An Exciting Week Ahead

If you're one of the regulars at my “coffee shop in cyberspace” I have no doubt noticed some changes. The Chronicles of Nani is going video!

First off, I've mentioned it before, thanks to MS and what it's done to my body, not my brain, but definitely my body, I not only don't walk, but I don't write and I really can't even type. Last year in September my dad and I went to Cleveland Clinic to talk to a physical therapist about whether or not I had the ability to work at all and if I was qualified for any sort of disability income. After much testing and talking to the therapist he determined that I am really not able to do any kind of work for an income. What's even worse is I haven't been able to work in enough years that I am not qualified for any kind of disability. (I am going to talk to a disability attorney to see if there's any way that I can qualify. I waited until I had spent all of my investments and even cashed in my annuity for retirement and spent it all before I became desperate for something, anything.)

Matt, the therapist I saw, walked out to the door with my dad and me. He shook both of our hands and when he shook mine he said, in a truly less than happy tone, that he was sorry there was nothing he could do for me. My dad was quiet as we got back into the van and he climbed my wheelchair down to the floor before he got into the driver seat. He was truly surprised at the big smile on my face. While Matt was finalizing the paperwork I was becoming inspired. 

One of the many MS symptoms is insomnia. That's an interesting twist because severe fatigue and oversleeping is also an MS symptom. I'm a natural nocturne, since high school, so I'm up late anyway and on insomnia nights I'm sometimes still awake when the alarm for my 7 AM pills goes off. After I scrapbooked a lot during the day and even wrote in my personal journal and the journaling for the scrapbook pages (Keep in mind that when I say "write" I mean speech to text but then I have to go in and fix all the mistakes that the text part picked up wrong from my speech.) My hands and forearms are usually painfully numb. I am the watching a lot of late night TV. There's some decent comedy and a lot of interviews that are pretty interesting. One of the things I've noted in the shows that I've been watching is it there are a lot of people making decent money doing video blogs or as they're better known vlogs.

What inspired me was that, while I'm no longer able to pack up paperwork, snacks, etc., to continue as a self-help group leader for the MS Society, I still talk to a lot of people about MS. There are many different kinds of MS and even more symptoms of MS. I freely answer what it's like living with it. I am an optimist and I try to make the best of every new challenge the progressive disease gives me. But I still have plenty of bad days and I have to deal with those too. People make an actual living doing videos talking about hair and just their lives going to restaurants and out clubbing at night. I actually have important things I can talk about that can help people and there are plenty of medical suppliers and even drug companies that, if I have enough viewers, might be interested in advertising on my blog or YouTube page.

It's a small amount that you have to earn per year to count as income to be considered for disability. Once I have small earnings for a couple of years then suddenly everything that I had paid in since I was 16 becomes valid for my possibly being able to get a monthly disability check. It may not be a lot but it would help. I have insurance and a husband who handles the out-of-pocket expenses, but last year it still cost $800 for an MRI alone and that wasn't the only thing insurance covered but still had a big portion out of pocket left over. (And an MRI is an annual necessity with MS.)

I missed my first planned launch date because I wasn't quite ready on January 1. It wasn't long after that that through reading and a family member in Europe who had COVID-19, the coronavirus and the birth of a pandemic made me start to rethink my idea for a Vlog. People are getting sick and dying all over the world, is talking about how I'm dealing with MS a little less important? My doctor has had me in quarantine at home since the end of February. I've only been out of the house a few times and when I do go outside I'm not supposed to leave my driveway. And she still has me staying at home now.

The coronavirus and things we do and don't and didn't know, and things we were and weren't told in a timely manner that could've given us more of a chance to keep it from spreading so much in our country has just been insane. The discovery that wearing masks can protect other people so if everyone wears a mask and practices social distancing we protect each other is helpful but there are actually people who believe that wearing mask is against their first amendment rights and even some that don't believe there is a coronavirus/COVID-19. (It's a PANDEMIC, people have gotten the disease and died all over the world and all over our country. I kind of think it's real.) You don't even have to get off the couch and the Internet is huge. Read some reputable medical sources and not just memes on Facebook.

The one thing good about quarantine is that it's letting people realize prejudiced injustice is still real and we have murderers who are supposed to protect us. There is peaceful and safe with the virus that still surrounds us, protesting. One of the bad things is that there are those things to realize and it took a world pandemic for us to pay attention to them.

But stress and depression and even a major creative block from all the terrible things going on in the world that I'm not necessarily in, but still a part of, made me realize that I'm able to talk about my living with MS, but also living with MS and still being part of the world. I'm actually feeling even more inspired than I was almost a year ago. Now my new goal for getting my Vlog on the Internet is "before I turn 54.” I made that declaration at the beginning of last week but as I'm looking at it right now it means the first video will be up on YouTube by Tuesday because I'm only gonna be 53 until 7:45 AM on Wednesday.

Wish me luck.  I hope everyone who watches my videos will find some reason to smile and some tidbit to make them a little more understanding of people like me and people like everybody else.

Meet Me On Monday

Break time, lunch time…turkey soup time! Pop brought me the carcass of the turkey they’d cooked in two packages last time he visited. While I was scrapping Saturday, one of those packages became broth! I have 4 containers of broth that I need to skim so I can freeze three of them. The day after grocery day is so rough. Decisions, decisions, I bought turkey pepperoni so a pizza is tempting too.

For breakfast this morning I tried the new Kellogg’s Krave cereal. I got the double chocolate; chocolate whole grain with a chocolate cream center. YUM! Points like most breakfast cereal and 3 grams of fiber, so it’s healthy and filling too. With almond milk, it’s breakfast ambrosia!


Now that I’m amply appetized, I’ll post my Meet Me On Monday so I can get on that turkey soup!

1. What movie or movies do you have to watch when they are on TV? (submitted by @rndmcrftyGAgrl)

If Gone With The Wind is on or any of the Harry Potter movies, I’ll stop surfing the TV and watch. Same is true for Field of Dreams or anything with Cary Grant or Ginger Rogers.


2. When you have out of town visitors, what fun places do you take them to in your town? (Or where do you play tourist in your own town?) 

Depends on the time of year and their taste in food. During baseball season the first place I’d take out of town guests is to a Mud Hens game. In fact we had out of town guests for our wedding reception which was at a Mud Hens game.

If it’s anyone who even slightly likes Middle Eastern food or would like to try it, I’d take them to Ya Halla. When Tori or Rina visit that’s a “must eat there” destination

3. What was the first album, CD, Download you ever bought?

The very first? Golly, I really don’t remember. I know saving up for Triumph’s Allied Forces was a big deal early in my record buying days. Replacing all of my Night Ranger vinyl was the first thing when I got my first CD player, but it was a Christmas gift and many friends knew so I didn’t have a lot of Night Ranger left to buy after Christmas.

As far as an MP3 goes, when I first had iTunes, I loaded a bunch of stuff from CDs, so the first song I bought was Kokomo by the Beach Boys. I used a piece of it for the Musical Photobook presentation I made for my dad’s 60th birthday party.


4. Do you speak more than one language and which ones? If not, what language would you like to know?

Je parle un peu français, mais seulement un peu.

I speak enough French to order in a restaurant, ask for directions and say “please speak slowly, French isn’t my native language.” I used to be able to read a French newspaper. I could probably still figure most of it out.

I speak and understand much less Italian, but I could still order in a restaurant, I just couldn’t answer any questions! LOL I can follow what my relatives are talking about by recognizing words and getting the gist of the context. When they break into English to ask me a question pertaining to the discussion, I have always been pleased that I actually did understand! I can read letters in Italian. I get occasional letters from the government in San Marino but I always bring them when I visit Pop to make sure I understood correctly.


5. What is your dream job?

My first dream job was to be an advertising creative, like Darrin on Bewitched. As an adult, my dream job would be stadium operations manager for a professional baseball team.

Get Rid of the Stains, Not Your Pet

It’s been a productive night for me. I got the kitchen tile scrubbed and ready for baking. Next pre-holiday room is the living room. There are 2 problems with the living room cleanup; Kaline and Carla!

I have to find something comparable to The Steam Team in Austin, Texas. They will clean almost anything in your home! While the girls are girls, so they don’t spray, they seem to have delicate stomachs! We have problems with kitty vomit! We clean it as best we can, but after a while, our beige carpet gets a little polka dotted! One of the many areas The Steam Team in Austin specializes in is stain odor removal. If you have a cat or dog that’s had an accident on the rug, you know how valuable it is to unstain and unsmell things!

The Steam Team in Austin does upholstery too! Check out this page: http://www.thesteamteam.com/austin-cleaning-services/upholstery.shtml If you love your pet as much as we love our kitty-girls, they’re a part of your family. They curl up with you to watch TV and well, I know a cat’s been responsible for spilled hot cocoa once, or twice! A company that can restore the room you love to be in can put you and the pet you love back in harmony.

If you’re in Austin, you owe it to yourself to check out The Steam Team!

Eeks! It's Friday Already!

Just a quick “hello” for now. Between things that have been going on this week, I’m a bit behind on my schoolwork, so I’m really dedicating the day to it. I usually like to have my assignments, which are due Sunday night, in on Friday so I have the weekend free. This week it won’t happen that way. I’m planning on having everything done tomorrow night.

I was in Cleveland Monday to take a pill and let the medical folks poke and prod me for 6 hours. Remember I said I was going to be taking an MS drug that required that. Well, I was at the office at 7AM on Monday to take my first dose of Gilenya. I had my pulse and blood pressure taken every 15 minutes for the first 2 hours, then every half hour until the last hour. Then it was once more before they let me go. My heart rate did not slow down and my blood pressure was only up slightly while I was drinking my morning coffee and one reading after I finished it. I got to spend my 6 hours with my laptop digital scrapbooking, no public Internet in the medical facility for security reasons, and sat in a VERY comfy recliner with attached side tables where my water, oatmeal and hummus sat when I had breakfast/snack times. It was a very positive experience.

The facility I was at, like the one I didn’t get to stay at in Ann Arbor, really spoiled me. But actually doing the first dose this time, I realized why. The clinic that does the first dose observations does mostly drug testing and pre-employment physicals. They seemed to feel that I was more what they were in healthcare for because I was getting medicine for a disease. Well, the medicine improves my life but the disease isn't deadly. I kinda think making sure people can get and keep a job is at least on par with me if not more important. It affects the lives of more people. Still, I appreciated being essentially waited on and the kind treatment I got.


After a few reschedules with my Dad, I went up to Michigan and spent the greater part of yesterday with him. We had his minestrone for lunch and he made some of the roasted veggies with the breaded topping I like so much to go with our soup. YUM! We talked about minestrone for a while. I have a prosciutto end and I’m planning on making my first pot of minestrone myself tomorrow. It can sit on the stove and cook while I’m finishing my school stuff. I’m looking forward to that!



Okay, I have one last note for now! It’s a freebie note! Farmer Lisa’s Wild Daisies is giving away a gorgeous kit, Christmas in Colors, a few pieces at a time each day all month!! It really is a beautiful kit!

Here’s a layout I did with it:

Credits Christmas In Colors by Farmer Lisa’s Wild Daisies

Lisa offered that anyone who wanted to share a quick page or cluster with what parts they already had could share it for $1.50 coupon at her DigiSisters store. So, I did a quick page of that layout and a separate file of the cluster with the two hanging frames. Go check out her blog and her beautiful designs and snag my freebie, the parts to Christmas in Colors and a few other fabulous freebie quick pages and clusters from other followers. There’s some beautiful creativity shown there!!

Okay, now back to the books!

Link - Farmer Lisa's Wild Daisies

Java Time All Day!

This is NOT a sponsored post, but it is my testimonial

about my personal experience with my sponsor, ROASTe

It’s here!! Actually, it got here Monday, my new flavored decafs! Remember I talked about being able to get flavored decaf from ROASTe. I ordered a bag of decaffeinated Caramel Crunch and one of decaffeinated Classic Cookie. That was Friday, they arrived Monday, standard shipping!

The first one I opened on Monday afternoon was the Caramel Crunch, since that was the flavor that really made the decision to try it. I put a heaping tablespoon into my Keurig My K-Cup Reusable Filter Basket, which you can get at ROASTe if you have a Keurig brewer and want to expand your coffee choices.

Keurig My K-Cup Reusable Coffee Filter

For me it was a sound investment because a year ago, when I got it, Keurig’s licensing did not include Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts. I can also add a piece of cinnamon stick, a drop of peppermint extract or other flavors to my coffee grounds. It lets me be creative.

Just to let you know, in the time it took me to write that last bit about the creative blending, my Keurig could have brewed a fresh cup of that Caramel Crunch Decaf. I had two cups of it Monday and one yesterday. So rich, so flavorful, so good! Decaf and it’s not Vanilla or Hazelnut, a whole new world for afternoon or evening coffee!

So now that I’ve tried ROASTe myself, I’m quite confident that I’m encouraging you to consider high quality! The service was fast, even with the least expensive shipping option, and there are quality products at reasonable competitive prices.

Do you love coffee or know someone that does? Want some great gift ideas? (They have gift packages or you can buy coffee and accessories to make your own gift) Entertaining this holiday season and want to really WOW your guests? Do you have a college kid who’s spending all the money you send at the local coffee shop? (They have various single cup coffee makers and all the supplies to make great coffee in the dorm)

Click that banner to visit ROASTe, so I get my credit for sending you, and use the code CoffeeNew10 to get your 10% off your purchase. I know that works because I got 10% off my wonderful flavored decafs.

Oh, and if you are looking for stocking stuffers or are Secret Santa for a coffee lover, there are gadgets, small gifts and single bags of coffee for around or under $10.

Make it a very flavorful holiday!

Bedtime and Smell the Coffee!

It really does work for bedtime as well as wake up! I have to tell you about my new sponsor link. Please keep reading! I’m not going to tell you what you should buy, or even to buy at all. I’ll encourage you to take a look and I’m going to tell you what I’m going to buy!

ROASTe is a wonderful site to check out if you’re a coffee lover, like me! But think about it. It’s less than a week before Halloween. The holidays are coming! I’m thinking spoil the guests I entertain or a host gift for Mom when you eat her Thanksgiving feast. What about gifts for Christmas or Hanukah? See where I’m going with this? I’d love it if you find something you’d like from ROASTe, that’s where the fund for Carla’s Obedience School is fueled, but I think it’s just so cool to have my “coffee shop” sponsored by a real coffee site! And ROASTe is a site I’m truly honored to support, if for no other reason than the wonderful selection of flavored decafs!

I know, you’re probably wondering if I’m abandoning my Keurig Brewer, NEVER! I love that thing! In fact, ROASTe does carry K-Cups too, but I also have the adapter to make my own K-cup filters from any coffee I want, including the more Nani flavored decafs. Oh, and, ROASTe had that same adapter in their accessories. It truly is one stop for great coffee and anything you’d need to make it your great coffee.

When the weather gets colder, I really like a fancy cup of flavored coffee at night, but I don’t want the caffeine as a bed time drink! Ready-made K-Cups in flavored decaf are very limited and not flavors of which I’m very fond. Right on the home page at ROASTe, there is a coffee profile. I clicked decaf and flavored, then clicked the start brewing button. The first coffee on the page is Caramel Crunch decaf. Caramel Crunch? Its coffee heaven!

The coffees are all reviewed, not by the coffee sellers and not my the coffee companies, but they are reviewed by customers who’ve purchased and tried them You can try a specific grind or whole bean, regular and decaf, dark roast, even espresso, or light. You can also search by origin of the beans, the flavor notes present in the coffee or by specific coffee roaster.

So, my cart has a bag of the Decaf Caramel Crunch and one of the Decaf Classic Cookie, resisting the coffee flavor syrups, noticing the Keurig adapter I have is the same price I paid for it a year ago and thinking seriously about the silicone lid that makes any regular coffee mug a to go cup. I made sure to click the banner in the bulletin board and get the code for my 10% off. I’ll tell you all about my experience as a customer after I try my first cup of Caramel Crunch decaf!

Mmm... Can't wait!

It’s Pumpkin Time

As a lover of all things pumpkin, and a bit of a strange fascination, or maybe a challenge, to my non-pumpkin crazed husband, I often get the opportunity to try new pumpkin tastes because David brings them home. Now, when he finds and brings me Pumpkin Spice Coffeemate, that’s saying “honey, I love you.” When he brought me a jar of pumpkin butter, it told me he thinks of me, even when he’s picking up a steak for himself. But the last something pumpkin, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. He brought me home a 6-pack of Pumpkin Ale from his last trip without me there. Was this a challenge to my pumpkin love?

I’m not a huge beer drinker. I enjoy a beer once in a while with pizza or barbecue. Those are just dishes I think beer goes well with. Sorta like drinking red wine with spaghetti and meat sauce. But because I don’t imbibe often, I am super picky about the taste of my beer, wine and liquors. I’m not consuming empty calories or killing innocent brain cells for something that won’t make my taste buds smile! Well, there is a FIVE pack of Pumpkin ale in the fridge now. I tried one a couple nights ago. It was good! The initial taste was very reminiscent of Honey Brown beer, which is a domestic beer I really like. Then, the finish is a nice mellow spicy pumpkin flavor. I don’t see it replacing Honey Brown for me, or my Canadian beers, but I can definitely see it as my one six-pack a fall beer!

The pumpkin beer and talk of things pumpkin segues into some scrap talk. Eva, Eveziur, Designer at Digital Scrapbooking Studio, hosts the Me, Myself and I Challenge. If you’ll recall from Journal Camp, I am very big on the importance of including yourself in your scrapbooks. You should never let your own vanity rob your children’s children of the opportunity to know you.

I don’t want to inject mortality here, but it’s reality. My nieces lost their Mom when they were 5 years old. They know her through pictures and stories shared with them from the people who loved her too. She lives in their memory books.

So you don’t like the way you look in photos? Few really do unless they are professional photos or that one every couple years that makes you say, “That’s ME???” The people reading your scrapbooks look and say with a smile, “that’s HER!” They say that to every photo, every sweet memory, just like you do of the people you scrap. Step back IN your scrapbooks and IN the documented lives of the people you love.

Okay, there’s my preachy bit. Back to Me, Myself and I.

As I said, Eva sponsors this, truly important, challenge every month at The Studio. If you only do one layout a month about yourself, that’s 12 pages a year that you add to tell the future about you today. Getting to know you is understanding WHY the people you care enough about to scrap are important. You really should go check out this fabulous challenge!

This month, it was scrapping your favorite dish, favorite food. I interpreted it as my favorite flavor!

Credits:Pieces from Fall Splendor (blog train) by Digitalegacies Designs
and Delicate Harvest by Twin Mom Scraps,
Pumpkin Latte Cup by Beckie Wallace, Pumpkin Alpha by Kimberkatt Scraps

My layout includes a photo of Sheri and me in Frankenmuth, a day I enjoyed FOUR different pumpkin treats. I’m in my rented scooter, victory over vanity – It’s the second photo I’ve published of me using a mobility aid. There was a baseball pic with the wheelchair just after vacation. If I own my limitations, they aren’t limitations to who I am.

You still have time to join in the challenge this month and take a look at the yummy layouts in the gallery. If you participate in the Me, Myself and I challenge ten months, Eva will give you a $10 coupon to her store too! Talk about incentive!

Links:

Me, Myself and I challenge at The Studio

Make Any Day a Holiday

You remember how I was floating on cloud nine on the spring as my flowers were blooming. The blooms, all that color, it was just sunshine no matter what was in the sky every day all spring. Now, the flowers are gone and the fall colors that were so bright just a week ago are starting to carpet the ground. The brown season, as David calls it, is just about here. Kinda depressing. It makes me think about what can put that 24/7 smile back on my face. Then I took a look at the Serenata Flowers website!

Serenata Flowers is based in the United Kingdom, but they ship flowers through partnerships with local florists. You can send flowers to anywhere in the world. I read a testimonial from a woman living in the US who sent flowers to her mother in the England . She said her “Mum cried when she saw them.” That’s what makes the inner sun shine, sending flowers makes you just feel good, it’s a warm glow you feel inside. I remember this past Valentine’s Day I sent Tori and Rina roses, which is something I don’t always do. It was a pretty special deal to them and it shook the winter blahs for me to make them feel that special. Flowers just make any day a holiday!

Serenata Flowers has arrangements on their site that capture the splendor of autumn, the magic of romance, celebrate any special event and make every day a special celebration of its own. By using additives to make flowers last longer, the person receiving your gift can extend that happy glow. You can be an important part of that inner sunshine that flowers preserve!

What Twitter CAN Do!

Marbles4ms Note Cards

Yes, I have a little fun with Twitter, now that I’m using the account I signed up for a couple years ago. I follow baseball players, other Mensans, a couple of railroads and a few MS organizations/tweeters (tweeps). I’m followed by some fellow Mensans, David’s work account and a couple of people I don’t know, but follow me because we have some like interests.

One of the cool things on Twitter, albeit a little loose in security, is that you can check out someone’s interests by seeing who they follow. Example, if you checked out who I follow, you’d know I was a Reds fan and you might think I was a Yankees fan because I follow Curtis Granderson. Granderson was traded and went from being my favorite Tiger to a Yankee I love even though he’s a Yankee. So, you see, checking out who someone follows is not a guarantee of knowing their interests. From what I follow on Twitter, you’d probably guess that I, or someone close to me, have MS. It’s from that tidbit of information that I became followed by a few supporters of MS research, including Marbles4ms.

Marbles4ms is maintained by the parents of Connor, a 5-year-old boy from New York whose Mom and Aunt have MS. Connor wants to raise awareness and money to “Fix Mommy and all the people with MS.” I watched a video from the local news on the Marbls4ms website that just brought happy tears to my eyes. The love and unalterable hope in Connor is just beautiful beyond adult comprehension. Kids are like that. They have unconditional love and faith.

Connor does art that he sells. He uses marbles dipped in paint and rolled in a cigar box on paper to create his modern art images. He sells those original artworks for donations. For a $5 donation, you’ll get an original artwork. Donate $20 and your piece will be signed by the artist. Remember that Connor is five. The signature takes some extra effort! You can also get a set of note cards with prints of Connor’s work. I made a donation for the note cards, each with the web address and Connor’s story on them. I think I may make another donation for a signed-by-the-artist work too.

Please check out the Marbles4ms website! Connor is just over $200 shy of his current goal, to raise $600 by his 6th birthday on Sunday, July 17. I have 35 listed followers at The Chronicles of Nani. If we all donate just $5 through PayPal for one of Connor’s works, we can get him almost to his goal. That’s roughly the cost of one large Frappuccino with tip.

If Connor meets his current goal by Sunday, I won’t wake up able to run a marathon, but I’ll feel like I was one of the ones who crossed the finish line of one having played a part in such a great birthday present.

Thanks to everyone who chooses to take part and thank you, Connor – You are AWESOME!

http://www.marbles4ms.org/

Wedding Planning

No, it’s not what you think! I’m not planning anything. My single friends are still single, many blissfully single, and the Niecii are unquestionably too young. In fact Tori is wrapped up in prom planning, which in her world is involved enough that she may be a few extra years away from wanting to plan a wedding! No, the wedding planning right now is at The Studio!

Digital Scrapbooking Studio is in the midst of its Spring Fling, which includes a designer contest. It’s not a involved contest that ends in a store for the winners, like the annual anniversary contest. It’s a for fun designer contest at a slower pace with store certificates available for weekly winners. The theme for the designer contest is Weddings. Each contestant selects a color palette for their wedding kit that they work with throughout the month and you can join the contest at any time. The first week was paper packs, the second elements and this week is The Alpha! I joined this week using the palette I used for the kit I did after my own wedding day, er, elopement day, My Blue Heaven.


And here is the complementing alpha:


Click the alpha preview to go to its page at The Studio and get the link for downloading. I know that sounds like a surfing expedition , but it’s to get a freebie, ya know?

The alpha has a decorated and undecorated upper case and numbers set, plus the lower case and 10 punctuation marks. To sweeten the deal a bit, make sure you read the TOU! The gallery page at The Studio suggests you read it too, but it doesn’t tell you why. I’m telling the readers at The Chronicles of Nani why! In the TOU, it tells you what you need to do to get the complementing kit for free too! Since My Blue Heaven is a kit I’ve sold, I won’t just put the links on my blog for it. That would be unfair to people who bough it. But 2-1/2 years after the store closed, I consider it my “close out” to offer it for free with very small efforts, like the one described in the TOU.

I don’t know what the next challenge will be,. Maybe quick pages or clusters or something like that. There is a complementing journal element from Journal Camp Week 3 last year. Right now, since I’ve been a little slower with blogging and freebies with school and everything else going on, freebies from all of last year are still available. I don’t need to free up space at 4-Shared, so there isn’t any rush to delete any older freebies. I’m planning on leaving all the Journal Camp freebies up anyway, since I still believe, and probably always will, that journaling is an important and essential part of scrapbooking and if the tutorial and freebies will help anyone else with adding it to their scrapbooking, it will always make me feel good that I helped!

So that’s it for this blog entry. I’m going to try to get a break in my school work today to do a mug shot, but it may be “decaf,” after 6, which is when I go decaf! Get to the Studio and get the free alpha of My Blue Heaven, and any of the other wedding-inspired freebies there and if you want My Blue Heaven for free, by all means read the TOU with the alpha!

Wrapping Up January With a Bow

From Holiday Elegance by RK Designs

Happy end of January! Man the first couple of months just seem to fly by, don’t they? It’s not time itself speeding though, not really. I always think, “yikes, fast!” at the end of January, but by the end of the year I think back and January seems so long ago. I think it’s just that everyone is so busy planning their projects for the year and making and breaking resolutions. It could be too that I am busy trying to break the mid-winter doldrums and that accelerates the time. Whatever the reason, I really don’t mind if the winter passes a little faster.


Speaking of the Weather

I have been watching, reading and listening with all the empathy I can muster as my friends and family in the states that have been hammered so bad with snow this year. One thing I NEVER did was giggle because it wasn’t us, which is what David says is the reason a major snow is coming through again and making a point of stopping in Toledo. Oh, he knows it’s not me, but he also knows there are people who laughed because it “missed us again.” Well, this time we’re gonna get it. The snow is supposed to start tonight, with 1-3 niches expected. Then Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday all day, we’re expecting up to a foot by Thursday morning! They are calling for wind too, making near blizzard conditions. :( Nani doesn’t like snow!

I’ve already canceled my afternoon therapy for Wednesday and Rapid LLC is scheduled to do driveway scrapes tomorrow morning and Wednesday night so David can get in and out for work and then the full plow-shovel-salt after it all stops. I am entirely blessed to already be on the regular customer list with Rapid. I won’t be scrambling all over trying to figure out how we’ll ever get out of the house before March while David is trying to dig a tunnel to his car. Whenever possible, proactive is the way to go!


A Black Eye

No, that’s not a metaphor for anything. I have one! I can’t tell you how much I DO NOT fancy this becoming an annual thing! If you’ll recall, last January I did a number on the left side of my face with a fall. This year, Thursday, I stumbled on some shoes by the door and couldn’t regain any balance. I fell face first into the corner of the refrigerator, putting a gash in the side of my face with the hinge on my glasses and leaving the right eye pretty well blackened! I didn’t hurt anything else, in fact, some of the things that are sore seemed to loosen up a little, but the shiner is so ugly! Yeah, I look tough, no one will mess with me, but I’m a people-person! The scary look just doesn’t suit me!


MRI Results

So Friday I went to therapy in the morning and my appointment with the doc to discuss the results of the MRI, sporting my new colorful eye. Well, see the back and eye are related like every other issue is related to the back. What makes me so unstable and makes me fall is the disk trouble and subsequent nerve trauma from more than on troubled disk! After doing some research and talking to some people who’ve had back surgery, I knew what I wanted. The doctor kept talking about pain management and steroids and I’d rehearsed my line. My Idea of pain management has no drugs – I’m in pain, I’ll manage. Except that I’m really not in pain. My pain is mental, I’m frustrated because I’m too weak and too unstable.

My first thought was happy and victory when the doctor came in holding the MRI results and said, “Well, we need to get you to a neurosurgeon for a consultation." Then it kicked in. If my steroid-advocating doctor is jumping to surgery, it’s bad! I’m waiting on the call-back from the Neurologist to set up an appointment for the consultation. There are several disks that range from deteriorated to herniated and screwed up nerve endings to go with them. Beginning with the end in mind, I’m ready to begin the six months of rehab after surgery. Then the surgery word hits me. Wow. Scary stuff. I’ve had oral surgery, but I’ve never been unconscious while someone carved me up before.

Well, right now is the consultation, finding out what insurance will and won’t cover and figuring out what I can afford that they don’t. This is big and I don’t want it done half way! So, I’m going to take it one day at a time, says the recovering ibuprofen addict.


Flying Grocery

The definition of “flying grocery” USED to be that I’d stumble to the door, sore from grocery shopping, and toss the bags in the house, hoping I didn’t break anything I’d forgotten I’d bought that was fragile. As of last week, Flying Grocery is how my groceries come to me without being tossed anywhere! I’ve been getting sorer quicker lately and David will get any groceries I put on a list for him except fresh produce! Most of what I cook, what I eat is fresh produce. So I did a search for grocery stores or markets that deliver locally and found Flying Grocery, a small service company in the Toledo area.

I expected the prices to be high or for a large delivery charge for that kind of service. I was so pleased! Delivery is $5.00 and the prices are so slightly higher than I pay when I hobble in on my own. The delivery charge is waived for the first order, so I figured I’d take a chance. I selected a delivery time, between 5 and 6, when I knew I’d be home. At 5 minutes past 5 there was a knock on my door. The owner of the company made my delivery herself. She refused a tip and instead gave ME a bouquet of flowers as a thank you for the business. The produce was all but perfect! Instead of the easy to grab bag with red delicious and granny smith apples with oranges, I got gala apples, my favorites, bananas and Bartlett pears. I also got a cantaloupe that is still making your refrigerator smell like a piece of Heaven with one piece still wrapped up on the shelf. I got beautiful, crisp and unblemished bell peppers in 4 colors, cucumber, celery and a bag of salad plus a bag with some beautiful zucchini. I got a couple of other things too, some lunch meat, a couple frozen dinners and egg beaters, to try out the non-produce part of the service too. Flying Grocery is a godsend now as I’m sure it will be through surgery and recovery for my back.

Let me add another thought, if you are in the Toledo area, imagine going on vacation and submitting a grocery order from your computer that will be delivered the next morning instead of trying to scramble to fill the cupboard and refrigerator after your plane gets in or after driving all day so you have basic lunch items for work and school the next day. With Flying Grocery, it’s that easy! I can think of a ton of great reasons you might use this service on occasion, sick kids, major project at work, anything that would have you picking up dinner on the way home instead of cooking a healthier meal, and in the long gun, more expensive than the delivery price.

I’m getting ready to place this week’s produce order, but for Friday, after the snow.


Okay, January blogging is a wrap! Back to school!

Links
Rapid LLC, Toledo snow removal and more!
Flying Grocery, awesome grocery delivery service in Toledo, Ohio

Let's Talk About The Weather

I hope everyone in the East has power, or a backup generator, and is successfully digging out today. It may surprise readers, but I’m just not a big fan of snow. If you’re a regular at this cyber-coffee shop, you are wide eyed at my sarcasm there saying, “NO! Nani, really? You don’t like snow?”

My Georgiagander pals, Jeff and Jeanne were snowed in for days. Georgia just doesn’t know what to do with itself when it gets serious cold and then SNOW! Jeanne is a teacher, so work was closed for not a snow day, but more like a snow week! Crazy!

We had a few inches here in Toledo too. Nasty day, Tuesday was! Yes, back to Nani hates winter. Ya know, I’m not much of a hater, just a few things: Snow and spiders. I’d rate them about equal except that snow has one saving grace – snow will freeze a spider to death. Spiders don’t do anything to snow, so since it does do one thing worthwhile, I guess I’d have to admit I don’t hate snow as much as spiders. Okay and every time anyone mentions spiders, including myself, I do a ceiling scan. I don’t apprehensively look out the window at the mention of snow. Self-analysis saves on therapy bills.

Yesterday, in all that snow on the ground, was therapy day for me. Our plow guy, Rapid LLC in Toledo, sent me a text Tuesday night asking if I’d want snow removal on Wednesday. Yes, he wants the business, but he sent the text to set up his schedule and put his regular and return customers first. He asked what time was good for him to come in. It made me really feel like I was getting pick of the day for my convenience. Calling your regular customers first before the people who call after they are snowed in is great business! I told him that David would help uncover my car to get to therapy and the drive would be empty for plowing after 10:30. I got a text as I was leaving therapy letting me know the snow removal was done. If you are local and need affordable, great plowing, shoveling and salting, follow the links at the end of the post!Rapid LLC is simply the BEST!

About David “helping” me uncover the car? When I got in the shower, he said he’d pull the car out for me. What a doll. I’d say I was blessed in marriage just at that, but when I went out to go to therapy, the car was cleaned off, pulled right up to the door and the steps were shoveled and salted with a path shoveled from the steps to my driver’s side door! I posted my “Greatest husband in the world” on facebook yesterday and had a few people asking if David trained other mates. Chuckle-worthy!

Well, now, all that icky snow in both Ohio and Georgia has converged on the East! I know Edna had some pictures of the mounds and mounds of snow at here place yesterday. David’s brother is in Connecticut and we have friends all over the New York/New England area. Crazy this year. I know I’ve made comments about wanting that Global Warming they promised, but seriously, it’s Global Climate Change. I like the idea of “Global little bit warmer in winter” better. I’m not sure if it’s something we’re doing so much as it’s normal ecological cycles. I suspect that we might accelerate it with what we put in the atmosphere. I recycle, try to combine trips when I can and my next car will be a more fuel efficient one and save water in several ways too. It’s just a little, but if we all do just a little, it might help.

Starting today, everyone do just a little something to reduce that carbon footprint. Maybe the snow will stop and we’ll warm up by April. ;)

Okay, my coffee is done and it’s shower time. Then hit the books!

Have a great day!

Links
Rapid LLC
Excellent and affordable snow removal in Toledo!

Miss Edna’s Place
See some pics of the snow in Massachusetts yesterday!

Scrappy Weekend

Well, I did promise yesterday that I’d show off some of the fruits of my weekend!

The first project of the weekend was Thanksgiving 2008. That’s slightly out of order currently. My scrapping goal this year was to catch up 2007 and keep up 2010, I want to have 2010 done by the end of January, 2011. Well, I needed appropriate photos and those were in 2008.

Darlene Haughin has a new mini kit, Bountiful Harvest. Right now that kit is a limited time freebie available at Scrap Bird. It just screamed Thanksgiving to me. So, my first layouts of the weekend were Thanksgiving layouts.

Credits: Bountiful; Harvest by Darlene Haughin,

Word art by Caribbean Mom,

turkey shape from the Thanksgiving shapes -

\freebie from the Adobe Photoshop Exchange

Credits: Bountiful Harvest by Darlene Haughin

You can get this kit for free for a limited time at Scrap Bird. That would be a great next stop after The Chronicles of Nani!

Moving up to the current year again, continuing my work towards that finished by the end of January goal, I opened up the next file in my 2010 “to be scrapped” folder. I just finished up 14 pages from our Florida trip and the next April folder was “cat mom-cad dad!”

I bought a bundle of mini kits by Ellie Lash when she was interviewed on Veelana’s blog and offered a coupon. I love mini kits because they let you focus on the photos and the page instead of going through 40-50 elements and papers or more before you even get started! I do like larger kits for larger sets of photos, because that variety is essential to do many pages with the continuity of one kit, but for solo pages, the right mini kit is the perfect answer to getting a great page without an hour of choosing the papers and elements. One of the kits in that bundle was Cats Meow, purrfect cat pages!

Credits: Cats Meow by Ellie Lash

I thought putting the cat cutouts in the foreground was a nice “walk all over us” effect too!

Now one more really cool kit and layout I did today. I swear this kit was made for me, it just feels like it! I don’t even have ell of it yet, but I LOVE it!!

All Aboard is a freebie collab by Edna B and Suruah-Freespirit . Trains!!

What an awesome kit for all my train layouts. They offered the first parts last Monday, the day I don’t get too much time for blog-reading, so I was delayed in getting back to the Monday blogs! Parts 3 and 4 will be available tomorrow and if I don’t get time for reading tomorrow, I’ll be sure to check back when I read blogs on Tuesday. Tuesday and Thursday are big reading days because I need rest time for a while after aquatic therapy.

My layout was inspired by a photo. I’m not going to say I took the photo, because we got in trouble because I aimed my camera at the subject. It seems the security guards at refineries think a woman with a party camera and a cane is suspicious. I get that there is a heightened sense of fear in today’s world and I don’t think safety is a bad thing at all, but come on, seriously, I look dangerous?

Anyway, the photo, that I DID NOT TAKE, was one of the refinery, the storage tanks to be precise. There were several sizes of storage tanks and they were on a hill, so there was some amazing texture to the lay of the land. I envisioned varying sizes of paper blocks in front of and behind the main photo. Of course, scrapping early May in November, I couldn’t possibly remember the inspiration for the layout, because I didn’t have the photo. I didn’t take the photo. Just like I told the nice security guard.

I don’t defiantly break the law, but I’m not such a stickler for the company policy of a company for whom I don’t work. I don’t observe the technicalities often, because I seldom have to, but when I’m standing on public property, taking a photo is not breaking a law. I’m really not exposing anyone’s secrets in a scrapbook page. I didn’t even post or scrap the photo. I mean, I can’t because the photo, of course, does not exist!

Anyway, void of that wonderful inspiration, here is the layout I did with the parts of All Aboard I have so far:

Credits: All Aboard by Edna B and Suruah-Freespirit

I still maintain that one of the wonderful things about digital, photography is that you can shoot like there’s no film in the camera, because there’s not! That also includes getting shots of buildings and industry that inspire layouts!

Okay, now off to finish dinner and do another layout before bed!

Links:

Darlene Haughin

Scrap Bird

Bountiful Harvest

Ellie Lash

Miss Edna’s Place

Suruah-Freespirit

Designs In Digital

Santa’s Digi Express

Good Things By Mail!

I hate paying for shipping, and look for the free shipping whenever possible, but I love internet shopping and having things arrive here without having to go fight parking, crowds and shelves that empty just before you get there, especially at this time of year. I also hate wasting time. Finding what I want and ordering it takes, on average, five minutes for every hour driving, parking, walking and finding the item in a store. Much as I hate paying the shipping, I’ll gladly pay reasonable shipping to save wasting time. I hate wasting time more!

Amazon Prime is my best shopping friend. I have it right now because I’m a student and they offer it free to students. I buy a lot of my text books at Amazon because they are more affordable than the bookstore most of the time. I shop and compare prices. The textbooks are often from other sellers at Amazon and not eligible for the Prime free shipping, many other things are sold through Amazon and available with Amazon Prime. So, for Christmas shopping, I’ll look on Amazon first. See how that works? Free shipping = more sales! Hehe

There are a few specialty items that I definitely order online because I can’t otherwise find them or if I do find them, it’s for a premium price! Yesterday was a two-box day, not even Christmas stuff yet!

The first box was from Amazon. I got a My K-Cup. My K-Cup does two awesome things. First, since Starbucks is not contracted with Keurig, I can now make my own Verona K-Cups! But it does more!

My Keurig maker makes water the perfect temperature for tea, hot chocolate and instant soups, anything would add hot water to. By taking the filter basket out, it heats perfect water into a cup or cream pitcher. Truth – when you put boiling water on a tea bag, it shocks and to an extent closes up the tea leaves, making the steeping process take longer and changing the flavor of the tea. That’s not so terrible with herbal teas, but with a regular tea, it can be disastrous! I like Earl Grey on occasion. The boiling water method makes hot weak tea initially and when the waster cools a little, the tea releases quick, making a bitter, very strong cup of tea. Remember that some of the tea leaves were scalded and the more delicate nuances of the flavor is gone forever, making a very harsh tea. Hot water through the Keurig maker allows the tea to brew naturally and instantly, preserving all the flavor!

Another one of my wonderful Internet finds has been Ron and Franks Gourmet Drink Mixes. They make hot chocolates, apple cider mix and cheat-a-ccino in a huge selection of flavors! This includes that they make every mix in regular and sweetened with Splenda for a low-calorie, sugar-free drink. They also make several of their mixes with no sweetener at all. I love the unsweetened Pumpkin Spice Cappuccino. I got the decaf mix and I can have a cup at night with dessert and can sweeten it as much as I want. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE that I can get my Pumpkin Spice at Speedway this time of year, but I usually mix it half and half with regular coffee because it’s sweeter than my taste. That does cut into the pumpkin spice flavor. With the unsweetened mix, I get the flavor I want at the sweetness I want. I have placed an order for Christmas of some hot chocolate mixes, cappuccino and spiced cider. Rina is especially excited that I’ll have 5-calorie hot cider mix at UNO this year! She mentioned I might want to order and extra bag!

It looks like UNO and the Fabulous Dessert Bar will be the day after Christmas this year. That’s cool because I’ll be done with the semester of school and I’ll essentially have the week before Christmas to bake and everything will be especially fresh for both Christmas and UNO. Not that things get stale in a week, but having everything so close, I’ll be able to schedule even better!


The other box UPS delivered yesterday was from My Spice Sage. I found this online store searching for someplace to get dried soybeans. I have wanted to toast my own soybeans but it’s been nearly impossible to find them at the grocery stores I’ve been looking at. Remember, my physical ability to run around from store to store is still limited, although between therapy and the doc’s manipulation, it’s getting better! So, I searched for someplace I could order soybeans. What a great find! My Spice Sage has not only got soybeans, but every spice you could think of! I ordered the rest of the spices I need to make Middle Eastern Seven Spice. Now, I can finally try the recipe for gallabah I have! My order included a free bag of turkey brine spices, every order gets a free 16-oz bag of turkey brine spices right now, and my choice of a sample spice. I chose the apple pie spice to play with in the kitchen.

My box from 11th Street Coffee came in at the very end of FedEx time tonight. 11th Street has a fabulous selection of K-Cups and I order from them every 6 or 7 weeks. I’m kinda hoping that this shipment will last me through the end of the year, with the additional purchase of the holiday assortment that’s usually available at Bed Bath and Beyond. I ordered two boxes of the Autumn Harvest blend for Green Mountain. That is a limited edition and when I tried it last time, it made the Caribou I usually get taste just a little bit less. Right now I have only Caribou and it is just as wonderful as it always has been, but when the Caribou box is empty, I’ll have Autumn Harvest for a while. I’m not opening an Autumn Harvest box until the current Caribou is gone.

I find I go through more decaf now that I drink exclusively decaf at night. I bought an extra box of Newman’s decaf K-Cups at Kroger because I used up the decaf sampler box from last time, Boy it’s more expensive at the grocery store for K-Cups! This time I got a box of breakfast blend decaf, the breakfast blend is a more robust flavor, which I prefer at night. Breakfast Blend Decaf. Isn’t that an oxymoron? I also got a box of Hazelnut decaf. Hazelnut is the only flavored coffee other than vanilla that comes in decaf. I searched for a cinnamon, but no dice! I can add my own cinnamon, but the flavor is better if it’s brewed into the coffee than added after. Still, I’ll be able to enjoy a flavored coffee at night too.

Back to scrapping. Tomorrow, I’ll show off a little of the fruits of today’s labor!


Links:
Amazon
Ron and Franks Gourmet Drink Mixes
My Spice Sage
11th Street Coffee