Posted in Beliefs, ramblings

No More Silence

This is not a new feeling that I’m experiencing right now. Over the last few days, there has been unrest in the United States over the heinous injustice to George Floyd. Unfortunately it’s not an isolated incident. It’s an ongoing battle where the blacks rightly so feel injustice from whites.

As a white middle aged woman, I have had the privilege to grow up and adult without having people judge me and treat me as less of a person because of the color of my skin. It’s not to say my life has not been hard and I’ve had to struggle. The color of my skin was not the reason for my struggle.

I was a junior in high school when the LA Riots occurred. Far removed and actually quite sick with mono at the time they occurred, I didn’t realize the significance of the riots. Did I agree with people rioting and causing property damage? No, but people need to speak up and use their voices. I said use their voices not cause property damage. As my 16-year-old says, they are only hurting their area and it’s going to cause corporations to come in and take over.

I was born after the Civil Rights movement of the 50s and 60s being a child of the 70s. I didn’t know the unrest of that time. I remember learning about the political changes of the 60s in a history class ironically named the 60s. People stood up and used their voices against the unjust treatment of black people.

Little did I know that less than 10 years after that class, I would be given the opportunity and privilege to teach in a school where I’m the minority. The majority of my students who I call my children are African Americans. I’m scared for them.

Twenty years into the game, I’m saddened by the continous treatment of the black population. People are scared for their lives just because of the color of their skin. Why? African Americans are human. They bleed just like everyone on this earth. They breathe just like everyone on this earth. They dream just like everyone on this earth.

Some of the best people I know are African American. They are beautiful, talented, Godly, and the most giving people I’ve ever met. My life has been blessed by having them in my life.

I believe in the power of prayer. I believe that we need to love our neighbors as ourselves.

30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31

Black lives matter. They shouldn’t be judged by the color of their skin. God does not discriminate. He made all of us out of his image. We are all precious in his sight.

We need to use our voices. We need to come together as an united front to combat the evil that is among us.

I won’t be at the protests, but I will use my voice to let people know that what we are doing is evil and will not accepted.

Traci

#blacklivesmatter

#loveyourneighbor

#prayforwisdomandguidance

Posted in Random, Randomness, Writing Workshop

Refreshing my Kitchen

In March, right before the self imposed quarantine, we made a decision to use some of my inheritance money from my mom to refresh our kitchen. Then the quarantine occurred and the idea was stalled.

Early May, everything started to open up, so we went through our original plan of getting new appliances. I talked about the reasons for these appliances in my blog post with a recipe for a simple Philly Cheese Steak.

I’m going to walk through those reasons again.

  1. New Oven – Last summer, the glass piece fell off the front. We debated whether we should get a new oven right then or if we could wait. Last summer was a time of transition for us. Hubby was getting ready to start college, so us getting a new oven at that time was not a priority. The oven was visually unappealing and slowly became a safety issue because of the exposed metal pieces. Now we have an updated Samsung oven that I feel more comfortable cooking on. Oh, and it has a bread proofing setting. Sweet!
  2. New microwave – The plastic was beginning to melt inside, so it was a safety issue. It was over a decade old and had been used many times. Our new Samsung microwave is like a space ship. There is an actual menu with ways to configure pieces to the microwave for ultimate cooking. I actually roasted perfect potatoes in it last night. A real game changer because we eat those a lot.
  3. New Dishwasher – The dishwasher worked most of the time. However, it became a problem when the top rack wouldn’t always stay in. I was constantly having to reposition it in the dishwasher. We like the new Samsung dishwasher because there is a top shelf for our silverware and smaller dishes like my Mason jar lids.
  4. New fridge – Don’t even get me started with the fridge. Let’s just say we needed a new one. The old one still works but wasn’t functional for daily use. We moved it to the garage to hold our pop, cheese, and butter. The new fridge is a LG fridge with one of those door in door features. With 2 teenagers, it’s a good idea to have that feature even though Youngest seems to think he needs to keep opening the door in the door. I had to put a stop to that.

I provided links to the new appliances.

Now that we have these new appliances, Oldest has decided to help us do a late spring clean up of the kitchen. He’s rearranged some of the items in our kitchen and has helped clean up the counters in order for them to be more functional.

The next refreshing task in the kitchen is to clean the cabinets and repaint them. We also have a dry sink I’m going to do the same thing with and we are going to place it in either the kitchen by the back wall or in the living room around the corner from the kitchen. It was my grandma’s and then mom took it over. I can’t get rid of it. It needs to be refreshed before it can come into the house.

Two years ago, my aunt and mom helped me with some of the refreshing in my kitchen. It is now time to continue with their efforts.

That is one of my most recent purchases.

Stay kind!

Have a magical day,
Traci

Posted in local sights, photograph, photographs, Photography

Oakes Quarry

One of our favorite places to walk is Oakes Quarry. It’s a reclaimed limestone quarry that has the most interesting landscape.

Last night, the Scouts decided to meet there for a social distance walk / get together after not seeing each other for months. I joined along so that I could take photos.

Instead of staying with them, I took off, walked, and explored without the rest of them.

The quarry is located near an Air Force base. Last night a lot of planes were either coming into the base or leaving the base.

Slide2
Slide3
Slide4
Slide5
Slide6
Slide7
Slide8
Slide9
Slide10
Slide11
Slide12
Slide13
Slide13
Slide14
Slide15
Slide16

Those ponds disappear when there hasn’t been a lot of rain. I’ve been to the quarry when there has been very little rain. Instead of having those beautiful ponds, it’s dry land.

We had been there a week earlier and had found this stream full of tadpoles. So cool! I went back there last night. There were still tadpoles there but fewer than last week.

I am so fortunate to have this cool park to walk around and explore. You never know what you are going to find when you walk through this park.

Stay kind!

Have a magical day,
Traci

Posted in menu plan monday

Mom, What’s for dinner? – Week of may 25, 2020

Happy Memorial Day! We are going to have hamburgers, pasta salad, corn on the cob, watermelon, and peach crisp for dinner.

Salsa Chicken (chicken tenderloins cooked all day in pineapple salsa), tortilla chips, queso dip, seasoned black beans

Trader Joe’s Roast, roasted potatoes, green beans, corn on the cob

Thursday

Pork tenderloin cooked in the slow cooker – Pulled pork sandwiches, chips, veggies

Friday

Leftovers

We don’t plan Saturday meals because we often will forage for food. If we need a meal, Youngest and I will make breakfast for dinner. He loves to make the eggs when we do BFD’s.

If you need any inspiration for possible Memorial Day dinner ideas, click here.

Stay kind!

Have a magical day,
Traci

Posted in Recipes

Philly Cheese Steak

I left this blog back in November. It had been a month and a half after my mom passed away. Since then, we’ve had quarantine and my mom’s estate is out of probate. Yeah!

Right before the quarantine, Hubby and I had decided to get new appliances. That was put on pause until stores were allowed to deliver the appliances. (No way we could have done it ourselves.)

Continue reading “Philly Cheese Steak”