The dreaded question

I bet with that title a lot of different things came to a lot of your minds. Questions like "Are you going to have any more kids?", "Are you really moving?" and "Is life back to normal?"...but this time I will touch on the question that's only asked by the folks here in my own home...

"What's for dinner?"

I gotta be honest with you all, I hate that question. Hate it! There's only a few other questions that invoke a similar response. When the kids ask me for money, when they ask to sleep with me in the middle of the night, or even when they ask to be taken somewhere. But the dreaded "Whats for dinner" question is the worst.

I guess I have to explain myself here. I am not a cook. I don't like it. Never have and never will. During my senior year in high school I took some pretty easy classes. I tried hard in Spanish and really enjoyed it. AP Biology was one of my favorites, despite the difficulty of it. My fifth period class was a cooking class. I was very adept at writing down the recipes, I followed directions well and was even pretty good at the math for expanding or decreasing the food amount. But somehow my food always came out looking slightly "off". But to be honest, it looked better than it tasted. I am not a cook!

My husband is skinny. My kids are pretty thin. I am not thin (that's more to do with my sugar intake than anything else!). They will never get fat on my cooking. Maybe on IHOP's cooking, or TGI Fridays, but not mine. So, I don't like to cook. You might think with 10 kids I would at least figure it out...but no...never have. My husband puts up with my cooking just to have something to eat that he didn't have to make himself. But the poor guy has gone without for too long and I can't say I blame him when we go to his mom's house and the look on his face is that of a child on Christmas morning when he sees the array of food placed before him. She is a great cook and loves to cook for her family. He begins to drool about the time we turn onto their street and doesn't stop until we get home and his food has had a chance to digest.

So, you can see why I hate the question "What's for dinner". I have other reasons as well. On the days I do cook (which in all fairness to myself is about 4 or 5 days a week), I cook what I can afford, but I hear too often..."Ugh...I hate that!"

"Mom, what's for dinner?"
"Meatloaf"
"Ugh...I hate that. I am just going to make myself some Ramen"

"Mom, what's for dinner?"
"Noodles and sauce"
"Yuck mom, you know I don't like that! I guess I have to eat mac and cheese again!"

It's a nightly occurrence. The dreaded question followed by the dreaded response. Can you see why even if I did cook well it would be a dreaded question? Someday when the kids are gone I will sit and relish in the fact that they are gone. Not because my house will be quiet, or because it will be clean, but because I won't have to cook for anymore than just Jon and I. He likes to cook, so I might even be able to talk him into doing it for us by then.

I guess in all fairness to my kids and myself I will name three items I cook, cook well and are loved by my kids. Creamy chicken soup, Enchiladas and Hawaiian haystacks. If you ever come over for food I will fix one of these three items and you will be fed well amidst several happy children. Otherwise, you will starve while listening to several loud, cranky people complain about my culinary skills!