'Making the Lasagna'

Here in our home, 'making the lasagna', holds special meaning. When my daughter Julia was born, I had no clue how to prepare meals in advance of dinner time. There simply weren't enough hours in the day to get all the house chores done and somehow also have a warm-cooked meal on the table ready for 6pm. My good neighbour then introduced me to the wonders of the crockpot. I soon realized however, that makng a slow-cooked meal required more than just tossing the ingredients into the pot and turning the switch to 'on'. In fact, all the slow-cooker really did, was help me be more prepared for the following meal by planning my meals and prepping them in advance. This meant that all my meals were now well thought out a week in advance when I did a big grocery shop. There was sushi or the first night (prepped at the store and bought by me), fresh fish with rice and bok choy a second night, vegetarian pizza another night, asian vegetable and tou stir-fry the next, and finally a toss between either veggie tacos or a vegetarian lasagna. Somehow, the lasagna would never get made right on the day I said it would. Either one or another of the ingredients would always go missing  (courtesy of residents of the household who are found of cheese products). Despite my best intentions, the lasagna would often be made 3 days after I had promised it would be on the table. Hence, this expression in our household, now equates with "I have the best of intentions to get this lasagna done, so hopefully you'll see it in 3 days". My husband and I can't help but chuckle these days when I say "I'll be making the lasagna for tonight, honey!" But what I have learned is that making the lasagna can apply to a whole range of works in the making. And I've learned that its not the end of the world either if you haven't done what you've said you'd do. Something else will take its place in the meantime. But rather, don't set too high expectations for yourself  (especially when you have young kids or are dealing with a host of other things in your life that you have little control over) that will be hard to live up to or give people hope before you can produce something concrete :).