Monday, October 31, 2011

A Gentle Reminder

There are people in our lives that we consider hopeless. Those who are the way they are and they will never change.  Some are gossipers, some are addicts, some are unbelievers, some we may even consider to be our enemies, or unworthy and unaffected.  I know I have thought this from time to time about people.  Why won't he do this, or why is she like that.  Sometimes it would just be easier to cut these people from our lives than to waste our time and energy on someone who will not change.  But sitting in church yesterday I got a gentle nudge from God.  I should PRAY for that person.  What?  I should use my time with God to pray for someone else?  Someone who most certainly isn't praying for me.  Someone who probably doesn't even want me to be praying for them.  Yes.  Those are the people who need it the most.  Because that person who seems unworthy, and prideful, or who claims they don't believe are the ones that need our prayers the most. The one most important thing I took away from church yesterday is that God has a vested interest in EVERY SINGLE PERSON on this earth.  HE created them.  So why should I decide that someone is not worthy of being prayed for just because I do not agree with their decisions or how they live their life?  I don't know where I would be right now if I didn't have people praying for me.  So the next time I have a conflict with a friend, or am resentful towards my husband (it happens, I'm human) I won't be so quick to write them off as I so often do.  We can't know they power of prayer until we use prayer to see changes. Remember, God is good. God is always listening.

Disclaimer:  I'm not preaching just felt compelled to share this message.  I'm not a perfect Christian or perfect at praying and most definitely not a perfect person!  But little reminders like this make me feel blessed for the things I have, blessed for the people in my life and hopeful for the things to come!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Portabella Pumpkin Pasta

True or False - The Duke loves pasta dishes.

True or False - The Duke loves dishes that do not involve meat

True or False - The Duke loves it when I experiment with dinner.

The answer to all of the above is...FALSE.  The Duke would prefer to not have pasta for dinner. Ever. The Duke considers a meal incomplete if meat is not involved.  Grilled meat is even better.  And The Duke gets nervous when I try new things with his food.  But because I'm growing a human inside of me, I do the shopping, and the cooking, and because I love pasta and despise meat right now, The Duke didn't have much of a say in dinner last night.  I decided to grab a few items out of the pantry and experiment.  Here are the few items. Four to be exact...

Portabella mushrooms, angel hair pasta, mushroom Alfredo sauce, and canned pumpkin.  Yes, because it's Fall, I do have to include pumpkin in everything.

Start a pot of water to boil the pasta.  While it's heating up wash and slice the Portabella mushrooms.  Melt 2 TBS of butter in a skillet, add the mushrooms and saute on medium high heat until soft. Add the Alfredo sauce to the skillet with the sauteed mushrooms over medium low heat. Add 1/2 cup canned pumpkin to the sauce and combine.  Cook until it starts to bubble, reduce heat to low. Add 1 tsp cinnamon and black pepper to taste.  Once water is boiling add salt and pasta, I used 1/2 pound.  Cook until done and drain the water. DO NOT combine the sauce and pasta, it makes it sticky and thick. No One likes sticky thick pasta. No one. 

This tasted wonderful!  The Duke even liked it.  Only thing he said he would do differently is make the Alfredo sauce from scratch.  Maybe in another life.  I hope you try this! 

Sorry there is no picture, once again, my hunger got the best of me and I couldn't get to the camera in time before I was shoveling it into my mouth!

Thursday, October 6, 2011

A Few Things I've Realized

I've had some realizations the past week that I feel compelled to share...

Realizing there was a stop sign at that school crossing AS the cop is pulling you over is too late.

Seeing someone else run the same stop sign a few days later will make you feel less like an idiot for running said stop sign.

Realizing there was no cop around to witness THAT person running said stop sign will only make you mad.

$5 dollar footlongs from Subway are awesome.

Cheese, mayo, mustard, lettuce and onion on Texas Toast is awesome. 

Grilled cheese sandwiches are awesome.

Pretty much anything between two slices of bread that involves cheese, is awesome.

I am starting to realize I don't know if the words Texas Toast should be capitalized.

Just because I will Ally to take a nap does not mean she will take a nap.

Being angry about Ally not taking a nap only results in one thing, me being angry.

Arguing with a 3 year old really isn't productive and makes me in turn sound like a 3 year old.

Arguing with a dog just makes me crazy.

Big Band music makes me incredibly happy. 

I need my girlfriends. They make me happier than Big Band music. Which is incredibly.

I realize I have some pretty amazing girlfriends.

The Duke really does look like Tim McGraw.

I realize I haven't yet shared with my readers that I am now referring to Jon (husband) as The Duke.

I realize that just because it's Fall doesn't mean I have to consume all things pumpkin and apple.  Tell that to the pumpkin bread in my pantry, pumpkin cream cheese in my fridge, pumpkin spice latte on my mind, and apple butter on my toast.

I realize I like pumpkin and apple.

Ally looks really cute running around in her Dora underwear.

I realize she will before I know it and want it to happen be too old to wear Dora underwear, and run around with no pants on.


The Duke could grill out every single night of his life no matter how many casseroles and pasta dishes I try to make him.

I've had more realizations but I'm now realizing I have forgotten most of them. 

I realize I have a bad memory.