Re-Inspired!

So recently a friend of mine had posted on Facebook that she made cheese...Yes, MADE cheese. So, when Walt and I went over to her house I had to ask, "How do you make cheese?" She explained that she had made ricotta cheese and she had used the recipe from this lovely blog. I have since been clicking the Surprise Me! link on the left hand side of the Smitten Kitchen blog for about a week. There is a lovely array of recipes from Homemade Oreos to Couscous and Feta Stuffed Peppers. This blog has rejuvenated my love for cooking and all things homemade. Roller derby has put the brakes on a lot of my home cooking. On Mondays I leave for work and I don't return home until after practice at about 10:30pm, who wants to wait on or cook a 2 hour meal. Wednesdays run about the same, although there is a bit of a break between work and practice not enough time to prepare and eat a proper meal and practice runs even later on Wednesdays. Tuesdays & Thursdays I am so tired from late practice and early mornings that I don't have the energy to cook. So that leaves mostly the weekend. Most of the time I can't even find the time on the weekend to go grocery shopping let alone cook. There is more skating to be done, pet stores to be shopped at, laundry to be washed, etc... However, I am going to try and work around all of this. I miss cooking and experimenting in the kitchen. I miss the satisfying feeling of eating something absolutely delicious. So my goal is going to be to cook more, try and balance my old (pre-derby) life with my new life.

On to some more derby news. We are not graduating yet. We are going to skate with the Vets for 3 more weeks and then be reassessed. Which is kind of a bummer. Partly, because I just want to know and I am not looking forward to doing my time trails for my life again. Also, because my knee is still unskatable (not sure that is a word) and if it is something that takes a while to heal I could be repeating fresh meat again. The primary reason they gave for this was basically "you guys got a really shitty training experience, so we are making you wait longer and hope you learn something". It's frustrating and scary. Hopefully, it will all work out well.

Well I was trying to wait....

Well, I was trying to wait until the official announcement as to whether or not we passed fresh meat. Still there is no official word if we passed. We did get to practice with the Vets on Monday and we did get back our written rules test. Pleased to say that I got a 97%! So on to the not so good news. I fell pretty hard on my left knee Monday night at practice and well, I sprained my knee (at least that is consensus for now). So frustrating to be injured during our first practice with the Vets and to not be able to participate in practice tonight. I will still be attending practice...don't want to miss anything important. So basically my knee just really hurts if I bend it to far, today it is much better. Yesterday I couldn't really move it at all with out shouting in pain. And yes, because I am so absent minded I would occasionally forget that it hurt to bend my knee so far and let out a good shriek. Excited, that I am able to walk relatively normal on it today...it makes me feel that it really is just a sprain and not a PCL injury. So that is all for now. Maybe tonight there will be an official announcement!!

Derby Update!

Okay so I know it has been forever and then some since I last posted about Derby, but I just haven't been inspired to write anything and work has been busier than usual. Not exactly sure where I last left off so let's just talk about where I am.

These last 10 weeks of Fresh Meat training have gone by so quickly. There have been lots of cancelled practices & some practices where we lacked a real coach. Nonetheless, I have had a blast practicing and getting to know new people. Derby is teaching me to be more vocal and how to talk to strangers. Assessments will take place the week of July 11th with the skills test being that Monday and the rules test will be that Wednesday. Since this Monday is the 4th of July there will be no practice so we only have one practice left before assessments and there are a few that we haven't been shown yet that we will be expected to do. I have been feeling very angry about this lately and have been venting with so fellow freshies  about this. Well, I am done with that. I am done complaining and I am going to practice as much as the rain will allow me to practice before the 11th. I will either pass my assessments or I won't. I will not be kicked off the league for failure to pass the assessments. I will just have to repeat fresh meat training again. Do I want to repeat it? No, but if I am not ready, then I am just not ready. I am mostly afraid of completing the 25 in 5. It is the one thing I don't feel confident about and the one thing I think my nerves destroy.

Tonight we have 1st Friday to promote our league and help recruit some more people for the league. I am excited to get out with my sisters and promote this sport that I have truly fallen in love with.