Cholesterol Check

I was picking up some pills for my mother the other day at Costco when I noticed they had a sign up for a free cholesterol checkup today. So, I have been looking forward to it and asked my wife to come with me (she has never had hers tested). After a major sample buffet of all kinds of deliciousness throughout the store, we stopped over for the test. Teresa was up first and they were having a tough time getting her finger to bleed! I sat next to her and had mine poked and drained. Well, my overall number was down another 50 points to 127. But, my good cholesterol number is lower than it should be. I asked what I need to do and was told "exercise", uh do it, "eat more fiber" mmm, I eat 145% of my daily need before I leave the house in the morning and unless I want to lose total control of myself I probably shouldn't eat much more, "fish oil pills" do it. Huh, you're screwed. So, I guess the next thing is niacin. And a bacon wrapped steak, fries, Ding Dongs, AND chocolate cake.
Oh, Teresa's wasn't too bad, but we are not supposed to bring it up ever again after today.

Pass the butter.

What is this Stuff?

What the heck? I was so excited to see our lawn again on Saturday! I actually found a newspaper once the snow receded (yeah, they deliver it in the middle of the yard, or in the street, or where ever it hits. You know, back in the day we had to have it on the porch AND we had to go collecting and deal with all the jerks that would keep a record of which days you DIDN"T have it on the porch and they would deduct it from your tip. Now they just toss it from a car going 35 mph down the street!) Anyway, the paper was dated Dec. 16. Gosh, I didn't think it was that long ago that it started snowing.
So with all the rain yesterday I was pretty surprised to see a few inches of snow this morning. And it is heavy and wet!
I guess we'll be running on the treadmill tomorrow!

Boots?

My brother Carl and his family stopped in for a visit. It is always fun when they stop by. I am happy we had cake for them, even though Serena won't eat it. I don't know why Carl has cowboy boots We grew up in Cupertino, CA, not really the country, so when he's wearing boots and Wrangler jeans, well, something just isn't right.
Every time they come by Michelle grabs the down throw blanket and wraps herself up in it. She even tries to steal it when they leave- what's that lump under your hoody? If they want to take the cats, well, that's another story.
Chelsea is out on her Preference date with Brad tonight. Doesn't she look cute!

Just keep your mouth off my daughter.

All Finished

I just finished up my drawing of John and am very satisfied with how it looks. It's been a great experience to create again! I haven't had that "I can't wait to draw" feeling in quite a while.
I thought I would throw in a picture of my dirty hand. Charcoal does tend to be a bit messy, but I love getting the warm feeling of smearing it & pushing it around. This is also a picture of my charcoal pencils.
So, I will have to start a new one real quick! If you have a portrait you want done, give me a call!

Another Couple Hours

Ken and I had to go to Magleby's to pick up a sculpture and Doc makes sure that we eat when we are there. So we both had the black bean soup and a sandwich. Holy cow that soup was good! Spicy, too. The sandwiches were fine and all, but it was the chocolate cake that did us in!!! Man, they give you in essence 4 pieces and that stuff is thick and dense and with 3 scoops of ice cream and raspberry sauce. Low fat and cholesterol free, no doubt. We both had a few bites and brought it back home. I was dumb enough to get an extra order to bring home. The container of cake weighed 5 pounds! But, and most importantly, my wife was happy.
I have spent another 2 hours on my drawing. I am working from a photo- John's high school graduation photo from 1988 to be exact. Can you tell by his look how much he enjoyed high school? This is my mother's favorite picture of him ever.
While drawing I listen to music and Alan Parson's Time came on. That is a magical song because it is the song that in 1981 I asked my future wife to dance for the first time. Special and precious, I know.

Last Night's Work

I spent an another hour last night on my drawing. After seeing it on the computer I see some things I may need to fix.

Drawing

I haven't done much artwork for the longest time. After Christmas I was thinking that I really miss my favorite medium and what I really enjoyed doing- charcoal and charcoal portraits. So I headed over to Michael's to get some paper. I used to buy the best paper from the BYU Bookstore, but it has been MIA for over a decade, but I was happy with the paper at Michael's. I went through a big stack that had a crease in the same spot throughout the stack. I finally got one that wasn't too bad. So I gingerly take it to the registrar to pay. I thought I was showing the price tag easy enough to the clerk but she grabbed the sheet to scan it. I thought the way I was holding it was a sign that being delicate was the order, but, you know when you assume...
Anyway, I am working on a portrait of my brother John. (anytime I say my brother John I always think of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. You have to be a Genesis fan, a real fan.)
So I thought I would show where I am at so far, about 3 hours into it. I always start with the eyes because if they don't look right then there's no use going on. I am enjoying it even though I don't have a real good place to work. My wife probably wanted to slug me in the gut for hooking up my halogen lamp to the new desk in Chantel's room (hey, it used to be my art room).
I will keep you posted on the progress.

Hillbilly

OK, here is my Hillbilly mouth. I am not adjusting well to being a hick. Without thinking, I grabbed a Frito chip from Ken and chomped on it only to have it go right up into my pit! Yeah, blood and such. Lots of fun.
And sorry about the beautiful nostril shot!

Some Christmas Shots

So my lovely wife finally downloaded pictures off the camera. I have some from Christmas. I threw the house shot on from Christmas Morning before anyone was awake, well, except our cats- they had to follow me to see what I was doing.
This is the only shot of me on Christmas. I guess that's what I will look like when I'm dead.

New Year and Such

So it's 6 degrees outside right now! Holy cow!
Anyway, for Christmas Eve we went to Carl's house. Ivette made lovely yummy pulled pork and we had sandwiches and other foods. It was a blast. It is fun to hang out with the Snyder's. Of course we played Sequence. Man the women cheat when we play! Carl put on some home movies from quite a few years ago. Wow! I love the color of the clothes. We also looked at some old pictures, too. We made it home and got Christmas all ready to go, well, Teresa did; I went to bed at 11:30. I just couldn't take it anymore. I was up early in the morning mainly because 6 am is a huge sleep-in for me. The girls all got up by 8 and we opened gifts. We scaled it back this year, but it was fine. The main thing was hanging out together and thinking about the Savior. I am going through Christmas music with drawl! I love it. Oh well.
It has been pretty wild with all the snow this year! November didn't have anything and you start to wonder if it ever will snow, but holy cow we got a lot.
New Years Eve day I woke with a huge pustule thing sticking out of my gum above a tooth that I have had problems with- I had a root canal done on it a couple years ago. Well, back in October it started hurting. How does a tooth with no nerves hurt?! I go to the dentist, he takes x-rays and then tells me I need to go to the endodontist. He tells me the root is cracked all the way up and that I have infection all around it. Swell. And I need to have it extracted! So, I took some antibiotics and let it be, until last week. I poked the thing on my gum and let it drain, then called the dentist where Chantel had her wisdom teeth taken out. They had me come right over and yanked it out. Man, I feel like a hobo.
The Wakefield's had New Years Eve plans, so we went with them, the Clegg's, and Hatch's out to eat, which I really couldn't do, then we went back to the Wakefield's to play games. The Grover's and Christensen's came over, too. We laughed real hard that night about the jockstrap that I got for a white elephant gift. (I want to hot glue some bobble eyes on it and make a puppet out of it.)
You know, I hate staying up late.
And Dick Clark, bless his heart, just shouldn't be on TV anymore. I had a little vomit come up in my mouth when he was kissing some lady at midnight. Oye.
I managed a 42:03 for 6 miles on the treadmill. If only I could get that outside! Jayton and I ran around the outside track at the baseball fields. It wasn't too bad, but I prefer not to run over the ice and slush.
Abby turned 14. That is really weird, but it is amazing seeing her not looking like a little girl anymore; she is looking older and more younger woman looking.
Jayton took me over to the mall to look for some jeans. We must have looked very gay; two guys talking about pants, and no one should ever hear another man say, "I want to see you in these."
So, I will try and stay updated more often. December is always hectic with all the concerts, parties, and church stuffs.
I will get some pictures up soon, too.
Oh, since last January I am down almost 20 pounds! It's amazing!