Category: A Bit Of Randomness

Deposit made. ✔️

Hall venue secured. ✔️

I am extremely grateful to have secured the date for Sean‘s graduation party at the place I wanted it! I knew it had to be in a hall because my house is way too small and I also knew that the hall needed to be 100% handicapped accessible which, sadly, AVLOT of halls are NOT! Well, this one is!

There are so many things I need to think about but at least we have a place to have the party! I’ve already started working on the guest list which is quite large. I have a really big family!

I’ve also begun thinking about a caterer. For me, it’s a no brainer because I am 100% Mexican. But Sean, who is the party is for, is half Mexican and half Polish. I’m thinking I will have to have multiple caterers. So, there are a lot of things I need to think about and plan but at least I have a place!

Two days ago and yesterday as well, I saw a commercial for, “Target School List Assist.” I was completely aghast when I heard exactly what it was! When I was a child and a student, I absolutely loved “Back to School” sales! I loved buying school supplies! I remember the summer before my first year teaching, I let my Mom know that I will ALWAYS be a part of “Back to School” shopping and that made me happy!

I no longer a part of these sales, I haven’t bought school supplies for my classroom for two years now. Sean has gotten older and he doesn’t love, “Back to School” like I did. He is a boy! I remember having so much fun buying his school supplies for the upcoming school year. I shopped separately for my classroom then I did for buying his school supplies.

I have always loved shopping at Target! Sean was a Target kid with his “Mix and Match” clothes from when he was very small! One time, at “Back-to-School” shopping, he pointed out a folder to me that I had me laughing hysterically! I think the folder was blue or green but it had this picture on it:

I could not stop at laughing at that picture and Sean started laughing too! I think he had to be about 9 or 10 years old but I really like that Beyoncé song! I can’t hear it without thinking of that folder we saw at Target.

I knew Sean was not going to choose that folder to buy but I told him anyway that he could not because he went to a Catholic school and nuns are NOT single, they are married to God!

I remember one year when we were shopping for school supplies, I had printed out his list and brought a yellow highlighter from my classroom with me. I would read an item and Sean would go get it and put it in the cart and then I would highlight the item on the list. As we were doing this, a dad who was shopping with his child, looked at me and commented that what I was doing was a really good idea!

I really appreciated sharing my expertise in “Back to School” shopping with someone new. With this, “Target School List Assist“ that is NOT going to be possible at all! It makes me so sad! I am very relieved that I am no longer involved in “Back to School” shopping and Sean is old enough that he really doesn’t care. This year is his final year of high school. I still can’t NOT laugh when I hear that Beyoncé song because I think of that folder EVERY SINGLE TIME!

I got two eyebrows for the first time when I was in sixth grade. My Mom plucked them for me while we stood in the bathroom at my Parents’ house. I’m sure my brothers still remember me screaming and stomping my feet because it hurts pretty badly to get your eyebrows plucked! Especially, because I had so much hair to work with at the time!

After my Mom showed me how to do it, I plucked my eyebrows on my own until the spring before my junior year. My neighbor convinced me that I should start getting my eyebrows waxed. There was a really good place close to our house. I needed to allow my hair to grow in so that the woman would have a lot to work with when she reshaped my eyebrows.

So, for the entire summer before my junior year, I didn’t pluck my eyebrows and let them grow and naturally. I wore a bucket hat most times back then because it hid my eyebrows. If i saw someone I hadn’t seen for a while, I’d explain to them that I was growing my eyebrows out for the summer before I got them waxed for the first time.

I went to the same salon to get my eyebrows waxed from when I was 17 until I was 20. I took Sean to get his first haircut when the woman who currently waxes my eyebrows noticed that my eyebrows were uneven. I told her that I wasn’t really happy with the place I went to and she took over waxing my eyebrows from then on.

She has been waxing my eyebrows for the past 17 years. Because I have dark hair, I would ask more and then just my eyebrows, but my upper lip too. I had increased facial hair as a side effect of a medication I used to be on. So, she waxed my cheeks too! I distinctly remember telling my colleagues that I got my entire face waxed except for my nose and a tiny circle on my four head. I really wasn’t kidding because there was a time when that’s what I ended up getting waxed.

We were just talking about this the last time I got my eyebrows waxed. I got them waxed at the end of June because the woman who waxes my eyebrows and cuts my hair goes on vacation for the first two weeks in July. Now that I am on a fixed income, it works out that I usually get my eyebrows waxed just after I get paid, so once every month.

It’s pretty much time for me to get them waxed again but I haven’t made an appointment yet. When I was working, I made sure to stay up on my eyebrow waxing and it also made sure to notice when students got their eyebrows waxed.

This morning, as my Mom made her coffee and I drank my Kiefer, she told me that I look like Evita. I smiled as I sipped my Kiefer and I told her that is not who she meant to say. I told her that she means that I look like Frida Kahlo. That’s my Mom’s way of telling me that they need to get my eyebrows waxed.

I began to laugh pretty loudly and I let my Mom know that it is really hot outside! I will melt if I go to get my eyebrows waxed! It doesn’t really bother me because my house was built in 1951 so since I am in a wheelchair, I don’t need to look at myself in the mirror if I don’t want to. I don’t think I look THAT bad though, as I searched for pictures of Frida Kahlo, I found one that I kind of liked:

Or this one:

So, I know I need to get my eyebrows waxed and I also know that I will NOT let anyone else touch my eyebrows except for the woman who has been doing it for the past 17 years! So I guess for anyone who may see me before I get my eyebrows the waxed, I get it! They are a little out-of-control right now!

I have always known that the olfactory sense, (your sense of smell) is very important for me. I have never witnessed someone putting such importance on their sense of smell until recently. I’m talking about my Mom’s olfactory sense.

I made this discovery as I watched her get my deodorant out of the medicine cabinet. Again, my house was built in 1951 when people in wheelchairs did not own homes. The medicine cabinet is a stark reminder of this fact because when I sit in my wheelchair, I cannot reach into it or look at myself in the mirror It’s too high.

I changed over to a natural deodorant in 2007. It was a long, drawn out process for me to choose a deodorant that I liked the smell of. After a number of missteps, I decided on this one:

I used this deodorant for a very long time (until a few months ago) because I liked the smell. The look of it changed about a year ago:

And then, to my dismay, it was discontinued.

I was at a loss because it had taken me so long to find that one that I didn’t know where to find a natural deodorant that actually works. I read a lot of reviews about Schmidt deodorant and it boasted being paraben and chemical free. I decided to give it a try. I read all of the different scents they had but I couldn’t decide on one. Since I changed over to all natural products, I have specifically tried hard NOT to smell like patchouli. I don’t like the smell of that. So, I decided to get the sample pack that Schmidt offered.

I started out by using the green one because that’s the smell I liked the least. I currently am using the yellow one:

Every day, when my Mom gets the deodorant out of my medicine cabinet, she will pull off the cap, closes her eyes, and she always smells it.

I asked her about that fact and she kind of got a faraway look in her eye and told me that it smells like my Abuela’s Stanley Home Products.

My Abuela sold Stanley Home Products to the entire neighborhood since my Mon was a girl. My Mom could not pinpoint the exact product that it smells like but she says she wants to take my deodorant to her sisters because they will smell it too!

For all of my young life until my wallet died, we always had Stanley Home Products merchandise! The things that stick out most to me after I searched for a picture was the broom, the brush, and the degreaser.

I absolutely love seeing my Mom getting lost in her memories caused by her olfactory sense. They are memories of her mom selling these products. She told me that she thinks it smells like when her and my aunts and uncles would check in the order when it arrived at their house.

I like watching her smile because it makes me think of my Abuela who now that I am a woman, I truly understand that she was/is the strongest woman I have ever known!!!

I just watched, Across the Universe. I really dig that movie! Watching the second to last song of the movie reminded me of something:

Although this video happened before this movie was shot, it actually happened after because this movie was supposed to be in the 1960s.

I really dug that movie but I couldn’t help but think of this video:

Both of these songs were really cool to have an impromptu rooftop concert. I love that I’ve listened to good music pretty much all day today!

My, “Fuddy-putty” (as young Sean called it) arrived this morning. I was super excited!

I messaged the person who suggested it to me and my MS support group about it and she told me that I could just squeeze the putty while I’m watching TV and when it gets too easy, move to the next color.

I started with the teal, extra, extra soft.

Extra, extra soft?! Not so much.

This is going to be a pretty long process because there are six levels of firmness! Extra, extra soft was kind of brutal! I will keep at it though! I will add this to things I need to do a little on a daily basis.

I think it was last summer when Sean told me about a memory he had of me roasting marshmallows with him and my nephews at my brother’s house. I didn’t remember any of this story until after Sean reminded me of it.

We all were at my brother’s house at his fire pit and I decided that I wanted to make a s’more with the kids. I sat at the fire pit with probably three or four of my nephews and Sean. Sean told me that I explained to them as my marshmallow was roasting how to make the perfect S’more. The marshmallow had to be slightly browned on all sides.

Sean told me that as I was constantly turning the marshmallow on my stick, I told my nephews and Sean how perfect my S’more was going to be. He told me that I was being silly and I kept talking about how wonderful my s’more was going to be and laughing. As he told me this, I remembered that night pretty clearly. Sean had to be about eight or nine years old.

Sean told me that as I had just about determined that my marshmallow was the perfect color, it fell off a stick and into the fire. When he told me this, I could clearly remember all of my nephews bursting into gales of laughter!

Sean ended his story by telling me that I put my right hand out and told whoever had the package of marshmallows (Which may have been Sean) to, “Hand me another mallow!” I really liked that Sean had this memory of me being silly and having fun with him and my nephews.

I saw this GEICO commercial tonight and it reminded me of that night:

I bought my current car in November 2011. It was necessary for me to buy it because my previous car, was submerged in water on my way to work very early one morning when it was still dark and raining very heavily! Apparently, cars DON’T float! That fact was something that I learned too late!

I bought a 2012 Chevy Malibu then and she is still running strong! My car is a girl and her name is, “Bea” after Colbie Caillat because one of her songs was playing the first time and I turned the radio on. Once I signed the papers back in 2011, my car went from the dealership to Advantage Mobility so my chair topper and hand controls could be installed.

I picked up my car once my accommodations were installed and the first time I drove her to my house, this is what she looked like:

A few months ago, the body shop at Les Stanford removed the chair topper because I was no longer driving. It was not necessary and it was doing damage to the roof of the car. They put a quick fix on the roof:

For me, that was a big deal because I had never seen my car without its chair topper. Well, a couple of weeks ago, those black patches placed on the holes in my roof begin to leak INTO my car. That was really not cool! My car remained in my driveway with a tarp on it until I could figure out what to do.

I waited for a day when it was not raining and had my Mom drive the car to Les Stanford’s body shop. They had the car for almost 2 weeks. My Mom picked it up on Friday. She took a few pictures for me because they detailed it and I am still trying to recover from the power outage and it is way too warm for me to go outside!

When I saw this picture, I began to cry.

I have NEVER seen my car like that and it’s been paid off for two years! I asked her to take a couple more pictures so I could see the entire car better.

She looks brand new! As I look at that picture, I can’t help but hearthe guy from The Price is Right.

I feel like I have a brand new car! I have yet to be in it but I will get to ride in it when I get my Frida Kahlo eyebrows addressed, hopefully next week.