I Was Just Thinking...

I saw this picture of Paris Jackson today and it got me to thinking about Michael Jackson's kids and where they are now. You know how a picture or a story gets you thinking about people that really aren't in your realm of life, yet you can't stop wondering what happened to them?

A quick internet check on Paris finds the 17 year-old beauty seemingly happy and attending a private boarding school in Utah. She certainly has turned out to be a beautiful young lady, and social media pictures show her to be dating.

Her 18 year-old boyfriend, Chester Castellaw, is a soccer player for the Real So Cal youth soccer club. When not away at school she resides with her grandmother, Katherine Jackson and cousin Tito in California and her two brothers. She seems to be doing much better since her reported suicide attempt when she was 15.

Her brother Prince Michael also seems to be faring well.

The Loyola Marymount student, 18, is focusing his studies on a career in film and television. Reportedly a great student, Prince is said to be committed to his studies and focused on receiving a degree. Good thing because as the heir of his father's vast estate, he will need a good head on his shoulders to navigate all that entails. Talk about pressure. Let's keep our fingers crossed he stays the course. I think it would be a great testament to his late father.

Last, is their brother, Prince Michael II, "Blanket" who is 13.

Reportedly bullied for his name "Blanket", he changed his name to Bigi Jackson. Blanket, as he was known by his family, is said to be quiet, funny, respectful and helpful to others. Here's hoping he can live a somewhat normal teen aged life.

After reading and reporting all of that, I am left to wonder why I care? But strangely I do care-Michael Jackson's children were the young and  innocents caught in the madness that was his life. I could be wrong, but it looks like his mother is doing a good job raising his children. And as I said before, it would be nice if despite it all, the 3 kids turned out to be decent, happy and successful adults. As a parent, that's the best you can hope for.

On The Street Where You Live

My brother told me a few Sunday's ago, while we were all together for dinner, that the beloved house that we grew up in was for sale. 

Really, I thought. I had always fantasized about buying it back. 

He then showed us the listing on line. It was with much joy that we (thanks to technology) looked through the photos online of our childhood home. I could hardly believe my eyes..not much had changed since the 37 years ago that we moved out. I noticed the kitchen floor was the same tile floor my mom had installed in the 70's. The bathrooms looked to be the same bathroom we used as kids and the finished basement, where we had a bumper pool table and the neighborhood's first video games hadn't changed at all. Such happy memories growing up in that beloved house. 

For two weeks I couldn't get my house out of my head. Not to far from where I live now, I had often driven by the home and pointed it out to my children and my husband. Each time I watched and wondered why it had fallen into disrepair. I often said I would have given anything to get back inside and see it. Now was my chance and I knew that I probably wouldn't have this opportunity again. I watched the listing waiting for an open house opportunity and yesterday I had my chance!

I took my mom and we toured the house I grew up in. She was delighted to see the deep red, kitchen tile she installed still in pretty good shape. I was so taken by the closet doors, still slatted and with the same door handles that I grew up with. What wasn't so great about that was that the closets inside were still the same wooden dowels that we had hung our clothes many years before. They looked old because they were. Even the kitchen pantry, where I used to scour for goodies and treats, was the same four shelved wooden closet. It had stood the test of time, but because of that it was obviously time for change. 

The bathroom by the back door was the same! I swear my mom installed that Dixie cup dispenser when we were kids...and there it was. We wondered if going back into the house after all those years would be emotional, but it wasn't for either of us. It was great, really! And it felt so good to be able to remember good memories we shared inside the house. Truth is, it felt just like home-even with someone else's belongings everywhere. Even the realtor walked around with us as we toured the house, listening to us comment on everything. She later told us that we had made her day as it was obvious to her how much we loved living in that house.

I took a selfie in almost every room of the house and there I am inside my old room. I stood at the point where I used to sit and play records and dolls and I swear I could have stayed there all day-just happy to be inside. I took pictures for my brothers and sisters too, and I sent this picture to my brother of me outside the closet he used to lock me in-then take off and leave me there-when we played hide and go seek. Again-they were the same wooden shelves I had squeezed into when I was a kid. 

We left no stone unturned and we even toured the garage. 

My eyes spied this on the garage window.

That was my dad's security company that he owned when we lived there!! Mom was tickled to see it was still there. 

Standing there on the driveway where I learned to ride a two wheeler and skinned many a knee, it was obvious that even though we didn't live there any longer, we were still very much a part of that beautiful home and its legacy. If the old saying is true, that life takes you to unexpected places but love brings you home, then I have come full circle and truly come home. 

Will we buy it back? Who knows? We talked about it and we agreed that it seemed like after we left,  the people that lived in it stopped taking care of it, never truly loving it the way we did. We are intrigued to say the least, but we all agree-it needs a lot of love and some serious TLC.

Toilet Paper Tales

So I'm watching those crazy Kardashians, and the episode is all about how Khloe and Kris go out, get drunk, and proceed to toilet paper Kim's house. Right? I know what you are thinking, but his post is not about those crazy bitches. The episode make me laugh so hard because I've got some Toilet Paper Tales of my own to tell.

Back in high school, I was kinda wild. Are you shocked? Me wild?? But it's true, we were a pack of wild kids. We used to stay out late, drink and get this...steal our parent's cars and cruise around after hours without our drivers licences!! How the HELL we got away with it I will never know, but I would KILL Frick or Frack if they even attempted some of the crap we pulled.

Having said that...

We were "the coolies" as my dad dubbed us, and one night "the coolies" decided that we were going to toilet paper the football team's houses. We were probably sophomores, none of us old enough to drive, yet we hatched a plan to stay out all night and create mischief. The first thing was to secure the all nighter..we each lied about a sleepover at so and so's house, then we were free! My BFF's parents owned a gym for gymnastics and they had lots of vans that were unattended at night. We took a cab down to the gym, My BFF had the keys to a van and we took off to pick up the others! There were about 7 or 8 of us and like a team of Navy Seals, we set out on our stealth mission dressed all in black.

We needed lots of toilet paper, and being young and wild, we soon realized that the four pack that we had each stolen from our houses just wasn't going to do the job we needed to do. Steal being the operative word here...
It was then that we decided that every late night fast food joint would outfit us with all the toilet paper we would need. It took about 4 or 5 trips to different Burger King and McDonalds within a 5 -10 mile radius, but each bathroom had an ample supply of overflow toilet tissue which we heartily helped ourselves to. Rotten kids, we were, but we thought it was the greatest thing. When we were supplied to the brim with extra toilet paper, our mission began.

Oh what fun it was to throw the rolls over the trees, creating the effect seen above at each house. Trying to stifle the giggles and voices of 8 sophomore girls in the wee hours of the morning was a feat in itself, but we somehow managed to pull it off. I can still remember the rush of excitement when one or more of the houses were decorated in our special way. And it continued all through the night. One after the other, each home properly vandalized, the team we had assembled joyously worked, creating laughs and memories. It seemed like such good clean fun until....

The next day.

At the football game, it spread like wildfire that we were the ones responsible for the mess at each residence. And would you believe that no one thought it was as funny as we did?

The things a bunch of crazy kid will do for the hell of it.

I'm sure today if we had completed such a mission, all 8 of us would have at least received a visit at our homes from the local authorities with either the threat of criminal action or forced to clean up what we thought to be a hilarious mess. Thank God for the good old days. Beside a few snarky remarks from the guys on the football team about how they themselves had to clean it up, we escaped the consequences of our actions.

Again, it's a good thing I didn't know Frick and Frack back then. And I'm sure I never relayed to them the exact details of the story.

I don't think the world would find it as funny..

Throwback Thursday

This post, originally published on Candy's Daily Dandy on Thursday, June 10, 2010, was entitled, "Little Miss Smarty Pants."

So I read somewhere, that children can increase their IQ by one point if they watch Good Morning America. Of course, when I Googled it this morning I couldn't find any evidence of this fact, but I swear I read it and that's not really the point here this morning, anyway...

If this is to be true, I wondered what this says about me and my Intelligence Quotient?

I was raised on Gilligan's Island and by Mike and Carol Brady. If mom says don't play ball in the house, you don't play ball in the house. We were the TV generation, the first to really experience the benefits of syndication. Growing up in the early seventies, we were still innocent enough to experience part of the culture of the sixties as a small child. Wholesome shows like Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch and The Monkees were syndication smash hits, airing during our prime TV viewing time. The hours from after school to the dinner hour.

So how did these shows, including some of my very best friends, Looney Tunes Cartoons, aid in developing my IQ?

Let's take the Brady's shall we? From Mike and Carol I learned about the taboo(at the time) inner workings of blended families, and how a mother and a father can love and parent a child not of their own until the lines between them are gone. Sibling rivalry? I learned that we all don't have to play nice all the time and that sometimes even a black wig wont hide your true identity. Consequences. Yes, we watched the Brady kids stumble through adolescence and be held responsible. Mike and Carol had some seriously therapeutic talks with the kids in Mike's drafting den. All the while being groovy...I also learned that moms could be milf's and dad's could wear the latest fashions and look good.

Then there's Gilligan. The Skipper too. Coconut cream pie never looked so good and the ingenuity of a group of castaways that made their life bearable on the island they called home. From Gilligan's Island I learned that the class system exists within a deserted island. That Thurston and Lovey were catered to mostly because they had a bag stuffed with useless cash with them. I learned that Hollywood beauty can be achieved anywhere and that designer couture fashions can last for years and still look good. I also know that if I ever take a chartered boat anywhere remote, I'm taking an MIT professor with me and not some daft ship hand.

From Looney tunes, I learned that Monster's can be so very interesting and to make sure to excuse myself when moving through a row in a movie theatre. I learned that beach babe's don't like scrawny little men, they like big strong men and to stay away from any package marked ACME. I learned not to mess with any sweet little parakeet's namedTweety and that Bugs will always live to see another day because even though he's constantly being hunted, he's smarter than your average rabbit. Savvy and smart equals survival.

As I look back at these things, I think about the mature content of the messages I received as a child and how I translated them into my intelligence.

Despite it all, I think I still turned out alright.

On The Road....Again

So Frack got his drivers license on Sat.

*sigh*

My baby is all growed up now.

*sigh*

Yup,  he thinks hes gone to heaven too. He has a car, (it's the family car, but Frick totally thinks its hers and she reminds him of this all the time) and I hardly see him any more.  The boy is mobile! The first thing he did when he came home was go directly to Dunkin Donuts. 

Alone. 

With an enormous smile on his face. He said It was the best chocolate frosted donut he ever had. I bet it was.

This time we were very cautious about the driving test. Everybody around here pays the driving school to take their kids to the test in the driving school car. But with Frick, I said nooo. I said, "I want to be there with her like my dad was with me." We were rolling old school and we had to borrow a friends car, (in MA a drivers license road test must be in a car with an emergency hand break in between the two front seats) which was a huge error in hind sight. Frick ended up in a strange car, a nervous wreck and failed her first test. We weren't taking any chances with Frack this time. We gladly paid the fee to the driving school.

Anyway, I guess my days of sleeping soundly on a weekends are over and any time they predict snow, like on this Friday, I get a pit in my stomach. The truth is, I'm really proud of my boy. He's growing up so fast and he's becoming a man quicker than I can keep up. He's even taken to dinner conversation about the increasing gas prices.  He likes to complain but Frack has a job but just about the only thing he likes to spend his money on is food.

Welcome to semi-adulthood dude. 

Time marches on and my kids continue to grow and change and in the best way possible. 

It's just a little quicker than I'd like, is all. 

"Message Received"

The holiday weekend was great and things went along smoothly, until something happened that sent chills down my spine and really sent Frick for a loop. As much as I hate to say it, I am grateful for the teaching moment we got from it.

A young girl from the next town over, a senior who had just graduated, went missing on Sunday night. Frick knew this girl, not well, but had acted in a production of "Annie" two years ago with this lovely young lady. Her father reported her missing late Sunday night when she didn't return home her job at a local mall. Her body was found yesterday in a marsh in the small town she lived in. Police aren't saying much except that it is being treated as a homicide investigation and that they have one person of interest.

Frick has been mesmerized with the events that have been playing out on Facebook and the conspiracy theories that have been circulating, and I can't say that I blame her. This one hit a little too close to home for either of our likings. I saw in my child the realization that if it could happen here, it could happen to anyone.

I had to tell her. I had to say it and as sorry I am for that family who lost a beautiful child, I am grateful to be able to use this to teach my daughter about the dangers that exist in this vast and inviting world.

• I told her that all those times she told me I was being ridiculously strict with her, this is why.


• I told her that this is why I won't let her go out of the house without me knowing exactly where she is going and for how long she will be there.


• I told her that this is why her step father wants her to text him when she gets to places and parties and why her curfew's must be adhered to with utmost of punctuality.

And Frack looked my straight in the eye and for once didn't roll her teenage eyes at me, and said, "Message received mom."

Those were probably the two greatest and most honest words I have heard in a long time.

Little Miss Smarty Pants

So I read somewhere, that children can increase their IQ by one point if they watch Good Morning America. Of course, when I Googled it this morning I couldn't find any evidence of this fact, but I swear I read it and that's not really the point here this morning, anyway...

If this is to be true, I wondered what this says about me and my Intelligence Quotient?

I was raised on Gilligan's Island and by Mike and Carol Brady. If mom says don't play ball in the house, you don't play ball in the house. We were the TV generation, the first to really experience the benefits of syndication. Growing up in the early seventies, we were still innocent enough to experience part of the culture of the sixties as a small child. Wholesome shows like Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch and The Monkees were syndication smash hits, airing during our prime TV viewing time. The hours from after school to the dinner hour.

So how did these shows, including some of my very best friends, Looney Tunes Cartoons, aid in developing my IQ?

Let's take the Brady's shall we? From Mike and Carol I learned about the taboo(at the time) inner workings of blended families, and how a mother and a father can love and parent a child not of their own until the lines between them are gone. Sibling rivalry? I learned that we all don't have to play nice all the time and that sometimes even a black wig wont hide your true identity. Consequences. Yes, we watched the Brady kids stumble through adolescence and be held responsible. Mike and Carol had some seriously therapeutic talks with the kids in Mike's drafting den. All the while being groovy...I also learned that moms could be milf's and dad's could wear the latest fashions and look good.

Then there's Gilligan. The Skipper too. Coconut cream pie never looked so good and the ingenuity of a group of castaways that made their life bearable on the island they called home. From Gilligan's Island I learned that the class system exists within a deserted island. That Thurston and Lovey were catered to mostly because they had a bag stuffed with useless cash with them. I learned that Hollywood beauty can be achieved anywhere and that designer couture fashions can last for years and still look good. I also know that if I ever take a chartered boat anywhere remote, I'm taking an MIT professor with me and not some daft ship hand.

From Looney tunes, I learned that Monster's can be so very interesting and to make sure to excuse myself when moving through a row in a movie theatre. I learned that beach babe's don't like scrawny little men, they like big strong men and to stay away from any package marked ACME. I learned not to mess with any sweet little parakeet's named Tweety and that Bugs will always live to see another day because even though he's constantly being hunted, he's smarter than your average rabbit. Savvy and smart equals survival.

As I look back at these things, I think about the mature content of the messages I received as a child and how I translated them into my intelligence.

Despite it all, I think I still turned out alright.