Holley: “Only one person can have a ‘poopie day,’ and that’s me. I dressed up as Spookie Dookie a month ago. Now, if I’m having a bad day, I put on this costume and ride around Fairhope in my golf cart with Rick Rick, handing out poop stickers and telling people to have an ‘uncrappy day.’ Making people laugh feels good, so we keep doing it. I laugh at myself and go home with a better attitude.

Rick: “We’re putting an outhouse on her poop mobile.”

Holley: “Rick is my uncle. He lived in Birmingham and moved in with us two years ago after his wife, Norma, died. She went in for gallbladder surgery on a Thursday and died on Sunday. It happened so fast.”

Rick: “I’m the last Winsett. Norma and I were together for forty-five years but didn’t have kids. I worked the same job for almost that long. Was about to retire. After Norma died, I quit and sold my home in a week. Life changed fast.”

Holley: “Rick moved in with my family to help me. I had been sick with autoimmune diseases, took chemo off and on for eight years before I had kids. Later when I got Covid, it hit me hard. I was in the hospital for over a week.”

Rick: “I thought she was going to die.”

Holley: “The first ten days I was fine, but I crashed on the tenth day. I signed a waiver saying the medicine they gave me could damage my liver and kidneys, but I couldn’t breathe and took whatever I could get. It caused permanent liver damage; now I have non-alcoholic cirrhosis. We found a medicine that helps, but the cost is astronomical, and insurance doesn’t cover it. Then my father–Rick’s brother–died in 2019. Rick is like a second father to me. He goes to my doctor’s visits, listening to what I need to eat. He’s a fabulous cook and helps me get healthy through his cooking. He didn’t want to lose another family member.

When Rick moved in, we were both depressed. We went on a health and healing journey together to find happiness again. I like to laugh and make people laugh, but I was shy and meek–never funny or outgoing outside of our house. That changed after Norma died. I learned to live in the moment, not caring what others think about me. My first step to being a colorful, silly person was dyeing my hair purple. Rick and I started the RickRick & Hottie Show, posting videos of him cooking so his friends in Birmingham could keep up with him. The videos started bringing us out of our shells.

Then the Halloween costumes happened. Last year, I was the black sheep: Rick calls me the black sheep of the family. Before that, I was the crazy chicken lady.

We talked this summer about the next costume and came up with ‘Spookie Dookie.’ Rick ordered the poop costume. He’s always telling me not to do something, then encourages me to do it. I put on the costume a few months early, and Spookie Dookie was born. We hand out poop stickers, telling people: ‘Spookie Dookie cares about you,’ ‘When you don’t give a crap, call Spookie Dookie,’ and ‘My love for you is like diarrhea. I can’t hold it in’.”

Rick: “The theme song should be ‘That Smell’ by Lynyrd Skynyrd.  Or, change ‘Hang on Sloopy’ to ‘Hang on Spookie’.”

Holley: “Everybody asks what I did to Ricky after he moved in with us. We play off of each other; this just blossomed.”

Rick: “She got older but never grew up.”

Holley: “I’ve lived in Fairhope since sixth grade. Me and my sister were preacher’s kids, but we were mean. We were the only girls in the neighborhood and opened a beauty salon to cut the boys’ hair; we buried the hair so we didn’t get in trouble.  We also sold locust shells to the boys for a nickel each, telling them to put the shells in their parents’ pillowcases.

I never grew up, but I have a lot of negatives in my life. Sometimes I need a walker or wheelchair, but I have kids and a husband. I keep going and making fun memories with them. This is the only life I’ll get, so I live it the best I can. I just put on wacky socks and laugh at myself. If you’re a stick in the mud, your life will be boring; I can’t have that. God put me here to be myself.

My next costume will be Sunshine. I love to make my own sunshine and spread it around.”

Holley and Rick (Follow the Rickrickandhottieshow on TikTok @wadetube)

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