Month: July 2021

“Dodgeball Friday”

I have been hearing this song in many different circles. When I go down rabbit holes in the middle of the night on YouTube I see lots of videos of contestants on The Voice singing the song. I know that I have posted this song on my blog before but I am especially reminded of Mr. Curl when I was teaching out of a classroom adjacent to the cafeteria/gym.

I call it a classroom because it is where I taught my classes for reading but really, it was a storage closet for the PE teacher. Mr. Curl ran his physical education classes where it sounded like they were having so much fun! On Fridays, it was established that it was, “Dodgeball Friday.” I would hear this song often toward the end of my teaching career but I did not know it was nearing its end at the time. All of the PE students figured out that if they screamed for the entire time while they played dodgeball, they would do better! At least, that’s what they did which made teaching reading a pleasure on Fridays!

My Summer-y Flavors 2021

I started my summer flavored Chapsticks July 3. My original Summer-y flavor post last year, had these flavors:

But I discovered that although it looks like a fun rainbow selection, the yellow one is really the original peppermint flavor. That one is a little more wintry for me! I changed out one Chapstick for another one and this is my new Summer-y flavor selection:

I changed out the yellow Peppermint one and added it to the container with all of my Cucumber Minty that I got not too long ago. So this is how it works, I can’t waste the flavors so I’m using them until they are gone. The flavors I have in this container are: Pomegranate, Strawberry, Watermelon, Sweet Mandarin, and Cucumber Mint.

So, I started with Pomegranate on July 4 and like I did last year, I only use a flavor for one day. I apply my chips to quite liberally! I didn’t really understand why I was doing this at first but now I see tons of posts about people complaining and asking about getting chapped lips to a point where they crack and bleed. So I guess that’s an MS thing, dry lips.

I can easily remedy this by using Chapstick. The fact that I have 1 million different flavors it’s just for my own enjoyment. I looked on Taarget’s website and they don’t have the package with all of my winter flavors out yet but I did see a Strawberry Sorbet that sounded interesting! But, it was $3.49 and I have other chapstick that I HAVE to use before I can use my Cucumber Mint all of the time!

Given that Thursday is my favorite day of the week, I stop the order and only use Cucumber Mint on Thursdays! I do like to have Order in my life still and the fact that I can do this makes me feel like I have order even though so much of my life has been affected by having a MS, at least I have soft lips with my Summer-y flavors!

A Little Bit Painful

I think it’s crazy how random songs pop into your head out of the blue and because you have memories, specific memories, attached to that song and with people you no longer know. It makes things just a little bit painful! I can’t seem to get this song out of my head but I still like it even though a little bit of pain accompanies it. I figure if I post it maybe it will leave:

A Good Memory with Laughter!

My Mom called Sean this afternoon and put him on speaker as she was asking him some questions or something. We both got on the call and Sean asked me a question. Actually, she told me about a song and asked me if I remembered when I allowed him to sing along with it and swear?

As soon as he asked me that, I started to laugh and so did he. I remember this instance quite clearly! We were driving to my Mom’s house and something really great happened. I can’t remember but we we’re in the turn lane as the song came on and he asked me if he could sing along with the words. I remember smiling and agreeing that he could sing along. In other words, I gave him permission to say, “Hell.” I don’t remember what good thing happened but I told him that he can only do that this one time with me!

When my Mom heard that, she was totally appalled! She asked how old Sean was and we both continued laughing. Sean told my Mom that the song came out in 2008 and this was probably in 2009, maybe 2010. Sean was either eight or nine years old at the time. My Mom’s mouth was agape as Sean and I -continued to laugh! Sean had to hang up and my Mom continued to chastise me how terrible thing that was to allow him to swear it’s such a young age. I can take it though, there is nothing better than sharing a good memory with laughter. The fact that Sean still remembers that specific incident warms my heart and makes me laugh! The fact that it has to do with music is just a bonus!

“A Mom Song”

Sean texted me this yesterday and I have decided that I really like it:

I never owned any Rob Thomas CDs but this one got A LOT of radio play! I’m sure we heard it in the car often! I really like that he is old enough to recognize, “A mom song” and one that is not one of my top three! My top three favorite performing artists are: U2, Gavin Degraw, and Sara Bareilles. My Mom says that I listen to, “Wah-wah, cry-cry” songs.

Thinking about it now, I suppose that it’s true but for a good reason! I couldn’t allow myself to be an overly dramatic young woman dealing with heartbreak while raising my son by myself! I chose to feel and express that sadness vicariously through songs!

#Haters

I posted this a few days ago on Facebook:

It only took two days for all of my brothers to weigh in:


I feel that I need to have a rebuttal considering that the world saw this! First of all, I have no qualms about admitting that I am a nerd! For sure! 100%! So, Ray and Dave I’m NOT offended at all!!!

Jimmy, it was genius to hide books in the bathroom vanity!!! TOTAL GENIUS!!! I did that because I have been so scarred since Mom would grab my book out of my hands as I was reading on the couch and taking until I was done cleaning!

Steve, I don’t really remember getting the sneak attack but I think I’m saying this because Mom reads my blogs! I was most delighted to see that my “Crime Partner,” my cousin, “Cheese” said this:

Although I cannot read as fast as I used to (it’s a vision thing) because #MSsucks!!! But really, this just proves that my brothers are #Haters!!! 😂😂😂

Like a Baptist Minister

Last night, my Mom took Leia with her to clean her house. She came in and went to the bathroom to wash her hands as I was seated in front of my TV, she comes out and grabs my head with both hands like she’s a Baptist minister! I was shocked I didn’t know what to say so. She lifted up her hand on the right side of my head but then clasped her hand back down almost like a slap. I didn’t understand what she was doing until she said, “Oh, I hate them!“

I knew that she had to be talking about a mosquito and I kind of laughed that she grabbed my head. She looked at me and then scurried back to the bathroom and came back with the toothpaste tube and glopped on my forehead, or more so my temple. I actually forgot about it and went to sleep with it still on the side of my face. It’s a good thing that I sleep on my left side. She wiped it off this morning and took this picture:

I suppose that I am somewhat allergic to mosquito bites as well. I think it’s strange that this happened because my porch is filled with mosquito plants because my Mom hates mosquitoes so much!

#MyGirlL: Too Cute

I bought Leia this feeder shortly after we got her:

But, after her check up where she was called, “A Chunk,” I bought her a puzzle feeder to get her weight down:

Purchasing this puzzle feeder was a little bit difficult for me. The puzzle feeder only came in purple! Purple is MY color! Her’s is pink! I decided to let that slide because I want her at a healthy weight as well! The puzzle theater is on the floor in the kitchen by her other feeder.

My Mom will still fill her water bowl in her feeder and she drinks after she eats her food out of the puzzle feeder.
The people at the vet told my Mom that she is going to be very thirsty and drink a lot. My Mom fills both bowls with water now. She has to fill them both three, sometimes four times a day! No, here’s the, “Too cute” part:

Often times during the day, I will hear her lapping up water from her bowl. I happened to turn my head to see her drink out of one bowl, pause, drink out of the other bowl, pause, and then go back to the first bowl! Well, they are both for her! I think it’s good that she’s using all available resources but I think it’s too cute and maybe that’s just because she’s our dog

“Get Off that Channel”

I like to watch random documentaries on TV. Last night, my Mom was laying down because she is so exhausted from the cleanup from her house, so I started watching, “The Eighties” on CNN. I like watching that because although I was born in 1982, many of those songs were super familiar to me having my oldest brother, Ray, being 9 1/2 years older than me. My second oldest brother, Steve, is seven years older than me.

My Mom eventually woke up about halfway through the documentary. I thought it was crazy that VJ,s that I remember seeing 25 years ago look so much older! My Mom, without skipping a beat and with a statement that would make my Dad proud, said, “Get off that channel!” When I heard that, I started to laugh because it was 80s music on MTV that my older brothers were always told to change the channel!

I saw myself laying on the green carpet in my Parents’ living room close to the cable box under the TV so we, one of the “three little ones” could change the channel when one of my Parents walked in the room. She just heard the music and I wasn’t even watching MTV! But, I’m 39 years old, I think I can watch it if I wanted to!

A Big Deal

Last night, as I put my chapstick on before I went to sleep, I felt the sharp plastic edge beginning to come through the chapstick. I continued using it today as well because, “My Mama didn’t raise no fool!”. There’s some thing about using an entire tube of chapstick until the end. It’s a big deal! I like being able to do that because it’s a simple pleasure that I can accomplish easily! My lips get really chapped now and I constantly put on chapstick all day long! This is what my chapstick looks like another one just bit the dust:

I was just finishing up a Pomegranate chapstick. I figured that I could use it up before I started my summer flavors. Now, these are my chapsticks for the summer: