It's Works For Me Wednesday! Pumpkin Cake!

I have this super duper easy recipe that I would like to share with all of you. As a matter of fact I made it today, and it is sooooo simple and delicious.

All you need is 2 little ingredients.

1 Box of Cake Mix (I really like how this turns out with Spice Cake)
1 15 ounce can of pumpkin

Set your oven to 325 degrees, and get out a big bowl. Combine the 2 ingredients really well. (Do not add anything else! Have faith, this recipe will turn out great!) Use a spoon to mix it with, as the batter will be very stiff, and egg beaters will not cut it.

Spread the batter into a greased cake pan, cupcake pan, or bundt pan. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean when you poke it in. This is about 40 minutes for a Bundt pan, 20 minutes for cupcakes. Melt some frosting and drizzle it on the top. Accept compliments graciously.

I hope that you like this recipe, it's so stinking easy. It's got fiber in it, and pumpkin is a veggie right? So no guilt if you feed this to your kids twice a week for snack ;) !!!For more ideas for things that make our lives a little easier, hop on over to Rocks In My Dryer, and see what's working for other friendly faces!

Not Me Monday, 3rd Edition.

It's Monday! Hooray! And there is no school today, so I am more than thrilled. As part of my thrill of the holiday, I am posting my Not Me's for the week! If you enjoy these Not Me's come on over to MCK and read some more! Hey, you might just want to make up your own list.

• I did not fall on the floor laughing my head off when my 5 year old fell into the toilet when she was using it.
• I did not let my dishes pile up in the sink, to the point that I had to use the sprayer to fill up the coffee pot. I would NEVER do such a thing.
  
• I did not make a whole pan of apple dumplings for the church homecoming, taste one, and decide that I couldn't carry them to church because they are too good to share. Nope. And I certainly did not whip up a carrot cake to replace the missing dessert. That would be terrible of me!
  
• I did not wear pants to church today because I didn't feel like shaving my legs.
• I did not borrow my 5 year old's strawberry glitter lip gloss to wear to church today.
  
• I did not skip a day of home school lessons with my daughter simply because the sun was out and it was magnificent outside.
• I did not accidentally/on purpose blow off someone's request for my baby girl's outgrown baby clothes because I am selfishly hording them and thinking she will either shrink to fit them again, or that by some miracle I find some time to make those clothes into a quilt.
  
• I did not intentionally leave the complete link to my whole blog, instead of just my Not Me post, so that you would read the hilarious post directly underneath of it.
• I did not keep a post it note handy this week to keep some of my Not Me's fresh in my braincell depleted noggin. And I am not posting this a day early. Really. Check your calendar.
  

I hope that you enjoyed my little confessions this week. I can't wait to read yours.

Saturday Morning Wake Up Call.

All week long I have been cursing the "up before the crack of dawn" alarm clock. Today, the alarm went off at the usual time, and I rolled over and cheered as I turned it off. It's Saturday. And it's raining. I don't have to do anything other than provide for the basic needs of the brood.

This morning, after I cheered at the alarm clock, I went back to sleep. 3 hours later, I was woken up by the sound of little whispering voices and a cooing baby. The conversation outside my bedroom door went something like this....

"Awww...the baby is so cute! Do you think we should tell mama that she's awake?"
"No. Remember what today is? It's Saturday."
"Is it? I need to look at my calendar." Pitter patter of little feet to the kitchen.
"Oh, it is Saturday. Oh....and it's raining too."

The cooing baby becomes a hungry fuss.

"Wake her up, the baby is hungry."
"I'm not waking her up, you wake her up."
"But it's raining. And you aren't supposed to wake her up when it's raining."
"Wait, I have an idea! Follow me."

Pitterpattering feet to the kitchen again. A few minutes pass, and then the feet return. I pretend I am still asleep when the kidlets come into my room, do something, and then tiptoe out, shutting the door.

Here is what I found.....
Shall we take a closer look?




Nice.....so not only is the clock set for exactly 5 minutes from now, there is a faint tick tick sound.... I removed the paper and found this....


Ya think I should spank them now? or later? Actually, I won't be spanking them at all, I was laughing too hard.

And soooooo, our Saturday morning begins. How did your day begin?

...just like a little girl.

My daughter and I were reading in her Bible this morning before she headed off to school from the book of James. James 4:7 says "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." The daughter asked what the word flee meant. So I explained to her that it meant run away very fast, like if you were scared of something. She started laughing. So said that she had a picture pop in her mind of the devil, running away in fear, screaming like a little girl.

Okay, so after I got over my initial shock of her using the phrase "screaming like a little girl" and trying to figure out where on earth she had heard it, I thought of the same mental image....the devil, running for his life, and screaming just like a girl. And I had to laugh.

But this is what God wants us to know. That we do in fact have that kind of authority over the enemy. The Bible stated it very clearly in words that my 6 year old could understand. It simply states to give yourself to God, resist the devil, and he will run away screaming like a little girl. Well, not in those exact words, but you get the idea. Having that mental picture sure does make me want to resist the devil a lot more.

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The Middle Child cracked open the bathroom door (I really need to learn to lock that thing) about 10 seconds before I was going to jump in the shower. She has impeccable timing, you know. And asked me for some lunch. I told her to please wait until I got out of the shower and that I would make her some. But she could get a banana out of the fruit basket if she wanted. She scampered off to the kitchen leaving me to my apple scented shower gel and panteen shampoo.

She grabbed a banana all right. Actually, when I got out of the shower and saw her sitting at the counter, swinging her chubby legs back and forth, and a banquet set out before her... she explained that she had MADE her own lunch. This, I had to see. On the counter was a half eaten banana, a fudgecicle wrapper and stick, a Dora yogurt (complete with a measuring spoon that she had used to eat it), 4 cheese wrappers, and the remainders of an untoasted english muffin....spread an inch thick with butter. She told me that she had saved the fudgecicle for last, since it was a dessert item.

Well, I can't say that keeping her home alone with me this year to homeschool hasn't been totally life changing for her. I am watching a beautiful and independent spirit blossom out of what was once a totally selfish and needy toddler. I am very proud.

We cleaned up her lunch mess together.