I originally started reading this book March 24, 2018 after the Facebook friend posted an article that talked about this book. I’m not sure why I stopped reading it but I did. I just started re-reading it this morning and I am ashamed that I did not finish before! But we’ll see if I can do it now!
I really got into this book! Completely different than the movie! I will always be a “fat girl” at heart no matter what I weigh!
My Mom has been changing up the music we listen to during our morning routine. She doesn’t like my music so I let her decide what will listen to She decided on Justin Bieber‘s, “Sorry” today. When I search it in Apple Music, we can hear this song over and over again which doesn’t bother either one of us.
That is a random song for her to choose, I know, but it is a Barwis song.! In 2015, I was going to Barwis strong thinking that walking was on the horizon, not too far away. She actually had to remind me that it was a Barwis song years ago. Even though I LOVED seeing her sway her hips and move her arms to the music and mouth the words but that is NOT what this blog post is about.
Just before my Mom attached the pads to my knee for my tens unit, she talked to me about living in Oklahoma with my Dad. I’ve known my whole life that they used to live in Oklahoma at Fort Sill when they were first married (where I just read that RBG and her husband lived also). I’m surprised that I do not know all of the details because I never have asked my Mom before.
She told me that my Dad did not want to live in military housing so he got an apartment for them. My Mom talked about how forlorn my Dad saw her look when they entered the apartment. The previous tenants we’re guys so my Mom told me that it was really dirty! She has told me before that the kitchen was the brightest room in the apartment.
It was yellow. She told me that after she cleaned it up by scrubbing it down that she cut out a design on contact paper and put them on the cabinets. They were vines and flowers. I like to hear her tell the story and I ask her if she has any pictures and she does not. BUMMER! I like hearing stories about this part of her and by Dad’s life that I know nothing about!
As she described cleaning the kitchen and making it bright. she raised her hands on either side of her face with her fingers spread apart and said in a singsong voice, “Sunshine!” I immediately thought of this song:
It’s funny how all things always point back to U2 for me but I really like hearing about their time in Fort Sill.
I saw the movie, Garden State for the first time a while ago and last night, I thought of the scene because that was when I got,” In it.”
Last night, as I was falling asleep, I thought of my first day at WMU and how I was so afraid. I was remembering being curled up on my bed that first night and listening to Third Eye Blind in my room very quietly because I didn’t want to disturb anyone else. I thought about that song before I fell asleep and this morning, I had to look it up and play it on Apple Music.
I was still laying in my bed as Sean got ready for school and I was, “In it.” I played this song a few times before my Mom came over and helped me out of bed.
After I was seated in my wheelchair, my Mom left to take my nephew to work. I switched the TV on to find out that GMFB was a compilation of previously viewed clips so I turned the TV off. I turned Third Eye Blind back on and continued to be, “In it.”
After we completed it our morning routine, my Mom left and I picked up the book I’m reading. I guess I was, “In it” there too because now I am just about 2/3 of the way finished with the book i’ve been reading for only three days.. I only stopped reading to eat dinner. (It’s Taco Tuesday today so we ordered tacos from a local restaurant. They are only a dollar today).
It reminded me of probably my second no third year teaching. For Christmas, the English department got a bunch of student books. We came back to school from Christmas break to find stacks of books on all of our desks. Before putting them on the bookshelf, I had to mark them according to their reading level. We all received two or three copies of all four of the Twilight books.
As the students were reading by themselves, I made the mistake of opening up one of the books and began reading. I got into the car after work (my brother, Jimmy, and I worked together at the time) and I told him that I was frustrated because NOE I HAVE to read the series! I didn’t want people knowing how much of a Reading nerd I was! I finished all four books in five days.
I was just so wrapped up in the story likr I am today. I finally watched a little bit of TV as I ate my tacos but once I was finished, and turned the TVoff and continued reading. I guess that I’m, “In it!”
This morning, my Mom sipped from a mug that I don’t know where it came from. I told her that I do not like that mug has she should take it back to her house. I only drink out of mugs now and I seem to be collecting them. I no longer have the hand strength to hold a regular cup but rather using two hands and shoving one of my hands into the handle makes it easier to hold. It’s one of my favorite things to do!
She laughed when I told her that I didn’t like that mug and she turned her attention to the 2 mug trees I have situated next to my dish drainer. I told her that I didn’t like the shape of the mug, I didn’t like that it tapered at the bottom. She told me that the Santa Claus mug is hers too then. At that remark, I had to be aghast!
“It most certainly is not!” was my immediate response as she looked over my mug trees. “I got that from Ms Lina! It was a Secret Santa gift!” I explained, a little more calmly, that I received that mug a few years ago at work during the week of our Secret Santa Exchange. Ms. Lina had my name.
I had written mugs on my list as well as dark chocolate. Miss Lina had left the wrapped up gift on my desk before school. My second hour class and I head just come into my room as I noticed the gift because first hour was my prep period. The mug was filled with Hersheys miniature dark chocolate bars. My kids wanted me to open the gift and when I did, I got really excited! I had not eaten breakfast that day so I told them that chocolate is an EXCELLENT breakfast!
Since the mug was filled with chocolates, I asked my students if they wanted one. (That particular class only had six students in it and I think a couple of them were not there). Each of the students accepted a miniature chocolate bar as I opened one and popped it in my mouth. DE-LICIOUS!!!
I popped another piece into my mouth as I saw my kids’ faces and began to laugh! They didn’t like the dark chocolate! I told them that they could go get a drink of water from the fountain one at a time. Their faces reminded me of my brother’s face years before.
My brother, Ray, had come over to unplug the drain in my shower because it was slow and he is a plumber and has all of those tools. He came over when I was at Barwis so just Sean was home. I had a cut open bag of dark chocolate pieces on my table.
As my brother finished and was about to leave, he grabbed a piece of chocolate and began to unwrap it. Sean warned him that it was MY chocolate (meaning that it was gross!) but my brother told him that it was his “fee” for unplugging the shower drain as he popped it into his mouth.
Sean told me that he made a disgusted face as he opened his mouth because the chocolate tasted disgusting because it was 90% Cacao. I didn’t see his face but I imagine it was just like the faces my students were making! I think dark chocolate is delicious! And that Santa mug, our use it all year round and it always makes me think of Ms. Lina and the dark chocolate!
The ugly mug is on the left and my Christmas mug from Ms. Lina is on the right.
MJ Acosta filled in for Kay Adams on Good Morning Football this past week. I’m not sure what it was but it took me a while to wake up once I was seated in my wheelchair and already had turned the TV on. I’m not sure what it was, the weather or something, but I was completely groggy for long time all last week! There were so many times that I wanted to text into the show but I was just too tired to do it. I wanted to comment on Paul Rudd‘s victory for the Nerd Bowl but I just couldn’t.
Sean had an orthodontist appointment Thursday morning and he saw what I was watching before he left. He came into the living room and asked, “Who are these people?!” Shaun O’Hara and Mike Garafolo were also filling in as well as MJ. I just kind of grunted at him and told him, “They’ll be back” talking about Kay, Kyle, and Peter.
The one thing I regret not commenting on on Twitter happened on Friday. I’m not even sure what they were talking about because I had my arms tucked into my sweatshirt and was hadn’t been looking at the TV when MJ said, “Scoach.” I couldn’t even laugh out loud because I was still kind of groggy in the morning but I really wanted to!
I remember when I was working out at Barwis with Michael one time. We were at one end of the gym doing squats and then we needed to go to the opposite side of the gym to use the table. He pushed me in my chair because it was quicker than me pushing myself. As he was doing this, he asked me a question and my response was, “Just a scoach.”
That was the first time I heard Michael laugh really hard! I don’t remember what I was talking about but it WAS just a scoach! I enjoy hearing people laugh, the kind of laugh where they’re kind of surprised at themselves that they’re laughing so hard. That was the kind of laugh I heard from Michael that day. I dug it. It made me smile!
I thought of that time when I heard MJ say, “Scoach” and I wanted to comment on it but I just was not feeling well enough. It was years ago that I made Michael laugh so hard and I don’t remember what we were talking about. I appreciated that MJ brought that memory to my mind but I am still looking forward to Kay being back on the show on Monday.
I asked my Mom to pick up this book for me yesterday. As she brought it to me, told me that she didn’t understand why I was reading it after I have already seen the movie. I told her that the book is ALWAYS better than the movie! I’m 20 pages in right now and I can already see that it will be!
Last night I dozed off in my wheelchair before the documentary that I was excited to see came on. I woke up just in time to see it but I was a bit nervous that I would fall asleep while watching it. I should not have had that worry because it was so phenomenal! I was completely captivated the entire time. The first thing I took notice of is the fact that RBG is left-handed! Just like me! Yay!
I completely fell in love with her and Marty’s relationship! For me to see her eyes light up when she saw video footage of Marty so many years ago made me cry! I did not understand the gravity of all of the hard work she did in the 70s to make my life as a woman the way it is now. Things I take for granted were fought for. I laughed and I cried! I can’t remember seeing a documentary before where I was so touched! I have already downloaded Jennifer Hudson‘s song, “I’ll fight.” I’ve always wanted to get into opera and hearing her speak about it makes me REALLY want to.
I’m so glad that I Just finished the book, The Notorious RBG for background. My cousin, Melissa, recommended the movie that just came out about her, On the Basis of Sex and I am waiting for it to become available to rent on my TV so I don’t need to leave because it is SO COLD! I am DEFINITELY going to have to buy an RBG shirt! Maybe a mug too… I hope it wins the I asked her for the movie and for the song!
Continuing with the focus on things that people don’t realize I can no longer do.
I miss multitasking.
Whenever I think about multitasking, I think of the time when I thought I was multitasking at its best! I was in my second apartment so I had to be 25 or 26. It was a Saturday and I had put a load of laundry into the washer and put it on to wash. My washer and dryer were right next to my kitchen. Then I had just made brownies and put them in the oven to bake. I had loaded up the dishwasher and that was running as I was washing the dishes I made in making the brownies. So I had a bunch of things going on and it would all finish roughly around the same time. Score! I just did a whole lot of things! I was proud!
That is it until I smelled it. My brownies were burning! I guess that when I was washing off my stove, I had to hit the temperature gage on the back of my stove and changed it without me knowing. I had recently made brownies for work so I didn’t think to check the temperature gage because I had just made brownies the day before. Well, the temperature was at 500°! No wonder I was smelling burning brownies! Just after I took the brownies out of the oven and scraped them into the garbage, my dishwasher stopped and the washer dinged.
OK, so maybe I wasn’t being a great multitasker and #1 Mom but this isn’t the kind of multitasking I am talking about. Besides, I KNOW how to make brownies! Now, I can no longer read with music on and I can’t even put my contacts in if someone is talking. It’s kind of crazy! It makes me sad. I can only do one thing at a time. Toward the end of my driving days, I still would have to turn the music on only AFTER I had backed out of my driveway. Sadly, there is no longer any multitasking for me.
I think this makes me really sad but I think that has to do with the fact that my knee popped out again this morning just after I opened my eyes and my eyes feel extremely heavy and I am not feeling well. Good thing that RBG documentary is on tonight! I will be very angry if I fall asleep during it!
I am in complete awe of RBG!!!
