Author: Jen Rios

MS Fatigue

A few days ago, a Twitter follower and fellow MS warrior tweeted out that her MS fatigue was kicking her butt. Sometimes you just have to say stuff out loud to get it out and I completely I understand that! I told her what I do for MS fatigue.

I must have started this a while ago. I had seen it on Ellen and knew of the benefits of apple cider vinegar. My interest was piqued but I being on a fixed income, I wasn’t sure if I could afford it. I think I save some money for a few months before I was able to buy one bottle to try it out. I tweeted her this picture and told her that this is what I use for MS fatigue:

The directions on the bottle say to take six gummies a day but I knew I couldn’t afford that! I told her that I only take two in the morning when I am drinking my breakfast. I noticed right of that I was not passing out in my chair in the middle of the day so I must have been helping.

Well, this morning, it must’ve been an oversight but as a drink my shake and took my vitamins, I forgot to take my gummies. I did not realize that until my Mom had already washed my hair and I had to blow dry it because it was cold. I couldn’t figure out why I was so exhausted I summation point yes I drink my lunch today I had my gummy‘s because that’s the only thing that I could think of.

I think I have gone through five or six bottles so far and when I get some money, I stocked up on them. There’s no cure for MS but at least this works for me to help with my MS fatigue. It stinks that I had to figure that out by forgetting to take it so today is a bit wonky!

#MyGirlL: She Gets Me

I think I was probably about five or six years ago when my Mom witnessed me being in pain because of on the wind. We were getting into the car and the wind started blowing and she so my face and me cringe. It wasn’t cold outside but just when the wind picked up, it felt like shards of glass hitting my skin

My Mom came in this morning laughing. She got up this morning and took Leia out before she got me out of bed. She was laughing because she said when Leia went outside, the wind started to blow and she crouched on the paver patio in my backyard in an attempt to avoid the wind. She just peed by a bush close to the patio and ran toe the back door! That’s when my Mom started to laugh!

She helped me get out of bed and explained how Leia was trying to avoid the wind. Is she reclined my chair to get me into it comfortably, I just said matter-of-factly, “She gets me!”

I have thought about that all day and given that it’s so windy and cold outside today, she really doesn’t want any part of going outside unless it is to get her business done and come back inside and sit by the heater vent. That is something new she does and it’s super cute!

I am missing a vent Cover in my kitchen but here she is:

She got my knee brace from my last surgery out when my Mom moved the couches to put the Christmas tree up. I knew there was a reason I still had it three years later! The blanket she is resting her head on is Sean‘s so it smells like him.

Pieces

Sean and I moved out of my Parents’ house 15 years ago this past August. My Mom moved into my house on March 14, the onset of the pandemic. My Mom and I have been sheltering in place here since then.

I’ve said before that my life hasn’t really changed since the pandemic began except for my overgrown hair and eyebrow. It has been a bit of an adjustment living with my Mom again. For her too!

We never had that teenage angst or antagonistic relationship as I grew up. One thing that has happened with her living at my house now is that she is NOT a fan of Love Actually. She could handle my obsessive watching of Hocus Pocus on a daily basis but, Love Actually is another story.

She doesn’t particularly like it at all! She does admit that she has only seen pieces of it but the pieces she has seen usually involve Judy and Jack. That’s why she’s NOT a fan! She sees me cry every day with Karen and she hears me laugh loudly at Billy Mack. Whom she does not like either! Especially, his video!

Just yesterday, I had to explain the exchange between Colin and Nancy and Juliet and Steven‘s wedding.

I’m quite proud of myself that I was able to say their dialogue of verbatim! I have seen the movie a whole lot but I really dig it!

I think I relate mostly to these two characters which really doesn’t say that much about me but…

Still…

I have watched the movie, Love Actually 12 times this December. I really enjoy this movie and it relaxes me. I still laugh out loud in the beginning to Billy Mack causing!:

I still grieve with Daniel at Joanna‘s funeral:

Colin’s whole storyline is just so interesting/amusing still:

I still feel for Mark:

But my absolute favorite part still is Sarah and Carl. I’m so sorry it didn’t work out!:

Even today, I still actually cried with Karen!:

Unlike Jamie‘s nieces and nephew, I don’t hate him I hate Mia… still!

Breakfast For Dinner

Sean and I used to do this all of the time starting when we lived in our second apartment! I first saw this idea watching The Wizards of Waverly Place with Sean. That was Selena Gomez and her dad’s thing in the show. They talked about it in a couple episodes and then I asked Sean if he wanted to do that. He was all about it and so was I because it was easy for me to fry up some eggs or make some pancakes for dinner and it was cheap!

I didn’t worry about his nutrition because I always used to put a bowl of raw spinach on the floor for him to snack on while he watched TV while I washed dishes in the kitchen.

I only say this because my Mom and I had “Breakfast for dinner” last night. But, here’s the thing for me:

I would say just before the beginning of the pandemic when my Mom moved into my house to be with me. That was in March and it has been since March that I have been drinking both my breakfast and lunch. I constantly think of this commercial:

For me, it’s NOT a weight-loss thing at all but rather, it’s too difficult for me to chew in the morning and in the afternoon. Drinking a protein shake is easier. I just prefer Aatkins shakes to any other protein shake because I have been no carbing it for so long!

So, it was breakfast for dinner last night but my Mom was here and she makes pancakes FROM SCRATCH so I couldn’t pass those up! But, drinking two protein shakes and eating only two pancakes from scratch with syrup which I have had no sugar in so long COMPLETELY DID A NUMBER ON ME!!! I am talking about my body completely going to limp on me!

THANK GOD FOR MY MOM!!! I am thinking that I will continue having two protein shakes for a while because that works out for me however, I know that I need to be more selective in my choices for breakfast for dinner! But my Mom’s pancakes were worth it by the way!

Rainbow Butt Monkeys

First of all, I am so beyond grateful and lucky that my son talks to me on the phone all of the time because he no longer lives in this house because me and my Mom are in a bubble and he went out into the world of the working. Today, he thanked me for his good eating habits. He told me that it is because of me that he eats so healthy. He mentioned spinach and I laughed and reminded him that in our second apartment, he would lay on the floor watching TV and I would put a bowl of raw spinach on the floor next to him to snack on.

I also remember a guy I used to know commenting on the fact that Sean was sitting at the table and eating peas with his fingers. He looked at him almost incredulously and said that Sean was eating the peas, “Like they are good!” I also laughed at that statement because I told him that they were good for Sean.

A random thing that I did not remember until he reminded me of it also made me laugh. He told me that he listens to XM radio all of the time when he is driving cars at Les Stanford. I bought myself an XM radio subscription for my car as a graduation present when I finished grad school and received the last overage check for my tuition. That purchase has proven to be sound because I have it for the life of my car and my car is currently eight years old.

He reminded me of some thing a DJ had said while we were on our way to Target on the hill. He told me that he’s been listening to this song a lot and that I liked it because I used to listen to it a lot. The DJ said, before it played that the original band name was, “Rainbow Bitt Monkeys.” He reminded me that he said that name and laughed about 20 times here for I told him that it was not THAT funny! He laughed well telling me the story because he said, “To say that name in front of an 11-year-old boy, how could it not be hilarious?!”

Well, I had almost forgotten the story and I thought it was pretty hilarious! The band name is Finger Eleven and here is the song but when Sean recounted the story to me, I remembered that and I laughed!:

Good Memories

I want to preface this post with the fact that my Mom IS a morning person. I have NEVER been a morning person nor will I EVER be one!!! Mornings for me are progressively harder! My Mom will get me out of my bed as I try to adjust to being awake and in my wheelchair. I can’t handle any talking for a while! I wait around, as my Mon is making my bed, she will ask me to name some, “Good Memories” that I have. As it so happens, yesterday morning a enumerated Sean‘s first birthday party as being one of my happy memories.

A little later, my aunt posted a video of a little boy getting his first haircut. I shared it on Facebook as well but I couldn’t get over how cute he was!:

It wasn’t until I was ready for bed at about one in the morning last night when I was getting ready to get into bed (don’t judge!) where I put it all together! I love that picture because:

This was Seanie at his first birthday party! It was that the Dearborn rec center! I loved putting overalls on him when he was that young and that is why I loved the video so much! It reminded me of my Seanie!

Living in my Memories Continued

Yesterday, a group I belong to on Facebook posed the question of what our first concert was that we went to. I looked at the comments and people were commenting the songs as well as opening acts. I posted the following and have been living there since then. My first concert was Third Eye Blind and Vertical Horizon opened for them:

I was stuck in the summer before college since yesterday. I clearly remember dancing on the lawn at DTE.

But then my aunt and Facebook friend posted a video that reminded me of Sean‘s first haircut. I still have his hair clippings somewhere in an envelope. The woman who did it still cuts my hair and waxes my eyebrows! I can’t figure out how to post the video here from Facebook but I took a couple screenshots of this cute little boy and even though Sean does not have blue eyes, it reminded me of him. I think it’s the nose in relation to his eyes and the overalls he is wearing!:

I kissed Sean between his eyes all the time when he was that small! So even though these memories are a couple years apart me living in my (able-bodies) memories continues…

Inexplicable

I didn’t even watch the Lions win today! It kind of stinks that I’m not feeling very well for a while now. Given that it is the sixth time I have watched Love Actually this December, I am surprised that it’s still amuses me! This part makes me laugh out loud every time I see it which is every single day:

Maybe it’s because I am a potty-mouth as well but I laugh out loud all the time! It’s kind of inexplicable why I want to rewatch it all the time! If I really think about it, it’s probably because my eyesight is failing. I know what is going on in a movie I see 1 million times! So maybe it’s not that inexplicable…? Just… #MSsucks!!!