I swear I had stuff to blog about

And it all seems to have escaped me. I will be getting a few different types of recommended socks for running and will review those so look for that at a later date. Bear with me if I'm all over the place as I remember things.

Today, I think I figured out why I run. I get hurt playing sports. I don't have the fastest reaction times so I end up twisting, turning, getting hit, whatever. Playing volleyball tonight, the person in front of me(whom I thought had the ball) instead stepped out of the way so I tried to save it. My saving it was a "bump" to which it only hit the ends of my knuckles when it should have hit my forearms. The force of the ball then shoved my hands downward, bending my wrist in the wrong direction. I'm ok, a little sore and swollen, but I shall live. I think.....

I've also decided it's time to go see a doctor. I'm one of those people that will put things off forever and ever until I have a list of about 5 things I need to see them for and unfortunately it's usually different doctors for different things. 1) I need to check up on my thyroid, I'm supposed to do it ever 6-8 weeks, I think it's been about 10. Whoops. 2) I need to get my back fixed. My hips are off center which causes me some lower back pain, typically a quick trip to the chiro helps. 3) Feminine stuff, I won't bore you. ;)

That's all I've got for now, I reserve the right to blog again later. :D

Happy Thanksgiving!

We're not going home until tomorrow so it's just me and IG today. Hanging out at home. Everyone take a moment to reflect on what you have. Remember those who can't be home to visit with their friends and family. All the military who are out fighting for our freedom, the policemen out patrolling our highways to make sure everyone is safe, the fireman who respond to a call when someone catches something on fire with a turkey fryer, and many more. All these people make it possible for us to enjoy our time off at home visiting with those we love.

I'm thanksful for a lot this year. My husband, it's been rough, especially through a year deployment, but we're making it and I'm thankful he puts up with me and my nonsense. We both have somewhat steady jobs and were able to buy a home, even if it is just a 2 bedroom condo. I'm thankful for my family; my newly married aunt, my little cousin excelling in college, my sister just got her CNA and is back in school, and my newly engage mother. I'd be lost without all of them. My in-laws are awesome too, I really wish we could visit more but 8 hours is a long drive! I'm thankful for my friends, there are far to many too list but know that I love each and every one of you. All of the above mentioned are healthy and happy and safely at home, except one, Mikey, come home soon buddy!

The weirdest November ever

1st of all, it was 65 degrees today, along with thunderstorms and a tornado that actually touched down by my office. Thanksgiving is in 3 days! I have never, in the over a decade I have lived in Illinois, seen it that warm this late in the year. I have seen snow on Halloween, and of course Thanksgiving. But never this warm. The temperature is already plummeting, as they promised it would. It should be a brisk 30(ish) degrees on Thursday, there is talks of snow, but the ground is still too warm to stick. We have a saying here in IL "If you don't like the weather today, stick around, it'll be different tomorrow." Boy is it true this year.

Secondly, how is it Thanksgiving already? I guess time flies when you work, go to school(although I did take this semester off but went the last two), travel for pleasure, travel for training for work and you're busy all the time. So we're scrambling a bit for holiday plans. Up until today we weren't sure if IG would have to work Friday or not, so our plans have changed a dozen times. Now that we have plans nailed down(Thursday at home, Friday at my mom's, Saturday at my aunt's) we can relax a bit. This year will be pretty laid back anyway.

This weekend is also huge for us because it's the Ohio State vs. Michigan game. Did I ever tell you that we had tickets to that game? Those of you who aren't NCAAF fans probably don't care, those of you who know anything about it know that the OSU vs. Michigan game is one of the biggest rivalries in college football. Long story short, we bought some tickets for our anniversary that were OSU vs. Eastern Michigan from a friend who works at OSU. She mistakenly handed us the wrong tickets, actually the tickets for this weekend. Because she is a dear friend and we'd like to keep it that way ;) we called her and switched them back. It was nice to hold those tickets in our hands for a little while though. *sigh*

Tilapia and quinoa....and me complaining

I took out some tilapia for dinner, which is one of my favorite fishes since it's a mild white fish and not super fishy tasting. I also made my first attempt of quinoa which is a wheat free, gluten free alternative to rice, oatmeal, breading, it's very versatile.

For the tilapia,
4 tilapia filets
1 tbsp of Adobo all-season salt
1 tbsp of chili powder
then I squeezed to limes over the fish and cooked in a skillet.

Quinoa, I use the two to one method and used 1/2 chicken stock and 1/2 water to boil it like rice. It turned out pretty well. The texture is a bit interesting but it still tasted good. Add a side of asparagus and viola! Yummy meal.

Now for my complaining.

There is nothing that irritates me more than people who spew off at the mouth not really knowing what they're talking about and giving stupid advice. On a message board I frequent, a girl was worried because her husband had not yet received his enlistment bonus(it's only been 6 months).

The advice she received?

1) Call an attorney
2) Contact the military's legal office
3) Call her senator
4) Call the investigative general(IG) who handles issues within a military unit. Like when someone files a complaint against someone in their chain of command.

Now I won't go into all the reasons as to why this is wrong and in so many ways but I will say this. Unless you have been there and done that and know what you're talking about....please stay out of it. If you go and tell your spouse, or worse you yourself, go and do any of the above, it's going to reflect badly upon your service member. If your SM is not sure who to go to, they need to run it up their chain of command. We have the chain for a reason, to solve problems at the lowest level. If my Soldiers come to me with an issue, I do everything within my power to solve it myself, if I can't I enlist help from someone with more rank than me.

So in summary, unless you know what you're talking about, kindly STFU. Kthxbai.

Deer Chili(and some random thoughts)

Those of you who come from a background similar to mine know that it's deer season. And it's this time of year that you switch from the usual ground beef, pot roasts and steaks to ground deer burger, venison, and deer roast. Deer can be a bit tricky to cook since it tastes a little more game-y than regular beef. Easily fixed as long as you know what to do with it. It's not like burger you can just throw on a grill or a steak you broil. It needs to be seasoned and/or mixed with other meats because it is very lean. So I made my first crock pot of deer chili and here's the recipe I used.

1 lb of ground deer
1 packet chili mix
3 tbsp of chili powder
2 tbsp cayenne pepper
1 can of stewed tomatoes
1 can of black beans
1 small white onion
1 tbsp of garlic
1 tbsp of fresh ground black pepper
1/2 tbsp os sea salt
and a dash of Worcestershire sauce.

Now, I love my crock pot and I am a firm believer in not having to cook anything before it goes into said crockpot. So I actually started the chili last night. Let it cook on low until this afternoon and it switched to warm(it has a timer). Served tonight and the husband loved it, as did I.

Random thoughts,
My extension got kicked back because it was the wrong format. NBD. It got redone at drill weekend and has been resubmitted. Apparently they're not worried that I'm less than 60 days from my ETS(the day I get out). *insert nervous laugh*

We played volleyball tonight. It was MUCH more fun this week. "All-Star" seems to have quit, as we guessed, along with our "captain" who broke her wrist. We got 3 new girls all of which are super nice, know pretty much what they're doing and our communication vastly improved. I look forward to the rest of the season now.

I think I've convinced IG to turn our hallway closet into a pantry. My friend Em's pantry looks about the size of our closet so I want to mimic hers. That's what I'm asking for for Christmas! :)

Today is bittersweet

Today is Veteran's Day. Today is a day that we remember those who have served, past and present and thank them for that sacrifices.

This day always puts me in awkward situations. I often get text messages, facebook messages or people who thank me on the street. While I appreciate being thanked, I never really quite know what to say. I love what I do and have since day 1. My deployment sucked, hello it's a desert! But I feel weird saying "you're welcome" because I feel that I was just doing my job. More noble/courageous/brave/whatever than most jobs? Maybe. But to me, my passion and desire to serve is still my job.


I do what I do because I love it so thank you to all of you who thank the veterans in your life and the ones you see on the street.

And to those who don't support the war, protest the troops, think we're fighting in vain,(especially the Westboro Baptist Church) I hope you enjoy your freedom of speech. America is the land of the free because of the brave.

Bear with me

As I change some things around. I'm still new to this blogging thing.

How do you like it so far?

Christmas came early

IG had been wanting an Ipad forever. I have been browsing the Apple store for a few months debating back and forth on whether or not to get him one. Then I found a refurbished one, for about 47% cheaper than a brand new one. Sold!

Well, FedEx tried to deliver it yesterday and guess who got home and got the door tag before me? Yep. So he begged and pleaded and whined and I gave in and let him open it(after we went to pick it up.) Needless to say he was happy as a kid on Christmas. So happy, in fact, that he stayed up until 3 am playing on the darn thing. I gave up waiting for him at around 11 pm. So now, he's lying next to me sleeping, at not even 9 pm, to catch up on what he lost last night. Silly boys and their toys.

What's on your Christmas list?

*sidenote*
Happy 235th birthday to the United States Marine Corps. I hope my brothers and sisters in arms have a blast(safely) at their birthday balls.

Why is it

than when someone else is a huge grump ass, you become one too?

A couple weeks ago we signed up for a volleyball league sponsored by our gym. Good way to meet people, it's a sport we like, so on. Tonight was our first game. There's 7 of us, 1 awesome chick who's in it to have fun, 1 super tall Polish guy who's pretty good, 1 Hispanic chick who has never played before, 1 chick who has but didn't know she was our captain and may have broken her wrist first game, me and IG and the all star.

Now, I've played team sports. I used to play mostly softball and I've piddled around in the volleyball world but this guy reminded me why team sports aren't my favorite thing. All star thinks he is high and mighty, as we all get in a circle to warm up, he stand off to the side not speaking to anyone. Then once the game starts, he's a show off. He's all over the court, not subbing out like he's supposed to. Every time he walked over to stand next to me he got a complete side eye from me. Now I'm no means an amazing player but I know the basics and can hold my own, so him being all up in my AO(area of operations) just irritated the life out of me. IG noticed it and thinks all star will quit because he thinks we're beneath him. I hope he's right, otherwise, we may duke it out.

On another note, I'm taking a break from working out. I think I may have pinched a nerve in my back and I have my POWER test next weekend. So I'm going to rest up. The next few weeks are going to be busy; drill, I have a couple classes for my job, IG is in training for some new computer system. So, yeah...I'll be around. :)

Umm....I'm running a half marathon

13.1 miles. Holy cow right? I registered for the Chicago Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon on August 21, 2011. Plenty of time.....right? I'm already looking for a couple 5 and 10K races to run to prepare myself. I'm pretty excited.

Why this race? I picked the Rock 'n' Roll half because it benefits the American Cancer Society. My grandda has kidney cancer, a dear friend's father has colon cancer, another friend lost her mother to breast cancer....my point? I wanted to benefit ALL types of cancer research. Don't get me wrong, Susan G. Komen does great things for breast cancer but I couldn't pick just one to dedicate to. So why not all of them? If you are interested in donating to my cause, you can find my page here. My goal is to raise $1,000 between now and August. Every penny helps!


So I'm having to shuffle around my workout schedule again. Nothing huge but I tried a pilates class for the first time last week and LOVED it. So instead of running MWF and lifting TTHS, I'm flip flopping. I'm going to start sort of incorporating Hal Higdon's half marathon training.

Monday - swim/bike/easy run and NROLFW
Tues - Distance run
Wed - Pilates and swim/bike/easy run
Thurs - Distance run or intervals
Fri - swim/bike/easy run and NROLFW
Sat - distance run

This is going to be long

HI! I'm alive! I'm so not good at this blogging thing. So, let's catch up shall we?

Work is amazing. I LOVE, absolutely LOVE my job. I mainly do case work for SLANT(state-line anti narcotics team) but also help them with busts. When we do a bust I help them go through all the evidence, look for any ties to other cases/suspects we have and so on. Analyst work. The more I see what they do and the more I work with these guys, the MORE I want to be a cop. I'm trying but with one department laying off 21-35 cops next month and the state not looking to hire until next year, it's kinda tough. So I'm working on improving my scores for testing and being as prepared as I can be. I'm also abusing this job and taking all the training, classes, experience they'll give me. I take my POWER(Police Officer Wellness Evaluation Report) next month which is 1.5 mi run(easy peasy) 1 bench press, 31 sit ups and a sit 'n' reach. Once I finish that I will test with a PD in December and hopefully again in Jan. Someday....

Today I ran another 5K. I got a personal record(PR) of 34:47. Which surprised me because it was COLD! I'm talking probably freezing or less, but oh well. I "ran for the athletes" with the Aurora, IL police department. We raised $9,000 for the 2011 IL Special Olympics. The best part was when the last runner crossed the finish, he was a teenage boy with special needs. I had passed him and his mom as she helped him with his inhaler and he gave me a high five. I told him to keep going. 30 minutes or so later, he came around the bend for the last 1/4 of a mile, the police department and fire department ran around and formed a group around him and he started running, they encouraged him the whole way. Every person who was there crowded the finish line; clapping, cheering, whistling and he sprinted. He crossed the finish and threw his hands up in the air in victory. It was amazing. And some race photos.





















Lastly, my spaghetti recipe by request. We like spicy but I wanted to make sure it tasted "italian" so here's the list of what I used.

Jar of generic meat sauce
1 lb of ground beef(browned)
1 bag of pepperonis(chopped)
Now, spices are approximate, I recommend using them to taste.
1 Tbsp basil
1 tbsp Oregano
1 Tbsp Cayenne pepper
2 Tbsp Chili powder
1/2 Tbsp sea salt
1 Tsp black pepper
1 clove garlic
1/2 white onion(minced)
1/4 C of low fat cream cheese to make it creamy(Thanks Maria for the tip!)

I browned the ground beef then threw everything in the crockpot, put it on low for 4 hours then warm until dinner. It was amazing and it got the husbands seal of approval(which is huge b/c he has no taste buds/sense of smell).

Now I'm off to nap then out with friends later. Have a great weekend!