The Secret's In The Sauce

DAY 2 OF A WEEK WITHOUT TRACI, NICK, AND JONAS

Kevin and I are home alone while Traci and the two younger boys are in Wisconsin. The boys are having a great time with my parents. Today's activities included sledding, ice-fishing, and a hot dog roast. Traci is at a conference for her job, not having a great time, learning a new software system that she will not be able to access in Oregon.

Tonight was Kevin's end-of-the-season wrestling dinner and awards night. Not being a fan of events like this, I agreed to go, since it was important to him. After I agreed, he informed me it was a pot-luck dinner and we were supposed to bring a main dish. I like pot-lucks about as much as I like fur-covered kitty condos placed nonchalantly in someone's living room or those monstrous sleigh beds. After eating cold, overcooked pasta and stirring some food around on my plate, the awards started - for lots of wrestlers. And parent helpers (obviously not me). And coaches. And some high school girls that must have done something. I wasn't really paying attention.

Since I was sitting near the back/edge of the crowd, I decided to play the fun game of "find somebody with a toupe," even though Traci wasn't there to share in the game. FACT: After scanning the crowd for several minutes, I failed. As far as I could tell, the room was a toupe-free zone, which I guess was a good thing.

That game didn't last long, so I pretended that I was talking with Traci about a pot-luck phase we went through during our first year of marriage. We lived in a small town in the mountains of California and were attending the local church, "Church of the Weekly Pot-luck," or something like that. After attending our first meal there, and seeing a crockpot full of gray goop - that we didn't eat - we were having serious doubts about the mountain folk. Wanting to meet people, we attended a second pot-luck, but decided to eat only what we brought - an excellent pot-luck strategy. Again, we saw the same horrid food - that people were eating!

We decided to test the mountain dwellers. We wanted to know if there was something that they wouldn't eat. For the next pot-luck, we decided to make special Jello. We added pancake mix and raisins to the red Jello and hot water, and put it in the refrigerator. FACT: Pancake mix sinks in hot Jello and raisins get fat and look even more disgusting than they normally do. When we brought our Jello to the church basement, an unattractive lady took it from us, looked quite pleased that the Jello had arrived, and promptly emptied the bowl of Jello onto a plate - upside down! FACT: The visual effect was stunning. At (what was now) the very top of the Jello was a dense area of an unidentifiable powdery substance. Throughout the Jello were swollen raisins.

We sat at a table that had a clear view of the Jello. As the church-goers proceeded through the food line, we saw several people look at the Jello, but pass. This made sense to us - we thought we had found their limit of what they wouldn't eat. We were wrong. FACT: Not only did people put that Jello on their plates, but they actually tasted it, and continued to eat it! It was then and there that we decided that we had to give up the pot-luck lifestyle.

It was a good choice - pretty much like the dessert I chose to eat tonight - at home! Since it's the last day of the month, and I only had one dessert so far this month, I ate the ultimate dessert - chocolate chip cookie dough.

Remember: A good choice isn't always a tasty choice. But sometimes, it is.