A Matter Of Perspective & Pork Chops

Now that's a title! Lets get the "perspective" part over with so we can get to those pork chops cause lets be honest the "matter of perspective" is just a rant. We all know that!

This past week the boys Dad got engaged. My reaction to that was not what most expected...I was actually overjoyed! Before I get the eye roll here are my main points for this reasoning:

1. I actually like the girl, she's sweet (young and naive but we all were at that age)
2. The girl treats my boys well and this makes me a very happy mummy
3. If she is happy, J is happy and if they are happy then the boys will be treated well aka happy
4. Again with the "every one's happy statement"...I made the assumption that the boys would have an amazing summer with their Dad and future step-mum playing "happy family" for 8 weeks

All that said it was a REALLY good day. The day I encountered this news I even got an 86% on my mid term. Oh YEAH! And then (yeah you saw it coming) I found out the wedding was this summer, followed by a PCS to Japan. WTF?! I'm still happy for them but my concerns about this summer just came back. Ugh! How will the boys be treated? Will they get that quality time with their Dad they are craving? Will they be a focus or just drug along for the ride/show? All I want is for my boys to have a fantastic summer so that I can do the same. I don't want to have to worry about them or be depressed they are not happy or being taken care of properly. If I hear from the boys on a regular basis that they are having so much fun, doing this and doing that, I will be able to relax and enjoy my own holiday and time away from them. I so want to hear that they have been busy doing all the fun things they dream about doing with their Dad and miss. Only time will tell.

I also became concerned with the boys reactions to the news. The time line of changes has been extensive over the past few months! For the fun of it I'm gonna completely break it down for y'all...because this amuses me and its my blog!

• Divorced 12 September
• J officially starts dating "the babysitter" only a few days later
• Moved here the beginning of October
• End of October J visits the boys here for the first time
• Mid November I start dating Metalman
• End November J leaves for Afghanistan for 4 months
• Mid April J visits boys for the second time and brings his "girlfriend"...no longer "the babysitter"
• Mid May J gets engaged to be married this summer

I could say so much but my main concern is how the boys are dealing with all of this information. I am proud to say VERY WELL. My kids rock! Animal's reaction was spot on the way I predicted. He is just accepting everything. When Metalman and I talked about dating I asked for the boys opinions and they were more than OK with it. Yes, a decision like that deserves the voice of those involved...including a 5 and 10 year old. I have continuously been more worried about Q-tips reaction to all the changes but thankfully he has learned to go with it for the most part and is actually excited about the whole thing. He is enthusiastic about having a step-mum and participating in the wedding. We haven't talked much about the PCS but considering his current opinion on the subject I'm sure its just another thing. No big deal. I couldn't ask for better understanding and accepting boys. They have made this whole process much easier. I love them so much. They are amazing!

All that said I am not having any luck in the summer job department. I filled out quite a few online applications (what a crock that is) and will continue to do so. If I don't have a job this summer I will have to find other things to occupy my time...reading, exercise, painting Metalman's house...oh I don't know. What does one do for 2 months without their little people around?! I might pick up a few math books at the library to refresh myself before I take pre-calculus in the fall. That should be all kinds of fun...

Random but totally worth bringing up...cooking. Ive had a love hate relationship with cooking for years. I go through phases of wanting to do it and doing it purely out of obligation. Becoming a single mum with a strict budget has made cooking at home a matter of necessity but lucky for me Metalman is awesome in the kitchen. He helps me cook any meal and brings some major enthusiasm and creativity to the table (haha I'm so funny, get it "to the table"). He also does a lot of the tasks I am not much of a fan of ie. grating cheese and cutting. He has some great ideas and at times has been my personal google. And lets not forget he can bust out a rockin homemade tuna casserole.

The man is addicted to Slap Ya Mama seasoning and will "put that sh*t on everything"! We recently purchased the Slap Ya Mama pepper sauce and used it last night to make a shake and bake pork chop. YES! I'm going to post what we did here so that we can refer back to it. We have made other dishes that were to die for but when we attempted to replicate them we didn't even come close. That is so frustrating! So here it is...

We crushed bread crumbs and added Slap Ya Mama seasoning, salt, pepper, Tony's, dried onions, garlic salt and flour. Slap Ya Mama pepper sauce was put in the egg bath before breading the pork chops 2x. Then we baked them with some stuffing on top. So simple and so good! Metalman learned how to make homemade shake and bake plus the chops were delicious. Win, win baby.

Hmm is it just me or is this blog starting to get back to normal? Interesting.