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

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!

So much going on

credits: Wintergreen by Mags Graphics and Winter Magic 

by Aprilisa Designs, Challenge word art by 

Kristmess, snowman paintings Fair Use from the Internet

Too much going on too? I have two big problems that I'm working on. I am proud to say that I actually am working on both of them. More on that in a minute…

Don't you just love the scrapbook page that started off my blog? I say that with all kinds of pride and I'm not sorry for stroking my own ego. I made that (No I didn't draw the pictures, I can't draw, but I did put it out to gather into a scrapbook page) and I’m very happy with how it turned out. The line referring to children making snowmen as “outdoor Michelangelos making Davids” is one I came up with many years ago and my husband David said it was too much to use on Christmas card. So I knew that eventually I wanted to use it for a scrapbook page and put that single line on a word document and then switched it to a pages document when I changed back to Mac. That's how long I was holding onto that line until I had time to create a scrapbook page I thought was worthy of it. I am VERY proud of that page.


All of my gifts and gift wrap are here and ready for me to put together, or anyway, ask David and/or my aides to put together for me.

To add to my pre-holiday excitement, I just found out that my niece, Rina, will be at my dad’s on Christmas Day after all! Originally, a first year assistant manager, of course has the short straw when it came to getting a holiday off and although she isn't working on Christmas was originally scheduled for Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas leaving no way she was going to drive all the way up to Michigan for Christmas day to turn around four hours later and go back to Indianapolis. As it works out she was able to get the schedule manipulated so that she can be in Michigan for the Christmas Eve feast at my cousin’s and for Christmas morning at Pop’s. I'm sure she feels great about it for her, but I will admit wholeheartedly that I personally feel blessed. I'm not so mobile and therefore not able to see my nieces anymore than once or twice a year now. Good thing at over 50 I'm still well-versed in the way 20-somethings communicate.

All I really need now is to get my wool cape dry cleaned and either spend a night driving around looking at Christmas lights or finding a night that's not quite so cold to go to the zoo and see The Lights Before Christmas. If that can't happen I'll settle for making some space for my little 2 foot tree.

The Lights Before Christmas at the Toledo zoo, 2011

Now back to my two problems. First problem, as I'm going backwards in years, is my hands. First let me describe what MS hands are like. My description of what my untreated hands feel like is imagine that your hands are twice the size that they are, almost like there's a second skin that's blown up over top of your regular hands and inside that second skin it's packed full of tiny buzzing insects and day and night that's all you feel is swollen hands stiffened by the fact that they're packed with these buzzing insects. I've tried so many different kinds of prescribed drugs and dry skin lotions so that I could use my hands, grab more things without dropping them and even type. Frustratingly, nothing was working, one of the drugs even made me sleep so soundly that I’d wake up not knowing what time of day it was and sometimes not even knowing where I was. As a thinker and a control freak THAT was not acceptable!

But now, I've become part of the cannabis generation! I have not taken up smoking or seriously doing drugs. But I use CBD ointment, which is basically the healing part of marijuana without the THC that makes you high (and gives you the munchies which I really don't need right now.) I use a combination of serum and the lotion. And I've been experimenting now with a 3X lotion that I can really feel when I put it on and it starts clearing up my hands right away. The 3X unfortunately stands for triple strength and triple price. But if it works and I can actually feel things and use my fingers to type or at least fix errors that using speech to text makes, might make it worth swallowing the extra cost.

Then there's the other problem that I'm fixing. I'm actually talking with a therapist again to help me sort out the fact that I have a huge list of priorities that's so overwhelming I can't prioritize all the priorities. I've worked with a therapist and psychologist before and as I've said in the past they are the most wonderful people in the world. I think the number one thing is that you have to be open to allowing them to help you and you have to accept that helping you is not doing it for you but it's helping you find it in yourself to do it for yourself. I'm not gonna say that it's difficult or that it's easy, that it's quick or takes forever. That depends on what the problems are that you are brave enough to tackle and strong enough to realize that you can't do it alone. So far I'm already starting to feel somewhat at ease as the professional I'm talking with is already helping me break up my priority list so I can tackle things one thing at a time.

OK now is the time where I mention again that while Rina is the dedicated retail manager moving her way up, just like her great grandmother did, her twin sister, Tori, is a psychologist in Indianapolis. To say that I am incredibly proud of MY millennials is truly an understatement.

Christmas last year

So that's me checking in for now. With a little more control over my hands I should be able to blog a little more. But realistically, I don't think the next blog will be from me because after reading JDs fill ins Marco has been bugging me that it's his turn. But I think I've got some Christmas pictures and maybe even Christmas music to share this weekend.

Please keep me or add me to your reading list. The positive comments really do keep me going.

Now I need to take a break so I can do some reading and commenting myself!

Yah, I’m A Lil’ Twisted

I bought something this week that came wrapped in a big plastic bag. The bag was on the floor this morning and I picked it up. I took a look at the label printed over and over down the middle of it.

It made me giggle. No, it gave me a giggle fit. Im not giggling about warning people of suffocation from a plastic bag. It’s the drawings. A baby crawling around “goo ga-goo ga-goo” with a loose square bag on its head, a dog just standing there “woof wa-woof wa-woof” with a loose square bag on its head and a human clutching the bag around his throat with a face like the painting The Scream. The baby and dog have a fighting chance against the plastic bag because they aren’t clutching it tight around their throats.

Last weekend gave us a fun Saturday night celebrating Rina and Tori turning 21. After a nice dinner that Rina enjoyed with a bottle of hard cider and Tori complemented with a glass of wine, we all met at Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. To be honest, I would have rather gone over the state border to the casino in Cincinnati; Ohio casinos are non-smoking. The girls are worth it but it took 4 days of antihistamines for me to recover from the evening. I had some nice one-on-one time with each of the girls while playing video poker. I made my $20 donation to the casino. Rina didn't think she would like gambling, but her stepmom, family friend and aunt did a decent job of showing her how to play a little, enjoy the evening and not lose any more than you planned as your entertainment budget. I think she found her game when friend, Michelle, took her slot machine hopping.

Even though all three of our house teams; Tigers, Reds and Red Sox, finished in last place this year, it’s still October. I prefer it when all three of our teams play in October. All three in dead last is just…it’s just wrong in Naniland! But since we’re playing baseball through the looking glass this year, I’m solidly in the cheering pocket of the Cubs! It’s been 107 years since they won a World Series. It’s time. Red Sox fans, You’ve been there. You know how it feels. For the Cubs fans, let’s put rings in the North Side in Chicago this year.

Okay, and Austin Jackson is a Cub now, so he who was my Tiger is now MY Cub. I have a personal fan interest.

GO CUBBIES!

Hey, What Day Is It?

Tori and Rina last Christmas

We had a big family dinner last month at Pop’s place. He’d mentioned that he hadn’t seen “the gang” since we’d moved from Northville, in 2007, and he wanted to do a barbecue and have everyone come over. We did just that for our Leos dinner where Aunt Judy and I celebrate our birthdays together. I’m proud that my family, the brothers and sisters I met and took as part of my family in life’s journey, have been part of my world long enough that most of them remember when Tori and Rina were babies. They were a “no way” part of the discussion when I mentioned how old they were!

 

They used to welcome me home from work when 

they were at their grandparents' house 

with kisses and stealing my jewelry!

 

US Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio

They were 4 

 

They're about 10 in this one

This is Christmas Eve 2008. 

They're 14 and don't now they have an Uncle David yet..

They very well may have been out with friends last night to count down to midnight and buy their first legal alcoholic drink. Today, September 13, 2015, those sweet little girls pictured above are 21! I told them yesterday that whenever and however they celebrate with their friends, be crazy and make sure there is a designated driver!

 20-year-olds last Christmas

Monumental things that happen in your life can be very easy to remember. I remember my first legal drink when I was 19. I was in Canada and I had a glass of Maria Christina white wine with dinner. That was fun because I was perfectly legal but not legal at home. My friends and I spent a couple of years hanging out in Windsor.

My first legal drink in the US was on my 21st birthday. I worked that day and I went to lunch with my mom and our boss, mom and I worked in the same office at the time. We went for Chinese and I had a mai tai with lunch. It was 1987; I don’t think a boss would take an employee out to have a drink with lunch on her 21st birthday now. Maybe, I’m a little past 21 now.

I don’t worry that the girls have never had alcohol. Even above and beyond a glass of wine at a family gathering, Italian family, remember, I know Canada wasn’t the only place I had a drink when I was 19&20, just the only place I drank legally. Turning 21 was pretty cool to me because I was really an adult then. I could do ALL of the things adults could do. Drinking was a big deal on the weekends for a while, then it settled in to just a social thing. I really haven’t been much of a drinker for a number of years now. (But I have to have schnapps during the holidays!)

I hope the girls enjoy taking a big ole bite out of the alcohol apple for the celebration as it becomes no longer the forbidden fruit. Then accept it as something that complements the fun with their friends and not let it be the fun.

David and I will be having dinner and a casino night with the girls, their parents and a couple of their friends in a couple of weeks. I’ll try and get them to take a picture with me then, for an update. This one is from last Christmas.

I have always said it and always will; they get cooler and cooler every year!

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

She Is Truly Just Awesome!

 Rina is one in a million

I listen to a variety of MS teleconferences on Tuesday nights. I like to stay informed about areas science is exploring on my disease and with my responsibilities as a self-help group leader I think it’s important to understand what other people with MS find important as well. Keeping in mind that I’m special; Primary Progressive MS is less common than Relapsing Remitting MS and I really would like to understand more about RRMS too.

This week’s topic was telling kids and helping them understand that you have MS. From listening to the psychologist talk and then hearing the comments and questions from people on the teleconference after her it seems that telling young children is much easier than teens and young adults. I wasn’t surprised. Young children usually have unconditional love, faith and trust in the adults who care for them and will accept and deal with a situation much in the same way those adults will. If the adults are calm and positive with a drive to learn about the disease, the young children will handle an adult they love having it better and will learn at the level that’s right for their ability to understand. That’s not pshychobabble; I watched Tori and Rina adapt to my mom’s limitations with arterial sclerosis and rather than pulling away because they didn’t understand they were the 7 year olds getting the wheelchair at museums because they understood that Grams can’t do the walking in museums, but with the wheelchair we could all go together. Even thought my dad usually did the wheelchair pushing, the girls could help by getting the chair. By letting them do part of the caregiver responsibilities they accepted and learned what they can do to help. I’ve seen other young kids adapt in the same way. The kids that are with a parent who has MS at the family events I’ve been to are very much the like the girls were with their grandmother; they understand that parent’s limitations and it actually empowers them to feel like they can do something to help.

I will be honest that it broke my heart hearing so many people who commented their teen and young adult kids didn’t seem interested in learning or understanding about MS. There were also comments that that age group didn’t seem interested in helping in any capacity. I was in my late 20s when Mom was diagnosed but I’d like to believe that I was enough of the same person that had been my early 20s I still would have gone to medical classes with her to understand the disease. I do understand that the age, teens and early 20s, is a time when you’re pulling away from your relatives a little bit and establishing your own identity, adopting your own extended family through your network of friends, but I think when a parent tells you they haven’t incurable disease you might bring yourself mentally at home find out a little more about it and see if there’s anything you can do to help your parent.

I want to take the opportunity to give a MAJOR shout-out to Rina. She was the first one I thought of when I heard so many people talking about their young adult children who didn’t seem interested in helping or knowing any more about MS when their parent told the of their diagnosis. I just couldn’t understand some one’s own kids trying to distance themselves because my niece chose to do a final project for one of her college classes talking about MS, the different types of MS and how they affect people who have it. This project was to include a segment explaining why the topic was chosen and Rina included photographs of me in her PowerPoint slides to support why awareness and research of the disease is important to her. When she showed me her project I was in proud, loved and happy tears. After hearing the more common reaction in her age group to someone in your world having the disease it solidified what I thought anyway; she is truly an incredibly special young woman!

Rina To The Rescue!

It’s 6° out SIX! I’m not normally one to complain about the weather… Oh who am I kidding? I’m totally one to complain about the weather and a 6° morning temperature SUCKS!

But it’s sunny and I have a warm cup Starbucks Christmas blend in my newest coffee mug from my notes-so-secret Santa cousin!

 

side 1

 

side 2

Yesterday I had a knock on the door and saw the UPS truck in front. I went to the front door, with the powerchair thus no stress, and there was a package on the front porch. (UPS gets it right when I ask that packages be left on the front porch.) I use the big grabber and pulled the box in the porch and brought it back to the dining room table. It had my name on it but it was from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I didn’t order anything from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I opened the box and there was a copy of an email telling me that it was a gift from my cousin! As if getting a gift isn’t enough to put a smile on my face, it’s a mug! And it totally cool mug that will fit a big cup of coffee. Thanks, Seamhead Gypsy, or wonderful surprise for my collection and a great holder for my morning coffee.

On the less-than-stellar front I discovered that, while I can still make cookie dough, I can’t quite bake the cookies anymore. My legs have gotten pretty bad for balancing while holding a chair long enough to set the timer on the oven in my arms are just a little too weak to get cookie sheet of high enough to put in the oven. That was a little disheartening. David was home when I discovered this and did the pans in and out for me for that one batch but I usually bake when he’s not home.

Davinities is not lost! Rina to the rescue! I sent a text to ask if she would come visit and help bake after her semester is over. I got a call almost immediately. Rina wanted to come visit and make crostadas. The family party for Laura’s family is before Christmas this year. I usually send a couple of crostadas for their party home with Dave and Laura on Christmas Eve. Rina was going to get my recipe from online and make the crostadas this year. (Nana beaming with pride) She’s made it crostada before but it’s been a few years and her dad suggested she should “make them with the master” before she tries it solo. I guess I hadn’t realized how much my brother really likes the crostadas. (Nani is feeling really buttered up now.) So those who get Davinities in the mail will be getting that sweet box a little closer to or just after Christmas. I guess this means I’m not the Davinities Little Princess anymore; I’m the Queen! I’d love it Rina gets the whole cookies for Christmas vibe and decides to take over. We’ll see, but I’m looking forward to a few days of baking with my Sweetie!

Normal Friday

I got a call yesterday from Rina that she got home safe and sound and in plenty of time to get to her 6PM class. She was here since Saturday to “help me out” after I’d been in the hospital. Okay, yes, I’ve been out of the hospital for a couple weeks now, but my brother was having a couples-only over 21 party and needed to get his daughter out of the house. Rina and I weren’t complaining. She got to go on her first solo journey of more than a half hour and we got to spend a few days together. Her class schedule is such that Martin Luther King Day meant no classes on Monday and her next classes were Thursday evening and Friday. It was an awesome long weekend!



Now I’ll check-in with a couple of Friday favorites!

This week’s statements:
1. Making ____ is ____
2. I get ___ easily
3. The number of emails in my inbox is _________ and ____________
4. Traveling _______________ makes me _______________.


My Answers:

1. Making the best of a bad situation is the only way I know how to cope.
2. I get emotional easily. Sometimes even a sappy commercial gets to me!
3. The number of emails in my inbox is way too high and I need to clean my inbox out get arid of the spam!
4. Traveling for long days in the car makes me kinda achy at the end of the day.

1.Do you embrace or dread snow/cold weather days?

I abhor cold and snow with an untold passion! I have a doctor’s appointment next week and I’m worried that I’ll be out in the cold and snow waiting for the bus. And by the way, wheelchair frames and the wheels you use to actually make it go get very cold, very fast.


2. Which game show or reality show could you totally win?

Wheel of Fortune. But I’d do it by solving the puzzles, not spinning to run up the bank when I know the answer. When the answer is obvious and they keep spinning, contestants look like idiots.


3. What is your preferred climate?

Warm. Give me 80s and mild humidity every day with the occasional drop to the 70’s and a few thunderstorms, with no tornadoes, and I’m in paradise.


4. What do you buy every time you walk into the grocery store, no matter what?

Bananas and carrots.


5. If you see a spider/bug in the house, are you brave enough to kill it, or do you call for your hubby?

We get spiders that curl up in the molding joints in our ceilings. If David isn’t home I just stare back up at them to make sure they’re still sleeping until he gets home. If they move, I freak, but as long as I have a half bottle of spider-spray or some kind of spray and something to bash them with when they fall, I can kill them. But, it’s usually a major drama with me yelling powerful and nasty things at it as I kill it. Yes, I use more spray than necessary and bash the lifeless body into oblivion to be sure it’s dead. It’s an irrational fear and there is lots of adrenaline when I have to go into combat.

If David’s home, I yell for him because he forbade me to use my baseball bat on them. Why does a woman with limited mobility have a baseball bat if not for the purpose of clubbing spiders? He’s depriving my baseball bat of its purpose in life.

If it’s a 6-legged creature, I’ll just kill it and throw the body away.

A BIG Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

RINA AND TORI!!

early 1995

Tori, Nana, Rina

The sweetest nieces in the world 

are legal adults today!

August 2012

Nana, Rina, Tori

(yes I’m VERY biased, so?)

I Want The Chocolate One

Good morning members of my blog family. Even if you’re visiting for the first time, welcome to the Chronicles of Nani family. As this is my coffee shop on the Information Super Highway, I need to take a break and get a cup of coffee!

While I’m doing that, I’ll share a scrapbook page I did with some shots I just love of Kaline:

Credits: Chill by Sugar Kissed Designs

Okay I’m back. Aren’t those pictures of Kaline nice? I’m pretty proud of the photography!

Part of this is me feeling a little guilty. I want to thank everyone on Carla’s behalf for the nice comments and birthday wishes. Where I feel a little guilty is I didn’t post anything on August 12, Kaline’s birthday! I did do a Facebook Status for her, but not a blog. Shame on me! She turned 7. She did mention her birthday on Behind Orange Eyes in The Cat Days of Summer where she used one of the photos from that layout. She thought it made her look cute; she is a Leo after all!


So I made a cup of Verona in the Keurig maker. I can see the bottom of the container the Verona is in already! After it’s empty, I’m going to put a new box of Vienna Coffee House, which is my everyday coffee. I have 3 boxes of Verona left, but Starbucks is pricier than most of the K-Cups, so I don’t want to use it all up and I’m not in a financial position to upgrade my everyday java. Besides, I prefer to keep my indulgences as a treat.

To go with the yummy cup of Verona, breakfast is definitely not my normal fruit, yogurt and whole grain cereal. I've been craving a donut like crazy for a couple of weeks. It got worse when I was chatting with Kelly a couple nights ago and we were talking about her impending visit next month. We agreed that we must go to the cider mill in Michigan for cider and donuts. Yes, there are places locally that we can get cider and donuts, but cider and donuts in Michigan taste better. It tastes like home. We’ll go visit Scotty for one of the days she’s here, and the three of us on a picnic table with cider and donuts will definitely happen! And for a little while, we’ll all be in our early 20s, single and not a realistic care in the world.

But that’s next month. For today, I found a box of pumpkin donuts at Kroger when we did our cupboard restocking trip last night. Now, in keeping good tack of my points in my diet, breakfast today is actually a little less than normal for a donut and a peach with coffee. It’s just maybe slightly less good for me than the whole grains and yogurt. But it tastes SO GOOD!


Okay, now on to the weekly Monday Quiz About Me fun, hosted by Heather at Acting Balanced!

1. What is your favorite memory you made while on walk?

I always walked to clear my mind so a memory on a walk would be counter-productive, no? :)

Actually, I went on walks with Tori and Rina a lot. They weren’t as impressed with my favorite trails at Maybury State Park as I was. I liked the dirt paths and the more challenging hills. They hated having to wear bug spray and they hated the bus. But they did like the wildflowers. The best memories are that while they weren’t crazy about the bugs, we did that walking to get to the picnic areas in the back of the park where we discovered a playground they hadn’t been to before! So I guess it’s not so much a single memory, but a bunch of fun memories of picnics with my nieces when they were little.


2. Do you prefer to live in the city, suburbs or country? Why?

Well, I live in the city now, but not downtown, just within the city limits. I have to say that out of all the places I’ve lived I remember loving being a kid in Southgate Michigan because of the plethora of affordable kids programs in the 70s. But I love living in Toledo, Ohio!; it’s a small city, but it has the cultural and sports of a larger city, albeit on a bit smaller scale. The public transportation is good and if you’re driving the traffic is much less congested than a larger it or its suburbs. When David and I started dating that was the most refreshing thing; leaving the always crazy and congested traffic of Novi for the much more pleasant driving in Toledo. We’re close to downtown for things we need to do in the city, live in a pleasant neighborhood and we’re not a far drive from parks and farmland. It’s really the best of all worlds.


3. Post the cutest kid/pet/whatever picture you have taken lately?

Technically I didn’t take it, I’m in it. David took it, so it’s joint effort, right? He did need me there to take it.

I was chilly and kicked back on the couch with my blanket and fell asleep. Kaline is 7 years old and 13 pounds, but she has always loved crawling up and relaxing on my chest. She’s just not the pound-and-a-half kitten she was when she discovered she liked that resting spot. The thing is because she’s always done it, I don’t wake up just because she crawls onto me. I wake up when I hear my husband taking pictures!


4. What is your favorite recipe made with apples?

Tori and Rina will tell you I make the best apple chips there are. My apple chips recipe is simple; sliced cored apples really thin (salad shooter is great for that) spread the apple slices onto racks for the dehydrator. Start the dehydrator and check on them tomorrow. The new dehydrator I got last year will do a full load, about a quart of chips, in a day and a half. It is the greatest, most nutritious snack chip little kids have ever fallen so in love with they want it still sent to them in college.

Now, while I like the apple chips, my favorite thing I do with apples is still Shortbread Apple Crisp; wonderful with a scoop of dulce de leche ice cream!


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

5. What was a favorite food of yours as a kid that you still love as an adult?

The easy answer would be chocolate. See the story here about my chocolate bunny when I was 3. (It’s the answer to question 4 in the Friday 5 Questions.)  I don’t lock myself in a closet and eat a pound of chocolate anymore, but my favorite of almost anything is still “the chocolate one.”

On a healthier note, I’ve always loved salad! That was my favorite part of dinner when we ate at Noni’s because her dressing was so awesome, but then and still now, put it on a bed of lettuce and I’ll probably like it.

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!

Will The REAL Monday Please Blog-Up?

As common everyday goes, last week was just weird! The Fourth of July midweek throws everything off. Once I got over the fact that Friday was indeed Friday and not Monday, it was suddenly the weekend! The fact that in order to get the train-time off and to help out with vacation times, David worked straight through the weekend and is working odd hours all week this week just adds to my confusion.

Yesterday I met Heather and Tracy for lunch in Monroe. It’s always a great day when we get together! After a leisurely lunch at Cracker Barrel, we went to the porch and continued our conversations. It was sunny, mid 80s and a mild occasional breeze; a gorgeous day! It ended up being a 5-hour lunch.

Monday Mug Shot

Wright Brothers National Memorial

Kill Devil Hills, NC

I guess I’m a little warped. I got my photo of the Kill Devil Hills water tower and with a wicked giggle and a raspy voice said “Kill Devil; Kill! Kill!” It just struck me as a horror movie name and it brought out my inner-imp!

The Wright Brothers museum and monument are pretty cool. We invited anyone else in the house that wanted to go to join us, but it ended up being just David and me. I know a lot of people like to just go to the beach or sit in their rented house and look out the windows when they’re on vacation, but I just couldn’t do that in an area with so much to see and do!

It was gray, rainy and muggy when we went to the museum, so it was busier because all of the beach bums settled for history to hide from the rain. That’s more of an observation than anything because there were a lot of people there and many left when the rain stopped!

It was fascinating watching the step-by-step of how the first airplane was tested and eventually constructed. Orville Wright was the brother who piloted the actual first flight. Wilbur piloted the second of the four fights they did on December 17, 1903. It was the fourth flight, by Wilbur, when they actually had established full control of the Wright Flyer. There was no “seating” in the Wright Flyer. The one-person airplane was piloted lying on your belly with your legs back while controlling the plane with your hands. Can you imagine flying like that today? But if the Wrights had never flown that way, the advancements that put seats in planes never would have come about!

After our time in the museum, David went up to the top of the hill, where the monument to that first flight that took off from that hill was. I stayed at the base of the hill with the car. It’s not at all that the monument wasn’t accessible, just steeper than I wanted to climb or make my husband push!

Wright Brothers Memorial

Our original plan after the Wright Brothers museum was to find a nice seafood restaurant and have our lavish meal of the trip for lunch. But the sun came out and there were lighthouses calling. No really, “David…Nani…have a late lunch. We’re waiting…” If there’s sunlight, they will come and all, we passed on immediate lunch and headed south!


Stay tuned for more Carolina mugs!

Read more about the Wright Brothers and the first flight!





Monday Quiz About Me

This is how I knew Friday wasn’t Monday; no quiz at Acting Balanced! Even while on vacation and enjoying the summer, Heather has been keeping this fun meme up. It’s a great way to wake up your brain for the new week! It’s not question-overload and the last question that you present readers adds just a bit of entertainment for them and it also makes commenting easy! (More fun to read than “yeah, what you said” too!) Won’t you think about joining in?

1. What are two must haves when you go on a road trip?

My camera and a notebook. We often keep track of license plates when we travel and I write down the ones we see. We saw Alaska three times on our vacation this year! I also take scrapbook notes to go with the photos I take.


2. What is your favorite amusement park ride?

I don’t do amusement parks so much anymore. I did them and carnivals often when I was a teenager/early 20s, but got bored with them. I’m not a huge thrill seeker, but when I seek thrills, I actually prefer a little more real risk. I thought the areas of the Blue Ridge Parkway that didn’t have guard rails when I drove on that were more fun than any amusement park ride I’d been on.

When I did go to amusement park/carnivals, I liked the Tilt-A-Whirl because, with my friends there with me, we could make it spin faster ourselves.


3. Post favorite picture from the last six months?

Well, my favorite, most meaningful, photo of the past 6 months I already put in my blog. That would be the one of me with Tori and Rina grasping their honors cords on their graduation night, so I’m representing that photo with the shots of them individually with me.

Nana and Tori

Rina and Nana

And here is another big favorite of mine, the group shot from Scotty’s BIG 25 Party:

4. What do you (did you) call your grandparents? If you are a grandparent what do your grandchildren call you?

My grandparents were Grandma and Papa on Mom’s side and Noni and Nono on Pop’s side. I don’t have kids, but Tori and Rina call me Nana, formed from the attempts at “Aunt Nani” when they were little. I suppose if they have kids I might be “Grandnana” or I may just stay Nana. The oldest kids are always the ones who ultimately decide what grandparents (or grand-aunts) will be called.

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

5. Do you have a cup or glass that is you favorite for your morning beverage?

I have a couple hundred mugs in my collection, but I still drink my morning coffee in my “good morning mug.”

Where’s The Mug?/Monday Quiz

Indianapolis Indians

Photo NOT in Indiana

I’ll give you a hint; David and I went on our second date to see the Indianapolis Indians at the Mud Hens. It was a school day game and this is where he went after the date.

The plan had been to do the mug I bought yesterday at the Indianapolis Indians game and tell about the game and the whole long weekend in Indianapolis, but the mug is still in David’s car. He sent me a picture of it from his phone this morning.

 Honors cords on both of them!

This was such a huge week! Notice the picture of me with my graduated nieces; Tori and Rina BOTH graduated with honors cords, something I just missed when I graduated, and I was beyond proud! We got in later than panned and the girls had already left with their grandparents to the Convention Center where the commencement ceremonies were. I didn’t see them until after the ceremony. We were all gathered waiting for them and when they came out they rushed in with hugs and hellos. Then it was picture time with everyone. When they were both standing in front of me, I grabbed the cords in both hands and held them up to them and said, “THIS is what makes me SO proud; I just missed having them. You both topped me!” I couldn’t hide the cracking in my voice.

They both told me separately that it meant a lot to them that I cried. I was told that I used the word proud right because I wasn’t just proud because they graduated. I was proud because of what those cords mean. They both worked hard to earn them and I heard many comments over the last few years about how much work and frustration the AP classes were, how much it wasn’t worth it, how it was killing their GPAs. But they both fought hard and protected those GPAs; totally worth it!

Now I can tell you about the big project I mentioned at the beginning of the year. Friends who know me in the scrapbook forums have seen the pages and now they are finished projects. I started working on books for the girls for graduation/18th Birthday girls in January 2008. I presented the finished books, one custom made for each of them with some pages the same and lots of them unique to them. They both loved the books, but they didn’t cry. They looked through them, but planned to read them when they were alone. Uh huh!

Before they opened the memory books, I gave them each their own copy of The Seven Habits of Hghly Effective People. That is a book they grew up knowing because I used it a lot and quoted it when we worked on projects; “Begin with the end in mind,” “Sharpen the saw” and always having a backup plan were a big part of my habits for effective Aunting! It was also a source of valuable tools for critical thinking and “big picture” decision making. Tori recognized the book right away as the book they were “raised on” and Rina thinks maybe it would be a good book to read before college. And here I was didn’t sign the books in case they didn’t want to read them so they could sell them for part of a text book.


Monday Mug Shot

Indianapolis Indians

My Sweeties are off to college in the fall! It’s not like I saw them all that much during the school year after they moved to Indianapolis, but occasionally they all went to Michigan on a weekend and there won’t be those anymore. But I do have bait to get them to visit me every now and then; I have Ya Halla, the Middle Eastern restaurant we all love in Toledo.

But yesterday was the day for kidnapping them, probably for the last time it would be kidnapping. The next time we spend a day together without their Dad around, it will probably just be adults getting together for coffee.

I had asked the girls before we left the Open House Saturday if they wanted to go to the game with David and me on Sunday. They were both quite enthusiastic with their “yes.” We picked them up at 11:30 for a 1:15 game. We dropped off luggage form the back seat to make room for the girls to switch it back before we went home. When we got to the park, early, as we walked in we were happily surprised to find out it was bobblehead give away day and we were early enough to get them! The Indians are the Pirates’ AAA team and we all got an Andrew McCutchen bobblehead, very cool. McCutchen is my favorite MLB player to hate. Okay, maybe hate is strong; I think he’s an awesome player, this coming from watching him beat up on the Reds and this year the Tigers in Interleague play. So the McCutchen bobblehead will go nicely next to Mike Piazza in our living room.

After getting the bobbleheads, we were then handed Chili’s bingo cards. The bingo cards were very cool! Each card had the free space and 24 possible things that could happen during the game. Tori and Rina both had “Pitch hits batter” on one of their spaces, but Tori was most vocal with “Aw, come on hit somebody!” The cards are actually pretty cool because it really makes you focus on the game to try and check all the boxes. In the end none of us got all of the spaces filled, but the “combined 20 hits” and even “total runs 8 or more” got checked off as the Indians beat the Syracuse Chiefs by a score of 14-6 with 19 hits for the home team and 10 hits for the Chiefs. If you like high-scoring games, that was one to see. Since there were so many high hit and run numbers on our cards, the high score was a good thing for sure!

The girls enjoyed a bit of their childhood, eating their way through the game. Tori proclaimed teat ballpark food has always been the best and she and Rina were both ready for Dippin Dots late in the game. All right, on the Dippin Dots, all four of us were ready! After the game we went to Chili’s with the coupons from the bingo cards, except that we didn’t order the things in the coupons. Still, eating at Chili’s was a thank you for the fun bingo game cards.

Tori posted from the game on Facebook that it was a great time and Rina said it was the “best day in a long time.” And no schmoozing; they had their graduation cards but hadn’t opened them yet at the time! David and I agreed that we were glad the day turned out just as it did! I don’t care if I’m biased; they truly are incredible young women. Onward and upward, girls!

1. Finish this sentence - The first thing I do in the morning is...

Take meds/vitamins


2. What is your favorite kind of pie?

Depends on my mood; Chocolate silk or Key Lime, t I’ll never turn down a nice ice cream pie.


3. Do you have pets? 

No, but Kaline and Carla do; they call them Mommy and Daddy.

4. What is your favorite chair in your house?

I want to someday get a “World Series chair;” one I can sprawl in with my knees draped over the side. Right now, there is no favorite chair.


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

Was your high school graduation in May or June?

I graduated in January, but the commencement ceremony for our class was in June.