Thank You Mr. Miyagi

Recently, to my delight, this movie was marathoned on some cable channel. I hadn't seen it in a while and now my kids got a chance to see bits of the magic that Ralph Macchio exudes. (snicker) Though now, seeing it through older eyes, I saw what a dweeb Ralph kinda looked like and I found myself more interested in Mr. Miyagi's character. (just interested, not attracted. Jeesh.)

Anyway, seeing this movie recently came in handy twice already this week.

Last night, I woke up in a fit of brain overload. I'm not sure what exactly I was thinking about, it seemed like tons of thoughts all at once. Usually when I can't sleep because my brain won't shut down, it's because of one issue. Like how to pay the bills, or, well...how to pay the bills. I recover by getting up, distracting myself, then putting some real thought into my problem, then watching some cheesy late night movie till 3 am. But last night, I didn't even know what to try to stop pondering over.

I got up, walked around, went back to bed... still couldn't seem to think straight.

Then I remembered the words of the wise Mr. Miyagi: "Fust focus."
So I focused.
"Den breed"
So I breathed.
"In tru da nose, out tru da mout." (or maybe it was the other way around, either way it doesn't matter right?)
Gotcha. Done.
Konk.
I was out again.

Katie was helping me grate the cheese for the Mac and Cheese lunch today (which was spectacular) and she was having difficulty remembering which way to pass the hunk of cheese over the grater. So one more time, I remembered the brilliance of The Karate Kid.
Not the "wax-on, wax-off'" part, but the up/down strokes when he was painting the fence.
Worked like a charm. (It's especially effective if you say it in the right accent too.)

(Sorry mom, I know you're really gonna think I'm nuts now since you probably don't have any idea what I'm talking about.)

I used jack and cheddar cheeses for the mac & cheese with some butter-soaked bread chunks on top. (I wanted more texture and butter also sounded good to me) Added some hunks of ham on the side. "It's very important to serve things on the side." It was a tasty meal.

So thank you Karate Kid, for your restful nights, your assistance with training in the kitchen, and most of all, for the nickname "Daniel-son". I'll use it well.