As promised, the new DSL filter for my  TROUBLE-ed alarm came today. It was the work of just a couple of minutes to remove the old filter and put the new one in (it took longer to find a screwdriver).

Then I called the alarm monitoring company and asked them to put me in test mode. I armed the alarm, waited a few minutes, and breached a zone. The siren whooped while a loud voice demanded, Warning! You have entered a secured area! Leave immediately! I felt so safe!

I turned the alarm off, waited a few minutes for the phone to be available again, and then called the monitoring company. They had received my signal perfectly, so everything was A-OK.

But, best of all, my alarm is no longer  TROUBLE-ed. ET called home and home answered. The yellow light has gone out and has not come back on. Nothing is beeping at me. I have hopes that I might even get to sleep in past 5:00 AM on Saturday!

Sheri at The Loopy Ewe asks:

Loved reading your re-enactment of TROUBLE! But what a short night’s sleep. I hope you used that extra awake time for knitting.

I did some knitting. But mostly I paid bills. I’ve been working such long hours that some things are getting pushed aside. But bill paying does need to be done on a fairly regular basis to keep the creditors from knocking down my door. But a little knitting was accomplished.

I have to admit, though, that the Jaywalkers are growing slowly. But I am knitting on them as I can. I really want to get them finished before my next class starts so I can start a new pair along with the students. I have a couple of weeks yet to go. We’ll see.

Kristie demands:

WHAT? You tempt my taste buds with the delicious thoughts of macaroni & cheese & then … no recipe? There’s so many different variations of the classic recipe that now you must share yours.

OK. Fair enough.

I always consider recipes to be suggestions, so I never follow one exactly. But I do use them for starting points. The recipe I start my mac & cheese with comes from an old Good Housekeeping cookbook that I received as a wedding present — and, gentle reader, I hate to tell you how long ago that was. I looked for a link on the Good Housekeeping web site and, while there were several Mac & Cheese recipes, this one was not there. What follows is my basic version of their classic recipe, but I don’t think I’ve ever made it exactly the same way twice. I’ll put the recipe up on the Freebies page, too.

Judy’s Mac & Cheese

8 oz dry pasta (elbow macaroni, radiatore or rotini, or whatever you have that’s similar)
4 Tbl butter (the real stuff)
3/4 C bread crumbs
1 medium onion, chopped (I like large chunks)
1 Tbl flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dry mustard (I like mustard)
dash pepper
2 C non-fat milk
12 oz shredded sharp cheddar (or mix of mostly cheddar with other cheeses)

Cook pasta as label directs; drain. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 2-quart casserole. Melt 2 Tbl of the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the bread crumbs and toss to coat; set aside.

Melt the remaining 2 Tbl of butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in flour, salt, mustard and pepper until blended. Slowly stir in the milk. Cook until smooth and slightly thickened, stirring constantly. Lower heat, add cheese and continue stirring until cheese is melted. Remove from heat.

Place drained pasta in the casserole. Pour cheese mixture over pasta. Sprinkle crumb mixture over the top.

Bake 20 minutes or until bubbly and bread crumbs are golden. Makes about 4 servings. Recipe may be halved or doubled. Reheats well in microwave.

Try your own varieties: Add veggies or meat, try different cheeses, add nutmeg or chili pepper (or both), have fun!