Month: December 2021

The Orange Bowl

So, my TV was installed on Monday and I called (with my Mom) Xfinity today. We talked to an agent who also lived in Michigan. She liked talking with us because she said that she rarely talks to other Michiganders. She told us that I needed a different channel subscription to watch the orange bowl today. There was no question of me watching the orange bowl? IF COURSE I would!

I will never forget watching the exchange between Rich Eisen and Matthew Stafford regarding this game. Rich eyes and said to wager some thing and Matthew Stafford was OK with that. Which eyes and said that he will wear a Georgia shirt on his show if Jojo wins and Matthew Stafford will wear Michigan shirt for his media availability on Sunday. If I can see Matthew Stafford in the Michigan shirt, I will LOSE MY MIND!!!

I think it’s about time for pregame now…

3 Lessons in Humility…

Today is my Mom’s birthday.  I was the first in my family to with her a “Happy Birthday!”  Birthdays are important to me.

This morning, my “Mottos for Success” book read: “Though God’s ways of operating may perplex us at times, if we trust Him, in due time we will understand.”

\Wow.

I am not going to say that I understand because I don’t.  My Mom tells me that God is talking to me.  I can’t really hear him.  I’m okay with having monologues with God as a means of discourse.  I’ve heard I won’t hear Him like I think I will but that I should still listen.  Perhaps he IS trying to teach me a lesson.  A lesson in humility.  In the past few days, I have definitely been humbled!

Working out at Barwis was hard last week.  I only got 8 yards off on Wednesday.  My right leg is my “poop leg.”  It is NOT strong and it gives me the most problems.  I was prepared to go in on Friday and work my hardest!  I had my road test at 9:40 (I passed).  I drive with hand controls and periodically have to take road tests.  I was going to get my oil changed and tires rotated, see Ender’s Game with my son, and then go to Barwis.

As we are waiting for our car, I go in to use the restroom.  I LOVE the restroom at Les Stanford (my car service place).  The facility is spacious and EXTREMELY handicapped accessible!  Just when I am about to get back into my chair, my chair slips backward and end up on the floor.  I didn’t get hurt nor did I freak out.  A short time later, my son calls me on my cell phone and asks where I am.  I tell him that I am on the floor in the women’s restroom.  He tells me that he will be right there to help.  I say, “Babe, there is nothing you can do.  Tell Dan.”  I unlock the door and sit up on the floor.  Dan is the service guy.  I ABSOLUTELY love him!  He knocks at the door and tells me that it is him.  Just behind him is Keith.  I’m not sure what Keith does but he works there too.

They both walk into the restroom and Dan closes and locks the door.  I am BEYOND embarrassed!  I tell them that I have never been in a public restroom with two men in my life!  They both chuckle.  Dan asks what they should do.  I tell him that “I can’t see beyond my flush!”  I tell them to lift me like my trainers do at Barwis.  Both men grab an arm and a leg and I put my arms around their necks.  They can lift me into the chair.  Which they do.  They finish up my car and we are on our way.  I STILL am embarrassed no matter how many times both men told me that I shouldn’t be and that it’s okay.

A few days later, I am at work and I need assistance from the office   manager (my brother’s fiancé) in the restroom again at work at the end of the day.  She helps me and I tell her all about Keith and Dan and my embarrassment.  Later that evening, I am going to my son’s football banquet at his school.  I can’t transfer from my car to my wheelchair.  I am there with my 12 years old and I am not sure what to do.  A man I have never seen before asks me if I need a hand.  I give my standard reply of  “two legs would be nice” with a smile.  I accept his help and he and my son assist me to get into my wheelchair.  I don’t know if he was a football Dad or a cheerleading Dad.  I don’t know who he was; I have never seen him before but he helped me and was gone.  I didn’t see him again.

Wow.  3 different times I was completely EMBARRASSED but 3 different times complete strangers helped me out.   Thanks!

“My Kids”

I thought about writing this blog post last night and I thought of my school leader conducting my very first performance review and commenting that I referred to my students as, “My kids.” I remember being touched by that observation and I was excited to write about it today. I was prompted by a Facebook friend’s meme. So many of my Facebook friends are former colleagues, former teachers of mine, former students of mine, and former classmates of mine!!!:

I reposted this meme and wrote on it that, “ I don’t teach anymore but anyone who was my student at CCA between 2005 and 2017 are STILL, “My kids”!!! Also, I love that another former teacher of mine commented that my brother did plumbing work at her house and he insisted on calling by her maiden name even though she has been married for 11 years and has a child now. That’s how we knew her when she taught at our school.

I remember telling Sean about students from the high school coming back to see me at the middle school. The young men who would come in, would walk-in and say, “Hello Ms. Rios.” To which I would always respond in a forced deep voice, “Hello [insert name here].” They always would laugh! I would remind them that I had them as students when they were 12 years old and before they hit puberty. Sean thought that was funny because he had already hit puberty. He thinks it’s funny that I would tell my students that but I liked it because they sounded so different from when they were my student and they are young men now!

Eleven-year-old Jenny

I heard this commercial last night before the YouTube video I was watching played. I know that I have posted about this song before but I heard it again this morning! I remember that song being my jam and I couldn’t place what year it was. I googled it and Fade Into You came out in 1993. I was 11 years old! Back then I was known as, “Jenny.”

So, since I heard this commercial twice I had to post it here so I can listen to the full song whenever I want!

Finally Legal

So, today is here. Today is December 28th. I am quiet today, as usual. My debilitating disease is finally legal to drink alcoholic beverages. Too bad that I stopped drinking a decade ago! In speaking with Sean today, I told him that the teeter totter is no longer level and my 21 years is left on the ground because after 21 years, it’s quite heavy to carry! I am left with no other choice but to carry it. I was thinking about today being my 21st anniversary and the fact that a family friend/acquaintance was recently diagnosed. I was struck by hearing this news and I have thought of that of a scared 18-year-old girl being told that she had multiple sclerosis. I will never forget how that day felt 21 years ago! I saw this posted on Facebook a few days ago:

On this day, 21 years ago, my life, unbeknownst to me, was divided into two parts! Before and after this. The before part is starting to get a little hazy and the after is proving to be so tiring and difficult!

“…The Same”

I clearly remember when we (Sean and me) got our first wall-mounted TV. It was well past the time they first came out but I had just paid off a credit card and there were still papers in the waiting area at Olive Garden. Bright and the front page was a TV that they had priced and looked at with a friend at Best Buy! It was thousands of dollars but I knew I wanted it so I had them print out the specs and I sat and them for about three or four years. But looking at the sale paper, I saw the exact same TV for $899! I looked at Sean and asked him if he wanted to buy a TV tomorrow! We were going to an appointment to speak with the dental surgeon who was going to remove four of his molars. His 12 year molars. That was to make room in his mouth for his other teeth. These teeth needed to be removed before he got braces.

Sean was excited for that and the next day, we bought our TV. So, Sean must’ve been 12 and currently, he is 20. my TV has begun to blink and sometimes the sound will go out for a little while. In other words, my phone is dying after eight years. It has been blinking like that for months and just recently, it was blinking more often and The screen is pixelating. After some serious budgeting, I was able to get a new TV this past November. This morning, while I was still asleep, it was delivered and installed. The man had already left by the time I woke up and my Mom came to get me out of bed. I just finished washing my hands when I said to my Mom, “I have a new TV!” Went into the living room and turned my chair around to look at the TV on the wall. It looks the same! But, they no longer make 46 inch TVs so I have a 50 inch TV now. It looks a little bit bigger than my previous TV but it still is the same!

When I looked at the TV, I saw Collins say, “It tastes the same.” I first heard this song with my cousin Shannon. It was the Broadway cast and we both sing along to the entire show! When Brent came out in a movie, that’s the only version I can find on YouTube but even though the words are a little bit different, I just love hearing the guy from Law and Order sing!:

I still have to input my Wi-Fi password and the passwords for my streaming apps but I don’t know if that’s going to happen tonight or tomorrow. Tomorrow is a BIG day that I’m NOT looking forward to thinking about… 21 years with MS. 😒😒😒

Hello Again, Cocoa Mint!

Last night, I pulled off the strip to unseal my Cocoa mint chapstick. I did that last night because I knew that I would not have much dexterity in my fingers in the morning. This was so I would be prepared to say hello again to my Cocoa mint Chapstick!

So as I got ready for bed last night, I listen to Bruce Springsteen one more time for my cousinT, Shannon because that’s her favorite song. Before I went into my room, and I put my ginger spice Chapstick on for the last time. That smell will always remind me of my a bola and bring such fun nest for Christmas is at her house:


I didn’t learn until this year that she loved bangle bracelets. Learn something new every day even though she has been gone for 31 years. I can’t wear bangle bracelets because my wrists are too small. I’m thinking of alternating the shortbread cookie chapstick just so it gets used up…

Get Your Own Music!!!

This is the last post I will write before Christmas. I have had a couple of MS-y days so I was unable to write it earlier but, when I watch the Rams game on Monday Night Football, I listened to the music before the commercials. I jammed to these three songs and thought, “This is MY music!” And I am almost 40! These kids need to get their own music!:

Now, I was an adult when this song came out but I remember teaching and my kids LOVED this one so I did too!:

And when this one started, I couldn’t believe it because this man has been dead for 25 years! They definitely need to get their own music!!!

That Package

When Sean was 12, I would tell him to NOT to open any packages that arrive! And I remember one Christmas, I think he was 13 or 14 when I ordered free weights for him. Two sets. I ordered a set of 15s and a set of 25s They came in two boxes, one with the set of 15 pound weights and the next box had a set of 25 pound weights. Needless to say, neither I nor my Mom could carry them into our house. We left them on the porch and when Sean got home, I told him, “ Merry Christmas! Those are a couple of your presence. They’re too heavy for me or Abuela to carry so just bring them in. So…” But now, I have progressed to 100% online shopping. I laughed when I saw this on Facebook:

I have been completely tracking my packages! Uncharacteristically, I was late in ordering all of my Christmas presents. But because I have been tracking my packages,ALL of them are going to arrive on time, even my Christmas ornaments! I hope next year I feel more Christmas-y!!!

I Would LOSE My Mind!!!

Sean came over a couple days ago and told me that he saw a Tik Tok video with a dog knocking over a Christmas tree! He told me that when he saw that that he said that I would totally lose my mind! He is 100% correct! I’ve had many of my Christmas ornaments for 20 years! I am a very sentimental person and I am completely certain that if Leia knocked my Christmas tree over and broke any of my ornaments, I would have to hate her! And because I love her so much, my Christmas tree still looks like this because she is just 2 1/2!:

No ornaments and I still have yet to find my tree skirt but this is it! given this is the second year of the pandemic, I’m really not feeling very Christmas-y, so much so that the Christmas ornaments I ordered this year are supposed to be delivered on the 27th. I’m OK with that though, they’re not going on the tree anyway and it’s a gift for me to open and open up on my 21 year anniversary of being diagnosed with MS that happens on the 28th.