Has sleep paralysis happened to any of you before? Where you are asleep. You start to vividly “see” and “hear” things in the dark that make you want to move. But you can’t move. You start to panic about not being able to move. You try to turn away. You try to scream. But you can’t. You are literally frozen. And scared to death. And just when you think you can’t take it anymore… you finally physically break free. Shaking and sweating. And those sights and sounds are finally gone.
This actually happens to me. Not all the time, thank goodness! Maybe about once a year. I’ve googled it before and it’s officially called sleep paralysis where apparently you are partially awake while dreaming. Your brain is awake but your body is still locked in it’s dream-state which prevents you from physically acting out your dreams.
This blog post from “The Strange Ways” by Lenny Wall describes this experience much better than I can, and even includes the scientific and paranormal explanations of it. So definitely check it out if you want more information.
But that specific post got me thinking… My experience with sleep paralysis is always scary!
It’s always a demonic entity whispering to me. I never understand its whispers. I can see it slowly approach me. Sooooo freakin’ slowly. And the whole entire time I watch it approach me, I am frozen. Not able to move or scream, even though I am violently attempting to do so. And at the very end… when it’s at the closest possible point… it JUMPS at me! And THAT’S when I finally wake up!
And all the movies/stories about this are also always scary! The most recent movie I watched featuring sleep paralysis was “Mara” on Netflix and holy cow it freaked me out! Definitely don’t watch it unless you love horror movies.
But my major question is… Why is this experience always scary? Why can’t I be stuck at an all-you-can-eat buffet? Why not be stuck in bed with Zac Efron? Why not be stuck at Target with a $10,000 gift card? Why does FEAR make this happen?
What do you all think? Have you experienced this as well?
P.S. I can’t believe I posted this at bedtime. Now I’m thinking about it. Wish me luck tonight!
It’s summertime and the kids (me too!) are ready to hit the swimming pools again! We found Thornton’s Pool last summer and everyone loved it.
Thornton’s Pool has been featured on tv and in many news articles by now, so you might’ve seen it already on all those extreme pool shows on the television. But here’s a handy link to one such article if you don’t want to search yourself. And if you don’t want to read through all the scoop, here are the highlights:
This pool is physically in someone’s backyard.
It is 500,000 gallons of water.
You can book a pool party here.
Some features to interact with while there: a swing rope, a diving board, a floating platform, and a waterfall display.
It is located in Covington TN. If you’re travelling to visit this, then the closest large city will be Memphis TN for your reference. Otherwise, it’s most convenient for persons that live in the area already – Millington/Covington/Raleigh/Bartlett area of TN.
Here are some of the photos I took while I was there last summer:
Thornton’s Pool / Image: Pepper V.Thornton’s Pool / Image: Pepper V.
So, this was a great time and a great destination pool party last summer. And I would highly recommend it. If you want to check it out for yourself, you do need to book a reservation. I think the easiest way to contact them is via their Facebook page.
Have fun!
Summer Pool Party – Shopping Links
[Disclosure: the following links are affiliate links where I may earn a commission on any resulting purchase, at no additional cost to you.]
You might have found yourself on this page if you are looking for pool party destinations or maybe even gathering ideas for a pool party. If that’s the case, below are some ideas of items that might be fun to have at your pool party. Enjoy!
More Travel Destinations to Check Out
Be sure to go ahead and subscribe to my newsletter while you are here (the form is available at the bottom of post) so you’ll get quarterly updates on any new travel destinations I’ve posted. And I have some good ones coming up!
In the meantime, below are some quick links to some of my favorite travel blog posts already published:
I sure did. My website’s DA (Domain Authority) just went from 1 to 5 and I couldn’t be more thrilled! Only took 8 months to get there too!
I know, a DA of 5 still basically stinks. But I’ve been getting some more clicks now from Google and I never really have before, so that’s exciting to see!
I created this domain 8 months ago. Around this same time, I started reading about SEO and how important it is. So I found the RankMath plugin and started following it’s guidance on most (not all) of my posts in order to improve my SEO. I still stink at it, but I’m trying.
Also around this time, I started checking my DA and found that it was ALWAYS 1. No matter how many SEO updates I made via RankMath, it never changed from 1. So I was really getting discouraged. I’ve been using this site to check my DA because it’s free and simple to use: https://websiteseochecker.com/domain-age-checker/
(That’s not an affiliate link above. I’m just providing it for your info and convenience.)
I also noticed that I was NEVER getting any clicks from Google. I was getting clicks from other search engines such as Bing and DuckDuckGo but never from Google, so I wondered if something was wrong.
I did some research via Google (oh the irony) and found that Google has a “Sandbox” that it puts new websites in for 6-8 months so they don’t affect any rankings. This is to weed-out spam sites and the people that aren’t serious.
Then last week, I noticing that I was suddenly getting some clicks from Google. I was like, WHAT!!? Lol, only 1 or 2 a day so nothing crazy but still a big change for me since I was accustomed to 0.
So I checked my DA out of curiosity and it had changed to a 5! I was so excited because I had practically given up on Google by this point, as it had taken so long.
I guess I’m now out of the “Sandbox” finally. Lol, now what do I do?
Do you all focus on this stuff like DA and SEO? Any tips on what I should try next? 🙂
What do you all do to celebrate Mother’s Day? It’s only a couple weeks away in the U.S. How about gifts? What do you do as gifts for the minimalist mom?
I already know that I’m spending my Mother’s Day making my mother-in-law’s favorite meal (I’m doing all the grocery-shopping and cooking too) and kissing her butt. That’s how I spend ALL my Mother’s Days – it’s all about the mother-in-law. Too bad for me though, as that’s not my favorite way to spend the day.
But I can DREAM of what my ideal Mother’s Day would be like. And in my dream… my mother-in-law would never appear. Also in my dream… I’d be able to take a nap, eat all my favorite foods, and not have to lift a finger for a single chore. And that would be my perfect Mother’s Day. So easy.
Since I was dreaming about this, I was thinking what do people usually do or gift for Mother’s Day?
I think I’m quite close to being a minimalist as far as how I prefer my lifestyle. My family doesn’t necessarily cooperate with that, but my preference is definitely a “less is more” approach. And my kryponite is clutter. Tangible objects as gifts usually freak me out bc if I don’t have a proper place to keep it, then it falls into the clutter category to me, and that stresses me out.
So as far as what the ideal gifts for the minimalist mom would be, I came up with a list of 8 things I would definitely enjoy to receive as gifts. See below…
9 Gifts for the Minimalist Mom
Quality Time Together. This one could be a family movie in front of the tv, or a nice walk outside if the weather is comfortable, or even just a road-trip somewhere. Is there an event coming-up that she would enjoy? If so, tickets to that event would be perfect.
Food and drink. Moms do love to eat and drink! This can be either a restaurant experience, or a home-cooked meal (as long as she doesn’t have to cook it). Feed her! Also, food and drinks as gifts can be good too, as long as they won’t perish quickly. I’m thinking about wines, alcohols, or even a fancy collection of spices, etc. Because even if I don’t consume them myself immediately, then I’ll be able to use them when I have guests at my home or I can bring them with me when I visit someone else’s home.
Portraits! I have a shortage of actual photos of me WITH my child. Since I’m usually the one taking all the snapshots of my family in all their glory, I don’t have anyone that will take photographs FOR me so I can be in the picture too. So arranging photos that mom can be in too would be a great gift.
Digitize Her Photos/Videos. This is perfect for the mom my age or older, who has a ton of printed photographs and VHS videos stored. Remember those days where we had to take our camera film to the store for printing before seeing all our photos?! No?! If not, then your mom does and she would love this gift! You can do all the work yourself, as it’s not difficult just very time-consuming. And not everyone has a VHS deck that works anymore. If you need a service that will do all this work for you, LegacyBox is one of the most popular ones. I’m actually trying them out for the first time myself, and I will let you know how it turns out!
Gift Certificates and Gift Cards. These are pretty awesome gifts for the minimalist mom – or for ANY mom to be honest. We all love gift cards like crazy. Especially if it’s for something I have to buy anyway, because in that case it actually SAVES me money!
Subscriptions and Upgrades. Ok, this is something I would never spend money on myself, but if someone else would like to spend money on it instead, then I would definitely take advantage and enjoy tremendously. I’m thinking mostly about tv subscriptions here – like for Hulu, or Discovery+ which I don’t have at the moment. Upgrades are almost the same as subscriptions. But I’m thinking here, like an upgrade to my cable tv package to get more channels. Or, once travel picks-up again… upgrades on airline memberships and hotel memberships. The perks are amazing! You can get free alcohol, special lounges, extra space, larger rooms, etc. I would never actually splurge and spend my own money on any of that… BUT, as a gift… I’d love it!
Services. So if you really want to BUY something for someone that doesn’t enjoy clutter or more traditional gifts, how about a service? This can be a hair/face/nails salon service, or even a home service such as carpet steam cleaning or a deep-cleaning from a maid service. Even a car detailing service could be great gifts for the minimalist mom.
Self-Care Consumables. Here, you have to be careful that you choose items that the mom will actually use. For example, if the mom NEVER takes baths (perhaps she doesn’t have a comfortable tub), then gifting her bath-bombs or bath-salts would be a terrible idea as it would feel like additional clutter or it would feel wasteful. The key thing to remember about tangible gifts for the minimalist mom is that they have to be useful to her. Some ideas here could be lotions, skin-care, candles, perfumes if those are items that would be used by her.
Take care of some routine chores. Holy cow, this would be my most favorite one of all!!! If someone else could just do my laundry, do my grocery shopping, cook the family meals for a change, etc. Anything to relieve me of these chores, even for a single day… would be an incredible gift to me.
Anyhow, that’s what I’ve been able to come-up with as gifts I would enjoy, since more traditional gifts like tangible objects aren’t really my thing. So hopefully these ideas for gifts for the minimalist mom will help you out if you have one in your life.
What do you all think? I am missing something that a minimalist mom would like?
My last international trip before Covid shutdown everything was a roadtrip through Ireland. This trip was unique for me as in I had no itinerary except to arrive and depart Dublin at very precise dates/times. But in-between, I had no plans. I rented a car and figured that I would just stop whenever something interested me.
You’ll find several links throughout this post, but none of them are affiliate links. I’ve only included them for your information and for your convenience.
Trinity College Library, Dublin
The first day, I did stay in Dublin just to get a bit acclimated and to recover from the long overnight flight. I didn’t do anything too crazy, just walked around the city and absorbed what I could.
I did stop inside the Library at Trinity College because I am obsessed with history, and especially old books and old libraries. I just love that kind of stuff.
The Roadtrip Through Ireland
Seriously what I enjoy most about such a roadtrip is that I have complete control. I decided to take the country roads instead of the highways. And I end-up with the most amazing scenery as well as the most amazing finds. Here’s some photos of the scenery, and a photo of the inside of a 300+ year old pub named “The Dying Cow” that I never would have found if I tried to plan this trip.
Spike Island, Cork
Spike Island is in the County Cork area of Ireland. You can only arrive there via ferry. It was originally a monastery and later converted into a military fort, and then later converted into a prison where it was one time the world’s largest prison. It’s abandoned now. If you’d like more info of it, you can check out their tourist site. Lol, they even have ghost tours at night! (I was too scared to try).
This was probably my favorite part of the entire trip. There was a ton of historical information provided by a very personable and funny tour guide, and you also had time to yourself to spend however you please on the island. You really could make an entire day of it if you wanted. I was lucky that the weather was nice the day I visited, and I could enjoy the exhibits as well as the terrain at my leisure. And there was a comfortable cafe available for refreshments when necessary too.
St. Colman’s Cathedral, Cork
While waiting for the ferry to take me to Spike Island, there was a massive cathedral that you could see from miles around. It was St. Colman’s Cathedral and here is their website. We stepped inside to take a look and it was beautiful. I am obsessed with old churches because of their history and their elaborate structures.
Inch Beach, Dingle Peninsula
And there’s even beach life in Ireland which I didn’t expect! This was a surprise find just from driving. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t very cooperative on this day, but I would definitely enjoy this setting with some sunshine and some extra heat. 🙂
Haunted Leap Castle, Roscrea
And the final day in Ireland was when I stopped at Leap Castle on the drive back to Dublin to catch the flight home. I dedicated an entire post to this specific stop for all the ghost fans…
I hope you all have enjoyed my summary of my roadtrip through Ireland. I’d love to go again because I do enjoy the long scenic drives and the surprises to find along the way.
So every now and then, I will find a very thought-provoking post on my Facebook… And I absolutely love these sort of hypothetical question games because the answer typically gives alot of insight into how a person feels and thinks.
The question post that appeared on my Facebook today was: “Would you accept $50,000 IF the person you hate the most in your life would receive $250,000?”
What would YOU do? Would you accept?
My answer is NO. I would not accept the $50,000.
Because that would mean that Cloudy would receive $250,000.
Lol, it’s ok if you don’t know who Cloudy is as I haven’t talked about him very much. I did introduce him in an earlier post about my toxic workplace, but I don’t like talking about that stuff very much because it was sooooo bad and it depresses me. But basically, he is an evil person, and he tried to ruin my entire career and my life. And I hate him more than anyone else I know.
If evidence appeared that would open the door to a lawsuit, I would absolutely sue him and the company I used to work for. If evidence also appeared that would lead to imprisonment, I would absolutely file criminal charges against him. No hesitation. I just don’t have the evidence.
I think the real reason why my decision is NO, is because he’s never faced any negative consequences for what he’s done to me and others like me. He keeps being rewarded for his behavior with promotions and raises and more power in the workplace.
I simply want justice. That’s it.
And him receiving $250,000 feels like a reward for his bad behavior. And I would choose to deprive myself of the $50,000 gift before participating in him receiving any further rewards for his behavior. He needs consequences.
I don’t know, am I a weirdo? What would you all do?
Covid has kept families in lockdown for a year plus, so this anniversary seemed timely to publish a proper introduction to my minimalist life with a hoarder. Also, if you wanted an introduction to minimalism – or maybe just inspiration – I would love to recommend to you the MindBeautySimplicity site – as I’m one of her biggest fans. 🙂
Certainly one of the reasons (there’s more than 1, I promise) why I’m a nutjob is that I prefer a minimalist lifestyle while my husband does not. He’s more like a hoarder – as far as he constantly buys items that are unnecessary and duplicates, and leaves them cluttered all over the home, and will not get rid of them voluntarily. I recently posted about his latest duplicate purchases here if you were curious.
But he’s not unsanitary like hoarders we see on tv. I can attest that there isn’t a bug infestation or mold growing on our dirty dishes at home. It’s nowhere near that bad.
So I don’t know, is there a better descriptive word for this than “hoarder” then? I feel like hoarder might be a bit too extreme for what I mean. Let me give you all more insight, and let’s see if there’s a better description…
Minimalist Life with a Hoarder – Sharing Spaces
Before the lockdowns, my husband used to travel all the time for work. So much so, that I could keep the house picked-up and on-par with my comfort levels for the majority of the time. And he would only occasionally disrupt that. So it was very manageable for me. And I would have a decent amount of time satisfied and comfortable in my own home. That’s all I need.
But ever since Covid happened, he’s been home EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. And I have no escape from these habits of his that are making me crazy. I have no comfort in my own home.
He barely leaves the home anymore except to go buy more things that he will leave out to clutter the home, so things are really stressing me out here now.
Minimalist Life with a Hoarder – Money
When it comes to money, I am a super-saver while my husband is a super-spender. He literally lives paycheck-to-paycheck and that’s by his choice – it’s not a income situation.
I just don’t get any pleasure from spending money. I know that’s such a weird thing – I would never say that out-loud to anyone in my real life because I know how strange that is. My pleasure with money comes from saving it – it’s like, my security blanket and makes me feel safe and comfortable when it’s slowly accumulating in the bank.
One “win” that I do have under my belt, is that we both did agree to shun debt going-forward. When we got married, he was heavily in debt – due to credit cards and car payments and a loan from his parents. I don’t believe in debt as it cancels-out my security blanket, so this was my major deal-breaker. I paid-off everything he owed (including his financing for my engagement and wedding rings, so I paid for my own rings basically), and in exchange he agreed to no more debt again, as long as there were no changes to either of our employment statuses. And he’s lived up to that.
We only have mortgage debt at this point, and I’m focused on paying that off as quickly as possible. Having it really nags at me.
But he does spend every single penny he earns, as soon as he earns it basically. That still kills me, but we do have separate bank accounts so he can’t spend any money I earn. When we first got married, we had a joint bank account, but he would spend all the money we BOTH earned in that scenario, so I separated bank accounts quickly. It was necessary to keep my stress and anxiety under control.
Minimalist Life with a Hoarder – Clutter
But it’s the clutter at home that really kills me.
Here are a couple photos of our bathroom. We have separate sinks. Guess which one is his and guess which one is mine.
Minimalist Life with a Hoarder / Image Source: Pepper V.Minimalist Life with a Hoarder / Image Source: Pepper V.
Like I said, it’s not bad at all – not like what you see on tv shows about hoarders. I realize that in comparison, our home is perfectly fine. But it just makes me flip out. I admit that it’s illogical for me to feel this way, but I do. And I struggle with keeping my feelings under control.
I walk into this multiple times everyday and I immediately have a stress response that I cannot explain. And what freaks me out 10x more than anything else, are all the open cabinets and drawers. And it doesn’t make any difference if I close them myself, a few minutes later they’ll be re-opened, and LEFT open. Ugh, just kills me.
He does that everywhere too. The worst is in the kitchen. He’ll open the pantry, take out whatever he wanted from in there, LEAVE the pantry door open, and then LEAVE OUT whatever he removed from in there, never returning it from where it came from. Everytime I walk into the kitchen and see that, I feel my blood pressure rising.
Anyhow, I’m really miserable living like this everyday. It’s been a whole entire year of this now. Absolutely no comfort in my own home because I can’t keep it in a condition that satisfies me. It stresses me out.
