Chronicles of Nani - Things Change

The world itself is in a constant state of change. So I don't know why I ever thought things would be different for me!

I took a few weeks off to catch up on some important things at home thinking to myself but three weeks later I have a good amount of things done and underway. Now don't get me wrong, there are a lot of things that are underway. They just aren't done. I'm really not that uncommon in wanting, or at least hoping for, instant gratification.

I guess the hardest part is expecting things to be done in a certain order and "things changing" makes up my mind in what order I'm going to get things changed.

One of the big changes I had to live with this week is my editing time got cut really short. But I'm here! But if some of the things look choppy, please forgive me. If it's really that hard to look at just listen because the vocal sounds pretty good. LOL

*What construction sounds you hear from time to time during today's program are not house reclaiming it’s the cats trying to organize for me. They're not very good at it.

Chronicles of Nani - Almost Didn't Make It

Another week of things going wrong punching me in the face. BUT another week when my face survived!

It was also another week where I recorded edited and did the whole shebang on Wednesday all day and most of the night. I'm uploading and going to sleep.

Hopefully things are getting back to normal and I'll be tackling "list 2” to get my life back!

#CyberCoffeeShop
#HerbalTea
#MikePiazza
#MötleyCrüe

Chronicles of Nani - More Vaccine

We start off with a little bit baseball! Actually, a whole bunch of baseball. Then I wheel onto my accessible soapbox to talk about Covid, changes in vaccination for immunocompromised and questions that can't be answered about the selfish people who are afraid to be vaccinated and are possibly helping the pandemic get worse.

 

The Chronicles of Nani - Baseball Road Trip

 Now that I've had my Covid vaccine and I got my OK from the doctor to leave the house May 5, 2021 my husband and I went to Fort Wayne Indiana to see the Michigan Whitcaps at Fort Wayne Tin Caps. After the awful year 2020 was, and remember I also boycotted baseball because I was angry with how they did the 2020 season, but I can't stay mad at baseball. I'm a lifer when it comes to being a baseball fan. So my first day out for other than a Covid shot in over a year being a road trip to go to a baseball game was the most awesome date day with my husband that I could think of. It was a great day!

Oh and I am choosing a microphone so that when I am out loud events you can hear me more than the background. I think I did okay but next time when I'm out it's gonna be even better.

The Chronicles of Nani-Sports in 2020

Weekend Playlist February 24

The weekend ends when I go to bed on Sunday night. I have pills that I take at 1 AM so no day ends until after one anyway. I guess you could say my body clock is stuck in the central time zone. It's okay because I LOVE Chicago! anyway. ;)

So these were the last five songs from my library on shuffle before David left this morning at 8 AM. It's just been a crazy Sunday, so I'm just a little behind.

This weekend’s selections are courtesy of iTunes via Joey II, my current main computer, last year’s birthday gift I gave to myself. As usual, enjoy, be confused, be surprised, but please don't judge too hard.

Let Me Love You, DJ Snake featuring Justin Bieber

Devil At The Door, The Skeleton Club

When We Make Love, Ginuwine

Walk Right Back, The Everly Brothers

No Diggity, Blackstreet

There are a lot of people that seem to have a certain genre of music or certain band that is the music that just defines educational portions of their life. I know in high school I was definitely the confusing combination of loving classical music and being a heavy metal chick. I would have never made it through trade school without my country music and in the 90s R&B is what finished my bachelors degree full timewhile juggling three part-time jobs.

I liked No Diggity the first time I heard it in the car. I love the whole feel of the music but what I totally fell in love with the first time I heard the song was the term “eargasm” to describe basically a sound that will blow you away. I love the nuances and incredible ways you can use the English language to say the same thing so many different ways, but I also love being able to use that language to create words to add even more color to it. Trust me, I could put together a mini dictionary of words and phrases I use on a regular basis that if you hear anyone else use them it's because they've been hanging out with me too long. LOL. So, work with me here, keeping in mind the eclectic taste thing. First thing that came to mind when I heard that word was Ravel’s Bolero. In it's day Bolero was frowned upon by many in society because the piece was so risqué. Seriously it builds up to and finishes with a GIANT eargasm!

Every time I hear the song it brings me back to a time where a normal Wednesday was often, wake up in the morning, put together my schoolbag, make sure I have my ID badge and head to good old Tiger Stadium to be there plenty early before 1:05PM gametime on getaway day, work the jumbotron graphics and praying we didn't go into extra innings so I’d have enough time to stop at Cracker Barrel and have that meal that comes between work and school because my three hour direct marketing class was in Monroe at 7 PM. I think it reminds me most of Wednesdays because it was still bigon the radio and staple at the ballpark too.

I'll be honest. MS notwithstanding, I'm still not sure I could do what I did for two years to finish my degree now. I will tell you though, having the degree, and my three jobs that included being in major league baseball games and getting a check for it, working with Fortune 1000 executives and editing and studying the “baby picture” segments as an assistant editor for a wedding videographer which eventually inspired some of the work I did years later in my own business was an exhausting time in my life but I wouldn't trade for anything as part of my past.

I have a separate playlist that's just 90s R&B, that includes No Diggity by Blackstreet, that brings me back for a little while to the two years that were consumed by baseball, company executives public speaking education, wedding videos and that beautiful piece of paper that said I finally earned my DEGREE in broadcast communications. It truly says it's never too late to go back to school and finish. But I really do think the way that I did it, you probably should still be a younger older to do it that way.

The lyrics and the song really don't match what I was doing at the time, and yet maybe they kind of do too.. “Ain't nothing going on but the rent." Note to all women: whatever you choose to do or need to do just make sure you are the one who calls the shots. Don't ever put up with anyone standing in the way of you having the control over you.

As usual video services seemed to have really clamped down on the ability to embed videos. I can probably figure out what I need to do to make that happen, but when I'm still playing the Chicago body clock card, it's really not a project I have time to take on just now. If you’d like to see the video, click on the link below the photo.

https://youtu.be/3KL9mRus19o

Weekend Playlist, October 28

This was fun last weekend so it's something that I think I may continue doing for a while. Like I said last week my musical taste is pretty eclectic. There're lots of reasons why songs end up in my music library. Please don't judge!

Here's a taste - the last five songs that played from my music library on shuffle.

L’estate (Summer,) Antonio Vivaldi

Nothing Else Matters, Metallica

Polka Dots and Moonbeams, Frank Sinatra

Let Me Love You, DJ Snake (feat. Justin Bieber)

The Greatest, Kenny Rogers

The Kenny Rogers song is a great place to stop and talk this week as tonight is game five of the World Series. As regular visitors to The Chronicles of Nani know, baseball is a pretty big deal for me. We have three "House teams" in Naniville. My teams are the Detroit Tigers and Cincinnati Reds and David's team is the Boston Red Sox. Since one of our house teams is the AL champion this year, of course, we're cheering for the Red Sox!

So far the series couldn't be going any better. What I actually mean by that is I didn't want a sweep. Our cousin, Cyndi, David's cousin and one of his wedding gifts to me, was given tickets to game five by her son for her birthday. Cyndi and I share the love of baseball and the love of anything pumpkin spice, so of course there's no way I would wish for her to have the world's lousyest souvenir; World Series tickets for a game that didn't happen. I have a pair of those from 2011 when the Tigers did not go to the World Series. They are sad souvenirs.

As a birthday present especially, you should get to enjoy the absolutely electric feeling of being at a postseason game. Now Cyndi is a lifelong Los Angeles Dodgers fan, so I can't go as far as extending a wish that she gets to see her team win. I already wished for a loss to make sure there was a game five. But nothing beats the feeling of just being in the park for a World Series game. (I got to experience that with my mom in 1984.) I do hope she thoroughly enjoys the experience and hey, when I visited Dodger Stadium almost 20 years ago, they had sushi at the ballpark. So there's probably good chance she can get a pumpkin spice latte while she enjoys being at the World Series… and watching Boston celebrate winning the championship.

If it was the Astros (again) I'd totally be cheering for the Dodgers. Just saying.


Enjoy some baseball thoughts or dreams of your own with the video for one of my favorite baseball songs.
(click on the You Tube link to see the video larger)

Astros Not Winning As Corporate Citizens

Early this season I predicted the Houston Astros to win the World Series this year. Now I'm not sure I even want them to play in October.

I still have some issues with the Astros home games right now. When such a huge number of families in the Houston area are homeless right now after the flooding from Harvey’s rain, the baseball stadium is open for business. According to one article I read free tickets to the reopened games were offered to "some displaced families" with thousands of tickets offered for free at nearby shelters. That's the best millionaire and billionaire players/ownership can do? The first place Astros weren't even selling out before the hurricane and record flooding and devastation. People might be more encouraged to support a team that does more to support them in times of trauma and need.

There are so many who lost everything. People in nearby shelters may be wearing donated clothes because they didn't have the ability to grab much before a flash flood swallowed their home. Shelters are filled with people who have no food and last I checked, shelters for flood victims don't have huge parking lots for all those cars. Most of those were under water. Houston's METRO system was greatly affected by flooding too with the entire system shut down for two days and parts slowly opening as flood waters recede and it's no longer too dangerous. Many small and even larger businesses are flood victims too. Why is the large stadium worth billions just throwing some free tickets to nearby shelters?

I'd be happier as a baseball fan, as a former small business owner, as a human being, to see them offering free tickets with concession vouchers and shuttles from those nearby shelters to the stadium. Displaced people really do need a break, some semblance of normal, even a few hours of special, in the midst of what has been lost. Free tickets and a walk with no spending money for food isn't quite enough. If being a good corporate citizen isn't enough and it's necessary to make it good marketing, maybe filling those empty seats with flood victims who are guests of the team may actually fill those seats with paying customers in 2018.


* I'd love this to change or to be proven wrong. Let me know if you discover something new to me!

A Carnival Fights Blog-Block

I’ve been in a writing funk lately. I'm going to try write my way out of it. We’ll see if it works.

Today's been a pretty good day. It's Carnival weekend at the church kitty corner from us. I asked my aide to crack open the window on the side of the house so I can hear the carnival. I hope that doesn't sound pathetic, it shouldn’t. I'm not disabled and hearing the sounds of fun I can't have. The truth is I find this sounds to be inspiring. I've always loved listening to the rides and people laughing and having fun. When I used to go to the park and walk every day the absolute greatest day was when it was just warm enough for moms to bring out their kids to play in the playground. It made me even more relaxed and happy to hear the sound of the kids outside having fun. This carnival weekend has been awesome for that reason ever since I moved into this house, 10 years ago. I've never actually been to that carnival. I’ve never really been a carnival goer as an adult. But I love the sounds of crowds of people having fun. So right now the setting sun is shining in my window and over me, I'm toggling the TV remote between three baseball games, and the fresh smell of outside with the sound of two crazy rides that I can see through the window make it a pretty great evening.

The Reds game tonight against Atlanta, is the first game since the off-season trade that Brandon Phillips has been back in Cincinnati. In the top of the first inning, his first at bat, Reds fans gave him a standing ovation. Bronson Arroyo stepped off the pitching mound to allow Phillips an opportunity to step back from the plate, take off his hat and salute the crowd. After 11 years with the Reds, Phillips’ contract gave him the right to say “no” to any trade the team considered. He used that right a couple of times, but the only team I'm sure he would've said ”yes” to would've been Atlanta, to go home. I admitted I choked up a little watching the whole thing; the welcoming ovation, Arroyo’s gesture, Brandon acknowledging the crowd and the fact that both pitcher and hitter we're visibly moved.


Maybe the carnival is helpful. The biggest problem that I've had when I've been writing lately is that when I start writing and I think I'm writing for the blog, I start getting very negative and very hostile, so it just ends up being writing that I put my personal journal. Remember that I write to get negative feelings out and put away. So I have enough things that are bugging me right now that everything I write turns into a page or two of grumbling and ranting. Even my scrapbooked daily blurbs have sometimes turned into a page long growling sessions that I've had to cut and paste into the personal journal, and write my daily comment shorter or about something else entirely. So I've had some demons that I've been dealing with. I won't say anything more about that lest this turn into another attempted blog that ends up going into the file that will only be opened after I'm gone.

I hope somebody does read it. It's not all negative stuff, though I do think, especially for those that know me, that seeing, understanding, the things that really got under my skin and how I dealt with them is a good thing. But there are fun things too. I put the text from my blogs, comments that I make in different forums, and even silly one liners. I also occasionally address the reader in the things that I write. What's the point in doing that if there's not going to be a reader someday? My scrapbooks and the complete and uncensored Chronicles of Nani will be my legacy. I'd like to be remembered for a generation or two after I'm gone. (smiles)


We celebrated Marco's fourth birthday yesterday. He's the only one of our cats whose birthday we are sure of. Marco and his litter siblings were born in our friend's garage on June 1, 2013. The girls’ birthdays are educated guesses. I'll do a scrapbook page for his birthday and maybe a "Christmas in June" page or two. I'm scrapping June for 2017 but December for every other year right now. Yes, that means I'm finishing books now! More details on that soon.

Half Century of Nani

I am officially half-century old. Just to let you know I don't have a problem with being my age so I feel no need to refer to myself as "years young." Everybody has their own personal little idiosyncrasies. Some of mine include hating phrases like "it is what it is," or that someone is however many "years young." It just feels like the ultimate in denial. I have the half-century of history. I have so many personal even public victories to remember fondly and as many mistakes and failures I have learned from. I've celebrated triumphs and fought challenges and I'm proud of every bit of who I am. Heck, I now qualify as a classic, even an antique in some circles. That means I'm worth more old than I am young. Why would I want to deny that?

I was officially 50 on July 29. I met David at the Mud Hens game and it was raining when I went out to catch the bus. Folks, I didn't see any rain on my birthday at all until I was 24 years old. In 1990, my friend Jeff and I we're at midway airport in Chicago waiting for plane to take us home. I saw rain on my birthday for the first time that day. And that was enough rain to keep our plane from landing and leave us with a few extra hours at the airport while we waited for the rescheduled flight. The guy tending the beer cart came to know us pretty well that day. Jeff's parents had dropped us off and my parents were picking us up so we didn't have to worry at all about driving… Since that time I've seen rain on my birthday hit and miss, not enough the delay anything. I really figured on my half-century birthday it shouldn't rain, right?

I tell you, it wasn't a drenching rain when I caught the bus and it had stopped raining by the time I got to the ballpark, but it WAS an absolute downpour that delayed the game for two hours at the start of the sixth inning! But the Mud Hens won and MY Tiger, JD Martinez, was my Mud Hen for my birthday! He was in Toledo on a rehab assignment. His first swing of the bat when he returned to Detroit a few days later was a home run that was the game-winning run. We'll just call that my birthday blessing. LOL

I did have a couple days of computer silence waiting for my "birthday present" from Apple. My power cord for my computer died. I mean it really died; I plugged it in and there was nothing. The battery died and the computer went dark while I was on the phone with AppleCare. It was a good thing I bought AppleCare insurance. The retail value on replacing the power source is $87! It died on a Sunday night and by Tuesday I had the replacement. All it cost me was two days of computer silence. I have my iPad and the TV; so, living in a swing state, I wasn't even away from politics for two days. Although no politics for 2 days might have been a present too.

Well, the couple days of computer silence did put me starting August behind on my page-a-day scrapbooking so I'm going to spend the rest of this pretty sunny afternoon catching up! Funny, 50 really doesn't feel any different than 49 did. Well, except that I joined AARP and I’m waiting for my card while looking for an appropriate coffee mug.

A Few Spring Things

Happy Opening Day! Like the parties on Christmas Eve have increased over the years, there were 3 Opening Day Eve parties. I watched bits of the first one, because my aide was in and yesterday was salon-day (hair-wash and pamper,) and all of the last two. Opening Day is today, not because I’m a Reds fan, but because the oldest professional team in baseball has always played at home on Opening Day. Baseball resuming in Cincinnati has always marked the beginning of the new season.

I still want to one day get to Cincinnati for Opening Day, parade and everything. I’ve been to OD for the Tigers as both a paying fan, intern and paid staff. No matter in what capacity, there is nothing that compares to the electric feeling in the air on Opening Day. As huge as it is in Tiger-town, you can feel the city-wide buzz is even more powerful in Cincinnati watching it on TV. I’d hope that the Joey Votto jersey and wheelchair could get me to the front of the parade line, or at least a free drink. **smiles**

When Melinda, my aide a few days a week, was here on Saturday it was snowing. It was enough snow that at times it looked pretty heavy and it did stick to the ground. It was April 2, so where did that prank come from? Its been a rough spring for me with no actual usable wheelchair, I’ve been a house-body, so I pretty much missed the crocuses this year except for one photo David took when they first came up and a glimpse of the end of them and beginning of the daffodil buds when I went to the doctor’s office a couple weeks ago. Melinda came right back in after she left and brought me one of the narcissus blooms. It didn’t get knocked off, she picked it. “So you get to enjoy at least one of them.” It made my day.

The snow we got on Saturday was melted away pretty quickly yesterday morning. Even though it was still a cold day, it started out sunny. We have nothing to complain about. I read on Edna's blog  that they woke up to a lot more snow from overnight in New England yesterday. She had some nice snow pictures and in spite of the snow, she offered a very bright and warm quick page freebie. By golly, it’s spring! I followed her lead and rebelled against the chill with this:

Credits: 2016 quick page 15 by Miss Edna, Open Windows by Mandy King and Connie Prince

I added a bit of my slightly sarcastic sense of humor, I remembered the ads from my childhood that “it’s not nice to fool Mother Nature.” It seems she pranks us enough. I don’t need no stinkin’ real butter…

Funny memories… Marco was being nosey about my toothbrushing stuff and it brought to mind an old lesson about why they don’t sell cat-toothbrushes.

Nani and Ritchie ages 17 & 1

When I was 17, I had a cat, Ritchie. Ritchie was all black except for a few white hairs on his chest and he was incredibly affectionate, although dumb as a box of rocks. On one given day, 17-year-old Nani was dumber than that box of rocks. I was playing with Ritchie, nuzzling his face, and he had incredible fish-breath! I figured it was a good idea to brush his teeth. I got an old toothbrush and put a little toothpaste on it. I never got to brush his teeth. As soon as the toothpaste hit his tongue he freaked. He ran through the house with the foam that the tooth paste instantly created trailing behind him leaving a frothy white map to exactly where he was. Where he it eventually ended up was his water bowl and I don't think I’ve ever seen a cat drink so much water!

Leave cat dental procedures to the professionals!

Happy April!

This is the exciting party weekend before my favorite holiday; Opening Day!

I’ve been watching a little bit of spring training baseball and I am optimistic that 2016 will at least be better than 2015, when all three of our house teams finished in last place. I have always, and always will, disliked the designated hitter, interleague play and the idiocy of home field advantage in the World Series having anything to do with the outcome of the All Star Game. I do like the three division set up and expanded playoffs, but that was better when the leagues were 14/16 and no interleague play. However, three smaller divisions per league does make it more possible to have a catastrophic year like last year,

I think I may watch more Tigers than Reds this year. Detroit is looking stronger with some changes for the better. The Reds have pretty much been “Joey, Brandon, Jay and the kids” with opposing announcers talking about how Cincinnati still wants to trade Bruce and Phillips. Give the gutted Reds a little time; Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce will be desperately hoping for an island to escape the sinking Reds ship. Poor Joey Votto will be left as the only remaining offense from a once capable team. I recall time when a new manager was the answer to an abundance of talent that can't seem to get on the same winning page. I’m more for hunt until you find your Joe Torre over putting your highest played player in the role of daycare supervisor with a rookie fleet.

And while I’m mentioning past Yankee success, when I predicted that Aroldis Chapman could be the next Mariano Rivera, I did NOT mean he could be a Yankee.

Okay, I’m not likely to spend big league ticket money to go to Great American Ball Park this year when I can see 3 Minor League franchises that are trying harder for then same money. I’m all for supporting my team win or lose, but The Reds turned their back on the fans last year and aren’t done. This is a good reason why I have 2 teams.

In Florida Thursday, MY Tiger, JD Martinez, had a stellar 3-home run day as Detroit defeated the Yankees 10-6. It’s going to be great year to be a Tigers fan, I can feel it!

Another Off-Season Begins

Congratulations to the Kansas City Royals, the 2015 World Champions! I predicted the Royals would win it in 5 after Game 1, but I would have rather have been wrong and have seen the Mets win last night so the Royals could have won it at home.

                                                                                                      AP photo

Now, my gripes:

First Gripe: Remember that I remain loyal to “My Tigers” from the “Who’s Your Tiger?” campaign. My Mariner who became My Cub (Austin Jackson) and My Yankee who is now My Met (Curtis Granderson) were both in the post season this year. There were other former Tigers and former Reds in the post season too, including Johnny Cueto who started this year as the Reds’ Ace and ends it with a ring from Kansas City. The Reds and Tigers ended 2015 in the basement of their respective divisions. A good portion of the Kansas City roster was built through their own system, having scored some high draft picks in their worst years. With salary caps the trade deadline becomes less of “a thing” and the playing field becomes level. Franchises can build within their own systems and there is no need to buy and sell championships.

Second Gripe: Last year having been such a “devastating loss” in Game 7 and coming back this year not just determined to get back to the World Series, but almost as if anything but winning it wouldn’t be good enough, because it had been SO LONG since they’d won the title. I will NEVER understand the concept that being the second greatest team in the league in any given year is somehow failure. Yes, winning is fun and an accomplishment, but winning and losing is not synonymous to success or failure.

The Royals have worked hard to develop the great team they have and they’ve earned the title; they weren’t entitled to it, but they earned it. If the Mets had won it this year, the Royals would still be a great team and winners for having been there 2 years in a row. Okay, soapbox notwithstanding, the Tigers haven’t won the title since 1984 and last I checked that was before 85, so forgive me if I congratulate you although my violin that plays “My Heart Bleeds For You” was very small.

Third Gripe: My last gripe is ages old. Mariano Rivera was a modern exception and I love Aroldis Chapman and rallied that he was great closer material rather than a starter, but I still remain of the opinion that the closer is the most overrated position in current day baseball. (although it's still better than the designated hitter) If you have a closer that can get it done, great, but don’t be so stubborn about the job title that you throw out the baby with the bathwater when you put him on the mound. Regardless of the score or inherited runners, the job of that last pitcher is to get quick outs and not let any runners advance.

Baseball Trivia: Who is the only closer to blow three saves in one World Series?

Answer: Jeurys Familia, 2015 Mets.

There have only been 2 other World Series with three blown saves (2001, 2010,) but never by the same pitcher or even the same team all three times.

Just Sayin’

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!

Happy Little Pill and Happy Little Pumpkins!

Yesterday was a really rough day, I mean the type of day I just don’t have, rough! I know that’s rough because I’ve been told that many of what I call “little challenge days” are “shoot me please” days to others. You see, yesterday I got to find out what one of my meds really does for me! I ran out of the medicine I take for spasticity and stiffness and put in an order for the refill just at the right time that I wouldn’t be able to have it delivered or ask David to pick it up before I’d been without it for a day. It’s just 2 pills in the sea of a gazillion I take and it’s not even a specialty pharmacy pill. How much harm could missing ONE day be?

Let me tell ya, all pills are NOT created equal! A thin little round pill can be a lot more potent medicine than one of those big horse-pills. I still had the giant anti-inflammatories that reduce swelling in areas and thus quell pain, But the smaller pill seems to do a strikingly lot more! I don’t think there was any place on my body that wasn’t stiff and in pain. Even sitting at the table, when I usually don’t feel pain and little discomfort, was an excruciating experience yesterday. When there weren’t little shots of pain beaming through my legs and arms, there were stiff spasms I had little control over, some in my legs so strong they almost made me slip out of my chair!

If you’re even thinking for a moment “Oh, Nani I feel so sorry for you,” then trust me; you didn’t want me to write a blog post or visit/comment at your blog yesterday. My Papa was a Navy sailor in WW2 and the language and decibels those words were screamed in when I tried to lumber into the bathroom would have confused and offended him. (I’m not proud of that but owning my shortcomings gives me the right to be proud of my accomplishments, right?)

Today, properly medicated in the right amounts at the right times I’m feeling like me again. I speak like me again too. I find it easier to live with the PG rated version of Nani too!

Tonight is Game 3 of the World Series. It’s tied 1-1. It was sad to see The Royals lose their first game of this post season in Game 1, especially so brutally. I harbor no ill will to the Giants or their fans, but Kansas City is such a great story since it’s been so long since they won the World title and the momentum and downright joy the team and the city brought into this season and especially the playoffs is just electric. Are they heads and tails better than the Giants? No way, they both deserve to be where they are right now. But with two World Championships since 2010 (and it doesn’t matter that in 2012 they swept the Tigers) I’d just love to see a fresh logo in that World Chaps spot.

GO ROYALS!

Since we already didn’t end up able to pass out candy last year because it rained on Halloween and the reschedule night David and I weren’t in town, I made the sad decision to stop doing the door service. It had been getting difficult for me by 2012 when we had 169 kids visit. I’d prepared 150 candy bags for last year that were donated to the school David’s work sponsors sine I couldn’t share them in person, I still shared with kids. This year I’m just not physically up to it. Maybe if I could figure a way to remove the door and be able to sit there without the house getting cold or any cats getting out… I ran several legit scenarios through my head too. I love giving candy out and seeing all the kids in their costumes. The truth is being home while trick-or-treating is going on outside the door will really compel me to fix this problem before next year. David is one of those no-kids guys who works on Halloween so coworkers with kids can make sure their kids can get out. (One of the many things that makes me adore him) It means I’m the only one home, so there’s no one to fill in or help if I start to wear down. For next year I think I’ll see if I can find a local volunteer through the MS Society to come over for a few hours and help me set up and pass out candy. (That idea just popped into my brain and I’m kicking myself for not thinking of it a month ago.) That would actually be pretty cool. A volunteer to help me pass out candy and then after we close shop I can have a bus scheduled to take us to Bob Evans and I’ll treat them to dinner as a thank you. I might have a good plan for Halloween 2015 – I’ll be back, kids!

Last thought today: It’s the heart of Pumpkin Spice Season! It’s a huge fad at this time of year now! I’m proud to be one of the setters of that trend because now I get to reap the benefits of everyone trying to one-up the last guy on the pumpkin goodness. I really was pumpkin when pumpkin wasn’t cool. From pumpkin pie and the fresh pumpkin seeds Pop used to roast after making our jack-o-lanterns when Dave and I were kids to using a can of pumpkin spice and Cool Whip to make low-cal desserts many years ago, I was a pumpkin pioneer! There wasn’t even a question the first time I saw pumpkin spice cheataccino in a gas station. Now every fall holds some magical new pumpkin discovery. This year is the almonds.

Oh my, the Blue Diamond pumpkin spice almonds are incredible! Similar in style to the cinnamon roasted almonds that can draw you into any festival on their smell alone, the pumpkin spice almonds are little cans of euphoria for the pumpkin aficionado. They are 7 for 1 Weight Watchers point and a healthy fat if consumed in the proper portion. My RDA 2 heathy fats a day is 14 almonds, by the way. You know the first thing I had to do after I tasted them was figure out how many I could have in a day! There are lots of ways to make that seasonal pumpkin spice addiction fit into a healthy eating plan; and I know every one of them!

The Last of Leo

It’s August 20 and only a few days of Leo left! Last year I expanded Nanifest to include any plans made during the festival week as a Nanifest Event. This enables me to celebrate with more of my family of relatives and friends since I can’t drive out to see them anymore.

I mentioned a while back that part of Nanifest this year is that I no longer drive, officially. On my birthday this year my last driver’s license expired and I replaced it with a State ID. It was a funny bit of irony there. When I renewed the license I had three years ago I used the walker when I went in to the BMV. At that time I was able to load the walker in and out of the backseat of the Camaro so I could use it to get to places once I drove there. I could still drive okay, but walking I couldn’t do without assistance. The clerk at the counter looked at me and the walker and asked if I could still drive. Well, I got there, didn’t I? I assured the clerk that I drove fine; I just needed the walker to walk. With a little trepidation she said okay and proceeded with the eye test. When I went in at the end of July to trade my last driver license for a state ID I got from not one clerk, but that clerk’s supervisor as well the question “Are you sure you want to give up your privilege to drive?” WAY different reaction to my identification situation than 3 years ago! I told them, from the seat of my powerchair, that TARPS got me here because I don’t drive, I can’t drive. I also added that I don’t drive FOR the other drivers. Yeesh; it was as hard to quit driving with a wheelchair as it was to keep driving with a walker. I haven’t driven in 2 years and I don’t have a car and the state of Ohio has finally let go. It’s a good thing they did the kicking and screaming about me not driving because while I scream just fine, I’m not up to the kicking part.

Naniday Breakfast

Double Chocolate Frosted Donuts!

There are two essential components to Nanifest in addition to as many of my people as possible. Those are ice cream and baseball. There was plenty of ice cream, all within my daily or weekly Weight Watchers point allowances. There was even ice cream and baseball together. I talked about stopping at Graeter’s with Rob and K, Rob insisted it was his Nanifest treat. I bought a Blue Bunny cone from a rest area machine on actual Naniday since the ice cream and fudge place at the rest area in Indiana was closed by the time we got in there, but Naniday started with David getting me 2 especially good double chocolate frosted donuts at the Dunkin Drive through near our hotel. We’d done a long weekend in metro Chicago chasing trains and seeing a day game the day before Naniday at the Kane County Cougars. Since we’d been to the West Michigan Whitecaps earlier David has now been to all the Midwest League stadiums I have and we have only the Wisconsin teams and Bowling Green Kentucky to have been to every Midwest League stadium!

 In the 10 days from August 8-17 I saw 4 baseball games, 3 of the Major League! David and I saw the Reds and Marlins in Cincinnati on the 8th and the Mariners and Tigers in Detroit on the 17th and we joined Rob and K for the Red Sox and Reds on the 13th. The 16th, last Saturday was the Strike Out MS dinner and ballgame in Toledo and I went to that while David was working. That game was a sellout and after dinner and a little talking about the Self Help Group I lead I went down to get closer to the game. Our area of seats didn’t really have enough wheelchair spots ad I like to be closer if I can so I went solo. The saddest part of that stretch was that the team I was rooting for lost every game! I did get 2 games with fireworks after, one that made my husband and cousin happy and one that let me see “My Mariner,” Austin Jackson…sniff, sniff…and at least Austin’s team won!

My Mariner (sniff)

After the Tigers game we went to Pop’s house for the second annual Leo Birthday Banquet. Pop grills a fantastic dinner and Aunt Judy, August 18, and I share the cake! We shared a birthday dinner last year and it was very cool, so when Pop asked about birthday dinner this year I suggested that it was a great idea to do it for both of us again. I think it’s going to be a regular thing now! Three of Aunt Judy’s grands, my cousin Lisa’s kids, were there to help eat the cake and ice cream, I mean celebrate, too. I wanted a photo of the Lovely Leo Ladies for my scrapbook and asked the kids to help “make their grandmother beautiful.” Aunt Judy never likes her photo taken because she is never happy with her look in photos. I got some nice candid photos of her at Christmas a few years ago and discovered the secret. I asked the kids to stand behind Pop when he was taking the picture and just be goofy for her and make her smile. It worked! She even said she liked the picture!

Lovely Lionesses

Marble cake with fantastic fudgy frosting. My piece was 26 points and pretty much replaces the 2-scoop waffle cone for the week. (But a new week starts tomorrow!)

A Season Sweep

It did NOT get better.

In baseball a season sweep, winning every game against an opponent for the year, is a fun and wonderful thing when it’s your team doing the sweeping.If your team is the one getting swept it’s good to think positively and remember that if you’re getting swept, well, if it was real sweeping at least you could say you don’t have to walk and scooting across the floor might be kinda fun. Another thing that makes it easier is if you go to that final nail in the season’s coffin in person and bring fans of the other team with you so someone goes home happy! That was yesterday, yet yesterday was much more fun than you’d ever imagine getting swept for the season could be.

As much as I dislike Interleague Play, and I immensely dislike it… One of my papers way back in English 102 was about Interleague Play and why it was an awful idea. I still stick to what I said 19 years ago… But I digress. As much as I dislike it, there are some good points. The Reds and Red Sox played each other this year; 2 games in Boston and 2 in Cincinnati. The Reds lost both of the Boston games. We hadn’t seen the Red Sox this year and David really wanted to go to one of the games in Cincinnati. My cousin, Rob, lives in between us and Cincinnati and is a Red Sox fan too. Rob and I have wanted to get together for a game or coffee somewhere and if he was available for the game, what a great choice for a get-together!

A few emails and a chat with the nice agent at reds.com to get accessible seats and I had tickets on the way for Rob and his daughter, K, David and me for yesterday’s game. I was excited on so many levels. David and Rob had never met and they do have the home of their baseball hearts in Red Sox Nation in common and I’d seen pictures since she was a baby but a decade later I hadn’t met K! The absolute to the excitement was that although we chat and communicate online often, I LOVE social media for that, Rob and I haven’t had a face-to-face get together in a long time. In fact the last time we spent actual time together I have a vivid snippet of memory of Rob and his sister, Rhonda, my cool cousins, going to do something and me pouting because I was too little to go too. You see, they were double-digits, practically teenagers, and I was still in single digits.

Yeah, I probably followed them around like an annoying little cousin because I wanted to do everything with them when we got to see each other. We just didn’t see the family in Ohio, Mom’s side of my people, as often as we did Pop’s side who were all in Michigan like us. I was probably as annoying to Rob and Rhonda when I did see them as all of my younger cousins were to me on Pop’s side. Really I hope I did as well keeping from making my younger cousins feel like pests as they did keeping that from me!

So fast forward up to yesterday.

Long lost cousins reunite!

We met just outside the stadium at noon before the 12:35 game. Introductions were made and I was suddenly the minority in my Reds jersey. K opted to go “fence” as in sitting on the fence in her Red Sox shirt and Reds hat. That’s like I usually was back in the 90’s at Reds/Braves games or like I will be someday when the Tigers and Reds play in October again.

I’m going to take a “ain’t technology great?” moment right now. Not only was our day set up with emails and online ticket chats, but iPhones and an iPad were essential to the day too! The iPhone enabled Rob and me to find each other in a crowd of people on a big plaza outside of the stadium. Imagine that even ten years ago!

Now, read carefully and bookmark this page. We had the four tickets, knew exactly where they were before we left Toledo and took them from that place when we left the car. And then they were gone. I don’t know if they were dropped somewhere in the car or in the garage, but somehow in the shuffle with the wheelchair and getting to the plaza, they were lost. David went back to frantically search the car. I wanted to go to the ticket window and Rob offered to push me.

I opened the iPad and got the receipt information from my email. I asked at the window if it was possible to get the tickets reprinted, if I had enough information. I was asked how I purchased my ticket, if it was reds.com. I said it was and the woman at the ticket counter took the iPad, opened to my confirmation email, through the window slot and walked away. A few minutes later she returned with my iPad and 4 tickets. Do you think even FIVE years ago that could happen? I called David and told him we have tickets, let’s go see the game.

When we got to our seats and got situated it was time for the razzing to begin. You see, Rob and K were there to see the Reds lose Tuesday night’s game so the Red Sox had already won the season series and given that the Red Sox have a worse record this year it was the mathematical probability that David would see his team win once when I saw mine lose twice since they lost the game Friday we were at before Summerail. Add to that Rob had been there the night before and they won. The math was not in their favor going into the game. Rob threw in a bet with his Reds fan neighbor as being a factor but that neighborly “bet” was for a series win, a sweep wasn’t necessary to decide the bet. So in my best fan bravado I pronounced that it didn’t work into the mathematical equation and the Reds were going to win.

Rob and K

 Our traditional baseball selfie. 

I should have moved my arm to uncover the Reds logo!

Don’t think there weren’t doubts behind that bravado. The Reds are a good team this year, not a great team and Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips; the biggest offensive threats are BOTH on the disabled list. That leaves a huge defensive hole at first and second too. When you have good players taking the places of great to phenomenal players, it definitely affects the team’s performance. But I’ve been listening to David telling me the World Series champions of 2013 in last place his year are much worse that the “good” I rate the Reds right now. Law of averages and probability and all says… never mind. The baseball gods weren’t practicing law yesterday.

So we got swept this season by the Red Sox. Like I told Rob the company I kept put the smile on my face that my team didn’t. Anyway I always say a bad day at the ball park is better than a good day almost anywhere else, and I stand by that!

After the game we met at Graeter’s for ice cream. More great technology; Rob found the shop on his phone and sent it to me as a message. I clicked the link in the message and a map appeared! We all had ice cream, my favorite food group, together and talked baseball, travel, books a little paper as opposed to eReaders and barns! They started collecting quilt square barns with a pamphlet with addresses to locate the quilt-barns. It’s much like David and I collect the bicentennial barns. Rob and K searched out the barns while Rob’s wife, K’s mom, Kathy was on-call. Kathy, who I haven’t met, yet, is a doctor. With his second kid, Rob is a stay at home parent. Well, okay, a stay-on-the-road parent? I know from weekends and some weeks with Tori and Rina when they were little, that nobody just stays at home with kids!

K is a sweetheart. Even if she elected to not go all Reds, I wasn’t completely alone. We have Joey Votto as a favorite Red in common too! When her dad mentioned something about it likely being the end of live baseball season for them because school started soon there was a little yelp and her eyes bugged out a bit; she’s not ready for the summer to end either!

After a day of David and Rob talking lots of Red Sox and ribbing me in much the way my Reds bravado deserved, we did have to make our way home. It was great fun and we all agree we’ll do this again!

Hail To The Queen!

Well, happy birthday to the queen anyway, Kaline is 9 years old today! That photo was taken this morning. I admit, I photoshopped the eye dirt away, in the instant social media shot she’s slightly less perfect.

This is the (Not Photoshop or actual scrapbooking quality for me) collage I did with my favorite of her baby pictures. She really has grown from an adorable kitten to a beautiful and noble cat and the shy at first then adventurous kitten has well-defined cattitude now!

This is what an actual gold golden delicious apple and a real emerald brushed green pear look like! Really, I bought them at the ball game last Friday in Cincinnati and the small pieces of fruit were 2 dollars each! All of the food at Great American Ball Park is quite expensive. Add the fruit to a grilled chicken breast on a wheat roll and bottled water I had for dinner and it cost near $20! But it’s comparable to the unhealthy choices and I didn’t blow my Weight Watchers points that day! I did that Sunday with Cincinnati Chili! But I only blew the daily points. The WW weekly plus points kept me in my allowance!

A short entry to say Happy Birthday to my baby girl. Tonight is MS group meeting, so I have to get things gathered up for the bus pick-up. The group leader role sometimes makes my type-A personality and my type-MS body fight over me. The type-MS wins battles when I fall asleep in the middle of paperwork, but in the end type-A still wins the battle for my public face!

Holy Toledo; My Kingdom For Water!

You’ve likely heard by now that Toledo is in a water crisis! #emptyGlassCity is trending on social media. The Glass City, that’s us, is absolutely an empty glass right now.

As I’ve read, the alert went out at about 2AM that we have toxic levels of microcysten from a large algae bloom in Lake Erie that infected the water supply. The bottled water was pretty much gone from any stores by the time we woke up. Most of the local restaurants are closed because they have no water for cooking or cleaning anything. Remember the frozen pipes in February? This is that and worse. Since it’s all of the area we can’t stay in a local hotel for showers and to wash a few dishes and none of the local stores have any bottled water to sell! There is bottled water coming in from lots of areas and being given away at local distribution centers. As for us, David working in news means he’s been gone all day and still not home and I have to have a day’s notice to go anywhere. Tomorrow morning before David has to be back at work and just before my dad goes in to work we’re meeting him in the parking lot at his job. He got us 10 gallons plus a few cases of smaller bottles. A great king will always be his princess’ hero!

Yesterday a truck driver perished when he drove his truck into Tony Packo's; yes THE Tony Packo’s restaurant made famous by Jamie Farr as Klinger on MASH. It hadn’t been confirmed when I read the story yesterday but they think he suffered a medical, maybe a heart attack, which caused him to drive the semi into the entrance of the famed restaurant.

So yesterday it was a famous Toledo landmark and today our water. So far August doesn’t seem to like us much.

Onto baseball news. Okay that is another part of my rough week! The trade deadline was Thursday, the last day of July, and..

Let me regain my composure here…

and…

I DON’T HAVE A TIGER ANYMORE!!!

When they started the “Who’s your Tiger” ads way back, my answer was always “Curtis Granderson.”  Then they traded Curtis to the Yankees in between the 2009 & 10 seasons and my Detroit baseball heart cried. But the season of “Who’s your Yankee” started and I “discovered” the new outfielder they called up that was part of the trade that sent Granderson away and I had a new Tiger to love! Austin Jackson was decent with a bat but AMAZING with his glove and I LOVE good defense! So my answer to that “Who’s your Tiger?” question was Austin Jackson without hesitation. And on Thursday my Detroit baseball hear screamed and cried again. Austin Jackson is now the answer to “Who’s your Mariner?”

The Mariners are in Detroit for one more series this year. I got tickets to the August 17 game. I’ve been thinking about making a t-shirt that says “Who’s your Mariner” with a 16, Jackson’s new number, in tiger stripe letters.

Okay, so there’s my catching up for the week. Things should be better soon. In August I have tickets for a Mud Hens game with the MS Society and three MLB games. To buy some water tomorrow I’ll just pull a few dollars out from under my nails because with tickets for three Major League games in a month I’m obviously made out of money! Okay, actually I just pass on a few new blouses and ta-dah: baseball tickets. I’m careful to wear different shirts when my picture is taken! ;)

Thoroughly Thursday

First, let’s talk about the weather; BRRRR! It’s mostly in the 70s here and in July 80s is okay, really! There have been some hot days, but this is mostly a very mild summer so far. I hope it means there is a mild winter ahead again. I wouldn’t be happy if Global Climate Change ends up meaning Ohio Cooling Change. If we have the Polar Vortex winters every 4 or 5 years and very mild ones in between, that’d be fine. I can plan vacations accordingly.

Now for some snippets from Naniland as of late.

Yesterday I started my day in the arms of three firemen!

Boy, I wish that was as scandalous as it sounds! It would have been more fun. Lately it's been getting harder to get in and especially out of the bathroom. It’s the location of the counter, door and the turn I have to make in the morning to get to the stair-climber. Yesterday I failed. I was holding on to the counter and the walker just outside the bathroom and my balance gave out. I tried to lift upon the counter and David was trying to do what he could to help but finally my left leg was just to weak to keep supporting me and I told David it was no use; I was falling. The cool thing is it was almost a controlled fall, falling slowly so it lessened the impact. I landed on the floor but also hit my shoulder and head on the shower chair. After making sure nothing moved less than it already did, I managed to scoot out to the stairs, but there was no way I was getting up and we called 911.

Folks, if I weighed a hundred pounds I wouldn’t let David lift me on his own. 100 struggling or trying to be helpful pounds is a dangerous thing to lift on your own. I’m a little more /sarcasm than 100. The fire department dispatched three EMS guys. After a few tries at ways that would work, we got one with two of the guys behind me lifting and one in front steadying me and balancing me. I ended up hugging the guy in front and the other two hugging me from behind while I balanced. Then they got me in the stair lift chair and I got down and transferred to my power chair without further incident. It had been over a year and now my safety board goes back to 1.

Social Media

Well, a blog is social media, a personal blog is anyway, but I do some other social media things too. My latest big news on Facebook is my friends list. My 2 favorite teachers from high school sent me friend requests. How cool is that? When I was in high school I was a renegade. I was defiant and a had a huge wall in front of me to protect me from my own teenage insecurities. I wasn’t a troublemaker, not really, but I pushed established boundaries. There were two teachers who really saw through my teenage façade and pushed me to break past my own boundaries. They saw potential and nurtured it. I don’t know if they foresaw how truly influential and precious their influence on me would be for the rest of my life but when I got a friend invite from my broadcast teacher and then my French & humanities teacher those were acknowledgements and rekindled acquaintances that I treasure! Justin Verlander could follow me on Twitter and it wouldn’t mean as much. If you like how I turned out, thank my teachers, a couple of them especially.

Instagram; remember my plan for all coffee vignettes? Well, java_nani has become a bit more than that. I found a great Weight Watchers community there and one subset of that that I enjoy a “share the love” group with. We exchange support and monthly gifts in the mail with each other. The gifts include inspiring and supportive items and also an opportunity to share snacks and things that have been helpful to us. My partner’s box goes out tomorrow and it’s as exciting as Christmas!

I’ve also found a great MS support network there. I’m currently participating in a daily IG post meme leading up to World MS Trend Day, July 31. Here are a couple of the daily photo-posts I’ve done:

Prompt: Love

 

Prompt: Fun

 

Prompt: Sand

Short notes:

- My “training phone” died this week and I made the big leap to a phone that’s smarter than me! I have an iPhone that talks to my iPad and they talk about me in front of my chest (where the phone is clipped) That they share information is both cool and scary to me.

- As of this morning for the first time in 31 years I'm not a legal driver. My license expires next week so I went to the DMV to get a state ID. I seem to be the only one who thinks this is a good thing. I haven’t driven in 2 years and it disturbed me that legally I still could.

- On July 19 it was one month since the TV died. I don’t keep up with my baseball teams as well without the home team play by play. For instance it was three days before I read that Joey Votto reinjured his left quads. But other than the details I’m missing, our teams haven’t been doing well this year and maybe we don’t want to watch? Even the Tigers have been streaky. I still hope we have a TV by the playoffs!

- Tomorrow is Eye Exam day. My eye doc is next to Panera. You know what that means! Lunch tomorrow is a You Pick Two Bacon Turkey Bravo and something else with an apple and a latte! Then it’s come home with a new prescription and finally order sunglasses!