Random Brooke Fact

I do not like coffee unless a.) my dad makes it, b.) I make it with French Vanilla coffee and an absurd amount of French Vanilla creamer, or c.) it is a delicious flavored Latte.

I honestly didn't start drinking coffee until a couple years ago and I don't know why I started. I've never liked the taste of coffee. At all. I always loved the smell of it brewing, but never the taste. I blame my dad. When I was younger, we'll say 10-years-old, we were camping at my dad's cabin. I was playing in the creek, minding my own business, having a grand ol' time when my dad comes outside and says, "Brooke, come here for a second". So, I wandered over to him and he says, "Try this" and hands me a mug. Well, me thinking my dad wouldn't ever make me taste something I didn't like took a big ol' swig out of the mug. What...the...hell?! It was cold coffee! If I remember correctly I gagged a little and made a face and asked dad what the heck he was doing. He laughed hysterically and said, "It's day old, cold coffee!" Not funny. Not funny at all!

So 18 years goes by without coffee ever touching my lips and then I get a brilliant idea that I need to start drinking coffee. Weird. So I experimented a little. I decided I liked French Vanilla flavored coffee with flavored creamer. A LOT of flavored creamer. Then I decided the creamer had to be French Vanilla too. I'm a genius! Genius, I tell you! (I use so much creamer that people ask me if I want any coffee with my creamer. So what's the point of me drinking coffee anyway?)

Mmmmm, creamer! :)

So, one day the time came to try coffee house coffee. So I tried a Latte. Vanilla Latte to be exact. Two shots. GROSS! So I tried it again later with one shot. Mmmmm, not bad! I later got bold and tried different flavors and discovered that Pumpkin Spice and Maraschino Cherry are my favorites! One day I went even bolder and ordered a Mocha or whatever. Double GROSS! Too strong!! The strongest I can go is a Latte with two shots (I slowly worked my way up).

The boldest I ever got though was letting my dad fix me a cup of coffee. Who in their right mind would let him fix a cup of coffee after what he did 18 years prior?! I would! :) I was pleasantly surprised. Dad did good. He uses instant coffee and adds just the right amount of honey and flavored creamer.

So, now I drink coffee creamer just about every day! (No wonder I gained 7 pounds! Sheesh!)

"Be a coffee-drinking individual - espresso yourself!" ~ Author Unknown (I'd stay unknown too if I came up with such a silly quote!)

Braces, Puberty, TMI?

It seems like just yesterday I was going through the awkward pre-teen years. My boobs were developing...wait a minute...I'm STILL waiting for those girls to fully develop! :) I had acne and braces. My hair always seemed to be greasy even though I'm sure I washed it on an almost daily basis. I had no sense of fashion (and I probably still don't even though I pretend to think I do). Why do people have to go through all that? Those were some of the most embarrassing years of my life...and they stretched a couple years into my early teens. Good grief!

Well, now I have to watch Pacen go through those awkward years. He has just begun and things really aren't too bad...yet. He's had a random zit here and there...nothing major like I had. No big red zits the size of Texas and I HOPE WITH ALL MY BEING that he doesn't have to deal with bad acne. His first major step into the awkward pre-teen years is braces! He got braces on the 14th. Things have changed since I had braces. He only has to wear them for 1 1/2 years. I had to wear mine for three! He gets to choose fancy colors (for his first visit he chose blue glow-in-the-dark for the top and green for the bottom). I had plain ol' silver braces. His Orthodontist is a young pretty woman who makes the experience very fun! My Orthodontist was an old man who wasn't fun at all. The list just goes on and on.

Doesn't he make braces look good?!

I'm curious to see what Pacen's pre-teen and teen years are like. I hope to make them less awkward than they have to be. I won't let him have terrible fashion sense (cause, remember, I am a fashionista! *sarcasm*). I will make sure he washes his hair often so it doesn't look all greasy. I will tackle that acne problem if it surfaces (there have got to be way more medicines and such out there to help with this than when I was younger)! I will buy him a training bra jock strap...support cup...do boys need those?! OH! MY! GOD! I just realized that boys deal with a lot more different things than girls! Forget making the pre-teen/teen years great for Pacen! Who the hell is going to help ME through them?! Who is going to talk to him about "flogging the log"..."polishing the sword"..."yanking the crank"...okay, okay, I think you catch my drift! Do they need a talk about it?! Am I going to accidentally walk in on my son while he's taking care of business?! TOO! MANY! GROSS! THOUGHTS! I don't want my baby boy to grow up! Someone please save me from this insanity!!

LOOK! He is still so innocent and naive (I like to think)! Please don't grow up!!

"Puberty is the sickest joke God plays on us. So you're just noticing members of the sex: 'Girls, girls, ooo'. Naturally you want to look your best, and God says 'No! You will look the worst you've ever looked in your life!'" ~ Eddie Izzard

Luck O' The Irish

Okay, so...this post is a week late, but...ummmm...better late than never I guess. On St. Patrick's Day I wanted to surprise Pacen with a cool breakfast, even though he normally doesn't want anything to do with breakfast. So, I drug my sleepy butt out of bed at 6:00 so I could get ready for work and get this special breakfast done before it was time to head out. Mind you, I am NOT a morning person, but if I have something special to do then I will get up at any hour. What is this special breakfast, you may be asking. :) Well, it was rainbow pancakes with little gold coin pancakes. Haha! Yup! Easy really. All I had to do was add food coloring to the pancake batter.

Well, I finally got the pancakes done and when I woke Pacen I told him there was a surprise for him in the kitchen. He looked at me and said, "MOM! It's breakfast isn't it? I DON'T eat breakfast!" (Obviously he's not a morning person either.) Well, he could obviously tell that his remark "deflated" me so he went in the kitchen to see what his surprise was. He was actually pretty impressed and decided he'd try a couple. Then he said, "Wow, mom!! These are the best pancakes that you've ever made! They aren't crumbly like usual." Haha! He is right though...normally my pancakes crumble and these ones were actually thick and fluffy. Maybe the luck o' the Irish was with me...helping me make perfect pancakes. Haha!


About ten minutes before we were to leave for work Pacen informed me that we forgot to dye his hair green like we normally do for St. Patty's Day. So, in a hurry I grabbed the green paste food coloring, dipped my fingers in, and proceeded to run them through Pacen's hair. What a mess! Luckily it got the job done and we were only a couple minutes late for work. Ummm, did I mention that Pacen had a wrestling exhibition the night of St. Patty's? Haha! Maybe it was the color of his hair that caused him to win...or the luck o' the Irish was with him. :)


"May you die in bed at ninety-five years, shot by a jealous husband (or wife)." ~ Irish Toast

Goodbye 20s, hello 30s!

Earlier this month I officially left the 20s. It seems so crazy! I'm actually really looking forward to the 30s! I have done/gone through a lot in my 30 years...all of which will hopefully make my 30s (40s, 50s, etc.) fabulous! I am now experienced with this little thing called "life". Well, obviously not an expert, but I'm a helluva lot more experienced than I was ten years ago. The 20s were like a "trial run". The 20s are spent trying to figure life out...how to live on your own, take care of the bills, work, and be a responsible adult. I think the 30s are when people really start to get comfortable with everything and a person can kind of take a sigh of relief. I'm not saying life is going to get any easier, although that would be nice, but now I'm at the point in my life where I just don't give a hoot about some of the things that used to bother me. I'm more carefree. I now have more of a "f*ck it!" attitude and I like it! This is MY life and I'm going to live it how I damned well please. So...GOOD BYE 20s, you were okay. HELLO 30s, I have a feeling you are going to be amazing!!!

Woohoo!!! 30s!!!

Ummm, let me explain the bright yellow wall, orange trim, and kid curtains. I switched bedrooms with Pacen a while back and I haven't had time to paint or buy new curtains yet. :) I do have the color created...I just need to find the time and motivation to paint.

"The only time you really live fully is from thirty to sixty. The young are slaves to dreams; the old servants of regrets. Only the middle-aged have all their five senses in the keeping of their wits." ~ Hervey Allen

Black & White

One day I was walking through my dining room and happened to notice the cool shadow that my candelabra was casting across the table. I was just starting to "get into" photography and I thought I'd try to get a nice picture of the candelabra and it's shadow. I took the picture in color...the candles are a pastel yellow and it just didn't seem right so I used Elements to change it to black and white and I was shocked at how amazing the picture looked after the change. That was about four years ago and this is still one of my favorites!


I'm joining Tracy at Tracy's Trinkets & Treasures for a black and white photo party.


"Colour is black and white put together." ~ Unknown

Pacen and Heroes and Snakes...Oh My!

Ever since my "baby" was itty bitty he has love snakes. I have no idea what, exactly, started his fascination with that particular animal, but he loves them...and honestly, I have no problem with that. When he was almost 2-years-old I took him to the St. Louis Zoo. Now, if you've ever been to the St. Louis Zoo you know there are life-like statues of animals all over the zoo. We wandered to a part of the zoo that had a very life-like statue of a snake coiled up around her eggs and in a somewhat "striking" position. She was pretty much as tall as Pacen and he wandered right up to her and put his little bitty hand on her head like it was no big deal. Okay, granted, the snake wasn't real, but it looked real and I would imagine most children would be scared of it. Maybe it was this moment with the snake statue that started his interest...I honestly don't know. All I know is that he went crazy for snakes. Anything that had to do with snakes grabbed his attention...books, clothes, movies, toys, etc. He soon began to like almost any reptile and amphibian.


I'm going to guess he was around 3 or 4-years-old when he discovered Steve Irwin. Steve quickly became Pacen's hero. Pacen was always watching The Crocodile Hunter. Pacen even dressed up as Steve for Halloween one year.


I'll never forget the day that Steve died. It was like a family member had passed away. It was so hard to tell Pacen that his hero was gone. He shed a few tears and became very quiet. Later in the day my dad noticed that Pacen was sitting on the front steps by himself (it's very unusual for Pacen to sit still and do nothing), so he went out to see how Pace was doing. He told us he sat down and asked Pacen how he was. Pacen told him he was doing okay. Dad asked, "Are you thinking about Steve?" Pacen responded in a sad little voice, "Yeah, Gimpy (that's what he calls my Dad). Do you think they'll put him on a paper plate?" Well, I guess, in the eyes of a child, a person should be memorialized by being printed on a Birthday paper plate. :) Sweet, sweet innocence.

After Steve passed away and his shows were aired less frequently, Pacen became interested in Jeff Corwin. Very similar to Steve, but yet so different. Jeff kind of became Pacen's new hero, although there is no way Steve will ever be completely replaced. Well, earlier this month Pacen got the chance to see a presentation put on by Jeff Corwin! My parents, Pacen, and I all went. During the show Jeff chose many people to help him with some animals on stage. I was hoping with every fiber of my being that Pacen would be chosen, but he wasn't. :( Maybe that was a good thing though, cause Pace wasn't feeling very well and I could just imagine him getting on stage and puking on Jeff. After the show Jeff did a book signing. Pacen and I got in line and I thought we'd end up waiting at least an hour, but...nope...Jeff whizzed right through the autographs. It took maybe ten minutes! Unfortunately he wasn't "posing" for any pictures so I had to hurry and get Pacen's picture with Jeff while Jeff was signing his book. At least Pacen got to see him in person and I'm sure that will be a memory he holds onto for the rest of his life.

Jeff signing Pacen's book

Oh, and if you don't already know (can't remember if I've ever posted anything about it) we are the happy owners of three, yes...3, snakes. Our first was a Garter Snake (common garden snake) that a friend caught. Pacen named him Bubba and he's been with us for I think 5 years. Our second snake is a Ball Python that I bought for Pacen on his 8th Birthday. Pace named him Bali. Our third snake was given to us last year by my friend who is a zoo keeper. The zoo was minimizing and got rid of some animals. It is a corn snake and "she" is gorgeous. Pacen named her Brooke. :)

"No, snakes are no problem. I'd go to any country, anywhere, any snakes, not a problem." ~ Steve Irwin

"As you get older it is harder to have heroes, but it is sort of necessary." ~ Ernest Hemingway

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day! Or in my case...Happy Singles Awareness Day! :) Just thought I'd share the Valentine's that Pacen gave to his teachers. Thanks to Eighteen25 for the idea! (She said she got it from here.) I thought it was so cute! Pacen even agreed that they were pretty awesome. We found these cool suckers at Wal-Mart. They are sign language suckers and we got "Peace" and "Rock On". :)


Hope you all have a fabulous day and may your hubbies/boyfriends/significant other remember you on this Hallmark Holiday. :)


"I don't understand why Cupid was chosen to represent Valentine's Day. When I think about romance, the last thing on my mind is a short, chubby toddler coming at me with a weapon." ~Author Unknown