While in the past I’ve vowed not to cook, I’ve recently had a change of heart. I know; it’s really throwing everyone off. For what’s felt like nine years—but has only been about nine months—I’ve been putting forth effort in meal prepping for the family. And, week after week, I have been reminded of why I hate to cook: all that effort rarely produces successful results. After years of undercooked chicken breast, etc., it finally occurred to me that something might be wrong with our ov-en!

TeamConfessioners, I have been pulling my hair out, recipe after recipe, wondering what the hell I have been doing wrong. After a little investigation, I discovered that one of our GD ovens isn’t getting to temperature when the thingy says it’s reached the temperature. Which is to say, it’s not obviously broken, it’s sneaky broken. Buuuuuut, for years I’ve been blaming myself when the food comes out undercooked. WTH?

So, the question is: What has my broken oven come to teach me?

Team, I’m open to trying almost anything to better understand, improve, or fix something I’m challenged with. I’ll take a class, go to therapy, join support groups, do cognitive behavioral work; you name it, I’m in. But even with all my perseverance, at the end of the day, I often blame myself if the problem isn’t fixed. Maybe I should have done more homework, stayed later, gone in earlier, worked harder… But my oven got me thinking: Maybe it’s not me that’s not working hard enough, maybe it’s the system!

So whether it’s a gym, a job, a program, or a parenting method—from now on, I can stop seeing unsuccessful results as my fault. Instead, I can consider that something’s just not working right and I can choose to use another “oven.” There’s going to be no stopping me in the kitchen now, TeamC!

How I learned to get help with every problem…(Thank you Aunt Maureen!)
Throw Money – The Solution To Almost Every Problem

When I vowed to never cook…(maybe this is how long my crappy oven’s been broken!)
Crappy Mom List – 5 Things I’m Never Gonna Change