Brandi's Place

 Meet Meshach. He’s the best doggo in the whole world. He follows me everywhere I go. But man, can that dog fart!!

I met a man from New York who had never tried biscuits and gravy before. Say what?!?! Hear me out...     In December 2019, we took our family on a road trip to Kentucky to see the ARK. Really great trip. As a christian mom, I would highly recommend taking your kids out to see it if you haven't yet had the opportunity. It was really neat. But that's not what this story is about. This story is about biscuits and gravy. Before we became a family of 5 (we got Sterling mid 2020), our favorite hotel to stay in was always the Holiday Inn Express. Decent room, decent price, free continental breakfast in the morning. And we just so happened to be staying at a Holiday Inn Express on our trip to Kentucky. (I would gladly accept any reward the Holiday Inn wants to send me for this free advertising. You're welcome. Ha!) When we woke up the next morning and went down for breakfast, there weren't many people in the dining room, which was good because the gals tend to scatter all over ...

High School Crush (a short story)   My name is Rebecca, and I have a secret crush. Shaun and I have lived in the same neighborhood and ridden the same bus since first grade. I didn't like him in the elementary school years. He used to pull my hair and tease me. I hated how everyone would laugh at me because of how he would mock me. In junior high, he stopped bothering me. I guess he got bored with me because he hardly paid me any attention at all anymore, which suited me just fine. I much preferred being able to sit in the back of the bus and chat with my girlfriends all the way home without being pestered. And now that we're in high school, Shaun has completely changed. His shoulders are wider, his voice is deeper, and there's the faintest hint of facial hair beginning to appear on his chin. And his eyes... dark grey until the light hits them just right and reveals that they're a multicolored hazel. He's handsome actually, and no longer the little jerk who used to ...

Speaking of weird coffee mix-ins, I bet I have another one most people don't do. I put chlorophyll in my coffee. Hear me out...  That coffee is green, I mean GREEN! And you might be thinking... why would anyone mix chlorophyll in their coffee? Well I'll tell you. I've got these crazy wild hormones that give me all kinds of trouble and I take many different supplements to try to control all the symptoms. One of my symptoms is that I bleed for 10 or more days each month. (TMI? Sorry.) If you’re a dude or a prepubescent female, 10 days is an absurdly long time to bleed. I already have naturally low blood iron, so the constant bleeding really depletes my energy, gives me headaches, nausea, stuff like that. Us busy mommas don’t need that kind of added drama. Am I right? So my fabulous physician, who is a naturopath MD, suggested I start taking a liquid chlorophyll supplement to help with clotting and slowing the bleeding. I picked up a bottle at the pharmacy on my way home. I no...

Do you like to drink tea, coffee, or both? How about trying them mixed together? Hear me out. Usually, coffee is my main squeeze when it comes to hot beverages (or cold for that matter). I love coffee. But sometimes, I do enjoy an occasional cup of tea when the mood strikes me. Last year for my Birthday, my amazing mother gifted me a loose leaf sampler set of August Teas. I ripped open each little packet to smell them and they all smelled so wonderful. I couldn't wait to try them.  Well, long story short, none of them tasted quite as good as they smelled. They were okay, but not great in my opinion. So for the past year they've been sitting in my cupboard waiting for me to be in the mood to have a hot cup of meh.  Usually when it comes to tea, my go-to favorite is a warming cup of chai. I like the bags of vanilla chai you can get from the grocery story. And I especially loved a chocolate chili chai I once tried when I walked into a tea shop in Canada called David's Teas. Ah...

  I'm currently working on an episodic story called "The Clone Ranger." In the past, stories were often published in newspapers as episodes, and I'll be following this tradition by writing serialized fiction and short stories that I'll share for free on my blog. "The Clone Ranger," revolves around Jack Unit 382, a clone who feels deeply isolated amidst a sea of identical faces. After the war, the clones were set free, expected to lead "normal" lives, but they had no idea what "normal" even meant. Struggling to find their purpose in a world where everyone is just like them, the clones yearn for a sense of individuality. This story explores how Jack Unit 382 embarks on a journey of self-discovery, seeking to find his own identity amidst the overwhelming sameness.       Journal Entry 653 I feel utterly lost. Not in a literal sense, but as I lie in bed, waiting for the wake-up timer to sound, my mind drifts aimlessly, like an abandoned es...

It all started... So, I am currently recovering from the "Rona" that plagued my home these past couple of weeks. I don't mind telling you that I was not vaccinated, even though that is going to invite a TON of backlash. But here's the thing, my symptoms were not too severe. I had a temperature of 99.5 for 24 hours, then I was sleepy and congested for a week and I lost my sense of taste and smell. (It's still gone.) My husband, on the other hand, is a government employee. He had no intention of getting vaccinated until he received a letter basically saying he can get the jab or lose his job. So out of his love for our family and not wanting to risk our only source of income, he went and got the vaccine. Three weeks later, he was diagnosed with covid 19 pneumonia. He was the one who needed a week of breathing treatments and steroids and antibiotics to get well. I started feeling bad a few days after he did. Then our daughter got sick also.  No one in our house got s...