Awesome Day

Really quick...a million little things I'm thankful for in between these, but I did have a splendid day.

- Preschool gymnastics. One of the girls was being shy, but by the end she said, "Hey! I like you now, and proceeded to talk my ear off about absolutely everything as we walked out of class and the building"

- New journal, started with Psalm 16:8 "I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved"

- Listening to Carolyn tell me, in explicit detail, everything that happened at the 2 hours of VBS tonight.

- A new friend of mine met Shawn Johnson last week, and he mailed me an autographed copy of her autobiography! I'd already read the online edition, but having the hard copy with her signature is way too cool! And my friend Kate is sneaky too, for getting him my address. Great surprise!

- A number of lovely bike rides to and from work, morning and evening.

- A letter from my frolof speaking prayer partner, Xadi

- Nathaniel. He asked me, "so what's your first meal going to be when you start that cooking show, 'cooking with Kate'?" I said, "Well, what do you think it should be?" Nathaniel: "Your mac and cheese, the bacon mac and cheese. That stuff is awesome"

I don't have a real recipe for it because I made it up, but it takes about 15 minutes altogether, and is so simple. I've never measured anything out; just use your judgment about proportions.

- Noodles (you can use macaroni shells or egg noodle spirals. or whatever you'd like)

- Butter: I don't use more than 2-3 tablespoons

- Milk: maybe a 1/3  cup or so, depending how many noodles/people eating. For 6 of us, I think it was probably around a 1/3 cup.

- Chopped green onions

- Crispy bacon, cut into tiny bits. I used 5 strips.

- Cheese, and lots of it. I used a mix of cheddar and mozzarella.

- Pepper to taste

Boil water, cook noodles around 8 or 9 minutes or whatever the package says, stirring occasionally. While that's happening, fry up the bacon and chop onions. Throw the noodles into a colander over the sink, put back in pot. Add milk, butter, and cheese and stir well. Cut bacon into the mix, add onions, stir well, pepper as you'd like and serve. Kids and grown ups will both enjoy this twist on the traditional dish.