Friday 5!

Hey all! I am linking up with Running on Happy and Fairytales and Fitness for Friday 5 2.0!

Today, my theme for Friday 5 is...

5 THINGS I LOVE ABOUT BIG BROTHER!!!

The season premiere of Big Brother was on last night. Big Brother is one of our favorite shows. Here are 5 Things we love about watching Big Brother!

1. It's on ALL THE TIME. This is actually one reason people don't like to get invested in Big Brother. But for me? It's a plus! In the summer, I have all the time in the world! I watch the three 1 hour episodes that are on CBS during the week. I DVR Big Brother After Dark which is on every night for about three hours. (I don't watch all three hours, I just fast forward until something good happens. It's nice to watch while stretching and foam rolling.) Then, there's all the PODCASTS I can listen to that talk about the episodes. It's ALL Big Brother ALL THE TIME.

2. The LOVING and the HATING. To me, a "good" season of Big Brother includes characters I LOVE and characters I HATE. Ideally, someone I LOVE wins the game. Or at least someone I HATE doesn't win. Last year, someone I HATED won, so this year I hope karma comes back around and someone I LOVE will be the winner.

Stupid ass shitty Nicole.

PAUL! FRIENDSHIP!!!

3. Julie Chen's outfits. I love to see what Julie is wearing on the Thursday night eviction episodes. She never quite gets the outfit right. She either has on the wrong shoes, her necklace is too chunky, or her dress is lovely but the color is all wrong. The point is, it's interesting and I like to see what she wears. Julie is a beautiful woman, so honestly, a misstep in her style is still 20,000 times more fashionable than anything I wear!

 Those shoe!? That neckline!?

4. It's a show Paul and I can watch together. We laugh, we scream, I cry... Big Brother is a show we bond over. And we normally like/hate the same people and think the same types of things are funny, so we are just the most perfect two people to watch Big Brother together. Awwwww!

5. It's FUNNY. The editors do a good job and embrace the show for what it is... NONSENSE!!! But they do little things with the camera cuts, music, and sound effects that make the show hilarious. Julie Chen gets in on the action too, and always embraces the cheesy catch phrases that have burned themselves into Big Brother history on eviction nights. "But first..."

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have you ever watched Big Brother?
What's your favorite show to watch with your partner?

Home Improvements!

Yesterday, I needed to go to Lowe's to buy stakes to help my tomato plants stay upright. (They are not staying in their cages- they are WILD!) Also, Paul needed a gas can and the tools to make a clothesline.

About 3 hours and several hundred dollars later (including a trip to Wal Mart), we arrived home with our PURCHASES!

I'm going to show you all the things we bought, and then some ugly pictures of the outside of our house.

Our porch light is gold and gross!

This will look much better!

Some of our neighbors have these and they are pretty.

Paul's clothesline stuff!

I planned to paint our front stoop and our door.

4th of July decorations!

We hadn't mulched in years....

Welcome... too our shit hole.

It's crazy how sometimes you look at your house and think it's fine... but then you really look at it and you realize there's so much that could be done. Allow me to show you...

Our little home... but let's go closer...

Let's go even closer...

 Here is our front door. Not too bad, right? LET'S GET CLOSER!!!

Gross gold porch light! 

The black one will look a lot nicer.

Ew! The door! It's all dirty and the paint is chipping off the sides!

THE FRONT STOOP IS IN SHAMBLES!!!!!!!

These hedges down our driveway are way too big.

They need reigned in...

Ugh, shitty flower bed.

More shitty flower bed...

These shutters flew off in a storm years ago.

WE HAVE NOT GOTTEN AROUND TO FIXING THEM! 

I finally threw them out yesterday. They were laying in our side yard, partially disintegrated under pine needles... I am so ashamed... 

 Here is our back porch. Okay people, start thinking of ways we could make this more inviting because we haven't even started coming up with ideas for this area yet...

Okay, now here is the fun part... Here's what 5 hours of yard work will accomplish!

First, I put the tomato stakes in my garden!

In case you didn't know what tomato stakes were...

My garden consists of 4 tomato plants, 

4 pepper plants, cilantro, and basil. 

It is growing really well!

I got about 4 peppers so far and ONE cherry tomato that was DELISH!

Oh, I also have some squash but I accidentally deleted that picture.

Then I painted to front door and the trim. It will need another coat which I will do today. (The recommendation is 24 hours later.)

With just one coat it already looks better.

Then I painted the front stoop. I will do a second coat today. I can't wait until that is done so I can put the welcome mat out as well as the potted plant I bought to put on the stoop!

Not perfect but a lot better.

This will go on the front stoop.

Then I weeded the flower bed in front of our house, cleaned up leaves and trimmed some of the dead parts off the plants. 

My reward!? LAYING DOWN ALL THE MULCH!!! That was so fun. Then I put up the "decorations", such as our rocks, our garden art (GART), the solar lights, and the American flags!

Remember those overgrown hedges? Paul trimmed them.

He did a good job, but did you see everything I accomplished in 5 hours!!??

I'm sure you noticed our front door needs a new screen door. I'm not sure how it broke, but it bit the dust over a year ago. We also need a new roof. Our roof was "newer" when we bought the house, but it is time to repair it. The shingles are DONE.

It makes sense that our house should need some big home improvements. We have lived here for 9 years! We love our little home and I am serious when I tell you I don't ever want to move out of it. I am quite certain we could afford to upgrade to a bigger place with maybe a nicer lawn and a deck... But I don't know, I am such a homebody and this is our HOME. I think I would rather spend money keeping this place nice and then of course go on trips and vacations to the beautiful places we want to visit. Who knows, maybe someday we will buy a second home in Colorado!? I girl can dream...

There is more work to do, but that is what I was able to accomplish yesterday!

This is after 3 hand washes and a shower.

What's the last thing you did to spruce up the outside of your house?

Is there a home improvement project on the horizon?

How's your garden doing?

New Case Obsession: The murder of Missy Bevers

I found a fascinating case to research! It's not a new case as it happened a little over a year ago, but this is the first time I'm really diving into researching it.

Unfortunately, it seems as if the case has stalled!

Missy Bevers was a wife, mother of three daughters, and worked as a fitness instructor in a fairly small town in Texas. She was very active on Facebook advertising her fitness classes. She taught a morning Camp Gladiator class outside Creekside Church in Midlothian, Texas. 

The night before her murder, Missy informed her students via a Facebook post that she was moving the Camp Gladiator class to inside the church due to the fact that it was going to rain.

There is a lot to set up for these Gladiator classes because Missy arrived at the church around 4:15am. (Cameras inside the church verified this.) Her body was found when her students arrived for class around 5:00am. Missy was bludgeoned to death in the head and chest with a hammer like instrument that was sharp. It is just so horrible that this happened to her.

Now, here is the creepy part... There is VIDEO FOOTAGE of the perpetrator inside of the church before Missy got there. In the video, you see the perp walking around, swinging the weapon, opening up doors, etc. The suspect is just sauntering around like they have no care in world.... 

It is impossible to tell who the suspect is because they are wearing what looks like SWAT gear, including a helmet. You can't even tell if they perp is male or female.

Investigators estimated the the suspect is between 5'7 and 5'10 tall. You can tell from the video that the perp is probably a little overweight. Another thing that is creepy is the very unique posture and gait the suspect has. When walking, their toes point outward, and it's kind of like their left leg is a little weaker than their right.

One thing I am wondering is if the camera footage filmed the actual murder of Missy. While the police have released some footage of the perp, I have not been able to see any footage of Missy. Obviously they can't release the video of her murder, but it may be too disturbing to even see video of her entering the church, unaware of what was about to happen.

It's crazy to me that police have not arrested anyone in this murder, yet! It is quite obvious this was not a random killing. Someone knew Missy would be there inside (due to rain) that morning. They knew there was not a silent alarm at the church but that there were cameras, so they needed to wear a costume to hide their identity. They didn't steal anything, but they killed Missy very violently. This was a personal attack. THIS WAS DONE BY SOMEONE MISSY KNEW. I am quite sure of that.

Obviously the first suspect is always the husband. Whether it's a happy marriage or not, women are normally killed by their husbands/boyfriends or exes. There is evidence that Missy was having at least two affairs. She and her husband were also having financial troubles. So there was stress in their marriage. However, the husband was in Mississippi and that has been investigated and confirmed by police. It is not her husband in the video.

The father-in-law is the next suspect. He has an interesting gait that appears similar to the person in the video. But to my mind, the walks are different as the FIL drags his right foot and the part drags their left foot. Not only that, but it has been proven the FIL was in California the day of the murder. It is not the FIL in the video. But could it be someone trying to impersonate the FIL? Who the heck knows.

There is one red herring, but I feel like I have to mention it. A couple days after the murder, Missy's FIL took a bloody XXL woman's shirt to the dry cleaner. He said it was blood from his dog who got into a fight. The blood was tested and it was indeed dog blood. I think the FIL is a weirdo. Wouldn't you throw that shirt out? I know if I had a shirt covered in my cat's blood, I would throw it away!

So husband and FIL are out of town. Could the person in the video be a WOMAN? Maybe it is the wife of one of the men Missy had an affair with? I am sure police are investigating everyone. If it's a woman, that is BEYOND CREEPY.

Another piece of evidence... A few days before her murder, Missy showed a friend a LinkedIn message from a male unknown to both of them. The friend told this info to the police and she told the police that she and Missy both thought the message was "creepy". Could this be related to the murder?

And one last piece of evidence that has recently emerged... There is a sporting goods store just down the road from the church. Apparently, a couple hours before the murder, a car pulled into the parking lot and drove around slowly. They turned the headlights on and off. Is this where the person changed into the SWAT gear? The sporting goods store released the video footage of the car, but unfortunately there is no way to see the licence plate number. Police don't think the car is related to the murder... but is it?

My hunch is... the husband and the father-in-law hired someone to kill Missy. I think it is TOO CONVENIENT that they were BOTH out of town on the day this happened. 

Even though no one has been arrested yet, I do think they will eventually find the monster that murdered Missy.

If you want some more videos on this case, check out Nancy Grace Mysteries.

Brain Scratch also has some excellent videos.

What do you think happened to Missy?

Did I miss anything important?

Jim Thorpe: A Must Visit Town in Pennsylvania!

Paul and I are checking things off my PA Bucket List left and right! On Monday, we headed about an hour and forty-five minutes Northeast to the charming town of Jim Thorpe.

The town was super cute and old fashioned. We found a good parking spot and walked two blocks to the Old Jail Museum for our 12:30 tour.

The jail was built in 1871 and didn't close until 1995... which is crazy because the condition of the jail just didn't look like something that would actually fly 22 years ago. I guess that's why they shut it down!

The tour began with a rocky start. I ducked into the bathroom and it smelled worse than a port o john. It was dirty too. Then the unthinkable happened... when I leaned over to put paper on the toilet seat, my sunglasses fell off my head and landed on the dirty part of the toilet between the tank and the seat... right on a dark black PUBE! I almost threw up! Luckily I brought other sunglasses in my gym bag but now I was going to have to burn my cute blue ones.

After that harrowing ordeal, the tour officially began. A young high schooler was our tour guide, and while he tried really hard to do a good job, I had a hard time understanding what he was saying. Some of his words seemed mumbled and jumbled together. Paul said he could understand him fine. When the tour was over, Paul explained some of the things I missed to me!

A cell

Solitary confinement was in the "dungeon" below the jail.

Now, if you thought the sunglasses on the pubes was bad, what I am about to tell you is probably worse. There was a guy on the tour that was chewing his gum SO FREAKING LOUD. Like, his mouth wasn't even really closing completely. He was like an ANIMAL. 

I was DRUNK WITH RAGE practically the whole tour. I seriously almost told him to cut it out. Then I thought about just going up to the gallows and ending it all because I was pretty sure dying was going to be better than listening to that dude chomp on his gum.

7 men were hung at the gallows in this jail.

This is a recreation of the gallows.

Paul couldn't stand it either and he doesn't even have misophonia like I do! Paul said he wanted to punch the guy in the face. We seriously thought we were getting punked. I wish you had been there so you would know that I am NOT EXAGGERATING. I'm pretty sure I will never in my entire life hear someone chomping louder than this guy.

In a cell... after the tour was over and the chomper left!

You are probably thinking that we were having a really crappy time, and while the Old Jail Museum was cool, it was overshadowed by the gum chomper. It was nice to get outside into the fresh air too. The jail smelled... like dankness and urine.

Next, we just meandered around town and went into some cute little shops. All we bought was one post card, but we had a lot of fun wondering around. I would like to go back during the holiday season for their Olde Time Christmas!

Our walk around town was just a warm up for our next activity. We drove about 5 minutes to the other side of the gorge and parked at the Onoko Falls trailhead in Lehigh Gorge State Park.

The hike up to the top of all three falls took about an hour due to two main factors: 

1. It was basically straight up, very rocky, and there were some "goner spots" were you had to be careful. There were even some sports where you had to climb up embankments to get to the next part of the trail. It's doable and enjoyable if you're in shape and have good balance, but otherwise I would caution you.

2. It was so freaking beautiful what we kept stopping to look at the waterfalls and the rhododendron!

The effort it took to get to the top was very rewarding. The Onoko Falls is a HIDDEN PENNSYLVANIA GEM!

This was NOT a cliff!

 This IS a cliff. Paul zoomed in. 
He is safe behind the ropes.

One thing I didn't understand was all the stupid people not obeying the signage! There were signs warning you not to sit on the edge of the falls and sometimes there were even ropes you weren't supposed to go past. Yet, there were stupid teenagers/young adults ignoring all the warnings. There were even some parents who went past the ropes with their kids. What a horrible example to set!

I just don't understand people who don't follow the rules on trails and at state parks... especially because they made it VERY CLEAR that it was important to be careful. Seriously, how much clearer can they be!?

Of course I had to look up all the sad stories about people being careless and losing their lives. I found this one, this one, this one, and this one. Then I realized I have a sick fascination with death (just realized!?) and called my macabre research quits.

One of the articles brings up the topic of putting in more safety railings. In my opinion, I don't think that would work. The people we saw went past the ropes and past the signs that were posted. They were not following the few safety guidelines that were actually there. And honestly, with all due respect to those who have slipped over the falls and died... did they really think it was a good idea to sit AT THE EDGE OF A 50 FOOT WATERFALL???? I think common sense needs to win the day here, and people without common sense are going to climb over any ropes or railings that are put up.

Okay, I'm down off my soapbox now.

A lot of people hiked down the way they came, but hiking down those steep rocks didn't seem fun to me, so we took another trail. The whole loop we ended up taking was only about 2 miles but it took us quite a long time for the reasons I mentioned above. All in all, I would say if you enjoy hiking, the Onoko Falls is a MUST DO! Just BE CAREFUL and use COMMON SENSE. We saw one hiker in flip flops (crazy), a couple in hiking boots, but we just wore our running sneakers and were fine.

After our hike, we wanted to relax and eat some food, so we got a spot on the deck at Molly Maguire's Pub, which was right across from the train station. We ordered drinks and grub!

Paul got an open faced turkey sandwich with gravy and mashed potatoes. He let me have some. It was the best gravy I ever had!

I had Ahi tuna and a side of fries. And a moscato. Okay, two moscatos. One for each mile I hiked!

I will tell you one weird thing that happened while we were eating... we heard church bells chiming The Entertainer. What the heck!?

From our perch on the deck, we could see a beautiful mansion at the top of the hill. So after we paid our bill, we hiked up to what turned out to be the Asa Packer Mansion. We walked around the grounds but unfortunately it was closed. I wanted to take a tour!

 I used to be able to do this with my leg straight back in 8th grade...

The view of the town from the mansion.

By now, it was time to go home. It was a long but very rewarding day exploring the town and trails around Jim Thorpe.. If you live within 2-3 hours of this place, I highly recommend you go. I know we will be back!

The next time we visit Jim Thorpe, I want to do the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway, do some wine tasting at Big Creek Vineyard's storefront, tour the Asa Packer Mansion, and do a hike at Hickory Run State Park so we can see the boulder field. Wow, that sounds like a lot to pack into one day. We may have to stay the night at one of the many charming bed and breakfasts in town. The Harry Packer Mansion Inn looks awesome but it's a bit out of our price range! 

Have you ever been to Jim Thorpe?

Did we miss anything that is a must do?

Tell me about the loudest gum chomper you ever heard!

Are you a rule follower on hikes and at state parks, or do you go in dangerous spots when there is signage not to?