As a kid I watched sitcoms like Full House, Three’s Company and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Happy and fun shows. The only political views I heard as a child was something about Meech Lake (I wanted to go swimming there 😳), helicopters and Filmon Fridays. So really, politics didn’t affect my childhood. Nowadays politics is a main source of entertainment?!?! My kids talk about politics all the time, of course we are a political family so that makes sense but my 4-year-old niece can point to the former POTUS on the TV and say, “Donald Trump makes people angry.” I didn’t know who the President of the United States was when I was 4 and I certainly didn’t know him by name! My 7-year-old niece came home from school talking about Joe Biden and how he is mean because he cancelled the pipeline and now Canadians are going to lose their jobs! 7 years old! HBear came home the other day ecstatic that she finally figured out what she wants to do when she grows up! She said, “Mommy when I grow up I want to be Rachel Maddow! I want to tell the news on TV” 😂 I’m not actually surprised because both Ninja and I believed journalism was our calling when we were younger although the only newscaster I could name was the guy that came on halfway through Days of Our Lives every day. I remember my WpgBesty saying, “hi Jon Lovlin” every day at 12:30 PM! 😂 Things are so different now.
Every time I turn on the TV it seems like reality has permeated every primetime script. The majority of the channels are literally playing “reality” TV shows and the other half are incorporating the pandemic, political strife, and protests into their storylines. TV, to me, has always been an escape from reality but lately… it’s just too damn real.
February is the month of love and last night, February 1, was The Bachelor night! As a reader of romance novels my entire life, I of course gravitated towards The Bachelor/Bachelorette franchise. Fantasy dates, beautiful red roses, and a giant sparkling diamond at the end! What more could a girl ask for? 😂 Lately however I have noticed that the 2020’s have overtaken my favourite show. Last night on The Bachelor they had a Pretty Woman date. You know what I mean, the date where the Bachelor takes his chosen woman to fancy stores and she gets to try on all the beautiful clothes and take home multiple bags of gorgeous designer dresses and shoes! I love this date! I love how happy the women look as they get to pretend, for one night, that they are Julia Roberts! Unfortunately, the rest of the show was so toxic that I couldn’t even enjoy Rachel twirling in her Louboutins! The Bachelor had to ask 2 women to leave to create a safe space for the rest of the women. The words toxic environment came up more times than the word love! The mob mentality, the bullying, the lies that were spread about women, the division, and the name calling was at an all-time high! Not that I use the Bachelor as a thermometer of the world’s temperature 😂 but the fact that I can’t tell the difference between the 24 hour news cycle and my favourite romance reality show makes me sad and a little scared. I haven’t enjoyed the last few seasons of the Bachelor because of this mentality. If I want to escape into a world where love and romance are front and centre I have to go to overly scripted movies on Hallmark! It’s just crazy.
I thought 2021 would be more of the same but with hope. Vaccinations, new world leadership, positive environmental changes, and lifting of restrictions. Sadly, I feel more hopeless in the first month of this new year than the past few months of the last year combined. It’s sad to see humanity devolving into pettiness, anger, and hate over love. I hope that we course correct, and soon! I hope this anger doesn’t continue to grow. I hope this mob mentality has seen its best days and is now going to fade into the history books. Ugh, I can’t imagine what my grandkids and great grandkids are going to read about this time. I’m saddened and embarrassed and angry and worried. That’s it. I don’t have any solutions, just observations today.
Check out How Was Your Week, Honey? Episode #208 From the Top HERE. Topics: cell phones, vacuuming, skating, Roombas, nieces, Hallmark films, travel concierge, mushrooms, yoga and Poppy’s Propane.
Adapted from No. 2 Pencil
2 – 1 pound pork tenderloins, trimmed
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1 pound green beans, stems trimmed
1 1/2 pounds baby potatoes, cut in half
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper
4 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons green onions, minced
1 garlic clove, minced into paste
Lower oven rack to middle lower position and preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place a silicone baking mat on a baking sheet.
In a large bowl, combine green beans with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. Arrange green beans in centre of baking sheet.
In the same bowl, toss potatoes with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. Transfer to baking sheet and arrange on either side of green beans, cut side down.
Lay tenderloins, not touching, over green beans and brush with hoisin sauce, sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Roast for 20 to 25 minutes, or until thickest part of tenderloins reaches 140 degrees on a meat thermometer.
While tenderloin is roasting, combine butter, green onions, garlic, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. When tenderloin is done cooking, remove sheet pan and top each tenderloin with one tablespoon of garlic herb butter and let pork tenderloin rest before slicing.
Top potatoes and green beans with remaining two tablespoons of garlic herb butter and serve.
One of my favourite things about our new house is our big island in the kitchen! I love mornings as the kids sit there and eat their breakfast as the sun rises on a new day. This week it snowed and I worked. One day at work I saw a herd of deer running through the neighbourhood! In the evenings the Girls come home from school and dance and tell me all about their days. As they get older I don’t have to ask leading questions anymore because they just feel every detail about every minute of their day 😂 I love it 🥰.
This week I had a fantastic DPAC meeting and continued my 30 day journey of Yoga with Adriene. After a full work week I took Friday afternoon to enjoy some self care. J gave me a hair mask, hair oil and a wonderful bubble mask to enjoy some me time. I used my champagne caviare body scrub and my amazing smelling body oil, took the time to blow dry my hair and I felt… Great! I followed our weekly meal plan and we had some delicious dinners this week. SBean grew an amazing glow in the dark crystal and enjoyed a fantastic date with Daddy on Saturday while HBear was at an extra musical theatre class. They went to a local business that has been struggling lately. A brand new game cafe that opened at the beginning of the pandemic, Meeples and Milkshakes. While they were out, I spent the rainy afternoon rereading a book I haven’t read in 25 years yet still feels so relevant today, George Orwell’s 1984. I enjoyed a delicious piece of cheesecake that Dad surprised me with and SBean used her Walmart gift cards to buy a brand new LEGO set! On Sunday we baked, decorated Valentine cookies and Ninja edited our podcast. Throughout the week I killed it in an our Workweek Hustle! I beat my weekly step record WOOT WOOT!!
