#FoodieFriday Oatmeal

For a quick, simple, healthy breakfast, you only need three ingredients: oatmeal, pumpkin, and vanilla almond milk (or any other milk — dairy or otherwise). Mix 1/4 cup of quick-cooking oats, 1/2 cup of almond milk, and 2 tablespoons of pumpkin in a microwave safe bowl. Sprinkle in cinnamon if desired. Microwave for 2 minutes. Let it sit to cool for a minute or more. The oatmeal will thicken, and you’ll have a nice healthy breakfast. Pair it with a piece of fruit if you’d like.

If you’re not feeling like pumpkin oatmeal, you could also have apple cinnamon oatmeal. Instead of adding 2 tablespoons of pumpkin, you could add in half of a chopped apple. Mix 1/4 cup of quick-cooking oats, 1/2 cup of almond milk, and a sprinkling of cinnamon. Cook for 1 minute in the microwave. Add the chopped apple and microwave for 1 and a half minutes more. Let it cool for a minute or more. Ta-da! Apple cinnamon oatmeal. Eat it with the other half of the apple.

Share any other variations you like with me. And of course, you could substitute quick-cooking oats with whatever you’ve got on hand. It’ll take a little longer to cook, you’ll probably want to cook it on the stove, but I know the results will still be healthy and delicious.

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#ThankfulThursday Heat Reprieve

I’m incredibly thankful to have seen mid-80 degree weather for a couple of days, followed by upper-60 degree nights. After spending months above 90 and hoping to see mid-70s by morning, it was such a relief to step outside without feeling like I’d sweat standing still. It was a pleasure to open the windows in the evening and enjoy fresh breezes and the sounds of crickets chirp as we fell asleep. Alas, it was only a brief reprieve as we’re now on our way back to the sweltering temperatures we’ve been suffering all summer. Of course, I should remember that we’re not in Florida anymore — the 90-degree weather will be gone soon enough. I can’t wait. I’m looking forward to crisp breezes, changing leaves, apples, pumpkins, and the scent of cinnamon and cloves permeating the air. I’m looking forward to welcoming back my sweaters and scarves sooner than normal.

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#Trust30 15 Minutes to Live

15 Minutes to Live by Gwen Bell: “We are afraid of truth, afraid of fortune, afraid of death, and afraid of each other. Our age yields no great and perfect persons.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

You just discovered you have fifteen minutes to live.
1. Set a timer for fifteen minutes.
2. Write the story that has to be written.

Chasing dreams. That’s essentially all I’ve done so far. I’ve chased dreams that always seem to elude me — sometimes by mere steps. All too often, I’ve fallen into the same rut most average Americans settle for each and everyday. The 8-to-5 rat race, spinning the wheel, chasing the cheese, and doing what The Man tells you to do. I dream of something more. If in the next 12 minutes I cease to exist, I’m going out with regrets of things I haven’t done. Dreams I haven’t achieved. Enjoying each and every day to the fullest. Don’t make that mistake. Make your life worth living. Find joy in the simpler things. Don’t settle. NEVER settle. Life isn’t perfect, and it never will be — but that’s no excuse for thinking negatively. Playing the victim won’t win you sympathy for ever, nor will it change the situation. If you don’t like something, do what you can to change it. Please be advised that this is not applicable to people. People have to want to change in order to change. Nothing you say or do will make them. Also, a wise woman once told me that you can teach people a lot of things, but you can’t teach someone to care. You either care or you don’t. It’s in your best interests to be one of the ones who cares, though. The ability to care makes you stronger.

Don’t just chase dreams. Take steps to reach them. Don’t cry. Don’t whine. Just do. Get it done, even if you’re not getting paid for it. Do what you love. Do what inspires you. Practice your passions. Quit worrying about what everyone else thinks because it’s all arbitrary in the end. We’re all going to meet the same fate, so we might as well live our lives with gusto. Make time to be unaccountable, too. The saying about all work and no play absolutely holds true. Working all the time leaves very little time to enjoy hobbies and interests. Passions become burdens if we’re always working. There’s no reason why you can’t sip some tea on the porch or lounge in the hammock. Just let it go. Again, it’s all arbitrary. And make sure to smile and laugh often. We’re not meant to function on angry mode all the time, nor are we meant to function on anxiety all the time. How is that a life worth living? Stressing yourself into an early grave? Just let it go already! It’s just complications we’ve created for ourselves. No other species creates such complicated procedures to go through their lives. We’re unique.

And with my final three minutes, I want to remind you that we need love. Love your family. Love your friends. Love for the sake of loving. Love is a necessity in life. Loving and caring are both very important. And of course, love yourself. No one else knows you the way you know yourself.

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#MindfulMonday What Food Network’s Taught Me

Last year I became engrossed in The Next Food Network Star and loved nearly every episode of season six. This year I wasn’t as excited about season seven, based on the advertisements. It seemed to me that the producers took a few too many cues from shows like Jersey Shore and Big Brother. I’m not about watching contestants cause drama, so the clips turned me off. However, Brian encouraged me to watch the season with him. It took several weeks to weed out a very dramatic individual (good food isn’t going to mean star power), but I finally warmed up to this season’s star hopefuls.

Last night was the finale, and I can’t imagine the two runners up not getting at least some air time. The charisma and stories these individuals sent a very clear, valuable message, though — follow your dreams. These are people who dreamt of having their own shows on Food Network and showcasing the dishes they grew up with. I was so profoundly struck by this realization last night that I felt a sense of calmness wash over me. My dream may be different — a cooking show would completely get in the way of my writing career — but I still need to harness that star quality. Both situations require captivating your audience. If you’re not engaging your audience — readers and viewers alike — you’re not going to succeed. It’s also about focus. Of course, if you focus on chasing your dreams, I personally believe the rest should fall into place. Nicki has certainly provided plenty of inspiration and encouragement in that regard.

The biggest take-home message, however, is to be mindful at every moment. You never know what you’ll learn from even the simplest of things.

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State of the Website

First of all, you’ll begin to notice some changes around here. I’m not big on a huge unveiling, though, because too many steps go into it. Instead, we’re going to take small steps from the current layout to a brand new layout — I’ve been completely inspired by Gwen Bell’s website evolution and Gretchen Rubin’s policy of doing what will get done instead of fantasizing about perfection (I’m loosely paraphrasing). I’ve started off by adding an avatar, courtesy of the lovely Axel. She’ll be designing a second avatar for me as well, and I’m sure I’ll figure a way around CSS to include both avatars in my layout. The color scheme will change, as with the content layout.

Secondly, I’ve also decided to go forward with introducing my tutoring services, in keeping with the concept of building upon a blank slate. I openly invite you to share this link with any of your Georgian and Tennessean friends. As a new school year approaches, I hope to bring my services to everyone in need — including those who may be economically disadvantaged. There’s no reason why financial hardship should be a barrier to educational success. We can’t break the cycle of poverty unless we extend the same educational opportunities to everyone.

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#FoodieFriday Peanut Butter Cream Pie

In life we get reminders that our time is finite. Yesterday was no exception. I read Nicki’s post about her friend Jennifer losing her husband. So often we put things off until it’s too late, and Jennifer’s to-do that didn’t come in time was a peanut butter cream pie. She’s asked that we all make peanut butter cream pies today to honor her late husband. Today I’ll be honoring her request and amending it slightly to appeal to my husband. I’m the sweet tooth of our relationship, and he’s the savory lover. He’ll be enjoying a delicious dinner including home-made macaroni and cheese made with sharp cheddar. We don’t know how long we’ll get with the ones we love, so we should treasure them while we have them.

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#ThankfulThursday – A Nibble

On this lovely Thursday, I’ll finally be going* on a job interview. Now, I realize this isn’t what I keep manifesting here on The Prose of an Electrate Mind. I typically manifest self-employment and pursuing my passions, but the starving artist lifestyle doesn’t appeal to this momma. The first seven months of 2011 have shown me that I still have a long way to go before my passions can be the breadwinners in my life. Additionally, the job hunt hasn’t ended simply because I wished to be my own boss — far from it. I also realize that getting a shiny (or not-so-shiny) place of our own will likely be contingent upon having an employer, and that fact has plagued my 2011. As you can imagine, finally getting even a nibble on the line has filled me with hope for the future and a strong sense of gratitude. Perhaps this interview will lead to gainful employment and a path towards building the dream. This budding writer/ editor/ tutor/ consultant cannot function unless the bill collectors have been appeased, that’s for certain!

*By the time this post is published, I’ll likely already be finished with my interview. I plan to tweet the results.

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July and August #Reverb11 Prompt

July: What new thing will you try this month?

I made a tiramisu with some of the marsala wine my sister brought back from Italy. I’ve made several tiramisu cakes that came out lovely, but this tiramisu wasn’t as photogenic. However, it was much lovelier than my first ever tiramisu that I made when I was 15. Nothing bruises your foodie ego like a leaky spring-form pan. Luckily, I have more marsala left, and I plan to buy some more mascarpone at my next earliest convenience.

August: Describe an unexpected moment, activity, sighting or conversation that touched you during July.

July was quite eventful for me, and my regular readers definitely knew something was up because my website went down for roughly half the month. The root cause was an unexpected moment that touched me negatively. However, that wasn’t the only unexpected event of July. I wasn’t expected for my whole family to contract ear infections. I wasn’t expecting to get both an ear infection and bronchitis. I wasn’t expecting that I’d have to ask the ER doctor to prescribe one inexpensive prescription. Economic hardship plagued the month of July, and living so poorly took an understandable toll on my self-esteem. It probably didn’t help that a major retailer called me back simply to tell me that I’m overqualified didn’t help — I’d become more or less accustomed to no call backs at this point. However, that month inspired me to write a book, so July couldn’t have been all bad if I still managed to glean inspiration from the negative events.

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