Pumpkin Mousse

It's time for a super simple dessert recipe.  Robert made me a dessert for my birthday, and it included pumpkin puree and whipping cream.  We had some of each left over, and so we came up with a second dessert tonight, and I had to share it.  It look less than 5 minutes, and there's no baking involved.  Obviously, it's not healthy - it's dessert.  But I can say that pumpkin puree is incredibly good for you, but it does have a ton of fiber and Vitamin A.  So here you go,

1/2 can of pumpkin puree
1 carton of whipping cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spices (I did a combo of allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves)

Whip together cream, sugar, and vanilla until it turns into whipped cream.  Scoop out 1 cup and set aside.  Fold in the pumpkin puree.  Service with whipped cream on top.  Ta-da!

Also, this recipe made me realize I need to put cute parfait dishes on my wish list.

24

My 24th birthday was Monday, and I can honestly say it was one of the best yet.  Last week Robert brought me Panera one day at work since he was to be working all day on my actual bday and wouldn't be able to eat lunch with me then.  Panera is still one of my all time favorite restaurants.  On my actual birthday week we started celebrating by Robert making pumpkin pie lasagna for our Sunday School class to celebrate.  I'm so glad Robert is good at and enjoys cooking and baking.

Mittens was obviously pumped to celebrate

Monday morning we ate breakfast together at the house which doesn't always happen.  It's nice to be able to chat a bit before leaving for work.  Blueberry coffee cake and scrambled eggs definitely tops oatmeal on the go!  When I got to work I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw my decked out cubicle!  Mary Beth decorated it with streamers and balloons, and it looked great!  And MB included purple because she knows it's one of my fave colors.

It ended up raining all day which would ordinarily be a bummer, but the rain meant work got cancelled for Robert which was the best thing about the whole day!  It meant I didn't have to go home and be by myself all evening.  Robert and I ended up going out to eat at Crazy Fire Mongolian Grill.  It's pretty much like HuHot, and it was very tasty.

The Hubs even shaved for my bday!

Right before we had left for lunch I got flowers delivery from Jim & Taylor and my parents.  So pretty!  I got back to work from lunch and MB had red velvet cupcakes ready for everyone.  Julie gave me a new dessert plate that she had hand-painted at a pottery store.  It totally caught me off guard and was so sweet.  She picked pink because she knows it's my other fave color.  It really is a good feeling to know people listen to you and really know you.  The whole office had signed a card for me, too.

Later in the afternoon Mom's 4th graders called to sing happy birthday!  And then one of our vendors found out it was my birthday and called just to wish me a good bday.  How sweet!

I got home and our Sunday School teacher and 4 daughters had decorated our apartment, and it was beyond awesome - balloons, streamers, a sign, posters, banners, and window paint.  Robert prepared a delicious mean of grilled steak, mashed potatoes, veggies, and rolls.  I also spent some of the evening talking to lots of family on the phone. :)

I did something very unlike me and practiced self-control by not opening my presents until my actual birthday.  I'm glad I waited!  The presents were so thoughtful.

My first infinity scarf, courtesy of my parents

The End of Summer

I suppose summer is officially over, considering Robert is back at school.  Ahh...his final semester.  Technically he will have to take one Jan-Term class for 3 weeks after he graduates, but that's just a technicality.  We're so thankful SEBTS is letting him walk before he takes that final class.  Otherwise, we would have to come back here 4 months later for graduation.  Because of that, we're calling this his last semester.  This semester he is taking sermon delivery, a book study on Psalms, Theology, and 9 Marks (a weekend intensive in September).  Shout out to R for taking 12 hours a semester.  I've only met a couple of other people who do this, and they either aren't married or don't have much of a job.  He's Superman!

We had a very fun Sunday School social on Saturday.  We had a scavenger hunt around town, and my team got second place.  Tasks included a picture of a yellow car, a video interviewing strangers and asking how they met, and bringing back a bottle cap.  We had countless other things to photograph, record, and bring back.  It was a lot of fun!  I was bummed Robert had to work so he couldn't attend, but he made it in time to enjoy dessert with everyone back at the house.

This week we had to say goodbye to some of our dear friends, the Rudolphs.  Emily was the first person to befriend us at Faith.  We met her on Halloween and she invited us to come to her Sunday School class which was taught by her husband.  They no longer teach so we've joined a different class, but they're still our good friends.  Robert and I have house sat for them multiple times.  They're such a sweet family.  Mike finished his doctorate in May, and they decided to move to Ohio.  I helped Emily clean on Saturday, and Robert and I helped out again on Tuesday.  Robert helped with the storage unit, and I helped stage and tidy the house to be put on the market.  They headed out on Wednesday.  It was sad to say goodbye.  It made me think about how difficult it will be to say goodbye when we move, but I left feeling so thankful that we know and love friends so much that it's painful to say goodbye.

Sunday was our Fantasy Football draft.  We had about 10 people from Sunday School at the draft.  I'm not one to brag, but...at the end of the draft the computer system estimated what everyone's record would be and mine came out as 14-0, so...

The main bummer of the week was that our computer broke.  We only have one computer, and it's well used.  Robert got it about seven years ago.  I like to say that it works well, minus the fact that sometimes it locks up, it can't connect to the printer, it doesn't read PDFs, it burns your lap off, and it overheats every 30 minutes.  But other than that it's a great computer.  Anyway, it bit the dust last Saturday.  Pretty much the worst time possible since Robert was to start school on Monday.  We did our research for a few days and settled on an Asus.  In the meantime, Robert had a friend from church take a look at the broken computer and he was able to fix it enough to turn it on again, and he charged us a mere $20.  We were able to boot it up and save everything onto an external hard drive.  Crisis averted!

Also, I can't let this post go by without giving a birthday shout out to my mom!