The Trade-off

It's lunchtime.  I just finished heating up a Trader Joe's frozen macaroni and cheese meal.  I looked down at this pitiful little black disposable container with about two cups of frozen macaroni and think to myself, "What am I doing?  This minuscule amount of macaroni costs about $2.99.  It barely feeds two kids let alone three.  I could make this for a fraction of the cost and feed the whole family a healthier option and have leftovers!"  I guess I kind of blurted out my thoughts as I was serving it to the kids.  One child then comments, "Yeah, you always say you're going to make it, but you don't."  My next comment is, "When is there time?"

How sad.  There's no time to even make homemade macaroni and cheese for dinner.  There's limited time to even make dinner many nights.  There's little time to sit down together to have dinner.  I never thought I'd be the mom to one of "those" families.  I thought I'd have sit down dinners, conversation around the table, and homemade meals.

My kids often ask why I didn't do sports as a kid.  I never really have an answer, but I'm starting to realize there's a huge price a family pays to be active and/or sports-centered.  I'm not saying having an active lifestyle is a bad thing, in fact there are MANY benefits, but there is a trade-off.  There is no way a mom can homeschool most of the day, shower, run errands, run three kids to various sports events, attend all sports events and make a wholesome dinner.  This really frustrates me!  I want to be home in the afternoons making dinner, cleaning up the house, planting my little container pots, decorating, and preparing for the following day, but it's really hard to have the best of both worlds.  I desire for our kids to have the sports experiences I didn't have, yet they're growing up having pre-made macaroni and cheese (today).  This just really bothers me!

I don't have an answer to this dilemma, and don't know that I'll find one.  Maybe I'll plan this weekend to make macaroni and cheese.  Maybe I need a day off.