Onions Are a Vegetable, Yes?

Day Two sans The Husband. He left on a business trip yesterday, set to return only far into the wee sma's on Friday night.

So far, so good, if only because I've decide to voluntarily lower my standards before I invariably end up being forced to admit that 1) alive, 2) safe, and 3) fed are about the highest limits to which I can aspire.

(And - excellente - I have thus far attained all THREE of them - felicitations to me!)

Take tonight. Usually dinner includes some form of vegetables, ideally at least two kinds (even though I'm inexplicably the only person in this family who eats salad on purpose) that provide a veneer of choice, even though it's one of those Hobson's choices where I win and the rest of the family loses.

(Except of course for all the vitamins and minerals that their bodies win, win, win!)

But tonight, despite a crisper full of the ol' standbys, I just couldn't face it. Not so much the chopping, but the fight. The invariable whine. The lip curling up when it sees the colourful bounty on the table, the intake of breath in preparation for the full octave "AwwwwwwwwWWWWWW..." that can be terminated prematurely only by a sharp, "YOU know the rule - NO complaining until after we pray!"

So tonight was onion soup. And cheese. And toast.

That's four food groups, right? Water, salt, dairy, and bread. Oh, and onions. Huzzah - five!

The big excitement at the PM house today is a musical one - we had a piano delivered. Been looking for awhile, our heads full of dreams of becoming our own Partridge Family or Von Trapps. The Husband's got the bass guitar down cold (seriously - you should hear him), I can play an entire octave on the acoustic guitar, and now the kids have to fight it out for who gets the piano.

(I'm trying not to think about the fact that the only instrument our band yet requires is the drums. Or that The Boy is undeniably suited to an instrument that basically allows you to practice being a ninja while sitting down.)

It's used, and it's been around the block a few times. Precariously, undoubtedly, as it is missing its back wheels. But it's got good guts that belie its banged-up appearance, so we have high hopes.

And with that, off to a quick cup of tea and then bed. I've got four more days to go, and I'm already out of onions.