Happy Friday!

It's the last day of March, and it's been a busy month! It's been my first full month of being self employed, and I managed to work just as much as I had hoped I would. I've started submitting my scrapbooking work for contests/publications. I'm on track with my weight loss, and it's 70 degrees outside today!

Today I submitted my application for the 3 Bugs in a Rug Design Team. I just love their paper, Cabana is just perfect for scrapping my son Perrin. I need to break out all his Hawaiian shirts for the summer, he is so darn cute when he wears them.

The Handel Challenge

I've decided what I want to do for Nikki's challenge . I have the unique opportunity to create and organize my own craft/scrap/office area. We are finishing our attic into a beautiful living space, and I will have a lot of room. I will spend 25 days planning what I will do with this space, selecting items for storage and decoration, and have a complete picture in mind when the room is ready, so as I move my items up there, they will go right into their proper places. I am not a very good planner, so this will be a great exercise for me, and in the end I will have a great space to do my creating, both crafty creating and engineering creating. I'll start my challenge on April 1, which is this Saturday.

Construction wise, we have abou 1/3 of the flooring installed. Once that is done, the trim can go up, and I think we will be complete enough to start moving things up there. I can't wait to put all our stuff back in the storage area up there. The contents of our attic have been in our bedroom and office for the last 8 months or so. The construction is slow going because we're doing all the work ourselves, but we're saving a ton of money and the space is GORGEOUS!

I'm down, he's up.

• 1.2 lb weight loss this week, for a total of 15.4 lb! And to think I ate three pieces of cake in the last three days. Or was it 4 pieces? It was good cake (funfetti, from Hayden's baptism).
• Hayden had his 4 month appointment today, he's up to 16 lb 4 oz! Poor guy had three shots in his legs though, wasn't happy. We decided to go shopping afterwards for some retail therapy.
  
• My pledge to not buy any more scrapbooking stuff for a while was broken again. Maybe if I put it in print....I WILL NOT BUY ANY MORE SCRAPBOOKING STUFF UNTIL I GET MY FIRST NEW PAYCHECK!
• Working from home is logistically difficult. I need to seperate my work material and my craft material. It's all on the same desk right now, and one distracts me from the other.
• I haven't been working as many hours as I'd like. Must really put the nose to the grindstone this week, if I want to make money.
  

Wicked Awesome

Congrats to the three wicked awesome ladies who were selected for the Scrapbooker Online Design Team. It's really cool that the three who were picked were established Sistas! Congrats to Amy Workman, Kristy Huddle and Janet Covington!

If you haven't noticed lately, I am Wicked Awesome too. It took me a long time to realize that.
I took Julie-Ann's suggestion and submitted this to the International Scrap Yourself Challenge. What a great idea, most of us scrappers are usually focusing on others, and not ourselves.

Fingers crossed

Today is the day for the Design Team announcement at SBO! I am really happy with my entry, it can be seen here. There are so many talented people that I know entered, and I know the team will be benefited by whoever is chosen. I just love all the sistas there! It's my online sorority. :D

What can I do in 25 days?

My friend Nikki has proposed an interesting challenge. Handel composed The Messiah in 25 days. What can I do in 25 days? She is recording her own challenge here, where we can all follow along. I am thinking of potential challenges for myself, but I'm having trouble deciding whether do to a material challenge or a personal one. A material challenge would be something like organizing all of the photos in my house, or designing and implimenting my new craft space in the attic. A personal challenge would be something like becoming more active, or working on my relationships. Maybe I'll pick one of each if I'm feeling ambitious.

Random Stuff for 21 March 2006

• Today is my little sister Emily's birthday. She's 23......dang that makes me seem old. But I don't feel old, so BLEAH to all of the people that think that age is a number and not a feeling.
• Yesterday was the first day of spring, why is it so #@^&%%$ cold?
• Yesterday I submitted my first scrapbooking layout to a magazine publication call. I love the layout, but I'm pretty sure the quality isn't up to snuff for publication.
• I can't wait for our attic to be done so I can organize my office properly. My desk is a mix of engineering notes, scrapbooking stuff, photos, bills and potty training reward trackers.

I'll add more later as I think of things.....it is only 9AM anyways....

Sunday Journaling 3/12/06

A journaling prompt from Nikki

Talk about your first job. What did you do? How much money did you get paid?

I was 14 when I got my first job. It was my freshman year of high school, and after earning a varsity letter in soccer that fall, I wanted to get a letter jacket. I don't remember how much they cost (wool jacket with custom embroidery), but they were fairly expensive, and my parents didn't have the money to spend on that.

There aren't a whole lot of job opportunities for a 14 year old. So, I went with what I knew. I had been taking ceramics classes at the local girls club for several years, and I asked the instructor if I could work there, helping out with the classes for the younger kids. She agreed, and I started with the next session of classes.

My job was basically setup and cleanup for each class. I would cut out cubes of clay using a wire, slicing out slabs then dividing them up. I'd put scrap clay in the scrap bucket at the end of the class, making sure there was enough water in the bucket to keep the clay moist. I'd also tent up in plastic any thrown items, so that they'd still be a bit moist the following week, so the students could trim the base on the wheel and give their bowls a foot.

The best part about these classes was near the end, when everyone got to glaze their pieces. I always loved seeing the glazes transform from milky coatings to deep shiny colors after firing. I still have several of my own pieces around, although I haven't thrown any pieces since about that time.

I don't remember how much money I made. It wasn't much, but I did earn enough to buy my own letter jacket. I took great care of it, it was the most expensive thing I had ever bought with my own money. In fact, it's still hanging in my closet.

Note to self...

If I am to go into Michael's to buy one thing, I am to bring cash for said item only, and leave all other forms of currency payment in the car. Sheesh, $10 in adhesives and $40 in other goodies.

My business is officially open for business. Federal ID #, registered with the state, bank account established. Bought QuickBooks last week and set things up. Tracking my working time so I can properly invoice. Now just need to find time between potty training, train playing and food making to actually work.

Movin' on up....

I am no longer Sue Kristoff, Project Engineer, I am now Sue Kristoff, President and Operating Manager of The Kristoff Group LLC, an engineering consulting firm. And I've got the paper work to prove it!

Of course, I'm also cook, maid, dishwasher, laundress, accountant, activity director and lots of other titles to two adorable little bosses.

Now, I REALLY need to clean off my desk. Currently it's a mix of business materials, scrapbooking materials, fitness books, crayons, artwork from a resident 2.5 year old and potty training charts and prizes.