My Super-power!!!

Have you ever been asked, "If you could choose a super-power, what would it be?' Well aside from THE HOLY GHOST, (that THE SUPER-POWER LIVING IN SIDE OF ME!) I've always said, to be able to fly! You know, your running and your running and your running sooooooooo fast the next thing you know, your soaring through the air...FLYING!!! I mean, think about how amazing that would be!!! Growing up, I would always have dreams of flying...well ok, occasionally, I STILL DO!!! ;)

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Buuuuuut alas, my super-power is NOT flying!!! Wanna know what my super-power is??? My super-power is SCREAMING!!! No joke people, there ain't NO SCREAM, like a Mary scream!!!

I don't need a megaphone, God made me with a BUILT IN MEGA PHONE!!! My motto: "I can't be quiet, I'm Pentecostal

 ANNNNND ITALIAN!!!"

(Okaaaaay half Italian, but let's not talk about THAT!;)

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My scream got me the part of playing THE CROWD, yes, THE WHOLE entire crowd in a Calvary scene for a Christmas drama at our church years ago! (Well, ok, there were two other people in the crowd with me, buuuuuuut they were two incredibly quiet people and  literally just there for LOOKS!!!) Buuuuuut YES, my voice got me the part of THE CROWD....and let me tell you all something, I WAS GOOD!!! Hee, hee!!!

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Are you wondering how a Mary-scream-super-power would come in handy??? Thank you for asking and allow me to tell you HOW the MARY SCREAM can save lives. This is a true story...

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Once upon a time, this morning in fact, I was driving my niece and nephew to our church school. We were at a stop light not to far from the church, when I heard honking. Usually it's ME people are honking at, NO IDEA WHY, but it is so! Well, I hear the honking and realize that they can't be honking at me because we are at a RED STOP LIGHT, that means, STOP and that's what I'm doing.

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So I glance around and notice the car next to me is slowly rolling backwards and it is starting to go faster back! I realize the lady in the car is sleeping and she has a baby in the car seat with her. She doesn't seem to be hearing the honking from the car behind her sooooooooo without thinking about it, my SUPER POWER TOOK A HOLD OF ME, I waved my arms out the window annnnnnnnnnd I SCREAMED a good one!!!

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That lady just jolted right up and immediately got her car going in the right direction!!! Phew!!! She couldn't hear the honking horn, BUUUUUUUUUT she could hear A MARY SCREAM!!! Thank God for that!!!

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Then the light turned green and we all began to drive away. This was the moment where you would think you get thanked and perhaps a million bucks and maybe even a good looking husband for saving her life, her babies life and the life of the person in the car behind her, buuuuuuuuuuut alas, this super hero is still poor and single...buuuuuut it's all part of the disguise...

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So she just straightens her invisible cape and halo...

 

and goes on her day...

wondering who will need her scream next????

Hee, hee!!!

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Soooooo that's my super-power, WHAT'S YOURS????

Maryfranceswriting@gmail.com

♥Mary Frances :)

Brain-boosting-Wednesday!!! (The Italian defense edition)

Here's your middle-of-the-week brain booster!!!

Okaaaaaaaaaaaay soooooo, 

As you guys may or may not remember, the end of May I did a post called, "When Your Best Friends With An Ethiopian" (Go ahead and refresh your memory if you can't remember;) In that post informed you all that I have a lovely lil bestie that likes to remind me from time to time, that us Italians invaded their country and TRIED to colonize the Ethiopians and that is WHY many Ethiopians know how to cook Italian food. Since that time, I made and AMAZING DISCOVERY....dunt, dunt, DA...

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Sooooooo I'm talking to Hanna on the phone one evening and she tells me that her mom made Lasagna for dinner...I'm like, OH YOUR WELCOME...we taught your people well!!! Hee, hee!!! ;) I'm like, SOOOOOOOOOOO I have to ask you a question, when your mom makes her lasagna, does she use cottage cheese OR RICOTTA CHEESE??? Because you have to understand that putting COTTAGE cheese in  your lasagna instead of RICOTTA cheese is like literally THE BIGGEST NOOOOOO!!! I mean, my mom could have gone on for hours on how DISCUSTING and DISGRACFUL that was to the dish!!! LOL
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If you don't know the difference between ricotta cheese and cottage cheese, I only have TWO things to say to you: 1. you are obviously NOT Italian and 2. go HERE to find out!!! hee, hee!!! (Pronounced RIGUTTA...Trust me, I spent my whole life with a mother correcting ME annnnnnnd EVERYONE ELSE, that said it wrong:) So she asks her mom and says, Oh my mom said, neither, she just did the layers with meat and sauce!
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I was like, OMW HANNA, do you know what this means??? It means it wasn't MY ITALIANS!!! She's like, what? I'm like, HANNNNNNAAAA...it wasn't us, it wasn't MY ITALIANS that tried to colonize you guys!!! I went on to explain, YOU JUST SAID, your mom doesn't use ricotta cheese in her lasagna, annnnnnnnnnd I was just reading the other day that there are certain parts of Italy that... 

"Did you know???..."

ACTUALLY don't really use ricotta cheese...
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"...Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelllll NOW YOU DO, annnnnnnnnd don't you FORGET IT!!!" (AIO BTV quote;)

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For realz people, the Southern Italians are not as fond of ricotta cheese as the rest of us Italians!Therefore, it must have been the SOUTHERN Italians to invade Ethiopia and try to overtake them!!! 

It wasnt MY ITALIANS...it couldn't have been...We LOOOOOOVE RICOTTA CHEESE!!! Seriously, my mom and I would just eat it by the spoonful..It wasnt MY ITALIANS...

MY ITALIANS LOOOOOOOOOOVE RICOTTA CHEESE...

ANNNNNNNNNNNND 

WE LOVE CHOCOLATE TOO!!! ;)))

 OUR HONOR IS RESTORED!!! 

♥Mary Frances :)

What the Italians did for the Ethiopians...

"Did you know???..."
Soooooooo IF YOUR ITALIAN and you ever happen to be BEST FRIENDS WITH AN ETHIOPIAN, you'll find out these RANDOM bits of trivia about your Italian Heritage, that you never really cared to know before. 

Liiiiiiiiike for example, your just going about your day, minding your own business, being proud of your Italian heritage, and you hear, "YOU GUYS TRIED TO COLONIZE US!!!" Oh ummm...We did??? "Tried, you guys, TRIED to colonize us, but did NOT succeed!"

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Yes, it's TRUE, according to WIKIPEDIA, I am ashamed to say, that us Italians, DID indeed TRY to colonize the Ethiopians. " in 1896, Ethiopia defeated the Italian colonial army in the Battle of Adwa. This victory signaled the decline of European colonialism in Black Africa." Ethiopia is the ONLY African country that has NEVER been colonized. 

"...Weeeeeeeeeeelllll NOW YOU DO, annnnnnnnnd don't you FORGET IT!!!" (AIO BTV quote;)

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Then she goes on to tell me that the Italian invasion is the reason WHY Italian food is actually quite well known in Ethiopia. Plus, many of the Italians stayed and married amongst the Ethiopian people and there are actually quite a lot of Ethiopian-Italians. Also, many Ethiopians, her mom included, know how to make Italian food, sometimes made as separate dishes and sometimes integrated in with Ethiopian spices and dishes. Once again, according to WIKIPEDIA, it's called Italian Eritrean Cuisine. 

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I'm like, sooooooo...

we didn't colonize them,

BUUUUUUUUUUT,

We DID teach

them how WE cook!!!

That's an Italian for you!!!

Liiiiiiike,(Get ready for my amazing rendition of an Italian accent...bahahaaaa)OH, you don't-a want-a us to-a take-a over your-a country, eh?! Weeeeeelllll-a, how about-a some-a lasagna instead-a, EH?! AHAHAHAHAAAA!!! 

♥Mary Frances :)

Happy Monday!!!!

Soooooooooo TRUE!!! I remember many a sleepovers at friend's homes, parent's said we had to be quiet and we'd start whispering, buuuuuuuuuut, my whisper just kept on getting louder and louder annnnnnnnnnnd LOUDER!!! Till eventually we would get in trouble and be separated til we fell asleep at night!!! LOL 

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What can I a say, I got it from my grandpa Mangino!!! NO ONE was louder than him!!! Cashiers and people would say, sir, please, you don't have to yell at me, my grandpa would say, I'm NOT! If you wanna hear me YELL...then the whole ground would explode when he switched from his NORMAL voice, to an ACTUAL YELL!!! AHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!!!

♥Mary Frances :)

Partaaaaaaaaaay for mom!!!

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It was a great day today, we DID what mom wanted us to do...Remember her and LOVE each other two of her desires she let us know about before she died!!!

♥Mary Frances :)

♥Mary Frances :)

Joseph's RULE!!!

Sooooooooooo as I've been telling you all, my brother John and I made homemade ravioli for Easter, annnnnnnnnd they were soooooooooo GOOD, anyway, it just sooooooooo happens that my nephew Joseph LOOOOOOVES ravioli!!!

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So yesterday he a plate full of them, and let me tell you, FOR JOSEPH to actually eat that much is a BIG DEAL, he's NOT a big eater!!! So then his mom comes outside and is like, Joseph, did you eat that ravioli that  you dropped on the floor earlier? (Apparently, she had been looking for it to clean up) Joseph was like, YUP, I sure did!!!! Soooooooo we all started laughing!!! And i'm like, YEAH, that's MY BOY!!! Cuz I DESPISE when THE FOOD I MAKE GETS WASTED...I don't care if its store bought, BUUUUUUT IF I MADE IT WITH MY HANDS...yeah...

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So we're all laughing and Joseph says, well the reason why I ate it is because I have a rule about ravioli!!! We're like, a RULE????

He says yes, a RULE!!! It's,

The NO RAVIOLI LEFT BEHIND RULE!!!!

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

That's a very ITALIAN rule!!! I like  LOVE it!!!

♥Mary Frances :)

Easter Cooking!!!!

Soooooooooooo there is an Italian tradition in our family to make what we call Easter Pies! Easter pies are NOT a dessert, but a meal! Kind of like a calizone, buuuuuuuut BETTER, waaaaaaaaaayyyy BETTER!!!

The long ones are my favorite, you fill them with ricotta cheese and sausage or ham...these ones are my favorite!!!! The round ones are filled with muenster cheese and all kinds of meats, solidified together with egg...these ones are good, but a little to rich for my liking!!!

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I believe the round ones are from my mom's mom side of the family and the long ones are from my mom's dad's...buuuuut it could be the other way around!!! Traditionally speaking, Catholic Italians would make these pies on Good Friday and eat them on Saturday before Easter to break their period of fasting from meat during lent! Obviously our family doesn't do this that way, we just enjoy them during this time of the year!!! :)))

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I admit that we are a little bit stingier with passing these Easter pies out than we are with our Christmas cookies! The reason being is that they are quite pricey to make, annnnnnnnnnd NOT EVERYONE LIKES THEM!!!! We don't want them to go to waste, so yeah!!!

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BUUUUUUUUUUUT ITALIANS KNOW, how good these pies truly are. This was my uncle's response when I sent him a pic...

YUP, HE'S ITALIAN!!! :))))

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Today we started a NEW Italian-Easter tradition....

HOMEMADE RAVIOLI!!!!

I went to my brother John's this afternoon, we're a pretty good team in the kitchen, pretty much cuz I do whatever he says!!! LOL

Little Bethany, MORE THAN READY to help out her daddy!!!

Working...

WORKING....

YUMMMMMMMMM!!!!

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!

With the dough we had left, I said, lets make ONE really big ravioli!!! My grandpa said his mom used to make them just ONE really big ravioli, the size of a bowl!!!

Its as big as my hand!!!

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnd of course we taste tested our ravioli,

it was SOOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOD!!!!

Makes the store bought stuff really dim in comparison to THE GINTYS!!! Olive Garden ain't got NOTHING on us!!!

Mom would've been SOOOO PROUD!!!!

♥Mary Frances :)

You know that ONE person...

You know that ONE person, that when the church starts singing, "I'm so glad I'm a part, OF the family of God...AND the song leader tells everyone in the church go around and greet each other, and so everyone does. Then there is ALWAYS that ONE PERSON that is still OUT hugging people while the church has already moved onto the next song...you know that ONE person??? WELL...

THATS ME!!!

Just can't help it...and if your my sista...

Don't EVEN put out your hand out for me to shake...

I'm ITALIAN...I GIVE HUGS!!!

Thats why they call me, Mar Bear!!! :)