Reheating Fish Sticks

I've been lucky enough to be a "stay at home" mom since my girls joined the family, always thought that name a bit funny, like you are not allowed to leave the house. I still remember the shock I felt the day I quit my job and everyone stared at me in wonder (or was it horror?), all asking the same question, what on earth was I going to do all day. I tactlessly blurted out "If I couldn't think of something better to do all day than come here and be told what to do, I'd off myself", realized that wasn't nice and went on to the truth of "you do realize, staying at home can be a joy, it is not a prison sentence". This brings me to an article I read in a parenting magazine when the girls were little. It was supposed to be a bridge-the-gap between moms who go out of the home to a job and moms who stay home to do a job; however, written by a "working mom",

it quickly turned into an article about how miserable stay at home moms are who are just jealous of women who don't stay home. Being me, the part of the article that stuck with me most was about food! It stated that the stay at home mom was jealous that the out in the world working mother got to have fancy power lunches with clients while we home frumps were reheating fish sticks. I read that part to the girls. They asked "What is a fish stick?" I still really wish I could have talked to that author, at the time I read it, I had just taken my girls to lunch at an Italian restaurant, and Anna had taken one bite of fettucine, clapped her hands and kissed me, she said it tasted so good it made her happy. Hmmmm, sitting talking business wearing a suit and high heels, or getting fettucine kisses while wearing jeans and flip flops, which would I prefer?

Now all this blathering started last night, when I walked in the kitchen and found Grace making herself a bedtime snack. Guess what it was? Caprese salad! She still doesn't know what a fish stick is.

Photos are of the girls posing around downtown Iowa City. It is a pretty place to grow up, isn't it?