PHONE CALLS FROM THE KIDS

I "Googled" "phone images" and got page after page after page of cell phones. This was the ONLY non-cell phone I got until page seven. Phone calls from the kids:

Today one of my boys called from the grocery store, asking what went in lasagna. Then he and his wife bought everything for lasagna except lasagna noodles.

Later he called with good news about his and his wife's education. I was so pleased for them. Three miracles--or tender mercies--for them. They will both graduate earlier and don't have to take some of the classes they thought they had to--money and time saved.

My daughter called to ask us to dinner but I didn't have time to talk to her because I was busy taking the "old-woman" out of my hair by making it brown again. The color is called, "Brandy." I don't drink it but, obviously, I wear it.

When I called her back to ask if I could bring something to dinner Phil said, "They've gone to the movie." Just then the "beep" beeped and I left a message, not to them but a discussion with Phil about how I would have gone to the movie with them.

"Only one problem, " Phil said. "They didn't ask you,"

I pouted with words and whined a bit and then, when I had made my point, I hung up. Then, after we had been to Costco--WITH AT LEAST SEVENTY-FIVE PERCENT OF THE PEOPLE IN UTAH--I called again and she said she had made everyone listen to my message and that her husband said I was crazy. And then I heard him correct her. "Crazier!" he said.

So today was a fun phone-calls-with-the-kids day.

That's all. Such a little thing but it means so much to a mom that I can have fun with my kids on the phone, and that they call when they have good news, and that they call for cooking advice, and that we can laugh at and with each other. Little things like that mean so much to me and probably every other mom on the planet. We're funny like that.

So, call your mom and ask a cooking question or tell her some good news or just breathe into the phone. It will give her a thrill.

SIX WORDS FOR BAD STUFF I ATE AND WHY

Soup's gone so I ate lasagna.

FOILED BY THE MISSING SOUP

I am trying to eat better--and eat less--so I can loose a pesky eight hundred and eighty-eight pounds--more or less--and not have to be have a wall of the house sawed off and then be have to be carried away on a flat bed truck.

I went to lunch at Applebee's with Gilmore Girl and Tuesday and ate too much or maybe just the wrong kinds of things. Bacon should not have been eaten by an eight hundred and eighty-eight pound housebound woman who has a flat bed truck and a chain saw on stand-by.

Bacon. Surely on the top of the "bad-for-you-food," list, followed closely by a mayonnaise sandwich--I have a cousin who says he loooves a good mayonnaise sandwich and a friend who said she does too, but she one up's him, she adds potato chips to hers. That girl knows how to par-tay.

But she has nothing on the creativity of Americans, bless their struggling artery clogged hearts. Here are some foods people actually eat:

Battered, deep fried Twinkies.


Bacon, cheddar cheeseburger sandwiched between two Krispy Kreme doughnuts. This actually has it's own name--a Luther Burger.



Chili cheese fries, topped with ranch dressing, just for fun.

Stuffed crust, double decker pizza with extra cheese and a variety of meats with nitrates. (Speaking of meats with nitrates we will NOT be mentioning J-Dawgs, no-sir-ee.)

Anything Guy Fieri--of "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" on the Food Network, eats. I'm not kidding. The stuff he eats on that show would kill anyone. Today he ate a soup made of cow hooves and cow stomachs. Usually he eats concoctions of meat, cheese, cream, and gravy and it usually involves deep frying. Although I did see him eat a strawberry once. I have just a tiny little crush on him--don't tell. He's weird but he grows on you and he does so enjoy his deep fried, melty cheese, gravy covered food. I hope he doesn't die.

Soda followed by a drink that is even worse, diet soda.

Anything made with canola oil. Don't write me letters about this, I have my reasons.

Anything microwaved. Hey, did I say don't write me letters? Okay, you can write me letters. I love letters. I crave letters. Just don't say the words "canola oil" or "microwave oven" in them. Use words like, "cute" and "delightful" and "skinny." You don't have to be talking about me, just throw those words in as fillers.

So, today after the bacon-at-Applebee's-fiasco I was going to eat Kale and Bean Soup and a stack of carrots for dinner. Phil fixed leftovers for himself and then left for BYU to do some clerk stuff for the BYU Ward before Sunday. I was on the lawn swings, chatting with friends. When I came in to eat dinner there was only a tiny bit of soup left and Phil had left a hunk of leftover lasagna RIGHT OUT IN THE OPEN WHERE IT CALLED MY NAME. Disgusting, lasagna, calling my name like that. So, did I stick my fingers in my ears? No. I ate it. And many other things that were not on my list. And now I am sitting here with regrets.

Does that ever happen to you? Lasagna calls your name because the soup was all gone? There ought to be a law.

Wait. Did you hear that? It sounded like a chain saw and a flat bed truck, revving it's motor. Maybe if we're really, really quiet they won't know we're here.

IT'S TOO LATE TO BLOG SO HERE IS WHAT I PUT ON MY COOKBOOK BLOG TONGHT.

This is the middle of Mushroom-Asparagus lasagna. It is so good, honest it is. Here it is. The link is green and brown and golden to represent asparagus and mushrooms and the noodles. Aren't I so clever at 12:30 in the morning? Don't answer. I can't take the sadness to know I am not clever. At any hour.

Have a great week-end and make this lasagna. Your taste buds will be so happy.

PS Aren't you impressed with my 30 year old cheap measuring cup? I'm such a sucker for a bargain and sometimes the bargains just never die and go a way. You should see my potato masher...is that what they are called? My brain is not working well tonight because last night I was still up at 1:30--reading blogs.

Don't tell Phil.