Blog stalking - 12 in 2012

So I was eating my lunch at my desk and blog stalking some quilt blogs and found a great idea. This lady did an 11 in 2011 theme and set aside 11 projects to complete in 2011. I wanna do the same thing but for quilts, like 12 quilts for 2012. Sounds ambitious, but if I can do one a month then that would totally work! Anyone feel like joining me? It doesn't have to be quilts, it can be what ever you want to get done in 2012.

In other news this past weekend I finally hit my goal...216, which means I'm officially over my 100 pound goal, and by 2 pounds. Well sadly it was short lived as it jumped back up but today was at 219 so I don't feel that bad. I hate that it bounces so much. Guess if I only weighed once a week it wouldn't, but since I weigh everyday that might be why. I know you shouldn't weigh every day but I promised myself I would never let it get out of hand again and the only way for me to do that is to keep it in the front of my mind at all times.

Ok, so I'm going to start thinking of my 12 in 2012 now so I can get a jump on it. Tell me what you wanna do too!

Weight loss update

So it's been a while since I've posted about the weight loss. It's has slowed quite a bit, but I'm hoping it will be picking up again because I'm training for a 5K. Plus I wanted to post when I lost 100 pounds total and I'm still 2 pounds away and have been hovering around being 2-5 pounds away for a while now. So as of this morning I was 220 and 218 will be my 100 pound mark. I started training for the 5K with Lindsey and we are on our 3rd week. I'm glad I'm not as sore as I was the first 2 weeks. My goal is to jog the whole thing with no walking. I have only 6 more weeks to train, but it should be fine. I'm doing the couch to 5K program and then once it's over I think I'm going to start training for a 10K in the spring. That should be fun. I really enjoy running. It's a great stress reliever and I fall asleep so much faster now. My body is exhausted and I really like that. So I'm hoping that all this running/walking will help me drop another 20 pounds. It'll be great to get down past 200 and back in the 100's. I haven't been there since college and I'm hoping to get there and stay there a while, meaning forever!

In other news, I have another quilt idea but haven't started it yet. It should go pretty fast as it's just charm squares. I'm excited to get at it again, but have been so busy with the running and church stuff these days. And with the holidays fast approaching I may not get as much done as I'd like. Oh well, that's what New Years Resolutions are for. I think I've done pretty good with the weight loss resolution this year :) Yay!

Photo Test and Quilts

So this is my photo test. I downloaded these from my phone into iphoto and then had to put them on flickr and add them here. Now I'm not sure how to size them or move them around quite yet. Guess I'll be spending some time doing that. Well at least for now you can see all the quilts. The black and white one I made for my boss. He loves everything black and he really liked it. It's the first one I finished and I think it turned out pretty good. I love the border. It's chinese characters and since he's Chinese it worked out great.

This one I made for Elise. I started it a really long time ago but couldn't ever figure out how to finish it. Then I got some ideas online and I think it turned out great.

This one I made for Emme. The colors are so cute. I got the idea from Crazy Mom Quilts on one of her tutorials. I gave it to her last night after our ward showcase and she loves it. That makes me happy. At first I wanted to keep all of them, but I'm glad to know people really enjoy them. Now to start another one!! Oh the possibilities. And if anyone has any ideas for presenting my pics better please let me know :)

Jared got a job!!

It's true. Jared got a job just a week after being unemployed. I'm pretty sure I know how it all worked out too. He was laid off on Friday, Sept. 23. The next day he and Erik went to help a lady in our ward who was moving. Well they were the only ones that showed up. The ward council discussed it the next day on Sunday during their meeting and we found out the bishop wasn't too happy about no one else showing up.
Later that week Jared was able to go on a few interviews and one of them said by Friday to let them know if wanted the job or not. So he took that one (I know it wasn't his first choice but hey it's a job!). He started on Tuesday this week and that means he was only out of work for a week and one day! Almost unheard of these days. We truly have been blessed.
So how are the 2 connected you may ask? I emailed the bishop late last week and thanked him for helping us with the job hunt and prayers and said I was so happy no one else showed up for the move because we literally needed ALL the blessings. He said he was glad it worked out for us and was grateful to the Pickett's and all we do. I was really happy to hear that.

In other news, at work we volunteered at the Coastal Clean Up Day in Malibu a few weeks ago. It was a fun morning and this pic turned out so cute! There were a few others, but I'm already frustrated with adding pictures in here. I was thinking today if I dump pics from my iphone into my iphoto stuff on my computer at home it may work better. I'm going to try that because I know I owe you all pics of my quilts and of me :) Wish me luck! This is me, Elise, Alison and Alix.

Feeling a little better

So I'm feeling a little better about the job loss situation. Jared has been on the hunt for the past 3 days and thankfully it's not very busy at work so I can help him look. He went on an interview Monday for a taxi job driver job. It's a lot of ups and downs so I'm not feeling really great about that one. Then yesterday Alison found one on CalJobs and he went on an interview yesterday for a teaching job in Chatsworth. They really liked him and they know a lot of the same people from another school Jared used to work at. They said they'd call him for a 2nd interview later this week. Then this morning he called an old co-worker to ask if he could use her as a reference and she said they are hiring right now Resource Teachers which is exactly what he was doing before and is in an interview right now! Please pray that something pans out for us. The other one wants to open a school in Lancaster and asked if he could commute there. I told him to say yes because $40K is better than unemployment. I'll update as soon as I find out if we are employed again!

Down in the dumps

Well on Friday morning I thought it was going to turn out to be a great weekend. I had box seats lined up for The Sound of Music Sing-a-long at the Hollywood Bowl. I left work early, amongst much teasing about singing at the bowl on Saturday. I was in a good mood. Ready to go home a little early and either do some quilting or nap before having to pick up Elise from daycare. As I was pulling into the driveway I got a phone call from Jared asking where I was. I told him I just pulled up at home. He said, oh good, you aren't out buying a car are you? We really need to get a him a new one and I had been looking and found a few really good deals. I said no and he said good because I just got laid off. I was dumbstruck. I couldn't believe I just heard what I heard. He went on about this or that, but it was like a ton of bricks hitting me square on the shoulders. I felt the burden immediately. I called Barb and started crying and sat in my car. I knew there was no way now I was going to sew or nap so I went to pick up Elise. When Jared got home he explained what had happened. The company he worked for wanted to basically get rid of everyone who previously worked for the old director and get their family members in to do all the jobs. Well since they were short staffed Jared had to do a lot of things he wouldn't normally do. They gave this as one of the excuses for him being terminated. They said he was doing too much. I was shocked. Who ever complains of people doing too much? What idiots! Anyway, I could go on for days about what a terrible company it was but Jared is relieved to not have to work there anymore. So he's on the hunt for something else now. At first I really wanted him to continue with teaching, but now I see it's not going to be good for him. I want him to really find his niche and I'm not sure where that is going to be right now. He has a lunch interview right now with a guy he met on Saturday to drive a taxi cab. It sounded right up his ally, but I don't think the pay is as lucrative as this guy is saying it is. Everything I've read today says it's about $10 an hour after all the costs. So if it's that low I'd rather him just be an aide. Well I guess we'll see what the Lord has in store for us. Hopefully it will be better that before, but you just never know. I need to learn how to sell stuff on ebay. Any hints let me know. The Sound of Music was great, but the stress of the news was a like a big rain cloud hanging above my head. Hopefully it rains quickly and the sun and rainbows come out soon.

Irritated

No wonder I never add pics to my blog. It's so irritating trying to get them on here. I have pics on my iphone I sent to my email address so that I could get them on here. Sorry folks, it ain't working. So no pics from me. If anyone has ideas that would make it oh so much easier please let me know. I can't stand flikr so don't suggest that one. Sorry, not in the best of moods today. Want to crawl back in my bed and not get out.