It took me, like, fifteen minutes to post this blog. (UnderestiMaegan strikes again!)

“I think we should do the same thing that we did for Thanksgiving,” said my mom over the phone, a few days before their visit. “I thought it was awesome to cook all day and then reheat the leftovers for the rest of the week. We should do that again.”

“Aw, Mom,” I whined. “I already have our menu planned. Plus, Thanksgiving was a TON of work.”

“Well we don’t have to make a meal like that,” she said. “We should just throw together some casseroles, bake up a bunch of potatoes, stuff like that. Do it all the first day we’re there and then reheat it for the next week.”

“That means we’ll be cooking all day on Saturday,” I replied. “One of our two weekend days. I don't really want to spend all Saturday cooking.”

“Well, we don’t have to do my idea,” she said. “We’ll figure it out.”

“Don’t worry, Mom,” I said. “The meals I have planned are easy – a couple chickens on the grill, enchiladas, you know. Easy. We won’t have to do a lot of cooking.”

Little did I know, it was my alter-ego, UnderestiMaegan that was spouting this rubbish. UnderestiMaegan (“underestimating”) is the part of my psyche that believes that everything on my list will take fifteen minutes.

Ah, fifteen minutes, that magical timeframe in which everything, from cleaning the windows to cooking dinner, can be completely accomplished.

WRONG!

UnderestiMaegan, you can do literally NOTHING in fifteen minutes!

You can’t shower, you can’t put your makeup on, you can’t do a load of laundry, you can’t bathe and groom the dog, you can’t make a cup of tea, you can’t drive to choir, you can’t run to the store, you can’t write a birthday card in fifteen minutes! “Fifteen minutes” may sound like enough time to cross one of these things off your list, but it’s not.

It’s not!

(And don’t even get me started on the use of “it’ll just take two seconds." Putting on your shoes takes more than two seconds, UnderestiMaegan!)

Anyway, the “quick” menu I had planned was not very quick at all. We ate some good food, but my poor mom was constantly washing the dishes I was using. And every time I found myself in the kitchen, “whipping up an apple pie” or “throwing a casserole together” (I could have sworn it would only take, like, ten or fifteen minutes), my mom grabbed the camera. “After we leave, you can post these pictures on your blog,” she joked. “You can show them how much time you spent cheffing it up!”

Therefore, here is UnderestiMaegan, taking fifteen minutes to make dinner.


We did have some great times, and I'll post those pictures tomorrow!

Happy Friday, and Happy Leftovers Day to Brian!