Starting to get really nervous. I am SO not ready for tomorrow.

I need to:

- iron my clothes
- print out copies of my resume
- print out writing samples
- print out the follow up questionnaire answers I sent (so I can remember what I said)

Oh yeah, and get a good night's sleep! :D

Things, they are a changin'....

My dear husband turned in his two weeks notice last Monday. He's leaving the security of a permanent, full-time job for a contract position. Yes, there is a perk: much higher rate of compensation per hour. However, that is in opposition to the longer commute and more gas usage....ah well...we'll see how it goes.

Still getting ready to interview. Need to brush up on the company via their website (always good to show you've done some research and know their product), figure out which clothes to wear, iron them if necessary, and lay it all out somewhere safe from cat hair (is there such a place).

Tomorrow, I'll be doing a lot of paper scrapping. The February sponsor for the Scrapbook Jungle is Crafty Secrets, and I need to do several layouts to have stuff ready for Wednesday, since I still need to scan after I complete the layouts.

Oh yeah, and I still need to complete my altered item and card for the Paperdillies DT contest. Guess I'll be busy tomorrow! :D

NSBR: I've got a job interview!

Yep, I have a job interview for a senior position in my career field. :)

Permanent position, accrues PTO, has medical/dental/vision, and it would be working with someone I consider a mentor.

It has been a long haul to this point. I applied for the job opening on 12/9/2005. The job opening accepted resumes through 12/31/2005. On 1/5/2006, I received a "follow-up" questionnaire, asking to expand on certain areas of my resume, due by 1/9/2006. On 1/20/2006, I got a call from HR, but wasn't able to connect with HR until yesterday, 1/23/2006.

By the time I interview (2/1/2006) it will have been almost 2 months since I submitted my resume. Let's hope it doesn't take 2 weeks for the final decision after the interviews.

Rachel

I've been selected to help out with the new magazine at DigiChick, De-Zine....so I'm now officially a "De-Zine Chick".... on their first issue, I helped with the Acrobat (PDF) end of things, I'm sure I'll be doing a bit more for future issues.

All elements, papers, and embellishments from the "Home Comforts" kit by Mari K at the DigiChick.

I took a few pictures of my new niece yesterday. She's adorable - and I had about a 5-10 minute window to get any pictures with her eyes open at all! :)

I've been tagged by Leah Fung, so I guess I better answer these questions! :)

Four jobs you have had in your life:

Alarm Operator - You've got to have the right mentality and personality to survive this job - it is very stressful. I lasted 8 months.

Retail Salesperson - Thankfully, only one job as a salesperson, at Hickory Farms. 5 months at this job.

Receptionist/Administrative Assistant/Data Entry - Way too many jobs doing this!

Technical Writer - What I am now, for the last 9 years!

Four movies you would watch over and over:
Some Kind of Wonderful
Princess Bride
Lion King
Beauty and the Beast (Disney)

Four TV shows you love to watch:
CSI
CSI: Miami
CSI: New York
Without a Trace
Cold Case (okay, that's 5, but this is all I really watch on TV)

Four places you have been on vacation:

Las Vegas, NV
Oregon Coast
Virginia
San Jose, CA

Four websites I visit daily:

The Pub at Two Peas in a Bucket
The Digi Chick
Scrapbook Jungle
My web-based email (while I'm at work)

Four of my favorite foods:

Fettucine Alfredo
Cheeseburger
Cheese Pizza
Dark Chocolate

Four places I would rather be right now:

Getting a full spa day...massage, facial, wraps, etc.
Oregon Coast
Home
On vacation somewhere warm (many days of rain will do that to a person)

Here's a photo from yesterday. I was playing with filters in Photoshop and here's the result:

Sarah has arrived!

Date: 1/6/06
Time: 6:18 p.m.
Weight: 8 lbs 10 ozs
Length: 20.75 inches

And here she is, shortly after birth, in a picture taken by her daddy.

What a fantastic day to wake up to!

First, I lost 1.0 lb at my (home) WI this morning. And that's on top of maintaining my weight (no loss, no gain) throughout the holiday season. I'm proud of myself!

Last, but not least, I got an email from Digital Memories Magazine, wanting to publish a layout I submitted about my love for my husband. And I won't have to wait too long for the issue to come out, it arrives on January 15th! That's the beauty of digital - you can just zip up your files, send 'em via email or some download service, and no postage delay. I am so excited, this will be my second "official" toot for publication in a scrapbooking magazine. Now if I could just get into Simple Scrapbooks... :)

Another day, another layout!

Below is a layout I did of my husband's great-niece, Jamison.

Adore

Still on babywatch, waiting for my new niece Sarah to show up. My sister has a c-section scheduled for Friday the 6th, but we don't think she'll make it that long. In other news, my BIL has apparently (no confirmation) arrived home on his 2 week leave from Iraq, just in time for the birth of his daughter. There is also supposed to be a restaurant gathering this evening to celebrate my niece Jesse's birthday - but no one has told me what time! :)

The first day of the new year! Woohoo! Clean slate, fresh start!

I have created/finished two projects today:

Accordion Mini Album
2005 Year in Review

The first project was sponsored by St Croix Cropping Company, the DT sponsor for the Scrapbook Jungle for the month of January.

The second project is based on the January 1 layout in the Designing With 2006 Calendar from Autumn Leaves.

Happy New Year everyone!

I hope to keep my blog updated better in the coming year.

OMG!

A Harry Potter iPod with all the audiobooks!

Rachel

I couldn't resist it! I've been checking the Digi Chick boutique almost daily to see when Mindy Terasawa's "sweeties" would be back in stock....and yesterday, they were!

I've sent off my form, and should hopefully see my custom sweetie back to me within a week or so, but since we've got a holiday tomorrow, it could go longer.

In the meantime, I also picked up this adorable calendar kit by Christy Lyle:



You can get it here: Digi Chick Boutique, Christy Lyle 2006 Calendar Kit

Tomorrow, it's off to do the "two dinner" drive around town. Sigh. Get up, pack up everything, drive from home to my parents' house, stay until 2 p.m., drive to his parents' house, arrive at 3 p.m., stay until 6 p.m., drive 90 minutes back home. Ugh. We made sure to fill up the tank on our way home today, didn't want to be caught without enough gas to go everywhere on a day when few gas stations are likely to be open.

I took part of a class from Karen Russell yesterday. I say part because I had assumed (wrongly) that the class would end by 12:30 p.m. (it started at 10:30 a.m.), but when she arrived, she said it would take 3.5 hours and end at 2 p.m.! Wow! Unfortunately, my husband and I were meeting a friend from Seattle at the Saturday Market at 1:30 p.m.......

I didn't even get the first project done in class - but I will finish it so I can post it here. It uses foam core, which is why the first project takes so long.

Continuing with my theme of getting "famous" scrapbookers posing with their book, I now have a picture of Karen with her book Totally Transparencies.

WOOHOO!

I'm officially "in print" and published. I just got my copy of the fall issue of Digital Scrapbooking magazine, and there I am, on page 15 (the Digital Debut section). I'm so excited, I took the magazine to work and bragged on it to everyone, even those who have no idea I scrapbook (much less digitally). Poor folks!

I'm looking forward to the day I can actually post the layout, so folks other than subscribers can see it. :)

Rachel

Gotta pass on this quiz link! I'll update for real later this evening!

hyphen You scored 46% Sociability and 41% Sophistication!

You are comfortable around others. While you don't have to go out every night, yet you take pride in being easy to get along with. This should not, however, be misconstrued as believing (as many do) that you are without subtlety. In fact, you have the power to inform the anal retentive that, indeed, they are discussing an anal-retentive issue. Who else can do that? Quotation marks intimidate you a little bit.

The Which Punctuation Mark Are You Test http://www.okcupid.com/tests/take?testid=9611125433033087547

Thanks to TaniaJPS for this cute little quiz!

Your 80s Heartthrob Is

Bill Gates

Who's Your 80's Heartthrob?

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.

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.

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. :)

SMILE!

Tag, you're it!