I Am Defined

Happy Sunday everyone! Unless you’re reading this tomorrow or on any day that’s not today or some multiple of seven from today, then happy whatever of the six other days this happens to be.

I have finally been defined with a definition I agree with. For years and years I’ve taken forms of the Meyers-Briggs tests, including the all out test that I took for a job interview many years back, and the results always start with E, calling me an extrovert. I’m actually consistently an ENTJ; Extrovert, Intuitive, Thinking, Judgmental, and the description of an ENTJ fits me pretty well except that I am not that outgoing. I’m outgoing when I need to be, when I have to, but I treasure my alone time too. As a rule, extroverts can’t stand being alone. I took a test online that tells what kind of introvert or extrovert a person is, because I love taking personality tests no matter how corny they are although this one is less corny than others I’ve taken, and it doesn’t call me an extrovert. According to my results I am an outgoing introvert. Which if you look at this description; 8 signs you may be an outgoing introvert, it fits me perfectly. And I love the fact that it doesn’t call me an extrovert.

I’m in the midst of a reading dilemma. Remember I said I was going to have an upstarts book and an ereader book going at the same time? Well, I did that. If you look at my Good Reads widget on the right, there are 2 current books listed. One is a hard cover that I got in a book swap and one is an e-book, young adult fiction. I read the Harry Potter series, and the Trylle series in the beginning of 2013; don’t judge! ;) But my current problem is that I’m just not really into either one. They’re both okay, but nor riveting at all. I have a Baldacci paperback in waiting and thanks to Christmas gift cards for both Barnes and Noble for the Nook app and Amazon for the Kindle app, both on my iPad, I have a couple lists of loaded and ready to read books on the tablet. I have a goal of averaging 2 books a month and I’m not even half way through either book with only a week of January left! January and February are usually good reading months for me. I have to come up with a plan to get myself some reading time so I can catch up and start some bocks I’m more likely to MAKE time to read.

I was talking to a friend from our MS support group about the things that make MS easier to live with today than it would have been years ago, say in the 1940s when it was first diagnosed and recognized as an actual disease. Without MRIs, there was no apparent scarring of the myelin to see on the brain or spine images and while it wasn’t a death sentence for sure, it did affect life expectancy just because they knew so little about it. So much about diagnosing and understanding the disease has improved in the many years since then.

The first disease modifying medication was approved for use and became available in 1993 and more medications became available after that; all injectable. The first oral medication was approved in 2010. That was my first choice in 2011, anything to avoid needles. There are 10 medications an MS patient and their neurologist can try, depending on what side effects you want to chance. But just think;25 years ago there were NO options. You were diagnosed, treated the symptoms as best you could and you knew the disease was going to progress with no way of slowing it down.

Back in that day, just prior to a drug for the disease, it wasn’t considered a disability. In fact the ADA was a baby in 1990 with members of congress that still didn’t want it to pass. We MSers were still destined to end up in wheelchairs and there were still people fighting tooth and nail not to have to widen a door for those chairs or anyone else with a wheelchair, walker, cane or just limited mobility or allowed mobility for breathing or heart conditions. We have advocates and are encouraged to be self-advocates in the fight to continue living instead of just existing as helpless invalids; we became legally valid!

But we really acknowledged the internet, tablet, smart phones. The internet means we aren’t hopeless and lonely when we are at home. The incredible ability to reach out to others like us and be cyber support is fantastic. I couldn’t live without my iPad. With the numbness in my hands that has me dropping things all the time and unable to write having my planner and several reading apps in one device, with a padded cover and replacement insurance on it, is such a blessing It also has a notepad, radio and MP3 storage, camera and my social media apps. And it has speech-to-text for every app I’d type in, a godsend for the times when my “fumblehands” just aren’t up to hitting the right keys. This is not an ad for the iPad. It’s an acknowledgement of how technology makes disabilities less disabling. There have been many times in the past year that speech-to-text software,, like Dragon on my PC, has written this blog!

It’s just amazing and wonderful. How many times did I watched Star Trek episodes where someone was carrying around a tablet with information essential for their job on it? I’m just waiting now for the hypo spray that will zap my MS all together? THAT’S something I’d take to our support group for “share and tell!”

My final note today is for everyone in the areas where the current storm is headed BE CAREFUL! The nasty winter storm the Weather channel is calling Juno is supposed to dump a TON of snow and nastiness on the east! We have relatives and friends that are expected to get in excess of a foot of snow. My friend Edna of Miss Edna’s Place will be seeing it in her part of New England as well, what she describes as feet of inches predicted on TV. If you are in the areas getting snow and hurricane winds, stay as safe and warm as possible and the rest of us please send good thoughts and prayers for them. We’ll get a few inches in Toledo and I’ll complain as I see it falling but then I’ll remember that I don’t have it so bad and check Edna’s blog or ask David if he talked to any of his brothers.

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!

Tid Bits

I have a bunch of short comments I’ve been writing down the past few days. I suppose any of them could be a full paper or editorial or even a long blog post, but I’m choosing brevity just now…over and over and over, which kinda defeats th idea of brevity. I LOVE irony! Here are the current Nani odds and ends.

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I didn’t mention this last Wednesday in my answer to the Hodge Podge question “What's the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?” I still don’t weigh one nice thing from a stranger above another because anything a stranger does for you that’s kind is a wonderful gesture. Strangers don’t “have to” and when they do it’s from the heart and beautiful.

There were 2 guys that helped me in Detroit. We were coming out of the park after the Division Series game a couple years ago and hit a rut in the sidewalk on the way back to the car. I was jarred and slipped out of the wheelchair onto the pavement. David was pushing the chair and there was no way he could have stopped me from slipping. I wasn’t hurt, but I was on the ground!

Two guys that were behind us walked up and asked if I was okay. I said yes and each of them grabbed an arm and a bend in my knee on either side and lifted me back into the chair. I thanked them and said I was good, just embarrassed. One of them told me it was the City of Detroit that should be embarrassed and they went on their way with a “Go Tigers” cheer.

I’d like to think they still would have helped me without my Tigers jacket. :)

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I usually read at least the first few comments after I read a news story online. I think I must like the burning in my eyes from the poison keyboards that also don’t have spell-check.

There are so many awful, spiteful and judgmental people in the news and they draw out their ilk to comment on internet news stories and discussion boards. But remember “Good person does something nice” is not a good news headline and even if they did post a story like that, the same people would comment about what a bad story it is and turn it into another “MY religion and MY politics are right because you’re a moron” page anyway.

Rest assured that those of us that don’t make news still vastly outnumber the ugly people who make the news and the armchair “experts” who insist on making it about their religious/political views.

A healthy self-image and balanced personality go a long way in keeping that need for anonymous attention and affirmation down.


(steps off soapbox)

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Last note, but never ever the least, today is the day that Alan Jacobson’s new Karen Vail Mystery is released! I finished The Ex Who Wouldn’t Die this afternoon. My review is coming soon on that one, but I did get No Way Out today and it does move immediately up in my cue for my next read!


There are my tids bits for now. See you tomorrow with the Hodge Podge!

Where It Finishes

As Friday winds down to a finish, I wanted to check in. Still looking for Friday requests for next week. It might be more bad poetry if I don’t have a request – Eeks!! Actually in 2006, FBR was all about top ten lists and silly stories. I got some very serious and soul-searching request in 2007. That’s what FBR is all about. It can be anything, serious, funny, though-provoking or emotional. I just enjoy the challenge of writing outside of my comfort zone or coming out of my shell.


If you are interested in checking it out, I put my first regular post in It's About What I CAN Do, my MS blog. I hope that it's good for me to write it and also good for anyone looking for some positive inspiration to read. I've gone to a couple different sites where patients can communicate and offer each other support. The problem is I don't feel any love there! There's so much gloom and depression that it starts to make me feel bad reading it. Sorry, I have challenges I'm living with and handling well. I don’t want a toxic environment, so I've started the blog hoping I can give people dealing with MS, a loved one with it or just people who want to know, someplace where there actually is positive support.

It won't get easier with people saying how awful things are. It gets easier with people offering thoughts, ideas and actual support to make each day just a little better than the last. The disease isn't fatal and if I live another ten years or another fifty years, they'll be good ones. If I can give just one person with a chronic disease a better outlook, then it really does answer that "why me" question! The link for the blog is at the bottom and I'll be adding a sidebar icon in the next few days too.


David and I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond tonight to exchange the hand shower he got me for one that will work better for us. I wanted a hand shower that would still have a regular showerhead too. He’s not at all fond of hand showers. They move oddly and are usually too low as a regular shower for 6’5”! We also got my wand scanner. We picked up a few other things there too. BBB is a dangerous place for the pocketbook!


I did a little work on the annex this morning, but then my back and right side just got really weak. I took the quickest shower around because I was afraid I wouldn’t be strong enough to get out of the tub! So that was that for the annex for today. I listen to the body saying to take a day off! If I feel stronger tomorrow morning, I’ll get back to work on it. If not, it’s an all-day scrap day.


I did copy and paste into a word document the Friday Fill-Ins from Feeling Beachie last night before bed, I just haven’t posted yet, so while I still have a little Friday left…




This week’s statements:
1. ________ is not my strongest virtue (patience)
2. _________ is my favorite meal of the day
3. ___________ is my ____________
4. Whenever ____________ happens, I always _____________.


Resisting temptation is not my strongest virtue. I keep the basket with the last of the holiday chocolate behind my computer screen, but I can still see that red bow on top of it and I always end up having a couple pieces with my evening coffee. I have the points in the day to do a couple small pieces, but I wish I could resist better.


Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, usually. It’s the one meal for which I’m not so busy I can’t make it a nice meal. Lunch is usually a quick cup of soup and raw vegetables, because I don’t even have time to cook and by dinner, the day is wearing on me and I make something good, but quick. David has much less adventurous taste than me, so dinner tends to be a little more ordinary too.


Scrapbooking is my stress relief. Yet I’m a couple years behind. Tells ya something, huh?


Whenever frustration happens, I always look for the fastest way to regain total control.



And so another week is done!

Links
It's About What I CAN Do

Home Again, Mug Shot, Barn Charm and Stuff

Make sure you refill your coffee cup before reading. It's one of those longer post days!


It was a very nice long weekend in Connecticut. We chased a few trains ion Friday and then drove the rest or the way in to Ben and Ellen’s home for the weekend. I’ll talk some more about the weekend in the “Mug” feature in a moment.


Before I get into the Monday feature on Tuesday, after dark, I wanted to take a moment to talk about sponsors. It’s posted in the Chronicles of Nani Bulletin Board, the section before the blog entries, that I do some sponsored posts. I am selective about the sponsors for whom I write or “sell” a post to. Some of those sponsors use disclaimers before the post, others do not because I have put that disclaimer on the bulletin board. If I write a sponsored post it includes linked text. To retain that distinction, I don’t use linked text in my regular blogs, there is a link section at the end. I do that so you know that the post is for a sponsor. I like to be able to include a bit of me in my ads to show that I really do have a decent opinion about the sponsor.

The reason I bring this up is because, while I welcome comments on sponsored posts, I won’t publish ones that suggest a competitor or a “better way” to do something without using the sponsor. I don’t feel it’s ethical to accept compensation for the post and accept comments to the post that do not add to the positive suggestion or testimonial.

There was one recently that I could not in good conscience post, although the comment did not say anything bad about my sponsor and it was in no way a negative comment, it did offer a way to get the same results without use of the sponsor. I’m so sorry that I couldn’t post the comment to that sponsored post. If you do have an opinion that might not be the most positive one for a sponsored post, please, feel free to add it to a comment to the post that follows. I’ll post self-help suggestions, just not to the direct post for a sponsor. If someone searches the product and finds a link to The Chronicles of Nani, the post they read and its comment should reflect positively on the sponsor. That’s why they compensate for blog sponsorships.



There are many great things about coming home, even when you’re only gone for a few days. The first of those is seeing the kitty-kids Carla and Kaline were both happy to see us in that clingy Kaline follows her Mommy everywhere in the house and Carla follows Daddy. There was a box from Fine Foods International waiting for me, my order of Torrone and some other Italian things that I order every year with the Torrone for Christmas and 2 of the three hard persimmons I left on top of the apples before we left Thursday were soft and squishy! The third one is slightly squishy, but it wasn’t touching the apples as much as the other two. It’ll be ripe in a couple days.


That’s the thing with persimmons. They are delightfully sweet and tasty when ripe, but leave an awful fuzzy feeling on the roof of your mouth when not quite ripe. Pop complains because they throw out the persimmons at Meijer when they get soft, thinking them “bad.” That’s so sad! They ship when they are red but hard because if they picked them ripe, they would be bad by the time they got to market. That plus a ripe persimmon is very soft and puncturable. I don’t know what the thing about apples is with them, but to ripen a persimmon faster, surround it with apples. It really works! I ate one this afternoon and it was SOOO tasty and NO fuzzy mouth!


Tuesday Tazza Shot

From the Connecticut Cupboard

I love the assortment of mugs at Ben’s place. There are mugs for fun-sounding places that I haven’t been and pretty Christmas mugs that we had coffee in Sunday at brunch.

David and I got in after we’d stopped for a later dunch or linner Friday afternoon around 4. It’s starting to get dark by then in the east. We still were in Pennsylvania, so we still had New Jersey and the New York traffic to get through on our way. When we got in Ben and Ellen had gone to a parents meeting for high school girls hockey. Emma is a freshman on the Varsity team. How cool is that? Oh, if there had been girls ice hockey in school sports when I was growing up! My niece by marriage and I have a kindred connection with the ballet and hockey thing. It definitely makes me her fan!

But all three of the kids are into a lot. Nephew Ben is also on the high school hockey team and he referees to keep gas in his car. On Saturday we went to a preseason tournament for boys hockey and then went to a different rink for the first girls game of the season. I got to see Ben’s and Emma’s teams in one night.


Sunday we went to the early church service and David’s older brother, Peter met us at the church too. It was a big family event because JP was an angel, the angel that told the shepherds about the birth of Baby Jesus, in the church Christmas pageant. The kids did such a great job!

After church, David and I went out to meet our friend, Jim, at the train station. Jim was bringing a bag of model trains that David had ordered and it was an opportunity to shoot some commuter trains together for a little while before Jims return train was in and we had to get back for brunch. I’ll tell you, it was COLD! It was so cold that the metal parts of the wheelchair hurt to touch to make it move. I need to get some gripping driving gloves for winter. These are things you don’t necessarily think about until you’re suffering not having thought about them. Still, it’s worth a little icy metal on the hands to spend some time with a friend we don’t see often, especially when we had just a little time on that given day!

When we got in for brunch, that’s when I got to see the sweet holiday mugs. Ellen made a frittata with fresh basil that was incredible! I have noted since the first trip when we met that Ellen is an excellent cook. She’s been moving to a healthier repertoire and it still tastes phenomenal!

Then there was some time for magic. JP was at a birthday party and she and her Dad were going to be at a holiday gathering for a club be participates in. Ben is one of the leaders. I didn’t absorb all of the details, but the group is similar in organization and purpose to scouting. Ben has what I’m sure is an official Santa Suit because it transforms the wearer. Ben needed someone to don the suit for the girls and Peter volunteered. It was fun to watch as they put the suit on him as my brother in law transformed into the Jolly Old Elf. Every article of the costume brought a little more jolly and a little more bass in the “ho-ho-ho!” I’d love to see David put on the suit some time.

Now, we’re still on Sunday. I married into “Super Fam!” Hehe.

David and I went to another hockey game where we knew none of the players. Ben and Ben were both refereeing the game! It was the first time I’d ever really watched the referees. I’ll be honest, when a penalty was called I almost yelled, “Yay ref! Good call!”



At dinner we talked about Christmas gifts. David and I brought gifts and there were gifts for us and nothing was opened before we left Connecticut. It’s all “wait ‘til Christmas.” Emma and I are both of the mind that once a gift is given, you should open it, not make yourself crazy string at the package under the tree for days or weeks. No one was listening to us.

Sunday night, David went to watch his brother Ben play a hockey game. I stayed back, played a few games of Connect Four with JP. I’d played quite a bit of Connect Four with her this we4ekend and finally won a few games. I need to broaden what I see on the board, because she, the seasoned Connect Four veteran, was sneaking up and beating me when I thought I had her. After Ellen and JP went up to bed, Emma and I watched an episode of CSI, a show I enjoy, but really don’t make a point of watching. David and Ben came back in after the hockey game while I was finishing up Meet Me On Monday.

It was, as it usually is, a fast-paced but fun weekend with the East Coast family.


Barn Charm

The last note from the Connecticut weekend I’ll leave is this week’s barn.


The Christmas Barn in Wilton, Connecticut is a restored 1850’s barn in a cluster of restored antique buildings. It’s been a year-round Christmas store since 1990. David and I bought our 2006 ornament here.

See more barns at Bluff Area Daily!

With A Little Help From My Friends

Yesterday was a very tiring, but very productive day. First was my hair appointment. After getting the kitchen shining on Monday, I deserved a little pampering. There’s nothing more comfortably social that chit chat with the stylist I’ve been with for the past 2-1/2 years. I had a stylist for many years back in Michigan, but she and I both moved out of state and she did not follow me to Ohio! Actually, she left before I did and I had many one-cut-stands, still not finding the one who I’d trust my hair with every time and even let them make suggestions.

I took a giant leap of faith in early 2009. I hadn’t had a cut in 2 years. That wasn’t the frustration of no stylist. That was me being all noble. My hair grows fast and I was growing it out to cut it short and donate the tail to Locks of Love. The Salon I go to, Camelot in Holland, OH, would send the pony tails to Locks of Love on my behalf. That’s how I met Jamie.

Jamie cut my hair into a cute short style after cutting three ponytails from it. Because of the way my hair was tapered, I had one ponytail that was about 13 inches in the middle and 2 almost 11 inch tails. The short style was cute and easy to take care of. It was shorter than I liked, but I needed pieces of at least 10 niches to donate. I’ve been seeing Jamie ever since. She does a great job and makes wonderful suggestions for flattering looks. Yesterday, after growing out my bangs to the stylish one-length that so many long-haired women wear for over a year, I had my bangs cut to the shorter length they had always been. I'm just not the constantly moving my hair from my face type! I think Jamie was as giddy as me with the results! No more straight hair in my face. I have bangs and the natural curl again! I also look a little younger than the 50 I’d been seeing in the mirror. (based on the change from 44 with bangs last year)



After the haircut, I had four boxes on my front porch! I still expect a few more things that I’ve ordered, three more boxes, but I now have all the parts of Kelly’s present so I can wrap that and send it on its way to Sikeston


I also got a present I bought for me:

YAY Spatulas!!

Yes, David laughed at me too. But the rubber scrapers we have had seen better days, especially the little one that I still used even after the top of it met with a disposal accident. These ones have heavy duty plastic handles and are very strong and supple. I used them yesterday and LOVED them!


Next it was on to loaves! I got the “Christmas Gift Loaf” recipe from reading Lynn’s blog, Cottage and Creek. She made “Holiday Pumpkin Loaf” on Thanksgiving Day and shared photos with a link to the recipe. Oh my, it looked so good! It’s a great recipe that leaves some room to play, to make it your own.

My "Loaded Loaves"

I made 2 loaves that will be gifts and two mini loaves to try them out. I added raisins to the recipe and after David and I tried it, I’ll probably use a little less ginger than the recipe calls for next time. I think it tastes wonderful, but David doesn’t care for the ginger flavor. I doubled the recipe and it made 2 loaves and 2 minis. Maybe next time, I’ll add the ginger last and divide the batter to make half with and half without

Flora's coasters

If you’re still thinking of some non-edible gift ideas with a personal touch that you still have time to make, there is a great idea for coaster sets on Flora’s blog, This and That. They are so sweet! The coaster sets are so cute and I do still need a couple small gifts. There’s just not enough time to cross stitch a set of ornaments anymore! If you give a look before Saturday (12/10) when she’s going to draw a name from the comments, you can have a chance to win a hand-made set of coasters from her! I entered for the drawing, but should I win, I don’t know if I would give them as a gift. Maybe I’d give them to David so I’d have them too!

Okay, off to fix lunch and get back to work!



Links

Lynne’s blog: Cottage and Creek, Holiday Pumpkin Loaf

Christmas Gift Loaf Recipe at allrecipes.com

Flora’s blog: This and That, Christmas Gifts to Make

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

Sunday Ponderings

Just a few things that have been on my mind today, a little long, a little controversial too.


“Grow Up and Eat Your Vegetables!”


I love this time of year, veggies a plenty! Whether it’s a roadside stand, a farmers market or that friendly sign at Kroger or Giant Eagle telling me how they are supporting local farmers by carrying Ohio-grown produce whenever possible, the fruits and veggies are naturally ripe and fresh! Last weekend when Pop barbecued for my birthday, he also gave me my birthday present. My birthday presents from Pop are always awesome! I got a bag of cherries, a half dozen white peaches and a big bag of zucchini. Pop always picks up my favorites, down to choosing the white over yellow peaches. With him working in the produce department, he picked my goodies up after work Saturday morning. I couldn’t get fresher if I got them myself. But, I also get the “pick of the litter.” Pop knows what looks the best coming off the truck in the morning! I still have a couple of zucchini left, but the peaches were finished by mid-week and well, the cherries lasted through Sunday!

In the world of trying to make less of me, I tried Nutrisystem. It’s a good program if you can afford it and if you have a modest amount to lose. For me it was a good jump start. I dropped 40 pounds after a slow start. Their counselors on the phone are great. I switched a few things around and changed my dairy or protein add-ins to mostly protein instead of dairy and then I started losing better. Well, the start of the year I quit losing, even gained a little. Mostly due to stress as I was going along on the journey to the ultimate MS diagnosis.

Unfortunately, while the switching out most of the dairy worked for getting the weight loss going, lowered Vitamin D goes with MS and my blood work said my Vitamin D levels were DRASTICALLY low. That’s not Nutrisystem’s fault or the fault of the counselors. I didn’t even know I had MS when that “fix” was made in my diet. A year later the only “good riddance” feelings I have is to the prepackaged food. The diet plan is sound but the food as a whole isn’t so great.

So, I did some doctoring with the food, adding spices to save the flavor. Some of it was beyond help. Those things were mostly the dinner entrées, which are usually just swimming in not-so-good to gross gravies. I do still have a few breakfasts left that I will miss when they are gone.

Visiting the community message boards there was a shock! I was hoping that someone had already called counseling and gotten an “Okay” to dump most of those gravies or at least had some good ideas for fixing the flavor. What I found was a lot of very unsupportive people insisting you had to “do it MY way” because they were “experts.” It only takes losing some successfully and posting a lot to be an “expert.” Oh jeez, I can’t stand uncredentialed experts. The board bullies were brutal to people and probably lose Nutrisystem as many customers as they help.

The one thing the board bullies had in common was that they HATED vegetables. Oh, GROW UP! I’m thinking that’s maybe why they ended up there in the first place! For me it was mostly the nuts. I discovered my greatest nemesis in the weight gain world was the portion sizes of nuts, pumpkin seeds and the like. Maybe that explains the cholesterol issues for me? I got my fat servings under control and not only did I drop some weight, but I got my cholesterol levels down too. Of course, I didn’t get the adults who don’t eat vegetables. I mean, they hate ALL vegetables? What are teaching their kids?

I’ve always eaten a lot of vegetables, often raw and when they are cooked I only seldom add any more than a little spice or a touch of butter. The bully experts told me I had to eat all the gravy because it was important for "the stats." They all seemed to agree that the answer to the gravy issue was to steam large amount of vegetables and pour the gravy over them because it made it easier to eat the vegetables. What? After already saying that I ate lots of veggies raw or naked and liked them they tell me to put the gravy I don’t like on my veggies? My answer was that I quit ordering the stuff with gravy. That made the selection very limited.

So, I switched to Weight Watchers when I found out how bad my Vitamin D level was. Like I said, not at all blaming Nutrisystem for it, but I’m eating lots of dairy now and losing again. I’m also not bored at all and no gravy baths for anything because I cook it and my veggies-a-plenty are raw or un-gravied too! I’m diet-wise in a better place.


Stem Cells


I’ve always thought that stem cell research was a good idea. The results there have been in tests are near miraculous, but I’ve never climbed on the soap box and supported it because it didn’t promise a benefit to ME, so I hadn't researched a lot. My bad on that one. You never know when something that’s a good idea for “other people” may end up being an idea you want more done about for YOU! That’s kind of where I am now. There is a lot of research being done on the results of stem cell treatments for MS patients. So now I’m stepping up on my soap box in support of it. It was a great idea before, but when it became personal, my eyes opened wide enough to see my empty soap box.

The political world is quite threatening. I am not a registered anything but a registered voter. As far as party goes, I’m American. But I’m a disabled American now and I’m starting to see myself leaning left enough that I could totally walk away from the Republican party members because they have become quite anti-people. If that party has its way, the healthcare reform that was passed will be revoked. In addition to healthcare for people who can’t afford it, it also means that if my husband were to change jobs, I’d be uninsured with a life-long debilitating disease. That reform includes the end of “pre-existing conditions” as a reason for an insurance provider to refuse to cover someone. In the end, money is SO much more important than care, right?

Also, greatly influenced by the religious anti-choice nuts, the Republican party is really paying at least lip service to cutting funding and halting stem-cell research, because I guess research to save lives encourages abortions.

Don’t misunderstand me on this one. Anti-choice is a carefully chosen term. As an American I am pro choice. I don’t understand how anyone can not be. Personally, I would never have an abortion or encourage anyone close to me to have one. I also personally don’t condone use of fertility clinics. My personal thought is that there is a reason for unplanned pregnancies and a reason some who want babies can’t have them. It’s my spiritual beliefs that say if you are pregnant, didn’t plan to be and don’t want a baby, DO NOT KILL IT. Have the baby and give it up so the parents who want a child can adopt it.

Of course, I realize my belief that it’s killing a baby is religious. In a country where we have the freedom to choose, or not choose at all, a religion that’s right for each individual, we cannot make laws that prefer one religion to any other. If there are religions that do not hold that a fetus is a human life until birth, how can we as Americans govern when the fetus is a life?

The mini-abortion rant does go back to stem cells, really. There are two things the Republicans that are sleeping with the church ladies need to consider. The first is that not all stem cell research is embryonic stem cells. There is a hospital I was reading about, not in the US, because the treatment isn’t approved here, that uses your own stem cells, drawn from fat cells that are processed and reinjected. There have been good reviews from MS patients who have the courage and money to try it out. Last I checked the most obese country in the world has plenty of fat to donate to that cause.

The second thing, while they are kissing butt for the anti-choice religions, is MY religious beliefs. Who do I have to cozy up with for my religious convictions to be a political star? I don’t know if someone is going to Hell for having an abortion. As a ‘lil old human, I’m, not qualified to say “God says….” Best I can do is say “I feel like what I am doing will or won’t please God.” But let me ask this of those church ladies. If it’s a baby before it’s born and it’s killed. Does it go to Hell too? My belief here, it would be un-American to choose a religious influence to create a law, my spiritual beliefs find some solace in that the stem cells from aborted fetuses can be instruments to save people that are already living with diseases. The anti-choice church ladies may be seeking to strip those lives of their purpose.

Ah but, these are the same people who throw their own children in front of cars to keep people from going in to a family planning clinic. People or a soul’s purpose have little meaning to them compared to their own agenda and being right at any cost.

If you have an opportunity to talk to a candidate or your legislators, ask them where they stand on stem cell research and if they’re against it, WHY?


Feline World


David and I are thinking of expanding out family again. It’ll be a while yet. We didn’t want to run out and adopt another cat right away, part because we wanted to honor Baggle’s memory and let Kaline and Carla get used to each other without him. Yeah, they are a little different together than they were. Kaline and Baggle were that way after we lost Chester too. But the other part was that we do a lot of weekenders in the summer and have vacation plans coming up too. It wouldn’t be fair to introduce a new cat and then leave. All three of them needed us there as they got used to Carla being in the family. There are definitely things we could have done better with introducing Carla and I’d like to make sure we do them better with the next new cat. So, we’re probably looking at mid to late fall, like we did with Carla.

We do have a name picked out, Joe or Jo Morgan, Joe for a boy and Jo for a girl. I think we’ll probably use the middle name, but as David says, “it depends on the cat.” I guess I gotta agree with that. The reason for the choice was that we have a Red Sox cat and a Tigers cat. We give bonus cat treats when all three of our teams, Tigers, Red Sox and Reds win. I thought we ought to have a cat named for a Reds Hall of Famer. But David thought it was a little unfair to have two cats named for my teams and only one for his. Joe Morgan is the name of the Hall of Fame member of the Big Red Machine, 1972-79, and also the name of the Boston Red Sox manager, 1988-1991. No, not the same guy. Their playing careers overlapped just briefly at the end of the Red Sox manager’s career and the beginning of the Big Red Machine member’s. It’s a puurrfect name for our third baseball kitty!

Show and Tell Thursday

Today is the brunch talk edition of my blog every day week. I have some fun or interesting notes and a couple scrapbook layout for show and tell today.

Baseball Tell

First off, not much baseball talk today because I feel “up” and that’s not because of yesterday’s baseball. My number one team in BOTH leagues was shut out yesterday. I know I have a fair share of Red Sox fans who follow The Chronicles, but there are only a few times that I’m not cheering for the Sox with you and well…

I was reminiscing yesterday about the intro/outro bits they had on the Tigers broadcasts for a while when I was a kid. It was the feisty cartoon Tiger growling at the beginning of the broadcast, ready for battle. At the end of the show you saw the tiger again biting a bat with the opposing teams logo when we won. He ripped it up, spraying splinters everywhere. I loved it when we played teams that could be otherwise represented too. For instance, when the Tiger grabbed the bat with the Orioles’ logo after a victory, you heard the growl and instead of splinters, orange feathers, very cool. When we lost, you’d see the sad tiger with a cold pack on his head and hear a whining meow, followed by a quieter “we’ll get ‘em next time” growl and a determined look. I loved those bumps! Yesterday, after an evening of fog and rain, my child brain saw that sad meowing tiger with the cold pack. I always took that “we’ll get 'em next time” to heart, still do. So, sorry Red Sox first fans, the man who shares the TV we watch it on included, today is OUR TURN! And arrrgh, mateys, the Pirates walk the plank too!

And that’s all I have to say about baseball today.



How about some show to go with all the tell? Here is a scrapbook layout I did. This page is an “ad” for the new album by The Feline Patch. David always refers to the shots of all three of our kids in the hall as their “rock band pose.” So, I ran with his idea and did one of the rockstar photos he took as an ad for their CD!

Credits: Cat in a Basket by Miss Edna and Suruha Freespirit

Featured Tracks:

What Part of “NO” Do You Understand?
Hiders From The Storm
Fun Mouse
Feline Groovy
War Kittens
Tuna The Page
House Cat Strut
When The Cats Go Marching In
Theme From Meow Mix
(remix, with more salmon)

It’s not our first collab piece. We’ve written a few sets of parody lyrics when waiting for trains too. David and I can come up with some fun stuff when we work together!


Oo! There’s another piece of way good news, to me anyway. I watch baseball and Degrassi on TV. Sometimes I watch some news, if there’s something I want to see instead of just read about, even though I’ll go back and read for better details later, but baseball and Degrassi are the only things I make an effort to watch on TV. There used to be another show and it’s been a number of years now since it’s show finale, Buffy the Vampire Slayer! Yeah, I have a strange thing about shows in high schools. Well, the network that carries Degrassi, Teen Nick, is going to debut Buffy on May 31! For the first week, it’ll be 2 shows a day, then it will be one a day in a regular time slot. That is just so cool!

Okay, maybe I’m too easy to please.

My Netrition order came in yesterday. Yay for having fat-free peanut butter in the house again! I also got a couple of meal replacement bars. I like those once in a while to replace the small meal of the day. A lunch bar and a large can of V8 is a full meal without feeling too stuffed if I’m not hungry. Promax lower sugar bars come in chocolate fudge and peanut butter chocolate and I bought one of each to try. The sample they threw in this time also happened to be a lower sugar Promax bar, the chocolate fudge. They are sweetened with Stevia and I think the Stevia tastes even less artificial than Splenda, and I love Splenda! I tried the chocolate fudge bar and instantly flew back to my childhood.

Mom used to buy “Food Sticks” as snack for us when my brother, Dave, and I were kids. We were astronaut nuts, all abuzz after the lunar landing and anything that the astronauts ate, you could get us to eat. We drank Tang and loved dehydrated ice cream, in fact, you can still get dehydrated ice cream at the Air Force Museum in Dayton and when I visit there, I always bring some home as souvenirs. Food Sticks were shaped like beef sticks, but instead of meat, they were vitamin fortified fudge. I don’t remember what flavors they were, but I do remember the chocolate and the peanut butter. The Promax lower sugar bars have the taste and texture of Food Sticks! YUM!!! I think in my next order I’m getting a whole box!

Okay, one more “show.”

This is the first page for our “wedding album.” I think I’m going to do our reception weekend and Patch 365 as a separate book in between the two 2009 books.

credits: Mr. and Mrs. – Red and Gold by Nibbles Skribbles

I’m a few folders behind on 2011, but keeping up well and I really need to get moving on the 2008 pages in my catch up, but this page fit well for a challenge at Ginger Scraps. It did put me in the mind that I really need to get some notes down for some of the folders that I don’t have a hand written notes for.

That’s it for Show and Tell day! Need more coffee!

Wrapping up Monday

A little taste to kick off the week!

The first bit of business I need to address to start this week is a “fix” from last week. I got several points wrong in my early rant about how Sally, the mother goose from our post office, died. I didn’t correct the mistakes or take down my original post because I don’t want to delete the comments and my demeanor hasn’t changed. It’s settled now after a few days, but the anger about it is a little fueled. The stupid mistakes were made by people who should know better, WAY better. The people who moved the family were from a center for the “rescue” and rehabilitation of wildlife. When they moved the goose family, with three goslings and two un hatched eggs, to a “better” place across the street, they were caught by surprise that geese are territorial and the incumbent geese in that area would threaten the new geese and try to drive them out.

Yanno, I just don’t get how you can work for a wildlife center in an area where there are a lot of geese and not know that. They said it was a “no win” situation because Sally was nesting in an area where there was so much traffic. How about carefully move the family to somewhere that there aren’t geese already living? I mean, if you’re moving the geese and have already invaded them, why not put them someplace safer than where they already are? Sure, a busy parking lot by a busy road is not ideal, but it’s not like no one knew they were there. Putting them in an area where not only is there the human factor but also territorial other geese sounds like a “maybe lose” or “lose big” choice and they chose lose big.

You can read the story on the Toledo Blade’s website here: Blade article



I SO don’t want to be all doom and gloom n a cloudy Monday, here in northwestern Ohio. We’re still on the lookout for that arc! ^The rain was hard and nasty Friday night into Saturday morning. The tulips took quite a beating! In the front half of our side bed, there is a lot of petal litter! That’s from the blooms that just exploded from the driving down rain on them. I’m glad I got my photos when they were strong and healthy! There are more exploded tulip blooms in the front section than the back, so there are still flowers, just not as many. The smaller tulips seemed to fare better than the taller ones, but they weren’t as open. David reported this morning that the absolute las6t of the crocuses, a couple of the stripey ones that bloomed later and stayed a little longer, had finished for the year now. That ups my resolve to get some bulbs in the ground for summer and fall. Now if we can just get a day that doesn’t rain. Our forecast for the beginning of this week: today was “cloudy with a shower or two,” we got three or four, then “mainly cloudy, showers around,” and on Wednesday,“ warmer with showers.” Hey, at least it’ll be warmer! Just give me one weekend day that’s cloudy, but no rain, so David can help me, and I’m good!


There are things that make me happy. The Reds swept the Cardinals out of town over the weekend and hold first place again and they beat up the Cubs in the sixth inning tonight for another win. I like this kind of roll!

David and I got out to the grocery store yesterday and left with many bags of groceries and a lighter pocketbook for the effort, but we saved BIG TIME with coupons, careful sale shopping ahead of time and a good buy ten and get $5 off deal at Kroger. I also got my almond milk supply refilled and Dannon Greek Yogurt comes in peach now! This morning I made a cup of warm cocoa with almond milk and a scoop of Splenda-ized dark chocolate. MMM!!!! I let David try a sip and he was impressed too!

Okay, it was a little bit of a mundane Monday, but it wasn’t a bad Monday. I still really do like Mondays, even if the telling of them is really just wrapping up the weekend. It’s a fresh start to a new week.

Now if we can just get it stop raining or get passage booked on that arc…

A Little Bit of This – Spring 2011

Mom with Dave and me, Easter 1970

Happy Mother’s Day to all of the Moms out there and to all of the Mom helpers. That photo is the one I have as my ID on Facebook right now. I saw a few people using their Mom’s photo as their profile photo for Mother's Day and I thought it was a neat idea for the holiday, so I used that one. It turns out that my photo was such a good idea that my brother snagged it for his profile photo. Now we look like twins, but as I posted on his page, we kinda look like twins in that photo! (But trust me, we really are 14 months apart!) It’s my Mom with my brother and me on Easter Sunday in 1970. I was almost 5 and Dave was 3-1/2. That’s a photo my Dad carried in his wallet for a long time. There is one that goes with it, Dad’s other wallet photo, of us with him on the same day. We were almost adults and we were still under 5 in Dad’s wallet. The staples in Mom’s wallet were a little more up-to-date. She always had the current school picture, then we got to be seniors forever, but the First Communion photos were always there too.

Today is the 8th Mother’s Day that I won’t be at a ball game with my Mom. “Take Mommy Out To The Ball Game” was our Mothers Day tradition. She loved carnations and that was one of the Mothers Day perks. Many ballparks give a carnation to every woman who comes to the game on Mother’s Day. Sometimes it was a Tigers game, sometimes a Minor League game. In 1996, the ball game was the day before when Heather and Tracy were with us in Philadelphia. We saw the Braves and Phillies after a rain delay the night before and the three of us treated Mom to lunch at Old Bookbinder’s before we left for the airport. When I wrote the tribute that was on her memorial website, I mentioned that she’d see Roberto Clemente, one of her heroes as a kid, play again at Heaven’s ballpark. For this year’s Mothers Day game, she’ll get to see Sparky Anderson manage one of the teams.


Speaking of Baseball…


A little tirade of questioning Dusty Baker - why, oh why, would he put Francisco Cordero in to pitch when they were only ONE run ahead in the ninth inning, I don’t care if they call him “closer," which by the way is the most OVERRATED position in baseball, Cordero is more accomplished at throwing a lead away when it really counts than he is at saving games. I listen to the commentators on Fox Sports talk about how closers seem to perform better with men on base. PLEASE! Any other reliever, we’d call that “not able to get the job done,” “Poor performance.” But for a closer, the ulcers for managers and fans are part of their, I don’t know, legend? YEESH! The first batter Cordero faced went yard and tied the game. Correct me if I’m wrong, but a tie does NOT close a game! Oh yeah, but he did close it in the ninth. The Cubs got another run in to beat, Cordero. It just sucks that the Reds and their fans have to take the hit for his inability to do his job. Yes, he has a bunch of saves, but when the game has been tough or the score has see-sawed or just if it’s not easy, Cordero is NOT the man you want on the mound in the ninth. I don’t care how much of a Reds ticket goes to pay his overpriced salary, I’d rather pay him to sit on the bench and record a win.

Okay, that rant ends. If you read it all, thank you for indulging me. It’s just that Cordero really irks me. Congratulations Cubbies on the victory, but we took it easy one you and gave you Cordero and his beach ball pitches in the ninth. You can thank us by not hitting today!

So after watching the sad ending to the Reds game, I tuned in to the Tigers game in the fourth inning. What better way to wipe my emotions clean of that nasty Cordero inning than Justin Verlander! He was phenomenal yesterday, the second no-hitter of his career and just inches shy of a perfect game! In the bottom of the eighth in Toronto, after facing and retiring 22 straight batters, he went to a full count and walked batter 23, then ended the eighth with a double play. So, he did only face 27 hitters, an almost perfect game!

Justin Verlander - 2nd career no-hitter yesterday!

It was very cool to watch the game. As David said when he got home yesterday, we usually only see the last batter or at most the last inning when a network games breaks into it as the no-hitter is completed. I loved watching the game and seeing the pitcher for one of my teams pitch the gem. Verlander is only the second Tiger in history to throw two no-nos and at 28 years old, he has time to do it again in his career. Can he do it? Could he throw five more and match Nolan Ryan’s record seven in his career? Yeah, no one can answer those questions yet, but it’s going to be exciting as a Tiger fan to find out!


School’s Out For Summer

Well, this semester was tough for me. Planning on the medical issues being much simpler, I took two classes. Even in the easier one, Web Imaging, which is basically Photoshop 5, I only got a B+. I say “only got a B” because it’s my first grade since returning to beef up my resume that wasn’t an A! I had some of straight-A semesters through high school, trade school and college, but I was never a 4.0 student when all was said and done. I am proud that my cumulative average has always been in the “A” range, but really, I’ve never been asked what my GPA in school was in a job interview, so in the greater scheme of things, a B, even if it was a C, doesn’t hurt anything but my ego, and even my ego is only slightly bruised.

But the ego bruising fades with some very glowing remarks and the full 250 points for my final project in Photoshop! For the final project, we were to create two original pieces using the tools and methods we’d learned in class. I created the first one to be an in-store promotional poster for home and garden departments in the fall for spring perennial bulbs planting. I used photos of my own flowers and the labels from the bulbs with one of Darlene Haughin’s papers from the Everyday Life collab.


For the second one, I used a paper from Darlene’s portion of On My Knees, we had to secure permission to use anything we didn’t create or photograph ourselves, and photos of my own cane and walker. Remember that I got the walker when I was in aquatic therapy because it took me a little to get my land legs back after getting out of the pool. I positioned this as a motivational poster and one that could be used in a co-op ad or public service ad for a nonprofit like Paralyzed Veterans of America or Special Olympics.


As I mentioned already, I currently have an Incomplete in my XML class, with three chapters and the final to catch up by the beginning of August, I want to redo some of the chapters before that so I have the language down moving forward. As I said before, my instructor is awesome, very compassionate and understanding. I want to excel on the portion of the class that’s left, not just for me, but as a way of saying thanks to him too!


Flowers!

The entire length of the house next to our drive is in bloom!

I’m having so much fun watching the flowers Kelly and I planted in October come up! That photo was taken May 4. The tulips are up now and the colors along the side of our house are just beautiful! But, after the tulips are done, that’s it! I planted spring flowers. I’m still new to this flowers thing! I’ve been doing some looking for summer blooming perennials and next I’ll look for fall blooming ones. I’d love to be able to have continuous blooming plants through to fall on the side.

Here are three I found that are right for the growing zone we’re in and I just think would be beautiful in the summer.

Gladiolas

We’ve had glads in the side bed all along, but they were dug up when our basement waterproofing was done and we didn’t get them back in the ground soon enough. I want to get some to plant now because I know they’ll grow there and David picked a Glad branch for me a couple times, when rain or wind knocked them down, and I had a glad branch on my desk at work. So, they have sentimental value too.

gaillardias

clematis

These two are one I found that I just think are so pretty! I want to get some each of the gaillardias and clematis. I love the colors and the sunburst of the gaillardias is just SO summer! Kelly did the planting while I was at school in October, but I know how she did it and I figure I can set out the bulbs in the driveway and just move a chair down to each section to do the planting. David said he’d help too. I’ll see about choosing fall flowers and maybe planting them all at the same time.


Okay, I’ll be back with more later!

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