As soon as you discover your enneagram number you will find yourself trying to justify your own behaviors.

I did it. I used “I am a 3” like you would excuse yourself after a burp. It is just a natural tendency after you have been given a list of not so favorable traits you navigate toward. I suppose you could use it that way, but I don’t think you will find it helpful.

Each single negative tendency is going to manifest itself differently in every person of the same number. Some maybe very obvious, some might require some digging.

I strongly encourage to study and pray over the characteristics of your number. Ask God to reveal to you how they are holding you back. This is where growth comes in. It won’t be easy. It will probably be painful. But it will be worth it!

I have been studying the enneagram for about a year.

Like many, I approached it as though it was a personality test. It is not. I was told that from the beginning but I am stubborn and had to figure it out for myself.

Once I took the test, I looked at all the information for my number as defining who I am, how I act and react. It just didn’t make sense. You see, each number has a name and I tried to take that name on as a label. The enneagram should not put you in a box…it should free you from the box you have been living in. Or at least that is my story.

I am excited to tell you more about my journey. But first, I would love for you to take a test and figure out your number.

You can do a Google search and find several free versions. They will do just fine. However, my go to is a $10 test available at wepss.com

Once upon a time…
Who am I kidding, you can’t make stuff like this up!

Just like we have the last few years, we took the kids, Strawberry Shortcake and Enderman, to a subdivision on the other side of our small town.

Tonight is the first cold night of the season here. I am a wuss when it comes to the cold. So once we got to the subdivision I kicked out hubby and this kids so they could go door to door. My job would be to drive the getaway vehicle! I creeped down the street after them in our SUV with the heater blowing full blast!  It was the perfect plan!

After the kids hit all of the houses on one street, I picked the crew up in the heater mobile and drove around the corner to the next street. This was a good street, lots of decorations, lots of porch lights…and they were off.

I was soaking up that heater like a lizard on her warming rock! Hubby calls:
Me: Yeeeessss?
Hubby: I think this is going to be our last house.
Me: Okaaay. Is something wrong?
Hubby: Strawberry Shortcake opened the door to someone’s house.
Me: Alright, I am at the end of the street.

I kept thinking…she opened someone’s door, that just seems odd.

Several minutes later we were all loaded up and heading back home. This is where is starts to get good.

Me: Why or how did she open someone’s door?
Hubby: I was standing in the driveway and couldn’t see really well, so I  am not exactly sure.
Me: Was the light on?
Hubby: Yes, the porch light was on. She locked the door and shut the light off after the kids walked away.
Me: That is really weird.

Enderman: Before I could ring the bell she just opened the door.
Me: And what happened?
Enderman: The lady said, “Hold on! Hold on!” and ran toward the door. She pushed the door shut and Strawberry Shortcake tried to push it back open.
Me: Greeeaaattt! Did she say anything else?
Enderman: She gave us some Twizzlers.
Hubby: Strawberry Shortcake it is not okay to open the doors to people’s houses.
Strawberry Shortcake: But why Daddy?
Hubby: They might think you are a bad person trying to take their stuff.
Strawberry Shortcake (is a sad, defeated voice): I am not a bad person, Daddy, I was just trying to be a good helper.

Oh. My. That is when Hubby and I lost it! Bwahahahaha!!! Listen lady, I am really sorry my daughter tried to break into your house, but it is Halloween, you didn’t get to the door fast enough and she was just trying to be a good helper and offer you some assistance!

But, wait, there’s more!!

Enderman: I wasn’t too worried, until I saw this sign that said “The stuff inside is not worth dying for.”

In case you don’t know what he is talking about, it is this:

This is the sign posted by homeowners who are serious about  defending the Castle Law. I am sure someone reading this will take this all too seriously and never let your kids go trick or treating again.  Us, we chose to laugh about it!

Tomorrow we will start preparing for next year by ringing our own doorbell before coming into our house…at least next year they will have a warning Strawberry Shortcake is coming.

I never intended for this to be a food blog, but with two recipes in a row…it looks like it is going to be a strong influence at least!

While I was scanning the shelves of a local health food store the other day, I ran across black bean spaghetti. What?! I love black beans and I love spaghetti! If this stuff was actually good, it would be the next best thing to healthy buttercream frosting! (A girl can dream.)

The brand I found is Explore Asian. There are two ingredients in the spaghetti…organic black beans and water.

There was a curry recipe on the back of the package, but tonight I wasn’t feeling very curry-ish. I love Latin inspired food. And I experimented. I do that a lot, sometimes it doesn’t turn out so well. This was one of the good ones!

I chopped two medium zucchinis, one small onion, 3 cloves of garlic (I really like garlic) and about 3 cups of mushrooms into large chunks. You could add just about any veggies you like.

I “sauted” the veggies in a tablespoon of coconut oil until they were tender. While they were cooking I added some dry spices.

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 tablespoon of cumin
2 tablespoons of ancho chile powder
2 teaspoons of smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon of ground red pepper (more or less to taste)

As the veggies cooked my house smelled amazing!

I cooked about 1/4 package of the black bean spaghetti according to package directions. (General 7-8 minutes at a gentle boil type stuff.) Now, you should know the pasta is an not-so-appetizing gray color once cooked.

I drained the pasta and tossed it with the veggies.

VOILA!

I got about 4 servings out of this, depending the portion sizes you are accustomed to you could get more or less.

This black bean pasta has tremendous potential to be very versatile and I expect it will become a staple in my pantry!