Make a different meal every day for dinner for a week

One of my goals for my 101 list was to "Make a different meal every day for dinner for a week."

For those who don't know, I'm not much of a cook. I love food, but I tend to not have the time (or make the time) to make anything. I tend to make a big meal one night, eat it for a week, and then repeat the process with another recipe. Or I do really simple (and not super nutritious) stuff like cereal or sandwiches. So this was a challenge for me. But I figured I may as well do it while I still have time. Because once I get a job, it would be a lot more challenging.

What I made:

May 7—Slow Cooker Salsa Rice Bake (I substituted hamburger for Italian sausage)
May 8—Creamy Ranch Chicken
May 9—Creamy Black Bean Salsa Chicken
May 10—Slow Cooker BBQ Ranch Chicken
May 11—Oven baked chicken (family recipe- coat chicken in mixture of crushed Corn Flakes and seasonings and then bake it)
May 12—Pasta with Alfredo Sauce and Italian sausage
May 13—Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas (I did make this one in the oven-- 25 minutes at 350)

So... yeah. I did it. I did use my crockpot for a lot of it, but I see no shame in that. And I was able to freeze some of the leftovers so that I can pull them out on my weekends between EFY and still have something to eat. Because I know I'll have no energy to shop or cook.

Donating Blood

I've never donated blood before.

I know, I know. It's an easy way to give service and save lives. But I've never done it because I get lightheaded super easily. And I mean super easily. I get lightheaded when they take blood samples from me, when I hear medical stories, or when I'm dehydrated. (If you want some funny stories, ask me about all the times I've fainted. Good times.)

But I put donating blood on my 101 list because I do think the fact that I've never donated is kind of ridiculous.

So there was a stake blood drive today and I signed up and headed over. I was already feeling a little lightheaded and nauseous as I went in (yay nerves), and as they started getting ready to actually poke me, it got worse. I warned the technician and he lowered me a bit further and told me to not think about it, since it was all in my head. (That piece of advice didn't exactly help... I know it's all in my head. But I've never been able to stop myself from getting lightheaded by telling myself that.) Then I continued to get even more lightheaded as he cut off the circulation to poke me and find the vein (my veins tend to be hard to find) and as I squeezed the ball. As the blood actually started coming out, I felt super lightheaded and nauseous. Luckily, the staff was all super nice and helpful. One grabbed a compress to put on my head, another grabbed me some cold water to sip on, someone put a barf bag on top of me (just in case), and one lady came over and made small talk with me to distract me. Just under 7 minutes later, I was done!

But... Of course I would have that much drama as I donate. I made quite the scene. But I survived.

(Proof that I actually did survive.)

We'll have to see if I can get up the courage to do it again sometime.