My Passions

So after a brief *month long* hiatus, I’m back! I did some soul searching and researching. Figured out that I had no idea what the F I was doing, but now I feel a bit more confident!

I wanted to share some of my passions and hobbies with you! I’m sort of scatterbrained so they are all over the place and that’s alright. Something I’ve been working on is acceptance as a whole!

My oldest passion is music! It started when I was really young, probably about 5. My dad would parade me around and make me sing for his friends. He would boast to his buddies that I could sing like an angel. Talk about giving a chick a complex! Despite all of his shitty ways, he was proud of my voice.

I learned that music can help you escape any situation, pump you up in any situation, help you calm down and relax, and there are songs that can take you back in time. The lyrics and rhythm can hold so much meaning it can move you to tears. Music helped me through a lot of hard times. I knew that no matter what, there was always a song on the radio!

When I was 12 my grandparents got me a guitar. HALLELUJAH! now, slight disclaimer here, I am in noooooooo way a great guitar player, I can play a few riffs, but there is no Jimi Hendrix skill level here. Still though, I was excited, and that’s what passions are about, being really excited about something that matters to you. I still have that guitar to this day!

One thing led to another, and eventually I was living with my grandparents, my best friends and I even tried to have a band..nay, a girl group! We grew up in the era of the boy bands. So we thought girl bands also had a place. We would write songs, belt them out, dance around like goons and dream about when we hit it big. Life had other plans though!

Now I listen to a lot less boy bands (there maybe an Nsync CD in my car right now though), a lot more classic country, and other artists like The Avett Brothers and Tech N9ne. What? I like to keep things interesting! For me this passion includes every kind of music, okay…almost every kind. Jazz and Opera aren’t really my thing, give me some Sublime though, and we could be great friends!

Another thing I’m very passionate about is kids. Not in the painted panel van, free puppies and a side of candy kind of way! Having a precarious, at the very best, childhood I had two things figured out at a young age: children shouldn’t be subjected to or see and hear certain things, and they shouldn’t ever have to depend on themselves for safety and love.

I remember vowing to protect all of my sister’s the best that I could, I’m the oldest after all, so I felt it was my job. Then, as I talked about above, I was living with my grandparents. It quickly became my mission to help as many kids as I could, to find relief from their situations. My best friend got a job at the after school program, and I soon followed.

Working there I was able to help kids in many different ways. I provided advice, a safe place, and stability. All things that I missed in my childhood. I ultimately worked there for 12 years! Made my way up to supervisor and loved every minute of it!

It was very fulfilling to work at the high school after moving on from the after school gig, and have seniors come up and tell me how grateful they were for the help I provided them. One girl even said she kept the little notes we would write back and forth, because they meant that much to her!

I wanted to help kids and everyone in general, so I decided to get my degree in Criminal Justice. Well that and I experienced the CSI affect hard. I wanted to do what they did and loved every aspect of the law. After a few failed attempts, and career choice changes, I received my Bachelor’s with honors! I went from wanting to be a CSI to Probation officer to Social worker to Permanency worker. The end goal is always the same, to help others, especially kids who don’t have choice or a voice.

While I haven’t busted out into any of these careers yet because of life and babies, and sometimes goals change…I still want to help others, so I try to do that anyway I can! And I must say, being a stay at home mom is exactly where I want to be right now. By doing this I get to help and be there for my own kiddos!

Having kids of my own, I wanted the best for them. Granted we didn’t always eat the best, hello Taco Bell. We didn’t always drink the best either, oh hey! I didn’t see you there Dr. Pepper. And when it came to colds and other illnesses, over the counter meds were consumed. What I’m saying is, being a young mom I had no idea about proper nutrition and thought frozen pizza was good.

It wasn’t until I started developing painful lumps (Hidradenitis Suppurativa) that I started digging into natural remedies and taking our health way more seriously. It took a few years to figure out what the hell it was that I had, and after researching and crying, a lot, I finally had some answers!

I definitely wanted to go the natural rout, because surgery is painful and doesn’t always work. But what if I could help this mess with herbs, vitamins and diet changes? The choice was obvious! I learned that turmeric is a great anti-inflammatory, zinc is great for skin, and vitamin D is great for immune systems. During this time I also learned about cooking with fresh herbs and spices, how elderberry is a power house herb, and how some yarrow powder can stop minor bleeding and prevents infection!

Taking care of your mental health is just as important as physical health. Relaxation, rejuvenation, and positive affirmations all play a part in our daily lives. I learned that reading a book for a half an hour is way better than scrolling social media before bed. Meditation heals your mind and spirit and it relieves tension.

Then came the essential oils, the salt lamps, the self care books and sage bundles, within a matter of a year, I basically turned into a hippie that loves gangster rap. Because of this, I try and cook nutritional meals for my family, and teach the older girls about why it is important to eat right and how to use herbs to aid in their health.

It’s a little funny to me that the next passion I have is horror movies. Considering I’m an advocate for being calm and peaceful! I love me a good horror movie over a chick flick any day! I don’t just like the new horror movies, I will watch the hell out of some classic Universal Monsters like ‘The Wolf Man’ and ‘Frankenstein’. Throw in some Vincent Price and I will be a happy girl.

Along with those movies that are now considered to be the corny horror movies of my grandma’s time, I love the new ones too! There is something about Michael Myers being able to walk faster than you can run and Jason Voorhees being able to show up and stop those teens from having unprotected sex.

Even the artsy Italian horror films are amazing! Jacob introduced them to me and they are fun to watch! Stanley Kubrick’s ‘Shining’ is in a class all on its own, in my opinion. I love the adrenaline rush that comes from watching a Zombie flick. What I’m trying to say is we don’t just save our horror movies for Halloween. Jacob and I literally just watched ‘Fright Night’ and some of ‘Van Hellsing’, in the middle of the day, while Willow napped.

I don’t just limit my creepy love of horror to movies. I absolutely love books about the Occult or books filled with suspense. Basically anything ghosty, ghouly, witchy, serial killy, make you look-under-your-bed-y, is my jam.

Passions are supposed to light a fire under your ass. They keep you going, light you up inside and make you, you. I may want to help all the kids by feeding them natural remedies while singing an 80’s rock ballad with Bela Lugosi plays Dracula in the background, but that’s what makes me, me. And alllllll of this is what is going to be on this blog. Here is a pumpkin for your pleasure! I hope you enjoyed learning a little more about who am I! Subscribe for more shenanigans!