The Masterpiece: Cheesy Potatoes

Let me tell you about a wonder beyond all wonders, cheesy potatoes.  They are a magnificent combination of cubed potatoes, cheese, butter, seasoning, and depending on which side of the debate you are on, corn flakes (I am on the side of corn flakes, I like a good crunch).  The potatoes, cheese, and butter are mixed together with a hearty dollop of sour cream and places in the oven.  Halfway through the cooking process, if you’re like me and half of my family, corn flakes can be added.  It is culinary perfection. The way the potatoes seem to melt in your mouth as your tongue burn from sneaking a spoonful to soon is like a symphony coming together for the final crescendo. 

My family can be described through cheesy potatoes, the delicious flawlessness.  It starts with my Aunt. She began cooking at an early age and while I do not know when she perfected her masterpiece, in my opinion, I do know that they have been around for quite some time.  She adds corn flakes. Then comes my second cousin (I think she’s a second cousin, she is my dad and Aunt’s cousin but we just call her an aunt).  She started making them from the same recipe, but without corn flakes.  That is what sparked the great, not really that great but still there, debate.  My entire family is split down the middle on which kind is better.  They can go on for a while on the benefits and horrors of one side or another.  And while we disagree on the topic, there will always be, without fail, cheesy potatoes on the table for dinner.  There are two different kinds of dishes, two different kinds of people, but when you strip back the first layer that covers everything, it’s all the same.  My family, however different initial layer, is the just about the same.  They love arguing, and sometimes making up. They love not seeing each other than getting back together for a week only to not stand each other by the end and be content with leaving for a while again.  They love Imo’s Pizza and cheesy potatoes. And they love each other.      

Photograph 2000

This is a bunch of goofy kids
breaking a swinging bench
basking in the summer sun
the youngers doing their best
to be like the olders
in all their "grown up" glory.
Jumpers, Buzz Light-year,
and inspirational stickers
doting those under a dozen.

This is seven faces
with matching eyes,
noses, and smiles

This is silly faces to make
the grown ups laugh
as much as we possibly can
before the time runs out
on spontaneous laughter and happiness,
before a time
when the kids table was not cool

Ambiguous Measures

I used to hideout in the backyard
the rosebush disguising my movements.
Blue and yellow playhouse, shelter from the rain.

I learned to walk there
the think and discover there

I climb the hollow tree
a journey into the highest tops
where ideas and imagination soar

I found new worlds there
in the piles of old leaves
when the air is crispy
with remade threes strew the surrounding
as I dive into into depths of
disregard for the real world

Cinderella

Cinderella
Retold by Alan Trussell-Cullen
16 Pages

There is not a bio in the back of the book about this author.

This cover has a ballroom with a wooden plank floor, and pink and white striped wall paper. All of the people are in ball gowns (and most people are quite... well, ugly) as the lovely Cinderella offers her hand to the handsome, bowing Prince.


Characters: Cinderella, Cinderella's father, Stepmother, Stepsisters, Prince
Setting: Begins in Cinderella's home, usually in the Stepsisters' room or by the fireplace in the kitchen. Then goes to the ball room in the palace then back to Cinderella's house.

Summery: Cinderella is bullied by her father's new wife and her daughters. They don't allow Cinderella to go to the Prince's ball but the Fairy Godmother appears and helps her go. There Cinderella meets the Prince, but she has to leave by midnight and she looses her glass slipper. Then!...Well, I don't want to ruin the ending.

This book has a few animals as characters, but very minor ones and has Cinderella as a child on the very first page. The characters are all adults. This book uses illustrations and color to bring the story to life. It has a very lovely tone to tell a timeless story.

My favorite line is, "They might have been the ugliest sisters in the world, but their mother always dressed them in fine clothes."

This book would be appropriate for children around 3 and up. It has paper pages but the story and pictures are great for children looking for a fairy tale.

This is a story I liked as a kid, but I did not have this particular book as a child. I always liked fairy tales and I loved the story of a girl over coming her obstacles to get what she dreams of.  

Can You See Me?

She walks down the street

One, two, three persons

Can you see me?

In a world of many

she feels so empty 

The push to keep moving 

keep going on

pulls her down 

Four, five, six

Can you see me? 

She wants to feel love

feel people, feel anything

it hurts to see so many faces 

and not know any 

Can you see her?

keepin' it reel

I have a wide variety of favorite movies that range from feel-goods, to dramatic, to documentaries, to inspirational.  Peter Pan (2003 and Disney), to  Les Miserables, to P.S. I Love You (*sob*), to Disney movies, to The Chronicle of Narnia and really any movie that gives you the inspiration to go DO something afterwards. I don't really care for horror movies. Like at all.
Just, no. I watch movies all the time, it's probably an addiction. I can't watch movies with my family though. They talk through the entire thing and make fun of every little thing. It's impossible to get into the story with them.
I love the story telling.  Movies are one of the many ways to bring stories to a bright and vibrant life. I really like movies from
If my life story would be made into a movie, my sister would star as herself. Because she told me to put this. I imagine it would be pretty interesting for the most part.