Blog A Day

OK, I've blown the blog a day thing. It had been a week since I last blogged. I'm getting better at writing. I just don't know if I have enough to say to blog every day. As it is, I know that people aren't really interested in the mundane in my life. Heck, I don't have a "following", so this blog is primarily for me - to record my thoughts and things that I'm doing -- so that I can remember. Occasionally, I go back and read my older posts and I'm glad that I do have written down what I have - I just need to do better - and do it for me!!!

5 Things Around My Computer

List 5 things around my computer - why are they important and what do they say about you?

1) Camera - I usually have one or the other cameras nearby as I'm offloading photos into my laptop. I have been trying to take more pics and improve my skills, and transferring them to the laptop is part of the process.

2) Card Reader - My 2 cameras have different size cards. The P&S uses an SD card and the DSLR uses the Flash Card II. My laptop can read SD cards directly, but not FC. So I have a card reader - but my card reader can read most any format, just in case I ever have a 3rd type of media - you never know. And I had to go buy a new card reader this week because I couldn't find my other one. And I could have gotten one that reads just FC, but no, I had to get one that reads all media. I couldn't believe how lost I felt when I couldn't see the pics I took of Avery. What does that say about me?

3) EHD - Actually I have 3 EHDs around my laptop - the 2 portable ones and the more permanent one. I need to find good homes for them all - they are just laying around the recliner. But they are (at least the one I'm currently using) are my lifeblood - they have most all of my digital pics and all of my layouts (I'm still missing a couple from the hard disk crash 2 years ago :( ). That may be one reason I have so many - but I need to get organized in how I use them for back up. I'm still trying to finish my online backup - then I can worry about on-site backup. Yes, I'm getting anal about it, but I have lost too many pics over the years (mostly the paper kind and that upsets me because at this point they are irreplaceable and chronicle so much of my adult life. I just wish I had been better about taking AND developing pics prior to digital). Notice a recurring theme here? It's about the pics and the memories they represent.

4) Lamp - I have a floor lamp by the recliner. I have to have good light to work. It's that age thing - if I have good light, in most cases, I don't need the cheaters - the reading glasses.

5) TV Remote - Hey, I have to have noise. I may not actually watch TV when I'm actively scrapping, but I have the background - and I do look up from time to time (most shows, that's all it takes). And having control of the remote means I get to watch what I want to, and don't all of a sudden have to put up with the channel surfing. Thank goodness for more than one TV in the house.

My Second "Seven Wonders" Layout

I finished my second "Seven Wonders" layout tonight. I decided that I won't necessarily use the same or even similar kits, but that I would tie the layouts together with the title work - it's all going to be same font, same angle, on each layout.

My Kit Colors

OK - I chose these colors to be the colors of my kit I'm making in the Creating Papers and Elements class. Looking pretty good, huh!

Started New Class

I'm taking a new class at www.dsaguild.com. It's Creating Elements in PS. I've taken a similar class in PSP, but I think I really will enjoy this class since Mary is teaching it. I'm trying to settle on a color palette so that when I'm done with the class, I'll have a cohesive kit. I just about have it narrowed down - and it wasn't even my first choice. I'll post my final choice tomorrow.

Houston Marathon

Today was the Houston Marathon. I volunteered to work as a ham radio operator. This meant getting up at 3:30 to be downtown for check-in. Then work my way to my assignment at a water station. I was on station by 5:15 or so. Of course, the race didn't start until 7:00. But we were next to a coffee house that opened at 6:00. This meant we had restroom facilities and snacks, including hot chocolate.

I got some pictures of the elite half-marathoners as they came past. And I meant to take pics of the "masses", but I forgot. We were where we had runners/walkers going in both directions - north and south on Montrose. The half-marathoners turned around about a mile south of us.

I was done by 10:30 and came home for a nap.

But it got me thinking - do I want to attempt one more half? I know I can do the distance, if the knees let me.

Thunderstorms

Tonight we had a thunderstorm roll through. It was interesting to watch the line of clouds move across the sky. I just hope it keeps rolling right on through as the Houston Marathon is tomorrow. I know from experience that going for long distances in wet running shoes is not comfortable. I hope that the weather is great for them tomorrow - and for me. I'm volunteering as a ham radio operator at one of the water stations. Who knows, maybe next year I'll be back out there walking.

Did It To Myself Again

I applied for a CT and then was really hurt when I didn't get a position, not even a guest position. I think what really upset me is this was one of the designers that I used to CT for, I really love her stuff and really promoted her on forums such as DST and MSA.

Oh well, someday I will learn to not do this to myself.

Seven Wonders In My Life - P. 2

I've created a layout from one of my seven wonders from yesterday's post. I'm thinking that I will be creating a page for each of the seven wonders in my life... ok, the 8 wonders in my life!!!

Credits: Madeleine Page Kit by NinaScraps, Cursive Metal Font by Birgit Kerr

Seven Wonders of My Life...

The Seven Wonders Of My Life

1) My faith and belief that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior and that God loves me – even with all the stuff that has gone on with my family, my faith remains. And the knowledge that someday I will see my sister and father again brings me peace.
2) Audrey – How can one little girl that isn’t even my child bring so much love and fulfillment to my life? She is definitely a source of wonder and amazement to me.
3) My sisters – we grew up to be friends as well as sisters. Mary was my best friend, and she was 9 years younger than me. For one thing, she kept me young.
4) My parents – they were married for 47 years and had a loving marriage. They gave us a great upbringing and provided a sound foundation for me to build my life on.
5) My dogs – they love me unconditionally. Yes, they are aggravating at times, but when one comes up and puts it’s snout in my lap and looks at me with those puppy dog eyes – ahhhhh! And they keep me entertained.
6) My extended family – my mom’s brothers and sister and their families have been mainstays in my entire life. They are there for one another and they are fun to be around. Yes, there are squabbles and spats, but they truly love one another and the extended family.
7) The fact that I can have friends from all over the world and can keep up with them through the miracles of modern technology; the internet, e-mail, cell phones, etc.
8) The fact that I’m able to travel freely to just about anywhere I would want to go, and the fact that I can pretty easily get there.

Ok, so that was 8 – shoot me!!!

Oh My!!!

I had dinner at Double Dave's tonight. I had journaled my food intake today and knew that I had plenty of points. I wasn't going to deprive myself, but since it wasn't a buffet night, I wasn't sure what to order that wouldn't be toooooo bad. I ordered a veggie stromboli. I ate 2/3 of it plus a salad. Well, 1/6 of a veggie stromboli was 290 calories and 8 g of fat - Oh My!!!! I had almost 1200 calories in one meal.

That's why I'm having trouble with my weight. The stuff I love is loaded with calories. I guess I won't be going to Double Dave's again any time soon. Don't want to know what a fully loaded pizza would be there.

Eating Healthier in 2008

I'm slowly working my way back into Weight Watchers Online. This week I'm getting back into the habit of journaling.

And this isn't my first time at it. In 2003/2004, I lost 97 pounds. But life finally beat me down - in 2005 I suffered some major injuries and started my rounds of surgery. I used that as an excuse and put it almost all back on.

Last year, I played at weight loss - I would stay with it for a few weeks, and then I would fall off the wagon.This is going to be one of the habits that I want to cultivate in 2008 - not so much to lose weight (yes, that's a goal) but to be healthier. Putting this out there is part of my plan to develop the habit - adding to my accountability.

Audrey and her Family

I did this layout of Audrey and her family. I took the pics at Christmas when we were visiting. She's at the stage where she doesn't like to get her picture made and tends to act like a nut, so the word art is perfect.

Credits:

Template by Maria (Scraplikecrazy)

Tied Together Kit by NDISB Designers - January 2008 Customer Appreciation Kit

Not Resolutions But Habits

Wednesday, I posted what were the things I wanted to change in 2008. I have some habits that I want to develop or redevelop in 2008. As stated this week, I've started the Photo A Day and Blogging. I'm on Day 4 of both of these. Next week I start the eating healthier.

Kit is Just Believe by Amy Head.

Well, What to Talk About Tonight?

Hmmmm. It's 9:00 and I haven't blogged today because I don't really have a topic today. I knew I should have saved my Dear Audrey for today, but I wanted to go ahead and get it written while I was thinking about it. I'm really bad with coming up with something I want to blog, then putting it off until I forget about it.

Today, some folks wanted me to help organize some tutorials/challenges on blogs. Ha! Ha! Have I got them fooled or what! I mean I can come up with blog prompts because I know how to surf the Internet - but setting up blogs? I can't even get my blog to do what I want - I would love to have the header spread across the page, but I can't get that figured out. I know I could make the header even bigger than I have - but my personal laptop is a wide screen and what's big enough for it would be too big for most screens.

Ok, so I'm off to Google and see what I can learn about setting up Blogger blogs.

Christmas Eve Letter

Dear Audrey,

Tonight you went to Candlelight Service with Grandy and I. You told us it was your first time to go to church, well, the second if you count the Easter Egg Hunt and breakfast at Grandy's church with the Easter Bunny.

I want you to know the all encompassing Love of God and the knowledge of Jesus Christ dying for our sins. I want you to know that there is a Life hereafter and to be secure in the knowledge that someday not only will you be able to know God and His Son personally, but that you will see your mother again.

I know that your daddy wants you to explore all religions and make your own choices as you grow up, and that if you are meant to be a Christian, it will be your decision. But I also know that unless you are exposed to God's love and care, you won't understand.

I know that as an 8 year old, church may seem boring and that you probably didn't understand the significance of the Candlelight Service or why we wanted you to sit through a "bore-ing" service. But it's my hope that you will come to know that all encompassing Love and that why the miracle of Christmas isn't snow on Christmas morning, or getting the toys you really wanted or that Santa Claus came to your house. I want you to know that the miracle of Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ and that He is with you every step of the way.

So, I won't push "my" religion on you. But I will expose you to the concepts of "my" religion and I will give you the opportunity to experience it for yourself. And I will pray to God that you find a friend that will encourage your journey as well... someone that will invite you to church with them, someone that believes and will encourage you to believe as well.

I love you always,
Aunt Maggie

Day 2 of Habit Setting

I took pictures on my way to work this morning with my P&S. I hope they came out - it was a gorgeous sunrise this morning.

And I 'm blogging so that's 2 days in a row there.... so ha! Only 19 more days to go on both of these to make them a habit. I haven't done anything in the other habits for 2008 list, I need to add some housework to the mix. The healthy eating will start next week with another challenge. And getting exercise in still has to be figured out - I know, just do it! But it's hard to figure out when.

Oh My!!!

It's been 2 months since I've blogged - bad Maggie!!! And that's even with me doing biweekly blog prompts at DSAG.

So many things to report - so little time - ha!

In late November, Debb decided to re-organize DSAG and eliminate the store from the site. She formed a collaboration with Theresa Hernandez with NDISB for the designers to sell at that store and also to sell the classes there. DSAG will be primarily a learning site now. Well, that left the CT in a quandry. We could continue to CT at DSAG, but really the only kit to showcase there will be the motnhly Guild kit, we could elect to move over to CT at NDISB, and we were released from our exclusivity agreement with the Guild and be free to pursue other CTs while staying on the Guild CT. I have elected to remain on the Guild CT and the NDISB CT. And I may pursue other options. One of my favorite designers, Birgit Kerr is now at another site entirely, and I may try for her CT when she has a call - or at least see if she is looking for a guest.

I'm not making any resolutions for 2008 - I never manage to keep them. Instead, I'm going to try to instill some habits into my life this year. I have let so many things go over the last few years - my excuses have been mainly related to my ability to get around due to my knees, etc. Well, it's been a year and a half since my knee replacement and I have got to quit using it as an excuse.

So the list of things I want to work on in 2008 is quite long and I don't know how far I will get. It will involve me not immediately crawling into my chair with my laptop as soon as I get home in the evenings. And it will require discipline on my part. Ha! Ha! Thus speaks the inherently lazy person with zero discipline lately.

It takes 21 days to make a habit - yeah, right - I think it takes a lot longer, but we will see.

So My List of Habits I Want to Create in 2008:

Photo a Day
I want to begin shooting a photo a day - I think it will be cool to chronicle the everyday things in life, plus I understand that people who begin this habit feel it only helps their photography skills. Everytime I think I'm improving on my skills, I have incidents like Christmas reach up and slap me in the face. So many of my pics did not turn out well, and I totally forgot to shoot some photos like Audrey all dressed up for church - which she informed Grandy and I that it was her first time to go to church. That's a whole other blog in and of itself, maybe a "Dear Audrey" blog - haven't done one of those in a long time.
Daily Blogging
I think journaling on a regular basis would be a really good thing for me. I leave so many things bottled up and that's not healthy. This will give me a creative outlet for venting. Plus, I want to leave behind some evidence of my existense and maybe some day, someone will look back with fondness on my life - yeah, right. It's also another way to instill some discipline in my life.
Exercise
I really did feel better when I was exercising regularly, even though I had to schedule it into my day like a meeting. In fact, I did best when I exercised at the Fitness Center at work. With my existing work schedule of working at 2 sites, this may be a little more troublesome - but I am paying for a Y membership that I haven't used in probably close to 2 years. That's ridiculous!!!
Healthy Eating
Oh yeah! I gained back almost everything I lost 4 years ago. Last year I played at losing weight a couple of times and I start this year just about where I started last year - not good!!! While, I should just break down and get all the way back on the WW bandwagon whole heartedly today, I'm not going to do that. But next week, the Back to Basics is going to start up where each week for 8 weeks we focus on one aspect of WW, then after the 8 weeks is over, we start over. If I focus on the Back To Basics topic for that week, maybe by the end of the 8 weeks I will actually be in the diet mode - but at least I will be eating healthier and that is ultimately the goal.
Clean House
Neither Mark nor I like to do anything related to housework and it's really showing, especially with the dogs contributing as well. So I want to get into the habit of spending a few minutes every day working on the house. Right now, it's a daunting task with every room in the house needing attention. I need to go through stuff and throw out, which is painful for a packrat - but I can't find stuff anymore, I have no room to do stuff that I want to do, and I don't want anyone coming to my house. I would love to be able to have Audrey come stay at my house in April - but that's not an option at this point.
Gardening
I used to love working in the yard, but then with all the knee injuries, it got to be too much, then I let the yard get away from me. Of course, it doesn't help that Mark has all this crap in front of the house and that the dogs have pretty much destroyed the back yard, but I can clean out the flower beds and do some planting and see how it goes. I'll start with the 4 beds in the front of the house - decide if I want to keep them all and figure out what I want to plant - then figure out a way to keep the yard guys from cutting them down!!!! I realize I have lost another rose bush to them - ARRGGGGHHHHHHHHH!

OK, that's enough for today - and look, I got my post in for the day! Yay! One thing to check off!!!