How’s everything going?

No really! These emails, as well as my IG story, are one-sided mostly. It’s all about what I’m doing, cooking, my life. And sometimes I get personal responses about what is going on with you too, but more often, it’s not.

So, how are you? What’s going on with you?

Fav true crime stories

TRIGGER WARNING- I think this might need a trigger warning? I’m giving some details about crimes; however, I do not share any graphic details here!

Also SPOILERS? - I give away some of the story, yes. But the details are the best part!! Each story is linked to the case I listened to. You can skip reading the paragraph if you’d like to hear these firsthand.

There are some true crime stories that have stuck with me over the years. I’ve listened to hundreds, maybe over a thousand, of true crime cases in the last 5+ years. To say that any of them is a “favorite” sounds sort of odd. I just mean that I find the case really interesting.

Most of my “favorites” are unsolved or, if they’re closed, I don’t really feel like we know the whole story.

• Robert Wone - Robert Wone was living outside of Washington DC. One night he stayed a little later at work and instead of going home to his wife, he crashed at a friends’ house. He arrived at around 10:30pm and just about an hour after that, the police were called because Robert was dead. The friends say there was an intruder, but nothing was taken. And if it were a random invasion, why was Robert the only victim? The crime scene just does not match the story. The 3 friends were dressed in white bath robes when the police arrived; it’s as if they had just showered. Another interesting detail is that Robert’s mouth guard was in his mouth, and his wife said that putting in that guard was the last thing he did before going to bed. I have a theory but I won’t say it or spoil it or anything. No one has been charged in this case.

• Tina Watson - Gabe and Tina Watson were on their honeymoon. They were from the USA but traveled to Australia after they got married. They planned to dive down around a shipwreck near some famous reefs. Long story short, Tina died on one of the dives. There’s no way to know for sure if Gabe had a part in it, but I’m fairly certain he did. I think the motive was jealousy and possibly a small bit of money from a life insurance plan (that never got changed…). I listen to that episode of Casefile about once per year.

• Janice Saunders, Millie and Trevor Horn - This story is heartbreaking. Millie Horn was a flight attendant. She had been married to a guy who was big in the music industry for a while. But then music changed, and his talents were no longer appreciated. They had twins, one was Trevor. And … honestly, I won’t even tell you what happens. It’s WILD. There are so many bonkers details in this one. The hit man uses a how-to book!! What?! And the dad, to prove his alibi, randomly takes a video of himself watching TV at the time of the crime. It’s just such a sad, crazy story.

• Mike Williams (also the newest season of Over My Dead Body) - Mike is supposed to go fishing with his buddy. Mike doesn’t come home. Mike’s wife and buddy say, “Welp I guess he was eaten by alligators.” The police do many searches of the body of water. Nothin’! FINALLY, after a long time goes by, they find the water outfit he was wearing (waders, maybe? I can’t remember), and they look …fresh. They don’t look like they’ve been in the water very long….

• Mary Ellen Deener (Unsolved Mysteries) - Mary Ellen was a young teen. She and her sister were doing laundry at a laundromat. They realized they didn’t have enough change, but their grandmother was nearby. Mary Ellen decided to go over there for some change. She never made it back. The man who killed her is finally arrested. End of story? NOPE. He goes to jail BUT he gets really into art. So much so that people want to buy his art. He has such good behavior that one day, he gets to go with a group of other inmates to the mall to go shopping. It’s one of those “meet back at the bus in an hour” situations. Are you kidding?! And guess who never meets back at the bus… The guy has never been found again!

• The Beaumont Children - Oh man, little siblings, back in the early 1900s, get a little money for the bus. They go together to the beach. They never get back home. Someone claims that a man (in his 30s I believe) took them to get ice cream. Then they got into his car and no one has seen these kids again. This one is truly a mystery. How did NO ONE ever see anything? To kidnap 1 kid could be chaotic, but to kidnap 3 kids would be impossible it seems.

Okay I could go on and on. Let me know if you’d like to know more of these suggestions, or if you’d like a specific type of case.

Poshmark

You know Coach Amy, right? She was my triathlon coach, and honestly, she has had a huge impact in my life overall. She’s amazing, and I just love her. So I wanted to put together a thank-you gift for her. I got a few things for her already. Then she gave me several huge bags of nice clothes (she’s moving soon, to a cabin, in the mountains, and they have to downsize). I decided to try to sell some of her nice stuff (the things I didn’t keep for myself) and give her the money for it, in addition to the thank-you gift.

Someone mentioned Poshmark to me. Thankfully I have a PO Box already because I use that as my return address. The internet and true crime have made me paranoid about putting my real address out there. What do most people do in this case? Surely, most people do NOT have a separate address they can use?

Anyway, I’m really into it now. I want to sell everything.

At the same time, I do not want to sell things that are stained, torn, damaged in any way. I had the kids go through their stuff and find things to donate/sell (I told them they could have any of the proceeds from the sales). Unfortunately, but expectedly!, most of their things are too used for me to sell. Hopefully they’ll get a little bit of money from some of the sales! Time will tell.

Now let’s talk about ratings. On Poshmark there’s a rating system. The buyer can give the seller a rating. So far I’ve only gotten 5-star ratings. But I’m so anxious about getting less than 5 stars.

Cam and I were talking about this the other day. I could never write a book or start a podcast because I’d be putting myself out there for negative reviews. Like, if I got 10,000 book reviews and 9,999 of them were 5/5 but ONE was 4/5, I’d be crushed. Silly right?! It’s not a good thing. I don’t know how to move past that! I’ve got an idea for a podcast, but I don’t think I’ll ever do it because of the potential for criticism. 😅

Family updates

This is actually about my OTHER family, not me, Cam, + kids.

I don’t talk about them much, not for any bad reasons. I just don’t think about it! So this is a brief little family update.

My mama and dad are in San Diego at the moment. I’ve only been to CA one time, for an AP teacher conference. I saw the Pacific Ocean one night, but the rest of the time, I stayed with the other teachers at the conference. She’s been sending me Marco Polos here and there. It’s gorgeous!

I’ve got two little brothers. One of them is just 2 years younger than I am. He and his wife have 1 little girl, just a bit younger than Annabelle. But they’re expecting a second child this month! They live in the Dallas area currently.

And my other little brother is 9 years younger than I am. He and his wife also have 1 little girl, a little older than Charlie. They WERE living in Bossier (that’s Shreveport’s sister city), but just this weekend they moved to Kansas where he got a new job. So we won’t see them much moving forward, at least not in person!

My mama has 3 siblings. One of them just found out he has cancer, so prayers are appreciated for his health!

Brown sugar shaken espresso

I made this the other day, and it was delicious. I got a couple messages about how to do it better, so here’s what I would do next time!

• Make a brown sugar syrup. Simply simmer some brown sugar in water until it thickens into a syrup. You’ll want to do 2-3 tbsp of sugar with 1-2 tbsp water, for one drink.

• Pull 2 shots of espresso. If you don’t have an espresso machine, you can make a similar drink with brewed coffee. Just use 6-8 ounces and carry on from there.

• In a shaker cup, add the espresso, brown sugar syrup, and some ice. Shake until it’s frothy.

• Strain that into a new cup, add milk of choice, and add some ice!

You can top with a brown sugar cold foam (which is what I did). In a small cup, add some heavy cream, brown sugar, vanilla, and pinch of salt. Mix until it turns into whipped cream. Pour that on top of your drink. NOTE: This is NOT cold foam. Cold foam uses powdered milk, but that’s not something I have ever bought. This is close enough and very yummy!

Random life updates

Homeschooling - We’ve been sittin’ pretty at 4 days a week. Most days, we do math and language, plus a mix of history, science, geography, financial literacy, Bible, arts. We don’t do all the subjects every day, just what sounds fun.

Co-op - The kids are really enjoying co-op this year. They both like all 3 classes they’re taking. I’m teaching a pre-k class. There are 13 little 3-4 year olds. Honestly, they’re lovely. Their little voices are so sweet. I’m grateful for the 2 ladies in there who are helping me! I’m still figuring things out, but it’s going okay!

Fitness - I’ve started taking CrossFit 1-2 days per week. I talked to a girl in there who said she sometimes goes for a swim after a CF class. That helped me a lot! Last email, I mentioned that I wasn’t sure if that was a thing I should do. So I’ll start doing that: swim after Crossfit classes. Currently? I’ve thrown out my back. UGH. I’m going to see the chiro as soon as I can. Hopefully Monday. I can hardly move. Cam is having to help me sit down and get back up 🙄

Books my kids love

Charlie LOVES this little hidden pictures books. Rather, you pull a tab to reveal a picture.

He also loves all things animals. Sandra Boynton books are a big hit! Have you seen this TikTok video of Moo Baa La La La??

Annabelle likes Amelia Bedelia a lot. She also likes ANY books that we sit and read with her. It literally doesn’t matter what it is.

And Alexander likes graphic novels. For example, Hi Lo!

Parenting thought

I’ve thought about this a lot, so I figured I’d share it here. Basically, I want my kids to be better than me. I make a lot of mistakes as a grownup, and I talk about them with my kids so that my kids will be better than me when they grow up. I get mad easily, although I’ve gotten better about STAYing mad. I care way too much about what other people think, so I try my best to pour into my kids a positive mindset, a confidence that I just don’t have sometimes.

I want them to be a better parent than I am.

I want them to be a harder worker, a better friend, a better spouse, all of those things. At the same time, I don’t ever tell them that. I feel like that’s a lot of unnecessary pressure on a kid.

What I do is just talk about (some of…) my mistakes when I make them, what I should have done better. If they make a mistake, we talk about it. “What would have been a better thing to do?”

And you know, at the same time, I will love them no matter what sort of person they grow up to be. I was a straight-A student, literally only As. If my kids were in school and had only Cs, I wouldn’t think they were “less than.” I am thinking more about how they treat people, how they treat the planet, how they act in their relationships.

Not sure where I’m going with any of that. It’s just something I think about from time to time.

Shout outs

Thanks so much to Gina who bought me a coffee last week!!

Thanks for being here and being you. That's it for this week. Have a good one!❤️ Bethany

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