Resolutions Update, 1

Posted in Finances, Goals, Health and Weightloss, House and Home by teamtradermom

1 month down, 11 to go.

Since we have one month of the New Year under our belt, I thought it would be a good time to check in with how my resolutions are going. This helps to keep me accountable!

Here’s where I stand on my 3 resolutions:

Project T&T

Goal: To lose the 3 pounds I’d gained over the holidays and basically tone and tighten all over.

Update: Well I lost the 3 lbs. but not the way I intended to nor in a way that will provide lasting results. Case in point, I’ve put 2 of them back on. I was feeling pretty down and being hard on myself this weekend as I realized I haven’t made much progress here. The problem is that though I work out regularly and hard, I don’t eat that healthy. Let’s just say I have a hard time saying “no.”

Then I did a reality check. First of all, the number on the scale means nothing. What matters is how I feel and how healthy I am. I have a clean bill of health so that’s not an issue. What is the issue is how I feel about my looks. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m hard on myself. I won’t accept anything less than perfection (just ask Team Trader – last week at volleyball I got disgusted with the mistakes I was making and stopped talking. Real grown up, I know.). But I also know that perfection isn’t possible. Heck, even supermodels and celebrities have cellulite!

To that end, here’s what I can say with pride:

Thanks to the one hundred pushups program, my arms are getting toned. Look out Michelle Obama, here comes Sarah Trader!
I have long, lean, and muscular legs. They really got toned up this summer while I trained for a 5k and I’m happy to report that I’ve been able to keep them sculpted.
C-Sections wreak havoc on your abs. They cut ‘em right open and it’s really hard to get them toned again. So while my stomach isn’t flat anymore, my abs are strong thanks in part to the two hundred sit ups program. I still have some extra fat to take off the top so that my six pack can make an appearance, and I’ll keep working on that, but I’ll gladly pay the price of not having flat abs to have my beautiful daughter.

I will continue to push myself in my workouts and try my best with my eating. But I think that for all intents and purposes, I will call this resolution reached and stop being so freaky about it!

Mission Debt Diet

Goal: To pay off our credit card debt and pay down our mortgage and car loans, all the while socking money away in savings.

Update: This one has been good and bad. On the one hand, I’ve managed to pay off almost half of our credit card debt thanks to a nice rebate check from our FSA and regular committed “over payments.” I’ve also been able to consistently put away a dedicated amount of money into savings. I’m really happy about both of those accomplishments.

What we haven’t done so well on is sticking to our budget. We overspent in many categories, including groceries, retail, eating out and entertainment. So it’s time to re-evaluate. Either our budget wasn’t realistic to begin with or we need to work even harder at reigning in the spending. I know for certain that there are some fast food runs that could have been skipped, shopping purchases that I didn’t need and extra groceries that weren’t necessary. I think we’ll stick with the budget as is and try again to be more frugal. If it still doesn’t work then we’ll see if the numbers need to change.

[Update 2/1/11: OK so I was totally wrong. I actually went in and added up our spending from January today and it turns out we were UNDER budget by $73! Go us!]

Operation Dream Home

Goal: Clean, de-clutter, and organize our house, in preparation for putting it on the market this Summer.

Update: I started out really gung-ho on this and have faded a bit. I got some projects done right off the bat and was really excited. But then I got busy, and I was seeing us going over budget, so I stopped. I haven’t done any more projects but what we have done is maintain the organization that I put in place already. The play corner has really helped keep the living room in order and we removed the coffee table (because I always worried that Munchkin would hit her head on the edge) which gives us even more room. Our new filing system in the kitchen has been awesome. And I’ve even kept up with my Perpetual Journal, writing in it every day.

Proof!

I still need to go through closets and other rooms in the house, but that will come. We also need to ID other more “major” projects to be done and get going on those. Last night we CJ steam cleaned the carpets so that was good. They look sooooo much better!

Other

I didn’t talk about any other resolutions in my original post but there are some things I’ve thought of over the weeks that I want to do on a more regular basis. Here they are:

Reach out and call friends to chat. I’ll admit that I’m not a phone person. I’d rather meet and hang out in person or IM or email. I don’t like talking on the phone. But it is important to contact some friends, especially those I don’t see much, and stay in touch.
Floss every night. I know, I know. I used to be a real stickler about this. In fact I’d floss twice a day, every day. But then I got braces (for the third time) when I was in my late 20’s and ended up with 2 permanent retainers (one behind my top teeth and one behind my bottom teeth). So in order to floss, I have to use a special tool and it’s time consuming so I don’t do it every day. But I need to get back to that because, well, it’s gross not to.
Plan date nights. It may seem like CJ and I get a lot of date nights but we really don’t. It just so happens that we’ve had a couple in January. Usually though we get too busy to plan them. Well, not anymore. We need to put them on the calendar like any other appointment and just do it!
Drink more water. This one is a constant struggle for me but still something to work on.
Spend more time with my sister. We both live in Omaha. We’re both moms. You’d think we would hang out more but we don’t. As with everything, life gets in the way. But whenever we do have Sister Nights, it’s really enjoyable. It needs to happen more often.

That’s probably enough. Too much more and I’ll get overwhelmed.

Well, I hear my family playing upstairs so I’m going to close this up and join them for fun! Ta ta!

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30Jan2011

Day in the Life of TTM–Weekend Edition

Posted in Family, Photography by teamtradermom

A couple weeks ago I did the exercise of taking 1 photo every hour during a typical work day, based on the idea from Simply Rebekah. You can view the results here. Well today I decided to do it again, only as a way to document a weekend day! Turns out my weekends are way more fun than my work days. Who knew? Smile

7:30 a.m. – Rise and Shine

7:30 seems so early for a weekend but it actually is pretty typical for me. Isabella wakes up anywhere from 7 – 8 a.m. so I consider myself lucky to make it to 7:30! CJ is a night owl and I’m a morning person so he will stay up later at night when I go to bed early and then I will get up early and let him sleep in. Some mornings it feels unfair when I have to get up early but in the end, it means some extra one-on-one time for me and Munchkin, which is worth it!

8:30 a.m. – Breakfast!

Even though Munchkin wakes up at 7:30, we don’t pull her out of bed right away. Usually, we’ll give her a couple books to read and a few stuffed animals to play with. She is very content to hang out in her room for a little while, giving us time to make coffee/tea, let Samson out, and get breakfast ready. Today, we had waffles, cereal, bananas and milk! Or as Isabella would say, “Waffles, ceweal, nanas and mook!”

[Yes, I know that she’s wearing a Halloween bib at the end of January. You pretty much stop trying to coordinate bibs with holidays/outfits after about the first week.]

9:30 a.m. – Playtime!

The best parts of my weekend are when I get to play with Isabella. She has so much energy and is a lot of fun. Here, we’re playing peek-a-boo with her play house.

10:30 a.m. – Baking

Munchkin went down for her nap at about 10 a.m. so I decided to use that time to bake some treats. I’m trying to use up some stuff from the cupboards so I made chocolate peanut butter rice Krispy treats. They turned out AWESOME! Just ask Samson! Or me…I only at 3 of them at lunch….

11:30 a.m. – Cleaning and decorating

Once the treats were done, I started in on some cleaning. I still had my January snowmen out so it was time to put them away and break out the February décor. Now that Munchkin is old enough to understand some things, it’s even more fun to change the decorations around the house. Since she was napping still, I hid a few bears and other valentine stuffed animals around. When she woke up I let her find them on her own and her face lit up every time she discovered a new one!

12:30 p.m. – Lunch!

We had macaroni and cheese (or “ronis” as Isabella says), a quince, green beans and milk for lunch. And of course, rice Krispy treats!!

[We’ve now quickly advanced in holiday bib world from Halloween to St. Patrick’s day. We like to mix it up around here. That’s how the Trader’s roll.]

1:30 p.m. – Chillin’ with my home girl

We decided to take a break and watch some Sesame Street. Isabella has a bit of a cold so I thought she could use some quiet time. Plus it gave me the chance to snuggle with her, which I always love!

2:30 p.m. – Dinner Prep

Today I’m going to make roast and veggies for dinner. I’ll tell you right now that this is NOT typical of me. I hate cooking and will usually opt for the easiest thing I can whip together. But today I was feeling ambitious so there you go. CJ was at the grocery store so it took me about an hour to peel the potatoes and carrots because I had to stop many times to play with Munchkin, change a diaper, let Samson out or whatever. But it eventually got done and popped in the oven around 3.

3:30 p.m. – Photo editing

I took advantage of Munchkin’s afternoon naptime to edit some of these photos. Her afternoon naps are usually shorter so I was frantically trying to get done as much as possible. Fortunately, CJ came home around this time and played with her when she woke up, so I had a little extra time.

4:30 p.m. – More Play Time

But too much time away from her during the weekend is hard so I couldn’t justify “work” when she wanted to play! Here we were playing peek-a-boo with a Christmas blanket that is out year round because it was CJ’s mom’s favorite. I had it draped over my head and she’d come running up and sneak underneath saying “Peek!”. She gets such a kick out hiding and then being “found”! Cracks me up!

5:30 p.m. – Dinner!

Almost time to eat the roast and veggies! Mmmm….Here I was in the process of finishing up the gravy. Turned out pretty good. Not as awesome as my mom’s but considering it’s only the 2nd time I’ve made a roast, I think I did all right.

6:30 p.m. – Bath time!

Isabella used to hate baths. I mean she would scream bloody murder through the whole thing. It got to the point where we just dreaded bathing her. But eventually she got used to it and now she has fun in there. Here she was putting her toys up on the edge of the tub and then knocking them down. Caught this shot a split second before the fish came flying at me. Bath time ended though when she called her, um, “girl parts” a “pocket” and tried to put her woobie in it.

7:30 p.m. – Puzzles with dad

Samson looking on as CJ and Munchkin work on some puzzles. We usually try to keep the activities low key as it gets closer to bed time. Samson likes to sidle up as close as possible too so that we don’t forget he’s there. Now how could we forget about Samson? When he was a pup we called him the “sidler” because he would come up when you were sitting and lean against the chair but then scurry off if you tried to pet him. He was very conflicted in those early days and I think he wanted love but didn’t know how to accept it. Now he does though. As soon as I took this pic, I gave him lots of kisses and snuggles.

8:30 p.m. – Watching a movie

After Munchkin went to bed, CJ and I decided to watch the “Babies” movie. Our friend Sara lent it to us a while back and we haven’t had a chance to watch it. It was really cute and much more interesting than I thought a movie with no talking that focuses only on 4 babies could be. Samson laid over in the play corner while we watched it. He really wanted up on the couch with us but there wasn’t room so the whole time he laid there, he was eyeing my spot just waiting for his opportunity.

9:30 p.m. – Time for bed

As soon as the movie was done, I headed to bed. All 3 of us are fighting colds and I wanted to get as much sleep as possible. 9:30 is my usual bedtime though some weekends I live on the edge and stay up later. I always pay for it the next day though.

So there you have it! A typical weekend day for TTM! It’s hard to pinpoint a typical weekend for us because they change so much from week to week, but I think yesterday was a pretty good representation. The only thing NOT typical about this day was the fancy dinner. Otherwise, everything else was pretty right on.

On February 1st, I will be linking up with Simply Rebekah and all the other blogs that participated in her challenge. Go check it out to see what a typical day is for other bloggers!!

If you liked this, you might also like:

Annexed: The Finale (aka, A Day in the Life of TTM)

A Day in the Life of Samson

The Perfect Day

28Jan2011

The OCp: From A to Zamboni

Posted in The OCp by teamtradermom

If any of you are going in to Annexed withdrawals (Joe), never fear! Annexed will be making regular appearances within The OCp. “But I thought you weren’t working down at The Mall anymore Sarah?” Well, I’m not. But Barry and Bubbles are (at least a couple of days a week) and they act as my eyes and ears on the ground, providing me updates and snapshots.

So let’s see.

First of all, the ongoing saga of the ceiling leaks at The Mall continues. If you’re tracking, it’s been 2 weeks now that the ceiling has leaked and still not been fixed. And the same garbage cans are still there catching the drips.

(photo courtesy of Bubbles)

Ew. But there was a bit of progress – 3 facilities guys were spotted staring up in to the caverns of the ceiling. They didn’t do anything about it but at least they made an appearance.

Also, remember the flowers that were put in our bathrooms here at OCP last week? Well The Mall decided to emulate us and do the same thing. Bubbles found flowers there on Monday morning.

(photo courtesy of Bubbles)

That bathroom needs more than a bouquet of flowers to help it along, but every little bit helps I guess!

So I haven’t talked much about the mall itself in a while. Scooter has kept a low profile and we haven’t made a visit to John’s lately. But there was a little bit of action this week.

We had a Zamboni sighting. Yes, that’s right, a Zamboni. Well, sort of. Apparently there was a guy out there buffing up the floors (wonder if that’s where my quarter disappeared to).

Now over to an on the ground report from Bubbles:

Bubbles: Some Annexed tidbits – I was out in the mall an hour ago and there was a guy polishing/cleaning/buffing the floors with one of those huge polishers/cleaners/buffers – the one that looks like a Zamboni.
Me: I find it interesting that we’ve been down there for 4 months and we’re just now spotting this Zamboni thing. Is it any relation to Big Foot? Any pics?
Bubbles: Damn – I didn’t get a pic! I blew it!!
Me: No worries, not everyone can be as good as me.
Bubbles: True, you’re the master and I only hope to one day be as good as you at taking random subtle pictures around the office. Anyway, the Zamboni dude was a young kid and he had on big baggy black pants and a black sweatshirt. He may or may not have worn headphones. I was waiting for some kind of baggy pant/Zamboni incident.
Me: Oh yeah, that would not have been good.
Bubbles: My other thought when seeing the Zamboni was, “Really? Like that is going to help!”
Me: True dat. You can put lipstick on a pig but it’s still a pig…

Thank you Bubbles for that report!

Back to OCP…yesterday our little group (Bob, Bubbles, Barry, The Brit and me) decided to go out for lunch. Wow, I just noticed that we all have “B” nicknames. Weird. Wonder what that means? Is there something about the letter “B” that describes me as a person? Or maybe it’s just that I’m not very creative. Or perhaps I liek alliteration. Anyway, we headed over to Whole Foods for some grub. While sitting in the cafe eating, The Brit looked over at their Lifestyle Center (a big kitchen area surrounded by glass walls) and asked what it was for. Bob kindly explained that it was a place where they lock people up for a week to observe their behavior patterns. The Brit’s response? “Well then they’d see me poop a lot.”

I literally almost peed my pants I was laughing so hard.

We got back from lunch and each went to our separate areas. Unlike The Mall, at OCP none of us sit together. Which is probably good for productivity but bad on the fun scale. Since Barry and Bubbles don’t have assigned desks here, they sort of just “squat” at an open desk. It hadn’t been a problem until yesterday, when Barry got this email:

Hi [Barry],

Just wanted to let you know that the equipment you are using (monitor and docking station) is going to be pulled tonight or tomorrow morning by site support from the desk you are using today…If you need space at OCP, please let me know and I will be happy to reserve something for you. All the empty desks on 3rd floor have now been spoken for and are assigned to owners or will be used soon. Please reserve space ahead of time if you want to work from this location for the day.

Or, in other words, “You’re not welcome here Southerner so take your grits and go!”

Then, about 3 hours later, one of the Directors stopped by and told him he was “wreaking havoc” by sitting in that desk.

Can you feel the love?

Barry thought that perhaps today he’d just work from the dumpster outside but I told him he could only do that if he reserved it first.

Speaking of desks, I found some suspicious activity when I saw mine this morning . I walked in to find my stuff all askew – my keyboard was pushed back and kind of set topsy-turvy on my laptop, a poster on my wall was crooked, my phone was turned and my pretty little Gabby Gekko was removed from her bed.

(she normally stays in the box)

My first thought was that Bob was messing with me. But then one by one, as more people arrived, we discovered their stuff had been jacked with too. One guy had a card on his shelf turned around. Someone else had napkins tossed across her desk and over the keyboard. Bob claims to have nothing to do with it so who is responsible?

Best guess? All our stuff had come alive over night (not unlike “Night at the Museum”) and wasn’t able to get back to starting position before the lights came on this morning. Or else it was the overnight cleaning crew. Apparently they get mad when you don’t leave your desk and surrounding area spick-and-span and feel they have the right to move your stuff around.

Um, really?

Hey, I get it, they don’t have the most glamorous job. And I know they probably get frustrated when we leave popcorn kernels on the floor or track mud in from outside. But you know what? It’s part of their job to clean the office. It’s not like we do it on purpose. “Hey guys – let’s leave a big pile of poo over here on the floor just to tick them off!” We try to leave our area as neat as possible but crumbs get spilled and dirt gets tracked in. That doesn’t give you the right to riffle through our belongings and throw it around.

Now put fresh flowers in the bathroom and leave my stuff alone!

Thanks for tuning in and be sure to come back next week for more from The OCp!

If you liked this, you might also like:

The OCp: The Premiere

Annexed: What a Drip

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27Jan2011

You Capture: Happy

Posted in You Capture by teamtradermom

Starting this week, I’m going to be partaking in a new challenge. As you may or may not know, my college degree is in art, with an emphasis in photography and computer graphics. Being the practical person that I am, I pursued the computer side of my training when I got in the real world because who can make a decent living as a photographer? Well, turns out a lot of people can with hard work and dedication. I guess I wasn’t willing to work that hard.

Anyway, 12 years after college graduation (Lord that makes me sound old) and I’m a technology analyst doing absolutely nothing creative with my days (except for figuring out new ways to write “that’s out of scope”). But I would like to channel my inner photographer again and this challenge will do just that.

ishouldbefoldinglaundry.com came up with this idea and it’s great fun (also you should check out her site because her pics are amazing)! She basically throws out a subject each Thursday and the goal is to take pics during the following week for your interpretation of that subject. Then you post your best pics the following Thursday. Since I’m new to this, I’ll be taking and posting last week’s stuff all in one day (today). However, I’ll give myself the full week to shoot photos for next week.

As I said, it’s been a while since I’ve done any “real” photography so I’ve forgotten a lot (aperture? shutter speed?). I also don’t have a digital SLR (and I refuse to go back to film for stuff like this) so I’ll have to make due with my point and shoot. I think I can still get some good stuff and like they say in the biz “Photoshop is your friend.”

The subject for today is “happy”. That could be interpreted in a number of ways. Here’s how I saw it.

I took this one on Monday and posted it when talking about the haircut I gave her. But I’m reusing it because it totally fits with this theme and not only is she happy here, but it makes me happy to look at it!

I love mornings when Munchkin wakes up before I leave for work. On those days I get to go in and see her smiling face and kiss her little forehead. Today she was playing with some of her stuffed animal friends and reading an Elmo book when I went in there. She got a big smile when I walked in and was proud to show me all the friends in her book.

No explanation needed. Cookies make me happy. Very happy.

Isabella loves to be tickled and we love to hear her laugh! Her squeals of delight can instantly turn the day around for me. Happy to infinity!

Finally, I can’t talk about what makes me happy and not include something related to volleyball. It just so happened that today was Team Trader Thursday so I took this pic at the gym before we started playing. While I wasn’t real happy with how I played tonight, I still have fun every week no matter what because of the girls I play with.

That’s it! Stay tuned for next week’s edition of “You Capture”. The theme is “red”.

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26Jan2011

Samson Stories: Locked Out

Posted in Samson by teamtradermom

[Samson Stories will appear when I am in a creative slump or don’t have anything exciting to write about. These are funny stories from our adventures of raising a Labrador puppy. Enjoy!]

It was mid-April 2006 and Spring was upon us. The days were longer, the sun was out and the mercury was slowly rising on the thermometer. Back then, CJ and I were both working and this was before Isabella. We had owned Samson for about 3 weeks at this point and were still getting used to his antics.

I arrived home at my usual time – around 5- and let Samson out of his kennel. The Tasmanian Devil that he is came careening out the door and tearing down the hallway. He did loops around the dining room and kitchen then raced back down the hall before turning and making a mad dash for the backdoor. Good thing I was already there with the door open or he would have run right through it, leaving a labrador shaped outline behind.

We had to stand outside and watch him while he was in the backyard because he couldn’t be trusted alone yet. So I stepped out and kept an eye on him. I tried to be discrete. After all, who likes to be watched while doing their business? As I milled about on the deck, I spotted the grill and thought it would be a perfect night for burgers. CJ would be home a bit late tonight as he had to run a few errands after work so I thought I’d get the grill fired up and the burgers going.

Samson and I headed inside and I started dinner. I emptied a can of green beans into a pan (I’m gourmet like that) and put ’em on the stove. I got out the hamburger and began making the patties, all the while keeping an eye on Samson because he can’t be trusted even when we’re home with him. I would have to stop occasionally to run frantically down the hall and see where he had snuck off to. It was usually to our bedroom where he’d take either my shoes or steal CJ’s pillow.

Once the hamburger patties were ready, it was time to fire up the grill. I took the meat outside with me and got the grill going. Samson stayed inside which was fine since I was coming right back in.

Or so I thought.

I attempted to go back in only to find the backdoor wouldn’t open. Puzzling. I tried again. Still wouldn’t budge. Then I looked down and saw that the dowel rod we use as extra security by placing it in the track of the door was in fact jammed in place.

And this is what I saw right next to it:

Samson!!

Ok so let’s stop to assess the situation. I am outside on the deck with the grill and a plate full of hamburger patties at about 5:30 p.m. on a night that was rapidly becoming chilly. Samson was inside staring at me through the sliding glass door that was now blocked from being opened. CJ was at work and not due home for an hour or so. I had a pot full of green beans on the stove. And my cell phone was tucked safely inside my purse, which was on the kitchen counter.

And let us not forget that SAMSON CANNOT BE TRUSTED!

I tried to stay calm and contemplate my options. The front door and garage doors (along with all windows) were locked. At the time we didn’t have a key pad on the garage door (but we do now!) or a spare key hidden anywhere outside so there was no alternate way to get in. So I could…

Start screaming at the top of my lungs to see who would come help.
Try to break the door down.
Walk to CJ’s work (which was about 2 miles from our house) and get a key.
Ask a neighbor for help.
Sit and wait
Mow the lawn while I was out there
Pick up the treats Samson had just left me in the yard

I discarded all of those and decided to try reasoning with Samson. Makes the most sense right? I mean, if he can push the stick in to place, he can certainly pull it out. I started talking to him through the door.

“Hey Samson! See that stick there? Looks like a fun toy doesn’t it? Why don’t you play with it!”

Nothing.

“Guess what boy – that stick is made of meat! Bet you want to start gnawing on it now huh?”

Blank stare.

“Samson, don’t you dare touch that stick. If you touch it you’re going right to your kennel!”

Usually reverse psychology works on him but not this time. Drat.

Just then the next door neighbor came outside to do some yard work. I ran to the fence and asked to borrow their phone and called CJ. No answer. What, you thought the ending would be that easy? Tried again. No answer. I left a couple scathing messages about how important it is to answer one’s phone and then called my parents who have a spare key to the house. My dad said he’d come right over.

Now I just had to wait. Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal. After all, I had food (fully cooked burgers by this time) and it was a decent enough night. But, I also had a 4 month old puppy who would give his right nut (and he did a few months later, along with the left one) to have free reign over the house. Now he did. And I had no way to stop him from ripping everything to shreds.

The only thing I could do was stand by the door and peer in from time to time (while simultaneously gnawing on a hamburger patty). If he was there, great. If not, I’d bang on the glass really loudly until he came running. He would look at me like, “Why are you outside? Can I come out? Why won’t you let me out?” Then he’d wander off and I’d have to bang on the door again.

My dad got there about 15 minutes later and opened the door. Samson came bounding over as if he hadn’t seen me in FOREVER! Then he promptly ran outside, jumped up and took a burger off the side shelf of the grill. *sigh*

If you liked this, you might also like:

Samson Stories: the Escape Artist

Samson Stories: Doggie Day Camp

Samson Stories: Two-Timing