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Just when you think Ted Cruz — one of perhaps the most universally mocked Senators in America — is taking a break from putting his foot in his mouth for the holiday season, he does it again. As Republican leaders step over one another to condemn the health advisories around traveling and gathering for Thanksgiving, Cruz jumped on the COVID-denial bandwagon to say share a very special and deeply idiotic image on Twitter. On Saturday, Cruz posted a black and white image of a turkey with the words “come and take it” below. His post, which used a star to represent the Texas flag, was the latest in a string of Republicans who are trying to create a “culture war” over Thanksgiving during the pandemic (which has killed over 255,000 Americans so far).

Texas, specifically, is in the middle of an aggressive second wave, and was the first state in the U.S. to reach 1 million COVID cases earlier this month. The National Guard is currently helping morgues in El Paso process the hundreds of thousands of the nearly 20,500 victims who have died.

But since Cruz asked for everyone to “come and take it,” the internet replied — and not in kind.

I will pass on your unseasoned turkey, zodiac.

— roxane gay (@rgay) November 22, 2020

Weird how you’ll stand up for everyone’s right to get sick with covid on thanksgiving, but not for your own wife.

— Jay Black (@jayblackisfunny) November 22, 2020

pic.twitter.com/h7XSTz5Vbi

— Rational Disconnect (@RationalDis) November 22, 2020

pic.twitter.com/pnvOHeFjT8

— Daniel Walters (@danielwinlander) November 22, 2020

But in case we needed another reason to condemn Ted Cruz, his failed turkey post was matched with the reappearance of a problematic predicion he made in July. During an appearance on CNN, Cruz declared that Democrats would stop caring about the coronavirus if Joe Biden won the election. “If it ends up that Biden wins in November—I hope he doesn’t, I don’t think he will—but if he does, I guarantee you the week after the election, suddenly all those Democratic governors, all of those Democratic mayors will say, “Everything is magically better, go back to work, go back to school,” Cruz told the network as it labeled his segment “Sen. Cruz Foolishly Downplays Severity of COVID-19.”

“Suddenly the problems are solved. You won’t to have to wait for Biden to be sworn in.” And despite being absolutely sure that this would be the case, November came, along with Biden’s win, and Democratic governors have been doing the exact opposite of Cruz’s prediction. A second wave of coronavirus infections have overwhelmed the U.S. and state governors have been shutting down their states in an effort to curb infection rates.

In California, indoor dining in San Francisco has been banned, while outdoor dining was banned throughout L.A. County; the latter will switch to delivery and take-out options only for at least three weeks. In Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced the closure of the state’s restaurants, bars, movie theaters, in-person learning option for schools and gyms. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has also shut down in-person learning options for New York City public school children as infection rates have began to climb again.

Perhaps Ted Cruz should keep his hot takes to himself — or maybe he can spread them only at his own Thanksgiving dinner, which is surely shaping up to be the superspreader event of the holiday season.

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President Donald Trump and his allies have spent weeks now attempting to subvert the results of the 2020 election in increasingly desperate ways, relying primarily on conspiracy theories to spread the myth that Trump has won a second term, despite Joe Biden’s confirmed Electoral College lead and lack of any evidence of voter fraud or other issues.

Trump, of course, knows he has lost the election. But by creating doubt around the results, he is not only trying to undermine both the eventual Biden administration, but also to position himself as a winner to his base in an effort to subsequently make money on speeches, rallies, and books. “This isn’t about winning the presidency,” former Trump publicist Alan Marcus told Politico. “It’s his exit strategy.” And conceding to Biden was never going to be part of Trump’s overarching personal narrative for his supporters.

His supporters are eating up that narrative, puzzling many with their willingness to believe conspiracy theories and stories that are demonstrably untrue. Seven in 10 Republicans, according to a POLITICO/Morning Consult poll, believe the election was stolen from Trump. According to a recent Monmouth University poll, 44% of Americans, including 88% of Republicans, believe “we need to wait for more information on the count before we know for sure” who won the election.

Other than from Trump himself, where is all this false information coming from? Facebook, mostly. This despite the fact that both Facebook and TikTok have blocked hashtags that were being used to spread misinformation and conspiracy theories about the election. On Facebook, this included #stopthesteal and #sharpiegate, which alleged that the use of Sharpies caused votes to go uncounted in Arizona. Facebook also shut down a group of 300,000 people called “Stop the Steal,” saying it “saw worrying calls for violence from members of the group.” Twitter has added warning labels to some tweets, including the president’s, saying that they may contain inaccurate information, and tagged other tweets with a message encouraging readers to learn more about election security efforts.

But these efforts are not having a significant effect, as can be seen by the conspiracy theories still proliferating on social media. Below are just a few that have popped up recently, as well as explanations as to why they are all, you know, fake news.

“Voter Fraud”

One of the most consistent, and often repeated, claims on social media is that of voter fraud, which Trump has helped spread through his own Twitter account. There is zero evidence, in any state, to support that widespread voter fraud actually exists, despite the Trump team’s multiple (failed and embarrassing) lawsuits. Election officials from both parties, international observers, and professional fact-checkers have stated publicly that there have been no serious irregularities. However, according to the Monmouth University poll, three-quarters of Republicans said Biden only won because of voter fraud. YouTube videos from right-wing networks like BlazeTV, Newsmax, and OANN have helped propagate these claims; videos endorsing the idea of widespread election fraud were viewed more than 138 million times on the week of November 3, according to Transparency.Tube.

In one particularly messy voter fraud story, a Pennsylvania USPS worker claimed that a supervisor directed staff to backdate late-arriving ballots, but then recanted his claim once he was visited by postal service investigators. In Arizona and Michigan, Trump supporters filed lawsuit claiming that votes were thrown out because they had used Sharpies to fill out their ballots (hence #sharpiegate), but ended up dropping it. In Detroit, Trump supporters claimed a now-viral video showed someone bringing late-arriving mail-in ballots into a vote-counting center, but it was actually a local cameraman wheeling in his equipment. Eric Trump claimed one video showed 80 Trump ballots being set on fire — but they ended up being sample ballots.

On Twitter, Trump falsely claimed that Dominion, an election technology firm, “deleted” large numbers of his votes or “switched” them for Biden. “There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised,” according to a statement by the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, a federal agency that oversees U.S. election security. “The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history.” Dominion Voting Systems said in a statement that it “denies claims about any vote switching or alleged software issues with our voting systems.”

Zombie Voters

This is another favorite for Trump and his supporters. Too bad it’s also not true. CNN examined records for 50 Michigan voters who Trump supporters claimed were dead. They found 37 had died (and thus, had not voted), five were alive and had voted, and eight were alive and didn’t vote. Michigan election officials said they “are not aware of a single confirmed case showing that a ballot was actually cast on behalf of a deceased individual,” the secretary of state wrote on its website. A similar scenario occurred in Pennsylvania.

There are a few reasons for confusion here, including that even though election officials regularly purge dead people from voter rolls, they occasionally miss some. Sometimes a worker accidentally enters a vote by a living person as being cast by a dead person with a similar name. In Michigan, the voting software requires a birthday for each voter, and if the clerk doesn’t have it, 1/1/1901 is used as a placeholder. Conspiracy theorists have pointed to examples of people with that birthday voting. 

But they are very much alive. Donna Brydges, 75, for example, confirmed to the Associated Press that she’s alive and then passed the phone to her husband, who said, “She’s actually beat me in a game of cribbage.”

“Army Seized A Server Showing A Trump Landslide” Theory 

In addition to voter fraud and dead voters, there are various more esoteric theories floating around on social media, many of them alleging that there are “deep-state” government efforts to subvert the election. 

One of them is that the U.S. Army raided the Frankfurt, Germany, office of Scytl, a company that makes software for local election officials, and seized a computer server that had the true vote totals for the presidential election, which obviously show that Trump won in a landslide with 410 electoral votes. Both Scytl and the Army have denied the claim. 

The lie seems to have originated with a November 8 Twitter post by a user who said they heard about the raid. “I haven’t been able to confirm the accuracy yet,” the account tweeted. Then, an Indian website known for spreading false information about the coronavirus pandemic picked it up. And then, people like Texas Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert and right-wing activist Charlie Kirk picked it up, which is how it spread to the American masses. At no point during its dissemination, however, did the lie become true.

“Hammer & Scorecard” Theory

Another deep-state theory, this one claims that CIA computer programs hacked the election. One of them, called Hammer, cracked into protected networks, while another, called Scorecard, changed the vote totals. Christopher Krebs, who led the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, called this theory “nonsense.” Krebs, who was recently fired by Trump, also said the election was secure and set up a website called Rumor Control to help voters get the correct information. But that hasn’t stopped people like William Hartmann — the Michigan Republican election official who seeked to block certification of Detroit’s votes — from posting this lie on their social media.

Release The Kraken

This one is more of a catchphrase than a separate theory, but it’s indicative of how oft-repeated things spread on right-wing social media like wildfire. It all started when Sidney Powell, one of Trump’s crew of election lawyers who has since been fired for being too conspiratorial, told Fox Business Network host Lou Dobbs that the team has enough evidence to overturn election results in key states.

“We are talking about hundreds of thousands of votes,” Powell said. “President Trump won this election in a landslide.” She later said that voter fraud had been “organized and conducted with the help of Silicon Valley people, the big tech companies, the social media companies, and even the media companies.” She added: “I’m going to release the Kraken.” 

The phrase recently trended on Twitter, pushed mostly by conservatives and far-right personalities. It’s originally from the 1981 movie The Clash of the Titans. 

Color Revolution Theory

Another nonsensical deep-state theory claimed that Democratic operatives and government insiders were plotting to overthrow Trump with a “color revolution.” The term refers to a popular uprising against an authoritarian regime, like those that took place in former Soviet republics Georgia and Ukraine in the early and mid-2000s (which Republicans largely supported). Despite no evidence supporting it, right-wing hosts like Tucker Carlson and Glenn Beck gleefully picked it up, and it has made rounds on Facebook groups with names like “Deplorable Warriors for President Donald J. Trump Keep America Great 2020.”

So, Why Do People Believe All This Stuff? 

It might be hard to understand or accept why such a vast fraction of the population has come to believe misinformation and conspiracy theories that, to millions of us, sound like pure drivel. In general, people believe in conspiracy theories like QAnon because they provide simple explanations for the chaotic world around them, Geoff Dancy, an associate political science professor at Tulane University whose areas of interest include conspiracy theories, told Refinery29.

In the case of the election, Dancy said, “It’s a way for them to deal with the chaos of American democracy. They had no doubt that their candidate was going to win, and he didn’t, and so they’ve got to figure out some way to explain that in a way that makes sense in the way their universe is ordered. There’s a deep psychic need behind all of this.” 

If you know somebody who has fallen for this type of misinformation and want to talk to them, Dancy suggests a few tips. This is something that he does in his everyday research, particularly with QAnon. First, what not to do: “You can’t just go, ‘That article is garbage. You don’t know what you’re talking about, mom.’ That is combative.”

Instead, he suggests, start the conversation with them by first saying their name (“it gives you a little endorphin hit to hear your name said by somebody else”), and then agree with them on a couple of points. For example, with a QAnon supporter, you might agree that child sex trafficking is bad and that the fact that Jeffrey Epstein got away with his crimes for so many years is bizarre. But then, he says, you should go further and start asking them how they got certain information, like that “this is all the machinations of a cabal of pedophiles that are in the U.S. government.” He says to ask for evidence, and make them question their beliefs bit by bit. Dancy said that oftentimes (though not always), he has gotten people to see that their beliefs are not rooted in real facts. “I’ve convinced a couple of people who think that the pandemic was caused by Bill Gates that that’s a garbage theory.”

Perhaps the most important thing to remember with all this is that, no matter how absurd these theories and their adherents might seem to you, ignoring them or dismissing them as ridiculous isn’t going to make them go away. And so as difficult as it might seem to engage with conspiracy theorists, it’s all part of the work that must be done, one way or another, if there’s ever any hope of deprogramming the cult-like thinking of Trump’s followers.

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Welcome to Money Diaries where we are tackling the ever-present taboo that is money. We’re asking real people how they spend their hard-earned money during a seven-day period — and we’re tracking every last dollar.

Have you been experiencing more physical pain while working from home at your desk job? Neck stiff? Lower back constantly hurts? Tell us all of your bodily aches and what you’ve been doing to address them here.

Today: a dietitian who has a joint income of $122,400 per year and spends some of her money this week on a democracy sausage.

Editor’s Note: All currency has been converted to USD.

Trigger Warning: This Money Diary mentions miscarriage.

Occupation: Dietitian
Industry: Health
Age: 31
Location: Queensland, Australia
Salary: $84,500 (mine) + $37,900 (husband’s)
Net Worth: $22,000 in savings plus we are $15,000 ahead on our mortgage. I have $116,000 in my super (retirement) account and my husband has $65,000 in his. Both of our salaries are paid into the same account and we pay for everything out of this.
Debt: $357,000 left of our mortgage. My husband has about $25,000 left from his masters (the repayments come out with his tax).
My Paycheck Amount (biweekly): $1,895
My Husband’s Paycheck (biweekly): $1,092

Monthly Expenses
Mortgage: $1,675 in compulsory mortgage repayments, plus we pay an additional $450 a month in extra payments.
Gym: $25/week
Subscriptions (Netflix, Spotify, Prime): $32
Cell Phone & Internet: $136 (husband has a work phone)
Private Health Insurance: $250 (This is the total for my husband and me. Australia has a free healthcare system for hospital admissions, but many people elect to get private health insurance. Mine is top hospital cover which includes pregnancy (so one day I can deliver a baby at a private hospital) and my husband has mid-range hospital cover and extras (e.g. physio, dental, podiatry, etc). I canceled my extras as it was too expensive and I wasn’t using them very often.)
Utilities: $291 per quarter
Rates: $331 per quarter
Garden Waste Collection: $16

Was there an expectation for you to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
Yes. My mum in particular was very supportive of me going further than she did. While I’m sure she would have supported me in whatever career I wanted, she was always very firm on me having an education and being well-read. After high school, I started an arts degree but dropped out halfway through as I couldn’t see a future in it. I then completed a degree in Dietetics. Australian citizens can study for no upfront cost — once you start earning a certain amount each year, you start paying back the government for your course — this is lumped in with your tax. I finished paying mine off this year (it took about six years to pay off my $30,000 debt). While I was studying I also received an allowance from the government. I was still working but got about $100 or so a week extra to help with expenses.

Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent/guardian(s) educate you about finances?
My dad was always very big on saving at least 10% of your income. We didn’t have a lot of money when I was growing up so we often had store brand food or clothes. Growing up, I hated this but now I appreciate the value of shopping around as well as how tough it must have been for my parents to scrimp and save for the opportunities that we did have. While we didn’t go on big overseas holidays or eat out often, there was always enough for us to join team sports or for my brother to get braces, etc.

What was your first job and why did you get it?
I worked in a newsagents just before I turned 15. In Australia, you can get your first job at 14 years and nine months, so I think I just thought “Well, it’s time, get a job.” I was only working three hours a week and earning $15 a week, but I felt rich. Since then, I’ve had between one and three jobs at any one time.

Did you worry about money growing up?
I was a very unobservant child, but I did hate that my brother and I had to share a Happy Meal when we went out (now I see that this was probably better for our nutrition anyway!).

Do you worry about money now?
Yes. My husband has his own business — it’s slowly growing but I worry that his income is less stable than mine. Things are definitely picking up for him and we’re hopeful he will be able to pull out some considerable profit at the end of the next financial year.

At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
I would guess 24. This is when I officially moved out of home and was paying for all of my own groceries and rent. I’d been paying board at my parents’ house before this but rent was a big step up. I know I could always rely on my parents if I needed but at this stage, I have a really good saving nest-egg.

Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
No.

Day One

5:30 a.m. — I’m on annual leave this week but I wake up without an alarm, too excited to sleep. We are having our dating scan this morning. I’m eight weeks and one day pregnant and I feel like I’ve been waiting forever for this. My husband, F., stays in bed while I get up and walk the dog. We’re back by 6:30, so F. and I have breakfast together. I spend extra time doing my hair and makeup — it sounds silly, but I want to look good for my prenatal appointments, they’re something that I’m taking seriously. I drink the 750ml of water that I’ve been told to have.

9 a.m. — We arrive at the scan. I quickly Google whether I’ll need a full bladder at the rest of my scans because this is torture! We’re called in and the radiologist starts the scan. She’s there for about a second before telling me my bladder is way too full and we’re going to have to do an internal. I gratefully wobble to the bathroom and let it out. She begins and gets me to re-clarify my dates. I start to feel nervous. She’s really nice though when she says it is only measuring five weeks, and there’s no heartbeat. She explains that either my dates are wrong, or that it’s not viable. We go out to pay. It’s $90 but half is reimbursed by Medicare. F. and I are quiet until we reach the car, then he gets me to re-explain what has happened. A missed miscarriage is my best bet, I tell him. I know we can’t know anything for sure right now, but I know my dates are right, I was tracking everything so religiously. $44.45

11 a.m. — Once we’re home, I cry some more, book a doctor’s appointment for that afternoon, and F. makes me a cup of tea. I can see that he’s upset too and needs to let some steam out so I tell him I’m fine and encourage him to go hit some golf balls at the driving range nearby, which he does ($21.85). I call my best friend. She lives four hours away and we have a meet-up planned in a few weeks where I was going to tell her I was pregnant. Now I just need her support. She’s incredible and talking helps. She had two miscarriages before both of her babies and she offers some great advice and comfort. $21.85

2:30 p.m. — I arrive at my doctor’s appointment. She hasn’t received my scans yet but we chat through what happened. She explains that she can’t make any calls without the report and that I will likely need another scan in a week or two anyway to confirm. She gives me a pathology request form to get my beta HCG and progesterone levels checked and says she’ll call me in two days. The appointment is bulk billed, so costs me nothing. Neither does the blood test which I get done immediately. I cry when the phlebotomist asks how my day has gone.

5 p.m. — I will go crazy if I keep sitting around doing nothing but thinking about my potential miscarriage, so I get up and go to the gym. I stick to more gentle, upper body exercises just in case but exercise has always been my stress relief and it feels good to move and sweat. On the way home, I call my mum and tell her what happened. We had planned on announcing our pregnancy to our families after the dating scan but now I have an incredible need to tell my mum and have her support. She is great, although slightly too positive that it will all work out and it will be viable. When I get home, F. and I walk the dog again and debrief on the day.

7 p.m. — We heat up frozen fried rice and I quickly stir-fry some veggies as a side dish for dinner. We eat on the couch and watch a mindless teen movie before calling it a night at 9.

Daily Total: $66.30

Day Two

6:30 a.m. — A light sleep-in compared to yesterday! I lay in bed, alternating between Insta stories and Googling miscarriages for a while before getting up and getting dressed. I drive the dog to my in-laws’ house to meet up with my sister-in-law. I’m a little nervous; F. told his mum what happened yesterday and she’s there, and I’m worried she’ll look at me funny or be overly sympathetic. Thankfully, she treats me normally. My sister-in-law and I walk our dogs to the dog park and stop for a takeaway coffee on the way (she pays). When we get back to the house, my mother-in-law loads me up with cuttings from her garden and suggests we get lunch later.

11:30 a.m. — It’s time for my semi-annual dental check-up. As usual, they tell me I need to floss more and then do the usual check and clean. I usually love the fluoride treatment but this time it’s strawberry flavored, not bubblegum and I’m left disappointed. Because I don’t have extras on my health insurance, I pay full price. $167

1:30 p.m. — I meet up with my mother-in-law and two different sisters-in-law at a nearby dumpling place for lunch. We chat about robot-vacuum cleaners, house renovations, and the upcoming state election while we share a variety of dumplings. One of the sisters pays and we transfer her money ($10.90). They all came in one car and I offer to drive the one closest to me home. We stop at mine on the way so she can see the new entertainment unit I bought and give me some styling advice (I have very little idea what I’m doing style-wise). After dropping her home, the dog and I binge New Girl while a storm rolls in. $10.90

6 p.m. — F. is home and we chat about our days while looking at the flooding in our yard from today’s rain. He plays touch football two nights a week, so I’ll be home alone tonight. After he leaves, I cook salmon with sweet potato chunks and salad. I watch a comedy news quiz while eating and then have a small bowl of mint ice cream for dessert. Checking the account, I see that F. has paid for football ($9.45). He normally treats himself to some McDonalds on a Tuesday night but tonight he just comes straight home at about 10:30. $9.45

Daily Total: $187.35

Day Three

5:20 a.m. — The sun is up, and so am I. The dog and I go for a walk after my usual Insta stories catch up. We’ve been walking for 18 months now and he’s still awful on the leash. I make a mental note to look up front-clip harnesses, which I’ve heard are better for control. Once home, I make some avocado toast and shower. F. leaves for work after a quick catch up about his game the night before.

9:30 a.m. — When I’m stressed, exercise is usually my go-to. I love to just run or go hard at the gym and let it out, but I feel like that’s off-limits at the moment, so I decide to channel my stress into retail therapy. I head to the closest shopping center and wander around but don’t know what to buy. There doesn’t seem to be any point in buying clothes — who knows what might fit me soon anyway and I can’t find any shoes or jewelry that I like. I end up going to a bulk health food store and buying dark chocolate coated blueberries and goji berries, cinnamon cashews, and chocolate buckinis ($15.04), then gochujang from the Asian supermarket ($1.50) and some compostable dental floss and a silicon baking tray from a nearby shop ($13). Driving home, F. calls and tells me he’s bought a coffee and a BLT for breakfast/lunch ($10.90). $40.44

12:30 p.m. — One of my sisters-in-law calls and says she’s bored so I invite her over for lunch. I make falafels with roast veg, avo, and feta and it is delicious. We chat for a bit before she leaves and I start doing some garden prep — we have a heap of mulch arriving tomorrow and I need to weed. I spend an hour or two digging out weeds and then put some unwanted plants up for free on Facebook marketplace. My doctor calls as I’m finishing. My HCG is saying I should be seven weeks and my progesterone is slightly low. She encourages me to get another scan next Monday (which I book straight away) but says that HCG can continue to rise for a few weeks after a miscarriage. F. had come home to be there for the phone call so I fill him in.

4 p.m. — I hit the gym and then quickly stop at the grocery store for potatoes ($0.70). On a whim, I treat myself to a bottle of zero alcohol wine ($8.71). I love a glass of wine and it feels cruel that I’m going through this stress without it. $9.41

7 p.m. — I cook dinner while F. chats. I make a Moroccan feast — veggie tagine with maakouda and beef meatballs. It takes forever and is very underwhelming. I think I’m a pretty good cook, so I’m blaming the recipe for this one. We watch a few episodes of Kim’s Convenience while we eat and I have a glass of the wine — it is meant to be a sauvignon blanc but at best I would say it tastes like a moscato. We head to bed around 9 as another storm starts up.

Daily Total: $49.85

Day Four

8:30 a.m. — After another early start of walking with the dog and having some muesli, fruit, and yogurt for breakfast, I pick my brother’s wife up and head to my mum’s place. She’s got some plant clippings for my new garden and wants to take me to a few good plant nurseries near her. I buy nothing at the first nursery, but pick up some ground cover plants and jasmine at the next nursery. My sister-in-law wants a hanging plant and forgets her wallet so I pay ($47 for all of our plants). She says she’ll transfer but I doubt it. I don’t really mind as she’s done a lot for me lately. We have a morning tea of coffee and carrot cake back at mum’s before we head off. $47

12:30 p.m. — I arrive home and sneak in a quick lunch of a salad with lemon and pepper tuna before a lady arrives for the free plants I’d advertised. She’s really sweet and we chat about gardening for a little while. I place an online grocery order after lunch. I order a full week’s groceries including pork mince, sour cream, chickpeas, olives, yogurt, as well as usuals like milk, coffee pods, tuna for the dog, and some things we were running out of like shampoo, soy sauce, flour, and laundry powder. It comes to $84.70 but I won’t have to pay until I collect it on Saturday.

4 p.m. — Back to the gym. I feel like I’m doing really well at finding a balance of getting some exercise in without pushing it too hard in the unlikely event that this pregnancy is viable. I’ve decided that even if it’s not, I’m going to stick to some of the lifestyle changes I’ve made like no alcohol and decreasing my coffee intake drastically.

7 p.m. — F. heads off for football again ($9.45) and I set to making a recipe from Half Baked Harvest. It’s a crispy lemon feta with orzo and chickpeas and It. Is. Delicious. I practically lick the plate clean while watching New Girl and Googling Netflix’s Christmas movie lineup (I take their Christmas movies very seriously and this year will be no exception. I’m particularly excited that Dolly Parton is in on the game this year). $9.45

Daily Total: $56.45

Day Five

9 a.m. — After walking the dog, taking an early morning gym class, and having my muesli, I drive 45 minutes to a nursery that I’ve heard great things about. It does not disappoint — her plants are incredible and much cheaper than other places. I stock up on ixoras, philodendrons, more jasmine, ground cover plants, and a pink cordyline ($108.94). It’s muggy today, so I stop through the McDonald’s drive-through and buy a frozen no-sugar Coke ($0.72). $109.66

1 p.m. — I lather on sunscreen and bug spray and put on a big hat and my favorite playlist (lots of early 2000s songs). I get to work planting and mulching my yard. It takes a few hours and I’m filthy, but it looks great! I could stare at it all day, waiting for it to all grow. I take a break around 3 and go to a local photo printing store. I’ve decided to make a gallery wall, so I print eight photos and buy some matching frames as well as some no-nails hooks. $14.51

7:30 p.m. — F.’s brother and his girlfriend come over for dinner. I’m exhausted after the gardening but come alive a bit more when the food arrives. We’ve ordered some food from the nearby Vietnamese place. I get pho and we all share some spring rolls. It comes to $23.25 for F. and me. After dinner, we play card games and I get on an incredible winning streak before announcing at 9:30 that I need to go to bed. F.’s brother’s girlfriend goes home but F. and his brother drink for a few more hours downstairs while watching UFC fights. $23.25

Daily Total: $147.42

Day Six

8:30 a.m. — I managed a small sleep in today, but the sun is so bright. We really need to get better curtains or blinds for our room. While F. is sleeping, I put my gallery wall together. It takes a lot more math than I expected to make things even, but I’m satisfied with the end result! After a coffee, F. and I walk down to our local polling booth. It’s the state election today and voting is compulsory in Australia. We cast our votes and then buy “democracy sausages.” They’re a stable of Australian elections and it seems wrong to not get one ($3.63). $3.63

10:30 a.m. — F. comes with me to collect the groceries ($84.70), but he’s too hungover to also come to the fruit shop, so I drop him home first. At the fruit and veg store, I buy mangoes, blueberries, peppers, arugula, cucumbers, sweet potato, bananas, apples, tomatoes, mushrooms, and avocado ($21.79). When I get home, F. is across the street chatting to our neighbor. He’s getting rid of some big agave plants and wants to know if I want them. I gladly accept and he also gives us two giant filets of fish that he’d caught and frozen. What a win! $106.49

2 p.m. — It storms again this afternoon and the poor dog is looking so sad and mopey. I try to give him lots of belly rubs to make up for it as we lie on the couch and flick between sports and sitcom re-runs. F. and I both have quick naps.

6 p.m. — It’s date night! After the downer that this week has been, we feel like we need to do something fun. We head to a nice Italian restaurant for dinner where we share a house special pizza and gnocchi carbonara. F. has a beer and I have a virgin peach bellini. It’s delicious but the food is a little blah ($52.30). After dinner we go to the arcade and load up some cards — we put $25 (AUD) each on a card which gives us an additional $5 credit each ($36.30 USD total). We spend an hour playing all sorts of games and F. is getting so frustrated. While the pregnancy gods are not currently smiling on me, the arcade games gods are because I am unstoppable! I even win a shoot-em-up game which I’m traditionally hopeless at. We cash our points in for an armful of unnecessary lollies and then get frozen yogurt for dessert ($15.75). Tonight was definitely a mood lifter. $104.35

Daily Total: $214.47

Day Seven

6:30 a.m. — Up early. Walk the dog.

8:30 a.m. — I meet up with a friend for breakfast. She’s currently pregnant with her second child and we discuss that and my likely miscarriage while we have avocado and halloumi on toast with lattes. She also had a miscarriage in her first pregnancy and her daughter is so cool, so it gives me hope that when this eventually works out, I will also have an incredible baby. $15.25

11 a.m. — F. has left for golf with his friends by the time I get home but has cleaned the bathroom and done a load of laundry. I throw myself into cleaning the rest of the house. It’s coming into summer and there is dog hair everywhere. Everywhere. We have a robot-vacuum which is great but I pull the proper one out and do a super thorough job. I’m back to work next week and I always feel better starting back with a clean and organized house.

2 p.m. — I spend a few hours working on another garden bed and plant the gifted agaves. The dog is by my side the whole time and I alternate between weeding and throwing the ball. He will never, ever get sick of me throwing the ball. There’s still work to do on the garden but it’s hot and I’m over it, so I shower and plop onto the couch.

4 p.m. — My brother calls and invites us around for afternoon tea. We (F., me, and the dog) head around and we eat cheese and dips on their deck while watching YouTube videos and having a few drinks (they bought me another type of alcohol-free wine which is slightly better than the last). My dog and their dog are best friends and they have fun running around the yard.

7 p.m. — We head home and F. and I make lemongrass pork burgers which are like a Korean style banh mi — delicious! We watch the news and then Australian Story. F. confirms what time my scan is in the morning and makes sure his schedule is clear so he can be there too. He can struggle sometimes with hard emotions but he’s been incredible this week. I know he’s sad too, but he’s been so good at checking in on me and making sure I’m okay. We hang out, just chatting for a bit, before having an early night.

Daily Total: $15.25

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To say that the entire Republican party has been complicit in outgoing President Donald Trump’s undermining of the 2020 presidential election results would be a severe understatement. The GOP has become so sycophantic that simply acknowledging reality — that President-elect Joe Biden won the popular and electoral vote handedly — is considered an act of bipartisanship worthy of praise. But before praising those who have spoken out against Trump, it should be noted that behind closed doors, Republican senators are not exactly in support of Trump’s ongoing legal fight.

Its been over two weeks since the election was called for Biden, and only a handful of Republican elected officials have publicly called for the Trump administration to begin the peaceful transition of power to the incoming Biden-Harris administration. The rest of the Republicans have either regurgitated Trump’s debunked claims of election fraud or have been silent. Privately, however, as many as 21 GOP Senators have “expressed their disdain for Trump,” reports journalist, CNN contributor, and author Carl Bernstein. They just refuse to do anything about it. 

“I’m not violating any pledge of journalistic confidentially [sic] in reporting this: 21 Republican Sens — in convos w/ colleagues, staff members, lobbyist, W. House aids — have repeatedly expressed extreme contempt for Trump & his fitness to be POTUS,” Bernstein tweeted Sunday evening.

He then went on to name the Senators: Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE). Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) Sen. John Thune (R-SD), Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN), Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ), Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS), Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS), Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL). 

While few of these senators have publicly relayed their disdain for Trump, Sen. Murkowski was among the first to congratulate Biden and Harris, saying that she is “ready to work with their administration.” Sen. Sasse has also denounced Team Trump’s legal battle, while Sen. Toomey stated that, “President Trump should accept the outcome of the election.” A few others have merely shown their support by publicly referring to Biden as president-elect — a standard practice in the pre-Trump era.

But the fact that these senators — en masse — have mostly decided to privately condemn what they publicly condone is a representation of larger problem within the party: a desire to protect the party’s power rather than hold up an oath to protect the U.S. constitution.

When Sen. Lindsey Graham tweeted “If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed… and we will deserve it” in May 2016, he unknowingly predicted the destruction of an entire political party that had been decaying since the rise of the Tea Party and the racist birther movement. And in forcing a journalists to announce their contempt for Trump, any facade that allowed Republicans to label themselves the party of “rule and order” has vanished.

Now, at the risk of angering Trump supporters, Republican leadership has kowtowed to a naked Emperor — tripping over the pieces of our crumbling democracy so they can continue to compliment him on his robe. “With few exceptions, their craven public silence has helped enable Trump’s most grievous conduct-including undermining and discrediting the US the [sic] electoral system,” Bernstein tweeted.

The truth is, Republicans haven’t just enabled Trump, they’ve encouraged him. Because while Trump can’t spell and looks directly at solar eclipses, he’s smart enough to know that the party he represents will not cross him. He knows that he can and will get away with anything — from letting over 250,000 Americans die to attempting a coup — and all his Republican cohorts will do is whisper their concerns. Democracy does not die in darkness — it dies in the well-lit offices of publicly elected officials who stay silent in these moments.

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“No, No No!”

I spend most of my nights on Google, trying to find ways to break June from only saying her new favorite word, which is “No!” I also do endless hours of research about things like “how to get a toddler in her car seat without her screaming bloody murder” and “how to get my toddler to put on shoes without sounding like I am killing her.”

It’s not that I don’t want her to say “no,” I just would really love it if she would use the other words that she knows, like “Yes” “Ball” and “More please!”

Although, all  of these things do make me laugh and love her all the more. We are crazy obsessed with June and this is such a fun age. She is walking, talking and full blown crazy with energy, personality and determination. It’s quite amazing to see her coming into her own (strong) personality.

Outside of an ear infection (argh) and a mild cold this month, which caused a few weeks of restless sleep, June is doing amazingly well (thankfully!). Our only concern right now is that she gets a bit bored, poor girl.

Scroll down to read more new updates from our life with a 21 month old little girl.

 

Mama or Dada?

June definitely has a daily preference and sometimes it can be a bit heartbreaking. When June first starting screaming in pain because of her ear infection she wanted “Mama” (one point for me) and then when we got to the hospital she wanted “Dada” (one point for Grant). It’s been a tough learning lesson to not take this too personally. June just really wants to have a say in everything right now. Whenever I feel a little jealous I quickly remind myself how lucky we all are to have both Mama an Dada and that she loves us both .

Let There Be Sleep!

Once we made it past the 18 month sleep regression (that was killer) and the sleepless nights due to sickness, June is officially a pro at sleeping. We were really lucky that she’s always been a great sleeper, but we no longer have to pull out any tricks to get her back down. We have such a great rhythm and groove with each other that it is so much easier than before {hope I’m not jinxing us!}.

June Loves Stickers

Recently, June became obsessed with toys that take a bit more time to figure out. She is obsessed with stickers, coloring and puzzles that she has to figure out how to put together. She gets a bit frustrated if she can’t figure it out, so we try and step in to help guide her before she has a full meltdown out of frustration.

Don’t Mock Me!

You guys, June is mocking me. Okay so not in a snarky way but she is mimicking me! I am terrified (haha). I knew this day was coming but I honestly thought I had more time to beat all of my old habits out of myself. For example, the other day I got really frustrated with the oven and let out a “Uggggh!” and then June repeated it!!! I about died. Grant and I try not to make a big deal when she repeats us but we are definitely watching what we say and do around June a lot more than we used to!

Do you have a toddler? Are you a parent? Have any pro tips or updates to share? Leave them in the comments below!

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