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Hey, everyone, welcome back to We are the Hands, and
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today I want to take you on a trip down
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memory lane to my old childhood. I grew up with
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four sisters and one brother, and let's just say life
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wasn't always easy. My parents worked all the time just
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to keep that food on the table and roof over
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our heads. That meant my second were really the ones
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you raise. We were rich, not even cult. There were
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times when my parents struggled to pay bills, and we
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moved around a lot, switching schools more times than I
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can count. But through all the chaos there was love, laughter,
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and lessons that shape me into who I am today.
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With six kids in the house, things were always loud
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and busy. My brother was the oldest and I was
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the youngest. My older sisters they played the role of
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the caregivers more than just siblings. They made sure there
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was food, they helped with homework, and they comforted me
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when life felt uncertain. When both my parents worked constantly,
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you know, just to make ends meet. You don't always
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get that traditional family set up with family dinners and
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bedtime stories. Instead, my sisters were the ones tucking me
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in at night and making sure I was ready for
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school in the morning. I learned early on how to
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be independent, how to take care of myself, and how
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to rely on the people around me. My sister Courtney,
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she was not the oldest, she was the third oldest.
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She was more of a mom to me than she
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was my sister. I was with her all the time,
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twenty four to seven. She always calls me like her
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mini me. You know, I was really close with her.
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As I grew older, I became really close with my
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sister Hope, and me and her are very close still
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to this day. I really don't have much of a
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relationship with my brother. He's kind of the outcast. He
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was the one always getting into trouble and stuff like that,
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so none of us really talked to him. And then
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I talked to my older sister Vanessa, she's the second oldest,
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And then I talked to Courtney, and we don't talk
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very much, but we talk. And then I don't talk
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to my sister Stacy because it's just problem after problem.
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And then me and my sister we're always talking. You
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always have to have the one sibling or maybe two
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in the home that are the trouble. Anyway, money was
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always tight for my parents. There were times when we
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weren't sure if the electricity would be staying on or
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if we'd have to move again just because ren was overdue.
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It was a struggle for my parents. And my parents
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worked twenty four to seven. It seemed like they were
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never around. They did their own construction thing where they
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built houses or painted or did roofing or whatever they
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could do to pay the bills, they did it. My
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dad also worked at Your Keys Observatory, which is a
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beautiful place in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. He did maintenance there.
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Not only did he work there, but he also did
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construction work, built houses, you know, whatever it made be
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just for that extra money. And my mom was in
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road construction as a flagger, so she traveled a lot.
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She was always on the road. They were always gone,
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and when she wasn't, she was helping my dad building decks,
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putting roofs on houses, you know, whatever they could do
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to survive and provide for us kids. My dad is
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the hardest working man I've ever met. So was my mom.
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And we still struggled. It was NonStop. We were constantly moving.
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I remember we switched school so much. It was a bummer.
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That we always had to switch schools, but had to
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do it. You know, your parents got to move so
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to you you can't just stay. I remember watching my
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parents' stress over paying the bills, counting out cash to
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make sure they had enough for groceries. We didn't get
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brand new clothes every school year. A lot of our
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stuff was hand me downs, which I'm okay with that
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that was just the way of life at that point.
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That's probably where my love for thrift stores and hand
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me downs really started. But even with the struggles, there
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was this unspoken understanding in our family. We had each other.
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My parents were doing the best they could, and my
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sisters filled in the gaps where they were needed. One
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of the hardest parts of my childhood was moving and
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switching schools all the time. Just when I'd start to
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feel settled in, we'd have to pack up and go
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somewhere new. It made friendships very difficult, and I always
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felt like I was the new kid everywhere we went.
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Even sometimes we would be starting school in the middle
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of a school year, and I hated that being that
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new kid. It was like you had to prove yourself
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over and over again. But if there's one thing that
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experience taught me. It was how to adapt. I learned
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to read people very quickly, to figure out how to
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fit in and how to be okay with change. It
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wasn't easy, but looking back, I see how it made
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me stronger. I am that person to be honest. I
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do not have a filter, and if you're being mean
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or saying hurtful things, I am the one that's going
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to tell you how I feel, just how it is.
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I just say it. Sometimes it hurts people's feelings, but
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if you don't like what I have to say, don't
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talk to me. Pretty much, that's how I am. Even
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though my childhood wasn't picture perfect, it shaped me the
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way I am today and how I parent. I know
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what it's like to grow up in a home where
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money is tight, parents are always working. I know the
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sacrifices older siblings make when they step in as the
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caregiver instead of the sibling. And I know how important
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it is to create a stable, loving home, something I
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strive for with my own kids every single day. Life
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back then wasn't easy, but it taught me resilience, gratitude,
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and the value of family. And now as I raise
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my own big family, I carry those lessons with me
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every step of the way. I try to teach my
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kids that not everybody has to struggle in life. I
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try to make sure that they see that you go
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out and work your butt off to pay your bills
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and stash some money aside, and as long as you're
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working and not slacking, you could make a good amount
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of money, at least enough to provide for yourself and
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your family. Because granted my parents worked twenty four to seven,
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not every person has to work like that. If you
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can find a good paying job with great benefits, you
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will not have to struggle like that. Just seeing my
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parents struggle growing up, I always told myself I will
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never let my kids wonder where I'm at. My older
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kids will not be raising their siblings, and I will
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do whatever I gotta do to make enough money and
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also have a home life as well. Sometimes it's hard,
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but you just do it. That's why I think that
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me and my husband have decided that we were going
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to be entrepreneurs, because owning your own business like we
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do it helps. When you need a break and you
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need a day off, you can rearrange your schedule so
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that you don't have to work on a specific day there.
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For a while, I was a supervisor at the hospital here,
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and I missed out on so much stuff with my children,
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and it really crushed me. You know, there's more to
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life than working twenty four to seven and missing out
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on your kids growing up. I've seen that myself. I
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missed out on a lot of stuff with my kids,
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and I told my husband, and I told myself, I
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will not be like my mom and dad and never
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have any part in my children's lives. I want to
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be able to own my own business and make a living. Yeah,
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you might have to do a big job that lasts
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a week, but then you can take a week or
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two off, or you can do little jobs in between
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that don't take all that time. If you need to
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rearrange that schedule, it's no big deal. You can do that.
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So that's what I do. When I need more work,
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I will get more work, whether it be cleaning, whether
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it be painting, whatever it may be. Besides powerwashing, we
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can do all this little bitty stuff in the background.
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I also get the joys of being here to tell
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our family's life story with you guys. I want you
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guys to know we are an open book in our home.
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We may have had the crappiest past growing up, but
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that is who we are today. And I wouldn't say
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all our time childhood was crappy because my dad took
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us on vacations. We went to Florida and it was
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mostly my sister Hope and I. We went all over
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the place with my dad. He took us to Florida,
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He took us to Kentucky. You know, we went camping,
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we went fishing, We went on fishing trips and canoeing,
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and it was so fun growing up and I will
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never ever forget those memories that we created with my dad.
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We didn't get to go with our mom very much,
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just because my mom stayed home to take care of
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the animals and my other siblings. My dad, he always
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was taking us places, and we didn't really do family vacations.
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We did do family fishing day trips, but we never
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ever were able to go on a family vacation, so
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that was kind of a bummer. And I've always wanted
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to do that with my own children, and I made
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sure that that happened, just because I want them to
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experience life. If we do the work, we can be
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able to do the trips. We try and save as
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much as we can. I know my parents couldn't, but
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they had a lot of bills back then. So just
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me sitting here and being able to tell you never
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struggle and miss out on stuff with your kids because
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you're working ten different jobs. Find a good paying job
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and stick with it that has good benefits and you
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are able to provide for your family. Make sure that
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you can also have time for your own kids and family,
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because that is one thing that I missed out on
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so much as a child, not being able to see
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my mom and dad very often because they were always working,
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not being able to have family dinners. We did do
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family Christmases and Thanksgivings together, but it's nothing like that's
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one day a year. It's nothing like every night or
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every other night being able to sit down with your
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family and enjoy it. And even Christmas time. My mom
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and dad did make sure that for the most part,
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we had good Christmases, but they struggled, and I don't
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ever want to struggle like that, and we did in
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the beginning. We did struggle and it wasn't fun, and
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I always told myself, I'm not going to do this
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we might have it happen here right now, but I'm
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not going to do this forever. And sometimes you just
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got to set your mind to something and just do it.
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And that's what we do. And if there's other opportunities
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that we can make money, we do it. We will
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figure out how to do something just to make money
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to make sure that our kids don't ever go without,
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that we don't ever go without, and that we can provide.
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And that's just the way it is. You know, living
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paycheck to paycheck. That was my mom and dad. We
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did that when me and Jeremy first got together. We
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lived paycheck to paycheck and it was horrible. I don't
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know how many times we struggled, right at the end
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when our paychecks wasn't going to hit until two or
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three days later. We struggled. It was not easy, it
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was not fun. We've had our electric shut off, We've
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had hardly any food in the house. You know. Now,
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I look back and I'm like, God, I can't believe
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I went through that. I know everybody goes through it
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at one point or another in life, but you never
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wanted to be you and definitely don't want to see
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your kids do it. And that was a learning experience
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for me and my family. Going back to always switching schools,
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that's another thing my kids have done that. My kids
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have switched schools at least three times. I feel so
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bad that that happened because I know what it feels like.
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Granted the last two schools my kids were okay with switching.
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It's not good. I tried to tell myself I would
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never put my kids in that situation. I did, and
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it was horrible. It's easy to look back and focus
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on the hard parts, the financial struggles, the uncertainties, the
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constant change. But the truth is my childhood wasn't all bad.
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It was full of laughter, sibling adventures, adventures with my dad,
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some with my mom, and moments of pure love. My
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mom and dad they always cared a lot about us kids.
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As my parents have gotten older, me and my dad
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haven't seen eye to eye sometimes, but I love him.
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I know that he worked hard. Granted he didn't show
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us the affection like a dad. I mean, he told
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us he loved us, or you know, hugged us or whatever,
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but it wasn't a constant thing. But we knew as
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kids that our dad loved us. Same with my mom.
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My mom has always been that mom that I guess
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I was really close to her. I remember one time
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from not being able to see her, it brought me
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close to my mom because I always wanted my mom
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because I never got to see her. And she came
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home from work and had to run to the store
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while I was taking a bath, and I wanted to