Author: Jen Rios

“Birthday Month” Day 2

I really feel that I am killing two birds with one stone! Because it is my, “Birthday Month” and Saint Patricks Day is drawing closer, I figured to watch Laws of Attraction.

I love this movie because it is jam packed with Irish accents, Irish dancers, castles, and greenery! I have seen this movie so many times but I still LOVE it!

I was thinking of this song because it is in the movie as well and it reminds me of my friend Marilyn because it’s her wedding Song!

My Mom actually sat down and watched this movie with me today. She told me that she has never seen the entire movie and I laughed because I have seen it SO many times!

“Cheese Day” OR “Birthday Month” Day 1

Today is, “Cheese Day.” Meaning, that I will have fresh mozzarella cheese for lunch with my protein shake and cashews:

I have only had cheese like this at a restaurant once in my life. I went to Andiamo with The English Department, my friend Lauren, and the School Leader. He ordered the appetizer with fresh mozzarella, fresh tomatoes, and basil? It was delicious! And not until now that I realized that I can get that same kind of cheese at Target. A Facebook friend posted a couple days ago that the restaurant in Dearborn, (the one I went to), is closing because of the pandemic.

I don’t like tomatoes but these tomatoes were really good when eaten with the cheese and the basil? I have never liked tomatoes but my Mom‘s friend told me that if I ate a bunch of tomatoes that my hair would turn red and I have always wanted red hair! I forced myself to eat the tomatoes for a while until I realized that my hair was not going to turn red. I was a kid! Now, tomatoes are inflammatory which is something I do not need having MS!

So, today, being the first day of, “Birthday Month’ and the fact that St. Patrick’s Day is so close, I watched, The Quiet Man. I am a, “Wanna Be” Irish person and I LOVE Irish accents!!! My son’s name is Sean!!!

But, I love this movie and it reminds me of my Dad! I bought him the Collectors Edition of the DVD probably when I was 16 or 17. My dad liked John Wayne and I love Ireland so it was a win-win situation for both of us. My mom told me that I can’t have the DVD back until she dies:

I think this scene is one of my favorites:

So, overall, I am diggin’ “Birthday Month” Day 1. It’s pretty good. And I have a few other Irish movies I can watch until St. Patrick’s Day!

March 2021 Faves

“LET THE WILD RUMPUS START!!!”

“Birthday Month” has commenced and it is the final “Birthday Month” of my 30s! I will choose my favorite songs from artists that I saw live because I love live music and I don’t think I can go to concerts anymore! But first, I have to post this Bridgeton song because it’s Bridgeton and I’ve watched it twice all the way through:

Random Tune in my Facebook Feed #3

I posted this song on Facebook yesterday:

After I posted it, I couldn’t get it out of my head. And wouldn’t you know it that Big Brother saw fit to put this story in my YouTube feed:

This song is NOT my favorite No Doubt song but I think it’s crazy how much Gwen hasn’t changed!

REVISED #SimplePleasures Continued

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!:

Random Tune #75 in my YouTube Feed

Maybe it’s not so random because Big Brother knows that u2 feeds my soul! I have never seen this performance before but I liked watching it today as I’m trying to gear up to get ready for the day. My little cousin told me years ago when this song first came out that Bono is saying, “1, 2, 3, 14.” And I told her and then as I still believe today, “It’s Bono!!! He can do what he wants!!!” She laughed but it is SO true!!!

The 2nd Friday of Lent

I have had undiagnosed PBA for about a decade now. I am extremely comfortable with it though. Laughing is easier to explain to people then crying but that seems to be the case now as my PBA has progressed. I am still okay with it.

Given that today is the second Friday of Lent, I watched Jesus Christ superstar again which is what I do because I cannot attend Stations of the Cross at church. I looked up why people watch the same movies over and over again which I do and I came across some pretty interesting information:

I liked that explanation very much. I looked it up a bunch of times in the early hours of this morning as sleep escaped me, yet again but it was nice to read the reinforcement:

Reading these things made me feel better but I also read this one which made me take pause:

Reading this, I thought, what do I have to be depressed about?! It’s not like dealing with constant pain daily and loss of abilities is difficult or something! Right?!

But I watched it for a second time this Lenten season and this time, I cried a lot more from the very beginning until the very end! I found it quite cathartic!:

I focused on Judas this time through. For my entire schooling in a Catholic school, I always thought he was just a horrible person but I watched him and saw how conflicted he was and my heart went out to him!


This moment got me the most:

And this song comforted me even though I don’t know the accuracy of it:

I have never seen the John Legend version and maybe I will have to watch that one next Friday if not before then.

#MyGirlL: “Oh, You Nasty Girl!”

Okay, this was Leia’s first winter of her little life.The rescue we got her from could not tell me her actual birthdate. This picture was her first attempt to maneuver through the big snowfall we got:

It was too deep for her to get through successfully so that is why my Mom shoveled her a trail.

The “March Meltdown” has come sooner this year and this is what my yard looks like now:

Leia likes to sunbathe so my Mom put her outside bed in the yard next to a mat left behind from the previous homeowners to give her a choice to be on them while the sun was shining.


My Mom set her bed up to let her enjoy the sun and she watched her through the kitchen window. But, Leia was NOT laying on either one of those things but instead was laying on the muddy grass. My Mom opened the back door and called her in by telling her to, “Get in here! Oh, you nasty girl!“ Hearing her say this, I immediately thought of this song:

The saddest thing about it being so muddy was that she could not play with her friend, Sado:

Absalom

I saw this meme on Facebook yesterday and showed my Mom and we both laughed!

We laughed because I am definitely the mouse with the knot in its tail and my Mom literally makes my bed and her bed every morning! I sit in my wheelchair with the same face that mouse has while she does this. I used to make my bed every morning in both of my apartments and I used to help Sean make his bed in our second apartment. I think that I stopped making my bed probably seven or eight years ago because I can no longer walk around the bed.

This morning, as my Mom made the bed, I had to ask her to stop and “Spot me.” As soon as I am seated in my wheelchair, I have to put my hair in a ponytail because I cannot stand hair on my neck at all! Gathering my hair into a ponytail has recently proven to be difficult for me. (t’s another reason why I normally have short hair!)

So, what she will do is gather any hair that is left on my neck to help me put it into the ponytail. I pull it out only halfway the last time I feed my hair through the ponytail holder to make sure it stays off of my neck. With the update of this blog, I cannot post the pictures of my hair growth for the last year of not having a haircut but this is the picture my Mom took of my hair growth:

Another reason that I do not LOVE my hair length now is that when my Mom washes my hair (because I can no longer do that because I have a hard enough time having my hands over my head to put my hair into a ponytail) I sit on the toilet seat so she can use the bathroom sink to wash it.

So, as I am blow drying my hair, (which takes a really long time) I feel like Absalom with my long hair getting caught between the toilet seat tank and my back. Absalom was king David’s third son who died when his really long hair got caught up in the branches above the mule he was riding. The mule got away and he was run through with spears by his enemies who wanted to kill him.

PS – My hair is now in a fold-over (or rather, fold-UNDER ponytail so as not to have hair on my neck!