Due to the fact that I haven't been taking any pictures of my own...

I have resorted to posting more Face in hole pics for my dear friend Dawn! This is the lovely shade of bronze you'll be after we retire in Florida!

You're looking just a little pastier in this pic! You need a bit more sun! (and you might wanna cut back on the Weight Watchers a bit- you're looking a bit like an Ethiopian)

Well, maybe I'll get back on my horse in Feb. and actually take some pictures again! To be honest, there's just not much these days to snap shots of, except baskeball, and like I said, most of those kindof stink.

I'm subbing this afternoon in Middle School art. What a joke! I hate art (except for scrapbooking, but that's different). I have learned, though, they usually know that the sub will be inept in these specialized classes and leave something really easy for you to do! So I'm trusting that!

I think we're all on the mend here, thankfully! Brennan's still coughing, but that's pretty typical for winter around here.

BTW, I did put on the Followers gadget since you asked about that, Dawn. I wasn't sure if anyone was really reading my blatherings or not, so I hadn't even added it! So if any of you faithful followers (anyone? anyone?) want to click on that gadget to follow my exciting life, I'd be so honored!!!!

Well I told myself I was going to get on the treadmill today, and I need to get to it before I have to get ready to sub. I missed Boot camp last night because we went to the Iowa Energy game. Gary and some men from our church got to sing the National Anthem, so we were able to go for free. It was fun! My stomach muscles are not as sore anymore- now I'm really feeling it in the arms from the weights. I also have a really sore spot on my right side- it's very tender- so that has prevented me from being able to do crunches, etc. It feels like it's going to split open when I do. I'm figuring I probably strained something there that was shocked and overwhelmed at being exercised!!!

Alright, gotta get busy. Lots of sports this weekend- Brad's bb game tonight, Bren's bb game at 8 AM tomorrow, Boot camp at 10 AM tom., Brad's bb scrimage on Sunday afternoon, and then the Super Bowl! I normally don't give a rip about the Super Bowl, but I am a Kurt Warner fan, so GO CARDINALS! I actually went to college with Kurt Warner, and saw him play (ie- benchwarm) for the UNI Panthers back in the day! More than his football career, I love him because he is a Christian. He is not ashamed to share his faith, and truly is a great testimony and role model. I am happy for him and his football success.
Toodles!

Big Fat (Precious) Tub of Lard

I am not the only one around this joint that needs to lose some weight. The petite, once-runt of the litter has gotten ginormous.! She loves to eat, and doesn't like to exercise! (I wonder who she takes after????) These pictures only magnify her ginormacy (is that even a word?) but there's no real slimming pose for her anymore. But she's cute, sweet as ever, and I love her to pieces!



She loves her Brennan and the feeling is mutual!

Nothing exciting to report here. I don't even have any new photos to post, except for some basketball shots of the kids in a horribly lit gym that are mostly blurry- so I can't say I'm overly excited about them. I'd have to say that a gymnasium is the hardest place to get a decent picture.

I'm sick- AGAIN! and getting rather tired of it, I must say. I got over this sinus infection less than two weeks ago, and now I've got a bad cold. I stayed home from church this morning and evening, and in fact, am still in my pj's as of 7:15 PM. Why bother changing now? I do have to sub tomorrow so I was hoping that the extra rest today would help.

I have my last writing deadline due on Tuesday, and I just e-mailed it off!!! Yeah! It's always a big weight off my shoulders when I'm done with it. It reminds me of college days when I had papers due- always something looming on the horizon. Now if I could get to feeling better, I might be able to accomplish some things! I think I'm in need of some good vitamins or something.

Work is going well for Gary so far. He seems to be liking it, and he has begun running on the indoor track they have. He used to run 2 miles per day at lunch time at Praxair, but there was no track there so he only did that when the weather was nice. Families, I guess, can use the facility too, so I'm anxious to go see it and try it out!

I have survived two nights of Boot camp and I'm happy to say my muscles aren't nearly as sore as they were on day two through four. I don't think my muscles have ever hurt like that (and in places I didn't even think muscles existed!) I was hoping to work out at least once this weekend but with the way I'm feeling, that hasn't happened and won't.

Well I suppose I should go throw Bradley's ball uniform in the wash machine. At least today he told me he needed it washed by 5:30 instead of the typical 9:30 PM and it needs to be washed by the next morning. I got ample notice tonight! Gotta love a teenager!

Well, hopefully my next post won't bore you to death. Maybe I'll get my camera out and start taking some pics. I could take pics of the 3 additional inches of snow we got last night, but quite frankly, I'm bored of that sight. I HATE WINTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AH... I feel better. I have been a bit of a grump lately. Just ask my dear sweet husband. Nothing that a week in the tropics couldn't cure!

Toodles!

oh my- where have I been?

This post is way overdue. I've had it on my list to blog several times, but it never quite happened. Getting things accomplished lately has been tricky. So I'll just update recent events in list form.

1. My exciting news that I mentioned several weeks ago- Gary started a new job! He is working at Farm Bureau. He is still in Accounting as he was at Praxair but has gotten a pay increase, which is awesome! He started Monday, and so far, seems to like it. He's been in training the last couple of days. It takes him about the same amount of time to get to work, but he goes in the opposite direction. The facility is huge and beautiful. They have a fitness facility and full cafeteria, and after coming from a warehouse type building, this is a big switch! I'm so happy for him, and thankful for a job in this economy, let alone a pay raise. We feel blessed.
2) Bradley is home today with the stomach flu. He began feeling yucky last night, and then things got worse from there. So neither one of us got much sleep last night. On top of that, both of us went to the Dr. 2 weeks ago, and both had a sinus infection. We both got antibiotics. Mine cleared up nicely. He is still struggling with congestion and drainage even after his ten days of antibiotics. So it's back to the Dr. with him tomorrow. Poor thing.
3) I started Boot Camp last night. I signed up for an 8 week exercise class here in Carlisle. I am definitely sore today! We use weights, mats, and do lots of cardio. I'm hoping to lose a few pounds and inches in the process.
4) We made it through a deep freeze last week. It got to about 20 below actual temp. with windchills in the negative 40 range. I realized that I did not go outside of Carlise from Sunday night until the next Saturday morning when I went grocery shopping etc. The boys didn't have school on Monday or Thursday, so last week was really messed up. I had been SO tired for a couple weeks before that. I think it's the sinus infection. And with Bradley sick this week, it's been hard to get back into a routine. Besides, I just don't seem to have a lot of motivation.
5) I've had a writing deadline each week in January. My last lesson is due Jan. 27, and I haven't really started that one. I will be ready to finish it up and move onto other things that are needing attention- mainly the house needing cleaned from top to bottom.
6) I am planning to paint Brennan's room and my tutoring room over the next couple of months. Brennan is really getting into the Hawkeyes, and since Bradley got his Cyclone room, I'm going to change the taupe and red in Bren's room to black and white. Then we'll accent with the Hawkeye stuff he's been collecting. My tutoring room is a lovely shade of yellow (corn cob yellow as Gary calls it) but I'm ready for a little change there. Paint is such an inexpensive way to spruce things up, and I like to mix it up every now and then! I don't like the same old-same old. So hopefully I can get started on Bren's room after the writing deadline, and I plan to paint the tutoring room over spring break. I was recalling that last spring break Gary and I painted the entire living room, entry way, hallway, and downstairs. That pretty much consumed the week. Thankfully my tutoring room won't take that long!!!!
7) Well it's off to work on laundry and try to get motivated to accomplish something besides lying in the sun and basking. The cats and I often fight for the sunny spots in the afternoon! I WANT SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Toodles!

This is for you Dawn...

You look hot girl!!!! Love ya! Weight Watchers must be doin' its thang!!!!

Wii fitness score

I AM 25! I figured out how to hit a home run!!!!

I hate Iowa

(Don't be alarmed- this is an almost daily quote from me from about December through March)


This is my reality... with more on the way- we now have about 6 inches on the ground with another 3 or so tonight with a blizzard warning right behind it- Goodie! Can't wait!!!!!!! Then more snow is coming in on Wed. Ugh. This has already seemed like a long winter...


This is what I dream of on a daily basis- the warmth, the beauty, the carefree spirit, the awesome tan I had... (the fact that I was 25 pounds lighter)... the sound of the waves... I miss Hawaii. I WANT TO GO BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No school tomorrow for the boys. Teacher work day- ie "I get to sleep in day!!!!!" Then I need to work on my writing assignment. Another deadline on Friday.

I'm on the mend from a sinus infection. Both Bradley and I had one, so we're both on meds. I am feeling better though. I was so wiped out from it. All I wanted to do was sleep. So as far as my goals, the treadmill didn't happen last week. No energy for that. Hopefully this week, I'll get my tail back on it.

The good news- I finished a book (all in one night I might add) the bad news- it wasn't a classic. As I was at the library this week getting some golf books for Bradley, I found myself wandering over to the biographies, and before I knew it, biographies on Tracey Gold (Carol from Growing Pains) and Patricia Heaton were in my possession. As I was at Family Bookstore the other night, I wrote down the title of 8 more books I'd like to read- all bios or autobios. Hmmm... the next one needs to be some other kind of literature. I'm not really a fiction reader. Everyone is talking about the Twilight craze, and I can't bring myself to that just yet. Those sound weird to me. Classic-

I went to the bank in Ankeny the other day and did not even stop at Memory Bound (my favorite scrapbook store). I was proud of myself as that took a large amount of self control. Less is my word and I'm (trying) to stick to it!

I've been working on organizing pics all weekend. I'm just needing to get them downloaded on CD's. Oh, and speaking of my digital goal, I downloaded some free digital scrappin' kits from Two Peas, so that's a start. Now I need to figure out my Paint Shop Pro so I can do something with them. I completely do not understand about vectors, layers, brushes, etc.But I will learn!

I SHOULD go to bed now (it's 11).We'll see if that happens!

Toodles.

Looking back

13 years ago today, this is what was happening... I was experiencing those wonderful feelings of becoming a mom for the first time. Bradley Scott Hydorn was born at 8:02 PM Sunday, January 7, 1996. He was 3 weeks early weighing in at 6 pounds 4 ounces. I was POSITIVE I was having a girl. We hadn't had any ultrasounds to tell us one way or another, but I just had that feeling. I would even sit in our new rocker in the baby's room singing to little "Alexis Dawn" in my tummy! So when someone in the delivery room said, "it's a boy!" I was shocked... but definitely not disappointed. I know Daddy was thrilled with his little boy, and so was I. So "Bradley Scott" it was.





Fast forward 13 years, and we finally are all gathered in one room at 9 PM tonight to finally open his gifts and have cake. Life has definitely changed since this special moment in the hospital room. Bradley's morning started out with basketball practice at 6:30 AM, school all day, two friends home with him after school to play Wii, piano lesson, quick supper of Papa Murphy's pizza (his request), and then to youth group at church. Dad is busy at work with year end stuff so he didn't get home until late as well. I am realizing how fast these years are going. If the last thirteen years flew by so quickly, I can only imagine how fast the next five will go, considering many days are like ours today, and then he will be out on his own. But for now I will enjoy these moments knowing he's safely tucked in his bed just below where I'm sitting now.
Happy birthday Big Guy! Mom loves you very much!

just some random stuff

The new me- after my LESS word has taken effect (well, I guess there's MORE in a few areas!!!). I have been having a blast with this website- faceinhole.com. One Saturday I spent hours plugging in my kids, myself, my family, and anyone I had a picture of in all sorts of scenarios! I love this one! Although not one of the best "fits" I have a couple that are very realistic looking! I'd like to say this picture could be motivation for my workouts, but I don't think this look can be achieved without some major plastic surgery!


I just recently discovered this stuff, and it has been wonderful for my milk-allergic son. Brennan was diagnosed with a milk allergy before he was two (however I suspected it long before that) and has not been able to have milk products. We taught him from a very early age that he has an allergy and that he could not eat certain things. I have to admit that I had a lot of anxiety (and anyone who is reading this who knows me is laughing knowing my "anxious tendencies) sending him to school where I wouldn't be there to make sure he wasn't eating anything he shouldn't, but so far, thank the Lord, he's been OK. We've only had one real scare since he was diagnosed. As he's gotten older it has been harder on him, especially, concerning cake and ice cream at parties, etc. He feels like he's missing out on something, which is totally understandable. So I found this at Walmart, and bought some "good" chocolate syrup. I made brownies, and put it all together, and he loved it! He has enjoyed an ice cream treat every night for the last several nights, just like the rest of us!

And where have these been all my life? This works SO well! I was doing a bit of cleaning on New Year's Day, and I decided to tackle my once-white refrigerator, now laden with dirty handprints, crusted food, and just plain grit from years of daily wear. The grime, that I have tried to get off NUMEROUS times with other cleaners, came off so easily! The refrigerator is so white, it's almost blinding!

In other happy news, MY IPOD IS UP AND RUNNING! I had sent a letter to the Itunes support team and they e-mailed me back with instructions on things to try, and it worked! I also got a portable speaker system, so after my 12 year old helped me get songs on my i pod (because I don't know how) I hauled my speakers downstairs today and jammed out while I walked/ran (I say "ran" very loosely as the running portion only lasted for one song, but hey, it's a start!) on the treadmill.

And we got some other very wonderful news yesterday that I can't share yet, so yesterday was a great day!!

Oh, and I forgot a couple more goals I need to add to my list.

4) I want to read more this year - and I want to vary my reading. I usually migrate to biographies/autobiographies of famous people/entertainers. I have realized that there are so many classics that I haven't read. I would like to read at least one classic per month. I don't have one picked yet for January so I need to get on that.

5) I want to blog more. I have been very haphazard about posting, and I'd love to be more consistent about that. I've always been a diary keeper (at least i was growing up- I wonder what happened to all of those?) but as I've grown, life has gotten in the way. I've always loved to write- I definitely got that from my mom, and I want my blog to be a place to record our lives as well as incorporate my scrapbooking adventures.

Well, I should probably think about bed. I have stayed up late all of break and slept in late all of break. This last week has been one of the laziest, schedule wise, and I have LOVED it! The boys have been spending their days playing Wii and Rock Band, and I chime in on a song or two (I rock on "Dead or Alive"), bowling, and check my Wii fitness every day (which, by the way, is well above my real age. The baseball on there kills me every time! I can't hit a home run to save my life!). Tomorrow will be a busy day with church and then back to the grind on Monday. Ugh.

Toodles!

Happy 2009-- is it?

Well my New Year's Eve started out wonderfully, and kind of went down hill. I spent the day out yesterday shopping. The boys stayed home, so I got to browse at my leisure.It's all good. I decided to purchase an Ipod with my Christmas money, and I found one at Sam's Club for about $10 cheaper than anywhere else! At first I was planning to buy an orange one, but they were all out, so I bought the pink one. I love it! I got to stop at Starbucks for my peppermint white chocolate mocha, and just enjoyed being out. It's all good. We were given a Pizza Hut gift card from our neighbor for Christmas and Brennan had earned a personal pizza certificate so we decided to go out to Pizza Hut for New Year's Eve dinner and get home before all the crazy drunks got on the road. It's all good. We enjoyed our supper, and I made a quick stop at Wal Mart for some groceries on the way home, and was in my fleece pajama pants by 7:30. It's all good. (NOTE- this is where the evening takes a downhill slide).
I settled in to get my Ipod synced and download a few new songs. Since we've had I tunes downloaded on the computer for awhile and have loaded most of our CDs onto it, I thought this would be a piece of cake. HA! I had a download a newer version of I tunes since ours was older and wouldn't support the new nano. Fine. When I did that, it said that Quick Time was not found and I needed to re install I tunes. Fine. This is the vicious cycle I was in for the next several hours. After trying several times, yelling at the computer, blood pressure rising, and finally googling my problem, I discovered several others have had this same problem. I believe it has something to do with Vista (as usual). I tried a fix I found on the internet that didn't work, and I have an e-mail into a tech person. And so I just sit and look at my pretty i pod that I was hoping to have been listening to in my scrap area at this very moment. Anyway, in the midst of all that, I got my behind kicked in bowling on the wii. Normally that wouldn't really bother me, however already being in a bad mood, it was an even bigger blow. At about 10 minutes to midnight, I was giving Brennan some Nyquil before bed. As he carried the Nyquil back to the bathroom, he dropped it before the lid was on tight. Before we were able to pick it up, about 1/2 the bottle spilled all over the carpet- One big puddle and splotches everywhere. He felt awful, and so did Gary and I. So we rang in the new year scrubbing the dark red stains and praying it would come out. Gary got out the steam cleaner, and of course, couldn't get that to work for the first 20 minutes or so. Thankfully, he got it figured out. Most all of the small splotches are out, but the big puddle is still visible after several go-overs with the steam cleaner. Ugh. I went to bed at about 1 or so, and, like the last several nights, was not able to go to sleep for some reason. That being said, I don't want to sound like a complainer. I have so much to be thankful for and I decided to dwell on those things before I fell asleep (and believe me, I had a lot of time to do that since I couldn't fall asleep!).
Anyway, onto 2009! We slept in til 10 AM!!!!!! All of us!!! We watched Iowa win the Outback Bowl (which I could have cared less about since I'm a Cyclone fan), and have had a very relaxing day, which has been lovely. I've been doing some laundry, organizing some stuff, cleaning, and meal planning. I am going to place a large order of photos from the last part of 2008 after while and then try to get my 2008 pics burned onto CDs. Then I clear them off my hard drive. I try to just keep the current year on there. Anyway, I made this little accordian album last night to remind me of the word I have chosen for 2009. I mentioned this in my last post.

My word for 2009 is LESS. I have many ways that I want to apply this word, and my journaling pretty much summarizes those ways. I [plan to set this little book somewhere where I will see it regularly-perhaps in my bedroom as a reminder as the year continues.

Along with my word, I've thought of a few goals I'd like to accomplish in the coming year. I've done this on past New Year's, but I don't know if I've ever had them written down like I am doing here. So my plan is to go back next year and evaluate my progress to see if they were met or GETTING CLOSER TO BEING ACCOMPLISHED. I want to see this as a process. I think too many times, Resolutions, once broken, make us feel like failures. I want to focus on the process just as much as the end result. That being said, these are a few additional goals I have for the coming year besides the things mentioned in my book above.

1) I want to improve my photography skills. I have this nice camera with all sorts of settings that I have no clue how to use. I have been photographing some food that I have been making (for a recipe book) and I just have no idea how to make it look good. I have been photographing my layouts for uploading, and I just never seem to have the right lighting, etc. There are on-line classes I have seen, and I'd really like to take one.

2) I want to try a little digital scrapbooking. I said a little, and that's what I mean. I truly enjoy the paper and goodies in my hands that I cannot imagine sitting at a computer to do it all. That's just not me. However I do want to learn some basic digital things- I just got Corel Paint Shop Pro and I want to learn how to use layers, brushes, and make collages. I would also like to make at least one digital album on Shutterfly or a site like that. I would love to learn how to make a new digital banner for this blog and spruce it up some more. Sometimes the whole technology overwhelms me to the point of wanting to throw the whole computer out the window (see above whining!) and other times I realize this is where society is heading, so I better get on board with it!

3) I am going to participate in my first 5 K at Old Settlers. I made a pact last year with my husband and some friends that I would "run" in the race. Now, I'd like to say I'm going to run the whole thing, but I'm not setting myself up for that just yet! If I can get across the finish line without needing to be carried, I'll feel like I accomplished something! I would also like to run in the 5 K at Race for the Cure instead of walking the mile.

Well I've rambled far too long for this post! If you stuck with me to the end, congratulations! Unfortunately there's no prize.

Toodles.