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

January 24, 2026January 24, 2026 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💕

A funny Q-tip story, a few other things and a fantastic movie with a great message.

January 9, 2026January 9, 2026 Shel R.8 Comments

Hey there loves!

So, the kids and I went to see the Harlem Globetrotters a few days ago, and we absolutely enjoyed the show.

It was hilarious.

It was entertaining.

It was amazing.

For those who don’t know who or what they are – what rock have you been hiding under?

YouTube some of their videos and watch them play. Watch them act. Watch them do tricks. Watch them make you laugh.

They play Basketball – but they have fun with it. They joke around. The tease each other. They tease the team they’re playing. They interact with their fans. They give prizes and gifts. They do all kinds of things on the court.

My mom, my daughter and I – have been to one of their games a few years ago, but my older son didn’t want to go, and my little guy was too little to understand it. Now that he’s 9-years-old and knows all about sports, it was more exciting to take him as well. My kids had so much fun as they yelled, cheered, clapped, and truly enjoyed that night. ❤️

Many arenas where they play – allow kids to bring their own Basketballs to be signed at the end of the game – (which is what my kids did), or they can buy a Globetrotters basketball / Souvenir at the games – and have them signed.

I laughed when many of the kids yelled, “6-7” – when the Globetrotters score reached 67.

My little dude was upset though because a lot of the kids who were sitting down by the court seats – were called onto the court and given gifts and souvenirs, so he felt some kind of way, but I told him that the kids sitting around him – or further away from the court – weren’t getting anything, so he wasn’t the only one.

However – when we were down by the court after the show – getting autographs, we were almost done and had a few more to get – as we walked over to the star of the show that night (Thunder).

One of the players (Spice) – came running under the rope they set up to separate the crowd and the players. She made moves like she was about to play Basketball with my little guy, and she ended up taking off her headband, putting it around his head and joking with him.

He was SO EXCITED! I was SO happy he finally got something, as he yelled out, “I didn’t think I was going to get anything from any of the players”. It made my mama heart smile. 😁 She will probably never see this – but THANK YOU, SPICE!!!! You made his night special.

I took more videos than photos, but we had such a great time, and my kids can’t wait to go again.

We asked for Spice’s autograph, but because it was time for the players to leave, she said they took her marker away, but she’d be more than happy to do a photo. So, we did that. My Elijah took photos with most of the players, but my Kailani – she didn’t want pictures. She hates photos these days unless she’s taking them herself.

We laughed when player (Thunder) told her she’s not getting her ball back unless she gets in the photo, but he did give it back to her.

They are so down to earth and will do almost anything to make a fan happy. Go see them if you ever have the chance.

*****

In other news – Senior assassin starts next semester – which I believe – is a few weeks away, but my daughter’s friend brought two gel pellet guns to school today and asked me to put them in my car to hold on to them. One for her, and one for my daughter.

They’re taking this seriously, and I can’t wait until it starts – to see what Seniors get other seniors, what kind of cool gel guns they have, and where they catch their classmates out and about. 😁

I think I mentioned before that the only rules are – they can’t get their classmates at work, or at school.

Anywhere in the town – or out and about – is fair game!

I’m excited to see how much fun my daughter and her friends have during this little Senior war going on soon.

Anyone else do Senior assassin in high school or have teens ready to do it?

Unfortunately, I don’t even remember that being a thing when I was in high school. I missed out.

*****

Oh. Let me tell you a funny story before I forget.

My daughter was in the walk-in clinic about a month ago because she couldn’t hear.

Her ears were clogged with wax, so they ended up flushing a good amount out, and they told her NOT to use Q-TIPS – like she had been doing. They said it would push the wax further into her ear, and that Q-tips are only for the outside of the ears and to clean around them.

I told her not to use Q-tips so many times, but she didn’t listen. This week – when she kept telling me she couldn’t hear again and wanted to go back to the walk-in clinic – I waited to see if it would get better, but it didn’t.

We went last night.

When the doctor looked in her ears, one was clear and the other – had wax in it.

As the CNA flushed the wax out, she noticed something else in there, so she called the doctor in to have a look.

Sure enough – there was a good chunk of part of the cotton of a Q-tip – balled up and stuck inside my daughter’s ear. 😶 The CNA let me have a look, and I was able to see it deep down in there. Oh kid, what the hell?! lol. So, it took three big bottles of their solution – to spray all in there and finally break down the cotton enough – to flush some of it out, flush the rest to the near surface, and for the doctor to be able to go in there with a small tool and grab the rest.

They got it out, but it took a good hour, and I hope my daughter learned her lesson this time about Q-tips.

PLEASE DON’T STICK ANY Q-TIPS INSIDE OF YOUR EARS, and any other small foreign objects for that matter! We laughed about it after. The CNA was having such a good time with it and she was laughing. I told her this is totally a story for a college party (as the CNA was only 21), and the doctor kind of giggled – kind of not.

Still, the CNA was awesome at breaking up most of it, as the doctor did 5 minutes of the work, and the CNA did the rest of it.

We also laughed when I had to pee, and I asked where the bathroom was, and then asked what room we’re in, so when I come back – I can easily find the room. She said, “Room 15”. When I left the bathroom, I walked into room 15 – only to find a guy pacing back and forth with his back turned to me – (thankfully) – 🤣 and I quietly closed the door. I heard my daughter laughing with the CNA – which is the only way I knew she was in room 11 – and not 15.

When I told the CNA, she laughed so much and told me how sorry she was.

I told her, “At least the guy wasn’t naked, and at least he didn’t see me walk in on him”.

My daughter asked me if she’s my “problem child”. I giggled and told her, “No, but you’re definitely the one who gives me the funniest stories to tell!”.

Lord, help me!

What it’s like having a teenager daughter – be like……………………..

haha.

Before I get out of here because I really have nothing else right now –

I just wanted to take this time to talk to the moms out there.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a single mama, divorced, married, in a relationship – whatever.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, stressed, tired, exhausted, and feel like you’re not doing enough – when you do EVERYTHING for your household and your kids – if you have it all and for some reason, can’t find your happiness….PLEASE – PLEASE – watch the movie:

(MOM’S NIGHT OUT) – on Netflix.

It will make you think twice and make you appreciate and love everything you have, and it will help you realize that through the beautiful messes we go through every day, with everything life throws our way, and through all the chaos and noise – we have it good. We are blessed. We ARE enough and doing enough!

It’s such a great movie, and I found it on accident, but I needed to see it.

It made me laugh.

It made me cry.

I related to this movie so much, because sometimes – no matter how much I do for my kids – no matter how many bills get paid – no matter how many hours I put in at work so my kids and I can have it all …. I sometimes feel like I’m not doing enough. I feel like I should be doing more, or like I’m not enough for my kids.

Sometimes, I just need to feel like I can sit down and breath for a minute and I don’t get that time often.

Sometimes, I feel like nothing is going to get easier, and I get overwhelmed, tired, mentally and emotionally drained, and I feel like I failed in so many ways.

Life really does do its thing and makes us moms feel like we’re not good enough or like we messed up along the way in different areas of it. So, when I saw this movie and realized the cute and amazing message it gave – it made me feel better.

Life isn’t going to be perfect. Us moms aren’t going to be perfect, but – when we think we failed, or we could be better, do better – others may look at us and wish they had it together like we did. They wish they were doing or did have the things we did. Sometimes, we don’t know who is looking at our lives and thinking our lives are perfect – and we’re over here wanting to scream and trying to hold it together like glue that just doesn’t stick.

NEVER be jealous of anyone’s life – because you don’t know what other moms are dealing with, feeling, going through and they could be holding on by a little string as well.

This movie is great, and if you’re a mom – just sit down, pour a glass of wine when the kids are in bed, and give it a watch. It’s totally worth it and will make you realize that you’re not the only mom out there who is barely making it!

YOU’RE NOT FAILING, and even if your life is a mess right now – (like mine is) – it’s a beautiful mess, and if your kids are happy – (like mine are) – you’re doing a great job getting through it. 💕

YOU GOT THIS!!!!!

One of my favorite country singers (Trace Adkins) plays in it. He’s the big, bad biker dude “Bones”.

Without giving the movie away, there’s a part in there where Allyson tells Bones she feels like she’s failing, and he tells her, “I doubt God made a mistake giving your kids the mama he did!”. That made me feel good because a friend of mine once told me, “Shel, God don’t make mistakes! He knew who he wanted this baby’s mama to be!” – when I found out I was pregnant with my little guy, so I agree with that. God picks us moms for a good reason, and he knows that many of us are going to have a hard time, but we’re also strong enough to be moms and do this thing.

In the movie, one of the younger moms tells Allyson, “You have it all figured out”, and she smiles and tells her, “Not even a little bit!”. I agree with that. Same here, sista!

When people tell me they don’t know how I do it all by myself, I want to laugh and tell them, “I’m hanging on by a small – thin thread and I want to stand in a field somewhere and scream at the top of my lungs”.

My oldest would have been 25 if she were still alive.

My older son is almost 23.

My daughter will be 18 this year.

My little guy will be 10 this year…………….

And I still don’t have it all figured out, so I could relate to that and this entire movie.

Sometimes, through the madness – the sadness – the heartbreaks – the stress and drama – the crazy stories and moments we get to live through and tell (Like the Q-tip story above) – through the emotional and mental draining, the headaches, the wild moments that make us moms want to scream – the overwhelming feeling of not doing enough……………

There’s beauty in all of it, and when we really take the time to sit down, look at our happy kids and smile – we learn to cherish the good, the bad, the ugly and everything in between – that life takes us through.

So, give the movie a shot, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did because the message in it – is great.

A little preview for you……………………

I believe it’s an older movie from 2014 I’ve read, but still a great one, and I think many moms all over will appreciate it.

I know I loved it!

To my mamas – and even the dads who feel like they’re not doing enough or feel overwhelmed and exhausted – you don’t have to be perfect. Just be there for your kids, make sure they’re happy, and make sure that you take a little bit of time for yourself once-in-a-while.

Just without all the craziness of what goes on in this movie. 😁

I have to run and grab my kids from school and go make plans for my older sons’ birthday.

He turns 23 in a few days.

I’m exhausted right now just thinking about it, but life goes on.

Love ya!

❤️Shel❤️

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

December 17, 2025December 17, 2025 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❤️