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.

Chai

My house is freezing, yo!!! My Mom went to the local hardware store to get A new filter because it’s been a while since we changed it! It seems that a lot has been going on so changing my furnace filter falls to the wayside! I have heat now! I’m loving it!

Because it’s necessary to have heat, I am going with my second fall flavor of chapstick:

I chose Chai. It’s likable but I think I prefer Pumpkin Spice. I am not going to let any chapstick go to waste so maybe I’ll have to wait until next year to choose a flavor to buy.

#MyGirlL: How Can I Help?!

So, last night when my Mom was transferring me back into my wheelchair for the last time, my left leg sometimes will get caught between my leg rests and it hurts!

Here’s the thing, transferring can be extremely tricky seeing that my Mom and me are the same height! She can’t see you over my shoulder to see where my legs are. So she just pushes me into the chair and I have my arms around her neck and sometimes a yell out when it hurts!

So, she transferred me for the last time probably about 1:30 in the morning (DON’T judge us!) she had already put Leia’s bed Sean‘s room to go to sleep. (That’s where my Mom sleeps now) But when #MyGirlL heard me yell out in pain, she got out of her bed and ran to the doorway of the room to see what was going on in the hallway where my Mom was transferring me.

She looked expectantly at us as if to say, “How can I help?! I looked at her and chuckled. I said some thing like, “Ih baby, I am okay.” My mom kind of laughed too and how sweet it was that she came out to see what was going on. I think it’s crazy that I never knew that I would love a dog so much! Because #MyGirlL is so sweet!

Since 2009 Part 2: The Explanation

I recorded the Buccaneers and Rams game. I saw the final score on Sunday but I didn’t watch the game until yesterday. This morning I watched the Terry Bradshaw interview with Matthew Stafford. I’m going to put it here as a reference for you all if you did not see it:

I first became a Detroit Lions fan at this time:

This was a picture from Sean‘s first year playing peewee football for the Dearborn Lions. When I saw their first game, it was just a bunch of little kids pushing each other. I was a big football fan in high school and I knew all of the positions (because I was dating the quarterback) but it had been a while since I knew what the positions were. I couldn’t figure out watching the kids play so I started watching the Detroit Lions to get a better feel of the game. This was in 2009. The year that Matthew Stafford started playing for Detroit.

I really got into it because my son was playing so I needed to understand the game and I immediately had a super big crush on Matthew Stafford! I was extremely saddened when he was traded! The trade really put things into perspective for me and I didn’t know who my team would be after that. I don’t recognize any of the Lion’s players now which bothers me. I watched the first Rams game and saw the highlights from the second game. A programmed my DVR to record the box and rams.

Frankly, I’m a bit overwhelmed that my man won! I sent this text to Sean and two friends from high school.

Sean responded with these texts:

I knew it would be a good game but I needed to wait to watch it. I watched it yesterday and before I did, I saw tweets from GMFB because —#MSsucks! So I can no longer watch it live and live tweet them during the show but instead I will see the tweets later in the day. Before I watch the game, I saw this:

I remembered when Golden Tate said that Matthew Stafford was the best quarterback that he received passes from and that was after he had played with Russell Wilson! I knew that he had it in him! One friend from high school texted me this:



I have always liked Kurt Warner! To see this comparison kind of overwhelmed me and I texted it to my other friend. Here was his response to me :

This friend has known that I have loved Matthew Stafford the whole time and had tons of faith in him! To see it come to fruition it’s a bit overwhelming as well but also a little sad that he couldn’t do that for us here in Detroit!

Hits Differently Now

I texted Sean this morning when I woke up to tell him, “T-30.” Because 30 days from now, he will be 20 years old! I have to say that this seriously hits differently now!

When I was 20 years old, I had a four-month-old sitting on my lap (Sean) as my Parents sang me happy birthday. I told Sean about that and our 20 year old birthdays are going to be different.

I know the thing that hits differently now is that I have had this song in my head for a while:

I’ll tell you now that, ”Alive” is NOT a word I would use to describe myself now… but I have a movie to watch now.

Just Sayin’ 😂😂😂

I was gifted a handicapped accessible van a while ago and today, it died. My Mom is pretty upset about it but seeing that I am the one who insures it I’m not really upset. I don’t go any where anyway! She found out it had died when she tried to start it to go to a doctor’s appointment. She was able to call them and reschedule for a virtual appointment tomorrow.

I posted this memory on Facebook today:

I remember being really excited when I saw this post last year! I had NOT been teaching for a few years and I had not taught this lesson in over a decade since I taught seventh grade English. I was completely reminded of my “Apple Tasting” lesson.

This “Apple Tasting” lesson was born one fall when I rolled into my School leader’s Office and told him that, “I want to take my kids (students) to the apple orchard to get donuts.”He was messing with papers at his desk and when I said that to him, he didn’t even look up and just said, “Work it into your curriculum.“ I was so excited to hear that and I want to work to find a way to tie it into what I was teaching.

In sixth grade, the students at the time were taught a unit about, “Fantasy, tall tales, and legends“ (Or something like that because my friend taught sixth grade English and she told me about it) I chose to revisit that lesson in part by showing them the cartoon I remember seeing when I was a kid about Johnny Appleseed. I tied an adjective lesson into it by having my students describe different types of apples.

I would get them from Westborn fruit market and they were beautiful! I would get about eight different kinds to have them describe The different taste of each apple. I loved this lesson because so many of my kids did not know there were so many different types of apples. And they got to eat a piece of fruit and then they talked with their table and I would have volunteers call out their best adjective that their group came up with.

It was like a five day lesson that culminated with a trip to the airport sure where, YOU GUESSED IT, donuts! And I also was able to get some cider as well!

I think it is fortuitous that that memory showed up on Facebook today and the exact day that my handicapped accessible van died. Looks like I will need someone to bring me some donuts and cider from an apple orchard! I like the cinnamon/sugar donuts and the sugared almonds are my favorite! I think that would be a great drink to have while I watch Hocus Pocus!

just sayin’! 😂😂😂

“Not my Girl!”

I have written before about the fact that I live in my memories most of the time now! I am only saying that because last night when I was almost asleep, I had one of those memories! Really, it was about 2 o’clock this morning when I was falling to sleep.

At that time, I was just about asleep. My house was silent because I think that my Mom was already asleep. And was completely black except for the light shining through my window and through my blind.

I thought of this memory as I was just at the edge of sleep and I began to laugh out loud! Kind of for a while:

I asked my Mom the specifics about this memory but they are a little hazy because it’s from 20 years ago. I am not sure if I was pregnant or I already had Sean but my brother, Jimmy, came Over and I think my Dad had to be in the hospital and Sean was asleep? Either way, Jimmy, my Mom, and I were watching a documentary on the psychological differences between boys and girls.

A doctor or someone put it like this, “Girls, will stab you in the back. But boys will punch you in the face.“

I remember all three of us sitting there in silence for a moment and after a pregnant pause, my Mom said, ”NOT my girl!” After a moment, we all laughed and I added, “ “i’ll stab you in the face!“ which made my Mom and Jimmy laugh even harder!

I am sure that I have shared this memory before somewhere on my blog but I can’t find it now! Eight years of blogging is really adding up! For me, it was worth sharing because it delayed my falling to sleep because I was laughing too much, by myself, right as in the silence of my house!

MyGirlL: Leia to the Rescue!

We got Leia when she was six months old. She had already been housetrained and was a on a pretty good sleep schedule! Overtime, my Mom would put her in Sean‘s room at about 8:30 and she would sleep for the night. I witnessed her running out of Sean‘s room when she heard my mom open the freezer. We had just started getting green beans so that sound made her think she was going to get some! I remember sitting where I normally do in front of the TV and I heard her and saw her run to the kitchen! My Mom wasn’t getting something out of the freezer so she went back to bed.

Last night, she did not hear us struggle in the hallway but it was when my mom was transferring me to my bed for the night. We have this pretty much down to a science to get me out of my chair and then to my bed by now! But, my knees were not lacking so high groaned a little bit.

My Mom and I are the same height and the tone in my legs allows me to stand when she pulls me out of my chair. We just hug until I am set to get pushed into Ben. But, last night, my knees were not lacking and it was difficult so we struggled. I saw over my mom shoulder Leah book it out of Sean‘s room and she came to help us!

I saw Leia coming and I told my mom but she was able to get me into Ben. My Mom told me that when she came into my Mom, she put her little paws on the end of my bed. My mom laughed and kissed her head and thanked her for for her help and told her to go back to bed!

When she heard a struggle, she came to help! We really wish she could help! It was Leia to the rescue! She is so cute!

Cider Mill DELICIOUSNESS

With a dead accessible van, my Mom did the next best thing for me! She bought Simply Apple (which tastes like cider when it is heated up) and old-fashioned donuts.I had some yesterday when I watched Hocus Pocus:

Well, I put my wishes out in the universe and today my wish was granted! My mom talked on the phone with my nephew yesterday and he went to the Cidermill today with his girlfriend. They brought cider and donuts to us:

By now, you all know that I am like Homer Simpson when I comes to donuts, especially Cidermill donuts! So, I had to partake today as well! It’s a good thing that I am more lax in my diet this close to the end of the year!

Still NO Answer

I have been on Twitter for a little bit about 7 1/2 years. I received this alert from this post that I posted on the seventh:

The stats are up from this post:

So I’m getting all of this traffic but there is still NO answer! It would be easiest if I figure out how to put a, “Follow” Button on the first page of my blog but I’m still hovering around 3700 followers. It would just be easier if I just got that answer!