Divine Nature....begins with pasta....

How many times have you heard?

"If you can't say something nice, come sit next to me?"  Just kidding, I really meant to say

"If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."

{Just between you and me....the first applies to me more then I would like....I promise to listen and commiserate and never tell a soul that we discussed your mama drives you up and a wall...}

But back to don't say nothing at all......it is good advice and it has taken me a lot of years to learn to just bite my tongue....I should have an iron tongue by now.....but I am still learning, especially with my husband and kids...

but what about myself?  Do I bite my tongue with myself? Do I hold back my opinion when my hair won't do what I want or those extra baby pounds won't go away (and they aren't budging...I am sure the cookies have something to do with it!)? What about when someone gives you a compliment about how good you look after your 8th baby and you laugh it off and say....

Thank heaven for clothes or something else totally not nice.... Why are we so hard on ourselves...and believe me I am right there right now as I sit in my capri yoga pants and holey tshirts in freezing weather..because...well...nothing really fits me after this last baby and I only have one pair of jeans that I save until I go out or pack meeting...which is later today....but on another note I am enjoying a chocolate chip cookie or two...because....well...they're in the house...why else?

And then we look at long ago pictures and say...whatever it is we say....

I was doing just that today with a family picture after the mctwinners were born.....and I forget that I had TWO nursing babies and could hardly eat anything...or they were retching all over me and everyone else near!

....and then I found this site My Beauty Campaign and I cried. I cried because of her message and the beauty of it and that she is changing the world, one woman at a time. And I thought, what if we taught our girls this from  the very beginning and pounded it into their heads.....beauty is what you are...not what the world says you need to be. That imperfections are what really makes the world more beautiful.

I found her page by liking a post on fb about how to pose...how to pose?! Who knew? (Probably all of you...'cept me!...and see there I go again)

Wahlaa!!  You can still eat pasta..and look good for pictures! You will need to "friend" her on facebook....but she also has fabulous and interesting information and advice on loving yourself and your unique beauty.  I love her...and I don't know her....I am just grateful that someone is standing up for the uniquely different women of our world...and saying...that beauty is not all alike.

Having talked with many women who think they are not beautiful, myself included, that think they have nothing or little to offer the world and are way too hard on themselves and the other women in their lives. 

But I know deep down inside that we are all made in an image of a loving God, a perfect God.....so though we are not perfect....we are divine and that makes us beautiful!

So eat and ENJOY your divine Caprese Pasta Salad, my girl's favorite salad, and heven knows they are beautiful...and everyone of them is different.... and then go and know how to show your best self off in pictures!!

Love yer guts....for reals!

CAPRESE PASTA SALAD

1 box spiral pasta
7 oz mozzarella cheese
Tomatotes
Fresh Basil
Pepper
Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar

Prepare pasta per instructions and then cool under cold water. Cut tomatoes (I love the cherry tomatoes...and the yellow heritage tomatoes...but will use what is fresh and available), toss with plenty of pepper, cut mozzarella and toss with pasta and tomatoes, gently rip or chop fresh basil and then add to pasta with oil and vinegar to taste!!!  SO good!!!

NUTS

Because I happened to be surfing the web and not doing what  needed to be doing, and talking on the phone to my sister about how guilty I felt about not doing the things I needed to be doing, because I was posting on facebook about quilt was riddling me, because I have no motivation to conquer the wake of damage my twinners do in approximately 2 minutes or even look in the bathroom of my teenagers...like totally yuck.....

I found this post

this wonderful post that says it beautifully and more poetic then I ever could and because this blogger is my beautiful cousin that is nurturing wonderfully kind and sweet children (did I mention there was 11 of them?) and has the time to make everyone feel like her best friend....{breath}

and because I will be absentee most the weekend and must must I say, put my house in order.....I will let her do the talking...which my husband will see as a sign of progress on my part...because I rarely let someone else do the talking.....I'm working on it though!

If ever there is a  blog to follow...it's hers......

and I'll go make candied nuts.....because I need the protein...and cleaning isn't as much fun and doesn't taste as good.....or maybe I will go make the girl's new out of that fabulous ruffled material!! to die for! okay not that fabulous but pretty dang cute...and it will take me all of five minutes...it will be more effort to set the sewing machine up......or maybe I will go have lunch.....which brings us back to nuts! or go hang the family pictures back up from two years ago when we repainted, or repair the pine cone wreath for the door....and if I do any of the above...it will just mess the house up..so cleaning is definitely out...yep...no cleaning.

I am soooo wasting time....gotta go....

CANDIED NUTS

1 1/2 cups raw or roasted cashews (my favorite), peanuts, whole almonds or pecans...or do a mixture of them all
1/2 cup sugar
2 T butter
1/2 t vanilla
1/2  t cinnamon
1 t salt

In a heavy pot, throw all the above ingredients in and cook over medium high heat....shake the pan occasionally to coat nuts,  until the sugar starts to melt, but do not stir. Turn the heat to low until the sugar turns golden brown, stirring occasionally (i think I stir the whole time when I forget...and it still turns out!). Pour out the mixture onto butter tin foil or cookie sheet...and try to wait till they have cooled down.  Good luck...I burn my tongue every time.

Love yer  nutty guts

It's My Own Fault......

It's my own fault.......and it stinks....literally

Mcpunk #5 has the stinkiest breathe evaha!!! It smells so bad I thought he had stepped in you know what!

And do you know why it smells bad? He has strep with a side of abscess...something that I knew before I took him in...so I paid to have a doctor tell me what I already knew. And then tell me to put him on antibiotics asap. 

Hhhhmmmm......why do I do this?

I pray for the power of discernment....have clear and specific feelings and then question myself and take him in....

I did this today, I did this when #8 bilirubin was up and the doctors kept insisting that we keep testing her...every day for over a week...I knew what was right...but there was just this small speck of dark doubt called what if.....I did this with the twins as well..you would think I would learn.


Am I the only one that does this? The minute I am home after the doctor confims what I knew and insists on meds when  I question letting the illness run it's course or alternative measures...I am back researching what I already know. I know that the thoughts in my head and the feelings in my hear that I get concerning my children are real and that Heavenly Father entrusted them to me...so why wouldn't he tell me know how to make them feel better?

I get out the raw Apple Cider Vinegar, dilute it with a little warm water and we all start sipping on it....why do I forget this Wonder drink.  I know this works.....I've tried it on myself...I start getting sick...Mr Mack reminds me (jokingly) to stick it in cider...which is an old joke from his grandpa...but I think it wasn't a joke...he knew what he was talking about...and the way the boys took it....well they are boys and they just think like that...

and wahlaa....I start getting better.  Now I just need to remember this with the kiddos and trust my "Gut instinct." Even in the days of John Adams, they washed everything down with apple cider vinegar and used it as tonics.  They knew and used what we have now seemingly forgotten....and they trusted their gut instinct or motherly intuition.

Why do I not trust mine? Why do I care if the neighbors or friend raise an eyebrow at my dislike of taking meds ancd forcing them on my children for every are and concern?  Apple Cider Vinegar works and it has for a long time.  Geez louise....I need to pull it together...and quit drinking hot chocolate...which is so goooood, but so bad for you when you have strep! Along with eating way too much candy and sugar the past few months after Halloween....no wonder we are all sick! I will be recommiting myself to slaying the sugar monster!  It can be done!!!

SO here is a plug for Apple Cider Vinegar and all the good that comes with it...heres to oping I will start remembering it more often and and trusting my own power of discernment...and that your trust your own as well. And please don't think that this post is in any way saying to not use antibiotics ever or even medical advice...that's not the case. We need to use them wisely and when they are effective.

And for Sara, The Healthy Home Economist who is wonderfully wise but also does her research and is kind enough to pass along real wisdom about REAL FOOD!

And a plug for strengthening our faith in the powers that the good Lord gave us.  We are strong and wonderful and He trusts us. And knowing this will help us live better lives..