Weekend Coffee Share: September 24, 2016

Good morning, my wonderful blog friends! I so hope that your weekend is off to a magnificent start. So far, I have zero complaints. 🙂 Before we snuggle in for chatting, you should try out some of the apple crumble that the dinosaurs and I made…it’s delicious! (Okay, okay, the dinosaurs did most of the work…I just peeled and chopped the apples, combined the ingredients, made sure times and temperatures were correct, and served it…they totally did everything else.) 😉

Okay, let’s go ahead and get the big stuff out of the way, shall we?

Many of you are aware that I live in the Charlotte area (waaaaay out with the corn and cows in the middle of nowhere, but a quick 45-minute drive to Uptown Charlotte), and I’m sure you’ve been hearing some wacky news about our little piece of the world.

The riots seem to be over (and though the media insisted on using “protests” and “protesters,” I’m going to have to go with “riots” for anything that involves smashing windows, looting, beating random people, shootings, throwing bricks at police, blocking roads and trapping drivers, pulling cargo out of trucks and burning it, etc.), and the city is calming down. For the past two nights, peaceful protests have continued throughout the night.

While I really and truly understand the anger and outrage being expressed, I wish things could have been handled differently. Unfortunately, people took to the streets before anyone (other than law enforcement and politicians) had seen the video of the police shooting that prompted the reaction. Violence and chaos flared based on rumors and social media gossip…not facts. None of us regular ol’ civilian types have any way to know at this point if the shooting was justified or not. If it turns out that the shooting was justified (and I’m not saying it was or wasn’t…I’m saying there’s no way for me to know), the rioting behavior will be viewed as fuel for the racist fire rather than an understandable reaction to unacceptable circumstances.

Of course, I’ve also been pondering what in the heck I’m going to do about the racism and hate and violence and homophobia and basically all of the injustice that makes my tummy queasy. It’s something I think about a lot. I truly believe that one of the most powerful things I can do is stand against the hate and refuse to contribute to it…and raise a child who wouldn’t consider judging someone based on their color or gender or sexuality. But there are other powerful things I can do. I’m sure of it. On this very day, I became an official member of the NAACP…another step, I hope, in the direction of being part of the solution. (Won’t you think about joining, too? They do a tremendous amount of fabulous work for so many people. I didn’t even realize until today that the NAACP also fights for marriage equality and won’t stand for discrimination against the LGBTQ community.)

In addition to the unrest in our area, we’ve also been dealing with a gas shortage. For several days, getting gas wasn’t the normally simple matter of pulling up to the first gas station of your choosing and filling up. Nope, you had to search out the gas stations without plastic bags over the pumps…and that got to be a challenge. Prices increased, but not like they did after Katrina…it wasn’t nearly that bad. (The prices at the station I usually go to went from $1.89 to $2.29 before they stopped changing the sign because they were out of gas.) Fortunately, that situation (caused by a messed up pipeline and strange and mysterious gas transportation laws) seems to be well on its way to being completely cleared up.

Needless to say, it’s been a tough and stressful week for our general area.

In lighter news, I’m working my way back (again) to being caught up with blog stuff. And, as is my usual way, that means I’m considering a whole new project. I’m not going to mention details because I may talk myself out of it yet. 😉 Until I decide, I’m hoping to have this wacky blog back on track this week. 🙂

At home, I’ve been all about the Halloween decorating! I’ve decided that waiting until October is a silly tradition of mine that should be banished from the land. Mid-September is plenty late enough. 🙂 If you’re interested in how things are going on the decorating front, you can check out my Instagram pics. 😀

We have a lot coming up in the week ahead! PTSO meetings and ice skating and coffee with friends (not on the computer) and volleyball concessions (why did I sign up for that???) and our general carrying on. 🙂 And the week after that brings even more excitement…but I’ll tell you about that next week. 🙂

The time has come for me to get ready for my weekly outing with my made-of-awesome husband…lunch and hiking, here we come!

But before we go, I want to hear what you’ve been up to! Anything fun and/or exciting in the works???

And, of course, I hope you have a week full to the top with hugs and gigglesnorts and exploration and play and love! ❤

Want to join in the Weekend Coffee Share fun? Head on over to Part-Time Monster’s fabulous place by clicking the picture below…