My 40th birthday is fast approaching and all I can think about is ….. how on earth did I make it this far this quick??? I still feel like I’m 17!!
Wait… no I don’t. Ha!
I can clearly remember when my mother turned 40, … thirty years ago… Daddy said he was going to put her picture in the newspaper and say “Lordy, Lordy Look Who’s Forty!!” hahaha. She said she would divorce him if he did that. She waited seven more years.
March 22, 2019
My husband asked me last night what I want for my birthday this year… The truth is, I don’t really know what I want that would be within reason… I have a list of mostly unreasonable birthday wishes.. so I figured I’d share them here.
A brand new iphone to replace my raggedy iphone8.
A King Cake from Gambino’s Bakery in New Orleans.
A rose gold necklace with all three of my sons’ names engraved.
A 2500 square foot beach house right on the sand, outside of Tampa, and with lots of balconies and a private pool.
Some shoe inserts for my sore feet.
A really expensive bottle of Olive Oil just to see if it’s really different from the cheap stuff.
Someone to come, declutter, and organize my entire house.
My back patio to be completely busted up and repoured with decent concrete. Maybe with some stones too.
Never ending PAID FOR manicures and pedicures for life.
A Trip to NYC and to Washington, D.C. with my husband.
My house to be painted white with black trim.
A big variety box of wine – all kinds.
A Vespa scooter with a sidecar so one or two of my sons can ride with me all over town. Wouldn’t this just be so handy during baseball season??
A set of everyday china that has black, white, pink, and gold in it. (Someone should design this because it doesn’t exist.)
A Mini Cooper Convertible car.
An in-ground saltwater swimming pool for my backyard.
And…..a big party with 200 of my closest friends and family with a live jazz band. (A DJ would suffice in a pinch.)
Have you ever looked at someone and thought, “How in the world do they do everything that they do??”
A lot of people ask me that. And really, to me, I don’t do that much, but if you ask my husband, he’s constantly trying to get me to SIT DOWN. He thinks I do too much. But …. Who wants to be BORED?
On Mornings
5:30am: Alarm is yelling at me.… I press snooze until 6:15. (Unless Jackson wakes me up earlier and wants to go watch Little Einsteins in his living room.)
6:20: Drag myself out of bed and make a cup of coffee. Make sure the big boys are up. Their alarm goes off at 6:00, and PRAISE TO THE LORD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW that they get themselves up and ready all on their OWN!!!!!! They are 11 and 7… so this is one area that I KNOW I’m WINNING IN!
6:25: Stand at closet and stare at 2870 pieces of clothing with no clue what to wear. Check Stitch Fix App for ideas.
6:30: Brush teeth, take daily meds, and vitamins, complain about the state of my skin and how I’m looking so old and when I’m 65 I’m going to look 70 and my young black husband will still look 30 because, well…you know……
6:35: Get dressed then sit at my dressing table and see what the girls are already saying in the group chat that morning whilst drinking my cup of coffee. The 6am Purple Wing conversation is pretty entertaining.
6:43: Another alarm goes off in the big boys’ room that tells them it’s time to go out to the bus.. yes, I send their little boy behinds to school on the bus! Eli goes out of necessity, because there is no way in the WORLD I would leave on time to take him to a different school, and Don just likes going with him… even though Don and I end up at the same school.
6:45: Always the question of the morning: am I wearing makeup today or no? … (I’m laughing at this thought… )
7:15: Get Jack to go tell Pun goodbye. This is particularly fun these days because Jack has started kissing people now; his little baby lips are extremely cold and wet…, but it’s still cute.
7:20: Drop Jackson at the Cruse’s house and scoop up their two oldest daughters to come to school with me.
7:21: Choose which musical icon we will listen to and discuss on the way to RPS. These girls have learned about Chicago, Ella Fitzgerald, Gloria Estafen, Mariah Carey, Peter Cetera, JaySean, NSync, Backstreet Boys, Beethoven, Tone Loc, and Randy Travis…
7:30: School, here we go.
Miss Rachel as Mrs. Valerie Frizzle in the Music Room
On Teaching Elementary Music and Performing:
I sure do love my job. I would not survive as a regular classroom teacher – everyone knows it’s true. I relish in teaching my own thing, coming up with my lessons, and not being roped into a box when it comes to teaching music. I used to teach to programs, using the songs that I would teach the children to perform as really the basis for most of my instruction, but unfortunately COVID has robbed me of my most favorite part of the job. We have not put on a school program since January of 2020. 😦
But at any rate, I still manage to get it done and have some level of fun in class even though we don’t do much singing anymore. Actually, after a decade of being “Miss Rachel” every day, (and singing the *(&%$#$! Pizza Song, my voice is TIRED! During Covid, I made YouTube music lessons for the virtual students at our school, and many times at school we sing along with the Miss Rachel from “Miss Rachel’s Music Room” on YouTube. Saves my voice!
Honestly, God in heaven made this job for me. It’s perfect. I go to work with my first love every single day.. (the piano!), I sing if I want to, I dance if I want to, if I wake up with Tony Bennett or Caetano Veloso on my mind, the kids hear about it, and the kids, THE KIDS – OUR kids here in Ripley, a very special population – especially at the Primary School genuinely LOVE you and will give unsolicited hugs all day and go insane when they see you in public… and I mean, WHO wouldn’t love that?? I’ve taught roughly 2500 kids in a decade’s time… I love seeing them all at Walmart.
I never get tired of making music. I never get tired of playing. I never get tired of practicing. I get REALLY excited when I get the chance to play a Steinway & Sons Grand Piano. (Hmmmmm Pun, My 40th birthday is coming up!!!!) The action on a thirty-year-old well-maintained Steinway grand piano is like touching hot buttered soul flowing down and all over a hot, steamy, sticky Cinnabon Bun. Not many things are better than that… and the music that ascends from an instrument of that caliber that can bring tears to any music loving person’s eyes. One fine day I’ll get to live with one. Maybe. In the meantime, I guess I’ll settle for my Kauai grand and perhaps will go through with the tramp stamp of the Steinway & Sons logo.
Making music is really my self-care. (That, and St. Pete Beach with Pun during dead period.) I played A LOT during my oldest boys’ formative years obviously because that was the most difficult time in my life and when you sit and pour your emotions out over a keyboard through music – especially good, hot-blooded, thick, and impassioned music, (did I just describe MYSELF??) you forget your reality and are literally transposed into a much more pleasant place despite the mess that may be encircling you at the moment. I tell ya, if you walk up my sidewalk on any given afternoon and you hear the fourth movement of any Beethoven Sonata… it ain’t a good time. Just send a text.
I really don’t HAVE to practice much these days though, at least not on the piano. I do get the itch every now and then to play a Chopin Nocturne or a Bach Prelude, or a Brahms Intermezzo, but the time for that just isn’t there most of the time. The last couple of months, the majority of my practice time is spent in a church sanctuary on a pipe organ, something I thought I’d never get back to, but my whole life is a series of events that I’d never thought I’d be doing, and those are the very things that seem to make life so much fun, right??
In fact… tell me something… what are the things in your life right now that you thought YOU’D never be doing??
I won the St. Jude Bike-A-Thon at Ripley Elementary School in the spring of 1991. WHAT??? Rachel won an athletic event? YES MA’AM, I sure did!
It was in the spring of my 3rd grade year (here at the very school I teach at these days) and I had just gotten a brand new ten-speed bicycle for my 9th birthday in March. We took sponsors who pledged a certain about of cents per mile… or per lap or something.. and off we went.
I had on some black bike shorts with big pink roses on them, that my mother had MADE for me, and a light pink tee shirt that I’m pretty sure came from Reelfoot Lake somewhere. I’m not sure how many kids showed up in front of the school that morning with bicycles, but it was a BUNCH. We all lined up like we were in the Tour de France, someone said GO, and off we went like it was some kind of race. I do remember being nervous that I was going to run over someone since all these kids were riding together so closely. I also remember a little boy riding in and out of other kids calling us all the “B” word… and I thought.. he has an ITCH?? WHAT???
I ended up making 59 laps around the school which they told me equaled 29 miles, so by the time we were finished I had ridden the longest length and WON! Ha! I think they ended up giving me a St. Jude tee shirt and a tote bag… and some other things.. but I swear I bragged on that until I went to high school.
I have probably the most sensitive tongue ever known to mankind. I’ve always been sensitive to spicy foods, but in the fall of 2014 I took an anti-biotic drug that gave me thrush in my mouth which was a horrible experience to add to an already CRAP year that I was having, and ever since then, my tongue has just not been the same!
My tolerance for spiciness is almost zero, if not into the negative integers of spiciness. Too much salt burns my tongue!! Ketchup burns my tongue! Mustard ESPECIALLY burns my tongue! My husband has to take special care to not season the steaks he grills for me, I can’t eat pepperoni pizza, and I always have to mind the number of fruity drinks I have on vacation… because the acid in fruits BURN MY TONGUE! It’s kind of a hassle for a foodie….
Most of my pianist friends started playing when they were 4 or 5 years old, but I didn’t start playing until I was 13. I knew when I was 6 or 7 that I wanted to play the piano, but my parents just didn’t believe me, or something.. I learned to play the clarinet in sixth grade band and when I was in 7th grade my younger sister began voice lessons. So then the next year when I was in 8th grade, and had had two years of school band, they finally let me begin piano lessons. I was already pretty proficient at reading music, well… the treble clef at least, and so it just went fast for me. I began lessons in August of 1995 and in May of 1996 I played for my first church service. In January of 1997 I took over as the pianist, and by my junior year of high school I was playing for two different churches.
So when people ask me, “What’s the best age to start piano lessons?” I always say… eh… really doesn’t matter. The older the child, the better… and they will only really do it if they really want to.. you can’t force them to love it.
I was an extremely shy kid… would you have guessed that? On my Facebook page it says “Once upon a time I was a shy little girl, then I learned to make music and I found my big voice.” It’s true. Being in the band brought me all the way out of my shell so much so that my junior and senior years at Ripley High School I was the drum major for the marching band. Gosh, what a great time THAT was.
I can’t think of being the drum major without thinking about the fall of 1999 when the Ripley Tiger Marching Band won the small division at the University of Memphis Marching Competition. As part of winning, we won the chance to perform at a U of M game the following month. It was a very bright, clear, and crisp Saturday afternoon down in Memphis at the Liberty Bowl Stadium. We marched across the field to take our place for the pregame show. The announcer said, “Field Commander Rachel Young, is your band ready?” I did my salute and then Matt (aka Maurice the Tiger, the school mascot) and I ran arm in arm across the field and I hopped up on the drum major podium. The show was going great… but my favorite memory of that day was when I was conducting the band and I suddenly look down at my feet and saw a camera man with his lens pointed up towards me. I then glanced over at the Jumbo-tron… and there I was… my face two stories tall!!! Magic!
Well what we DIDN’T know that afternoon was that the game was being televised on ESPN and somehow we had gotten started a minute or so late on the pregame show. As we were still on the field wrapping up “Don’t Rain On My Parade,” suddenly the VERY loud cannons went off, the pyro-technics blasted, and the University of Memphis football team came rushing onto the field and right through our band show! Scared the hell out of all of us! Some of the football players knocked color guard members, along with their flags to the ground, and they all congregated doing their jumping up and down thing right in our pit and below my drum major stand. I was literally scared to death that they were going to knock my stand over with me on it!
Every time I hear the 50th verse of “American Pie” where it goes “ ‘cause the players tried to take the field, the marching band refused to yield..” it takes me right back to my very last performance with the RHS marching band that November day in 1999!
I’m always cold. At Eli’s spring baseball games, if it’s about 72 or below, I’m freezing. I’m wrapped up in blankets with scarves, a hat, and a hoodie on… possibly with gloves on too. I’m cold when the sun goes down in the summertime. I always have to have a jacket in restaurants because I’m shivering. I keep my classroom about 75-76 degrees on most days.., and for some reason after about 9:00 pm just sitting in my den, my body temp will just drop and you’ll find me wrapped up in blankets. Most nights when I shower I turn on the heater in the bedroom on 86 so its toasty in there when I get ready to go to bed… irritates the mess out of my husband… but I’m COLD! Hahah.. I take iron supplements!!! (Sometimes….)
In 2005, when I was a young wife with no home training.. (still really don’t have much of that…) I struggled to cook. I didn’t enjoy it. People always hated and had crap to say about the things I made. I had no confidence whatsoever in the kitchen.
Most girls’ mothers teach them to cook whilst they are teenagers – mine tried, but I just didn’t want to! Mama would say, “Come on in here and help me make… whatever..” To which I would directly reply, “Naw, I gotta practice piano!” (and that happened to serve me well…)
It worked every time. By the time I was 18, I had successfully graduated high school and had no clue how to boil an egg or make tea… or use the stove.. anything. I could microwave stuff, but that’s it. BUT I was playing the daylights out of a piano….., just saying…
Fast forward to 2011 after my oldest child was a year old and I was too close to 300 pounds to really have a choice, and so it was then that I decided to really give Weight Watchers a go. Over the next year I lost 80 pounds AND I learned how to cook!
Here’s my secret: learn to read.
THAT’S IT! If you can read, you can cook… didn’t Rachel Ray or something say that once upon a time?
I had a couple of Weight Watchers cookbooks and I worked my way through them. Simple. That’s how I learned to cook.
Now, I think I really had an advantage because at the time I wasn’t working full time, just getting to be a stay at home, which was wonderful…. But I had the time to plan meals, go to stores to get any weird ingredient, and have the energy to actually cook them. There were days that I cooked 3 meals from Weight Watchers recipes. The only real downside is that sometimes it gets expensive because WW seems to think everyone loves exotic food, and really, I’m one of them… but who wants to buy Halibut and Veal on the regular? Naaahhhhhh not me.
So, I did that for quite some time. Fast forward four or five years to my single mom period, and I got hooked up with Hello Fresh! – the meal delivery service.
I acquired some AWESOME skills from this meal delivery service because number one, I can READ, and their instructions are so explicit AND it comes with pictures of each step of the recipe! AND you can build quite a library of their recipe cards and cook them up whenever you want to! Each recipe comes in brown paper bags labelled and already sorted. The delivery systems where the food and ingredients are all thrown into a box with no organization… nahh, bruhhhh… I’m a full time teacher AND have 3 boys under the age of 12… I do not have the time to stand in the kitchen for 20 extra minutes sorting through all that. NO. MA’AM.
My favorite things I’ve learned from Hello Fresh?
How to make sauces and dressings.
How to pan sear a steak.
How to season anything with all sorts of different things. (lemon, garlic, fresh herbs…etc.)
How to make the Juicy Lucy burger. (My husband’s favorite of all the Hello Fresh recipes.)
How to perfectly make and season QUINOA!!! (NOT my husband’s favorite.)
One fine day, twenty-five years from now, when my husband and I are living at the beach, and after a long, hard day of sitting on the beach, we’re going to sip our margaritas on the lanai, and look at each other and say, “I can’t believe we spent our lives teaching school.” Neither one of us set out to work with kids, let alone be school teachers, but both of us absolutely love our profession. We currently teach in the same county, and since I have been here almost a decade, the students that sat on my music notes those first couple of years are now the teenagers who sit in his classrooms and who wear the football pads on Friday nights for his team. It’s really fun to share stories of how I knew his kids when they were so little, and for me to see them all grown up and in high school now. I hope this never changes.
Everyone knows that from the mouth of babes flows a river of pure honesty and truthfulness… and that river happens to flow with the purest of intentions. In other words, kids have zero filters and don’t give two flips about how it sounds or comes across and more times than not, it’s so stinkin’ hilarious.
Here are a few memorable things from a decade of teaching thousands of children under the age of 9.
“This is boring!” – a kindergarten boy on his very first day of school and during his very first music class.
“Miss Rachel, your hair is always so smooth and neat, but today it looks like some birds be living in it!” – first grade boy
I was teaching about the percussion family of instruments and had a first-grade class trying to sound out the word “percussion” on the screen. Together the class and I read, “PER- KUH……” (of course I wanted them to then say, “SHUN” to make the word “percussion,” but this sweet little girl very matter-of-factly stated.. “PER….KUH….SET!” Percocet???? Girl, how do you even know that word??? Hahah.., we don’t really wanna know.
Me: “Beethoven was just a person who was angry at the world”. Kid: “Kind of like Donald Trunk? He hates us.”
Me, trying to rehearse kids for a program: “Why are you not singing?” Little boy: “I AM SINGING! In my head.”
“It’s like the instrument is my voice!” – a shy little second grader the first time she played a bass metallophone.
And last but not least, here is a story that I am asked to repeat at least three or four times per year to my teacher friends… it’s known as the “Banana Story…”
Years ago, maybe my second or third year of teaching, we had this little boy named Markel. Now Markel, being the dandy sort of boy that he was…, was always getting into mischief at school. There are students like that, who constantly keep you chuckling, and Markel was one of those boys.
Markel was a kindergartener this particular year and had been to lunch right before coming to music class. He came skipping into the room with dark jeans on and a navy blue collared “dress code” shirt on. I immediately noticed the white paint covering the tops of his little boy thighs, and all over the front of his dark shirt. It was white, dried up paint.., or so I thought.
“Markel!! Have you been painting?” I looked around the room at the other students… nobody else had dried up paint all over themselves. Markel looked at me with such a puzzled look and then said, “Naw! I ain’t been paintin’!” He was so confused as to why I thought he had been painting. I said, “Well what on earth is that all over you then??”
Now, when I’m telling this story orally, this is the point at which I’m laughing so uncontrollably hard that I can’t breathe, my face is bright red, and whoever it is that I’m talking to is like… WHAT??? GET IT OUT!!!! WHAT WAS ALL OVER HIM???
Markel, without skipping a beat then said to me, “We had bananas for lunch today!” I immediately thought, well what does that have to do with anything?? He could tell I was thinking that because then he went on to explain,“Well, I didn’t wanna eat my banana so I just squished it up in my hands and wiped it all over me!!”
WHATTTTTTTTTTT….. !!!
The story always comes with the visual of me showing my listener the exact squishing motion Markel made with his hands…. The same squish you would use if you are squishing stress balls. And so, by this time, I am struggling to fill my lungs to capacity with air because I’m laughing so ferociously hard. More times than not, my listener isn’t really laughing that hard… I guess you had to be there.
And just for the record… I’m laughing pretty hard right now.
I have such a problem with my love for good food. Sometimes I get into trouble at home because I stress so much about putting meals together on week nights. My husband will say to me, “You don’t have to cook every night! Stop putting all this extra work on yourself!” To which I respond, “but I love food and I love to cook it and I don’t wanna eat the same thing two nights in a row!” I’m just chuckling to myself right now at sounding like such a fat kid. But seriously, who doesn’t love a good meal at the end of a stressful day?
I got to thinking the other day about what some of my most favorite meals have been in recent memory. Haven’t you ever been somewhere and have eaten something so good that you would travel again and again to that place just to be able to experience the goodness of whatever it was that you ate that day? Here are a few of mine:
The definition of a Churrascaria is actually “barbeque” in a Brazilian or Portuguese tradition and where waiters bring meat around to tables on large skewers. This actually sounds terrible to a person who could really do without meat, like myself.., but the Texas de Brazil in Memphis is on my list of favorite meals not because of the meat, but because of the SALAD BAR!!! I know, I know… half of you are like, ok Rachel, just shut up now, but have you ever experienced the salad bar down there? Several types of leafy greens to choose from, all sorts of veggies, some marinated in the sweetest of life-sustaining juices and oils, lobster bisque, every kind of cheese known to mankind, things wrapped in bacon and prosciutto… I mean the list goes on. If for any reason I ever wanted to live back in the city limits of Memphis, this salad bar would definitely be on the pro side of things. PLUS, who doesn’t want a tall-dark-and handsome guy with an accent walking up to your table to say, “Leg of Lamb?”
My sister and I travelled to New York City in November of 2016 just for a quick 48-hour trip to see Hamilton on Broadway. The one day we had in the city to find things to do we decided to hit up a couple of art museums, Central Park, and to have Afternoon Tea at Palm Court in the Plaza Hotel. If you’re ever in NYC, at the very least, drive (or walk) by the hotel so you can reminisce about being a child watching Home Alone 2 – the scenes where Kevin gets into the white limousine with the cheese pizza outside the main entrance. Walking around inside the Plaza Hotel is quite a grand experience for a couple of West Tennessee gals, and I’m sure we looked the part too! Why is this experience on this list though? The cucumber sandwiches. Afternoon tea comes with a tiered serving tray of sandwiches, scones, and sweets, and I’m pretty sure my sister and I fought over the cucumber sandwiches. The creaminess of the filling and the tanginess of the actual cucumber made for probably the most pleasurable finger sandwich experience of my life. I’ve tried to replicate… but sadly, there is no replicating anything at the Plaza Hotel – especially those cucumber sandwiches.
I’m going to lump these next two together because they’re both beach foods and both are located at restaurants in southern Florida within a ten-minute drive of the other. Our favorite place for dead-period vacations is St. Pete Beach outside of Tampa mainly because all of West Tennessee doesn’t end up down there at the same time. We also fell in love with that area because the little stretch of beach we tend to hang out at has a beach club with live music every night and a walk-up beach café with a full-service menu most of the day. That beach café, The Toasted Monkey, has some Mahi-Mahi Tacos on its menu that will make you wanna punch someone in the face. (Not your mama…, find someone else..) Its fresh Mahi wrapped up with some kind of tropical rice, some kind of dark sauce, and the sweetest mango/pineapple salsa on the planet. The first time I sank my teeth into these remarkable little pouches of sunshine, it was a HOT day out on the beach in late June 2020. I think my husband and I BOTH got a little too much sun just sitting there having lunch and talking to another couple who both happened to be school teachers as well. Each year when we are down there, I try really hard not to be the weirdo who comes in for lunch everyday and orders the same thing everyday, but I do…, because who cares?
The Mad Beach Fish House, a little up the road in Madeira Beach, has a grilled cheese sandwich that will change the way you view grilled cheese sandwiches. I started going down to this area vacationing with girlfriends in 2016 and the first restaurant we bebopped into was this little place. We sat out on the deck that first night, and as per our usual, just about got kicked out of the place for being too loud and obnoxious. Women are so crazy on a girls’ trip. Anyway, at some point later on in that trip we went back to the Fish House and that was the first time I held a Lobster Grilled Cheese Sandwich in my clammy little hands. Rich cheddar cheeses (yes, cheeses) and lobster meat on buttery, toasted bread! Every year on the plane down to Florida, we talk about just when we will get to go to the Mad Beach Fish House so I can get my Lobster Grilled Cheese. This last summer, it was the very first thing we did after renting our car and even before checking into the resort. I had my lobster grilled cheese with a cold beer, and then walked out to a loaded down Ford Festiva out in the parking lot.
Since I’m already talking about food from the beach… my husband swears his most memorable meal was at a restaurant outside of Austin, TX called Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen where he first tasted alligator. Now, I know this really was his most favorite culinary experience because in 2019 when we went on our first beach trip together, he made such a thing out of finding restaurants that served alligator. We looked up menus, called ahead, and couldn’t find it anywhere! We finally found a restaurant that had gator on Treasure Island, reserved an Uber, got all gussied up, (after my husband decided on which hat out of his 14 to wear) got sat down at a beautiful little spot right beside a bright bay window, ordered alligator for our appetizer, and the waitress says, “oh I’m sorry but we are all out!” We just had a good laugh. We constantly look for gator at seafood places, but I don’t think we’ve ever once been successful at finding it. I happened to be at a Crabby’s restaurant this past fall break over in Daytona Beach with my two oldest sons – and guess what – they had alligator! I ordered it and I really wasn’t that impressed. It was like fried pieces of sponge, really….
This is a sappy one. On Monday, September 10, 2018 I cooked a meal of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and roasted broccoli for this guy I had recently taken a liking to… it was the first meal my husband and I had together in my house as “friends”..with both of my boys. I remember the pink and white cardigan I had on with the white sleeveless blouse underneath it. The boys were outside throwing a football in the side yard when he pulled up in the driveway after he finished his own football practice at the high school and he went out there with them until I called everyone in for dinner. It was the first time I had seen someone else out in the yard playing with my kids and I remember standing at my side door watching and trying to keep my ovaries from exploding all over the den floor. Still to this good day that meatloaf, and it’s actually a Weight Watchers recipe, is still in my husband’s list of his most favorite things I make.
I love my Keurig. But really, who doesn’t love their Keurig? When I began to think of things I love, that was just the very top of the list, but then I thought…, but literally EVERYONE ELSE loves their Keurig too, so… no revelation here, just good coffee. And my favorite K cup? Well that would be “Holiday Blend” by Starbucks… that stuff is bold and in your face and makes your eyeballs see things with slightly more definition, in my opinion.
Here’s a great Keurig to try if you’ve never owned one:
I love my sequin beret. I think everyone needs headwear in the winter, especially if you must participate in CAR DUTY at an elementary school at 7am on some of the most frigid mornings in the history of Tennessee weather. It’s awful… but one thing that makes it less awful is grabbing those sweet little children out of their vehicles and seeing their faces just light up because your beret has sequins on it and it just glistens, right along with your personality, in the morning sunshine.
Go get one.
I have somewhat of a reputation of wearing strange combinations of clothing. I used to be much “worse” than I am now, or maybe I should say “more unapologetic,” but I just love bright colors and contrasting patterns put together!!! I really like the look of a “that’s a lot going on!” Once I went up to the high school to play for a choir rehearsal and the lady at the desk said, “Oh! Are ya’ll having tacky day over at your school??” My response was, “well, nawww….??? Why?” Haha! BUT, in order to encourage my friends and family to want to be seen with me in public, I decided to tone it down a little and download the Stitch Fix App.
STITCH FIX saved my friends and has kept me from going shopping, which I actually HATE! I’m sure there are cheaper clothing subscriptions, but I just love getting boxes of clothing that I may or may not love. I try them on, sometimes send pics to my besties for approval, and then just go on the app and buy! If you don’t like pieces, or ALL OF IT, you just put them in the pre-paid bag, and go stick it in a US Mailbox somewhere! I have tried and LOVED clothing items that I would’ve never chosen for myself, so…. You should absolutely try this clothing subscription!
I love my quotes list! Do you keep a quotes list?? For many years I have saved things people say to me. I think it has to do with my propensity for silliness and laughter, but I just LOVE going back through my notes and reading quotes that I’ve saved from my people. Of course, each one comes with a memory and when reading most of the quotes to a group of people, you always end up getting a headache from laughing. Here are a few clean enough to put here:
“Spain is in South America, aint it?” (this person is a teacher)
“But seriously, if you had not married Pun, I would have married you!” (my 6 year old son)
“I love nothing more than standing in waist deep water at 4am in the morning with a fat dip in and drinking a coors light.” (one of my more cultured friends)
Talking to her fat roll: “Here, hold my napkin!”
“I mean, you’re just going to have to get used to it. Everyone is jealous of me too. I mean, look at this hair!”
“That was some strong doo doo.” (my 5 year old son)
Lastly, let me tell you about something that changed my life in 2010. When I was pregnant with my first child, in the evenings I would lay in bed and search YouTube for videos that would relax me. I didn’t know this at the time but I was on the cusp of an entire movement of people who loved to do that very same thing. It’s called ASMR, or Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response which is actually a tingling sensation that happens on the scalp and moves down the neck and upper spine when you get super relaxed. Now, I don’t know about the tingles that people talk about…., but I just like videos that are relaxing to me.
It’s different for everyone and everyone likes different types of ASMR, but what I really get into are the videos that are considered to be “Unintentional ASMR,” or basically things that weren’t created specifically for ASMR. I really like soothing voices in interviews or in videos that are meant to be demonstrative in nature.
Now that I’m putting this into print and I’m reading about it, I’m laughing my head off because it literally sounds so dumb. Just give it a try though, trust me. Currently my two favorite channels are GentleWhispering – her content IS meant to be ASMR, and Retoxx44, whose content is pulled from other YouTube channels but highlights mostly interview type videos such as the C-Span Book Talk shows.
Does anyone still read blogs these days? Let me tell you why I do: it’s to find real information for the real things that I need to know! Like… what the best gifts are for, say, my best friend’s daughter’s pet iguana. Trust me, there’s a blog that’ll tell you that!
I’m telling you right now, I LOVE to be nosy — especially on the internet — and so I’ve spent quite some time just browsing around and finding these things. Some are fairly new to me and are recent loves, and a couple of these are more long-term relationships and have proven their worth time and time again!
I think it was three Christmases ago when I stumbled upon the best blog/website on the whole internet because I was in need of Christmas gifts. I can’t remember who it was, maybe my new mother in law at the time, but whoever it was I’m sure I got them a super cool gift because of this discovery. The whole thing is nothing but lists…. Which at first does sound boring, but there is literally a list for any and everything that you can imagine. Need new rain boots? They’ve got a list for that. What about charcoal toothpaste? A list for that! What about gift ideas for a 2-year-old? Or an 18-year-old? Yup… lists for that. Or a dad? Or an Uncle? Yup…
Today may win the prize for the most unusual list I’ve seen though: “The Best Butt-Inspired Home Décor.” Whatttt??? Those New Yorkerssss….
One of the best parts of The Strategist is their “Celebrity Shopping” sections where they find a celebrity and who will list ten or so of their can’t-live-without daily products. Sometimes they are super fancy and over the top, but sometimes they are just everyday items that are just really great products.
Each item on each list has at least one or two links to either find it on Amazon or the product website. You also should sign up for their email newsletter because they are always sending whats on sale and where, etc. Just good stuff to know for shoppers who don’t like to get out of their chairs. Like me.
Now this blog, I could be in a marriage with. I first discovered John and Sherry in 2010, about three years after they began their blog. We are all the same age and they were getting ready to be first time parents, just as I was getting ready to be a first-time parent.
Their blog is all about home DIY projects, and even though I have never really completed a home DIY project, I have LOVED watching THEM do it. They have bought several different homes in different areas of the country and have completely gutted them. Her style is so pretty, simple, modern, and white… which is exactly the opposite of what my home happens to look like, but that’s not the point at all!
These days I enjoy looking at their previous home they had in Richmond because somehow it reminds me of the 1960s ranch that I currently reside in. I just love homes that were built in the 50s and 60s, so you can only imagine my pure excitement when, in 2018, I got the rare opportunity to purchase one of my very own. There is a gigantic amount of living space in it, not enough bedrooms, and the plumbing absolutely drives us nuts 365 days out of the year. (Why do little boys constantly put things in the toilet that they shouldn’t?) But to me, it’s nothing short of a dream home. My grand piano, Carol, has her own living room, Jack has his own living room with his toys everywhere and with a dog bed in the middle for him to take spontaneous naps on, my husband has his own personal den with all his sports things in there complete with his own beer fridge, (I always chuckle at the fact that there’s a dang “beer fridge” in my home,) it has a huge kitchen, dining room, and a sunroom where my band has had its rehearsal space for the last 3 years! If we ever decide to leave this wonderful home, however, I will most definitely choose a home that is closer to being brand new!
Anyway, YoungHouseLove is definitely the place to go if you have a home to renovate or just wanna be nosy and watch others do it!
I discovered Dominique about a year and a half ago on YouTube whilst searching for outfit ideas. (I’m constantly on the search for outfit ideas because my own outfit ideas are just a little too much for everyday living.) I included her website address above, but really, I’ve only seen her content on Instagram and on her YouTube channel. To me, she’s like the Queen of YouTube!
She tells you everything you need to know from different products you need to try, to modeling outfits she puts together, to makeup tips, to just living life. She even gets pretty personal at times and really lets you know she’s just a girl in the world, just like we all are.
I love trying to make some of her outfits work for me, although it is quite a challenge at times. She is an amazon at 6 foot 2 inches tall and has the body of a supermodel, so making her outfits work on this big ol’ thick chick sometimes is just down-right a comedy act. (But then again, most things I do always turn out to be a comedy act.)
She looks so cute with her little tee shirts on and her Chanel belt around her waist…I would literally look like Mrs. Humpty Dumpty trying to walk about with a belt on and my shirt tucked in. Now here’s an opportunity for a teachable moment: ladies, if you have curvy hips and are over size 12, put a dadgum duster on! Geez. You can still most certainly tuck ya shirt in and put that Chanel belt on, but if you don’t add some vertical lines to that mess, you’ll look like Mother Earth whose equator just happens to be by Chanel.
Dominique has encouraged me to try charcoal toothpaste, black jeans, magnetic eyelashes, and taught me ways to look younger! You never know what the topic of her weekly videos will be, so every Thursday when she posts, it’s kind of like opening a present!!
Don’t you love second chances? I love second chances. I’m one of these lucky girls who was fortunate enough to get married young, figure out what NOT to do, divorce, and give it another try with a lot more life experience under my belt. Not saying my divorce was my doing, but hindsight is 20/20, ya know. I’m the wife of a high school football coach seven years my junior. What an adventure it’s been with this guy who has brought me to so many uncharted territories! We are opposites in practically every way and have such different backgrounds, but somehow, we find compromise and humor in our everyday lives – especially in the instances when we remember he was in the fifth grade when I was a senior in high school!
2. I never set out to be a mom. I was never the teenager who wanted to babysit or work in the nursery at church and I had never changed a diaper until that warm and very clear day in October of 2010 when I first met my oldest son Eli. He peed on the doctor before I actually saw his face and it was his diaper that was the first one I ever changed. I had another son, Don, a few years later, and then suddenly I found myself to be the single mom of 4-year-old and 8-month-old sons. Scary, scary times. It’s hard to mother whilst laying on the bathroom floor devastated from the failure of a marriage. But alas! The clouds did indeed part and I was blessed beyond measure not only with my husband, but with yet another son, Jack, my last chance at mothering another infant, another adventure which I would’ve never seen coming at age 38. If I had to describe my mothering style with one word, it would be “survivalist.” I do what needs to be done for my boys, I try to bring fun and laughter into most things, and sometimes we are a big disorganized, flustered mess, but I highly doubt my boys ever question whether or not they are loved by ALL of their parents.
3. Currently my favorite thing to do is to sit in my favorite chair beside a large window early in the morning, drink coffee, see who is out driving in my neighborhood, and read that week’s copy of New Yorker Magazine. I feel so artistic and connected to New York City when I read the articles and all the goings-on in the art world up there. Of course, it takes me the whole week to get through one issue because I have three sons and a husband and sometimes those articles are small novels! I love that my sister has gotten into producing abstract-like art and I’m slowly filling my home with her work. My favorites are the ones with lots of color – they really stand out on my obligatory gray living room walls.
4. Besides my family and music, food is my next favorite subject… I’m a FOODIE. I love food. No, no, you don’t understand, I Loooooovveeeee food. Food is my best friend…, well, one of them. And you can absolutely tell it by looking at me. I’ve spent a lifetime trying to lose weight, trying to count points and calories here and there…, but the fact of the matter is, is that I LOVE eating good food. At the end of a long day at school with 9000 children wanting to all sing the same song 100 times each, all I wanna do is whip up a huge pot of Smoky Tomato Bacon Pasta. Now there’s a dish… pasta, tomatoes, bacon, cream cheese…. What else could make you feel that good after a trying day ?
5. Someone that I love very much recently said to me, “Why are you ALWAYS laughing?” I guess maybe it’s because I’m constantly around people under the age of 8, or maybe because my spirit age is around 12 or so. Either way, the internal conversation with myself is always of the highest level of comedy and even when sitting quietly watching TV, or reading, or just sitting in a waiting room or something, you more than likely will hear me suddenly chuckle, at which point you probably will think, “WHAT is she laughing at ??” (The teacher next door to me frequently hears bursts of laughter coming from the other side of the wall but has never really questioned me about it.) My sister did confess to me that “it gets on people’s nerves!” My response to that is, if you think being constantly happy and laughing incessantly is a problem, then go find a grouch to hang out with!!!
Inspiring ideas. Splendid Stories. Lots of Laughs.
Miss Rachel's Keys 