You used a pan instead of a pot. No wonder.

When softening butter in the microwave, me thinking "it'll only take a couple seconds to handle this other thing" always ends in a puddle and tears.

Man everything reminds me of her. I really need to call OP's mom again.

If you're constantly struggling with this, there is a better way. Bring a pot of water to a boil, salt it, add pasta, set a timer as normal, bring back to a boil and stir the pasta well after a minute of boiling. Put a tight lid on, turn off heat. Yes. Off. Rarely, a shape might need a minute extra, so try one when your timer goes off.

Unless the pasta is a really really weird shapes, the residual heat in the pot is more than enough to cook pasta in the normal time. No boiling over chance. The stir after one minute prevents sticking. Less energy used.

I'm in this meme, and I love it. As a bonus, the pasta part is also on point.

Turn the burner down 1 notch

Put salt in the water before boiling.

Like, a teaspoon’s worth.