Revenge of the overcooked noodle

For the record, one should NOT cook macaroni noodles for 42 minutes and 13 seconds. That's how long the timer was set for. Our daughter was having her first crack at making mac and cheese from a box. Heat the water, boil the noodles, drain, add butter and milk. What could be easier?

Let me just start by saying that I was planning to make the mac and cheese. But I was also trying to give the 3 boys their haircuts. She wanted to help, so I set her to watching the water boil (such a nice mom, aren't I?). However, instead of getting me, she just went ahead, reading, following the directions (should I stir the noodles mom? Because the box says to stir the noodles) and trying to make the noodles perfect. I was trying to talk her through it, while also trying not to chop off ears or poke eyes or otherwise maim the victims, er, boys. She exuded confidence until it came to turning off the stove. Despite repeated directions on how to turn off the burner, she couldn't quite grasp that you have to turn the flame UP to get it to go OFF. She could turn it low, but never make it go away. So it cooked. And cooked. And cooked. And cooked some more while she pondered this problem.

At this point, it was definitely her project. Not mine. I came in and the timer still had 2:53 left, which perplexed me, since it should have been set for 8 minutes...and clearly more than 5 minutes and 7 seconds had gone by. Instead of turning it off, I let it run. You see, this timer resets when it's done. Usually I have it set for 15 minutes. 15 minutes to clean up, 15 minutes to play, 15 minutes to do chores, 15 minutes to get in pajamas and brush teeth...you get the idea. Anyway, I melted the butter, dumped in the noodles (um, if you could still call them that) and stirred in the cheesey stuff. It looked bad. It looked like a failed attempt to melt cheese. The noodles had no shape and were completely flat. Finally, the timer went off, I silenced it and then laughed at the number...42 minutes and 13 seconds. How this was supposed to be 8 minutes is beyond me, lol!

And just so you know, I don't recommend eating mac and cheese cooked this long, lol! It's AWFUL!