Day 1 of 30 Day Challenge

 In today's challenge I must introduce myself, post a recent picture and give 15 interesting facts about myself. I'm only doing 10 because 15 seems excessive. So, here we go!

Above is a picture of me from a week ago. I took it to show my husband how beautiful the flowers were that he sent me. They were so huge they couldn't all fit in the picture but my husband insisted I had be in the picture. 

I'm 24 years old. I label myself as a wife, a momma to our sweet dog, Navarro, and as a student. I enjoy volunteering during my free time. Unfortunately, I had to put my volunteer work on the back burner this semester because my course load is outrageous. I normal volunteer as a patient companion for a local non-profit hospice. I enjoy working with the elderly above all others and they bring me more joy and wisdom than I could have ever expected getting into this field. My major is social work and I one day hope to work for a hospice, or for the Department of Veterans Affairs. I am the treasurer for my husband's company FRG group and I enjoy supporting other military spouses. When I'm not working, volunteering or doing school work, I like to practice yoga, and take my dog on long walks around the neighborhood. I also enjoy cooking.

Interesting Fact #1: I just started drinking cow's milk for the first time in probably 15 years last year. I'm not saying I didn't eat things that contained milk (i.e., yogurt, cheese, etc) I just didn't drink milk straight up. The smell. The taste. The look. It all grossed me out. My husband is a milk-a-holic and after watching waaaaay too many documentaries one week I decided to switch him over to organic. I brought home the milk while he was at work, and when we came home he poured himself a cup to go with his dinner and took a sip. I asked him what he thought; he looked at me like I was crazy.

"What do you mean, what do I think? Think of what?" he was confused.

"The milk."

"What about my milk? What did you do to my milk?!" It was like he thought I replaced his milk with some kind of placebo. Was this another one of my crazy experiments again? I've been known for sneaking in all kinds of "weird" things into our meals, i.e., "veggie cheese," fake meat etc. This no longer happens since I'm now gluten free.

"I switched you to organic, how does it taste?"

A sigh of relief came over him, "Oh, ok. It tastes good..." he takes another sip like he's sampling a fine wine, "actually it tastes even better than the regular stuff. Wanna try?" He tries to hand me his glass. I pause. A shiver runs up my spine.

"Umm..." I pause again, "...ok." I hesitate for a moment, and then take a sip. To my delight it was good. Really good! And so from that day on I have been drinking milk.

Interesting Fact #2: My husband was my only boyfriend I ever had. I know. It’s crazy, right? I’ll have to tell the full story one day.

Interesting Fact #3: I had never heard of or tried greens until 2006. This was a shock to my Midwestern husband (then boyfriend) who grew up with his southern stepmom’s cookin’ (you have to say it like that when referring to southern cooking…or at least I have to lol).


Interesting Fact #4: I haven’t been back to my hometown since I left in 2007. We’re planning a trip for next winter.

Interesting Fact #5: I love waking up early.


Interesting Fact #6: I’m pretty tall for a woman. I stand at 5’10”. One of my friend’s actually gave me the nickname Ginormica; she’s 5’1” so it makes sense. I love being tall and I love helping the short people out in the grocery store reach the things on the top shelf…I’ve been doing that since I was 10 years old but then it was library books.

Interesting Fact #7: Because I’m so tall I have ridiculously large feet…size 10 or 11 to be exact. This has always been fun…NOT! It seems shoe stores only like to carry one or two pairs for each style.

Interesting Fact #8: I pretty much never pay retail price for anything. Exhibit A: My Dyson I bought about a month ago. It retails for $399.99 and higher. I got it for $216 with a 30% off coupon and a gift card.

Interesting Fact #9: I have always disliked cartoons. It shocks people that I have never seen a full episode of the Simpsons or South Park. Even when I was little I didn’t like watching cartoons, I preferred Sesame Street, Lamb Chop, and Mr. Rodgers. I guess I didn’t have a problem with puppets lol.

Interesting Fact #10: My favorite flowers are lilies, preferably white lilies.

I'm Hopping on the Bandwagon!

That's right...I'm doing the 30 Day Blog Challenge! I think its just what I need to get through this blogging frump I've been in. I'm excited! Here's the questions I look forward to answering:


Day 0: The 30 Day Challenge Explanation and Description


Day 1: Introduce, recent picture of yourself, 15 interesting facts

Day 2: Meaning behind your blog name

Day 3: Your first love

Day 4: Your parents

Day 5: A song to match your mood

Day 6: A picture of something that makes you happy

Day 7: Favorite movies

Day 8: A place you've traveled to

Day 9: A favorite picture of your best friend

Day 10: Something you're afraid of

Day 11: Favorite tv shows

Day 12: Something you don't leave the house without

Day 13: Goals

Day 14: A picture of you last year - how have you changed?

Day 15: Bible verse

Day 16: Dream house

Day 17: Something you're looking forward to

Day 18: Favorite Place to Eat

Day 19: Something you miss

Day 20: Nicknames

Day 21: Favorite Picture of yourself ALL TIME Why?

Day 22: What's in your purse?

Day 23: Favorite Movie

Day 24: Something you've learned

Day 25: Put your iPod on shuffle, first 10 songs

Day 26: Your Dream Wedding

Day 27: Original Photo of the city you live in

Day 28: Something that stresses you out

Day 29: 3 Wishes

Day 30: a picture of yourself this day and 5 good things that happened since you started the challengeDay 1: Introduce, recent picture of yourself, 15 interesting facts

Day 2: Meaning behind your blog name

Day 3: Your first love

Day 4: Your parents

Day 5: A song to match your mood

Day 6: A picture of something that makes you happy

Day 7: Favorite movies

Day 8: A place you've traveled to

Day 9: A favorite picture of your best friend

Day 10: Something you're afraid of

Day 11: Favorite tv shows

Day 12: Something you don't leave the house without

Day 13: Goals

Day 14: A picture of you last year - how have you changed?

Day 15: Bible verse

Day 16: Dream house

Day 17: Something you're looking forward to

Day 18: Favorite Place to Eat

Day 19: Something you miss

Day 20: Nicknames

Day 21: Favorite Picture of yourself ALL TIME Why?

Day 22: What's in your purse?

Day 23: Favorite Movie

Day 24: Something you've learned

Day 25: Put your iPod on shuffle, first 10 songs

Day 26: Your Dream Wedding

Day 27: Original Photo of the city you live in

Day 28: Something that stresses you out

Day 29: 3 Wishes

Day 30: A picture of yourself this day and 5 good things that happened since you started the challenge

Midterms

I'm stressed. I'm lacking sleep. I'm living off caffeine and quesadillas. I have not left my desk in three days unless I am eating, sleeping or going to the bathroom. Luckily, it will all be over by Wednesday and I can go back to my "normal" life...whatever that is.

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In



Ok, I know. I know. I've been MIA. School has been crazy and so has life in general, but I swear I'll be posting more (don't we all say that?)!

Anyway, here's my MilSpouse Friday Fill-In answers...thanks Wife of a Sailor!

1. Aside from no deployments, what is one thing you would want to make the MilSpouse life “perfect”? submitted by Oh How Delightful
I think being about to choose where you live and for how long would make it "perfect." Even though we all know the military would still find ways to mess with us.


2. Just how many peppers did Peter Piper pick? submitted by Married into Army

I'm guessing not very many unless he was getting paid to do it.


3. If you could have any career in the world with nothing holding you back, what would you do? submitted by It’s My Party and I’ll Cry if I Want To

I want to be a social worker and work for the Department of Veterans' Affairs. I'm currently in school working towards my BSW and I will continue school until I receive my MSW. I really hope I get the opportunity to work for the VA, it would be a dream to help veterans on a daily basis and get paid to do it.


4. Do you have a service oriented tattoo and if so what is it. If you don’t what would you get? submitted by The Squid’s Accomplice

No, I don't have a serve oriented tattoo and I wouldn't get one.


5. Imagine a block of time has opened up in your busy day for you to take a class in anything you like. What subject would you choose? submitted by To The Nth

I already take at least 4 classes per semester but if could take anything I would take a yoga class :) Since I've started yoga, it has given me so much peace and relaxation, and not to mention a great workout.

I Hate This Part of the Deployment

I hate this part of the deployment. The part where we've come nearly 3/4 of the way on this year long deployment to still have a few months left. You feel like you've been run over by a semi truck and still have to crawl your way to the finish line. I feel defeated and weak. I just want to have a tantrum and yell, "I don't wanna do this anymore! I want to get off this crazy ride! I want off!"

I was talking to Mr. I this morning and I was telling him about this awesome music festival that is coming to our area this summer. I heard about it on the radio and it sounded like so much fun. You camp at this campground for 4 nights and during the day you enjoy five to six different performers. When I looked up the dates, I realized it would be a Wednesday through Saturday night type of thing and Mr. I's command thinks it would be better to "hold off their leave until school gets out" so he'll still be in-processing and "working" during that time. I literally started crying (yeah, I'm telling you people, I'm losing it).

I wasn't crying because we couldn't go to this festival...it was deeper than that. I was crying because so many times me and my husband have wanted to do things and couldn't because of the Army. We have never had a honeymoon, and we've never been on vacation...we really haven't done much. Between my school schedule, the cost of my school, and the Army, I feel like we never get to do anything. We both work our butts off to make a better life for ourselves and our future children, but we need a break for ourselves.

A couple months after Mr. I gets back, we're going to PCS. I feel like its a vicious cycle. Like we're never going to win (whatever that means). I feel like this is how our life goes:

He works. I go to school. I work. He trains. We move. He works. I go to school. Iwork. He trains. He deploys. I work. I go to school. He comes home. We move.

I just want to go somewhere warm, and sunny, that has a beach where we can enjoy just being with each other; no Army interuptions, no assignments due, no distractions. I really, really want that and I think that was the reason I started crying today.

I'm just trying to crawl my way to this deployment finish line the best I can but some days are harder than others...today was one of those days.

Yoga and Salsa Verde

Yeah, you read that correctly. I said, "Yoga and Salsa Verde." Those two things have kind of been consuming my life for the past couple days. I made a big 'ol batch of some kick ass salsa verde. I practically put it on EVERYTHING! Especially chicken quesadillas (corn tortillas, of course, gotta keep the tummy happy). I'll put the recipe at the end of the post, so you can all indulge is the green goodness.

Now to the yoga part. I've never really done yoga before but some of the poses were always incorporated into my exercises. I've always loved aggressive sports and I continuously thought of yoga as a cool down, not necessarily a complete exercise.

As the years have gone by high impact sports have become increasing more uncomfortable. I guess 10 years of soccer, 4 years of cross country, and 3 years of softball can do a number on your joints (especially my knees). This past winter my knees were not doing well in the cold, so I quit running and started using my elliptical more. Let me just say, I don't like ellipticals, the movement is so awkward for me, the only thing I like about them is how many calories they burn.

One of my other passions is kickboxing, I took the classes for a few years and LOVED it! I stopped doing it once we moved to our last duty station because there wasn't a gym close enough that offered the classes. One day, I would LOVE to join a kickboxing gym. It's one of those dream goals that I have for myself. We're moving again in like seven months, so nows not the time for me to fall in love with a kickboxing gym but I'm definitely going to look into it at our next duty station. But my point of writing about this is because at the end of every class we would do yoga for the last 10 or 15 minutes and it was so nice and relaxing and I completely enjoyed it.

I've thought about the relaxing aspect of it a lot lately, especially while Mr. I has been away in Afghanistan. I could use all the relaxing techniques I can get! So, I was talking to Mr. I on Wednesday and somehow yoga got brought up. I was telling him how I've been wanting to try it out.  I also mentioned thinking about possibly purchasing a DVD (I'm too chicken to take a class without testing the waters first). My smarty pants husband reminded me that he added Netflix to the Wii while he was here on R&R and that I could probably find a DVD there to follow. DUH! I don't know how I forgot about that, but I did. So, I searched Netflix and VIOLA! There were a bunch of DVDs and I actually found one that was called "Yoga for Health: Gastro-Intestinal Disorders." Oh, Yoga, you know me so well!

I did some "Crunch" video on Thursday. I don't think that was necessarily the best choice because it started out nice and easy then all of a suddent it became hard as hell quite challenging. I did the "Yoga for Health" one today and really liked it. It actually flew by and didn't even feel like I did an hour at all. Today I'm a teeny tiny bit sore which I like because then I know its actually doing something.

I'm really excited about trying more videos and eventually attending a class (they have them here on post). I'll let you know how it goes once I get enough courage and perfect this pose ;)

And if you've made it this far(you're awesome and certainly deserving), here's the salsa verde recipe:

Ingredients


2 chicken breasts

2 cups chicken broth

1 small white onion

3 clove garlic

2 teaspoons salt

2 pounds fresh tomatillos, husks removed

4 anaheim peppers (you can use jalapenos or serrano peppers if you wish, I just prefer the taste of the anaheim)

fresh cilantro (however much you like)


Directions

1.In a saucepan, combine chicken breast with chicken broth, half the onion, two cloves of garlic, and 2 teaspoons salt. Bring to a boil, and then boil for 20 minutes.

2. Prepare the tomatillos by removing the husks and giving them a rinse. Now its time to prepare the peppers. This is when you control the heat of the salsa. If you want it crazy hot throw in the peppers whole. I personally don't like my salsa verde screaming hot so I cut them open and take out the seeds and the ribs. This will remove all the heat if you do it correctly.

2.Now place the tomatillos and anaheim peppers in a pot with water, enough to cover them. Bring to boil, and continue boiling until tomatillos turn a different shade of green (from bright green to an army green color). Strain tomatillos and chiles, and place in a blender with the other half of  the onion, 1 clove garlic, and some cilantro (or not, if you're not a fan).

3. At this time the chicken should be ready. Reserve broth, set chicken aside to cool, and discard onion and garlic. Shred the chicken with a fork (or two :)).

4.Pour in reserved chicken broth into the blender Blend all ingredients until they are completely pureed.

And there you go!

It should look something like this, and taste like heaven.

 

 

Trying to Find the Silver Lining

I've had a rough week and I don't feel like whining and complaining about it, so instead I am going to force myself to search for the positive things that have happened in the last seven days.

1. I got a much needed, new vacuum on Sunday. A Dyson DC23 Turbinehead and I love it (and no, the Dyson people didn't pay me to say that).

    2. I deep cleaned my entire house on Tuesday and it felt amazing. Cleaning is somewhat therapeutic for me, it gives me a sense of control and makes me feel calm. When my house is completely clean I can fully concentrate on the other things I need to get gone.

    3. I'm struggling through my Precalculus class and my textbook didn't come with the access code for a tutorial website (I bought it used), so I was desperate willing to pay for the access code from anyone who would let me. Well the following conversation took place with a fellow classmate: 

Me: Hey, did the access code come with your book? 

Classmate: Yeah. 

Me: Do you use it? 

Classmate: No. 

Me: ((dying with excitement but playing it cool)) Can I buy it off of you?

Classmate: You don't need to buy it off of me...you can have it. 

(he hands me the access code)

Me: Noooo, I can't take it. 

Classmate: Yeah, you can. You can have it.

Me: Are you sure?! I will pay for it!

Classmate: ((laughs)) No. Don't worry about it. It's all yours.

And I thought to myself, "Wow, there are still generous people in the world!"

Sometimes when you've had a bad day (or week) you feel as if humanity has gone down the drains. Then, the universe comes and smacks you over the head with a great gesture from a good sameritan and the world is good again!

4. Mr. I came back from his last two mission safely. I am so very thankful for this.

5. I found out that next week will be in the 60s. That is fabulous news! I need to dethaw and I think my Snow White skin could use a little sun.

6. I made the Pioneer Woman's Fettuccine Alfredo this weekend and it was to DIE for! No, really. It's butter, cream and cheese...you will die if you eat it. Hahaha, but what a way to go! I'm just kidding.

But seriously, it was so easy and it was soooooo good! I used half & half, since that's what I had on hand and, of course, I used gluten free pasta and even with the changes it was delicious! I can't wait to make it for Mr. I.



7. A perfect stranger gave me a compliment the other day. It made me feel good :)

This actually did make me feel better. Cheers to the silver lining!