mamadrama

My daughter will occasionally strip down and run through the house. She's going through her "naked phase." Kind of trying things out to see if she can shock us. It's as cute as it could be. No way in hell would I take a picture of it, though. I am pretty open minded about a LOT of things but there are just too many wrong hands that could fall into, not to mention it's disrespectful to her and HER body. Considering how easy it is to hack into things or how other people can get a hold of your phone. Ugh, Farrah. WHY?!?

God, yardsales. You put a dime on something and they want it for a nickel. I understand that people like to bargain but there are some folks that are so rude that I swear I'd pay for the stuff myself again before I sold it to them.

Oh, Michael. Makes it hard to support these people when they're running around acting like fools.

Gary's mom is a seriously weird piece of work. If the non-sex is such an issue then why does she continue to live with/sleep with/basically date the guy? Just cut him loose and find someone else.

OT: My mom was hired to be a set teacher back in the 1990s. She wound up taking another job instead but, during the process, one of the hiring officials in Los Angeles said to her, "I'd think long and hard about accepting this position. Most people don't last very long, it has a higher turnover rate than any of the other jurisdictions. The kids are brats and hard to get along with and the parents are worse." And this was the person trying to fill the position.

Thank you. I've been watching reruns of HART OF DIXIE to kind of get me in my groove. (Even though the series isn't satirical, I love the small town ensemble feel. I LOVE Salem! I took my husband up there a few years ago and he fell in love with it, too. Maybe when we retire...

Dammit, Farrah. Girl, I wanna root for you but you make it so freaking hard.

So basically... Amber has her bi-yearly visit with her niece. Gary hopes he's not really related to these fools. Maci finds new ways to fake a storyline. Morgan Freeman uses editing magic to try to make MTV look good in firing Farrah.

I feel that she's one of those people who photograph totally different from the way they look in "real" life. She looks much younger and prettier in her pictures. On 90 DAY FIANCE there was a woman named Libby who we all swore was a totally different person in her pictures. The difference between her social media pictures, and what you saw on camera, was staggering. And it wasn't like they were really photoshopped either. During one of the episodes they actually showed her taking a selfie and it looked vastly different from what we'd seen on camera.

I agree. My brain surgery did a lot to help some of the neurological issues I was having but one thing that's gotten worse is my word-usage ability. I will be thinking the word "grape", for instance, and then write or say "spoon." It makes zero sense. I also have trouble finding the right word and constantly have to ask my husband, "What's the word that means ___" (And sometimes I am unable to articulate THOSE words, which makes it even more frustrating.) Considering I make my living as an author and literally support my family on my book royalties, this is a really scary problem to have and since my condition is progressive, I am afraid that it will continue to get worse. Word salad is a bunch of random words strung together that make little sense. Farrah knows what she wants to say but, like you said, something is off in the processing part so either the wrong word comes out or it comes out in a way that defies our modern dictionary. Good example of word salad from Lark Vorhees ("Lisa" on SAVED BY THE BELL):

Eh, it's kind of a cultural thing. Lots of men/boys go around topless here. I'm trying to get my son to do it more because he really gets overheated in the summertime when he plays outside. Americans in general tend to be more conservative about nudity. I remember when I used to be a travel writer in Europe, I would be shocked every time I walked into a hotel sauna and saw a bunch of naked people sitting around. Mom and I were at a regular beach in Spain (not a nude one) in Marbella a few years back and all the ladies were topless and playing in the sand and water with their kids. I wound up taking off mine because I stood out more with one than without. We're actually trying to teach our kids to be more comfortable with nudity. My husband and I don't walk around without underwear but we both grew up in homes where we were ashamed of our bodies and taught that naked skin was "bad." I know some of the challenges that gave me as a young woman and adult. I don't want my daughter to have them.

Gosh, that actually kind of got to me. I remember telling my mom the exact same thing (only I wasn't on my way to treatment) and my counselor mother replied, "Well, you'll be fine." I remember how embarrassed I was just to get the words out and then she blew it off like it was nothing. With that being said, I do believe Cate has a drug problem, too.

I do love me some kettle corn...

random subject: I have started writing a new series about this Appalachian town where urban legends, murder ballads, and folk tales come to life. I thought it would be a lot of fun. I LOVE writing about Appalachia (my witches' series already takes place in it) and I also love folklore and folk songs. It is SUCH a pain in the ass, though. NOTHING about it is coming naturally. I feel like I have struggled with every word. Usually I can sit down with an idea and have a rough draft in a couple of weeks. The words just kind of flow. Not this one. I have fought for each one. My beta readers have loved it, but I don't. I'm just not into it. Unfortunately, it has a lot of pre-orders so I can't just cancel it, ha ha, or else I would. I can't wait to move on to something else.

How does one even put sugar on it? Wouldn't it just kind of dust off? Sink to the bottom? I know, I am putting too much thought into this. FWIW, I like to melt chocolate chips on mine.

The conspiracy theorist in me wouldn't be surprised if someone didn't intentionally poison a batch just so that it could be recalled. What a coincidence that, after how many years of kratom being on the radar, this just happen to occur during a time in which the FDA is trying to ban it... A lot of people haven't heard of it. It's been kind of this underground thing for the past few years. Now you hear about it everywhere! You might want to order you some, though, before it becomes illegal. Thanks re: kitchen stuff. Our kitchen is probably my favorite room in the house, though I also like my office because it has a balcony that overlooks the mountains. :-)

It was fun. They stayed for a little over an hour. Rearranged my living room furniture, but at least they put it back. :-) I feel like it was a very positive interview, and off record both the newscaster and cameramen were pretty encouraging about kratom and agreed that the pharmaceutical companies are just trying to crack down on it because it works and they're losing money. But, the next day, the FDA released a press release about kratom and salmonella. (I have to say, nobody in the kratom community had EVER heard of it being associated with salmonella until this week. I call shenanigans.) So who knows how they'll slant the story. Might make me look out to be a complete crackpot. The story airs Monday and they're meant to send me the link. If anyone wants to watch it, just PM me. In the meantime, here's a grainy picture my son took of the cameraman following me around my kitchen, watching me make my kratom drink.

Ha ha, there's always one!

Gosh, the difference between Kristina and Amber... I understand where Gary's coming from with his family. My mom and dad weren't married and they split up before I was born. Unlike Gary's mom, though, my mom never dated after that so there was no parade of men throughout my life. Mom's lived as a nun for the past 37 years. But I've never been on vacation with both of my parents. Well, I've never been on a trip with my Dad, period. A year and a half ago, I learned that I have a half brother, too. I would love to get our whole family together and do something. Gary has a sweet little family unit with his wife and daughters. They look like they have a lot of fun and are very close. My husband's dad disowned him and cut him out of his life 7 years ago and my mother-in-law died 2 weeks after our son died. People will ask my husband, "Do you ever go back to England to visit your family?" and he'll always reply, "My family is here." He doesn't have anyone outside of me and the kids. We are also very insular, very close.

I get that. What confuses me, though, is that her "celebrity sex tape" has been out for a while and she's been working at strip clubs and doing the adult industry stuff for years. So why NOW? Why has it suddenly become a problem?

It's really saying something when this is one of the most positive things we can say about the whole thing...

Me too. Unfortunately, she'll try and probably fail. Snark, and communication in general, don't seem to be her strong points.

God, that reminds me of a time I was at a friend's house with my son.Son was 3 at the time and we were kind of at the end of potty training. We'd been hanging out on the porch, which was about as close to the interior of her house as I liked to get. We were just about to leave when suddenly my son had to go poop. That was the NASTIEST place I've ever been in. (And I used to be a social worker who was called in for dirty houses.) I insisted on carrying him through the house, because the floors truly were that bad, and in the bathroom I had to keep my eyes closed and breathe through my nose. Dear Lord. I'd say in real life Farrah's house is probably really clean, too. She's too anal (ha ha) to let it get any other way, I think. And we've heard what Leah's house used to look like... Re: episode. Damn, I almost *almost* felt sorry for Mac. I had so much secondhand embarrassment for her during this episode that I couldn't even work up any bad feelings for her. I totally think Farrah is rude. (With some of the things she does I also understand where she's coming from, but I still think she's rude about it.) My thing, though, is the inconsistency. If they're going to fire for her attitude then why not fire Jenelle and David for theirs? (I know David just got fired but that was for a different reason.) Or Adam for refusing to film. Or Amber for domestic abuse? Or Rhine for endangering lives? Or Leah for her drug antics? The message it seems to be sending out is, "It's okay to literally put people's lives at risk, including your own family's, but you can't be rude to the staff-even when they deserve it."

I know. I'm going to need a support group for my newfound sympathy for Tyler. Oh, wait. Hello there guys! ;-)

TLC sends almost all of its "stars" on big trips. It's kind of their thing...