Columbus and the Long Weekend

This weekend is a long weekend for Big Girl. Yesterday (Friday) she didn't have school, and she's off Monday too. Thursday was even an early release day, so that day ended early even. Big Girl earned a dollar on her penny chart, so yesterday was supposed to be the day we went to an inflatable playhouse for her $1 reward.

Supposed to be... of course it didn't happen. Little Girl got up yesterday morning and came to our room while Hubby and I were getting ready for the day, laid down on our bed and fell asleep for about 45 minutes. Weird. Then as I was buckling her into her carseat to go, she urped all the juice I had just given her to go with the baggie of cereal she had barely started to eat. She had slept through breakfast afterall, so she was getting hers on the run. She didn't seem really sick, except for the lethargy and the sort-of throwing up. But we cancelled the play trip and we'll try and make that up on Monday. It's such a bummer because my wonderful neighbor was planning to join us. Her mini-van was still in the driveway, so I was able to let her know we couldn't go. I hope they can come on Monday.

Monday is Columbus Day, which means that more people will be off than on Friday. I hope the inflatable place won't be crowded. Oh well, not much I can do about that.

I've been really down on my household duties lately. The big three that have really been getting me are laundry, dishes and dinner. Not that I'm good at the housekeeping stuff either, but those three things seem to be a more persistent problem than the rest. Probably because we dirty dishes and laundry daily, and need to eat multiple times a day. I can handle the easy meals. Cereal and sandwiches are no big stresser for me. It's that other meal where you actually have to make real food.

This week, on Thursday night, I made chicken for dinner in a way that I don't usually, and it sparked this big discussion between Hubby and me about the things I make for dinner and what he likes/doesn't like. He is one of the pickiest eaters on the planet (no exaggeration at all), and I feel like all I can make is chicken. And even then I can only cook it in about 2 or 3 ways, and I'm sick of it. He says for me to make whatever I want and he'll eat it or not depending on if he likes it. I just can't disregard the tastes and feelings of 25% of my audience who eats close to 50% of the food! Anyway, that prompted what I'm doing for lunch tomorrow.

I'm making my first pot roast. I'm way behind the cooking curve, I know. And we'll have leftovers to make another several meals this week. I'm really looking forward to barbeque beef sandwiches Monday and maybe Tuesday too, depending on how much we eat those first two nights.

Cooking is just one of those things I didn't learn from Mom while I lived with her. When I was in her kitchen, I always felt like I didn't do it right, so I never really tried much. I didn't stir things well enough, or whatever the task was. She always criticized how I did it, and then did it behind me. So I went away. When I got married, I really didn't know how to do much at all. I could brown hamburger, and that was about it.

For example, the Saturday before I knew I was pregnant with Big Girl, I craved scrambled eggs, so I looked it up how to make them, and made them for the first time. That was March 2, 2002, after I'd been married over 3 years. (Hubby doesn't eat eggs AT ALL, unless they're cooked in, like in a cake.)

I do a lot of asking my mother how to do things, but I'm doing things in my own kitchen where she's not coming in behind me. It makes a huge difference in my desires to try things. And as time has gone on, I find myself wanting to eat certain things, and then I'll learn how to make whatever it is. I did that with fajitas, which is one of my favorite things to make. And now pot roast. I told Hubby I feel like a guy changing his oil for the first time without his Dad helping him know what to do. It's like a rite of passage. My first pot roast.

All in all, I'm not a bad cook, but I don't really like doing it. It's one of those things that comes up all the time that I have to deal with. Laundry, dishes and dinner are the three things that come up all the time making work for me, and I go through phases of just being sick of all of it. It's safe to say that I'm there now. At least I have dinner under control for a few days.

The song in my head has slipped my mind, thanks to my iPod. Aren't you glad I'm not naming something off the wall and strange that will get stuck in your head? I actually have a friend who avoids reading my blog just because he doesn't want to be plagued with whatever song is in my head. The nerve! There's so much here besides just the songs. *Shrug* Oh well.