I've not posted in forever

Life is crazy, what's new?

Well I should confess that I've decided that pushing myself to run a 5K in five weeks was a bit much for me.  I will, of course, still do it... just not on April 9th.  ;)

I'm loving student teaching at the high school... I mean LOVING it.  

Granted, so far I've just been helping with solos and ensembles since we're in contest season... I start teaching "my" pieces in another week.

I'm super pumped and also a bit anxious... I'm sure I'll learn a lot.  ;)

And on that note, I've got to go make some adjustments to a unit plan I start teaching this next week.

Ciao!

Day 4 of 5k Training

...and I thought I was going to die.

I was super pumped after our first run on Tuesday.  

It was only a 10 minute run, but I was fully convinced that running 5 minutes was an incredibly painful challenge for me, so when the timer rounded the 10 minute mark and I felt like I could have kept going, I couldn't believe it!

Yesterday was a walk day.

Today was the second run day...

this time for 15 minutes.

Still hanging on my excitement from Tuesday I believed the time bump would be a challenge, but not nearly as bad as I had originally anticipated.

WRONG.

I sincerely barely made it... my legs felt like they were going to collapse beneath me!  If my hubbers hadn't been running with me for encouragement and accountability, I probably would have quit early.

Pro: I made it.  I ran the 15 minutes, even if it was awful.

Con: The misery of it has left me considering whether or not running this 5k in less than a month is actually doable for me or if I'm pushing myself too hard, too fast.

So readers, are any of you avid runners?  

Do you have any encouragement?  

Advice?

Tomorrow is a walk day, 

Saturday rest...

Sunday... a 2 mile run.

Aye-aye, yeeshkah.

Back to School

Today was my first day student teaching at the high school.

It was great!

I love the people I'm working with and the students in the classes; it's going to be a great rest of the semester.  I have no doubts that I will be challenged over and over, learn a ton and then learn about what I still need to learn!  

...but I'm excited.

I can only hope the folks over there are half as excited to work with me as I am to be working with them.  ;)

Let the fumbles, stumbles and learning begin!

101 in 1001 Update

I promised I'd be checking in and so, here I am!  =)

*~*Day 47 of 1001 *~*

So far the following has been accomplished...

 33. Pay off Mark's Loans

January 30, 2011

Mark's return bonus came in from our time in Texas and we were able to make one big final payment -- Praise the Lord!

44. Establish a family calendar

January 18, 2011

Mom gave us a calendar for Christmas (tradition) so I sat down and filled it with birthdays and our regular schedules so that we can both more successfully keep track what's going on in our life together.  Yay organization!

45. Complete 'vows' project

February 14, 2011

While I was sick in bed with the plague, I was motivated to finish editing our photos and put this project together just in time to give to my hubby for Valentine's Day.  Ultimately I want to put them in custom 8x10 frames with a mat, but this is going to make due until we have extra money floating around to make that happen.  =)

48. Groom our dogs at home

January 23, 2011

This was less scary than I thought!  I did cut a few nails into the quick on Skylar, for which I felt horrible about and spent the evening coddling him to make up for it.  But all in all, I thought his hair cut {which I was most nervous about} turned out adorable!

69. Get the house rekeyed

February 9, 2011

For an affordable $170 The Lock Doctor put all eight of our door locks back on one key {as opposed to 5 separate keys -- praise the Lord!}, even fixed the lock on our storm door and adjusted our strike plate so we don't have to body slam the front door to close it anymore.  =D  The Lock Doctor comes highly recommended from the Young household!

91. Make chicken and dumplings

January 18, 2011

Okay, they weren't good, but I made them.  This item is going to remain in the 'take another swing at it if time allows' pile.  ;)

...and the following are works in progress...

9. Make a T-shirt quilt from GAL shirts

I've got all of my shirts cut to size, filler/backing material and thread purchased.  Now I've just got to get brave enough to start sewing!  {I'm nervous about having my quilt turn out crooked.}

24. Complete 5 crafts in my "Whit's Projects" folder

I have completed my first two projects of five.  The first was ribbon covered baby clips.  I gave these to my dear friend Britney for her little Piglet who is due any day now!  The second was making sweater wrist warmers, which I am in love with.

25. Complete a 5k

I am signed up for a race on April 9th and started training today.  

Here is the training schedule I'm following.

51. Paint the interior of our home

Paint samples and supplies are purchased and we're gearing up!  I am still wrestling with finding the correct shade for a "robin's egg blue" ...I'm sure you'll see a post on that soon.  ;)

55. Complete our landscaping project

Back in January we ran back and forth with three truck/trailer loads of FREE landscaping rock from a friend who wanted to get rid of theirs.  Praise the Lord for free provision!  Now we wait for warmer weather to start digging trenches where we will build our natural rock wall.

62. Put pictures in all our empty frames

I decided to work one room at a time with this and, again while sick with the plague, printed off some cute pictures to fill the frames in our bedroom first. 

66. Create a gift-wrapping/crafting organization station

I found this awesome gift wrap organization bag at Big Lots a few weeks back for $3!  Yes please.  So that area is finally contained and just the other day I had a few brilliant ideas for the crafting organization... it will be happening soon!

And that's what I've been up to lately!

Already I'm so surprised by how much I've accomplished and how many of the items in progress are coming along so quickly!  This is definitely a fun way to keep track and stay motivated...

If you would like to check out the original "101 in 1001" post you can click here.  I'll be updating it with completion dates and links to update posts {such as this one} as I go.

Chicken Quesadilla Salad

Some have requested the recipe for my chicken quesadilla salad so lucky you, I've decided to share!  ;)

My initial motivation to pursue this tasty meal stemmed from my all-time favorite salad at Chili's: The Quesadilla Explosion Salad.

I was craving this fav salad of mine for dinner one night while we were in Texas, an hour away from the nearest Chili's and too cheap to pay to eat out even if it had been in our back yard.  So I started racking my brain for what I could remember in the salad that I loved oh so much... and this is what I created!

Ingredients:

chicken breast

onion

garlic

salt

pepper

crushed red pepper

garlic salt

corn

bell peppers

beans of choice

cilantro

lettuce

shredded cheddar cheese

sour cream

vinaigrette salad dressing

taco seasoning

tortilla strips

I know, seems like a long ingredient list, but it's truly a simple and tasty meal to prepare!

Instructions:

Dice chicken (bite size), onion and garlic and saute in skillet.  Season with salt, pepper, red pepper and garlic salt.  When chicken is cooked through, reduce heat to simmer and add corn, bell peppers (diced) and beans (I'm not a bean fan, but I added it to the recipe because there are beans on my fav salad at Chili's so, you know, if you're a bean person...).  Let simmer until veggies are tender.

{Portions and chicken:veggie ratio is really up to what you prefer... if you like more chicken or more veggies... whatever!}

Meanwhile, mix 2-3 tablespoons (or to taste preference) taco seasoning into vinaigrette salad dressing. {I've tried a few different options and my absolute favorite dressing to use for this is Kraft Sun Dried Tomato Vinaigrette}

Top shredded lettuce with chicken & veggies then add toppings as desired {cheese, sour cream, dressing, tortilla strips}... Slice a cheese quesadilla into fourths and lay them around the sides of the salad.

Enjoy!

PS, My hubby's grandma has the most amazing recipe for taco seasoning which is what I use, but I can't find the recipe card right now so I linked a rather generic taco seasoning recipe that I've also used before -- it's still good, just not as good as grandma's, of course.  ;)  If there are any specific requests for it, I can post it separately another time.