The Waiting Game

I hate this game.

Here I am, sitting in my car at the drive through and just waiting. The point of a drive through is to get in and out. To just drive through.

It is both the ultimate way to be lazy as well as get errands done in a hurry.

I always get conflicted when The Waiting Game happens. And I don't mean just 2 minutes waiting, this trip took 15 minutes.

I didn't know it would take 15 minutes, but I also didn't know when I should have given up.The people behind me did. They went inside to get their order while I just sat and waited. We did leave the parking lot at the same time.. so I'm still not sure who one this battle.

It is hard. The first 5 minutes you just sit there going, well, I can be patient, it is okay. It is only 5 minutes, no biggie, no hurry.

Minutes 6-7 you start to guess yourself, should I go in? Would it be more helpful? Would I be in and out already?

Minutes 8-9 is usually when the %&$@ and the *^#! come out. Along with a few wild hand motions, that involve slamming hands on the wheel. A few random, "Come on!"

And right about minutes 10 to the end, you've waited this long, just stay in the car and wait for it to end. Mostly, because if there was a wait inside the rage would take over. Plus, the convenience of the drive through is already lost.Why not just stay sitting down where you are more comfortable right?

Has anyone else had to deal with this struggle? What do you think? Is my time line correct? Am I missing any phases? Maybe the tears of regret around minute 20? Let me know with a comment below.

The Rash

I have a rash.

It has a sort of hear shape too it. 

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

And apparently day 7 is where my attention was lost. However, day 3 is when I went to the doctor. I was actually there because of a Dog Bite. I showed him my rash and he put me on some medicine. 

It was crazy because I had to take it for 6 days, and day 1 started with 6 pills while day 6 had just one pill. I don't think I've ever done a dose of medicine like that before.

The doctor guesses that I must have touched something and it caused the reaction. Right now I'm blaming the cat. 

The rash is now pretty much all gone. 

Has anyone else had a random rash they had no idea where it came from? Or like mine, had an interesting shape to it that wasn't blob? Let me know with a comment below. 

Dog Bite

As you know from the post Puppies! I was bitten by the momma dog.

It hurt, it scared me, but I was okay. I got home, added a little bit of peroxide and antibiotic cream.

Everything was going well for a day or two until I told my mother about it. Then she kind of started to freak me out. She was asking all of these logical questions about why the dog bit me, if she was up to date on shots, and how long I've been bitten. 

Well, this of course got me thinking and worrying so I went to the internet for help. 

I went to the CDC, not WebMD only because that is where all good hypochondriacs go to die, to see what they said about dog bites/rabies.

After checking my timeline of how long I had been bitten, the fact I had no fear of water, light, drooling excessively, or fever I felt pretty confident about not having rabies. 

However, the nurse at work recommend that I at least go and get my tetanus shot updated. 

I made the appointment, went and the doctor said he said I was okay and didn't need to get a booster since it was still less than 10 years form my last one. So that was good.

As you know, everywhere I go I always try to learn something new. My doctor told me about two fun facts. The first is that, at least where I live, rabies shots are only available in hospitals, not in doctors offices. The second is that dog bites should be looked at because of the fear of infection.The bite it is a puncture wound. Which means all the germs/bacteria gets pushed down into the skin. So, the risk, if not taken care of properly, the wound will heat at the top while creating a infection under/in the skin.

Has anyone else been bitten by a dog before? What was your experience? Did you go get anyone to look at it? Let me know with a comment below! 

Blood Drive

After my tri I received a call from the American Red Cross to donate blood. It had been over 6 months since my last donation so I said yes.

Plus, I'm not training for anything right now so it works out even better. There have been a few times they'd call and I'd have to decline because of needing all my blood.

If you've never donated before it isn't to horrible. 

They ask you some questions, take your vitals and check your iron levels. If you pass this stage you get to get a needle stuck in your arm for about 20 minutes.

Once that is over it's cookie and juice time. I enjoy the heck out of the cookies. 

Then if you're lucky like me get to have a nice bruise for about a week and a half.

I'm O+ so most people can use my blood, so I like to help at least twice a year. Plus you can ask all of these random questions while you sit there. If they would let you take a nap while they did it even better. However, for the fear of people passing out or complications, nap time is not allowed. 

What's your favorite part of donating? Let me know by leaving a comment below.

Puppies!

This week we went and visited some puppies. New Dude's co-worker's dog had puppies. She is a Red Healer and the father is a Boarder Collie.

One of my goals is to do some farming with some herd animals. This litter of puppies are born from herding stock. That is something that we were actually looking for in a dog. So we are naturally curious.

Plus, do you see how cute these guys are? How can yous say no to the opportunity to come play with puppies? They make everything kind of melt away with their curiosity, their roundness, soft fur, and just open mindedness about life. Life is sweet and wonderful and great!

It was so nice to just ask question and play and watch these little guys. It also always fascinates me how how the color can change so much from puppy to puppy. The patterns and colors. 

It was such good fun and a great way to end the day until mamma came out side. I was sitting on the ground petting a sleeping pup and she just came out of the house and right over and bit me in the face.

This is the first time I've been bitten in the face by a dog. It knocked my glasses off and everything. I was in complete confusion. 

She ended up biting New Dude as well. We're not sure what caused it. It could be the smell of our cat. It could be because we were playing with her puppies while she was locked inside. I am not sure. All I know is that I have skin missing from my cheek and New Dude has bite marks in his leg. 

As a small child I was irrationally scared of cats and dogs. As we got older and then had dogs of our own I slowly grew out of it.  I hope that this incident does not change how I feel about dogs. Also, I hope the little puppy that we are probably going to get does not have the same reactions. We have a lot of friends, family, nieces, nephews, and just little kids around, we cannot have a randomly biting dog. 

I had a very vicious to stranger dog when I was growing up and it was no fun. I wouldn't want the same thing to happen when I'm older and I helped pick it out.  

Has anyone else been bitten by a dog on the face? If so, let me know if it changed you in anyway with a comment below. 

Off The Rails Triathlon

On May 30th 2015 I completed The Off the Rails Triathlon in Roanoke, Virginia.

My break down is a follows:



I am happy with this time only because I finished.

I have had a very hard time as of late at getting motivated to exercise. Some of it comes from my knee injury, some of it comes form stress, but most of it just comes from lack of motivation. I signed up for this triathlon to get some motivation.

I cannot say it worked. I still didn't go to the gym like I should have. I didn't get in the pool like I should have, I didn't bike like I should have, I didn't run like it should have.

I showed up Friday night and looked at the pool, which was 50 meters verses the 25 that I normally practice in. I went home, got my stuff ready, drank some water and went to bed.

On Saturday morning I got up, and went to reap what I had sown.

I was not confident in the race, I could not go for time because I haven't done a triathlon like this before, all I knew is that I wanted to cross the finish line.

Picture after a warm up swim 

However, my attitude of just showing up to do what I needed to do slowly started to run into panic when I realized I had given them a way wrong swim time. I can probably swim a 100 meters in about 1:35, I put down 1:15. I was the third person to jump in the pool. I was passed by lots of people for my mistake. I really hope I didn't throw anyone off, that would make me very sad.

While swimming I was getting passed, almost kicked in the face, and had my googles fog up. But when I pulled myself out, I went off to the bike. The ride itself wasn't too bad, I've been down the roads and on the route before. It was quickly over and it was off to the run.

This would be the hardest part of the race. It was because my legs felt like mush. My body was low on energy, and I was hot and thirsty. The first part of the 5k was to go up and down a hill on unsteady legs.

I had yet to practice biking and then running since last year. I knew I had to do it. I knew I was going to do it, it was just going to be very slow.

Leg with my age written on it

I kept on running, on a route I've been before. Slowly, once step at a time. More people passing me, just one step at a time, just going, and going. I kept thinking I've run a half marathon I can do this. I've run 5ks before, one step at a time. As I breathed out I thought weakness and as I breathed in I thought you are strong you can do this. I got to the one water stop and turn around, had some water, walked a little and then continued back. I had a half a mile left, I could do this, I can do this.

Each step was the last I'd ever take for this exact race. Each step was that much closer to passing the finish line. Each step was a step towards making my body stronger. Each step was a reminder that I can do this. Each step was me doing this. Each step was getting closer to accomplishing my goal of finishing.

That hill came again and I tried to run up it, I have hills ALL around my house, that is how that loop works, I tried and failed. I had to walk. I was feeling a slight wheeze in my breathing and wanted to get that calmed down. I walked to the top, walked while it was a little flat and then continued my run.

One step closer to the finish line that I could now see. The finish line that was only a minute more to go.

I was able to push just a little bit more for a slight sprint.

It was ugly, it was long, it was not well done, but I finished. I can one again be proud to hold my head up high and declare, I am a triathlete.

I raked 132 out of 161 and was 8 out of 10 for my age group.

Has anyone else had a race/event like this? If so, let me know how you did with a comment below.

Medal and Bib

Picture taken at home before I took a shower. 

Kabobs

It's what's for dinner.

This was super yummy! 

The lessons I learned from making these.

1. Make sure to soak the skewers for at least an hour or more.

2. Put veggies in a big enough bowl to easily toss with oil and seasoning.

3. I still burn things even when they are smaller pieces. 

Anyone else have any tips about how to make and enjoy Kabobs? If so please let me know with a comment below. 

Things I learned about Jamaica

Picture of the mountains in Jamaica 2014

After a 5 day trip, two of those days being travel days, I had the pleasure of sitting on a beach, having some drinks and learning and visiting a beautiful country called Jamaica.

On this trip I was in a car fro about 7-8 hours. About an hour and half both ways to and from the airport. Another 4ish hours due to a expedition that my friend V. and I took.

In this time, as I went along the roads I learned a few things about the people. Plus, the tour guides were nice, informative, and super cool.

Here is what I learned:
1. Ya man, is like Aye to Canadians, everyone says it in response to most things.
2. No one wears heels. Everyone years flats. I think it is because of the long distances that people have to travel to get to stores and work.
3. Houses are built out of cinder blocks and cement. Some wooden shacks here or there, but for the most part cinder blocks.
4. Not many people are seen sweating bullets when it is hot. Unlike me, when I was pouring buckets on a hot day reading a book.
5. They drive on the wrong side of the road.
6. They have round signs for speed limits and information.
7. Thier major export is sugar cane and coffee beans.
8. Honking is how they communicate while on the road. They beep around blind corners, while they are passing people, saying hi to people, letting people on the side of the road know they are close, just lots and lots of horn honking.
9. Red Strip beer comes in regular and light and they do brew this beer on the island.
10. 80% of the island is mountainous.
11. They have a coral reef that surrounds it and protects it from lots of weather.
12. The flag is black, green, and gold. Gold for the sunshine, black for the people, and green for the land.
13. Coffee beans grow well in the mountains because they don't like much

I've had this post written but not published so I figured it was time. Has anyone else been to Jamaica? what do you think? Please leave a comment below.

Hoof Fest 2015

Hoof Fest 2015

This year I turn 29.

This is the end of my 20s.

So close to 30 it is a bit scary.

In celebration of this year I crossed off a bucket list item by eating Zebra meat. I've always wanted to eat zebra meat only because lions eat them. I figured if lions like them maybe I would too.

Around Christmas a friend of mine had a friend who had some exotic meats one of them being zebra. He asked if I still wanted to try it, and I was like, um yeah. So this meat traveled for miles from his friend, to him, to my parents,to me. It then said it my freezer for a few months. On Wednesday night I thawed it out and had it for dinner.

I called it Hoof Fest because we also ate lamb, beef, and venison. I tried to find bison but Kroger didn't have any when I went looking. 

I would like to tell you that the meal was amazing. We had little mini beef burgers, lamb burgers and a combination mini burgers, a beef gravy stew with the venison and then just sauteed zebra meat.

The zebra meat was very bland actually not much flavor. The lamb meat had more of a strong flavor than the zebra meat. However it was still good.

Plus, I was able to cross off a bucket list item that had been there for years. It has renewed my desire to revamp my bucket list. 

Has anyone else tried zebra before? What did you think? Let me know what a comment below.