Am I missing something . . .?

I've been a stay-at-home mother since I brought my first baby home. I have also homeschooled my children. Besides caring for the children, part of my job that I take seriously is cooking for my family. I get confused when other like-minded mothers tell me they don't have time to cook. I have to wonder why. Yes, we have a lot of work with school and children but cooking isn't a grand mystery. Even if you aren't a gourmet-minded person, a good, basic dinner can be on the table within 30 minutes if you take the time to think about it.

With only one income, my greatest gift to my family is a hot meal that is good for them but tastes good, too. I used to know a person who would practically kill herself fixing and freezing meals for a month all on one day. We have been known to put away leftovers for another day but frozen/defrosted food is never the same as smelling the bubbling pots on the stove or coming home and the crock pot has once again done it magic.

One person snottily told me that 'you just LIKE to cook'. Hey, there are days when it can be a struggle but that's my job! As long as my husband works hard to support us, the least I can do is see that he gets a healthy meal. I didn't start out exactly liking to cook. I starting out hungry and wanted to eat something good. The liking to cook grew on me when I discovered how basic, simple ingredients can turn into a crowd pleaser at the dinner table.

A bonus of cooking at home is that my husband can take leftover for his lunch at work. This saves a LOT of money and he is happier eating good food than fast food. It keeps him out of the bad cholesterol/high blood pressure link, too.

I'm wondering if it is really worth it to spend one day cooking a massive amount of food and freezing it than to just plan your day around cooking an evening meal fresh. I remember having a friend over for sewing, one day, and she left at four with her husband coming home hungry at six. I gave her a pound of pasta, a jar of sauce, and she purchased some ground beef and greens on the way home. Her husband thought he'd hit heaven to come home to a plate of hot and meaty spaghetti.

Sorry, but cooking is easy if you think about it. My husband said that he could never do my job, however, as it takes too much thinking. Job is the operative word and if you like your job, you learn to like all of her job.

Just my rant for the day as I plan the evening meal!

Forgot about that time . . .

I worked a year after I got married. Since I got home 30 minutes before my husband, I would see that dinner would be ready to set on the table when he got home. The 30-minute drive from work gave me time to think of what I wanted to prepare and, if necessary, make a quick stop at the market for a missing ingredient. After awhile, I got pretty good at figuring out a meal based on what I had on hand. Soon, friends at work would tell me what they had at home and what could they make for dinner out of whatever. It was actually more fun for all of us to talk about how to get around what we had without going to the expense of filling in some missing ingredient.

Sort of like the world today. Too many people quit on their ideas if they don't have everything the THINK they need in place when more success might happen if they worked with what they had.

I was reminded of all then when one of my college daughters called to say they had been snowed in and this is what they had in the cupboard so what could she make. In the course of discussing an idea, she got a ride to the store but came home and decided to go with the first, 'snowed in and what can I make' idea anyway.

Hey, you use what you have and enjoy that you have it and don't stop to regret what might be missing.

You have to wonder . . .

A week or so ago, it came to light that an abortion doctor was killing abortions babies that were born alive. There was a lot else wrong with his facility but people were incensed over this . . . and I have to wonder why. Partial-birth abortion does the same thing.

The women filing suit said the doctor killed their babies while they were put under for the procedure and they were not given a choice. A choice? Didn't they originally make a choice to kill their unborn child? Didn't the doctor do what the law actually allows him to do? They didn't want the child in the first place and now they want retribution because they have a dead baby?

Now, I am totally against abortion and have to mourn over the brutal deaths of these babies but it happens every day yet the press and powers that be are only concerned with this isolated case. The world has to figure out when they want to allow a baby to be born alive and when they want it delivered and dead. I don't condone the actions of this abortion doctor but I don't see that any woman who knowingly went in for an abortion, has a right to sue him because their baby died. They went in carrying a 'wad of tissue' and are filing because suddenly they see it as a baby? The world is heading for a major downfall, if it hasn't reached that already, unless ALL life is considered LIFE and abortion doctors are put out of business.

You'd think the Catholic Church would be totally behind getting abortion out of the picture but the latest news is that they are being done even in Catholic hospitals. The daily news is certainly not something to cheer up one's day, anymore.

One saint said we need to pray without ceasing anc that is certainly becoming more true every day.

Global warming . . .

As I type, the midwest and east coast are under a deep blanket of snow with more promised over the next week. Questioned about the snow vs. global warming, Gore maintained his 'inconvenient truth' and said the snow was a result of global warming!

Over the last couple of years, his movie has been exposed for contrived scenarios like the 'poor polar bear' who not only survived but was going about his normal, every day routine. It has come out that the data was tweaked in favor of global warming. Weather history shows that the world goes through cycles and nothing we can do will actually have that much impact on what will be.

You have to wonder, how the people, today, busily digging themselves out of mountains of snow, are taking to Gore's declaration that global warming is upon them?

We don't have snow here but the wind from the snow-clad mountains is keeping us in the low 50's. I wouldn't mind a touch of global warming to defrost because we can't use our central heat because of the increased costs to deal with the global warming problem . . . You know, the one that really isn't happening!

Figuring out your priorities . . .

There have been quite a few interesting U-Tubes and stories about amazing animals. One dog is able to discern by verbal command which shaped object to pick up and bring to his owner. The owner of the dog admits it has taken many hours to train the dog and you have to wonder . . . why? Yes, the dog loves his people and wants to do what they want but in a dog's mind, I'm think Fido is also wondering . . . why?

Our dog is very bright and knows when she HAS to go outside lest she do something unforgiveable on the floor. We didn't train her so much as she decided she didn't want to mess up a good thing when it is raining outside and she wouldn't want to huddle in her doghouse.

When we got our dog, we quickly discovered that she would 'speak' when she saw a treat in her immediate future. Sometimes, she 'speaks' in hopes of getting a treat. We enjoy her trick but are glad we came with a fully functional dog without having to spend time teaching her.

Just a look at the ads today and the massive pet stores tells one that dogs and cats have really climbed on the social ladder these days. When we went to the private animal rescue to look into adopting this dog, we were assigned a counselor who required us to spend time with the dog while she took notes. She also wanted a list of previous dogs we owned, age, and how they died. Uh, all our dogs were 15-plus (in HUMAN years!) when they died so I'm thinking we did a pretty good job in our dog ownership history! Even after we had the dog home for a few months, I wouldn't have been surprised to find the counselor on our doorstep for a surprise inspection! It didn't, of course, happen but it wouldn't have seemed out of the realm of possibility.

We are hoping to adopt another dog to keep our dog company. Are we going back to where we adopted our current dog? Nope! We are going to the nearby animal shelter, pick a dog we like and go with the simple cash and carry mode offered there! Unless the new dog comes with some special talents, we will be thrilled enough if it figures out what can and cannot be done in the house.

My new favorite . . . at least for today!

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.

Albert Einstein

Something to think about! :-)

Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.

Mark Twain