Fancy Mac

I used to be a pretty decent chef but unpracticed skills get rusty, you know. You may wonder why my culinary abilities are so sorely under-used. After all, I have an appreciative husband with a healthy appetite and three growing children who require sustenance. It's a pearls-before-swine kind of thing. My kids do not, do not, DO NOT like normal, good food. Chicken nuggets, cheese quesadillas, ramen noodles, Little Caesar's pizza and corn dogs near the top of their dinner request lists. Sad and gross, but true. Brent values quantity over quality in his dining (and spouse!!) selections so great effort would be wasted on his dulled tastebuds. Besides, he arrives home from work well after real people dinner time and if I wait around, I snack on as many calories as dinner costs me. Not good.

So, I don't cook very often. On occasion, however, I dust off my homey food prep skills and try, try again. Tonight's selection seemed to have promise--Four Cheese Pasta. It's just an upgraded Kraft Mac-n-Cheese, right? Wrong. Todd took an obligatory half bite and euphemized, "I don't hate it." Kenna claimed she liked it before I added the breadcrumbs. Alec's forkful evoked a gag and flappy dance that made me suspect an underlying seizure disorder had been triggered. Brent inhaled a bowl and rushed out the door to burn it off during a 5 mile run. Defeated at the table, I dished myself a sad second helping. Don't be discouraged and dissuaded from your homemaking duties by my experience though, your family will love it!

Four Cheese Pasta
Ingredients

• 1 (16 ounce) package pasta
  
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup shredded Muenster cheese
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack or Colby Jack cheese
• 1 1/2 cups milk or half-and-half
• 8 ounces cubed processed cheese food
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 c plain or seasoned breadcrumbs
  

Directions

1. Boil pasta in a large pot and cook according to package directions until al dente; drain well and return to cooking pot.
2. Add butter to drained pasta; stir until mostly melted.
   
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
4. Add the milk or half and half, 1 1/2 cups of cheese mixture, cubed processed cheese food, and eggs to pasta; mix together and season with salt and pepper.
   
5. Transfer to a lightly greased deep 2 1/2 quart casserole dish. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese mixture and then with breadcrumbs.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbling around the edges; serve.

Fourteen

Poor Todd is getting sick of sharing his birthday with the St. George Marathon but that's how we commemorated yet another year of this cool kid's life.

Honestly, Todd and I have had a rough year. Boundless, maternal love is sometimes reflected as magnified frustration when kids don't conform to the lofty imaginings of a first-time momma. Todd is blazing the way to help me be a more flexible parent. It's been a tough job for him but he's certainly shown to be up to the challenge. Turns out Todd has his own personality, spirit, BRAIN and doesn't feel overly compelled to make his red-haired mum too comfortable in her role as steward and nurturer.

Todd's birthday was October 1st. He is FOURTEEN and...

• FUNNY. Fast with a joke and not very shy, Todd garnishes all sorts of attention for his wit and humor. Substitute teachers have not shown to be appreciative.
• FARCE-intolerant. Todd has his own ideas about what merits his time and energy. Once again, substitute teachers have not been impressed.
• FACTUAL when he recounts exactly what I said he could or couldn't do. Yep. Todd doesn't really go with the whole "spirit of the law" thing. I am forced to cover all my bases with him.
  
• FANATIC in his love of BYU sports.
• FANTASTIC with kids. He's an awesome big brother, cousin, neighbor, friend to the littles of the world.
• FASHION-monogomous. He likes sporty, comfy tees and shorts and that's about it. It kills him that his personal style is harshed by the strict school dress code (uniforms!).
• FAR-OUT. Like I said. He's a cool kid. I love him a lot more than substitute teachers do.
  

$5, a mini snickers bar and my work keys

These are the things that I found this morning while choosing a jacket to go with my outfit. (My work keys have been AWOL for about a month so I was extra happy to find them!)

Spooooooky Fun

Let it be documented that I participated in the carving of pumpkins this year. I so try to pawn off this messy, smelly tradition to my more fun, even-keeled partner each year but once a decade or so the guilt is overwhelming and I dive in to help. We had fun using carving templates this year. Ever innovative Kenna out-clevered all of us by choosing a white pumpkin and combining two stencils to make her scary boo-toothed grinner. I carved Dracula for Alec and Todd fashioned a Y to show his true blue spirit. Brent sculpted his company logo and took it to work to get a few brownie points.

Costumes were fun this year too. Todd dressed as a scientist bedecked in my old Food Chemistry (fun class...except for the Chemistry) lab coat and Brent's safety goggles. Alec wavered among shark, Batman, astronaut, fox, Darth Vader, and other characters. He settled on shark for the church Trunk-or-Treat and Brent's work party but fifteen minutes before he left to go trick-or-treating, he requested to be a fox. I was thinking how lame his inside-out sweats, paper ears, and dishtowel tail looked when he gave me a giant hug and most sincere thank you for making the costume. He is the best. Kenna's two-year-old desire to be a jellyfish came true when we found these instructions on the Family Fun magazine website.

(Not pictured: ME dressed as a party pooper.)

What to do.

This school year, two friends and I have scheduled play dates for our three Kindergarten boys on Tuesday afternoons and we take turns hosting the fun. I'm surprised by how well the boys get along and at how much Alec looks forward to this time with friends. It makes him happy...even happier than he normally is which is pretty darn happy!

On my non-host weeks, I dream of quiet, uncomplicated alone time but usually end up over-scheduled and busied with something. Today is my dream day, though. I'm here. At home. Alone. And suddenly, I'm paralyzed with the coincidence of a bad mood and too many choices that fall into the nebulous and intersecting categories of want-to, need-to, and should-do...

• Get and keep this house clean. I've tried chore charts, index card systems, begging, bribing, threatening, rewarding, going it alone. This place is impermeable to my efforts and desires for lemon-scented order. I can't even hire a cleaning lady. Things are too bad.
• De-junk. Although this would help my desperate need of house-straightening, this is a separate issue. I have been married nearly 18 years and have have three growing kids. It's past time to prune and purge our lives of the acquired and long accumulating accouterments, accessories, apparatuses and attachments that are weighing us down. I bought three books recently that now bulk our bookshelf to aid me in this vein. Oh, the irony.
  
• Write reports. For almost 2 weeks I have toted work tasks home and back again teasing myself that I will have the uninterrupted time and thought to put in here what I can't seem to accomplish there. Nope. Not today either.
• Sing like the kids on Glee. Sometimes I wish I had the music in me. I think an entire afternoon at the piano belting out show tunes might lift a blue and undecided mood.
  
• Get along with my teenager. Maybe I could make a Sonic strawberry shake run to the Jr. High and surprise Todd. Would he less resent my homework and chore nagging? Better make it a hot fudge shake for me. I can't yell with my mouth full.
• Blog about Hawaii. Though the tan has faded, I took the trip. I have the pictures. I just can't blog about it. What is wrong with me? Who doesn't enjoy a tropical island getaway? ME!! Our family had a rough time on our "vacation" across the ocean. I'm still grieving and I want my shining recollection to be free of embittered unfulfilled expectations.
• Go running. The weather is perfect right now for a good, long trot but this is low, low, low on my wish list of time-spenders. I know my mood brightens when I'm consistent with exercise but I just can't make myself do it today or the last three weeks. :*( I'm in a burned-out funk.
• Make jean quilts. I have been seriously stockpiling old jeans over the last several years with a plan to sew quilts for friends and family Christmas gifts. My trait strength of seeing a project through completion is a weakness when it comes to getting started. The daunting denim edifice taunts and overwhelms me. Not today.
• Go or at least plan Christmas shopping. Every year some anxiety holds me back from enjoying what should be a peaceful, happy season. I worry about searching and ordering presents too late, overspending because I started buying too early, choosing an equal amount of gifts for the kids, picking dumb or wrong gifts, forgetting someone who should have been on my list, being "out-thoughtfulled" by someone who buys for me, shipping presents too late or too early, etc. I can't face whatever will put me over the edge this year.
  
• Read. I'm halfway through a book titled, "Boys Adrift" which describes why today's young males are unmotivated and low-achieving. Yeah. That'll boost my spirits. "Dear Rita, two of your three children are doomed. You and society have failed them. Particulates from the plastic container holding the milk you pour on their cereal is partly to blame. Good luck with that."
  
• Cry. I need a something that might induce a good, cathartic tear fest. Too bad I don't have a dvr'ed episode of Biggest Loser. That can usually get me going.
• Accept mediocrity. As might have been predicted, I have squandered my time and creativity digging the entrance to and escape from pity party a little deeper. "Pain is the result of unmet expectations." Number one on my want-to/need-to/should-do list needs to be lose the list.