Back from the dead....sort of

Wow. Ok, long time no blog lol.
All I can say, is Life. Nothing super new since I posted last time. Might be getting into nursing school this fall, but not 100% sure just yet. Still waiting to finish the whole application processing ...process. The university is from Florida, so considering I am in the Denver area, it takes a little bit of time. Should be there already, however.

Anyhoo, yea. I normally post fitness stuffs, so lets start with that. I have been working on building lots of muscle lately. Lots of heavy lifting, and just some cardio. The downside to 'bulking' is you are consuming more calories so that you have the energy needed to lift like that, so you do gain fat along with the muscle. I have gone from 170 to 188. Keep in mind too, my doctor has been along for this ride with me, so everything is in good order too. I know 20lbs sounds like a lot, and it is, but for the most part my measurements have stayed the same. Tummy and hips took a bit of a hit, but that just proves that there is a lot of muscle building going on.
Now, it is time for my 'cutting' phase. I am going to be lifting still to maintain the muscle I have built,  but doing ALOT more cardio and interval training to lose the fluff over my hard earned tuff.

I have been being as active as I can lately. I did the annual heart walk a while ago, I am running the color run in August, and I am signed up for the Tough Mudder in September. Pretty excited, a little nervous for the last one. I still need to make reservations at the place my team is staying.

I really don't know what else to tell ya. I just got home from my 3rd 12hr night shift, and I am not sure if I want to stay up and try to study for my exam, or if I should sleep. If I sleep, I may not get up until really late. I don't like that, not a fan.

Well, thats all for now folks. Until next time, may Goth be with you!

Not really a resolution...

Hey guys, long time no talk. The holidays are always really busy. Now that I work in health care,  the hours I work are retarded.

Anyway. Finished out last semester with a B and hi C. Pathophysiology and clinical calculations start on the 20th. In between these semesters, I have been very busy. I got the green light from my folks to stay in their house during nursing school. Logical thing to do. However, the room that is mine, well, hasnt been updated since 1963. Needless to say it needed some tlc. I picked a grey purple paint color, bought some fabric to make curtains out of (still need hemmed, machine broke), a new desk and chair with bulletin boards to keep me on task. I'll post pics below.

Aside from that, after a new doctor and many tests, I discovered I have hypothyroidism and a hemangioma tumor in my leg. Dont worry, the tumor isnt dangerous. The hypothyroidism though,  that could explain why all my efforts to workout like crazy and eat clean has gotten me nowhere. Its been 2 months since I started meds for it, now its at normal levels. That being said lets try this weight loss thing again.

Now, its not a resolution,  it just conveniently happened now. Not gonna lie, I spent some money on a few sets of dumbbells and whatnot. Jon hurt his back at work, we havent been to the gym in a long time. I want something I can use at home. Other than running and weights, I might get some resistance bands.

No other news really. Insomnia is back. Thats annoying. Need to work on my hair too. Yea. Anyway, breakfast time.
May goth be with you!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Our blog seemed to take a loong nap. I hope to get things back up and running now that I got a computer! :) Super happy.
Well I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving! My oven is somewhat broken, so it took a very very long time to cook the turkey, but I made Thanksgiving dinner all on my own. On other news, I'm rather excited, some of Dan's friends are renting the garage (Of course it'll still be mine, I'll still have access to it.) but they are letting me use their pottery kiln! How exciting. :)
I am currently trying to learn new ways to get my etsy shop to get more buyers. I'm going to make a few other shops so that my shop doesn't have just a bunch of random stuff, but have multiple shops that specialize in just one thing. Sucks that you have to make a whole nother account for that though. However, if anyone else knows more about owning more than one etsy shop, and if it's possible to own them all under one user name, please let me know! All the info I've found said you had to make more than account.

The kittens are now up and running. Well, run and fall, waddle and fall, stand and fall, sit, and... fall. Very cute I must say.

Well I hope everyone has a fun wonderful time with their families.
-Krystalle

Easy Healthy Chicken Tortilla Soup

This weekend was kinda busy, and not very relaxing. Except, however, my chicken tortilla soup I made. I think, the longer you cook it, the better tasting it is. The spices just have that much time to blend together, and for the soup to thicken. So! When you have some crafting to do, and dinner to get on the table, than this is a great recipe for you. It'll take you either 35 minutes, to a few hours, all depending on how you want to cook it. This would be the same way you'd make it in a crock pot. But I don't have one,...

What You'll Need:

1lbs Shredded Chicken (I used about 3 small boneless chicken breasts.)

1 can whole peeled tomatoes. (Mashed)

1/2 Medium Onion

1 Bell peper

2 cups water

1 Chicken bullion cube (Or chicken broth, but I'm trying to do this as affordable as possible)

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder (Or more if you want it spicy)

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon peper

1 bay leaf

1/2 can of corn

7 corn tortilla 

Oil

You can also add black beans!

For seasoning the chicken:

This all depends on your own tastes.

I seasoned my chicken with salt, pepper, and chili pepper.

Now Lets Begin:

Start with preheating your oven to 375 degrees. 

Take your thawed out chicken, and place it on a cookie sheet that you had lined up with foil. 

Drizzle your chicken with olive oil, than on both sides sprinkle salt, pepper, and chili pepper.

Stick that into the oven for 20-25 minutes, or untill you know your chicken is done.

Now cut all your veggies, and put them aside. Get your pot, drizzle a little bit of olive oil in there, turn it to medium high, and stir in your veggies (except the tomatoes) and cook them for a few minutes.

Once they are cooked, go ahead and pour in your tomatoes, and mash them, if they arn't already. Make sure you add the juice that came in the can.

I than poured in the water, and the chicken broth cube. Stir that around till the cube dissolves. I brought this to a boil, than turned the heat back down to a shimmer. Toss in all of the seasonings.

At this time, or whenever the chicken was done and cooled down, I shredded up the chicken with my fingers. Found it easier than a fork, but you can do whatever. 

Toss this into the pot, and let it simmer on low, covered, for an hour or so. OR Just boil for a few minutes, and you're done after you add in the tortilla strips.

Cut up your tortillas into strips, and place those into the pot about 5 minutes before serving. 

And it's done! :) Super simple and cheap. 

-Krystalle

healthy sweet chocolate treat

Hey guys, Queen Of The Damned here. Today I made something healthy and delicious,  with chocolate too. Frozen chocolate banana bites. I believe in being able to treat yourself without jumping off the wagon.

You will need a bunch of bananas,  dark chocolate (the higher the cocoa % the better, mine was 62%), wax paper to line a cookie sheet, and a double boiler.

Chop the bananas into chunks, and start melting you chocolate.

Don't have a double boiler? No problem! Use a pot with water and a ceramic/glass bowl instead.

Melt the chocolate completely, stirring occasionally. 

Take your banana chunks and dip them/roll them/ whatever method you want to cover the banana.

Place the bites on the wax paper lined cookie sheet, and pop them into the freezer until frozen enough to handle. Place into a zip lock baggie, and store in the freezer. 

Pretty easy right? I used two bags of chocolate and had just enough to cover all of my banana pieces. In other news, making some Autumn Apple Wine too. My own recipe, I make wine as a side project/hobby as well. This batch finished fermenting waaaay fast, even with adding sugar. We calculated an approximate alcohol content of around 12-15%, but we don't have a fancy meter to measure it after fermentation is done, just a guess according to sugar levels before hand. We re-racked it to let it settle out before bottling. I still need to label my strawberry zinfandel I did about 6 months ago so I don't get them confused lol. Well….I had a picture on here, guess my phone hates me haha! Oh well, its nothing fancy. 

I joined two health challenges today. One is a fruit and veggie challenge where you log in what you eat, and to win you have to score the most points for veggies/fruits eaten. Its only two weeks long. I also joined a two month long challenge to burn 625 calories a day through activity. I use the app called Loseit! and its great. I love the barcode scanner for food, makes life SO easy. 

Well, off to more mundane stuff, I have to finish putting away laundry and start a project and study for my next exam. Go have more fun that me!

May Goth be with you!

New Kittens and Happy Halloweeeeen!!

Like my witch hat that I made? :) I had been waiting forever to find a good wire to put inside that wasn't TOO flimsy, or tooo hard. My boyfriend had gotten copper wire that they were stripping down, so I snagged some of that to use. 

Last night my cat Asa had kittens. Now before you go and say that she needs to be spayed, I know. I was slacking. The day I went to get her spayed, I was also getting her, her shots and tag. But alas, they said I couldn't get her spayed on weekends there. Not long after, she got pregnant, and than out popped two adorable healthy little kittens last night, the night before Halloween.
She came up to me meowing, and meowing, so I turned her around, lifted her tail, and saw that her water had broke. Dan ran to get the suitcase out of the room, covered it with some soft pants and a blanket, and than we sat. Not long after she started pushing. Saw the nose peaking through, and a few seconds later, the little guy popped out. :3
Than about an hour later the other one had popped out, but by than, we had transferred her into the closet, the safest place we could find that would allow her to go in and out, yet keep the dogs out. I went and finished up my witch hat, and came back to check on her, and there was yet another little kitten, gray and white. The first one looks like her. Her last litter all looked like her. I thought I felt another one, but I wasn't too sure, but I'm hoping we come home to one more kitten, born on Halloween. Dan wants to keep one of the kittens, but thats a lot of animals for one household. To have 3 cats and 2 dogs? Yea, a little much. So far he hasn't taken no for an answer.

Asa getting ready to have her kittens. 

First one out, and trying to feed.

The 2nd kitten. :) They are both super adorable and cute!

Upcoming Posts! Pumpkin Everything!

This last weekend I was taking photos of the making of a vegan pumpkin soup. Sadly, it didn't taste that great. I would have posted about making a pumpkin pie, but the first one got a little burnt. Someone forgot to check up on the pie while I was out. The second one, I woke up the next morning, to find that my cats have eaten it.

But! I will be making pumpkin dog treats!
As well as pumpkin essential oils that I am making for my etsy shop.

Be prepared!

In the mean time, here are some photos of Dan and myself.
-Krystalle