Category: A Bit Of Randomness

So, I think I watch too much TV. In fact, I KNOW  that I watch too much TV. During the week, I watch the NFL Network and on weekends, I watch football and the Hallmark Channel especially this close to Christmas!  I’ve seen a couple of Macy’s commercials for Christmas this year that I absolutely love! To say that I didn’t cry when I see them would be a lie. So,  I am not going to lie; I cry when I see them.  They “get me in my feels”  as the kids say today too!  I wonder how many Perfect Gift commercials Macy’s will have this year?  I can’t wait to see them! And I will see them because I watch too much TV!

 

I started a puzzle a few weeks ago and I thought it would be challenging because the pieces are not uniform. I really dug the picture and I was up for the challenge but as it turns out, it is more than challenging! It takes me to the highest level of frustration!

Because the pieces were not uniform, there were no edge pieces and I had to change my whole strategy in order to complete the puzzle.

 

That was the biggest piece I had completed in a couple of weeks! I couldn’t do it anymore!  Sadly, I’m getting rid of the puzzle.

Based on the documentary I watched earlier this week, I ordered a different puzzle (it has uniform pieces!).   I will either start it later tonight or tomorrow.

Since watching the documentary, I have been listening to Bob Marley Essentials on Apple Music while I cook or wash the dishes. I asked Sean if it was strange that I know all the words to these songs and he told me that it kind of is. Especially when I sing along with,  “Get Up, Stand up.”

😂😂😂

I’ve done three puzzles since hurting my knee and I still have to glue and frame them which I plan on doing! Not sure if I’m going to glue this one but I think I’ll be fun to do!

 

Well, by now, its obvious that I’m cheesy and I watch way too much TV.  I have no idea why I dig this Progressive commercial so much that I laugh out loud EVERY TIME I see it:

I don’t even have Progressive insurance and I don’t plan on changing my insurance carrier anyway.  I am not cool enough for a Vlog (just like my son says that I am not cool enough for Instagram) so I just have a blog (“like 10 years too late 😜”). I like cashews and laugh out loud at the, “Holla at ’em Brun” each time whether I am by myself or not.

But, the best part is the part with the chinchilla!  It was this part that brought this commercial to my attention in the first place.  The chinchilla’s name is Rocco.  I call Sean, “Rocco” ALL THE TIME!  I call Sean by SO many different names!  Most of the time, he’s “B” or “Beeb.”  But  there is “Butta,” “Roc,” and the list goes on forever.

When Sean was an infant, I would call him, “Seanie.”  It just came naturally to me but I probably got it from The Quiet Man starting John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara.

Whenever my Dad would hear me call him this,  he would tell me not to call him that and that it was a, “Sissy name.”   I told him that I am Sean’s mother and I can call him whatever I want. It wasn’t until my Dad had a short stay in the hospital for a few days and while he was there, he called and asked how, “his Seanie” was.  I remember I joked with him and said, “Oh, YOU can call him Seanie?!”

It was probably from that moment on when I started calling him all of these names that there was not any rhyme or reason to call him this. His name is Sean Ramon Tracz. (the Ramon is after my Dad) There isn’t even a letter, “B” in his name!   Recently, we talked about all of the names that I call him and he told me that, “There really is no reason for these names, it’s really just gibberish that you came up with.”  He’s 100% correct.  I just call him these names. Just because.

I’ve done it all his life and he knows that I am talking to him and he just answers to them.   Growing up, my friend, Natalie had a chinchilla so the fact that this box talked about a chinchilla AND the chinchilla’s name is Rocco coupled with the, “Holla at ’em Brun!”  Just makes me laugh! What can I say?! Simple pleasures. I’ll take it! #ChinChillin

So, I usually don’t say which team I want to win the Super Bowl because they usually lose; historically, I ALWAYS pick a loser.  I saw this commercial just before the game started and I dug it because I wanted the Eagles to win.

I wasn’t really blown away by the commercials so much but then I saw this one!  I have a thing for Tyrion Lannister after binging Game of Thrones this past summer.  Peter Dinklage is a great actor! Couple that with Morgan Freeman and Missy Elliott?! This was my favorite Super Bowl commercial!

Then I saw this commercial in the second half! This one definitely was my favorite with Peter, Morgan, and Missy in a close second. I think it’s the lip-synch battle part that I love!

I couldn’t stop laughing because I love the movie, Dirty Dancing so much and seeing Eli dance was too, too funny!!! shared this commercial on Facebook and the Bud Light commercial on Facebook and Twitter but I thought to put all three on my blog so I can watch them and laugh anytime I want!

I watched the Pistons game with Sean last night. A couple of things I have realized from watching that game last night:

1.  I am NOT a basketball fan!  I think it’s too fast!  Because it moves back-and-forth so fast I can’t even see the basketball when it is shot (especially when the net doesn’t move)!

3.  I couldn’t get over the fact that the Pistons were wearing navy blue!  The last time I watched a Pistons game, the Pistons were wearing royal blue!

Like this:

It just proves that I have not watched Pistons basketball, (or any basketball for that matter) in a long time!

Sean was into it and he let me know that I really stink as a basketball watcher! It’s NOT like football! The thing that I constantly heard, that squeezed my heart, was when the announcer called Anthony Tolliver‘s name.

Every time I heard it  I was reminded of Sean when he was about two years old. When he was two, we still lived with my parents while I finished my bachelor’s degree. I worked part-time at a credit union and went to school full-time. I went, “to college” while my parents watched Sean.

One day, Sean and I were sitting on the floor in the living room. His Little People, some of his books, and his plastic bugs were sprawled out on the floor. The Wiggles were probably playing on the TV.  He grabbed his little book bag and as we sat on the floor he started packing it with various Little People, plastic bugs, and books.

As he was finished packing and zipped his little book back up I asked him where he was going. He looked at me and said, “Ta tollege.”  He stood up and I followed him through the kitchen and to my parents’ side door.

There are three steps down to a landing and the side door and there’s a door between the kitchen and the stairs going down that is divided horizontally. Sean opened the  bottom half and closed it behind him. As he did this I told him to have a good class.  As I looked down at him or the bottom half of the door.

He must’ve stood on the landing for no more than 30 seconds before he opened the door again and told me that he  was back. I asked him how class was and he told me, “Good!”   I love this memory! I can still hear him say  in his cute little voice, “Ta tollege!” with his book bag packed for the “necessary” supplies for school. He had seen we leave for college with my book bag packed so many times  and it was so cute for me to see him role-playing in this way!

First of all, I can’t express my appreciation enough for all the birthday messages, texts, emails, and phone calls that I received yesterday! Birthdays  are a pretty big deal for me!  I’m not even sure why. Sure, the milestone birthdays like 18, 21, 30, but I’ve added in “24 karat” and 36 is also a big deal! That’s what I turned yesterday.

I was groggy as my son helped me get out of my bed before he got ready for school but once I was seated and belted into my wheelchair, he nonchalantly said, “oh, by the way, happy birthday mom.”   I grumbled my thanks and tried to get my head right for my birthday!

Just before he left for school, I had to do what I swore I was going wake him up in the morning with and took a deep breath and sang:  “Today is my birthday!” Like in 16 Candles:

Sean left for school and then the phone calls started:  My brothers know how silly I am for my birthday!  My brother, Dave, was the first to call and let me know that it was “My day!”  I repeated it just like Sully did. It was a Disney Channel movie we saw when we were kids.

Brothers went away to summer camp and it was the younger brother’s birthday and he exclaimed that, “Today’s MY day!”  The kids play a trick on him and he runs away crying but I don’t even really remember the rest of the movie I just remember Solly saying that.

Then, he reminded me that I am the, “Grand Chawhee.”   This is from another movie we saw when we were kids.   We laughed about this one too!

I had received some birthday messages on Facebook through the night but then they continued! So many! I tried my best to respond to everyone I received and I think I did but as I was responding to those messages and text messages and phone calls, I just pooped out!

I get so emotionally overwhelmed be it happy or sad that I fall asleep. Not like a nice, “Oh, I have to lay down.”it’s slump over in my wheelchair. I don’t know I’m doing it until I wake up. I did that twice! I was just so happy that it was my birthday and it was recognized by  so many people!  Sean came home and asked me how my day was and I told him that I got overexcited and passed out twice. He laughed and told me I was just like a little kid!

Well, I guess I was!

My Mom brought over a dozen  balloons:

Later, my friend and her daughter brought over BDub’s and some ice cream cake (Mint Chocolate Chip) and they and my son sang me happy birthday.   What a great birthday!!!  It was low-key but it has taken me pretty much all day to physically recover from.  Grrr!!!  It was TOTALLY worth it! I am now closer to 40 than I am to 30 but I’m OK with that!

I have established that I am old because of my last birthday. I don’t mind it at all but I KNOW that I’m old because, on my birthday, I bought myself a present. I ordered a food processor from Amazon.   Well, it came a while back and I got so excited! I ordered myself a food processor because I saw a recipe for hummus not too long ago.

Having grown up in East Dearborn, it’s haraam (“forbidden”  in Arabic) to buy store-bought hummus and I refuse to do so!  I knew I could make it myself! The recipe I found, called for a food processor, hence the reason for my present!  Based on the ingredients, I knew that if I just followed the recipe, I could make some good hummus!

Well, I did!  My friend (she gets my groceries for me) had just gotten a 5 pound bag of carrots from the grocery store and I was excited to peel and cut them so I could eat them with the hummus.  I washed and put the food processor together and started the hummus this morning.   By the time I was finished making it, it was around lunchtime.

I popped some microwave popcorn, Homestyle is the best! and decided to eat that for lunch  because I could feel myself getting tired. Imagine that, getting tired after washing the parts and loading things into a food processor and turning it on. Well, I have slowly come to the realization that sometimes, more often than I care to admit, that happens. I get too tired!

So, I made the popcorn. Whenever I do this, have popcorn for a meal, I feel like Olivia Pope (without the wine because I don’t drink anymore).

So, I sat in my kitchen eating the popcorn and getting myself prepared to peel the 5 pounds of carrots and cut it up to have them ready to eat with the hummus. Well, of the 5 pounds of carrots, I was able to peel six.

I remember it being so much easier to peel carrots when I was younger, before MS!  It’s not anymore. I hated coming to that realization today. I got on my phone and put prepared carrots and celery on my grocery list for next week.   I can no longer peel carrots on my own.

Because I was tired after peeling and cutting those 6 carrots, I thought I would get on Facebook.   A friend shared this article and it peaked my interest:

CLICK PICTURE TO READ ARTICLE

I reposted the article on my story. It’s a pretty lengthly article but worth the read! As I read it, I cried the entire time!   It was a completely true article as I have firsthand knowledge of the situation.  After reading the article, I looked around at my kitchen floor and saw carrot shavings that missed the garbage can and popcorn that missed my mouth and I started to cry even more!

   

There is even a piece of cardboard from the food processor packaging that I had not even seen until I looked at this picture. All of these things that are on the floor will remain there until  someone (most likely my Mom) will sweep them up.   This realization made me cry even more! As I put the carrots away in the refrigerator because I was too distraught to eat them  and the tears continued to flow, I realized that my knee hurts!  I remember being told as a basketball player in high school that, “Everything always hurts more when you lose!” and at this point, I felt very much at a loss because I have lost so much in the past 17 years since my diagnosis…   maybe I will have the carrots and hummus tomorrow…

My morning routine for some months now is to wake up and get out of bed while Sean is getting ready for school. Before I put my contacts in, I turn the TV on to Good Morning Football. I could feel myself dragging this morning, not as much as yesterday because it wasn’t raining but dragging nonetheless.

They were talking to coaches and general managers at the annual meeting and Peter was in Florida interviewing them. I sat in my kitchen listening to my TV as I slowly drank my ginger water (I drink this for health reasons as well as my garlic tea). I’m not even sure which general manager they were talking to when he told Peter that Kay Adams is their favorite.   I picked up my phone and tweeted the show:

I finished my ginger tea and rolled over to my refrigerator  to get my protein shake. I drink my breakfast as well. I shook my shake and rolled it into my shirt so I could wheel myself to the living room to watch the show.  I plugged my phone in to charge at the plug by the door and put my phone on the end table.

During the next commercial break, I wheeled over to my phone to check and see if I turned the ringer on after putting it on the “do not disturb” mode at night while I sleep.  I could tell it was going to be a LONG day!!!

But then, I look at my phone, and Kay Adams replied to my tweet!!!:

Even though I could feel myself dragging and was barely awake, I screamed! I love that show so much! I am made to feel special every time they interact with me, whether it is Will Selva or Kyle Brant liking my tweets, Kyle mentioning my tweet on the show,  or Nate Burleson following me back on Twitter.  Kay has liked and replied to my tweets before but, NEVER WITH HEART EYES!!!

I didn’t feel well and my knee hurt  through the night and continue to hurt in the morning so I knew it’s going to be a rough day but that reply made me feel SO special!

Simple Pleasures man 😍!!!