A few things about Cameron Lightfoot

Today, Cameron Lightfoot turns 22 and graduates from The University of Findlay. In true middle-aged person fashion, I've been going through photos and reliving memories of the kids I've been proud to have call me "Aunt" Cyndy his whole life. So I decided to write down a few memories. Partially to give him a laugh and partially because this will be great source material for lazy showbiz writers when he's a famous actor. "10 Facts You Didn't Know About Cameron Lightfoot!"

Baby Facts:

I found out he was on the way when his parents invited us to dinner at their tiny little apartment in the electric blue house on Cortland Avenue. Cheryl made pecan pie and we brought cherry cordial ice cream. It was a little sweet. While we were having dinner, I noticed on the wipe board year calendar on the wall a date, I believe in April - with a little drawing of a baby face and the words OUR BABY!  So I had a little clue of the announcement to come.

I had my boss at the time, make a Star Trek Next Generation onesie for the baby to come.

He pinned me to the ground by grabbing my cheeks with his sharp little finger nails and pulling me to him. I was kneeling on the ground with him and couldn't get away without hurting him. He had me for a good twenty minutes. This was the day he screamed so loud that my husband Tim left the house to get away from him, slipped on the steps and hurt his back. 

He limped back in after lying on the ground for a bit (shortly after I freed myself from the death grip) and said, "We are not having kids."  This is why I tell Cameron he is responsible for taking care of us in our old age. I hope you enjoyed yourself, angry baby :)

Young Cameron

We gave him a pair of Batman pajamas when he was about five for Christmas. He opened them up and said "Oooh nice! And look, flame retardant!"

When he was about six, I babysat for him and his infant brother while his dad and my husband went to see Cinderella (the hair band) in concert.  Cam had a copy of The Nutty Professor in hand and said to me, "Aunt Cyndy, when we put that baby to bed, we are going to PAR-TAY."

I pulled the best prank in the history of ever by baking him a Barbie cake for his 11th birthday. He was mortified. I did have a Spiderman cake waiting in the wings, but only after catching his mortified expression for posterity.



He was not a fan of rollercoasters or rides of any kind. His expression is priceless after the Demon Drop. Even better was hearing him brag to his friends about the rides he'd been on at Cedar Point. I told him at the time this photo was taken that I would pull it out someday when he brought a girl over. When the lovely Alaina Counts came over for the first time, it was sitting out.

He also parlayed an uncanny resemblance to Harry Potter into the biggest draw for chicks I've ever seen. They used to swoon. I think he's imprinted on the psyches of girls of a certain age, because they still swoon. Well played.

One of the great pleasures of knowing Cam has been meeting his wonderful friends. We have so many fond memories of Dungeons and Dragons nights with Thomas Dysard and Charles Taylor, starting in grade school. I remember their first get together back when the kids were in grade school. Charles said, "This is Tim? I thought Tim was a kid! Then Thomas said, "Charles, Tim is the ultimate."

And let's not forget all of the Free Comic Book Day adventures, Doctor Who viewings, Star Trek Parties and superhero movies.

And let's not forget his lovely and talented girlfriend actress and writer Alaina Counts. Our world would certainly be less glittery and fabulous without the queen of all nerds. All will love and fear her. I've come to call her my fake daughter, though there's nothing fake about his kid. Nothing says more about the caliber of Cam than his ability to woo a gal like this. Oh, and I invented the term Camlaina© - I expect royalties when the Lunt and Fontanne of Findlay are world-famous.

I would be remiss not to mention Cameron's many plays. Among them: Hot Mikado, Much Ado About Nothing, Rent, (In which he played the hero, the poor guy who just wants to collect his rent from squatters) Glass Menagerie, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, The Hollow, King Lear, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum and Pride and Prejudice . The kid's  a star!

Here's a photo of Cam with his dad Scott along with Tim and Charles at one of the legendary Man Movie Nights. This is shortly before Tim warped the young men's minds with Ichi The Killer.

Three things I will never get tired of talking about: 

Cam freaking out when we didn't have place cards at Thanksgiving when he was 13 "But we've had them my whole life!"

Cam singing Juke Box Hero is Rock Band with the lyrics "Juice Box Hero."

13-year-old Cam telling me of his plan to grow up, get his own place, invite his little brother over and then "Bam, right in the face."  Look out Mal, he seemed serious.

I also can't say how much I admire him for being wise beyond his years and being strong and supportive for his father during his battle with cancer and a rock for his mother and brother when his father passed away way too soon. I was his age when I lost my mother and it's rough not having the person who would be the proudest of you there at your college graduation.

Here's a shot of the boy in his graduation suit. Looking sharp. And incredibly grownup... dammit... when did that happen?

This charming fellow loves God, his family, the theater and his friends and just life in general. The whole wide world is waiting out there for you bud! Geronimo!

Uncle Tim and Aunt Cyndy love you bunches and are proud of you and any small part we've played in who you are today.

P.S.  When are you going to finish painting my porch? 
P.P.S  Get a job -  that one's for your dad.

Easy Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese

This recipe is actually my husband's. Although I did help with tweaking the flavors a bit. So it's sort of a collaborative Mac and Cheese.  He's gotten very much into experiments of the macaroni and cheese variety. He finally admitted that homemade is better than the stuff in the Kraft box. I might have shed a tear at that one. It only took 23 years of marriage.

This recipe is the perfect balance of creamy, cheesy goodness and sharp Buffalo wing sauce tanginess. If you didn't want the chicken you could just add the hot sauce and butter to the macaroni. But, I warn you, that might make my husband cry.  You can also put this together in the time it takes the pasta to boil. This doesn't take a minute more to make than the boxed stuff.

Here's a look at your ingredients: Pasta, a can of evaporated milk, eggs, sharp white cheddar cheese, Monterrey Jack cheese, cooked chicken, (this was a shredded rotisserie, but you could always cook either chicken thighs or chicken breast for this) Frank's Hot Sauce, butter and Buffalo pretzel bits and some crumbled blue cheese.

Let's start by boiling a box of macaroni in a large pot of heavily salted water. Salt it good! This is how you are seasoning the macaroni. We like to use cavatappi, a curly ridged noodle, because of the way it catches the sauce in mac and cheese.

While that's boiling, let's combine  melted butter and hot sauce in equal amounts in a dish or large measuring cup.

Give it a stir until blended.

Coat the chicken thoroughly and set aside. You can do this the night before if you like. The chicken only tastes better the longer it sits.

Now let us make the easiest cheese sauce in the history of ever. You'll need eggs, evaporated milk and some salt and pepper.

Combine the eggs and the evaporated milk together in a cup or bowl with salt and pepper.

Whisk the daylights out of it.

If your cheese, like this lovely block of sharp white cheddar, is in block form, get out the grater and grate it. I like to do it on parchment paper. It's easier to move around.

Now your sauce base should be all set - egg & milk mixture plus your two cheeses and two tablespoons of butter.

While the pasta is still boiling. Put some of those pretzel bits in a plastic bag and bash the heck out of them.

Melt some butter in a pan.

Toss in the pretzel bits and cook in the butter until they brown slightly. Set aside.

Once the pasta is cooked, drain it.

Return it immediately to the pot you cooked it in and add the two tablespoons of butter.

Stir it in to melt thoroughly. Then add the egg and milk mixture. Make sure you give it a whisk before pouring it in the pot.

Now add the shredded cheddar.

Plus the shredded Monterrey Jack.

Stir until the sauce is nice and creamy. You should be able to do this with the heat off, but if it doesn't melt, you can turn it on low.

 

Now add in the chicken coated with hot sauce.

 

 

Stir to combine and then salt and pepper to taste.

 

 

At this point you can either add the macaroni and cheese to a buttered dish and sprinkle with blue cheese or put in on a plate or bowl and add the blue cheese. I could say that the blue cheese is optional, but not having blue cheese is never an option for me.

 

 

Then sprinkle on the buttery pretzel crumbs.

 

Here's what it looks like in a serving dish.

 

 

If you like more of that Buffalo zing, serve with hot sauce on the side.

Steampunk Easter Eggs

My love of quick crafts and anything Steampunk is known to those who follow my craft blogging. I put together a SteamPunkin centerpiece this fall, and am so darn in love with it, I keep trying to change it up for the seasons.  My Easter take - these gear-laden bronze eggs. 

I started out with some cheap and shiny plastic eggs. In retrospect I should have bothered to paint these with a shiny metal paint first. The paint they came with was not the most stable and stuck to my fingers anyplace I touched it with the glue. That explains the paint staining my hands. So, either paint the eggs yourself or be darn careful not get glue anywhere but where you want to glue. 

Lets start with shiny plastic eggs, a lovely pack of craft gears and some Super Glue.
 

Dot on the glue and carefully place the gear where you want it.

I tried to vary the placement of the gears.

I set them aside carefully to dry and kept on gluing.

Then I nestled then into my centerpiece.

Next year, perhaps I build a rabbit...Maybe a version of the Alice In Wonderland White Rabbit, as I'm a little obsessed with Alice In Wonderland.

To be continued...

These Minion eggs make me HAPPY!

 
This easy and adorable Easter craft project was brought to my attention by my the lovely and talented Alaina Counts, who is my pretend daughter.

My non-pretend husband helped me out by taking photos and even crafting his own Minions.
 
Around our house, we love us some Minions from Despicable Me. Our house consists of two middle-aged adults. But that's  beside the point.
 
This is crazy easy and made with inexpensive items purchased from your local big box store with perhaps a quick side trip to the craft store.
 
You'll need some plastic Easter eggs. Pick out the blue and yellow ones and use the rest for other Easter activities.
 

 
Swap the top and bottom and you are half-way there. I see a Minion!

 
Now you'll need some google eyes. Make sure you get the self-adhesive kind where you just pull off the paper backing. So much easier than messing around with glue.
 

 
The last of our supplies are a black Sharpie and a silver or gray Sharpie. Use a medium tip.

 
Now, slap some eyes on the eggs.
 

 
Take the silver Sharpie and trace a set of goggles around the googly eye or eyes.

 
Draw on a facial expression with the black Sharpie. Minions can be smiling, sad, bemused or surprised. Check out some of the figurines or some online images for inspiration, but they are very simple expressions, no talent needed.

 
Put a dot in the middle of the overalls to represent the badge Minions wear. Then trace the headband for the goggles around the head of the Minion.
 

 
Now draw on some hair. Either make little lines or go with fat dots.
 

 
You can make little black dots for hands if you feel like it.  Try to make each expression just a bit different.
 

 
Don't worry about messing up. This isn't rocket surgery my friends. They will get better as you go along.  I displayed mine in a blue basket that came with a gift and added yellow Easter grass from the store.
 

 
These little dudes are stinking cute! They make me happy!

 Happy crafting!

Update: My craft was PinTested on Full Plate! Check it out!

 
 http://cyndaverse.blogspot.com/2014/03/these-minion-eggs-make-me-happy.html