tiny terrorist

A Month Already?!

December 14, 2020 by Caitlyn

Hello all!

Has it really been a month since our last update? Time is flying by. Our apologies for not getting an update out sooner! Do I have an exciting, great big update for you guys? Well, um, no actually. Life is life right now.

Tyler and Grant

Tyler has been busy creating the One Shot Trainings. Meaning late nights filming and long days in front of the computer editing videos. Those late nights were awful, now that he has been home for 9 months I can’t fall asleep without him in bed. Even with that, I am proud of him. I don’t think I have ever met someone who has such big crazy dreams and then manages to make them happen.

Grant has been busy, well, being Grant. The life of a 3-year-old is so much simpler. He goes to daycare, which sometimes he loves, and sometimes throws a fit when we tell him it is time to leave. Last night he booby-trapped the stair landing by covering it in toys. He is learning new things constantly too. He knows the planets now. My 3 year old can name all the planets. The daycare is working with them on recognizing letters. Sometimes when we are driving down the road and he’ll say “Mommy it’s a (whatever letter he saw)!”

Me!

As for me, I’m in finals week. I have 2 finals and a discussion board left then I’m done. Not just done with the semester but done done. I will have earned my associate’s in Business Administration. If you ask me how I’m feeling I’m going to awkward laugh, shrug my shoulders, and say “I don’t know”. Truthfully I go back and forth between different emotions.

A big part of me is proud and feels accomplished. I went out and got a degree. Then the mean ugly voice in my head likes to remind me that it is just an associate’s degree in business so nothing special, it is from Ivy Tech a community college, and I’m 26 so didn’t earn it till almost 10 years after graduating high school. I have high school classmates who have gone on to earn all kinds of impressive degrees, one is even a lawyer. Therefore I can’t blame my small-town school.

I keep reminding myself that yes while all of this is true, I still accomplished this and that I am allowed to feel proud of myself. Earned my degree while working, while raising a toddler, and while going through an ugly divorce that tore me apart. I may have been earning the degree but I was also in the process of completing rebuilding myself. I probably wouldn’t even recognize myself from 2 years ago.

That is the lesson that I am taking from all of this. Just because your accomplishments look different from someone else, does not mean they are not accomplishments for you to be proud of. I earned an associate’s degree and I am excited and proud of myself. I will also continue to cheer on everyone’s accomplishments they achieve. Is this where I thought I would be at 26? HA! Not even close.

But I am happy. Genuinely, truly, unapologetically happy. I am marrying a man who is my best friend. Grant is happy and thriving. I am working a job that I love and that I hopefully have a future in. And I earned a degree. Do I have people who think I’m a mess and other hateful things? Yup. But I have accepted that that is never going to change. I am not going to live the life they think I should, I’m going to live the life I want too. My main focus is how I feel, how well Grant is, and keeping up with Tyler’s crazy ideas.

Wrap it up, Caitlyn.

Well, that took a turn to a little personal. But I feel better after writing that all out. Who knows, maybe it’ll help one of you who might be feeling the same things I am. Our life isn’t always adventures and fun times. We have the hard moments together too so we are sharing it as well.

To summarize, Tyler is doing Tyler things, Grant is being a normal 3-year-old boy, and I have earned an associate’s degree and am proud of it. If you have accomplished something this year, especially this year (2020, am I right?) then be proud of it! Let’s stop comparing our achievements to other’s achievements and just be proud of ourselves. Go out and celebrate those accomplishments!

Now go have your own adventure and tell us about it!

With much love and appreciation for reading my inner thoughts,

-Caitlyn aka Pretty Lady

Ice cream, diplomas, and more!

November 12, 2020 by Caitlyn

Hello all!

I noted yesterday on our ice cream date, to Bruster’s, that we had not posted in awhile. I feel like I need to just have an alarm on my phone to remind myself to post something. Truthfully the only reason I am writing this blog post is to avoid writing a research paper, do not worry I am half way done and have till Sunday. While we have not been on an adventure yet we are still making things happen. Doing life with Tyler is possibly my favorite thing.

This includes all the things that Tyler is doing with DeLong Rigging Solutions. There is a lot of new things coming and he is very excited about all of them. For instance, when he came home yesterday all excited, talking a mile a minute. Usually about things that I do not fully understand. Which is why he will be the one to tell you about it. Regardless, I can’t help but to smile and feel a great sense of pride in him and what he is accomplishing.

I’m graduating?!

Tyler is not the only one accomplishing things though! I received the email yesterday that my application to graduate was approved. You guys, I graduate next month. I will have earned my associate’s degree in Business Administration. I have already earned my certificate in Human Resources Management, Business Administration Certificate, and my Business Administration Technical Certificate. When I graduate, I will have four diplomas to hang up on my wall, so what is my next step?

Truthfully, I don’t know. Not the best answer, I know. I had hoped to start looking for a job here in Bloomington in human resources. The trouble I am running into is that most jobs require a bachelor’s degree or equal experience. Continuing with my education would require me to commit fully in order to succeed. My heart is just not in it right now.

Life continues

For now, I will continue working at my job that I enjoy. Me and Tyler will continue with adventures when we can. We will somehow survive a toddler. Lastly, I will continue to try to find something. Changing the face of human resource departments is a passion of mine. Human resources are supposed to be the employee’s allies and full of helpful resources. Not the “bad guys” of the company. The irony of Tyler marrying a future human resource employee is not lost on us!

Hope everyone is managing things well and are prepared for the holidays. Updates will continue to look like this for awhile. Sorry. You guys are stuck with me and my rambling. Go on your own adventure and tell us about it!

-Pretty Lady

P.S. These photos do not go with what I wrote at all but they are cute!

5/26/20 Planning, Planting, and Still Working on the House

May 26, 2020 by Tyler

Hello All! Brace yourselves, Pretty Lady and I are going on an adventure this coming weekend. The plan is pretty fluid, especially since campgrounds aren’t open in KY yet, but we will be departing for Mammoth Cave on Friday afternoon, and then heading on to Great Smokey Mountains National Park. This is going to be our first adventure together with Jeff, so expect there to be some serious entertainment! I don’t think we’ll be doing daily posts on here, but we’ll be posting on our facebook and Instagram.

The Tiny Terrorist has also been practicing for road trips. I really don’t understand how he can sleep in the positions that he does, but he is a pro! Unfortunately he will not be joining us on this adventure, but we are also planning a 2 week long trip out west and he’ll be on that one.

I’ve spent some serious time in the last few days setting up my garden. Unfortunately my father was right and it was too wet to till the areas. That being said, I was already late planting for the season, so I just put down some cardboard and hay and went for it. I also took a couple of livestock panels and bent them into an arch for my green beans and cucumbers to grow up. When it’s all said and done, I’ll have tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, green beans, potatoes, onions, carrots, and watermelons this year!

I’ve also made progress on the house. We stripped the old siding and underlayment off of the exterior wall above the roof and replaced it with OSB and cement board. As soon as I get it painted it’ll be time to start on the trim for the backside of the house! So soon, we’ll get to actually see what the outside of the house is going to look like!

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5/21/20 We Are Not Failures

May 21, 2020 by Tyler

The Tiny Terrorist went back to day care this week! All parties involved were ready for this to happen, but I’m not going to lie, there was some anxiety on the part of Caitlyn and I.

For the last 2 months we have been taking care of Grant without a lot of outside assistance. Yes, my mom did help out, as did Caitlyn’s mom, but there were no reprieves from him that weren’t logistically necessary. So, he has picked up some of our habits, and not all of them are “daycare friendly”. Yes, he is peeing in the potty more often than not now. He also has become mesmerized by CSI and Eureka… But his tendency to poop his pants and his love of the word “Damnit” were worrisome traits to send him back with. That being said as we were walking away on Monday we heard another child shout “shut up” at the top of his little lungs. So, we may be failures as parents, but at least we aren’t the only ones.

Speaking of not failing, the weather has still been actively working against me making progress on the house. For the last 2 weeks its either been raining, cold, or both. That being said, Dad and I have still made progress on the house.

At this point in time we have replaced the stone half-wall, the old wooden siding, the old school underlayment, and repaired the water and ant damage on 2 sides of the house. We replaced the underlayment with OSB and the wood siding with cement board, so hopefully this doesn’t need to be done until the Tiny Terrorist’s grandkids are old enough to do it. We still need to put the trim on these sides, and put the stone back on, but at this point I think that will be waiting till we have the siding done on the entire house.

With all of the rain, it seemed like the right time to put in a rain catch for my garden. So, I acquired two 275 gallon IBC totes. Pretty lady took the drive to Spencer Indiana with me to pick them up. She took one look at them and then asked if I was sure that the two of us could lift them into the truck. I am happy to say we did fine and in fact, I managed to stack them next to the garage myself. Once they were stacked, I spent 2 days figuring out what combination of adapters it took to get from the threading that they had on them, to a garden house. it also took 3 trips to town to figure out a way to get the water from the gutter into the tanks. If you look closely at the photo, you’ll see a prime example of hybrid redneck engineering and theatre magic. Yes, I am more proud of this thing than I should be.

The garden however is not something I am proud of at this point… for now it is still covered in the plastic I’m using to kill the grass. You see in Indiana the dirt is mostly clay, and there is no way in hell i’m going to even try to cut through the sod and till a new garden with all the rain we’ve had. hopefully it’ll dry out in the next few days and I can get out there.

Until the weather cooperates, my small plants are going to be growing in the part of the house I haven’t started on yet… I currently have assorted peppers, onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, green beans and a couple of watermelon plants in what will someday be the main kitchen for the house. They aren’t planted in the garden, but as long as they are still alive, I have not failed yet!

The only other thing I have to report is that I have finished the first few chapters of the book. If you’d like to get a teaser of it, I am going to start randomly sending a page or two to the people on my emailing list. So please sign up for notifications below!

Days Unemployed: 61

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4/8/20 Birthday Party, Jeff Rides Again, and Florida Unemployment

April 8, 2020 by Tyler

Ok, It’s not actually Grant’s Birthday, that was weeks ago, but due to the whole pandemic thing, his party with all of his grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and other willing victims got cancelled.

So here we are 3 weeks later and we’ve brought together his grandparents, a great aunt, and most importantly ice cream and cake.

Of course there were presents, surprisingly no one got him anything too obnoxious. I mean, yes there was a soccer ball, but I think the kid needs to put on about 30 more pounds before any of my windows are in danger.

Well I should say the only gift of any concern came from Pretty Lady and I. It is a 12 foot long plastic roller coaster contraption. To say it’s a hit is an understatement. The part that I’m impressed with is that he has only bled once since getting it 3 days ago.

So when he isn’t trying to kill himself on his new toy, the tiny terrorist has been my constant companion. He has gotten over his periodic “not the mamma” fits and even threw a “not the daddy” fit with the pretty lady the other day. But this section is not about him, it’s about Jeff. When I last spoke of my beloved Jeep, he had an antifreeze colored geyser coming out of a random hole in his new head block. Well I am pleased to announce that a plug has been procured for the hole and the engine is running just fine now. Upon trying to take Jeff for a test drive, it was discovered that his brake lines were rusted out. I am proud to say it only took 2 days and 5 trips to the parts store to get the brake lines replaced on Jeff. Once he was “road worthy” I started driving him. The above photo was taken when I was replacing the serpentine belt under the watchful eye of the tiny terrorist.

Of course once it was done Tiny Terrorist demanded a test drive. As you can see from his face, he is not sold on it’s road worthiness. You see, Jeff violently vibrates when you get above about 40 miles an hour. I suspect that this is just the tires needing to be run a bit because Jeff sat on them for almost 2 years. Of course I need to get the tires rotated and balanced, but there is the possibility that my universal joint is going out… I’m hoping not, but Jeff is a dick, so I’ll let you know when I get around to replacing it.

Speaking of dicks, everyone involved in the Florida unemployment system currently qualifies in my book. If any of you underachieving bureaucrats read this, please feel free to reach out and prove me wrong. I would LOVE to speak to you instead of get the run-around from your website and automated phone system. I filed for unemployment 3 weeks ago. I totally understand that you are overwhelmed, but it took 7 hours and dozens of times starting over because your feak’n system kept crashing to file online. My claim is still pending (it’s been 3 weeks), and I think I am supposed to call you and verify my identity, but when I call, I get a message that says you’re experiencing a “higher than normal call volume and you’re automated call back system is down”. The line then goes dead. This is how it has been for 3 weeks, and I have to say, I’m starting to contemplate handing out pitchforks, torches, and relearning the words to “Do You Hear the People Sing” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYb9sRLUDyM). I do not want to collect unemployment, but Covid-19 has destroyed my industry. There are no jobs in the entertainment industry to be had, my reserves are going to run out long before people are gathering for shows again, and there is very little demand for my skill set elsewhere.

Unless anyone would like to hirer me to build a guillotine in their back yard, no questions, half payment up front, cash only.

Days Unemployed: 19

Unemployed adventure points earned on this update: 2 points for Tiny Terrorist going to time out (1 each), 1 point for tiny terrorist telling me to be careful while crawling under my jeep while it was running, 2 points for doing something that should get me killed (crawling under jeep while it was running).

To see the full list of how I can earn points, check out: http://amanajeepnorealplan.com/tylers-coronavirus-unemployment-adventure-point-system/

This Update’s total points: 5

Total to date: 39

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tiny terrorist

Tyler and Grant

Me!

Wrap it up, Caitlyn.

I’m graduating?!

Life continues

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