New Orleans and Gulfport, Mississippi!

This past Spring I brought my kids and my niece down to New Orleans for Spring Break. We stayed at our Holiday Inn member’s resort on Carondelet Street, about two blocks from the excitement of Bourbon Street. The resort was just recently renovated, and the rooms were comfortable and spacious. We loved the roof top pool. It was small, but stayed so warm, and it was very peaceful up there. We received some of the best service we have ever received at a resort. The staff was super friendly, from day one all the way up to the morning we left to head home.

The day after we arrived, we visited the Audubon Aquarium. We did have a good time, but a lot was closed off due to Covid.

One of the highlights of the trip was the Murder Tour we did that night! We went through Unique Nola Tours, and did the True Crime tour. Neither of us were as interested in the Ghost or Voodoo tours, especially since the Cemeteries were all closed because of the pandemic, and we were so glad we went with this one. Our guide was knowledgeable, and entertaining. Wear the right shoes, because we walked for about two hours. But it was so worth it. We heard so many really interesting stories, and in the meantime managed to see so much of New Orleans. We learned a lot of history about the city within the stories, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and got to see so many landmarks and sights that it is famous for, along with a lot of details and little pockets that are less known. One of the stories that was told to us was the story of Zachary Bowen and Addie Hall. It was so intriguing, after our trip I read the book about it by Ethan Brown, “Shake the Devil Off”. Such a good read, I highly recommend it.

On Tuesday we visited the World War II Museum. I suggest booking these sorts of experiences online ahead of time. In fact, I believe that is actually required for most of them during this never ending pandemic. We booked the full package, including the 4D movie. We spent only about an hour and a half tops in the museum exhibits. We liked what we saw, we just didn’t need the full day to see it all like reviews online said we did. The Boeing Center was really neat to see. Definitely do the 4D movie. It was beautiful and informative. So much learned, and you truly feel the experience.

I treated myself to a massage and Deep Sea Detox body treatment at Spa Atlantis on Bienville Street. It was a nice little hidden treasure, and the girl did an amazing job! Every vacation needs some relaxation time!

We ate dinner on Tuesday night at Fogo de Chao, an upscale Brazilian steakhouse. Oh my goodness, it was delicious!!! We were there on a pretty busy night, so service was slow, and we spent a couple hours there. But, it was worth it. We ate so much food we had trouble walking back to the hotel. It was also very pricey, but that is to be expected for a Brazilian Steakhouse just about anywhere. Most of our dining out was done at smaller restaurants and cafes, where we tried some Louisiana staples like po’ boys! One of the evenings, we ate at Brennan’s on Royal Street. We chose this restaurant because it is where Bananas Foster was invented, and it is also one of the few places that still creates the dessert table-side for you, fire and all. It was impressive, and delish! We also tried Turtle soup, and this photo shows my daughter’s shock when she saw it on the menu. LOL

A must is a visit to Cafe Beignet. There are a few of them. We went to the one right on Bourbon Street. Amazing!!! The place is so fun. We loved sitting and enjoying our coffee and Beignets (another New Orleans staple) while we watched the live jazz band playing. We did have to put our names down at the gate and wait a short amount of time to be let in, due to limited capacities. Stupid Covid. It wasn’t long at all though, and definitely worth the wait.

Halfway through our stay, we rented a convertible and drove along the shore to Gulfport, Mississippi. We had actually made a reservation with La Dolce Vita cruises. We really looked forward to spending the afternoon on a Yacht, cruising the Gulf. They say it’s almost every trip they have dolphins swim by the boat! Unfortunately, the weather was bad that day, and our reservation was canceled. We were super bummed, but we made the best of it and enjoyed the beautiful shore and the sight seeing. We also did some shopping, and ate at Shaggy’s. Beautiful sights, and excellent food! We ordered Gator Bites for everyone to try, and I LOVED the Hawaiian Tacos, with smoked pork, honey-lime slaw, pineapple pico, and a BBQ drizzle. Before leaving Gulfport, we spent some time at Margaritaville in Biloxi. They had an oversized arcade, which the kids and I all loved.

At the TOP of the list if you are spending time in New Orleans is a visit to JAMNOLA! (Again, buy your tickets far enough ahead of time to make sure you don’t miss out). JAMNOLA is a collection of immersive art exhibits to walk through that celebrate the iconic music, art, and food culture that is New Orleans. Bring your camera, as there are hundreds of fun photo opportunities! Here were some of my favorites that we took:

This is the part where I come clean about the not so clean details. Bourbon Street was fun to visit at night. I was with teenagers, so we weren’t there for the bar scene. But we still had fun walking, people watching, and dancing to the music right out on the street. But, it was very dirty. Trash everywhere. Drunk people everywhere. We had a homeless guy throw food at us. We saw a dead guy in the street. No joke. Still…. go… but be prepared, and stay safe. If I had read “Shake the Devil Off” prior to going, I would have been a little more afraid. The crime rate there is a little insane. But, of course, there are ways to keep yourself, and your people safe. The police really make themselves present as well. I would never have let the teens, or an adult for that matter, walk at night solo, that’s for sure. Also, the streets in general, even off of Bourbon Street, were very dirty. We often had to walk in the street because the sidewalks were too full of trash.

Most of the places we visited were within walking distance from our hotel. There were a few places we used Uber for though (including the ride to and from the airport). This, I later found out, was a mistake. I couldn’t believe how expensive it was! Just one way to the airport at a not-too busy time (15 minute drive time) was $150. That same ride in Vegas was $12. I later found out that Lyft is more widely used in New Orleans, and therefore much cheaper. Damn it.

All in all, we enjoyed out trip to New Orleans and Gulfport! So much to learn and see, and the culture is truly unique!

Why you should stop referring to people as “Karens”

I’m sure I’ll be called a “snowflake” for writing this, which is just another word that caught on with the intention of dividing us. But I truly believe referring to someone as a “Karen” is a psychologically dangerous game to play. Seems extreme right? Because you believe it’s actually harmless. But hear me out…

At this point, pretty much every person has heard this expression, used this expression, laughed at the memes, and has maybe even been called a “Karen” themselves. The term can be used in so many forms, but one thing that rings true is that using it is always intended to spread hate. Argue that all you want, but you have to at least admit it’s not meant for the opposite.

It started as a light joke and we’re all guilty of laughing. Some women at first were even willing to classify themselves as a “Karen” because they have a certain haircut and like to speak up. But it turned nasty and now it’s a scary thing to be labeled a “Karen” and degraded like that. In my line of work, people come in and tell me their stories from their day. I have many times heard a woman tell me a story of her being treated wrong, whether it be at a restaurant, in customer service, at work, or with a friend, followed by her saying that she did nothing about it because she didn’t want to look like a “Karen”. Women are backing down from standing up for themselves, and allowing people to wrong them and get away with it out of fear of being labeled and degraded. I would call that a huge backstep for feminism in the very least.

I had a loved one who was having a debate with me about covid-19 and he highly disagreed with me and said “What’s next, you would like to speak to my manager?”. And with the flip of that switch, by labeling me and considering me part of a group that he looked down upon, he was right then and there able to completely disqualify my opinion as something not holding any value. I was no longer a worthy person in his mind, I was just a “Karen”, therefore I didn’t matter.

The term has even evolved during the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. And “Karen” has become a racist, hateful, white woman.

I am not at all comparing labeling someone a “Karen” to the racism that happens in our country, but what I am saying is that on a smaller scale we are supporting the dehumanization of people by using general labels to categorize them. Dehumanization often refers to using terms that are not human to label a group of people, such as how Nazis called Jews “rats”, or how people call Police Officers “pigs”. A “Karen” is technically human, but I believe the situation still applies.

If you see a woman sitting at a booth at a restaurant seemingly complaining to a manager and you label her a “Karen”, what you are doing is allowing your brain to completely disregard her. You are allowing your brain to decide, without talking to her or knowing her, that her feelings, her concerns, “her” in general…does not matter. Kind of like how some people may see a black person and allow their brain to assume that they are a thug… or a white person and allow their brain to assume that they are racist… or a cop and allow their brain to assume they are dirty. This is stereotyping, and discrimination.

Every historical genocide has begun with the dehumanization of a group of people. The first step to dehumanization is to assign a different word than “humans”. Once that word is assigned, we tend to no longer care about what happens to that group of PEOPLE. Some of these labels are right out Racist terms, while some seem more innocent. Examples from history and present: Jews, Japs, blacks, racists, Trump supporters, gays, white people, Democrats, Republicans, non-mask wearers, Christians, Satanists, boomers, non-essential workers, politicians, millennials…. this list could go on and on. Just scroll down your Facebook feed and you’ll see a lot of examples being used.

If we were able to just truly define everybody with a label, we wouldn’t need the court system. It would be very simple. “Oh, he died in the accident? Well motorcyclist are reckless so it’s his fault, case closed.”. No need for the run-around. But it isn’t that easy.

This all may seem extreme to you, as when you call someone a “Karen”, maybe you are intending to only joke around. But if you take a second to really think about it, is it possible you’re contributing a much larger scaled problem by allowing yourself to use a word to label and judge a person that you very possibly do not even know? Just a thought…

Florida Vacation!

As I mention often, we are happy owners at Holiday Inn Club vacations. Their headquarters are at Orange Lake Resort in Orlando (technically in Kissimmee). For our Summer vacation we decided to finally visit that property, as well as Daytona, Tampa, and Clearwater, and even brought my entire family with us.

We reserved two condos so there was room for everyone, including ourselves, my sister and her 4 kids, my mom and step dad and their two kids. The condos are very spacious with great floorplans.

Let me backtrack though, and start from the beginning. I’m going to be honest- I have never cared for Florida. I have been there many times, and every single time has been hard. It doesn’t help that I was also there for the worst part of Hurricane Francis in 2004. I’m going to be honest also about the fact that this trip… was a headache. So many things went wrong! I love to blog about how wonderful our adventures are, but I will always refuse to hold back reality, even when reality sucks!!! That being said… there were many things that were great about this trip, and I still enjoyed my time with my family. I will even someday go back to try and just enjoy this beautiful resort again, especially with the kiddos.

The first thing that happened was, right as we boarded our flight from Chicago to Charlotte, they canceled our connecting flight from Charlotte to Daytona. American Airlines at the counter… not too helpful. Rude, in fact. Didn’t seem to care much about what this meant for us. We ended up staying in Charlotte and missing out on time in Daytona (and that hotel was already paid for and nonrefundable). But almost 24 hours after we were supposed to, we did finally arrive.

American Airlines through email… much more considerate. After the fact, we now have vouchers for flights to use in the hopefully near future.

We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel on Daytona Beach. Beautiful hotel, inside and out! The beach is one of the nicest I’ve been to, so clean and well kept. Busy enough to be fun, but far from overcrowded. The water was clean and so enjoyable. It was neat too to be on a beach that people could drive on, which, despite some reviews I had read ahead of time, did not effect our relaxation at all. We truly loved Daytona. Our time was now limited, but we made the most of it!

This photo was taken on the balcony of our room:

We spent the afternoon at the beach, and then ventured out to the Daytona Beach Boardwalk. It was far too long of a walk in the heat, despite what the concierge told me. Just call for an Uber, you won’t regret it. To make matters worse- we weren’t in love once we got there. Some pretty views and fun shops, but the boardwalk was dirty and expensive. The area with the rides was so run down it looked like a good place for a scene in a horror movie. I’ve been to far better boardwalks. One thing we did love though was Zeno’s Sweet Shop. The taffy was truly delicious!

We also had a delicious casual dinner at Starlite Diner. It was the kid’s first time at a “real diner” as I like to call it.

After venturing out we returned to the Hard Rock Hotel and went for a brief night time walk on the beach. After that we went for our planned night swim at the pool. The pool there is very cool, with unique lighting and underwater music. But. The pool guy- a dick. In fact, minutes after we got in he kicked everyone out. Over and hour before the closing time. He made up a bullshit excuse which I won’t go in to, and I found out from a fellow guest he had done the same every night that week because he wanted to go home early. So, we didn’t get to enjoy the pool afterall. Upsetting with how much extra I had to pay to cover “hotel amenities”. The hotel however was very apologetic, if that stands for anything.

The next morning we were supposed to pick up our rental car at Budget. We had an appointment so we made it over to the office for our pickup… but they were unable to get us our vehicle. In fact they were so backed up they said it would be hours, and even then it wouldn’t be the type of vehicle we paid for. Before I go on about how EVERYTHING seemed to have been going wrong so far on this trip… I have to tell you that the counter lady was the sweetest thing. She felt bad for their errors, and offered us an immediate upgrade, no extra charge. So just minutes past our original pick up time, we drove away in this baby.

Having the Mustang convertible ended up being a highlight of the trip. I loved buzzing around in that thing under the Florida Sun, and the kids all loved taking turns being my passengers.

After Budget, we went to Congo River Golf, also in Daytona. That place was fun! The mini golf was great, and then we got to feed the baby aligators, and even hold one!!! There were other activities they included as well in a package deal. Well worth our time and money!

Things were starting to look up.

Then we got to Orlando.

Don’t get me wrong… Orange Lake Resort is absolutely beautiful! They have everything you could ever need. Next time, we all agreed we are flying to the resort and just staying there to actually enjoy it.

This was the view from my room:

There are so many pools, restaurants, golf courses, a lake, bars, arcades, activities… we never even got to see more than a third of it all.

On our first night that we arrived, we were starving and ready for dinner. But the check-in line was very long and took a long time. We got to our rooms, and got ready for dinner, and tried to catch the shuttle but missed it. So then we had to wait for the next one. And it’s a big Resort so it took a long time to get to the other side where there was the only restaurant open after 9. we arrived about 10 minutes before they were supposed to be closed, but they already closed before that, apparently. This happened many times at the resort, where we would finally get to one of the restaurants and they would be closed. Just be prepared that if you are late night people like us, you will be eating fast food outside of the resort. Also, be prepared that if you are going late at night to one of the fast food restaurants right there, you will wait a good 45 minutes or more in the Drive-Thru line because everybody from the resort needs food. Or make use of your kitchens and cook. I find this with most of the Holiday Inn resorts, that their restaurants close very early. I was surprised they had one open till 10 at this place but they still always closed early and we still always just missed it.

That is really my only complaint about the actual Resort, and I’m only telling you for planning purposes.

The speed limit was 23, that was the weirdest thing ever…

But seriously…other than that the resort was perfect!

This is where I tell you that I did not get to enjoy it at all. I swam in the lazy river once. But I got wrapped up in a member meeting that was supposed to be 60 minutes long, but took 7 hours. I know better than to do those, but I actually did want to do an upgrade and I planned to wait til I was back at my home resort, but they gave us everyone’s wristbands (for the extra activities) at a hell of a good deal (instead of the $600 total it would have cost us for everyone, it only cost us $180). So, I couldn’t pass that up. I had to do it. I took one for the team. But they are so slow at everything. There is no reason that should have taken my entire day. I’m going to be doing a post soon about the ins and outs of being an owner there and I will talk in more detail about the meetings then rather than now.

About the wristbands, you can take them or leave them. Honestly maybe just going cheaper and getting a one day pass for the extra stuff would be good enough. The only thing you’ll use every day you’re there is the tubes for the lazy river, but people leave them floating, so they’re not that hard to just get without having a wristband. If we went back I would still want to get a one day pass though for the kids especially, because they liked all the extra amenities that came with it…. it included the mini golf, arcade credits, large slide, rockwall… stuff like that.

My kids and I went to Disneyland, Sea World, and Universal Studios in California (see the adventures tab above!) so we didn’t feel a need to visit very many theme parks, especially since my kids just aren’t very into Disney in general. But we did want to go to Busch gardens since none of us had ever been. The rides… kinda boring. Not a lot of options. It was nice that there were no lines, and that we were able to just walk right on. But it was nothing to write home about. The Safari however (extra fee) was awesome!!! Far better than simply walking through a zoo, and feeding the giraffes was an experience we will never forget! (There is no point in going through the details right now about how we missed our Safari time because of traffic, but that because I was literally standing there finally crying my eyes out one sweet customer service lady came over and helped us as a “one-time courtesy” and granted us a free rebooking for the next Safari.)

The Safari made it worth the money and worth enduring the 115 degree day. (luckily, the park was very good about providing free water and shade throughout)

Afterwards, I did get to meet up with a good longtime friend at Dave & Buster’s in Tampa (once we finally got there that is, since GPS for some reason took us the wrong direction and added about an hour of driving for us!) It was such a good time, and it was hard to say goodbye afterwards. 😦

On Thursday, we all drove a couple hours from Orlando to Clearwater Beach. Big mistake. We had read all about how it was America’s number one beach and supposed to be so beautiful and clear. The reality is: the traffic was horrible, the parking was very limited, the beach was Rocky and very dirty, the water was cloudy and very very full of seaweed, the waves were not typical beach waves and were a pain in the ass rather than fun…. my mom did love the pelicans and how close they came to the shore but in general we all disliked it. We drove a couple of hours there, and stayed for maybe a half hour. Number one beach in America? In all honesty the beach that I did a blog post about in Michigan that we went to last summer was much nicer. I did get this cute picture though:

The drive there was the best part, but that was only because of the convertible and also because of this stretch with beautiful views on both sides….

My daughter took this photo on the drive:

When we got back to the resort, we were all very anxious to get into the lazy River since we were departing early the next morning. As soon as we got down there though, they had to shut it and everything connected to it down for the evening because a guest had thrown up. So we did not get to enjoy the lazy river that night. I swear I have the worst luck!

Friday we flew home- luckily with no issues!

Again, I’m glad that we went. It was quite an experience. There was a lot of very good moments that we will cherish forever! I just can’t wait to have a makeup trip where we actually enjoy this beautiful Resort and just relax!

Taking “Scooter Therapy” Literally

I honestly didn’t even know that I wanted a scooter, until my mom talked me into buying one last Summer. It’s one of the best things I’ve ever done for myself…but not just myself. It has been one of the best things I’ve ever done for my family. Our relationships with each other have improved immensely due to what I like to call “Scooter Therapy”.

Stella is a beautiful 2018 Lance Cali Classic 125cc.

I love riding Stella. When I’m in the car driving I still have so much going on. Kids arguing, phone calls, radio, noise… blah! On my scooter it is peaceful. Just me, my thoughts, and beautiful sites. I love that I can smell the trees, water, and fresh cut grass. It’s always a well needed break. I’m never in a hurry. I can’t even hear my phone ring.

My having Stella got my husband wanting something right away. He purchased a Lance as well but was instantly ready for a motorcycle because he simply fits better on one. We took the classes together and got our motorcycle licenses, then he bought a Honda Shadow.

I love riding together. It is the best couples’ therapy ever! First of all, just having riding be something to bond over has done wonders.

Having to run to the gas station (i.e. to get milk) used to be a drag and it would be a matter of which one of us has to go. Now, we get excited if we need to go to the gas station and we use it as an excuse to ride together! At times it’s even a family event and the kids ride on the back of our bikes and we all go together. Who woulda thunk it?

Riding together has brought my husband and I closer together. Riding as a pair forces you to be in sync with each other. You have to trust your leader while still watching out for your individual needs, or leading your partner safely while anticipating their needs. Being in tune with what they are thinking, without being able to simply ask. Anticipating their thoughts, their needs, and their moves. Staying in formation is like becoming one unit together. We feel a very strong connection while riding.

It’s a similar experience having one of my children ride as a passenger with me. Very clear communication is required with your passenger, and the two of you have to stay in sync with each other. My kids don’t have their phones in their hands, they actually connect with me for the entire ride! I’ve already built so many fun memories with each of them.

I also love that my mom and stepdad ride. She rides a motorcycle and he has a Vespa. We’ve gone on many rides with each other, in fact just this past weekend the four of us rode down a few hours south to our Fox River resort. Three days of riding…it was wonderful!!!

On Saturday we road to Starved Rock State Park, went on a 5 hour hike, then rode some more. Before the bikes, we very rarely took breaks like this for ourselves.

It was a beautiful, relaxing, highly enjoyable weekend that we all needed.

Whether I’m enjoying an adult weekend road trip, a ride with my family to the gas station for milk, one on one time with one of my kids, a therapeutic riding session with my husband, or even a buzz to work, I am in love with Stella and I’m so glad she came into my life!

County Fair/Carnival Themed Birthday Parties

My motivation for today’s blog post comes from the fact that I am currently listing all of these fun party supplies for sale. In a way this saddens me, because this was by far my favorite theme we’ve had for my girl’s Birthday parties….so much so that I did it all over again 3 years later!! But, since I already did it twice, I suppose it’s time for me to pass it all on to another family.

I am much more proud of her 5th birthday party, so I almost want to tell you to scroll ahead… but maybe that’s in bad form. 🤣 For Story’s second birthday, it was a little bit smaller of a guest list, and I did a lot less for the decor and so forth. We mainly just had family and extremely close friends join us. I’ll share those details first, but then I’ll show you the larger, more exciting, 5th Birthday Party! For that she had invited so many friends (and their families) from school, we actually ended up with about 75 guests coming through. That’s just crazy. It felt like an actual carnival. That being said… we were hearing about it from everyone for quite some time after that. Everyone highly enjoyed the theme and all of the fun it brought with it!

2 YEARS OLD!

A cute, but simple invite I made using Stampin’ Up! supplies.

My angel in her themed outfit of course…

We had a face painting table, and a magic show prepared, as well as a sand art table! We recruited friends and family to help in each area.

Story’s dad made all sorts of carnival food: corn dogs, cheesecurds, and other fried goodness!

The games were fun! We also had a mini petting zoo and pony rides! I found someone in the area that does traveling petting zoos and ponies for parties. We Also reused her services for Story’s 5th birthday party. The kids LOVED it!

5 YEARS OLD!!!

Some more cute homemade invites! Each family was sent an invitation that had an RSVP postcard inside (registration form).

Once I received the registration form, I then sent out the tickets to the family for them to bring with to “get in the door”. This got a lot of the kids excited for party, as everyone likes to have tickets to something!

At the event, we had a ticket booth right in the front. My amazing friend Tami manned the booth. She would take the tickets they brought, and then give them wristbands and packets of passes for each game/stand. (that’s why the admission tickets above specify if they were to receive a baby admission, kid, or adult.)

The packets included one pass for each game and treat. They could play the games as many times as they wanted, but needed to use their pass in order to play for a prize. This assured that there would be enough prizes and/or treats for each child at each stop.

I had recruited friends and some high school students from the neighborhood to be my carnies for the afternoon. I made them each a badge to wear.

The games were fun for all ages! (I apologize that I didn’t get very good photos. 😦 Wish I could go back in time.)

The prize buckets were decorated with handmade labels.

They all had a blast with the body bopper suits.

Enough family members and friends had tents we could use, which was quite convenient. It had been calling for rain, but we actually ended up with so much sun the cover was good.

We had face painting, of course!

This time instead of a Magic Show, we made it a Balloon Magic Show. My now husband practiced some animals ahead of time. I’m not going to lie and say he highly enjoyed his “job”… ahhhh…. the things we do for love…

For our carnival foods we had cotton candy, snow cones (I got a snow cone machine online for super cheap), popcorn, nachos and cheese (Tami let us use her cheese machine), hot dogs, and many more treats!

And of course, the mini petting zoo and pony rides were a huge hit again!

It really was such a fun party! Even the parents enjoyed it! Maybe that was because of the delish adults-only drinks I served on the deck… but still!

I hope all the supplies and games help create some amazing Birthday memories for another little kid someday soon. 😉

Spa Bathroom

Continuing the theme of my previous post:  When I moved into my husband’s house, I hated the main bathroom with a passion.  It was small, had a very unattractive vanity, and old, green tile that was broken up and possibly NEVER properly sealed.  There was a claw foot tub (not in very good condition at all).  Because a shower was needed, one hung on the wall, and dripped and leaked all down the tile wall and floor.  And remember what I said about not being sealed?  Water filled the walls, floor, and basement below.  Disaster!

We needed to remove the flooring and most the drywall to remove all of the black mold.  It was beyond the point of simply killing it off.  So…  we knew we might as well go all the way with it and create the bathroom we really wanted!

The first step was removing all that nasty tile.  This is the only pre-finished photo I have.  You can see the edge of the tub on the left.  That gives perspective for just how small the bathroom was.

Luckily, we had room to expand.  We had an extra closet on the other side of wall where the tub was.  The closet opened into the kitchen and had the washer and dryer in it.  We had other options for a laundry room, so we took out that closet and expanded the bathroom.  Of course, it’s hard to lose the storage of a full closet, but it was so worth it to have the extra room in the bathroom.

This job, like every job in this old house, proved to be much more work than expected.  It seemed every time we had discovered, and removed all of the black mold… we found more.  I praise my husband for how hard he worked on this room.  I helped in every way I could, but the heavy lifting, so to speak, was on him, and for that I am forever thankful.

The end result was well worth the sweat and tears!  I had a lot of fun designing and decorating this space!  Since I for some reason am unable to visit the Spa every day like I was meant to, I wanted to bring the spa home… and I decorated accordingly.

We purchased the Lyons Sea Wave Corner Soaking Bathtub with Whirlpool Jets from Menards. (the first photo below is a stock photo) The price was unbeatable compared to other corner tubs.  We are a year in and still LOVE this tub.  The jets work perfect for a relaxing Jacuzzi experience.  It has been very easy to keep clean, and still looks and works like it is brand new.  Easy enough to install, and very stylish and comfortable.  We spent the extra money to have the heating element as well, because once I am in the Jacuzzi, wine in hand, I tend to stay for a while and require comfort.  (yes, I am spoiled…but only because I allow myself to be)

To keep the tub and jets clean, and mold free, I simply fill once a week to above the jets with hot water, drop in about 3 dishwasher tabs (sometimes I add a little booster powder as well since we have hard water), and run the jets for about 10 minutes.  I tend to stay clear of bath bombs, but my daughter has occasionally used one in her bath.  When she has I just make sure I do a cleaning cycle within the next day to get that crap out of there.  I do use Epsom salt occasionally as well, but again, as long as you regularly clean the jets out this should not lead to problems.

After a relaxing bath, I step out of my whirlpool (usually because I have run out of wine) onto my plush rugs that soften the new grey Lifeproof Sterling Oak Flooring…

(side note: This is the best flooring from Home Depot!  It has held up perfectly, and is truly waterproof.  We eventually finished the entire first floor because we loved it so much!)

I am not an animal, so I require a warm towel.  And I am offered just that, thanks to this wonderful towel warmer.  How the eff did I live without one of these for so long???

 

The towel warmer, and a lot of the extra furniture and decor, I purchased from Wayfair.com.  I have had nothing but good luck with the company.  I have bought so many things big and small from them and have only had one issue in the last two years…which they painlessly corrected.  Love their wide selection and decent prices!

The vanity, mirror/cabinet, sink, and faucet were all purchased at Menards

One of my favorite luxuries is our Homewerks Bluetooth speaker/bathroom fan.  It was a splurge but really adds to the atmosphere.  The fan is, well, a fan, and a bluetooth speaker (because either spa sounds or music is a requirement for the full experience), and has different lighting including a blue light which makes the entire room feel so relaxing it’s hard to not hide in there all day long.  The lighting makes for strange photos, so these just do not do it justice.  But it really gives a relaxing spa feeling to the room when in use.

 

Add a rain shower head, some lavender and chamomile scents, salt lamps, luxury towels, skin treatments….and wine…. and viola!  We have our own mini Home Spa!

Nora approves!!!  (Just kidding… she isn’t usually allowed in there)

 

 

Painting Patterned Walls & Ceilings

We are currently working on our house to make it better. Eh… who am I kidding? We are ALWAYS working on our house to make it better. That’s par for the course when you live in an old house! Soon I will have all sorts of home related updates to share!

For now, I wanted to show the work that I did on our second floor. This post is a little outdated, since this work was done a while ago, but I am still proud of it! I am going to share three different ideas for patterned walls and ceilings that I have used in my kids’ room, powder room, and master bedroom.

When my kids and I moved into this house, one of the first acts was to decorate their new room to get them excited right out the gate. The room was an empty, tan, boring space to start with, but this is what they got to move in to instead:

They were THRILLED! But… it didn’t take too many years for them to outgrow this simple look. So, a couple of years ago, I redecorated their room once again.

I wanted to do a pattern on their wall, but also didn’t want it to be too difficult, so this is what I came up with.

This pattern was created using a Styrofoam bowl!

It is far from perfect, but I actually prefer it that way. We all loved the way it turned out! I also painted their ceiling the green color, but left their walls white. This gave the room a more open feel, while tying in the colors and giving a great effect. People tend to forget that a ceiling is another wall, and another opportunity for color and design!

They loved their room, and the color scheme made it work for a boy and a girl together.

But as things go, they have once again outgrown their nice room. But we have all sorts of plans in the works, giving them separate rooms and redecorating on a whole new level! More to come on that soon, since it is currently a work in progress…and it is a LOT of work.

Since the kids room had been redone, I felt like I needed to redo the other upstairs rooms. Because, that’s how I roll.

The hall and powder room were cute enough the way I had initially decorated (the first green you see is more true to color-the rest of the photos were effected by the flash)…

…but now I wanted something more dramatic. This hall area (with closet) and the powder room had been taken over by my daughter and I. It had become our “girl space” so to speak, with all of our heels, makeup, perfumes, and jewelry. So, we decided to go all out and make it as girly as possible!

(Note: this first pink is the true pink of the walls. Ignore the purple looking color in the later photos that the flash decided to try and deceive you with.)

I again used the ceiling as a palette, this time with a black and white striped design. I measured and taped up the entire ceiling, then painted over it with black paint. It was extremely satisfying to pull that tape off after the paint had slightly dried.

I made the stripes on the hall ceiling in the opposite direction than the bathroom ceiling, which turned out great.

We still to this day love our girly space!

Me being me, I couldn’t stop there! So I redecorated our bedroom as well! I needed to chose a dark color because, at the time, the hubby would work a lot of nights and sleep a lot of days. His only request in color was something dark, and he wanted black out curtains.

For the pattern on our bedroom wall, I painted the wall with grey first. After that was completely dry I taped where I wanted the grey stripes to remain. I used painters tape at first, but it would not stick to the freshly painted, overly textured wall, so I got frustrated and ended up using duct tape. You can laugh, but it worked like a charm!!!

This was also extremely satisfying to pull that tape off and reveal the design. I was very happy with the outcome! Just a side note too, I didn’t measure any of the stripes to make sure they lined up perfectly. That’s just too much hassle for me. I always say… you can aim for a perfectly measured look…but then it better turn out actually perfect for you to be able to pull off the look. One mistake in an otherwise perfect design will be noticeable. It’s so much easier to shoot for an imperfect, somewhat random, messier look. That one is easy to pull off!!! That’s just me though…

And….viola!!!

My husband even loves the colors! I lucked out. 😉

I make or alter a lot of my wall hangings, as I did with the Dr. Seuss one above, the vinyl decals on a frame with no backing, and with this one as well:

Our bedroom turned out very comfy and cozy.

The only thing we’ve updated recently is that my kids gave me some fun multi colored LED lights for the bed this past Christmas. My daughter likes to help choose which colors to turn on each day. 🙂

I always have fun redecorating. I can’t wait to share with you some of the other rooms I have more recently redone! Thanks for visiting!

Bullying at It’s Finest

As I sit with my boggled mind to type, I am unable to come up with a less sarcastic title for this post. As many parents nowadays do, I feel very frustrated that bullying is still such a huge epidemic in schools. Shouldn’t we have figured this out by now?

Let me start by sharing with you an interesting experience that I had earlier this week. I had a long conversation with a 35 year old man who, when he was a 4th grade child, had began to scheme out a plot to bring guns to his school and kill his fellow students.

When there is a school shooting, I feel just as outraged as the rest of you. My thoughts and opinions I am about to share do not change that fact. There is never justification for taking someone’s life. That being said… even though there is no excuse, there is almost always a reason.

This man (we’ll give him the fake name of Nathan) was horribly bullied as a child. What started as a casual conversation between the two of us about today’s youth, turned into a full “Time Magazine”-esque interview: me asking continuous, prying, personal questions, and him opening up to me in every detail. I was beyond appreciative of his ability and willingness to divulge every gritty aspect of his horrible experiences and the thoughts that they led to.

Nathan was very young when the bullying started. He felt as a child he was made fun of for everything- from the way he looked, to the way he dressed. And mostly just because he didn’t belong with the group of kids that did the teasing. His older sister had ADHD and struggled a bit with learning in a classroom setting, along with some behavioral issues. More than one issue arose from this. Nathan said there were multiple times in class that one of the kids would be bothering him, picking on him, simply not leaving him alone, and the teacher would chalk it up to him having trouble focusing on the lessons or on the board, same as his sister did. Rather than listening to him try to explain what was actually happening, they moved him to the special ed class that his sister also had been in. That was an easier solution, although unnecessary. Because of the cold world we live in, this move only made the bullying worsen. It was another thing that caused him to stand out as different, and another reason for the mean kids to make fun of him. On another hand, his sister’s disorder also complicated things at home for Nathan. I am not going to pretend to understand how to handle the full plate that his mom had in front of her. But I will say that when I asked Nathan if he had talked to his mom about how he was being treated at school, his immediate answer was that he had many times, but she had her hands full with his sister and was too busy to say or do anything about it.

It didn’t take long for the bullying to turn from verbal to also physical. Being shoved around on a daily basis, and eventually even causing an injury- a fractured elbow. Of course, no one believed him or acted on it when he was asked what happened.

Around age 9 or 10, while in 4th grade, he had been pushed to a breaking point. He started to think of ways to kill this group of 5 kids that continued to hurt him so much. The word murder wasn’t in his head. He just needed a means to an end. He had tried suffocating himself by stuffing pillows tightly into a cardboard box and sticking his head inside, hoping to cut off his ability to breathe. That of course didn’t work, and the only other solution in his mind was to make them go away instead. He casually considered ways to kill them, without it ever phasing him that he would be taking the life of another human being. A child’s logic is more often than not hijacked by emotion. Let’s not forget that the rational part of a teen’s brain is not fully developed until around age 25, and in Nathan’s case we are talking about a pre-teen that has endured years of abuse.

“Research has found that adult and teen brains work differently. Adults think with the prefrontal cortex, the brain’s rational part. This is the part of the brain that responds to situations with good judgement, and an awareness of long-term consequences. Teens process information with the amygdala. This is the emotional part.” University of Rochester Medical Center

Nathan said he didn’t feel anger. That was not the motive for his impending plans. He was not attracted to violence. He was not abused at home. He “just needed it to stop”. He said he felt scared every time he went to school, and no one else would help him. I said out loud to him that at that point it is almost an act of self-defense. When I suggested that, his face lit up with appreciation that I had hit the nail on the head. Nathan was not an evil child, he was not a monster. He was hurt, afraid, alone, and felt like there were not many options. Luckily for Nathan, his classmates, and everyone else that would have been affected, he did not follow through. After exploring more than one possible scenario – from bringing a knife and stabbing the bullies behind the school, to homemade bombs, and everything in between, he settled on a plot to steal his uncle’s guns and bring them into the school and just start shooting. But before taking action, he “chickened out”, as some might call it. He said he just didn’t want to get in trouble. Notice, this was not his adolescent mind worrying about life in prison. Think much smaller scale, as, again, the depth of the situation and consequences were not a part of his thought process.

He said things didn’t change after that point. Middle school was the same, if not worse. But he had become more numb to it. Then a blessing hit when he went to a different high school than that main group of mean kids. He said High School was quiet and he just made sure he stuck to himself for those four years.

I asked him if he feels this all shaped him as an adult, and without hesitation he said “Yes, absolutely.” He said he lacked the courage and confidence to pursue any college education or career. He has low self esteem, social anxiety, and keeps to himself the majority of his days. He has very few meaningful relationships, and generally avoids getting to know people. He feels he could have been an entirely different person if he hadn’t gone through what he did.

We talked briefly about why these kids bullied him. Maybe they were being hurt at home? Maybe they too were being bullied by someone? He seemed uncomfortable with that question, and I completely understood that feeling. I assured him I was not looking for a way to verbally justify their actions. I repeated to him an expression that I often use- that even if there was a reason behind their behavior, there was no excuse.

Bullying was a epidemic so many years ago, right? But now we are perfect parents, protecting our kids in bubbles, where we sit around and talk about feelings, right? Okay… I’m not going to talk about modern parenting, because unfortunately I cannot do a single thing about how people do or do not raise their children behind closed doors. All I can do is the best I can do with my own kids. Which is hard enough as it is.

But what about the school systems nowadays? I have talked to many different parents and teachers and always hear the same thing: “Oh, our school is a no-tolerance school.”

I’m here to tell you that bullying was an epidemic back when Nathan was a kid, and it is STILL an epidemic today. We need to not be blind to that fact!

In fact, it may be even more of an epidemic now that we can throw social media in the mix. On the same day of my conversation with Nathan, I caught part of the Dr. Oz episode “From Mean Girls to Murders”, where they were discussing how teenaged Skylar Neese was constantly bullied on Twitter leading up to her two best friends killing her because they “didn’t like her anymore”. Bullying is on a rise through social media, along with good old fashioned texting. Kids no longer get to come home and take a break from the torment… because it gets even worse right on their handheld devices, and doesn’t stop!

Later, same day, I came across a horrifying facebook post from the town I work in. A kid was changing in the locker room after swim class when some of his classmates used a phone to take a picture of him naked. They shared and shared the photo, and it spread far and wide to where even the kid’s older brother in High School received it. The boy felt destroyed. His parents tried contacting parents, the police, the school… no one jumped to action. Now because of a friend taking public action on Social Media, the school is starting to step up- but it shouldn’t take that much to get results!

Every school seems to have a continuous Anti-Bullying campaign. Posters are hung everywhere throughout the halls. Kids are taught “see something, say something”. We get notes home about special assemblies on the subject matter, and projects the kids are doing to promote awareness and prevention. Smoke and mirrors? I mean.. sure, those things are great. But what is actually being done behind the scenes?

I asked my kids how they feel bullying is handled at their schools, and the immediate responses was that no one actually cares. They both agreed that if something is happening, the bus drivers, teachers, and principals do nothing. They each had specific stories of verbal, electronic, and physical bullying that had taken place (to classmates, not themselves) in which the “adults in charge” have been informed, and nothing has happened and the behavior wasn’t put a stop to.

It’s time for this to change.

Camping Adventures!

Our first time camping with the kids a year or two ago was fun, don’t get me wrong… but there is a reason why we didn’t go over and over again after that. Even with our nice two-room tent, and air mattresses, I am just too old and damaged for tent camping now. My back problems made it very difficult, plus we froze all night long even though the days were nice.

We decided to give camping with the fam-damily another shot this year, but we turned it up a notch. The second weekend in August, we (two days before leaving) purchased an old pop-up camper, and headed to Michigan.

I still cannot get over how beautiful the area we went to was. We camped at Orchard Beach Park. This was the view from our campsite:

Unfortunately, that beach had recently eroded away… but all was good as my Stepdad took us to Manistee National Forest. The long drive through the forest to get to the beach was gorgeous! We stopped to take some fun photographs of my Niece Emmy on the way.

The walk through the sand dunes felt so good on my toes! It was the cleanest, softest sand I have ever felt.

The water was so clean and clear. There were no rocks to hurt your feet, no seaweed to get tangled up in… one of my favorite beach experiences to date.

We swam for hours…

My mom brought her two dogs, and my son brought his wiener Mabel. They had the time of their lives and loved the sand and water!

We had a great, relaxing afternoon.

The sunset was beautiful. We didn’t want to leave. Manistee is a must see if you haven’t been before. We already plan to go back next year.

Quick note for if you would like to visit the area: These campsites do book up fast. We actually booked our sites 6 months in advance… so think ahead!

The entire experience was unforgettable. However… we did not have the best luck with the pop-up camper. It was better than sleeping on the ground, but still did a number on my back. I was sad the beds weren’t big enough for me to actually sleep WITH my husband, and because of our bad luck, two wire cables snapped and broke when we were setting up. This made the already difficult set-up a pain in the ass.

So… we did what we do… we immediately upgraded. Just by chance, I had a friend that wanted to sell her Forest River Wildwood travel trailer and she gave us a hell of a deal! So by the first weekend in September we were camping in Milton, Wisconsin at a KOA campground in our new mini home!

We feel very blessed! Staying in the camper was so much more comfortable. Brad and I even have our own private bedroom. Maybe we aren’t “roughing it” like you are supposed to when camping…but you know what? I couldn’t care less! I am looking forward to camping a lot in the future with the kids now! Story and I have also used it right in our yard for fun girls’ nights!

We also highly enjoyed Milton KOA. Great location- we brought our motorcycles and loved cruising around. The campground itself has a pool, hot tub, laser tag, huge gift shop/lodge, food that they even deliver to your site at no extra charge. We will be back next year for sure!

School has officially started now. I am both happy about this, and sad. I don’t want our summer adventures to end. But on the flip side… I am very proud to have a 6th grader and a 7th grader. I can’t wait to see what the Fall brings for our family…

New York City (part two)

This final post will wrap up our vacation out East! After putting over 2,000 miles on our rental car, we finally dropped it off in Queens and Ubered back to the city to end our trip with a bang! We stayed at the DoubleTree Suites by Hilton right smack dab in the middle of Times Square.

I’m sharing this stock photo just to show you how great the location was. We walked out of the lobby door and we were right in the center of everything. Not to mention the views from the hotel room were great! We would definitely stay here again. You can’t beat the location and the hotel was very nice and the service was great!

In our couple of days in the city we did quite a bit of walking around and exploring but also had a few specific locations we wanted to visit. We visited Ground Zero, which I blogged about a few days ago. From the location of the 9/11 Memorial site, it was maybe a 15 minute walk to the Staten Island Ferry. I didn’t time it but I do know that it was very quick. on our way there we did stop for lunch at a hot dog stand, a must for any visit to New York City.

We saw Wall Street bull but there were so many people all over that thing I didn’t even make an effort to get a photograph.

Let’s talk about seeing the Statue of Liberty. Everybody that goes to the city wants to see the Statue of Liberty at least once in their life. There is more than one company that does cruises to see the statue. They charge you an arm and a leg to ride by, see it and take your photographs. If you do not feel the need to stand at the foot of the statue, as we did not, your best bet is to just ride the Staten Island Ferry. You get the same exact view as you do on those cruises, but it’s free! All of the companies’ websites sound very convincing and make you feel like you need to buy those tickets, but you don’t! We had a nice ride, had beautiful views of lower Manhattan, the Brooklyn Bridge, and Lady Liberty. The entire thing did not cost us a dime and we were 100% satisfied with our choice.

Before I share our beautiful views that we had, I also want to warn you that as we walked up to the terminal for the Staten Island Ferry, there were men with official-looking orange vests claiming that they worked for the terminal. When I say claiming it, no they did not directly tell me that they did -but they definitely acted like they did and they were doing their best to lead me to believe that they did. They told me I was going the wrong way and tried to direct me. I said I wasn’t going the wrong way-but they wouldn’t accept that. One guy said “You want to see the Statue of Liberty right?” I said I did, and he says “yes ma’am…you’re walking the wrong way, we need you to go to the right.” More than one came up to me saying this. At one point they even tried telling me I was at a completely different terminal. I had a feeling they were just trying to hustle me to the cruises so that I would pay… so I finally just lied and said we were not seeing the Statue of Liberty and did my best to get away from them. Once they finally backed off we were able to walk right into the terminal, wait about 15 minutes, and then board the ferry for free. (on the day we were there the ferry was running every 30 minutes, but double check the schedule for the day you plan to go online).

When you board, you want to go to the right as you get on the boat. That will be the side that you will get to see the statue from. On the way back we decided to ride on the other side of the ferry to see all the other views. It was crowded but there is a lot of room on that thing and we were able to get seats no problem, but then ended up standing up for a big portion of the ride anyway by choice. The trip over to Staten Island took 25 minutes then you absolutely have to get off of the boat even if you plan to immediately reboard. We were apparently moving a little too slow and we missed the next one but still only had to sit in the terminal for about 15 to 20 minutes.

We tried to get an Uber after our ferry ride to take us back to Times Square, but the waits were ridiculous. When I say ridiculous I mean about 25 minutes and I did not want to stand in the Heat on the corner of the street just waiting for a ride. So… we decided to brave the subway. I have no idea why I was intimidated before because it was very easy to navigate where we were going. In fact, Google Maps did all the work for me. Just put in your destination and click on the bus option, and it will offer the subway routes. We bought one-ride tickets for $3 because we knew we wouldn’t be using the subway other than the one time. But they do have all day passes and other options available for cheap. We got right on the subway and in just over 15 minutes we were dropped off pretty close to our hotel. Google Maps even tells you how many stops so that you don’t have to worry about missing yours. Because we started out on the subway at the bottom of Manhattan there were 4 people in our train car but only two or three stops later it was packed enough that others were standing. But it was a smooth enough ride, easy-to-navigate, inexpensive, and not near as dirty or scary as television and movies make it seem.

In Times Square there are plenty of eateries to choose from. I would suggest staying away from the chain restaurants -for one the lines were crazy, and for another it’s New York City! I can eat at Applebee’s at home. We did need to try some New York style pizza so under recommendation from a friend who used to live in that area we ate at John’s Pizzeria. We did have to wait about 40 minutes for a table but that was quite a bit less than most of the other restaurants in the area. And it was well worth the wait, the pizza was quite tasty! I favor Chicago style pizza because I like deep dish, but for the thin crust that New York is known for John’s Pizzeria was absolutely delish!

A bucket list item for me was to see something on Broadway in New York City. A big part of me really wanted to see Phantom of the Opera, Wicked or Hamilton but the kids and I have seen those in Chicago and we really wanted to try something new. I chose School of Rock because I figured the kids would love the subject matter and have fun with it. School of Rock is a new Andrew Lloyd Webber Musical and it definitely lived up to all the hype. I was blown away by the the level of talent that all the kids in the cast had. It was unbelievable! They played all of their own instruments and the acting and singing was beautiful! They’re truly are no words to explain how amazed I was. The entire production was incredible and I’m so glad we went to see it. And they kept my son laughing and entertained, which is quite the feat.

After the play Carter was pretty tired so he went back to the room to relax while Story and I shopped in Times Square until 1 in the morning. Hey, when in Rome!

Those last two days in the city where not near enough time for all of the things we would have liked to have been able to do, but we really enjoyed ourselves and we did get to see a lot.

We had a lot of adventures on this two-week trip out east! Flying home was bittersweet, as it was sad that our trip was coming to an end but we definitely missed Brad, and our puppies, and were ready to return home.