My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.
2018 is literally making me sick. Every time I open up social media I get angry. I just don’t understand! To me it is so clear, we should live as a village. Not like in a communist way but we should try to take care of each other. The whole world. Now, I know that’s a simplistic view but maybe that’s what we need right now.
I have so many drafts of streams of conscienceness and feelings that I have written down. Last week I was sick and the Girls were sick and the whole house was sick. I did not have enough energy to write a new blog post, mentally I just couldn’t put it together. I started looking at some of these drafts to see if any of them would work. I found one. It was written quite a while ago. Reading back made me realize that I have had these thoughts and feelings for a long time now.
This is what I was feeling and this is what I wrote…
The world is broken.
I’m not sure there’s any way to fix it.
When you watch movies about the future it is always so scary. People are desensitized to crime and there is anarchy and lawlessness on the streets.
I think we are seeing the beginning of that. History is being made before our eyes. The history of the way the world ends.
Speaking of desensitized, you can watch real live murders on Facebook now. I watched 4 different ones today. This is not a movie… This is life… Life at the beginning of the end.
As I sit here 77 people have so far been confirmed dead in Nice, France. The Amber Alert for a 5-year-old girl from Calgary has just been called off, police have confirmed they have found her body. Last week 7 police officers were shot and killed in Dallas, Texas. A few days prior to that 2 black men were recorded being shot to death by United States police officers.
3 men sitting in the car listening to music and live streaming their evening were recorded being the targets of a drive-by shooting.
How can we stop this? How can we stop all this killing? Humans, all of us are such users and destroyers. Our populations just continue to rise. We are using all of our natural resources. Humans and industrialization have done so much damage to our Earth that it is thrusting us into the same cycle that decimated an entire species. Extinct.
We… Westerners, Christians, white people, whatever you want to call it, you know who we are… we are the powerful first world countries that continue to push what works for us onto countries that do not fundamentally think the way we do. Nor should they. They come from a completely different world. I’m not saying you personally but the powers that lead all of our countries, they represent us and they are making those decisions for our countries, for you, for me. They are choosing war.
What makes someone kill a 5-year-old? What makes someone drive a truck through a crowd celebrating their nation’s freedom at a family event, watching fireworks? How can the fear stop?
Gun sales have gone up in the past 2 weeks in America. People can live stream actual murders. There is so much heat from so many different groups of people across the world on so many different levels… How can we stop this?
I am heartsick. I am scared.
This made me sad. The world’s problems have been leaving me like the weather, cold and gray.
I decided to make my own sunshine ☀️!
Every time we have left the house this week I left with a smile. Everywhere we went I complimented strangers, held doors for people, and started cheerful conversations. I responded to every text, comment, and message with kind words and thank yous. When we went out for dinner I thanked our server, busser, hostess AND the kitchen! I delivered little gifts for friends leaving for DisneyWorld. After I left visits, I sent thank you messages. On our local social media sites I posted encouraging words, motivational sayings and bouquets of thankfulness.
I gotta say… it has been WONDERFUL. I haven’t been angry or sad once! I mean I’ve always thought of myself as a kind person but going out of my way to be extra kind has done wonders for my mood! If you are feeling down and like the world is going to hell in a handbasket, perhaps you need to spread extra love too? Perhaps if everybody started making their own sunshine and putting out more bouquets than beefs things will start to change?
While I’ve been writing this, a friend posted something that hit the nail on the head! This is exactly what I am talking about… 💛
Speaking of talking, our podcast How Was Your Week, Honey? Celebrated 50 episodes last week!! It has been so much fun setting aside 1 night a week for date night! I can’t wait for 50 more! Check out Episode #50 A Fridge To Far, HERE.
This week’s episode was a fun one to record and you can hear Episode #51 The Virgin Diaries, HERE.
Easy Cashew Chicken
1 egg
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons garlic, pressed
2 green onions (white parts)
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup roasted, salted cashews
1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted
2 green onions (green parts)
Cut chicken into bite sized chunks and season with salt and pepper.
In a medium bowl, whisk egg then toss chicken in it.
Remove chicken pieces and put in a gallon size plastic bag.
Add in cornstarch and shake to coat well.
Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and cook chicken for 2-3 minutes, then flip and cook 2-3 minutes on the other side.
Add garlic and white parts of green onions, and stir fry for 1 minute.
Add in rice vinegar and cook for another minute. Pour hoison sauce and water over the top, and stir, cooking another couple minutes until sauce is thick and chicken is cooked through.
Stir in cashews
Garnish with green parts of green onions and toasted sesame seeds.
That night we took the Girl’s and KBesty to the Virtual Reality Studio! It was phenomenal! The Kids loved it! SBean didn’t want to try but enjoyed watching the big Girls. Ninja and I tried it and it was crazy how immersive it was! I was not expecting it to be so real!
Halfway through the week HBear was feeling under the weather too.
While the Tylenol was hard at work, SBean finished her hospital,
Beat me at Guess Who?
and made a mess Play Doh cupcakes.
There was also a lot of reading, cozy feet and gift giving.
I won a Scotties Curling package on the radio so I grabbed HBear from school at lunch time and we went to watch some amazing curling! It was a fabulous day! HBear had so much fun and felt so grown up! She was the only kid in the entire arena that we could see and we got to have lunch in the VIP Sponsor Lounge! It was so well done and the volunteers were very good and helpful. It was just a great experience!
We left curling and I dropped HBear off at Coding Club at the Library. As she said, “Best. Day. Ever.”
While SBean was partying it up we went for dinner at Earls!
