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| Spidey still can't decide on a new paint color for our living room |
With that in mind, I'd like to dub our pizza this week "The Bizarro." It's the most appropriate name I could think of for a pizza so deliciously opposite of its own self. Plus, it has a bit more universal appeal than dubbing it "The Superboy #68" for our less geeky followers.
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| 'Pineaapppllleeeeee!' "Back, you crazed ruffian! You'll destroy us all!" |
If you're thinking this pizza-of-a-home-divided sounds familiar, it's because it's almost the same toppings as the very first pizza we ever blogged about: our Double Heartbaker pizza back in February. The end result was the same this time around, aside from being decidedly rounder and with more evenly distributed slices. Delicious. Papa Murphy's pepperoni pizza remains one of the wife's de facto standards in what a good pizza should taste like, and pineapple continues to be my all-time favorite. She decided she wanted a little more meat this time around, so she also asked for some Italian sausage on her half, as well.
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| Made your way - even if they think your way is a little nuts |
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| "Here you go, crazy-dude!" |
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| M.C. Skat Kat would be proud. |
If you haven't tried pineapple pizza yet, I highly recommend you give it a try at least once. If you're gun-shy about spreading it across your whole pizza in the event you don't like it, just ask the folks behind the counter to only put it on 1/4th of your pizza, and then get your normal favorite toppings on the other 3/4ths of it.
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| Cooking complete! |
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| All the toppings managed to stay in their own area pretty well! |
I'll even elaborate and say that before I became a take-n-bake fanatic, I was a die-hard Papa John's fan. Their pineapple pizza was pretty much the only pizza I ate all throughout my college years (which probably had as much to do with the garlic dipping sauce as it did my love of pineapple). But as much as I liked their pineapple pizza, it still doesn't hold a candle to the ones we get from Papa Murphy's. Price and portion size was one of the biggest reasons we initially switched to buying Papa Murphy's pizzas, but there ended up being no comparison between the taste and quality of pineapples once we'd made the switch. If it wouldn't make for the most boring blog in the world, it's what I would eat every single time we have pizza. So try it! And if you've never had it before and decide to actually take me up on this proposition, let me know what you thought about it.
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| Safer than splitting the atom, but almost as impressive. |
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| Straight down the middle. |
One of the reasons I decided to do a pizza this week that we'd already somewhat discussed before is because I wanted to talk to you about something else, as well. Or rather, someone else:
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| Leah Smallwood and her dad, Michael |
This beautiful little four-year-old girl is Leah Bee Smallwood. On February 13th, the day after we started this blog, Leah was admitted to Vanderbilt and diagnosed with Stage 4 Neuroblastoma Cancer. Leah's condition is considered high risk at this stage, but she has been fighting with the heart of a lion and doing well with her treatments. She's currently finishing up her fifth round of chemotherapy, but she's having to stay in the hospital for another couple of weeks this round due to her chemo port developing an infection and causing fevers.
Leah's father, Michael, was a childhood friend of mine. We grew up playing soccer together and participating in boy scouts. The last time I saw Michael was nearly four years ago in the checkout line at Home Depot. He had the most beautiful little baby girl with him, and she just made my heart melt. Since that day, I've been blessed with two daughters of my own. My little Thing 1 and Thing 2, who are my whole world. Thinking back to that first time I saw Leah, my heart aches knowing what a burden she is having to endure, and what a hardship her parents have to bear while still remaining strong for her. I can't even begin to imagine, and my heart goes out to all the families out there who can and have had to go down this same path. No child should ever have to grow up so fast or be so brave.
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| Leah's bracelets and plaque at Papa Murphy's |
Social networking is a powerful tool, and the owner of our local Papa Murphy's franchises interacts a lot with the local community online and ending up hearing about Leah through the Facebook grapevine (you might recall me mentioning the pizza for charity event that was held in Middle Tennessee to raise money for the Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt back in February, too). After getting in touch with Michael, all of the Middle Tennessee Papa Murphy's locations now have "Leah's Fight" bracelet's available for $5.00 to help support the family and Leah's fight. All proceeds go directly to the family, who are facing mounting medical costs for each round of treatments and surgery.
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| Leah showing off her new hat. Stylin'! |
The next time you go out for pizza, I would implore you to take a moment to count your blessings and then share some of them with the Smallwood family. Every donation helps. You can also make donations at any Cornerstone Financial Credit Union in Middle Tennessee; just tell the teller you would like to donate to Leah Smallwood. If you are not local but would still like to donate, you can do so by mailing donations to:
Attn: Leah Smallwood Cornerstone Financial Credit Union
130 West Northfield Boulevard
Murfreesboro, TN 37129
If you'd like to get in touch with her family or follow her progress, Leah's father, Michael, has a Facebook page (it's not public, but you can message him there or send him a friend request). There is also a CaringBridge page for Leah, as well as a Facebook page and the website leahsfight.org, the latter two both being made and updated by one of Leah's sweet younger friends.
Thanks to all of you for your love and support in this difficult time. I know it means the world to the Smallwood family and to all of us who love them.
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| Getting to meet Jamie Lynn Spears. |
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