Black n' Yellow

Isn't this just the cutest black n' yellow you've ever seen? We cleaned the room last night and the cats obviously loved the freshly made bed. They lost their cat tree but that's because they never use it! So, instead I rearranged a shelf and put them a bed up top on it so they can look out the window. Besides, these guys are psycho. They get into everything!

I don't like a ton of hip-hop but there is a few songs I listen to because they have a good beat. Black n' Yellow by Wiz Khalifa is a pretty catchy tune. This reminded me, my research paper for my English final is on bees, honey bees. I've always loved honey! There is nothing to be done to honey, it taste very good without modification! But, that's not all these beautiful buzzers do! I can't imagine a world without flowers or fruits and vegetables. Thank you honey bee!

A lot of events coming up!

This was my squad before some rearrangements were made. We won three times in a row the 'Boots on the Ground' reward

There's a ton of events coming up, not mention at the school midterms. I have a few fun or military events coming up.

April 2-3 - Military Field Training Exercise - Time to learn how to use my riot gear. One night on a hard gym floor and an early rise, three showers per 80 people.... I so look forward to this haha.
April 7 - Unit Test make-up
April 9 - If I don't have squad duty I want to go to Busch Gardens
April 16th - The Chili Cook Off - With Seether, Saving Abel, etc rock bands. Fun event but usually very over-crowded.

Not extremely busy but between all of that I have a ton of school work, papers, and projects to do. I am most excited about the FTX training for the military.

Time to get back enroute to healthy

I noticed that during the winter months I totally gave up working out. I shouldn't have but I had a horrible gym membership (circuit gym) that had little to no equipment and my house leaves little room for working out. I did try my boxing training once in a while but it never felt like a good work-out. I gained about 2-5lbs back (it changes a lot). I am trying my hardest to get back down. I got 40 more pounds to lose before I am satisfied. However, I have gone down four pant sizes from 29-30lbs of weight loss! As soon as school semesters start I get really stressed. It seems like online classes are becoming annoying and I am about to switch back to in-class instruction. The reason I try not to do in-class instruction is because I can run at the squad and be anywhere to do my online classes. That's what I DO like about them. But the teachers are starting to put major deadlines on online-work. (Not giving you a week like you would have in the classroom but instead 1-3 days to get stuff done.)

Anyways, if you check out the "Photo Roll" link you can see the majority of my critters, except for the betta fish, and you can see me and my boyfriend Mark and his beautiful daughter.

My goal this week:

Eat healthier gluten-free meals. Eat less bacon.

New Critters

The reptile show came to Richmond again yesterday. It gets smaller and smaller as the years go by. Unfortunately, I think the interest in reptiles in general is depleting. My interest in reptiles had gone pretty much to nothing until recently. I was afraid to own animals again but, not so much anymore. I have three crested geckos, one ball python, and one tree frog as far as reptiles goes.

My boyfriend and I named the new ball python Pharoh. He is a hypo blonde pastel which means he is really golden/yellow, faded into white.

He is a very beautiful snake and you can see his light color in the sun. We set him up in a nice cage that I bought. He seems very content with the cage. He is currently about 2 1/2 feet long. He should get about 3-4 feet so not too much bigger, but probably a little fatter.

I don't have any photos of the crested geckos at the moment. They are easily stressed after a reptile show and for the sake of them keeping their tails on, I have decided to wait until tonight to take photos. But, here's a photo of all my reptiles setups. Mark, my talented love of mine, made a divider for the crested gecko cage! Cresteds don't require a TON of room so it worked out perfect. The juveniles have a slightly smaller side and the adult has a pretty good 8-9 gallon side. I plan on breeding the adult soon so I have to find her a mate. I didn't find any adult males at the reptile show that I liked.

Until next post!

Magically Delicious

I've not felt like posting anything on a blog due to an upper respiratory infection. It has depleted quite a bit of my energy. Not only that but when I was cutting a gluten-free bagel, I sliced half-way through my finger and that is finally healing up.

Besides these two mishaps, I've had a great past week. I've been to a premiere of Battle Los Angeles (Battle: LA) movie. It was great and we even got a free hat (miltiary style) so of course I love it! I went to a car show as well but that was kind of hit and miss. It was nice to see all the cars but beyond that they had little to nothing to do. And, lastly I went to arena racing which is miniature Nascar-style stock car racing.

But, what made all of this the most fun was just spending time with my boyfriend Mark. Everything feels right with him. He's witty, smart, and fun to be around. He can hold a good conversation and he's got a great personality.

Hope to update soon with my ideas to start a chicken coop!

Curry Fried Rice w/Chicken

There is no set way to make a fried rice as in what you can put in it. The most important part of this curry friend rice is the curry and the curried meat. Check out all the recipes for curry sauce here. I personally use Trader Joe's red curry sauce with extra curry powder and extra chili sauce.

Before making this, obtain or make some curry sauce and add the spice to the desired amount.

What you'll need:

Curry sauce - up to you how much

Red chili sauce - up to you how much

1/2 to 1lb Chicken (or Fish or Prawn)

If desired, 3 tbsp curry powder

If desired, 2tbsp salt and pepper

1 cup cooked white rice

2 eggs

1 cup of mixed vegetables (I chose peas, carrots, green beans, and corn)

1/2 to 1 cup chopped onion

2 garlic cloves minced

3-5 tbsp oil (I used sesame oil)

2 tbsp of butter

OPTIONAL: Cashews or peanuts

1. Cut up chicken into slivers just make sure it's small enough to cook pretty quickly. Preheat a large skillet or wok and add the butter and let it melt. Once melted add the chicken, minced garlic, and onions. Allow to simmer until chicken is done (white).

2. Add the curry powder onto the chicken with 1 tbsp oil. While this is going on cook your frozen veggies in the microwave or a seperate pot via instructions on the bag, or add your fresh veggies to the chicken to fry it. Add the cooked rice and the curry sauce.

3. Once veggies are done (if cooking seperately), add to mixture and toss well. Add extra chilis to desired spiciness. In a seperate skillet (small) cook the two eggs, make sure to mush the yolk open. Cook the eggs thin like a pancake and then chop fine, add to fried rice mixture.

4. Toss fried rice for a minute on medium heat and then turn heat down to keep warm. Toss peanuts/cashews in the remaining oil and mix into the fried rice. Serve!

True Definition of Love

Lets say you are walking down a path. It's a beautiful path filled with many friends and family, many goals, many aspirations in life, many accomplishments, and many duties and responsibilties. All in all, you are pretty happy, or content. You have come to a point in your life where you have decided to make realistic expectations from yourself. You have settled any emotional problems. You were dating someone who was perfect for you too. Someone you could see yourself with the rest of your life. Well, then he decided to be short with you and you decided it was best you parted ways. Here you took a deep breath and said, it's time to face the world alone. It's time to be single for a while and continue on, just keep going on. But, perhaps date here and there. But, then you realize, not but three or so days before your wonderful relationship ended, two other paths crossed. They crossed either by fate or some other means. Here, you were thinking you were going to be living the single life but fate took another turn. As many quotes say, looking for love you will never find it. Imagine you were at a point in your life where you weren't looking for it, at all. All those aspirations to be married and have children, everytime mentioned before, ended relationships. You were trying to be a different person when the problem wasn't you at all. And then out of nowhere, this individual crosses your path. And, all of sudden, you realize, he's that one you've been looking for all along. He's not perfect, but he's meant to be with you and you are meant to be with him. Your daydreamer heart is woken back up and he becomes your world in one night. This is a love that only happens in a blue moon. I guess the moon on Friday night, February 26th, 2011, was one grandly crystal blue moon.

Gluten-Free Product Review: Burrito, Pizza, and Chicken Nuggets!

Applegate Farms Gluten Free Chicken Nuggets, Glutenfreeda Gluten-Free Burrito Chicken & Cheese, and Glutino Gluten Free Spinach and Feta Pizza

Let's start with the Applegate Farms Gluten Free Chicken Nuggets. I had to use Google to even find the product on their website. These little chicken nuggets are great for children but aren't quite grown-up enough for adults. And what I mean by that is each of them is about the size of a a quarter and a half. They are very tiny. I couldn't eat just one serving because it just wasn't quite enough. However, they were delicious and they are also Casein-Free, Gluten-Free, and Dairy-Free. One other thing to note, they packaged it in a bag that was very large for these little guys. I didn't find it 'green' at all that there was a whole other half of a plastic bag that wasn't being used. Kudos for trying but I give these guys a 3/5 star rating due to the fact of the small size compared to the large price of roughly ~5 USD a box.

***/3 star

Next, let's talk about the uber delicious burrito that I so enjoyed eating. It was great with Frank's Redhot Sauce. If you remember from your gluten filled days, burritos were delicious! But, often times the frozen ones tasted like they had a bunch of preservatives and fake meat. The Chicken & Cheese Burrito by Glutenfreeda tasted fresh. Very delicious! I loved every bite of it. I do wish it was slightly cheaper btu it was worth the price at ~3-4 USD per burrito. I give these guys a 4/5 star rating due to the price.

****/4 star

I tried out Glutino's Spinach and Feta pizza during lunch. It was alright but I felt the crust was extremely weak. I much prefer their pizza crusts frozen and then adding my own toppings. The ingredients were fresh and delicious it was just too flemsy for my taste. And, very small. Due to it's texture/falling apart I am giving it a 3/5 star rating.
***/3 star