Month: November 2016

 

Back on track! Phew. I am pleased to tell you that I am happily coming to you today to tell you about a new cookbook that I received free via kindle, in exchange for my honest opinion. Luckily for you there is a current sale and they are offering the kindle download free on amazon right now. This is a book of smoothies, not juicing recipes, so if juicing is what you are looking for this may not satisfy you, but it is an informative book with a host of recipes that could satisfy just about any pallet. I prefer my cookbooks to have pictures of the delightful food I will be making, so for this reason I purchase most of my cookbooks in paper versions, but with the free download currently available, it was worth it to check out. I will definitely utilize these recipes as I work on revamping our families diet with the new celiac diagnosis in the home. Definitely worth looking into if you are looking for an alternative weightloss or detox plan, or even if you are already eating healthy and just need a few fresh ideas. Find yours here.

As you all know by now, I am part of a group which does reviews on products in exchange for a drastically reduced cost on the item. Being part of this team requires active participation. Can you imagine how many people would take advantage if it didn’t? For this reason, there are deadlines on reviews, which we have some control over. Unfortunately, today I have to do my first very negative review, because if I don’t it affects my score and possibility for doing reviews in the future, and I really enjoy this part of my life, so in an attempt to protect myself, today I get to tell you about an item I never received. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EYVI58Y .This lovely step stool, which I was very much looking forward to receiving, as I am short and my cupboards are tall, never arrived. On the day it was to be delivered I received a notice that it was being returned to sender for an undisclosed shipping issue. I reached out to the company as to how I should proceed, as there are many ways it could have been handled, and I received no response from them. Now my deadline is here and I am not willing to jeopardize my livelihood for a company who didn’t respond, and so, I cannot speak for the stool but I can say that I had a very disappointing experience with the company itself.  If you choose to shop with them, I wish you good luck. Have a blessed day my friends, and hopefully my next post will be about something I am excited to share with you!

Hello my friends. Today quiet is the word of the day. I feel so incredibly quiet. It seems unsafe everywhere. Best to just keep your mouth shut and keep to yourself. I am torn between wanting to be a force of fierce love and light in this time, and wanting to go into a dark corner and lick my own wounds. I will admit, I am hurt. I am hurt by a general outpouring of hatred toward anyone who did not vote Hillary. I am hurt by the name calling and judgement I woke up to on my social media pages yesterday. I was hurt by feeling more threatened and judged than I ever did when the candidates were actually running. I am amazed by the hypocrisy of the judgement and vileness, to a point words can barely sum up what I feel like I am seeing. To the point it seems so obviously and ludicrously hypocritical that I feel like we don’t even need words to point it out. If you thought our presidential candidates were an international embarrassment, well boy, it feels like the goal now is to top that. It feels like those who voted for Hillary have condemned every one of us who didn’t vote the way they wanted.

I have heard a myriad of reasons why I didn’t vote for her.

“You are afraid to be led by a woman”

“You are rebelling against a black establishment”  (Ummm. I don’t understand this one in the least as Hillary is white)

“You are uneducated”

“you are an apathetic voter who doesn’t care who wins if you voted third party”

I could keep going, but what a waste of space it would be. The point still remains, that the accusations now standing against everyone who didn’t vote Democratic are offensive, and they challenge my intelligence.

Guess what? I voted with conscious. I put months and weeks and days and hours into my research and education about who I wanted to vote for. What if I just do not agree with her policies? What if I truly educated myself, didn’t want her as my choice for president, and voted consciously, for the person I most related with when it came to proposed policies? Do I not have a right to vote outside of your parameters without being shamed and bullied about it?

What if I truly stood behind my vote, believed in it, and felt strongly that I made the best choice I could. What if it had nothing to do with her gender? What if it had nothing to do with her race, religion, or status?

What if I felt like I had a right to vote my conscious and stand proudly for the country I believe in and our right to our own opinion?

I must say, as the votes started rolling in, and the tables were turning, it shocked and offended me when the news anchors started talking about people throwing away their vote if they went third party. That it was apathetic and careless. I was horrified that news anchors covering a national election had the gall to bully people for not voting within the parameters of their expectations. I feel that there is so much bullying going on. It is sickening. It is ugly. It is the real problem with this country. Why do we feel we have a right to bully people who didn’t vote as we wished they would? To call them names because they checked a different box than you?

The drama in the aftermath of this election feels like high school teens overreacting. Immediate meltdown. Total over the top worst case scenario drama. It is like we forgot to put on our rational thinking caps and just lost it. What will we tell our children? We will tell them the same things we told them before the election took place. We will continue to discuss important matters with them as candidly and honestly as we always have. Just because we have a new president does not mean that you change who you are. It means if he says something stupid we talk to our kids about why it was stupid and why we don’t agree with him. Everyone is saying they are scared. Scared everyone is going to be deported. Scared they are going to lose all of their rights. Scared of sexism, racism, and bigotry. Look around folks. These things existed long before the president elect did. We the people are responsible for assuring that our cultural values are upheld.

In all honesty, I too, was terrified of either candidate becoming our next president, but it happened, and my gut instinct is that as an American it is my duty to stand behind whomever runs this country, fight against policies I disagree with, and for the change that I want to see. I held my breath too, but when it was all said and done, I was able to accept this future and try to find a ray of hope and positivity.

Nothing is changing overnight. The president still has to follow a chain of checks and balances. I woke yesterday to half the country acting as if Armageddon had arrived and the world was ending right now! In all of history, it is a normal balance for our country to alternate between liberal and conservative leaders. People are not happy. They are ready for a different kind of change. This is a normal ebb and flow and in four or eight or twelve years there will be another upset and the Dems will take over again. The majority of us are adults and have seen a dozen or more presidential elections in our lifetime, how do we not know this cycle yet?

I believe that Trump has a foul mouth and fails to censor himself sometimes, but as much as my gut reaction when he started running was to fear him, I have hope. I think he is probably a better person privately than media has portrayed. He is a successful business man and well, now, technically, a successful politician. He did, after all, win the presidency. Anyone with business experience knows it takes a certain amount of political finesse to be successful in business, and I have hope that we will see the best of his political finesse. I hope that he will take serious, the American people, and vow to represent us in the best way he can. No, I didn’t want Trump, Hillary, or any other candidate available for president, but now that he is elected, I will be the best American I can be and support him, just like I would if Hillary had won. When I disagree with him, I will sign the right petitions and join the fights that I feel call me. I am not an apathetic voter. I did my research, but I am not about to sit back and listen to the name calling and harassment and accusations of ignorance.

For a group of people who voted for tolerance and equality, they sure are behaving very intolerant and judgmentally.

So what do I do? Do I remain focused on being a force of fierce love and light, putting my opinions out there for people who call me privileged or say that I have rights and they don’t?

My gut instinct is to be defensive. To tell them all about my so called privilege. That would only instigate bickering and defensiveness.

If I hide, I lose. I separate myself from my countrymen and neighbors. If I stand up for my personal convictions I am berated.

I want to be a force of love.

My gut instinct is to keep to myself and God this week. To avoid this political backlash and turmoil like the cancer it is.

God says. Go be a force of love and light.

Please Father, give me strength….

 

 

My loves! What on Earth is going on? We all know the popular concept that if you smile at a stranger, they in turn will smile at another. Darlings! Look around you. How are your facial expressions today? Today I sit back, feeling grounded, and watching the countries response to this election. I am not shocked at the response, but I have thoughts on it. Lets start with confidentiality. Remember once upon a time when who you were voting for was private information? I think that this election has been a shining example of why that was a good policy!! People are torn, divided, and hateful today. I woke up to a Facebook feed full of people who voted against the winner, calling the entire country names. Using vile and vulgar language to condemn every one of the people who reads their feed. I am an American. When you say F*** you America, I take that a bit personally. You don’t have any idea who I voted for, and your comfortable publicly telling me to F off? Isn’t this the division and hate that you were fearful of in the first place? Isn’t this exactly the type of vulgarity that you are condemning the President elect of? People! If hate and division are the very things that you are afraid of, then why are you perpetuating it? We must all decide right now to stop hating!! Hate perpetuates hate, regardless of if it comes from a red or blue state! How can you show some love and empathy to those who are hurting today???
The fear. So many saying they are scared. Can we admit that any outcome is scary? That our world has turned into a scary place? That it’s gonna take more than a United States president to change the fear? It would have had a fear factor to it no matter how it turned out. I believe the majority agreed there was not a candidate they liked, and so, doesn’t that lend to the notion that fear would be an issue regardless of who won? What causes fear? The unknown? Helplessness? How do we combat fear? Education and activism. This country has a billion problems to solve, regardless of who the president is, and this country is strong, we know how to come together in a time of crisis. Instead of letting fear drive us to beating each other up for who the winner is, can we use that fear productively, band together as Americans, and solve some problems? Can we collectively agree to work together instead of shaming and blaming each other for the demise of this great country? How about we stop calling our friends jackasses and start creating think tanks with them? A much more productive use of time, maybe we could solve some problems instead of bickering about them.
For those who want to leave or refuse to acknowledge our new President elect, I wish you well. I do not have a sarcastic “Get out” at hand. I do feel that you are part of the division problem. That you don’t like the problem so instead of working together to support our nation and find solutions, you choose to be the very division that you fear this change will bring to our country. You are choosing to remain divided from your fellow countrymen, and I hope for you, that you can quickly resolve the conflict within yourself and find a way to become a force of positive problem solving. That you can rejoin your fellow Americans in working toward a better country today, tomorrow, next week. Regardless of how you feel today, a presidential term lasts but four years. A blink of an eye in the grand scheme of time. Today is not the day to give up. So you don’t like your circumstances? Your choices are to give up and live with them, or to think outside the box to find ways to change them. The helpless “I hate you all and I am disowning you now”, well, to some it seems quite immature and childish  and it creates nothing positive. Hate creates hate. Discord creates discord. Love creates love. Empathy creates empathy. What are you perpetuating today? Are you choosing hate, fear, name calling, division and disappointment, or are you rising above it to be a force of light and love despite the overwhelming negativity in the air today? People. We are the American people. We can band together, or we can divide. Today is the day for you to choose which America you wish to see in the face of adversity. Today is the day for you to be that voice. Will you rise above and love, or will you sink to the very levels of hate and vulgarity that you are protesting? Lets stop attacking each other, and band together in the love and unity that we wish to see. What is the quote? “Be the change you wish to see in the world”. What are you perpetuating today?

Today I am feeling thankful for this sweet pet grooming glove that was sent to me at a free or reduced price in exchange for my honest opinion. I have five pets. Two cats, and three dogs. All are rescues and very different in conformation. I thought that my short haired pets would be the ones to approve of this grooming tool, but it turns out they all love it! They actually stand in line for their turn. It is quite adorable. It gets deep into the undercoat. I am not sure if you grasp how much fur five pets generate, but this glove is truly appreciated in my house, by the humans and pets alike. The only thing that I don’t love is the fit. It is just a little bit too big for my hands which makes it awkward to get a grip on, but aside from that I love this glove. It is waterproof so its great for bathing too. All in all I would recommend this brush to a friend but I would caution them about the large size of it. If you are interested in checking it out, you can find it here.