Feelin' good

I did TWO good things today that make me very happy:

1) I ran 2 miles today. That may not seem like a big deal, but when you basically don't run at all for 3 months, it's a very big deal. I am proud of myself that I did it. I am just this week starting to train for the Peachtree Road Race on July 4th. It's the biggest 10K in America. I did it 4 years ago, ran only a portion of it. My goal - to run all 6.2 miles this year, hills and all. I am starting my training s-l-o-w (which is how I did it for the 1/2 marathon). I am excited to get going with this again.

2) I donated all my former work suits, shoes and dress shirts to the Atlanta Union Mission. It's clearly a faith-based organization, but they help single moms get back on their feet. They help them with interviewing skills, resumes, and of course looking the part of being in corporate America. Hopefully, a woman will put on a suit that I once wore, feel good about herself and get a new job and a new outlook on life. I also donated 2 trash bags full of clothes for women at battered womens shelters to wear. I'm glad that I can help make even a little bit of difference to someone.

Scraplifts and Templates/Quick Pages

Does anyone ever scraplift and make a "template" or your very own quick page? Basically, I save other people's LO's that I love and want to recreate (who doesn't right?). In an effort to get the creative juices flowing today, I decided to recreate these LO's in PSE3 to use later with photos that I love. Today, I made 2 cute templates using kits from Jen Wilson (goddess #1) and Shabby Princess (goddess #2). Since I don't love my camera, and, frankly don't have any photos that are worthy of scrapping right now, I have these templates "ready to go" for when those photos pop up. One lends itself to journaling, the other doesn't.

I just hope I didn't waste 2 hours on making these templates when it's not feasably possible to find the photos that fit the LO. Has anyone else made templates before and not used them because she never found the "right" photo(s) for the page? Lemme know...

New Inspiration

I read about a person named Cathy Zielske on someone else's scrapping blog so I decided to find out what makes her so special. I came across her "Clean & Simple Scrapbooking" book on Amazon. Without much knowledge of Cathy, I ordered the book based on the title. And, can I just say,

"OH MY GOSH!"

I absolutely LOVE her LO's. This is a book of paper scrapping, but the inspirations are aplenty. I am only up to page 15 and I already have a handful of LO's I'd like to recreate. I can't wait! I guess you can say her design style is more magazine-esque, but with lots of creativity thrown in. I am very excited to start snapping more photos and having a chance to be creative. I still have a couple of LO's to complete from eons ago, so maybe this will give me the push to get 'em going.

It's going to be miserably rainy for the next 24 hours. Perfect timing - Mark is in Vegas... again. But I am going to look through some of my art supplies tonight to see if I can scrounge up enough to come up with a new art project for Lil A and me to do. I am thinking we'll do some rubber stamping and coloring. That should take up all of 15 minutes of the day! Hey, it's the time-fillers that I have come to love and cherish, no matter how small.

What the heck is going on here?

I am sick... AGAIN. I have been "sick" since December. Pink eye, stomach flu, bronhial stuff, pink eye again, reflux disease, pink eye again, bronchial stuff again, beginning stages of allergies, and now I have in infection in my salivary glands, of all freakin' places! What in the world is going on with me? I was in massive pain all day yesterday and most of Sunday late day. Doctor, who I dislike very much - absolutely NO bedside manner/personality and types on her laptop as I am trying to tell her all that's going on with me so she's looking at the computer and not at me which I HATE - tells me that I may be getting stones in my glands, which is totally weird to me. Never heard of that before. Anyway, I am hopped up on all sorts of meds right now to treat a myriad of things. I have no idea why I keep contracting stuff. My biggest worry is keeping Lil A and Mark well, but it's very hard to do when I am the caregiver. Mark is helping tremendously, but I am the one who cuddles with Lil A most mornings and I can't give that up. It's my favorite time of the day. We read stories and talk and she tells me that she likes my hair at 7:30AM pre-shower. What a sweetie.

Anyway, once I am feeling back to myself, I will be scrapping again. So many adorable cute "free" kits out there that I have downloaded that I can't wait to use.

Chao for now...

My husband will laugh at this one...

You are a Blanced Babe!

You're direct and to the point, but never dramaticYou've got the confidence to speak your mind to anyoneBut you leave the theatrics to HollywoodLevel headed and emotionally stable, no wonder everyone loves you

Are You a Drama Queen?

Motivation, creativity - the daily struggle

Why is it so hard to get motivated sometimes? I am finding it difficult to get motivated enough to 1) lose these freaking 15 lbs that have been weighing me down like a sack of sand, and 2) to be more creative with scrapbooking and my time. Let's discuss:

I would love to be able to be more proficient in PSE3 to where I can come up with something fabulous everyday. I see all these daily challenges and crops, etc. and I don't know if I am just intimidated by others or just don't feel like I am truly a creative person. I feel like my designs always are "off" or fall slightly short of being fabulous. I would really like to take better photos, but that would require me to buy a new camera which is so not in the budget now. But more so, I just think I don't know enough in PSE3 to create something beautiful. People look at Lil A's scrapbook and think it's amazing, but they have NO IDEA how novice my creations are as compared to others people's LO's. I think I am going to reinvest the time I spend EATING and channel it into reading up on tips and techniques in PSE3. After all, I did teach myself the program without ever having seen it before AND without the use of any manuals. Well, I guess I should be proud of that at least, right?

The other thing that's weighing on my mind, figuratively speaking, is that I need to do more with my time during the day when Lil A is in school and I am here without much work on my plate. Work ebbs and flows, so during the slower times I need to come up with a goal or an idea and work on it. One thing that I started a couple of months ago is just a simple binder of home decorating ideas that I like. You know, furniture that I like from Pottery Barn, paint colors for Lil A's one-day-you'll-actually-have-a-proper play room, etc. I've also been toying around with the idea of collecting something that I can enjoy now as well as pass down to Lil A in the future. My idea is to collect scarves. I love tying them around a not-so-interesting black bag or wearing as a belt, etc. Since scarves are easily found - both cheap and expensive - I thought this could be something fun I could take up. Just an idea.

I have lots of other ideas, too. I also would like to start a binder of rainy-day things to do with Lil A since she's getting close to the age where we can start crafting. Her dexterity is still undeveloped - she's not even 2 1/2. But last weekend we made hats out of paper plates and ribbon I had lying around from my card making days, and we adorned them with hearts and glitter glue, etc. They were cute, and Lil A was very excited to show her new "hat" to Daddy when he came home. I just want to be able to whip up simple things like that, and I think a binder of cute craft ideas may be a good start.

I want to do things with Lil A that she can appreciate, that don't necessarily require us buying an annual pass or spending $25 on something she may play with once or twice. I think she will get a lot more satisfaction from developing the creative side of her.

At least I do...

Suggestions??

Feb '06 LO

Enjoy this LO from photos taken in Feb. I played around with tint vs. traditional B&W for the photos to give it a little something different. I liked the tint they came out. Everything from Michelle Underwood's Ralphie collection. Jenkins v2.0 font.

Here's what I think

I think that technical support for your computer should NOT only be available under limited time constraints. If anyone from DELL is listening - tell your tech support people to extend the time that I can call with problems with my OS/factory installed software to expire WHEN I GET RID OF MY PC! Gosh I hate technology. I cannot open any Office application which is giving me a HUGE headache. Also, I cannot receive any emails to Outlook - some bogus error message re: my incoming email server that Bellsouth is attributing to my work email server. Granted, I am not that important to the company that I need to be uber-connected, but if an employee is trying to reach me via email, they may think that I am being unresponsive and I hate that. At least Bellsouth has the kahunas to take my call, whereas Dell won't take a call from a disgruntled patron.

UGH! I WANT TO SCREAM! I hate tehnology. Did I say that already?