Month: November 2017

Some Things, I Just DON’T Share

 This morning, I wasn’t up and ready by the time Good Morning Football came on;  but when I turned it on, Will Selva  was talking about U2!!!   Their new album, “Songs of Experience” is coming out on Friday. It cut to Kay Adams and she told me (well,  everyone watching)  that Bono is going to be on the show on Friday! I get so excited! I tweeted them a bunch about this fact! It feels like my worlds are colliding on Friday! Football AND U2!   It’s as if Friday’s show is just for me! At least that is the way I’m going to look at it!

 It was really cool that every time before they broke for commercial, GMFB played U2 songs! I really dug that! So, as I was doing the dishes after dinner today, I put my U2 playlist on random on my phone.  Of course I could sing along to EVERY song!  I paused for a moment and then decided that I was going to choose which U2 songs I wanted to hear.   I pulled up the best of 1990 to 2000 album. “Electrical Storm” This song reminds me of winter time and working at dfcu financial.   It takes me a long time to do the dishes because it is warm as the hot water is running semi-close to my face because the sink is kind of high compared to me sitting in the wheelchair.

Next, it played some songs that reminded me of working at 7-Eleven just before I started working at dfcu financial. “Stay (far away, so close).” I decided my first year of college that U2 was my favorite band. That was the year they  were named, “Band of the Year” from Rolling Stone magazine.  (2000 – I’m old!)  They are my favorite band!

One thing is for sure though, I don’t share them! I do not attribute guys I may be dating with any of their songs. That would mean the song would be ruined  once we break up. It’s too risky so, there are some things I just don’t share and U2 is one of them!  I’ve only been to one U2 concert and that was the Vertigo tour my first year teaching  with a few other teachers and I took my brother.  I remember I had a countdown to the concert on the corner of my whiteboard in the front of the classroom.

I incorporated a U2 song as much as I could when I was teaching.   I played my student teaching kids at Fordson, “Kite”my last day with them. I am so excited for Friday! I hope I can contain myself  and I will have to find a way to get that album! U2 is spattered all over this blog in the tunes section! I would put more links to my favorite songs but I got to catch Monday Night Football, the Ravens ARE playing the Lions Sunday…

ALMOST Forgotten Tune #11

Since my injury and subsequent surgery,  the only time I left my house was for physical therapy; but now, since that is overwith,  I pretty much am home all of the time.  Sean makes fun of me that I watch the same movies over and over again but he’s not home right now so I guess it doesn’t matter that I have seen Freaky Friday with Lindsay Lohan already today and it just started again.

It just ended and during the end credits, Lindsay Lohan sang a song. I was reminded of back when Sean was two and we still lived with my parents and at night,  I would wrap his presents  on the floor and watch that movie on a continuous loop.  It’s  kind of crazy how much things have changed in the past 14 years! And thinking of his Christmas presents this year, I’m not going to wrap Little People at night when he’s sleeping and Lindsay Lohan is kind of a mess now!

I’ve told Sean that this Christmas is going to be kind of lean ( given my current financial situation) and he is SO understanding and tells me that he’s not a little kid anymore so it’s OK.   Even though it’s kind of embarrassing, this movie reminds me of when he was a little kid and Little People was an excellent Christmas present. I love that memory! This movie and ultimately this song reminds me of that greaat Christmas!:

NOT COOL Stuff #15 OR A Revelation

I recently have noticed something about my T-shirts. I thought  this happened because they were too formfitting; but in talking with Sean today, I had a revelation.   Lately, I have noticed that the armpits of my shirts get holes in them like this:

I thought to wear baggier shirts to cut down on the wear.   Sean got me this long sleeved shirt for my birthday this past year but I didn’t wear it very often because summer came pretty quickly and stayed so long. I just pulled it out and started wearing it in the past few weeks.  How on earth could it be worn out with such few times I wore it?!

I thought maybe it was my deodorant or something and today, Sean told me I can’t wear any of his shirts if I’m wearing shirts out like that. I told him that I didn’t know why this was happening but  I’ve just noticed that it has happened to a few shirts of mine.   I told him that I may have toxic underarm sweat  or something but I wasn’t sure.

He walked from his room as I was sitting in the living room  and he asked me what I have been doing. I must be doing something to wear them out. At the same time, we started moving our arms in the same motion. I put my hands on my wheels and started  moving them as if I was pushing forward as he did the same  standing in front of me.

That’s it!  I am wearing the armpits out  of my shirts because I am pushing myself in my wheelchair! We started to laugh at the same time and I told him it was another NOT COOL thing that happens because I am in a wheelchair. I told him that I needed to wear shirts with reinforced underarms and he told me that he wasn’t sure they existed.  I never thought about life in a wheelchair until I started living life in a wheelchair! There are so many things that are not even thought about  by most people and here is my NOT COOL stuff #14.   Right about now, I wish I knew how to sew.   Just don’t don’t judge me if you see me with holy armpits!  😂😂😂

Aii-Time Christmas Faves 2017

It’s about that time and STILL TOTALLY is NOT Christmas without these tunes!!!

“Last Christmas”  Wham!

“I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” Gayla Peevey

“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”  Judy Garland

“Merry Christmas, Darling”  Karen Carpenter

“All I Want For Christmas Is You”  Mariah Carey

“Feliz Navidad”  Jose Feliciano – DUH!

“Christmas Shoes”  Alabama

“Shake Up Christmas”  Train

“Mary, Did You Know?”  Cee Lo Green

“Please Come Home for Christmas”  Bon Jovi

“O, Holy Night”   Jon Secada

“River”  Sarah McLachlan – Parker digs this one so I do now too.

“Baby, Please Come Home”  U2

Added these songs in 2014:

“Underneath The Tree”  Kelly Clarkson

“Do They Know It’s Christmas?”  Band Aid

“God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings”  Barenaked Ladies Feat. Sarah McLachlan

My Mom played this one for me on Veteran’s Day this year. I’ve heard it before but… I cried.

The Soldier’s Christmas Poem

Added these songs in 2016 because I’ve been watching Ellen since I’ve been off work and 12 Days just started and the next ones even though I’m NOT Jewish…

“It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”.  Andy Williams

“The Hanukkah Song”  Adam Sandler

“The Hanukkah Song” Part 2  Adam Sandler

“The Hanukkah Song” Part 3 Adam Sandler

“The Hanukkah Song” Part 4  Adam Sandler

And I just LOVE the “sleeping babies” commercial!!!

“Silent Night”  Pampers commercial

Added in  2017,  I like this version too!

“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”  James Taylor

“Christmas Lights”  Coldplay

Awakened by Random Cosmos at 4:34 am.

I am used to being awakened by  my MS pain in the middle of the night by now, even knee pain by now but tonight by some random cosmos at 4:34 this morning I was awakened by a combination of both. That, and I REALLY miss my Dad.  I have a playlist of all of the songs that remind me of him.  It starts with:

“El Rey”   Jose Alfredo Jimenez

I came across a shortened, translated version here.  The song TRULY IS my Dad even though he had a Queen in my mother but I STILL cry and cry…

I hit “shuffle” on the play list hoping to fall back to sleep with some cathartic tune… it was:

“Sometimes You Can’t Make it on Your Own”  U2

So, I listened to it, cried, and was reminded of driving to work in the dark just after he died, listening to that song on loop, crying the whole way there, putting my sunglasses on in the dark before I went into the building because my eyes were red and my face splotchy.  Well, it’s after 5 now.  I just had to write this post and send it off into the cosmos because it’s cathartic.

Cathartic: providing psychological relief through the open expression of strong emotions; causing catharsis.
“crying is a cathartic release”

so yeah… maybe I can get some sleep now.  Happy Thanksgiving.

ALMOST Forgotten Tune #10

I heard this song the other day and was immediately taken back to the summer before my freshman year of college!

I guess it proves that I’m old now because something in me just doesn’t want an Eminem song on my blog even though I jammed to this album ALL THE TIME the summer before college.   It was shortly after that Eminem song got a lot of radio play that another one got popular; it’s th e song I AM going to put on my blog.   This song is sampled in the Eminem song  so that’s why I thought of it and I got this CD while I was away at college, a lifetime ago. I listened to it a lot as my musical taste mellowed a bit. I barely hear it on the radio now but when I do it always brings back the same memories!

“Thank you”  Dido

The Comparison

So, I just wrote a post about Mike Tirico having  eyes like my Dad.

 it took me a minute, but I found pictures of my Dad’s eyes.  These pictures are kind of old (I was only 17)  but it is my family at its BEST!

   My Dad really didn’t like taking pictures so  there aren’t a lot of them and he very rarely smiled in them.   We were at a wedding and I’m sensitive so I was crying. Don’t judge!

 I think there’s a resemblance! The resemblance is close enough for me to make me cry! This picture is  one of my favorite pictures even though my eyes are closed and my nose is red because I was crying  because it is just me and my Daddy!!! ❤️❤️❤️

Mike Tirico

This is the first year I have been able to stay up to watch Sunday Night Football, Monday Night Football, and Thursday Night Football.   I noticed this the first week of football and I wasn’t able to get a picture until the Lions played the Packers on Monday Night Football.   The Lions won.

Sean thinks it is crazy that I watch so much pregame football but when I saw Mike Tirico, I looked at his eyes,  gasped, and had to catch my breath.   He has eyes like my Dad!   Sean thought so too but  that didn’t matter because I think he does! I don’t really listen to what he is saying because I can’t stop staring at his eyes! Most of the time  my eyes well up and I whimper a little trying to hold back the tears.

I’ve been missing my Dad SO MUCH lately that I find it kind of comforting to stare at Mike Tirico.   Tonight, for example is the Eagles versus the Dallas Cowboys and I’m not a big fan of either team but I’m watching the entire pregame broadcast so I can see Mike Tirico.  But let’s be honest, I’m going to watch the game because football is football and I’m in a good mood because the Lions won earlier today!

ALMOST Forgotten Tune #9

I heard this song my last time at ATI. This is the song that made me buy the new Matchbox 20 CD back when one used to buy CDs.  This CD, “Mad Season” was the soundtrack of the summer before I went away to  WMU.   This was the summer I worked at 7-Eleven.   I just want to make it crystal clear that GOING to 7-Eleven with your friends to get Slurpees it’s a lot different from WORKING at 7-Eleven. The morning shift.

This was where I brewed 40 pots of coffee very early in the morning,  spent a lot of the day stocking the cooler where I wore my winter coat even though it was the middle of summer, where I cleaned up after kids who came in with their friends to get Slurpees, and  where I will never forget the  unforgettable smell of bottle return. GROSS!

This song reminds me of that summer after high school before college.  This was the first  and only song I heard off of that album before I bought it. There are such gems on it!  I don’t actively seek out songs from that album because it seems like a lifetime ago but hearing it made me smile.

“Bent”  Matchbox 20

Dilly! Dilly!

This commercial constantly plays on NFL Network so I had heard it many times before Sean was home one time when it was on. Before they said it, I said, “Dilly! Dilly!”  It’s catchy! Sean thought so too. And then I saw this commercial last night for Sunday Night Football.    Apparently, I am not the only one amused by this! I don’t even drink but I thought it was funny!

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