When Did I Become The Crust Eater? (repost)

Something strange struck me the other evening. As I proceeded to gobble up my daughters leftover dinner, I wondered...."when did I become the designated eater of things no one else wants?" It isn't uncommon to see me munching on remaining sandwich crusts....the chewed on, sucked dry, thin layer of pizza crust....the veggies gently removed from the casserole.....ETC. In Fact, it is very common. How did this happen to me, and am I the only one? Do other mamas find themselves munching on the rejects?

Here's a lovely example. This first picture is the yummy english muffin pizza I presented to my toddler.

This Second picture represents what was left on her plate, and in turn it was part of my dinner.



I am certain plenty of you are turning up your nose...and reading this with an ever increasing belief in my freakism, but I can't help but wonder if some of you find yourself a little bit relieved YOU aren't the only one.

What possesses me to eat these things? I suppose it is fairly straight forward and simple. I CAN'T WASTE FOOD! I just can't. I shutter to see that perfectly good food going to waste. I refuse to feed it to the dog, because it only increases her annoying begging behavior that drives me nuts. I refuse to just dump it in the garbage disposal, as I hate to unneccessarily fill up my septic tank. I hate throwing it over our fence into the back wooded area of our property, however if I don't eat it, this is where it goes. I console myself by thinking of the raccoons, birds, and opposums that do a little happy dance when they find the half eaten muffin in the bushes. I am certain that they are appreciative, but usually, I just eat it myself. It makes me stop to think, "why is it better that I eat it, instead of an animal?" How does MY eating it, not waste it?

I have recently become aware of the fact that my own child's slobber must not bother me the even tiniest bit. Who knows how many things I have eaten that were once in her mouth. (Honestly, how many of you just gagged?) Seriously, she has a lovely habit of putting something in her mouth, decides it doesn't pass the inspection,and deposits it back on her plate. Why on earth would I consume that? Well....ummmm....I don't know. Maybe I figure that her spit is really just my spit, since she is technically part of me, right? Well....it makes sense to me at the time. Don't look at me like that!

There are plenty of reasons I wish I would just stop doing this, and just feed the darn backyard wildlife, however, the most convincing one is my weight. Honestly, I eat enough off my own plate. I don't need to finish off anyone else's. Get a grip woman. Be the racoon's best friend and start chucking it over the fence. Fling it into the bushes, and imagine it feeding some sweet little baby birds. Isn't that better than getting FAT off the soggy, licked, picked, and violated rejects?

I think I can...I think I can...I think I can!

This was originally posted on August 7, 2007. Ummmm yeah....I am still eating the leftovers. Blush......