good day

Well,  I did it!  I got up early and made the trip to Oshkosh for the Badger State Games to compete in the Women's Discus Throw.  There were only 12 women throwing.  The hard part was knowing exactly who you were competing against.  I did not know until it was all over that there were 3 in my age group.  One lady, Lindsay, thought I was in her group; now I know she was younger than me, but she didn't.  She threw in the 30-35 age group,  I thanked her but let her know I was in the 45-49.   The results?  I placed first with a throw of 74' 8".  I was really disappointed in that distance as I know a few times in practice I had thrown real close to 100' and hit 90' pretty consistently.  The weather was great, sunny, warm-but not overly, and a perfect breeze.  I forgot the sunscreen and there was no shade for anyone there.  So. . .  4 1/2 hours in the sun and I am pretty pink.  I am actually giving off a fair amount of heat from my arms, face, and lower legs.

Here is me on the podium with my medal.  :)

This win qualifies me to go to the State Games in 2013 in Pennsylvania.  I won't go with a throw of only 74'8", but if I can get real close to 100' next year I would consider it.

The picture below is wierd.  I don't know why, but my kneecaps did not burn.  No sunscreen at all and they just have no color.  I know I scraped and cut my knees a few time growing up, but the exact same mark on both knees?

It was a good experience for me.  I will try to fit the competition into my schedule for next year.  I learned a lot about preparing and competing all over again.  It was hard to know how many warm-up throws to take, next year I will take a few more.  I won't get there quite so early and will definitely have sunscreen.  I will also compete in the shot put - might as well as long as I'm there.

Have a great week!  Good luck to all those trying something old again as something new - may you be successful in your endeavor!

Oh, yeah, we are now in high gear for preparing for the driving vacation out west - should be awesome.  Especially in the new Saturn Outlook we got on Friday.  It's not brand new, an '08, but it rides great and will make the trip that much more enjoyable.

Love ya,
Bren

Better Today

Hello, and glad you came back to read my blog.  :)   I was soooo tired earlier this week, but feel much better now.  We are getting excited for the vacation - even if it will be lots and lots, oh did I tell you LOTS of driving?!  My 'little' Alexa will be a senior this school year and some senior pics will be taken on the trip.  In fact, we are going to try to get some pictures at the same park that Bry had her bridal pictures taken at.  Should be way cool!  AND Bry lives just a few blocks from that very park.  Whoo Hoo!  for not a long drive!   We will take some pics at the Grand Canyon, maybe Sedona, and some at the same place Gwen & Greg took their 'engagement' photos in Texas.  They were already married, but that's what that type of photo is called, so engagement it is.  She might be the only senior to have pictures taken in 4 states!

Alexa used her birthday money and worked very hard for the rest to buy a Nook.  She is way excited to have it for the trip.  It is way better than an iPad.  Apple just makes me angry - their accounts, their charges, their service and try talking to a real person.  Good Luck with all that.  Anyway, she is busy figuring it out and getting it ready for the road trip.

It will be interesting to see if Meg and Scott actually survive the trip.  I may leave one, or both, of them by the wayside if they can't find a way to get along better than they do.  We are getting a newer vehicle tomorrow.  A Saturn Outlook, same chasis as the Chevy Traverse and a couple others.  I wanted to keep lots of room for kids, yet. Just to give them space apart and also room to haul stuff - as I still do a lot of that yet.

Good luck to all who are planning a vacation!
Love ya,
Bren

Summer, where have you gone?

I know the calendar says June, but the weather feels like late September or early October!  Up Nort (this is not a spelling error, but Yupper Slang) in Wisconsin is usually colder than almost anywhere else in the states, but this is truly ridiculus.   Maybe it will warm up by July.

We are preparing for our trip west.  So excited to go! 

I threw the discus for a while on Saturday and that went fine.  I really don't want to embarass myself at the competition, though.  What if I scratch?  What if I can't keep it in bounds?  Can't worry about 'what if's'.  I will go and do my best and if those things happen, then they happen.  It's just been so long - 28 years since I last competed.

This is a long week, my neck hasn't been very good.  A big headache, sore neck and stiff with some limitations on range of motion.  Even with all the driving, the vacation sounds wonderful right now.  Can we leave today?

Not much else to say without whining, so I will just leave it at this.

Have a great week!
Love Ya,
Bren

Time Flies

Hello and welcome to summer in full swing!!!!  Busy isn't the right word to fully describe our lives at this moment.  I am practicing discus throwing each Saturday and then me & some scouts head off the to Humane Society to walk dogs for community service.  The boys need this for advancement and the Citizenship in the Community merit badge.  It is an Eagle required badge, so important to make the time to get it done.

Work had been very, very busy.  However, I took two afternoons this week to attend a digital photography/photoshop class.  It was supposed to be 3 afternoons, but I was smart enough to not waste any more time being frustrated with that program and losing work hours in the process.  I guess I am the teachers first drop-out.  Oh well, I don't have time to waste sitting there staring at a screen wanting to accomplish a task and nothing working, being frustrated beyond belief.  I did learn more about my camera and maybe just enough on their program to be a little more fluent in the Photoshop Elements software that I have at home.  I just don't get the layers thing.  This is a 'cadilac' program and I just need a 'chevy'.  Knowing my limits is a wonderful insight, listening to them has not been a strength for me in the past.  See . . . I can learn!

Scouts has been going much better, at least I feel ontop of things and not feel like I am being swept away by them.  The gift-card program is working out very nice.  The last thing I need to do is type up the instructions so some one else could follow them if anything were to ever happen to me.  They are hand-written and just need to be typed.  This is something that I've done on different jobs that I've had and it's been good to do from time to time.  The easiest way to write them is assume that the reader has no frame of reference to what you are talking about.  This helps me to write them very simply and forces me to be very detailed.  Usually turns out well.

I also have helped get the scouts' advancement information in our Troopmaster software program.  This helps with tracking their progress and partial merit badges as well as tons of other information that's handy to have in one spot.  This program will help us upload data to the BSA National database.  Pretty cool.

The big news of the day is that Bry & Mark found out the gender of the baby today  . . .  And . . . . it's a boy!  His name will be Korbin.  She hasn't felt him move yet, but should soon.  They did see him swim around lots on the ultrasound.  He is very active.  The appt with the cardiologist also went well today.  Nothing a concern at this time.  I asked her about the pacemaker.  They don't need to implant one at this time, unless something comes up.  She's doing great and feeling good with very little morning sickness at all.  I really hated that feeling, so I'm glad she doesn't have it.  Don't think all the girls will be so lucky with that, but we'll see.  I can't wait to go visit and take her maternity clothes shopping - just for a few things.

The next two weeks are busy, too.  We are preparing to take our trip west to see Bry & Mark, my sis Pam, and then end up at Gwen & Greg's.  So it will be to Utah, Arizona and Texas!  Whoo Hoo!  Let's hit the road.  Sounds nice, but it will be a lot of miles.  Alexa and I will take turns driving.  We plan to stay one night at a hotel in Nebraska on the way out then one night at a hotel in Missouri on the way home.  One big loop and I am sure I won't want to get into a car for any great length of time when we get home.  Still excited for the trip.  Not sure which vehicle we'll take.  Right now we have a Chevy Venture mini-van, which has lots of room, but we are looking at newer vehicles, so who knows?  I just need to have lots of room for stuff.  I will have stuff to take out and stuff to bring back.

Have a great summer! Hope you find a way to take some type of break from the day to day routine!!!
Love Ya,
Bren