Chronicles of Nani - Love Songs

 I know I don't write good old blogs like I used to. The truth is I'm very involved in my YouTube project and then actually has a lot to do with the fact that I can talk much better than I can type. MS has done a number on my hands. When I do type pages or even occasional replies, when I can, it's using the speech to text function and going back in and fixing what was right if my hands are up to it. (Because anybody that's ever tried to send a text on their phone using it, KNOWS how erratic it can be.)

I occasionally do special vlogs on YouTube called story time and now I'm adding the debut of a special one called Music. Just in time to be late for Valentine's Day the subject of the debut of the music series is love songs! I hope those of you that click on the blog and it's new check out the videos. And I'm definitely inviting everyone to play along and leave something in the comments this time. I hope you enjoy it!

Delving into a new topic at Chronicles of Nani, every now and then we're gonna talk about music. Recording this the day after Valentine's Day, it was pretty simple to say the topic for today is love songs. 

Be prepared for me to beg for some comments at the end. Make sure you use #ChroniclesofNaniLoveSongs

To Each His Own https://youtu.be/ZCW0tjlPgMU 

You Had Me From Hello https://youtu.be/HUbxBCmCrMk

The Chronicles of Nani - Happy Thanksgiving

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

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

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

Finding Holiday Spirit With Candy

This is my signature GingerScraps for this month:

A couple of nights ago, after not having been hungry for dinner finally feeling hungry at 2 o'clock in the morning I decided, to go through my jar of candy and see if there was anything that sounded good to replace dinner.

Now of course, I'm a Chocovore. Okay that's the term that was created by Krave cereal when it came out to promote that it has real chocolate inside of it. I decided to adopt that as the reality of my style of eating because chocoholic makes it sound like it's a problem. I'm a very proud Chocovore!

If you've read some of my recent blogs, you know that November was pretty much a crappy month for me. I mean seriously, MS makes things heal slower than normal. So I have to deal with the opioid paranoid government saying I can't have painkillers for more than a month because broken feet should be healed by then, regardless of what my doctor says when she knows that because of my disease it will take two or three months for my feet to truly heal. So there's the general me angry with the government because someone who's actually in pain isn't allowed to have painkillers. So getting around that my CNP (my doctor is a certified nurse practitioner) increased my tramadol at least for the next couple months from the five a month, which is actually that I take three and have 2 that I can use if needed, and increased it to the maximum dosage of eight a day to take 2 every six hours. Now that the pesky government is out-of-the-way , so the ever so brilliant health insurance steps in and says I can't have that many tramadol right now because I've already been given enough tramadol to have 8 day. That doesn't really work because I used PillPack pharmacy and the tramadol isn't in a bottle but it's in separate packs over the course of the day. So I've had to rip apart a week’s worth of pills to steal the tramadol to and the right amount to packets that already have it in it and when the insurance company is okay with them sending me a bottle of extra tramadol to last until the end of the month I'm going to have to figure out how to reassemble the packs I've had to tear apart.

So right now my bad mood can be attributed to the government that doesn't allow people in pain who really need painkillers to have them while there are emails that come in all the time letting addicts find it whenever they want it. The insurance company who has my brain that's already jumbled from all of the painkillers I took last month having to organize how to disassemble my perfectly assembled pills they come in every month. (at least PillPack was allowed to ship the extra tramadol on Friday so I might have it by Monday which should probably only screwup a weeks worth of prepackaged pills.) I'm also angry because MS has got my feet so screwed up that I can't even place them on the floor trying to adjust myself in the recliner without a great deal of pain. Also my feet are still swollen and bruised. I have aides who come in 4 or 5 hours while David is at work. But David does work at least a good 8 hours plus lunch and drive time and if he is at an early meeting he somehow never gets to come home early when he starts early.

Now the last couple nights he's been at the casino in a poker tournament. I'm not really complaining when he is it doing successfully playing poker, but the more successful he is at playing poker more time I'm sitting at home alone and in pain. When it comes right down to it December started with me still as miserable as I was since the sixth of November when I fell broke bones in both my feet. I also bruised and cramped one knee and knocked one of the bulging discs in my back the back so that I've been receiving sciatic nerve problems every time I move back. I'm still in pain from all of that stuff because MS listens to the government and the insurance company and laughs at them hysterically.

What the king brought his broken little princess

So now the piece of candy and how it changed my holiday mood for the better… I hope at least for the rest of the month. I pulled out of the candy jar a couple of nights ago because I wasn't hungry at dinner and got hungry ate about 2 AM. I pulled out a couple of Mr. Goodbar miniatures because Mr. Goodbar has been my favorite candy since I was a child and I figured my inner child could use the chocolate comfort food. I also pulled out of couple of Tootsie Rolls, because I just like Tootsie Rolls. But I found one of the two Pocket Coffees left that my dad brought when he stopped over on his way home from doing a construction project with my brother over the weekend. After a hug and a kiss that I desperately needed, he brought lunch that we shared and he brought me chocolate including Pocket Coffee, which is one of my favorite candies as an adult. I set the Pocket Coffee on the armrest of the recliner while I ate the two mini Mr. Goodbars and I began to cry. No matter what and no matter how bad things are, I can still say without a doubt, that I am loved. I think I needed reassurance of that lately. My dad made a point of stopping to comfort his little princess. I think the candy made me cry because it reminded me that I really am still his little princess I needed to remember that. No matter how lonely I may feels sometimes, there are still plenty of people who love me. I am not alone. I am loved.(Just a little bit of a pain in the foot right now)

I collected a bunch of pictures from Christmases in the past and used Aprilisa's Winter Magic kit and created trhe signature, that included one of the photographs I took of that precious Pocket Coffee. I created the signature that made be happy, that made me smile.

Weekend Playlist, November 11

Music really is one of the coolest stimuli in the world. You know that ages old philosophical question "if you had to give up your ability to see or your ability to hear which would it be?”

Oh I'm not going to answer that question. As a scrapbooker, how could I ever think of not being able to see? It would be the end of one of my favorite hobbies. Every year when David puts his best train photos together and picks out the music to create his end-of-the-year multimedia presentation, I do the editing which absolutely requires vision and hearing. Editing has been my favorite part of every video job I’ve had and working on David show, in addition to some other small things that I do, is one thing that makes me feel totally alive. So for me the answer to the philosophical question is another philosophical question. "at what point does a person lose so much that they don't care what else they lose?"

So here are the last 5 songs that played with my library on shuffle before the feature song today:

She’s Like The Wind, Patrick Swayze

Chocolate Girl, Keith Sweat

Ant Music, Adam and The Ants

Knocking On Heaven’s Door, Heaven

All In A Mouse’s Night, Genesis

All In A Mouse’s Night was on the Genesis album Wind & Wuthering, released in 1976. The first time I had ever heard this song was on February 14, 2006. It was the first truly romantic Valentine's Day I ever had. I used to host "Stag Parties" on Valentine's Day when I would invite anyone who didn't have a date over for chili and what ever the worst B-film we could find on video tape. I am absolutely sure that there will be people who read this that remember The Toxic Avenger and films as such. Heck, I even remember word about those stag parties getting out and one couple begging me that if they promised to sit I'm opposite sides of the room and never look at each other could they please come this year? I have to admit that made me kind proud but my mom donated the chili every year and it had quite the reputation too.

But into 2006 it was different. I'd had dates on Valentine's Day before and it had been many years since we did the stag parties. But in 2006 there was this new guy. He’d been in my world almost a year and we even frequently used the “L-word.” I was almost 40 and had decided I was fine with, in fact I wanted to be, my own person. Casual dating was fine, even in the occasional relationship as long as it wasn't serious, but I liked me unattached. But then 6 foot and 5 inches with light blue eyes on top that I absolutely melted over walked into my life and screwed up everything.

David worked late enough that I could get to Toledo and prepare shrimp scampi for dinner with a little help from Wolfgang Puck for the lobster bisque. I chilled a bottle of Savignon Blanc (no that's not great memory about the wine. That’s been my standard to go with shrimp for, like, ever.) But what I cooked I do remember. I'd put together a chocolate fondue for two and we ate by candlelight.

I remember talking about music and discussing what we thought were romantic songs. Mine was Diamond Rio’s I Know How The River Feels. He told me is wasn't so much a romantic song as much as he wanted to dance to it. I was cleaning some dishes in the kitchen and he started the Genesis song Your Own Special Way and he came into the kitchen and we danced. Guys, you may not totally get it, but gals, I'm sure you understand that everything around you disappears the moment your significant other pulls you away from the sink and slow dances with you in the kitchen.  * sigh*

In further conversation about music while we had our dessert he played this song for me, just a fun and really cute song about a mouse. Oh, this song is so strange too to entertain two cat-people. Think about it. Why is the cat always the bad guy in cartoons? Poor Tom, Sylvester, PePe.. Wait, no, he's only attracted to cats (LOL) but you get one I mean.

This song is not a hit single, so no video this week, but I hope you enjoy giving a listen.

Longer Days Again!

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

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


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

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

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


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

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

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

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

Wednesday Hodge Podge: A Penny For Your Heart?

1. What makes love last?

The sake of argument I’ll assume we’re talking romantic love between life partners. I think making love last requires communication, a shared sense of humor, mutual respect and the ability to feel comfortable and enjoy your time away from each other.


2. The Beatles made their US debut fifty years ago this week. Are you a fan? If so, what's your favorite Beatles tune?

I think I'd say I’m not a fan but I don’t dislike them. I don’t really have a favorite but I sometimes enjoy when I get an ear worm of Eleanor Rigby or Norwegian Wood.


3. Valentine's Day-your thoughts? Do you celebrate in any way? Do anything special for the people you love? Expect anything special from the people who love you?

Some years I enjoy sending kid-Valentines to my friends in the mail but I really haven’t done that since 2002 when most of my Valentines were returned because I put single dark chocolate Dove hearts with a recipe card for “Antioxidant Hot Chocolate” with them and the US Post Office returned them because they were too thick.

Valentine’s Day was a wonderful holiday but not a romantic holiday until I met David. Now since our wedding anniversary is so close to Valentine’s Day he takes me out for our anniversary dinner and I take him out for Valentine’s Day.


4. Steak or burger...you have to choose. Now that that's settled, how do you like it?

Oh the steak or burger part is easy; I hate steak. With that out of the way, if I have to eat beef I prefer ground beef in sauce or chili but since I had to pick one or the other and the other choice burger as in a patty we'll go with the hamburger. If I’m eating a hamburger it must be cooked beyond well done. I usually call the way I like hamburgers “hockey puck.” Really, I like the little bits that fall onto the griddle and are crunchy without anything on them. Since it would take forever to cook a whole hamburger to crunchy I settle for well done and drowned in condiments; end to end coated with about a quarter inch of ketchup and an even layer of mustard. If we havr relish a half inch of that under the ketchup is nperfect. The milder the taste of beef the better.


5. The Hodgepodge lands on the birthdate (February 12th) of Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States of America. Lincoln is quoted as saying, 'Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test his character give him power.' Do you agree? Why or why not?

Oh, the Hodgepodge lands on my friend Tracy’s birthday too, which she happens to share with President Lincoln.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRACY!

I have to say that I totally agree with the quote. We have too much evidence of it being true. Think of all the wonderful stories that you hear of men and women faced with incredible challenges that are doing well in spite of them. Heck even me with my occasional breakdowns behind closed doors can still remain smiling and optimistic. Now think of how corrupt most of our politicians and many CEOs are with all of their power.


6. Honest Abe's image is featured on the US penny (1 cent coin) so I'm wondering...what do you do with your pennies (or your country's equivalent)? It's been suggested the US stop making the penny, and two bills have been introduced proposing just that, but neither were approved. What say you?

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! Don’t stop making the penny! I collect pennies! I have books of both American and Canadian pennies. Those include pennies minted in San Francisco, pennies with wheat or maple leaf clusters and I even have a handful of Indian head pennies. They changed the penny again and I have a few new ones too; the 2009 Lincoln series and the current shield.

When I was little the wheat pennies were already rare in change, but I remember always thinking it was special when I got one and spent it last. It’s a small enough denomination that children have them and there are pennies on the dollar sales tax and prices that end .99 for the marketing value of not rounding up to the next dollar; we need them.

Think of the travels of a penny. I don’t collect mint sets or anything like that; I want the pennies that have history, even if I don’t know the history. I look at the well-circulated penny that was shiny and new the year WW2 ended and I can romanticize where it was on V-J Day. The Indian Heads are over 100 years old and when they were new they bought a lot. Looking at one of those makes me wonder what my great grandmother might have bought with one of them when she was a child. And the old Canadian pennies with the maple leaf sprays, well, how much Canadian Chocolate would they have bought when they were new?

We can’t get rid of the penny because of those cents at the end of prices, which are valuable marketing tools, but the penny is also an inexpensive introduction to the magic and wonder of history.


7. Do you think pop deserves serious study?

If you mean historic pop culture, absolutely! Understanding daily life, popular recreation and fads in the past help us better understand and appreciate our life now. It also helps us improve upon where we are by knowing what worked in the past. Should we study ur own pop culture now? Definitely. It’s the history of everyday life we’re sending forward.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

After 2 years of no snow removal needed, the guys from Rapid LLC have been here SIX times this winter! I was chatting with the driver on my way home from my monthly MS meeting last night and we agreed with a chuckle that this year has not only made it okay, but fashionable to “talk about the weather.” That’s good as I’ve just finished week 6 of Random 2014 and gee I’ve talked about snow and cold a lot! In a few weeks I’ll be talking about Florida and the fun I’m having reading Edna’s posts about the vacation I’m enjoying vicariously through her blog! But for now, I’ll continue to enjoy fashionable Toledo conversation\; BRRRRRR!!!!!!

Let’s NOT Talk About The Weather

This week I posted a new profile picture on Facebook:

This photo was taken on Christmas day 2013, just a month ago. I have no makeup, my hair is messy and it’s one of my favorite photos of me I’ve seen in a while. I asked David to hand me my camera as we were getting ready to head out of the hotel to go to my dad’s for Christmas morning breakfast and he took the photo just before he handed it to me. So it’s a fairly candid photo except that, just like Tori, when I see a camera pointed in my direction I smile. What I love about that photo is that David took it.

Years ago when I was an assistant editor for a wedding videographer I scanned a set of photos I’ll never forget. You see part of my job was scanning and editing to music “growing up“ photos of the bride and groom before the even met and doing the same if honeymoon photos were provided. One couple in particular provided growing up photos of the slender boy in glasses who was not in a rock band in high school and there were no sports photos. He would’ve been what was probably a “geek,” maybe a “brainiac,” not one of the super popular or even well-known kids at school. The bride was the adorable little girl in dresses and cute poses with professionally done photos and high school photos that included the prom and her varsity cheerleader photo. From the wedding photos I could see that the “cheerleader” was not the ultrathin beauty queen she’d been in high school. I’m not saying that to disrespect the bride. What made their photos memorable were the honeymoon photos.

On an Alaskan cruise there weren’t as many photos of them together as there were photos they took of each other. In the photos her new husband took of her she was incredibly more beautiful than even the professional wedding photographer could show. A professional can set up the classic poses with different people and produce great photos. A nonprofessional captures a moment, a millisecond when they see exactly how their mind perceives the subject. It’s that point where the subconscious makes you click the shutter. I was almost in tears looking at those photos, as I’m often almost in tears talking about them years later, because in his mind eyes he grew up, fell in love and married “his beautiful cheerleader.” The photos from the heart will always be more amazing than a professional could take. David still clicks the button when he sees that split second where I look cute and fun; it’s what he sees when he thinks about me.


I got lots of “likes” and comments on my new profile picture. I posted my new cover photo on the top of my timeline and got very little in the way of response. Hmph. Actually I’m very pleased, even proud, of my new cover photo.

Credits: Snow Fun by Sheri Ferguson Designs.

 

I had the idea that if I used the right mask I could make it look like I wiped the snow with a mitten to expose the baseball. Considering that it replaced the December cover photo when I usually don’t remember to replace that photo for six or seven months I thought it would get more response. Oh well, I think it was a pretty creative idea and a good-looking cover photo.


Tomorrow is my half-birthday! At 7:45 AM I will be 47 ½ years old. I have never expected gifts or greetings or anything like that for my half-birthday. I think the half-birthday is a personal acknowledgment point and for me it also marks the point in the year where I start to round up the next age when someone asks how old I am. It won’t happen right away; if someone asks me how old I am on Thursday I won’t necessarily say I’m 48. But I’ll start the segue to 48. The funny thing is that yesterday I went in for my second steroid injection in my lower back and my hospital bracelet said I was 47.5 years old. When I noticed that after I got home I giggled and feigned an offended tone and told the bracelet I am NOT 47 ½ yet!

I really don’t buy myself presents for my half-birthday although this year it seems I may have accidentally done exactly that. What I mean is I’d purchased some “presents” that were originally scheduled to be delivered on the 29th. Now most of them, according to the shipping information I was emailed, has been delayed a day. I said I wasn’t going to talk about the weather so I have no idea what may have delayed the shipments but they’ll be here late. On the 30th my closer to 48 and 47 self will be expecting a box of coffee (Golden French Toast), my order from drugstore.com that includes citrus body wash so that’s kind of presenty, and my full spectrum light desk lamp. Light as bright as a sunny day will not only help me see better but also feel happier.

I am so looking forward to coming out of the shadows!

So there is my taste of Tuesday Nani. I hope everybody has a great, bright day and if you don’t I’ll let you know how the sunny lamp works.

I Love

Welcome to Day 14 of 30 Day Blog Challenge, hosted by Katie at So, Funny Story… Today is another photo day! I’ll try to be a little less photo than last time.

A picture you love.

I’ve got two; just two.

This is me and my brothers and sister that you saw on Sunday. Acting goofy by request of the photographer, my Mom which makes it double special.

This is David and me with Grandma and Tori. It’s at Spago Ristorante in Windsor, Ontario (Canada) celebrating my 39th birthday. David left work and came directly to Canada for my dinner. This was the night I gave up trying not to fall in love with him.  I put up a valiant fight. (Of course I wouldn’t have the guts to tell him know that for a few weeks,)

And We Danced

Cluster created with I Love by Miss Edna and Suruha-Freespirit

Welcome to the first February A Chocolate Bouquet Blog-Hop. February’s topic is All Things Love! I promised yesterday that I’d turn back the clock to 2006 and tell you about how it came to be that I’m the arranger of the Valentine’s dinner with the story of our first Valentine’s Day dinner together.

For our first Valentine’s Day together I wanted to have a nice romantic dinner. I told David I’d cook and asked for the key so I could have dinner ready when he got home from work. I set the table and decorated with candles, scattered red heart doilies. I set my CD player up in the room to play the CD I’d made for dinner. I put the wine in the refrigerator to chill while I did the prep for dinner. We had Old Bookbinder’s lobster bisque and I made shrimp scampi. There was white wine and chocolate fondue for dessert. Yeah, it was sorta textbook romance which I’m usually not crazy about, but every now and then from the book is quite nice!

When David got in he brought a dozen roses! It was the first time anyone had ever given me roses and I just melted! We enjoyed dinner which I was so pleased turned out perfectly; I always have a little bit of trepidation when I cook seafood because it's so easy to overcook it. We enjoyed another glass of wine with dessert while we listened to the CD from dinner again and David asked me if he could play me a song. He got out the CD as I was clearing the plates from the table and told me it was his favorite love song. It was Your Own Special Way by Genesis and he came to me by the sink and asked if I’d ever heard it. I hadn’t and we listened and while we listened we began to dance in the kitchen.


I remember being overcome with emotion and in my mind saying “this will be the song we dance to at the wedding.” It was the first time ever that I'd truly thought about myself being married. I was definitely past the point of no return with this man.  Next week will be the 8th Valentine's Day dinner I've orchestrated for the two of us; the seafood becomes more succulent, the chocolate sweeter, the flowers more beautiful and the love even more real every year.  I wouldn't change it for anything!

Please join us at A Chocolate Bouquet with your post about love of any kind!

Pain Relief Begins...

Cluster made with A Cat's Tale by Kit Cart

I went to physical therapy this morning. My neck, shoulders and upper spine are such a mess that the doctor needs to have me get some exercise, muscle stretching and electro-cold-press-massage stuff so it gets loose enough for him to manipulate it and fix it. I have to work on posture and I need to sit in a chair with a better back for my “most of the time” chair. Hopefully this will fix the trouble I’ve been waking up with my shoulder-arm-hand is tremendous pain. Of course my next appointment is Friday and we’re expecting snow, so it may not happen. For now I’ll return to my lunch, trying to eat sitting up straighter without wearing my salad. Wish me luck!

Now, I’ll visit Joyce for Wednesday Hodge Podge!

1. Chinese New Year will be celebrated on February 10th, and 2013 is the year of the snake. When did you last see a snake? Are you okay around snakes or do they give you the shivers?

I’m fine with snakes. Don’t really think one way or the other about them. My dad hates them and I remember Mom always had to come to the rescue if Pop found a snake in his garden!


2. The color red in Chinese culture usually means good luck. Do you believe in luck?

In as much as any sports fan, but in truth I believe you make your own luck. (Don’t tell David I said that tho...)


3. sledding-ice skating-building a snowman...if given a choice, which activity would you choose? Which of the three have you done most recently?

I haven’t done those things since I was a child. Given the choice of doing any of them now, I’d pick hot cocoa sitting by a fireplace INSIDE.


4. Ralph Waldo Emerson is credited as saying, "The years teach much which the days never knew." Where have you seen this quote played out in your own life?

I’m glad I got my degree, but I wish I’d figured out a way to go to one of the 2 universities I actually wanted to go to and done it in the 4 years directly after high school instead of doing it the hard way. College loans are thankfully easier to get now; The 80s were not a time of prosperity for SMALL businesses.


5. When was the last time you ate a cupcake?

Christmastime. David got me some Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer pumpkin cupcakes.


6. What's something you can't say no to?

Too many to list or pick just one. I’m not good at saying “no” to the people I care about.


7. Are you a doodler?

I always doodle when I'm on the phone.  I don't doodle well, so I try to avoid the phone.


8. Insert your own random thought here.

LOVE!

I know that’s not really so random. Today is February 6; only 8 days until Valentine’s Day! David and I have out little candy tokens to exchange and we’ll be deciding which day we’d like to celebrate. I’m kinda leaning towards the 13th because Valentine’s Day and the Friday and Saturday following are bound to be crowded restaurant nights, but we’ll see what the schedule looks like for next week first.

Our agreement since out anniversary and Valentine’s Day are so close is that he provides dinner for me for our Anniversary and I provide the Valentine’s dinner. That kinda started with the very first Valentine’s Day we shared in 2006. Come back tomorrow and I’ll tell you about it! I’ll be telling a personal tale of love as part of Josanne’s A Chocolate Bouquet Blog Hop for Februarys: Love! Come back tomorrow and read and add your own post about love to the hop! It’s easy stuff! Just wrote anything you’d like about love and join in!

Nani Is A Happy Little Princess!

I’m posting my first post of the day a little later than usual today. Pop was over this morning to see what could be done with our crashed bookcase. It took him about an hour to go from shattered pieces to shelving unit anchored to the wall! It took me the better part of the day in 2007 when I assembled the other identical bookcase and David constructs with words, not wood! Assembling a unit from a kit, even a unit that had splintered a few screw holes and taken a chunk out of the bottom of one shelf when it fell was very simple work for my Dad, who has worked in construction since the early 70s. He’s already said that he’ll come back when I get the rest of the kit-furniture. I’ll prepare a nice lunch spread to say “thanks!”

After Pop finished putting the shelves in and put away his tools in his car, we had minestrone. I was both anxious and a little nervous about Pop tasting my first try at minestrone. I thought it was good, just a few tweaks away from great, soup is my specialty, but the opinion of the senior minestrone maker in the family was the true test. He liked it! He really liked it!

After lunch he wanted to make sure he had the directions to Sofo, MY Italian market, so he could stop before he went home. I enjoy the fact that both Pop and my brother feel the desire to stop at MY ethnic store when they visit. I have the edge there!  Sofo is a truly awesome place for Italian groceries!

So far, the popcorn popper is the only thing on a shelf, since that was the tallest appliance and it was used to place the first shelf. After a couple of serious moving, bending, lifting and stretching days upstairs, I promised myself, and David, especially David, that I was going to relax today. Just like working out, rip, then heal to build muscles, I rip then heal to restore strength.

Happy Chocolate Day!

Today is Chocolate Day!  Chocolate Day is celebrated on the third day of Valentines Week. So I think I’ll eat my rose tonight.

David has been bringing home little gifts when he finds ones that just scream me. At this time of year, there are lots of those! At the end of January, he brought me a Dove rose. I know the rose is 3 Weight Watchers points. I figured it out right away, but I haven’t been able to bring myself to opening it. It’s so pretty and so sweet and romantic and once I eat it, it’s gone! I think official Chocolate Day is a good day to finally open it. There WILL be more chocolate, likely even more chocolate from David!

The past couple of nights we’ve had another treat he brought me.

He knows me well! That little black forest cake was the perfect size for us to share for dessert for two nights.


Last thing I’ll share for now is a vintage thing for Vintage Thingie Thursday!

I have three peach-tone glass dessert plates from Grandma’s. You don’t really see the peachiness until there are a few stacked together, but they ARE peachy!

I confess that it was a set of four, but I lost one to a knock off the counter that also claimed one of my dollar-store glass plates. Obviously the peach dish was a bigger heartbreak!

I don’t know exactly how old these ones are. What I do know is I hadn’t seen them before we found them in the back of the cabinets that had many other old dishes. I spent a lot of time at Grandma’s house and did a lot of foodie things with her. So, I’m fairly sure they pre-date me! I do know they are pretty and totally match my peach and green kitchen future!

See more Vintage Thingies at Suzanne’s blog, The Coloradolady, every Thursday!

Links

Chocolate Day

Sofo Market

The Coloradolady

Wednesday Hodge Podge

1. What is something you are loving right now?

Bookcases. In my White Tornado project, shelving units are key to progress and I’m dreaming of bookcases and organization. Anything that organizes makes my pupils big.


2. Paris, Venice, New York, and Rome are considered four of the most romantic cities in the world. Which one would you most like to visit?

This one’s easy. I’ve been to all of them except Paris, so it’s Paris.

I don’t get how Rome and Venice are romantic. They are pretty, but dirty. New York I went to for the first time at Christmas with the boyfriend I married. Yes, that was very romantic.


3. Are you a romantic?

I am, but not a textbook romantic. I like some common romance things, like roses, chocolates or a candlelight dinner, but there are some uncommon things that romance me that, well, David got the job because he does them.


4. What's your favorite love story made for the Big Screen?

I’m not much of a movie watcher and I don’t watch a lot of love stories. Bull Durham?

5. Everyone loves Pooh bear and friends...which character are you most like and why? Click here for help in answering this question.

I love Eeyore! In fact right now I’m wearing my Eeyore fleece. Eeyore is about as UNlike my own personality as it gets. Opposites attract.



6. What's the best chocolate something you've ever eaten?

We had a dessert at Montana Jacks in Moline, IL, that was absolute chocolate ecstasy! It was a chocolate crumb crust with a layer of fudge on top, then a layer of chocolate mousse and whipped cream on top with a candied nut and cocoa power top sitting on top of a pool of chocolate fudge sauce.

K, if I leave now, I can be in Moline by afternoon snack time.


7. Share a favorite quote about love.

Love is like coffee;

Sometimes it’s good, sometimes bad,

Sometimes sweet, sometimes bitter,

Sometimes it’s all glitzed up and sometimes it’s plain.

Sometimes you go out to find it and sometimes it’s right at home,

Whatever way you get it, there’s no point in waking up without it.

                                                                                                  -Nani                                     

(But if he turns into Folgers, I call my lawyer.)


8. Insert your own random thought here.

My love-coffee quote wasn’t random enough, huh?

I had a weird dream the night before last. I believe that dreams are the subconscious processing the record of what you did and what you thought about during the day. Bad dreams are the subconscious processing things that worry you.

In this dream, I was meeting David “downtown” for a baseball game. I drove up to the lot right next to the field. I got a phone call from David asking where I was because I was going to be late. I told him I was in the lot across the street. He said he thought we were parking in the lot by the ballpark. I told him that the lot across the street IS the lot next to the ballpark. I was at Fifth-Third Field in Toledo. David was at Comerica Park in Detroit. He’d bought Tigers tickets, not Mud Hens tickets.

Am I worried about our communication in the back of my mind?? Maybe it’s just winter anxiety.

I Remember…

Oh the blog world is so much fun! Last Thursday I joined Vintage Thingie Thursday at Suzanne’s blog, Coloradolady, for the first time. I’d been wanting to do that. I love antiques and heirlooms and well, I have quite a few of them as now I am the family matriarch. Grandma was an only child, so was Mom. That pretty much leaves me as the oldest on Mom's side of the family. The next statement will send chills down David’s spine. I’m planning on hanging around a good while and I’m keeping the stuff!

Truth be told, I was very self- restrained in selecting the treasures I kept from Grandma’s place when we cleaned it up, but I still brought home a few, several few, boxes of things. Since things didn’t quite go as planned this year, I’m going to make next year the reclaiming our living space year. We’ll see how things are going once I start my MS meds and physical therapy. I’m seriously thinking of taking the next semester off so I can really put some time in on the millennium cleaning project. Then do an on-campus summer class and really work on practical use of the wheelchair, or walker if things really go well. Not setting a goal there until I am doing it with my therapist! Then I want to get on the job seeking again.

Well, it’s Friday night and David is at a train slide gathering with a few friends. I wanted to get my school work for the week done today because we’re all converging in Toledo tomorrow to take my Dad out for his birthday! We were in Michigan last year and we’ll go to Indianapolis next year, but this year I get to show off for Pop. If you followed the link to La Scola from last night’s blog, is your mouth just watering from the photos? They open at four in the afternoon and you could be on a full stomach from a late lunch when you drive by and the smell will make you want to stop!

So, school stuff done, I did a little reading, and a little writing. I read Suzanne’s post for Five Minute Friday and went back to the source of the prompt, The Gypsy Mama, and read hers. It’s a cool concept. You get a prompt and you just write for 5 minutes, then stop. For me that’s, then stop and fix all the typos, but when I only get 5 minutes, I’m not careful about typing accuracy! But this week the prompt is “Remember.” I do timed exercises like that and I’m always amazed where it takes me when I “just write.” This was no exception. I had a thought in mind that went completely a different direction when I set fingers to keyboard.



I Remember

GO

I remember so many things. One of the gifts I’m most grateful for is my long memory. I remember sights, the lights on the juke box and the look up at the counter. That memory, those pictures in my mind are of the bar my paternal grandfather took me to, to show off his grandbaby to his friends. Mom told him not to take me to the bar, but Nono didn’t listen. He wasn’t doing any harm. Mom said she could always easily tell he’d taken me because I had a handful of chocolate covered quarters, gifts from Nono’s friends.

In this day and age a man could never walk into the corner bar with a child under two, but although they're just little snippets of video in my mind, and stories I was told later, I treasure those moments that have always been with me. I only had 6 years with Nono when cancer took him away from all of us, from me. But I’ll always remember the cherished feeling of being his first grandchild.

STOP

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!

2010 Is In The Books

Last page of 2010

Multilingual word art by Jenn Lindsey

Okay, 2010 is actually ready for proofreading. I proofread 2007 on my own and David’s hair stood on end with a cardinal sin typo on New Year’s Day! Big Boy Restaurant, where we had Brunch, is NOT Big Boy’s, never has been, never will be and boy I’m glad we were already married when he read that! There is a lot of stress being married to a professional writer!

The truth is I cringed when I read it after the book came in and realized I missed that one. So from now on, David gets to proofread BEFORE I send the books to Inkubook. He does that so much better than I do. It’s part of his job, along withdrawing details out of people, and an area where I scored quite poorly when I tested for proofreading for a placement agency. I accept that I am a put together the big picture and make sure the details get done person, but not a go over things with a fine tooth comb after they’re done person. It takes people like me AND people like David as well as people like many others to make a project happen, whether it’s in the business or personal world. I make the scrapbooks look really good, David adds that element that makes them great! That’s not me selling myself short, I could have easily said I make them great, he makes them even greater, but I’m not in the need of ego affirmation this morning.

Now, the goal was to have 2010 done by the end of January. Remember, “this or something better.” The something better was all of my class work caught up AND the 2010 pages done. It took 20 days to do that. So that last page is a pretty cool page for a quiet night at home, huh? The champagne glasses and new year circle are from an elements pack I picked up as a freebie, but it had no TOU and no designer name on the preview. The glasses are kinda sorta similar to the ones we drank our Asti from, so they really did fit with the evening.

So, I was a bit of a scrapping fool yesterday, finishing up 2010 and finishing the Progressive Scrap at the studio.

Credits: Thinking of You collab by the Studio Designers,

word art by Digitalegacies Designs

That is not quite the same layout I did for the progressive. I moved a few things, deleted some. I am learning how to cluster and getting better, but still in the progressive scraps I end up with an element or two that doesn’t quite fit the photos or that I just really don’t care for. I’ll hardly ever use a button in a page that will make it to the printing stage. I just don’t care for buttons. I also put away and go back to progressive layouts to see if they look less cluttered to me. If it’s too cluttery, I start taking things out. You can see the actual progressive version of this layout here.

In celebration of starting the 2011 scrapping with that layout, I want to share the word art! Yes, you recognize the line I loved so much from the Hallmark commercials. Of course, that’s why I can’t sell the word art, but I want to give it away anyway.

I will, for the use of that line, remind everyone that the perfect card can say everything you can’t grab the words to write or even say. I have a huge box of greeting cards. I save them. Funny, that when we cleaned out my Great-Grandmother’s house, she had a box of cards she saved and she had her mother’s cards too. Grandma came into keeping those two boxes and a box of her own! I went through those cards, looking at the way the fronts had changed and also the way the messages changed a little, but the meaning was still the same, “you mean something special to me.” I didn’t keep all the cards from Grandma’s, but I did keep a few of the very old ones to scan and a few special ones I did keep, like Papa’s first anniversary card to Grandma after he got home from the war and a sweetly mushy Mother’s Day card with “Janet” written in print that said my Mom was about six or seven. Yeah, that’s another sappy Hallmark commercial, isn’t it? That one choked me up too. That was because I saw some old cards my Dad kept that I gave him too!

So, here’s the free word art:

Click on preview to go to download
Password is Hallmark

This will be my last day for super-scrapping for a while. I needed a couple days away from XML before I dig in to studying for our first test, due turned in by next Sunday. I did a little better than I expected on that chapter I got the extension for and a few encouraging notes from my instructor too. I’m SO not the “tough love” type, but encourage me and I’ll work extra hard not to let either one of us down.

This week will be studying for that test and getting on the next chapter in imaging. I also have to call the neurosurgeon’s office to get an update on progress with the insurance on my next MRI and David and I are going to tour a…..”extended stay physical therapy recovery center.” It’s a nursing home. If I have back surgery, I’ll be discharged from the hospital and go to a nursing home for convalescence before I go home. Tori didn’t like me saying I was going to be in a nursing home. Not sure if that’s because her experience with a nursing home is with her great grandmother and Grandma was having memory issues. Grandma also passed away in a nursing home and she was in the average age in her hall at 84. Tori refuses to see “her Nana” that way. We were on speaker phone and my brother broke in with the explanation, so I wonder if it was Tori or Dave that had the problem with the wording. Hmmm…

Anyway, suffice to say it’s a busy week coming up. Then it’s Spring Break at school which will give me a chance to get ahead in my class work. For today, I have a few more pages I want to work on. But for now, my second cup of Sunday coffee is done and it’s time to clothe my lazy butt!

Photoblog Wednesday

Roses!

We weren’t planning on gifts this year, so I didn’t expect Valentine flowers, but David came home before work Monday with these! The BEST roses are the ones you aren’t expecting!

We did our Valentine’s dinner Sunday night since he was working late Monday. I didn’t give him candy like I usually do, but when he came home Monday night the kitchen was filled with the smell of fudge chunk brownies made just for him. :)

Hallmark Wisdom

NOT a sponsored post. It’s just me being mushy 10 days before Valentine’s Day.

Heart from Your Own Special Way by Digitalegacies Designs

I just love the new Hallmark commercial for Valentine’s Day. Maybe you’ve seen it? I don’t love YOU, but I love US. I feel that way about David. Oh, I do love him, but what I love most is the “us” we’ve become.

One of the songs I wrote when I was in my teens is a love song called “Forever.” It’s a simple song and the words are perhaps a little trite. I was a teenager. I can say with confidence now, that at 17 I really didn’t know what love was. I wrote the song for the man I thought I’d someday meet. That guy in the song, really isn’t David. As always with my wishes, “this or something better.” I got something better!

The line from Forever that is in juxtaposition to that Hallmark commercial is, “when one and one are one, the world we own.” One and one aren’t one, they never should be. When that unity candle is lit, the two candles that light it shouldn’t go out. One and one should make three. The joining of your heart with another doesn’t snuff you out. Two people don’t give up their own beings for love, that love is an entity of its own. Love makes life richer, it makes MORE, not less.

Maybe that’s the best thing about finding that right man later rather than earlier in my life. I knew who I was and was comfortable with that. I had a full and happy life before I met David and I haven’t given up anything that made me satisfied and happy to be with him. I have more. So does he. I always ask him, when it comes to the things he enjoys without me, “what am I worth to you if I take away from what made you happy before?” I want the emotional investment he made to be value added to his life, like the investment I have in him is for me.

So this year, I have to find a Hallmark card for David for Valentine’s Day. I’m sure there will be one that says the right thing, because the commercial speaks so poignantly to me. I get a little choked up every time I see it. I do totally love the us we’ve become and it gets bigger and better every day!

Photoblog Wednesday

Valentine's Day Observed

February 21, 2010

This is my coffee-shot for Sunday, my M&Ms Valentine Mug from a few years ago accented by the roses David brought me.

Monday Mug Shot

Giant Starbucks Mug

This is a mug that really is all about the true meaning of coffee to me. It was a gift from my best friend.

Kelly and I have been on a few Best Friends trips over the many years of our friendship. Our first “just us” trip was a fishing expedition in the late 80s. We had to get pictures of us baiting hooks because the guys wouldn’t believe we’d touch worms! Silly guys! Yes, I fished off the dock in 2” heeled pumps, but I was still a grownup tomboy! Of course I baited my own hook! At that time, Kel was a little more grossed out by the worms than I was, although she wore the much more sensible for fishing shoes, but now, she fishes on a much more regular basis than me!

Marriages and moving and money have kept us apart more than we want and traveling less than we want, but our bond is so strong that we can live our separate lives, keep each other up on things and get together never missing a beat of that kindred spirit that unites us. I have long called Kelly my platonic soul mate. No matter what the distance, we’re there when we need each other, be it a long letter or email, a hone call or an all night drive. When I’m away from my best friend too long, I start to feel that emptiness that only she can fill. When we’re together, I feel that connection inside that makes everything okay. That’s the soul mate part.

Coffee, when shared between best friends, is a magic elixir. It’s a truth serum accompanied by the guarantee that any secrets you air will be kept tight. I holds memories like the penseive in Harry Potter that brings you to relive the good ones and reforgive the bad ones. It lets you laugh and cry with no inhibitions and when best friends have coffee together, they’ll tell you no one else have ever had coffee that good before!

Kelly and I were able to go on a couple of trips in 2004 and 2005. In 2004, I found and out of print book by Starbucks, The Love of Coffee for her. I loved my copy and really wanted to give her one! That same trip, when I gave her that book, she’d found me a huge Mensa mind twisters Puzzle book. We laughed at our book exchange! In 2005, she brought me this mug. She called it just a little thing. Her love for me was way bigger than the mug, which holds about three regular cups of coffee!

Kel and I met at Dunkin Donuts and shared coffee the first time we met. Over the miles and years, we’ve shared many a cup of coffee and all the intimate details best friends share with a good cup of joe. I’m sure there will be many more coffees for us at Dunkin, Starbucks or rocking on the porch in a to go cup at Cracker Barrel, one thing for sure, it will be, as it always has been, the richest and finest roast we ever drank

Photoblog Wednesday

A GREAT way to say, “I missed you!”

When David came home from his vacation a couple weeks ago, he brought me a Halloween cookie from Eat-n-Park, because he knows how much I love their cookies, a couple of Hershey’s minis Mr. Goodbars from the hotel lobby and these gorgeous roses! I don’t even have to be with him for him to romance me! :)