Ok…so tonight was a perfect example of why I don’t cook. When I started this blog I set some goals – one of which included cooking two times a week. I was cooking a simple meal tonight – chicken with sauce and cashews, (Ann-the Tso sauce you told me about) rice and broccoli. Within ten minutes of cooking I’m a little stressed because I have three things going at once on the stove. All of the sudden Ellie starts screaming from the bathroom. I leave the stove and run to see what’s going on and by the time I get there Addison is bawling too. I think something major has happened but realize that Ellie is so upset because Addison threw her candy in the toilet (the candy I gave Ellie to bribe her to stay in the living room while I cook). The girls are both hysterical (Ellie because of the candy and Addie because all the screaming scared her) so I carry them in the living room and turn on a movie….run back to the stove to find my broccoli is way over cooked and my chicken is burning on one side. I lift the broccoli to take it to the sink to drain and on the way knock over the box of rice. Brown rice all over my once clean kitchen floor. I flip the chicken and start cleaning up the rice with Addison hanging on me because this is taking longer than I thought and she is starving. Finally throw an easy pack of Mac-n-cheese in the microwave to get her fed and occupied for a minute. Ellie sees her eating and wants mac-n-cheese too. NO! I get mad at her. She needs to eat this stupid meal because I’m going to all this trouble to make it. Now she’s sulking because I got mad at her and Addie has successfully dumped mac-n-cheese all over herself. She needs another bath but I can’t bathe her because I have to cut up and finish the chicken. I finish cooking and fix Ellie a plate. Addie is full from mac-n-cheese but insists on eating what Ellie is eating so I fix her a plate only to watch her dump rice and broccoli on herself and the floor. Ellie eats three bites and politely tells me “no thanks – I’m full because I don’t really like this mommy…can I have a banana?” I clean the girls up and get them ready for bed. Kenny comes home late again and everything is cold. I eat a few bites and decide I would have enjoyed a turkey sandwich more. Now my kitchen looks like a bomb went off and I’m exhausted. Think I’ll just stick to my reading goal.