Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
Two Classes; One Layout
It is always nice when one piece of work can count toward two tasks! Right now I am enrolled in Library of Memories at Big Picture Scrapbooking, which just started last week. Our goal in the first week was to catalogue our older layouts to determine our "least common" layout. And it made me sad to discover that layouts of people I love outside of my immediate family is what I am most lacking. So the assignment is to create one of your least common layouts.
At the same time, I am trying to catch up with Design Your Life (also at BPS). So I grabbed Cathy Z.'s template from Week 2 - a study in assymetrical balance to use for my least common layout. Final result:
Click on photo to view larger.
I am somewhat embarrassed that it is five years after the event and I am finally getting around to scrapbooking pictures from Krystal's wedding!
Credits: Template: Cathy Zielski, Design Your Life Class; Papers: all Jessica Sprague "Beautiful Evidence"; title font - Scriptina; journaling font - Arial.
At the same time, I am trying to catch up with Design Your Life (also at BPS). So I grabbed Cathy Z.'s template from Week 2 - a study in assymetrical balance to use for my least common layout. Final result:
I am somewhat embarrassed that it is five years after the event and I am finally getting around to scrapbooking pictures from Krystal's wedding!
Credits: Template: Cathy Zielski, Design Your Life Class; Papers: all Jessica Sprague "Beautiful Evidence"; title font - Scriptina; journaling font - Arial.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
On Writing, Body Snatching, and Set It Sunday
In my daily sojourn through Google Reader (my blog reading is part of my "me" time, bringing me inspiration, laughter, silliness, and pause) I came across this very thought-provoking post by Cheryl about what it means to be a writer. Go ahead and click over. It's a good read. I'll still be here when you get back.
Back already? Cheryl's post got me to thinking about why I blog to begin with. And why I miss it so much when I'm away for any length of time. And why I mourn when I lose readers (per the numbers posted on Google Reader). My blogging, much like my scrapbooking, is largely personal and done for me. I often use blogging to process my thoughts and feelings about what is happening in my life and the world around me and try to make sense of it all. It's a way to sort through the mess to get down to the nitty gritty of what makes me ME. What makes me tick. What makes me happy. What makes me sad. Where do I find my own bliss.
But if all I'm doing is sorting through my own physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual baggage, then why blog? Why put it out there for the world to see? Because it is a way to connect. Because I want to be heard. Because I know that my wonderful readers can empathize and share in whatever I'm going through at the moment. And even though I know on an intellectual level that I'm not alone on this crazy ride called life, getting that validation from a comment that says "I know just what you mean" or "hey that's funny" or even just a simple little ":)" to say "I was here" can make a bad day better, a good day great. That is the power of being a writer whose voice is being heard. Blogging (and scrapbooking now that I think about it) is a way of leaving behind some proof that I was here. That I came, I saw, I conquered. That I mattered. That I made a difference somehow.
And all of that leads me to sharing the melancholy that I'm feeling today. Today I'm celebrating being the mother of teenagers and all that it entails:
Credits: Template - Karen Grunberg; Paper - Jessica Sprague "Strawberry Lemonade" kit.
I'm also mourning the loss of my sweet little girls. The ones who cheerfully cleaned their room, were eager to please, who loved learning, who loved spending time with family. It wasn't all that long ago that spending time with them was an absolute pleasure. I miss those girls and I wonder where they went and who these creatures are that took their place? You wouldn't know it just to look at them, but the aliens now inhabiting my sweet little girls' more grown-up bodies are lazy, sloppy, demanding, rude, irritable, surly, belligerent, mouthy, ungrateful little wretches. They derive joy from sleeping late, watching drivel on t.v., texting with the boyfriend, making fun of their parents' collective lack of fashion sense, listening to music played very loudly, and demanding to be fed. They are seemingly unable to amuse themselves any longer (I think their attention spans have shrunk since toddlerhood). I'm hanging in there, hoping that the aliens head back to the mother ship shortly and return my sweet daughters to me. What do you think my odds are?
Well, that's enough of my woeful tale of the invasion of the body snatchers. I now return you to your regular programming.... up next:
In addition to her very thoughtful post on writing, Cheryl has begun a regular post called "Set It Sunday". I'll refer you back there to see what it is all about. I've decided to play along. So here are my Intentions for this coming week:
1) Actually DO this week's assignment for Library of Memories - that is a time-intensive commitment, but I'm determined!
2) Catch up on Design Your Life class assignments. Not necessarily doing every layout, but at least enough of them to bring me current with the class.
3) START my Pen Tablet class. Unfortunately this one got underway while I was travelling on business and I am now woefully behind.
4) Finish getting all my software reinstalled on my desktop (it was gone for a week being overhauled). I've started - PSE7 is functional again. But ACDSee is giving me an error message that my license number is invalid. Ugh. Support email has been submitted.
Obviously this list is totally for me. My family could care less if I ever accomplish a single thing on this list. But within this list is my creative time - my bliss. Wish me luck. :)
Back already? Cheryl's post got me to thinking about why I blog to begin with. And why I miss it so much when I'm away for any length of time. And why I mourn when I lose readers (per the numbers posted on Google Reader). My blogging, much like my scrapbooking, is largely personal and done for me. I often use blogging to process my thoughts and feelings about what is happening in my life and the world around me and try to make sense of it all. It's a way to sort through the mess to get down to the nitty gritty of what makes me ME. What makes me tick. What makes me happy. What makes me sad. Where do I find my own bliss.
But if all I'm doing is sorting through my own physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual baggage, then why blog? Why put it out there for the world to see? Because it is a way to connect. Because I want to be heard. Because I know that my wonderful readers can empathize and share in whatever I'm going through at the moment. And even though I know on an intellectual level that I'm not alone on this crazy ride called life, getting that validation from a comment that says "I know just what you mean" or "hey that's funny" or even just a simple little ":)" to say "I was here" can make a bad day better, a good day great. That is the power of being a writer whose voice is being heard. Blogging (and scrapbooking now that I think about it) is a way of leaving behind some proof that I was here. That I came, I saw, I conquered. That I mattered. That I made a difference somehow.
And all of that leads me to sharing the melancholy that I'm feeling today. Today I'm celebrating being the mother of teenagers and all that it entails:
I'm also mourning the loss of my sweet little girls. The ones who cheerfully cleaned their room, were eager to please, who loved learning, who loved spending time with family. It wasn't all that long ago that spending time with them was an absolute pleasure. I miss those girls and I wonder where they went and who these creatures are that took their place? You wouldn't know it just to look at them, but the aliens now inhabiting my sweet little girls' more grown-up bodies are lazy, sloppy, demanding, rude, irritable, surly, belligerent, mouthy, ungrateful little wretches. They derive joy from sleeping late, watching drivel on t.v., texting with the boyfriend, making fun of their parents' collective lack of fashion sense, listening to music played very loudly, and demanding to be fed. They are seemingly unable to amuse themselves any longer (I think their attention spans have shrunk since toddlerhood). I'm hanging in there, hoping that the aliens head back to the mother ship shortly and return my sweet daughters to me. What do you think my odds are?
Well, that's enough of my woeful tale of the invasion of the body snatchers. I now return you to your regular programming.... up next:
1) Actually DO this week's assignment for Library of Memories - that is a time-intensive commitment, but I'm determined!
2) Catch up on Design Your Life class assignments. Not necessarily doing every layout, but at least enough of them to bring me current with the class.
3) START my Pen Tablet class. Unfortunately this one got underway while I was travelling on business and I am now woefully behind.
4) Finish getting all my software reinstalled on my desktop (it was gone for a week being overhauled). I've started - PSE7 is functional again. But ACDSee is giving me an error message that my license number is invalid. Ugh. Support email has been submitted.
Obviously this list is totally for me. My family could care less if I ever accomplish a single thing on this list. But within this list is my creative time - my bliss. Wish me luck. :)
Friday, February 5, 2010
Pumping Iron, Self Sabotage, and Saving Grace
It's been a busy few weeks - first preparing for a Board of Directors meeting at work (we only have them three or four times a year and preparing presentations can get stressful), then travelling to a three day conference in Phoenix. Now I'm home and trying to get back into the normal routine. Back into my groove. But I'm feeling overwhelmed with the amount of catching up I need to do - both at home and at work. Which sounds like it could be the theme of where this post is going, but it's not, as you may have guessed from my witty post title. The overwhelm of catching up I can deal with. That is just background story to where I am headed.
Image Source. The stress of my scale I cannot deal with. It is not being kind to me. Okay, honestly what did I expect? After two weeks of being "too busy" to get to the gym, of provided meals at meetings and conferences, many of which included cocktails... and desserts... which I do not seem to possess the willpower to pass on (seriously can you happily pass on chewy chocolate chip cookies, key lime pie, molten chocolate lava cake with icecream...????), and sitting on my ample behind in meetings all day, what DID I expect? I got on the scale this morning and it registered a whopping 179. There, I said it out loud. Even if I could only bring myself to whisper it. It is not the highest number I've ever seen, but it certainly isn't a happy number. So I had a serious heart-to-heart with myself. "Self," I said, "enough is enough. Things have got to change around here. No more excuses." Now that is tall order for the queen of excuses. You see, I will use just about any excuse I can to avoid the gym. Cramps are good to get me out of 3 or 4 days a month. Bad weather can knock out several more. Then there is too much work to do, or just being too damn tired. Well, that about covers the whole month, right?
At the beginning of this year, I set an intention of losing one pound per month. It's a very modest number and to most people, would seem quite doable. In my 30's it was doable and then some. In fact, I could have easily quadrupled that goal and achieved it. But in addition to a wealth of excuses to avoid the gym, I'm also dealing with being 48 years old. And all that means with respect to slowing metabolism. And screwed up hormones. Honestly, it is not a fair fight. Since turning 40, my body is resistant to dropping weight and I know (yes, from experience) just how this will go. The first few pounds will be easy, relatively speaking. But then I will hit 175 and there the scale will stop. It won't matter if I spend every day at the gym and practically starve myself. That is where it will stay. The low carb diet won't work for me because too much protein causes me to develop kidney stones. If you have ever had the pleasure, you know that just isn't any fun. In fact, it has landed me in the hospital twice. I'm not up for a third time. And I'm taking it easy at the gym because, heck, I just got past two months of treatment and physical therapy for herniated discs and I don't want to go there again either! So you'll understand if I am feeling a tad less than optimistic, although I am determined to get moving and stop with the excuses.
Today started off well enough. Having made up my mind that no excuses would be accepted, I did, in fact, get myself to the gym. I did twenty minutes on the treadmill (1 mile) which caused some twinges down my left leg, but no back pain. I did the weight training machines on the circuit that I can safely do without further injuring my back. Yep, pumping iron. You go girl. I did some back exercises from therapy and some stretching. It was a good workout. I finished just about noon. Hopped in the car and headed to the grocery store. We're supposed to get a foot of snow tonight so I needed to get bread, milk, etc. But on the way to the store I discovered I was HUNGRY. So hungry, in fact, that I was shaking. You know that feeling, right? Yeah, the dreaded treadmill will do that to you. So I drove myself straight to McDonalds and ordered a double cheeseburger and small fries. I know, I know...self-sabotage at it's best. My only saving grace was that I did not order a coke to go with it. I had some water left from my workout.
All I can say for myself at this point is, well, tomorrow is another day. And ultimately, the damn scale will not prevail. I will. So instead of beating myself up, I'll leave you with my most recent layout from Design Your Life Class:
Credits: Papers from Carrie Stephens "Spontaneous Delight" kit; Swirl from Jessica Sprague.
The point of this lesson was to leave "white space" - something which I am not particularly good at. White space doesn't have to be white, the teal background without elements counts as white space. I still need to try one of those layouts where it is all white space with just a cluster of elements in one corner.... some day.....
At the beginning of this year, I set an intention of losing one pound per month. It's a very modest number and to most people, would seem quite doable. In my 30's it was doable and then some. In fact, I could have easily quadrupled that goal and achieved it. But in addition to a wealth of excuses to avoid the gym, I'm also dealing with being 48 years old. And all that means with respect to slowing metabolism. And screwed up hormones. Honestly, it is not a fair fight. Since turning 40, my body is resistant to dropping weight and I know (yes, from experience) just how this will go. The first few pounds will be easy, relatively speaking. But then I will hit 175 and there the scale will stop. It won't matter if I spend every day at the gym and practically starve myself. That is where it will stay. The low carb diet won't work for me because too much protein causes me to develop kidney stones. If you have ever had the pleasure, you know that just isn't any fun. In fact, it has landed me in the hospital twice. I'm not up for a third time. And I'm taking it easy at the gym because, heck, I just got past two months of treatment and physical therapy for herniated discs and I don't want to go there again either! So you'll understand if I am feeling a tad less than optimistic, although I am determined to get moving and stop with the excuses.
Today started off well enough. Having made up my mind that no excuses would be accepted, I did, in fact, get myself to the gym. I did twenty minutes on the treadmill (1 mile) which caused some twinges down my left leg, but no back pain. I did the weight training machines on the circuit that I can safely do without further injuring my back. Yep, pumping iron. You go girl. I did some back exercises from therapy and some stretching. It was a good workout. I finished just about noon. Hopped in the car and headed to the grocery store. We're supposed to get a foot of snow tonight so I needed to get bread, milk, etc. But on the way to the store I discovered I was HUNGRY. So hungry, in fact, that I was shaking. You know that feeling, right? Yeah, the dreaded treadmill will do that to you. So I drove myself straight to McDonalds and ordered a double cheeseburger and small fries. I know, I know...self-sabotage at it's best. My only saving grace was that I did not order a coke to go with it. I had some water left from my workout.
All I can say for myself at this point is, well, tomorrow is another day. And ultimately, the damn scale will not prevail. I will. So instead of beating myself up, I'll leave you with my most recent layout from Design Your Life Class:
The point of this lesson was to leave "white space" - something which I am not particularly good at. White space doesn't have to be white, the teal background without elements counts as white space. I still need to try one of those layouts where it is all white space with just a cluster of elements in one corner.... some day.....
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Weekly Gratitude
Monday, February 1, 2010
:)
:)
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