Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Thanks to TaniaJPS for this cute little quiz!

Your 80s Heartthrob Is

Bill Gates
Warning! Soapbox rant ahead - non scrapbooking related!

*You have been warned!*

My husband has been searching for a permanent job that has good benefits, the pay level he wants (or at least somewhere close), and a good location. He's been interviewing lately, and yesterday just takes the cake. He scheduled an interview with a local company for 4 p.m., so that he didn't have to miss a lot of work. He arrived at the interview with time to spare (15 minutes).

- The 2 interviewers were 5 minutes late.
- The interviewers had not even read or glanced at his resume before the interview.
- The interviewers did not ask him technical questions (he's a geeky programmer type guy).
- The interviewers sat stone faced through the entire interview, did not crack a smile or show any emotion.

Guess what? He got a call this morning from the employment agency which got him the interview, and they decided not to "continue" looking at him. Argh! In my opinion, this company had already decided on their candidate before my husband even interviewed, and were going through the motions to make sure they fulfilled some requirement HR or the company has to have a minimum amount of candidates to choose from. ARGH! *mutter*mutter*grumble*grumble*

Enough to make him want to go out on his own again and form his own company, but that's not happening unless I get a permanent job with benefits - and his career field has more opportunities for permanent positions than mine does right now.

Sigh.

Soapbox off.

Saturday, October 15, 2005

Yummy!

Digi Chick just posted some new kits on Thursday, and I picked up three! I love the colors, they will work so well with the pictures I tend to take.


Punkin Pie by Manda Bean






Deserted Island by Christy Lyle


In Honor of Women by the Digi Chick Team

Can't wait to do some layouts with these. I still haven't really scrapped my Race for the Cure photos, so the In Honor of Women will work nicely with those.

Thursday, October 13, 2005

I weighed in yesterday.

I lost .5 lb! While that may seem incredibly small, at least it is a loss and not a gain. 1 more lb and I'll be in "Onederland" --- under the 200 mark!

So my stats:

Starting weight: 204 lbs
Current weight: 200.5 lbs
Goal weight: 150 lbs

I met with a personal trainer on Tuesday at the gym. Yes, I *am* still sore, just a little bit. She showed me several machines, got a baseline read on the level, speed, and time. Today I do the routine again, without the trainer. Pretty much, my schedule will be: Mon/Wed/Fri = Cardio only and Tues/Thurs = Cardio and Weights. The cardio is more important to me at this point, but I need the weights to start some toning. Eventually, I'll get up the nerve to do a spinning or step aerobics class. I need to actually buy some decent gym shorts for that though - all I have are heavy sweatpants.

I did a layout last night, but I promptly submitted it to Scrapbook Trends for their Pampered Pets call (due 10/14/05), so you'll just have to wait to see it. I can tell you this much though...I used Mindy's "Autumn Glory" kit again - it works so well with pictures of the cats. :)

Monday, October 10, 2005

SMILE!

Tag, you're it!


Sunday, October 09, 2005

I've been inspired by some scraplifting challenges this weekend.

Here's a couple more layouts:


I used one of the kits I purchased from Digi Chick, Mindy Terasawa's "Autumn Glory." Based on KimMauch's "Garden Art" layout.


For this one, I used Holly McCaig's "Sand and Surf" kit from the Digi Chick. Based on "Relax" from monicaintexas on 2peas.

Saturday, October 08, 2005

OOH, I couldn't resist!

We finally both got paid, so it was time to pick up some new digital kits. Splurge! 3 kits later! :D


Manda Bean's kit: Galilee



Mindy Terasawa's "Autumn Glory" kit




Sara Carling's "Pure Vanilla" kit


I was promptly inspired by Sara's kit and a 2Peas Pubster Inspiration Challenge to do this:




You can leave praise here: Four Loves
And see the original here: Four Faces

Thursday, October 06, 2005

I've been checking out Halloween kits lately, just waiting until we had a little extra cash.

I think I've found the two (or is that three) kits I want to get:


Ghoulish Delight is available here, at HeatherAnn Designs.


Available here, at The Digi Chick!


Available here (FOR FREE UNTIL NOV 1), Design By Dani!

Sunday, October 02, 2005

It's been a long day!

Slept in until 8 a.m....that was nice. Puttered around, and eventually left to head towards Portland. Went to the Hanna Andersson and Columbia Sportswear outlets in Lake Oswego, then headed for a meeting in Milwaukie. Ugh! Mapquest led us astray, and although we ended up arriving to our meeting on time, we were really frazzled and had managed to thoroughly tick each other off by the time we got there. I make a better navigator, my husband thinks he's a better driver, but yet I was behind the wheel....you can see where this is headed, right?

After the meeting, we headed straight for dinner (at 4 p.m.) because we had missed lunch along the way.

But, tomorrow's another day, we've forgiven each other, and now we're at home plinking around on the computers.

Speaking of computers, I did another very quickie layout last night. I think I might redo it in a 8.5x11 size though....

Saturday, October 01, 2005


I was inspired by an "Ad Inspiration" challenge on 2Peas, so I took some of today's photos and created a layout.

It's called "After the Rain" and is from pictures taken today after the big storm moved through.
OUCH!

After some serious discussion about finances and health issues, my husband and I have decided to join an athletic club. No, we didn't pick a Bally's or a 24 Hour Fitness club. To us, those are intimidating....too many hardbodies, not enough regular people. As someone who is "plus-size," I want to see that there are "regular" folk working out, not just the people who are already in shape and trying to stay that way. We found a nice place, it even has an indoor track to walk around - 12 laps equal 1 mile. :)

So, back to the ouch part.

Yesterday, we decided that once we signed the papers, we'd do a brief workout. We didn't want to do too much, as part of the incentive for signing includes 2 sessions (for both of us) with a personal trainer. We both did some laps around the indoor track, but then split apart to check out the machines. I did about 10 minutes on the bicycle, which also had "ski pole" like arms you could move back and forth while cycling. I did another 6 minutes on the elliptical trainer. Here's where the ouch comes in! About 20 minutes after I was done with the elliptical, my butt muscles started to hurt. And by the time we got home, yep, those arm muscles were starting to make their presence known.

I am so out of shape.

I am determined though. I know that exercise is the key to my weight loss. We plan on going every day after work, on the way home. It will take us out of the rush hour traffic, but it will also mean getting home later than usual. But that's a small price to pay to get us in shape.