Days of Thanksgiving: Day 2 (What's that accent?)

    When I lived outside of Chicago people would constantly ask me " Where are you from, you aren't from here are you?" My general response would be," No, Ma'am or Sir I am not." Knowing all along my accent gave my origin away. After a few years of said question I would want to answer and sometimes did," Nope I am from Mars and you?" The fact that I was a fast talker with a bit of a southern drawl led me to be widely misunderstood. Oh, and did I mention it didn't help that I had me some big old southern blonde hair to go with it, so people also just assumed I was a little on the slow side. Well, you know, that kind of offended me at first, then I just used it to my advantage. No one ever expected anything from me or asked me to do anything. Hey, it worked for me. You know the lemons to lemonade attitude. So, can you imagine when I moved back to the south how excited I was that my people, my beautiful southern people would understand me. Not so much. It seems living 13 yrs outside of Chicago changed my accent. So within the first week of being here in GA I go to the nearby grocery store and started talking with the cashier and low and behold she looks at me like I am speaking in tongues and out of her mouth comes, "Bless your heart, you're not from here are you?" At least it sounded polite but being from the south I knew when someone says Bless your heart, it is usually followed by smack talk, I'm just saying. All I heard was" Bless your heart aren't you the different one." Do you know even after living back in the south for 4 yrs. now, I went to my 30 yr. high school reunion  this past summer and a beautiful woman that I love dearly told me I  looked the same but my voice didn't sound the same. It's okay, I have grown to accept that I don't quite sound like I used to or even sound like everyone else. I have come to the conclusion  I now have a norsouthern accent. Which still leaves me often misunderstood. With all of this said it leads me to what I am thankful for today.This week I read in Romans 8:26&27- In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;27and He who searches the hearts  knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. How wonderful to know that no matter how crazy my accent becomes or how inadequate I can be with words, My heavenly Father understands my prayers. I am so thankful that even when my words are not near enough or the fact that sometimes, in my wacky life, I don't even know what to pray for, the Holy Spirit steps up and prays for me. So love that God has made a way and that no matter how bad my accent gets Ya'll, He will always understand my words and my heart.





I don't know about you guys, but I am always trying to figure out what to do with the leftover Thanksgiving food. Here is a recipe I made up that includes my favorite tastes of T-Day dinner. Since I didn't have any T-Day leftovers I used ingredients that I had on hand.


Thanksgiving Leftover Stromboli
1 can refrigerated pizza crust ( mine was 11oz)
1to 1/2 cups leftover gravy ( I used one 12oz jar pre-made turkey gravy)
2 cups leftover stuffing ( 1 box instant stuffing)
2 cups leftover turkey cubed or shredded ( used the leftover chicken I had)

         
             
 Place refrigerated pizza dough on lightly floured surface so it doesn't stick                      

                                         
    Spoon 1/2 cup of the gravy over crust, like you would pizza sce. Then layer the stuffing then the turkey. Start rolling the pizza crust up on the longer side.                            

                   

It will be pretty long, so I always cut mine in half to make it easier to move on to pan. Make sure you grease the pan or use parchment paper, or non-stick aluminum foil, so Stromboli's don't stick to the pan.

     Place in a 375 degree oven. After 25 minutes place aluminum foil loosely over the top of Stromboli so crust doesn't get to brown. Bake for another 15 to 20 min. until insides are piping hot and crust is a crispy brown.                        


It is not the prettiest of meals but it sure was good. Serve with the rest of the gravy heated and don't forget the cranberry sauce. Yummy!!