Would countering make it an easier decision?

Vortex' stuffed mac & cheese sounds amazing.

I woke up with, I think, a uti st about 330 this morning and was up for an hour. Ugh and ow. Dr friend has called in a prescription so I hope to get rid of it quick.

A little work brag: I've moved into a new role at my company and my first task was to put together a report that a number of people had tried to get out since last fall and failed at, for various reasons. My little team (me and someone I brought over from my old team) got it together in 2 weeks. I hope the people it's going to actually get something out of it.

Allie Brosh from Hyperbole and a Half has a new book! Yay!

I'm pre-ordering it from a local independent bookstore on another tab as we speak!

Yay! I've been sort of worried about her.

Yes, this.

I love peas very much, but they don't go in mac & cheese. On the side, sure. In Tuna Wiggle, you bet. Not in M&C.

I am so happy that there are Vegan mac and cheese dishes available. That is a big comfort food for me.

Like pre-made/boxed? Any brands to recommend? With lactose issues, I'm always looking for lactose-free versions.

Dana, that is stinky!

Yay, better waking, -t!

Yay, apparently healthy & affectionate Mac!

It's good to have options, Gud! Best Choice~ma!

Hmmm.... the benefits are pretty great. We'd save a lot of money on that so the offer is better that I was first thinking.

Good luck with the decision-making, Gud!

~ma for Mac. Ooof.

Whatever the opposite of a hoarder is, my husband is it. When we moved from our Columbus apartment into a house, we packed up a box and it sat in our basement for the 9 1/2 years we lived in Bexley. Then when we were packing to move to Wisconsin, 13 years ago, DH found the box. We hadn't opened it in the 9 1/2 years we have lived in that place. So we mutually agreed to throw the box away, unopened. We hadn't needed anything in it in 9 1/2 years, so what the heck.

And it was a pretty big box.

Our kids are going to be lucky. We won't accumulate lots of junk.

We've been having a lot of mac & cheese, because Beecher's frozen is TASTY and EASY.

I tried to explain the concept of peas in mac & cheese to the Madwoman last night, and her horrified face was epic. I also tried to explain tuna noodle casserole, and I thought she was going to die.

Yeah, I feel really lucky and sometimes kinda guilty.

Tom just got a new job and he's/we're feeling the same way.

Good luck making your decision! Tom's last day at the old job is today and is back in the office to hand off his laptop - it's the first time he's back there since March.

The new job is one he almost had back when Covid screwed everything up- his final interview was over Zoom but then things were way too up in the air. He saw the job posted again on Indeed and reached out - they were super psyched he was still interested. I don't know why they didn't get back in touch in the first place but whatever. It all fell into place quickly.

Homemade white sauce gloop is superior to condensed cream of mushroom soup.

I don't know who believes this, but they are wrong. I once tried a fancied-up tuna casserole with fresh vegetables and a from-scratch bechamel and some kind of fancy breadcrumb topping and it was just a giant bowl of disappointment. Canned soup + canned tuna + frozen mixed veggies all the way.

(It's probably fair to say most recipes do benefit from upgrading ingredients from canned/frozen to fresh/homemade. But comfort food from the 1950s just wants to be what it is.)

t /soapbox

That's great for Tom. Congrats!

It looks the savings in benefits will be like 6k over a year which is pretty dang compelling and it looks like a really nice plan too.

I'm really glad I decided to take a vacation day today. It would be hard to concentrate on work with all this going on.