Simmer Down Now

This is the view from my stovetop...not that I need any reminders to Laugh when it comes to cooking...my attempts at cooking that is. Nevertheless I thought it a nice touch. Basically it boils down to a nostalgic metal sign I saw in an antique store just the other day, "I understand the concepts of cooking and cleaning...just not as they apply to me." (It took a tremendous amount of self-discipline not to buy it...instead I bought the other sign...the one that read, "I'm sorry, you must be confusing me with the maid we don't have." What can I say?...I'm a sucker for sarcasm!
Anywho...back to the kitchen: I want to cook...I really do...it's just that...well...it's so...everyDAY!!! I don't know...maybe it's because I live a half hour away from a grocery store...maybe it's because I am a picky eater....maybe it's because after a long day of working and mothering I'm simply frickin' TIRED! And don't even get me started on the whole ingredients factor. As if that's not enough I am loaded down with GUILT...I feel so darn guilty all of the time (not guilty enough to cook...but still guilty). It's that whole "mother of the year" syndrome. I still have that little voice deep (very deep down) that incessantly chirps, "...that's what women do...that's what good wives do...that's what good mother's do...they COOK for their family!"

It seems that every now and then I get a resurgence...I get an inspiration to actually turn over a new leaf and cook. I go so far as to actually flip through a cookbook (...and, yes, I have lots of cookbooks....hey! I like the whole, "kitchen decor" theme), but I always have a heck of a time trying to find a recipe that calls for hamburger meat and spaghetti sauce or taco seasoning. Occasionally I'll come across something that I think the kids might even like and then I realize it lists an ingredient that I've never even heard of. That's when I rip open the Top-Ramen noodle packet and ring the dinner bell.