Thursday, May 5, 2011

Sneaky sweets

Today I wound up working an hour and a half late, and when I rushed home nobody had made dinner, but nobody seemed particularly hungry either. They were all scrunched down on the couch and nobody would look me in the eye. It made me uncomfortable and angry - why should I have stressed about dinner and now be rushing around to cook for people who didn't seem inclined to help or anything?

So I stopped. The oven stopped preheating. I put the vegetables back. Went into the bedroom and plopped on the bed. Considered just skipping dinner, going straight to sleep. Josh came in to sit down next to me.

Me: You know when something embarrassing happens in junior high and then everyone is talking about you behind your back? Then every time you walk in the room everyone stops talking and nobody will even make eye contact? 
Josh: It's so much less than that. They were just talking about Al's date and it got us in the mood for ice cream so we went out and got some right before dinner. 
Me: You all got ice cream? 
Josh: I brought some home for you. 

So I got up. We all had ice cream for dinner. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to live by myself.

8 comments:

Nina said...

You take such good care of your sisters, but it's sort of cute that they sneaked ice cream before dinner. :)

Anonymous said...

At one point when my mom started working and we were old enough to start cooking (teens)- we each had a night that one of us had to make dinner and the rest helped with setting the table and the clean up. It made my mom less stressed and resentful that we were just sitting around waiting for her to come home and cook for us. The other upside to this is that when it's your turn to cook it was your choice on what's for dinner!

Anonymous said...

Everyone living in the house is old enough to pitch in (cooking included).
gmg

sam said...

I've tried to start the whole "everyone cooks one night" thing, but it doesn't take. Josh cheats by getting takeout, Alex will cheat by making made-to-order omelettes and my older sister just offers to help but not be in charge.

Tam said...

What you've tried sounds like a good start! Put up a calendar with their names on it so they know the day they have to cook or clean up. If they choose to not cook then no one eats! If Josh orders take out ~ so be it!

My husband & I took turns for years & he usually cooked spagetti or ordered pizza until we took a Thai cooking class together & then he added in a curry chicken dish. :)

Maybe a cooking class at a shop might be a fun date night out for you & Josh? Just a thought.

Tam

Yankee, Transferred said...

Hey, when it's Josh's night and he orders out, fine. At least it's not your worry. Those other 2 rascals need to step it up a little. (I say that, but I know I would be the way you are. I still cook for my kids when they're home, and they're 23 and 19!)

You are a good caretaker. Ice cream for dinner sounds divine.

Anonymous said...

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to live by myself.

It might be good to try this for a month sometime during your college career. Perhaps during winter break of your senior year, when Danielle will be eighteen, you could do a program abroad. There are scholarships for such things, so you'd have to budget in only not receiving income during that time and a little extra for incidentals. If not a program abroad, maybe an internship in another city.

Anonymous said...

[Third time trying to post this.]

Start planning now for Winter Session 2013:

http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/educationabroad
http://www.cuny.edu/academics/programs/international/view.html
http://www.cuny.edu/academics/programs/international/students/scholarships/stocs.html