Tonight we dined on crackers and cheese.

Our eating habits this week have been influenced by our houseguest, Mr. Influenza.

An unwanted house guest that just won't take a hint.

With low energy and even lower appetite, we have been living off such an exciting variety as toast, mac and cheese, and scrambled eggs.  Mmmmm.

Tonight I was tired, Husband left this afternoon for a long weekend business trip, and the boys were getting grumpy.  It was dinner time and I had nothing.  So I thought of the first thing the boys like to eat as a snack and decided that with a bit of flair, it could be turned into a decent meal.

From the cupboard I pulled several opened plastic cracker sleeves, added some Ritz crackers and created a sampler platter of crackers.  I rummaged in the fridge and came out with cheese: cream (is this a type of cheese?), cheddar, mozzarella, and some amazing Very Old Gouda that I hid from the boys behind a pile of clean towels I had thrown on the dining room table and had never gotten around to folding and putting away.  I mean, really, why waste really good cheese on a three and five year old – or am I being selfish?  I added some thinly sliced beef summer sausage, apple slices, baby carrots, roasted pumpkin seeds and a container of squeeze mustard, for Cody the mustard lover, and we were set.

Ummm, yeah - it looked just like that.

Everyone was happily eating; Carter was eating his crackers into shapes resembling ferry boats and Cody was making “Poor’durves”.  I was greatly enjoying my gouda and then I looked across the table at Cody.  He had strategically placed several mustard dots along the midline of his cracker when a small piece of it broke off and stuck to the mustard bottle top.  I think his little boy instincts kicked in or all his years of table manners went out the window, whatever it was, he popped the mustard bottle top into his mouth and slurped off the cracker piece.  I was horrified.  I could not stop thinking about what a petri dish his mouth must be after running a fever for six days now.  I immediately took action and cleaned the offending mustard top with soap and hot water.

So there you have it; you have been warned.  If I invite you over for a friendly lunch of soup and sandwiches in the next two to four months I recommend you take a pass on the mustard.