Hunger Pangs

Eating has taken a weird turn since January here at the ranch.

For one thing I swear to you I'm spending at least $300.00 a month less on food than I did when Tom was here. How is that even possible?? He was, after all, only one man....

And Lord knows I'M still eating all the time!! One look at me will tell you that.

We used to sit down five or six nights a week at the dining room table with real china and fabric napkins in cutesy holders, even; now, I'm lucky if that happens once every 8-10 days.

No one seems to want to create an actual balanced meal and sit down like civilized folk to partake!??

Last night, for example, (and remember... I have a house guest!)we had fried shrimp which involved creating the beer batter and then deep frying real honest-to-God prawns - that was my job. And broccoli which Suzy prepared and cooked and served. But somehow - still - the dining room table was forsaken when Thom ate on the lanai in front of the opening night of the ice hockey season while Suzy, Laura and I ate all scrunched up at the dinette table in the kitchen.

Never once did anyone even gravitate toward the dining room.

I look in my fridge and am overwhelmed by the array of fabulous leftovers available when I can't even remember eating the honest-to-god MEAL from which the leftovers came???? There's shrimp salad (self explanatory as per last night), chicken lo mein, cheesy brats, beef barbecue, seafood gumbo and egg salad. Even if I started now and worked my way till midnight I couldn't make a dent in all that food.

What's a girl to do?

I better set the table.