel like cooking, let's get a bag of American hamburgers." You see, to Noni's palette White Castle hamburgers were the quintessential American food. (Keep in mind the actual Italian food is NOTHING like Sbarro or even Olive Garden.) So to me White Castle is a wonderful memory of "Noni's Day Off."

White Castle available in the frozen food? I had to check out the White Castle website. The last time I ate at the White Castle the onion chips were relatively new. Now you can get all kinds of things at White Castle! They have chicken and fish and a full breakfast menu. And then the sides; it's not just fries or onion chips anymore. Now you can get mozzarella sticks cheesy fries and fish nibblers. It's just amazing that White Castle is still competitive, keeping up with the fast food market and it still is that corner hamburger stand where you can get your sliders. Part of me would like to stop at White Castle for old times sake. But the closest one to here is about an hour away. Maybe it's a flavor that's better kept in my memory anyway.

Christmas Tears

Oh, I’m talking about the kind of tears that I want to feel welling up in my eyes during the holidays! I had a wonderful Christmas as a giver with gifts well-received and a few unexpected extras that I truly enjoyed seeing the reactions of the recipients. But I was the gift-getter of not one, but three gifts that gave me those happy tears this year!

It started Christmas Eve. There were some errands to run and we were going out to dinner. It rained on our anniversary and David and I decided to have an earlier dinner on Christmas Eve rather than me venturing out in my chair in the rain. Even with an umbrella, there is much more of you exposed to the rain in a wheelchair than there is standing up. So we were going out after David’s afternoon “commitment.” It wasn’t a train or poker and he wouldn’t tell me details, so I figured the “commitment” was something for me.

Well, the time for that commitment came and David was still home. He told me the time had been pushed back a little later. He started cleaning up some things in the living room where I had been cleaning little by little but he's capable of picking it up much faster. I was thinking to myself that helping with that was an awesome gift in itself. He works full time and when he’s home, taking cafe of all the things I can’t do is a full time job. I don’t remember exactly what I asked, but his answer included that he was clearing out space because Mike was coming over and they were putting up a tree.

What?

He’d read the blog post I did about being sad that I wouldn’t have an aide yet to help me clean up the living room and it’d be the third year without a tree. He wanted to give me a tree for Christmas Eve. Mike, who is allergic to cats, drugged himself up with allergy meds and came over. He and David put up the tree with lights, garland and the tree skirt and angel on top, just like I was planning to do.

At first I told him it was the thought and it made me feel so good, but he didn’t need to put up a tree. I insisted it was a lot of work to do it and we weren’t going to be home on Christmas but then I stopped saying not to do it. I was ashamed of myself for not appreciating the incredible meaning of the thought. It’s not just that he reads my blog; it’s that he really reads the piece of me I put into what I write. And he knew better than I did just how much it would do for me to have a tree.

Oh those beautiful, warm lights glowing in the dark after we got home from dinner were just beautiful to to watch. I settled into the recliner and he cozied on the couch and we just relaxed. I’m not a snow means Christmas person, Christmas is Christmas as long as there are lights. David gave me my Christmas spirit this year.


My other happy Christmas tears from gifts I received came on Christmas Day. We did name drawing for our family gift exchange on Christmas morning. Tori drew my name. I had already said I was prepared for a warm and fuzzy gift. She “owed me tears” after the books I’d done for the girls when they turned 18. I got my gift and opened Catopoly, the cat version of Monopoly. After 21 years, she knows me well! I was anxious to play the game. I was surprised there wasn’t a mushy gift after all. But then there was a second smaller box. The second box was the tears box.

When the girls were learning to talk, they had 2 names to learn in their world that were similar. They had Aunt Nanette, with vowel sounds similar to “baguette,” and Aunt Nani, rhymes with “Donny.” For a while we were both “Nana,” like the end of “Lovin’ Touchin’ Squeezin’.” As their ability to better grspthe vowel sounds improved, Nanette became Aunt Nanette, but part because Nana and Nani sound so similar and part because they saw me more often and had been calling me Nana all along, I stayed Nana. It’s the same as my Aunt Raffaella has always been Auntie to me and still is. That’s what makes her MY aunt, and so my name, Nana, is with the girls.

The smaller box had tissue paper that when unfolded revealed a silver rope bracelet with a clasp big enough to be put on and taken off with MS hands. It also has a heart-shaped sparkly charm that says NANA in block letters.

It’s pretty much been as everyday important as my medical alert bracelet since Tori fastened it on my wrist Christmas morning.


My last happy Christmas tears came when we got home Christmas night. Edna spoiled me with a couple of boxes. One was a sort of stocking in a box with wrapped presents that included one that felt like it must be a neck warmer like the ones I knew she was making for Christmas gifts. I opened that last because I love hand-made gifts and I expected that would be the special gift I’d want to open as the finale of the box.

I opened the paper and saw the variegated pink, purples, orange and yellow; gorgeous. I remember how much I liked the multi color ones she’d done. I may have even left a comment about it on her blog. It was beautiful! But when I turned it around the get a full look pinned together from the front, that’s when my eyes welled up again that'd day.

On the pin is a orange ribbon MS charm. The gorgeous gift was very personal and yesterday when I wore it to the doctors office, it was warm too!


So those were my smiling Christmas tears. I like to give gifts that are special; something the receiver wouldn't normally buy for themselves but would enjoy or something that just jumps out and makes me think of them or something I create. I like to give gifts that are memorable or memories in themselves. That’s because of how wonderful it feels to receive gifts liken that. This year I had three of them that felt beyond that emotional bar I set for myself as a giver. The friends and relatives that are my famiy are just awesome. I love you guys!

Longer Days Again!

Happy Yule! It’s Winter Solstice which means the days will now be getting longer everyday! YAY!!

After a grouchy and the a whiny post, it’s time for a normal Nani, dontcha think? The Winter Solstice really is a holiday with good memories for me. Most of them are because I love sunlight. Seriously I didn't have to get too old before I realized I just like doing things during the day best. Even when I travel I prefer skipping going out and enjoying what there is to do at night so I can wake up and do morning things. So the marking of the days getting longer is worth celebrating to me. I also have a fun memory of the Solstice Celebration I enjoyed with the guy I was dating many years ago. He was a Buddhist who celebrated recognized the pagan holidays.


This also marks the beginning of a busy week for me. Tomorrow is our anniversary! It will be 7 years since that day that I started off a bachelorette falling on a 12 pack of cherry soda and ended waiting for my husband to get home from work. I still smile when I think about the fun that we had with our mischievous reveals the next couple weeks. There was nothing conventional about our wedding day or the events leading up to it or any of the things we did over the next few months to celebrate it. And I wouldn't change one bit of it for anything in the world. I am blessed that I have a wonderful man in my world. He has gone through so much with me and he is still my rock. I love you, David and as I get things in order I look forward to giving you the very best of me for many years to come.

It's my blog; I can have my mushy moments if I want them.

Then it’s Christmas Eve and Christmas day! We don't actually have Christmas eve plans this year, But David is off work that day. Maybe we'll exchange our gifts to each other if David's had a chance to shop by then. hehehehe… Christmas day will be family time.


I've been enjoying some flavors of the season this past week. I posted this photo on my Facebook page and received decent number of likes for someone who sporadically uses Facebook.

Panettone is a traditional Italian cake. Mom and I both loved panettone, but we did not like it with the candied orange peel. Noni always made a point of having one for Christmas that was solo uvetta/senza canditi; only raisins/without candied fruit. Those are not easy to find at all! I try to find one for Christmas but there have been years where I haven't had any panettone. This year I found an Amazon store that imports groceries from Italy. It fulfills the delivery through Amazon Prime. This panettone is a really good one too!

Panettone is a traditional Italian holiday cake. Taste-wise it’s similar to raisin bread only just a touch sweeter and a ton richer. A typical recipe for panettone includes a couple of eggs and double that number of just yolks. The texture is like the really soft inside of fresh Italian bread with a touch of cake to it with raisins and candied orange peel. Now the hard-to-find “senza canditi” is that just without the orange peel.

During the Christmas season panettone is a breakfast bread, a social coffee side or a light dessert. When you see what looks like a plate of hunks of bread on the table when you visit Italian friends during the holidays you think it’s just a plain thing to munch with your coffee. But when you taste a “little piece to be polite” you find out it has a truly addictive quality! An Italian holiday is a never-ending food coma anyway but the panettone with robust espresso after dinner was always a wonderful finish.

Beautiful People Make People Smile

I’ve had a pretty rough couple of weeks. Pressure sores, achy legs, my arms so drained I can’t pick things up or type and even tired enough that talking to my Dad on the phone was draining me. I saw a presentation by a neurologist a while back who acknowledged that people with progressive MS can have exacerbations where things seem a lot worse then get back to “normal.” I think that could be what that was for me, but I’ve also been doing a lot in preparation for the projects we’re having done, so I may have just pushed myself too far. I forget that I can’t be physically Type-A anymore.

But as much as there are times, honestly many times, that MS related issues get me down, there are good things too, and the good things make me feel much better than the challenges make me feel bad. I know a lot of people with disabilities complain about how others can be unsympathetic to downright cruel. I’m blessed that I haven’t seen that much. My disability seems to bring out the very best in other people.

I’ve been told that it’s my smile. I bring out the helpful in others because I smile; how can you ignore someone in a wheelchair that smiles? I guess the typical picture in people’s mind for someone in a wheelchair is someone sad or mad about being in the wheelchair? There are lots of people who dwell on the negative part. I’d make myself nuts if I did that. I’m doing everything I can to slow the progression and even make it a bit better, but I accept that there is little chance I’ll walk on my own again. MS doesn’t shorten my life expectancy on its own and I’m only 49. I have quite a few years and a simple choice. I can be negative and miserable because the wheelchair reminds me of what I can’t do for another 40 years or I can smile because the wheelchair reminds me of how much I can still do because I have this wonderful assistive device. The only good about the negativity is it will feel like I live longer. The “seems faster” route is more in line with my remaining type-A tendencies.

I’ll finish today by telling you about an awesome friend. Edna of Miss Edna’s Place has been a wonderful friend who I met through our blogs back in 2008, way before I was diagnosed with MS so she’s a friend that’s been through the diagnosis and adjustments with me. Edna has left so many encouraging comments and some wonderful advice too. If you read her blog, one of her big hobbies is she does lots of crochet work and that’s recently included doing lapghans. Lapghans are lap afghans sized just right for wheelchair users. She’s done them for veterans and other groups who can use them. She sent me, I think it was 9 total, to share with our MS Support Group.

Aren’t they beautiful? The main one you see in the photo is the one I kept for me, a gorgeous lime green. The other ones in the picture are leftover ones because there were a couple of regulars to our group that weren’t there the night I gave them out and I’ll bring them to the next meeting. Everyone was so happy about the gifts. And they extended much gratitude. I sent that thanks in the email I sent Edna the next day. We have a few people in wheelchairs or who use scooters and those who marveled at the perfect size for taking off the chill when sitting on the couch or that you can drape it over your shoulders for an impromptu shawl too. Edna’s generosity created lapghans and a room full of smiles.

I’ve always though there are generally more good people than not in the world and as someone with a disability I am even more convinced of that. Maybe it’s just that I’ve always been picky about the quality of people I welcome into my world. Maybe it IS just my smile. Then again, the quality of friends and relatives I call my family keep that smile shining.

Keeping Very Busy

Are there any statistics on how soon people break resolutions? Now, I don’t do resolutions, it’s projects and goals for me; it leaves room to do many at once and catch up things that fall behind.

So there are a few things I’m behind on. Blog reading and writing is one of those things, Much of my online “work” has been distracted. If you noticed there is a GoFundMe link in my side bar. My good friend, Sheri, spent 10 days of the beginning of this year in the hospital. She went home Thursday night and hopefully goes back to work Monday. Sheri lives alone so she is the only breadwinner in her home. She’s been stressing and I’ve stressed for he too. The bills don’t go away and the biggest bill is waiting in the wings. Where her normal budget is based on mandatory overtime at the job she’s had many years, now she’s used all her sick time for the ear and has about a week on disability that’s less than half her non-OT paycheck. So she has all her regular bills plus a giant bill for the deductible and out of pocket limit for the year all at once coming from the hospital. See a reason for stress?

I’d write her a check for everything she needs to stay afloat if I wasn’t sure my check would bounce higher than a 10-cent superball. What I could do for her was set up the fundraiser. I realize that dedicating my time to this for Sheri will eat into what I can earn for Walk MS but my disease will earn tens of thousands of dollars this year. That makes me happy, really it does, but Sheri will get buried by the financial rubble a hospital stay drops on someone. She is a friend that makes the trip from Michigan to visit me when she is on vacation. She pushes my wheelchair when we’re someplace I can’t get to with the power chair. If my fundraising can make me rise from this chair this year but Sheri will be going without to pay the monthly bills to the hospital without ruining her credit, well, I think I’d rather have her okay and stable to push my chair. So, while I have my page done for Walk, I’m encouraging everyone to donate to helping one person at a time this year. I’d rather be okay with the people I call mine than great alone. Remember I started 2013 in the hospital? I’m not trying to keep a roof over my own head, but I don’t let David pay my medical copays. I have three payments left on that bill. Out of pocket limit all at once when you still have other bills (office visits and prescriptions aren’t part of that limit) is HUGE.

I’ve had some other friends who are dealing with issues and making sure I have time for them comes before blogging, scrapping and working on ways to make the house more accessible!

Credits:P52 Basic Blocking Templates by Digitalegacies Designs, All That Glitters is Snow, Begin Again, My Favorite Brew and Nite At Grandma’s by Aprilisa Designs; When Skies Are Gray by Gingerbread Ladies; Smooches Cardstock by Digital Scrapbooking Studio; Let It Snow and In Then Kitchen – Cooking by Little Rad Trio; Important To Me byu Simple Girl; Chocolicious by Magical Scraps Galore; Journal Cards by A Little Grace and Mercy; Jilbert’s Bits of Bytes; Kimeric Kreations; and Connie Prince

I am a few layouts behind on the page-a-day goal, but only a few and my Project 52 is current! I’ve finished the layouts for weeks one and two. I did week one like I did last year’s layouts , in quadrants. I’m mixing things up a little thus year. Week two has a little different base.

Credits: P52 Basic Blocking Templates by Digitalegacies Designs, Afternoon With Grandma by Little Rad Trio, Attitude Adjustment by Inspired Designs, Better Days Ahead by Aprilisa Designs, Chill In The Air Ginerscraps Monthly Mix, Distressed 1&2 by Created by Jill Scraps, Falling 4 U by Keystone Scraps, Good Reads by Aprilisa Designs, I’ll Be There by Trixie Scraps, Owie by Blue Hearts Scraps & Luv Ewe Designs, Rainy Days by Ginger Bread Ladies, Journal Cards from Doctor’s Orders by Studio Meagan’s Creations and Second Chances by Mad Genius Designs

After 53 weeks of the quadrants it was a little uncomfortable ding it that way. I think I’ll probably do mostly quadrants but mix it up with a different base template here and there. I’ve also been making an effort to use journal cards, like would be used for pocket scrapping.. I have a bunch of them that are in kits or were freebies but I’m also making my own. I don’t think the journal cards are a huge difference from the mostly translucent mats I used last year, but I do see it as a way 2015 is unique from 2014. I’m not looking to reinvent the wheel here, I just watched a video about Project 52 scrapping and it prompted me to look at the pages from 2012, the only other year I’ve actually competed this project and really see what aspects I liked most of each.

I really had fun last year with this cupcake:

It didn’t appear for the first time until the second quarter of the year, but it appears in the 2014 book 7 times. A recurring element was fun! This year’s element has already made its premier appearance. It’s not due to return for a few weeks now.

I made a full set of four templates for bases for the 2-page weekly spreads. You might recognize the first two from the layouts I’ve shown above. The second two are created to work for my dally bocks, but they are also great for pocket scrapping or a blocked scrapbook page. Clicking the preview will take you to the download page. Look for more Project 52 things as the year progresses!

That’s all for now; reading time!

War On What Now?

In the very first chapter of George Orwell’s 1984 it speaks of the ongoing war. In fact it’s one of the ways the people are controlled. They are always at war. Who with changes and allies become enemies, enemies become allies and more troops are sent to the front lines. It distresses me how familiar that sounds and I checked references to make sure I wasn’t confusing today’s news with the book. Alas, that scenario matches both.

But I’m not writing today to lament how Orwell’s fiction from the mid-20th Century, which should have been a warning to governments, seems to be used as a manual. I’m writing to talk about war, my personal issue with a war that I’ve been troubled by for a good 20 years or more; The War on Thanksgiving.

I’m not talking about the stores that are open on the holiday or the insanity of the start of holiday shopping season which was dubbed “Black Friday” by Philadelphia police in the early 60’s because the mad shopping day made it an awful work day. It’s relatively recent that advertisers have turned the name around to make it more positive and a sales tool. It's still means an awful work day to hourly workers. Like the Winston, the main character in Orwell’s book, I think there’s always been a war on Thanksgiving. I remember a time when that must not have been true because there was a year when it was shocking that someplace had put out Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving, but that was so long ago.

You see, Thanksgiving was always the big family holiday to me, even more so as I got older. First off Thanksgiving was the meal my parents hosted. My aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents from both sides of the family came to our house for the feast. I remember the traditional turkey with our family stuffing, the pickle and olive plates and pumpkin pie dessert to celebrate the American holiday plus the breaded chicken and pork chops from Mom’s side of the family, a first course of cappelletti soup and espresso with dessert from Pop’s side. As adults with the cousin tier starting to marry off the dinner tradition changed, the numbers of people and the times they were at dinner changed,

Thanksgiving dinner became Grandma’s dinner after she and Papa retired and moved “up north.” Then Thanksgiving Dinner became a trip “over the freeway and through the woods by the lake.” That’s when the war really started for me. Grandma asked me to bring paper plates and napkins for the dessert table. I realized it was getting harder and harder to find paper Thanksgiving supplies. In the late 1990s I became obsessed with a quest for a paper turkey centerpiece. You know, the full unfurling turkey tail in tissue paper on a cardboard turkey frame? I remembered seeing them in tons of places with the Thanksgiving party supplies when I was a kid. I tried CVS, K-Mart, even a couple of Hallmark shops. It was two weeks before Thanksgiving and there was no turkeys anywhere, just Christmas decorations. I finally found my paper turkey at a party supplies store in a little display nestled into aisles and aisles of Christmas stuff.

 

Tissue turkey tail opened

 I guess I get it; Christmas is a bigger money holiday than Thanksgiving. But Thanksgiving has always been the most special holiday to me because there are no church obligations, no presents, no imaginary symbols to protect the children from hearing truths about for another year, Thanksgiving is just a holiday for time with the family, it’s food and togetherness, being thankful for having enough of the things that really matter and nothing else. It’s a true American holiday too. Seriously, Christmas is a federal holiday because the majority Christians way back all took Christmas off or just didn’t work. Christmas is a federal holiday to keep it from being a federal disaster day. Thanksgiving is a real American holiday, perhaps the most important one because it doesn’t celebrate our nation’s independence, it recognizes the abundance that independence affords us; it recognizes peace over destruction of people.

 

Maybe that’s what happened to Thanksgiving. We’re at war with everything. War on drugs, war on women, war on poverty, war on Wall Street and of course the war on Christmas which claimed a commercial war on Thanksgiving long ago. The war on Thanksgiving is not a new retail thing. Stores are just opening on Thanksgiving now because were letting Commercial Christmas win the war on Thanksgiving it has always been fighting. We’ve abused the word war so much that it means nothing anyway. The things we're "at war" as meaningful as what you do when you "keep calm." Thanksgiving, thanks for our people, for abundance, recognizes that we gain more from peace within our shores than we do from war. We do need to figure out how to make “war” a mean word again but all I’m asking for right now is a paper turkey and peppermint mocha to wait a few weeks so there’s a little more pumpkin spice coffee to have with pie.

For three more weeks, Happy Thanksgiving!