1 Year Later & Chicken Pot Pasta

The paradox of trauma is that it has both the power to destroy and the power to transform and resurrect.

Peter A. Levine

This week last year was our final week of “normal”… but we didn’t even know it.

To me, life as I knew it changed on March 13, 2020. It was Friday the 13th, a full moon, the beginning of spring break, and daylight saving time began. It felt like the whole world stopped. The whole world DID stop.

Looking back on the last year has made me emotional. I have gone through so many feelings in the last 365 days. Terror, anger, hopelessness, sadness, gratitude, fear, and sheer exhaustion.

This trauma has affected every single person in the entire world.

Trauma is weird. It affects everyone differently. It can hit you all at once or trickle in slowly over time. Over the past year I have been strong for my Girls. I haven’t let them see how scared I’ve actually been. When HBear was sick and had to get tested, I cried. I hid in my bathroom and cried, hard. The feeling that I couldn’t protect her made me shake with fear and sadness. I haven’t let them see how much not seeing my family has hurt my heart. They have sacrificed a lot this year and I have told them to be proud of what they are doing for their community and I have had to swallow my sadness and lead by example.

Now that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, I feel an even deeper despair. In fact since the vaccination roll out began I have felt more hopeless than ever before. I have really tried to analyze my feelings and have asked myself why this is?

I don’t have that answer.

Yet.

I always get sick after Christmas, after exams, and around Thanksgiving, after all the craziness of September dies down.

Always after the storm. After I know all will be OK, after I don’t need to be strong anymore and I can finally fall down and weep.

This year long barrage of pain and suffering is finally quelling and my heart and my head hurt. I need to regroup. I need to look at all that I have learned from this experience and take stock. Through this ordeal we can either come out stronger or we can shut down. I am going to come out of this with a new mindset. I’m going to come out the other side with a new resilience I never knew I had in me.

I will be stronger, I just need to comprehend all that happened and make sense of it all. I need to reconcile that things may never be “normal” ever again. I need to cry. I need to reflect. I need to get mad. I need to understand what I can do to protect myself and my family in the future. Most of all I must NEVER forget. We all went through something that has changed us. That has changed the WORLD. We must remember all the good things and the awful things. Over the past year I saw these Facebook statuses and I copied them and made a little booklet so that I never forget this period of time. 2020 the year we all paused. The year everything changed. By remembering what we went through, we will get through this rebuilding period… together 💛.

Just so I NEVER forget….. April 2, 2020!

Gas prices at a record low 89.9 today.

No traffic woes.

Satellites measure significant reduction in air pollution. The Earth is breathing.

In-School sessions cancelled indefinitely on March 17, 2020. Learning goes on-line. No Graduation ceremonies.

Everyone moves to the next grade.

Physical distancing measures on the rise.

Social distancing a must. Can’t visit our seniors in homes.

FaceTime gatherings the new norm.

The world has been forced to slow down. To refocus what’s important. Things feel slower. It’s hard to keep track of what day it is.

Tape on the floors at grocery stores to help distance shoppers 2m (6ft) from each other.

Limited number of people inside stores, therefore lineups outside the store doors.

Panic buying sets in and we have no toilet paper, no disinfecting supplies, no paper towel, no laundry soap, no hand sanitizer.

Store shelves are bare.

Home cooking. Recipe exchanges. The return of meal times.

Non-essential services and businesses mandated closed.

Parks, trails, beaches- entire cities locked up.

Entire sports seasons cancelled. All of them.

Concerts, tours, festivals, entertainment events – cancelled.

Communities singing from balconies, singers stream personal concerts from home.

No gatherings of 50 or more, then 20 or more, then 5 or more, now only those who live together.

Weddings, family celebrations, holiday gatherings, trips – cancelled.

Children’s outdoor play parks are closed, taped off.

Can’t go to Church services. Churches are closed.

Services are watched on tv and YouTube, streamed from an empty building. Lots are praying.

Shortage of masks, gowns, gloves for our front-line workers. Equipment rationed.

Shortage of ventilators for the critically ill.

Manufacturers, distilleries and other businesses switch their factories to help make visors, masks, hand sanitizer and PPE. Donations pouring in. People stepping up.

Government closes the border to all non-essential travel, calls Canadians home and makes it mandatory to self isolate for 14 days.

Fines are established for breaking the rules.

Stadiums and recreation facilities open up for the overflow of patients. People stepping up to help.

Press conferences daily from Prime Minister Trudeau.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Bonnie Henry gives daily updates on BC’s new cases, recoveries, and deaths.

Flatten that curve!!

Millions of applications for Employment Insurance, and financial help as people go without work.

Government incentives to stay home.

Millions and billions of $ in aid.

Those who can, work remotely from home.

Essential service workers are terrified to go to work.

Medical field workers are afraid to go home to their families.

7 pm Balcony & Window Appreciation Applause for Front-line workers. Emotional fuel for all.

They say it started in Wuhan, China at a seafood market. 🦇 Hundreds of thousands affected, dead, dying, critically ill.

Many recovered.

This is the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic, declared March 11th, 2020.

Why, you ask, do I write this status?

One day it will show up in my memory feed, and it will be a yearly reminder that life is precious: To not take the things and people we dearly love for granted.

We have so much!

Be thankful. Be grateful.

Be kind to each other – love one another – support everyone.

We are all one! ❤️

Oh, Canada!

Check out How Was Your Week, Honey? Episode #214 Feel Like A Weiner HERE! This week we get into some lighter fare. Topics: Putting your foot in your mouth, Miami Vice, couples quiz, Kelowna, home baking, Nanaimo bars, Buttergate, eyebrow game, & zombies.

Spring is in the air but that air still has a little chill to it. I was craving chicken pot pie but I wasn’t craving all the work that chicken pot pie takes! So, I decided to make chicken pot pasta instead! All the flavours and half the effort! Not even half, like a quarter!! This dish is so easy and tastes so good! It is the perfect early spring dinner!

Chicken Pot Pasta

Adapted from Life Made Simple

2 tablespoons butter
2 cups of cooked chicken (I had leftovers)
10 mushrooms, sliced
1/2 yellow onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 cup chicken broth (I used homemade turkey stock)
2 cup half and half
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
5 thyme stalks
5 sage leaves, chiffoned
1/4 teaspoon paprika
12 oz egg noodles
1 cup frozen peas, thawed (I used mixed frozen vegetables)

1 can of corn, drained
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped

In a large pot over medium heat, add the butter. Once heated, add the mushrooms, onion, celery and carrots, saute until tender, about 5-7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant.

Pour in the turkey stock along with the half and half, whisk, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Turn the heat up to medium-high and bring the mixture to a boil.

Cut the chicken into small bite-size chunks and return it to the pot. Add the salt, pepper, garlic powder, thyme, sage, and paprika.

When the mixture begins to boil, add the pasta and reduce heat to medium. Cook for 10-15 minutes, then add the corn, peas and parsley.

Cook until the pasta is tender and the sauce is thick.

It’s March! My fitness group and I started a new challenge. This month I am challenging us to create our own… Happiness! That starts with a morning cup of coffee 😊. SBean received a certificate for coding and Ninja treated me to a nonfat half sweet vanilla latte!

This week we drink some yummy wine, ate some delicious dinners and baked my Nana’s chocolate chip cookies! I did yoga, cleaned the house and did homework. After school we always do workbooks and music practice. This week SBean said she made important corrections to her workbook 🤣.

This past weekend we did some family Geocaching! We worked on some souvenirs associated with a new challenge, the Seven Wonders of the World! We found all 7 ancient wonders, all 7 modern wonders and won 3 souvenirs Next time we will search for the 7 natural wonders. While Geocaching in Kelowna we made our way to Whisk Cafe and Bakery. It is in the Rutland area and was featured on The Food Network on a show called Project Bake Over! It was an adorable cafe but sadly was sold out of most of all their treats 🤣 so we took what they had left and then then picked up some potato.

On Sunday SBean and Ninja went public skating and a few of her school friends were there! After both Girls cleaned their bedrooms we celebrated by using all their Claire’s gift certificates at their closing out sale! It was a fabulous and fun shopping spree!!