Pinterest has a way of taking the beliefs you’ve cemented in the depths of your soul and turning them into question marks. This can sometimes be a good thing. “I hate exercise” turns into “Maybe I’ll exercise more!” when you see this pin:

“I don’t like animals” becomes “AWWWWwwww…” when you scroll past this:

And “healthy food is always gross” feels less universally true when you click on this:

But you must beware of the fallacies that creep into your world and try to change the hard and fast truths you could have sworn you could testify of. For example, you thought you believed that it was okay for your house to be a little messy when you have six children and a full time job. But no. If you have the right storage set up, color coordinated and labeled appropriately, you should be able to maintain a heavenly spotlessness no matter the circumstances. Like so:

Images from Country Living and The 36th Avenue Blog

And while you’re at it, paint all of your walls white, swap out the furniture you thought gave your décor character for white or neutral light wood pieces, and view every open wall as a blank canvas that is begging for gallery wall design.

Bring a few leaves in from outside to line the space around the cocoa mug you should always keep steaming and ready to cameo in every photo you take. Oh, and make sure even your mug is well-dressed. It bolsters their confidence. Mugs are people, too.

But these are lies! Things get messy sometimes. It’s not always possible for natural light and natural props to come together in a perfect photo op. But Pinterest has a way of erasing those and many truths from our previously down-to-earth minds. The one that got me the other day was this pin:

My previously held belief was that pumpkin only belongs in desserts. Someone had told me only days before I stumbled upon this pin that they had come across pumpkin alfredo sauce in the grocery store. It took me about negative two seconds to conclude that that sounded absolutely disgusting. Pasta and pumpkin do not go together. But then I found this pin, and I’ll show you again so you can feel some of its magical effects at work on you:

Doesn’t it look tasty? That’s what I thought. You got some zesty meat, some colorful greens, the whole nutritional picture. Maybe pumpkin and pasta do go together. Maybe there’s nothing wrong with that combination, and I was judging hastily. And hey, pumpkin is healthy, right?

Surely pumpkin is the next super food.

I should try this.

It’s probably delicious.

It’s definitely going to be the best meal I’ve ever made.

Of course, since it’s 2015 and trends are as they are, the recipe called for Greek yogurt. I had sour cream on hand, so I decided to use that since that’s what people did during the dark ages before the magic of Greek yogurt. Other than that, I followed the recipe to the letter. Even its bulk. FYI: If you’re cooking for 2, it’s probably a good idea to not use 16 oz of pasta on a new, questionable recipe.

But this was NOT QUESTIONABLE! Pasta with Pumpkin Sauce, Sausage, and Spinach was supposed to be AMAZING!

Here’s a picture of our leftovers:

Ew.

And that’s a very large container.

Now, cut the pasta some slack, because that picture was taken after a long period of neglect and refrigeration. But it deserved it. That pasta was nasty. I’m not sure if I should scorn it or feel bad for it. Either way, that recipe will never darken my kitchen’s doorstep again.

It’s nothing against the recipe. I’m sure other pumpkin lovers might like it. The experience only served to remind me that Pinterest has a supernatural power over the collective mind of society, and I’ll tread more carefully next time I embark on a Pinterest experiment!