"our lives are the cumulative total of all of our past decisions." me

And the sooner people recognize this simple truth, the happier they will be. All things in our lives, both good and bad, are attributable to choices that we have made previously. Along that line of thinking, I can't help but add to further it that all things that happen to us, therefore, are ultimately our own fault.
I realize that many of you are out there, shaking you heads in protest, saying, "But what about the starving children in Africa! Or the people of war torn nations, without food and things basic for survival?!". I agree....there are exceptions to everything, and I am not without empathy for all human suffering. But what I am talking about now is personal resposibilty, not starving children in Africa. Of course they didn't chose where they were born or into what kind of circumstances they were born in to. No one chooses what they are born into....but they DO chose where they go from there. My children did not choose for their father die...but they DO choose how they handle his death. Do they choose to use it to make excuses about their lives, or do they use his death as an excuse to go FURTHER in life?? Do they make it a reason to fail, or a reason to succeed? A reason to live or to die? That is what I am talking about. It is each person's personal responsibility, the decisions we each make on a daily basis, and how those decisions eventually translate into our lives as a whole. And, truly, once you think about it, it is SO EMPOWERING! How cool is it that we, we alone, are in charge of our own destinies. Even children, with no control or say over the circumstances into which they are born have the power and ability to affect change. How wonderful is that?
By accepting this truth, that the decisions we make translate into the lives we lead, we accept full responsibility for who and what we are, and have control of who we become. By fully accepting this truth, we enable ourselves to make the changes necessary to become the person who we were born to be, and to fulfil our highest potential. Making excuses, blaming others, and not accepting full responsibility for everything in and about our lives only serves to stunt our growth, and gets us nowhere.
Remember this as you go out into the world this next week. Your life is yours. You own it, and it can be whatever you decide to craft it into. If is entirely up to you. So begin crafting the life you desire. The time is RIGHT NOW!
Now go get 'em!!

pesto/tomato pasta sauce

Last night I was experimenting some in the kitchen, and I came up with what we thought was a very good pasta sauce. It used the pesto that I make, and then combined it with a tomato sauce. Here is the recipe:

Ingrediants:

Freshly made pesto (see recipe). Use all of it.
6 very ripe, large, organic tomatoes, coarsley chopped
5 cloves of garlic, pressed
1 large organic yellow onion, chopped
1/2 cup extra virgin, organic olive oil
1/4 cup organic Italian parsley, packed
sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Saute onion and garlic until golden.
2. Add in tomatoes and cook over medium low until the begin to fall apart. About 45 min.
3. Add pesto, parsley, salt, pepper. Stir and heat through. Cover and remove from heat.

Add to you favorite pasta. I put mixed it into a large pot of penne pasta, and it was delicious.