But you know what? It still doesn't make sense. My sister and my brother-in-law both get home rather late - and they both make real meals from scratch most days. Mostly him, sometimes her, once a week me. And they have canned beans, but when my sister cooks (and she gets home later than he does) she is sure to soak her own. I'm finding these things don't take quite as long as they're perceived to, which is - surprising. They take more time than just buying food, yeah, but they aren't the agonies of time that people would have you believe they are!

I guess our perceptions are messed up, again, because we don't *know*. We say "Well, I know my mom didn't do such-and-fuch because she was busy working, so therefore it really takes so-and-so many hours" - and maybe it only takes half as long as we think, but we don't know, because our mom and dad and whoever never did whatever it is when we were young!