dinner for two

Over and over I hear, "it's so hard cooking for two! I have so many leftovers." I will admit, going from six around our table down to two required some adjustment. But honestly? I find cooking for two a breeze.

Our first three children are boys. Ravenous boys. Well that's redundant, aren't all boys ravenous? I remember one night after dinner, our son Dan left the table and walked - I'm not kidding - straight to the pantry, opened it and stared in. "I'm hungry!" he declared. With appetites like that and grocery bills to match, our simple meals feel almost like vacation.

Leftovers? We adore them. When all the kids were home, I couldn't make enough food for leftovers to save my life. No matter the quantity, they ate it. All of it.

These days, a lasagna lasts for three meals. Crock pot chicken the same. Just a bit of meat left? No problem, just throw it on a salad and we're set. Our son Mark's opinion of salad was "it tastes like dirt." Boys prefer man food, I suppose.

Tonight we're having penne pasta salad. I took some to a friend for lunch, but it'll still last a couple of days. What's not to like about "pulling cold meat/salad" from the fridge, as Julia Child used to chirp!

And then there's laundry. Many times it seems I'm neglecting it because I do it so infrequently. But no. We have two loads a week, or three with towels and sheets. It's weird, I tell you.

I know so well that keeping a family fed and clothed can feel overwhelming and unrelenting. But take heart, young moms. One day your work load will decrease. But so will the slamming doors, yelling kids, and liveliness that only children can provide.

There's a season for everything, and without fail, seasons change.

weed & feed

We've been busy bees, hubby and me. Nothing like visitors and graduations and weddings to light a fire under us. Next week we'll welcome Dan, Jenny and the girls and head off for Katie's college graduation!

Last week we commenced to dig and pull barrels full of weeds from our shady pine tree patch out back. Our son (the landscaper I don't hug) will be giving the backyard a facelift but we're preparing it by pulling the worst of the weeds.

It's weird, but I find tasks done with hubby kind of romantic. I am sure he doesn't see it this way. But shared chores are more fun and of course get done more quickly. Anyway, we weeded for several days.
My never-ending to-do list included a good housecleaning and of course I enlisted hubby's help. (I absolutely detest housecleaning.) First up today: our bedroom. Fan-dusting, window-washing, woodwork and under-the-bed vacuuming. We were quite the team.

Of course, any wife knows that a weeding and vacuuming husband needs food. In fact, he'll probably work better if he's fed. So that's what I'm off to do now: fix something to feed him.

freezer burn

How to burn up a perfectly good afternoon: defrost the freezer! After that glorious mid-week bike ride two days ago, I needed some humbling. On THE LIST (my to-do list that never, ever is completed) was "defrost freezer." I kept shifting the task from one to-do list to the next.

Yesterday, a wet and dreary day, I decided to tackle the freezer. Here's how it went down:
1. Freezer's in the basement. Challenge.
2. I unload the frozen items into our biggest cooler, turn off the freezer and point a fan at the freezer.
3. Attach the too-short drainage hose to the dehumidifier hose to drain into a basement drain. One hose won't fit inside the other; go get turkey baster from the kitchen.
4. Finally successful by rigging turkey baster, two pots, old towels, and the fan. Also tried my hair dryer to speed up the process, but kept blowing the circuit.
5. Each time I run to empty one pot, the turkey baster slips from the smaller pot and water drains onto the carpeted floor.
6. Two hours and 20 minutes later, job is done. And dinner is a little late.

It's a good accomplishment, having the freezer defrosted. But not as fun as a bike ride.