Seems like only yesterday I was laying in a hospital bed praying to God not to let me die as I just knew there was no possible way something called "natural child birth" could hurt this much. I was going to die, I knew it, but, I didn't, and this beautiful baby girl was born and my life was never the same again..I would never be the same again. Trust me this was a good thing. This tiny little miracle, I know you was sent straight from heaven to give me a much needed reality check... Everything happens for a reason and this angel that had been handed to me set my life back on track and gave me the strength and drive to do anything. Nothing could stop me for she deserved the best in life and I was going to make sure she had it. And so the Book of life as Tiffany the mother began...
Somewhere around Chapter 5 Brandi started kindgarten...no biggy, she going to school, what's the big deal, I could handle it. Hopefully she didn't see me peaking in the windows of the classroom with my box of Kleenex crying my eyes out. My angel baby was growing up...
The years went by in leaps and bounds and the pages turned faster and faster...the next thing I knew I had a teenager...not just any teenager...a teenage "mini me", head strong, determined free spirit, with a mind of her own that no one I mean no one could tell what to do. She knew it all. About that time my angel baby transformed into something I had seen in the Exorcist. I was pretty sure one of us was not going to make it through these years and the odds were definitely stacked against me. But, like many before me and many to come I survived these rough teenage years and out of the fires grew this beautiful young woman.
Chapter 17 was coming to an end and the next thing I knew she was graduating high school. How could this be happening? Yes, again, just like in kindergarten, (and many times in between I may add) I cried. My baby was not growing up, she had grown up and was now an adult, by legal standards at least, I have my own opinion on that.
On to the next Chapter she went....Cosmetology school.
That brings us to present time...today she told me she is graduating on September 13th and on September 29th she is taking her state board and soon after that and when I say soon I mean weeks, she is moving San Diego to start her own book, The Life of Brandi Howe.
One book ends and another begins....and...once again...I am crying.....I love you my angel baby. Thank you for all you have done for me, I hope I have given you the tools you will need to survive this crazy world we live in. Most importantly, I hope you will look back on your life with a smile and warm heart knowing how loved you are and how proud I am of you.
Spread your wings and fly.....
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
How can you argue...
My brother just shared with me a conversation he recently had with my 10 year old nephew that I thought I would share. Seems Blake (my nephew) is a bit of a slob, leaves stuff laying around everywhere, wears a good majority of his food, doesn't take care of his stuff, the regular 10 year old boy stuff. Anyhow, my bro was explaining to him how he needs to change his ways if he ever wanted to have a releationship with someone. No one wants to live with a pig. Without hesitation Blake spouts out "Even pigs mate".....where do you go from there?
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Television sure has come a long way....can we go back?
After grocery shopping, Jazzercise, cooking dinner, and packing the trailer for our weekend away, I sit down to relax for a minute and decide to turn on the T.V. and flip through the channels. Starting at channel 2, some ridciulous people who think they can dance...NOT, 4 a show that looks like it may have something to do with the military, 5 Criminal Minds, not a bad show about FBI investigators, but I have seen this one, on to 7, I am stuck, I am watching an obvious gay man sitting with an asian baby on his lap while louging outside on a chaise, up walks another gay gentleman who I came to realize was his boyfriend/girlfriend since they were massaging each others legs. I wanted to change the channel but I was mezzerise...In the next 10 minutes, I was introduced to the following scenario's, a teenage girl who went out and got drunk and was puking in her hotel bathroom, and older gentleman who was having relations with a women that could have been his child and lastly the gay couple lost their asian baby in the elevator....so I ask....What happened to the Partridge Family, The Brady Bunch, Leave it to Beaver and who decides to put this, excuse me, CRAP on television? I don't get it, no wonder our world is so screwed up :0(
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Glass Houses and Mirrors
As I get older and hopefully wiser, I realize that I spend alot more time looking in the proverbial "mirror". Admittedly I have "thrown stones", alot of stones in the past, but I am here tonight to say "I am going to do my best not to anymore".
The other day I was witness to a conversation that deeply disturbed and yes saddened me. A women was speaking of her step child and was saying how her step daughter was getting fatter and fatter everytime she saw her, looking more and more like her mother. The first problem I had with this is that she herself could stand to lose 50 if not more pounds, how can she comment on someone elses weight. The huger (is that a word) issue I had was that 3 days earlier I heard her reading off a shopping list to her other half telling him what to buy for the kids to eat for the next few days that they would be spending with them. The list went like this soda, juice, Hot Pockets, Lunchables, cereal & bag snacks. Hmmm.....what is wrong with this picture??? Veggies, fruits, healthy snacks, water???? Why am I not hearing these words?? You are judging this child yet you are contributing factor to her road to a Biggest Loser contestant. How dare you? ....look in the mirror...you have no room to talk and until you are taking care of your own "weight issues" and helping that child on a road to eating healthy and and making healthy choices...you need to shut the bleepity bleep up!
It's so easy to judge other people, but unless our "houses" are spotless I suggest we "look in that mirror"...and look in it often...I know I will be.
To all those people whom I threw stones...I am truly sorry, I will be taking extreme care of my glass house in the future.
On a side note...Koli you are the Biggest Loser...CONGRATS my fellow Rohnert Parkian.
The other day I was witness to a conversation that deeply disturbed and yes saddened me. A women was speaking of her step child and was saying how her step daughter was getting fatter and fatter everytime she saw her, looking more and more like her mother. The first problem I had with this is that she herself could stand to lose 50 if not more pounds, how can she comment on someone elses weight. The huger (is that a word) issue I had was that 3 days earlier I heard her reading off a shopping list to her other half telling him what to buy for the kids to eat for the next few days that they would be spending with them. The list went like this soda, juice, Hot Pockets, Lunchables, cereal & bag snacks. Hmmm.....what is wrong with this picture??? Veggies, fruits, healthy snacks, water???? Why am I not hearing these words?? You are judging this child yet you are contributing factor to her road to a Biggest Loser contestant. How dare you? ....look in the mirror...you have no room to talk and until you are taking care of your own "weight issues" and helping that child on a road to eating healthy and and making healthy choices...you need to shut the bleepity bleep up!
It's so easy to judge other people, but unless our "houses" are spotless I suggest we "look in that mirror"...and look in it often...I know I will be.
To all those people whom I threw stones...I am truly sorry, I will be taking extreme care of my glass house in the future.
On a side note...Koli you are the Biggest Loser...CONGRATS my fellow Rohnert Parkian.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
I vote to do away with the word "don't"....
Why is it when someone tells you "don't" do something you have this overwhelming desire to do it 100 times over even if you have never done it before.
Don't look in the closet, your presents are in there. REALLY, now all I can think about is looking in the closet.
Don't use the toliet it's broken. Are you kidding me, did you have to mention it, I would have been fine if I didn't know, but now my tonsils are instantly floating and I feel like my bladder is going to explode.
Your cholesterol is high so "don't" eat fried fatty foods....Where's the closest In-n-Out burger? I need a double cheeseburger animal style with a french fries and a chocolate shake.
Don't scratch that mosquito bite, you'll make it worse...gee thanks for that it didn't itch until you said it and now I want to scratch my arm off.
Don't be late. Well I hadn't planned on it but now that you felt the need to poison my mind with your "don't-ease" I think I just might have to make you suffer, 5...10...or maybe even 15 minutes.
There are so many more....
Just to give you a little background to this rant, last Monday in my exercise class I pulled something in my calf, at least that is what I thought. I've gone about life this last week, in pain, surprised every day by the new colors that our appearing not only on my calf but my ankle,foot and entire leg below the knee. (I've included a pic so you can see the beauty of it...lol...trust me the pic does not do it justice)
Unfortunately, it wasn't getting better in what I thought was an acceptable time frame so at a friends recommendation I went to a chiropractor who specializes in sports injuries. Much to my dismay I found out that what I thought was a pulled muscle was actually a tear...No bueno....after 45 minutes of "therapy" she tells me, "Whatever you do DON'T stretch the muscle" Easy for you to say lady, I would like all of you to try to go about your every day not stretching your calf muscle. It is in no uncertain terms impossible. Just about every move you make somehow stretches tht muscle. I will do my best but just know I won't be successful. If only you didn't use that word?
So....all that said, my proposal is to do a way with the word "don't". Suggestions welcome.....
Don't look in the closet, your presents are in there. REALLY, now all I can think about is looking in the closet.
Don't use the toliet it's broken. Are you kidding me, did you have to mention it, I would have been fine if I didn't know, but now my tonsils are instantly floating and I feel like my bladder is going to explode.
Your cholesterol is high so "don't" eat fried fatty foods....Where's the closest In-n-Out burger? I need a double cheeseburger animal style with a french fries and a chocolate shake.
Don't scratch that mosquito bite, you'll make it worse...gee thanks for that it didn't itch until you said it and now I want to scratch my arm off.
Don't be late. Well I hadn't planned on it but now that you felt the need to poison my mind with your "don't-ease" I think I just might have to make you suffer, 5...10...or maybe even 15 minutes.
There are so many more....
Just to give you a little background to this rant, last Monday in my exercise class I pulled something in my calf, at least that is what I thought. I've gone about life this last week, in pain, surprised every day by the new colors that our appearing not only on my calf but my ankle,foot and entire leg below the knee. (I've included a pic so you can see the beauty of it...lol...trust me the pic does not do it justice)
Unfortunately, it wasn't getting better in what I thought was an acceptable time frame so at a friends recommendation I went to a chiropractor who specializes in sports injuries. Much to my dismay I found out that what I thought was a pulled muscle was actually a tear...No bueno....after 45 minutes of "therapy" she tells me, "Whatever you do DON'T stretch the muscle" Easy for you to say lady, I would like all of you to try to go about your every day not stretching your calf muscle. It is in no uncertain terms impossible. Just about every move you make somehow stretches tht muscle. I will do my best but just know I won't be successful. If only you didn't use that word?
So....all that said, my proposal is to do a way with the word "don't". Suggestions welcome.....
Friday, March 5, 2010
Just how many versions of the English language are there?
Growing up you were always told you spoke English. As you got older when you were answering questionnaires and they asked you preferred language, without question you checked English. As I have gotten older I have begun to question this. Is there really ONE language that we all speak called English or are there various dialects within our language? I haven’t led a totally sheltered life; I know there have been talks of this so called, what I am assuming is an English dialect called “Ebonics”, but in my small circle of life I never gave any thought to anything else until I became a mother, a wife, a girlfriend and a boss. Now I have found myself wondering just how many “versions” of the English language are there really?
All of you reading this right now are probably thinking I am losing my mind, which I might just be doing that if I haven’t already, I do have a teenager you know. Anywho, let me defend my thought process:
I will start with Tiffany the parent:
I call my daughter and ask her when will you be home? And she responds I am on my way…to me that means I am in my car driving home as we speak. Au contrair mon frair, to a teenager this means the end result is I will be home. Whether it be 5 minutes or 5 hours, I am on my way. It could quite possibly be the next day. Here’s another example, my daughter calls and says “I am around the corner” well my pea brain thinks a block or two away, well like I said before, in English this time, to a teenager this means there is a corner somewhere not necessary the one around our home. Do you get where I am going with this? Another example, your son or daughter asks “Mom I am going to this party, can I please have some money to buy a new outfit” reasonable request? One would think. In the back of my mind, I am thinking $30-$50 for a girl, so you give them a $100 bill or a credit card and give the shopping wisely speech, its all good. Then you get the bill…shopping wisely for who? The Kardashians. For what my daughter thinks is a deal for one pair of jeans, I could buy 2 maybe even 3 outfits. Where did this come from? I never spent like this.
So my advice to future teenage victims…Don’t stop asking questions and make sure you set limits that they understand CAN NOT be broken. I ask “when will you be home” and they say “ I am on my way home”, you say “that’s all fine and dandy but how long til you arrive at our door and give me a hug”; when they say “I am around the corner, you ask “which corner?” I have come to understand that there are A LOT of corners in a teenage mind. Make sure to add the question of when you get around that corner will you be arriving at our home or someone elses? DETAILS DETAILS DETAILS….as much as we love our teenagers they are the masters of manipulation. I am pretty sure if there was an Olympic event for the best manipulators, my daughter would be a quadruple gold medal winner. The sad part is as angry as you get somehow they always end up being right, or at least not wrong, because you didn’t ask enough questions. i.e. my first example when you confront them and say “ I thought you said you were on your way home?” Their response without hesitation will be “I was”. You just lost, because to them if you talk to them at ten in the morning and they say they are on the way home and arrive at ten that night, what’s the problem? All day long in their teenage minds they were in fact “on their way home”. Good luck arguing that one in a court of law, especially in California, I am pretty sure they would win.
Moving right along, as a former wife and current girlfriend, I have come to the hard realization the “men” in itself is an English dialect that women will NEVER understand. To give “them” the benefit of the doubt I will say they will most likely never understand the “women” dialect, however, that is only because they have mastered the art of something called “ignoring” and I don’t care how hard one tries, if someone is ignoring you they are not going to understand you.
Given the fact that I am pretty sure 99.9% of the people reading this are women I am pretty confident that you are all laughing and that I do not need to explain this. However, on the off chance that some MAN stubbles across this blog and actually reads it , let me explain; When we “women” say “dinner is at 6:00” we mean dinner is at precisely that at 6:00. There are no hidden messages, 6:00 is what it is. So if you need a half hour- before dinner to “chill” or whatever you want to call it, don’t show up at 6:00 and be ticked off because you are being rushed to dinner. You knew the schedule…I was, I thought, speaking English…..
64qaaaahy…(this was Darla’s input, she just walked across my keyboard) I am pretty sure her moment of “dog” language on my laptop could be easier understood than any other of these dialects that I speak of.
So now we arrive at Tiffany “the Boss”. Sounds pretty high falootin powerful huh? One would think you would be kinda like EF Hutton, when you spoke everyone listened. Not so much. Apparently from what I can tell “boss” is another English dialect that is completely beyond translation from the “boss” perspective. I recently had an experience whereas at 9:00 in the morning I very specifically asked an employee to do something TODAY, 4 hours later they emailed me asking if they were supposed to start this tomorrow? Are you kidding me? Really? I have looked in the Websters Dictionary and every other dictionary I could find, and as far as I can tell there is no definition of today that can be translated as tomorrow. Today is today, if it be 1:00 am or 12:59 pm on March 5th, it is today and if I want it done today, I want it done within those time perimeters, not tomorrow!! Work with me people….
With much apology, I bid you all ado, this was most definitely a rant out of major frustration of the weeks, lifes events. I hope however, most of you can relate. Thank you for listening. I feel much better.
Tootles, until next time...
All of you reading this right now are probably thinking I am losing my mind, which I might just be doing that if I haven’t already, I do have a teenager you know. Anywho, let me defend my thought process:
I will start with Tiffany the parent:
I call my daughter and ask her when will you be home? And she responds I am on my way…to me that means I am in my car driving home as we speak. Au contrair mon frair, to a teenager this means the end result is I will be home. Whether it be 5 minutes or 5 hours, I am on my way. It could quite possibly be the next day. Here’s another example, my daughter calls and says “I am around the corner” well my pea brain thinks a block or two away, well like I said before, in English this time, to a teenager this means there is a corner somewhere not necessary the one around our home. Do you get where I am going with this? Another example, your son or daughter asks “Mom I am going to this party, can I please have some money to buy a new outfit” reasonable request? One would think. In the back of my mind, I am thinking $30-$50 for a girl, so you give them a $100 bill or a credit card and give the shopping wisely speech, its all good. Then you get the bill…shopping wisely for who? The Kardashians. For what my daughter thinks is a deal for one pair of jeans, I could buy 2 maybe even 3 outfits. Where did this come from? I never spent like this.
So my advice to future teenage victims…Don’t stop asking questions and make sure you set limits that they understand CAN NOT be broken. I ask “when will you be home” and they say “ I am on my way home”, you say “that’s all fine and dandy but how long til you arrive at our door and give me a hug”; when they say “I am around the corner, you ask “which corner?” I have come to understand that there are A LOT of corners in a teenage mind. Make sure to add the question of when you get around that corner will you be arriving at our home or someone elses? DETAILS DETAILS DETAILS….as much as we love our teenagers they are the masters of manipulation. I am pretty sure if there was an Olympic event for the best manipulators, my daughter would be a quadruple gold medal winner. The sad part is as angry as you get somehow they always end up being right, or at least not wrong, because you didn’t ask enough questions. i.e. my first example when you confront them and say “ I thought you said you were on your way home?” Their response without hesitation will be “I was”. You just lost, because to them if you talk to them at ten in the morning and they say they are on the way home and arrive at ten that night, what’s the problem? All day long in their teenage minds they were in fact “on their way home”. Good luck arguing that one in a court of law, especially in California, I am pretty sure they would win.
Moving right along, as a former wife and current girlfriend, I have come to the hard realization the “men” in itself is an English dialect that women will NEVER understand. To give “them” the benefit of the doubt I will say they will most likely never understand the “women” dialect, however, that is only because they have mastered the art of something called “ignoring” and I don’t care how hard one tries, if someone is ignoring you they are not going to understand you.
Given the fact that I am pretty sure 99.9% of the people reading this are women I am pretty confident that you are all laughing and that I do not need to explain this. However, on the off chance that some MAN stubbles across this blog and actually reads it , let me explain; When we “women” say “dinner is at 6:00” we mean dinner is at precisely that at 6:00. There are no hidden messages, 6:00 is what it is. So if you need a half hour- before dinner to “chill” or whatever you want to call it, don’t show up at 6:00 and be ticked off because you are being rushed to dinner. You knew the schedule…I was, I thought, speaking English…..
64qaaaahy…(this was Darla’s input, she just walked across my keyboard) I am pretty sure her moment of “dog” language on my laptop could be easier understood than any other of these dialects that I speak of.
So now we arrive at Tiffany “the Boss”. Sounds pretty high falootin powerful huh? One would think you would be kinda like EF Hutton, when you spoke everyone listened. Not so much. Apparently from what I can tell “boss” is another English dialect that is completely beyond translation from the “boss” perspective. I recently had an experience whereas at 9:00 in the morning I very specifically asked an employee to do something TODAY, 4 hours later they emailed me asking if they were supposed to start this tomorrow? Are you kidding me? Really? I have looked in the Websters Dictionary and every other dictionary I could find, and as far as I can tell there is no definition of today that can be translated as tomorrow. Today is today, if it be 1:00 am or 12:59 pm on March 5th, it is today and if I want it done today, I want it done within those time perimeters, not tomorrow!! Work with me people….
With much apology, I bid you all ado, this was most definitely a rant out of major frustration of the weeks, lifes events. I hope however, most of you can relate. Thank you for listening. I feel much better.
Tootles, until next time...
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Off to a good start...
So far this week I am doing good. I have met my workout goals and have been doing pretty good about eating right. Monday morning I hit the gym with a vengence. A little cardio, alot of weight lifting. Needless to say Tuesday morning I was feeling the results with every movement.
Tuesday was a hectic day. Work was out of control. All day long I tried tirelessly to make up a really good excuse that could talk myself our of Jazzercise that night without feeling like a failure. Luckily I failed and off to Jazzercise I went. So glad I did. Had a great workout and felt great.
I was determined to cook a good healthy meal regardless of the time constraints I was under with Jazzercise ending at 6:45 so I did the prep work before I left and whipped up this yummy healthy meal in 15 minutes when I got home. It's definitely one to share.
Lemony Shrimp with White Beans and Couscous
Ingredients
1 (10-ounce) box couscous (1 1/2 cups)
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
4 teaspoons unsalted butter, divided
2 garlic cloves, chopped
4 scallions, chopped
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 (15.5-ounce) can cannellini beans, rinsed
1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Preparation
1. Bring 2 cups water to a boil in a pan. Add couscous and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Remove from heat; cover and let stand 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.
2. Heat 2 teaspoons butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and scallions; cook 30 seconds. Add shrimp, and cook, stirring, 3 minutes or until they begin to turn pink.
3. Stir in beans, parsley, lemon juice, remaining butter, remaining 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cook 2–3 minutes or until heated through. Serve with the couscous
Compliments of Health Magazine
Enoy!
Tuesday was a hectic day. Work was out of control. All day long I tried tirelessly to make up a really good excuse that could talk myself our of Jazzercise that night without feeling like a failure. Luckily I failed and off to Jazzercise I went. So glad I did. Had a great workout and felt great.
I was determined to cook a good healthy meal regardless of the time constraints I was under with Jazzercise ending at 6:45 so I did the prep work before I left and whipped up this yummy healthy meal in 15 minutes when I got home. It's definitely one to share.
Lemony Shrimp with White Beans and Couscous
Ingredients
1 (10-ounce) box couscous (1 1/2 cups)
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
4 teaspoons unsalted butter, divided
2 garlic cloves, chopped
4 scallions, chopped
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 (15.5-ounce) can cannellini beans, rinsed
1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Preparation
1. Bring 2 cups water to a boil in a pan. Add couscous and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Remove from heat; cover and let stand 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.
2. Heat 2 teaspoons butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and scallions; cook 30 seconds. Add shrimp, and cook, stirring, 3 minutes or until they begin to turn pink.
3. Stir in beans, parsley, lemon juice, remaining butter, remaining 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cook 2–3 minutes or until heated through. Serve with the couscous
Compliments of Health Magazine
Enoy!
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