Macaroni & Cheese Recipe

I have been making this recipe for just about every one of the kids birthday parties. It's become a family favorite. When I make it I usually split the recipe in two square containers; one for the oven and the other for the freezer for later use. We rarely have leftovers!

• 1 to 1 ½ cups uncooked elbow macaroni, rigatoni, or spinach egg noodles (about 6 oz)
• ¼ cup butter
• 1 small onion, chopped (about 1/4 cup) (I prefer to grate the onion so no one notices it)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• ¼ cup flour
• 1 small clove pressed garlic
• 2 cups milk (I use evaporated milk)
• 8 oz cheese shredded, I blend sharp cheddar, monterey jack, & parmesan cheese
• Parmesan cheese

Cook macaroni as directed on package, drain. Cook and stir butter, onion, salt and pepper over medium heat until onion is slightly tender. Stir in flour. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is smooth and bubbly; towards the end add garlic, remove from heat. Stir in milk. Heat to boiling, whisking constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute; remove from heat, Stir in cheese until melted.

Mix macaroni and cheese sauce and then place macaroni in buttered 9 x 13" casserole, cover with Parmesan cheese.  Bake covered in 375 degree oven for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake 10 minutes or until slightly brown.

Note: For a creamier sauce add more milk and/or cheese. Adjust to your taste.

Serves 12, 196 Calories, using the myfitnesspal recipe generator.

Until Next Time, SoCal Marisa

Turkey Day & Turkey Cookie & Acorn Recipe

Today was Turkey Day in Kindergarten and I am just so thankful I get to re-live my youth with my children! The things those kids get to do makes my days so full. We had a super busy day today and I'm exhausted!

Bell rings and class begins. Today we started working on our placemats. Then we colored our Turkey Books. We moved into our first snack craft of Acorns to be eaten before first recess. We do this so they can burn their energy on the playground. Smart moms hu? Super easy snack craft and they tasted pretty good too. Grab a doughnut hole, in this case we had glazed donught holes. Slather the top with chocolate frosting, dip in toffee candy crunch pieces, and spear with a pretzel. Went over like gang-busters. We had a few kids who were a little nervous at first but I tell ya, not an acorn remains. Kids had a blast with this one.

Then we continued to work on our placemats and started on our Turkey Centerpieces. Ahhhh the amazing things one can do with a toilet paper roll and construction paper. Unfortunately this is a bad picture of the sample but the children did a pretty good job. Take your average toilet paper roll. Cover in brown construction paper. Have the children trace both their hands, color, and cut out. Those will be the feathers. Add a red construction paper waddle and orange construction paper beak, some googlie eyes and you have your Turkey Centerpiece. Now what mom wouldn't want this from their kiddo? Mine left his at school, so I'll get mine after break. [sigh]

Let's see we finish up our color crafts and clean up. Then the children get to enjoy our Thanksgiving Feast of Chick-Fil-A Nuggets, Mashed Potatoes, & Corn. Love those nuggets! It's nice sharing a meal together.

Last snack craft before our movie and close of the day is our Turkey Cookie. We start with a base of a plain sugar cookie. Then uses bakers cement (royal icing) to adhere a peanut butter cup to the lower center of the cookie. More cement and add a nutter-butter. You have now completed the body. Next we need to give our bird feathers and in this case we used candy corn. Jelly Bean waddle and beak and m&m mini eyes finish off our snack. CAN YOU SAY SUGAR RUSH? The kids got to devour their cookies and some homemade pumpkin bread while watching A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and finally the dismissal bell rang! Now how's that for a day in Kindergarten?!

I'm bushed and in need of a nap! Nightie Night!


Royal Icing
3 TBS Meringue Powder
1 LBS Powder Sugar
6 TBS Warm Water


Mix together in stand mixer for 7 minutes until peaks form and icing is ready. Dries super fast so work fast or cover until ready to use.


Until Next Time, SoCal Marisa

Are You My Emmit?

OK. So I had to log on real quick to post these thoughts. They apparently raced through my head all night. I got very little sleep. Not because of the thoughts but because hubby woke up early for work and the boy crawled in bed with me.

One of the first things my 9 year old daughter asked me this morning was where I was last night. I tried to explain it to her that I was at a women's conference and Lisa Whelchel was there talking and Mandie Pinto did Praise Worship and I was super excited about it. She just didn't get it. Well naturally, she's never seen "Facts" so she has no idea..... think, think, think, "Well she's to me what Amanda Cosgrove is to you" BINGO! she got it now. Then she was excited. Finally. =)

As I went through my day today; MOPS in the morning. Cleaning up before hand. Lisa's Emmit conversation was brought up often. Now I know exactly what she was talking about. Well not the child star version but the needing an Emmit. A few years ago my Best Girlfriend and I "broke-up" for lack of better terminology and I was lost, really lost. We had been BFF's for about 17 years and it was really hard to lose her. Lisa's conversation of her paid friend (counselor) and how she should maybe displace herself to instead of buckets (so as not to overwhelm one person) to glasses, or thimbles and that got me thinking. I have soooo many glasses and thimble friends all over the place. Each one I love for so many different reasons and each one I want to support when they need it.

I have grown so much since losing my friend and have gained so many friends in the process. I remember at the time praying and crying over my loss. Begging God to send me another BFF. Are you my Emmit means so much to me! Now I look around at all my friends and see so many Emmits! I love you all. =)  OK. I just had to share my thoughts . Now time to get the kids!

Until Next Time, SoCal Marisa

Beautified

So today we had Beautified at our church. What's Beautified? Well it's a one night conference and Lisa Whelchel came and spoke to our group about friendship. Over 500 women attended tonight's function. Now I'd like to say I did a whole lot of helping get this event off the ground but life was definitely in the way of me doing that. I felt all along during the planning phases as My Special Events Leader was bringing the Special Events group together that no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't get to the group to support it. The devil does that sometimes. God however wanted me to be apart of it and he worked in my Small Group into the planning of Beautified.

So we were on food detail. Setting up and making sure everyone had a snack during the break. Now that's what I love. The being with everyone and just talking with the people I know and love. What a reward tonight was. Several of my worlds crashed into one another. OC, Small Group, MOPS & my Special Events Group were in attendance. It was nice seeing everyone in church tonight. Smiling.

Lisa Whelchel in person is not what one would expect. Before the event those of us who helped put it together were invited for a group picture with Lisa. She is very generous with her time. In my mind she was taller but in person we could practically look into each others eyes. So she's a shorty like me. =) I loved Facts of Life when it originally aired and watched it every week. So meeting Lisa was a real treat for me. I'd say better than the time Geena Davis crashed my party at the HOB Foundation Room & Lisa was far more humble. She gave time for taking pictures with each person who wanted one with her regardless if you purchased something or not.

Mandie Pinto sang our Praise Worship tonight and she was just as good as when she was at Retreat. She has such an amazing voice. I love her voice and we picked up a few of her CD's and I cannot wait to listen to them! My GF and I spent some time talking and bonding with Mandie and she is so transparent. What you see is what you get. She was fun, and open and honest. I could have spent more time talking to her but the night was drawing to a close.

After the event there was more mingling and talking and talking and mingling. So basically I had a good time and as usual I was one of the last persons to leave. I know, shocker! Right now all I have is my cell phone picture of Lisa & I and it is blurry too. When the others come available I'll post those too! Well it's time for me to go to bed. Have to get up early to morrow to tear down and lots of other things.

Until Next Time, SoCal Marisa

Fake it til you make it!

I am having one of those fake it til you make it days. Seriously. I could have stayed in bed all day. If it weren't for the fact Hayden was hungry I probably would have. It's a beautiful day too. So much to do. Christmas is almost here. The list of honeydews is super long. But I'm feeling super meh today. I have a mountain of laundry to fold. A few phone calls to make. Memory books to work on. & that's all before I pick up the girl from school. I have a feeling I'm not going to get very much of it done today. Oh well.

On the upside, the birch trees are gone-daddy-gone. One blew over in the last wind and the trimmers came with their equipment and removed and stacked the other two and used the auger on the stumps. So now my front yard is bare. Not the most stunning of front yards but we have some pretty interesting plans for it. I'm kinda excited by it. Hubby and I dragged the kids to Lowes and picked up more stuff for the bathroom. Who woulda thought one little room needed so much stuff! These projects are really tapping us out. One at a time, sure. All at the same time? OUCH! While we were there we picked up the moulding for the boys room. The man said he would make the cuts for me this week and then I'll paint and apply them, then we can call the boys room completo!

So this weeks agenda consists of:

Monday - Fake it til you make it stuff, Seester comes over

Tuesday - Beautified. Gonna be at the church most of the day in anticipation of Lisa Whelchel speaking. I am very excited about that! (Facts of Life song in my head)

Wednesday - MOPS, Getting my car lenses polished, Little Ladies, GEMS

Thursday - Turkey Day in kinder (all day long), Longaberger Webinar, COTM

Friday - My day of rest....well sorta gotta do more laundry and possibly clean (when does that end?), Piano, GNO!

Saturday - Longaberger Meeting

Sunday - Church

And all week long is Book Fair. Those are the things I can remember because my calendar went missing....again. So really. I am sorta glad I have a busy week this week so I can ignore my unsettled attitude. I think I will start my Having a Mary Spirit Bible study today. I think I need it! Thanks for letting me vent. I'm sure I'll have a more positive and upbeat attitude the rest of the week.

Right now I'm leaning on my life verse Psalm 46:10 ...“Be still, and know that I am God...”

Until Next Time, SoCal Marisa

The Shack

The Shack (Special Hardcover Edition)

by Wm. Paul Young.

I just finished reading The Shack by Wm. Paul Young. A friend of mine lent it to me quite a quite while back and it has taken me some time to get to reading it. OK, a lot of time. Apparently I took it with me on some weekend trip because I found it recently in my weekender bag. I'm guessing I didn't have that much time to read it.

Normally, I can blow through a book in no time. This one took me about a week to finish even though it was only 248 pages in length and the letters were averaged sized. Mack is our main character and he is struggling with his faith and forgiveness after the brutal murder of his young daughter Missy. Yeah, I know, not your light text. So naturally this is going to take me some time to finish because it is so emotional a read.

Just as expected The Shack brought me to the place of misery for Mack beginning with his daughter Missy's abduction. He suffers great depression and his family life suffers as well. Four years later Mack receives a letter from God inviting him to The Shack; the place where they believe Missy was taken to but never found.

Mack reluctantly returns to The Shack for his weekend with God. Half expecting him not to be there. What transpires changes everything. We are shown God as separate but equal individuals in the Trinity; God, Son, Spirit. We are reminded of Love, Faith, and Forgiveness. The method of which Mr. Young uses to describe our God to us is very potent. I am not ashamed to admit I cried. Not your simple single tear cry. The kinda cry where the tears flowed. All of us need to be reminded of the simple act of Love and The Shack does just that.

The Shack does not preach to us Bible verse after verse. Yet, it does remind us of the unending and perfect love just waiting for us. It reminds us God is a God of Free Will, He does not want to control us. However, He will work to fix the damage caused by evil. All we have to do is be open to His healing love.

Without blowing the story line for you there is a discussion on our eternity. This part was especially comforting to me. Recently my Granpa passed away and was delivered from his severe body pain. I could not help but think of him in the second waterfall scene and a little later in the meadow scene. To be reminded once again, was very good for me. Good for my heart.

While this is not an easy book to read. You may cry. I did! I definitely do recommend it. 5 stars!

Until Next Time, SoCal Marisa

Our Slow Home Improvement Projects

Hayden's Almost Finished Camo Room

Have you ever had one of those years where everything seems to go wrong and nothing ever gets completed? Well, we are having one of those years. It started with my sons room. It was time to paint and update his room for a "Big Boy" His favorite color is camo so I had to somehow make his room camo without actually painting it in the traditional camo pattern. We chose our colors and paint went on the walls. New furniture was purchased. Window Treatments. That's where we stopped. He still doesn't have a door up and I need to get the moulding. I wanted to do a chair rail in his room to divide his color choices and well, I need to go and make the purchase. I don't know how to use the saw so I need hubby to make the cuts for me. Seriously one more day of work (two tops) and his room is completed.

All New Vinyl Windows

Our next project after that was to replace our aluminum windows with some new Jeld-Wen Vinyl windows. The front room was filled with all of our new windows. It was hard to walk in here because even though they are sort of thin they do take up a lot of space when you group them together. Our friend Scott came over and helped Brian put the windows in one day and all that is remaining is the trim work. The installation was really easy. Something we've never done before. With Scott's help he and Brian got it done very fast! We had intended on working on the trim the following weekend but then our house was burglarized.

New Unfinished Front Door

New Stained & Installed Front Door

The front door was kicked in and we needed a whole new door. It took two weeks for our Fiberglass Masonite Door to get here and then I needed to stain it. I'm the one who does all the painting in the house. He does all the heavy work. But Scott and his crew were here saving the day again. They did the instillation and again, he made things look real easy. Staining the door took almost two solid weeks because the humidity levels were so high the oil based stain took forever to dry. Then the poly took a while too. Now all we have to do is get the trim to complete the door. Do you see a pattern here? Well in our defense we were going to go shopping for the trim when the toilet gave us problems.

Hayden in his empty Bathroom

Did you know toothbrushes don't flush? Well my daughter learned they don't bend so much when trying to flush and they get caught up in the plumbing. Out comes to toilet. Hubby is determined to get that brush out of it so we don't have to get one of those - it takes 50 flushes "Green" toilets. Well naturally when he pulled the toilet he suggested we tile the bathroom. Then his mom suggested we change out the vanity since it's been a while. Then I took a look at the room and thought well maybe we should update the tub too so it's not the oldest thing in here. A 1976 tub in a 2010 bathroom? Nope. I think you get the picture. We talked about moving the furnace to the attic, using the closet space, and pushing out the doorway to the hall to give us a few feet but quickly changed our minds when we were told the furnace itself would cost us about $5K. Um, no.

This is where the tub will go

Well now here we are in a house with one working bathroom and a husband who is working hard and has very little time. The projects are piling up in our dated house and the New Year is almost here. We open our house to friends and family on New Years Day and well, we kinda need at least one more working bathroom. So the list of projects is ever long. I won't even begin to tell you about the backyard that needs to be completely re-done or the kitchen cabinets I'm thinking of painting, not to mention touching up the rest of the house on the inside, new carpet... Yeah, we have a lot of projects and not very much time when you think of it.

The tub is in!!!

I will however give my hubby some props for getting the American Standard Rope Twist Tub in today. When we pulled the tub we found that the space allowed was not quite large enough (of course.) So Brian had to cut into the studs in order to squeeze in the tub. It took him most of the morning but he got that tub in and set in mortar. So now we wait a few days for that to dry, then he gets to working on the walls. Then I paint. Then he works on the tile, and the plumbing, and the vanity, and the electrical. Did I mentioned I decided to replace the lights and fan too? Yeah, a whole new bathroom. I can't wait to shop for it's accessories! But for now I'll be happy knowing the tub is officially in! There is no going back from here! I just wish I would have thought to take some pictures before we yanked everything...

Until Next Time, SoCal Marisa