Mac and Cheese

I had a weekend alone with the kids recently. The weather was mediocre at best so we didn't want to do much outside... bring on Jammies Day! We spent most of Sunday in our jammies with the blinds drawn, curled up on the couch in a blanket watching movies together. We finally had to emerge from our comfort cave sometime in the afternoon to procure some sustenance.

I had declared that the kids were in charge of dinner both nights as a project for them, and because I hate deciding what to eat. I hate it so much that sometimes I forgo the decision process entirely and just don't bother eating. Not a smart habit to instill in one's children. Anyways, Lorelai chose Saturday night and Spencer got Sunday. They got to pick anything they wanted but there was a catch: they had to cook!

Lorelai went safe and chose pizza. Trader Joe's pizza dough and sauce and some cheese and voila! dinner.

Spence tried to play it safe and chose mac and cheese. I said that was fine but he was going to learn how to make real macaroni and cheese, not the blue box. We found a recipe online, went to the store for ingredients and with a little help measuring from me, he made dinner.


The result looked yummy:

but didn't come out so hot (shame on you Alton Brown and your meh recipe!)

The proud moment for me was that they were both troopers and made a valiant effort to actually eat the resulting product.

Moral of the story: when you want mac and cheese just make the Kraft. Face it, its what you really want.

Tongue-Tied

I know... I haven't posted anything in months. I suck as a blogger. Thank heavens I have a day job. The problem is I still don't feel like I can share the things I want to say. I've started posts in my head every couple of weeks only to abandon them as being too much information. I've even considered starting another blog, not linked to me in any way, with names changed to protect the innocent (and guilty I suppose) just so I would have a place to organize and vent my thoughts.

I mentioned months ago that I wasn't comfortable sharing what was going on in my life. Unfortunately, all that crap is still going on. My last trip to court was in September and the divorce STILL isn't final. Actually, I guess it doesn't matter if the paperwork is done or not since that wasn't really my reason for not sharing. I don't feel comfortable saying anything here that I wouldn't say in front of my kids. My closest friends and family know the details of my life, all the crap that has gone on over the last 8 or so years, and the final straws that led me to file for divorce but the kids have been sheltered from the truth.

That's not to say I've lied to my children. I have never told them anything that wasn't true. I've just left out some of the uglier bits. They are too young to absorb and analyze the facts of the situation. My daughter has accepted the fact that we're divorcing but she recently let me know that she was mad that no one had told her why we split. I gave her an 8-year-old-appropriate version of some, but not all, of the reasons. She absorbed it and seems to have moved on but my son still doesn't get it. Its almost a year and a half since we separated and he still asks me why Daddy doesn't live at home anymore and when Daddy is moving back. I give him the politically-correct, good co-parent lines about us not being able to make each other happy anymore, how we're both able to be better parents to him if we aren't together, bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. We've had that conversation over and over again... and he still doesn't accept it. I can't tell him the truth. He's 5.