Voicemails for Isabelle and an old-school (forever will be cherished) radio.

Good morning my darlings.

I’m just sitting here with a bagel and my coffee, and I may go back to bed for an hour, but we’ll see.

Let’s chat.

The day before yesterday, the woman who lives right above me and I – were chatting and she asked if I’ve seen the new Netflix movie:

I told her I have not seen it, but I’d watch it soon and let her know if I liked it or not.

She said she cried within the first 10-15 minutes.

I cried within the first 10-15 minutes.

I watched it last night, and I absolutely loved it!

It was sad. It was funny. It was cute.

It was a movie that shows that even the best things can come out of grief, sadness, anger, etc.

That beautiful things can happen after pain.

The movie focuses on Jill losing her little sister that she’s always been so close to, so she continues to call her sister (Isabelle’s) phone number thinking it’s still connected, and Jill finds comfort in leaving Izzy many voicemails on different days, venting – chatting – and sharing things like she used to when Izzy was alive.

She always feels better after leaving Izzy a message.

She has no idea that the number was disconnected and recycled.

That the number now belongs to some guy’s work phone, (Wes) – and he is listening to all of the messages Jill is leaving Izzy, and hears all of her crazy stories, things that are going on in her life, and things she vents and jokes about – and it makes him smile. It makes him laugh.

He plans to tell her she has the wrong number – not knowing the situation and why she’s leaving these messages or who Izzy is, but he’s intrigued by her and her funny, wild, crazy voicemails, so he doesn’t tell her that number is no longer Izzy’s (whoever Izzy is – because again – he has no idea!).

He lets her keep calling and he keeps listening.

Eventually, he finds a way to get just enough information to look her up on social media, and when he sees her photos and who she is, he finds her attractive, and he’s even more interested in listening to new voicemails from her – for Izzy.

My daughter and I laughed and called him a stalker, but I corrected my daughter and joked that there’s a big difference between creepy stalking and cute stalking. He did some cute stalking. lol. (I’m just being funny, but it was cute that he looked her up and checked her out).

I don’t want to give the whole movie away, but it’s something you should totally watch if you have the time, and I laughed a lot in this movie, but I also cried a lot, especially at the end – when this guy (Wes) asks for a sign, and he gets it. ❤️

It’s definitely a MUST WATCH, and one of my new favorite movies!

My daughter was also laughing when one of Wes’s friends asked, “What is it about her, Wes?”, and he starts listing everything he loves, and says her cheeks are always filled with food – like this “Sexy Chipmunk”. I told my daughter, “See? I’m a Sexy Chipmunk, too!”. I made her laugh even more.

If you want to giggle a bit, I went outside in the middle of the movie last night to move my car to the garage because the weather was calling for tornados in our area (or close by) possibly, and the sky looked awful, so if we had hail, I didn’t need my car damaged.

I had cried right before going outside – because of this movie, so when another woman who lives upstairs but diagonal from my place – was out there and started talking to me about a kitten we always see in the garages, I apologized for the way I looked and told her I was “ugly crying to a movie I was watching”. She laughed and said she’s the same way.

The movie was fantastic, and it helped a lot that the guy who played (Wes) – Nick Robinson – is a hottie. 😊

Listen.

If there was a poster with him (from this scene on it) – it would be framed and hanging above my bed.

I’m just saying! 🤣

I loved the movie.

10/10 – I recommend!

……………………………………………

Other than the movie – check this out.

One of the tenants in the facility I work for – came downstairs last week and asked if I wanted this radio.

It’s totally Vintage.

He said he’s had it since he got married many – many – many years ago.

He’s an older guy that I adore so much, and he’s always joking around, making me laugh and he’s goofy.

He’ll tell you he has a history with crazy women – including his now ex-wife, and he did just that – and that’s why he said he doesn’t want it anymore, but it still works.

I wasn’t going to take it. I didn’t think I had any use for it, but ……………after some thinking, I realized I’d love to have this radio, and I’d cherish it because it came from him. It’s now a sentimental radio for me because I’ve grown close to this old guy, and he’s hilarious.

Even when he’s pissed off and running his mouth on certain days – he still looks at me when he’s going off on people, and we both laugh because that’s just who he is, and he knows I’m not going to stop him.

I tell him to be nice, and sometimes – when I already know he’s going to say something he shouldn’t – I’ll look at him and tell him, “DON’T DO IT!”, and he laughs because he knows I already know what he’s thinking, and what he’s going to say or do.

He’s got a lot of health issues, so my son and I both agreed (because my older son works with me on the weekends) – that if this man ever passes, we’re going to miss the heck out of him. We’re going to be so sad when we lose this guy, and hopefully it won’t happen for many more years, but we know he’s old and brittle.

So, after thinking about what an honor it would be for me to have this man’s old radio that he’s had forever now and no longer wants, I did take it. It does work, and it sounds so clear – but the only issue – is that we don’t have many good radio stations in Minnesota, so I won’t use it now.

Still, I know that if and when we move back to IL. or closer to it, I’ll have many more radio stations and choices, and this radio will look so cute on my kitchen counter, and it will give me something to listen to when I’m cooking or baking. 😊I do need to give it a good scrub down, but I love it!

I remember almost losing this guy at the beginning of this year.

He was really sick, and some of the employees at the facility wanted to go say “Goodbye” to him – so, some went to go see him.

My older son and I – went as well. He wasn’t expected to make it.

When my son and I walked into the hospital room that day, this man couldn’t even keep his eyes open, and he struggled to talk. His breathing was shallow and we thought for sure he wouldn’t make it past that weekend. We were talking to him, and I was holding his hand the entire time – while we just watched him doze in and out, and we sat there quietly some moments – just watching T.V. and watching this man rest.

The facility we work in houses the previously homeless, some Criminals, some addicts, recovering addicts, and alcoholics / recovering alcoholics. He’s one of the alcoholics, and we give what they call “Portions” (little bits of alcohol) followed on a plan – to certain alcoholics avoid their withdrawal symptoms and them getting sick from it.

When we were in the hospital that day, this man (that I’ll call Denny) – suddenly woke up, looked over at my older son and I – and tried saying something. We couldn’t understand him, and he finally yelled, “PORTION!”. We laughed because of course Denny is going to ask for his portion, or for us to sneak him one in, and it just made our night seeing him – even if we didn’t expect him to make it that time.

I laughed and told him, “I can’t believe you just said that!”. He smiled and went back to sleep, only to wake up and ask for a cigarette. I playfully – softly hit his arm and told him, “You’re on Oxygen my dude!”.

Eventually, he fell back asleep and woke up – no longer smiling, trying to talk, or anything.

He was coughing. Struggling to breathe. Nodding in and out of sleep.

I decided to let him rest that night, and told my older son we should go, so he could sleep, but every time I thought he was fully asleep and tried to pull my hand out of his, he squeezed my hand tighter – at one point – shaking his head no and refusing to let us leave.

When we told him we had to go, he looked so sad, and when we got out of that hospital that day, the tears started to fall.

I couldn’t help it. He’s become one of the main people at this facility that we have grown so close to and grown to love dearly, and I didn’t know if I’d ever see him again after we walked out of there, but thankfully – by the Grace of God – he was back in our facility a few weeks later – looking healthier, so much better, and so full of life.

He still comes down to try to get his portion an hour earlier, and we still have to distract him and talk about other things, so he forgets about it until it’s time. We still have to try to get him to eat because if he could live off alcohol, milk and Sardines – he totally would, but I’m so grateful he’s still with us, and that he’s still his hilarious, crazy, wild, no filter – self.

I’m glad I have a piece of his history with me, even though it’s just a radio, but to me – it’s not.

It’s HIS radio, and he decided he wanted to give it to me. 😊

I’ll forever love this thing, and I hope that in the long future – far from now hopefully – when God wants me back – my older son will keep this radio and cherish it forever – maybe put it in his kitchen one day – to remember Denny and to remember me and the way I loved it because it was from one of our favorite tenants.

Ah well.

I guess I should go get my day started, huh?

🌸Shel🌸

Money misconception, Birthday and books, Bunnie XO and Podcast truths.

Daily writing prompt
What’s a common misconception people have about happiness?

“Money can’t buy happiness”.

I hate when people say that, and it’s usually the people who have a lot of it – that say that.

I’ve seen a quote online that says:

I 2nd this!

While this quote is supposed to be funny, for those who are just trying to survive in this economy – money can totally buy happiness.

For those struggling with financial issues and not having enough money – money can totally buy happiness.

For those with bills, or big dreams that they want to go pursue and can’t because of the financial part of everything – money can totally buy happiness.

It’s wild because I’ve heard famous people, billionaires, and people with enough money in their accounts to be set for decades – say that more money only brought them more problems, and that they’re depressed.

I’ve heard them say that money doesn’t buy happiness, and they were happier when they didn’t have so much money, but …………………………………………………………………………

I feel like telling them all ………………

“Send it to my account. Problem solved!”. 😁

There are so many things I’d be able to do with a lot more money, and any time I’ve had more – I’ve always been happy, so maybe for some – that saying is true, but for me and many others dealing with this economy right now and the inflation of everything, money can absolutely solve a lot of things and buy happiness!

I can also say that money and mental health definitely play a big part with each other. So, yes, I think if more people had access to more resources or money – mental health struggles would not go away, but the number of people that struggle with mental health may be lowered.

**********

With that being said – let’s talk about my birthday.

It was yesterday.

I woke up emotional.

I’m living in the middle of nowhere in a small town where I don’t know many people, and all of my friends and family are back home in IL.

My parents are gone, so they’re not going to call and wish me a happy birthday, and there’s absolutely nothing to do in this small town or even in the closest bigger city. I would have to drive hours and hours to go find something to do and I didn’t want to do that.

My morning started with tears. With me crying and being this emotional little baby and feeling sorry for myself. I decided I was probably going to go take a ride and get out of the house for a while, maybe grab a free birthday drink from Starbucks, run to a couple of stores, grab my birthday cake I had custom ordered and come right back home to go back to bed.

I planned to watch movies in bed all day. Sounds awful, right?

Do I have people out here that I do know – who I could have called and know they would have celebrated with me? Yes. Still, I just felt like not doing anything yesterday.

I will say that when I picked up my birthday cake – it was better than I expected.

Oh yeah! I grabbed a bottle of wine on my way home as well. 🍷

I planned to watch one of my favorite movies (Second Act) with Jennifer Lopez and Leah Remini.

Great movie, and in it – it was also Maya’s birthday (played by Lopez), and she was feeling sorry for herself because of the things she wanted to do, the things she was doing that she didn’t want to do, and the way she felt unaccomplished. At 40, she was feeling like she should have done more, or be doing more, and that’s kind of how I felt yesterday – aside from not having my IL. family and friends here with me.

So, I was going to watch that movie when the kids went to bed, and I was going to enjoy a glass of wine – or two.

It’s a great movie if you ever need something cute to watch. ❤️

Anyway, I came home yesterday afternoon and sat on the couch for a bit just watching my little dude play his video games and thinking about life itself.

I decided I was NOT going to keep up with this damn pity party that I was having.

I got up, told my daughter to get ready to ride with me, and we went to the library.

I love a good book! I love reading and my daughter calls me a “book nerd” and a “book worm”.

She laughs about how fast I can get through a good book.

I decided I was going to do something I love to do.

Go pick out a few books!

I ended up getting two books.

My daughter told me I should try more fictions, because there’s some really good ones out there. Anyone who knows me – knows that I’m mostly about non-fiction books, but I’ll dip my nose into a good fiction love story or mystery / crime book from time to time.

One of my favorite authors from the fiction category of books is Raenne Thayne.

So, I always look for something new from her when we go to the library.

I just read her awesome book

Abby is a widowed nurse trying to move out of state to start a new life somewhere else with her young son, but before she moves to the new state she’s going to, her good friend Lucy asks her to spend a few weeks at Holiday House to watch over her elderly grandma who took a bad fall and was injured.

Lucy is out of town and won’t be back for another few weeks to watch over her own grandma, but when she does come back – she loves the idea of Abby and her son spending Christmas at Holiday House. So does the grandma (Winnie), who both Abby and her son have grown to love.

The problem?

Lucy’s brother (Ethan) stops by every so often, and Abby finds him so attractive.

Ethan (who had a fiancé in the past, but realized he didn’t love her and was perfectly fine when she left him), finds himself attracted to Abby as well, and as Abby knows she’s moving and leaving the state, and Ethan finds himself falling harder for Abby and loving her son like his own the more he sees her and spends time with her – now what?

She’s not staying in the small town she’s currently in to help with Holiday House and the grandma, so Ethan is fighting against his feelings and time. Abby is fighting against her feelings and ignoring time.

Meanwhile, Lucy is dealing with her own love emotions as she has a guy who is so in love with her and wants more than a “friends with benefits” thing that they’ve been having, but she saw her parents fighting a lot, and she never wants to go through that, so she tries her hardest not to get into a relationship with the man who is in love with her, and he refuses to continue to be just her “friend with benefits” .

It’s a really good book, and I totally 10/10 recommend it!

I’ve ready many of her books and love them all!

The one I got at the library yesterday is:

So, I’ve read this one before, but it’s one of my favorites, and yes – I’m going to read it again!

Serenity Harbor is about a wealthy businessman (Bowie) who is raising his little brother (Milo) who has autism and is a lot of work. He can be hard to handle, and uncontrollable sometimes. Bowie didn’t even know he existed until he has to become his guardian.

He and Katrina meet at a local grocery store one day, and she walks over to help him with a meltdown his brother is having, and once he sees how good she is with him, he hires her temporarily to help him with his brother.

She ends up moving in with Bowie (short-term) to make things easier on him while he’s working on his business stuff, and whatever he needs to do, while Katrina is also trying to find out about adopting a special-needs girl she met while doing work in another country a while back.

The more Katrina is living with Bowie, and he sees how she is with his brother, and the more Katrina gets to know Bowie – they have to struggle to keep it professional and both fight the fact that there are strong feelings there, but neither one of them want to say anything.

10/10 – I recommend this one as well.

This book made me laugh a bit, and she’s just such a great writer – that many of her stories keep me interested, so when it comes to fiction – she’s my first “go-to” for a good book, but I’ve opened my mind up to checking out other fiction as well.

We’ll see.

I’m more into non-fiction as I said. Mostly autobiographies.

I also picked up the book

If you’ve seen the movie (The Blind side) – this is the real guy who went through everything that movie is based on. It’s a real movie. It’s a real story, and I wanted to read things from his point of view.

The library is one of my happy places. 😁

My daughter knows we can be there for a long time, so she minds her business, lets me pick out books, suggests books to me, and lets me just do my thing.

I love her for her patience! lol.

I had to laugh when we were checking out and she made a comment about how I can get through books in two days, and the librarian smiled and told me, “Well then – you need more than just two books!”.

My daughter was hungry, so as much as I wanted to tell the librarian she was probably right, turn around and go to look for more books, we just checked out and I went to grab Pizza for dinner. It was my birthday and I wasn’t planning to cook for it.

We had Pizza. We had my cake. The kids sang to me and I danced to it. I took some cute photos because again – I wasn’t going to be emotional all day and let it ruin my day, and I relaxed for a bit with the kids – waiting for them to go to bed, so I could pour a glass of wine and watch (Second Act), but I ended up getting so tired – I went to be bed as well.

Isn’t my cake pretty though?

And, of course – I had to grab a few selfies.

❤️

I look totally crazy in this, huh?! haha.

I plan to treat myself to something cute when I get paid in a few days.

Be it some new lotion from Bath N’ Body, or something from Amazon, I will treat myself.

I did see this and had to get it…………………………..

🤣

I had a decent birthday.

It wasn’t fantastic, but it was okay, and I’m okay with that.

If you want to laugh – there’s a trend on TikTok where women change the numbers of their candles around. If someone is 42, she’ll change the 2 to the other side to make it look like she’s 24. If she’s 32, she’ll make it look like she’s 23, and whoever is with her, changes the numbers back around to her real age. The woman who is doing this trend – will say “no”, playfully slap the hand of whoever is changing it back, as she changes it to the way she wants it to be, and giggles.

So many women are doing this trend right now.

I was going to do a video with this trend – until I made myself laugh because I’m 44 now.

No matter how I switch the number candles, they’re going to come out the same way. 🤔

I didn’t think about that when I planned to do this trend.

Ah well. It was a fun thought.

****************

Babies!

I mentioned a few days ago that I heard Bunnie XO and Jelly were getting divorced, and it broke my heart.

They are one of my favorite couples, and I thought they were so happy – forever and ever, Amen.

No.

The internet went crazy trying to figure out why they were suddenly getting divorced once the news broke, and people wondered who cheated on who.

The internet went crazy trying to dog out Jelly and sticking up for Bunnie. The internet went crazy gossiping, spreading rumors and lies, and sharing nonsense. The internet went crazy bringing up old videos of Bunnie and Jelly with other people or trying to decode the meanings of everything in their videos or on their socials.

I did none of that.

I waited because I knew that eventually – the truth was going to come out, and one of them was going to speak on it.

I knew one of them was going to come out with exactly what was going on, and why the divorce was happening, and yesterday – as I drove home from the library and grabbing Pizza, I noticed that Bunnie XO had put out a Podcast called, “The divorce”.

My daughter and I listened to it on the way home and it broke my heart.

I stand with Bunnie XO, and so does the entire world of women.

She spoke on how her and Jelly stopped communicating a long time ago, and she has always felt like she loved him – more than he loved her. She said they had a bad argument on Mother’s Day, and she screamed for him to file the divorce papers, and – he did.

She said she screamed it out of anger, but when he really went and filed, that was a rude awakening for her. She didn’t want the divorce. She doesn’t want the divorce. She wanted to try to work it out in marriage counseling, but Jelly doesn’t want to. He’s ready for the divorce and he’s ready to see other people now. He’s not happy in this marriage and she still stuck up for him and said he’s doing what he has to do, and she respects that.

She said everything beautifully in her Podcast and talked about being happy for him wanting to be happy, and finding his way now, and she even went as far as to tell women listening – that his DM’s are open and that if he finds a woman who is sweet, genuine and isn’t on some sneaky shit – she’ll welcome that woman with open arms.

She spoke highly of Jelly and talked about the years they’ve spent together. She spoke of building their empire together, and their struggles trying to have a baby, and even mentioned that they plan to keep trying to have a baby together / co-parent together if it happens – despite the divorce. (Which confused the hell out of me, but everyone does things differently).

She killed any rumors or gossip going around the internet and said she is NOT and never will be dating Chad Kroeger despite videos or rumors out there. She said Jelly is dating already, and she’s happy for him. She said he was kind enough to give her the compound they were building together and talked about how they will always be friends.

She shared her true feelings on everything, and despite her not wanting the divorce, she is okay being there for him during this time and being happy for his next chapter in life – whatever that may be and whoever he may end up with.

Bunnie XO is a beautiful person with a beautiful soul, and she’s not going to cause him problems or make his life hell just because he wants this divorce, and he’s ready to move on, and I respect her so much for that. ❤️

If you’ve seen his video from his concert (I believe last night) – now that the news of the divorce is out because TMZ got ahold of it and broke the news, and because now Bunnie XO spoke about it on her Podcast, he went on to say at his concert – that Bunnie Xo is his best friend and always will be – and I thought that was beautiful.

So, if you’ve been waiting on one of them to break their silence, or if you’re wondering what’s really going on – go listen to Bunnie’s Podcast, and if you don’t want to go find it, I also posted it below for you to watch.

My heart broke every time she wanted to cry, and I’m sure this is killing her, but still – she stays peaceful, respectful, and honors his wishes.

THE WORLD LOVES BUNNIE XO, and she’s going to be alright.

She’s already landing on her feet and working on herself.

I giggle every time I hear someone say Jelly is an idiot, or that he fumbled Bunnie, and I have to agree, but we’re not going to disrespect, or talk down on him. We’re not going to make him feel bad, right?

People fall out of love all the time. He did the right thing by filing the divorce, not cheating on her, and not leading her on to believe that all was still good when it wasn’t / isn’t.

I think if a married couple can work things out and love each other, by all means – I cheer that on, but if one falls out of love, or one knows that it’s not working and he or she chooses to file divorce before cheating, so they can go see other people or see who else is out there that may be more for them – I’m all for that as well.

He never talks down on her or bad about her, and I know that despite all of this – them being one of my favorite couples – and now – no longer together – they will always love and be there for one another and that’s all we need to know.

Bunnie said she’s “Getting her sparkle back”…. but baby never lost it!

She’s always had that sparkle!

Loves.

Have a beautiful day my loves.

I’m going to go enjoy my Coffee and the Michael Oher book, and tonight – best believe me and that wine have a date. ha. I plan to watch that movie I planned to watch last night.

📚Shel📚