Some More Chinese Water Torture, Please.

No matter how old your kids are, parenthood is tough. Actually, life is tough, and parenthood just piles on, exaggerating the highs and the lows.

Today was a low for me. This is not new, but I have managed not to have too many lows recently. Thank you pharmaceuticals! Today, for some reason, I thought my head was going to explode over food preparation.

I have never particularly loved to cook. Cookbooks are not diverting--and I have friends who read them for entertainment. Foodie magazines--not my deal at all. I have sort of enjoyed being able to fix what I want to eat--but on the whole, meal prep is just a chore.

So, in an effort to streamline the work, and to get some healthier food on the table, I have started to collect and create a number of meals that I can just rotate. "If this is the second Monday, it must be chili" sort of rotation. To do this, I have put recipies and schedules and shopping lists on my computer, and some of it is linked to websites with recipies.

So, today, everyone was out of the house, and I sat down to draft up a couple of meals and run to the grocery store. I turn on the computer....and I have no internet connection.

This is like telling a hospital patient that he has no IV---I have to have the internet! It is no longer optional! So, as of about 2 p.m, I am repairing connections and rebooting both computers to get the connection back up. It finally connects, and I collect my recipies, make a list, and go to the grocery.

By now, it is 4 p.m., and I have to pick up the Pony from her friend's house at 5. I get through the shopping list, and get the refrigerated/frozen items into the refrigerator/freezer. I bring the rest of the groceries with me in the back of the van, and bring the dog too, as it is his walk time.

I pick up the Pony, and the two of us walk the dog. It's now about a quarter to 6, and I'm bringing in the rest of the groceries and putting them away in order to start cooking. Dinner gets served at about 7, and by 8 I'm clearing the table, emptying the dishwasher so I can put the dinner dishes in. I just get the last of the washables in, when the Bunny comes in and hails me with a chipper "So! What's for dessert!"

I have literally just put dinner away--in fact, there are still pans to hand wash. Bunny gets her own dessert, I wash the pans, put them away, and she comes back, still chipper. "So! What are you packing for lunch tomorrow?"

Okay, at this point, it feels like I have just spent SIX AND A HALF HOURS on dinner. The LAST thing I want to think about at this moment in time is food of any sort. And yet, there is still more.

So, to keep my head from exploding, I leave the kitchen and go to sit on the porch. It's hot today, but there have been breezes, and the porch is quite pleasant. I sit down, near where Mr. Sweetie is working, and announce "I need a break from food preparation."

And Mr. Sweetie responds; "Have the kids had dessert?"

Poor man. He didn't deserve the look I gave him, but I swear to God I nearly blew up into tiny little pieces. NO MORE FOOD! Do not TALK about food, do not HOLD food where I can even SEE it, and DO NOT ASK me about ANYTHING HAVING TO DO WITH FOOD.

You know, it's really not anyone's fault--Bunny was just being herself, and Mr. Sweetie was just trying to get up to speed so he could help out. BUT DAMMIT! NO MORE FOOD!

Alcohol, on the other hand, is a very welcome subject right now.