Day 13

Hey y’all, how are you doing today? In case you are not sure, it’s Saturday. The first day of the weekend is almost over. Not, that it really matters, as nowadays weekdays and weekends are mostly spend at the same place – the couch.

But hopefully you are not spending all days working. Rest is important, even though for some working on the couch might come seriously close to resting or could even accidently lead to the same. One of my team members told me, he could not be working on the couch as he would fall asleep all the time. I imagine it would look a lot like this.

I am good with staying awake while working on the couch. But replace that laptop with a book and I will be deep asleep in no time… thankfully I am not a book editor right now. I would have to find another home office place. Sitting on nails or something.

I think I might have found Floridians, that actually do obey to the stay@home order. Or are at least exercising extreme Social Distancing. The Police and the Sheriff Deputies. There is an order out there, that I would assume someone needs to enforce (hello, it’s South Florida people), and they are literally nowhere to be seen. Seems like they are either role models in sheltering at home or they misunderstood it as “Society Distancing” and removed themselves entirely.

Well, thankfully gun sales have gone up, so I guess people will be able to protect themselves. Not from the virus obviously, but at least from everyone that accidently sets foot on their ground. Seriously though – you can’t shoot the virus. Maybe invest your money in some more toilet paper? Or, crazy idea, if you have so much, you think you need to protect it with a gun, donate some of it to find a cure? Not for Covid-19, for your stupidity, the other pandemic that’s going on right now.

As I said before, Covidiots come in many sizes, forms and shapes. The latest I think it’s worth talking about are the ones commenting on articles that are talking about Jeff Bezos having donated 100M USD to US food banks. Of course everyone thinks, they have to have an opinion. Trust me, you don’t. The majority of phones and laptops have a “scroll function”. Use it. So Jeff Bezos is super rich. And he could have donated more money. And because of that, he is an a**hole for only having donated 100M…quick question, how much have you donated lately? Gotcha, you are not rich. Unfortunately you are also not smart, I am sorry for you.

People had a lot to say about the donation. Even though all that there is to say can be said with two words. Thank you. Because no matter if there are employees that complain about the working conditions at Amazon, or that he is rich and could have donated much, much more, or that you just do not like his face – it’s 100M USD and all of the above does not make that money worth a penny less. This will feed a lot of people, do you think they will decline the food saying “no thanks this comes from Jeff Bezos, I’ll rather starve.” ?

I wish at least some people would think before they opened their mouth or rather hit the keys on their keyboard or phone. And I am not saying, that Bezos or Amazon are not controversial. Ask his ex-wife, I am sure she has a lot to say to that. But it really does not matter in this context. Not at all.

Some comments are better left unsaid (this does not apply to your comments to this blog post – go for it!). Covidiots, please try the approach of my apprentice. He is not super successful in his blog job, but he definitely is not spreading stupidity virtually either. Why not hug your laptop and dream what you would have said instead of actually saying it? Our Covidiot in Chief should definitely follow Sam’s lead here!

So it’s weekend and as we already established, there is not much of a difference in what we can do on the weekends vs. the working days. So how are you spending your weekends? Please, share! I am sure there are ideas others could steal and this is what this is all about.

I am usually using the weekend mornings to do some baking. Baking is a super relaxing activity. The ingredients are pure math and need to be strictly followed, so not much thinking or creativity required. I am also doing this, to make my weekdays easier. This is no different than BC (before covid19, for those that joined us today only). I am stocking up my fridge and freezer, so that during the week I can pre-plan and pre-track (in my WW app), but don’t have to actually bake. But one thing is the same on the weekend as on a weekday: First coffee!

Our current favorite baked good are homemade pretzels. And they are also super simple so I am sharing the recipe below, give it a try and let me know if you liked them:

• 1 Cup of whole wheat flour
• 1 Cup fat free plain greek yoghurt (I am using Fage)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt

Mix the dry ingredients thoroughly. Add the greek yoghurt and knead the dough for approx. 2 minutes. Weigh the dough and cut in 4 pieces. Roll each piece into a snake and form a pretzel.

Boil some water and mix it with 2 cups of water with 4 tbsp of baking soda. Dip the pretzels in the mixture (needs to be entirely covered) and put on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 425 degrees F for 18-20 minutes until crisp and brown. Serve hot with some mustard or salsa con queso with cheese.

Now it’s your turn! Did you try something new or do you have a go to recipe you like to make, when things are crazy? Please share it in the comments for others to try!

So today is Saturday and I promised, I would share my act of kindness with you today. I thought about it for a while and decided, I will try and conduct regular acts of kindness at the very least until this situation is over. Spreading some love instead of the virus is a great motto for Spring 2020, don’t you think? Even Mr. “I do not cuddle”, had 10 minutes of amnesia today where he actually wanted to be cuddled by Mommy. I know, he does not look like it on the picture, but that’s because he did not want any evidence of his moment of weakness.

My first act was, to write a Facebook post and add a link for donations to Feeding America. I took the first step and donated an amount myself. I am not going to share the number, as that really does not matter. It’s the thought and taking any action, that counts. My second act was, that despite us being on WW, which makes eating out or ordering in a little bit more complicated, we are going to order food from restaurants in our area at least every other week to support them and help them support their employees.

Did you participate in the challenge or would like to? Go ahead – kindness does not have a deadline. I would love to hear your stories so that we can also virtually spread kindness more than stupidity.

Be kind to yourself and others! Keep your distance, stay healthy and take care!

Hugs,

Nannette