Relatable Entertainment

It’s late and I can’t sleep again. Mostly because on nights like this, nights before I make a video the creative side of my brain is on fire. No matter how hard I try to put it out, it doesnt seem to work well. 

Don't get me wrong, I welcome this side more than anything in the world but...dang it why do all my good ideas have to come up when I am trying to sleep!

So I am in my kitchen, just finished up some cookies and I doodled a little in my planner. 

My video is going to be on why I am making videos. I will post it here as well.

And because sometimes when I talk I get excited or distracted I figured maybe I will type out my thought process and get them out of my head so I can sleep and not get anxious. Because, well thats a thing and maybe another topic for a video. 

No one has really asked me the question “Why are you making videos” but, call me a mind reader because I am sure some people wonder why I am doing it. Especially since most of the people who watch my videos know me and know that I am not the most outgoing, brave person in the world. 

I am not the type of person that likes to get invited to things, large crowds freak me out and I have an annoying tendency to want everyone to like me. 

So why not start a Youtube channel...HA-ha. 

But seriously, it really started when I started browsing on youtube like maybe 9-10 years ago. 

Back then I wasn't a great internet browser, I barely did anything on Facebook. It was just after the Myspace craze started dying down and everyone was getting involved with Facebook. Wasn't there a time that Facebook was just for college students? 

Anyways, I don't even know how I stumbled onto youtube… I think I was trying to find a song or something and google led me that way. Strange to think about how you started going on a website… But this is important to this story. 

I don't remember how I got started watching youtube things but I know when and why. 

It was during the time of my life I consider to be wasted years. Seems like a lifetime ago but I was in a long term relationship with someone who didn't seem to like me most of the time. He wanted to change literally everything about me….again thats another topic for maybe another video….Ha. 

I just moved in with him and he often just left me home alone a lot while he hung out with his friends. This was just before Netflix was popular, so I didn't have a lot to do. I cleaned a lot. When I didn't have anything to clean I would watch videos or try to find computer games. 

One day I stumbled upon a youtube channel where the guy was talking about Silly bands (Remember those dumb things) Turns out this Youtuber made it his goal to video everyday of his life for a year. Which then turned into now 13 years of vlogging everyday.

Who would want to watch that….

Me...I watched that. I spent hours catching up on his 10 minute videos from the months I have missed like it was a show. I needed to know more about this person who I will probably never meet (However in 2018 I did see him at warp tour! LOL) 

And I think what drew me in and held my attention was, he was a real life person with real life things. It was relatable. There wasn't much he did that I couldn’t go out and do. So even though at the time I was a prisoner at my own house I was able to live life through him. I watched him move to different apartments, then to a house that he bought, I watched him get married, divorced and married again. I watched him announce his baby girl and I still watch him and his family today. 

The internet is packed full of people who are so fake its annoying. Instagram people who post pictures of themselves that literally takes hours to conduct. People who know how to angle themselves to make them look like a completely different person. People who make you feel like you are failing at life….Those people are toxic in my opinion and I do not want to be like them. 

I want to be like The Trippy Family. I want to share my life with people and learn things on the way. Maybe they will learn something too. 

But I hope that someday someone will get inspired to follow their dreams because of something I do or say. 

Because see, it wasn't just about “oh I can do that, I can film my life and get views” Its more of my way of paying it forward. 

In my bad relationship that lasted way longer than it should have because I was stubborn, I thought that was it. My life was just going to be me watching youtube bored out of my mind, go to work come home and not even want to talk to my “significant other” 

But when I started seeing these people deal with real life problems, like divorce...and then they found happiness again and it was true and amazing….That made me realize...What...am...I..DOING! 

Sometimes you need a person outside the situation, no matter how far outside….to help you see what you probably already knew. 

So now I have a life worth recording. I have a wonderful family, I have a great life...not perfect….not impossible, but great. Maybe there is a hopeless 20 year old out there that has anxiety and doesn’t know how to do things...maybe they will take something from my videos. Maybe I will make them smile and make them push themselves to do better so they can be a cool youtuber too. 

Thats the goal anyways. 

AIr Fryer Donuts

 

OK so I am not going to be the type of Blogger that Makes you scroll through a whole story about how these donuts saved my life...BUT I am going to be the blogger that tells you that you should check out the video I did for this recipe! 

Ingredients: Can of biscuits 1/2 cup of Sugar 1 Tablespoon of Ground Cinnamon 4 Tablespoons of butter (Melted)

Directions: Combine Sugar and Cinnamon in a bowl Melt butter Make your biscuits look like donuts....if you are fancy use a donut cutter thing. If you are Random like me, use a soda bottle top. Its not as easy I am sure but it gets the job done. Oil your air fryer basket so the biscuits dont stick Dont over crowd your donuts. I only put two at a time. Set air fryer for 350 and let them "fry" for about 5-6 minutes. You may have to put them in for longer depending on how well you know how to use your air fryer. Take biscuits out of the air fryer (Careful they are hot!) Brush some melted butter on both sides Toss the donut in the bowl will the sugar mixture and ENJOY! Best served warm.

"I dont need an inspirational quote, I need coffee"

 I have a magnet on my fridge that says "I dont need an inspirational quote. I need coffee"

And as I sit here and try to convince myself that I havent failed yet. I decided I needed a cup of coffee. Its 5:00 and this I guess would be the time that someone would start drinking something a little stronger than coffee. However. If I start drinking the harder stuff...I might not stop.

So while I feed my daughter some chicken nuggets and I drink my early evening coffee I figured I would come on here and dump my thoughts out. 

Because thats what a blog is for right? to get rid of the thoughts that blog your mind...oh wait thats clog. hmm... 

I have been going round and round in my mind with all the nonsense of the Youtube world.

Its hard. I am only a month in and its hard. 

I know that is a silly thing for me to say to...well literally one person but it is. I can never get traction on these things. I have tried. But I also give up pretty quick. 

I am making a promise to myself that as long as I am having fun sharing my videos with my friends I will continue to do it. 

Because if you go in the mindset of getting rich, its not going to happen. 

I dont want to get rich... I mean... of course I want to get rich but that isnt my goal. 

My goal...is to have a community. Someone that maybe looks up to me like I do with so many youtubers. 

Here is a fun fact that no one really knows. 

Charles Trippy, and even his sister Mel Trippy got me through my break up. (I am talking years ago before I met my husband...My husband and I are fine lol)

It started with Charles and his divorce. When he moved on and found his better person. It was eye opening to me. These are real people with real problems. Not just a script written for some actors. 

Then Mel went through her break up and she really opened my eyes. That even if you think your love is enough to change someone...its not. 

I am not saying because of these people I ended a relationship. I am saying that they helped me deal with the feelings I already had. 

So I would like to share some insight to someone. Maybe someone will watch my video and realize that dreams can come true. 

I am still working on that whole thing but I really hope this dream comes true. 

I saw on a movie (Cant remember what movie) But the little girl wishes on a star. But her dad said the star will only take you so far, you have to do the rest. 

or something like that. 

So I wish that I will be a successful YouTuber... but I am also going to put in the work. 

Someday a person who is just starting their journey will be talking about me in their blog and how I inspired them...

Well it sounds nice anyways lol

Doing these videos is pushing me to do something with my life. 

I also think a video I did kind of put me in a dumpy mood. 

I mean I am always in a dumpy mood but this time it really struck me hard. 

I tried doing an unboxing video on my new bed. 

It wasn't flattering and I didnt post it. I hate that I feel that way and no one in the comment section can be meaner than I am to myself but I am just not that brave yet. 

Of course the weather is crummy and my brain is like "we will start walking" and mother nature is like..."ya gonna do it in the rain?" 

I dont usually drink coffee this late anymore. It doesnt usually bother me but lately if I have two cups I get jittery. 

But since it has been several hours and I thought I was going to fall asleep I decided I needed some coffee...and maybe a little inspiration. 

SO blog world. If anyone is out there. Give me some sort of hope that this is going to work out. 

I hope you have a random day and go check out my videos lol

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_XHcUXtR7Hb10T6_A-x1rQ

I also created a website..ha! go check that out if you want

Randomreeds.com

Honest Review of Hello Fresh

 Hello Blog world 

I am trying to get some of my videos promoted so I am posting in multiple platforms. Pinterest being one of them. So If you see these after the videos... That's what I am doing. 

So this is the written version of my hello fresh review. 

The world has a box subscription for just about everything now. If you can think it...chances are there's a box for that. 

The idea of having food sent to me is amazing. I hate going to the store. I get overwhelmed easily and end up forgetting things or getting the wrong items. 

I want to cook more, I want to try new foods. So the best way to do this...

Meal subscription boxes. 

*Enter Hello Fresh* 

I have had other box meal things before but I don't think I have tried hello fresh but that's the one I hear about the most. 

I found a promo code and tried it. 

Here are some Pros and Cons of Hello Fresh and what I thought of it. 

To view this video go on over to Random Reeds on YouTube (Or just click the link below) Or read on!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVc-ZtpBV7Q

Pros:

* Dont need to shop for random things. 

    I love trying new foods but I have so many recipes that I never try mostly because I cant find the ingredient or I have no idea what it is. And if I do find it, you have to buy a bunch of it and chances are you might not use it again soon or it might not be something you enjoyed so now you have a whole jar of this random ingredient that takes up space in your pantry until you clean it out and its four months expired. 

With Hello Fresh you are given the ingredients you need in the exact measurements (for the most part). You are not wasting a whole jar of a certain sauce but you also get to try it. That sounds like a win to me. 

* You don't forget random things

    By the time I get through the store and I realized I forgot something...I rarely go back. 

So then basically I wasted time and I don't have all the ingredients to make the recipe. With Hello Fresh, they give you everything you need (except things like oil and salt but they warn you that you will need those before your shipment comes) 

* Easy instructions:

    I get overwhelmed when the instructions are all just clumped together in one long paragraph. I end up mixing steps up or skipping steps. With Hello Fresh the recipe cards are easy to read and are step by step. 

*Skip weeks. 

    Because it is expensive you can skip weeks when you need a break. So instead of canceling all together you just skip a few weeks until you want the box. 

*Extras

    Now not only can you get three yummy meals to try you can get extra meats, or even some extra meals. 

*Confidence 

    Hello fresh has given me the confidence to cook more. I am not the best cook but I am getting better because of Hello Fresh. I am learning new things in the kitchen and cooking has been....dare I say it...fun!

I found myself grocery shopping the other day and I was going to get instant mashed potatoes and I laughed and thought to myself "Hey I actually know how to do real mashed potatoes now and they are pretty darn good!" (the secret is sour cream instead of milk) 

It was a great feeling. 

However....I do have some complaints. 

Cons

*Price

Its expensive. When they break it down to "9.00 dollars a plate" it sounds reasonable but, the portions are small so you dont have any left over usually. In my opinion its not cost effective. So if you do try Hello Fresh I recommend you finding a promo code....like this one. Yes I do get perks if you use this code :)

https://www.hellofresh.com/pages/share?c=HS-QAF00BTII&utm_campaign=clipboard&utm_couponvalue=70&utm_invitername=Casey&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=raf-share

*Small portions

    Most of the meals left you hungry after. However...I guess a positive to that is more room for dessert! 

*Measurements 

    sometimes the measurements were vague and I didn't care for that too much "A drizzle of oil, Pinch of salt, well salted..." 

I prefer better measurements. 

I am keeping the subscription but skipping a few weeks because like I said overall I did enjoy making these meals and I love trying new things!

I hope you enjoy my review. Please do me a favor and check out my YouTube! Go subscribe because I am going to do more subscription boxes and you don't want to miss anything! 

Have a Random Day!

Advice I wish I taken: Mom Tips part One

 Good morning Blog world. 

First I want to say that any of the links that I share do earn from qualifying purchases (which means that if you click on an affiliate link and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission)

Now on to the post

I did a video on Mom tips which I will post below but I also wanted to come on here and ramble about the same thing in case you missed the video!

Or maybe you like reading instead. EITHER WAY. the information is here if you would like to consume it. 

I want to say, I am not a mom expert by any means. As soon as I figure something out my darling daughter throws a curve ball at me. Its been an interesting adventure. 

But I think some of the things I have learned are worth sharing.

So this is going to be broken up into sections. Again if you would just rather watch the video click on the link below and make sure you subscribe for more Random Tips! 

https://youtu.be/rb_aqsSFtqQ

*Advice I wish I would have listened to*

Once you are pregnant everyone in the world will have advice to give you. Most of it is very unwanted and rarely asked for. But occasionally, rarely someone will actually give you good advice. Of course some of those things I didn't listen to until after but I am going to share some of the advice I wish I listened to. 

 1.) Don't worry about the nursery. 

This is one I really wish I listened to because I honestly lost sleep over the dumb room and to be honest, I didn't end up using it as much as I thought I would have. You see all these famous people doing nursery room makeovers and you just get inspired and you want it to be as awesome as theirs but... of course you don't have the budget to really achieve what they are doing. And sometimes they actually just have professionals helping them so its unrealistic to expect you are going to achieve the same thing. 

Also as much as I love pinterest it led me down a rabbit hole that just ended up making me depressed. 

My advice, in addition to the advice I didn't take is, just make the nursery usable. We had it set up one way but once the baby actually got here we found that it wasn't user friendly so we ended up changing most of it anyways. We also had our nursery set up more for the family members who were babysitting. It wasn't exactly baby safe but since our move we have changed it up a lot. 

2.) Your baby will reach the Milestones. 

This is a hard one to take in. Especially for someone like me who doesn't take criticism well. And this is one of the reason I stopped doing the app or reading the books on what your baby should be doing at a certain age. 

Alice was about 4 months old I think and we took her to the doctors, which is incredibly stressful for new mothers anyways. The doctor she had (which she no longer sees) had me in tears. She asked if she was doing all these things which she was doing most of them or trying to do most of them. One of which was "Is your baby rolling over" Well she hadn't actually rolled over yet by herself so I answered her honestly telling her "no not yet" Which she started clicking her tongue and telling me she is behind and we need to work on that. 

Do you know what that statement did to me? As a new mom who is already a basket case 99% of the time, now you are telling me my baby is behind? I started crying which the doctor just ignored and started comparing my baby to her new baby. It was terrible. I told my niece who was helping me baby sit her at the time that we needed to work on her rolling over. We had a plan and we were going to do all the things. Literally the next day without any help or even trying to get her to do it, Alice rolled over by herself. 

Moral of the story, she will figure it out. I am not saying don't work with your baby and try to reach the milestones, but if your baby is "a little behind" don't stress about it. Because everyone learns at their own pace. 

3.) Don't Compare your baby to others!

Why? Because again your baby might learn things at a different pace. Doesn't mean its wrong its just fact. People learn at different paces. Babies are people... get what I am saying? 

Its going to drive you insane if you try to keep up with your friends baby that might be around the same age. So just don't do it. 

I was going to go into the rest of the things I talked about in my video but I will leave it here and do this in multiple blog posts. 

So again if you havent checked out Random Reeds on YouTube, GO DO IT! 

Did you get any advice while you were pregnant that you should have listened to? If so let me know in the comments below! 

Have a Random Day everyone! 

All The Things

 Good morning Blog World. 

I am so excited right now...about what you might ask? Everything. 

Things are coming together in such a positive way for me. I am actually so grateful to be home right now with Alice. I am learning new things about her every day. I am also loving all this time to be creative and productive. 

I have a lot of things going on that I am trying to accomplish. 

Most of these things are attempts to grow my channel and grow my income lol. 

I think I might start selling on Amazon. Mostly Books or video games. 

I have become an amazon associate which basically means I can get links to share with you and then I can make a very tiny commission if someone were to buy anything from amazon. 

so far... I have made 20 cents...dont worry everyone I will remember you when I am rich and famous. HAHA

We have been working hard to get the house looking nice and organized... its been challenging but we are doing it. Little at a time. Its going to be so fricken epic when we are done. 

Something that made me chuckle... My husband hasnt had most of his stuff out on display for a long time. My house was just too small for all the things we collectively have so most of it was in storage. So A lot of this stuff I am seeing for the first time. Well he tells me to find homes for the things. So I careful unpack the things and try to decide where it would fit. 

Most of the things in this particular box were dragons. I love dragons...I usually lean more towards the cute quirky looking ones and he leans more towards the badass scary looking ones. But either way. I am happy with finding a home for dragons. Naturally everything in the house has to be somewhat baby proof but I decided our bedroom was going to be more where we can display things that we dont have to worry about Alice getting into. 

On my shelf I have some handsome gargoyles that I have had for many years. Well I was putting the dragons next to them and of course they look a little random because the dragons are smaller. So it looks funny. but my thought process went to "Omg the dragons dont go with the gargoyles how can I ever find a home for them!" But honestly it doesnt look bad... It could be worse...I could be trying to put baseball figures or some other sport thing next to my gargoyles...That would look...well I am thankful for dragons.

There was only one thing I couldnt find a home for yet...that was the Halo thing... the video game...I dont know. Apparently its important we have this thing so I will find a home. But right now...its just in the catch all room which will some day (hopefully soon) will be the Nerd Cave. 

A place for Chris to display all of his nerdy memorabilia without it getting knocked over by cats or grabbed by Alice. 

He is being nice and sharing some of the space so I can have a badass computer set up so I can start really becoming a youtuber! Ha.

Lots of cool things are happening and its just so great to be able to have the time with not only Alice but with him to be able to set up our new home. 

Stay tuned! AND be sure to check out my channel!

 

Cant sleep

 Good evening internet world. 

I cant sleep. I have way to much going on in my mind. Mostly...my new adventure. 

I seem to have a lot of adventures huh. 

Well you see I decided that the blog thing wasnt working out the way I wanted...dont worry I will still come on here and ramble my thoughts to no one to read. But i decided it was time to try a new creative venture. 

YouTube. 

I have always wanted to start a YouTube Channel. I even got a camera and a tripod. 

It never went anywhere. Mostly because I put one video up of some random pictures of Bruce. 

But this time. I really want to be motivated to do it, I really want to get somewhere. 

I dont expect to strike it rich. Although that would be awesome. 

But it would be nice to be able to not worry about getting a job so I can stay home with Alice. 

See I was fired a few weeks ago from a job. It wasnt meant to be my forever job but the fact that I didnt leave on my own choice really bothers me. A lot. To the point I am having nightmares about it. 

I dont have the best self esteem. I often beat myself up over little things that I feel like most people just shrug off. 

The fact that I was told that I make too many mistakes...It really stuck with me. 

The job wasnt difficult. But the training was...well...I was told I had to train myself. I am pretty good at learning things pretty quickly on my own. But I do need some guidance sometimes...and at least a starting point. 

I am also not the best at spelling or numbers...which is ironic since I was a banker for 8 1/2 years and I also call myself a writer. 

But I dont think the mistakes I made were really worth being fired over. And yes they could have been avoidable...if someone would have helped me. 

It really hurt to hear that I wasnt good enough...for this simple job. I keep replaying the whole situation in my mind. But what really really hurt the most. When my boss was telling me my strengths...of what I would be good at in the future...Answering the phones and talking to people...just as long as I didnt have to figure something out. 

I dont know if I can type how I felt in that moment. To know that for the few months I had been there, that was my strength. And the really ironic thing about that is I hate talking on the phone. You have no idea that amount of self talk I have to give myself to just make my normal "adult" calls. Sometimes it takes days. 

So I really dont know what to do with this information. 

But I decided to give myself an impossible goal... One that I really hope I can accomplish. 

Doing more research I am constantly altering my goal but for now... 

I would like to be able to make some sort of income on Youtube by this time next year. 

I asked my husband if he thought I could do it. He kindly said...its not going to be easy. 

And I am aware that it wont be easy. But I can do this. 

I think I can be a great story teller. I just need to get out of my own way. I need to move past what people say to me and just do what I think is right. 

I will probably have to find a real job soon... But for now... 

I need to enjoy this time I can spend with my daughter and enjoy the time that I can build an audience for the channel. 

Its just hard for me to do that. 

So Internet. I need you to work your magic. I need you to help me get to 1000 subscribers and 4000 hours of public view time so I can start having ads on my channel. 

Please gods and goddess of the internet world hear my plea. I dont want fame and fortune. I just want to be able to be...me and be entertaining enough to get paid. 

I hope you all...which is no one reading this...understand what I am trying to do and make it a reality. I am going to need everyones help getting this goal achieved. 

Lets Get Random

Random Story #5

 Would you believe that I am typing these all on the same day? I am just scheduling them to come out later. 

BOOM magic ruined. 

I should be doing more productive things like getting paper work together for our house purchase but I cant do all of the things I need to do for that so I am just going to wait until I can. 

I am sort of using this as a distraction because lately I keep getting sad. 

But we are not here to talk about the sad things we are here to talk about the random story I am going to tell you. Which is...

hold on I am trying t think of one. 

Oh I have a scar that has an interesting story. 

I mean its kind of interesting because well I think it is so...I am going to tell you about it. 

I have a scar on my knuckles because I was in a fight. 

Ok I wasnt in a fight

I was trying to stop a fight...

Not a people fight...

A dog fight...vicous killer dog fight...ok it wasnt exactly a dog fight it was a puppy fight. 

My childhood dog Molly had puppies. They were Chow/Lab mix. So basically they were tiny grizzly bears. 

I want to say the fight happened just before they were 8 weeks old because we still had all of them and we werent planning on keeping any (My parents were famous for saying that by the way) 

I dont remember which puppy started the fight but I knew I had to save my favorite puppy who before this still wasnt named. My smart brain thought it was a good idea to try to stop this fight by grabbing the puppies by the mouth. One of them bit me and hurt my hand...fingers specifically pretty bad. So bad that I still have the battle scares. 

Its really not that big of a scar actually but you cant hardly see it unless you look at it in the right lighting. BUT I KNOW ITS THERE. 

The puppy I saved was the puppy we ended up keeping and because he fought so bravely we decided to name him Killer. 

He was the coolest dog in the world. I was the only kid he liked. Any of my nieces and nephews, when they came over he would just hide from them. But not like in I am scared of you kind of way more like a "you tick me off so i am going to avoid you so I dont kill you" kind of way. Which is something I can really relate to as an adult. 

He was so big and fluffy he was the best dog to hug. 

He got sick one time and didnt really do much but he still would walk around the yard with me just to hang out. I remember I kept a box of the neat things we found on our yard adventures. I buried it next to his grave when he died a year later. 

He was well known around the neighborhood. Killer had puppies all over the place. 

(By the way I do not support outside dogs and I do not support not getting your dogs spayed /neutered this was just how things were when I was a kid. )

 And my favorite story about this dog was, we were coming home and we still had Molly to (His mom) and our yard was fenced in so we had this big gate we had to open each time we left/came home. It was usually my job to go open the gate and close it after my parents got the car in. I took my job seriously. 

Well my mom and I were coming home and I started to get out of the car to get the gate like I always did but then my mom noticed that one of our neighbors dogs were out. They were not friendly dogs. My mom was getting ready to start honking the horn or something to get our neighbors attention so they could get the dogs inside. but Instead out come Killer and Molly to the rescue. Killer was the muscle naturally and he pinned the dog up against his fence holding him there while Molly stood guard. It seriously looked like something out of a cartoon. My mom told me to go get the gate quickly while the dogs were distracted (I swear I am not making this up this is an actual story lol) So i went and got the gate, my mom pulled in and I closed the gate. Just as I closed it Killer released the neighbor dog and Molly walked away like nothing happened. 

It was the greatest thing ever. 

Random Story #4

 This one is a collective randomness of when my niece and I were kids. 

My niece is a year younger than me so we grew up together. 

Back in the days where we had to play outside. No matter what the weather was like. If it was sunny (in Florida) We played in the yard. If it was raining we played in the screened in porch. If it was dinner time we ate outside of the screened in porch while our parents ate in there. 

I am starting to realize our parents just didnt want us around them. HA. 

Anyways... My niece and I had crazy imaginations. We always invented these weird games to play. Almost all of them invovled us getting into an argument because we would get stuck on who had more powers, or who was stronger...faster...smarter...prettier...blah blah blah you get the point. 

Well one night we were convinced the sky was brains. It was a cloudy day and the clouds just looked like a giant brain to us. It didn't help the spooky factor that it was also summer which "heat" lighting was apparently a thing. We had ourselves so freaked out that we begged...literally begged our parents if we could come inside because we were scared. 

The reluctantly let us in. 

Another time we scared ourselves stupid was, during one night we were outside playing, we wandered into the front yard...this is weird because we werent allowed to play by the cars so I am not sure how we managed that but we were there. Well by one of the cars was a pile of blankets (maybe?) and we were convinced it was a dead body. We kept daring each other to go look closer. Neither one of us would move. We stood frozen there in the driveway for hours (Ok maybe it was more like five minutes) Crying for someone to save us when eventually my brother moved the blankets and told us we were dumb. 

We also used to ride our bikes a lot. We would go around the block and go inside tell our moms we were ok and go ride around again...go inside tell our moms we were all right and go out again...you get the idea. well  as we were riding we saw a snake crossing the road. I lived out in a swampy area so this wasnt an unusual thing. Well we didnt want to get bitten obviously so we turned around to go back.... but we got a little ways down the road and there was another snake... except it was bigger... We stood in the middle of the road because we thought we were going to die. We finally got the courage to try to go back the other way because we figured the snake would be gone, and it was but man it was still scary. We went right back into my yard and stayed there. It was a while before we went back on our bikes again. 

The last scary story was when we were riding our bikes again and the house behind mine had three big dogs. They were always outside behind the fence so we never really had to worry about them. Until one day one of them decided he wanted to chase us. He jumped on his dog house jumped over his fence and started going after us. We peddled so hard that day. I was of course slower because I didnt get the banana seat bike which was obviously the faster bike so I basically almost died that day (Not really.) I screamed at the dogs to go away and apparently I speak dog because he listened. Or just got tired of chasing us. EIther way we tried to avoid going past that house after that....

Random Story #3

 Once Upon a Time

I wanted to be a country music singer. 

I swore I was going to be the next Leanne Rimes. 

You will be shocked to know that this didnt happen. But I am ok with it. 

I wanted so badly to learn how to play the guitar because what kind of country music singer would I be if I didnt play guitar? 

My mom bought me my first guitar. It was blue and I was so excited about it. She even signed me up for lessons. Score! I was on my way to becoming famous. 

Oh I also wrote songs. Some of them...most of them were terrible. But I did it a lot. Any time something would inspire me I wrote a song. Most of them didnt' make sense. I think if I remember correctly I had one called Boomerang love. I don't know... I was like ten. ANYWAYS. 

But before I could write my own music to go with my songs, I had to learn to play other songs first. Thats when the lessons came into play. Friends of my parents had a side business where they did all sorts of music lessons. It worked out. 

However... not only did I not put in the time I also had no musical abilities to begin with. I still cant carry a tune in a bucket. 

OF course no one would tell me this they all encouraged me and told me I'd be the next Dolly Parton. I wish I came to the realization that i couldn't sing before I embarrassed myself. 

The music teacher would hold a concert type thing at the end of the year to show the parents everyone's progress. 

People with ACTUAL talent and who actually put in the work....and me. 

I had to perform two songs. I was supposed to sing these songs. I sang part of the first one before I lost what little nerve I had. 

Would you believe that I was once a person who had confidence? 

The song I sang part of...was Jingle Bells. 

Easy song. Should have been no problem. I remember hearing my voice like it was the first time and hearing my terrible guitar playing. I am not even exaggerating. I saw a video of it later and started crying again. (I was in my 20's when I saw the video) 

I dont even think I finished the second song. I think I just stopped playing and walked off stage. I wanted to run away. 

No one was mean to me about. Everyone again told me I did great. 

Liars. 

One of the girls who performed ended up being a camp counselor that summer. I remembered her immediately and told her that I thought she did a great job on piano. She remembered me to... I told her I did an awful job and didnt' put in the work. She smiled and said but you still tried. It still took a lot of courage to stand up there and try. 

Which she was right. It did. I still never got my confidence back... Not sure if I ever will. But I did play a guitar and sing in front of a bunch of people when i was 12 years old. Maybe not a famous country singer...but I did try HA. 

 

Random Story 2

 So this story is kind of relevant to what is going on in the world. 

Masks.

I know... I know... Apparently its a touchy subject. So much hate over a piece of cloth. BUT ANY WHO

I have an irrational fear of mask...not the cloth kind specifically. Just mostly Halloween masks. 

Weird since I LOVE Halloween. 

This fear started after I watched "The Man in the Iron Mask" 

Older movie. I dont remember much of the movie other than its a story of twin brothers who were born of royalty and apparently they weren't supposed to have twins so they hid one of the brothers away and the one that was allowed to be prince was kind of a jerk so he locked his brother away and made him wear an iron mask for his whole life. And it was a scary looking mask and the process of putting it on him was... well.. I still have nightmares. 

But I remember watching this movie at around 13 and I am such a wimp anyways that it stuck with me. I remember exactly why I watched this movie. 

My dog was having puppies and I couldn't go in my room until she was done. So I stayed up watching movies and apparently that one was on and it seemed like a good idea at the time. 

I watched scooby doo after it because I was so scared. 

But ever since then the thought of putting a mask over my face has freaked me out. Even stupid cleansing masks. 

HOWEVER because I am a kind and considerate person who wants this Covid crap to go away I wear a mask when I go out in public. Which thankfully isnt very often because well I panic when I put the mask on. It has helped me get over my fear a little bit because I was able to use one of those face cleansing masks and it didnt completely freak me out. 

So I am going to call that a win. 

Hope you enjoyed this random story!

Random Story

I made a promise to myself I would blog more this year.

SO... I guess I am going to do some random blogs like I used to back in the day. 

Doesn't matter no one reads them anyways. 

So today I thought I would share some random story with you that you might not know. 

One of my favorite Pokemon is Squirtle. Pokemon was pretty popular when I was a kid. My nieces and nephews (who are around the same age as me) All collected the cards. 

I wish I still had those cards but there is one card I wish I kept just because of the story. 

You see when I was a kid I wasnt allowed to listen to the popular music that everyone else my age was listening to. I had to listen to what my parents listened to. Which wasnt a bad thing I didnt mind back then. 

There was one tape my parents used to play a lot. It was a Hank WIlliams Jr Tape that I had every single song memorized. 

The point of telling you about the tape was for this part of the story...

My nephew won a Squirtle card in a crane game. A game I kept trying to play and win this specific card but I didn't. He did... And he only kept it because he knew I wanted it....Isn't family great? Anyways. So I kept asking him for this card over and over and he said look I will make a bet with you. If you win you can have the card. 

I dont remember who's idea it was for the bet to be for me to sing every song on the tape but that was the bet and i CRUSHED IT. We didnt even get to side two before he just handed me the card and said "Here just stop singing" 

But did i stop? OF COURSE NOT! I was so happy to have my squirtle card I had to sing more!

I didn't keep that card unfortunately. It was probably with all my other cards I sold. 

But fast forward to my life as an "Adult" where I told my husband this story and he set out to find me that card. It was really nothing special...but do you think he could find a squirtle card in his travels? Nope... So instead he got me a Squirtle Stuffed animal. 

I forgot I told him that story and when he surprised me with the stuffed animal I was all teary eyed and surprised that I called it a squishy. Now... we call Pokemon squishys 

And now I have shared this random story I have to do some more boring adult things. 

I swear buying a house has to be one of the most stressful things I have dealt with...

Hope everyone is having a great day. I will see you tomorrow with another random story 

What does Christmas Mean to you?

 Good morning Blog world. 

I keep trying to type up a new blog to post but it either doesn't flow right or I get distracted. So lets see if this one will make it to the publish button. 

I guess you can say I have a bit of writers block. It happens sometimes. And its not because I don't have Ideas or I am not inspired to write. 

I am just sad I guess and I hate when the sadness comes out in my writing. 

It is Christmas time and I am doing my hardest not to be a ba-hum-bug like normal but this year is weird to say the least. 

This is my first Christmas with my baby girl and Covid is kind of putting a damper on it. LET ME BE CLEAR... I am grateful that my family is healthy and I would like to keep it that way. And I know some families have it worse than I do but I am also aloud to be a little selfish and say this year has sucked. 

I was terrified of becoming a parent because I was afraid I wouldnt be able to do anything fun. So I had all these plans of adventures we were going to do...especially around Christmas time but we cant...Well we could but we dont want to be irresponsible and be part of the problem. 

However, during this time of being a homebody (more than usual) I have had a lot of time to really think about things and how I want my family to celebrate Christmas. 

By the way I want those who know me to count how many times I use the word Christmas with out cringing...ha!

The past few years it seems like Christmas has spiraled into "Things we have to do." And I hate that. With family feuds and crazy schedules, Christmas was miserable last year. I was pregnant, cranky and just over it all. The family was fighting over dumb stuff that still hasn't been resolved but we all forced...well most of us forced ourselves around the dinner table at my parents un- air conditioned house (I live in Florida by the way and most Christmas days are in the 80s...) eating lasagna because thats what we have always had on Christmas....in complete and utter silence. And my dad...I love him dearly but he doesnt get social ques at all... my dad sitting at the head of the table as most men do and he looks around at everyone who isnt making eye contact with each other...and he says... "This is what its all about" Smiling proudly at his family. 

I almost choked on my food. 

I have seen enough Hallmark movies to know that isnt what Christmas is about. 

This year is going to be different. I decided after last year of spending the day going to three houses to make sure everyone is happy wasting a day off with my husband doing things I really didn't want to do...I decided it is going to be different this year. 

I am not sure how its all going to work out just yet but I want to start making Christmas memories that make me smile. 

Like how every year my mom would play the same five Christmas Cd's as loud as she could handle it. 

by the way in case you want to know what Christmas sounded like in my house it was, A very Dolly Christmas, Elvis Christmas Classics, Joe Diffy Christmas, a Bubba Claus Christmas (Yeah don't ask ) And my all time favorite Dr. Elmo's Twisted Christmas (The dude who sings Grandma got run over by a reindeer)

Christmas was opening up my stocking presents with my grandma watching while we waited for my mom to wake up. 

Christmas was watching my oldest sister take 20 minutes to open a present because she kept talking during it and because she had to talk with her hands she stopped unwrapping. 

Christmas was never ending scratch offs just because that's all my dad really likes. 

Those are just some of the memories I have that I can say are good memories of Christmas. But most of them I have are just kind of boring and make me sad. 

This year... will be different. This year I have Alice to spoil. And even though she wont remember any of it. I will remember it all. I will remember that no we didn't have a big traditional tree because I don't have the room in this small house. But I did make sure to have a Tree that she can honestly say no one else had. I took my Halloween tree and Christmas-ified it.  

She is going to know that Christmas is about love and togetherness...but not just having to be together for the sake of family but wanting to be together because you enjoy each others company. 

To me, that is what Christmas used to be and will be again someday. The wanting to wake up early on Christmas morning, the excitement to see family members you haven't seen all year, The good food that someone cooked because they wanted to not because they had to, the music that is played because its fun and makes you smile. The ornaments that are hung on the tree not just because they are pretty but because they mean something to someone.  

I love the idea of having Christmas Traditions but not for the sake of having them. Because they will be fun. I remember hearing someone tell me about their traditions how they do the same exact thing every year. I was able to witness this one year and I asked... do you enjoy this? 

The response was not really but that's just how we have always done it. 

To me that is crazy. 

As Alice grows I'd like to think we will do things each year because they are fun. I dont think I would want to force her to go get a tree to decorate it if thats not what she finds fun. Maybe one year we will just leave our Halloween decorations up and we will have presents under the great pumpkin. 

Whatever we do. I want her to be excited for Christmas even when she is in her 30's. I dont want her to lose the magic of Christmas just because she grew up. 

P.s I Don't think I will ever do Elf on the shelf and for those of you that did... I am sorry and good luck. LOL

I am curious to know what tradition or activity you will be doing this year that is different than normal Christmas (Or whatever Holiday you celebrate) traditions. 

Not too many people really interact with the blogs but I would love to hear some feedback. 

I also want to wish you a Merry Happy Whatever you celebrate. 

Thanks for reading from the Rambling Random Reed. :) 

Mom status

Hello world.
This is a hard post to do, I am going to be honest and put my feelings out for everyone to read. Why? Because maybe someday somewhere someone will need to hear this and maybe they will stumble on my blog and find the words they need to see.

As most of you know, or maybe you dont... I had my first baby in March. Having a child during this pandemic we are going through is stress I dont really think anyone needs. But we are handling it.

So with a mixture of new baby, crazy hormones and being on lock down I have been stuck with my thoughts for way longer than I should.

I over think anyways so now that I have all this time... its been pretty bad.

I have been struggling. I didn't feel like a Mom. Even through my pregnancy I just didnt feel any different...just fatter.

I thought, after the first sonogram I will feel more like a mom.

Nope.

Maybe the first heart beat.
Nope, not really. It felt a little more real for sure. But I still didnt feel like a mom.

After the gender reveal party?
Nope.

After the baby shower...
Nope.

After the nursery was done.
Nope.

For sure when I went to the hospital right?
Nope.

Maybe when I give birth to her?
A little bit.
But I still felt the same old me, just with a new story to tell.

Weeks turned into months and I still felt the same.

Dont get me wrong, I love this girl with all my heart and I am so happy to have her here. I just didn't feel like a mom if that makes sense. It felt more like someone gave me this wonderful gift but didn't give me a instruction book.

How was I supposed to feel? How does someone feel like a mom.

I can also tell you its not having random people call you "Mom" a new annoyance I have discovered.

I felt it yesterday. Finally.

We took our baby girl to her two month appointment and she had to get her two month shot.
People had told me all along it was terrible to see your baby get a shot. I had convinced myself I was tough that I could handle it.
And I did. I was fine. No I didnt enjoy seeing my daughter get poked with a needle multiple times but I was ok...or at least I thought I was. It wasn't until she was bleeding a little on her leg and the bandaid wasnt sticking was when I turned into a crazy mom. My brain was going so fast. It was just a few drops of blood. I had seen her get pricked before and she was on all sorts of monitors and such when she was born but something about the blood coming out of her bugs bunny band aid just didnt set well with me. I started pacing trying to fix the problem. To find a new band aid or something since the nurse left us. But had no luck. And I wanted to leave that room and find that nurse and smash her head in for hurting my baby.

It took Chris saying to me "Why are you freaking out now?" To make me realize I was being slightly crazy. But he didn't know what my thought process was. He just thought I was annoyed that we had to wait for two hours for this shot to happen. But in reality I just hated seeing my daughter hurting.
It got worse when we got home and her leg must have been hurting her because every time she would move it she would cry.
Of course we were given no words of wisdom on how to deal with this if it were to happen so I felt that anger before.

I picked up my phone three times to call that stupid doctors office and give them a piece of my mind. But I didn't.

I just focused on Alice. Tried to make her comfortable.

Today as I contemplated this whole thought of "feeling like a mom" thing I came to some interesting conclusions.

People see things differently. So where my perfect imagine of a mother was everything I am not, it doesnt mean that I am not a mom...obviously I am a mom I have the kid to prove it.

I am still trying to make my thoughts clear....

So, in school people had an image of themselves doing something after school. Whether it was going to college to become a teacher or just working for the family business, every one had their own vision.
Now I didnt share those same images, I didnt go to college or have a family business to work for. I had different plans...but that didn't make me any less of a graduate than them. I still got my diploma and had the graduation party and everything.

Its the same thing for being a mom.

Some moms might do things differently than I do, or feel differently about things and thats ok. Thats what makes us different.

Even thought it took me two months to get to this moment of feeling like a mom but I am here and it feels great.

If any new moms feel this way and wonder when they are going to feel like a mom, trust me it will happen when you least expect it.

It might be when your baby smiles at you
or in my case when you get this sudden urge to protect them from the mean nurse.

Just dont let the bad thoughts consume you. Day by day I am feeling better and getting into my own rhythm.

Have a support group. I have reached out to so many moms of different personalities and I have to say its the best thing to have mom friends.

and they all told me the same thing, this is normal. This will pass.

I dont think I am out of the woods yet with my thoughts but its nice to get through the darkness.

I hope this helps someone, somewhere, someday.

Moms have to stick together. :)

Nursery

Good morning

Today would have been my due date.

However miss Alice decided she wanted to be a March baby instead of an April baby.

Hey ya gotta love a kid that knows what she wants even before she is born.

The day before I went into labor I worked on the nursery. Some might argue this is what caused me to go into early labor but I really didn't do anything to crazy..

It still wasnt done...still isnt 100% done but its about 98% done so I figured I would share.

Before I start showing you pictures of my hard work let me first start by explaining... yes I went on pinterest and looked for lots of ideas of the perfect Nursery.

You wont find my nursery in a pinterest post. It took me a while to realize that sometimes the world isnt Pinterest perfect. I really liked the ones I was seeing but with out dropping a bunch of money I didn't really have I wasnt going to achieve one of those rooms.

But that is ok. Because Alice isn't Pinterest perfect..She is Reed perfect.

I hated when people asked me what the theme of the room was. There is really no theme. I tried doing the Alice in Wonderland but i wanted it to be subtle.

I also am not a huge fan of the color pink

SO the colors I picked were teal and gray. Because why not lol.

As I finished hanging up some things last night I stood back and admired my work.

Is it how I pictured it in my head? No. not really. Is it usable. Yeah. Chris and I have a pretty good system so far. If it doesnt work... we fix it. And I dont have to worry about the expensive dohicky getting ruined by explosive poop.

so here is Alice's first room.

The rocking chair is something really special to me, its not the most comfortable but it was my Aunt's and this way I can have a part of her while on this new journey of mine.  My dad recovered it for me so now it matches my room.

My friend made that sign for the baby shower, and for the nursery. :)

This is a sign I made for her, I saw this quote on a picture at Hobby Lobby but it had some weird horn thing on it and it wouldn't look right in my room. So what does Casey do? She goes on Amazon and finds the stencil with the same quote. BOOM! 

I kept seeing on pinterest "in this house" and a bunch of nerd statements... I decided to make my own. Taking the things that we like and making it. Is it perfect? Nope. But it works. Just another reminder for Alice that her parents are complete nerds. 

The crib was my nieces and my brother came over and helped me put it together... by help I mean he did all the work and I supervised HAHA.

My Niece made this for Alice. She did such an awesome job on it. Unfortunately because of social distancing and what not I dont have it yet. But this is something I plan on keeping forever anyways so no worries on when I am getting it.  

The sparkle thing is kind of an inside joke, Chris says he likes buying me things that make me sparkle.
Most of the time its food HAHA. 

This corner has some other special items.
Top shelf a Peter Pan book, but this book is not something you can just go buy... well i mean you can but inside my best friend wrote little notes to Alice and gave us some translations on some of the words haha.
Second shelf is a stuffed bunny. I had one just like that when I was a little girl, in fact I still have it...
but its not in the best shape and might give you nightmares if i showed it to you. I bought this one years ago. Honestly to fix my old bunny... I never thought I would accidentally save it for my daughter someday.
Next to the bunny is a jar of hearts... not real hearts we keep those in the kitchen. These are the hearts from my baby shower. Everyone held one and made a wish for me and Alice.
On the last shelf is Alice's first toy from her grandma, a winnie the pooh toy. And the R2D2 of course is from her Daddy. Because... well we have to turn her to the nerd side as soon as possible. Chris and I wont know what to do with ourselves if we have a daughter who likes sports or something (Totally kidding we will let her do sports if that is what she wants... we just wont know what to do with that hahah)

Will it win any better home and garden awards? Probably not. Is it a great space for Alice to experience. Yes. It has the perfect combination of pretty and nerdy because that is how we roll in the Reed home.


Hope everyone is having a great day and enjoyed my post :)

The princess is about to wake up so I have to tend to her needs.

Labor during COVID-19...

Hello blog world

I'm currently sitting in the hospital next to my baby (actually when I post this I'll be home but right now…)

This corona virus is nuts. 

I thought maybe you would like to know how this has affected my delivery. 

My journey started Friday night march 27th.

When I thought my bladder was just completely bonkers. 

Saturday morning came along and I decided I needed to go to the hospital just to make sure I was ok.

I get to the hospital and it looked like the scene from ET.

People were set up by the doors to check people in

Shout out to all the staff dealing with these new changes.

They are doing a good job in trying to keep things structured..   I don't like most of their rules… but I understand. 

So once I got inside I think I went through the normal routine. 

.guess what my bladder wasn't bonkers my water broke… 11 days early.

I'm not going to get into all the details of my labor and what not here. 

I will say that it was a long few days.

So the rules that bug me but I do understand…

Limited visitors… basically most hospitals are only allowing one person, obviously it was my husband. 

He was allowed to leave and enter the hospital but each time he entered he was screened. 

Now the part that doesn't make sense to me but again… it's not the nurses or doctors fault. But unfortunately because my water broke so early and for so long before delivery we both had to be on antibiotics. 

So my new baby had to be in NICU. We could visit when we wanted…. Just not together. So we had to swap.

I really want some one to explain to me how this makes sense.

It really frustrated me that this was the case and no one really could explain to me why this made sense

It was difficult not to take my frustrations out on the nurses but again… I Know it's not their fault. 

The other thing that bothered me was the fact that it didn't seem to matter how much of the random staff was allowed in…

Including the Chaplin… 

Not bashing any religious beliefs or anything but to me that didn't seem like an essential person that had to be in the room with me and my daughter. 

Hopefully we will be home soon in our own safe bubble. 

 So over this place… as nice as they have been I'd like to get my own routine started in the comfort of my home.

Plus I feel like my baby girl is going to get a fear of masks…. 

I have a hard time dealing with the nurses with things on their faces… imagine how scary that might be for a baby! 

Be safe everyone.