Month: June 2019

I’ve constantly been thinking about my Texas relatives since my Tía Olga’s death. I figured out and have written before that it had been 24 years since I went to Texas. Since then, occasionally, they have come up to Michigan to see us. The most recent times I have seen them here have been at my Dad‘s funeral and my grandpa’s funeral.

Sean was hesitant to go to my grandpa’s funeral. I understood that because I know that after my Dad’s funeral, I don’t like going to funerals either. I told him that, “The Texas relatives” will be there thinking that would get him to especially want to be there. Sean responded with his teenager response, “I don’t even KNOW the Texas relatives!” Sean was four when my Dad died so he doesn’t remember them.

I was aghast to hear him say this because I hold ALL of my Texas relatives SO close to my heart even though I haven’t seen them in so long. Of course Sean came to the funeral and as soon as we get there, upon entering the room, my uncle Rey looked at Sean and said, “Hey! Sean! Hi!” with a handshake and a hug. He looked at me (after uncle Rey moved on to greet my Mom) and asked how he knew him. I told him that I have been sending the Texas relatives a Christmas card with our picture on it since he was two.

I have so many fond memories of all of my Texas relatives! Their “strange” southern accents, the high temperature, wind that was hot when it blew, staying at Motel 6 is on our way down and on our ride back home, the Coronado motel by the beach, experiencing being in the salty ocean for the first time with my brothers, barbecuing outside on Christmas Day, getting really bad sunburn on my back walking down the sidewalk by the beach in Galveston, and witnessing my Dad being TRULY happy when we were there be it in Houston, Corpus Christi, Taft, or anywhere else.

Because I have been thinking of all of these great memories recently, I ordered a mug with the words, “Everything’s big in Texas” on it. Actually, it says, “Everything‘s bigger in Texas” but I looked forward to having it because I can only drink out of mugs now.

It came today!

I was really excited! Until I opened the box that is…

• 

I guess you really can’t see the problem with it in this picture. Let’s have a comparison. The first one is with a 14 ounce mug that I like to drink milk out of when eating boneless, honey barbecue chicken wings from B dubs.

• 

The next picture is with an 11 ounce mug that I drink my 1/2 cup of milk in the morning with my eggs.

• 

This mug shows that everything IS bigger in Texas! The only problem is that it is too heavy for me to hold because I no longer have the hand or arm strength to hold it up. Sean laughed as I held it and pretended you take a sip out of it and my whole face was enveloped in the mug!

I will send this back because unfortunately, I cannot use it. I will keep a lookout for a m different, normal sized mug to think about my love of being in Texas with my family and my Tía’s words that, “Everything is big in Texas!” and all of my Texas relatives!

Upon opening my eyes this morning, my knee was killing me and my body really hurt! It was rough! My mom got me out of bed and I sat in front of my TV and watched GMFB. I sat there sipping my Kiefer and trying to wake up and I couldn’t figure out what Kyle Brant was wearing!

It took a couple segments for me to learn that Kyle and Nate switched clothes for today. So, what Kyle was wearing is normally what Nate wears and what Nate was wearing is normally what Kyle wears. I can imagine both of them wearing each other‘s clothes and looking completely normal! But…

Kyle said that he looks a like Ralph Furley from Three’s Company.

• 

Once he said that, I smiled to myself and laughed. I tweeted him saying that he looks more like Larry Dallas.

• 

I could really see Nate pulling off the lavender pants and lavender shoes but Kyle made it absolutely hilarious! Nate was wearing a print similar to the one Larry is wearing in the picture but it was buttoned up.

My Mom showed back up to my house just after the first broadcast of GMFB. I really liked being able to catch the, “Week in Review” clips at the end! I really love this show! Off-season is so entertaining! I had been telling my Mom that today was National Donut Day for a couple weeks now. The door opened but I am no longer able to turn my head to the right so she walked around toward the left side of my chair so I could see her. She had brought me a Donut! I asked her to get me a pain pill and some milk and I would eat that donut with my pill.

• 

A little while after we finished our morning routine, I had an appointment to get my haircut and my eyebrows waxed. That’s pretty much the ONLY time I get out of the house these days. After my appointment, we ended up having to get my nephew from work.

What ended up happening is that I was in the car too long… AGAIN! My feet begin to throb and as my Mom transferred me into my manual chair to get back into my house and then transferred me to my motorized chair, I begin to melt. I always feel bad when my Mom witnesses me melting or otherwise in pain.

She transferred me back into my motorized chair once I was in the house. I was able to elevate my legs but I was still pretty miserable. I wheeled into my bedroom because it’s cooler there and as I sat they’re trying to cool down, I begin to cry! It really hurts to go from extreme temperature to extreme temperature. By the time I got home from my haircut and wax, the weather was not, “Damp” any longer but rather extremely warm! Either way, my knee STILL was killing me!

Once I was beginning to cool down, I asked my Mom for some milk and ate another pain pill because I was miserable! My Mom left to water her flowers. I sat and watched a Hallmark movie as I finished my milk.

There was a knock at the door which startled me but then I heard my Mom called out that it was her. I knew she had a key and she came in. She walked to my left side and she handed me a Tim Hortons bag. It had a donut in it! It was from Tim Horton’s! My favorite place for donuts! Sean and his friends call it, “Timmy Ho’s” now that a Tim Hortons has just been built near his school.

• 

So what that I had TWO donuts today?! It IS National Donut Day! I haven’t had a donut all year! And I was not able to go to Donut Fest at Eastern market that I was looking forward to because it was way too cold! Looks like I will have to pencil in this day as a cheat day as well as my birthday! I had two additional ounces of Kiefer today because I had so much sugar! It was worth it!

Yesterday, Torry Holt was on GMFB. He was a wide receiver for the Rams and the Jaguars in the early 2000‘s.

• 

I wasn’t as big of a football fan back then because I had just had a baby so I was busy. They talked about his nickname, “Big Game,” his life after football, and his Hall of Fame push because even though he has great numbers, he still NOT in the Hall.

I enjoyed learning about him and was stunned at the last part of the interview! Yesterday was his birthday. He’s 43. Happy Birthday, Mr. Holt! Kay gave him a birthday present. She gave him a mug! What?! I have wanted one of those since I started watching the show when I was first injured. They could make a killing on selling them because lots of people I follow on Twitter talk about wanting one too.

I guess I have to figure out a way to be on the show next year on my birthday, (March 12). I won’t be 43 but 38. That would be an excellent present! Especially because I cannot drink out of regular cups anymore now. If anybody at the breakfast table wants to send me one before then, I’m cool with that too!

I have tweeted all of them a bunch about wanting a mug and I even sent a picture of one of my mug trees with an empty place and I told them I had a spot for a GMFB mug! It really would be cool if they sold those mugs!

It was a rough go this morning for me to say the least! I awakened when I heard Sean rustling around getting ready for school. I rolled onto my back just in time for my knee to pop out of its socket. Of course I gasped because it hurt. I can’t believe that almost 3 years after my injury that this is STILL occurring!

I heard my Mom open the front door and when she got into my room and put my shoes on, I asked her to raise my right ankle. She wasn’t sure why she was doing this until when it was considerably raised from the bed and popped back into place! She told me it was a, “little pop” but I assured him that it STILL HURT!

Once I was seated in my wheelchair, J wheeled to the living room and turned on GMFB. Because I was groggy and in pain from my knee popping out, I just laid my head back onto the head rest and sat there. Peter was not at the breakfast table but after I sat there for a while, Will Selva came on the screen from the newsroom in Culver City. I noticed his tie! I liked it! He looked good in it! It was a brick color. I had to tweet him:

• 

I really liked that he just about always tweets me back with a response! I had to tweet him back!

• 

I will HAVE to notice when and if he wears the other two ties I like! It reminds me of my teaching days. Mr. Wright has 1 million ties! I would always tell him that I liked his tie and he would tell me, “ I like your style.” To which I responded, “ I like your moves.” After a few years, I told him that, “I want to submit a request.” He had a couple purple ties that I preferred! When I would see him in the teachers lounge and he would be wearing my request, I would smile and tell him that I liked his tie again!

I’m not sure why I like men wearing ties! But I do! Sean wears a tie to school for the second and third quarters every year. Once he started high school, he can wear any tie he wants. I LOVE buying him ties!

I have also figured out how I can get a bunch of discounted ties around Christmas time at Macy’s. Sean does not like getting ties as Christmas presents so I give them to him just before Christmas. He doesn’t take care of them! He’s a teenager!

He once got a compliment about all of his ties from his friend, (I think it was his prom date) and I smiled when he told me. He told me that he thought that I would like that because I’m weird about the ties!

Well, I guess I am! It’s the fourth quarter right now so he wears a polo shirt to school. I am no longer teaching so I can’t complement all of Mr. Wright’s ties so I guess I may be going through a little bit of withdrawl right now. I am glad that Will Selva will respond to my complements about his ties! That made me smile even though I was having a pretty rough morning with my knee popping out! All the rain today is not helping either! UGH!!!

Yesterday, my Mom took my car to Warholak tire to get my tires looked at. As it turned out, I needed two new tires. I was able to get new-used tires that ended up being cheaper for me. My Car has never been there or any of my cars hasn’t been there for a very long time!

I am still driving (or rather, my Mom and/or my son) my 2012 Malibu. My Mom or I have always taken my car to Les Stanford because it was under warranty. Because, “Bea” (my car) is no longer under warranty, we go to the places that are more economically sound. These places include Puzzouli‘s Muffler and/or Warholak Tire.

I searched my blog and I was surprised that I had not written about this place! It’s on McGraw, right by my Parents’ house. The two brothers who own it knew my Dad well. I recall my Dad joking around with them whenever I went with him to get the tires fixed. They used to give out pens once your car was serviced. No, it is too expensive to provide their customers with pens.

They were the BEST pens in the world! My Dad used to tell them to give him two pens and I remember taking one of those pens to my first day of work, teaching.

My Mom called me from there yesterday and hearing their voices made me think of my Dad! The first time I was there by myself, I took my Dad’s car in for tires and I was in high school. I was wearing my softball hoodie that had my last name on the back. When I brought the car in, I told Paul exactly what my Dad told me to say verbatim and once I turned around and started to walk away, it was the only time I have ever been asked if, “I was a Rios.” He asked if I was Ray’s daughter and when I smiled and nodded he told me that, “[I’m] a lot better looking then your Dad and you tell him that I said so!”

Another time I was there, I was in college. I had my U of M sticker in my back window and Mike’s son was there. He was wearing a shirt that had Paul’s name on it. I think he was a couple years younger than me and he also attended U of M Dearborn so as I spoke with him and I called him, “Pauley.” I thought nothing of it but it wasn’t until the next time I came and spoke with Mike that he told me that that was HIS son and his name was NOT Paul.

Mike told me that he thought that his son must have liked me because no 20-year-old young man would let just anyone call him, “Pauley.”

When I heard my Mom talking to the guys yesterday, I could almost smell the waiting room that smells like my Dad‘s old truck growing up! I love that smell! Yesterday, my Mom and I spoke of my Dad a lot! Mike told my mom that my tires were good until the fall. It feels good that my tires are in good hands with Warholak Tire and it makes me happy that I believe my Dad is proud of me!

The other day, as water drained slowly in my tub, my Mom looked at it and remembered a story from my youth. She told me that I slipped in a tub full of water and my Dad pulled me out. She asked me if I remembered it. I’m not sure if I remembered it or if I remember people talking about it when I was young. I’m pretty sure I remembered it though.

Here is the deal; One of my older brothers had a fever so my Mom had filled the tub with cool water to let him soak. The tub was still filled with water. This is the part I remember, I had just learned how to lock the bathroom door. We had a flap that if you lifted it up and turned it and put it down, the door will be locked. I remember looking at the tub and touching the water. I bent over so my face was almost to the water and I fell in.

My Dad was on the side of the house probably getting ready to cut the grass and he heard something fall into the tub of water. He immediately came to the bathroom. I had just locked so he used the palm of his hand to hit the door to knock it open. The indent of his palm stayed on the door until we replaced it. He came in, saw me floundering, and he grabbed me with one hand and flipped me up and I grabbed onto his neck.

I believe I remember actually doing this and remember being wet and clutching my Dad’s shoulder and neck; but I also remember my Dad telling me that story.

We talked about those events as we completed our routine. I started to laugh and I talked her about, “Tuuuuuub water!” My Dad was diabetic for my entire life and subsequently, he would drink a lot of liquid. He constantly had a glass of ice water with him. I was young and I couldn’t reach the kitchen sink but when he would ask to refill his water, I figured out that I could fill his cup with water from the tub. I thought it was so strange because that was where we got bathed but I asked him if it would be okay if I refilled his cup with water from the tub. My Dad had rearranged the hot and cold dials so the cold water was on the left because he had young kids.

I could reach the dial in the tub to refill his cup but I would always ask him first by asking him if, “Is Tuuuuuub water okay?” He would always kind of smirk a bit and I never knew why. As I got older, I understood. I’m not sure why I thought of that, it’s probably because I’ve been missing my Dad a lot lately.

When I first started needing to wear compression socks, I wore them two or three times a week. It was only when my legs started getting elephantitis and my ankles turned to cankle‘s that I would wear them. I never wore them in late spring and summer because it was too warm!

Fast forward to today and I HAVE to wear them all the time! I found out a few weeks ago that NOT having them on for the slightest amount of time makes my feet turn purple. Now, I like the color purple, in fact, I love it! But this type of purple is a purple-black evident of me no longer having the proper bloodflow in my feet. Now, I have to wear my compression socks all the time! Even in the warm late spring and summer months!

I realized today with the extreme humidity and with the rain that my hibernation has begun for this season. By hibernation, I mean staying holed up in my house with the air conditioning on constantly to keep me cool. Because I can no longer regulate my body temperature, I have to wear a hoodie in the cold because if I turn the air off, I melt!

Not only do I melt, compression socks are not designed to breathe! I saw a Duluth Trading Company commercial the other day and it resonated with me.

My compression socks DO NOT breathe! However, I have no choice but to wear them. With the temperature rising and the humidity along with it, I cannot afford to go outside. Thus, I have no other choice and my hibernation has begun.