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A Few Outfits, Anyway

Posted by Kathy Torrence on Jan 27, 2008 in Today's Photo

In spite of Friday’s fashion trauma, I decided to brave Kohl’s today and try on a few more things for work…and I had much better luck and I am really happy with the things I purchased.

I sort of cheated with the style-thing – I went right to the Simply Vera by Vera Wang rack (which was all 40-50% off) and just picked several pieces that all coordinate with each other to take the guesswork out of putting outfits together. I stayed with neutral colors so that I can also wear these pieces with the few I already have.

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Even though my current wardrobe consists mainly of sweatpants and hoodies (with jeans reserved for special occasions), I used to enjoy getting dressed up for the office when I was working. Dressing up was about the only thing I missed about working when I started staying home with the kids. Well…that and the paycheck. Maybe now I can have both again.

 
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I Need Patience…Or Liposuction

Posted by Kathy Torrence on Jan 25, 2008 in My Adventures in Dieting

The good news – I lost another pound this week (for a total of 13 so far) and two inches from my hips and an inch from my waist in all.

The bad news – I’m still fat.

While I was at the mall today buying some boots (that’s the great thing about buying shoes – they ALWAYS fit!), I decided to tempt fate and try on some clothes for work.

First of all, it has been SO long since I have purchased work clothes, I felt like one of those fashion-impaired women on What Not to Wear (Friday nights on TLC if you’ve never seen it).

I seem to have forgotten how to put a real outfit together – you know – something other than jeans and a sweater (my current fall/winter wardrobe) or jeans and a T-shirt (my spring/summer wardrobe). I was literally just walking around in circles around the displays and mannequins – I’m sure store security thought I was some sort of manic shoplifter.

But I did finally find two pairs of pants that I absolutely loved in the size I thought I was and went to try them on. They didn’t fit. Not only didn’t they fit, but I could barely even pull them up. And under the fabulous fluorescent dressing-room lights, I looked REALLY fat (the knee-high black socks against my ghostly white skin probably didn’t help much either).

I left the store just about in tears, convinced that there were no clothes anywhere in the store that would fit the very-fat me.

I resolve not to try new clothes on again until I’ve at least hit the 20 pound mark – if I’m over today’s trauma by then…

 
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Like A Herd Of Wild Goldendoodles

Posted by Kathy Torrence on Jan 25, 2008 in Our Goldendoodle Puppies, Today's Photo

Andrew brought his other dog, Bella, over this afternoon to play with Geddy and Daisy.  They ran like crazy all over the yard – they had so much fun!  I tried to snap a photo, but they were constantly in motion…

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They finally stayed still while drinking some water inside:

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I’m a Working Girl Again

Posted by Kathy Torrence on Jan 25, 2008 in Family Stuff

Sorry I didn’t post a photo yesterday – I’m trying to get back into the groove of this working-thing again.

I don’t know if I posted exactly what it is that I’m doing at my job – my official title is “Test Specialist” and my job is basically to support the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) testing of various flight service systems, mostly dealing with Alaska (strangely enough, I actually have a bit of experience in dealing with Alaska flight service issues – you didn’t know that about me, did you?). I am working for EIT, a government contractor.

Let me warn you – I may start to throw a bunch of acronyms around here. Please don’t ask me what some of these acronyms stand for. Even though I started working with the FAA almost 20 years ago (YIKES! I’m old!) and while I know what the acronyms ARE, I don’t know exactly what some of them officially STAND FOR – and there’s even debate amongst FAA old-timers themselves as to what the true meaning of some of them is.

For those who know me from my FAA days, I am working on testing PTRs in the Alaskan version of OASIS (a system near and dear to my heart since I helped to write the original software) as well as helping out with the new AFSM (Alaskan Flight Service Modernization) program – that acronym I know. 🙂

The funny thing is, even though I’ve been away from the industry for over 6 years now, it’s almost as if I never left. I saw many familiar faces in the halls, heard some familiar voices on the OASIS teleconference the other day (hello to Chris, Aaron and Bob if you’re reading this!) and after briefly reading over some documentation, it’s all starting to come back to me.

However, I’m still not settled in since my cubicle is still full of stray equipment. I also do not have a badge – this may not sound like a big deal, but without a badge, I have to go through security every morning (like going through airport security – and my shoes always set off the metal detector, so I end up having to take them off every day. Note to self – always wear socks without holes) to get a visitor’s badge. This also means that I can’t walk around the building by myself – someone always has to escort me….which is a real pain when I have to – say – go to the bathroom. But this is just par for the course – badges can take anywhere from a week to several months to come in. I’d better stock up on new socks.

I’ll be working three days a week – just 24 hours total. Just enough to get me back out there (and earn some money) but still stay connected to the kids and home. And I’m off today, so I’m trying to catch up on all my errands while I can. Which includes heading out to buy a pair of replacement boots for my brown pair which broke yesterday morning just before I headed out the door…fashion crisis!

PS – I just found an online acronym dictionary…and even it has various meanings for some of the FAA acronyms…

 
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Missing Piece of the Puzzle

Posted by Kathy Torrence on Jan 23, 2008 in Today's Photo

Literally!  Don’t you hate when this happens:

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We can’t find it anywhere…

 
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Puzzling with Emily

Posted by Kathy Torrence on Jan 23, 2008 in Today's Photo

Emily and I worked on a puzzle from the Target Dollar Spot today…

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Is there a good way to open a puzzle box?  I always end up cutting away the bottom of the box…

 
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Finally!

Posted by Kathy Torrence on Jan 23, 2008 in Family Stuff

I am finally starting my new job tomorrow!

I feel like a kid on my first day of school – where do I sit?  What am I going to do for lunch?  Will the other kids like me? 

I’ve always felt uncomfortable on the first day at a new job, a new class, a new anything – we’ll see how this one goes…

 
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A Yummy Treat!

Posted by Kathy Torrence on Jan 21, 2008 in Today's Photo

I picked up some of these Hershey’s 100 calorie bars today:

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They are FANTASTIC! I find that I do much better on a diet when I don’t feel like I’m depriving myself; so after dinner, I allow myself a little treat.

Now – to stay at 100 calories, the bars are pretty small. But at least I have a nice little treat to look forward to.

PS – I don’t think these are very diet-friendly if you eat all 28 bars at one sitting – which is what I’d REALLY like to do…

 
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Knitting a Tote Bag

Posted by Kathy Torrence on Jan 20, 2008 in Knitting, Today's Photo

I’m currently working on knitting a felted tote bag, and it feels like this project is taking FOREVER! 

It’s a color block bag design – the back will be brown, the front will be blue and the handle will be green.  So far, I’ve knitted the back piece and half of the front piece – next I’ll knit the handle and then assemble the bag.  After that, I’ll felt it, which is basically washing it in hot water until it shrinks and the wool fibers blend together.  It also has some pockets that I have to knit and felt separately.

I’m hoping to use it as my knitting bag – if I still want to keep knitting after all this…

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One Giant Dog?

Posted by Kathy Torrence on Jan 20, 2008 in Our Goldendoodle Puppies, Today's Photo

Our dogs really love their crate – they cuddle up together inside and sometimes it’s hard to tell where one dog stops and where the other one starts:

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You can see that the door is open, yet they still like to sleep inside the crate…

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