So my mother has fallen "ill" so to speak. I put it in quotes because really her being sick is a product of a freak accident on the tennis courts causing her to mess up her foot. It's a freak accident because my mother is kick ass in tennis and tends to beat people younger than me on the courts - and of course gloats at home so it's been ingrained in my head - Mom = not ungraceful or ungainly (and has a big ego). I also call it in quotes because it's almost as if she isn't impaired at all. She's not in pain and is actually having a fine time playing on the internet, drinking tea and not cleaning, doing laundry, and especially not cooking.

Anyone that knows me, knows that cooking isn't my strong point. In fact, you should bow down to the nearest deity in thankfulness if you never had to sample anything that I attempt to prepare. Now I know how to make a few things - rice crispie treats, chocolate chip cookies, frozen TV dinners and of course opening the can to a Slim-Fast. The first two are a little complicated and involve me trying to operate equipment under adult supervision- but the other two are right up my alley - you can prepare it under 4 minutes - and then you are ready to do more important things in your life - like sleeping and posting messages in someone's live journal :)

Anyway, my eating habits of nuke it and go were sorely interrupted by Mom's unfortunate demise. Usually, I would go mooch food over there that was somewhat healthy and very tasty (two traits of food that don't seem to enter my fridge). I would come home from school, and out of nowhere, Mom would have prepared baked ziti with ceaser salad out of things she just "found" about the fridge. That, in my book, is quite a feat.

Now I get a phone call around 11am everyday complete with a "poor me" voice asking when I am going to come over to feed her. So now when I go over there, and she is right where I left her - over caffeinated and starving as she can't leave her post at the computer (her need to read live journals and enter sweepstakes contests astounds me) because of her ailment. She is starving because the last thing she was eating for the past few days was the lunch I would prepare for her. After seeing the food dwindle down to things that actually needed an oven or boiling water, I made a strong effort (well - all of my effort actually) to make lunch something as good as she would have made it. I have learned how to cook ground beef for nachos supreme, toasted club sandwiches and pasta (I even used some marinade that hadn't been tried before). Snaps for Dawn.

However, Mom isn't even hiding the fact that she is digging being waited on hand and foot. She calls up friends and gushes to them over the phone what great things her family is doing for her and how she feels like the girl with the most cake, yada yada yada. I almost want to screw up the food - if it weren't for the fact that I have to eat it too.

Dad's role in this whole thing was to first be told "Feed your wife when you get home from work!!" (Dad's not the most observant guy in the world) and in doing so was forced to notice a lot of housework that wasn't being done. So now, much to his chagrin, he is actually having to do things for himself AND for mom. It's a rude awaking to dad (and myself for that matter) to learn how much Mom does for us and disheartening to learn that it's going to continue for the next few weeks instead of it being the flu and being just for a few days. Snaps for Dad overcoming his fear of cleaning supplies.

Anyway, this cooking thingy (I say thingy as I am not comfortable with the fact that perhaps I can cook and would like to refer to this as some sort of phase I will grow out of) is kind of fun (though demanding) and in the process I have crossed off one of my New Years resolutions of preparing food I haven't made before.

Now to work on the rest of that list :)