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Two sisters go viral for their ridiculously functional roller coaster costume

The screams and synchronized movements really help sell the whole experience.

Laurie Dabbs-Gayton|TikTok

Sisters go viral for realistic roller coaster costume

Spooky season can be a fun time of year for people. There are folks that wait all year for the official start of fall just to decorate for Halloween. Costumes are bought in advance and bags of candy are purchased and stored, but not everyone buys their costume. Some spooky season lovers get really creative with their Halloween costumes out of household items.

There are some homemade costumes that are so funny and realistic that you have to do a double take. Two sisters are going viral for their ultra realistic roller coaster costume made out of cardboard and foam noodles. But it's not just their costumes that are stealing the attention of millions, it's their acting skills.

In the video uploaded to TikTok by Laurie Dabbs-Gayton, the sisters stand side-by-side, though it looks like their sitting. They begin to shake and jostle as if they're on a track before screaming like they've just rounded a bend or flew down a hill quickly.

The pair is in total sync with each other adding to the realistic vibe of their costume for their employer's costume party. It was so convincing that people watching the video were confused at first thinking it was a coin operated ride. Commenters didn't realize it was a costume until the women stood up fully.

"I thought it was a mini roller coaster," one person writes followed by multiple rolling crying laughing emojis.

"Took my brain a few extra seconds to process what my eyes were seeing," a commenter says.

"I thought for a second it was like the pony ride machines outside a grocery store," someone admits.

"It took me far longer to figure out than it should have," one woman writes.

Watch the fantastic combination of acting skill and costume design below:

This article originally appeared last year.

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Family

New 'empty-nester' dad has a bittersweet realization when he goes shopping without kids

"It hit me really hard."

via JeffPearlmanAuthor/TikTok (used with permission)

Jeff Pearlman has a big realization at his local supermarket.

A father of 2 who recently sent his last child off to college had the new reality hit him like a ton of bricks while visiting the supermarket. The realization came when he saw parents picking out Halloween pumpkins with their kids and he was at the store alone.

“I used to pick out pumpkins with my kids,” Jeff Pearlman said on TikTok. “And I'm here and I see dads and moms with their kids in the cart and it used to be me with my kids in the cart. And, it actually hit me really hard, that the house is empty and little things that you take for granted as a parent. Taking your kids to the supermarket.”

Jeff Pearlman is the New York Times best-selling author of 10 books, including "The Last Folk Hero: The Life and Times of Bo Jackson" and "Showtime," which was turned into "Winning Time," a hit HBO series. He also hosts a podcast, “Two Writers Slinging Yang.”

Pearlman used the moment to remind other parents that they would soon be in the same position and should appreciate having children in the house while they can.

@jeffpearlmanauthor

Empty nester blues: A very real (and sad) thing. #emptynesters #emptynest #freebirds #sadness #college #writersoftiktok

“Maybe it seems like a pain in the a** in the moment,” Pearlman admitted. “You’d rather just leave them at home or whatever. But now I'm here by myself in the supermarket. And there's not that much to buy actually because I don't have two kids at home anymore ... and I'm looking at Halloween candy, but they're not going to give a crap. They're not here.”

“It just changes everything and it is an adjustment,” Pearlman continued. “I just want to say, if you live with your kids at home, please appreciate them and understand it goes very fast.”

Upworthy spoke with Pearlman and asked him if he could have better prepared himself for the empty-nester blues. “I don’t think it’s possible to truly prepare,” he told Upworthy. “You pack everything up and say your goodbyes. But then you’re left with this void. It’s jarring. The only thing that helps is time, natural readjustment, and the knowledge that they’re happy, which is how it’s supposed to be. I remind myself all the time that it would be much sadder if my kids were home and unmotivated.”



The video struck a chord with many people on TikTok, where it’s been seen over 400,000 times.

"I bought my son’s favorite snacks yesterday and didn’t even realize until I got home. Started sobbing," KMD wrote in the comments. "I’m still not over it! I just told my daughter today that I’d kill to be making their school lunches again. I used to hate it and now I miss it so much," Corinne added.

"I’m in the same boat. It’s the most painful thing I’ve ever felt. I feel lost but hoping it gets easier," Arblc20 admitted.

What is empty nest syndrome?

Empty nest syndrome is a "normal feeling," Amy Morin, LCSW, writes. She says it's defined by a loss of purpose and frustration over a lack of control. It can cause anxiety and marital stress. But the good news is that, in time, most parents will get over the feeling and embrace the new phase in life. "With time, having an empty nest will get easier. You'll get used to your child being in charge of their own life and you will develop a new sense of normal in your life," Morwin writes.

Dan Brennan, MD, says that new empty-nesters should focus on the positives of having a child-free home. He recommends that empty-nesters take advantage of their free time by taking classes, making a few extra dollars by starting a part-time job or volunteering for an organization they care about. “Realize that your role as a parent has changed, not ended,” he writes at WebMD.

The commenters noted that the pain of being an empty nester often evolves into the joy of being a grandparent. “Once my parents became grandparents, their purpose came back and the light in their eyes,” kearraarose wrote. “I think this is why grandkids are so fun to enjoy … we know it doesn’t last,” juliabbell added.

Pearlman had difficulty making it through the Halloween-themed supermarket after dropping his last child off at college. But being an empty-nester isn’t all pain and suffering. “I have full usage of my car again,” he told Upworthy. “And the steering wheel is clean.”

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Humor

Woman's sleep walking habits have people in tears from laughing at her sleeping antics

"I am Chris Hanson."

Celina SpookyBoo|TikTok

Woman's sleep walking habits has people in tears from laughter

Let's be honest, most folks have no idea what they're doing in their sleep. Unless you're tossing and turning, you're blissfully unconscious for approximately six to eight hours if you're lucky. You have no clue if you stole the covers from your partner to wrap up like a human burrito or if you sat up abruptly to do the Macarena because you were dreaming of dancing at a friend's wedding.

Most people are likely doing nothing more exciting that snoring, drooling or accidentally backhanding their partner if they have one. There are some people that become chatter boxes when they're sleeping whether its coherent sentences or jumbled nonsense. But there are those rare ones that not only want to chit chat while they snooze but get up to do things that they may consider strange.

A woman that goes by the name Celina SpookyBoo on TikTok recently posted a video of her own sleepwalking shenanigans and commenters can't get enough.

In the video that has racked up over 28 million views, Celina sits up in bed with her eyes wide open while being recorded with a night vision camera. "There's goats. There's seven goats," she says before getting completely out of bed and doing what appears to be some sort of Irish jig. Celina says several random phrases before laying down on a storage bench at the foot of her bed and saying, "I'll have a grilled cheese, it's fine."

So many questions. Is she cooking the grilled cheese on the storage bench? Is someone else making her the tasty snack in her dream? It doesn't stop there. At one point she appears to almost be acting out the famous scene from Hamlet before appearing from the door way to declare, "I am Chris Hanson." You know, the guy from Dateline and To Catch a Predator. Commenters were amused by the random sleep walking activities.

"The little Irish step dancing is KILLING me," someone writes with a laughing emoji.

"IMAGINE WAKING UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT AND YOU SEE SOMEONE STANDING COMPLETELY STILL AND THEY JUST SAY "It was the 11th of December," one commenter says.

"How do you make so much sense and so little sense at the same time," another person writes with a crying emoji.

Watch the entirely not weird at all sleep walking incident below:

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Family

Mom wants to know when Halloween became 'an adult pub crawl'?

"Have parents always done this, and they're just being more public about it now?”

via Sam Beckwith/Pexels and UltimiteMomChallenge/Tiktok

Celeste Yvonne had a recent Halloween realization.

Celeste Yvonne, a certified recovery coach and a founding host of the Sober Mom Squad, had a Halloween realization and wanted to know if she was the only person who felt the same.

“This morning, I'm listening to parents at the school drop-off area talk about how they will be bringing a keg onto their golf carts when they do the trick-or-treating rounds with their kids this year,” Yvonne says in a viral TikTok video.

“I'm not shaming them, but my question is: when did trick-or-treating become a beer crawl or pub crawl for adults?” she asked. “This is a newer phenomenon, isn't it? Or have parents always done this, and they're just being more public about it now?”

“I mean, even now, you can go up to a house doorway, and they will have candy for the kids or adult drinks for the adults. I never saw that growing up trick-or-treating,” Yvonne added. “Is this a newer phenomenon as a result of mommy wine culture or just the normalization of alcohol in general?”

@theultimatemomchallenge

#mommywineculture #halloween

The answer could be that drinking is a lot more visible during the holiday because the number of adults who celebrate is on the rise. At the same time, there has been a rise in alcohol consumption among older adults, where we now drink about the same amount as we did in the pre-Civil War era.

Interestingly, at the same time, there has been a decline in drinking among younger people.

In the comments, many noted that we didn’t see parents drinking during trick-or-treating in the past because kids used to go out with their older friends or siblings. “In the ‘80s, our parents let us go on our own. They stayed home and did what they wanted or at least in my town,” Leigh Winchester Fle wrote. “Gen Xer here, my boomer parents just sent us out and stayed behind and boozed. Now I think our generation tags along and take roadies,” Uncle Rico added.

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