Life’s Little Moments

It seems like it’s been a while since I posted a non-music/personal blog. Believe me, it is not because of a lack of things going on! It seems like my wife and I have been on the go constantly with the craziness of every day life. So here is a brief update:

Happy Anniversary!

It certainly does not feel like it has been seven years, but who am I to question WordPress? Today marks 7 years of blogging on this platform for me.

This blog has been such an important part of my life the last 7 years. Those who have been with me from the beginning know that it started as my place to vent. Then I began sharing memories that I wanted to document before I couldn’t remember them anymore. Then I began to sprinkle in music, movies and entertainment themed pieces. Over time, I added features and that sort of brings us to where this blog is today.

This blog began shortly before I got remarried. The story of our courtship, proposal and wedding are chronicled here. The roads that led to the excitement and wonder of the birth of our two children are also well documented. Highlights from the last 7 years are here for future reference. The blogs here hold answers to questions my kids might have. These are for the future, just in case I am not around to share them.

I am so grateful to have this place in the Blog-o-verse/Blog-o-sphere to share things. I am happy to have connected with wonderful people – LIKE YOU – who interact with me, share your stories and offer encouragement. Thank you!

Kid Stuff

The entire country is experiencing the cold weather and many places are seeing snow for the first time in ages. I was surprised to see the snow on Pensacola Beach! There were plenty of snowy photos from my friends in the southern states on Facebook.

The cold temperatures canceled the entire week of school for my daughter. She loves school, so she was sad to miss. However, it did allow her and my son to join my wife and her mom at the local Children’s Museum. They had a blast spending the day there. She told me all about it when I got home.

They had a dress up area and a “carriage” that she got to ride in. All princesses need a carriage, right?

We have been waiting to get my son in for his CPAP sleep study. Our lab has been so busy that their first available appointment was in February. The problem is, we wanted it done before his appointment with the sleep neurologist next week. Thankfully, I heard that we had a couple cancellations this week. I called my wife and asked if she could come in that night with him. She was at Dance rehearsal with my daughter. So we made some arrangements and were able to get him in.

He wore CPAP for a short while when he was about 2 years old. He has since had adenoids removed and tonsils shaved. There is still apnea, so we thought it best to try the PAP route again.

Side Note: As a sleep technologist, I can tell you that there are plenty of adults who have trouble with CPAP. When people hear that my son (or any child) is on CPAP, they wonder how they do it! I think my son is a bit more prepared as I wear CPAP and my mask every night. He thinks he’s gonna be cool like dad with his mask.

This time around it was a bit more difficult for him. He was waking up WAY more than he did before. It was strange, because he has done it before. This time, however, he comes in with a diagnosis of Restless Leg Syndrome/Periodic Limb Movement Disorder. His arms and legs seem to move constantly!

Midway through the study, the tech asked my wife if this was what he did at home. In conversation, she happened to mention that his breathing looked shallow and wanted to know about any respiratory weakness. My wife said that he was working on core muscles in physical therapy. That was all the tech needed to know.

She returned to the tech room and adjusted the settings to ones we use for people with neuromuscular weakness. With a couple tweaks of the setting, my son settled and slept! Now all we have to do is wait for the doc to finalize the results. When finished, they will send over the script for the new machine. With that, my wife and I may actually sleep at night!

He was SO tired here!

Numb

You may recall that I have been suffering with numbness in my hands since the weekend after Christmas. At one point there was swelling, too. After a visit to my PCP, I was given a referral to another doctor in hopes of getting answers. This might include getting an EMG done.

I scheduled that appointment and it is finally happening next week. The problem I am having is that the numbness in my right hand is almost gone. Now there is just pain in the finger tips. My left had still has numbness mainly in the fingers. The pain and numbness is worse when I get up for the day. As much as I wish it would go away completely, I hope it is still there when I visit the doctor.

Favorite Childhood Book

I will begin posting the contributions from other bloggers for Share Your Nostalgia Part 2 the first week of February. It isn’t too late if you want to take part. The topic is to write about your favorite book from your childhood. It could be one your parents read you or the first book you checked out of the library. It could be one that you read to your children as they grew up. If interested, drop me a note at: nostalgicitalian@yahoo.com

Time Off – But Not For Fun

I am hoping to work ahead on the blog. At the end of February and early March I am taking time off work. My wife is having some surgery and I will need to be home with her. She’s not going to be able to do much, and I will have to play referee to the kids. She’ll be in a lot of pain, and so I need to be there with her. I’d appreciate if you would keep her in your thoughts.

I will try to post updates as I am able during that time.

Thanks so much for reading!

Cast the Movie of Your Life

The Word Press App on my phone will offer a daily writing prompt to bloggers. I subscribe to a few “prompt” emails and such, and they can certainly be thought starters. Today’s prompt was one I had considered before and I may have even been asked a similar question by a Facebook friend. The prompt:

They are making a movie about your life. Cast it. (Keith adds – with any actors living or dead)

My thoughts on this are to jot down what comes to mind immediately for some (not all) of my family, and a few friends (other friends may request I suggest an actor/actress for them if they really want me to). I will then continue to ponder the question and see if, after thinking it over, I would change any of my choices.

Dom Deluise – No Brainer. This has always been my answer to this question!

My wife, Sam –

This was tough. I tried to think of who might look like her and carry herself like Sam. Toss up between Charlize Theron and Olivia Wilde.

My Dad

I’m not sure there would be any better than Jackie Gleason to play my dad

My Mom

Who in the world could play my mom? Tough question and still not really sure, but I forced myself to pick someone. At times, Cathy Bates’ facial expressions remind me of her, so for now – that’ my pick.

My Brother – Chris

Really difficult pick. So just because it will either make him laugh (and he needs that, because he is recovering from Covid) or it will make him mad… William Shatner (Because I wanted to post this stupid picture!)

My Grandma and Grandpa P

Estelle Getty on Golden Girls WAS my grandma! I always felt Abe Vigoda looked like my grandpa, so there ya go.

My Grandma and Grandpa D.

I have always felt like at times, Betty White reminded me of my grandma. My grandpa was tall, a bit heavy, and always smiling. John Goodman reminds me of him.

My best friend, Jeff

Another no brainer. I’ve said for years that he reminds me of Robin Williams.

My friend Steve K.

Steve always has some sort of crazy fact that seems unbelievable to tell. So, he would be John Ratzenberger – but John Ratzenberger AS Cliff Claven from Cheers.

My friend Joe K.

Joe is probably one of the smartest guys I know. At first, I couldn’t get Jeff Goldblum out of my head, and then I though Rainn Wilson is a bit more “Joe” to me.

My friend Steve M.

Steve and I wear our hair the same. My first choice was Vin Diesel, but then I though Michael Chiklis looked more like him (and he played Curly in a Three Stooges movie, so he wins).

My friend Margaret M.

She’s Italian. She’s fiesty. She is strong. She is an expert at inserting profanity into conversation. Without a doubt – Marisa Tomei.

My friend, Chris B,

Tall and funny = Conan O’Brien

Uh …… I’m Stumped

Now, as far as my kids …. I’m just not sure. My older boys (Dante’ and Dimitri) have personalities that are very established. Ella does in a sense as well. Andrew is just a smiling happy baby. How do I begin to pick who will play them? I just don’t know….

It’s my blog and my rules. Let me think a bit on this ….

If I left you out …. and you want me to think about who will play you – let me know. In the meantime ….

Go ahead and cast YOUR life. Who would play YOU?

100

Sometimes I feel like I repeat myself in my blogs. If I do, I apologize. In all honesty, sometimes I forget if I have mentioned something in a previous blog. I have been meaning to hook up with my friend and fellow blogger, Max, to learn how to index the content that I have already published. I guess I should do that sooner than later. So pardon me if I have said this before.

When I started this blog, I did it primarily for me. It was a place for me to (1) write about the things I was dealing with in my life (2) write down memories for my children to look back on and read in the future (3) occasionally rant about things that bothered me and (4) share memories of things that interest me (movies, music, TV, etc…). I first began blogging in the days of My Space. This would have been around 2005-2007. To my knowledge, my My Space page is still in existence in cyber space, but with the dawn of Facebook, I haven’t done anything on it in years! I used to blog on there all the time, the blogs used to pop up on your front page.

Some time ago, My Space removed the blogs from everyone’s page. I contacted them because many of those blogs had personal things I wanted to remember. I blogged often in the months and weeks proceeding my mother’s death. I blogged about the birth of my second son. All of those were gone. They provided me a link to go in and download all of my blogs. All of the comments were gone, but the original content was there. For that, I am glad. Re-reading some of them is emotional – they capture a moment in my past and give me a sense of what I was feeling at that time. Some of those old blogs have been updated and additional thoughts have been added here.

At any rate, during the time I was blogging, I was told by someone I was once close to that “nobody cares about the things you write about”. For whatever reason, I was constantly being told by this person to stop writing. Occasionally, I would write a “note” on Facebook, which was similar to the My Space blogs. These were also met with negative responses and the request was again made to stop, which I eventually did.

Fast forward to almost two years ago, when I started to blog. I had been in therapy trying to sort out things in my life and it was suggested that I keep a journal. I mentioned that I used to blog and my therapist asked why I had stopped. She encouraged me to begin blogging or keeping a journal – and this is it. Blogs have ranged from fun stuff to serious stuff. I began to share links to my blog on Facebook, and many of my friends began following it, and sometimes, even sharing it on their page. Through Word Press, I began to follow other blogs written by people who share my love for music, old movies, and classic TV. Often times, my blogs will inspire someone to write one and vice versa.

All of this brings me to why I am writing this blog. Today, I was informed that this blog now has 100 followers! I am humbled that 100 people would find the topics that I write about worth reading, let alone wanting to be informed every time I write something new! I thank you for reading and I thank you for interacting. If there is every anything you’d like to see this blog explore, I would love to hear it. Writing is often met with what some call “writer’s block” and I often face the “What should I write about today?” dilemma. Feel free to offer suggestions.

There are those who say that bloggers/writers/authors should write everyday, no matter what – even if you are just scribbling a sentence or two. For me, time is an issue. Finding the time is always the challenge. I try to write as often as I can. Sometimes, the stuff I write never makes it here and ends up as a Facebook status. For example, this week marked the anniversary of my grandma’s passing, today is the 117th birthday of the great Larry Fine of the Three Stooges, Sam is starting to feel our baby move, and it’s Homecoming week – all things that I could probably blog about (and probably should). I just have to find the time!

Thanks for following! Thanks for reading!