Pratice makes perfect?

Posted on August 24, 2009 by Shayla

Does practice really make perfect?   I don’t really think so, but practice makes consistency, something that I seriously lack!

I am actually going to get some practice in this evening with Cristina.  Its been a month since I did any practicing, and that was the day before the last OB tournament for a few hours with Bonnie.   The next OB tournament is this weekend, so I could use a little practice.

I really need to do as much practicing the month of September as I can since I will be defending my title at the Houston Open!  My first time to ever defend a title, and I just don’t want to go out in two! :)  I think that should be pretty reasonable, right?  Lets hope so!

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Chicken, Black and Corn Enchilada Casserole

Posted on August 23, 2009 by Shayla

This recipe is from the Weight Watcher’s website.  It looked good in the picture, so I decided to try it out.  The level of difficulty said moderate, so thats usually easy for me.   Turns out the level should have been hard because I was very close to screwing this one up right at the end.   I had to keep an eye on this one very closely, even though the recipe said you could do one thing while another thing was cooking.  Not so.

After all was said and done, it came out ok, I think.  I haven’t eaten it yet since I was cooking for the whole week.   There is a lot of cornmeal at the bottom of it, so I hope it doesn’t taste too terrible.  One serving is only 6 points, so hopefully its filling.

Chicken, Black Bean and Corn Enchilada Casserole

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Chicken Paella

Posted on August 23, 2009 by Shayla

This recipe called for a crock pot.  Luckily I had a brand new one that I bought a long time ago, but haven’t really used but once when I loaned it to a friend to use.  Unfortunately, the recipe called for a pot that was larger than the one I already had.   What a good excuse to go to Target!    I got a big, 6-qt crock pot!   (Anyone need a 3-qt crock pot?)

After 2 trips to the grocery store, I finally had all the ingredients and started it up so it could cook for 5 hours.   After it was done it smelled great!   I couldn’t tell you yet how it tasted, becuase when it was done, I portioned it all out into containers for us to eat for the week.  But, I do know it looks good!

Chicken Paella

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Oklahoma State Women’s 9-Ball Championships

Posted on July 25, 2009 by Shayla

Made the trip alone this year to Tulsa from Austin.   Decided to come up on Thursday instead of Friday to have some little relaxation time.  Hit balls for about 4 hours on Thursday night, and played sets with my friend, Bonnie, for most of Friday afternoon.

Got the the tournament this morning feeling pretty good.  I got in good hours on the tables, and even though they are pretty fast, and the rails are bouncy, I was feeling pretty confident.   The tournament started with 35 players, and my first match was against Janet Atwell, one of three pros playing the tournament.  I wasn’t really worried about it because I felt pretty good that I knew the tables more than she did.   There are only nine 9-foot tables at Magoo’s, only 1 of them was a Diamond table, which happened to be a coin-op.  Well, wouldn’t you know, out of 9 tables, my first match was on this Diamond table.  And boy did it play SLOOOOOW!    Neither of us played well, Janet just didn’t play as bad as I did and beat me.   We talked after the match and agreed we both hated the table and we played scared.

Oh well, I thought for sure I’d be going two and out this weekend.   I played my next match, finally on one of the Gold Crowns, and won that match.  Next match I had to play Michelle McDermott and lo and behold, we gotta play again on the Diamond table.  Oy!   This time I tried not to play too scared, but the McDermott’s own this pool hall.  I figured Michelle knew all there was to know about this table.  Well, she had some bad rolls and I sneaked by her to win.  I was shocked.  I went on to win 2 more matches for the day.

I’m still in the tournament and will return on Sunday to start play at 10am.  I don’t know who my opponent is, but since I’m playing the table, it doesn’t matter who she is.   There are only 12 players left.

Wish me luck tomorrow!

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Fast Eddie’s Austin – 5th/6th

Posted on July 17, 2009 by Shayla

Even with bringing back 128 players from the Open on Sunday, we had 30 women in the women’s event on Sunday.  This definitely was going to be a long day even with all the tables.  Since I only live like 2 miles away, I figured I would play anyways.  I got up early, lounged around the house and did some reading.  I got up at 11 and showered and headed on over to Fast Eddie’s right before noon.   I thought we had to be there at noon, but I was wrong.  We were supposed to be there by 11 and they were already doing the players meeting!   There were only a couple of byes left, so I got one of them, which was against Kyu first round.  Fun.

I hadn’t done any practicing at all since my last tournament, unless you consider 5 games of 8-ball a week at league practicing.  Surprisingly enough, I ended the tournament placing 5th/6th.  I lost my last match against Cristina hill-hill where I got myself tough on the 8-ball and tried to carom the 9-ball in the pocket and left it hanging.  Oh well, by this time it was almost 11pm and way past my bedtime.   I made a cool $75 for my efforts which wasn’t too shabby considering.

Corey had a great tournament where he also placed 5th/6th in the Open event out of 128 players.   I think this might have been his highest Fast Eddie’s finish to date.  I’ll have to double check.

At one point during the tournament on Sunday evening, we were playing a table away from each other.  I don’t think we’ve ever played near each other like that so late in a tournament.  It was pretty cool.   Very nice weekend, even for the long day on Sunday.   My back hurt a little on Monday morning, but all is good now.

Next weekend is the OB Tour stop in Tulsa, OK at Magoo’s!

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Fast Eddies – Austin

Posted on July 12, 2009 by Shayla

Got a tournament today at Fast Eddie’s.  I’m so thankful that it is only about 2 miles away from my house, but I have a feeling its going to last until the wee hours of the morning.   The men’s tournament started yesterday morning with 128 players and today they are bringing back … 128 players!   There will be no open tables for the women to play on until they at least get 2 or 3 rounds out of the way of the men’s tournament.  I predict the women won’t be starting until around 2pm.   Hopefully they prove me wrong.

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One Pot Chicken

Posted on June 27, 2009 by Shayla

Why cook something in a crock pot when it can be done just as well, if not better, in the oven?   I made this meal last week and we really enjoyed it.

This is the first time I have ever cooked turnips.   Actually, I didn’t even know what a turnip looked like, and completely forgot to google it before I headed to the grocery store.  Luckily the produce section was being stocked and after I looked all around, I finally asked for directions.  :)   One of the nice produce guys showed me where they were and didn’t even laugh.  Much appreciated!   It wasn’t until after Corey had eaten the meal that I told him it was a turnip.  He thought it was potato!  I think I’ll be using turnips a lot more in the future.  I really like the way they taste.

This recipe also called for white beans.  I must have spent a good 10 minutes in the canned bean aisle looking for this darn white beans.   There were these 2 older black women coming down the aisle,  and they had a shopping cart full of food.  By the looks of the types of food they had in their cart, I figured they must be pretty good cooks, so I just asked them if they could help me find white beans ‘cuz I wasn’t having any luck.  I figured 3 heads were definitely better than one, but they couldn’t find them either.  I was commenting to them how I couldn’t believe the grocery store didn’t have white beans when another woman walked by and told me they were the same as navy beans, and there they were!  Way up on the top shelf and only one lonely row of canned navy beans.    I’ve never asked for help so much in one day at the grocery store.  Who knew finding white beans was going to be worse than turnips!?

The other ingredients in this recipe are carrots and celery, and chicken with the bone-in.  Of course, I took the skin off before cooking, and what a chore that is, too!    But, we really like this meal, so I’m sure I’ll make it pretty often.

One Pot Chicken

One Pot Chicken

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Playin’ league again …

Posted on June 26, 2009 by Shayla

This month, Corey and I started playing league again, and we’re even on the same team.  Decided to play this time in the Fast Eddie’s league, and so far so good.  11 teams total, which is really good.  The first week was a little miserable as we were on the smaller side of the pool room, and with roughly 60 people, it was pretty packed and a little on the warm side.  They’ve since moved the league over to the bigger side of the room and its plenty of room and a lot cooler.  Its nice to finally be in a pool room in the middle of a Texas summer and to be cool and not sweating your butt off!

After 3 weeks of play, we went from 6th place to 2nd place.  Our team won 5-0 this week, so that should really help with our ranking either putting us in 1st place or at least keeping us in 2nd place.

This league is 8-ball on 8′ Olhausen tables.  Like I’ve said many times before, I’m not a fan of 8-ball at all.  Personally, I think the game is inferior to 9-ball, but thats what is played in Vegas every year.  I think at least playing 8-ball once a week for a year will help me a little in Vegas next year.  Its definitely has to be better than just showing up not have played 8-ball for 2 years!   I’m sure I’d need to play 8-ball more than once a week to do very well in Vegas, but my main goal is just not to lose to people I have no business losing to!   Thats the part that aggravates me the most is when I am the reason why I lost, and not because my opponent was good.

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Beans ‘n’ Rice

Posted on June 25, 2009 by Shayla

I’ve always loved beans and rice.  Red beans, black beans, ranch style beans, pork-n-beans, and even some Hormel chili with white rice.  All so yummy!   This is a new little twist to the famous beans & rice recipe.   Using some black beans, turkey kielbasa, onions and tomatoes with some brown rice… very yummy!  The tomatoes and onions add a little more to the dish without all the extra calories.  This plate of food here was only 6 Weight Watchers points.   Normally I eat this in a bowl so I can mix it all together easily, but put it on a plate this time so the meal could make its photographic debut!

Beans & Rice

Beans & Rice

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Ow! My bum!

Posted on June 23, 2009 by Shayla

2008 was a rough year for me as far as my triathlon training.   Early in the season, I was having some cardiovascular issues while riding my bike.  I had seen a cardiologist a couple of years before, but decided to get a second opinion.  I finally found a cardiologist (thru a friend’s recommendation) who was an avid cyclist.  Jackpot!  Or so I thought.  I thought for sure he wouldn’t give me the same recommendation as the previous cardiologist of “well, stop cycling”.  While he confirmed the same diagnosis as the previous cardiologist of Vasovagal Syncope, his recommendation wasn’t as harsh.  Unfortunately, there really isn’t much that can be done about this condition besides just taking it easy.  Well, we could try blood thinners, but I’m not ready to take such extreme measures at such a young age.   This was back in May/June of last year.

To make matters worse, in July, I hurt my back at work.  It was a bad muscle spasm that kept me from doing anything for days.  I never really recovered well physically and emotionally from that.  Since then my weight has gotten out of control because I wasn’t working out.

This month, I decided to change that and got back to exercising again.  Its been hard, but I’m determined to take it one step at a time.  This past weekend, we went out for a short bike ride out in East Pflugerville.  The planned route was a measley 12 miles, but I ended up cutting the route short and only did 10 miles.  I was pretty disappointed in myself because I was used to riding 30-50 miles at a time.  Getting back to that is going to be a lot of work.  My butt has been hurting ever since.  This is normal for your first few bike rides of the season, gotta get those butt-bones calloused again.  But its a constant, painful reminder of how out of shape I am currently.

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