On Monday before Thanksgiving, I made a Dixie pie to take to my in-laws. After filling the house with the fabulous smell, then fighting off The Dad who insisted that his mom wasn't expecting anything, so I could just let him have a slice, I cleaned the kitchen. There was not one little spoon even in the sink. Everything was loaded in the dishwasher and the dishwasher was set to run during the night while we slept. On Tuesday morning, as The Daughters and I left for school, we would be leaving a clean and tidy kitchen. I felt so on top of my domestic world!
Tuesday morning, I drove through the donut shop for breakfast and let The Daughter's eat school lunch - which everyone knows is NOT anything good at all on the day before a holiday break! But, I didn't care! I would leave a clean kitchen and return to a clean kitchen!! I was fulfilling my biggest homemaking fantasy! OK - my biggest fantasy is cooking something everyone likes that doesn't not include a blue box, but a clean kitchen and empty sink run a close second!
Tuesday evening, we were en route to The Dad's folk's and stopped for a burger for dinner. then we stopped to go to the bathroom 42 times. Then we stopped to referee a fight 29 times. Then we stopped for a drink 18 times. Then we stopped to stretch 83 times. But that's a different point to ponder!
Wednesday morning, my momma-in-law fixed us breakfast. For lunch we had The Dad's favorite fast-food, only-college-students-really-appreciate-how-cheap-it-is tacos for lunch and then a family dinner that evening.
Thursday morning, we had breakfast fixed by my momma-in-law yet again... and by "we" I mean that I slept in a scarfed some down as I rolled out of bed right before the rest of the family showed up. Waking up early two mornings in a row on a school break was really pushing the sanity limit for me and luckily, my momma-in-law - a former educator and current momma herself! - gave me the OK to sleep in.
Thursday afternoon we had a house full of family and food to spare! It was a fabulous Thanksgiving Day feast. After a brief snooze, we packed up The Daughters. The Dad snagged up some turkey & dressing in a to-go container (which resembled my momma-in-law's Tupperware!) and we hit the road to head home.
Since our three-hour tour never takes us less than seven hours to complete, we stopped at a pizza joint and had pizza for dinner. I'm just thankful for pizza joints who are willing to cook for me on holidays! This was a wonderful thing for many different reasons, but the major reason was that when we returned home that night, I wouldn't have to cook dinner and my kitchen would remain clean for yet another day!
Friday morning, Daughter 1 and I hit a black Friday sale at too-flippin'-early-o'clock. We returned home an hour later where I crashed on the couch and Daughter 1 ate a piece of cake for breakfast. (Don't judge. I've never done my best thinking in the morning!) She put her fork in the sink and her paper plate in the trash.
OK, fine. I now have 1 fork in the sink.
Mid-morning, my momma called and took us out to breakfast. It was late enough to be considered lunch, so that's what we considered it! Later that evening, The Daughters had a bowl of Spaghetti-O's; I had chicken and rice soup; The Dad had leftover turkey & stuffing from his momma. All things considered -- I still hadn't cooked since Monday night.
Now, I had 2 forks, 3 spoons, 3 bowls and my momma-in-law's Tupperware in the sink.
Saturday morning, The Dad and Daughter 1 got up early (as they always do) and Daughter 2 and I slept. Since we slept so long, The Dad and Daughter 1 went out to breakfast. Daughter 2 and I slept right through any time that could be considered breakfast. For lunch on Saturday (about 40 minutes after I woke up), I went and go sub sandwiches. Saturday night, we met our good friends for a bonfire and wienie roast, complete with burned marshmallows!
I'm extremely glad that I didn't have to cook anything on this particular day because we were extremely busy. For Daughter 1's birthday (which was several weeks ago), we gave her a room make-over and since we had time to work on it, we spent the ENTIRE day on Saturday painting and cleaning and decorating and repainting and rearranging and cleaning and getting more stuff and organizing and decorating and finally revealing the finished project to a very happy and giggly Daughter 1.
This morning, we woke up (late) and (raced) to church, where we sugared up The Daughters with donuts and then asked them to sit still for an hour during church. After church we went out to eat - to keep with the no-cooking theme of the holiday weekend - and then we returned home. In anticipation of The Dad's work week, he made a pot of chili. Not a special gourmet chili - just regular chili, and we partook of it for dinner. We ate in the living room watching America's Craziest Videos and watching the Christmas tree lights blink on and off. I gathered up the family's bowls and took them to the kitchen. Where I cried. Real tears. No, real BIG tears.
Here's the inventory of my sink: 7 forks, 5 spoons, 12 knifes, 1 can opener, 3 cutting boards, 7 bowls, 4 plates, 6 mugs, 9 cups, 2 glasses, 4 wooden spoons, 2 spatulas, 2 stock pots, a slap-n-chop, a pie server, 1 sauce pan, 5 lids, and my momma-in-law's Tupperware container.
Personally, I have not cooked ONE thing (aside from heating a can of pasta in funny shapes) in almost a whole week.
I ask you this, my friends: How in the world did my clean sink become overflowing with practically every kitchen implement that I own? AND...is it worth it to tell The Dad that's he's banned from my kitchen forever and he's not to dirty my sink again??
Don't answer that last question - the chili was pretty tasty!
