Tag: Life

A thing I read

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Prepare for the Ultimate Gaslighting

I hope you might consider this: What happened is inexplicably incredible. It’s the greatest gift ever unwrapped. Not the deaths, not the virus, but The Great Pause. It is, in a word, profound. Please don’t recoil from the bright light beaming through the window. I know it hurts your eyes. It hurts mine, too. But the curtain is wide open. What the crisis has given us is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see ourselves and our country in the plainest of views. At no other time, ever in our lives, have we gotten the opportunity to see what would happen if the world simply stopped. Here it is. We’re in it.

…

What is about to be unleashed on American society will be the greatest campaign ever created to get you to feel normal again. It will come from brands, it will come from government, it will even come from each other, and it will come from the left and from the right. We will do anything, spend anything, believe anything, just so we can take away how horribly uncomfortable all of this feels.

…

From one citizen to another, I beg of you: take a deep breath, ignore the deafening noise, and think deeply about what you want to put back into your life. This is our chance to define a new version of normal, a rare and truly sacred (yes, sacred) opportunity to get rid of the bullshit and to only bring back what works for us, what makes our lives richer, what makes our kids happier, what makes us truly proud.

I hope we don’t ever go back to normal.

Before this pandemic launched all of us—unwillingly—out of our routines, millions of people were already suffering. From an economy that works only for the very few, from a healthcare industry that can bankrupt you for getting sick, from a housing crisis that leaves hundreds of thousands of people unsheltered.

I hope we don’t rush back to how life was before and keep lying to ourselves that those problems can’t be fixed. We’ve seen that our government and businesses can work harder to support us. We should use this unprecedented opportunity to hold them to that and change our sense of normal to something better.

April things

kate2 Comments

April was (obviously) a pretty unusual month, but even with all the staying home, I managed to keep myself pretty entertained. Here’s what I got up to:

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I’ve been very good about following our new social distancing norms, the only place I really go outside the house anymore is walking around the neighborhood. Even though my walks take basically the same route every time, it always seems like new scenery as spring takes shape with new flowers blooming and trees beginning to green. I’m trying to enjoy the little things and learn names of the plants and animals I see. The flowers above are periwinkle. Cute, huh?

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I made the most incredible cinnamon rolls. I’m very suggestible when it comes to food on TV. Whenever I watch Bob’s Burgers I have an instant craving for burgers and watching Home Alone makes me ravenous for a gigantic, messy ice cream sundae. After recently binging all of Schitt’s Creek—in which cinnamon rolls make a regular appearance—I had to make some of my own. Thanks to this recipe from Joy the Baker, they turned out ridiculously delicious. Honestly, writing this is making my hungry right now.

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For a time when we’re all probably watching a lot more TV than normal, I’m having trouble finding a TV show I like. I started watching Outlander but kind of lost interest halfway through season 2. I also started watching Community, but it hasn’t fully captured my interest yet. I’m going to keep trying, but the whole overconfident-white-guy-incessantly-chases-hot-but-edgy-white-girl-even-though-she’s-repeatedly-told-him-she’s-not-interested storyline is really getting on my nerves. There is one bright spot in this desert of good television though: Midnight Gospel. I almost lost my shit when I found out that the creator of Adventure Time had a new show coming out that would be fully geared toward adults. It’s so joyfully amazing and dense with meaning and imagery. I’m definitely going to have to watch this six-episode season more than once.

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Per my goal for April, I listened to at least one podcast episode each day. These are the ones in my regular rotation right now:

  • Up First – a roundup of each day’s news in under 15 minutes from NPR.
  • Call Your Girlfriend – two incredibly smart and funny women talk with each other and/or smart guests about politics, pop culture, and life stuff.
  • The Hilarious World of Depression – funny host interviews funny people about their experiences with depression and other mental health issues.
  • Invisibilia – life feels a little more magical after listening to this totally grounded-in-science podcast about the invisible forces that shape our lives.
  • Directionally Challenged – two 30-something women try to figure their shit out by talking to experts on work, life, love, and everything else.
  • Science Vs. – get the actual facts about buzzy science-related topics (heavy on the Covid-19 coverage at the moment).
  • All Songs Considered – discover new music you probably wouldn’t have heard of otherwise.
  • Every Little Thing – get answers on life’s weird little mysteries like “what’s so cool about flamingos?” Or “who invented the scrunchie?”

3 sauces for a better dinner

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Anyone starting to get overwhelmed with so much cooking at home? When I’m in need of something easy, delicious, and leaning toward healthy, I always use the same equation: grain + protein + veggie + tasty sauce. The tasty sauce is really the star of the show here. It makes it easy to mix and match whatever grains or veggies you have on hand to easily pull together a fantastic meal.

Here are my three faves:

Spicy peanut sauce (via The Kitchn)

I love to put this on top of a bowl of stir fried veggies, brown rice, and Quorn steak style strips.

Blend until well-combined:

  • 1/2 cup peanut butter (creamy or chunky–I prefer natural peanut butter)
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 1/4 cup rice vinegar
  • 3 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons Sriracha (I love to sub Gochujang instead)
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons water until you reach your preferred consistency

Lemon tahini sauce

I make this sauce just about once a week, it’s so delicious and easy. I think it really shines on top of a bowl of farro with tempeh, roasted broccoli, and roasted sweet potato.

Blend until well-combined:

  • 1 clove garlic minced
  • 1/2 cup tahini
  • 1/2 cup lemon juice
  • Dash of smoked paprika

BBQ sauce (via Post Punk Kitchen)

I used this sauce to make BBQ seitan the other day and then combined it with quinoa, sautéed garlicky kale, and roasted potatoes, all drizzled with more BBQ sauce. It was so good, I’m still thinking about it days later.

Blend until well-combined:

  • 1/2 cup vegetable broth
  • 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
  • 2 tablespoons molasses
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 2 tablespoons peanut butter
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon prepared mustard (I use Dijon)
  • 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke (I subbed smoked paprika here since I didn’t have liquid smoke)
  • 1/2 teaspoon Sriracha hot sauce (again, I subbed Gochujang here!)

How to take care

kateLeave a comment

It’s weird to admit that I’m sort of thriving in quarantine. Normally I have a lot of anxiety about things I should be doing and places I should be going. But when everything becomes limited to what I can do with what I have at home, life becomes a lot simpler and the FOMO disappears.

Five years of working from home has taught me a lot about being a successful homebody. Let me share what works for me to take care of myself, maintain my sanity, and enjoy some quality time at home.

Read that stack of books you’ve been avoiding. Somehow I’ve managed to collect a LOT of books that I never ended up reading. And now that my local library is closed, it’s the perfect time to get into it. It feels great to finally make a dent in that old collection. I’m finding new favorites and clearing out the duds from my shelves (making spaces for new reads!).

Take your vitamins. Yep, I’m another person here to tell you that CBD helps me get through the day. I love the brand Not Pot in particular because their gummies are vegan, they’re woman-owned, and (most importantly!) part of their mission includes criminal justice reform—each month they help pay someone’s bail. I start every day with my CBD gummies and daily vitamins from Ritual to help me feel like a healthy, well-adjusted human.

Spend a little time cleaning every day. Anyone out there recently started cooking at home more and is SHOCKED by the number of dishes you can dirty in a single day? This drove me crazy for a while when I first started working from home, until I instated a rule of cleaning the kitchen for 15 minutes each day. It even functions as a nice break to get you on your feet and move around a bit if you’ve been sitting on the couch or at your desk for too long.

Get some fresh air and take a nap. These are my two favorite self-care activities right now. I feel like it’s kind of a no-brainer that taking a walk or sitting outside for a few minutes each day can make you feel like a different person. Naps, however, seem to have a little bit of a bad reputation. Naps are for lazy, depressed people and babies, not healthy, functioning adults. I’d like to reclaim the nap for us all. A good nap can feel so luxurious and restorative. It can reset a bad day or be a healing mental break if you’re feeling scattered. When you nap, you’re exclusively focused on comfort and rest. I can’t think of a more complete act of self-care than that.

Comfort food

kate2 Comments

After a long stretch of listening to a lot of new music, I’ve been craving my old favorites. So I made this playlist of songs that I loved in high school and college. These are songs that I don’t think I could ever get sick of. They make me feel comforted, nostalgic and peaceful. It’s a good time to do things that make ourselves feel good.