Tag: cars

“It happens”, A horny bunny, car issues, a fun concert and other chats.

“It happens”, A horny bunny, car issues, a fun concert and other chats.

Shel R.5 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What tattoo do you want and where would you put it?
View all responses

To answer today’s WP writing prompt question………………..

I want the words “It happens” – in memory of my oldest daughter – with Angel wings, the time of her birth and the time of her death.

I don’t want the dates on there because I don’t want to remember the date of her death.

I’d rather see the time she was born – that made me a mother, and the time of her death (the hour she got to meet God and felt peace).

“It happens” – represents the very last hilarious memory we had together.

*****

I was near Minneapolis the day before the “it happens” incident – for a dentist appointment and I stopped at Wendy’s on the way home.

I live 4 hours from Minneapolis, so it was a long drive and I was starving.

I ended up leaving my debit card at Wendy’s, so when I called them – I was told that the manager has it in the safe, and if I brought my I.D. in the next day, he’d hand it over. I needed my debit card the next day, so early in the morning – I’m talking (5 AM) early – I got ready to drive all that way to go get my card.

My Tiffie “Jordan” found out and asked if she could come with me. She lived across the hall at the time, and I told her to be ready.

She loved long car rides, and she was ready before I was.

My youngest daughter rode with us as well.

On the way back, we were all so tired from waking up earlier that morning, so we were quiet driving home.

My oldest was in the passenger seat and she randomly said, “The Tile shop” – as she was looking out of the window.

I looked over, saw the Tile shop, and replied, “It happens!”.

I have no idea why I said that, but I was so tired – it just came out for no reason.

My daughter was so confused, looked over at me and says, “Wwwwhaaattt? Why would you say that? That didn’t require a response”. 🤣 We all started laughing so hard. Literally, we had tears in our eyes because we couldn’t stop laughing.

She kept mocking me and saying, “It happens!”, and then said “The tile shop. It happens!” – joking that it could be their new motto / jingle. She said “it happens” made no sense, and we just kept laughing. Eventually, she had to tell me to stop because I was laughing so hard, I couldn’t drive straight, but that’s what made that moment even more hilarious.

I’m sitting here laughing right now – not able to drink my coffee because I still recall how much we were laughing – at that moment.

It went on for at least 10 minutes, and when we stopped – one of us would say it again, “The tile shop. It happens!”, and we’d all start laughing again.

We decided at that moment – that as soon as my youngest daughter turned 18, we’d each go get matching “It happens” tattoos.

I don’t know if my youngest daughter still wants to do that or not, and Tiffie “Jordan” has passed on – but it’s a tattoo that I plan to get for myself – because it’s a reminder not only of our last hilarious memory with my oldest that day – but – of the fact that life happens, and doesn’t stop or slow down for anyone – even in grief.

And now – I’m crying as I write this part.

For me, “It happens” – is both a great memory months before she passed, and a reminder that there’s things in life I can’t control, and I just have to shrug my shoulders, say “It happens” and trust God to take care of those things. “It happens” can be both – a funny memory and a sad reminder that things do happen and life has to go on.

So, for me – I want the tattoo – as a reminder of both meanings.

My next tattoo:

Again – with the time of her birth and the time of her death.

💕

I also want to eventually get a memorial tattoo a little more meaningful, but I haven’t figured that out yet.

I have different ideas.

As for where I’d put it, still not sure of that, either – but it’s happening. It happens. ha.

*****

Anyway, let me share some updates.

The landlord finally sold the building.

He had new roofs put on last week, and the lady who helps him with the property and I – were kind of talking and I realized that he probably accepted an offer, and one of the conditions of the purchase – was that he put new roofs on the garage and building.

I would have asked for those garages to be torn down and rebuilt if I were buying this place, but either way – I’m hoping the new people are good. I’m hoping they’re not a “put a band-aid on it and call it a day” people – like our landlord was.

Everyone got notices on their doors yesterday – stating that as of today – we have new owners.

It said they have to honor all leases until leases end, and that they will be reaching out to introduce themselves. Not sure if it’s in email, person or by phone. It also said they will let everyone know how to pay April rent, and I’m hoping we can pay online, because I was so tired of using VENMO or money orders to send rent to our last landlord.

Still, even if I move soon – I’m happy the people living here – have new owners for the building because while I don’t think our last landlord was a bad guy, I do think he wasn’t the best landlord.

The bunny:

My daughter’s bunny stinks!

Really bad.

I kept telling her to clean the cage, because I thought it was the bedding or that she wasn’t changing it, and she kept telling me she cleans his cage out all the time.

We went back and forth for weeks on it, and I kept buying her different bedding to see which one worked best for the smell, and no matter how many times she changed the bedding or cleaned the cage and scrubbed it down – I’d go in her room, and it smelled like hell in there, and I still thought it was the cage.

She insisted it was the bunny. I told her there’s no way the bunny smells like that.

So, I gave in and took the bunny to the vet last week, and upon getting close to the small transport cage he was in, I smelled the bunny. The smell was coming from the bunny. I just looked at my daughter and yelled, “OH MY GOD!”. She said, “See! I told you it was him!”.

The vet did a full exam and some lab work, and the lab work looked good, so when she came back into the room to talk to us, she said the problem was simple.

She told my daughter to cover her ears (joking around of course!).

The vet looked at me and told me, “The bunny is horny!”.

I looked at her like:

And laughed.

“You’re joking, right?” – I said.

She said this is common and when male bunnies get horny and want some – they don’t wash themselves like they should or like they’re supposed to be.

They stop taking care of themselves because the smellier the bunny – the more they attract female bunnies.

She then adds to it and tells me that he’ll hump whatever he can in his cage and when he ejaculates – it sticks to his fur in the back and his testicles. 🙄 That in return – is making parts of his bedding stick to his testicles because he’s all sticky and nasty, and because he’s not cleaning himself because he wants to attract a female bunny – that’s all coming together and creating that awful smell on him.

I rolled my eyes, and asked what could be done.

She said it’s easily fixable in BUCKS. I didn’t even know they call male bunnies – BUCKS.

I thought that was just for male deer.

Them not cleaning themselves and making themselves smell like that – asserts maturity and dominance according to the vet, and in the wild – will attract a female bunny.

Maybe I should have done more research before walking into a pet store and thinking a bunny would be adorable for my daughter after she lost her bird a few years back.

So now – this bunny is maturing, and he’s horny – which is causing all these other issues and the smell.

He’s nasty and unsanitary! That’s what he is. He’s doing it for attention from a female bunny as I said, and he doesn’t realize his dumbass is an inside bunny and there’s no female bunnies around. Nor – will there ever be! Sorry for ya – Looney! Dammit, Looney! Yes, that’s his name.

My daughter thinks this is hilarious.

I ($600 later) do not!

So, the plan? To get the $600 together to have his testicles removed, remove all the sticky parts of his bottom from him ejaculating on himself and getting his bedding stuck to it as well – which obviously requires surgery and him to be put under – so he doesn’t try to get away and hurt himself during surgery.

His ears need to be cleaned also. Again, he’s not cleaning himself like he should be – for the simple and stupid fact that he doesn’t understand he’s an indoor bunny.

Some people I’ve told this story to – laugh so much when I tell it – and they suggested I get a female bunny because it would be cheaper than surgery for our male bunny. No thanks!

A female bunny for our male bunny = a bunch of baby bunnies I don’t need or want.

I swear – my life is never boring.

If it’s not something with the kids – it’s one of the animals. If it’s not the kids or the animals – a bill pops up to surprise me or something at work is going on that I have to deal with. If it’s not any of that – my car comes up with a new issue.

Life needs to slow the hell down and let me just sit and breath for a minute!

But it doesn’t stop there.

Want to talk about my car?! Let’s do that!

So, if you remember and you read my blogs pretty regularly – (Thank you first of all) – 2nd – you’ll know my car has been giving me problems.

The EPC and check engine light have been on in the last few months.

The RPM needle goes crazy sometimes and bounces around on its own.

This causes my engine to shake like crazy and my car to make this loud, awful noise.

My car feels like it wants to shut off or take off – either one – by itself. It feels like it wants to accelerate on its own sometimes.

When I’m parked and the car is on – it rattles and sometimes – it feels weird driving when I step on the gas.

Now, I like to support small businesses, and if a small business is amazing and gives great customer service, I’ll promote them everywhere and anywhere for free. I’ll tell the world about them – to help them grow their business.

However, if customer service is awful, and they do nothing to fix the issue or make it right – I’m also going to let people know that they should go elsewhere.

Now, everyone has different experiences with different places, so I can only tell what happened to me and it’s their choice to go try the business out or take my advice and go elsewhere.

Anyway – I’ll call this guy “Mario”, although – I should put him on blast, but that’s not the kind of person I am.

I took my car to Mario’s shop months ago and explained the issues. He saw the issues for himself when he got in my car, looked under my hood and saw / heard everything that was going on.

“It’s an easy fix. It’s the Spark plug! You have a bad one!”. Mario told me.

“Great! Let’s get that ordered and taken care of!”. I told Mario.

I was grateful it wasn’t anything big (Or – so I thought!).

He changed the Spark plug the same day, and I left.

$100 later – and my car was good for a day and then started doing the same exact things all over again and I realized Mario was wrong. So, I took the car back, told him it wasn’t a Spark plug, and he acted confused, but told me if I give him a few hours with my car to do a “deep dive” – he’d figure it out.

A few weeks later, Mario checked it out and told me, “You need a new Timing chain”. He said something about the Timing chain being bad, and half of it sliding down 3 teeth on Cam shaft bank 1 – or whatever the hell he said. Something like that. lol. I didn’t listen fully, but he also said the other Spark plugs and a sensor also need to be changed.

I asked if that would fix these issues and he said – in his heavy accent, “Yes, yes!”.

Fine. Let’s get those parts ordered and get this all done.

A few months ago – back in January I believe it was – my car was in the shop, and everything was being replaced. His wife was nice enough to drive me home and then pick me up to go back and get my car when it was done – many hours later.

I took it home, drove it and thanked them so much – because it drove beautifully – FOR THAT DAY.

The next day – I went to pick up the kids from school, and my car stated, but it wouldn’t go anywhere. It smelled highly of gas, and I called Mario and let him know. He came right over because his shop is right down the block.

When he looked under the hood – he giggled a bit and told me, “Your fuel pump just went…………..” (and he made the exploding noise with his mouth). Excuse me? Why are you laughing first of all? 2nd – my fuel pump was just fine before you worked on my car.

I didn’t tell him that because I didn’t want to accuse him of anything, but he says, “maybe you need a new fuel pump, but maybe not. Maybe you have a fuel leak, but maybe not”. I do or don’t to all of your “maybe’s” sir. Figure it out! So, he reconnected it and said it should be okay. It’s been okay for now, but who knows if it’s messing up or not. My car was able to be driven that day, but it’s still doing the same exact issues it was doing when it originally went to this guy.

The Spark plug didn’t fix it.

The Timing chain replacement, other Spark plugs being changed and the sensor didn’t fix it. It was back to doing the same things.

I took it back to him again. It also started doing this thing where it jerks forward when I try to drive.

I told him all of that and how none of the things he’s done, has fixed the issues.

The 4th time I took it back to him – he said something just needed to be cleaned from under the hood, so he did that. It drove fine that day.

Still back to the same problems the next day.

I almost feel like he’s just resetting stuff in my car to make it drive okay for a bit and hope it stops the issues.

The 5th time I had it back to him – he says, “Um, maybe a mouse got into your engine area and chewed some wires. Maybe not”.

What is with him and all these maybes? I was getting annoyed, and told him that he keeps guessing what’s wrong, and still not fixing the original problem. He asked me to bring the car back again – and he looked at it a 6th time.

This time, he said that day:

“Okay. I know now! It’s a valve. The valve is stuck”. I asked if he was absolutely positive because a real mechanic would have figured it out the first time, instead of changing all these other parts that I don’t even know if I really needed or not. He guaranteed me it’s the valve.

I argued that he guaranteed me it was all the other parts he changed as well.

He stood there in front of me GOOGLING the problems and looked up – as he said, “What could it be?”.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW?

So, I yelled at him. I felt bad, but I was so angry and bothered that he was googling what it could be – and he was pretty much admitting he didn’t know, so I paid for those other parts for nothing. He was guessing what it was, and the original problem was still going on. Here I was for the 6th time in his shop – and he didn’t know what it was.

He asked me for another day with my car, so he can check it out again and he had the nerve to tell me that it may get “costly”. NO! NO! HELL NO! I am not letting you touch my car again, and that’s what I told him when I was in there for the 6th time.

I let him know I wanted my money back, so I could go to a shop who knows what they’re doing.

A few days before that, I took it to another shop for a 2nd opinion, and I was told that the Timing chain is 3 teeth down and the same thing about the cam shaft that this guy said, and they said if it was changed, it was put on wrong.

Now, I’m left wondering if I paid for a Timing chain that was never changed.

So, I told him about that and what the 2nd shop said. I told him that they said I don’t need a valve like he said. I need the Timing chain done right, and I need a new harness, and this guy – MARIO – never mentioned a new harness, which leads me to believe he has no clue what he’s doing, and he collects money for his guesses – and possibly – for work he never does.

So, yes – I yelled at him.

Not loud, but I raised my voice a bit, and he told me he can’t give my money back because he did the work. I told him that he got paid to fix the issues and he did not!

He looked at the ceiling, laughed and walked to the back.

I kind of giggled thinking, “This man is about to go cut my brake lines for yelling at him!”.

I have been so patient and so kind with him, and I’ve let him have my car – trusting him more than I should have – to fix the original problems, and he didn’t. He couldn’t.

I read a review on his site where some other woman came in, and she was angry as well because half her new parts she had put in before going to him – were all changed to old parts, and he supposedly took her new parts out – and she too – said he was replacing things that there was nothing wrong with, and a few other things.

She warned people about going to him. She said he and his wife seem like good, sweet people – but she thinks they’re running a scam.

So, my car won’t be going back to him, and now it’s a game of figuring out the best shop to get it fixed and how much it’s going to cost for the real issues to be taken care of. I have always thought it was something with the throttle body because I don’t know too much about cars – but I know a little bit here and there amd it seemed like it.

I have a friend in IL. who asked me what was going on with and when I described the issues – he said it sounds like the throttle body accelerator pedal and maybe an engine sensor.

I was just in IL. not too long ago, and part of me really wishes I would have thought about him and taken my car to him. He’s a mechanic, and he’s really good at his job, but – I didn’t think about it until he messaged me asking what’s going on, and I was already back in Minnesota.

He did ask me to go somewhere to have the codes pulled up, and to let him know, and I plan to do that this weekend.

I was happy he mentioned the throttle body because that was my first thought as well.

I should have totally been a mechanic. ha.

So, besides the bunny needing this surgery, so he’s not horny and doesn’t smell anymore – and so he hopefully starts cleaning himself – and these car issues I’m still having – there’s also moving.

My plan was to find somewhere to move to by the beginning or middle of May, so that when my daughter graduates – we have a moving truck in the parking lot, and the moment we come out of that school after graduation – we’re in the car heading to our new place close to – or in – IL. However, it’s so damn tough trying to find a place when you have to travel hours to go look at the places.

So, I plan to get a list of places together by April 20th maybe, and start planning a trip out that way to go look – hoping that my car is fixed by then.

The bunny. The car. Moving. Finding a job out in Wisconsin or IL. wherever we move – it’s all so stressful, and my sanity – is still intact. GO ME! lol.

While I sit here and sip my coffee and think of everything I have on my plate and all the stress that’s upon me right now – I do have to smile and let you know how proud I am of my daughter.

She only needs two more credits to graduate.

One is for her elective class (Teacher’s assistant). She’s been a TA in my son’s room for the last few months and she loves it. She will be done with her credit in her elective – this semester, which means if she decides she doesn’t want to be a TA next semester, she can drop that from her schedule, since she’ll have that one credit she needs.

She needed all 4 semesters of her last English class, so she still has to go for that this semester and next, and after next semester is over, she’ll have her last credit she needs. 🤗

That means – that after this semester is over and she receives her last credit for her (TA) elective class – she only needs her English class.

That means – if she wanted to right now – she could drop all her other classes, and only do TA and English every day, and go to school for those two hours.

That means – once her elective class is over – she only needs English next semester and would only have one class – and can go to school 50 minutes a day and that’s it.

This girl – is taking all these other classes and going to school all day long – for fun.

To see her friends.

To have something to do – as she said.

She doesn’t have to go to school until 11 AM – which would be her TA class, and then her English, and she can come home. However, she actually enjoys going to school – even when she doesn’t need to be there and even when she’s taking these other classes – when she doesn’t have to.

I am so damn proud of her.

She is also now taking a course that OSHA offers – for anyone looking to further their education and have some safety training in their future career. Kailani wants to be an EMT, so she’s taking their class for that.

This girl has been amazing and has worked her ass off to get where she is right now, and she deserves the world. So, I think I mentioned this before – but instead of buying myself Cardi B. tickets when she was in Minnesota for a concert – I brought Kailani Romeo Santos and Prince Royce tickets to surprise her with – as an early graduation gift.

She wants to go see them so bad, and I’m more than happy to make that happen for her.

I got the tickets already if I didn’t mention that before, and if so – my bad.

She earned it.

💕

Still, I hope we live in IL. or close to it at the time of the concert because it’s at the end of May, and I don’t want to have to worry about getting a hotel room for the night. I just want to go home and relax – unpack – and hear all about how she enjoyed her night – the night of the concert.

Loves.

Pray that everything works out for us, because life is kicking my ass right now, and it’s just me alone doing everything for the kids – the animals – and nothing for myself.

I’m exhausted. I’m drained, but I still feel blessed and have faith.

💕Shel💕

Car rants, life and craziness, some humor and a great movie.

Car rants, life and craziness, some humor and a great movie.

Shel R.5 Comments

Good evening!

Let me tell you about yesterday and today.

First of all – because I just need to vent and get it all off my chest, and 2nd – because you love me and you want to hear what’s going on, right? ha. Just kidding about that last one, but seriously – I need to just vent, and maybe make you laugh a little.

My car – (You all know Maggie, right?) – decided it was going to start giving me big headaches a few months ago.

I took it to a shop a few blocks from my house – because the guy and his wife are new to the area and need business, and I’m all for supporting small businesses. So, I tried them when my car was acting up months ago.

The husband said he loves working on these cars because in his country – that’s all they drive out there, and he has a lot of experience fixing them. Passat’s, BMW’s, Lexus, etc. – he enjoys the foreign cars. So, when I took mine to him, his wife said he was excited and more than happy to work on it.

He told me it was a bad Spark plug making it do what it was doing, and he changed it for me.

A simple $100 fix.

Although – it wasn’t that.

A few days later – it kept doing what it had been doing, and I was a bit irritated, but everyone makes mistakes and I decided not to hold it against him. I did let him know that it was still doing the same thing, and he asked me to bring it by again.

I went back in and heard it was the Timing chain and something about Cam Shaft Bank 1, as well as a Sensor.

Why he didn’t mention that in the first place – no idea, but maybe he didn’t dig deep into the engine part of it like he did the 2nd time I went back. Maybe the Timing chain and the other things weren’t an issue the first time. Who knows?!

Life got busy and I just forgot about all of it – because it wasn’t acting up all of the time. Here and there. It was easy to forget about it since it wasn’t consistent.

A few weeks ago, it started acting up again and dashboard lights start going on – lighting up like a Christmas tree, but again – not all of the time. Still, it was aggravating and when the dashboard lights lit up – my car would violently shake, and I had to slow down, and it would stop. If the EPC light wasn’t on and the engine light wasn’t flashing – it wasn’t shaking “that bad”, but it was still shaking. Sometimes, I’d get a smooth ride, but for the most part – it shook.

I called this guy’s wife the day before last night and asked her if I could come in the first thing in the morning and since they already quoted me a price, I just told her to have her husband order the parts and let’s get this done. She told me, “Yes! Come in tomorrow morning and he will work on it”. I was told he needed all day with my car to completely fix it, so I was going to sit there with my laptop, watch movies, and just wait for as long as he needed me to.

His shop is cozy, he and his wife are lovely people, so I didn’t mind.

However – when I went in, he had no idea what I was talking about, and I guess his wife didn’t mention anything to him. He was working on another car and told me he can definitely take care of my car next week. I told him it wasn’t going to wait until next week, and that it’s violently shaking now – anytime I drive it – instead of once-in-a-while. He told me he can’t do the Timing chain or sensor that day, but he did say if I come back at 2 PM, he’ll figure out why it’s shaking and see if he can at least take care of that for me.

Being irritated and wanting to drive this car onto the middle of the lake and leave it there – I told him I’d be back at 2 PM, and I did just that. I drove it right onto the lake and left it there.

I walked right back onto the solid land and prayed the ice would melt and take my car down, so I’d never have to see it again.

No, I didn’t do that.

I’m just joking of course – but – that’s not a bad idea. 😁

Instead, I agreed to come back to him at 2 PM to have the violent shaking checked out.

I got impatient though, it was -30 outside and felt like -53 here in Minnesota, and once I went into the house, I knew I wouldn’t want to come back out. So, I called a shop further away and asked if they could check it out. I was thrilled when they told me to bring it in and they’d figure it out for me. I asked how much and I was told “free”.

Many shops charge a fee to figure things out, so when they said they’d do it for free – I should have known it was too good to be true!

I get there and the guy I talked to on the phone said he didn’t understand what I was asking over the phone, and that he’s sorry, but for them to put it on the code scanner and figure out what the problem is pointing to – it would be $65.

Me: You’ve got to be kidding! $65 to give me some codes that pop up and figure out what it could be based on the codes?

THEY DO THAT FOR FREE AT AUTO ZONE DUDE!!!!!!!!

He said they do a deep dive into it based on the codes, and I laughed and told him I was NOT paying $65 for something Auto Zone does for free. Really free. I walked out.

I went and got Starbucks because when I need to figure shit out – it requires a good cup of Coffee. lol.

I sat in the mall parking lot yesterday and called so many different shops at 9 AM.

Some were closed due to the cold weather and weren’t opening until Monday. Some were so booked, they couldn’t get me in until next week, and the one who told me to come in, and he’d be happy to check the car out for me – was just a muffler shop and said he could put in on the scanner for free and pull codes to at least give me an idea of what it could be. Again – Auto Zone was right by me and I could do that there, but I already have codes from another shop weeks ago that did that.

Are you getting a headache just reading my dilemma? I had a headache going through it.

I was talking to my aunt, and she asked if I could take an UBER or LYFT to work just for one day if I couldn’t get anyone to look at my car.

That would be great – IF WE HAD ANY OUT HERE!!! We literally live in the middle of nowhere and there’s barely any taxis that come to our area or we have to pay over $100 for those. She calmed me down. She really did calm me down, because I was ready to call my car company and just tell them to get this car out of my sight. Keep it. Take it away and keep it. I’ll pay whatever I owe on it still – as long as I don’t have to look at it anymore. I was done with repairs and issues, etc.

After many calls – I finally got ahold of one shop, and the guy was such a sweetheart. He heard my issues going on with the car, the annoyance in my voice, and giggled – telling me, “Come on in. I got you!”. I thanked him a few times and told him I’d be there within 20 minutes – shaking all the way there.

Tony’s shop was a huge garage with an added-on spot for the mechanics and their desks.

Tony saved my life, and he was honest, respectful, and amazing at making sure my car was safe.

He did hook it up to the scanner and came up with a few different codes that pointed to a Sensor needing to be replaced, as well as something to do with the Timing chain, so at least I know the shop by my house is right this time. Tony couldn’t change the Timing chain because he didn’t want to mess with my car when it came to deep repairs, but he was more than happy to show me I totally needed an oil change, absolutely needed a new filter, something about a coil I believe it was, and he let me know that my car rims / tires and underneath – was fully packed with snow and ice.

He said that could be causing the violent shaking, and nothing major. So, he did all those minor repairs, changed the oil, and thawed out my car’s undercarriage, as well as getting all the ice and snow from around the tires, etc. He looked under the car to make sure everything was good, nothing needed to be replaced under there and told me it looks great. He did say if I wanted him to – he would send me up to another area to get the Timing chain taken care of by his good buddy who loves working on foreign cars, but I told him I have someone I’m supposed to have fix it – this week coming up. (The guy from the shop a few blocks down from where I live).

I had a lot of shops telling me they don’t work on foreign cars because a lot of these cars are so complicated to fix, and parts are hard to find sometimes, so I ran into that issue as well. Not a lot of mechanics out here want to mess with this damn car. I called car dealerships and none of them wanted to mess with it, and the closest dealer that specializes in cars like mine – is hours away, so I was thankful Tony came through for me yesterday and took time out to get me in.

I froze my ass off sitting in his garage because again – it’s just a garage. Barely any heat, and for three 1/2 hours, I tried to ignore that fact that the heat was almost zero. It was ice cold in the shop, and he apologized for it. Part of me wanted to say he should move the computer desks and all the stuff into the bigger garage and use the add-on as a customer waiting area with tons of heat and Coffee, but I kept my suggestions to myself.

At one point, one guy was sitting in the office with me – by his desk – and the lights in this add-on garage went off.

When another mechanic came in and asked if we wanted him to hold the door open for light, I was the first one to yell out, “hell no!”. They laughed. I told him I don’t mind being in the dark waiting for my car, but he better not open that door.

When my car was done, Tony test drove it and he came back into the garage flying. I wanted to joke and tell him, “That’s a little fast whipping into the garage in someone else’s car like that”, but I left it alone. 😁 He fixed the shaking issue, and it was something so simple. I drove home happy, NOT SHAKING and grateful for him. It hasn’t done that shaking stuff since, and I’m hoping once I get the Timing chain, Cam shaft junk, and sensor changed – the lights on the dashboard will go away and the car will drive right again.

If you’re still here reading me vent – THANK YOU! ha.

Love you all.

So today, – I was up early for work and my little guy spilled water on the floor.

No problem – because he got a towel fast and cleaned it up. I didn’t get mad. I stayed calm. I continued to get ready for work.

He then went to throw the towel in the dirty clothes, missed the hamper and somehow managed to get the towel into his bedroom where it landed, and he knocked over his cat’s food. DEEP BREATHS! DEEP BREATHS!

I decided I wasn’t going to say anything to him, but I grabbed the vacuum and cleaned it up myself.

I had to get to work, and upsetting myself that early was not going to help. Me saying something to him and getting him all upset – was not going to help. It was an accident and we had a small talk about NOT throwing things.

Work went by fast and everything was fine.

I came home and realized I didn’t pay my car insurance, so I had to take care of that.

My older son wanted cupcakes, so after making dinner – I whipped up a batch of Oreo Cupcakes – that – by the way – I made an hour ago and he still hasn’t touched. 😶

I finally had a few minutes after dinner and cupcakes – to say hello to Simba (my little dude’s cat) and realized he was half-closing one of his eyes. All I saw in my mind – was dollar signs because now – I’d have to take him to the vet if that didn’t go away. I am pretty sure he got something stuck in his eye or he scratched it – either one.

After the day I had yesterday and the morning I had today, I had cupcakes untouched on the stove cooling off, I had a cat with an eye issue, paperwork that needs to be filled out for something, my daughter asking me when we’re going dress shopping for her Winter formal dance in a few weeks, and I work early again tomorrow morning.

I am exhausted!!!!

I keep forgetting to pick up bins to start packing because I’m pretty hopeful that we’re moving this summer, and I’m just ready for bed.

It’s currently 8 PM and I think after I put my little guy down in his room for bed, I’m going to watch a movie until I knock out.

And – if you’re still here reading all of this, GOD BLESS YOU – because I don’t even know who I’m talking to right now – or if anyone just clicked out of this post the first 20 lines – but if you made it all the way to the end – YOU MEAN THE WORLD TO ME!!!!

I’m sure many of you can relate to the everyday hustles and bustles of mom life, mom/work life balance, pet issues, car issues, bills, things forgotten, errands that didn’t make the cut today, things not picked up, uneaten cupcakes that were begged for (lol), and the craziness of just life in general. And if so – big hugs to you because you’re not alone, but I always say – if you can find the humor in anything and everything wild and crazy that happens in your life – you’re amazing.

Humor makes everything better and easier to deal with! So, I like to use it to make myself feel better and to realize that at the end of the day when my kids are in bed and I have a glass of wine in my hand – listening to silence – I can smile and Thank God for another successful, crazy, blessed day. 🤗💕 And – for helping me keep my sanity through it! lol.

One more thing before I get out of here……………………………and thank you for letting me vent……………………….

My younger son asked if I wanted to watch a movie the other day, and we did.

He picked it.

We watched 👇

It was the cutest movie, and I would absolutely watch it again!

I recommend it, and hope you check it out with your kids, or even by yourself one night if you’re looking for something to watch.

Little Stevie is a girl who has it all. Great loving parents who also love each other. A big house. A little brother who drives her crazy, but she loves dearly, and so many other wonderful things.

And then – she finds out her parents aren’t truly happy with each other anymore, and she has to figure out how to keep them together.

Her little brother finds a book about the Sandman, and they realize if they can just dream long enough to get to the Sandman – they can possibly make Stevie’s wish of “the perfect family” come true forever.

They go through all these scary, funny, crazy, wild dreams and adventures to find him.

Some parts of the movie are hilarious. Some are sad, and I admit – I cried. I cried like a baby, and I laughed when my little dude told me, “Mom! It’s just a movie!”.

Stevie has to eventually make a choice between the dream world and the perfect family with her parents together and happy again, but a life without her little brother, or living in reality.

I don’t want to say anything else about it but do go check it out!

Let me know if you do! 🤗

Goodnight.

💕Shel💕

Maggie and I – may break up soon, saying goodbye to a great man, and A big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my bestie!

Maggie and I – may break up soon, saying goodbye to a great man, and A big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my bestie!

Shel R.6 Comments

So, yesterday – I tried to trade “Maggie” in – for a family SUV.

Something bigger for road trips.

Something with more family space for the kids when we’re in the car.

Something where we can pack tons of stuff into it and still have room.

My car is pretty, but it’s definitely not a family car. It’s way too small, and I didn’t think about that when I got it a few years ago. My car falls into the same class as Audi’s, and I’ve gotten many compliments on how much people love it. Some have even thought it was a BMW when they first see it, and I’ve had to correct them, but that’s how nice it looks.

It’s a foreign headache!

It’s expensive to fix if anything goes wrong. Some parts have to be ordered or come from overseas. I’m ready to break up with this damn car.

I’m ready to get rid of it, and yes – I named it “Maggie” when I first got it.

My last car before Maggie – was a Ford Explorer and I absolutely loved that SUV. It had so much space.

That was “Stanley”. 🤣 I figured I would try to trade Maggie in – for another Ford Explorer. My last one went into a ditch in the beginning of 2021, and I got Maggie in July 2021.

I called this car dealership near my area yesterday morning and told the guy who answered – what I was looking for. I told him if he didn’t have any Explorer’s, I’d take a decent sized family SUV that was priced right if I could trade my car in. He told me to come on in, and as soon as I walked in – we didn’t even sit down in his office to chat first.

He held up keys and handed them to me – as I thought to myself – “(This must be what celebs with tons of money feel like walking into dealers)”.

I asked what he was putting me into, and he said a 2025 Ford Explorer. He pointed to where it was located, so I could go test drive it, as I handed him my keys to test drive mine and figure out a trade-in value for it. My daughter was with me, and she made me giggle when we got into this fancy and beautiful SUV – and she said, “Let’s go to Chicago!”. I made her laugh when I told her, “I mean – he technically didn’t say where to test drive the car to! If I should happen to end up in Chicago, that wasn’t my fault because he wasn’t clear!”. 😁

I loved the SUV. The screen on it looked like the size of a laptop screen. It was a push to start – (but so is mine), and the Drive, reverse, etc. – was just a knob you turn, and it does this fancy dinging noise. I WANTED IT!!!!!

I test drove it, and my daughter asked if I was eventually going to turn around and go back, because I just kept driving and driving. I told her I was taking in the new car smell and the new car feel, but I did turn around and go back.

I walked in and told the car sales guy that I wanted it, and we talked numbers.

Here’s the thing.

As much as everything in me screamed “TAKE IT!!!!!” – and I know I truly deserve it and wanted to give it to myself as a graduation gift for the last 4 years of working my ass off for my Criminal justice degrees – another part of me was trying to scream some COMMON SENSE into my mind. Truth is – my car is almost paid off, and I don’t have that long to go – so instead of getting myself into a mess with getting a new $50,000 SUV and having years and years of more payments – I can just pay off the car I have now, and save money to drop a good down payment on something a little less expensive.

I can’t wrap my head around paying $50,000 for a brand-new SUV when I want to drop a down payment on a house this year or next year.

I really had to think about it, and I’m not rapper – rich – as I call it. I can’t just say, “I’ll take it”, and know I have a million in the bank still.

I’m a single mom – just barely getting by, and as much as I know I want it, love it and deserve it – it took everything in me to walk away from it. 🥺 He mentioned something about putting down $4,000 and leasing it for three years, and if I want to own it from there, or trade it for something else – I can do that.

I still walked away.

When I got back in my car – I was a little sad about it, but it just made sense to not get myself into another car note that would possibly be a headache in the future. I have no idea why or how cars are so expensive these days, but it’s sad what this world has come to – when it comes to money and everything being way overpriced.

Yes, I probably could have leased it if I wanted to, or even made a huge down payment on it, and taken it soon – but I know it’s not in my best interest, and I also know there’s other SUVs out there – that are way less money and are still in beautiful condition, so I passed. Not to mention – they weren’t going to give me much for my car.

I did have to laugh when I said I was so tired of the car I have now, and the sales guy mentioned that I could just leave it on the lake. I told him, “As soon as the ice starts to melt”, and we both laughed.

I still may look around and trade my car in for something bigger – better – and with less headaches or payments, but right now – I also know I want to get the hell out of Minnesota this summer, so I have to play it smart.

I’ll update on the car situation when and if “Maggie” gets traded one day soon.

*****

In other news, you all know my son and I work in a facility that houses the once homeless, some small-time criminals, drug and alcoholic addicts, and some with mental health issues – right?

One of things we messed up on and did – was get close to them.

I don’t regret it because while our city doesn’t want to deal with them, and anyone who hears where they live – cringes and tries to avoid them – our staff – including my son and I – know them personally. We know that a lot of them are so sweet, amazing, helpful, funny, smart, etc. We care deeply about the tenants in our facility we work in, and we try so much to show them compassion, love, care, understanding, etc.

I say we messed up getting close to them – because it’s always heartbreaking – having to say “goodbye” to one of them if one leaves, or one passes.

A few weeks ago, we had one that passed away. We got close to her, and she was such a sweet and funny little firecracker of a person.

We then had one that decided to move out. That was sad because I looked forward to seeing her every day, or hearing her give attitude playfully and yell, “WHAT?” – every time I called her room, or she was down the hall. She’d laugh when I’d tell her, “You know what? Now I don’t want to talk to you!”.

A few days ago, one of our other tenants that I’ll call “Dave” – went to the hospital. Dave has some health issues that are getting worse, and the last two weeks – the hospital sent him right back, but a few days ago, he was admitted and was sent to ICU. He’s not doing well, and the day before last – my son and I went up to visit him – since most of our other staff did so as well.

He was sleeping when we got there, and I called his name twice before he opened his eyes, saw us and smiled. I held a straw up to his mouth, because he was struggling to drink water. They brought him his dinner, and he had us smiling when he complained – in short whispers – that he doesn’t want three meals a day.

We joked that there’s nobody to keep us on our toes at work, and he has to come back to yell at people or instigate things like he used to. He smiled.

We had a great visit, and we laughed so much when he whispered something a few times, and when we couldn’t understand him, it took everything in him to yell out, “$5!”. He wanted money. I laughed and asked where the heck he plans to go if he gets $5. He had no idea, but then he asked for his check. Our tenants get checks every month – I believe it is, so I told him they’d hold on to his checks for him – until he came back.

He had us laughing when he smiled and whispered, “Bring me my portion up here”. 😁 He’s in ICU and he can still joke around. He has Oxygen and can barely breath or talk, but he can still joke around, and I loved that. I miss that at work, and seeing him every time I walk in. Some of our tenants get alcohol portions to stop withdrawal symptoms, so that’s what he was talking about.

A few weeks ago – before he went to the hospital, I walked in at 7 AM and he was waiting for me like usual, and yelled out, “THERE SHE IS!”….but – this time – I had to tell him no. He wanted his portion, and I told him, “It’s not happening!”. He looked at me so funny and confused and asked why not. I told him I heard he hasn’t been eating breakfast or lunch, and he can’t live on alcohol alone. He got upset, but you know what he did……………..?

Marched himself right to the kitchen and ate something.

We have another guy there – a younger guy that I’ll call “Noah”. Noah is in an on and off again relationship with one of the women who live in the facility, and he gets so jealous over her, so when he found out she may be dating a new guy, he flipped out one day.

As I was trying to calm him down, Dave chimed in while he was listening, and yelled, “She’s with everyone! What is he complaining about? Leave her alone!”. My jaw dropped, and I prayed Noah didn’t hear him from across the room because it would have angered Noah even more – while I was trying to calm him down. I turned and told Dave to please behave and be quiet – as he laughed!

That’s the Dave I’ll forever remember.

Funny. Sarcastic. Loud. Vocal. Stubborn. Wild. Crazy. Fun. Silly.

I wasn’t there the night he went to the hospital, but they sent him back to the facility many times before, so I thought he’d be back. We had no idea that this time – he may not be. This time – may really be the end.

The night we were in the ICU to see him – when we said we were leaving the hospital, but we’d be back this weekend to see him again, he gave my son a fist-bump, and he grabbed my hand. I held his hand for a few minutes as he looked so tired and drained. His breathing was shallow, and he started closing his eyes. I told him to get some rest, and again -that we’d be back this weekend.

But – as I tried to pull my hand away gently, he squeezed it and wouldn’t let go. 🥺 He broke my heart when he whispered with his eyes closed – “Everyone left”. I whispered to my son that Dave wasn’t letting go, and we both felt bad. I almost wanted to pull up a chair and tell the nurses we’ll be there overnight, but we couldn’t do that.

I held his hand until I thought he was sleeping, and I tried to pull my hand away again, but he opened his eyes and squeezed my hand again – holding on once more. So, I held his hand, watched him close his eyes again, and I sat there with my son – in silence – looking at the T.V. with no sound – as we watched it.

Eventually, I did pull away slowly, and tell him we’re praying for him, and we love him.

I couldn’t turn around and look as we walked away, but my son did – and he said Dave was watching us leave with this sadness in his eyes. My son mentioned, “I don’t think he wants to be alone”. Once we left that room – the tears fell.

I cried so much. I cried on the way out of the hospital. I cried in the car. I was still crying on the way home.

I know Dave probably won’t live much longer and it crushes me.

I’ll always remember him as the vibrant, goofy man that walked around with humor, talking shit to everyone.

We do plan to go back Saturday and see him again if he’s still here on this earth, and I’m going to miss that man so much when he leaves it. 😶

*****

Before I get out of here, I have to share that today is my best friend’s 44th birthday.

Her name is Trish.

She and I met in 2nd grade when we were both 7-years-old.

We met because of the class clown, and we’ve stayed friends all these years.

We have so many funny and great memories together, and I’d be here forever if I were to share them all – but I just wanted to make you giggle and share a few of them – while also celebrating her day. 💕

The Twins (but NOT!) story:

She and I used to tell everyone we were fraternal twins. (Not identical) – obviously.

Many people believed us.

For example – in 6th grade – we had this boy James in our class who didn’t at first, and said if we were really twins, he wanted to see a photo of us when we were little. We had no idea how we were going to make that happen, but that night – my best friend Trish – called me and told me, “I have an idea!”. Her cousins were fraternal twins, and she had a photo of them when they were babies.

One has blonde hair and blueish eyes, which Trish has – and one has brown hair and Hazel eyes – which I have, so she brought that photo to school the next day and showed James. He absolutely believed us after that – thinking that was us when we were babies, so we started telling more people who didn’t know us – that we were fraternal twins. (James was new at the time) and didn’t really know us.

We went to the mall one day, and we were in the photo booth taking photos. When we got out of it, an elderly woman smiled at us – as she sat on the bench next to it – enjoying her ice cream. She said her and best friend used to do the same thing when they were our ages.

We were teenagers at the time, and we started talking to her and told her we were actually fraternal twins. She asked when our birthday was, and without really thinking about it, I told her my real birthday and Trish told her when her birthday was. Mine is in June. Trish’s – January, so of course – the lady asked, “Well, how are you fraternal twins if your birthdays are six months apart?”. We just looked at each other, laughed and realized we needed to get our birthdays straight if we were going to pretend to be twins.

After that, we settled on some birthday – same day and agreed to tell people that was ours. 😁

We’ve even been STEP-SISTERS! (Story).

We went to high school together and we always told the teachers we were stepsisters.

Nobody ever questioned it.

One day, our homeroom teacher said he had to have a talk with our parents because we had both been cutting classes, and he wanted our parents to know. He asked who he should get ahold of, and because we said her dad was married to my mom, the homeroom teacher said he would probably call them both.

We had NO IDEA what to say or do – but we were sure that our little “stepsisters” story was about to end.

Oddly enough, my mom and her dad said they would come in, but lucky for us – they would be there at different times that same day – as they both worked. They had no idea we were telling teachers we were stepsisters.

So, her dad came in first.

I was headed back from my locker and while I was walking down the hall to homeroom – Trish was standing outside the room with the teacher and her dad. We both gave each other scared and nervous looks, as we smirked and we both heard the teacher tell her dad, “Her and her stepsister”. We still don’t think her dad heard it to this day because he didn’t say anything about it, but MY MOM – she caught it fast.

When the teacher told her, “Her and her stepsister” – my mother was confused and asked, “STEPSISTER? She doesn’t have a stepsister!”. My mom was the one who ended that stepsister stuff.

🤣

“CHAT ROOM? WHAT’S THAT?”

One of the best memories we have together – is one 4th of July when I went to her house a few years back, and we were sitting on the porch having a few drinks – while my kids played with her nieces and nephew.

Next door to her – there was a teenage boy who lived there, and he liked to come outside and bug us whenever I was there. This one day, he was outside – and he kept running his mouth trying to insult us and make us mad. We kept ignoring him because we’re two grown ass women – who could care less about a teenager talking shit to us. lol.

When he said, “You guys are so old, you probably used AOL chat rooms before, and you were around when they were around!” – Trish had me laughing so hard when she asked him, “What’s an AOL chat room?”, and said that sounds fun.

He looked so shocked and asked, “You don’t know what a chat room online is? For real?”. She said no and asked how to use one. We were laughing and laughing, and this teenage couldn’t believe it. He started explaining chat rooms to us and said we can talk with people on the Internet. Trish laughed so much when I asked this teenage boy, “What the hell is the Internet?”. He looked at us shocked, placed his hand on his face and said, “This is going to be a long day!”. Trish asked – through laughter – “What’s this Chat you speak of?”.

He really believed we had no idea, and he ended up shaking his head, told us “You guys are hopeless”, and went inside – as we laughed the entire time. He probably called his friends and told them, “The middle-aged women next door have no idea what the internet or chat rooms are! Can you believe that?”. 🤣🤣🤣

Of course we do! We were in AOL chat rooms on the internet before he was even though of! ha.

“The BOX – phone bill problem“:

Another memory I’ll never forget and we still laugh about – is when we were teenagers and back then in the early 90’s – the BOX (Channel 13) I believe it was – was super popular.

The BOX – was where you could call in on your landline phone, dial three numbers to any video you wanted to see – as the numbers to those videos scrolled at the bottom of the screen, and they’d play those videos you requested. The cool thing was – you could see people’s video choice numbers being typed in as people called in. The bad thing was – each video cost between .99 – $3.99 and would charge your parents phone bills.

We didn’t realize that when we were calling to request videos.

When my mom got her phone bill one month and she called me downstairs SCREAMING – because it was over $300 – she was SO MAD and demanded to know what THE BOX was. I got grounded, and she ended up having our phone company block THE BOX phone number.

My best friend was there when my mom yelled at me and got the phone bill, so I laughed when she told me she better go home and see if her parents got their phone bill.

Good times!

“Shaving cream gone wrong!”

Our 8th grade graduation field trip – was to Springfield, IL. – to go see Lincoln’s home and some other places.

The night before, I spent that night at Trish’s, so we could leave at 5:30 AM together, walk to school and be there on time to get on the buses with our class.

We couldn’t sleep because we were excited and kept talking all night and watching movies.

Finally, around 3 AM – we started getting tired, and felt like we should probably go to sleep, but she had the idea of grabbing shaving cream, going into her brother’s room, and putting it all over his head. She did that, and at 4 AM when we decided to get one hour of sleep – her brother came out of his room, sat on the couch and we couldn’t stop laughing.

He called us idiots. He asked why we were laughing. He told us we were stupid. He told us we have problems.

We were laughing too hard to care what he was saying – as we saw all the shaving cream spread out all over his hair.

Finally, he went to use the bathroom, saw all the shaving cream in the mirror, and went to tell their father.

Their father woke up, had him wash his hair, and screamed at us.

Their father told us we had to be up early and should be sleeping, not messing around. He yelled that we were immature, and he shouldn’t be up dealing with our bullshit at that time of morning. He went on and on.

But………….

When Trish’s brother went back to his bedroom, their dad looked and made sure he was in there – before he looked at us, smiled and whispered, “Next time – do it right! You put it in his hand and tickle his nose!”. We laughed so much, as their dad giggled and went back to bed. 😁

We’ve had so many fun memories, and we’ve always been there for each other through some the toughest times in our lives.

I am so grateful for our friendship and that it’s lasted 32+ years and still going strong, so today – I want to say a very big

to my best friend, Trish!

Your friendship has gotten me through so much, and while I keep my circle small these days – I am so happy to still have you in it. 💕

I love you, TWIN / Stepsister. haha.

Some fun photos of us.

This is when she grabbed my little guy when he was just a baby and rocked him to sleep.

Trish always says she doesn’t like kids, so on this day – I told her it looks like she LOVES them. She laughed and told me, “Only when I can rock them to sleep and hand them back to their parents!”.

I believe this was the 4th of July when the kid next door had to explain what AOL CHAT and the internet were. Kid, we were AMERICA ONLINE and AOL chat long before your parents thought you into existence.

One of my favorite photos of us! 🙂

To everyone else, I hope all of you have a fantastic weekend.

The weather is starting to get decent, but you never know around this damn state.

Love you!

💕Shel💕

Back in 1982 and the Pros and cons of work recently.

Back in 1982 and the Pros and cons of work recently.

Shel R.14 Comments
Daily writing prompt
Share what you know about the year you were born.
View all responses

I haven’t done one of these WP prompts for a while, so here we go.

I will honestly say I don’t know much about the year I was born – except that all of my family was all still alive, healthy and so close. That has since changed, many of have passed, and family no longer gets together like they used to.

So, I had to look up some fun facts, wild history events, etc. that happened in 1982 – (the year I was born), and found these interesting facts.

I had no idea Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne were born in the same year, but that was interesting to learn.

I listen to Nicki here and there, but I’m a huge fan of Lil Wayne and his songs. (Especially his song MIRROR).

Those popular songs from 1982 – are all still amazing today. Physical, Survivor, I love Rock ‘N Roll – they all still play on the radio, and my grandma Ann LOVED Katherine Hepburn, so it was nice reading all of this.

Reading what things costs back when I was born – had me shocked. Everything was so cheap.

I still owe $10,000 on my car, so to see that a car back then – fully cost $9,903 – makes me wonder what the hell happened that prices of new cars these days are $30,000 + if you want a BRAND new one in most places.

Mine was $30,000 – and I realize now that I could have gotten something bigger and a better, but I still love my car. It’s crazy expensive for no reason though. To think that I would have had it paid off by now if it were 1982 – blows my mind.

A house was $83,000 + ….and now, good houses are anywhere from $279,000 and up.

I’m just throwing average numbers out there, but houses are NOT cheap anymore.

Groceries have gone up like crazy since then.

Gas is up.

It’s sad to see how much times have changed. Even the music now – compared to 1982 – is sad.

I do giggle when I see that M*A*S*H. was one of the most popular T.V shows back then, because my mother hated that show, so whenever she watched her programs and that came on, we knew it was time to turn the T.V. off and do something else. My grandma watched that show and it was boring. However, my grandma LOVED the show DALLAS as well.

Michael Jackson released (Thriller), and E.T. became a popular movie.

I wanted to know more about what happened in 1982 because now I was curious, and I found this video.

That’s all I have.

There’s some history for you.

I could sit here and do more research, but I have to eventually get ready to take the kids to school and get to work. 😊

Today is the last day of school for the kids, and then Winter break starts.

I can’t believe we’re two days away from Christmas – which reminds me to order everything for Christmas dinner today.

I’m still shopping for gifts from “Santa” for the little guy, and stocking stuffers for the kids, and I’ll finally be finished. Of course, you know darn good and well that I plan to get myself a bottle of wine, and enjoy the last gift wrapped tomorrow night. I’m off work tomorrow and Christmas day, thankfully!

Yesterday, we took gifts to Elijah’s teachers, his Kindergarten teacher from many years ago, and his 2nd grade teacher. I mentioned that his 1st grade teacher moved out of state, but his past teachers loved his gifts, and they were so happy. Elijah was so happy to give gifts. He’s like me. He enjoys seeing people happy. ❤️

My car goes in for service today, and I’m praying it’s just a simple fix.

I think that’s all the life updates I have.

🙄

At work – we lost a woman I became close to. She was an alcoholic, and she knew her liver was failing, but she continued to drink. She was one of the tenants at the facility I work in.

I remember when I first met her. I’ll call her “Shannon”.

She was feisty. She was playful and fun, and she put her fists up acting like she was ready to fight.

We laughed about, and ever since that day a few months ago – I always called her “my homegirl”, or “my girl”. I’d tell her boyfriend – (who also lives in the facility) – not to come downstairs without my girl. So, he’d go back and get her. We used to make each other laugh and she was such a sweet firecracker. She didn’t take no shit.

We do portions at work – for some of the tenants – where we give small bits of alcohol, so they don’t deal with the withdrawals, and there was one time I had to deny her the portion she was supposed to get because when I breathalyzed her, she was over her limit. She made me giggle when she told me, “I don’t care! I got Vodka in my room”, and she strolled away, so me denying her – didn’t matter, but I knew at least – I was doing my job.

She was spunky, usually smiling or joking around, and happy.

I never expected that a few weeks ago, I’d be taking her to the hospital because she wasn’t doing well, and we’d have our very last conversation.

On the way to the hospital, we were talking and she said something about me having an accent.

I didn’t hear her, so I asked, “I have an accent?”. I knew she said something about one, but I didn’t know what. She yelled and replied with, “YOU DO! I SAID YOU DO HAVE AN ACCENT!”. And then – she apologized for yelling it and said she’s just in a lot of pain.

She ended up being released from the hospital and coming back to the facility about 2 weeks ago and she was so angry when she said her boyfriend offered her a drink. She denied it, because she didn’t want to die. She knew it was getting serious, and the next day after her release – she was right back in the hospital for the very last time.

Her boyfriend has been walking the halls in the facility, sitting at the front by the office, or coming down just to occupy his time, get his mind of her, and kept asking if she was going to be okay. Sunday, he came up to me and asked, “She’ll get better, right?”. I knew what I SHOULD have said, but my heart broke for him and I told him, “I’m not sure. All I can tell you is that she probably won’t be back here”. He said she has a lot of dreamcatchers, and he’d like his favorite one out of her room if that’s the case, so he could remember her. I asked our lead staff if we can do that for him, and I was given permission.

My son works with me on the weekends, so he went and made sure that on Sunday, her boyfriend was able to take his favorite dreamcatcher. I also asked our nurse if she could make him a copy of Shannon’s picture from her medication box, and the nurse was all for it. 💕🥺

Last night, one of my co-workers called me and said she’s helping our boss make phone calls.

I thought I was in trouble for something, but she told me she just wanted to let me know that “Shannon passed”.

I asked if her boyfriend knew yet, and she said after phone calls, she’ll be on her way to let him know.

We’ve been dragging it out for so long and not wanting to tell him the full extent of what we knew about her, and we tried to just ease his mind and tell him very little – but yesterday – we had to fully tell him like it is, and our nurse talked to him, told him the truth, and let him go to the hospital to say his goodbyes.

This shit is never easy, especially when you work in a facility or setting where you get to know everyone, get close to people, learn their stories, know they’ve had hard lives, and then see them go through things like this – or pass.

Last night when I found out, I sat in my bedroom and shed a few tears, and then whispered, “Fly high my girl!”.

I laugh – imagining her meeting God the same way she was the day I first met her – with her fists up, pretending to want to fight and saying, “Let’s go!”. lol. Just a little humor in this dark world – where we’ll all have our day eventually.

I pray for her family. I pray for her boyfriend who has been so lost without her. I pray for my co-workers who knew her much longer than I have, and for all those who loved her.

*****

Work is so rewarding, and I love my job, but it can also be stressful and sad at times.

Saturday, my son told me one of our other tenants was on the phone and she was in tears.

I found out one of her family members passed.

As she made arrangements to go with family for a few days, she sat and waited for hours for them to come and get her and her anxiety was through the roof. When she was leaving, I opened my arms to give her a big hug. She laughed when she said she smelled like shit because she hasn’t showered yet. I told her in a funny way, “I don’t give a damn! Come give me a hug Stinky butt!”. We hugged so tight and I asked her to please take care of herself and be good while she’s gone.

I know it’s so easy for these amazing men and women to relapse when times are tough like this, or to do something stupid they may regret because they’re not fully thinking, and I hate the times I have to watch them go through things that life throws at them – when they’re already dealing with the choices they’ve made and the positions they’re in now. 💔

On the plus side – when I can make them smile, laugh, or feel like someone cares – that makes me feel good, and I love doing what I can for them.

One of the women there told me that her cat was out of food, and I know she didn’t want to tell anyone or burden anyone with it, so she kept coming to the office to get some of our Chicken packs. I went and got her cat some treats and food, and we both laughed so much when she said treats are like a drug to that cat and I asked if this means I’m her cats “drug dealer now”.

Another woman I’ve gotten close to – keeps asking for this one Maroon Puma hoodie I have because she loves it so much. I joke with her and tell her she’s not getting my hoodie, and I love it, too! Yesterday at work, I had a piece of paper that fell into my sleeve, so I took my arm out of the sleeve to shake it out and she was standing by me. She got happy and thought I was going to take the hoodie off and give it to her. 🤣 This is the second time I’ve worn it there and she tried to get it.

I love the hoodie, but today – when I go in – I am going to hand it over to her.

It’s the little things, and if I can put a smile on their faces, I’ll do what I can. If it makes their day a little brighter, I’m all for it.

I’m going to miss that hoodie! 😶 Still, her happiness will be worth it.

This is why I say Kindness is so important.

I’d love to sit here and write more, but it’s time to make sure the kids are ready for school and for me to get ready for work.

Pray that my car issues is a simple fix – as my son will be dropping me off at work and taking my car in, and that Christmas hurries up because I’m almost ready to get it over with. ha.

Love ya!

💕Shel💕

Deadlines met, more money spent, Senior assassin plans, and work.

Deadlines met, more money spent, Senior assassin plans, and work.

Shel R.2 Comments

You have to have humor in life, right?!

Good morning and let me make you laugh a bit.

I dropped off my little guy at school this morning and as I was driving around the block to drop my daughter off at the high school, she said her friend wanted a ride. I swung around to get her friend and parked in the high school parking lot.

Me: I am absolutely down to look at LIFE 360 and do a drive-by or five on the days that I don’t work.

My daughter started naming her friends, and says, “We can all jump out of the car, do our thing, and jump back in. You’re the get-away driver!”. We laughed about it, and we laughed even more when my daughter’s friend says, “I feel like I’m listening to something I shouldn’t be involved in. I’m out of here!”. Her friend was laughing as she got out of the car, knowing what I was talking about.

We were talking about SENIOR ASSASSIN!

The class of 2026 has been planning it the last few days, taking votes on if they want to do water or gel pellet guns, and my daughter is so excited to be a part of this. 🤣 This is a game played in many states all over the world – where Seniors go around shooting their fellow Senior classmates with either water or gel pellet guns – in order to “assassinate” or eliminate each other.

There are only two rules.

They can’t get each other on school grounds, or – at one of their places of employment.

Anywhere else – is fair game.

They are currently voting on if they should all download LIFE 360, add each other to it, and have fun knowing where certain classmates are – to go get them.

When my daughter went on her Senior class trip a few months ago, she brought herself a very small water gun to have fun with, and I looked at her funny when she said she’s going to use that if they decide on water guns – for Senior assassin. I told her she better let me take her to the store and buy her a couple of huge SUPER SOAKERS! We both laughed and I told her, “Go big or go home!”. 😁

In all seriousness, my daughter hates social situations, and she doesn’t like to be around a lot of people because of her anxiety, so I am so happy she’s excited about this, and plans to participate. I was totally joking about the “getaway driver” thing – (unless other parents are participating as well), and then I’m totally down for it. ha. She’s been talking about it for days now, as all of the Seniors try to figure out what they want to use, when they plan to start it, and how it’s going to go.

We also just turned in all of her Yearbook deadline stuff.

The photo of her when she was little:

This will be in the Yearbook I believe, but also on the screen at graduation as they show the “then and now” photos of the class of 2026.

We turned in her Senior photo she picked for the Yearbook – after taking tons of photos the past few weeks. She and I both loved this one:

She turned in her Senior wills, which says what she’ll leave behind and to whom.

She said she was going to leave her Sassiness to her best friend, Riley – and her Silliness to her good friend, Logan.

She turned in her 10-year prophecy, which is where she sees herself in 10 years, and she said in 10 years, she’ll be saving lives as a Paramedic, living in California – hopefully with a few dogs. 🥰

She also had to turn in a Senior quote that goes under her Senior photo in the yearbook, and as we sat at the kitchen table searching for the perfect quotes or one that she liked, I cried like a baby.

I’m not ready for this! 🥺🤣

We went through many quotes, and each one just made me cry more.

Hers is, “We leave behind a trail of laughter, love, and a little bit of craziness”, and then she added, “Thank you for all the laughs“.

It was cute. It was simple. It works!

With everything turned in and deadlines met finally – I THOUGHT I was finished, but parents of Seniors know – that we are NEVER finished when we think we are. Yearbooks have to be paid for, and class rings have to be picked out and purchased.

Graduation outfits have to be shopped for – be it a tux for the Senior boys, or for us girl parents – dresses.

More money is involved, and it’s never ending – all the way up until graduation day, when we can finally sit back – relax and watch all of our hard work – pay off – as our Seniors walk the final walk – and get their diplomas. ❤️

AND THEN – IT’S MORE MONEY and it doesn’t end there because most of them will go on to college and need all kinds of new things. lol. Are we ready Senior parents?!!!!!!!

So, we’re almost done with Senior year, and all the madness and fun that comes along with it, and I’ve started getting emails for colleges, scholarships, grants, different financial stuff for her when she does go to college. She’s been getting different college packages in the mail as well – with colleges wanting her to come check out their schools.

She has decided on the University of Michigan, but I told her not to limit her choices to just one, and to check out multiple colleges before making any decisions, depending on if she still wants to do Paramedic or not – next year.

*****

My little guy just also had his Christmas concert, and it was only 20 minutes long.

I was surprised because in the recent years, it’s been longer, but it was still cute and fun.

He was one of the dancers, and he danced with a little girl. I wish I could upload videos here, but I would have to upload them to YouTube and grab them from there – and that’s a whole headache. He did a great job, though!

It broke my heart a little because it was his very last Christmas concert at this school, and I believe if all goes well – we’re moving next year, so it’s bitter-sweet to see my daughter almost ready to graduate from this school, and my son do his last concert here.

This school has been wonderful, and it’s sad to leave it, but we’re on to new adventures next year.

*****

As for me, I’ve just been working and enjoying my down time when I can.

I love my job!

Despite working in a facility that houses some of the roughest people and helping them get through some of their toughest times, I enjoy it and anything I can do to put a smile on their faces, or make them feel like someone cares – I’ll do it.

The amazing and popular rapper (Eminem) has a song called “Houdini”, and in the middle of it, he says, “F*** my own kids! They’re brats!”. His daughters are grown now – (one his own and the other two being adopted by him when they were little), and I thought it was the cutest thing when the video shows them on the phone / Facetime – acting shocked when he says that. It was pretty funny.

After that song came out, the internet and TikTok went crazy with his daughter, Hailey Jade – and others doing the sound that says, “I’m like, what’d he say F*** me for?”. It came from 50 cent from what I heard, but everyone used it as a joke to the Houdini song.

So, at work last week – I walked in super early and one of the older guys who live in the facility (Donny) I’ll call him – wanted something he usually gets at 8 AM – earlier. Sometimes, if I’m there early, I don’t see a big deal in giving it to him early because he’s a good guy and he behaves well. Sometimes – if one of our picky lead staff members are there, I just can’t do it. So, on this one day – he was down there, and he was yelling about how he’s tired of being treated like he’s a kid, and he was angry that one lead staff wouldn’t give him what he wanted, so he threw a fit.

He yelled, “F*** ALL OF YOU!”. I was working. My son was working. The one lead staff we try to avoid – was working. Later on, she walked away, and I called him downstairs to get what he was looking for and told him that he knows I always give him what he asks for, as long as I’m there and I can do it. I told him he didn’t need to yell at me when he knows I do what I can for him, and he apologized, so – I made him laugh when I said, “I’m like, what’d he say F*** me for?” – in the same tone TikTok uses for that sound.

We both laughed as he walked away.

We have another guy I’ll call “Bobby”. Bobby can be tough to deal with if he’s not sober, and sometimes he’ll listen, sometimes – he’s just ready to throw insults, punches, whatever he can. When he’s sober, he’s a decent guy to talk to.

At work a few weeks ago, my boss asked me to hand out Christmas wish lists for our tenants to fill out – for things they want for Christmas. Everyone turned theirs in over the last few weeks – except Bobby, so I planned to chase him down a few days ago – to see if he could turn his in. I didn’t have to though, as he came to the front desk and handed me his.

I opened it and it said he didn’t want anything for himself. Just a 1/2 dozen roses for his lady, Mary.

I thought that was the cutest, sweetest thing – but then again, there’s time where one of us staff members have to go break up arguments between him and Mary, and they have this weird, funny Love / hate relationship. Still, they both make me smile when they’re together and they both pick on each other and have their little arguments.

I don’t have favorite tenants, but one of my funniest ones – is a guy I’ll call Tony. He’s hilarious. He’s full of energy and I think I talked about him before. The one who made me my flower vase when I first started at this facility. I forgot what I called him back then, but for this – I’m calling him Tony.

I watch the cameras sometimes, and I’ll see him on one – and then next thing I know – he’s 10 cameras over, and I’m wondering how he got to the other side of the building so fast.

The other day, he had me laughing – as I watched him do laundry for FIVE entire hours. FIVE – because he was taking his sweet time folding his clothes so carefully, hanging them, cleaning the washers and dryers, and doing other things in the laundry room. Trying to fix the sink, picking things up from the floor, cleaning the floor, and things he didn’t go in there to do.

Not to mention that he left his breakfast on the water fountain, and someone else started eating off of his plate, so I had to bring it into the office to hold it for him, while Mr. “Take other people’s food” – walked around looking for where the plate went – that he was stealing off of, and I watched that on the cameras as I giggled to myself.

I love these people.

I’ve grown to know all of them. They’ve grown to know and trust me, and also my son when he’s there on the weekends, and I love working in this facility. Every day brings new laughter, new adventures here, and a lot of times when I’m looking for ways to make their life easier, their days brighter, and joke with them to give them laughter.

They’ve been through a lot!

In a world where society and the town judge them and knows all of the negative things about the people who live in this facility, I like to find the good in all of them, see the positivity they hold, and get to know them on a personal level. My job isn’t just for a paycheck. It’s to show these people that in a world full of hate and judgement, I’m not one of those people who do that. I care.

I will say that I pissed off one of the tenants yesterday and I can cross that off my “to-do” list. lol.

Just kidding. I don’t have a to-do list that states, “Piss of a tenant”, but I thought it was a funny thought.

She was angry that she felt like someone stole her laundry, but upon checking the cameras, I didn’t see anything and asked if she is sure she didn’t grab her laundry on another day and forget. I can honestly say that I was NOT her favorite staff member – as she screamed at me the 4th time she came and told me about her clothes missing, and that someone in the building stole them.

After she screamed at me and walked away, I knew I just had to let it roll off my shoulders, and that it was nothing personal. I knew that I wasn’t the first staff member she had went off on, and I won’t be the last. She’s one of our very much louder tenants, and when I’m at work, I try to be as polite with her as possible, get her whatever she needs, and call it a day.

I’ve learned all of their personalities, their flaws, their likes and dislikes, the ones you can joke with and the ones we kind of just have to say, “What do you need?” – take care of and keep it moving with.

On the plus side, I just found out that one of our other tenants that I’ll call Bryce – knows how to play songs on the Harmonica. That was pretty cool, and while he was a little tipsy yesterday, he knew I had this big project I was working on for my boss, and he stood by the front desk, played songs on the Harmonica, and it was actually nice.

I enjoyed listening to him as I did this project, and it was soothing.

Everyone I deal with there on a daily basis – I have grown to love, care about, and respect because they’re still standing. They still keep going, and they try their best to get through another day – no matter what cards in life they’ve been dealt. ❤️

*****

In other news – my car is an a-hole, and I’ve been trying to see if I can trade it in for a family SUV.

There’s something going on with my throttle, or sensors – whatever I’ve read on it, and I’ll be taking it to the shop next week to see what’s going on. I joked that my car is going to throw me into a brick wall – because it keeps doing this thing where it feels like it wants to accelerate by itself when my foot isn’t even on the gas, and sometimes – it feels like it wants to give up.

I did call a dealer this morning because I used to have a Ford Explorer and I absolutely LOVED IT, so I did tell the guy if one comes in – let me know. He gave me his cell phone number and told me that when I have a down payment ready, to come on in and he’ll take care of me. We ran some numbers, and he asked if I was looking for a Tahoe, Escalade, etc. I did tell him I don’t want anything huge, but I do need something bigger than what I have now, and I am looking to trade in my a-hole car. 😁

Christmas is almost here. I still have to buy gifts from Santa to the little dude, and hopefully early next year, I can trade this car in for something else. Until then – it’s going to keep being an a-hole, and I’m going to keep buying scratch-off tickets and hope I win big on one of them.

haha. Joking.

Love ya!

❤️Shel❤️

When sshhhh goes wrong… and a great Christmas movie.

When sshhhh goes wrong… and a great Christmas movie.

Shel R.Leave a comment

A few nights ago, I couldn’t sleep.

A friend of mine had told me about a cute movie she watched and wanted me to check out, so – since I couldn’t sleep and she knows I like different Christmas movies around this time of year, I watched the one she suggested.

I’m not sure if it’s streaming anywhere else, but I watched it on YouTube.

It seemed like a Hallmark movie, and I’m not really a Hallmark movie – kind of gal, but I actually like this movie.

You have to pay attention to really know what’s going on, but I recommend it if you’re looking for something cute to watch. ❤️

It has some great actors / actresses, such as Paul Walker and Robin Williams (God rest their souls), Susan Sarandon, Penelope Cruz, Chaz Palminteri, and others.

Paul Walker plays a super jealous and controlling cop, who doesn’t want any man around his fiancé or even looking at her, and she’s ready to leave him if he doesn’t change his crazy ways. She truly does love him and wants everything to work out – especially because it’s Christmas, and she doesn’t want to leave him during Christmas.

Susan Sarandon’s mother is battling Alzheimer’s / Dementia and won’t eat, and while she loves spending time with her mom every year, things are getting worse, and it’s become an awful Christmas for her – watching her mother go through all of this, as she watches the man across the hall from her mother’s room – fight for his life.

There’s an elderly man in this movie who is obsessed with Paul Walker’s character and at first – the movie makes it seem likes he’s gay and wants to be with “Mike” – (Paul’s character), but that’s not the case at all, and it made me cry when I found out why he’s so obsessed with Mike.

What Mike does for this man to heal his heart and soul – teaches him something about himself and his own jealousy and the way he’s acting with his fiancé.

The movie is good. I’d watch it again.

So, when I couldn’t sleep a few nights ago, that’s what I watched, and I enjoyed it.

If you watch it, let me know what you think.

*****

In other news, my son and I had our very first work meeting this week.

I work all week long and on the weekends. My son just works the weekends with me, but this meeting was mandatory for most staff.

We got updates on some of our tenants in the building. We got updates on whatever we needed to know. We talked about different things, the work Christmas party next week, things that need to be done during shifts, and so on.

Staff was able to voice our thoughts, ideas, concerns, etc.

My son and I stayed quiet because again, this was our first meeting since working at this facility and we just wanted to take it all in, see what goes on in these meetings, and who says what.

One thing that did make me want to speak up and go against something – was when one of my older co-workers said something about possibly putting up a sign that says nobody can hang out in the hallways because she’s tired of kicking people out of the halls, and nobody listens. They keep doing it anyway. If there’s a sign saying they can’t – maybe, they’ll finally understand it.

I disagreed with that because it’s winter. It’s freezing outside, and sometimes the weather is -10, -20, -30 – out here, and kicking people out in the cold, just doesn’t sit right with me. It’s not the kind of person I am and it’s not the way my heart is. Not to mention that while I’m on my shift, or my son and I are both working together – we don’t care if people are hanging out in the hallways because they’re safe, they’re warm, and they live in the building – WE DON’T! So, for us to kick them out of any part of their home – when we just work in this facility – doesn’t sit right with us.

I wanted to say all of that, but I didn’t.

I knew that if my boss agreed to put a sign up saying they can’t hang out in the hallways, and we still let them – (because I was still going to let them), it would be mixed signals because different staff let them do different things, and we wouldn’t all be on the same page.

Here’s the thing.

The facility I work in – as I said before – houses people who are homeless or were once homeless before they were accepted into this facility. It’s a big building and they each have their own little apartments.

This facility houses not only homeless people, but also alcoholics and those with drug addictions, and mental health issues. This facility houses some criminals who committed different minor crimes and have nowhere to go after their release, or those who have no family / friends to go to. We have people from all walks of life in this facility, and they lean on each other. They’re friends with each other. They enjoy hanging out with and seeing each other, because for some of them – the people who live there, are all they have.

The problem is – there’s two sides to this huge building.

There’s the side where the tenants are more independent, can work, go do whatever they please, come and go, etc. as long as they stay out of trouble and follow the rules of their leases, and of the facility. Then, there’s the side where people are more dependent, need alcohol portion control, are dealing with withdrawals, dealing with mental health things, and just need more care, and compassion.

The staff office – is right in the middle of both sides, so both sides can come and talk to the staff, or get what they need, but both sides are locked – and these tenants know that one side can’t go to the other sides lobby. So they call each other from the lobby phones, meet outside, or – in these hallways they have right by the office if it’s cold outside like it has been.

During the meeting, when my older co-worker asked if a sign can be placed, I was so happy when my boss said she’s on the fence about doing that, and she feels different about it.

She said as long as they’re not causing problems, fighting or drinking in the hallways, and as long as they’re not blocking the way to get in and out – it doesn’t bother her. She said she would much rather have them hanging out in the hallways safe and warm – than to be out and about wherever they’ll find to go to be warm and hang out and possibly get into trouble while they’re out and about.

She said she’d rather deal with them in the halls, than having the police calling the building saying, “Hey, you need to come get your guy”, or have one of them out and about drinking, and freeze to death.

I absolutely agreed with my boss, and I loved that she spoke up and said something because I was on the same page as my boss.

I was happy when the Case manager chimed in and said a sign probably wouldn’t matter anyway, because many of the people who live in the facility have had a “F*** You” attitude since they were little, and all they’re going to do – is become combative and give attitude if there’s a sign. They’re doing that now if they get kicked out of the hallways. So, it’s probably not even worth it.

I agreed with that as well.

It’s all about picking and choosing your battles and kicking them out of hallways of somewhere THEY LIVE – as I said – it’s not right.

I also wanted to speak up when one of the lead staff – said something about how people also aren’t allowed to be in the hallways if they don’t live here and just want to come in to warm up because they live on the streets. She said if that’s the case, they have TWO MINUTES to warm up, and get out, or – we can “slowly” help them fill out a housing application, and then – they have to go.

Part of me so badly wanted to kind of joke – but kind of seriously tell her, “You better hope you get into heaven when you die, and God doesn’t just give you TWO MINUTES to look around and tell you that you have to go!”.

I was so mad. I couldn’t believe how heartless she sounded. I wish I would have said something, but again, I didn’t, because I knew I wasn’t going to follow her TWO MINUTE RULLE anyway, and I was so proud of my boss and so happy when she spoke up again and said for her – it would be different.

She said for her being a human – she knows what she would want someone to do for her if she were in that same position, and if someone comes in off the streets to get warm, she will treat them like another human. She said she wouldn’t care if they slept in the hallways if that meant they have a warm place to be – even for one night. She said she’d offer a pair of warm gloves, a hat, whatever we have for whenever they want to leave, and one of my other co-workers mentioned giving them a cup of hot coffee.

YES!!!!!!

That’s how it should be!!!!!

If I’m ever at work and a homeless person comes in and needs to warm up, I’m grabbing that cup of coffee for them, having them sit down by our heaters, pulling up a chair next to them, and letting them keep me company as we chat, because I don’t have the heart for that “TWO MINUTES” crap. My boss said she’d much rather get in trouble by the higher up’s or whoever – for being a good person, than to have to treat another human like they’re below her, and I loved that!

Same.

Last week – I gave some of our “good gloves” at work to a few of the people who live there, and my son said something about how he thinks they’re Christmas gifts for those who ask for it on their wish lists.

First of all – gloves should not be on a WISH LIST. They should automatically be given out because that’s something that’s NEEDED in this weather, so if those gloves sitting in the closet were for the wish list – and I get in trouble for giving them out to people who NEED them, I’ll deal with that and take it with a smile.

My boss said in the meeting – that she’d back us up no matter what we decided to do in any situation, and that we have to use our best judgements and our common human sense. If I get in trouble for letting people hang out in the hallways to stay warm and safe, O-well. If I get in trouble for doing good things for people who live there, O-well. If I get in trouble if some homeless person comes in off the streets and wants to sleep in the halls to stay warm – O-well.

I know my boss will back me up, and that’s what matters. She has the same good heart I do.

I was bothered that this other lead staff literally sat there joking about her little TWO MINUTE rule, and they have to go. She had a smile on her face and said if they don’t live here, they don’t belong there and that’s it.

My face while she was talking – was something like:

My son tried not to laugh because he knew I was mad.

It takes ZERO EFFORT OR DOLLARS to be a good human being, and she doesn’t seem like she’s it.

After the meeting, I shared my concerns with my boss and I let her know – one on one – that I’m not kicking nobody out if they need to get warm, and that I don’t care who hangs out in the hallways if they’re not fighting, drinking or causing issues. She agreed with me, and again – I’m glad she backs me and the idea of being a good person – up.

I can’t promise I’ll stay quiet in future meetings, but I will say that from now on – I plan to stand up for what’s right and what’s wrong.

I love my job, and when it comes to rules and policies, I’ll follow them to an extent. When it comes to being a good person, helping others, showing love – compassion and kindness – I’ll bend the rules and policies if I have to, and I won’t apologize for it. 😶 There’s some circumstances where it’s okay to say, “We’re not supposed to do this, but….”.

So, my son and I survived our first work meeting – despite me having to bite my tongue and stay quiet on certain things I disagreed with or wanted to speak up on.

*****

On my side of this small little town, I’m just working, counting down the months until my daughter graduates’ high school and we can move.

I’m starting to get rid of things we don’t use, need or want – so packing will be faster and a little easier, and trying to STILL get graduation photos done, things turned in on time for her deadlines, etc. We’ve done some graduation photos, and she doesn’t like them, so we’re going to try again this weekend and by Tuesday of next week, everything should be turned in for the yearbooks and deadlines.

That’s a lot, right?! MAMA NEEDS A FEW NAPS. ha.

Today is my little guy’s Christmas concert at school and I’m looking forward to that.

He told me if I cry, he’s just going to “pretend” to sing, and not really sing. lol.

I work this weekend. I work next week. We were supposed to go to Illinois the end of this month for a few days to be with family, but I have things to do, to catch up on, and I just can’t.

Besides all of that….

Let me share how awesome my older son is!

I had to run to the store yesterday for a new pair of jeans and a new pair of shoes.

He offered to pay for my shoes. I told him I have the money, and he replied with, “I know, but I wanted to get you a Christmas gift from Amazon, and it won’t arrive on time, so let me just buy you the shoes you want”. I told him I wasn’t getting anything fancy right now because it’s winter, but he insisted – so, I let him. He called it my early Christmas gift, and I’m okay with that. 😁❤️

He really is a great kid!

After we ran to a few stores and grabbed Starbucks, we were on the way home and I felt my car driving a little bumpy. I pulled over and asked my son to check my tires, and when he did – he shook his head.

I knew I had a flat. I was so irritated because I’m a single mom. It’s almost Christmas. I have other things to buy or pay, and now I have to get a new tire on top of it???!!!

I couldn’t help it, and I was so stressed, drained and irritated – that I cried.

I didn’t just cry. I sat in the car and sobbed. Big tears. I was a wreck.

I saw this a few weeks back and didn’t think much of it until yesterday when I needed a new tire – on top of everything else going on, and I thought about this again.

I just laid my head back on my headrest, looked up and wondered what the hell God is doing up there, and why I just can’t feel like I’m getting ahead of anything.

My son was calm.

He changed my tire to the spare, and I was able to make it to the tire shop I always go to whenever I need tire work done.

I’m pretty sure I need an alignment, but they couldn’t do it yesterday, so I have to go back and that’s even more money.

$167 I didn’t plan to spend on the tire, and just like that – more money gone.

You know what I want for Christmas? A F***IN’ DAY WHERE EVERYTHING IS PAID, I DON’T HAVE TO GO ANYWHERE, I HAVE A BOTTLE OF GOOD WINE, I’M BORED OUT OF MY MIND BECAUSE I HAVE NOTHING TO DO AND NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT, AND LIFE IS GOOD!

I’m sure that’s the wish of every single mama out there though.

Hell, I’m sure that’s the wish of every person dealing with anything right now.

Listen. I’m blessed that God still has me on this earth with my kids, and my other three kids here on this earth with me, so I can’t really complain.

Other than that, I don’t have much else going on right now.

I just dyed my hair.

I know I said I wasn’t going to do that.

My silver / gray was showing through my dark brown / black hair, and I wanted to see how it would look if I finally fully went silver / gray. My daughter said it looked pretty cool, but with my son’s Christmas concert in a bit, I decided to go in with cut hair and a new color. 😊

Have a beautiful day loves!

❤️Shel❤️