Gone in a flash!

Periodically I buy a large round roast to use for several meals.  I trim it, put it in the crock pot, sprinkle a package of Liptons Onion Soup mix over the top and add about one cup of water.  Covered and cooked for 5-6 hours on high and I end up with tender, lightly seasoned meat.  One roast usually makes enough meat for at least 6 meals.  Some gets shredded, some is cut up into chunks, some sliced and some left in a hunk for a pot roast.  Then I put everything into zip lock freezer bags and freeze until I'm ready to use it.

Today was one of those roast-cooking days.  I went to Costco and picked up a 5 pound slab of meat.  After cooking it, I decided it was one of the best roasts I've ever made...tender and easily shredded but not dry.  I used some of it to make broccoli stir-fry for dinner tonight and it was perfect! 

Then it happened.  I transferred the roast into a 13 X 9 inch pyrex baking dish to cool in the refrigerator.  As I was moving it onto the shelf, the refrigerator door started closing and the dish slipped out of my hand, landing with a loud shattering crash on the kitchen floor!  Glass, meat and juices scattered everywhere!  For one tiny brief second, I though about trying to save some of the meat.  NO WAY.  It was gone.  Sigh...

Sometimes, our best efforts to save money and save time disappear in a flash.  Just glad no one got cut.  I'll be more careful next time!

A cure for the winter blahs

 Today is a cold, wet, dreary day. The kind of day where the kids have to be indoors and everyone is restless and going crazy.  What's a poor mother to do?

Let's have a party!

Why, throw a Happy Unbirthday Party, of course!  Who needs a reason to have a party?  Run to your closest Dollar Store and pick up a few party supplies (banners, balloons,
plates, napkins, table cloths, even some cheap favors).  Make or buy brightly colored cupcakes.  Sing "Happy Unbirthday to you"!  Plan a couple of games or pick out a fun DVD to watch.  Turn the doldrums into an unexpected celebration! 
Sometimes we all just need to relax and have fun and what better time to do that than a cold winter day?

Correction not criticism

Little imp!  :)

Because no one is perfect (not you nor your children), you can be assured that your children will misbehave.  It's part of their growing up process...learning to control their impulses, learning what is appropriate, learning right and wrong. 

As a mother, you are learning and growing too which sometimes leads to unpleasant confrontations and criticisms.  Those are emotional reactions, not especially helpful in dealing with a misbehaving child or teenager.  Instead of criticizing. let's aim at correction.

When you respond emotionally, your child is going to respond the same way and that is only going to escalate emotions, not solve a problem.  What you want from your child is for him to know what he did wrong and come up with more appropriate ways to act.  You want him to correct his behavior.

Can you respond to a whinny child calmly?  Can you talk with your belligerent teenager quietly and  without overreacting?  That, my dear friend, is your challenge.  You already know that you can't change someone else, you can only change yourself.  But the good thing is that by changing yourself, you often cause someone else to change which is what you wanted all along.  It's a win-win situation. 

The key is correction, not criticism.

You can do something!

My son posted this quote this morning and I liked it so much I made a sign of it.

Being a mom can feel so overwhelming, it's hard to know what to do first.  The best thing to do is just do something!  It's amazing what can be done in 10 or 15 minutes.  You don't really need a large block of time to do many things.  Usually the annoying tasks that we have to do regularly are fairly quick to accomplish.  Take advantage of those small blocks of time and just do it!