Monday Thoughts

Children don’t see color. When my daughter was in the 1st grade, she would come home from school, always excited about her new friend. It wasn’t until a school event that I learned her new best friend was of color. It didn’t matter, of course. Not to my girl and not to me. It wasn’t too long before the little girl and her family moved away. After hearing some awful stories about people being chased out of the area, I don’t blame them for leaving at all. People are so cruel sometimes. Color doesn’t matter. We are all the same inside.

Well, I had a really cute short video clip from Facebook, but WP or Facebook won’t let me share it here. Either that, or I’m not smart enough to figure out how to do it. Hahaha.

Have a great day, friends!

Thursday… Birthday… Cookbook…

Thursday, the day before my 62nd birthday. Yay. I feel like I’m 80. It would be nice to spend my birthday with my grandchildren and children. My daughter is in another state so I won’t be seeing her or her children for quite some time. My son? Well, he’s just 15 miles away and I never hear from him. He never even checks on us. His children do not know me and that makes me sad. I’m invisible. I’m expected to go see them. How can I do that when I can’t get up the steps to their house? My son knows this. It’s too hot to sit outside especially now that the a/c in the car bit the big one.

So, my birthday will be spent with Dad. We are going out for lunch but I’m not sure where since my favorite restaurant closed down permanently. I’m really bummed about that. I’ll miss the friendly servers and the manager. I’ll miss the avocado enchiladas and the chicken tortilla soup. Yes, I can probably find recipes to make these at home but 1) cooking is rough for a person who is disabled and 2) it won’t be the same. I would love to duplicate the broth of the soup and the green sauce that comes on the enchildadas. Damn, my mouth is watering.

I have a pinched nerve in my back, again. It sure plays hell on my legs. Sometimes they just burn like a mofo and I can’t do much of anything. Yesterday, I couldn’t even bend over to pick up something I had dropped on the floor. Some days are better than others. Some days I just want to jump off a cliff. But I keep on truckin’ because who’s going to look after Dad if I don’t?

Since my cookbook is finished, I thought I’d get back to writing but I didn’t have a very good start. I wrote once this week, twice counting today. I guess that’s something. I just need to figure out what to write about because I’m sure y’all don’t want to hear about my troubles all the time!

Speaking of my cookbook… Aunt Debbie’s Best. A Collection of Family Favorites. 184 recipes total. Spiral bound. $30.00 includes shipping. I tried to keep the price down but cost for printing was a bit more than I had anticipated. Things are so expensive these days. Personal checks and money orders only. A great gift for Christmas! Recipes include:

Spicy Chicken Bites
Corn and Black Bean Salsa Dip
Granny’s Banana Bread
Buffalo Pull Bread
Great Gramma’s Bierock
Sloppy Joes To Die For
Ham and Cheese Egg Muffins
Make Ahead Hashbrown Casserole
Homemade Ravioli
Stuffed Shells
Honey Garlic Chicken Breasts
Chicken Enchiladas
Stuffed Bell Peppers
Red Beans and Rice with Andouille Sausage
Aunt Debbie’s Loaded Potato Salad
Creamy Bacon Dressing
Aunt Debbie’s Italian Spaghetti Sauce
The Best Turkey Brine in the World!
Salsa Verde Chicken Soup
Chicken Tortilla Soup
Popcorn Cake
Russian Tea Cakes
Papas Fajitas
Spinach and Mushroom Pizza
Granny’s Pierogies
Stuffed Zucchini
Instant Pot Charro Beans
Instant Pot Lima Beans and Ham
Homemade Accent Seasoning
Koolaid Playdough
….and many more!
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Order your copy soon! You can use the contact page if you’re interested or you can email me at castlefreak62 @ yahoo.com and that would be with no spaces! I will then send you my mailing address. I have an issue with PayPal, Venmo and the like so I can only accept checks and money orders at this time. Sorry for the inconvenience.
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Signing off for now. I hope you have a great weekend. Stay cool, and please don’t leave your kids or pets in the car!
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What Are We Teaching Our Kids?

I was thinking very early this morning (sleepless night) about what kids are seeing and hearing these days. Kids are little sponges! They absorb everything they see and hear. They may not completely understand but their little brains pick up everything! Some things are good, like good hygiene or healthy eating habits. Unfortunately, there are too many negative things they are picking up these days.

None of us are perfect, God knows I am not. As a parent, I did try to teach my kids to be good humans. I’m so glad they’re grown because I can’t imagine having young kids in the house right now. Being a parent is hard enough without having to wade through bullshit misinformation and bring kids through it in a healthy way.

Kids are absorbing “info” from everywhere. Once I started thinking about this, my mind was blown! Let’s think about this for a moment:

Kids today are learning that:

Bullying is acceptable. It’s ok to belittle people and call them names.

Their opinion is right and everyone else is wrong.

Rules, procedeures, and the law do not apply to them especially if they disagree.

Their rights are more important than others’ rights.

To solve problems they must yell and behave badly until they get their way.

They don’t have to be respectful.

They don’t have to be tolerant of others who are different in some way.

It’s ok to cheat and lie as long as it benefits them.

If a game (or vote) doesn’t go the way they want, then it’s ok to accuse others of cheating even if they have no proof. Poor sportsmanship is acceptable.

You Tube and Facebook are more informative and true than actual science and experts in the field!

It’s ok to threaten people’s lives if they believe something different than they do.

Can you think of anything else to add to the list? What are children learning from their parents? What are they learning from other adults in their lives? What do they pick up from the news on tv? Just watching the news for about an hour reveal all of the above. This should concern us all…