Five Tidbits

It looks like I'm on the few times a year posting schedule. Sorry about that!

I really do enjoy writing and one of my resolutions for this year is to write more, whether that is blogging, in a journal or some ill-fated manuscript. But the actual act of starting to write after not doing it for so long is hard. It's a weak muscle that used to be exercised way more often.

In line with that, I thought I'd jot down 5 tidbits that you may not know about me.

1. I can make my own mayo. Now I know that doesn't seem like something worth sharing, but let me explain. E and I are in our second round of Whole30. We did our first in Sept 2017 and while it wasn't for weight loss but to feel better, we did lose weight and found that weirdly we didn't miss cheese and bread. And by "we" I mean me. I would have staked my entire bank account on the fact that life had little meaning without bread and cheese in it on a regular, i.e., daily basis. We did miss having a beer or glass of wine.

Fast forward to this round and I really wanted to try making mayo but all the recipes I had seen were very particular about how much oil and how to drizzle it and maybe sing it a song to be sure it was happy. If you failed at any one of these things then it would be a disaster and you wouldn't be allowed to call yourself a success in life. Nope, not for me. Way too much pressure in the kitchen which is my happy place.

Last week I saw a link for a no fail mayo and clicked on it so I could see all the ways others are better at this than me. Surprisingly it was an easy recipe and required no singing, so I thought what the hell. And, guys, it worked! I even chose to use a tall plastic container instead of a glass jar. I can hear all of you gasping from here. I know, I know, playing it fast and loose with the fail-proof recipe. My confidence has been renewed when it comes to concocting condiments!

In case anyone needs a confidence booster, here it is: https://thehealthyfoodie.com/fail-proof-home-made-paleo-mayo-whole30-compliant/


2. I've started to play Bunco with our neighborhood group. I had decided about halfway through the year in 2017 that I needed to make the remainder of the year a "YES" year. So when an invite was issued through the neighborhood facebook page, I said yes to attending. I was nervous about meeting other women in the neighborhood, and whether they would like me and was I dressed right and would I understand the game and what if they all hated me? My head can be a weird place.

Spoiler, no one hates me (that I know of) and everyone was so open and welcoming and I can, in fact, understand the game. It's loud and rowdy and reminds me of spending time with the women in my family. I'm hosting this month and I'm excited!


3. I'm the small time procrastinator of E and I's marriage. Papers or mail on the counter? Eh. Whatever. I'll get to it sometime in the next few months. The thermometer I ordered TWO MONTHS ago is still sitting on the kitchen table. It really should be elsewhere. It would take 2 seconds to pick it up and move it. Guess it's a good thing I"m hosting Bunco this month...it forces me to clean up the miscellaneous schmutz in our life. Or, red up, if you're some of my Pittsburgh folk reading this.


4. I still prefer an actual real book to my Kindle. I love the Kindle for travel and reading at lunch because it's small and fits in my purse. But there is something about feeling the pages of a book that the Kindle just can't make up for.


5. Sometimes when I'm in the kitchen and a recipe is particularly daunting I specifically choose to play the Game of Thrones Season 6 soundtrack. If I'm going to do battle then I should have the back-up music to complete the experience.


If anyone is reading this - because I think everyone has fled this blog since it's been forever since I posted - thanks for sticking around!

Treat Yo Self

DH and I recently finished Parks and Rec on Netflix, which is literally one of the best shows I have ever watched.

                            

I didn't have a clue the shows that I had missed. Thank you Netflix. At this point we've watched The Office, Parks and Rec, Sherlock, and House together. I'm working my way through Parenthood and while I cry at just about every episode, I'll be sad when it's finished.

This past Saturday DH and I decided spur of the moment to go out and do some shopping. We made it our Treat Yo Self 2016.


     


That sounds fantastic, right? Except DH and I's version of Treat Yo Self didn't involve elbow dazzling...oh wait, that's not a thing yet. And neither of us came home with a Batman costume.



Instead, our wild adult Treat Yo Self culminated with buying socks, underwear and a frying pan. Man are we rebels! We did check out a local brewery. Does that make us a bit more exciting? Yep, I didn't think so.

Have a wonderful Tuesday and Treat Yo Self Donna and Tom style, not DH and Awn style!

Inflammation of Facebook

I'm sad to say I usually check my email and Facebook while waiting for my coffee to finish brewing. As with so many days, Facebook is full of thoughts, experiences, good and bad news....and lately, inflammatory links.

I enjoy seeing the different beliefs, ideals and thoughts of my friends on Facebook, whether through links, posts, shared blogs, and so on. I have also hidden so many friends over the last year because I can't handle seeing the constant barrage of malicious diatribes, inciting headlines and in your face political beliefs. Now don't get me wrong - freedom of speech is a great gift and one that we should all take advantage of, considering how many issues there are facing our country at the moment.

But I don't believe that freedom of speech gives us the right to be rude, condescending or downright mean-spirited toward one another. People couch it in terms of it's their religious or political beliefs, that they are entitled to say what they want, that they are just being "honest". That honest one is the biggest cop-out. It allows a person to say the cruelest statements and then say "I'm just being honest". If we all honestly said what we thought at all times we would all be friendless.

I don't think that everyone has to think the way I do, believe the same things I do when it comes to faith, or feel the same politically. I do believe that we should be courteous to one another as human beings. What happened to discourse without people sinking into the mud? What happened to having a discussion without accusations being thrown around like confetti? We will all feel strongly about what we believe, feel, think regarding situations. When did we as a society lose the ability to hear one another? When did we decide to compartmentalize people, politics, faiths and viewpoints into small boxes that don't allow us to stretch? When did we become a country that allows our media to tell us what we ought to believe?

What brought on this post was, in my opinon, an unnecessarily inflaming link on Facebook. It used race as a way of making the headline more shocking, more in your face. Is race an issue in our country? Are the inequalities that minority or non-caucasian races face in this country an issue? Absolutely. Is anything gained by making words like white, black, latino, hispanic, asian, african-american, caucasian more imbued with bitterness, hate, fear, superiority, inferiority?

I am just an audiologist who lives in a pretty calm city in the south. I don't pretend to have a solution to the issues that face us in daily life at this moment in our country's history. There are inequalities. There are injustices. There are major shifts regarding injustice and inequality that need to happen. Does that change and shift start with our daily conversations and allowing one another to be heard, to discuss, to allow that we are not always right?

All I know is that fear and hate mongering do not solve these issues from either side. They divide us from one another, from the ability to work toward a solution. Words are powerful and should be used to spur us on to productive action that will resolve issues, not continue to make these issues more mired in controversy, resentment and fear.