Category: A Bit Of Randomness

This category is full of randomness that really doesn’t fit nicely into any of the categories having to do with my road to walking.

More of a Healing Routine

When I first started this blog, some four years ago, one of my first few posts was about “my superhero routine.”   I have not reread it but it said something about my sense of smell being very acute and how I always had to put my chapstick on before working out at Barwis.  It was Burt’s Bees, Acai Berry. (The one with the dark purple cap). It has been over a year since I have been to Barwis and have been either at ATI, recovering from surgery, or at ATI.

I know I have written about how heartbreaking it is that I am not working out at Barwis but I get to pass it each time I am at ATI because ATI is right next to it. Dan, Megan, Elle, and Nick all have come into ATI at different times (probably because it is air-conditioned and the summer was extremely warm!).  Even though I have not been there, I feel connected to it still.

But, since I am not  actually at Barwis, I CANNOT wear my Acai Berry Chapstick because that is part of “my superhero routine” for Barwis. NOT for ATI.  So, a little over a year ago, I changed my chapstick to the Pink Grapefruit one.  It took some getting used to but I have gotten used to it over the past year. I found an Açai Berry Chapstick tube in my junk drawer in my kitchen; but, once so I put some on, immediately, once the smell hit my nostrils I was filled with longing and my chest started to ache.

The tube was just about used up so after I put one coat on my lips, I raised it up a little and the inside  plunger fell out onto my kitchen floor.  I picked it up and threw the chapstick out. That was the first time I had ever used an entire tube of chapstick!  I say this because, over the past year, I have used an entire tube of Pink Grapefruit as well.

I bought another tube the other day and today was the first day I used it. Last Christmas, I got myself a 10 pack of Acai Berry Chapstick  but I won’t dare to use it until I am back at Barwis. It’s part of “my superhero  routine.” So, in the meantime, I use the Pink Grapefruit as my ATI routine. It’s not so much a superhero routine but  more of a healing routine because I cannot wait until my knee no longer hurts and I can go back to working out at Barwis.   When I am at ATI,  everything I do there is part of my healing routine  with Brad, Luba, and Lar-Bear.

Luxurious?

Because I have been home, recovering, I see a lot of  daytime TV.   The NFL network stays on pretty much all morning while I clean the kitchen during commercials. They have some really good commercials! I  have already posted about the Miguel song  commercial in my October 2017 Faves  in my Tunes tab.

I’m not sure if I saw this commercial on the NFL network but I heard it, and absolutely loved it! I am trying to find the soundbite where the woman from probably the 50s or 60s  tells the camera, “That’s  how we play football in Green Bay Wisconsin!”   I constantly say that, enough to annoy both my mother and my son. But this commercial! I love it!

(CLICK PICTURE TO VIEW COMMERCIAL)

  

I DO see this commercial on the NFL network! It was just on!

“It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown”

This morning, I had to make a Target run to get a bunch of things like dishwasher detergent, Q-tips, and garbage bags.  My Mom took me and whenever we go to Target, she always has to look at the movies.   When I was done getting my things, before we left, we walked over to the movie section for my Mom to see what was on sale.  (She  still buys DVDs even though she has a Blu-ray player, but she won’t buy a DVD for more than four or five dollars).

I went over with her for the ride because pushing myself in a wheelchair is good for my upper body.  It was early in the morning so there were not a lot of people there  so I could take my time without being in people’s way. There were like five cars in the parking lot. As she was looking at movies, I ran into this kiosk:

 My heart stopped for a moment because this was the first year that I would not be showing my kids It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.  I  don’t even have any kids at school anymore.  I’m not even at school anymore.

 I didn’t begin showing my kids this movie right  when I began teaching. I had bought Sean a whole bunch of Christmas movies to watch  when he was four and I had gotten A Charlie Brown Christmas movie. I needed a time filler one year because we had shortened classes because of the Christmas dance we were having. The Charlie Brown  movie would work out great because of the shortened class time and I knew it was school appropriate.

Over the next couple of years, I added different Charlie Brown movies because my kids in the Read Naturally program read a story about Charles Schultz so I wanted them to have a reference point.   The movies were dated but the kids didn’t mind. They thought Peppermint Patty was a boy.  I think I probably showed the Charlie Brown movies on all  of the different  holidays.   It became my “Time hing.”   As we were leaving the movie section, I saw this sign:

  

Seeing these Charlie Brown advertisements right by Halloween, my heart hurt and I was sad. This was the first time I REALLY missed teaching! I know this won’t be the last time but it hurt because it was my first time. Maybe I should stay away from Target by  Thanksgiving, Christmas,  Valentine’s Day, Easter, and I showed a combination of You’re the Greatest, Charlie Brown and You’re a Good Sport, Charlie Brown at the end of the year. My Mom found a couple of movies and then we left to check out.

London

So, here’s the deal: it has been my morning routine to watch Good Morning Football on the NFL network every single weekday morning. I do miss the show sometimes but I try not to make a habit out of that.   Something that I have thought about every time I see correspondents  in London for the football games that are taking place there is the Third Eye Blind song, “London.”

“London”   Third Eye Blind

I hadn’t heard that song in a really long time but that was a staple in the soundtrack of my Junior and Senior years in high school.  I tweeted Kyle this:

To which Peter replied this:

  

I felt completely famous because they actually read my tweets! But then this was the next segment, Kyle referenced me and I was so excited! I recorded my TV but the file is too big to share it here on my blog. I think I will share it directly on Facebook until I figure out how to put it in this post. Then Kyle sent me this tweet:

I really like the fact that they really interact with their fans! I knew there was a reason I loved the show!  I responded with 2 tweets  telling him that I saw it and I cannot stop cheesing!!!

 

A Throb and a Pinch

Having had MS for 16 years now, I have  reluctantly started wearing compression stockings all of the time about a year ago.   I couldn’t stand to wear them in the months before my surgery because it was too warm. But without them, I get elephant legs because I do not have sufficient blood flow.   They are extremely difficult to put on but I do not know that first hand because my Mom puts them on for me.

The last pair I had died; they just stretched out over time so when I ordered my second pair, I ordered black ones instead of the beige ones so I didn’t feel like an old lady wearing them.  So currently, I just have one pair of stockings.   I order them from a medical supply store and insurance does not cover them so at $90 a pop, I just have one. Obviously, they need to get washed occasionally.   OK, it’s kind of often.

Last night, before my mom left and before I went to bed, she pulled them off and told me she would wash them and bring them back in the morning. I really didn’t think it would make a difference being without them overnight. I was wrong.  I got into bed a little after midnight and was excited to sleep in because of daylight savings time. But, that was not the case.

I was awakened a little bit after five to a throb and a pinch in my legs. The throb was in both of my legs. From my thighs all the way to my toes. The pinch was in the medial side of my right knee. Exactly where the tendonitis is.   It’s been over a year since my knee has been in pain. Excruciating pain. The pain that wakes me up from sleep. If it wasn’t my meniscus, it’s my medial tendons.

I couldn’t wait for my Mom to come over this morning with my stockings to make my legs feel better!   Putting my stockings on helped with the throb and I hope that  pinch is remedied soon when I see Dr. Moore.  It’s only now, after my injury, that I realize how many parts to the knee there are because so many of them have hurt and still hurt.

“I Believe In You”

***CLICK THE RED “this commercial” TO VIEW 3 DIFFERENT COMMERCIALS***

(it’s in the second commercial that you will understand why the title of this post is what it is.   I’m going to think of that every time I put this chapstick on now!) 😄😄😄

I saw my first Burt’s bees commercial today.  I was catching up on my shows today (AFTER Good Morning Football OF COURSE!) OnDemand and was not able to skip the commercials so I really wasn’t paying attention until I heard that it was a Burt’s Bees commercial.  I had never seen one before but saw the display at Target or something a few years back and  thought  I’d try it out because it was all-natural. That is the  only kind of chapstick I use now!

I changed from the Peppermint to  Pomegranate for a while and then to Açai Berry when I started working out at Barwis.  I miss Barwis Methods so much that it hurts! Almost as much as my knee.   My açai berry chapstick ran out and because I was not going to Barwis immediately after my knee was injured, I could not bring myself to wear it. The smell reminded me so much of being at Barwis that I changed over  two Pink Grapefruit when I was at ATI. I immediately got on the YouTube app on my phone to find the commercial  after I saw it so I could post it on my blog.   I didn’t find it but I saw this commercial. 

I continued viewing the commercials, then I saw this commercial, its kinda long but I dug it!   I don’t leave my house very much since my surgery and now, I am not going to ATI anymore until my appointment with Dr. Moore. Now that the weather has gotten colder, I put my chapstick in my coat pocket with my gum (Blue 5 OF COURSE! Thanks Adam!) so I don’t lose or forget them. I would always wear chapstick every day and would reapply often, but now I don’t so much.

Watching multiple commercials about Burt’s Bees, made me kind of sad.   I decided to stop watching them so lastly, I saw this commercial  and I thought it was pretty informative! You learn something new every day! I can’t wait until I am able to wear Açai Berry chapstick again  because that would mean that I am back at Barwis FINALLY  and my knee no longer hurts! Wishful thinking!

Orthopedists = Good Looking

I’ve had three different orthopedists work on my right knee. The first surgeon reconstructed my ACL when I was 17, Dr. Anderson. The second one, Dr. Frush, repaired my meniscus.   Dr. Moore is a non-surgical sports medicine doctor and he is working on my tendinitis. I remember my brother, Jimmy, one time told me when he had his surgeries with his legs that someone told him that orthopedists is the “popular kids” or something like that. This person compared the doctors to football players and the nurses to cheerleaders. Everyone’s good-looking.

I completely concur with this statement. Orthopedists = Good Looking.   At least, my dealings with them. I first met Dr. Anderson when I was 17 when I tore my ACL. I completely had a huge crush on him!

I remember tweeting this picture a while back, before I tore my me meniscus  and posed the question that if Dr. Anderson did my knee surgery and he is touching Matthew Stafford, does that mean by extension, I am touching Matthew Stafford? Because I have a big crush on him too! Dr. Anderson has aged well by the way.

The second  orthopedist I met with was Dr. Frush  and he also goes along with what my brother said about orthopedists being good-looking:

Dr. Moore fits in with this statement as well:

I remember when Sean broke his arm  when he was eight and we had an appointment with an orthopedist, ( I don’t remember his name, otherwise I would completely have put a picture of him in here as well)  because I remember him being shockingly good-looking! I told my friend later that I was glad that I had just got my eyebrows waxed. 😂😂😂 But it IS completely true, all orthopedists are good-looking!

My “Checking Pen”

Friday, I had my return appointment with Dr. Moore to discuss my knee.   My Mom came by and when she came in to get me, she told me it was cold outside so she went into my front closet to get my coat. I haven’t left my house much nor have I worn my coat since it’s stopped being cold last school year. I put my coat on (with my Mom’s help) and noticed that there was something in the left breast pocket of my Northface,

I ran my fingers over the pocket and realized what it was. I kind of gasped a little bit as my mom pulled me backward in my chair out of my house. It wasn’t until I was halfway  to Dr. Moore’s office that I unzipped the pocket and pulled out what was in it. Yep!  It was my “checking pen.”

As my disease has progressed,  I have noticed that the type of pen you write with, makes a difference. I really liked using this pen! It glided really well  on the paper and it was purple! I used this pen to check papers from my kids and to write anything! I would use the pen until all of the ink ran out! I constantly would go to Staples to get new pens and I would request these specific pens on my Secret Santa list at work.

I think it was the last time I bought pens last year that I noticed this on the package:

No wonder I like it! I’m a lefty, therefore it’s great! I haven’t written with these pens since just before my surgery. It kind of made me sad because  I always have referred to them as my “checking pans.”   I don’t check papers anymore. This fact makes me sad. I put the pan back into the packet and zipped it up as we pulled into Dr. Moore’s office parking lot which is also Dr. Frush’s office.   I kind of knew what he was going to say because my knee still hurts.  Looks like it probably will be another “small incision” and the “tendon scrape.” My heart kind of hurt at holding my “checking pen” again and I was having a little bit of difficulty shaking that feeling off until it was time to discuss my knee.