Author: Jen Rios

As the Crash Began…

I have completed my ‘two fer’ this month and yesterday as the crash began, my Mom put this movie on. I am situated in such a position that I remember watching her on Zoey 101 when she was like 12. Sean watched Victorious and so that means that I did too and I always liked her voice! Hearing this last night made me miss impromptu sing-alongs because that’s not in the cards anymore for me. I am reminded that recovery from here ‘two fer’ is a two day process… :

Barometric Pressure

Last night, I thought about when I bought my house and how my light switches had to be switched out. I was going to write a whole long story about the reasons for changing out my light switches but it’s raining today and it is cold! The barometric pressure is no joke!

I hope that I will remember what I was going to write about soon because this pressure is horrible!!! My body feels awful!!! As I said watching Hocus Pocus, I had to just groan multiple times because the feeling in my body was and is too much to handle!!!

I especially do not like it because tomorrow it’s ‘go time!’ I will crash on Thursday night but may be all right about it by the weekend…

Oh, How Times Have Changed…

I think it was a couple years ago when Sean was here when I was taking my contacts out. I was having difficulty just like I had just now.

It was a simple statement of how things used to be and it kind of give me a tinge of sadness. It was just an offhanded comment. He told me that he remembers when I would use my nails to pop my contacts out of my eyeball.

I did used to do that! In our apartments! When I was young, I used to buy my nails but then I stopped when I was about 12 because I wanted to polish my nails. I am blessed with good genes for nail growing. Everything else, not so much but my nails used to grow pretty long! I would just let them grow until one broke and then I would cut all of my nails down to the nub and start over.

When Sean made that comment that really meant nothing but for me, I used to do that and now things are so different! I keep my nails cut down to the nub all of the time now! I get my nails cut every other Monday unless it gets difficult to take my contacts out, in that case, I will have my Mom cut my nails earlier.

I thought about Sean‘s random comment today, this evening, when I was having difficulty removing my contacts. They are out now so I can write a blog post. Oh, how the times have changed… This all is really big and a little bit scary!!!

Ahead of the Game

So, I have changed my profile picture on both Facebook and Twitter four times but I just want you all to know that I wanted to actually wear the shirts I bought at the last T-Shirt party I went to hosted by my Facebook friend Jennifer Lavender-Shott. And here are the shirts I bought back in July I think:

I saw this shirt the previous party so I had to get that especially when the new one just came out!!!


I am not my son, Sean, the only person I know who looks good in orange but this is a Halloween color so…


I wasn’t even wearing my Contacts or even my glasses when my Mom took this picture!

I was bummed when I received this shirt from Jennifer‘s party last year but this shirt is so comfortable that it didn’t really matter that I couldn’t read it but I still rocked it anyway! Now I can add these three new shirts to my three old shirts from my Facebook friends to my illegible one that is still so comfortable!!!

I still have MORE than two weeks of movie watching but I am ahead of the game that I have already broken in my new shirts!

***By the way, my Mom is an EXCELLENT photographer! She ALWAYS makes me laugh!!!

A Slow Recovery

So, I had a virtual appointment with my speech pathologist on Tuesday and I had a virtual appointment with a nutritionist. I thought I could have two virtual appointments in a row because I did not leave my house at all so I didn’t think it would be a problem. Well, I was wrong!

I never thought that it would be difficult to speak and having an hour long conversation is quite difficult. I actually just had a half hour video visit but it was still quite difficult!

I was tired Tuesday night for sure! But then I got ready for Wednesday. I was extremely nervous about this appointment! My ability to chew has been increasingly diminishing. I knew that I was not getting all of the nutrients I needed so I knew it was imperative to speak with a nutritionist.

My Mom recently told me that she thinks that Meira sees a lot of patients who are dealing with worse issues then with what I am dealing with. She told me that I must be one of her ‘shining stars’ or some thing. I agree with her! Meira told me that she is very nitpicking with me because I only need to see her once a month now to make sure that my speech is Chris for in clear! I am grateful that I only need to see her once a month but it is exhausting! And on top of that exhaustion is the fact that I used to speak with such ease.

I had my appointment with Sara the nutritionist and she sees all of my information through Henry Ford. She actually saw how much I have weighed for a while. And she noticed when my weight loss started probably in about 2018. We talked about things I can do. I am switching to a smoothie diet because I cannot chew any longer.

My mom asked me today if that ability will come back and I told her that it would not. So, it’s a slow recovery from my back to back virtual appointments but I have to gear up for next Wednesday and Thursday for my haircut and doctor’s appointment. With both of those appointments completed, I can’t stop hearing this song in my head because all of this is so heavy!:

Back to Back Virtual Appointments

So I just completed my second virtual appointment. I had a virtual appointment yesterday with my speech pathologist and today I am met with a nutritionist! I thought that I could have back to back virtual appointment with no problem because I am not leaving my house but… That was not the case and I am going to crash hard tonight! Maybe I will explain myself better tomorrow…

Exhausted.

I had a virtual appointment with my speech pathologist, Meira. It was good that I had an appointment because I am absolutely exhausted right now!!! As we talked, she let me know that right now, I am 100% intelligible. I explained to her how terribly exhausting it is and I am the person who used to have, “Talks too much” written in the comments on her report cards in grade school!!! She agreed that it is exhausting but that I am doing a good job. Now, I need to sit here and not speak for a while…

Rando Tune #30

I like waking up and clearing out my Facebook alerts and my emails as well as alerts on Twitter. I saw this one:

The song from Lit began playing in my head immediately and I was back in my senior year. I had seventh hour prep so I left school early because I had enough credits to graduate. I borrowed the CD from my friend, Dominic, and I played it on loop for probably a week!!!

I responded with this:

I love that I Got to listen to this song all day long!!!