Aug. 1: Currently

Happy August! Currently, I am…

1. listening

As is typical on Monday mornings in our neighborhood, I’m listening to all the landscapers working very, very noisily. Sometimes they wait until after 8am to start up the power tools, like our noise ordinance says they should, and this morning I didn’t hear them until 9. Either they’re lazy sleeper-inners, or they had lots to do before they got to our street.

I’m also hearing Jack dig through his boxes of LEGOs. He just came in to show me a cute little forest scene he’d built onto a platform—it had big trees and sweet red posies, and then I noticed… the flames, my god, the flames! They were everywhere! I love his evil little creations.

2. eating

I haven’t eaten anything today, but I’m getting hungry. On today’s menu: Kraft mac and cheese, most likely. It’s the one thing the kids and I always agree on.

3. drinking

I just finished my morning coffee, and now I’m working on a huge tumbler of water. Can’t remember if I’ve written about the water I’ve been drinking lately—the “recipe” has been all over Pinterest and other sites. I fill my big two gallon pitcher with water and toss in slices of lemon, lime, orange and cucumber. Every time I pour some to drink, I refill the pitcher with water. The fruit and cucumber slices last about two weeks. I’ve noticed that after five days or so, the lemon is a bit potent, so I’ve been adding more cucumbers and they seem to cut the puckery-ness. I love water and don’t usually have a problem getting my 6-8 glasses a day, but having the flavored water keeps the soda temptations low. Tis good.

4. wearing

I’m wearing pants and a tank top. Boring.

5. feeling

I’m feeling excited about some new photo projects I’m working on. A while back Vic’s aunt gave him a frame similar to this:

…and I went through a bunch of our Disney vacation photos to fill each space in the collage. This frame will hang in the hallway upstairs. I’m also replacing the photos in the frames on our staircase wall. Instead of portraits of our siblings and parents from our wedding day, we’ll frame some of the nicer snapshots from our travels.

I’m feeling declutter-y, so I’ll be making a stop at Goodwill today.

I’m feeling relieved that Katie seems to be doing better this morning after spending most the weekend sick sick sick.

I’m feeling sad and hopeless that my sister’s and my relationship will ever be the way it once was. We are both very stubborn.

6. weather

This says it all:

Look at all o’ dem yeller circles!

7. wanting

I want to go to somewhere.

We’re thinking of doing a day trip this week (maybe Mt. St. Helens? Vic and I haven’t been up there for almost 20 years). Vic has vacation scheduled for most of this month, but since he’s had to take so much forced time off (stoopid hospital budget cuts), he doesn’t have nearly enough vacation days to use—which is why we aren’t headed to Florida right now, like we planned last winter. Instead, he’ll take a day off here and there, and hopefully every one of those days will involve us getting outta town. 

8. needing

I need to make lunch or teach the kids how to do it their own damn selves.

9. thinking

There’s a lot of stuff crammed into my noggin right now. I need to focus on just one area if I expect this day to be at all productive.

10. enjoying

On Friday, it looks like I’ll get to enjoy a quick lunch with Sherilee as she passes through town. We’ll be enjoying Saturday afternoon at the Lassens to celebrate Theo’s birthday. On Sunday, we’ll enjoy a family outing to see Les Miz.

I think that’s it for now.

Nov. 16: Mac and cheese

I found a new macaroni and cheese recipe a while back and finally gave it a try today. It’s fast, easy and pretty tasty. I wanted another opinion, though, so I texted Random Sunshine™ to come over and share it with me and she totally ignored my message so I might not like her very much anymore or maybe I’ll give her another chance because I would miss her so, so, so much if I didn’t like her anymore.

Anyway, here’s the recipe, which I tweaked a bit from the original because I just can’t leave well enough alone:

Macaroni and Cheese for Grown-ups

• ½ pound uncooked pasta, preferably a large-ish one like penne or ziti
• 1 cup of grated sharp cheddar cheese, heaping (it is cheese, after all)
• 2 T. butter
• 2 T. sour cream
• 2 T. (or so) white wine
• Dash of Tabasco sauce
• Salt and pepper

Boil the pasta until it’s al dente; drain. Add butter, sour cream, and cheese to the pot and stir. Mixture will probably get clumpy. Stir until butter and cheese are melted. Add the white wine and continue to stir—this will thin the mixture and make it smooth. Add the Tabasco—a little more than a dash if you like SPICY—and salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Notice one very beautiful thing about this recipe: no baking. I might throw it under the broiler for a few minutes to get a crusty top, but even without, this is not a bad mac and cheese. I love the tangy-ness the white wine adds. I’m betting my friend Dawn could tweak this recipe even more to make it amazing-er.

Random Sunshine™ called while I was writing this. She is totally forgiven.

Apr. 21: Kisses and cure-alls

Jack started this thing with me a long time ago, where I blow him a kiss and then he “catches” it in the air and shoves it in his pocket to save it. Eventually he started blowing kisses back to me, so I always have a pocketful of kisses from my boy. Before he goes to bed, we have a routine: he kisses me on the lips and cheek, then hugs me, then kisses my hand, and then we blow kisses to each other and put them in our pockets.

You’re probably thinking, “Oh, how sweet!” (except Chris, who’s probably thinking “Ew, germs!”). But quite frankly, the precious-ness of this ritual disappeared a long time ago, because on your average day, it happens over and over. Most the time—even though he’s the one to start the whole thing—he doesn’t even make eye contact because he’s in a hurry to get back to Phineas & Ferb (if you don’t know, don’t ask...) or Katie’s racing him upstairs. It’s one of those rote things I figure he doesn’t even think about anymore.

I just dropped him off at school because we were running late and missed the bus. He was taking his time getting out of the car and I was frustrated that he—like every other Manullang male—has no concept of time. Just before he opened the door he blew me a kiss. I hastily blew one back and said, “Now, go!” through my clenched teeth. Jack caught my kiss and with what appeared to be seriousness he said, “Thanks, Mom. I really needed that today.”

I think my heart actually skipped a beat. He slammed the door and ran off to catch up with Josh and Jayson. And I drove to New Seasons feeling like an insensitive clod of a mom.

Fortunately, the macaroni and cheese at New Seasons fixes anything. Because, well, yum.

Nov. 29: Happy birthday, Sheila

I'm a big dummy. Sheila, I meant to post this earlier today and completely forgot. But the wishes are no less sincere: HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I tried to find food you'd like instead of cake, just like I did for Ed yesterday, but the only thing I could think of was Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. So here ya go. Mac & Cheese.

I hope you weren't too nauseous to partake in celebratory birthday food. What'd you do today?

Many lovies--

Nov. 1: Halloween stories

We had the most perfect trick-or-treating weather last night. Well, it was cold, but it was as nice as you can hope for this time of year. Past years have been either rainy, windy, icy cold, or a combination of all three. It made for an especially pleasant evening. Thank you, weather gods!

We started our Halloween celebration with dinner at Dawn & Darby’s. They had prepared quite a feast, and I was thrilled to see Dawn made macaroni and cheese. It was a bit different version, but delicious nonetheless. She even sent me home with some, which I gobbled up last night and this morning. Dawn is such an amazing cook. And she’s super nice, too. I will cry if someday we’re not neighbors anymore.

Katie and Jack wore their pirate costumes:


Vic and I also wore partial Halloween costumes. I put on my Mickey Mouse pirate head scarf, and Vic wore his Jack Sparrow dreads. When we walked into Dawn & Darby’s, Rob (our next-door neighbor, who was also dressed pirate-y) said, "Jennifer, you should tie me up!" Wuh-huh? I’ll be honest; I was scared. I had no idea what he was talking about and wasn’t about to venture a guess. It wasn’t until a few minutes later that he said something about how difficult it was to tie his head scarf that I finally got it. I know, I’m slow. But I was so frightened! And that is my spooky Halloween tale.

Alisa sent a picture of baby Brooke in her first Halloween costume. Is she the cutest little punkin?


April sent pictures of Emma (with a t-o-t’ing pal) and Trevor, along with this little story: Emma is a princess and Trev did his environmental part by wearing E’s old ladybug costume. I love the age he’s at since he’s totally fine with it. We were at Sportscamp this morning and the other boys were shouting out they were going to be a fireman, ninja, Harry Potter, etc. and T proudly said ‘I’m a ladybug.’ Personally, I love Trevor’s dead-on jack-o’-lantern impression below:



Where are your Halloween pictures? When you’ve recovered from your Halloween candy hangover, e-mail them to me!

Oct. 18: Mac & Cheese recipe ho

The lovely Dawn has answered our prayers! She e-mailed me the much-requested recipe this afternoon. Here you go.

Dawn's Macaroni & Cheese

• Kosher salt
• Vegetable oil
• 1 pound elbow macaroni or cavatappi
• 1 quart whole milk
• 1½ sticks unsalted butter, divided
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• 12 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated (4 cups)
• 8 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar cheese, grated (2 cups)
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• ¾ pound fresh tomatoes (4 small)
• 1½ cups fresh white bread crumbs (5 slices, crusts removed)

---

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
   
2. Drizzle oil into a large pot of boiling salted water. Add the macaroni and cook according to the directions on the package, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain well.
   
3. Meanwhile, heat the milk in a small saucepan, but don't boil it. Melt 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter in a large (4-quart) pot and add the flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring with a whisk. While whisking, add the hot milk and cook for a minute or two more, until thickened and smooth. Off the heat, add the Gruyere, Cheddar, 1 tablespoon salt and pepper and nutmeg. Add the cooked macaroni and stir well. Pour into a 3-quart baking dish.
   
4. Slice the tomatoes and arrange on top. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, combine them with the fresh bread crumbs, and sprinkle on the top. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and the macaroni is browned on the top.

She added this note at the bottom of the recipe: Oh, did I forget to mention the recipe comes from the Barefoot Contessa Family Style Cookbook? Well, it does. Now, I can use it as my own but Ina might get me for plagarism. Although, I did change one ingredient so maybe I'm really off the hook. ha, he, ha.

Thanks for sharing, Dawn! You. Are. Fabulous.

Oct. 8: Mac & Cheese Ho

Some people are nice. I like them.

Take my neighbor, Dawn (please! ha ha ha! no really, don't touch her, she's mine). I was bragging on her macaroni and cheese recently. It's the homemade kind, not the orange (albeit a different sort of deeeeelicious) stuff. It's the kind with three pounds of butter and eight pounds of cheese and a handful of noodles. The really, really, really good kind.

Dawn didn't remember that I'd tried it before, or that I'd taken fourths. Geez, if I wasn't so worried someone would have thought I was a pig, I'd have taken the whole pan into the corner and growled if anyone came near me. Yes, it was that good.

Anyway, Dawn e-mailed me last week to say she was making a batch and was going to bring some to me the next day. I could barely sleep that night! And sure enough, Saturday there was a casserole dish on the table next to my front door. Although I had just stuffed myself on Darlene's mushroom lasagna for lunch, I couldn't help sneaking a little bite of Dawn's gourmet wonder. Even uncooked, it was scrump-diddly-umptious. How does she do it? The woman is a goddess!

A few hours later I baked the whole pan. Victor took one bite and said, "We are soooo not wasting this on Katie and Jack." They ate orange stuff.

I am one lucky girl. But if I didn't know better, I'd wonder why Dawn was being so nice. I would wonder if she was planning to deliver the mac & cheese and then bonk me on the head with it and steal my car. But she really is just generous and lovely. And she's super-duper nice when she's been drinking. In fact, she scared the living crap out of me when she tried to kiss me once, just before she passed out in her front yard. I didn't really know her then. I know her better now, and she still tries to kiss me sometimes but I'm pretty sure she's not going to steal anyone's car.

I stopped being afraid of Dawn a long time ago, but after her kind gesture, she better be prepared for me to lay a big smooch on her the next time we've had too many flaming Sambuca shots. How sad is it that I'll do just about anything for mac & cheese? Yikes.

Aug. 20: Mmm... cheezy goodness

This might just be the coolest test ever. My results were spot-on. Sheila, yours should be the same, right?

You are "Kraft Macaroni and Cheese." You cost a little more,
due to your promotional shapes and packaging, but the kids
won't stand for less. You try and be individual in
spite of this though. You prefer to be called "Cheese and
Macaroni" thank you very much.

Take the What Kind of Macaroni and Cheese Are You? Quiz

Created by LJ User RobProv222

—Jen