Goal#55 – Eat something I have never eaten before

This might come across strange to many, but  I ate Dairy Queen for the first time. I had a cheeseburger, fries and a Cookie Dough Blizzard. Of course I have had a burger and fries before but it was my first time trying out a blizzard and I must say I was super dissapointed. I mean people act like its the best thing in the world and always seem to look at me like I am an alien when I tell that I have never had a blizzard before. I tried the cookie dough blizzard and it did nothing for me.

But with that, I get to mark of Goal# 55 off my list.

RESOLVE

Yup

This pretty much describes how I feel today

Picture Wednesday

SRR and Poontater were in Jacksonville, FL for Supercross. I would have to say it was the BEST rest I have seen so far and it had me out of my seat the whole 20 laps.

Here are some highlights!

The G.O.A.T - Ricky Carmichael

Pretty in Pink

Poon's bachelorette party - June 2006

Call me *Chef P*

We are trying to eat at home more often and I have been wanting to try some new things in the kitchen. I made the following and I must say that they were both delish (should have snapped a picture). This is the first time I have ever made either dish…

This photo was borrowed from google

 Chicken Cordon-Bleu the easy way

• 4 thinly sliced chicken breast half’s
• 6 slices of Swiss cheese
• 4 slices of cooked ham (I found it in the deli isle)
• Seasoned bread crumbs
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 4 toothpicks

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Sprinkle the chicken with salt & pepper. Lay a slice of Swiss cheese and a slice of ham on the chicken breast and roll it. Secure it with a tooth-pick. Place rolled chicken in a Pyrex dish. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and place in oven for 30-35 minutes (or until no longer pink). Remove chicken from the oven and place half a slice of Swiss cheese on each piece of chicken and return to oven until cheese is melted. Remove and let it cool for a few minutes before cutting through it. DELISH!!!

I served it with pan grilled/seared asparaugus tossed (he he I said tossed) in olive oil.

 Chicken Salad

Not my photo - but it looked almost just like it

• 4 cups of cubed cooked chicken
• 1 cup of mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 cup dried cranberries (I used orange flavored craisens)
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1 cup chopped celery (I did not use any – because I have a hate/hate relationship with celery)
• 1 cup chopped pecans (or nut of your choice)
• ½ teaspoon of garlic salt
• Ground black pepper to taste

In a medium bowl, mix together mayonnaise with paprika and garlic salt. Blend in dried cranberries, celery, onion, and nuts. Add chopped chicken, and mix well. Season with black pepper to taste. Chill 1 hour or more.

I served it over whole wheat oat and nut bread of some sorts. It was really good!

C-H-A-N-G-E

Change has always been something I have avoided. Most of the time I like things the way they are, or even if I don’t like things the way they are my fear of change would take over and cripple me to move forward. My fear kept me at a job I disliked and hated more and more everyday. It kept me from going to school to get my degree. It kept me from taking the leap to sell the house. It kept me from 100% agreeing to move to NC… you get the idea! This was nothing new to me. I have always been afraid of change, but as an adult I found it to be more and more crippling and it started to effect the way I felt about myself and life in general.

But the thing is that, every time I take a chance and take the leap I am always shocked at the end results and the AWESOME feelings that come with it. Like letting my old boss know that I was leaving… as scared as I was, man it felt so good. Of course I had to deal with the freak out moments of not having a job and the fact that after being somewhere for 7 years I was now in the looking for a job field and interviews scare the crap out of me (we will talk about my social issues at another time). But in the end I DID IT! I am now at a job like a like and could possibly see a future within the company if I wanted to.

Now let’s talk about selling the house and moving to NC. That was about 4+ years in the making. I had many many deep issues related to selling the house and moving somewhere where I felt I would be very vulnerable because I did not know anyone. But after a lot work with therapy and support from SRR I was ready to take the jump and move. Once I felt comfortable in my own skin and I felt strong as a person the whole process came very easy. I mean leaving my friends and what I have known as life for 10+ years was very hard, but I was now looking forward to our new life and was truly excited (without the fear taking over) for the first time since the NC conversation first came up. I know that my SRR will always be there for me and he knows that I will always be there for him no matter what. And as scary and lonely the process could have been, we had each other (and of course Ollie & Sugar). Once we were ready things just fell in the place like it was all meant to be… and one thing after another, things worked them self’s out and September 2008 we hit the road. And to this day I am so happy that we made the change in our lives and moved. I love being closer to extended family and everything else about NC (the cost of living kind of sucks), but everything else makes up for it.

I am a much different person then I was just 2 years ago and it’s OK. Change is not always going to come easy and I know that, but the more I trust my self the easier each step will be.

Now for another huge change in my life – I need to submit my application for Nursing School.  

Random-ness

I just dumped 587 pictures off my SLR to my computer and here are some random photos….

Christmas 2008

What remains of my right foot

Ollie sleeping - taken a few moments ago

Come out – Come out where ever you are…

Hmmmm let’s see… Poontater has not been up to much lately, just sort of slacking on the blogging side of things. Nothing too exciting, but here is a little summary for ya:

• The foot is still healing. As of two days ago I started wearing shoes (well more like my Croc’s and slippers). Yup… you read that right. I have been wearing slippers to work and it’s awesome.
• We had snow and 86 degree’s in the same week and it was GREAT.
• I saw Watchmen and thought it completely SUCKED (in my opinion) and it was about 2.5 hours too long.
• SRR and I are going out for our first Meet-Up tomorrow night and I am very excited. We are meeting the Cary/Raleigh area 20’s/30’s couple for dinner and some drinks.
• I was in the slumps after being off my medication for almost 3 weeks and the world completely sucked. But I am back on it now and things are only half sucking.
• SRR and I are going to Jacksonville in 3 weeks to watch Supercross live and I cannot wait. I love having something so awesome to look forward to.
• I went in for my physical yesterday and apparently I am SUPER DUPER healthy. I have no early signs of diabetes, high blood pressure or heart problems (other then that my heart beats much slower then an average person, which I already knew). My cholesterol was perfect. This made me super happy; because diabetes and high blood pressure runs in my family history and being overweight I was a little concern. But this is GREAT news.  

I guess that’s pretty much it. See, told you it was nothing too exciting. Now that I am out of the slump’s I will be more active on poontater.com – stay tuned! 

Sugar says Hi

Just Because it was AWESOME

James *Bubba* Stewart

And your CHAMP is...