Oh, what a beautiful day!

Today was beautiful here in LucyLand. Lucy#2 had a good day at work, was able to leave on time, and be home by 3:00. Lucy#1 ate a good lunch instead of half a sandwich. Then the Two Lucys got together and it was a hoot!

We both like NCIS. I’m always a season behind on watching because I am either not home or forget what day it airs, so I have to catch up when the whole season comes out on DVD. (Yay, Netflix!) Lucy#1 watches every Tuesday night, so she is always up-to-date. For Season 11, when I don’t have Pampered Chef parties, I may start being up-to-date because Lucy#1 will be on top of it and will remind me. Cool!

NCIS Season 10 DVDs came out on August 20, so today when I came home from work, we Lucys watched the first couple episodes.We enjoyed watching together and talking about Gibbs. (Woo, baby, Leroy Jethro Gibbs! J)

The Two Lucys had a glass of wine while I fixed supper, and Lucy#1 sat in the kitchen doorway and chatted with me while I cooked. We talked about people she worked with when she lived in Austin, and there were only a couple whose names she could not remember. We had some good laughs, rehashing some of the hilarious things that happened and the crazy things people did.

During supper, we talked and laughed more. Lucy#1 ate a pretty large meal (for her), but said she was done when she still had about three bites left on her plate. Thus, the following conversation, one that would have been so typical of us waaay back in the day:

Lucy#2:  Hey, you can’t stop eating now! You didn’t clean your plate.

Lucy#1:  I can’t hold another bite.

Lucy#2:  Ha! You know that’s B.S. because in a few minutes you are going to ask me if I want to eat some ice cream with you.

Lucy#1: No, I won’t! (Insert big grin here.) I’ll just go eat some without you!!

 

Then we laughed and laughed.
 
It was so much fun to laugh with Lucy#1! Of course, we have laughed together many, many times through the years, but these days we don’t so often have these goofy conversations where we just crack ourselves up and hoot with laughter.

Yes, today was a fabulous day!

 

 

By the way, the menu tonight was leftover chicken rejuvenated with barbeque sauce, turnip greens, and macaroni and cheese:

 

 

(Don't you just love it when the food matches the dishes?!)

I used the Pampered Chef Microwave Egg Cooker to make tonight’s macaroni and cheese in the microwave – in less than 10 minutes! I found this recipe on a Facebook page called something on the order of I Love my Pampered Chef Microwave Egg Cooker. Many intrepid cooks post interesting recipe ideas on that page, and I shall be trying more of their recipes!

 

 

The macaroni and cheese was very good. Here’s the recipe:

Place 1/2 cup elbow macaroni and 1/2 cup water in each well of the Egg Cooker. Cover with parchment paper and cook on high for 3 minutes. Remove and stir. Re-cover, return to microwave, and cook 2-3 minutes, or until the water is absorbed and the pasta is al dente.

Stir in 1/2 cup shredded cheese and 1/4 cup milk (in each well).

Cover and cook on high for 1 minute. Stir. Cook for 30 seconds, or until cheese is melted and milk is absorbed.

Easy, fast, delicious!
 

Who are those Two Lucys?

Since the beginning of my unexpected (and possibly ongoing) personality transplant a few years ago, I have been toying with the idea of writing a blog, but only when my mother recently moved in with me did I decide to take the plunge. I’ve never blogged before -- actually never written nonfiction before -- so please bear with me while I learn about both how to blog and how to live companionably with an aging parent.

I named this blog “Two Lucys” because my mother and I share the name "Lucille." It's a family name. There are Lucilles on both sides of my family. Using "Lucy" to identify us is a good way to link my mom and me together, rope in some more of the family, and make me smile.

A little background on the two Lucys:

Lucy #1 (mom) is #1 in my book. She was a good mother to me, and even when I look back and think, “Oh, wow, I’m lucky to not be strapped to a psychiatrist’s couch,” I realize she did the best she knew how to do. She was born the fifth of six children during the Depression, and, as is true for pretty much everyone, her family life shaped the way her life would be lived.

Lucy #2 (daughter) is me. I am the oldest of two daughters. My sister is almost six years younger than I, so in some ways my sister and I are both the only child. I was the totally malleable test case; she was the determined go-getter. Our relationships with Lucy #1 are completely different even today when we are both in our 50s.

This blog will certainly talk a lot about my mother and me and how we are learning to live together for the first time in 37 years, but I expect I’ll run off down some rabbit trails about life in general, hobbies, friends, and whatever else pops into my head. I am an independent consultant for The Pampered Chef, so I think it’s fair to say you may also sometimes find out what we had for supper.