Friday Follow-Up

Hello, friends!
It looks as though we've made it through the week!
Give yourself a pat on the back.

I'm currently sitting here in my hogs shirt and ball shorts, sipping my coffee, trying to decide what this day has in store for me.

Luckily, I have my handy-dandy Homemaker Bible that I made handy, so I can consult it when I get lost in my head.

Well, "What is that Bible you speak of?", you ask?
It's not actually a bible, but it's my second go-to book when I need encouragement or direction. Just about every wife I've spoken with has some sort of back up system for their families in case they are sick or have to travel. My binder in particular has billing information, recipes for food and cleaning products, our daily schedule, our monthly schedule, etc... It's pret-ty handy if you ask me! I also organize our holiday schedules and lists in there as well. It's the one-stop-shop for all things for the Cook Household.

I'm thinking of selling the starter kit that includes cleaning recipes, our favorite recipes, as well as financial folders, and varied tabs. At least I will if there's interest!

So, I suppose I will need to get on with the picture taking to help you understand exactly what I mean.

The rest of my day will be filled with sloppy joes, cookie baking, and some Thanksgiving history lessons.

Sawyer has been completing all of his lessons by 11:30, so that has given us the rest of the day to freestyle our homeschooling schedule. By the way, I AM still working on that post. It's kind of emotional and I would like to write it without dragging his teacher through the mud.
That part is hard though. Anyways, I haven't forgotten!

My dear husband is currently sitting in the cold, dark woods waiting to kill a deer. We've talked about me going out with him at some point, but I really don't think I could shut up long enough for him. Maybe I cold just text him the whole time. Ha!

So, that's all the rambling I have currently.
What are your plans to kick-off the weekend?
 Have a happy Friday, folks!

Heather and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Night

Have you ever had a day as a parent where you wish someone stepped in to give you a time-out? You can watch the train wreck happening, but can't step out of the situation long enough to get ahold of yourself? You watch your face contort into something the scariest monsters would fear, you hear your voice raise loud enough the neighbors can hear the growling breaths you take between each word, and you can feel the burn of the tears welling up in your eyes.

No?

Well, good for you. Here's your "I'm-the-best-parent-ever"plaque. I'll even burn that quote onto your plaque with the fire I'm breathing tonight. 

Ladies and gents, Heather broke tonight.  

Something snapped inside of me. Iamong other incidents that happened earlier today, this evening I got tired of repeatedly telling the kids to clean the living room, I was ignored when I asked them to quit fighting, I simply got a grunt from Isaiah when I asked him to straighten his desk that I asked him to straighten two weeks ago, I have to caress my too-small dishwasher and speak sweet nothings to it for it to actually clean my dishes most nights... Tonight that didn't work. 

The final straw was when I tripped over the dagnab army gear that my husband still hasn't put away even though it's been a week since he's gotten home from drill. 

I layed face-first in the floor, half-way under the computer chair sobbing for at least 7 minutes. 

But who's counting?

Then... I was so angry... I stopped crying. 

See, my stages of anger goes a little something like this:

1. Snotty shot-taking. 

2. Silent treatment with stomping. 

3. Yelling

4. Yelling and crying

5. Crying alone

6. Silence. Complete silence

7. If-you're-in-the-room-I'll-find-some-reason-to-yell-at-you anger

I was at step 6. 

So you see what was coming next. 

I layed into everyone. When I was done, of course everyone felt awful and nothing was accomplished. I apologized. But I know damage was done. Every time this happens, regardless of who the parties involved are, damage is always done. 

I felt taken advantage of, therefore I felt bitterness towards everyone,  and those are grown up problems, Not problems I need to take out on my kids. 

The worst part of tonight you ask?

Yes, it gets worse. 

No one in my house was surprised by my behavior. 

Have I done this so regularly that they've become desensitized?

Or do they know that I'm just having a bad night?

I choose to believe the latter. 

I do hope tomorrow goes better for sure and that I'm back to my typical peppy self. 

We as parents set the tone of our homes. We absolutely have every right to be upset when things are unfair and one sided. However, we are adults, therefore we must handle these emotions like adults. 

Ouch. I acted just like my kids were acting.

"Hi, my name is Heather, and I'm a hypocrite."

How do you deal with your anger?

What sets you off the fastest?

Who can you talk to when you get angry?

My favorite crockpot roast recipe

I love roast.

Like, I think sometimes I'm more excited to see a good roast cooking more than I'm excited to see my husband. 

Okay, not really. 

But that shows you how much I love roast. 

My dad and my sister make amazing roasts, so as a new bride 8 years ago, I was excited to see if I inherited the "roast gene." Josh was in Iraq, so I was only cooking for myself. I bought those awesome-if-you're-single-or-learning-to-cook frozen roast meals. 

I thought I was an amazing cook. 

I was, because I put in the effort of schlepping to the store with the sole intention of buying this frozen goodness and then remembering to put it in my crockpot the next morning. 

That WAS me being a good cook. 

Well, after Josh came home, he cooked real food for me and I couldn't go back to what I was cooking before. 

After using oven bags, roasting pans, and my crockpot to cook from-scratch roasts, I was saddened to realize that I could cook just about anything... Except roasts. 

It was a dark day in the Cook household. 

My poor family has had to eat runny roasts, dry roasts, and burnt roasts over the last 8 years. *shudders*

However!

Last year the roast gods smiled on me and my dear dad shared with me a fail-proof de-licious recipe for roast that also doubles as a gravy after the roast is finished. 

I wish I knew where he got the recipe so I could throw some credit and snaps in that person's direction. Seriously, they deserve it. 

If I had thought about it, I would have taken pictures of my roast last night for a visual aid, but alas, I did not. 

But, here's the recipe, so don't get too ruffled. *grins*

Easy-peasy crockpot roast:

1 roast- any kind of meat or size (The magic works for all)

2 cans cream of mushroom soup ( the standard can size, not family sized)

1 packet onion soup mix

Pour soup in bowl and have your flippin' adorable daughter stir in the onion soup envelope.
Oh wait, the daughter thing is optional  or can be substituted for adorable  son or handsome husband. 

Put roast in crockpot (the roast can be frozen or thawed. I never remember to thaw mine and it turns out super tender regardless) and pour onion and soup mixture on top. 

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. 

That's. It. 

That's. It. 

How easy is that? 

Like I said, the soup mixture can also be used as a gravy for your taters as well. 

It's simply amazing. 

Happy Saturday, folks! Let me know how your roasts turn out!