Author: Jen Rios

Phase 2 = Complete.

So, I guess I am just breaking norms these days! Decorating after Thanksgiving is not really an option. I’m OK with that because I’m not doing it and I could definitely use some happiness right about now! Phase 2 is complete.

Sean brought the other Christmas boxes upstairs and I opened one and this took my breath away.

It is the Hallmark Keepsake ornament from 2006. 2006 was the only year that Sean and I completed making a gingerbread house. I say “Completed” loosely because Sean was five and I had divided all of the candy as we were putting the sides together with icing. Sean had put little bit of candy onto the house and then asked me if we could just stop and could just eat the rest of the candy. I let him do that. It was really cute having a half finished house!

We were still living in our second apartment then and that year, the plumbing backed up into the basement storage units. Raw sewage smells really bad! We spent a couple of nights at my Mom’s house until it was all fixed. I threw the gingerbread house out because I would not let Sean eat in because it was sitting out when our apartment smelled disgusting! He didn’t really understand back then but it was gross!

I had planned on getting that ornament when I saw it but that year was really rough for me! It was the first year that myDaad wasn’t with me! Last year, I scoured the Internet to try to find it and I was able to It did not come until the day after Christmas so I will unveil it this year. I actually Accidentally got two of them and I told Sean that once he has it tree of his own, I will give him one. As for all of my other ornaments, he will have to wait until I am dead to get them!

Ornaments are not until Phase 4 so I have some time before I get to put it on the tree. I’m not even sure where I will put it yet though.

ALMOST Forgotten Tune #61

I’ve written about this before but in the spring of my senior year, I was cast as Dorothy in The Wiz. I bought this CD and listened to it constantly in my car and I belted it out all of the time! Stephanie Mills has some serious pipes and I was up for the challenge to sing these songs. It didn’t work out with the director and he was eventually fired before the show went on. I was crushed because I had worked really hard.

The school play it was a review that year instead and the new director knew that I had worked on the songs from The Wiz a lot so she incorporated this so into the show so I could sing it.

I’m not sure why this song popped into my head last night but I can’t stop hearing it play in my head and I see myself standing on the stage in my high school gym. I am barely awake but I put it up on YouTube and rested my phone on my chin as I t played. I still know all of the words but there is no way that I could get any of them out. I listened to the song play and began to cry.

Phase 1 = Complete.

I read an article not too long ago that stated that the longer you have your Christmas tree up, the happier you are. I am definitely a person who believes to NOT put your Christmas tree up until AFTER Thanksgiving! There has been one exception to that rule though. In 2006, the year that my Dad died, I put my Christmas tree up November 1st.

That’s right, I put my tree up BEFORR Sean‘s birthday. Because I was so broken that year, I needed time to get used to Christmas. Even though it was my first Christmas without my Dad, Sean was is only 5 and he needed a good Christmas to keep his mind off of our grief.

My Christmas tree is always a 6 phase process. I’m pretty particular and now my Mom puts my tree up because I can’t. She’s pretty particular as well; I get that from her.

With that article in her mind about being happier with the Christmas tree up, my Mom put mine up. Only phase 1 is complete and my Mom has left for the day.

So, even though it’s before Thanksgiving, I think I just need some happiness right about now and my Mom recognized that. I’m grateful for that and I can’t wait for the lights to go on the tree! (That’s phase 2)

Random Songs in My YouTube Feed #6

Oh man! This song is COMPLETELY random and I’m not sure how it showed up in my feed but it brought back memories of being an undergraduate with an infant son. A short-lived television series that I watched but can’t remember the name had this song in their opening credits.

Down the, “Rabbit Hole” Again OR #DirtyHairDontCare

Yesterday, my Mom saw the beginning of a movie on Netflix. She stopped watching it and came to my house he told me that she wanted to watch it with me. There have been times before when my Mom will watch the stupidest movies and Netflix. I constantly warn her about that but she always ends up watching them. I figured that I would give this one a try. Rob Lowe was in it and more importantly, it had ELEPHANTS in it! I love elephants!

I finished watching it today after GMFB was finished and I really dug the elephants! I recently previewed the hallmark ornament selection available this year and they had an elephant. I’ve been debating whether to get it or not this year as commemoration of the random movie my Mom suggested.

As the credits were rolling, I watched the preview they offered on Netflix. The preview kind of made me laugh so then I when down, “The rabbit hole” AGAIN! I started watching that movie. I was able to watch half of it before my Mom came over to complete our morning routine.

I just finished watching it. Because my Hocus Pocus watching days are over because Halloween has passed, it is now Hallmark Christmas movie watching time! I didn’t wait for another preview after I watch the second movie so I just turned on Hallmark movies.

A while ago, on GMFB, they showed a clip of Kay from even longer ago and she had dark hair. She said, “#DarkHairDon’tCare” and I tweeted her about us being the same person because she is also left-handed and 5 feet tall. I let her know that I also have dark hair.

But today, somehow, I can’t seem to get warm. I am bundled up in a hooded sweatshirt and I have one of Sean’s winter hats on. During our morning routine, I couldn’t handle taking my hat off to wash my hair so I told my Mom, “#DirtyHairDon’tCare ” like Kay did a while ago.

ALMOST Forgotten Tune #60

I loved my house today. My Mom had to take me to my credit union to handle some business. No, I did NOT win the lottery! I was able to hear this gem though. I know that I have shared it before somewhere on this blog, probably years ago, but I really appreciated hearing in even though it’s not summertime!

The Little Mermaid LIVE

I saw on Facebook yesterday that this would be an ABC. The Little Mermaid is iconic to me! I think I saw in for the first time at the movie theater for a friend of mine‘s birthday party. Either way, my friends and I watched it over 1 million times when we were in grade school! We all sang along with the entire movie!

It had been so long since I last saw in because I had a little boy so I only watched little boy movies. When he was small, he would not let me watch The Little Mermaid!

As soon as it was on, I changed the channel to watch it. I was amazed that I still knew all of the words to the movie and to all of the songs! However, I think I prefer the cartoon version to the live version only because I have heard it the way for all of my childhood. I still had to watch the whole thing though!

I can no longer sing along with the movie as if I am Ariel because I no longer have the strength in my vocal cords and can’t use my chest to push the sound out.

I did not realize how much I loved the ending of the movie. In fact, I think I only love it so much because my Dad is gone now. I always called him, “Daddy.”

This scene really got to me and I cried. I was by myself watching it so it really didn’t matter.

Our Place

So, when I was growing up, my Dad used to take the entire family out to Red Lobster for dinner for special occasions. That was our place for birthday dinners. Red Lobster does not accept large party reservations. Since I started driving, it was my job and to go there, sit there after giving the hostess our name, and wait in the restaurant for everyone to get there. Sometimes I waited for over an hour.

My birthday is in March and it is most often during Lent. My birthday dinner always ended up having to beat Red Lobster. As Catholics, we aren’t supposed to eat meat on Fridays, hence Red Lobster. My immediate family was 12 back then. I would tell them as they slowly got to the restaurant that I would much rather have my birthday dinner at Wendy’s. It never happened.

We (my Mom, brothers, and me) as a family, haven’t really been there since the dinners we had with my dad. I take that back, my Mom, my brothers, their families, and me and Sean went with one of my Dad’s coworkers not too long after his funeral. Sean and I went there a few years ago for Mother’s Day.

My brother takes his family to a steakhouse. Now, I can’t afford steak at all! So, I guess my place is Red Robin. I like that place for my birthday so I asked Sean if that was OK with him for his birthday this year. He agreed. When my Dad first died, my Mom, Sean, and I went there often because we were so broken and neither my Mom nor I could muster up the strength to cook.

There is a Red Robin not too far away from my house and Sean and I used to go there when I could still drive. I always let him get a chocolate shake. For me, I am a huge fan of the guacamole burger! No onions and no tomatoes, medium.

Sean and I went to the Red Robin in Westland on Saturday for his birthday. I even got a chocolate shake with him for his birthday! I haven’t had one of those in so many years! The parking lot hand and extra large parking spot that we parked in. It was comfortable for me to get transferred into and out of my will chair. That never happens!

I told Sean that this is our place because it’s what I can afford. He did not mind at all! I made it a point to force myself to get out and eat in a restaurant in my manual chair because my baby does not turn 18 every day! It has taken me three days to recover from my outing for his birthday and I am not fully recovered yet.

Random Songs in My YouTube Feed #5

So, I’m pretty sure that somehow my phone knows that I am posting the random songs that pop up in my YouTube feed. It’s like there’s a race of all of these random songs! This was the first song I saw that I really dug growing up so this became my #5:

This song reminds me of my brother, Dave.