Author: Jen Rios

Against the Grain

So, I watched Me Before You three times in the past two days and I was thinking that I wanted to continue on with and Emelia Clark marathon. I did not want to watch Game of Thrones again (I binged that in like 10 days or something) so I had to go against the grain and watch a Christmas movie on May 12.

That’s what I did today I watched Last Christmas and that movie hash the best soundtrack ever! Last night, this picture showed up in my phone, so I think that Big Brother knew what I was going to do!:

When it was over, it switched back to the Hallmark channel. That’s what I was watching before, so I just started watching A Crown for Christmas again. Actually, I just let it Play until I was tired of hearing it and then I turned it off.

I think that I will watch this movie between Thanksgiving and December 1 before I watch Love Actually!

$3.75

I watched my Mother’s Day present again today and my Mom watched it with me as well; however, I don’t think that she enjoyed it as much as I did! I definitely will have to re-read this book because watching this movie three times has reminded me how well they spoke about disability! It’s still for the rich and I am NOT rich but now I own this movie and it only cost my Mom $3.75! And I have to put this song in here again, because I really dig it!:

Nothing is Seamless!!!

I have watched Me Before You twice now so it only cost to my Mom $7.50 to buy it for me! I am sitting in my house in silence because I have a couple things to say about this. I cried both times I saw this movie.
I agree with my assessment from years ago that the people responsible for this book knew what it was like to be disabled!

The first thing that I will say about watching this movie, coupled with watching The Upside not too long ago, I still stand by my statement that disability is for the rich!

You just see disabled people to get people to care for them they have already made all of the accommodations so it seems seamless. But I just want to set the record straight that nothing is seamless when you’re dealing with a disabled person!!!

NOTHING AT ALL!!! it is so much work!!! I am most grateful that my caregiver does not cost me any money and she does great work!!!

My First Mother’s Day Present 2023

My Mom got me my first Mother’s Day present this year, she purchased a movie on Xfinity for me then went to get her hair done. I have been thinking about this movie since hearing about the horses in the Kentucky Derby.

I remember reading about Will and Lou’s trip to the race track and I told my Mom that when I was reading this book that was the first time I’ve read from a perspective from someone who knows exactly what it feels like to be disabled.

My Mom and I were talking today and we pieced it together that we saw the movie together when it came out because I had read the book between teaching my classes and I vividly remember one when I was reading it, and it was in such a good part that I kept reading after the bell rang, and tears were welling in my eyes!

I remember telling my kids that you know that you are reading good writing when it evokes emotion, so I was not embarrassed that I was crying at all! It has been long enough since I saw this movie that I didn’t quite remember it but I knew that it was good. I’m glad that my Mom is not home yet because I am STILL crying!

I had seriously forgotten this song and I was taken back to teaching and my Barwis days! I was still driving back then when this song came out…:

Spanish Lullabies

In the evenings, sometimes my Mom will lay down, and I will mindlessly play solitaire or 3-D tile match. I have certain playlist I listen to depending on how I am feeling. I believe I was listening to a Sara Bareilles playlist I have and was mindlessly playing 3-D tile match.

I heard a song that I recognized and remembered hearing it. I kind of knew the words and I KNOW that I have shared this song on my blog before But I can’t get it out of my head since hearing it yesterday so I found it by searching the lyrics, “You sang me, Spanish lullabies”:

My Interrupted Trilogy

I did not watch my third Haley Mills movie yesterday but I finished my interrupted trilogy today. I watched The Parent Trap:

I really liked watching these three non-consecutive movies that I saw when I was a child, but seeing the message adult is something different! I wonder what we’ll watch next…

I Can’t Even TOUCH 4:30!

Right now, my phone is saying that it’s 521 in the morning. I have not fallen to sleep from last night yet. My insomnia hasn’t been this bad yet and I am a bit concerned.

I was able to schedule an appointment with my PCP. They just squeezed me in to get her to write me a script for a new power chair and while I am there, I will get bloodwork done and a weight. I will discuss with her my lack of sleep, and the fact that when my Mom gets me out of bed, I lose my breath as I sit up and that’s a little scary too.

I was talking to Sean tonight and he told me that he was talking with his coworker about waking up. He told me that he is an ‘early bird’ now, and he told me that he consistently wakes up at six in the morning for work every day. He then told me that he told his coworker, “My mom used to wake up at 4:30! I can’t even touch 4:30!”

That kind of embarrassed me and I told him, “I just needed more time in the morning to get up ready, and I had to do what I had to do in order to be to work on time.” Thinking about it now I think that it really was insane! I woke up so early because I needed more time to be able to function for the day.

I was just thinking about the fact that probably for the last five or six years that I was teaching, maybe longer, I worked in chronically ill clothes. There is a reason that I wear sweats because my body is so sensitive to any other materials. I wore chucks to school from my first day teaching, and probably in about 2012, I had to change from chucks to shell toes because I needed more support for my feet.

I am hearing birds chirping now, but I think I should try to get some sleep now.