Cheyann Shaw inspires me.... and she should you too.

I love Instagram. Probably far more than I should, but I do. You can find some of the most interesting people on various forms of social media and I usually get a laugh or two daily. Also, you can "follow" people and while it sounds like stalking, it's not really stalking, because THOSE PEOPLE KNOW AND ACCEPT IT.

I follow quite a few different people for all sorts of different reasons, but I ran across a gal a couple of months back and started following her for one simple reason: she inspires me. She's a fitness enthusiast and while I'm assuming that's how alot of people found her, that's not the reason she inspires me.

No, not at all (even though it's damn impressive what she can do!). You see, along with being a fitness enthusiast, she is also a Stage 4 Ovarian Cancer Survivor.... all at the age of twenty-four.

But, most of all, those are just things on a list that come with her as she is not only a fitness enthusiast, and not just a cancer survivor, but she is also a real life person going through everyday struggles.... struggles that most find overwhelming.... and she refuses to give up on her faith and positivity.

We all complain about tiny things throughout our days (I think the kids are calling it "first world problems"?), and there are times where it feels like no matter what you do or say or think, you just can't win. But, for the most part, we can all take a minute (and deep breath), have a drink (or six), and reevaluate to try and figure out what we can do to make it all "better" (or at the very least, "tolerable").

I can't imagine going through something like what she has/does. Being on the opposite side of something so horrible and watching your loved one go through it is terrifying enough, but yourself? I don't even know how you would begin to process something like that. Having had a cancer scare of sorts myself a few years ago (of the ovarian nature), and knowing what I had to do and the things that still affect my body/everyday life (not to mention the constant paranoia and doctor's visits), it's an entirely indescribable feeling. But, she takes it all, a day at a time, and refuses to give up on herself. She does it all with a smile and a little hope and perseverance.

And if that doesn't inspire you, then nothing will. Go follow her here and watch her rock that shit on a daily basis. #CheyStrong

I watched the third season of Breaking Bad.... finally.

Y'all, in February 2017 I watched the first season of Breaking Bad (and asked what the f*ck about ten thousand times).

A year later, in February of 2018, I finally watched the second season. (And no, I don't know why I waited an entire year, but it kind of just happened).

Since I didn't mean to wait an entire year between seasons one and two, I figured that season three would just come as it may. And it did.... and now I'm on episode three of season four.

The show is intense to say the least and I catch myself saying "wtf?!" at least four times an episode. Some of the situations those two get themselves into (and even the "secondary" characters for that matter), is just amazing.... and sometimes, downright hilarious.

They are literally the worst criminals in the entire world and the only reason they haven't been caught is because Hank (Walt's DEA brother-in-law) is too hell bent on his "Pinkman" theory to see all of the other evidence that's right in front of his damn face. I mean, come on, dude!

With all the shit that goes down in the show, it feels kind of dumb to say they're only getting by on "pure luck" but honestly, it's the truth. There's no other explanation.

The season starts off right in the midst of the aftermath of the plane crash.... that conveniently happened, because the guy who was controlling its daughter (aka- JANE MARGOLIS) overdosed and died a couple of weeks prior. Also, who let's someone come back to a job that important after something so traumatic happens? Jesse, of course, feels nothing but guilt and sadness (he should change his middle name to that with a  hyphen), and Walt is finding every bit of reasoning to justify his actions and tell himself that none of this was his fault. Afterall, Jane was a junkie, right? Yeah.... I don't think that's how a conscience works.

Did anybody honestly think that Walt was going to turn down that kind of money from Gus? Of course not, Walt LOVES money. But, you know what I think what Walt loves even more than money, or family, or anything really is.... power.

I'm not a huge Skylar fan, but the fact that she's conniving enough to be Walt's wife is a given. Those two most definitely belong together. I mean, who else is going to be able to keep up with all of the shadiness if not those two? That whole Skylar affair thing? Dumb. Like, that little dude was ever going to be "dangerous" enough for Skylar. NICE TRY, TED. She used him right to her advantage. What's that old saying? Played him like a fiddle.... yeah, that's it!

And could Jesse give less of a shit after he gets out of rehab? Who in the hell trades drugs for gasoline with a cop standing right behind them?! Although, him accidentally getting Badger and Skinny Pete into rehab is hilarious. And that whole tricking his parents into selling him the house through Saul for a low price through blackmail? I have to say, that was probably my favorite. Sure, his parents have been through alot with him and I'm sure that eventually you get cold and distant after helping someone multiple times that doesn't want to help themselves and keeps screwing you over. And if this was real life, I'm sure I would be 157% on their side.... but, this a is a show, not real life. Therefore, I think they suck and I'm Team Jesse. Bitch.

Speaking of Jesse, is he just going to continuously get his ass kicked? That boy takes more asswhoopings than any person that I have ever see in my entire life. It kind of reminds me of my old friend Lynn. While it did give me one of my favorite interactions of Jesse this season (Orderly: "I'm sorry sir, if you want to smoke you have to be at least ten feet from the hospital entrance" Jesse: "So, roll me further, bitch"), it also seemed to be a happy moment for Jesse since he got to see Hank come in knocking on heaven's door. So.... kind of cold but also understandable? Maybe?

Side note: When Hank got the call that people were coming for him in literally one minute, he sat in his car in that parking lot just looking around.... knowing he didn't have a gun. Why didn't he drive off? Sure, that wouldn't have stopped those people from coming for him, but it would have given him one hell of an advantage. He could have got a weapon and defended himself with ease, since he knew they were coming, but they didn't know that he knew. He may be the worst DEA agent on the (fictional) planet. And being an asshole to his wife because of it? Ugh, I want to punch him in the face, it's not her fault.

I knew as soon as Walt started working at that "super lab" that he was gonna get Jesse back in there with him. You can't tell it through all of the shitty things he does and says to Jesse, but I think deep down in there, past all of the evil and hatefulness, that he truly does love Jesse. And Jesse obviously loves him.... afterall, he went against everything that he believes in to shoot an innocent guy (well, as innocent as a meth manufacturer can be, #RIPGale) in the face to save Walt's life.

No wonder people thought this show was so fierce.... it's damn emotional at times!

The little house before the prairie.... between Half-pint and Didder.

My brother went by our (very) old house yesterday afternoon and sent me this picture. (And then, proceeded to call).

Now, this house isn’t where I consider “my home” to be, but it is the very first house that I remember living in as a child. I was very young when we moved from here to the middle of nowhere and I was raised in the holler (my actual home and I wouldn’t have my raising any other way), but there are things that I remember about this “first house.” 

This was the house that I learned to read in. 

Where I had my vicious bout with a nasty case of the chicken pox (or as I liked to call them “chicky pops”), leading to one of my very favorite stories of Momma having to duct tape oven mittens to my hands. 

The giant tree that used to stand in this backyard (that is no longer there) was where I first picked up my love for climbing trees (and where the beginning of my nickname “spider monkey” began). 

This is the house where I threw my first right hook.... because the little boy next door was picking on my brother and at four-years-old I wasn’t having it. The tiny room inside on the back wall was where I stuck my sticker on the window that the fireman gave me when he came to my school (and it’s apparently still there over two decades later). Where my faithful companion Howard (my teddy bear of 28 years) used to look youthful just like me. It’s where I got my first dog and made my first friend. 

It’s also where I convinced my Momma that painting the porch that ugly green color was a good idea.... leading to it being the last time anyone let me decorate anything. 

This living room is where I got hurt bad enough for the very first time to get stitches (in my head.... go big or go home). And I’m pretty sure that I’ve had sass hidden under the floorboards for all these years. Where I learned fairly quickly that while I tried to play softball, I was terrible at it and where I watched “The Thief and the Cobbler” fifteen times while I had strep throat. 

I love Tennessee, it’s my home, my roots, my way to me. But, we all start somewhere. And I guess, I started right here. 

This coming July, having condemned it, they plan on tearing this house down for good. Leaving the lot bare and it’s future unknown. And for some odd reason, unknown exactly to me, that too feels fitting.

Of course we've all been sick for five months or something stupid like that.

Y'all.... this weather. I can't understand it and I'm pretty sure it's the reason that we all feel like shit on a semi-consistent basis.

I'm not a "complainer" when it comes to the weather. I have no problem with rain and cold months don't bother me. In fact, I probably have more of a problem with summer months than I do all of the others.... because let's be honest, I 100% have more of a "winter" body than a "summer" body. My summer body is basically just my winter body stuffed into shorts and covered in sweat.

And you know what?! I'm good with that. I have no problem with it.

Like I said though.... this weather y'all.

It stayed warmer this year than what I remember it being in the past, getting damn hot right through September and well into October. And to say that the weather has been "off" ever since would be accurate as hell. In fact, here we are in March, heading increasingly closer to April and we're still very much having to be "what the f*ck?" on a daily basis. Getting dressed in the morning is much more confusing and takes far more thought than it should. Do you wear a tshirt? Snow boots? Windbreaker? Who in the f*ck knows?!!?!

It's been windy for like three weeks, but it's iffy. It rained all weekend. Monday rolled around and it was damn hot (like, creeping into the seventies). Tuesday morning was fine, I barely even had to wear a coat into work (I leave for work around 6:00 am).... and then, lunchtime hit. And it was freezing ass cold. Like, single digits cold. And it started snowing as we were leaving work. By the time late evening rolled around, we had quite a few inches of snow.

This morning it continued to snow that really wet/slick/icy snow that makes life super inconvenient. And by the time I got off of work and ran over to pick up supper before heading home (because I'm damn tired) it was sunny and all the snow was melted. I couldn't even wear my "winter coat" home.

It's supposed to be in the forties to fifties tomorrow and Friday.... and they're calling for a winter storm/snow come Saturday. What. the. f*ck. We're all confused and have been sick on and off for months.... and I think we can all agree why. Go home, weather. You're drunk. Actually, we all kind of are right now.... OFF OF COLD MEDICINE.

When you're scrolling through the shitshow that is Facebook. *evil laughter*

Y'all, I talk alot about the people that I grew up with and how we're all a little "unconventional" to say the least. I mean, I look at kids today and it makes me realize that maybe we weren't as weird as we thought.... but that's besides the point.

Thanks to social media it's easier to stay in touch with people from forever a way.... and if they're a notorious "FB oversharer" then it makes it almost a given that you're going to sit back and enjoy the shit show that they have created for everyone's entertainment (probably).

One of the most notorious "FB oversharers" that I know is an old friend of mine.... that I've written about before.

If you've read that post and found yourself wondering how he's been doing (and honestly, why wouldn't you?), then I have an update for you. Guess what? His entire life is STILL a shit show. And I don't say this, because it brings me "glee" or something like that (sure, I'm an ass, but I don't want bad things to happen to people), but because it's just the truth. And honestly, after almost twenty years of watching him do the same thing over and over, you have to find a little bit of humor in it. Right? It's only fair.

Case in point, his FB update from almost 24 hours ago. Let me rewind a little bit so you can catch up.

About a year ago, he (Lynn) got married (for the second time.... don't ask) to a woman that I'm pretty sure is old enough to be his mother? (No judgment, just an observation). Some days they pretended to be happy on social media and within a couple of hours they would hate each other. Personally, I think Lynn is a very nice guy.... when he's your friend. However, I can totally see how you'd want to kick him in the face on a daily basis if the two of you were dating.

Having a wife didn't stop Lynn from being his normal pain in the ass self and he ran around being crazy and cheating like he has done our entire lives. He's literally done the same thing to every single girlfriend that he's ever had, and everytime the new one thinks that she can "change him" and that he "wouldn't do that to her." We finally just stopped warning people about him, because they didn't listen either way.

Around December he started getting antsy and ended up taking off to a whole other state (without informing his wife) to be with a woman that he has had an on again/off again relationship with for the better part of ten years. And things went well for a couple of months (like they always do), and he straightened out (like he always does), and then.... it all imploded (again, like it always does).

I think this is around the seventeenth time they've given it a go and broken up (and no, I'm not being sarcastic, that's a legitimate number).... they just never seem to learn. Sure, they have a kid together.... but he also has a kid with another girl and she has four additional ones herself. Clearly, babies are NOT the problem.

Now that you're all caught up, I give to you this FB exchange between the two of them (and a guest speaker- aka, his soon to be ex-wife). Side note: yes, I did correct some of their spelling/atrocious grammar, because I literally couldn't stand it.

His status: "Money and materialistic shit contributes to 90% of all breakups these days, because women/men are more into money and material things these days that they forget to love, submit, respect, and cherish their partners. It's sad, really. People need to realize you come into this world with nothing and leave this world with nothing. So, why let these material things and money come between love and happiness, which is already in us from our very first and very last breath and heartbeat."

Her reply: *crying from laughing so hard emoji*

His reply to that: "Notice throughout these comments and expressions, you're the only individual that had a laugh face. You are a terrible, ugly soul. All you worry about is you and money. The kids, as well, but they are your 3rd choice after you and money. You have to live with the way you choose to be. Not anyone else."

His soon to be ex-wife's reply: "Sorry you had to leave someone who worshipped you and loved you unconditionally to find out the person that you left me for wasn't worth it. But hey, that's life, good luck with it."

How long y'all reckon she's been waiting to say that?! Here's to you, Lynn.... may the odds be ever in your favor.

Brewers paid tribute to The Sandlot.... and completely cracked me up.

I don't know one single person that hasn't seen The Sandlot.... and if those people exist, I'm pretty sure we can't be friends. That being said, with the film about to celebrate its 25th anniversary, the Brewers (do you follow baseball?) re-enacted one of the pivotal scenes in that movie.... the scene where Scotty Smalls first encounters (and by "encounters" I mean his friends freak him out and he sees a paw through the fence) The Beast.

Friday should have been three days ago.... and yet, here we are.

Am I the only one that's totally excited that today is Friday?!
I say it like that, because I hate when people say Fri-Yay.
It's been fairly decent weather for a couple of days, but we're supposed to have freezing rain tomorrow.
Which sucks, because we're supposed to be putting a shed up.

I may or may not chop all of my hair off this weekend.
It's still an internal debate.
But, if I do, I'm 100% donating to Wigs For Kids.
Join me?! Here's the form.

I want Subway for supper tonight. Maybe I can talk Momma into it.
Also, I need to do some serious Netflixing.
Honestly any form of television that doesn't involve me doing the things. Except I have to clean.

The three amigos.... Athos, Porthos, and.... wait, wrong movie.

Three years ago today, I shared a photo on social media and I got emotional when it popped up in my "memories feed."

You see, this photo isn't just any old photo to me. This photo has me and the two ladies in my life that I am/was the closest with.... my Momma and Grammy. While Momma and I are still very close and share all aspects of our lives, Grammy passed away in July of 2012. Her passing was sudden, terrible, and painful.

Not just for me, but for Momma and everyone else in our family that loved her. Even my friends loved her and were sad to hear of her passing.... that's just the kind of lady she was. She inspired love.

We were lucky, because Grammy lived with us for the last of her years. And I honestly can't think of anything that I would've loved more. In fact, all three of us did. For quite awhile it was just the three of us, and we took care of one another.... the three amigos.

This photo was taken back when I was around eleven or twelve and as you can see, my hair has been questionable my entire life. But, these two have never cared. They have always loved me for me and I love them for themselves. I am a better person by just knowing and receiving unconditional love from them. I could never explain to them how much they mean to me and how much they are a piece of me every single day. No matter where I go, or what I do, they are always with me.

There are some people that come in your life, and no matter the reason or situation, you carry them in your heart forever. These two are definitely those kind of people. I've never met better and I'm sure I never will. Sure, there are other women in my life that I love dearly, but sometimes it's just different no matter what you do.

With Momma being as sick as she has for the last few years and almost losing her back in July, the thought of having to be without her was unbearable. And now I know what she went through when Grammy was in the hospital. Watching someone you love be sick and knowing there's nothing you can do for them is a tough situation, but when that person is your mother and you love her on that level, it's devastating. I honestly can't think of any other word more fitting for it.

I was blessed, as I got more time with Momma and after that entire set of circumstances, we definitely came out of it with a different outlook on.... well, on everything. I love my Momma and I miss my Grammy.

This is for them.... and it's filled with nothing but love.

Yes, I'm still talking about my hair.... apparently women are complicated?!

I've been going back and forth on this whole "should I cut my hair or not" thing. It's easy to make the decision to go short, but I feel like with all of my past hair experiences (by "experiences" I mean trauma) a shit ton little more thought should go into it.

Sure, when we chop all of our hair off and don't like it we can always grow it back, but sometimes it seems like it takes an eternity to grow it back out.... especially if you hate it with a blinding rage.

And yeah, I know it all sounds a little bit dramatic, because you're all like, "damn Katie, take a xanax and calm the f*ck down" but I honestly can't help myself. Is this strictly a woman thing? Because I kind of feel like most guys don't give a shit about their hair (unless they're like my brother and primp all the damn time), they kind of just pick a hairstyle between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one and that's how they wear their hair for the rest of their lives.

Wouldn't it be nice to have that much confidence in your decision making skills? I have literally never been that confident in a decision my entire life.... well, with frugal things that is. The point is, men couldn't give less of a shit about their hair if they tried. Is that how we women are?

Absolutely f*cking not.

Nope. We have to put so much thought into it that our brains hurt and it makes us reevaluate every single decision that we've ever made. Seriously, we start thinking about different choices we could've made in f*cking kindergarten. That's how insane we can get. And not about just one thing, but about a million of things.

I'm not exactly sure why we put that much thought in our hair.... but maybe it's because we don't want to look stupid? But, I'm not sure if we don't want to look stupid to ourselves or if we're worried about looking stupid around other people? And if it's because of other people then we should get the f*ck over it, because the majority of us don't give a shit about someone else's opinion anywhere else in our lives. Why do we continue with it in this area? I don't have the answers to that.

But, I do have a solution.... let it the f*ck go. Just like Elsa.

My entire body is thrown off and I can't say that I'm a fan of it.

I mean, I don't want to be dramatic and say that this whole time change thing is throwing me off and ruining my entire life, but.... am I the only one that has been completely backwards for the last two days? Surely, I can't be the only one that is having a weird time with this.... right?!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those "I've lost an entire hour" or "I gained an entire hour" because I'm well aware of the fact that there are still twenty-four hours in a day, but for me to say that nothing feels off and I'm perfectly adjusted would be a LIE.

I didn't even notice that the time had changed and needless to say when I went to the grocery store yesterday/basically anything to do with yesterday, the clock on my phone, cable box, car, and kitchen stove were throwing me for one hell of a loop. I had looked at the clock in my car and once I got in the house from the store and seen my cable box time I knew I hadn't been at the store for almost two hours.

I remained confused for the rest of the day.

This morning was absolutely no different. Between my general confusion from my sleep schedule (please, I have insomnia, like I have a "sleep" schedule) being off to city school buses, I was cussing like nobody's business. I was also fifteen minutes late for work and ran in like my hair was on fire (it was not.... for now). Personally, I completely blame all children. And while I should probably blame my poor time management skills and rattled brain, that's a negative ghost rider, I blame the children.

Oh, and I was sick on Friday afternoon, all day Saturday, I wasn't feeling 100% yesterday, and I still don't feel completely myself. I feel like I need about a twenty hour nap and four more days off. Weekends go by too quickly as it is, let alone when you add a time change and sickness into the mix. Being sick didn't stop me from cooking, cleaning, hauling away trash, going to the grocery store, and about a million other things though. So.... let's hear it for the everlasting "trooper"?

Y'all, I don't want to adult today. Let's just all go back home, put on sweats, and watch Netflix.

Danielle has a new color-coordinated system in place and I'm going with it.

Today is finally Friday and Dani and I have done no less than four dances (albeit, TERRIBLE dances) to celebrate.

Y'all, it's just been one of those weeks. And I think you all know what "one of those weeks" means. It means that it's been long, exhausting, we were in a state of general confusion, were convinced that all day Thursday was in fact Friday (and extremely irritated once we realized that wasn't true), and people are extra annoying.

Not to mention I had to take a "personal" day on Tuesday to handle some business downtown and somehow threw my week off by at least three days. Dude, how in the hell do you take one day off and it feels like you worked an additional three? That is math that doesn't quite add up and I call bullshit.

Anyways, I have mentioned here and there that we have made some changes (and by "we" I mean Danielle has wanted to reform everything and I go along with it, because she's my boss and I don't have energy to argue.... plus, they're all really good and effective changes) and at times we've been at our wits ends. In fact, there have been days where we've wanted to jump out the window.

But, she finished developing one change today and I have to say, it may be my favorite yet. And it's not my favorite, because of any particular reason, except HOW she came up with this system.

You see, at our company we have three(3) Project Managers and we have to keep in line all threes separated billing. And while that doesn't seem like a big undertaking, let me just go ahead and let you in on the fact that our company was founded in 1966 (we do all commercial work and usually it's Hospitals, Government, and Museums) and has NEVER had a system for that.... until the last couple of years.

We've been learning as we go and it has been quite the process.

For one particular area of it, Dani has decided to color coordinate our three different Project Managers and finished her "development" of it this morning.... Roger is blue, Steve is red, and Chris is green. Seems simple enough, right? Oh, it is. It's going to be a very easy system to deal with, maybe the easiest one yet. Now would you like to know how she decided to pick the colors and why she chose them for the easiest way for her and I to remember it?

Roger is blue.... because Roger usually wears a blue shirt. Steve is red.... because his hair is "practically" red. And Chris is green.... because that's his favorite color. I. Shit. You. Not. Once she told me this and I laughed she said, "yeah, it seems silly, but now you'll never forget it!" And she's right.... it's too damn hilarious to me to forget!

Here's to the weekend. Cheers, y'all.

My thoughts on the first season of the series: Frontier. (Part I).

Winter seems like it's just going to stick around for the next fourteen years (seriously, I had my car window down on Monday and by Thursday morning we had snow), I've been doing a whole lot of Netflixing. In all fairness though, I'm always trying to do a whole lot of Netflixing and a whole bunch of nothing else but THAT'S NOT THE POINT.

With that being said, I've tried a few different shows here and there, trying to watch some that I've been trying to get through for what seems like forever, some that I've seemingly forgotten about or given up on, and a few new ones to see if they were "for me."

On the "is it for me" list was none other than- Frontier.

while the tagline or "plot synopsis" doesn't sound all that appealing at first: "the series follows Declan Harp (Jason Momoa), a part-Irish, part-Cree outlaw who is campaigning to breach the Hudson's Bay Company's monopoly on the fur trade in Canada." I decided to give it a try, because I usually like things that other people might find "boring" or "unconventional." I mean, aren't we all a little tired of new cop and/or hospital shows? I know I am since they canceled my favorite one (the seriously underrated "The Night Shift") after four short seasons.

Plus, I was kind of already on the "underrated Jason Momoa tv show" bandwagon, because of short-lived series "The Red Road." Just like Frontier, it originated elsewhere (The Red Road was on Sundance and Frontier was originally Discovery Channel Canada), but I found it via Netflix. Where good shows come to live until Katie finds them and binge-watches until her little heart's content. (Probably).

Like all things involving Jason Momoa (whom I love in general #ConanThe Barbarian) this show both excited and completely terrified me. Seriously, the man's adorable.... and PETRIFYING. He usually looks somewhere between wanting to cuddle bunnies and about to go on a murder spree after having a psychotic break.

It's a fine line and the man walks it well.

I've watched the first three episodes of the first season (each season is only six episodes long) and I think one of my favorite parts has to be when Declan (aka, Jason Momoa) and Sokanon save Michael from three different "Brown" (the last name of some of the characters) brothers and once the rest of Declan's "group" kills the other two (three?) and he decides that he can still shit talk Declan.... so Declan chops one of his ears off.... and proceeds to talk into the severed ear the rest of the conversation. I swear, it's a whole lot more comical to watch than what that paragraph made it sound.

All in all, going from the first three episodes it's a keeper!

Driving in downtown traffic almost took me to Illinois. *insert eyeroll here*

Yesterday afternoon I had an appointment downtown and what should have been a relatively easy process, was the exact opposite. In fact, it was almost as much of a clusterf*ck as one of my regular "I'm not at work" outfits.

Let's not even talk about the fact that what should have been a ten minute drive there ended up taking thirty-five minutes and a twenty-five minute drive back (adding an additional fifteen minutes for "rush" traffic) ended up being an hour and ten minutes. And I'm pretty sure it gave me more gray hair.

I should probably start at the beginning. Full disclosure: I am horrible with directions. Legitimately, HORRIBLE. You could give me a compass and a detailed map and I would STILL find a way to get lost. You think with how many times I've watched The Goonies I would be better at this, but nope.

And yeah, it's an incredibly important life skill, BUT I haven't caught on. I am the true epitome of having "no sense of direction."

But with this appointment I knew I would be fine, because not only had I been directly in front of the building, but literally all I had to do was drive straight down the road and make ONE right turn. That's it.

Did I have it planned in my head exactly like that? YES. Is that how it ended up working out in the long run of things? ABSOLUTELY F*CKING NOT. You see, there is always construction downtown. ALWAYS. Truthfully, I think it's a legitimate city rule and nobody that actually drives in it or has to deal with it gets a vote. And we've all kind of learned to accept that. Sure, it annoys us and we cuss about it, but we deal.

What I was unaware of however is the fact that three times the amount of construction is happening downtown at this point and every single one of the two-way roads are for the time being, one way  roads. Meaning that you have to drive in about two and a half (so.... two full circles and a kind of half moon?) circles to get to anywhere if you're trying to turn. You literally just have to keep going round and round until you get to where you're going.

Also, when you're trying to go somewhere and you get on the wrong road, you can't turn around forever and you basically just have to let the road take you where it's going until you can luck out and find ANYWHERE to pull into and turn around on the opposite road. It's a legitimate nightmare.

Oh, and it cost me $18 to park. F*cking downtown.

My brother is about to be a dad. (Part IV).

Actually, my brother has been a dad (and I've been an aunt, I guess?) for a year now, but I started out with this whole "my brother is ABOUT to be a dad" posting exactly a year ago and there's no turning back for me.

Catch up on Part I here, Part II here, and Part III here.

All caught up now? Good. So, yeah.... my brother's kid is an entire year old. And do you know what kind of wisdom and knowledge that I've picked up in the last year from his existence? That babies are assholes. Seriously, I'm pretty sure that kid doesn't even like me a little bit.... in fact, I don't think he likes anybody aside from his mom and dad (but maybe that's just a baby thing in general?).

I also thought that having a baby around would be more.... fun, I guess? Although, he's really not around me or Momma all that much and I think I've seen him a handful of times in the last year? My brother spends constant time with him, but not us. Then again, I'm not exactly a "baby" person, so I'm not really complaining.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not "mean" or hate babies or anything, I'm just not one of those people that gets super excited when babies are around.... related to me or otherwise. Maybe there's something twitchy with my "internal clock" or something?

My brother is still sending me constant videos and pictures of him (because apparently parents think everything their baby does is unique and adorable?) and I have to say, the video that I have dubbed "the Miley" is my favorite.

He seems to like me over Facetime more than in person? Which, I get, because my anxiety and looming sarcasm probably throws a baby for a loop? Maybe I confuse them? I also think that they should know "tricks" (like a puppy) and have learned that apparently that's a "rude thought" and really irritates your brother's girlfriend/baby mama when you ask her if he's learned any new ones yet. He's been around for 365 days, I feel like he should've picked up a new one (or two) by now!

Also, my brother came into the house last night and was all, "can you believe little man is gonna be a whole year old tomorrow?!" And I was like, "whaaattt..... craazzzyyy...." Apparently, that let him in on the fact that I had completely forgot about it. He informed me that I'm supposed to be alot more excited about this and should have planned ahead?

I assume I'm not winning any "Aunt of the Year" awards anytime soon? I'm good with it. Happy Birthday, Gabby.