Category: Random Newness

Thoughts on “Donna” -or- Gratitude

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Photo taken from thelumineers.com and you can click on this text to take you to their site.

Sometimes it’s neither the words, nor how they are said, but how many.

My mom couldn’t braid hair, so I never wore them.

Haven’t we all lost our wallet? I hate it when that happens.

My daughter is far from ordinary and my son was born in December, not February. I couldn’t hold him once, and that was frightening.*  Now they both live over a thousand miles away.

I’ve never met anyone named Junior, and I’m pretty sure that my husband loves bicycles and dogs more than computers. As my father always told me, parents are amateurs… that’s a deep thought, meditate on that for a while.

Nobody should be judging strangers’ karma, their souls, their clothes, or cars, none of it. And seriously? Trucks have always made me a bit nervous on the many cross-country drives I’ve been able to take.

Sometimes, we all need help getting to bed, don’t we?

I dearly hope that people will say that I’ve raised not just one, but two saints. That is, after they’ve had a long time to brighten the lives of countless people, as they do mine.

I’ve always liked my name.

I am utterly thankful for what I call my uneventful life. Take care of those who need help, because we all need help in one way or another.

Thanks for reading, Donna

Click here for a link to the lyrics to the song Donna by the Lumineers

*I nearly dropped my son once- a virus affected my muscles. All of them. At 3:00 in the morning I woke my husband to tell him I was driving myself to the ER because it’s pretty frightening to not be able to hold your infant when he needs to eat. For a couple days after I just sat in one spot on the floor during the day and had my daughter run back and forth to fetch things that we needed… we kind of made a game out of our camp out in the family room.

Solar Eclipse 2017- Shadows and Light in the Park

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Spots of light that I see on my floor every day became more interesting this Monday morning.

 

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So did all the usual shadows in the park.

 

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Look at these perfect crescents!

 

 

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And these!
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Great view of a park with all the spots of dappled sunlight becoming pinhole camera viewers.

 

 

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The Boy had his first day of school, but the students were able to get out to see the eclipse. He snapped a neat photo on his teacher’s camera. The Husband had to watch it all online since he was in meetings. Hands down, The Girl won. She planned her return drive to college via the eclipse’s path of totality- she won’t forget this anytime soon!

 

 

And one more:

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Everything Old is New Again- Music

The local news had me stop in my tracks this morning- not for a shocking headline but for the sound of a new song. The music chosen to play into the commercial break was fabulous! I opened Spotify on my phone, and identified these fabulous musicians: Mariachi El Bronx. Not new, but new to me.

Here is Sleepwalking by Mariachi El Bronx

Their sound was so familiar but I couldn’t place why. An online search delivered a mix of options that finally made sense after I read an article from 2009 by The Guardian: “The Bronx- How Punk Rock Went Mariachi.” In a nutshell, if you grow up next door to David Hildago of Los Lobos and two of his kids are your best friends, fabulous music just may happen and multiple bands can be formed.

Here’s Mariachi El Bronx performing live for Seattle’s KXEP radio station-

It’s too bad that I missed them playing at The Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach this May. But, guess who is playing the San Diego Fair tonight? One of my all time favorites: Los Lobos.

Branching Out is Back… with a PSA: Get Yourself a Shingles Vaccine

There are too many new things out there that I want to try, from recipes and restaurants to tourist spots and theatrical shows. Guess I’m going to have to continue my adventures of the new and novel into 2016!

Let’s begin this year with a GREAT tip on a new experience that I recommend you DON’T try: Shingles. This is not fun. Luckily, it’s a super mild case that is only annoyingly itchy and stings a bit… and on my leg- NOT my face (dangerous!), NOT horridly painful (thanks be to GOD). Did I mention how lucky I know that I am? And thankful??

What’s Important to Know

  • If you suspect your bug bite is not, in fact, a bug bite (like I did), see your doctor right away- shingles symptoms and duration can be lessened with anti-viral medications (I waited five days… dummy).
  • Wondering if any topical sprays or ointments help with the pain? I did too, here’s what I found than helped… only one thing- Solarcaine Aloe Extra Burn Relief Spray, or it’s Generic Store Brand Version. I think it is the pain reliever “Lidocaine” that is what makes it help.
  • Shingles aren’t exactly contagious, but if someone who has never had chicken pox comes into contact with the blisters on an active shingles outbreak, it can cause them to contract chicken pox. Talk to your doc to know for sure!
  • Friends are saying that they know kids as young as two-year-olds who have had shingles, as well as others in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s. Just because the commercials show retirees talking about the shingles vaccine doesn’t mean that they have cornered the market on this painful condition.
  • I still don’t understand if I can get another outbreak of shingles… some websites say yes, others say no… I’m going to ask my doc if she will let me get the vaccine early (I’m not quite 49 and the recommended minimum age is 60).
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The ONLY spray or ointment that helped with the pain is this one with Lidocaine.
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None of these topical treatments helped with the itch and pain EXCEPT the spray on the left- CVS’s generic version of Solarcaine Aloe Extra Burn Relief

So, here’s your Public Service Announcement: ask your doctor about whether or not a shingles vaccine is right for you. Really really REALLY.

 

 

 

 

 

The Force Awakens… Thirty-Eight-Year-Old Memories

 

When I was ten, my brother and I went to the movies to see the first Star Wars. We weren’t big theater-goers in our family, so this was a great treat. We were completely blown away, having never seen anything like that before on the big screen. Plus, I was only ten and hadn’t racked up too many “wow” moments… so relatively speaking, this was definitely a wow-able moment.

I’ll never forget a couple years later, sitting with junior high friends at lunch while a friend mentioned that there were two more Star Wars movies coming out! I can’t speak for the average kid, but this was huge news to the super-awkward completely clueless types like me. She probably didn’t realize how big a deal it was to tell us that (spoiler here, people) not only was Darth Vader Luke Skywalker’s father, but Leia is his sister. Put this into perspective- 1979 was a dark time for the casual fan- with no constant barrage of trivial information available to us via the intertubes. Either you read original Star Wars books or you had inside information. And when pressed, this pretty humble lunch mate admitted to us how she had such awesome inside info… Mark Hamill was a family friend. Luke Skywalker was her source. Talk about instant Cool Points!

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(from PopCultcha.com)

I still don’t go to the movies very often. Thirty-Eight years later… can you imagine how much fun it was to sit in the movie theater with not only The Husband, but The Boy, The Girl, and The Boyfriend and watch another big screen Star Wars movie?

It was All That And A Tub of Popcorn.