Lost Locket Lentil Soup

I have never made lentil soup, or anything with lentils before today. Got some great advice while out to lunch with my docent friends, which sadly I cannot use because I must follow Alice's orders. So, bacon (a good start for any recipe) sauteed and then removed from the pan and its place carrots, onions and garlic cooked in the rendered fat. Chicken stock, thyme, bay leaves and the lentils are added and brought to a boil and then covered and simmered for 45 minutes. The bacon is added at the end. To begin and end with bacon is always a good thing, but the soup itself not so great. Luckily, we still have ice cream pie...

Episode Note: "Lost, Locket, Found Locket" So far we've seen Jan play not so funny jokes, wear a crazy wig, try to remove freckles, worry that she'll look like a  kook when she's older, exclaim "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia," become the most popular unpopular girl in school, fail miserably at the performing arts, and wish to be an only child. Today completes the Jan story arc when she once again is depressed over the lack of attention she is getting at home (Note to the reader: I've given up on the tirades of the injustice served to this poor girl at every turn and will just relay the story).  She receives an anonymous package in the mail from "nobody" that contains a locket. Jan is delighted with her gift, but mystified as to who might have sent it. This sets off attempts by the whole family to get to the bottom of the mystery sender, apparently suspicious of anyone being nice to Jan. Greg, after examining the address label notices that the typewriter used drops its "Ys" and this becomes the overriding clue. Carol and Mike immediately suspect one another, leading Carol and Alice to sneak into Mike's office after hours with flashlights to check his typewriter and its "Ys". Meanwhile, at home alone, Mike also checks Carol's portable (typewriter, that is) for its "Ys". Both schemes fail to yield results. But then, an even bigger mystery occurs. Jan, while sleeping, wakes to find her locket is gone! This leaves her even more depressed than before, if that is possible. The family shifts focus from who sent the locket, to finding the locket. Greg suggests an reenactment, like on TV, setting into motion all the events leading up to the locket's disappearance. That is when Jan remembers that she was leaning out the window just before going to bed the night it vanished and thus the locket is found outside the window hanging on the ivy.  With the locket found, and the heat off as far as discovering who sent it, Alice confides in Jan that she is in fact the "nobody". She sent it, because as a middle sister herself, she knows all to well what it's like to be nobody in a family and wanted Jan to feel special for once. Alas, Alice feels not only Jan's pain, but mine as well.