Taking It Off Together Tuesday #10

Leigh's not kidding - another bad week. :(

I gained 2 pounds over the last week - but Leigh's gonna kick us into gear. Check it out:

Another gain week! Okay! Time to get our butts in gear. This gain/no change has
got to stop. I am just as guilty, I know! I gained more than anyone! So I was
trying to think about what we could do for some motivation around here.

Does anyone in the group have any graphic skills? I'd love to have some
awards to hand out as people reach goals. Also I would like to have a contest
each week so if you would like to put up any prizes or are willing to donate to
the cause let me know! I have quite a bit of Mary Kay discontinued items I'd
love to award as prizes. I was thinking maybe having each pound lost as one
entry for a drawing each week (2 entries per pound for Ciara on account of her
tyroid, if that is alright with everyone...I want this to be fair).

Send
me your thoughts and ideas!! Thanks!!

Chris - 2 GAIN
Tammy - 1 LOSS
Life With Hashi-Thyroid Blog - 0
CHANGE
Grace - no report
yet
Leigh - 3.5 GAIN
Clara - 4 LOSS
Dette - 2 GAIN
Julie - 0.2 LOSS
Cheryl - 0 CHANGE
Audrey - 2 LOSS
Christy - 2 GAIN
Tina - no report yet
Danielle - 0 CHANGE
Jessie - 0 CHANGE

This week's
total - 2.3 GAIN!

How Competitive Are You?

This was fun (and quick!) - grabbed it from Faery Dancing:

You Are Fencing

You're competitive but not brutally so. You compete to make yourself better. You find having an opponent to be challenging and rewarding. You are fierce when you're in a competition, but you don't wish your rivals any real harm.

What Olympic Sport Are You?

Taking It Off Together Tuesday #9

Okay - so if I want to lose some weight, I seriously need to get motivated and start exercising again. It's been weeks, and if I want to lose more than 4 lbs in over 2 months, well, simply put - I need to get moving.

No change for me since last week, when I should've lost that extra pound I gained. Here are my stats:

All Time High: 153.5
Last Week's Weigh-In: 149.5
This Week's Weigh-In: 149.5
Variance: 0 change
Overall Loss: 4.0
Pounds to go: 24.5

And here are the stats for the rest of the crew:

Chris - 1 GAIN
Tammy - 0 CHANGE
Life With Hashi-Thyroid Blog - 1
GAIN
Grace - 0 CHANGE
Leigh - 0.5 GAIN
Clara - 1.5 LOSS
Dette - 0 CHANGE
Julie - 0.2 LOSS
Cheryl - 2 GAIN
Audrey - 1 GAIN
Christy - 1.2 LOSS
Tina - no report?
Danielle - 1 LOSS

Please
help us welcome Jessie to the group
with an inital report of 0 change!

This week's total - 1.6 GAIN!

:(

I Hope He Answers Soon

Hubz is away for a couple of days. Remember when we were looking at that job opportunity in Denver?

Well, it looks like the hotel's Owners wanted to meet with Hubz in person, so they flew him out to their office in New Mexico. Next on the agenda would be to visit the property in Denver, but Hubz still isn't convinced this would be the right move for us.

I'm confused myself.

Turns out, the new company? Way more advanced than the one he's working for now. They're smart, organized - they've got their shit together. Plus, there's room to grow here - so career growth is looking good.

The company Hubz is with now? Smaller, lots smaller, and we're at the biggest hotel they have in their portfolio. Except it's a problem hotel. Ugh. I can't even begin to describe the issues going on here. You realize, that hotels never close, right?

Twenty-four-friggin'-seven.

And this company does not always make the most sound business decisions...

But the family is doing well here, and the kids love it. With so little to do and no traffic to fight, we've actually grown a lot closer to each other as well. The pay is decent, and they check in with Hubz to make sure that he's alright, is the family alright...

The property in Denver is not fab. Not exciting at all. Hubz would have to start all over again, proving himself to this new company, and have to work his way up to the flagship hotel. The plus, though, is that he could actually learn some new things with this company - instead of constantly putting out fires in operational and union nightmares.

Imagine? He could actually BE a General Manager. Run a hotel instead of having to save it from crashing all the time.

I have to tell you - Hubz kicks ASS in hotel management. He has a great reputation and comes with strong references. But he keeps taking on these challenges - problem hotels or hotels going thru a renovation or even opening a hotel from the ground up.

He's developed a knack for being Mr. Fix-it - and when you think there's no hope left, in walks the Hubz and he'll get it turned around. It might take a year or two, but he'll get there thru blood, sweat and tears.

It'd be nice to see him in a job where he could simply run it.. and maximize the guest experience and revenue dollars. Wow. He might even be less grumpy. ;)

But...

You knew there'd be a "but."

But, he doesn't want to move to Denver, even if it only snows a little bit. Neither of us care for the hotel very much, and we'd be much further away from my family in San Diego. Plus, our eldest just started as a freshman in high school.

We'd hoped to keep him from the hassle of having to move during these temperamental years.

Ugh. What to do?!

We'll keep praying on it. In fact, I've been praying that the Lord will just let us know what it is He wants us to do and we'll follow.

He wants us to stay? Okay, we'll stay.

He wants us to move? Okay, we'll move.

I mean, that's exactly how we ended up here. All of His messages pointed us here. I know in my heart and soul that this is exactly where we're supposed to be, right here, right now.

But that was 2 years ago. I just don't know if this is where we're supposed to stay.

And the answer isn't clear yet, so I think I better just keep on prayin' - lol.




Technorati Tags: family, relocating, denver, career, decision

Taking It Off Together Tuesday #8

I seriously need to start exercising again:

All Time High: 153.5
Last Week's Weigh-In: 148.5
This Week's Weigh-In: 149.5
Variance: 1.0 gain
Overall Loss: 4.0
Pounds to go: 24.5

Check out the girls - talk about kickin' BUTT!

Chris - no report
Tammy - 1 LOSS
Life With Hashi-Thyroid Blog - no
report
Grace - 1.4 LOSS
Leigh - 5.5 LOSS
Clara - 2 LOSS
Dette - 1 GAIN
Julie - 0 CHANGE
Cheryl - 4 LOSS
Cyn Blue - no report
Audrey - 0.6 LOSS
Christy - 7.2 LOSS
Tina - 0.5 GAIN

Please
welcome Danielle to the group
with her starting result of 0 Change!

This week's total - 20.2 LOSS!

Crazy Eights Encore

My girl RhoRho tagged me with this, so I thought we could do an encore of an old post from the former Dance of Moherhood:

Check out my Crazy Eights - yo!

1. When I attend a conference and finally meet someone in person (who only knows me by my name in email), they think they're gonna meet an 80-year old lady with her hair in a bun and glasses on the tip of her nose. Then - in walks me.
   
   
2. Hubby and I escape to Vegas 2-3 times a year - you'd hardly recognize me over there. Let's just say that hubby likes to shop for my Vegas digs. ;)
   
   
3. I exemplify: "It's the quiet ones you have to watch out for."
   
   
4. I'm an organizational fREak. I love to get things organized but can't put my friggin' laundry away by the end of the week.
   
   
5. I'm addicted to movies. Screw TV (and those damn commercials) - I can only watch it if I TiVo it. I've got 500+ DVD's stashed and waiting to get systemized (lol) into my new discsox's.
   
   
6. I like to get stupid with the kids. Put my fat ass on roller blades for a race around the block, trying to teach myself to swim laps during their swimming lessons or get loud at the - well - anywhere. They should be embarassed.
   
   
7. I am a romantic FOOL. I used to dream of quiet evenings after family dinner, weekly dates with the hubz, or maybe even a surprise on my birthday. Then I woke the eff up.
   
   
8. But then again, we get our snookie on, like, 3-4 times a WEEK. It doesn't matter if it's already midnight. Someone please tell this mutha to stop complaining already?!

Spreading Creativity

Hmnnn... it must've started in grade school.

Creativity would creep up in on my school projects, the drama productions I'd perform in, during my speech and writing festivals...

But most recently, it'd entertain me when I started a line of Candipops, and now with trying - let me emphasize, trying, to make digital scrapbook pages.

lol - how did you get your start in creativity?

{start copying here}

{ created by Cathy, please don't delete the graphics or alter it }

1. Copy the graphics designed by Cathy and then tell us your story about how you came to start designing. It doesn't matter if it's "for your eyes only" or you are designing for somebody.


2. Come back here and leave your link where you posted the story. I will add your blogs to the master list. If you have more than 1 blog you need to post the tag to your other blogs as well.


3. Passed it to people you know who makes beautiful crafts.


4. Make sure that you come back here to get the updated list of bloggers who joined the tag.

This is a good way to increase our rankings on Technorati at the same time we
get to read great stories. So let's start spreading those creativity.

1. Anything and Everything in Between
2. Designs By Vhiel
3. Vhiel's Corner
4. Can of Thoughts
5. Digital Scrapbooking Creations
6. Me and My World
7. Muthahood Crib
8. You're next!

{end copying here}

Now I'm tagging some really cool scrapbookin' folks:







Technorati Tags: spreading, creativity, tag

Focus, girl. Focus!

I've got to focus, got to focus.

I thought I did alright this past weekend and got TONS of stuff done. Talk about productive!

We bought a new car for Hubz on Friday. lol - the pick up truck is about to DIE, and he's been so patient about driving this POS. So we bought a used Nissan Armada from CarMax (I LOVE CarMax - no BS whatsoever) since work is only 7 minutes away from home.

Plus - it'll be HUGE for some upcoming road trips. Whoohoo!!

Looked at getting a DVD entertainment installed, and since the only mofo's in town are trying to take me for a ride, we've decided they can keep their $1,500 quote to themselves and we'll install it on our own. (I hope!)

Cleaned out the boys' closets. Organized all the hand-me-downs from the attic and stored them in nice, neat clear plastic containers, waiting in each monster's closet.

Paid the bills, moved from a manual checkbook register to MSN Money (which I'm also in love with), and got the Armada added to our auto insurance. I think I love State Farm, too, coz I'm only paying $135/month for all 3 of our vehicles. Nice!

I finally copied all of our digital pics both to a portable hard drive, and online at our photo gallery for safekeeping. Though I now need to go through all of our OLD pics, which Kodak nicely put onto CD's for us when we ordered prints, and I need to transfer THOSE to both the hard drive and online. (sigh)

But I also changed our phone company from AT&T to Vonage, and at $25/month for unlimited long distance, that's a bargain from the $40/mo AT&T is charging. Not to mention, 2 free months.

Though I've never used voice-over-internet and am keeping my fingers crossed.

And this morning, I uploaded a new commenting system, Disqus, which I think I'll like quite nicely! I just can't get rid of the additional comment box at the bottom of the post - so if you have any ideas/suggestions - please let me know!!

So while I've been a bit busy on the home front, I need to get busy on the work front. I've gotten some stuff done, but not nearly as much as I should be getting done.

I'm actually thankful that school starts next week - having all the monsters in the house at once was killing my work productivity - lol. Never mind cabin fever!

So glad we escaped a couple times for Knott's Berry Farm and the camping trip on the lake. I've got to share some photos, still don't I? And we're planning a trip down to San Diego in a few weeks, since I wasn't able to find a decent campground near L.A. that had availability. But Dago will be fun - we'll get to see my parents and some friends - and just kick back for a little bit.

But for now... I must.... focus. ;)

Taking It Off Together Tuesday #7

I guess I'm just inching along :)

All Time High: 153.5
Last Week's Weigh-In: 149.0
This Week's Weigh-In: 148.5
Variance: 0.5 loss
Overall Loss: 5.0
Pounds to go: 23.5


Check out the gang!

Chris - 3 GAIN
Tammy - 0 CHANGE
Life With Hashi-Thyroid Blog - 1 LOSS
Grace - 0.4 LOSS
Leigh - 2.5 GAIN
Clara - 0 CHANGE
Dette - 0.5 LOSS
Julie - 1 LOSS
Cheryl - 0 CHANGE
Cyn Blue -0 CHANGE
Audrey - 5.2 LOSS
Christy - 3 LOSS
Tina - no report

This week's total - 5.6 LOSS!

First, Now and Last

Here's a tag from Vhiel:

FIRST

• First name: Dette
• First screen name: sky211
• First funeral: My mom's younger brother, in the Philippines
• First kiss: lol - let's not go there
• First love: at 15 - with a boy who STILL has my comic book collection

LAST

• Last beverage drank: H20
• Last food consumed: pinwheel sandwiches from Costco
• Last phone call: Rae
• Last time showered: last night
• Last CD played: Chris Tomlin (via iPod)
• Last website visited: Anything & Everything In Between

NOW

• Single or taken: Married, almost 10 years :)
• Gender: Female
• Birthday: February 11th
• Sign: Aquarius
• Shoe Size: 7
• Thinking about: trying to find a nice place in SoCal to go camping
  

Participants:

1.) Me and Mine
2.) Creative in Me
3.) Little Peanut
4.) For the LOVE of Food
5.) Pea in a Pod
6.) SugarMagnolias
7.) Blogsilog
8.) Captured Memories
9.) Cherry’s Comfort Zone
10.) Thinking Out Loud
11.) Wishing and Hoping
12.) Buzzy Me
13.) My Precious Niche
14.) Just Me.. Eds
15.) Eds Mommy Life
16.) Can of Thoughts
17.) Designs By Vhiel
18.) Vhiel's Corner
19.) Anything and Everything in Between
20.) Muthahood Crib
21.) YOU


Now I'm tagging: 52 Faces, Reflexes, Mad About Kids, Red Lotus Mama and Thoughts, Experiences & Reality

Technorati Tags: First_Now_and_Last, blog, tag