Gotta Love The Crock Pot

Last week, I took a sirloin tip roast from the freezer planning to slow roast it. I haven't done that in a long time. More than the roast dinner, we enjoy thinly slicing the leftovers for sandwiches. It's cheaper, tastes better, and is better for you than buying sliced roast beef at the deli. I took it out planning to roast it on Saturday while Jim went to see the Tigers play. Since it takes two to three days for meat to defrost in my frig, I didn't want to leave it for another day when Sera and I ended up going to the game, too.

I only had about 15 minutes to spare before we left on Saturday. I put the roast in the crock pot and decided to go with the old standby - add a pack of onion soup mix and a can of cream of mushroom soup. Of course, that's when I discovered I was out of mushroom soup. Here's what I did instead:

Vegetable Beef Stew/Soup

1 sirloin tip roast
1 can tomato soup
1 pkt onion soup mix
1/2 can water

Mix soups and water together, and pour over the roast. Turn your crock pot on low, and go to Detroit to watch the Tigers play. When you get home at 2:00 am, transfer the roast and sauce to a storage container and refrigerate.

1/2 bag baby carrots
6 red potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces
olive oil
1 box beef broth
roast, shredded
leftover sauce from the crock pot
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can low-sodium corn
1 can low-sodium peas

Two days later, when you finally get a chance, place large pot or Dutch Oven on med-high heat; add olive oil to cover bottom of pot. Add carrots and saute until just starting to brown slightly. Add potatoes and beef broth. Bring broth to boil and cook until potatoes and carrots are fork tender. Add the roast and the sauce as well as the remaining vegetables and any others you might have in your pantry/freezer. Look at the clock and realize it's just 10 in the morning. Turn the burner to low, and let simmer until your husband comes home for lunch.

Bow and accept the compliments because this is awesome!

Open Letter to our Friends

I don’t know how else to reach out to you. I know you read here, so I’m hoping this will be okay. Let me begin by saying we love you both, we love your children, we’ve missed you. It had been a very long time since we’d seen you. The last time we did, it wasn’t the same. He was so angry. We gave you time and space hoping that it was an isolated time as neither of you acted that day like the people we’ve known for so long. We thought there must be something going on. We hoped and were sure you knew we were right here if you needed us.

Recent events had you reach out to us again, and I was very happy. We’ve missed you. Sera has missed you. It was horrifying to see that the anger is still there, and it’s worse. He is so angry. The rest of you seemed afraid. You should be. He frightened me. I don’t know why he’s become such an angry person, but he needs help. His anger is escalating. I don’t know how far it’s gone. I hope no further than what we saw, but I know that if he was willing to be that angry in front of us that it must be worse. We cannot witness that. We cannot let Sera be exposed to that. Jim’s history would not allow him to stand by. The law would not allow us to stand by. We are mandated reporters. What we witnessed yesterday was so close to crossing that line that I fear for you.

We know he is not a bad person. This is not the man we’ve all known. I’ve known him the least of all and that has been for over 10 years. Someone doesn’t change this much without a reason. It could be medical. It could be something that happened. It’s not our business what caused this. I am just so afraid that if he doesn’t get help, then something horrible is going to happen. Something that can’t be undone. A person can’t live with that much anger without it hurting themselves or others. We don’t want to see anyone hurt.

We know that you two have always argued. You’ve always had a loud, vocal relationship. This isn’t the same. In fact, you never argued once in front of us our last two visits. I missed that. Those arguments were never mean-spirited. They were the way you two communicated, and the love was always obvious. Now I see fear and supplication.

There is support all around you. Your family, his family, your church, your doctors, us. How can we help you? Please get help before it’s too late.

We miss you.

Growing Up

In our quest to visit every Cabela's known to mankind, we saw this dress at every one. Each time Sera saw it she would fall in love again.

On our last stop on our journey home from Utah, we saw the dress had been marked down. The only one left was actually too big, but that just means we'll get another summer out of it.

Last night, she pulled this dress out to wear today. She also chose her shoes, hairband, & purse. Where oh where did my baby go?
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

A Year of Change

I stole this photo from Jim's blog. We pose for this picture every year at Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers.

As you can see we've all undergone some changes this last year. We've grown or ungrown...disgrown...err....you get the idea. What's really funny is that we're all wearing the same hats, Sera & I have on the same pants, and Jim has on the same shirt.

On Our Way Home

One tired little Tiger.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry