Author: Jen Rios

Cold Spaghetti

I think it was last Sunday evening and my Mom and I decided that we would eat cereal for dinner. My Mom offered me spaghetti from the day before. I haven’t eaten spaghetti in years because I’ve known for a long time that carbs are not my friend.

I remember making it for young Sean to eat during football season and I would just have meatballs and spaghetti sauce because, again, carbs are NOT my friend! They haven’t been my friend for a very long time!

But when given the opportunity to eat cold spaghetti during this pandemic, I DEFINITELY jumped at it! As I ate the spaghetti, I was immediately reminded of a time when I worked at the credit union and I was pregnant. I was dressed and ready for work and I grabbed a bowl and put spaghetti in it for me to eat it for lunch. It looked so delicious to me so I loaded up my fork and put the really big bite in my mouth. It was delicious! What I did not think about though, however, was that the bite was a little bit too big for me to swallow all of it and some fell right on the top of my belly. I was wearing a white tank top with a button-down shirt over the top of it.

It was too late for me to change for work so I just buttoned one button of my oxford button-down shirt and went to work. I remember that I told and showed a few of my friends at work. I’ve told Sean the story many times and would laugh when that song was on The Wiggles. Sean used to watch The Wiggles when he was young. I had a heckuva time copying the link to share that song here but I figured out a way and you can see this song I heard 1 million times when Sean was young.

July 2020 Faves

I have been jamming to a lot of Gavin DeGraw but I have a really shared my faves a bunch of times. This song showed up on my YouTube feed a couple days ago and I have since shared it on Facebook and put it on my blog:

I do not own this CD because I was more into third eye blind in high school. But then this album came out and this Train song reminded me of how good their songs are. Here are some of my faves for this month:

Hermana hand saying this song the first time I saw them perform and he didn’t have a shirt on and he had a hairy chest (which I thought it was kind of gross) but he suddenly got hot when he sang this song:

So I’ve only been listening to save me San Francisco and that’s a great album!

Maybe next month I will feature their next album but I can’t write about train without posting this picture:

The last live concert I went to was a while ago and Train headlined. I think this picture was taken the first time we went. It was a great time with my cousinT, Shannon!

Random Tune #52 in my YouTube Feed

This one showed up a couple days ago, it brought back a flood of memories for me feom my time at Western Michigan University. I can distinctly remember eating Wendy’s drive-through back when my metabolism could still handle that. As I sat in their parking lot eating it, I faced a Tatoo shop that my friend Tonya ended up getting her tattoo from and this song played on my radio. It’s so crazy that was 20 years ago!:

ALMOST 40lbs. of Trouble

We called Leia’s vet today to get more information about her, “Curbside” appointment on Saturday. During that call, we learned that she is 37.8 pounds which is healthy for her age and breed. The receptionist took our number for the doctor to call us to give us more details about the antibiotic she was prescribed. Once my Mom learned her weight, she said that she was, “Almost 40 pounds of trouble.” I kind of laughed and disagreed with her and told her that we love Leia! My Mom told me that was the title of a movie:

The movie was made in 1963 and I’m not sure about ever seeing it. It was really nic to hear that she is healthy because on Saturday, as Sean took her to the vet, I kept texting him and told him that I kind of felt how I did on his first day of preschool.

That comparison kind of startled me but it is true. Going along with that, I ordered her more chew toys today because she has killed a couple of the ones from my last order. I really appreciate talking with my Facebook friends about her because I’ve never had a dog before. One of my Facebook friends let me know that they only buy Kong toys for their dog and they seem to last. I ordered her a few today and we will see when they get here. This is how she looked on Saturday after her appointment:

I really think it’s nuts that I love her but I do and she looked so cute on Saturday!

Melancholic

As I sat in my wheelchair this morning and tried to wake up. I opened my YouTube friend and saw this song and shared it on Facebook. I can’t share the exact video here but this is this song:

This song is one of my favorite U2 songs. It has a melancholic tinge to it that I find rather comforting and the words squeeze my heart.

Speaking of my heart being squeezed, I am so saddened that today I did NOT have Sean’s graduation party. I was looking so forward to it, especially, given my history of lack of graduation parties. With the uptick of virus cases, I feel certain that I was right to cancel it. I cannot handle the heat of it being outdoors and many of my family members are also vulnerable. I hope to reschedule it but I don’t know when that will be.

Pretty Girl

Leia went to the vet for the first time today. I think it went well or at least that’s what Sean said. He took her for her “Curbside visit.” I will get more details on Monday when we call for follow up. She was clean today because my Mom has been giving her oatmeal baths twice a week and she looks so clean! She really IS a pretty girl!

#MyGirlL won’t look so shiny tomorrow or smell so good after she rolls around in the yard for a little while. But here’s proof that she was once pretty clean!

Random Tunes #48 and #49 in my YouTube Feed

Yesterday, after I posted about the three videos I saw in my YouTube feed, this one also showed up:

I saw them perform this song with my brother, Steve, and a few other former colleagues. As I searched for the video that showed up in my YouTube feed, I saw this one and this is what it looked like when I saw them:

I remember that I had such a great time at that concert that I ended up ordering the DVD of that concert in Chicago.

Then, this morning, there was this gem that will forever remind me of student-teaching:

Maybe these tunes are so random because, “Big Brother” knows that I needed to hear some of my favorite u2 songs right about now!

Good Ol’ Days

I stumbled across this picture yesterday when writing my blog post. I was searching in my media library for a picture that I know I have shared before and then I saw this one:

I have no idea why or when I posted this picture but it made me long for the good ol’ days of when I had two, properly shaped eyebrows. My eyebrows have looked similar to this since I was 12 but that’s not how they look right now! When I saw this picture, it made me think of this song;

And then, thinking about this song made me think about this picture:

This picture was taken the second to last concert that I saw a DTE with my cousinT, Shannon. This picture was taken when we saw Train, Gavin Degraw, and Maroon 5. The last concert I went to was also with my cousinT at DTE when we saw a Train, Maroon 5, and the Script.

I never thought I would say this but there is the issue of my short hair:

Without a haircut in four months, my hair is super overgrown and I never thought that I would annoy me but it does:

I am too self-conscious and embarrassed to show anyone how my eyebrows look now though!