Mirror Mirror on the wall....

I am my mother after all.

I fight and fight not to but it happened anyway. My mother pouts when she doesn't get her way. So do I. She gets angry at the wrong people. Me too. Isn't the first step admitting that you have a problem?


As our gift to one another this Holiday season, she had my children for the majority of their winter break. They got out of school on Friday and they were delivered to her on Sunday. I went back to pick them up the day before they went back to school.

My house was very quiet. Half the time they were gone I got up at 6 - 6:30. I slept like a baby. Now that they are back, I can't sleep for checking on them in the night and they have to practically roll me out of bed to check their chores out before they leave for school.

When I went to pick them up I made sure to spend some one on one time with my mother to see how she enjoyed the visit.


She gushed about how helpful my daughters are and how they cooked and cleaned and took such good care of their baby brothers. I mentioned to my mother that my daughters don't often cook at home.

She said, "That's because you don't let them." to which I responded, "You said that I make them do too much."


That stopped that.


When she stayed with me for 4 weeks, she complained that I make my children do too much because they have chores that have to be done, daily. My home currently has more order and structure than it ever has and I like it that way. If I can only catch the trolls that are eating my spoons and leaving the mystery spots on the carpets, I'll be a happy woman!

I don't make them cook because I like to do it, but I will have them assist me. I also encourage them to experiment, but warn them to be careful. "You have to eat your mistakes". We have very little "quick" food in my house. It is part of the plan to eat like we have some sense. There is preparation that has to happen before you can eat. So hunger must have an imagination. If you have no idea what you want to eat then you must come up with something because there's no microwave dinner in the freezer. I find that it makes food a lot more personal. I have even decided to start to make our bread. It is so much cheaper and the kids like the taste. I can also experiment with different flavors and textures.

I was recently blessed with a bread machine and that is going to make the process easier all the way around. I just have to make sure to measure correctly. It is still a work in progress.

More to come...

And away we go!

My mom hates it here. She has complained about everyday that she's been here. Or, I must not be paying enough attention to her and she's showing out.

Mother as daughter.

She's decided that she wants to go home after 4 weeks at my place. I'm not too broken up about it because she wants to be in her own space, I can totally understand that.

We had a nice Thanksgiving at my older sister's house. My sister worked really hard on her home recently and wanted to get my mother's approval for the improvements. Before we left for my sisters, I took my mother to the side and sternly asked her to be on her best behavior.

Daughter as mother.

She gave me the all-too-familiar "What?! I don't know what you're talking about."

We arrived and my mother did "Oh" and "Ah" appropriately. We sit to chat around my sister's new dining room table. My mother gets herself comfortable as she looks around the room. My sister steps out of the room to check on the kids and my mother looks out the window to the back yard and says, "She needs to wash her windows!" I immediately shushed her. My sister didn't hear. Luckily, unlike a child, my mother fixed her face before my sister returned to the room. A good time was had by all.

I cooked up a storm! I stayed up late Wednesday night making candied yams, yellow cake with chocolate icing, sweet potato pie and cheese cake. I also made stuffing and green bean casserole. My sister made mac and CHEESE, potato salad, mashed potatoes, turkey, ham and greens. I can tell that eating like I have some sense has become a habit because I didn't eat until I was miserable. I nibbled quite a bit though. I didn't have some of everything that night. I understood that the majority of the leftovers was coming home with me so I knew that I'd get my chance. Even though I feed a small third world country every month. We cook and eat simple tasty food.

I think that's another reason that my mother wants to go home. We don't eat out. She's purchased dinner about 5 times since she's been here even though she has seen us stock up on the basics and knows how we eat. We have tried to please her as much as possible. She likes fish. We've had fish for dinner about 6 times in 4 weeks. Fried fish. We will probably have fish again tonight. It is Friday after all.

More to come...