Author: Jen Rios

“Hurt” in Reverse

So, I saw this a while back and I liked it and I knew that Sean had talked about Jelly Roll before so I was going to ask him about it. I sent the clip to Sean and he told me that she did a really good job but Jelly Roll also does a really good job! I told him that I would have to hear it. I reminded him that I have been a Kelly Clarkson fan since she won American Idol. I asked him if this would be like, “Hurt” for me as well?

When I was listening to this song, my Mom thought she was yelling, and that was a little off-putting to me. As a former English teacher, I listen to the lyrics and I liked how she’s sang them. but then I heard Jelly Roll sing it as well. I told Sean that his face tattoo was just as off-putting as my Mom thinking that Kelly Clarkson was yelling!

I do listen to Jelly Roll sing this song on Apple Music while I am mindlessly playing my Traffic Escape! game. I can’t see his face tattoo when I’m listening to a playlist! So, I think this is just like, “Hurt” in reverse.

Let me ‘splain ya:

I was introduced to the song, “Hurt” by Johnny Cash first:


I thought that Johnny Cash wrote this song! It was totally believable to me, but then a little while later, I heard that it’s actually a Nine Inch Nails song so I had to hear that:


Well, obviously, Johnny Cash is better! But I think for Save Me, I might have to listen to Jelly Roll without seeing his face tattoos! So, it’s Hurt in reverse!

Something about the Word ‘Sugar’ Here…

I’ve been listening to this song every night when I am taking my night pills, eating my Atkins peanut butter cup, brushing my teeth, and flossing. I have told Sean that I would TOTALLY line dance to this song if I still could:

But listening to it last night made me think of another song…:


There’s something about the word ‘sugar’ here… ya think?! I think that I have been missing listening to Sara… maybe that will be my April faves?

A Barwis Medley

So, all month, I have been listening to my Country playlist on Apple Music and mindlessly playing Traffic Escape. Just yesterday, I heard a song that reminds me of one of my Barwis Methods trainers. I gasped when I heard it and I stopped playing the game and put my phone on my chest and got lost in my memories! A few songs later, it happened again, and I was reminded of a different! trainer and did the same thing!

Well, Phil and Michael, this is for you boys! It’s a Barwis medley!:

For Phil:

For Michael:

Ho-Hum

I knew that the ‘changing of the guard’ for my chapstick would be quite mundane and anticlimactic, which it was! If you remember, I was going from ‘bag’ to ‘bag’:

I finished the Vanilla Bean on Sunday, just after I went to church on TV. So I had a Vanilla Bean-Pomegranate mix on Sunday night. I finished the bag of Pomegranate chapstick today so now I am just on pomegranate until the weather changes and then move over to Cucumber Mint.

But that is also NOT the ONLY excitement in my day today! This is only the second time this has happened for me but it will be happening now for the rest of my life. That second knee surgery was a doozy for sure!!!:


After my two knee surgeries and having MS for over 20 years, I will be taking one of these every night for the rest of my life. Ibuprofen 800 just takes the edge off! So, this is all an anti-climactic ho-hum of chronic illness I guess…

A Week from Today.

My brother, Dave, texted this picture to me and my Mom on February 28:


I was extremely quiet when I looked at this picture. I watched Baby Boom the next day. I just watched it again today. This picture of my Mom and me and my aunt Rita really got to me! I remember hugging my aunt Rita when she was wearing that lavender sweater and that’s my favorite outfit that I am wearing! I’m trying to remember the sweetness of her perfume!

I don’t remember where we were at not even sure how my brother got that picture but either way, I really like seeing it! I cried! I have been crying! You see, my aunt Rita died four days after I turned eight. She was 42. I remember adults telling my Mom that she was so young when I was eight and I couldn’t understand that! She was not young! She was over 40 years old!

Well, that will be me a week from today. Having had MS for so long makes me feel old. But I really can’t believe that my aunt was this young when we lost her?!!!!

Planned… with One Exception.

I woke up today on a mission and I completed it with one exception. Today, I planned my entire 2024 chronic illness care plan!!! I made three of the remaining four appointment for this year.

So, my year is planned with one exception, and that exception is my virtual neurology appointment! I have been seeing the neurologist once a year for the past 23 years. I was supposed to go every six months, but as a single mother, I couldn’t pay for Specialists more than once a year!

I seem to have made due. I told my speech pathologist that I seem to be collecting doctors! I told her that after I made my first appointment with an endocrinologist. She told me that it’s a more useful collection than collecting stamps. She told me that all they do is draw blood. Well, I’m okay with that then.

So, my year is planned. I have some doctors who I see every year. And others who I see every two years. I like that this scheduling makes sense to me! It makes sense to me and I know now that I can only do one appointment a month. There are some exceptions that can’t be helped, but that is usually a difficult day! I have a couple of those days coming up on both March 20 and March 22!

Because my year is planned, that means that my van rental schedule is also planned! All of this on March 4 I didn’t get that you scheduled until April of last year for 2023. So it seems that I’m getting better at this? Maybe it’s just because my world is so small and all I think about are my doctors appointments and renting vans. I’m not mad about that. At least I can do it?!

March 2024 Faves

I was completely affected by Toby Keith’s death! My Mom and I listened to Toby Keith often right after my Dad‘s death. Here are just a few of our faves:

I heard this one back in high school when I would watch CMT (Country Music Television) in the summers and then it changed over to GAC (Great American Country):


My Mom and I listened to this one a lot just after my Dad died:


I’ve only dipped my toe into country music! I listened to it in high school probably junior and senior year and I worked at Lonestar this summer after high school.

I have owned three country albums in my life! I have two Dixie Chicks albums, who are just The Chicks now, and Carrie Underwood’s first album. if I really think about it, I think I had a Shania Twain single when I was a sophomore? And I bought the Chris Gaines album (who is really Garth Brooks) used from Dearborn Music.

So, I think I am putting both feet in right now, because I constantly listen to my Country playlist on Apple Music on shuffle so I get a good mix! But I think that the universe is working with me because that new Beyoncé song?!

I’ve downloaded it on Apple Music and I have seen five different shorts of people dancing to it. One of them were two Irish, tap dancers!!! I also have received an email about country music stations not playing that song, but I really dig it! If I could dance, I would do it! I will put this here so you guys can enjoy!:


I’m also going to put the clean version here because my Mom doesn’t like the swearing:

Just in Time

My Target order arrived a couple days ago and it looks like it’s just in time! This happened yesterday:


I say that it’s just in time because I won’t leave my house again until March 20 for my next haircut. Once I finish this tube of chapstick, I will fish out my pomegranate bag-o-chapstick that is in the box. I keep the remote in in my front room. Cucumber mint also arrived from my Target order so I will just be using pomegranate until I begin my spring/summer chapstick.

But seeing that it is so freezing cold right now (I’m so glad I missed that bullet!!) and I’m glad I am home until March 20 and hopefully it’ll be a little warmer then.

I keep the space heater by me to stay warm now… my Mom really doesn’t understand that my temperature gauge is broken. I am always cold except in the summer when I melt because I’ve overheated! #MSsucks!!!