Author: Jen Rios

First of all, Disney+ needs to get their stuff together and be compatible with Xfinity!!! I did watch my fourth Irish themed movie yesterday though, it was on Disney+ and it was from 1959, Darby O’Gill and the Little People. I haven’t seen this movie for about 33 years and all I remembered about it was the girl’s stupid bangs, and the banshee. I remembered a little bit about the king. But I watched it yesterday on my Mom’s laptop. It was actually a pretty good movie filled with Irish accents, greenery, ruins on a hill, and Sean Connery singing!!! I seriously forgot about that!!!

No traditional Irish dancers, but instead, leprechauns!!!

But, alas, “Birthday Month” or not, it does NOT excuse me from having an MS-y day and 20 years in, you think I would be used to it but that is just NOT the case.

I was on the phone talking to Sean and I asked him if he had seen the new Diet Coke commercial. I texted it to him last week:

He laughed after he watched it and we talked again after that. I told him that I didn’t do anything with a Diet Coke in my hand and he agreed and said, ”Because it’s gross!” I laughed and told him that, “If it were Cherry Coke Zero, then we could talk!” He started to laugh then because he knows that is my pop of choice!

We continued to talk and he told me that he has been listening to, “One of, ‘Your songs’ a lot lately.” I didn’t say anything and waited to hear what song he was speaking of. He let me know that it was, “Hard to Handle.”:

I laughed and told him that Shake your Money maker was a great album! I remembered listening to it in the car on loop when he still sat in the backseat because he was so young. He told me that he has never listened to the album as a young adult and I told him that it’s great and he should listen to, “She Talks to Angels”!:

I told him the first line of a verse ”She has a lock of hair…” and he finished the verse for me! I laughed and told him that he HAS heard the album before and he corrected me by saying that he has heard the song over and over again when he was a kid and it was when I was listening to the album! I guess I did raise him listening to some really GOOD music!

For my third Irish themed movie for my, “Birthday Month,” I watched Leap Year. There were no traditional Irish dancers, but rather, Irish folk and rock music, plenty of greenery, a castle, and accents!!!

I was extremely frustrated with my final blog post today. I wanted to straighten it out now as I lay in my bed without my contacts. My eyes got pretty wonky today and, if I’m being honest, that really scared me!

What I was trying to say (and the pictures got messed up because I don’t like the updates here) is that I never noticed how much chapstick I wore until I was at Barwis and Eric commented on it because I was staring off into space and constantly applying it. I stopped when he said something about it but my lips NEVER felt overly greasy while I worked out there.

It wasn’t until recently that I noticed a lot of posts in my MS support groups where the question was posed asking what remedies we have for extremely dry and cracked lips. I guess that is a thing with MS. Over the years, I have accumulated quite a stash:

Since being sheltered in place with my Mom, I have actually used four complete tubes in their entirety.

This one was completed on August 3, 2020:

This one on November 8, 2020 :

This one on January 7, 2021:

This one the morning of February 27, 2021:

So my chapstick stash looks like this now:

I will have to restock next fall-winter favors because I have my spring-summer chapstick flavors still available. I will never use Açaí Berry unless I am at Barwis. I started using that one when I was working out at Barwis and it reminds me of that time. I can’t wear that without working out at Barwis. I think I have like 10 in a bag in the basement that I ordered and received just before my meniscus was torn.

I think it’s time to queue up by Bobby McFerrin because it REALLY is all about simple pleasures and not having dry and cracked lips makes me happy!: