Would you like to hear about how I was on the phone all morning, mostly on hold listening to horrible elevator music because I was trying to resolve an insurance issue? And how after all of that, I’m right back where I started because insurance keeps telling me to call the billing company and the billing company keeps telling me to call insurance? And how while all that was going on my breakfast dishes sat dirty and my laundry sat unfolded and my littlest kids scattered without doing their schoolwork? And how I almost cried while talking to Greg, the billing guy?

No, you really don’t want to hear about all that.

But what I will tell you about is how after such a frustrating morning of feeling incredibly unproductive…I was very much on edge. My kids were at each other, some of them had bad attitudes about their school work, and three out of four didn’t want what I was making for lunch. It is times like this that I struggle with showing my kids how to be godly in the face of frustration. I would never allow them to scream and throw things when they are angry, so in a effort to be a good example, I decided against using their lunch plates as frisbees, and resisted the urge to wad up school papers and shove them onto the floor. 

I pretty much told them, “Guys, I’ve had a really frustrating morning on the phone so please work very hard not to cause more frustration. That school work needs to be done whether it’s your favorite thing to do or not, so you’re gonna need to just deal. This is lunch, eat it. And no one…NO ONE will touch each other right now. Is that understood?”

It was understood. In fact, I think we went through an entire five minutes without anyone touching anyone.

After lunch, everyone left the kitchen to finish work or make messes elsewhere and I decided that I needed something to help me get out of my funk. Trust me, I’d been praying since the phone calls began…now I needed to exert some energy on something positive. I flipped on my very much needed Christian radio station and did what I always do for therapy:  I cooked.

I had been feeling like we didn’t have any snacks and I was out of some basic stand-bys (like peanut butter) so I got out bowls and started taking out some frustration on bread dough. 

Now, not only do I feel like a new woman…I have food prepared for my family. I can’t think of a better therapy session, can you?

I ground some fresh flour in my Nutrimill and got some Honey Whole Wheat Bread started.

In the meantime, I made Peanut Butter, Rice Crispy Treats (with chocolate chips!), 
Cream Cheese Salsa Dip and Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins.

I had found a good sale on cream cheese, plus I’m getting a lot of apples in my
Azure Standard order this week, so I made a big bowl of Caramel Apple Dip.

And then the Honey Whole Wheat Bread was done. And I felt better.

Now, when Matt gets home from work, not only am I going to be a lot less grumpy, the house is gonna smell like I’ve been baking.

The moral of the story is this:  When you are frustrated, work very hard not to take the frustration out on your family…do something productive with that energy instead. And then go eat some fresh bread with butter. Lots of butter.