My Redneck Family

If anyone really knows my family they know that we definitely have a little redneck in us.  Growing up, my  dad has always had like a million cars in the driveway that were pretty much junk, but he had intentions of fixing up.  Just looking at our yard is like a friggin episode of Hollywood Hillbillies.  Another thing is my family, my dad, especially are redneck innovators.  Dad and my uncle John created these things years ago called "benchables" which pretty much is a bench that turns into a table. My brother Shane had this thing called a slip n bleed which was a slide in a dirt pit.  Bright idea huh?
My mom has a strong downeast accent.  I first noticed it when I was probably like 8 or 9.  She would answer her phone by saying 'Happy Eastah!'  It's hilarious listening to her talk because the letter R is literally not in her vocabulary. The other day she came home all excited because she bought rhubarb plants.  Well see here's the thing, when she told Haley and I she called it rhubub.  For her it's either 'rhubub' or 'rhubaaaahb.'  She has cute sayings like "kahma, kahma, kahma" She's saying karma by the way.  Another thing is my mom has absolutely no filter.  It's pretty funny, but kind of embarrassing out in public.
I remember when I was like 10 dad thought I should learn how to drive. I was so scared.  I drove his truck down back like 2 feet and almost crashed.  So, the next thing was teaching me how to drive the tractor.  I loved it.  I drove that thing all over the yard, and down back.  My dad is always creating new things.  One time he got a deal on a projector, like the ones at school.  So he maneuvered this way to connect to a dvd player.  We also had this screen to watch movies on.  Well, mom and dad set that up to the garage so we had like a drive in movie theater.  Of course, they put the tailgate down on mom's truck and called it their "Redneck movie theater."  When Haley and I were pretty young dad built us stilts.  Literally like two pieces of wood connected.  But we loved them! We walked all over the front yard in our stilts, it kept us entertained for hours. Of course, his butt crack was probably out while he constructed all of these projects.
Don't even get me started on our family brunches.  At least one family member shows up still drunk from the night before.  Mom would be in her tweedie bird nightie and leggings, cooking the food. Country music is blasting through the house all morning.  The conversations that happen are ridiculous, when all of us get together it is too funny.  If only you could actually be there.  Oh boy, and the country concerts that are a family outing are probably the most entertaining of all.  I can't go into great detail about it, but those are some good times.  Everyone in my house owns at least one pair of crocs....which is kind of embarrassing because, yes, I even have crocs.
It's so funny because my uncle that lives in Georgia is NOTHING like us. He's all proper and wears peacoats.  While my mom wears her jeans and work boots.  Whenever he visits he probably gets embarrassed by us.  My great uncle just passed away not too long ago, and as a memorial thing they're doing beer and ice cream, because those were his favorites.
Oh! How could I forgot to mention this...We also have a friggin trailor in our yard.  It's been sitting there for almost a year.  You don't even know how many times people have asked me why we have a trailor sitting in the yard. My family is unique but I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world. <3

The whole Family!

Best friends CAN be forever

5th grade divas(Ashley on the left, me in the middle, then Gabby)

I know I've written about my best friend Gabby like a gazillion times, but I'm going to talk about both my bestest friends, Gabby and Ashley.  I'll start with how Gabby and I became friends.
It was the first day of kindergarten, and I was really nervous.  The bus came to my house, and when I got on there was a girl who was going into the same class as me .  We talked, and of course she kept talking and talking.  Soon after that we were best friends.  We did everything during recess we would go on little detective missions, and play on the playground.  We played all the same sports too.  We would have rec basketball on Saturdays, and it would go by age groups.  Also our sisters were the same age, and they played basketball too.  So, during our sister's games we would play our detective game, where we would search for a "bad guy" and we would also play with Gabby's dinosaurs, which also came with dinosaur eggs.  Well, we thought it was necessary to have allll of them, and we played with them right in the lobby of school.  As the years went on we stayed bffs. Even now Gabby and I are still best friends, we just aren't as weird, and of course she has her beautiful son Isaiah.  We see each other as much as possible, but we talk on the phone at least once a day.  In gym class we would always make fun of ourselves because we sucked at like everything.  We had to run a mile and Gabby and I weren't about that, so we would cheat when the gym teacher wasn't looking and cut corners, and pretty much walk the thing.  That was in 8th grade.  But, I'm going to go back to 2nd grade.
Second grade is when Ashley came to our school, we didn't really become friends until like 3rd grade.  At first Gabby actually hated Ashley(as much as a first grader can hate)  But, they became friends shortly after that.  The three of us became best friends soon after.  We thought we were so cool to, it's actually embarrassing thinking back about how we thought we were hot shit at the friggin Orland school.
In like 7th grade Gabby and Ashley had a falling out, I have no idea why, because it was years ago, but I stayed friends with them both.  Ashley and I would hangout a lot after school, so I was kind of closer with her.  We went through this phase where we thought we were badasses and listened to music like 3oh!3 and a lot of other weird shit.  But our favorite was Miley Cyrus as I mentioned earlier in my last blog.  We would do everything together. We'd go to my brother's basketball and football games together, and it was like every single one.  Ashley moved the summer of 7th grade.  We didn't her to move so we wrote each other really long notes hoping her mom would find them and feel bad and decide not to move.  That didn't work out too well.  But, that same summer we got the chicken pox at the same time.  It was awful, but it made it better knowing that she had them too.  We also would drink sparkling cider all the time because we felt like we were classy and pretend it was wine, or champagne.  We thought it would be cool if we wrote notes to each other and then put them in the bottles, and then in a few years open them to see what's changed and all that.  Sophomore year we broke the bottles open and laughed so hard at how embarrassing it was. When Ashley got her license she would come down here and we would just drive around and go to the beach.  Whenever we're together we still do embarrassing things, like not having enough money to tip at a restaurant so we hurry up and leave, and once we get in the car realizing we forgot all our food in the restaurant. Or go to mcdonalds and drive all the way back and sit in the Orland school parking lot reminiscing. Oh, another time we got in trouble because we were with a bunch of people on the playground during a play.  Badasses, I know.
I'm still super close with both of them, and there have been a few ups and downs, but they will always be my bestest friends, no matter what.

After the Ke$sha concert!

mean muggin

My Sisters

To be honest, I love all of my siblings.  There's five of us, I have 2 brothers and 2 sisters.  I'm pretty close with all of them, but I'm definitely closer with my sisters.  However, we have different kinds of relationships.  For instance, with Haley.  She's like my best friend.  I can tell her anything and everything.  We used to have the same group of friends and got into shenanigans together.
Haley and I didn't used to be as close as we are now.  When we were really little we would fight about a loooot.  We still do occasionally fight..but I mean we're sisters.  When I was probably like 3 and Haley was 6, she would always be mean to me. Mom would make us spaghettos or Mac n' Cheese and Haley would be like "Zara if you give me yours you can go back and get more!" So of course, I would give her my food and then go back for more, and there would only be a little bit left! But, I was naive and thought that I had so much more.  We have grown up together and our sistership grew when Joe got deployed.  During that time Haley wasn't into the whole going out every night with friends thing.  Instead, we both would stay home, and hangout.  Then we became best friends.  We finish each other's sentences, quote mean girls together daily, and have inside jokes that no one gets. And I must say, I would be lost without her! <3

 And then there is Sissy.  Her real name is Amanda but she pretty much forces us to call her Sissy.  She's 18 years older than I am, but we're still really close (not as close as Haley and I) When I was really little she would babysit me.  I remember we would cuddle on the couch and watch cartoons.  I also remember she had a karaoke machine and we would all jam out to some Shania Twain and Nelly....weird combo.  Now, Sissy is like my friend, we'll have girls night, which will consist of Teen Mom and snacks.  Oh and we'll gossip about people, but what's even better is when all three of us sisters have a girls night.  Although usually Haley and I will fight about who gets the bed, because I don't like sharing a bed with her.  Usually I end up on the couch.  Having a sister is a blessing to have, because at the end of the day, no matter how much you fight, they're always there for you no matter what.

Miley, what happened?!

So today as I was cleaning my room with my mom, which was terrible by the way...I'll get to that part later. Anyways, we were cleaning and I found a dvd of episodes of Hannah Montana, and then I also found a book that I had which is called Miles To Go, and it's by Miley.  Finding that stuff made me realize how much I actually used to love her.
Not even going to lie, Hannah Montana was my favorite show.  I would watch every episode, and know all of her songs.  This is really embarrassing but, this summer when I was babysitting the kids put Hannah Montana on.  We all started singing the theme song together, and jamming out.  That's so embarrassing, but I thought it was kind of funny.  So anyways, I remember reading her book and thinking how normal she seemed.  And she went through a lot when she was really young.  She was bullied really bad and then growing up having a dad in the spotlight wasn't easy for her.  However, if my dad was a rich superstar I would not complain at allllll.
She used to be so normal, which I feel like was a front because according to her, the real Miley Cyrus pulls a Britney and chops off all her hair.  Then starts singing about red cups and sweaty bodies everywhere, and twerks on Robin Thicke. I remember in like seventh grade my best friend Ashley and I would get all the Miley songs on her ipod and sing our little white girl hearts out.  We also learned how to do the hodown throwdown.  We watched the video on repeat trying to figure it out. Now I have that song stuck in my head...do the hodown throoowdown.  Anyways I guess the point of this post is, that even though she's wiggidy whack, I'll still be a fan, and I actually like some of her new songs...no shame.

Oh, about cleaning my room.  I totally wish I didn't ask my mom to help because it was miserable.  It was like the Jillian Michaels of cleaning world.  She would freak out and say "your room is such a mess!" yada yada yada. and yell at me some more for all the clothes. Yikes.  Oh and the worst part, we didn't even finish cleaning, and we spent what felt like 4 hours, but realistically it was a little less.  Still....She wants to finish it next weekend but damn, it was awful.  At least my room is clean!  And no mouse!! Yaaaaay!

Mouse Anxiety

This looks like a cute picture of mouse right? Well, just like Britney Spears it's not that innocent. Let me backtrack a little.......
So, a few days ago at the wee hours of 4:30 in the morning I was awoken by a terrible, terrible sound.  Half asleep I was thinking why in the world is my angel of cat Finnegan playing with his toys?  So I grabbed my phone and turned on the flashlight to tell Finny to pipe down and then I saw the most horrendous, most disturbing thing. There was a MOUSE in Finnegans mouth!!!! Sheer panick set in.  First of all how the hell did a mouse get in my room?! second, I can never get that terrible sound out of my head.  I shudder every time I hear, think, or see anything related to a mouse.
Anyways, I had no idea what to do.  I ran out of bed into the next room and woke Joe up.  "Joe you need to get up NOW there is a mouse in my room!!" Joe, being the good brother in law that he is, immediately got up and went into my room to get rid of the thing.  Of course, my cat still had the mouse in his mouth and was not going to let that thing go.  So Joe went to go grab it out of Finnegan's mouth and bam......The mouse ran off into a corner in my room.  Yup, pretty much wanted to cry right there.  Joe told me that the mouse probably found a way out, but I have been haunted every night since.  I obsessively am checking my bed, floor, Fin's mouth for the little monster.  I even have had Joe check my room.  But, since there is no trace of it, I have not been able to sleep.  And I know this all sounds silly, but I get anxiety thinking about going to bed.  For the rest of that morning I slept on the couch.  And the last 2 nights I was in my room again. Tonight is a different story though, for some reason I'm getting really bad anxiety and decided that I'm going to sleep downstairs in the living room tonight.  Maybe I'll actually be able to get a good night's sleep!
Since I have the best mom in the world, she promised to help me clean my room hardcore tomorrow and investigate for a mouse.  Thank God for her right?
I feel like I have PTSD from the whole experience...
Oh AND I can never look at my cat the same..The image of the mouse hanging out of his mouth is tattooed in my brain.  #prayingforsleep

Tossback Tuesday

So since it's Tuesday, I figured I would do a tossback tuesday....

This is a collection of old pictures, of some of the most important people in my life.  The top picture is of my brother, my sister, my nephew (who is older than me...I know confusing) and of course, myself.  My childhood with them was the best.  Since there were so many of us we were never bored.  We would build forts, play wiffleball? I have no idea how to spell that, and get into as much trouble as possible.  It was the best childhood I could've asked for.  Every now and then I get nostalgic about memories like these, and I miss those years terribly.  However we're still close, and my sister is like one of my best friends.  The picture in the middle is of my beeeest friend from kindergarten.  We were trick or treating that year, and it was pretty memorable.  Not only did we get a bunch of candy but we laughed so hard because we kept falling.  We went to school together kindergarten through 8th grade.  Gabby is one of those lifelong friends for sure.  We still are just as close, although we aren't weird 5 year olds pretending to be crime investigators anymore.  Whenever we get together we always talk about the good ol' days. The one all the way to left is a current-ish picture of me and Gabby, and her perfect baby Isaiah.  When she had Isaiah our friendship was even stronger, because all of her other friends had left her, and I was always there for her.  And the last one on the right is of Isaiah and myself when he was just a baby. I remember when my mom and I went to the hospital right after she gave birth to him.  I was so scared to hold him, because he was so tiny and fragile.  He is now 17 months old and keeps growing like crazy! it's so weird seeing him walk and talk! All of these times are so near and dear to me, because family and friends are the most important thing.