Ten Things Tuesday, On Wednesday
Mamacita says: There were times when “I’m late” meant something completely different.
1. I finally figured out the main reason I hate most rap: I can’t stand “near rhymes.”
2. I’m putting up my Christmas tree, which always gives me a bad nosebleed. If I tell you that I’ve collected wondrous ornaments since 1973 before some of you were born or thought of, it might help you understand approximately how many boxes I’ve been bending over into and then standing up over. Times a million. Also? I think there should be a prize for genuinely awful preposition usage.
3. It’s almost 4 a.m., I’ve been working solidly with nary a break since I got home from school at nine-ish, yet even I can’t tell that I’ve done much at all. The house does smell like furniture polish, so that’s something. Be careful on the stairs; they’re slick. Ask me how I know.
4. Can anybody explain the physics behind why X number of boxes which fit perfectly inside a closet, once removed, will not then fit back in no matter how hard you try? I think it’s like folding a map: only someone with the talent can do it, but wouldn’t most people prefer a cooler talent?
5. An 18-pound turkey has been slowly thawing in my refrigerator for a week now. Every time I open the ‘fridge door, I feel compelled to give the turkey a poke and a pinch. I rationalize this by reminding myself that it’s vital that I know how thoroughly the turkey is thawing. This being the case, why do I always make sure nobody’s watching when I do it? I find this disturbing on several levels. I suspect that my behavior here has something to do with the fact that I have always anthropomorphised everything in the house – go ahead and ask my daughter – including what’s flushed down the toilet, and in the back of my mind I can hear the turkey giggling and telling me to stop tickling it. Sometimes I sense that the turkey is cold. I need to get over this one because on Thursday morning, I’m going to rip this turkey’s gut-sack out, stuff it with onions, and throw it into the oven, Hansel-and-Gretel’s-witch-style, or Mrs. Lovett; you pick an image, and I don’t want to hear the turkey screaming, because I do not intend to spare it.
6. I made almost a hundred yeast rolls tonight. It’s a good batch, too. I give most of them away; come on over. Apple pie, too. Tomorrow? Pecan pies and a cherry pie. I love to make pies.
7. Would someone please remind me to set out some persimmon pulp to thaw? Thankyouverymuch.
8. Christmas cards are fun.
9. It’s easy to polish woodwork if you’re wearing socks.
10. There were so many cobwebs on my ceiling fan blades that the ladybugs were stuck in them.
11. During ladybug season, I don’t eat popcorn because the old maids look exactly like ladybugs, and what if I ate a bowl of popcorn and found a ladybug at the bottom? I have to poke all the old maids to make sure one of them is not a ladybug.
Oops, one too many. So sue me.
Things I Haven't Done Yet
Mamacita says: 1. I intended to put up my Christmas tree today but what with sleeping till noon one thing after another, I didn’t do it.
2. I intended to get that huge, ever-growing stack of essays scored, but I went to Arby’s with my husband and his mother and then came home and sewed was just too busy.
3. I haven’t taken my pile of Christmas boxes-to-be-mailed to the Post Office/FedEx yet. However, I do have these boxes packed and sealed, which means, I’ve done the shopping and the wrapping and the tagging and the boxing-up, which is, admittedly, usually the part I put off until December 23 the last minute. So I’m still ahead there.
4. My cats will eat anything, and I do mean anything. They will not, however, touch the cat food I bought at the Dollar Tree, even though it was a name brand they usually like. This tells me something creepy, but I’m not sure what. And, I haven’t discarded it yet, because hello, a dollar?
5. I haven’t put away the clean dishes yet. This is significant. . . why? Because I found my beautiful Holiday 
Joy pattern on eBay and scored a huge load of plates for a song, and they got here before my families’ reunion so everybody will have a Christmas plate this year! I unloaded the box and loaded the dishwasher and ran them through twice because stranger-dirt is an unknown quantity you just never know, and here I sit not putting my new dishes away because I’m inherently lazy I’m busy.
6. I still can’t figure out how to fold a king fitted sheet. I mean, I KNOW how, but the sheet never cooperates. It’s the sheet’s fault. I’m doing it right.
7. My pills that I’m supposed to take first thing in the morning? I haven’t taken them yet. Oops.
8. I still haven’t ever seen a single Oprah, nor have I ever watched a reality show.
9. I never would have believed I would ever think, let alone say/write, this: I do not read the newspaper any more. It’s so full of inaccuracies, misspellings, horrendous grammar, just plain bad writing, and bias, that the temptation to write a letter to the editor is almost overwhelming; however, I haven’t done it yet. Reading the newspaper at the end of the day was such an ingrained habit: something to look forward to at the beginning of the winding-down time after work. . . keeping up and catching up with the local news. . . but what used to be a local paper has disintegrated into a multi-county catch-all, and there is very little about my own community in it now. So, since the powers-that-be in charge of the newspaper are no longer interested in me, I feel no qualms about returning the favor. Ironically, there is more news about my locality in a big city paper than in the smallish not-really-local paper. (I read several big newspapers online; I just don’t subscribe to any, nor do I read what used to be a local paper any more.) Plus, I get my comic strips in my email. 🙂 but I haven’t written a letter to the editor. Yet.
10. It will probably come as no surprise to most of you if I confess that I am a person who loves to send Christmas cards. I’m not soliciting; I’m just telling you that I love to send Christmas cards to my family and friends whether they send one to me or not. However, I have not “made them out” yet.
Okay, I confess. I really miss reading a local newspaper. If someone started one that focused on the national news and the local news from this area, I’d subscribe in a whipstitch. But listen, publishers, if you really think I’m going to wade through five or six counties’ worth of yard sale ads trying to find some that are close by, you’re sadly mistaken. I am not interested in what the schools four counties away are serving for lunch, either.
Mamacity is whiny tonight.
Velveeta, Please. No Other Will Do
Mamacita says: I’ve posted before about Velveeta, but I’m doing it again because Velveeta is sponsoring a contest and if you know what’s good for you (seriously, cheese is good for you!) you’ll click right straight on over there and check out the recipes, accompanied by pictures. And you’ll also notice some familiar – I would hope! – faces and names there, pimping politely requesting your vote. Please vote!
I’m not in the contest, because I wasn’t invited I didn’t know about it in time, but that didn’t keep me from putting together my family’s favorite Velveeta casserole, the Velveeta Down-Home Macaroni & Cheese. (Velveeta Crowd-Pleasing Recipes, pps. 72 & 73)
I follow the official recipe closely, except for one small detail: If you look closely at my casserole, you will notice that there are several different kinds of pasta in it. This isn’t an attempt to be artistic; it’s a bit of nostalgia. A reminder, as it were.
When my children were small, we wuz poor. Poor unto desperation, at times. I bought Velveeta because it was economical and went a long way, and because the children loved it and would eat it daily if I let them. I also relied on pasta to get us through some of the hard times.
There was always a day when I had several bits of pasta left, each one insufficient to make a meal for a family, but too much to throw away. That day, I combined all that pasta and made my Velveeta casserole. Often, I threw all the tag ends of cheese that were languishing in the refrigerator, too small to do anyone any good, into the mix, also.
The kids loved finding all those different shapes on their plate, no pasta was wasted, and a good, hot meal was inside my children at the end of the day. Today’s casserole has bow-tie, macaroni, egg noodles, and baby shells.
The weather is getting colder now, and cold weather is casserole weather. There’s just something about a steaming hot creamy casserole when it’s freezing outside. . . . Add a tossed salad and some fruit, and you’ve got a lovely winter supper that your entire family will love.
We’ve all got until tomorrow night to enter the Budget Bites Contest, so let’s get over there and DO IT! Kraft is giving great prizes!
And no, this is NOT a paid post. I did it out of genuine love of an excellent product, a product that helped get my family through some really hard times, and which my family loves to this day.
I still make this casserole with an assortment of pasta. My Thanksgiving table would not be complete without it.
This particular casserole? My daughter is driving thirty miles – one way – tonight to come and get it. Her friends can’t wait!
