Double Yum Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 - spice cake mix
1 - 15 oz. can pumpkin
1 - pkg chocolate chips

Mix together and drop by tablespoon on sprayed cookie sheet.
Bake @ 350 for 12-15 minutes or until firm.

Cool completely.

Pudding

This morning at church, I noticed our grandson was guarding his scripture bag closely. I thought, "How sweet that he loves his scriptures so much!!" Shortly after that, he opened his bag and inside were his Matchbox cars!! It reminded me of the time I begged my husband to go with me to an organ recital. He carried his scripture bag into the church, but during the recital I noticed his bag contained a Tom Clancy novel he was reading. Lots of things appear to be quite different on the outside than what they really are on the inside.

Take my house, for instance. I've always thought I had a pretty clean place, but the past month, I've been packing, cleaning, spackling, and painting. Once the bareness was exposed, the house had lots of scars. Another grandson, threw open a door the other day at his house and put a dent in the wall. Of course, his parents were not happy. He just looked at them and said, "Well, dad, you can just put some pudding in it!!" I'm assuming he meant "putty". As I've been patching up the house, I've thought how great it would be if we could just put some "pudding" in our own scars and make things all better. We all have scars that we've gathered along the way. An unkind word, a snub, an offense, just little knicks and scratches, but too often, we don't smooth things out and get on with our lives. We keep looking at those scars and feeling bad and they don't get any better. In fact, they get worse. Maybe that "pudding" is really a balm of forgiveness, understanding and love. We can find the recipe in our scriptures bags.

Fabric of our lives...

I just took a trip down memory lane as I was going through baskets of fabric. I used to sew quite a bit, not so much any more, but as I picked up each piece of left over fabric I would remember what I had used it for. As I discovered a piece of black and white checked flannel, I remembered the jumper I made our teenage daughter. To avoid her disappointment when she realized it was homemade, I took a GAP tag out of an old t-shirt and sewed it on the jumper. I wasn't as smart as I thought. She knew it wasn't from the GAP, who was I kidding? Another piece of fabric was from the dresses I made our two younger daughters for their older sister's wedding. Fabric from Christmas dresses and baby quilts. A lifetime of memories. I've heard it said before, "She who dies with the most fabric wins!!" I think I'm in contention for 1st place.

Technology

I wonder if Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin and others knew what they were starting. Did they know that someday people would be so dependent upon electricity that we would go into withdrawal without it? Case in point, I switched internet providers and while registering over the phone, my cell phone battery died. I took my blood pressure medicine while it was charging. I was beyond frustrated and I stopped to realize how addicted I am to all my gadgets. We take every modern convenience for granted and when we are deprived of them for any amount of time, we freak out!! At least, I do!! As for me, I'm about ready to join the Amish. Their lives seem so simple. So free from the craziness we inflict upon ourselves. Modern technology is wonderful, but at what cost? Oops, I gotta go, I just received a text message.