Thursday Thoughts - it's not your lungs this time, it's your heart that holds your fate

1. When your husband puts away groceries in a cabinet that has room, but contains no food. What is it people in the south say? Bless his heart. At least he didn't eat any of those boxes? I need them for a recipe this weekend and usually I warn him not to eat something when that's the case.

2. This photo sums up how I feel by 7:30 pm every night since daylight saving ended.

3. Wednesday I experienced first hand one of the ways a foreign entity could torture me to extract information: put me in a chair where I endure a dental cleaning while donald trump plays on a TV directly in front of my face for an hour. No cavities and the fluoride treatment was tops though.

4. To balance that horrible experience, I did get to have dinner with my oldest friend Jen last night. As in longest friendship (37 years) not oldest friend person,  you understand. We followed it up with a trip to Target where we roamed around like wild hyenas who broke out of the enclosure. We got to see cousin Cindy at On the Border as a bonus. Mid-week bliss until I got home and spent two hours putting the house back together from dog chaos that erupted throughout the day. These dogs need jobs. I did get them a gift: Urine Remover. Props to Clorox for not mincing words. 

5. Women and male allies are throwing their middle fingers in the air this week. I dig it. Just a reminder to keep us all honest - if you question why someone who has been abused waits five minutes or five years to come forward, you cast doubt on a victim immediately and people like you are, in fact, why people who are abused do not come forward. So when you question their reasons, you need look no further than your own doubting heart. Victims are afraid no one will believe them, especially if their abusers are in positions of power. Abusers actually tell them no one will believe them to keep them quiet, and then that comes true because you throw fire into their path with questions and insinuations that you don't make towards the accused. Don't be so worried about false allegations that you trample over someone who has been harmed, sometimes irreparably, in the process. Start believing victims. It is that easy and you don't need background info. You've probably chosen to immediately believe abusers with no background information so making the switch shouldn't be that hard. As a society we've believed and excused abusers for long enough, it is literally how we were raised to react to these situations. Don't make a fuss, make it go away, don't destroy that person's life or career. Fuck all of that. The pendulum is shifting. Move with it. Have you seen the opinion piece Brave Enough to Be Angry by Lindy West in the New York Times? Links are not working here for some reason so apologies for the full URLs. Check it out here: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/08/opinion/anger-women-weinstein-assault.html Drawing below by Courtney Privett: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10213346450029481&set=a.10210870006359937.1073741966.1045379325&type=3&theater 
7. If you can't recall jack shit you need not be the chief lawyer of the United States of America. Speaking of things we don't need, the GOP tax plan. Did you see the video of CEOs admitting they won't increase capital investments like the GOP says they will for the additional tax cuts corporations will get on our backs? Good times. I hope you've been on the phone screaming about this bill because I don't know any rich people and we're all going to take it up the ass on this one.

8. I'm getting my end of the year charities lined up. So many good opportunities to give back at this time of year, and I really love hearing about how other people are giving back so let me know what you're doing! It gives me ideas for the next year. MFD and I are making Thanksgiving dinner for a family from Missouri living in OCNJ for eight weeks while they get treatment for their sick child. We are also a giving partner for Covenant House again to fulfill some of their Christmas wishes through Holiday Express, the organization Laura does a lot of work with in the North Jersey area, and we bought gifts to help a local single mom who took in four additional kids this holiday season. Thanks to our friends at McCarthy Real Estate for organizing that! New to us this year: donating wreaths for Wreaths Across America to be placed on the graves of veterans on December 16. Thanks to our friend Jeannine for the link for that!

9. Reminder: Shared by my Aunt Maria this week and 100% true. Don't overthink it. If you see a way to be a helper, just be a helper.

10. E-card of the week: 

If you've never noticed, most of the time the end of the Thursday Thoughts title is song lyrics.