Chronicles of Nani - Let's Just Talk

Sometimes, I just don't have something I can talk about for a long time but there's a bunch a little things that I want to talk about. That's today. I'll talk a little bit about one of my best friends, things going on with Russia (YAY Ukraine!) Walk MS, my visit from the EMTs and the deer in my front yard. 

 May be interested in some things more than others. Might get a chuckle or you might just think hmmm. 

My Walk MS page: 

https://mssociety.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donordrive.participant&participantID=122674

The Best and Worst Week

The week started with a new month and me wanting to assess January as I went into it. But starting February 1 there was plenty of present to keep me from reviewing the recent past right away.

Of course Sunday was Super Bowl Sunday. The game outshined the commercials this year! There were a few good spots, but the football was exactly what you’re supposed to see when arguably the best from each conference face off in the biggest football event of the year. As a Patriots house we were biting nails at the very end, sure that we were about to see the Sea Hawks grab the victory on a drive at the very end only to screams and exchange happy high fives as Patriot’s rookie, Malcolm Butler, intercepted what would have been the end of the game loss for his team and essentially won the game and the title for the Pats.

Add to the coolness, it’s four Super Bowl rings for Tom Brady, who was the game MVP and was awarded a new truck from Chevy in recognition of that. Brady wanted to give that truck to Butler. The huge difference in incomes of the veteran star and the undrafted rookie would have had major taxable prize/gift implications because the truck would have been taxed at Brady’s considerably higher income with an additional gift tax for transferring it to Butler. Chevy stepped up and changed the awarding of the prize directly to Butler, taxable just as a prize at his income. Three-way awesomeness!


But on Sunday the news wasn’t so celebratory before the game in Toledo. We had snow, tons of it, falling. I’d already made a call for Rapid, LLC., our fantastic plow guys, to come over to do clean-up Sunday night, after the snow stopped and after the game if they had the interest/opportunity to watch. Yes I know we aren’t their only customers but the snow wasn’t supposed to stop until Sunday night, so maybe they’d have some time before they had to head out. It’s a small local company; they’re leaving home to go to work, not a garage with an army of plow tanks.

We were at a Level 3 Snow Emergency, no one who wasn’t medical, street maintenance or media out on the roads. How that started and played out was the darkest part of Sunday. Mayor, D. Michael Collins, held a press conference where he said that the Level 3 would start at 3PM. While driving home after that he suffered a cardiac arrest and his SUV drove into a utility pole. Two people called 911, and with the 911 operator’s guidance, pulled him from the SUV and started resuscitation as he wasn’t responsive. I listened to the 911 recording on The Blade website; they found ID and at that time realized who it was. Mayor Collins was taken the University of Toledo Medical Center where he was listed in critical condition. He died yesterday afternoon when he was taken off life support.

I feel a loss for my city because while it’s only just a little more than a year since Mayor Collins took office he faced so many challenges so well. From losing 2 firefighters, to record snowfall, cold and the snow removal crisis that accompanied that last winter to 2 days without drinkable water to start August and the call left to him when it was safe to drink from the tap again, and he handled them all with strength of character and reassuring confidence. But I think for me personally it’s also shown me how much smaller Toledo is than Detroit too. As a citizen the loss is personal too. Maybe it’s that I actually live in the city where I lived in Detroit suburbs; the mayor of the big city in the area is a choice on my election ballots. Maybe it’s that the mayor lived a block away from us. What I definitely know is that in a year he stretched the shoes in the Mayor’s office enough to make them even harder to fill in the special election that will be held in November.

Please visit The Blade to read about a great man with a personal history that built him into a great mayor. Unlike so many in politics he didn’t create problems, he solved them.

Toledo mourns loss of Mayor D. Michael Collins



In the closer personal Naniland my daily Lasix, water pill, and I have reached a tentative truce area. Simply if I don’t take it I can feel It; my legs swell, what mobility I have is compromised and I feel awful, part because with the swelling I still don’t drink enough water because rising up from the chair to go to the bathroom is painful. The anti-Lasix stance was self-destructive at best. So here is my wake-up to midafternoon ritual that’s worked well for me for the second half of this week.

Wake-up time is when my lower back and legs ache the worst. Bless David, he helps get me through morning stretching and downstairs and once he knows I’m down safely he goes back to bed because it’s usually before wake up time for him. Then I have my morning coffee and breakfast. Notice how I prioritize there? Starve me if you will, but don’t deny me my coffee! I take the Lasix after I’ve had a chance to really wake up and when it calls me to the bathroom I drink 2 Nani-gulps of water. 2 Nani-gulps usually empties a 16-oz bottle. I have no idea why, but it works. The urgency is down and the 3 times and hour bathroom trips have gone down to about 3 in 2 hours. I’m also keeping hydrated and feel a ton better during the day.

I Can Has Do Over!

I’m starting over on my reading for this year. I didn’t think the idea of having two books at a time is bad as long as I accept that the paper pages will go slower than the e-pages. The current paper page book is a hard cover. I’m slow at reading it and slow at getting into the story. That's not because I read slow. Until my first ereader in 2010 I always read slow and had to work to do that. My reading comprehension has always been great, I scored well in school, the Mensa test and thankfully I didn’t need to reread chapters to take tests in college. I just read black on white paper slow. But I read the whole Harry Potter Series, Gone With The Wind and the awful fan-fiction sequel, Scarlett in paperback or hardcover, the current book I just not captivating me. It does interest me though and books that have been slow but interesting to start in the past have often ended well for me. So, while it’s hardcover and honestly, I drop it a lot, I’m going to keep reading.


I think the problem was with the eBook I started with. I was reading that one at night because I wanted to get it over with, but I seemed to have100 pages left every time I looked. Here is the “When I stopped review” that I put on Good Reads when put it in my “did not finish” file.

The Lost Code by Keith Emmerson

I know this is a "young adult" book and sometimes I like to take a break from heavier reading and enjoy some light reading. I got as far as 178/276 pages and I couldn't bear the fact that there was still 100 pages to read. This wasn't the fluff mystery I was expecting it seemed to lose another screw from the reality cap with every chapter. It was taking me forever to read because it just never made me actually want to read it so I never picked it up. Maybe I'll finish it someday but for now I'm letting my brain wake up again in the worlds of murder and political gain. :)

So starting February 1 my new goal for the year is 22 books read, 22 reviews that I’ll post here. It’s the same hard cover in the “currently reading” window at the left but new e-title.

And so the do-over begins! :)

Super Bowl Commercials

I haven’t written in a while. If you look at today’s first post you’ll notice a book review that got five of five stars. It also took just a week to read. I usually have enough on my plate that full books take couple of weeks. As a rule if I haven’t written in a while check out the “currently reading” book!

There were some things that I took a break from reading for. I did watch the Super Bowl on Sunday. I like Jon Stewart’s name for the game, the Seahawks’ “take your Broncos to work day.” I don’t really have a lot else to say about the game except that there were playoff games that were played better but I didn’t have to miss any commercials or Bruno Mars for a bathroom break this year. My opinion, the halftime show was great this year except that The Red Hot Chili Peppers could have stayed home. Bruno Mars was fantastic and I would love to torture David by making him go to will Bruno Mars concert someday.

As for the ads there were too many car commercials and the car commercials were not written as anything special. Super Bowl commercials are supposed to be either funny, shocking or moving. My number one commercial this year was M&Ms. I had to get another opinion to make sure that it wasn’t just that I love the M&M characters, especially Yellow. But David agreed and he doesn’t have a personal connection to Yellow.

The Tim Tebow ad for T-Mobile was fantastic. I loved his being able to laugh at himself with why “No Contract” is the best way to go. I also really liked the Chevy Silverado ad with the “sexy bull.

I thought it was very cool that there were two, count them, two yogurt commercials this year. I have to give the best yogurt commercial nod to Chobani for the bear trashing the store until it finds “natural” yogurt. But I’m still in Oikos fan. The Oikos ad was just a few seconds and couple of paid actors too long. The sexy ad with Oikos spokesman John Stamos had some serious innuendo but it ends with his two former Full House costars at the end giving the joke that the three still live together. It was a dumb joke and not funny. They could have finished leaving innuendo open or create a light joke-ending from that innuendo. There’s nothing wrong with innuendo; sex still sells.

It boggles my mind what people who have big mouths and little worlds find to complain about. There are complaints about the Coca-Cola Super Bowl ad with America The Beautiful sung in many languages celebrating our diversity and it celebrates the immigrants who added to our American culture. As the daughter of an immigrant I am offended that there are people who actually find that ad to be offensive. I don’t think I’m “better” than everyone else but I’m certainly “better” than someone who finds equality to be offensive.

I’d like to share a public service announcement that aired in the early 1970s when I was a very young child and that spot has never left my mind or the way I think.


That PSA is why I’ve often said that I’m not “politically correct,” politically correct is me. Not labeling people, being open and loving them for who they are has always made sense.

Which brings me back to how exactly does the average brain work and can we fix it? I generally don’t read a lot of the commercial reviews after the Super Bowl. I review them myself. But I do read the teasers before the Super Bowl. Going into this year’s Super Bowl there was already a lot of hubbub about Cheerios bringing back their interracial family. I wasn’t sure what spot they were talking about so I had to go looking to find that spot. Folks, I guess that PSA really stuck because I remember the ad but I didn’t remember that it was an interracial family. The original ad was a great ad and I remember the adorable little girl putting Cheerios on daddy’s heart while he was asleep because Cheerios are heart healthy. An awesome ad because I remember it, I remember the message and remember the product. I forgot to notice and be bothered by the fact that the little girl, Gracie’s, parents have different skin colors. This year’s Cheerios is a continuation with daddy using the Cheerios to let Gracie know she has a little brother on the way. Gracie adds a Cheerio to “bargain” to add a puppy in the mix. What I really took away, aside from brand recognition, was when daddy said “deal” the look on mommy’s face was priceless.

Freezing Friday

Cluster made with Lights, Camera, Popcorn by Picolina Designs

Okay, not really SO freezing. Some freezing rain and snow mix junk and it’s going to get above freezing. The frozen junk will turn to rain and then when it gets cold again… YUCK. It’s not my favorite time of year.

I have a few fragments today, but let’s start with a few fill-ins with Hilary at Feeling Beachie!

This week’s statements:
1. I can’t believe____
2. I never liked the TV Show _____
3. If I were a ____________I would most definitely __________.
4. I ____________ when I ______________

My Answers:

1. I can’t believe how much of a difference having my mobility meds back is already making after only 3 days. Stupid insurance company should be ashamed for denying me for a week and half.

2. I never liked the TV Show … I’m not a big TV watcher anyway, but I’ll throw Seinfeld in there. I only saw a couple of episodes and I have no idea how it was ever popular.

3. If I were a lifetime skinny woman I would most definitely have a pierced navel and a Cincinnati Reds navel post.

4. I always take my Nook when I go anyplace I might have to wait.


And now, we’ll join Mrs. 4444 for some blog defragging

**   My Valentine flowers were just starting to fade a little last night. David brought them home for me last Tuesday, so they lasted well!

Aren’t they gorgeous?

I’m pressing lily and some of the rose petals for my Smash book. I have the plastic pockets for those!


**   It’s been almost 2 weeks since Morgan came home. There’s still some kitty unrest. Morgan really doesn’t seem as aggressive as they warned us she might be at Paws, but she doesn’t take the grief Carla has been giving her. When Carla sees her she growls and hisses. And Morgan will sometimes give chase. Morgan is a big girl; product of no real exercise room and nothing to do but eat for a year and a half at the shelter. She doesn’t outrun Carla, but if she pins Carla like Carla pins Kaline sometimes, Carla’s not going anywhere, so she runs,, hides and stays well hidden someplace Morgan can’t reach her for a while. Oh, to give her a little human logic ability so she’d realize she has the power to end that!

She looks ferocious, doesn't she?

Kaline will occasionally growl or hiss, but she pretty much tries to stay away from Morgan. Give it time. It took 6 weeks before Kaline and Baggle played nice with Carla.


**   Sunday is the annual MS awareness day at the Toledo Walleye hockey game. It’s the kick off right before MS Awareness Month in March. David and I went last year and it was fun. The gathering is sponsored by our local National MS Society chapter. There is some comfort in knowing that, while MS is different for every victim, at least we’re not completely alone.

Still, if the Tigers can do Christmas in July, the Mud Hens can do MS Day in June, no?

The Monday After...

Cluster made with Espresso Italiano by Violamoni

Good snowy Monday morning! Although it’s a little later now, after breakfast and all, I managed to wake up just one minute before the alarm today. We went to bed a little late, but sleeping all the way to the alarm is a good thing for me! I say snowy, but it’s just a little snow right now; we’re expecting up to 3 inches today last I heard. No, that doesn’t thrill me, but espresso with breakfast helps me deal. ;)

I’m hearing great reviews of the Taco Bell ad yesterday with the octogenarians escaping the retirement home and doing crazy 20-something things including a late night trip to Taco Bell. Humph… Whatever; I didn’t like it. Maybe it’s because I don’t like the song. Maybe because I don’t like the idea that people are obsessed with wanting to be 20-something. I enjoyed being 20-something when I was 20-something but I don’t want to be it again. I enjoy being 40-something just fine. When I’m in my 80s, I might want an occasional Taco Bell, like I occasionally do now, but not because I want to pretend I’m in my 20s; it’ll be just because I’m in the mood for American mexicanish fast food. Maybe I’m overanalyzing but I didn’t find the spot to be good or funny.

The game was more exciting that it should have been. It wasn’t so much good as it was an interesting sway of momentum before and after the early in the second half partial blackout. I’m glad it didn’t happen before the opening kick-off return. I wanted Baltimore to win; I’ve liked Joe Flacco since he was a rookie. I did enjoy the Twilight Zone moments where my favorite ad seemed to have predicted the San Francisco come back and in 30 seconds prevented their win! Regardless of the outcome of the game, it was still a great ad, but with the outcome, it became an ominously powerful ad! Not bad for a one time only shelf-life on the spot!

Okay, no more football, advertising or espresso talks. Let’s join Heather and Wayne at Acting Balanced and Touristic respectively for the Monday Quiz About Me.

1. Are you good about going to the doctor?

I have to be now, but I wasn’t so much in the past. Now (I have doctors that make me schedule ahead and call me when they haven’t seen me in a while. I actually call that a quality of a good doctor now!


2. What do you think about the practice of restaurants adding automatic tips for large groups or specific events?

I think it’s a shame that so many groups tip low enough that it’s considered necessary. I don’t think a server’s tips should be considered part of their wage. Minimum wage is minimum and should be the full base of pay for a minimum wage position. No one is hanging out at the door threatening to call the police if a customer doesn’t leave a tip because it’s not mandatory. If anything a tip is a gift a customer gives for service and it should never be taxed. A server’s wage is what they are paid by their employer and tips are gifts and therefore not taxable.

Oh, and the story that made this a topical issue? The woman is the absolute worst example of a Christian ever. The whole eat fish during lent came from a time when the fishermen were the poor people and the sacrifice was to support the poor by eating fish, not at all a fish dinner in a nice restaurant. (A better Lenten sacrifice is a ham sandwich from a local sandwich shop) So given that, I’d think an 18% tip, when the actual average people leave is closer to 20, would unquestionably be part of that 10% to God because it’s more “doing His work” than having fancy new gilded hymnals with that 10% donated by everyone at church.


3. When was the last time you went out for dinner? 

On our anniversary, December 23, we went to Mancy’s Italian Grille…and we both had fish.


4. What is your best budget saving tip for recovering from an unexpected expense or planning for one?

Unexpected expenses for me are almost always medical. I’ve found that the hospitals are really good about making arrangements for payment plans so you can pay a large, to you, bill on installments. They’re even great about updating the installment plan without raising the payment when you have another bill that comes in. Much as I hate copays, I love the fact that the hospital work with me so I can manage to get the testing done that I need.


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

5. What is your favorite coffee or tea, just your number one favorite. (even I am going to pick just one for my answer! LOL) If you don’t drink coffee or tea, How do you feel about tap versus bottled water?

And practicing brevity, but not by saying I’m practicing brevity first; my favorite is Starbucks Verona.

Super Commercials

My 5 favorite Super Bowl Ads This Year

#1 Tide Montana Stain


#2 Bud Light Voodoo Doll


#3 KIA Forte


#4 Bud Light Lucky Chair


#5 Axe Astronaut


Your opinions may vary.  As I told David, post them in your own blog!  No seriously, I'd love to hear what your favorites were!

Happy Super Sunday

graphic made with All Star Sports by Twin Mom Scraps

I’m not going to talk up the Super Bowl a ton, I just wanted to include it in a post because after today that cluster won’t matter. I’ll probably take some pictures of the four of us watching the game. Well, it’ll at least be the three of us; When David and I are cozied up watching TV Carla can’t stay away from the attention from us both. But we’ll watch the game, I’ll watch the commercials, we’ll make dinner at half time.

It’s been a big couple weeks of prep for the game, but I haven’t watched a lot. I don’t care about the pre-analyzing the game to death and I could care less abbot the human interest stuff. Yeah, the coaches on the two sides are brothers, so? My interest in the Super Bowl is watching a great game, and I’m unhappy when it’s not a great game, and great commercials. I’m also unhappy if the commercials aren’t top notch for the money that goes into ad time and production. Every time I see the ad after the Super Bowl debut I’d better smile and say “Oh that was a Super Bowl ad!” As an advertising fan I expect them to be that memorable. But the real truth is wouldn’t miss the heart wrenching video packages about some players struggles in college and the half time shows are seldom worth watching if they were gone. I keep the sound up so I can duck back in during the commercials.

Okay, now I’ve totally justified using my Super Bowl graphic! Perhaps you’ve noticed the scrapbook clusters the past few days. Clustering is something I don’t really do well and I’m trying to get better in my scrapbook pages. No I don’t ever plan to do a whole page cluster with a tiny photo in the cluster and I won’t put a cluster on every page; on many pages I do it’s not appropriate. But I do want to get better at that scrapbook skill. It’s not promoting for the designers or anything. Some of the kits are ones I’ve had since 20078 and aren’t even available anymore. Some of them are very current too, but I don’t link to the kits I use, just credit them. If you’re a scrapper and are interested in a kit, drop me an email and if it’s still for sale, I’ll send you a link. So you’ll continue to see scrapbook clusters on the top of my blog a few times a week. Feel free to give cluster feedback in comments too!

Okay, I’m going to try to do just a little more scrapping today before the game. David took off to find a couple of trains because there was a glimmer of sun that appears to be gone now and called from Kroger. He’s says it’s insanely busy there. Of course it is! Best time to be in a grocery store on Super Bowl Sunday is after the game has started. But don’t look for junk food then; it’ll all be sold out!

Monday Mug Shot - Mini Series Part 4

100th Olympic Games

Atlanta, Georgia

Mom won Olympics baseball tickets from a Georgia lottery scratch-off ticket the November before when we were on vacation with Pop. The fact that they just happened to be baseball tickets she won seemed almost supernatural and of course, she sent the lottery ticket in to get her Olympics tickets! She said she wanted them as a souvenir of the Olympics in America.

So she sent in her lottery ticket and the tickets for Olympic Baseball came back. The game was on the opening weekend of the games on Saturday. Now there are a few points to note about that. First off how cool to win tickets on a weekend? I mean a game Saturday afternoon is totally doable for Joe or Josi Average. Watching prices rise in Atlanta for a few years leading up to The Olympics, we were definitely Josis Average! But the date of that Saturday; July 20; Mom’s birthday. The kismet of baseball on the scratch-off didn’t seem so crazy now! Mom had some “mad money” she’d been saving and asked me if I’d like to go to The Olympics with her. Wide-eyed and with a shocked smile I told her I would absolutely love to go to the Olympics with her!

Mom’s mad money wasn’t quite mad enough for the prices on Atlanta hotels during the Olympics, so our day in the Olympic city to soak in the whole atmosphere was going to be just that; a day. It was Mom who brought up the idea of “stopping” someplace else on the way home. We were traveling anyway, we were flying anyway, where else could we see baseball? You see that my baseball habit is totally heredity. Watch too much baseball when you’re pregnant and the baby is born hooked. And they didn’t even make baseball onsies in 1966; I was totally prenatal-influenced!

A week before the Olympics, Fruit of the Loom was hosting a free country music festival in Atlanta. To get tickets you sent in a request and they were sending tickets on a first come first served basis. Heather and I both sent in requests. We were the producer and associate producer team for public access and sports but July was our slow month and we could manage a Friday/Monday off and use the tickets we both got! One of our interns, Thad, went with us too. We drove down on Friday. We went to the festival Saturday, caught a Braves game and visited Olympic Park on Sunday. There was a ticket window near one of the subway stops with Olympics tickets. There were still mens gymnastics tickets available for next Saturday? They weren’t cheap, but they weren’t unaffordable. Heather was crunching numbers and figuring out frequent flyer miles. I was looking at starting times and how well they matched the flight Mom and I were already on. Our souvenir from the Music Festival weekend was 3 tickets to mens gymnastics Saturday morning!

We met up at the airport in Atlanta after our flights from Detroit got in. Since Mom and I were out for the weekend, we had bags to put in lockers. It was at the lockers that I had my cool very Olympic experience! The Olympics; can you imagine how many languages were being spoken at the very busy airport in Atlanta? When I was getting a locker for our bags there was a man, from his appearance I guessed Eastern, maybe Japanese? I couldn’t ask him because I don’t speak or understand a word of any Eastern languages and he didn’t speak or understand a word of English. But his dilemma was with our language and our money. He had a fist full of coins and directions and a price for renting a locker in English. He smiled at me and had a look of “please help me” in his eyes. Through pointing, nodding and facial expressions we were able to communicate and I helped him choose the right size locker and the right coins to pay for it. Okay, it may not sound like a huge International PR thing, but it felt VERY COOL! It’s a communications challenge I’ve never since experienced.

Mom, Heather and I headed out to the Georgia Dome for the morning gymnastics event. It was muggy and the line to get in was long and slow. Bags were thoroughly searched and people went through a metal detector on their way in. In 1996, before 9/11 and before the bomb the very next week, the security was a little annoying and seemed a bit overkill. Who knew it was the shape of things to come?

Our original plan was to grab lunch after gymnastics and see Heather off at the airport before going to Fulton County Stadium for the baseball game. But the reality of a day on “Olympics time” changed that plan! After finally squeezing on to the packed fourth or fifth subway train, Heather decided to go back to the airport on her own so we could get in line for security check at the baseball game. She’d eat at the airport and we’d eat at the ballpark.

It was all so busy, so exciting. There so many people, so many different people, different languages, styles and customs. And the whole city felt like a giant carnival, but a huge carnival, it felt big. It’s hard to express the feeling of being part of something that huge. We saw Cuba and Australia. Cuba beat Australia; I looked it up, 19-8. Those are details you have to look up because, like a wedding day, the day, the moment is such an experience itself that you have to have the photos and written stories to remember it all!

The game had a short rain delay that only made the park, the whole city, muggier. The Olympics was the first place I’d seen those walk-through misters. I didn’t go through them, but I think Mom and Heather did. I didn’t want to mist the huge glasses I wore at the time! But when the rain chased us into the concourse it washed my glasses anyway!

We went to the airport deciding to get food at our destination where the lines would likely be shorter to get in. Mom and I had cappuccino and a snack while we waited for our plane. The evening was much quieter than the airport had been when we got in on the early flight. When we boarded the plane, there was hardly anyone on it! Just not a lot of people flying out of Atlanta on a Saturday night, the second day of The Games. A flight attendant made an announcement asking if there was anyone with a connecting flight or a reason they absolutely needed to be on time when we landed. There had been a delay for a flight coming in from another city with people connecting to our flight and if there were no objections we’d wait for that flight. That was okay with the ten or so of us. I think I recall that we got a free drink or premium snack from the cart for our trouble. Our flight about doubled with those people from the other plane!


Next stop St Louis!

Mom, Heather and Me at Mens Gymnastics

Wednesday Hodgepodge

Happy hump day! Not a ton of detail this morning. I want to have the kitchen done at the end of the day, which means I need to have everything for David to move out ready when he gets home. Words can’t express how cool it feels to have one of my 9 targeted rooms, including both bathrooms, almost finished!

Now, on with the Wednesday Hodge Podge, courtesy of Joyce at From This Side of The Pond.

1. The first day of spring is here...do you enjoy working in the yard? Weeding, raking, mowing, planting-your favorite springtime garden chore? How about your least favorite?

I enjoy planting flowers. I enjoy it because it’s necessary for watching them grow! My physical problems keep me from doing a lot of lawn work. David and I are not home and garden enthusiasts at all. We keep the lawn treated and mowed and landscape, well we landscape enough that our neighbors next door and across the street, who are lawn and garden hobbyists with beautiful lawns, don’t throw things in our yard! ;)  My least favorite is pulling weeds. The only thing I like less than pulling them is looking at them in my flower bed.


2. What puts a spring in your step?

Sunshine. Feeling it warm on my skin just makes me happier than usual.


3. Describe a time when you had to spring into action?

I sprang into navigation action on a stormy evening in Atlanta in 2000, after I flew in that morning for a job interview. In the waiting area for the plane, we saw lighting hit the tarmac and the entire airport’s lights flashed off then on. Our plane with several others was still in the air and did not land. The airport was a mess for the whole weekend and I couldn’t get a flight until the next morning. I was going to have to sleep in the airport because I didn’t bring enough cash for a hotel room and they were filling up fast anyway. A woman scheduled on the same flight I was asked me if I knew the area well enough to get to a hotel if she got a room. We talked a bit and she offered that we could share a room if I could navigate the subway. It was a business expense for her. It worked well. She wasn’t searching all over for a hotel she couldn’t find and I didn’t have to sleep on the airport floor!


4. We're having carrots for dinner...would you prefer yours raw or cooked?

I’d definitely prefer raw and organic. The organic ones are just like candy!


5. Do you take the shampoos and other sundries from your hotel room when its time to check out?

Yes! I use them to travel with in case we’re in a hotel that doesn’t offer them, some of the small4r or cheaper places don’t. Also, everyone should take the shampoos and such. Did you know that shelters are always looking for little shampoos and soaps? If someone seeks shelter after an emergency or in the case of abuse, they usually have not packed toiletries.


6. What's the most enjoyable team or club you've belonged to and what was it that made it so?

My hockey team when I was 9 years old. It was enjoyable because we were girls playing ice hockey in the 70s. We were special!


7. Is cloning a sign of progress?

Depends what you’re cloning. Cloning athletes to make an unbeatable team, no. If they could clone healthy myelin cells from me and replace the spots where my nerves are bare, then it’s awesome progress, bring it on!


8. Insert your own random thought here.

I’m getting pretty good at this coupon thing. We’re averaging about $20 saved when we do the big shopping trips. That helps to make up for organic carrots and almond milk being more expensive than regular carrots and milk. We have a big grocery trip coming up soon and it’ll be Eater candy time! I’ve always regarded Easter as the candy holiday. Halloween is the pumpkin spice holiday! Gimme jelly beans, gimme chocolate bunnies! I got coupons for them!

Monday Mug Shot

 Toledo Walleye Hockey

 
This was actually one of my Christmas gifts last year. David thought I needed a Walleye mug to support our minor league hockey t3eam in Toledo to go with my Mud Hens mug. It made good sense to support both our minor league baseball team and hockey team, but there was one little oddity. I’ve seen the Hens play baseball more times than I can fount at both the old and new stadium. I’d seen the Toledo hockey team once at home in the old arena and once on the road in Dayton. They were the Storm then. I’d never seen the Walleye play!

That was until yesterday (Sunday February 26.) I’d gotten an email from the Northwestern Ohio Chapter of the National MS Society offering a free ticket to me and $5 tickets for my immediate family members to the Toledo Walleye game on February 26, the MS Awareness game. The event included t-shirts, luncheon and a raffle ticket for a gift card to the team shop. We didn’t win the raffle, which is okay because I already had the mug


During lunch the kids, all right and the adults too, were entertained by a slew of mascots from the “Mascot Mania” festivities. Spike, the Walleye mascot, made an appearance at the end of lunch, just before he left to put his skates on for the game. Paws, the Detroit Tigers’ mascot was there, as were the Mud Hens’ mascots, Muddy and Muddonna. Clementine, The News Hound, from our local newspaper, The Toledo Blade, was also in mascot attendance as well as favorite Toledoan "zooperstars," Jamie Farrmadillo, Jim Flealand and Kitty Holmes. It was a pretty cool event.

After lunch we went up the elevator to the main floor and fo8und our seats. I break here to say that, as a person of wheels, I LOVE new arenas with family/accessible rest rooms! I think of places where the handicap stalls really don’t have room for a wheelchair and a person in them and I just love those rooms where you wheel in, have room to turn around and lock the door and maneuver however you need to use the facilities. The diaper changing table is on a wall with enough room for a Mom or Dad to change a diaper without being pressed up against the opposite wall and to safely have an older brother or sister in the room instead of outside the stall. And if you leave the changing table down, it doesn’t decapitate the next person using a wheelchair when they come in. Yay Huntington Center and all the awesome new arenas! They have family restrooms at all the newer ball parks I’ve been to as well!

Back to our seat…

The NMSS group took up a full section, including the top wheelchair row. Sadly, I’m not the only one with MS who uses wheels at events. I did feel bad for David, though. I was the only one in a manual chair. David pushes so I can save my arms for things like the bathroom! But a power chair or scooter, in addition to being very expensive, also takes refitting one vehicle or another to transport it; another expense. Even from the top row, we had a great view.

The game started with the announcing of the starting lineup. Spike skated trough the mouth of a giant inflatable walleye head with a walleye flag. Then the members of the staring lineup came through as they were announced followed by the charge of the rest of the team. After the inflatable walleye was taken off the ice and the national anthem was sung, play began.

Then play stopped. The firs6t “fight” happened seconds into the game. I’m not a big hockey fan because of the “fighting.” I was a professional wrestling fan. That’s where you go if you’re hockey skills are lacking, but you handle the fight scripts well. I saw a few real fights when I was a kid. At least they seemed real to me then, nowhere near as fake as hockey fighting is now. I watched two guys hug each other and take pansy-punches at each other’s shoulders, trying to make it look like a hit in the head, but they missed by a Hulk Hogan’s rookie year mile. Maybe it’s the other way around. If you can’t cut it in professional wrestling, you learn how to skate.

I know, I know, a lot of people go to see the “fights.” I played hockey as a kid. I want to see a well-played game. The saddest thing is, when they weren’t fighting, there was some skill. The unfortunate part of that was it was mostly Cincinnati Cyclones really showing off hockey skills. That’s not to say that there weren’t some pretty Walleye plays, but the Cyclones’ passing game is pretty! The third period seemed to go so fast! The Walleye carried a 5-1 lead into the last period and barely escaped with a 5-4 win! But they did win after a few games losing streak, it was nice to be there for that.

So that was my first Walleye game. It was a fun event and I’ll no doubt go again, but not likely until after I’ve been to a countless few Mud Hens games first.

Monday Mug Shot

Sky Dome, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

It’s legally called The Rogers Centre now, but it is and will always be Sky Dome to me. As much as I love advertising, I can’t stand selling the naming rights to sports arenas. I grew up seeing baseball at Tiger Stadium and the Junior Wings, and once in a while the Red Wings, at Olympia. It just crosses the line when the naming rights are sold to the highest bidder. It’s an old complaint now, name the arenas for something historic to the sport or the city, and let the fans name the building, as was done with The Palace in Auburn Hills, Michigan. If you have to sell the naming of the building to pay the bills, cut the bills someplace. Honestly, players and owners, how many MILLIONS a year do you need to get by when fans can’t even afford to see you more than once a year?

Steps off soap box. So the building where the Toronto Blue Jays play is the Sky Dome. When I say Sky Dome, that’s the place I mean.

I have been to the Sky Dome 4 times. The interesting piece of irony is that the first time I was at the Sky Dome for an event, it wasn’t baseball! In 1990, with a group of friends, including my Mom, I went to the WWF’s WrestleMania VI, the first WrestleMania outside of the United States. I was 24 years old and our group called ourselves The Zoo Ringsiders from Parts Unknown Heights. We went to the World Wrestling Federation local matches every month, usually buying our tickets for the next month at the matches, where they go on sale first. We always had ringside seats and did we heckle? We did more than heckle, we dressed up!

I still had a room full of spandex pieces and patterns that I made or altered for costume designing for my brother’s band. I did the sewing parts, but everyone joined in designing our fan costumes. For the WWF matches, where there were a lot more young kids, we dressed as good guy fans and dressed as bad guy fans for the WCW matches, where the crowd was more young adults. We had the best times with the matches. We watched on TV, of course, to keep up with the story lines, and we did a newsletter, where we filled in our creative “behind the scenes stories.” I even did some photo cut and pasting long before I’d ever tried out Photoshop!

One of the most fun things we did was when we recycled sewing room scraps. When the Ultimate Warrior was new on the scene, the kids just loved him with his face paint, wild hair and arm and knee band with long flying tails. We cut the scraps of bright colored spandex and made sets of “Warrior Fringe” which we carried in a couple of black drawstring bags. We went to the matches at The Palace in Michigan and asked kids if they wanted Warrior arm bands. Parents questioned if there was a cost for the arm bands and we assured them it was free. We told them we made the arm bands from scraps in the sewing room and we just wanted to share. There is nothing cooler than kneeling on the floor of an arena with a line of kids waiting for you to tie their arm bands on! Equally cool is going back next month and seeing the arm bands you gave out last month come back! The truth is, we did the arm bands a second time when The Ultimate Warrior was in town, and I “donated” some larger pieces of spandex to the cause to make sure we had a good collection of them. Both times we “sold out” including one of the guys taking his own arm bands off when he had two kids and one set left. It was so much fun with the kids. Heck, in our 20s we were still kids!

The main event at WrestleMania was The Ultimate Warrior vs. Hulk Hogan, good guy vs. good guy. Of course, we were cheering for The Ultimate Warrior because he was from Parts Unknown, just down the street from Parts Unknown Heights. But we were concerned that a match like this meant that one of them was turning into a bad guy, one of the fan favorites loved by lots of kids was turning bad. We were so happy at the end of the match! First, because the Ultimate Warrior won and became champion, but second, because as he celebrated his win, he encouraged everyone to cheer for Hulk Hogan, they slapped hands and gave a quick victory hug and saluted each other to the fans. Two good guys, the championship belt switched hands and they were still good guys when it was over, like it should be in sports, right?

Not long after WrestleMania, our interest in pro wrestling started to fade. The lines between good guys and bad guys were starting to gray, not cool in a “sport” followed by so many young kids! When Hulk Hogan said in promos that he was “taking potions to make himself stronger” to face an opponent at the time we were shocked. Performance enhancing drugs? Yes, definitely in pro-wrestling, but since it’s more acrobatic acting than a sport, not a big deal. But it becomes a big deal when you are telling kids you’re taking “potions,” that taking anything to get an edge is okay. There were other characters who were the worst kinds of good guys, who for their inability to be calm or curious in interviews would have automatically been bad guys a year earlier were suddenly introduced and you didn’t know if they wore a black hat or a white hat. They were becoming something in the middle, not the Saturday afternoon cowboys they used to be with their moral stories win or lose. Instead of moral guidance in the stories, it had started to become the question rather than an answer.

If you'd like to see some of the photos of our group in costume, drop me an email for a Friday By Request! ;)

Super Bowl Wrap

Okay, the final score was bad, but the game was pretty good after the first quarter. I didn’t think either team looked that great in the first quarter. The Super Bowl should be a close game; it’s the two best teams in the league and the biggest sports day of the year. 30 seconds of ad time is millions of dollars. The game had better be enough to keep people watching so the advertising investment is worth it!

The Super Bowl ads were quite good this year, with only a few quite bad ones. There is much talk about the 60 second Chrysler ad at half time with Clint Eastwood. Okay, to be honest as I was watching it, I really thought it was a quietly political ad. Not totally sure it wasn’t a political ad. Funny, as I understand Eastwood is a conservative and as a political ad, it’s anything but Republican!

The end of the Depression and through the years Budweiser ads were good, but not as strong as Bud ads have been in the past.

I will NEVER eat another Dorito again.

I could have done without the David Beckham ad. It was supposed to impress women. Might have worked on me with a better looking man.  What was it selling again?  I was too busy being grossed out.

The Samsung Mobile ad started off looking like they didn’t produce a new spot for the Super Bowl. Then it just got dumb, I mean really stupid.

I loved the introduction of Ms. Brown in the M&M’s spot and Red’s insanity at the party where she WAS NOT NAKED! Sorry guys, it’s NOT that kind of party. (but it was that kind of ad!)

Special kudos to Dannon Oikos for the first ever yogurt commercial in the Super Bowl. The spot was so-so, but it was the brand’s first time. I cut them some slack. (And I love Dannon Oikos!)

The Honorable Nani Mentions: (because there is only one winner)

I liked the KIA Altima commercial with the sandman who tripped and gave the man so much dream glitter that he had a dream so awesome that included Motley Crue, bikini girls and a giant sub sandwich. In the end he busted into his wife’s dream and she dumped her romance novel guy on the horse to join hubby’s dream in the Altima. A full story in 30 seconds without words, brilliant!

I also really loved the Chevy Silverado ad. Everything will be gone after the apocalypse except the Chevy Silverados and their drivers…all eating Twinkies. I LOVED that tip of the cap to the 70+ year shelf life and the “only ‘food’” that will survive the end 0of time. I also loved the jab at the one guy in the group who didn’t make it because he drove a Ford.

The third Honorable Nani Mention goes to the Dog who can’t fit through the door to chase the Volkswagen so he works out, gets thin enough to crawl out and chases the car. Then the commercial breaks to the screens in the cantina from Star Wars and a debate about whether the dog of the kid in the Darth Vader costume was funnier, with Darth Vader using the force on the dog’s fan. The ad was cute without the last bit, but great with it!

NUMBER ONE

The best of the best Super Bowl ads this year was Audi’s Vampire Party, promoting their “Daylight Headlights.” Well, the guy on the “blood run” gets there with those headlights and well… Awesome end scene where the driver “figures out” what happened to everyone else!

See all the Super Bowl spots here:

Mashable Business 2012 Super Bowl Ads

Wednesday Hodge Podge

1.. The NFL playoffs were held this past weekend and this year's Superbowl lineup will feature The New York Giants versus The New England Patriots. How do you define 'patriot'?

Super Bowl Champions? :)


A patriot is one who thinks of country before self. Today, there are more football patriots than American patriots.




2. What's something in your life right now that feels like a 'giant'?

The reorganizing project in the house, which is just a nail and hammer away from remodeling. I’m making decent progress though. Tomorrow is assemble the first shelving unit day!



3. What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think back to being 18?

Voting! I turned 18 in a Presidential election year and I was pretty excited about voting. My birthday was a Sunday, but I was at the Secretary of State office on Monday to register.

Many presidents for whom I didn’t vote lived in the White House before a candidate for whom I voted did, but I finally felt like I had a right to complain about it!



4. Coconut-mashed potatoes-vanilla ice cream-mayonnaise...which white food would be the hardest to give up?

That one’s easy. Vanilla ice cream; there would be no Baseball Nut ice cream without it!






5. Describe an incident or a day you remember as the coldest you've ever experienced?

Once the temperature drops below70 outside, I’m pretty much cold all the time, unless I’m in bed or someplace with heat. Right now I’m wearing the thick fleece robe I always wear over jammas or clothes at home and my furry house slippers!


The coldest I remember in my mind was ice fishing when I was little and I think that’s where my intense dislike for cold came from. It was a family adventure when I was 6 or 7 years old. It was cold enough that the ice on the lake was thick enough to drive on to get to the shanty for fishing. Everyone was in snowmobile suits with ski masks and gloves, much layered warm clothing. They sent my brother and me outside to play. I guess it’s because we were restless in the shanty. I remember being so cold that I was sitting next to the ice shanty balled up and rocking back and forth praying. You see, it was supposed to be fun and I felt bad that I wasn’t having fun at all. In fact, I was praying that God wouldn’t let me die from the cold because it would make my parents feel bad if I died. I was a kid. That is what I remember thinking, that it would hurt their feelings if I died.

That memory has never left me and I don’t think I’ve ever perceived I was that cold. It was the most terrified I remember being of the cold.



6. You're hosting a brunch...what's your favorite dish to prepare and serve?

I could say “waffles” because David cooks the waffles. :)


Seriously, if I’m hosting the brunch, my specialty is cinnamon chip pancakes.



7. How do you combat negative thinking?

I write in my journal about it. Sometimes it takes a few pages, or even a couple days of writing if something is really bugging me, but I usually find the answer to getting over my troubles.



8. Insert your own random thought here.

I made stuffed pepper soup Sunday with a recipe I found online. I did a half batch, which was 3 servings. I had the last one for lunch yesterday and I don’t know what I’m gonna do now that it’s gone! Oh my, it was HEAVEN! I need to make a huge pot of it to freeze!

Click photo for recipe

Come join Joyce at From This Side of The Pond and share your Hodge Podge of answers!

Football, Flora and a Freebie

Congratulations to the New England Patriots for their 45-10 victory over the Denver Broncos! Tom Brady tied the record for most touchdown passes in a playoff game. The Pats scored early…then often. Now it’s onward and keep winning!

The Lions’ loss last week means that I won’t be tested in the Super Bowl. Remember when I said that I was sure I’d cheer for the Braves against the Reds in the 1995 National League Championship Series, but found out that I just couldn’t do it? Well, I always say that I took the Patriots as my football team because it was in my wedding vows to take David’s football team. Keeping my baseball teams was in the pre-nup! I guess it would be the ultimate test of my loyalty for the Lions and Patriots to face each other in the biggest sports event of the year, but it’s not to happen this year. I wonder, if it happens and I find myself unable to cheer against the team I grew up with, is that grounds to end the marriage??

I’m not as passionate about football as I am about baseball, so I think I’ll be okay, if it ever happens.

That plant was a surprise that David brought out of Giant Eagle in Cleveland when we were there for a medical appointment for me. It’s a 2-hour drive and I can only drive just over an hour before I get incredible pain in my right hamstring, so David has to drive me. I try to schedule things on his regular days off so he doesn’t have to shuffle his schedule. So, he drives, takes me to my favorite restaurant for lunch and that day he stopped at Giant Eagle to get me a couple packages of Butterfly Bakery sugar free Chocolate muffins. The selection of Butterfly Bakery products in Toledo is very limited and I’m especially fond of the chocolate muffins. I waited in the car while he ran in to the store. He came out with the “pumpkin flower.” He said it had my name written all over the terracotta pumpkin bowl!

Now a question: Does anyone reading know what kind of plant it is? There was no label to tell me! It’s a beautiful plant, but I’m not sure what to do to take care of it. Since it came home in November, all the original flowers dried up. Many of them fell off on their own and others I brushed my hand on to knock them off. I keep it watered and it has a place in the window in the kitchen annex, so it gets Northern exposure. There are a couple of new flowers and new leaves, so I’m not doing anything totally wrong. I’d just like to know what kind of plant it is!



Project 365…366 Templates

I did two sets of templates that I sold in my Scrap Bird store in 2009, plus a blog freebie that went with the set. Templates for 9 weeks of project 365 or templates that will accommodate 63 photos of events you’d like to scrap. For 2012, I’m rereleasing those templates as freebies! On each of the remaining Sundays in January, I’ll release three templates from the set, culminating in a final freebie on my half birthday, January 29.

Here is the set for this week:

Click preview to download

I hope you all have a great Sunday. Thanks for stopping by!

Fantasy Football

Article written by guest blogger, Victor Flowers

My husband loves fantasy football. We have clear internet through http://clearwirelessinternetservice.com, and every Sunday he spends the whole day online, checking his fantasy football scores. While I give him a hard time about how much time he spends on fantasy football, I actually think it is pretty cool how close he and his high school buddies have stayed over the years. He still keeps in touch with the same group of seven guys that he went to high school with. Even in their mid-thirties, the guys get together every year for holiday parties and the fantasy football draft. Even though they are spread out all over the country, they will meet in a central location to have a guys’ weekend every year or two. It is really amazing the friendships that they have created over the years. Several of his close friends are in the military, but they guys will work around everyone’s schedule to make sure everyone can be there when they get together. I can honestly say that they are some of the closest friends I have ever seen. The wives have even become close over the years. It is a true blessing to have the lasting friendships that my husband has developed, even if it is aided by fantasy football.

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!

(The Best of) Monday Mug Shot

Originally posted on Yahoo, December 3, 2007

Wright State University
Dayton, Ohio

In the spring of 1992, indoor soccer was thriving in Detroit. The Rockers were the home team. They were winding into the end of a season that would pull them through the playoffs all the way to the final game of the championship series. At that game, the battle cry of Queen’s We Will Rock You was timed to begin playing We Are The Champions as the final buzzer rang. It was an exciting year to be an indoor soccer fan in Rocker-town.

Indoor soccer is a relatively obscure sport. I have “ON TV,” the three hours of programming a day on one channel cable service we had in the late 70s, to thank for introducing my family to the sport. At that time the home team was the Lightning. ON TV showed Lightning games as part of their programming. After watching a couple games on the tube, we decided to try it out in person. It was sheer excitement from the light show introductions to each reboundig-off-the-dasher-boards-at-a-rate-long-field-soccer-cannot-fathom goal. Dad was set to invest in season tickets for the family in the reasonably priced sport in which my brother and I were already members of the kids club. But, even though the Lightning did a fair job of filling Cobo Arena, they only lasted in town for one season. It just left us hungry for more!

In 1990, The Rockers were a new team in an old favorite sport. I was responsible for writing in the sports stories for our radio news at broadcast school that included names like Superman Andy Chapman and Oscar Draguicevich. The sports readers loved me for it whenever Oscar had a good game! Okay, even I stumbled over his name on the air after one game! What started as trying it again after being left after only one season by the Lighting, became season tickets for Mom, Dad and me through 2000. When the Illitch family, owners of the Red Wings and Tigers, gave up ownership, the team was purchased by a less than interested group looking for a tax shelter and something to be a background for corporate parties. But thanks to the Illitchs, we had our sport in town for a decade!

The 1991-92 season was magic. The Rockers had come of age and the “show” both on the field and in the stands was electric! Mom and I had gone on a few road trips to see the guys out of town and cheer them on. We went to a game in Canton with the booster/fan club and even the playoff game that clenched the finals for them in Chicago. At that game we, along with the Detroit contingent of fans, were invited into the locker room to celebrate the victory. Our keeper, Bryan Finnerty, just looked, beaming at the support from fans who drove the 6 hours to see the game and proclaimed, “Looks like we need more beer!”

The Wright State mug is from the game we saw in Dayton, against the Dayton Dynamo. Mom, Jeff T and I drive to the Nutter Center, where the Dynamo played their home games. As we walked into enemy territory, wearing our Rockers colors, we were greeted in the customary indoor soccer fashion by the home season ticket holders. We were given a warm welcome to their town and their home arena...and "we hope you don’t win." In a small sport, the welcoming is much warmer, supporting the sport and trying to keep it alive first, THEN loving your team within that sport.

Perhaps the most lasting memory from that trip, and one that I still use today, is the comment about “page 5.” When we were walking in, a salesmanship savvy program hawker broke from his usual “Programs, get your updated stats,” when he eyed a few teenage girls chatting and giggling walking towards his booth. “Hey, cute guys on page 5!” Page five, of course, started the team photos and bios. Since that day, “page 5” from me, has meant a man whose “stats are well worth looking up!”

International Furbaby Weekend

It’s snowing. It’s been snowing all day. I’ll repeat that last part with the correct emphasis; ALL DAY!

::sigh:: I am sick to death of all of this snow. I mean, it’s the end of February. Opening Day is less than six weeks away! Curse the Ground Hog! Note to Buckeye Chuck and all his furry buds – USE YOUR TEETH! When your slumber is disturbed on as chilly morning because the sunlight is shining in your eyes and you see a hand reaching to grab you BITE IT! You go back to sleep without seeing your shadow and we all do a happy dance because spring is coming sooner rather than later. To allow yourself to be pulled out of bed to see your shadow when God gave you teeth to fend off the intruders is just a flagrant abuse of power.

Actually, this year it would have been kinder to bite that hand and send the shadow to Vancouver so they wouldn’t have had slush issues during the beginning of the Olympics. Selfish ground hogs.


But this blog entry is not to grouse about the ground hogs. As an optimist, I may hate the snow that’s been taunting me all day, but it’s keeping the people who clean the snow employed. Food delivery services make more when the weather is icky too and the drivers get tipped better when it’s a snowy day. I will remind the delivery people to drive safer in the bad weather and to the people ordering - tip like you didn't want to go our and drive in it!

But this blog is about an important holiday weekend! This weekend is International Furbaby Weekend! It’s a holiday I just created to get over the snowy day blues. This holiday is all about showing off your Furkids! In honor of the holiday weekend, I want you to leave a comment telling us about your furbaby, linking to pictures of your four-legged domestic companions or to your blog post about your pets and this holiday!

Here are our kids. I just did a page for each of them for my 2010 scrapbook with recent photos, so it works to be just in time for the Holiday!

Baggle is our senior cat, the retired alpha who retains his rule at the food bowl!

Credits: Papers from Black and White Birthday by Kris Myers,
other elements from Lily May by Kitty Cat Designs,
Red Gel Alpha by Marie at freedigitalscrapbooking

Kaline is the Queen. She’s kind to Baggle in letting him remain “Lord of the Food” and kind to Carla too, most of the time.

Credits: Papers – Creamsicle by Wenchd Grafix ,
Elements from Flowers Blooming collab by the designers at Scrap Bird,
alpha – Puddles of Sunshine by EvaK Designs

Carla is the baby of the family. She’ll be 2 in September. Don’t let her adult build fool you! She still has a lot of kitten left in her and she is always starving for attention!

Credits: Neon Funk by Creations by Rachel,
Live, Laugh, Love alpha by Kimberkatt Scraps

Your Present!

Now, what would a holiday be without presents? To get you in the mood for National Furbabies Weekend, here is some appropriate word art for tour scrapbook pages or for your blog!


Click on preview for download page
Password is purrrr

Don’t forget to leave your links to your furkids or tell us all a little about them in comments. Aw! Thinking about all our great Furbabues is making me feel happier and warmer already!

Football Fans Raised in Detroit

The most watched show on TV is Set!

The Detroit Lions raise some very strange football fans. The first rule of being a football fan in Detroit is learn how to have hope and realize that being a Lions fan builds character. Being a Lions fan also messes your head up for going into the adult world!

Smart Lions fans grow up, get married to someone from another state and adopt their team! But that has a whole new set of complications!

Take my brother and me. Dave and I grew up in metro Detroit, raised as good little homers, cheering for the Lions as long as the Red Wings or Tigers weren’t playing. Mom was a baseball fan and Dad is hockey first, other sports next! Dad scored tickets to a Lions game when we were about 11 and 12 and the four of us went. They were 50-yard line tickets at the Pontiac Silverdome, 3 rows away from the dome! They played the Dolphins and I recall the blue ants and blue and orange ants fighting over a chocolate chip. I remember the guy on the shuttle bus from parking to the arena, decked out in Lions gear and cheering loudly, “Rah rah ree, kick ‘em in the knee, rah rah rass, kick ‘em in the other knee!” He was cheering looking at us with a fun smile, glancing up at our Mom and Dad who had mildly concerned looks. I don’t remember who won, but dollars to donuts, it was probably Miami.

So now, a year after the team we grew up with was the first team in NFL history to finish the season 16-0, we have both married into new teams. I’m a Patriots fan by marriage and Dave is a married Colts fan.

Both teams were in the playoffs this year. Just a couple years ago, the Pats were on the verge of a better kind of history, they almost had a perfect all the way season, missing that with a Super Bowl loss, but what a ride that was. The Colts are going to be IN the Super Bowl this year. We’ve made significant gains with our football marriage bonuses!

Ah, but there are new rules to learn that we haven’t managed to get past. I was talking to Dave tonight and he told me he still wishes the Lions could manage a winning season. Well, actually, me too. I think it would be totally cool to see Detroit’s Hawaii blue jerseys on the field in the biggest American TV event of the year.

But the rules that are hard are not marrying into a new team forsaking all others. The Colts and Patriots are rivals! Like a couple of Lions kids understand football rivals, no one wants to make a big deal about playing the Lions! NFL rivalries are something new! Here’s where the problem is with the rivalry. I am happy that the Saints made it and I’ll be cheering for them on Super Bowl Sunday. You see, I’m an alumna of Siena Heights University, we’re the Saints too! My school is a small private college and while we have a great basketball and soccer teams, we don’t have a football team. I like the idea of being able to cheer “Go Saints” at a football game. But if the Saints had not won tonight, I’d be cheering for the Colts. I have family in Indy now, ya know? Besides, I’m a big-time Brett Favre NOT fan!

Dave is also a University of Michigan football fan. So, he finds himself with a natural leaning to support the Patriots because our QB, Tom Brady is a UofM grad. EEKS! If Laura would tolerate that, I’m sure his new son, Robert, would have something to say about it!

David says he’s okay with the fact that I’d support the Colts if the Saints hadn’t won because he understands the Favre thing, but that's easy to say now because he won’t be seeing his wife sheering for the Patriots’ arch rivals in the Super Bowl this year!

Now I just have to figure out how to crash a certain Super Bowl party if I should find myself in Indianapolis in two weeks…

GO SAINTS!!