Monday 9 June 2008

It All Started With the Pancetta

See, I'd bought some last week, thinking they'd be nice wrapped round a fish or chicken fillet. It had been a busy week with one thing or another until Thursday. While hubby was picking up daughter, I decided to pull out the pancetta and cook it with some fish. It would be ready and waiting for us when we got back from picking up Jake.

I reached into the fridge, but there was no pancetta. I searched high and low. I looked in the freezer. I looked in the freezer in the garage. No pancetta. I was quite distraught by this point.

When hubby and daughter walked in the door, I greeted them with "What did you do with the pancetta?" Both claimed no knowledge of the pancetta. Hubby ranted that he was sick and tired of me blaming him for everything. Daughter was in tears. Was the pancetta worth this?

On one level, of course not. It's only pancetta.

On another level, yes, it was bloody was. I don't go out into the working world everyday, so get no outside validation for my role in life. My role in life, these days, is to be the go-fer for daughter, son, and hubby. And I'm sick of it. All I wanted was to make a nice meal with the pancetta, and someone showed no respect for that.

Of course, maybe I am going crazy, as daughter and hubby suggested. Maybe I never bought any pancetta.

The next night we were watching some nonsense that son wanted to watch. When it finished, I asked for the remote. He wouldn't give it to me. I very sternly asked for the remote again. Son handed it over and muttered "bitch" under his breath. I ordered him to go take a shower and go to bed. He must have gone to daughter to complain because she came in and asked if I'd been taking my HRT. He'd neglected to tell her about the bitch bit.

We've been having outstanding weather for this country, yet I feel oddly depressed. What can be wrong, I ask myself. Oh yeah, I remember. Hubby's out of a job, mother's got health and husband problems, dog just had second surgery on hip. Friends are crap. Kids are in difficult teen-age phase.

Yep, life is just peachy. And I still haven't found the pancetta.

9 comments:

J said...

Damn. I thought I was the only one who felt that way about pancetta.

I'm having very similar moments right now. More wine!

Kim said...

Your son should count himself lucky. If either of my sons muttered "bitch" in my direction, he'd lose his head.

laurie said...

i'm with kaycie.

if boscoe ever....

sorry things are so testy right now. i suspect they'll cycle back to good. but the testy times are hard to get through.

i have no idea what pancetta is, but i hope you find it.

menopausaloldbag (MOB) said...

Yeah, get drunk! It's the only way to coast through the teenage years and you wont give a poop if you have pancetta or not!

Expat mum said...

It's hard enough not feeling valued, but when a child starts speaking to you like that - it's unacceptable. Guess what - this bitch wouldn't be doing his laundry for a while!

wakeupandsmellthecoffee said...

j.: I'm quite passionate about pancetta, now that I've discovered it. Don't know if I can stomach more wine though.

kaycie: He did mutter it so there's the tiny possibility I heard wrong. But I don't think so somehow. He's entered into a rather challenging phase, shall we say.

laurie: Well, I still have Jake, who never talks back to me ever. You must try pancetta sometime. It's very nice.

mob: I was informed by daughter the other day that I'm setting a bad example with my drinking, meaning I drink even the tiniest bit. She asked for a glass of beer the other day, saying her dad had said it was OK. So I let her have some. Hubby came in and said he didn't agree to a glass, but a sip. I told daughter to pour out the beer. She didn't like it anyway, but I knew she wouldn't.

expatmum: I could withhold the laundry duties, but he doesn't care if he wears clean clothes or not, so that's pretty useless. The phone, webcam, and a few other luxuries would be going, however. They all think I'm completely bonkers anyway.

denverdoc said...

I looked up pancetta so I could comment intelligently. Sounds deelish, but how to pair it with fish or chicken? Losing pancetta a perfect metaphor for losing one's menopausal mind. And a mouthy teenager to boot? Life's a (mutters bitch under breath).

Wonderful commentary on life with rising testosterone and waning estrogen.

Sparx said...

Holy cow... sounds like you need to take a holiday on your own for a week and see how they get on without you!

denverdoc said...

Coincidentally, had pancetta with chicken at restaurant last night; chicken was good, pancetta sort of creepily fatty. Maybe the chef found yours. I found your blog through MOB; you write well.