THE WAR HAS ENDED….

Yes folks, the macaroni-n-cheese war has ended. After a minor skirmish in Aisle 4 of our local Walmart where my mother proceeded to be sufficiently shocked to find I was NOT putting eggs in my version. She fired first – telling me how she makes her version and wondering (AGAIN) if “they” were going to like my version. I remind my mother that I will leave her in the store – yes, even on Thanksgiving Eve. Another shopper tried to referee reminding us that it was Thanksgiving and, according to this would-be referee, “just get the turkey, dressing and cranberry sauce right and things will be fine”. My mother and I looked at this poor woman like she had 4 heads and we kindly broke it down for her. Another person came by and weighed in on the seriousness of the situation. Order was restored and we finished our shopping.
Thursday AM, we stirred up some breakfast, pressed someone into dishwashing detail, and then shooed them all out of the kitchen so we could finish our dishes. I ended up making two pans of mac-n-cheese. BigSis#2 and her hubby arrived after breakfast while the dish was sill in the oven. I was going to change so asked if they would keep an eye on the mac-n-cheese…it was “done”, it just needed to brown. I mentioned it didn’t need to cook as long since I don’t use eggs. BigSis#2’s head snapped around as she said, “Whaddya mean you don’t use eggs??!! How can you NOT use eggs?” Oh, if you coulda seen the little smirk on my mom’s face – she thought she had an ally in her even plan to overthrow my version…she thought she had me against the ropes.

I smiled, reminded BigSis#2 that she’d had my version before and even if she didn’t remember then, she would later. (Conceited? No. Just convinced. Ha!) Can I tell you that having made that extra pan saved us? Folks got up looking for more the next day. Ha!

The war is over. My mother conceded victory where the macaroni-n-cheese was concerned. BUT…ya’ll better check on my aunt….she went down in the sweet potato pie wars. It wasn’t pretty…my mom took her down before the first slice was finished. Nope people, not pretty at all.

Hope you had a safe and enjoyable holiday!

(Note: Let the record show, my mother ‘casually’ mentioned she’d make the mac-n-cheese for Christmas. In my house? I’on think so Ms. Lady! *Sigh* I thought the war was over…maybe the enemy is just dropping back to revise her…um…THEIR strategy. *SMH*)

When my fam is acting a little…um…”extra” (or when they’re late to my book event!!), I tell people that I’m adopted. I have confirmation.

After all the festivities of Thanksgiving Day, the house is quiet. My mother and I are sitting here watching “Guess Who” while my nephew D tries to outmaneuver his many female suitors (it’s quite interesting to watch).

We were watching a commercial advertising the board game “Candy Land”. My mother started laughing, saying we should get that game. (Don’t ask me why. I’m telling you I’m adopted!) She tells me a story about families that she worked for years ago (private duty nursing/home health aide) always talking about the game and she didn’t know anything about it since we hadn’t played with it

That sent us back down memory lane as I reminisced about the games we played growing up. I laughed and said we played games like “hot-bread-and-butter”, “Old Red Devil”, “Concentration”, etc. My mom starts reminiscing about how she and her siblings used to make frog houses.

FROG HOUSES.

F.R.O.G. H.O.U.S.E.S.

*Crickets*

My dear mother goes on to say they’d bury their foot in wet sand, let it get firm, pull their foot out and call the “cave” that was created a “frog house”. They’d build a fence around the house…like a brick wall…only made of mud.

*CRIC-KETS*

Between laughs, I asked my mom if they ever saw a frog take up residence in said “house”. Or how did they decide it was meant for a frog?

Why did my mother look at ME like I was the crazy one? (Lemme go check that eggnog….)

Live DELICIOULSY!