I posted this a couple of years ago but I love it so much that I want to share it again.  It is a recipe a co-worker gave me years ago.  I lost it and managed to recreate it pretty close to the original.  It is super easy, yummy, and seasonal.

Pumpkin Bread

1 16oz box pound cake mix

1/2 C water

3 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 C solid packed pumpkin

2 eggs

1 tsp baking soda

Dump it all in a bowl.  Beat for 1 min on low.  Grease and flour a loaf pan.  Pour batter into it.  Put into a 350 degree preheated oven for 55 min.

You can slice and serve as it or dust with powdered sugar.  I made this last week but forgot to take a picture of the finished product so here are the old photos.

And apropos of nothing, while searching for these photos I found this old Halloween photo of Sabrina in 2007.  Look how tiny she was!

Anyone who has been reading here for awhile might not be surprised to hear about my mini obsession to find coffee that at least comes close to what I drank in Guatemala.  I have tried many, many, many Guatemalan coffees – I buy it any time I see it.  Nothing has come close to being the same as what I drank while in Guatemala but a couple of recent finds have come sort of close to what I bought and brought home from there.   I wanted to share in case anyone else shares my mini obsession.

I am currently enjoying the pictured cup of coffee.  (Don’t hate me for my beautiful froth…I’ve told you how you could have froth at home too.)  My first pretty darn good Guatemalan find was at World Market.  If you don’t have World Markets near you, I am sorry.  Think Pier 1 with food – all sorts of funky, ethnic items and a variety of cool ethnic food finds too.  Their organic Guatemalan coffee is pretty darn good – it was my favorite until today.

Last weekend, I saw a coupon on the Nashville Groupon site (search for your city…it is kind of cool) for $35 worth of coffee from a local online coffee shop for $15.  I checked the site – they had Guatemalan.  Score!  I ordered some coffee, they roasted it and ground it and sent it to me.  I’m quite happy.  It is the closest I’ve come to what I purchased in Antigua.  I have a new favorite coffee...which guarantees they will stop carrying it by the time I want to re-order so get some fast.

This is not a compensated post…just sharing a good find.

We left the house today for the first time in a week.  Sabrina attended her dance class and Tessa hung out complaining that she didn’t want to be in her stroller.  We still have a few coughs and a couple of runny noses but I think we can call everyone mostly well again.  Phew.  Can I put them in a bubble for the rest of flu season?

You know how people with farms or old southern homes or estates name them?  Well I’m naming our little suburban dwelling The House of Snot.  Fortunately (knock wood, throw salt over my shoulder, say a little prayer), only the kids have gotten sick so far.  The grown ups are just tired.  Steve saw the crazy in my eyes knew I was at the end of my rope and encouraged me to take Saturday afternoon off.  I went to a movie all by myself and ate popcorn all by myself and wandered Hobby Lobby all by myself.  It was lovely but not quite the tropical all inclusive (no children allowed) resort with cabana boys bringing me fruity adult beverages that I am currently dreaming of.

Here is Steve with his 2 sick girlies this weekend.

Tessa is doing better.  She didn’t get sick again last night and made it through this morning until nap time without a problem.  But a combination of getting a taste of sleeping with mommy and daddy and her favorite froggy being in the wash after being puked on made her cry when I put her down which led to coughing which led to more puking.  I cleaned it all up and put her back down and she finally passed out.  I’m hoping she gets a lot of sleep because she needs it. I’ve seen a lot of this face in the past 5 days.  Not so cute.

Sabrina seems goes back and forth between seeming to be just fine and seeming worse.  Her cough was rather ugly this morning and she sat quietly on the couch all morning.  She covered herself up and got a cup of water and her laptop.  She went between playing with her laptop and watching cartoons.  She even broke The Toddler Code and admitted she was tired at nap time.  Hopefully, she will wake up feeling better.

Neither has a fever so I just think they have colds.  I guess I should be jumping for joy that they don’t have the flu.

And completely random but I’ve worried about Tessa’s growth since shortly after she was born.  She’s been a little bean.   All of a sudden she is having a growth spurt.  She’s been wearing 12 month sized clothes for maybe 2 months.  They were initially kind of big.  I had assumed she would wear 12 month size for most of the winter because she has been slow to grow out of each size.  I noticed a couple of weeks ago that her toes are pretty snug at the end of her sleepers.  This weekend, we ran out of clean clothes because we were changing her 6 or 7 times a day.  We threw her in some 18 month things and even a few 2T things.  The 18 month stuff was pretty close to a good fit and the 2T wasn’t nearly as big on her as it should have been.

Steve took Sabrina out trick or treating while Tessa and I stayed home and handed out candy.  Steve reported that after the 3rd house, Sabrina had a handle on what to do.  She would knock and say “Open”.  Then she would say “Trick or Treat!”  After getting her loot, she said “Thank you! Happy Halloween!”  Then would start walking toward Steve.  Part way down the walk she would remember and turn around and “ROAR!”  He said it was the same at every single house.

Sabrina still has a mild cough and runny nose.  Tessa on the other hand is miserable.  We thought she was getting better but she woke up about an hour after going to bed throwing up tonight.  She threw up almost constantly for 15 minutes until she had emptied herself completely.  Then she spent 3 hours fighting off sleep and refusing all but a couple of ounces of liquid.  She is currently asleep in our room but unless she is 90% better tomorrow, I see a trip to the doctor in our future tomorrow.  I can handle the cough and runny nose but throwing up that much and refusing liquid worries me.  Poor girl.  I think Steve might be looking forward to going back to the office – cleaning up vomit 6 times a day can start to wear on you after awhile.