There's So Much That We Need to Share. So Send a Smile and Show You Care

During these funky times, I've been doing a lot of trading of things with friends. I love to share and give people stuff, which is how this all started. Then the people I offered to give stuff to, said they wanted to trade me for stuff. And so, I have traded a ton of shit lately, and it feels really good.

I traded a lot with my friend, Brittany. She is a baking fiend, and I don't have the patience or the exactness (?) to bake very well. So, she traded me some coconut muffins, and I made her and  her boyfriend some chicken enchiladas with homemade refried beans and fried tostada shells. When she saw all of that, she threw in some Impossible burgers and some African groundnut stew.

That same day I traded my friends, Rob and Dawn some of those same enchiladas and beans and tostada shells for two and they reciprocated with two rolls of toilet paper, some farm fresh eggs and they colored (blue, appropriately) a card with the word, "balls" on it. Have I mentioned how much I love my friends?

I said something about how I was trying to keep an eye on my drinking (this virus has me very stressed-out and parched) and trying to find some fun non-alcoholic cocktails. That same friend, Brittany gave up alcohol about a year ago, and sent over a bottle of this non-alcoholic cocktail mixer and  some ginger beer to make mock Moscow mules. I then traded her for some lemon zucchini bread, which is one of the few things I do bake.

I really love trading food, especially meals with people. I've never made African ground nut stew and it was amazing.

My friend, Brittany dropped off some chocolate banana cake this week. I didn't have anything to trade for it then, but this weekend, I hope to make some veggie lasagna and some chicken wild rice soup in the crockpot, that I will drop off for her on Sunday.

My Spring flowers are finally blooming, so when John goes to drop off groceries for his mom in her retirement community, I try to get a bouquet ready for her. I also make sure he has a book or two. I gave her the first two books in the Olive Kitteridge trilogy last week, and the first book of the "Little House on the Prairie" series this week.

Now that it's garden season, I've been giving or trading like a banshee. My friend, Kathy had her husband drop off some cilantro and parsley plants, and I will bring over some snapdragons, bell pepper, and Mexican Torch Sunflower seedlings as soon as it's warm enough to plant them outside.

I traded my next door neighbor some red raspberry bush shoots, and some cone flowers, and he gave me some red onion shoots, and dropped off buckets of mulch. He later told me he took the mulch from the community gardens across the street, but since I'm not the one who pinched it, I can't feel too badly, can I?

Of course, I've been making plenty of food for my girls during this crazy pandemic. This week I made mashed red potatoes and green bean casserole and tomorrow when we drop off Coadster's bike, we'll bring them some lunch take-out from a restaurant of their choice.

So, if you haven't already, give somebody something. The act alone will make you feel better, and who knows what you'll get back.