Five Question Friday

I love Five Question Friday.  It's like an instant post, which is a good thing on Friday.  I'm busy today.  I have about three hours from the time I leave school until hubby gets here.  In this time, I have to pick up something from the bakery, make a quick stop at the mall, make dinner, get my walk/jog in, and grab a shower.  Enough rambling from me let's get to the questions.



1. Where do you hide the reeeally good snacks?
Well, seeing as we don't have kids, I don't have to hide the snacks.  I might need to start hiding them from myself, though.  Seriously I have been reducing the snacks I buy so that I won't eat them.  Since I am trying to get my exercise routine going, I have been trying to eat a healthier snack.  Right now I am eating a lot of bananas to reduce the leg cramps I've been getting.  I also really like the thin little granola bars that have dark chocolate on the bottom.  They are so yummy!

2. Do u keep your vehicle clean or am I the only one who has things falling out of their van?
Two out of our three cars are kept pretty clean, the two I actually drive.  Now of course they get the occasional receipt or other miscellaneous trash left in there, but are cleaned out regularly.  Hubby's old mustang on the other hand, is full of trash most of the time.  He drives it to work, to school, and on the drive to NWA so it gets trash, food wrappers, empty coke cans, and napkins left in it.  It gets cleaned out when I tell him it really needs to be done.  The good news for me is that I don't have to ever ride in it.

3. Have you ever been to Vegas?
Yes, I went with one of my friends about 10 years ago on Spring Break.  We had a nice time and stayed at a couple of different hotels on the strip.  We didn't gamble hardly at all, instead spent our time watching the free entertainment at the casinos and looking around.  I would love to go back, but not to gamble.  The casinos are amazing to look at; some even have really nice art to look at.  I would also love to see Celine Dion live and take in a Cirque du Soleil show (I love the one at Disney World).  I also wouldn't mind going to the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop (from Pawn Stars).
 
4. Warm room light blankets or cold room warm snuggly blanket?
 I would rather have a cooler room so I can get under all the warm covers.  We tend to keep the house kinda chilly, especially when I'm with hubby.  He is like a human heater.  If we kept the house too warm we would be sweating.  Yuck!
 
5. What is the worst airplane/flying experience you've ever had?
Umm, let's see...I've never really had a bad experience on the airplane.  No major turbulence or scary landing.  But, I did have a bad experience in an airport once.  It was on my trip to Vegas.  We went to Vegas in March of 2002, which was pretty soon after 9/11 so they had a lot of security in the airports.  We flew from Memphis, which is an international airport so they had the scary military guys standing around with the big, scary guns.  We were 21 and 22 year girls, so I'm sure they seemed worse than they really were.  We waited in line to go through security.  Apparently we looked threatening or some because they pulled us and our carry-ons aside and took us behind a curtain thing.  The searched our bags, made us take our shoes off, and swabbed our feet for explosive residue.  That totally freaked me out.  We checked out fine and were allowed to go on our way.  Thank goodness the return flight was uneventful or I might have sworn off flying forever.
 
Have a great weekend!

Thursday Thoughts

*  I just finished my walk/jog.  I thought I was dying again.  However, I think I may have died just a little less than on Monday.  Maybe tomorrow I'll die just a little less than today.  I will definitely be repeating week 1 on Ease into 5K next week.  I still have to work on the breathing think.  The weather is sure helping out with this endeavor.  It was almost 60 in mid-January.  I can't ask for better than that.

*  I have to get out of this recliner and get cooking.  We have a potluck at school tomorrow and I am making Taco Bites.  It's another recipe I got off Pinterest.  My cooking life would be so dull without Pinterest.  If they turn out good, I will post the recipe next week.

*  I am so glad it's almost the weekend.  Hubby is coming up tomorrow and mom will be here on Saturday.  We will be celebrating mom's birthday by going to a Razorback basketball game and out to eat at one of our favorite restaurants, Venesian Inn.  It's been open since the 1940's.  We don't get to go there too often because it get really crowded on weekends, especially football weekends.  There will also be a few other birthday surprises that I'll have to share later just in case mom looks on here before this weekend.

Recipe: Oven Baked Frito Pie

Tonight I tried another new recipe I found on Pinterest.  To see the linked post head on over to Pearls, Handcuffs, & Happy Hour.  It was good, quick, and easy, which is definitely a plus when fixing dinner during the week.

Here is what you'll need to make Oven Baked Frito Pie:



1 lb. ground beef (I used ground turkey)
1 16 oz. can pinto beans
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes (I used Rotel Chili Fixins')
1 pkg. taco seasoning
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3 1/2 cups Fritos
1 1/4 cup sour cream (I used light)

Preheat oven to 350.  Brown the meat and drain it.  Return meat back to the pan and add the beans, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, 1/4 cup of cheese, and taco seasoning.



Stir until everything is well mixed.  Spread 1 cup of Fritos on the bottom of a greased baking dish (8 x 8 or 9 x 13).  Spread all of the chili on top of Fritos.



Bake for 20 minutes.  Remove from oven.  Spread sour cream on top of chili.



Cover with remaining chips and cheese.



Put back in the oven and bake for an additional 4-5 minutes. You may want to cover with foil before placing back in the oven if you don't want your cheese to get crispy.

Serve and enjoy a nice warm meal!

I Did It....And I Didn't Die

I decided to take advantage of the warm weather yesterday afternoon.  When I got home from school it was almost 70 degrees.  So I got off my fanny and went for a walk/jog.  I have the Ease into 5K app on my phone so I jumped right in with Week 1, Day 1.


Here's what I did yesterday:

Start with a 5 minute warm-up then repeat 3 times the following intervals:

Run 30 seconds

Walk 45 seconds

Run 45 seconds

Walk 60 seconds

Run 60 seconds

Walk 90 seconds

Cool-down with a 5 minute walk.

I thought I was dying by the time I got to the last run, but obviously I lived since I am writing this post.  I hope I can keep it up.  Even if I can't get outside to do it, I can use a treadmill.  It's designed to use 3 times a week so I'll try to do it again Thursday and Friday for my three times this week.  This is designed as an 8 week program, but I'm sure it will take me longer.  Weeks can be repeated if you feel you aren't ready for the next step up.  I'm sure I will need to repeat some of the early weeks so I can get my breathing under control.


Wish me luck!


I know I will feel better if I get into better shape.  Plus, in a month I am working with the Girls on the Run program at my school.  All of us are supposed to do a 5K on May 12.  So I have to get better at running/jogging by then.  

Weekend Recap

We had a pretty low-key weekend compared to our last several and it was pretty nice.  I went down to Central Arkansas since hubby had to take his last Praxis test on Saturday morning.  The Praxis is the test teachers have to take in order to get their license.  Hopefully, he passed and will be done with having to study and prepare for it.

Before the test, we went and had breakfast at the local diner in town and it was good.  I always get biscuits and gravy, one with regular white gravy and one with chocolate gravy.  Yummy and I even had leftovers to eat later.  If you haven't had chocolate gravy, you should definitely try it.  It's definitely a southern thing.  I can't wait to have kids so I can make it for them.  Since hubby is a California boy, he's not into the gravy thing so I don't get to make it now because I definitely don't need to eat it all.

After his test, we were real kids and went and saw Beauty and the Beast in 3D.  It was definitely worth going to see it at the theater again; it is such a pretty movie. 

Hubby was off today so he came back to NWA with me yesterday.  We only had inservice today so I got to go have lunch with him before he had to head back down to get ready for work tomorrow.

One of the things I really wanted to work on this year is deepening my faith and living my faith more.  The church we attend in Central Arkansas (the church we were married in) is starting a 50 day devotional series through a Facebook group.  It began yesterday and I am so excited about it.  It is definitely what I need right now.  If you are interested, anyone is welcome.  Just click here to get the daily How Great Is Our God devotional.