why do I even try to cook!

I know, faithful readers, you must love a good cooking story, but you have to put up with some ranting first. My crabby attitude started Friday night when by 5:00 I had already fed the kids (take out pizza) and was staring down the tunnel of a weekend with just the three of us (Josh working), cold temperatures, no money and NOTHING to do. I was already desperate for Monday and most people had not even finished their Friday evening commute home from work.

I really do not like being home. I can handle it for a few hours, but I am a girl who wants something to do. I don't care how tired I am, how busy I have been, I despise feeling trapped in these 4 walls, I would rather not even have people over. I want out of my house.

Of course most people love being home all weekend with nothing to do to spend time with their cherub children (Bleech!) I want my children to be entertained by others and checking in with me ever so often to say something cute and then run off again. (Sounds horrible doesn't it!!!! But honest...I will always be honest).

NOT me


That's more like it...


This may be just the "end of March Madness" when we have been coped up since October and I can not face another moment of cold, brown boring winter. But, regardless, here I sit.

The kids had been begging to cook. BEGGING. THe wanted a dessert. They wanted cookies, brownies, cake, anything they could make. FInally I said if we could run a few errands for me and they left me in peace for a while to read, I would make something with them. We settled on Dirt Dessert.

THis is one of my very picky daughter's favorites, but of course she does not know what is in it. When she found out it contained Cool Whip (GASP) she had a total melt down and refused to make or eat it (I know! Where does she get this dramatic side!!!!????) After a stern lecture (read, yelling at her for being so stubborn) she agreed to make it with me.

As I looked over the recipe, I noticed it called for Vanilla pudding. That is weird, I think, the dirt dessert I have is always chocolate, but, maybe mixing the cookies in gives it the brown, mud, appearance. Because, God forbid, Hanna would eat Vanilla pudding and Cool Whip. So we get to making it. I let the girls smash Oreos, Abby leaving a nice chip in the counter with the meat hammer, while I soften butter and mix it with various sugars. Then we mix up the pudding, yup, it is yellow, not brown. Maybe when I mix it with the cream cheese, powered sugar and butter it will turn brown.

Nope, Still yellow. So as the pudding mixture is sloshing all over the counter as I layer it with the Oreos my kids would have preferred to eat with out this entire "cooking" process it occurs to me: If I wanted chocolate flavored dirt dessert, I should have used chocolate pudding.