Parenting: A Parents Worst Nightmare

I just finished an article about how miserable parents are.  The article included tips on how to become a happier parent and not hate your life, but also summarized why they believed so many studies show that we are miserable if we have kids.  Apparently, now that people wait until they are a bit older and have experienced all that life has to offer before having kids, they know what they are missing.  I would fall into this category.  I enjoyed my college years and towards the end I fell in love and got married.  At that point I got a career and worked my way up for a few years until I had some responsibility and mostly enjoyed my job.  Then we had kids, left the city and now I am home with them full time. 

I have always felt that having experienced some life has given me an advantage in being able to be content as a parent.  I am very glad I got to experience that young, carefree phase of life to its fullest but that can't last forever.  Young and carefree was often funded through student loans and I assume they would have eventually stopped giving me money.  I am equally thankful I had a "real" job, but I was also there long enough to realize there isn't a lot of purpose in a "real" job.  Doesn't each phase in life have its own challenges and joys?  Yes, multi-tasking now includes me changing a poopy diaper while yelling at my daughter to stop eating the butter but the snuggles more than make up for that.  Where else in life can you learn about love or selflessness in the same way that you can from parenting your child?  I know that doesn't sound like a good thing but I assure you it is.  So I beg to differ with the author of that article, parents aren't such a miserable bunch.  I know many moms and they do talk about the challenges but I don't know any that would trade their misery for their life before kids and that must say something. 

Magic?

While wandering through the grocery store yesterday I found a magic cutting board.  How did I know it possessed special powers?  It said so right on the package and we all know an advertiser would not lie about such a serious matter.  I bought two.  Imagine my surprise when I got it home and realized it did not work as Harry Potter style wand, clean my vast mountain of dishes OR even magically cut up my veggies.  Then I saw it, on the back of the packaging it said Magic non slip grip backing. Someone had too many glasses of wine and played fast and loose with the term "magic".  The days when non skid backing was considered anything but mundane have long since passed.  At least my new mundane magical cutting boards have serene pictures that make me feel as if I am chopping near a vineyard in the countryside. 

Here again...

Here I am, many months after my last entry, back with my tail between my legs. As a belated New Years resolution, I have decided to take up my old blog again. After an hour of trying to remember my password so I could get into it, here I am. When I last wrote I was changing my life via food. God decided that I needed a change in the family size department and 10 months later I now have another beautiful daughter.

Since my food revolution has long since gone by the wayside, I should probably pick a new blog topic. Not sure anyone wants to read a weekly account of which frozen pizzas we tried. Some other options I have considered...

Homeschooling, but the glimpse into my ability (or lack of it) may draw in anti-homeschoolers protesting in my front yard.

My dog Leon and his wild adventures chasing our stray cat, Marlin. This could get a little repetitive. Most of his adventures consist of bolting out the front door, chasing Marlin until he reaches the dumpster at which point Marlin sits on top of the dumpster while Leon jumps up and down barking for various lengths of time.

I could write about my pregnancies, but the post traumatic stress disorder I suffer from prevents me from thinking about them just yet.

Back to the drawing board I guess....

Grilled Salade Nicoise

Tonight for supper we enjoyed the most beautiful salad I have ever seen, the lovely Salade Nicoise.

Borscht...nothing rhymes with Borscht.

Borscht is a Ukranian soup made of beets, cabbage, tomatoes, honey and vinegar. I know what you are all thinking that sounds AMAZING. I started off by peeling and grating 7 beets. When I was done, a good portion of my kitchen and myself were stained a lovely shade of purplish red. Soon the aroma was wafting through my house. The soup is probably the least appealing looking concoction one could come up with, but I must say it did not taste as bad as it looked. I wouldn't go as far as to say I would eat an entire bowl or that I will be making it any time in the future, but it was interesting to try. Carrie on the other hand liked it very much...as long as she didn't look at it.

And one more...

Okay I know I have a lot of updates in 1 day, that means I either have many thoughts or too much free time. I am thinking today about how glad I am we are doing this. I am making and trying so many foods that I would never have even considered before. It is intimidating to go through the store looking for foods I have never heard of to make dish combinations I couldn't comprehend putting together, but it has been very rewarding. They aren't nearly as scary when you start doing them, taking them one step at a time. We have been lucky and haven't had any big flops yet, but tomorrow may take care of that. I am trying my hand at Borcht and for those that do not know, it is a beet soup. I have mixed feelings about beets. I have never craved a beet. A bite is fine, but I am not sure about an entire soup of them. Carrie is having fantasies that we will fall in love with it and the soup will be warmly remembered by our children and the recipe handed down for generations to come. I am bit more skeptical.

Temptation cooking

On day 5 I have officially lost 8 pounds. I am happy to see a bit of a loss, especially considering all the great food I have gotten to eat. I didn't get any exercise in today due to all the rain, I will pretend to be sad for Carries sake. I had a big temptation this evening. I baked my very favorite chocolate chip and m&m cookies to send with my husband because he is going to work on a cabin. I made it through the entire baking process without licking my fingers or the bowl. I baked them all and then when they were all finished I sat down. Then they started to call to me from the counter. I fell to temptation and took 1 bite of a cookie. It was good, but I decided not worth it to eat the whole thing. It tasted very sweet to me and it is my hope that this is my taste buds changing and not due to a flaw in the assembly of them.

The above picture is my dear little jelly bean eating her squash. She loved it and ate 4 helpings. Sadly the asparagus sat uneaten. We will keep on trying or she may just decide to live on fruit, squash and sweet potatoes.