Sunday, March 7, 2010

Domestic Diva


I have a confession to make: I am not a domestic diva. More like a domestic disaster. And I am not like the Proverbs 31 woman. I so want to be. I am so scattered that I will begin to clean in one room, go to another room for something I needed and then find something there to distract me, so that I just sort of wander around aimlessly from room to room, wondering why I am there and wondering why every room in my house is messed up.

And don't even get me started on cooking. I have never enjoyed cooking. My mother and sister have always been fabulous cooks and they enjoy it immensely. When we were little girls, I would always beg not to have to cook, but would promise to wash dishes instead. It isn't that I can't, I just don't like it. Somehow, I think the love of cooking skipped my genes or something. My husband used to say that when I called my children for dinner, they immediately went and got in the car. I take a lot of good-natured kidding from my family about my lack domestic skills.

When I do cook it's usually good, but more often than not, something goes wrong. One night after it had snowed most of the day I decided that we needed something warm and comforting for dinner on this cold winter's night. My husband loves my homemade chicken noodle soup so I decided that it would be the perfect meal for the night. Soup and a yummy cake of cornbread. I got out my ingredients and was already anticipating how delicious it was going to be. Then I realized that I had everything I needed, except the chicken. Chicken noodle soup with no chicken would simply be noodle water and my man is a meat and potatoes kind of guy and I knew he wouldn't go for vegetarian noodle soup. So I reverted to Plan B; sandwiches. But the night just called for something warm so I opened a can of Campbell's™ Cream of Mushroom soup to go with the sandwiches. It's good soup, but I decided that I could tweak it a little to make it taste more homemade. I added some cheese and a shot of worcestershire sauce and a few other things and was delighted with my creation. Until Robert and I actually sat down to eat it. I added too much worcestershire sauce and it was very strong. And it wasn't very good. But Robert ate it anyway, he's good like that. He did have one comment: "That's why Campbell's™ makes their soup the way they do, because it's edible". It didn't even hurt my feelings. I know it was bad.

One time not too long after Robert and I were married I attempted to cook chicken livers in the oven. It was a fiasco. It was a disaster. But Robert ate them anyway. The dog took one sniff, turned up his nose and walked away. He was having no part of this meal.

Then there was the time when Robert asked me to make him a strawberry cake. And being a good wife I was more than happy too. I baked the cake, (it came out beautifully by the way) and was letting it cool before I iced it. He wanted a piece right then so he pleaded with me to go ahead and ice it. I tried to explain to him that it really needed to cool before icing but he just couldn't wait. So I made the icing and iced it. Of course the icing wouldn't stay on the hot cake very well, but it didn't matter to him. He finished his cake and closed the cake up in it's container. By the next morning the cake had grown hair. Apparently because it hadn't cooled properly and then was completely covered it caused some sort of mold to grow. Imagine our surprise. Robert couldn't wait to tell his family. That happened over 25 years ago, and they still like to remind me of it.

Or the time that I caught the oven on fire while I was cooking cornbread. I could go on, but I just don't know how much more you could bear to read. By now I am sure that you are so mortified and embarrassed for me that I'll just quit there.

Aren't you glad that we don't have to be perfect or even good to come to God? If that were the case none of us would stand a chance. Look at Psalm 130:3: If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? (NIV)

Jesus took our sins and nailed them to the cross. If we confess our sins God doesn't keep a record of our mistakes and blunders. He won't remind us of something we did 25 years ago. Micah 7:18 and 19 says :

18 Who is a God like you,
who pardons sin and forgives the transgression
of the remnant of his inheritance?
You do not stay angry forever
but delight to show mercy.

19 You will again have compassion on us;
you will tread our sins underfoot
and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.

Oh, and by the way, Proverbs 31:15 says: "she provides food for her family". It doesn't say she always cooks for her family. Could she have possibly gotten take-out sometimes like I do? Maybe there is hope for me yet.

Care to share some of your kitchen disasters with me?




Cindy Sig 2

12 comments:

Leah Adams said...

My friend, you sell yourself way short. You are a wonderful housekeeper and cook. You are an even better friend and I am blessed to call you mine!!

Leah

Cindy said...

Awww, Leah that's so sweet! I love you too and because you are such a good friend, I have never subjected you to any bad cooking!

Becky said...

Thank you, Lord! Somebody else besides me doesn't like to cook!! I feel quite guilty about this sometimes. I am an adequate cook when I have to be, but I prefer to not cook anything at all. My family survives off takeout food!! I am always in awe of the women who prepare wonderful homemade feasts night after night after night. Ugh! I feel so inadequate about this. Thanks for sharing Cindy! You made my night! ha

Marilyn in Mississippi said...

I loved reading this today Cindy! I can so identify with the going from room to room trying to decide what to do where!

I really liked this question you asked: "Aren't you glad that we don't have to be perfect or even good to come to God?" My answer is "Yes, a thousand times yes!"

God bless!
Marilyn...in Mississippi

mariel said...

this is great, cindy! I can TOTALLY relate!! I am not a Martha (as I just commented similarly on Leah's blog!), I am a Mary through and through...I could live on chips and salsa and my nose in the bible! But alas, my fam needs food...better call for it to deliver (isn't that from "afar" like Mrs. P31??) heehee!

LisaShaw said...

Amen to being glad that I can come to God as I am sis! I'm sure you are not looking at yourself the way GOD is (smile) because I think you're pretty special Cindy!

Love ya and thanks for sharing your heart with us.

John J Sweeney said...

My wife prayed for a husband who liked to cook. She got what she wanted. That being said, I encourage your family to be more like love in not keeping a record of wrongs. Being the youngest of six, I know how much that can cut at your self-esteem, to always be the subject of the "oh, remember when..." tales.

At least we know Christ is blotting things out, even if our family members aren't.

Williams Arena said...

I'm still scratching my head over the strawberry cake...the science teacher in me wants to know what type of mold grew that fast. I love a clean house. I just don't like to be the person who cleans it :-)

Lora said...

Oh Cindy, your "noodle water" comment made me laugh! You are so funny! And I loved your interpretation of providing food for your family - more laughter!

I'll share a funny one from when the teens were in grade school: they would take turns making a meal each week - one would cook, the other would taste. When I heard a scream for "Water!" at tasting time, the cook and I went over the recipe and measuring spoons used and found instead of 1/8 teaspoon of pepper, 1/8 cup of pepper had been used!

Blessings to you Cindy!

Tanya T. Warrington said...

On the night before my graduation from college, my good friend and I were cooking a spaghetti dinner for all of my visiting family. Suddenly, one of us dropped the whole container into the sauce. Yikes! We did our best to spoon out the container and as much of the spice as possible.

The spaghetti was edible but very spicy. One of my grandmothers loved it, or at least pretended to.

I love your site. Keep on blogging and sharing about God and His word. :)

Solid Rock or Sinking Sand said...

What a delightful and well written post. I really enjoyed looking over your blog. God bless, Lloyd

Joanna Jenkins said...

Jody and Caitlin will write a book someday, it will be a best seller, and maybe even spawn a hit sitcom. I should be in heaven by then, you on the other hand will get to enjoy our mishaps a second time....and maybe even some of the fruit!