The "Two Dozen Ears of Corn Frozen for Future Tastiness!!"

iPod shuffled to Vanessa Williams, "Dreamin'". I've always been a fan. Just sayin'.  Babyface and LA Reid had the opportunity to produce her.  The choose Pebbles instead. I'd say that worked out well for Vanessa. ;-)  

Yesterday was a cut and cook-a-palooza.  Brian shucked and sliced the kernels off the corn. Then we tried making a greek pasta salad. Cucumber, tomato, red pepper, red onion, rotini, Kalamata olives, feta cheese. Dressing was red wine vinegar, olive oil, chopped garlic, oregano, salt and pepper.  Chill and serve. Yes and yum. Brian is a great sous chef. His cutting and slicing skills are great. That's what happens when you watch cooking shows. Lol. We are alo considering taking a knife skills class at Holiday Market in Royal Oak. 

I belong to a dialysis group on Facebook. It's quite eye opening. Members include dialysis patients, caregivers, post-transplant members, and assorted medical people, including techs and RNs.  Aretha Franklin, "Runnin' Out of Fool". I read somewhere about Aretha singing about fools early on.  It was true!!  Do you know other of her "fool" songs?  Some of the stories and experiences of the group are heartbreaking. Like the guy in another country who has dialysis on an infrequent basis.  He'd missed treatment for 2 weeks. :-(  He detailed his symptoms. He was dying.  Another member is having crazy complications from peritoneal dialysis.  The number of 20 something's is staggering.  :-(  People whose bodies are degenerating from ESRD.  Lots of scared people.  There is also the parents of a baby, a BABY, who needs dialysis. :-(   

The group is not all doom and gloom. People share information.  People share good experiences. They encourage people to advocate for themselves. We support each other. Compare treatments, ask about meds, ask about anything.  Some give cautionary information about diet or meds,what to expect  on medical tests or even on the transplant procedure. It's been educational to me and scary at times. However, it's also underscored to, how I want to live my life. I am dying (my family hates to hear that).  I am, no doubt , better than I was a year ago.  But I have a fake kidney that is nowhere as efficient as the two I was born with. If I don't keep a balance of certain minerals, organs will fail. Too much potassium affects the heart. Too much phosphorus affects  bones and the heart.  I take pills to keep everything in check. 

Ok, ok. I'm not trying to die in the near future. :-).  I'm moving to Vegas to be with Dad. He's getting pushy about it. Lol. I need to see Shawn get her PhD. There are places I want to go. I want a kidney transplant. Lol. I want to have lunch with Carmen. I want some of Belinda's German chocolate cake.  I want to see Tony play his bass.  I want to hang out with Shirley, Gary and Deanna. I want to go to more Perry family reunions. Lol. I want to go to Yellow Springs. I want hit the 50th anniversary with Brian. <3. 

Have a great holiday weekend. Yes, I have treatment on Monday. It's all good. :). Signing off with Lakeside, "Fantastic Voyage".  "..come and ride on the funk, y'all... ". :-D

The "I Attended The 20th Anniversary March in Washington", edition.

iPod shuffled to Kool and the Gang, "Summer Madness".  U of M freshman year. This is how Kool and the Gang are supposed to sound. I hated the turn they took with JT Taylor.  However, it certainly made them mainstream. So yeah, I was in Washington DC in the summer of 1983. I had just finished and internship with the government at the David W Taylor Naval Research and Development Center in Potomac, Maryland. ( mouthful, wasn't it? ).  I was offered a job when the internship was completed.  The people who participated in the program went back to their homes, except a few of us.

My friend Mike and I decided to attend the 20th anniversary March.  Now bear with me, this 30 years ago. I remember some stuff and forget some stuff. I'll say Mike was a White guy, but I don't think it's important. We were friends. :).  I lived in Alexandria, he. Lived in Gaithersburg.  Since I was the one with the car, I went to get him, and the drove into DC to find a parking space.  I think I parked near the train station. Parking was free back then!  

We walked to the mall. I'd never seen so many people in one place in my life. People were in trees.  People were perched on street lights (!).  I recall we tried to get as close to the speakers as possible. I recall skirting around the Reflecting Pool. I recall the crowd getting denser and denser as we pressed forward.  We got to the point where we could go no further. We still couldn't hear the speakers. About this time I started felling faint. :-(   Mike let those know around me that I was having a problem.  Well guess what happened?  The crowd lifted me up and passed me up over their heads to the first aid area!!!  Mike was right there with me. Rofl. The first aid area was right next to the stage.  I got some water and cold compresses...and we were able to hear the speeches. "Just Gets Better With Time", The Whispers.  On the album, "Greatest Slow Jams".  Yep. :-)   I wish I remembered more. But I was there and I think that in of itself was important. 

On a side note, but a tie in with The Mall.  Shawn was attending Howard when President Obama was elected and inaugurated. She applied to volunteer for some inauguration activities. She was accepted and given super secret squirrel security clearance (!!!!). She ended up at the kids concert, in close proximity to the First Lady and the daughters (!!). She and her friends also walked from campus to the inauguration. The students from the north were dressed for the weather.  The ones from the south didn't understand cold. Lol. Look, the walk from Howard to the Capital is no joke, and the crowd was massive. The kids had to navigate  lines for the inauguration or the parade. The crowds and weather won. They went back to campus and watched the rest on TV. They get massive points for trying <3. 

Lol, this entry is not quite what I planned, but here we are. I'll give a dialysis tie in. Actually I got nothing that relates to the stories, but I'll give you this. I got a pedicure yesterday, and fell asleep in the chair waiting for my toes to dry.  Yet I can't fall asleep in my heated recliner at dialysis?  What's that about?  Lol.  Also, I don't know if it'll be shown again, but PBS had a great documentary, "The March". It was about the planning and behind the scenes activities of the original march with Martin Luther King.  We were kids in 1963. I learned a lot.  Have a great Wednesday.  Signing off with "Cool Jerk", The Capitols. Admit it, you know the lyrics. "...aw, deep down inside they know I'm cool.."  

The "Sirius XM Is Playing Songs We Forgot About", edition.

iPod shuffled to "Te Lo Agradezco, Pero No", Alejandro Sanz and Shakira. Lol. Spell checker doesn't like Spanish. I try hard to limit my fluid intake, but water is just so damn good. ;-)  Before this kidney nonsense, I drank at least 8 glasses a day. Now I not only have to watch the water, coffee, juice and lemonade, I have to factor in grapes, cantaloupe and watermelon, glorious watermelon. And of course I was that person who liked salt on my watermelon.  40 ounces of fluid a day. Fun fact!!! Most people on dialysis don't pee. I thought because I was ( and still am ) peeing, my kidneys would recover. Well that's not true. My urine runs clear..it is not getting rid of toxins, just some excess fluid. Bah. Lol. Now you know why we can sit in a chair for 3-4 hours without bathroom breaks.

Rachelle Farrell, " With Open Arms". Shawn thought she was "just ok". Sacrilege, I tell you!! Rachelle is more than just "ok". We were talking about artists who do vocal gymnastics.  Rachelle wasn't gymnastic-y enough for my kid.  I say she is the only who can get away with it. ;-)

So generational differences.  Shawn got Internet access only.  She saw no need for cable. She uses Netflix and will catch TV show on the Internet. Of our course that generation does not use landlines.  When we moved into our dorms and apartments, we had killer stereo systems. (We still have the one we to when we got married...3 foot speakers, turntable, CD player,..sitting in the basement collecting dust). She uses her computer with teeny tiny, but powerful, speakers, or uses her phone with earbuds.   The TV is for Xbox or Playstation. Lol. I had a 13 inch black and white for the longest.  Now a 19 inch flat screen seems tiny. Rofl.  She  plugs the phone, iPod, MP3 player into the car.  She may listen to Sirius XM.    

While setting up stuff in the apartment....oh tangent. The rental company left 2 bottles of water in the refrigerator and a roll of toilet paper in the bathroom. :)  Even though there light bulbs in the fixtures, the living room did not have a light fixture, so lamps were a priority purchase. "Looking Though the Windows",  Jackson 5. I had to school Brian on the Jackson 5 vs The Jackson's. Sigh, talk about disappointment. Better late than never, I suppose. Of course there is a difference.  Sheesh!!! Lol.  Anyway,  my iPad was the entertainment center during furniture assembly. My play list was exposed!!!  The horror!!!  On the flip side, they were held hostage by the music I like. {evil grin}. Bwahaha ;-D

There some others moving into the complex. Complex may be misleading. Two 3 story buildings. At one point someone was hammering in tandem with Shawn...the mating call of furniture assembly. The giant refuse containers outside were filled with boxes of the same Target futon. Lol.  She has free parking, with an assigned space...more on the differences between UIUC and UMich later. Any furniture assembly was basically done by late Friday. It was coming together.   

Signing off with "I Don't Need It", Jamie Foxx. Lol, I can barely type from chair dancing. Lol. Enjoy your day. :-)

The "The Neighbors Are Pretty Cool, edition"

iPod shuffled "No Diggity", Blackstreet.  Teddy Riley and Dr. Dre. Again, Teddy can put together a group.  Yeah, so someone attempted to steal the tires off the Explorer.  The next door neighbor called the police, who responded within 60 seconds. As best as I figure it happened between 5:30 AM and 6:00 AM. Also the neighbor next to the neighbor was outside and aware of something, as well as the neighbor the other side of us. Early risers!!   Had it been a dialysis day, we'd been up at 5:00 AM. Ironically, up until quite recently, I had problems sleeping through the night. *sigh*.  Anyway, Brian, Jade and I slept through doorbells and the banging of the doors. :-(

Two tires on the passenger side were leaning against the neighbor's house, along with the lug nuts. The car was still on the jack. The neighbors and the police spooked the thieves . They left their van (full of tires) as they ran off. The police confiscated the van. A few years ago Brian heard a noise in the driveway.  Someone was trying to get the tires off the Edge. And several years before , the tires were stolen off my Taurus.  ;-(  They always mess with the 1st car in the driveway, so you can't get the other cars out. Anyway we're ok.  I'm less spooked now, but really just pissed off. The Detroit Police Department was stellar (yes I'm biased to DPD for any number of reasons). The neighbors, even some from the next street over were concerned and all are watchful.  The problem is some of the citizenry.  /rant off.  It's time to move. 

So as I mock Champaign/Urbana, I'm glad Shawn is there. I worry about her (after all I'm Mom). She has big city smarts, but C/U has a lower percentage of crime. They publish the city's crime blotter. Lol.  

Back to moving Shawn in.  "Check It Out", The Tavares. Lol. I needed this song to calm me down. :-).  We'd got the furniture, now we had to get stuff.  Stuff for the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom.  Also it was day 2 of furniture assembly, table and chairs. They started the dresser, but a crapload of parts came out of the box. That'll wait until Friday. Lol. 

I had dialysis Friday. Oh yeah. At dialysis on Detroit on Monday, my right eye was red and my blood pressure was elevated and stayed elevated. This is out of the norm for me. The tech and different layers of nurses were concerned.  They all were strongly hinting I needed to go see the doctor NOW.  I pushed back.  The red eye thing happens...rarely, but that didn't concern me. The high blood pressure, yeah that bothered me.  Still, I had things to do.  The charge nurse called my nephrologist. He knew I was going out of town. He had the nurse call the center in Illinois and told them to not administer the Heparin.  Yes, I know what's going in me and why. I was there when the call was made.   When I arrived, I reiterated the instructions.  Lol. The nurse my nurse talked to (read threatened) was the one who managed my care. My blood pressure still spiked on Wednesday, but normalized by Friday and eye was considerably better.

Long story, huh?  Signing of with Michael Jackson, "I Can't Help It", written by Stevie Wonder. You should check it out. It sounds like a Stevie song.  Anyway, it on the "Off The Wall" album. Have a good weekend.  I'm going to go find some vegetables.  I've frozen my 1st batch of corn and am cooking green beans as I find them. :)

The "I Like My Dialysis Center Better Than Yours", edition.

iPod shuffled to The Detroit Emeralds, "Feel the Need".  Detroit Emeralds....from Arkansas. Lol. Anyway, I was a big fan in Jr High.  Does anyone remember the group, The Posse, around 1969?  And it's not really my iPod..I let the batteries run out.  However, thanks to the cloud, the iPad stands in just fine.

So we're in Champaign, Illinois. Yes, the university is (long breath), The University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Also known as UIUC. It is a Big Ten University, and a Land Grant University, like Michigan State University. The two cities are adjacent, with Champaign being the largest, population about 82,000.  Urbana, population about 42k. UIUC student population, 32k. It even has a suburb, Savoy.  Lol.  Still, there's a lot of corn. And thanks to some friends, I now know we were seeing field corn. We were on the right track, being pretty sure we were looking at corporate farms which supplied corn for processed foods, but still...no sweet corn?  Illinois feeds America...I guess. 

Our job was to move Shawn in and furnish an apartment.  It would have cost about $4,000.00 to use a transport company to move her furniture. *sigh*. And none of us wanted to drive a U-Haul 385 miles.  :-(   Michel'le, "Something in My Heart".  After disappearing, she's now on R&B Divas LA. I've meant to watch the show, but I just can't make myself. Lol   The original plan was to do Ikea, but delivery was from the Chicago area, every other Wednesday (This underscores UIUC being in the middle cornfields), at an additional cost AND we'd have to assemble everything. Time for plan B. Target and Walmart for the win!!!  The bed and mattress came from a local store. We ordered the bed and mattress on Wednesday...delivery wasn't until Sunday!!  Heh, Back to School took on an entirely different meaning in Champaign Urbana.  Lol. The stores were welcoming the UIUC students.  Lots of students getting furniture and necessities were seen every time we hit up the stores (and a gaggle of farmers..but that's a story for another day {wink}). 

I dialyzed Wednesday and Friday at the Illini Dialysis Center. Ok. My center has 42 chairs, this one had 11.  As always, they were waiting for me.  Everything went fine. They even called me to come in early on Friday. See, I dialyzed Monday at home.  We left on Tuesday because dialysis days are hit and miss on how I feel, plus the keys to the apartment were available on Tuesday.  Dialyzing in Urbana was a nonevent. Wednesday, Shawn and Brian unloaded the cars and scoped out Target while I was in center.  After treatment we went and started the shopping.  We purchased a desk, bookcase, drawer microwave cart and a futon.  I suggested they start with the futon. Mommy needed a place to sit and manage. ;-)  And yeah, Daddy got Shawn a tool kit before we left town. Ask me how well Shawn uses tools (of course I even have a story for that-lol).  Let the assembly begin!!!

Signing off with "Grapevyne", Brownstone.  Yes I have hundreds of songs, I have no idea why some repeat more than others, but I'm not complaining when it's songs that I like. :)

The "My Big City Child Now Lives in a Little City - lol", edition

iPod shuffled to The Stylistics, "People Make The World Go Round".  Lol. Where are the Stylistics. All I hear is Russell Thompkins, not that I'm complaining. His voice is so smooth.  Well, my child is officially grown....or something.  We spent the last week moving her to her new home. {smile....cry}.

We left Tuesday morning around 9:30 AM. I thought it was a 6 hour drive, but I didn't account for the change to central time zone (d'oh!). It is 7 hours, if we don't stop to eat. But we stop to eat. 2 cars, 3 drivers. 1st leg, I drove the Explorer, Shawn drove her Focus, with Dad as passenger. The longest Shawn had driven was to Lansing and back. (Pat = over protective mom). We switched out a little past Battle Creek.  2nd leg, I'm still driving, but gain Shawn as my passenger, Brian gets the Focus (hehe). Driving through Indiana/Chicago was a non-event, just a LOT of trucks. Stevie Wonder, "Superwoman".  Relaxing song. :)  The 3rd leg is just south of Chicago, Brian driving Pat in the Explorer (did you see what I did there?), and Shawn solo in her Focus. Champaign-Urbana is about 2 hours south of Chicago. 

Once we were going south on I-57, we were treated to corporate corn and soybean farms....for as far as you could see.  No trees, maybe a house in the distance.  Definitely big silos and trains with dozens of grain cars, but corn...corn..corn fields all the way to the horizon. Corn.  Lol.  Shawn's professor from Wayne State did a Google Earth satelite view of Champaign/Urbana. Notice all the green surrounding the cities (population of the to combined is appoximately 100,000). That green is corn fields...with some soybean fields tossed in.  I've included some photos for ya'. 

We arrive around 4:30...or was it 5:30?  Depends on the time zone. Lol. We check into the hotel, drop of the luggage and race off to the Walmart in Urbana.  So yeah, the store was in the middle of a corn field. Lol. What tickled me more was the bus stop with the corn field just across the street. Shawn says that Walmart is bigger.  We scope out what to get and price check. You know, my kid was the anti-Walmart person, until now, that we needed to stay within a budget. Lol. Anyway, we had a list, made a plan for the next day.  We went to dinner, checked to see where I'd have my dialysis treatment was located (just north of campus).  For disclosure purposes, we can go from one end of town to the other in about 20 minutes. Lol lol.  That being said, there were 2 Walmarts, a mall with Macy's, Penney's, and Sears. They also have a fabulous public transportation system. 

Signing off with "Always and Forever", Heatwave.  The classic sing along song, no matter if you can carry a tune or not. Lol. Enjoy your Monday. :-)

The "My Smart Phone is Smarter Than Me", edition.

  iPod shuffled to Ventura Highway, "America". 1972. WDRQ anyone?  I was feeling pretty funky on Monday. Felt better when I woke up on Tuesday.  Actually I felt great. Doing pretty good today. :-)

My smart phone is really smart. It's an Android Galaxy. This is my 2nd one. The 1st one had a keyboard. This one doesn't. I liked the key board feature. When it was time to get a new phone, I was given the option of getting the newest Galaxy or an iPhone 4.  I already knew how to use the Android and wasn't interested in learning the iPhone. Heh, the new Android had some pretty major differences from the one I had. Still, I like my Android, but sometimes I think it's laughing at me. 

In spite of what I just said, I cannot function without my phone. That statement amazes me and unnerves me. The phone is my alarm clock, my calendar, my shopping list, my record of my medications, my phone book, a camera, my weather forecaster, my source of news, my clock (I stopped wearing a watch), airline flight tracker, receives my email, a calculator, tracks food for my renal diet (there's an app for that), a flashlight, a magnifying glass, a mirror, a cookbook, a GPS, a dictionary, a thesaurus and a phone.  Its also my lifeline to the transplant coordinator. And yes, I left out some apps I have loaded. And yes, I DON'T have Facebook on my phone. All that being said, I don't come close to how my kid uses a smart phone. Lol. Heh. I was in Starbucks the other day. Everyone in front of me presented their phone to pay!!!  I have no idea how that even works.  Lol 

My dad wanted a smart phone. He went to a Sprint store and got overwhelmed. He called me back and said he'd wait until I come out to help. :).  "Ready or Not", After 7".  I love Kevon Edmonds voice. It is so smooth.  I had to tell Dad to keep his cell phone on. He'd call me and the turn it off. I couldn't return his calls. :-/    Lol.   Mom some how found redial.  I'd have 10-15 call logs of her calling me. I guess she thought I'd pick up eventually.  But hey, they tried. :-)

Since I've had ESRD, my phone is with me all the time. My doctors (yes, doctors), the transplant, my dialysis center, my dad, husband, child friends and relatives contact me via this portable phone. 20 years ago I would have never even considered this possibility.   What's next?  

Signing off with "Give Up The Funk (Tear the Roof of the Sucker", Parliament. Hey, did you hear the Smithsonian Museum of African American History acquired The Mothership!  Time  to visit. :). Have a wonderful day.