Cooking

Cooking used to relax me. I actually love chopping vegetables- the repetitive motion, the feeling of real food in your hands. It makes me feel good about what I am going to eat, and gives me time to think.

I say it used to relax me, because, honestly, there is very little relaxing about starting dinner at 5:30 p.m. when your husband is working until 10 and you've just picked two children up from a full day of running around at daycare.

It's a catch-22. I could delay dinner awhile, read a few books, and spend some much-needed time before I start cooking. But there is a big risk. The kids are hungry. In my bid to keep them happy, I could end up postponing dinner too long and have doubly angry children on my hands. Usually, this just means we eat pizza.

The alternative is desperately trying to throw something in a pan or in the oven while my kids fight in the living room in between trips to the kitchen to ask me for something to eat. It's survival, man.

Of course, there are good days. Yesterday, I had tuna mixture put together for tuna burgers that morning. All I had to do was stick the burgers in the oven. As I was mixing Thomas's plate, I told Anne Marie I hadn't tasted them yet. She came running into the kitchen, shouting, "Mama, you have got to try this! This is awesome!"

Tonight, I have taco soup bubbling away in the slow cooker. It will be delicious when we come home from t-ball practice and tonight will be peaceful. And, maybe late tonight I will chop some vegetables, for old time's sake.