5K Challenge: Frostbite 5K

I decided for the year of 2013, I want to do a 5K every month.  I love 5Ks because they take less than an hour, your fees go to a good cause, and you get a free t-shirt!  Iowa weather can be a bitch to deal with, so I was nervous about doing them in January/February.  Turns out the 5K I registered for in January had perfect weather.  It was almost 50 degrees!

The 5K was called the Frsotbite 5K, which benefits the Alzheimer's Association for the Quad Cities.

I convinced my sister to go since it was near her (she lives two hours away), and then we got my eight-year-old nephew Bloom to go.

My sister and I wanted to walk so we could catch up and talk (and mostly because we are out of shape) but being a typical eight year old, Bloom wanted to run ahead.  I told him if he walked by us he could listen to my iPod.  He was good for a bit and decided to creep ahead of us.  I eventually had to run after the little turd, which I couldn't catch up to him.  There was a loop at the end for the .2 mile, and I caught him finally.  He ran the loop again with me, and we finished the race together.

I wasn't very happy with hum, but we finished five minutes before my sister.  My time was 48 minutes. Not great, but for not training at all I will take it.

The weather turned very cold the next day, so I'm not sure what February will bring.  If there is a month where I'm not able to do the 5K, I will do two in another month.  So far I'm one for one ;)

Not bad for a stroll in the park!

Parmesan Turkey Cutlets

Turkey was on sale at the market last week, so I bought a bunch of it!  I figured Pinterest would have some recipes I could use, and to no surprise, they did.  This was super easy, and it was very good.

Click here for recipe!

Most, if not all of the ingredients will probably be in your pantry, which is bomb.  

What you'll need:

½ cup dry Italian bread crumbs

2 heaping tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese

1 tbsp. parsley flakes

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. lemon pepper 

1/4 tsp. thyme 

5 sliced turkey cutlets

3 tbsp. melted butter or olive oil

What you'll do:

Preheat oven to 350°. Combine bread crumbs, cheese and seasonings in shallow dish. Dip turkey cutlets in crumb mixture. Coat both sides well. Spray baking dish with olive oil cooking spray. Place cutlets in baking dish and drizzle with olive oil. Bake, uncovered, for approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Mr Whoa rating:

****

He liked them just fine.  He was worried the turkey would be dry, but it was juicy.

Part Three: My year in review

16.  Finish my tattoo.  I dId post before that I did get this done.  This is the beginning of the tattoo.  At my old job I could not have a sleeve, so I took the concept and put it on my side.  My dad was in the Navy and was very proud of his Irish background, so I wanted to intermix the two.  As you can see below I did a horseshoe for good luck, an anchor with a heart, a swallow holding two hearts for my Ma and Pa, and yes, those are brass knuckles with clovers for the finger holes.

Two years, and many painful hours later:

I added a ship wheel, a compass rose, and nautical stars which all mean finding direction in life.  And of course the back to tie it all together is the squid.  Squid is a nickname for people in the Navy.

17.  Take a spa day.  Well I had a spa day over a couple of days.  Before Vegas I did get a mani/pedi, and in Las Vegas I got my hair and make up done.  It was so fun...I hope to do it every time I am out there.

18.  Pay it forward.  I was never really into Starbucks, but I started going there for their awesome Carmel Brulee lattes.  On two occasions I bought the person behind me their drink.  

19.  Take a cooking class.  I still need to do this.

20.  Burn 10,000 calories in a month.  Well this is my punishment for not blogging on a regular basis.  I mean January is over half over, and I am still updating you about LAST year.  I made a habbit of taking a picture of my heart rate monitor to show how many calories were burned, and guess what.  My phone broke.  I have no idea if I hit my goal.  :(

21.  Participate in the home delivered meal program.  I never got a chance to do this/

22.  Take care of me, medically.  I am still having issues with break-ours, but I assume a lot of it is my hard hat at work and my roller derby helmet.  I got new glasses, but I lost them.  My doctor moved, so I guess I'm back to square one.

23.  Have a make-up lesson.  One of my best friends and I went to Las Vegas for her 30th birthday in November.  I surprised her with appointments at the spa at the Venetian, to get our hair and make-up done.  It was so fun!  The staff was great.  Here is the finished product:

I can clean up nice.

24,  Get prettied before I go out of the house, at least twice a week.  I did pretty well at this!  It was nice looking presentable instead of like a hobo.

25.  Detox my closet.  I got rid of a ton of clothes!  I had great success with a Facebook for-sale page.  I made close to $800 just taking pictures and listing them on Facebook.  I need to do it again, but I made more space in my closet.  I guess this means I can shop ;)

26.  Be Mrs. Hallmark.  I sent a lot of cards, hopefully making a lot of peoples' days.  :D

27.  Get my 401K rolling.  Yes I know.  I know, okay???

28.  Plant a garden.  This was a huge fail.  I tried.  I bought stuff.  I tried to til and I got tired.  Maybe next year.

29.  Go horseback riding.  I did not get a chance to do this.  Hopefully this spring.

Don‘t sweat the small stuff.  I am trying.  I promise ;-)

So in a nutshell I didn't do too bad.  I took care of some major things that I had been putting off for a long time.  Here is to a new year, and hopefully more things checked off!

Part Two: My year in review

9.  Lose 20 pounds.  Wellllll this didn't happen.  I weigh the same as I did pretty much last year, so I guess yay on no gain?  Losing weight is getting harder and harder, and I just can't find the motivation to do anything about it yet.

10.  Host a holiday party.  Well I did it!  I should have taken more pictures I guess.  My sister called me two days before Christmas asking if I would host, so I went into panic mode.  I had to clean clean clean, and I had to buy all the food.

Menu:

Crab dip

Shrimp

Veggies

Cheeseburger Soup

Baked chicken parmesan

Twice baked potato casserole

Breadsticks

Beer and wine.  Lots of beer and wine.

My sister brought a pecan pie and a cheesecake assortment.  It turned out great for the most part!  I was just super tired after planning and cooking.  My mama made it look so easy!

11.  Not buy anything for an entire week.  Lol...next question.

12.  Start therapy.  Next.

13.  Eat at the Melting Pot.  I still haven't made it up there :(   Oh how I would love to dip foods in yummy melty cheese and chocolate.

14.  Hire a cleaning service:  I haven't done this yet.  My biggest battle is just putting shit away, which a cleaning service doesn't do anyway.  I managed to get my house squeaky clean before the holidays, but maybe down the road it would be nice to have someone else clean the bathroom.

15.  Read six books.  I couldn't even do that!  I really need to buckle down and start reading more.  I started several and just never got a chance to finish.  I thought getting them from the library would help push me to finish them, but that just got me an $11 fee  :p

This is my halfway point.  As you can see there was quite a bit I didn't accomplish, but the stuff I did really needed to be taken care of.  :)

Part 1: My year in review.

So the year 2012 is coming to an end, and I am another year older now.  I didn't knock off a lot on my bucket list, but there is always next year.  Maybe next year I will get better about blogging ;)

1.  Travel somewhere I've never been.  I did get to visit Las Vegas twice this year and had a good time both times.  I have been there before tho.  I did get a chance to visit somewhere I've always wanted to go:

Holy cow.  I didn't even buy anything because I was overwhelmed with the coolness.  This store literally has EVERYTHING:  I can see why people are so crazy.

2.  Make a pie from scratch.  I still haven't done this, but I will in time.

3.  Run a half marathon.  Another year has passed where I haven't done this.  We went from two shifts to four at work, and I had to work EVERY weekend since January.  I am hoping now that I am on days during the week, I will get a chance to run one.

4.  Pay off three credit cards:  I can do one better....I paid them all off!  I have a few balances from Christmas shopping, but I am no longer drowning in debt like I was before.

5.  Save and maintain at least $1500.  I did it!  One trick that helps me save it to round up my withdraws and round down my deposits.  It may be just a few dollars and cents here and there, but that really adds up!

6.  Try one new recipe a week.  Thanks to Pinterest, I found some great recipes.  I don't think I made a new one every week, but it did get me cooking a lot more.

7.  Skate in a roller derby bout.  Well, I wasn't able to.  With my crazy work schedule and my mom getting ill and passing away, I had to take a break from the team.  It was a hard decision, but I couldn't let those awesome ladies down.  I was given the opportunity to try out again this fall, and I made the team!

8.  Finish the downstairs bedroom.  It has all new paint and wallpaper!  I'm not sure what I will do with the room as of now, but its no longer an eye sore.  

Old wallpaper and paint

Pretty purple and grey paint!

Flash from the Past....week of October 5th

Coworkers from the present...

Coworkers of the past....

Frankenruby  :-D

Fried Mac and Cheese

My breast friends.....

Talk derby to me....new helmet.  :D

Cheesy Enchilada Casserole

It's definitely casserole weather here in Iowa.  I found this recipe on Pinterest (weird, right).  It was very easy to make, and made my tummy smile.  

What you'll need:

1 pound lean ground beef ( lean)

1 large onion, chopped or season with Onion powder or minced onion

2 1/2 cups salsa

1 can (15 ounces) black beans or red kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1/4 cup reduced-fat Italian salad dressing

Taco seasoning packet

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

6 flour or corn tortillas (8 inches)

1 small can of drained corn, or about 1 1/4 cups of frozen corn (optional)

3/4 cup sour cream  *Note: I used 1/2 cup

2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend or your favorite cheese

1 cup shredded lettuce

1 medium tomato, chopped

1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro

What you'll do:

• In a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.
• Stir in the salsa, beans, corn, dressing, sour cream, taco seasoning and cumin.
• Spoon a generous layer of meat mixture on bottom of 2 quart baking dish. Sprinkle with grated cheese.
• Place a flour or corn tortilla on top of meat mixture. Layer with half of the meat mixture, and cheese. Repeat as many layers as you like.
• The last & final layer should be a healthy dose of grated cheese.
• Cover with foil that has been sprayed with pam or other and bake at 400° for 25 minutes, or until hot & bubbly.
•  Let stand for 5 minutes before topping with lettuce, tomato and cilantro. Yield: 8 servings.

Mr. Whoa rating:
√√√√

I think it would have been a lot better had I added more tortillas.