I'm going back to school!

This past weekend I was looking into a few things and discovered that I could complete my associates degree by simply taking 5 or 6 classes at the "college" here on base, Central Texas College.  It's not the most ideal school to graduate from, but at this point, I just want to be able to say I have a degree and I didn't waste $20,000 10 years ago!  Today I went to the education center and handed over my credit card {so we can get our airline miles, it'll be payed off right away...we're not playing the debt game again!} and now I'm officially a college student again.  I have 3 required classes to take and then I can take 2-3 electives and I'll be all finished!  I decided to knock out the 3 boring classes this semester while it's cold out and I'm not quite as busy as I will be in the spring.

It's been 6+ years since I've cracked a textbook so I could use a few prayers!

Stationed in Japan

YOU MIGHT Be stationed in Japan IF...

I stole this from Kara because it was too good not to share (I had to change/add/delete a few because life in Okinawa is slightly different than life on the main land)! For the most part, all of them apply to me & my friends!

1. Your 3 year old is throwing a tantrum screaming "but I want yakiiiii-sobaaaaa!"
2. You graciously accept a little candy from a sweet local and actually give it to your child.
3. You think nothing of the same sweet lady holding or touching your baby.
4. If you travel by plane for less than 12 hours and make only 1 connection...it's a quick trip.
5. Consider spending $4000 for a car to be a lot.
6. Find it perfectly normal to not always know exactly what you ordered to eat at a restaurant.
7. When you visit friends and family in the States and they suggest stopping for a quick bite at Chili's you yell "NO" instead of politely declining.
8. You think nothing of sending your kids up the street to get you something out of a vending machine.
9. Think nothing of your kids mentioning the mamasans at school.
10. Exclaim "where's the corn?" when you order a local pizza, taco, pasta, anything.
11. You start buying turkeys and pumpkins {and Christmas trees} WEEKS before you know you will actually need them (in case the good ones are gone later).
12. You stop mulling over purchases and start buying things you MIGHT need later (eg. space heaters, turkey roasting pans etc) as soon as you see them, thinking it is better to return something you don't need than to need something that is no longer available to purchase.
13. If the PX has something you don't expect them to have, you buy 5 of them {I might have become a parchment paper hoarder} !!!
14. You no longer look at the price of gas; you just pull up to the pump and fill-er-up {and you only do so once every 2 or 3 weeks}.
15. You realize that you are more likely to go through a yellow light than to stop...unlike you used to do!
16. Going 80 kph on the expressway actually feels like you're going really fast!
17. Seeing motorcycles and scooters using the roads and sidewalks interchangeably doesn't even phase you and they no longer startle you when out of nowhere they suddenly appear right next to your car.
18. You think nothing of parking on the sidewalk or on the side of the road (taking up half the lane).
19. You frequently have conversations with family members trying to convince them that yes, they can call you just like anyone else in the US. Dial the number just like any other number. Yes, it really is a normal phone number. We promise.
20. You sit down at a restaurant and don't mind when the other person starts eating his/her meal because it came out 5 or 10+ minutes before yours.
21. You have patiently explained to those back home more than once "You can use a regular stamp"
22. You find yourself bowing unconsciously instead of saying the ever trite HI!
23. You have bought a dual-time zone clock for your folks back home, set to Okinawa time, yet they still call and say, "Oh...I don't know what time it is over there in China".
24. You get a letter from a pal with eight stamps on it, and JAPAN in large letters across the bottom.
25. You find yourself sitting through all of the credits at the end of a movie.
26. You watch American TV shows and think it is weird that they are driving on the right side of the road.
27. You thought you would never choose decor in an "asian theme" and now your living room resembles a Shanghai Hotel Lobby.
28. Misplacing your ID card gives you a worse feeling in your stomach than losing a credit card.
29. You wish that the military could insert a barcode under your skin instead of having an ID card and orders.
30. There's an earthquake somewhere in Asia and everyone thinks you must have felt something.
31. You find yourself lazily writing "textiles" on ALL your customs forms at the post office, while scratching out some random date and signature. Textiles does cover pretty much everything though, right? {I'm definitely doing this next time!}
32. You have no problem dropping 5,000 Yen at dinner. It still doesn't really seem like sixty bucks to me.
33. You don't lock your car off base. You do lock your car on base.
34. You can meet all your shopping needs, at 11 PM , at Family Mart.
35. You have junked at least one vehicle or purchased one with a Power of Attorney.
36. Even your stomach sweats in the summer.
37. Your 2-year old likes to play that he is a gate guard.
38. You drive onto your street and your 3 year old asks, "Who's packing out?"
39. Your 6 year old prefers rice balls to french fries.
40. Land of the vending machines- Even on the top of Mt Fuji.
41. You don't leave home without TP or tissue.
42. You have 2 wallets in your purse at all times- one for yen and one for dollars.
43. To your children all grocery stores are commissary's and PX's- even when you are in the states visiting.
44. You still walk to the wrong side of the car to drive.
45. Instead of saying "yeah, yeah, yeah" you now say "hai, hai, hai."
46. You aren't surprised to hear directions like "turn at the rice field and the red vending machine" and "at the pink two story house with the white box car, take a right" or when you get directions with pictures!
47. Your 12-14 year old car with chipped paint, stained interior and a dent in the door is a sweet ride.
48. You no longer worry about a house fire since you live in a concrete box, yet you are uneasy as your husband zips down the expressway at almost 60 mph.
49. Nobody cares what YOUR social security number is.
50. You watch the Super Bowl in the morning and the Morning Show at night.
51. Your kids cross the street with their hands held high in the air.
52. At 8 months old, your blond headed baby thinks his name is "Kawaii" and when you take your red headed toddler to the zoo, more people are taking pictures of your family than the zoo animals.
53. No U.S. pennies for change......Yeah! Who else gives change to the nearest 5 cent?
54. The bugs outside are louder then your kids in the next room.
55. It's Nov. 5th and the BX has already sold out of their Christmas decorations!
56. It's the week after Thanksgiving and the commissary finally got in some fresh cranberries--- and it does not bother you because you know you can throw them in the freezer and save them for next year.
57. You know there is a new driver on the road when they're sitting in a turn lane and their windshield wipers go off on a sunny day.
58. Pictures for everything, who needs to learn Japanese or to read kanji?
59. Vending machines with pictures to order food- brilliant!
60. When you come back from vacation in the states people comment on all your clothes and accessories.
61. You think that paying over $5 to see a movie at the theater is ridiculous.
62. In the local shops you wear a size XL even though you really wear a medium.
63. A single Starbucks opening is a major change in your lifestyle.
64. You start worrying about all of your friends PCS moves at least six months out, and start hitting the gift shops and local resturants like they were leaving next week.
65. You call the Dollar Store the Hundred Yen Store or Daiso.
66. Your toddler says Arigato or Konichiwa without prompting.
67. You pass at least 20 vending machines on a 5 minute walk.

Once you're back in the States:

1. You visit people for the first time and their jaws just drop when your whole family walks in their house and automatically lines up their shoes by the front door.
2. Show your ID card to the greeter at Wal-Mart.
3. Everytime you walk into a 1$-Store you wish you had a 100Y-Shop nearby!
4. You turn on your windshield wipers on a sunny day.
5. Your friends invite you to sushi for dinner and you turn your nose up knowing it just won't be the same.
6. You bow to complete strangers.

30 while 30 {8 months}

10 out of 30 complete.  4 in the last month, I'm getting things done!  A third of the way into my 30th year and one third of my goals have been checked off.  I'll take it!

Health/Fitness {1/4}

1} take a yoga class {DONE 10Jan13}

2} do 1 unassisted pull up

3} pass the Army PT test for my gender/age group
4} complete the CZ "swim around Japan" challenge

Food {1/6}
5} eat one week strict paleo {DONE 1-7Jan13}

6} make Pioneer Woman's homemade cinnamon rolls 

7}learn to cook 5 Japanese dishes from scratch {1/5 1. Nikujaga}
8} master 5 go-to last minute meals
9} try 5 new foods {1.Snakeskin fruit 2.Mangosteen 3.pistachios}
10} meal plan every month {4/12}

Japan/Travel {4/9}

11}visit at least 3 new sites in Japan {1/3 1.Tokyo Disney}

12} visit Tokyo Disney {DONE 23Oct12}

13} ride an elephant in Thailand
14} see the Great Wall of China {Done 19Dec}
15} put my feet in the Indian Ocean {Done in Bali}

16}volunteer somewhere outside of the US {DONE 8-12Nov12, Ishinomaki, Japan}
17} take Jason to Red River Gorge AKA my favorite place in the world

18} print, frame and display at least one photo from each of our trips

19} visit at least 3 new countries {2/3 Indonesia, China}

Random {4/11}

20}watch all 100 movies off the AFI {American Film Institute} top 100 list {43/119}
there are actually 2 lists, we combined them and there are 119 different movies on the lists

21} contribute to savings every month {4/12}
22}volunteer somewhere at least once a month {4/12}
23} have new photos taken of Jason and I {DONE 16Sep12}
24} send 12 personalized "just because" gifts/cards {3/12}
25} revamp my resume {DONE 11Jan13}

26} complete a year long photo project

27} attend an Army sponsored marriage retreat {DONE 22-24Oct12}

28} get caught up on my scrapbooks and stay current

29} VOTE in the Presidential election {DONE 17Oct12}

30} blog 100 times

10 on 10 {Jan}

It's the 10th of the month which means another installment of the 10 on 10 photo project!  I've started setting an alarm on my phone to remind me because the reminder post she publishes comes out too late for me and that seems to be working, this is my 2nd month in a row remembering in time to participate!

0900

adding honey to my smoothie

1000

folding laundry

1100

checking in at the gym

1200

finally trying yoga for the 1st time

1300

quick lunch after the gym

1400

shower time {They don't sell curtains here that are as long as our shower opening so I had to buy these hooks from the hardware store to make it work.  Gotta love Army housing!}

1500

visiting my best friend for our daily "therapy session"

1600

running errands {I HATE that I get my magazine subscriptions 6 weeks after they show up on the shelves.  The information is mostly irrelevant by that time!}

1700

planning our next trip

1800

visiting with an amazing woman I met in Ishinomaki while she's in town for a few days

Pretty good day, I'd say!  I'm glad I have it documented.

Did you participate?  I'd love to see what your day looks like!

My own personal paleo challenge

One of the things on my 30 while 30 list is to eat one week strict paleo{minus coke which, I know,  defeats the purpose but it's my goal so I make the rules.  I am limiting myself to two a day, down from my usual 4-5.}.  I decided that this was as good a time as any to wipe that off the list, so we are currently on day 6 of 7.  Part of the reason I picked this week was because we had nothing going on that would cause me temptation.  That changed but we've managed to stick to it with one tiny accidental exception.  Since so many people are starting off the year eating healthy, I thought I'd share some of the delicious, and not so delicious, food we've eaten this week.

Our 1st paleo dinner was bruschetta chicken and oven roasted veggies {my very favorite way to cook veggies, if you haven't tried it, do so soon.}  I didn't use a recipe for this one, just made it up as I went along but I typed out the directions for a friend so if you want the "recipe" just let me know and I can send it to you.  It was pretty tasty.  We'll definitley eat it again.

This creamy curried broccoli soup was fantastic and it proved to be a life savor one day when I, at the last minute, signed up for a photo walk in Tokyo and had no clue what we were going to eat for lunch.  I carried some in a thermos and had it for lunch while everyone else ate curry and rice.

About half way into the week I just couldn't eat fruit/veggies as a snack any more so I made these herb crackers.  The were a little dense but the flavor was good {you can make them any flavor you want} and they were somewhat crispy.

I ate the crackers with Pioneer Woman's homemade salsa.  I used honey instead of granulated sugar.

 I made homemade mayo and was pretty happy about the results.  I was nervous about the step that says "very slowly" add the EVOO...I don't do anything very slowly so I measured out the EVOO, poured it into a plastic bag and poked a small hole into the bag so it came out in a very thin consistent stream.  It worked perfectly!

I used the may to make paleo krabby patties that turned out to be our least favorite meal of the week.  We've decided that we don't care for things that are "fried" in coconut oil.  Using it to saute veggies or in something is ok, but it's all we could taste in these.  PS, I've been super excited this week to cook with the homemade coconut oil we made in Bali!

Tonight we grilled burgers, I made homemade ketchup because I can't eat a burger without ketchup {I'm a sauce junkie!}.  I tried this recipe first and it was awful!  I tossed the whole thing out, didn't even bother trying to adjust it.  Then I decided that I know enough about food and flavors that I could figure it out on my own.  After a quick glance at the back of our regular ketchup bottle {as a guide} I started dumping things into a bowl and came out with a pretty good end result.  Even my husband who normally hates ketchup {he's a weirdo, I know!} liked what I made.  The moral of this story is NOT to try the recipe in the link above!

I also made a "ratatouille" of sorts with a bunch of left over veggies in our fridge that were about to go bad.  IMO ratatouille is kind of a "garbage" veggie stew.  I never make it with the same veggies twice, I always just use what I have in my fridge {this time I used zucchini, bell pepper, mushrooms and tomatoes}, chop them up, cook them with some onion, and garlic, add some thyme, basil and a little tomato sauce, let it simmer for 10-20 minutes and you're good to go.  It may not be a traditional French ratatouille but I love it!

I did have 2 very tempting days.  One day I babysat my friends two boys and she brought over frozen pizza and chicken nuggets for their lunch.  It was really hard to sit there and eat my salad!  I LOVE 99 cent pizza!

Last night we got a last minute dinner & a movie invite for a friends birthday.  I made sure we ate just before we left and packed an apple and some nuts in case we got hungry during the movie.  It was not easy to listen to see everyone else eat popcorn {Japan sells caramel corn in their theaters and I have a weakness for caramel corn!} and candy.  We did splurge and split a large coke since it was the one "cheat" I allowed myself this week.  I've never been so grateful for someone to choose Outback for their birthday dinner {we've been there three times since we lived here and all three times have been for someone's birthday}.  It was very easy to just order meat/seafood and veggies there.  We did forget to say no cheese & no croutons on our salad though and while it was easy enough to pick out the croutons, the cheese wasn't so easy.  We both ended up eating a little of the cheese but didn't feel too guilty.  No diet in the world is more important than celebrating a friends birthday!  Oh and see that birthday dessert, that was the least tempting thing put in front of me all week.  I'm not a big fan of ice cream or chocolate, but I think it about killed Jason not to dive into it face first, lol.

I saved the best for last.  This was the most talked about thing on my Facebook page this week.  This veggie packed tomato sauce was one of the best things we ate all week {I omitted the sweet potato and added a little agave nector for sweetness}.  It was super easy to make and I'm pretty sure kids would love this and not have a clue that they were eating TONS of veggies.  Jason and I were both eating it by the spoonful out of the pot while it was still cooking.  I even added some to those krabby patties we ate to make them taste better!  This will be my go to pasta sauce even when we're not eating paleo.  Luckily this recipe made enough for us to use this week and have 2 jars frozen for later use!  Seriously, if you don't make anything else I recommend today, MAKE THIS!

Jason helped me make zucchini "spaghetti" with this fancy tool I picked up at the 100 yen store.  It perfectly slices veggies into julienne strips!  We prefer zucchini spaghetti to spaghetti squash ten fold!

This was the most delicious and filling meal we had all week.  I used Betty Rocker's turkey meatball recipe and the flavor was great.  They were a tad dry but our only turkey option here was 98% fat free.  I think if you used a less lean meat, they'd be perfect!  The recipe made 16 meatballs so we had some for dinner and froze some for later {Jason REALLY wants me to make meatball subs using these and the sauce next week when we're eating bread and cheese again}.

I also made a chicken curry meal in the crock pot {or I guess I should say Jason did, the day I was in Tokyo} that we liked but I didn't take a photo because I was starving and freezing when I got home and dug right into it.  

We are only doing this for a week so I didn't do any kind of before/after weigh in or photos.  I don't expect a week to make a huge difference.  This was mostly just to prove to myself that I could do it and to detox from all the crap we ate over the past few months.  I don't know if I feel any different.  Nothing really noticeable.  I guess we'll see how I feel once I eat that 1st grain on Tuesday.   We might try to stick to paleo during the week and splurge on the weekend.  We eat mostly fresh foods anyways so it won't be a huge change for us, just a matter of leaving out the bread/rice/cheese during the week and not eating out during the week.  I know this isn't the most ideal option but I'm not willing to give up my last 6 months of eating sushi and ramen and curry and...you get the idea!  I'm in the mindset that it's better to eat very healthy 4-5 days a week than zero!

And, just because it's my blog and I can, here are a few OOTD photos from this week.  I'm not the most fashionable person by far so if you know me IRL, it may surprise you that fashion is one of my interests.  I just don't know how to make things work for me so I stick to my tshirt, jeans, hoodie look.  I want to change that. I don't make resolutions but I intend to put more of an effort into my look this year.  I love the Japanese shorts/tights combo so I decided to rock it a few times this week.  The black and white sweater is one that was in my lucky bag.  I would NEVER in a million years have even looked at it twice in the store but I'm kind of loving it!

I definitely got photo bombed by a 5 year old here!  I think I would like this outfit more with some chunky white jewelry and flats but I own ZERO jewelry {I am clueless when it comes to accessorizing!} and I needed the tall boots to keep my legs from freezing, it's not as warm outside as it looks in the photo!