Time for Dinner...Again?

This the only type of work I enjoy doing anymore in the kitchen...baking! Especially if it involves licking chocolate covered beaters and spooning the last bit of icing right from the tub into my mouth. Mmmm...yumma-good!

There was a time in my marriage that I enjoyed cooking. I liked trying new recipes and buying fresh fruits and vegtables every few days from the store. I bought cookbooks about healthy eating and learned how to substitute heart friendly ingredients for their high fat, cholesterol raising, artery clogging couterparts. But that was in 2002 b.k.

Before kids I had time to sit down and think about our meals for the week. I could make out a grocery list and leisurely stroll down the aisles, picking up just what I needed, sometimes splurging on a nice bottle of wine and thinking that J and I might eat by candlelight that night.

Now I dread going to the store. The only objective is to get in and out as fast as possible, finding as many "bogo" items as I can, praying we are able to leave without using the public restroom, and hopefully, as we leave, I am still talking to my children in a normal voice and not one that is coming from behind clentched teeth and involves the words, "just wait until we get home".

I don't start meal planning until I am putting the groceries in my pantry. It is only then that I realize I now have 6 cans of peas, but no corn. My potatoes have sprouted. The Diet Pepsi fridge pack on the floor is actually empty. And the things I bought don't exactly go together for any kind of gourmet meal.

Besides pre-planning, the other reason I do not enjoy cooking these days is that by 5:00 I am tired. I've already cooked for these little people 3 times and cleaned up 3 messes. The dinner meal usually provides an even bigger mess, takes much more time to prepare, and cleaning up can go into the night at times. This is also E's favorite time of the day to want Mommy. The meals I have fixed since he's been born are done so either while carrying him or as he is crawling around under foot, whining, and holding onto my leg.

Luckily J is not a man who expects dinner on the table when he gets home. Although I do think he rather enjoys it when I have something ready to eat, he does not make a big deal about it. I feel a little guilty for not putting more effort into meal planning, so I will try to be better about that. Until then, this Bible verse will be my defense: Proverbs 17:1 "Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife".