It happened.
I am THAT mom.
I mean, we are Those Parents, but let’s face it, everyone, myself included, is looking at me like…
You dropped the ball.
Because I did.

I sent my child, my smart, wildly funny, hungry-for-Halloween, dresser-upper-extraordinaire, to school without her costume.

Me, the daughter of a Witch born on All Hallows’ Eve. The Lover Of All Things Spooky. The literal MOTHER of Halloween.
And I forgot that they were trick-or-treating on the farm, and I sent her to school in her civilian suit.

Queue the crumpled face.

M drops her off, sparing my Mom Heart from seeing the look on her face, but all I need is the text.
I feel bad, he says. And I never feel bad.
And I crumple over, very carefully as to not wake Maddox, and make a sound that is somewhere between Fuck and OhMyGod.

After I was decidedly the Worst Mom Ever, and after I had properly obsessed about it long enough, I realized it was time to make dinner before she returned home. I was planning on making a lentil salad when I remembered how she had been requesting macaroni and cheese for lunch, only to be met with, We’re having leftovers, served by yours truly, Worst Mom Ever.

Cacio e pepe it is.
In fact, earlier last week, Rebecca Eisenberg of The Practical Kitchen, had just posted her recipe for One Skillet Cacio e Pepe and I had pinned it in my brain to get on it.

And get on it I did.
After my brain had leeched out of my ears from an afternoon of doing literally whatever it is that I have been doing to myself, I set out to turn it around.

You know how cacio e pepe does that thing sometimes? The grainy thing or the separated thing or the Huge Cheese Ball Mass thing? This recipe doesn’t do any of those things. It’s so easy it’s borderline offensive, ultra silky and creamy, and was done in twenty minutes. Follow (trust) the recipe to a T and I promise you’ll yield the same results.

Just as I was finished filling up bowls, Scarlett came bounding through the door with her homemade Trick or Treat bag, complete with all her Farm School Trick or Treat loot. Wool from the sheep, a carrot from the horse, and bag of sunflower seeds from the sunflowers themselves…
And not a single word about being The Only Costume-less Child In The Whole World.
Not one word.
The word costume didn’t escape her mouth, and she was over-the-moon thrilled to simply show me what she had acquired that day.

Kids are good like that, you know?

Kids are so good.