The Internet Blues

I'm writing a persuasive speech about the ills of pornography for my public speaking class this semester, and in my research I've found some truly staggering statistics. In fact, the other day I had to stop working on it for a while and call my mom because I was getting depressed about how pornography is literally plaguing our society. It is a drug, and it's spreading like wildfire, especially over the Internet. And that's just the beginning, how many times a week do we hear a story in the news about crimes related to cyber bullying or CNN special reports about "How to Catch a Predator" or whatever it's called. Too often!

So today I'm thankful for all the GOOD things that the Internet has brought us. I'm thankful for people who use the Internet for good things, because it really is such a blessing for us to have in this day and age! Here are some of the things that I love about the Internet.

1. Personal Blogs. I already wrote about this a while ago, but we can use blogs as a great way to support each other and learn from each other. I especially love reading blogs of cousins or high school friends that I wasn't necessarily that close to before. I've gotten to know them and keep in touch with them better! I love reading about people sharing their beliefs, even if they are a little different than mine. Do I think blogging should be your life? No.

2. Cooking Blogs. Ever since I got married and starting cooking more I decided to broaden my horizons and try recipes. This is probably where I waste most of my time on the Internet, I'm such a nerd! But here are a few good food blogs I've found, if you want to take a peek.
-Mel's Kitchen Cafe This is maybe my favorite because she makes food that's not so different from what my mom might make. And she uses normal ingredients that I'm likely to have. Aaaaannnnnddd because she has a lot of actual meal food instead of just desserts like a good number of other food blogs I read. What? So I have a sweet tooth, okay?!
-Picky Palate . She has some really unique, delicious and healthy recipes....and a lot of sweets! Yum.
-Brown Eyed Baker I almost always want to bake whatever she made the minute I see it.
-Confessions of a Cookbook Queen I think maybe her sweet tooth puts even mine to shame. She has a lot of chocolatey goodness.
-Mikelle's Meals This is my cousins blog, I'm biased here because she has a lot of family recipes that I love.
-Bakerella. Because everything she bakes is cute. Everything!
-Pioneer Woman I actually haven't tried much of her stuff...yet. I tried her monkey bread once because everyone raves about monkey bread, and I have since vowed never to eat it again. I do not like Monkey Bread.
-All Recipes. A lot of times I'll just google something and I end up here. I've had some good results from it too!
My most trusted resource is always my mom or sisters though! In fact I made my first Sunday Roast on Sunday with the directions my mom gave me that I scribbled on the back of some random paper.

3. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints website. There are so many great resources available there! If I have to give a talk, or if I need something to add to my lesson (I call my Dad first) then go there. I LOVE the Mormon Messages on YouTube too. Go HERE to watch the Thanksgiving one,

4.Skype! I love Skype, you can download it for free (it's easy!) and make video calls to other people with Skype for free. You can call to phones from Skype too, but that does cost money. I've never done it, but I don't think it costs anymore than it would for a calling card or something. Skype was a piece of heaven when I was in Ukraine. It did my heart good to see my family and Brad (my boyfriend at the time). And I think it was good for my Mom to see me too and where I was living.
(This is me Skyping with Brad while I was in Ukraine...and apparently eating Nutella.)
Just this Sunday I got to talk to my sister, and see how big my niece is getting!

5.Tutorials. You can find a tutorial on just about anything you can dream of! I learned several sewing skills from tutorials. Just today I found this little tutorial on how to make a "Baby Cake". I think I'm going to make some for the family that we home teach that just had a baby. So cute, right?!

There are obviously a lot more wonderful things to use the Internet for, I didn't even graze the surface. But I think it's also important to make sure you're using it wisely. Even doing good things on the Internet can be replaced with better things that you can be doing in person, face to face. I'll step off my soap box now, since I'm the one that decided to blog every single day this month. But you get the idea, right?

I'm thankful for the Internet, it really is amazing and can be used to bless our lives in so many ways!