A bunch of randomness...

That's pretty much what the last few weeks have been...a bunch of randomness, very ADD and squirrelly.

To start off...I have to give a huge trumpet call to my son Brennan who just competed in his school's Science Fair and got a Superior on his project! Way to go Brennan...we are so proud of you!!! He did his experiment on the affects different liquids have on baking soda. He had a bottle with a cork and tried to see which reaction would make the cork go the highest. He tested white vinegar, ginger ale, lemon juice and red wine vinegar. After all the testing, white vinegar won. I'm so proud of him, because I'll be honest...I really wasn't sold on this project (he came up with it by himself by the way, no science fair project books or internet ideas), so I was a bit skeptical and wasn't really sure how he was going to pull it off. But he did...he attached string to the cork and then measured the string to see how far it went into the air...ingenuitive! He's always loved science and experiments. He reminds me so much of me at that age. I received my first Chemistry set at his age and I thought it was the coolest present ever!! (Yes Dad I thought it was cool...and I know that it was an expensive gift at the time you bought it. I think it cost $75.00 at the Hobby store (mine was a much bigger kit than the one shown here...I think it had 75 or 100 projects)...but I want you to know it was one of my favorite presents EVER!!) Anyway, He will now progress to the County Science Fair in January and he is so excited! I'm so proud of him!

Also we just got done with selling popcorn for Scouts. Thank you to all who bought popcorn from my boys. I know they appreciated. Brennan now gets to Fort Rapids water park and also got a Marshmallow Gun. All their proceeds also has pretty much paid for their summer camp for this coming summer too. So thank you from all of us, cause that is a big help for us and we couldn't do it without you!!

On the fitness front...I just jogged my best mile and my best 5K yesterday. I jogged a 9' 29" mile and a 30' 55" 5K. Which honestly surprised me because I just wasn't feeling it yesterday. Now this past Sunday I was in a groove...I jogged my longest jog...6.7 miles. The best part of that was walking/jogging around our courtsquare in the middle of town. It's there that I take the time to pray for our city, the people, the officials of our city, the police station, the people in the jails, the fire dept...just anything God laid on my heart. I am loving this time and like I said, before I knew it I had logged over 6 miles....so I guess God laid a lot on my heart...lol!

The boys are starting Upwards basketball soon and they are excited about it. It's Bren's last year so hoping he has a good year this year. Colton...well lets just say he's super confident...lol!

I don't know where you are, but the weather here has been cold and miserable. I think the older I get the more I understand why people go south for the winter. I've had a dull headache for three days and going from the heat to the cold does NOT make it any better. Praying that Mr. Sunshine shows up sometime soon cause I miss him a lot!

Well I better go for now. Gotta get the boys from school soon. Have a super week!!

It's not stubbornness...it called being Bound and Determined

So what a month!!! As most people who know me know September - first week of October is pretty busy for me. This is the time that I get ready for our County Fair. Though I didn't have as much in this year (no crocheting this year) I did have 14 entries...13 of those being in Photography. I actually got to sit in on the judging this year. Now that is a job I would NOT want. From what I heard there were over 800 entries this year in the photography division...for a little fair like ours...that's a lot of photos! I don't know how this judge did it...in fact not sure exactly what he was looking for in some of the photos he chose, but hey I am by far not a professional photographer by any means. I'm still learning...I'm what you'd call a 'trial and error' photographer. Every once in a while I do come up with a pretty stellar shot. So shockingly (and I do mean shockingly, cause there were some pretty nice photos this year...though I do believe there is a HUGE difference between a picture and a photograph) shockingly I was able to pull off 2 ribbons in Photography...and with the odds of over 800 photos and only 13 categories...I am blessed beyond all reason! Here are my photos that won this year:

For this photo I got third place for the category black and white snow scene.



For this photo I got second place for the category of Color landscape scene.


So life yes has been crazy...not sure if it just is, or I'm making it that way, but either way life IS crazy right now. Still e-schooling Austin which is going well, Brennan is in the thick of doing Science Fair (which I really need to help him more on), our church is celebrating its 80th Anniversary at the end of the month so been busy making flyers, bulletin inserts and bookmarks for that...not to mention my weekly FaithSisters commitment and normal mommy/housewife things. I have been a busy busy gal!


To top all that off...some of you know I've gotten back into exercising. Now before, I was doing workout videos and even got into the P90X videos...by the way those are killer! Great if you want results though but prepare to get your butt whooped! LOL!! Well since this past winter our family room has been going through a remodel (which honestly means it's unusable until we can find someone who can fix it and the money to pay them...lol!) So as of now the family room is unusable...at least for me to work out in, cause with all the stuff that's now in there, there is no room to workout. So this past August (and maybe I've already mentioned this before) I started walking, which has progressed to speed walking, which is progressing into jogging...and so far so good...slow and steady wins the race as I say. When I do go out, I try to run (I use the word run loosely) at least 3 miles...I try to do between 3-5 miles depending on time and how I feel. Honestly time is more the factor at the moment. When I started the kids weren't quite in school yet so I could go when I wanted...well since school has started I've had to adjust my exercising schedule...so I started walking in the evenings which worked wonderfully, but...I've since taken on a small cleaning job in the evenings 3 nights a week so evenings are out and honestly now that the days are getting shorter and it's getting darker sooner I don't like going out in the dark alone...and I again have had to adjust. So next solution, I began walking/jogging right before I picked the boys up from school and then walk with them home...of course they didn't like walking as much as I did but hey they got their exercise anyway :-) So that was going well for a little while...that's until a lady that sometimes goes to my church, her van broke down and she needed me to pick up her daughter and take her to school and bring her home. So walking to the school and getting the kids was no longer a good option anymore since this girl lives all the way across town...a little much to ask any 8 year old to walk...not to mention the bellyaching I would get from my own 2 boys. So again, I've had to adjust...now some people may have given up by now, but not me...stubborn you say?? No not me...I would call it more of a "bound and determined" attitude. And also the fact that hey I paid a good hard earned $ 20.00 on that Nike+ Sensor I'll be darned if I'm not going to use it!! So now I came up with the brilliant solution of driving up to the school, doing my walking/jogging around that area and still make it bake in time to get the kids and bring them home. So far it has worked pretty well other than the fact I'm sure the kids don't like the way I smell when they see me, but hey that's beside the point...I'm getting my exercise in...and I'm happy. I'm really happy that I've stuck to it. I've traveled over 115 miles since August 8th and I feel much better. I always feel better after working out. Now I'm concerned with what I'm going to do once the snow starts flying...not sure I want to brave the elements let alone that I have to watch breathing in too much cold air...it causes me to wheeze and that's not a good thing. So again it looks like I may have to adjust again soon...hopefully it won't be a bad winter.


Well I think I've bored you enough. I got a bunch of stuff piling on my desk. Until next time.
God bless!!

Yes, I'm a Gleek...how about you?

Greetings...I know...more than 1 post in a month...must be something wrong...actually no, just killing some time while Austin gets ready to take his Math chapter test...ahhh. Trying to keep on top of things a little better...trying...anyway.

So did you watch Glee last night??? I have been sooooo anticipating the return of my new favorite TV show...and for me to call a TV show a fav, there must be something to it because it takes a lot to keep me glued to that thing. I know this is going to come as a shock then, but I inevitably have NOT watched the new episode...yet. I honestly thought it was on today (Wednesday) so I forgot they moved it to Tuesday....but luckily one of the greatest inventions made by man (the DVR) recorded it for me so my evening tonight will be stuck glued to the TV in sheer laughter and song! So no one give it away for me...though I did download the preview on my iPod a couple days ago....hilarious....and can't wait to watch it tonight....along with a little Ghost Hunter action....ahhhh!

I'm again glad for the DVR cause I had a hugely long and difficult meeting last night so I just didn't have it in me to watch anything but my eyelids, but tonight....watch out....the TV is MINE!!!

On other interesting things....I took an over 3 mile speed walk around Lake Park (it's a lake about a 7 minute drive from our house) Monday night. Colton had a tour with his Cub Scout pack at the museum in Roscoe so I took advantage of it and dropped him off there and went walking around the lake. Wow....how I have missed doing that....I used to do it all the time in my 20s, but after the kids came along it was tough...but anyway it was so nice to get out in the spring air and just jog and walk around....took me every bit of the hour to speed walk that 3 miles but hopefully in time it will get better. It just really felt good to exercise and my exercise has been a lot of hit and miss lately, but hoping that now that the weather is getting warmer that it will be more of a hit!

Oh and now that Easter is over (by the way I LOVE Easter) I have been able to use my iPod again....yes I gave it up for Lent. It was like getting a new toy again...I've been playing that thing like I just got it for Christmas....man I missed my iPod, but I'm glad I gave it up...I needed to.

Well I'm going to get off here...going to surf the net (if my stupid flaky computer will let me) and look up stuff for vacation...if anyone has any tidbits or advice on Asheville North Carolina drop me a line....I think that is where we are planning on going on one of our vacations this year....God just seems to be speaking to us about that area...we are going to check it out.

Have a gleek week! Love ya all!