disaster area

I'm so proud of us. Tonight I cooked for my daughter - and she liked it! I made rotini pasta with spaghetti sauce, ground chicken, and half a can of spinach - all mixed up. I used the baby food grinder that was collecting dust in the cabinet to grind up the chicken for E because she always spits meat out. It worked - she liked it! She fed herself with spoon and fingers. For the first bite I offered a noodle on a spoon and she refused it. She took the spoon in her left hand, noodle in her right and (holding the spoon vertically) tried to "stick" the noodle to the spoon. Pressing hard didn't help, so she ended up eating that one with her fingers. But I coached and helped her a little and she did great. She really enjoyed herself and didn't waste much. I felt very motherly, and I enjoyed the meal too. Then after E's bath and putting her to bed, I came back in here to the kitchen and felt terribly deflated. What a mess! The high chair tray is on the floor, in hopes that the cats would make the first pass at cleaning it... They declined. The sink is full of diced sweet potatoes that I paid 4 dollars for ("washed and ready to eat!") and then ruined. That's one side. The other side is dirty dishes. More dirty dishes on counter and stove. There's cat food all over the floor, because that's how Emma entertained herself while I was cooking. There's big tufts of cat hair all in the living room and hallway from last night when the cats were ambushing each other (actually, it may have all been one-sided). And I'm sitting here with Kleenex stuffed in my nostrils for this cold and an aching back, dreading giving the cats their medicine and then tackling this mess. Oh, and I already cleaned up the cat vomit when we got home, just after changing E's dirty diaper.

I'm in a surprisingly good mood despite all this! It was a good healthy meal and I had been tempted to do a drive-thru on the way home. And I pushed myself a little and made us stop at Stride-Rite on the way home, to measure Emma for shoes. She needs a 5 and a half. I didn't buy any today, need to wait til next payday, but we have some hand-me-downs on hand that are that size. She's been wearing soft leather shoes that probably aren't that warm and definitely let water soak through. So I'm glad I finally got around to that.

Haven't taken any pictures the last two days, will get back to that by tomorrow. Now let's take a deep breath, have some (decaf) tea, and tackle that kitchen....