When the Cat's Away....

....the mice are at play. At our house that translates to "When Daddy's away, the family eats like crap! And it's fun!" Troy has been in Portland for most of this week, and since Stomper and I were recovering from our...issues...we didn't put much energy into eating well rounded meals. On Wednesday Stomper was having a kind of rough day, not playing well with his friend in the morning, not wanting to go to school, stuff like that. So as I was driving him to school I was trying to have some close time with him, talking about how he was doing, how he wanted to spend the afternoon, etc. I asked him if there was something special he wanted for dinner. He said, "I just want some fried bread." Mmmmm. Fried Bread. So after school we whipped up a batch of pizza dough then headed to the playground with friends. When we returned, the dough was soft and billowy and ready for frying. Now, in Utah, you people call this little golden pillows of fried dough "scones." My husband and I can't seem to get past our disagreement - I grew up in Colorado where we called them by their correct name, sopapillas. Scones are baked, not fried, and they're crumbly and delicious and to be eaten with a cup of tea. He won't let go of this. And neither will I. Anyway. We fried up the dough and that's what we had for dinner.

Then yesterday. Do you ever have a sort of Three-Stooges day with your kids? One kid whacks the other, you holler, the other kid grabs the first one, you clonk their heads together, everyone shouts...you know what I'm talking about? Our whole afternoon was like that. All three of us were DONE with each other. We're ready for daddy to come home. We did have plans to get out of the house, but due to various fits of temper, sobbing and violence, all plans got canceled. Finally I realized that my children might be in need of nutrition, and the thought of making food, well, I just didn't want to do it. Nor did I want to drive anywhere. Chinese it is! For the record, Sampan makes some pretty good Chinese food. And it ended up being a fun meal. I rigged up some chopsticks for the kids - you put a spacer (like a wad of plastic wrap) between the two sticks at one end, and wrap it up with a rubber band so it's like a spring. The kids actually managed pretty well. Most importantly it took a really long time for them to eat their dinner. By the time that was over it was practically bedtime!