Slooooow Cooked Honey Balsamic Pulled Pork:

Oh yessss, baby, Git in ma bellaaay.

Pefectly sweet and tangy. Mostly "clean" eating approved (darn you Worcestershire sauce!!!) and best of all? You basically toss it all into the crock pot in the morning and you are as good as done! Think of all the things you could do while you're not standing there cooking?!? Read a book! Paint your nails! Take a bubble bath! Watch a movie- uninterrupted! 

Awww snap, wait. I'm a mom. None of that is happening. Mine is more like this: Stop the toddler from chewing on her book. Scrub the nail polish off of my toddler's face and legs (I swear this kid has a stash of my nail polish hidden somewhere). UGH Scrub the bath tub while dreeeaming of taking a nice, hot, candle lit bubble bath... dreaming cuz I still don't comfortably fit into our tiny ass tub. Maaaaybe I can turn on a movie after all the kids go to bed, tho. And just maaaaaybe I'll make it more than halfway through before I crash out asleep. lol

Back to dinner!

You will need:

1 (2-3 pound) shoulder pork roast
salt and pepper
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1 cup low sodium beef broth
  1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp Mrs Dash extra spicy seasoning

• Spray slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray. Season all sides of the roast and plop it into the slow cooker. Now I'm sure you already know this, but I don't want anyone telling me that I didn't tell them this. hehehe So, go wash your hands. Seriously. We don't want you getting raw pork juices all over everything, right? 
• Drizzle the honey all over the top of the roast. Coat that baby well. Toss the minced garlic right on top.
•  In a separate bowl, mix together beef broth, Balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and Mrs Dash. Pour over the top of the roast. 
• Cover and cook on low for at least 8 hours. You could cook it on high for 5-6 hours but in my experience, the meat just doesn't get as "fall apart tender" after cooking it on high.
• Pull the meat apart a bit with 2 forks or a pair of tongs, toss it around in the juices a bit, and then serve that bad boy UP!

That is it, my friends. Minimal work and ohhh so damn yummy!

Happy Monday!!!

Yup, you read that right, I said HAPPY Monday.

Why do we dread Mondays so much? I mean, I get that it means our weekend is over and it's time to get back to the grind, but we tend to give Mondays too much power. Do I like having to wake up early and get back into the swing of weekday chaos? Uhhhh, no. I'm crazy but not that crazy.

But, to me, Monday is a day to get my shit together. It's the first day of the new week and it's ripe with opportunity to start over and hit the week like a rock star! Let's stop the Monday dread and learn to embrace it! Who's ready to ROCK the hell out of today??

We Interrupt Your Yard Work...

...For a moment of FUN.

Seriously, after raking up the leaves at my Mother In Law's House today, and seeing this HUGE pile of leaves just sitting there staring at us, how could we not stop to have a little fun?

I've got a Confession for ya... and I can't believe I'm admitting this, but, this was BOTH of my daughters' first times leaf jumping. Right? At 10 and 2 they had never ever jumped in piles of leaves before. How awful is that? We just never had any trees around our house so the opportunity never arose. 

But I think it's safe to say that after all the fun they had, we're going to have to rake up the leaves for my Mother in Law more often. :)

Some People Just Suck.

If you follow me at all, you'll know I'm usually really positive. But my bitch button was pressed a little bit ago. I dedicate this picture to man I'm about to tell you about.

I was at the gas station putting gas in my truck. A car pulled in next to me and I notice the driver, a male probably in his early 30's, glaring at me as he pulls in. I figure I'm just imagining things. He doesn't know me so surely he has no problem with me. He's probably just having a bad day.

 Until he gets out of his car, shakes his head, and says "FAT ASS" as he walks by. Oh haaaaail no. For real? I said "excuse me? I'm not sure I heard you correctly." To which he repeats "fat ass" with venom in his voice and daggers for eyes.

 ****bitch switch alert!! Bitch switch alert!!!*** shit! My kids are in the truck. Abort mission! Abort mission! *insert forced smile here* I replied "That's what I thought you said, darlin'. I've got good news and bad news for you. The good news is that I'm working on my fat ass issue. The bad news? Nothing short of Divine intervention and a miracle is gonna cure your awful case of ugly on the inside. God bless you."

I got in the truck and took some deep calming breaths so I wouldn't cry in front of my kiddies. I asked my daughter if she heard anything. She didn't. Thank God.

 

But it's really got me thinking and it enraged me to my core. Who the HELL are YOU to judge others? What gives people the idea that they have the right to open their mouths and criticize how others look? Yes, we have freedom of speech but that is not to be confused with the right to be an ASSHOLE. You do NOT have the right to express HATE to other people. You don't like the way someone looks? Whether you think they are too fat, too skinny, not pretty enough, you don't line their tattoos, piercings, WHATEVER. That's fine. You have the right to THINK whatever you want. But if you have nothing nice to say, you should KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT. That man is LUCKY my kids were in the truck. Otherwise he might be on his way to the hospital right now and I'd be on my way to jail. Smdh

Ok, I'm done. Negative out. Back to positive.

Fooooood!!!

I was SO hungry (more like hangry) after skating tonight that by the time I got home, there was no pause to look for a fork. I dove into my dinner of chicken with mashed potatoes with my hands. Lmao Gotta refuel, right?

Oh yessss. That just happened.

Confessions of a Stay At Home Mama

     Sometimes, more often than not actually, I feel like a total failure. A failure as a mom, a failure as a wife, a failure on my weight loss journey. The list goes on and on. 

     I feel like since I'm home all day that my house should be much cleaner. And I try. Lord knows I try. But it seems that at this stage in life, with a teenager, a Pre teen, and a toddler in my house, it just can't happen workout me losing every shred of sanity that I have left. And many people are quick to point out that I have 2 children that are more than old enough to help out. And you have a point there. But between their crazy school workload, and sports, sometimes it's just not worth the fight. The only time I get to clean without my little tornados coming behind me and tearing apart my progress, is after they have all gone to bed. I feel like I've failed in providing my family adequate space to come together as a family. Tonight, my youngest kiddies ate dinner on the kitchen floor while I stood at the counter eating, because my mom was at the table in the dining room doing her school work and didn't want to be disturbed. And I didn't feel like it was my place to ask her to move. What kind of mom lets her children eat on the kitchen floor? Me, I guess. 

     Normally I wake up extra early to make breakfast for the hubby before he goes off to work for the day. But lately, between my insomnia acting up and staying up too late, 5:00 am has come and gone with me still in bed, pulling the covers over my head. Our bedroom is also trashed, which really sucks because the bedroom is supposed to be a couples sanctuary. Ours is most definitely not. 

     And don't even get me started on my weight loss journey. Some days come and go and I realize while cooking dinner that I haven't eaten yet. Or haven't eaten enough. Which, as I'm well aware of, is awful for my metabolism. Most weeks as of late, paychecks have been pretty low, meaning that I can't afford the clean foods that I should be buying. I rarely have the energy to get in my workouts. (Thank God for quick circuit workouts, cuz that's about all I have in me to do.) 

     I just have to keep reminding myself that I'm doing the best that I can do under the circumstances that I'm in. That no matter how much I do, or don't do, I love my family. And that is what is most important, right?