An Interview with Isabella

Posted in From the Mouths of Babes, Isabella/Munchkin by teamtradermom

Since it’s been 4 years, I thought it would be good to provide some updates on the girls. Kids change practically overnight it seems so you can imagine how much they’ve changed over the last few years! But instead of me writing paragraphs of my observations, I thought it would be more fun to just interview them so they could tell you about themselves in their own words! First up, Isabella, who is currently 8 years old and in 3rd grade. She has glasses, beautiful long blonde curly hair, was diagnosed with ADHD in kindergarten, is very literal, logical and thoughtful and she amazes me.

Q: What is your favorite food?

Apples. I don’t know why. I guess because they’re juicy.

Q: What is your favorite color?

Blue, then turquoise, green, purple, pink and so on and on and on until all the colors are used up.

Q: What do you like most about school?

Art on Wednesdays. Also, Wednesday is chicken nugget day which is my favorite. [Then she leaned in and whispered: they don’t really call it ‘chicken nugget day’, I just made that up.]

Q: What do you want people to know about you?

That I’m not a small person who doesn’t know anything. I can’t be beat up. Like Dad says, I have sharp elbows.

(This answer surprised me so I asked her if she was worried about being “beat up”. She said no. Then added that she is the smallest in her class and sometimes people think that means she’s doesn’t know things. “But I know a lot of things mom, I just don’t say them.”)

Q: What are your favorite things to do?

Draw and color. I like drawing silly pictures for people. Also monsters.

Q: Who is your favorite person?

Mrs. J and Jayden. I can’t decide which so don’t make me.

Q: What do you like most about Cora?

She’s funny. But sometimes I don’t get it. She can be weird too.

Q: If you could be anyone else in the world, who would you be?

A stuffed animal come to life because then you can be snuggled and loved but also talk to people and do things.

Q: What’s the biggest thing that’s changed about you since you were 4 years old [which is how old she was when I stopped blogging]

I talked weird then. (Then she said, “You don’t have to write this part down Mom but I would say things like “Big, Bigger, and Biggerer“. That’s so weird!”)

Q: Any final words that you want to share with Mommy’s friends?

I would want them to know that I have a space themed room. I like space stuff. Also, interviews are fun. I like them too.

………….

Today Isabella brought home an activity from school for hitting 100 days. Thought I’d share some of her answers.

I would not want 100…cats (the only reason is because my sister is allergic)
If I had $100 I would buy….an animal shelter.
I can lift 100…pieces of paper (make that 1000!)
In 100 years I hope I can…still walk
I can eat 100….chocolates (in one week)
I could never eat 100….pieces of pizza

And there you have it. Isabella in her own words. And what amazing words they are!

10Feb2018

Guess Who’s Back?

Posted in Blog Stuff, Goals by teamtradermom

Hard to believe but it’s been 4 years since I last wrote an entry on this blog. At the time I was burned out, tired of writing, and my heart wasn’t in it. It felt forced. If we’re being honest, I kind of felt that way about life in general too. I had 2 little kids, a busy job, a new house, and didn’t feel like I had anything “together”. Everything felt frantic and unorganized and crazy. I was overwhelmed.

So I stopped writing. It was a hard decision made easier over time. Every time I’d think about the blog I’d examine my life and it re-affirmed my decision to stop. I don’t have enough time. There’s nothing interesting to write about. No one cares what’s going on in my life.

And so it goes.

However I kept paying to renew the domain name and keep the site up year after year. Whenever I’d see a payment processed I’d cringe a little and tell myself I should just take it down. But I never did. Nostalgia perhaps? Sure. Thoughts that one day I’d write again? Probably. Lazy? Absolutely!

Recently though I’ve felt the itch again. 2018 feels like a year of renewal to me. A renewal of myself and getting back to feeling good and doing things I enjoy. For so long it felt like my own life was put on hold in favor of what the kids needed (Yes, I know thats called being a parent). I don’t feel that way anymore. I bought season tickets to the Broadway Series that comes through town because I love live theater. I’m going to several concerts this year because I also love live music and hate that I’ve missed so many amazing artists over the last couple years. I’m traveling a lot more (mostly for work) and enjoy every minute of visiting other cities.

I’m ready for more….more adventure…more fun…more laughter…just more!

I’m also doing more to take care of myself. One thing that’s stayed constant is my workout regime. That is something I’ll never give up. I work out at 5:30 am every weekday morning and I wouldn’t change it for the world. I also still play volleyball 1 to 2 nights a week and love it! However, my eating habits had gone way downhill. I was yo-yo dieting with no success. Eating all kinds of amazing tasting junk food and constantly feeling guilty. Then wondering why the scale wouldn’t go down. I was actually at my heaviest weight not including pregnancy/post-pregnancy. My confidence was way down and I felt icky. So I finally sucked it up, kicked myself in the ass and did the Whole30 program for the month of January. It was exactly what I needed. I feel great and like I’ve really gained my power back. I now make conscious decisions about what I put in my body and only eat what will nourish me and provide the best fuel. I lost 8 lbs. but had other major “non-scale victories” and am still going (I’ll do a separate post on Whole30 at some point).

Part of the Whole30 program is to keep a journal everyday of what you ate, how you feel, and your non-scale victories. I used to journal on a pretty regular basis, but like everything else, that went out the window. Bringing it back as part of the program was great and it reinvigorated my need for creative writing. I am an inherently creative person but have had no outlet for it in recent years. The itch was coming back. So I bought myself a new journal, some colorful pens and committed to journaling at least once every week. Nothing too crazy, no rules around it – just write once a week. So far I’ve been journaling an average of 3 – 4 times a week and loving it.

That got me thinking, where else can I do more writing?

I was talking to a friend, sharing another story of some bizarre crazy thing that happened in my life and he said “You should really write this stuff down!”

The lightbulb went off.

I used to write this stuff down and it was fun! Why not do it again? I pulled up the blog and read through the old entries and all those memories came flooding back and I realized this wasn’t an accident. This was the universes way of nudging me in the right direction.

So, here we are.

A lot has changed in 4 years but I won’t get in to those details now. Look for some upcoming entries with updates on the family, my life, and work.

Couple promises:

I will keep this blog light-hearted. My writing tends to err on the funny or sarcastic side. That’s just who I am so why force myself to be something else?
Some of my most popular entries were about work (Annexed, $#*! My British Friend Says). My job has changed – I’m in a different position, in a different building, with a whole new team. But we still have a lot of fun and I’ll share what I can out here.
I don’t know how often I’ll be able to write so I’m not putting any pressure on myself to do X number of entries a week. But I’ll do what I can.

So that’s it. I’m back and excited to pick up where I left off. Care to join me?

17Feb2014

Crouching Labrador, Flying Mom

Posted in Samson by teamtradermom

Ah, President’s Day. A holiday to relax, be grateful for our country, and of course, take your dog to the veterinarian’s.

Well, at least that’s what I did.

I purposely scheduled Samson’s annual shots/vaccinations appointment for today so that it would be easier to manage. I’m off work so either CJ or me could take him, without having to tote the kids.

In the end it was me who got the pleasure of strapping Samson into his nose lead and migrating to the vet’s office.

The whole ordeal started and ended quite comically, depending upon who you ask.

In order for Samson to fit in the backseat, I had to remove Cora’s car seat. That meant that 2/3’s of the seat was open and the other third was occupied by Isabella’s car seat. Samson jumped up on to the floor. He doesn’t have the leg power to jump directly on to the seat of my SUV anymore. Once inside, instead of jumping from the floor to the seat, he walked forward. Now, there’s not all that much space for a 90 lb. dog to walk in the back seat of a car. Soon he was at the other door unsure of what to do. In front of him was the door. On the seat beside him was Isabella’s car seat. He was trapped! I was trying to help by coaching him to walk backwards to the open side but of course he didn’t take that option.

Not Samson!

Instead, he jumped INTO Isabella’s car seat and then sat there, facing backwards. I was laughing so hard! I so wish I could have been fast enough to get a picture. It would have been priceless! But he jumped out and on to the open seat before I could grab my phone.

I was giggling over that one for like the first mile.

We got to the vet’s, weighed him, and got him checked out. He passed with flying colors. I was given my summer supply of flea/tick meds and heartworm pills in a little baggie so I paid and then we were out the door.

Now, let me paint you a picture.

In my right hand I have ahold of Samson’s leash and the bag of meds, then over my right forearm is my purse. I was using my left hand to put my sunglasses on.

We step outside and to my immediate left is a low brick retaining wall, around which we needed to walk to get to the car. Samson must have smelled something because before I could clear the corner of the wall, he lunged.

And I went flying.

Literally.

I landed on the wet sidewalk evenly between my right elbow, hip and knee, with my right arm fully extended and still clutching the dog, bag and my purse. Samson then dragged me for 6 inches or so before I he realized Mom wasn’t upright anymore.

I was mortified.

I quickly got up and made a beeline for the car. I needed some place to hide.

Once we were all inside, I assessed the damage. Because I was wearing layers, there was no real harm to me. I actually do have a small scrape on my elbow, even with a coat and long sleeved t-shirt on. I have a scrape on my knee too, though none of my clothes were ripped.

The bag of meds however was not so lucky.

I’m pretty sure Samson got a good laugh at my expense. I’m actually fairly impressed with myself that I didn’t let go of anything I’d been holding. #mommydeathgrip

Sadly, that wasn’t the first time Samson has pulled me off my feet, and it probably won’t be the last. One thing I am grateful for is that I didn’t have the girls with me. Would hate to think of one or both of them getting caught up in all that and somehow sustaining injury.

Never doubt the power of a Labrador, no matter how old they are.

I got a good laugh at his expense and he got a good laugh at mine. I guess all is fair in love and dog ownership.

More posts: By the Hammer of Thor! | Me, 30 Seconds Ago | Re-starting Over

11Jan2014

By the Hammer of Thor!

Posted in Miscellaneous by teamtradermom

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of the Thor movies.

They are full of action, adventure, myth, humor, Gods, monsters, family dysfunction, romance, blah blah…Chris Hemsworth.

Yes I like the Marvel comic movies in general because, well, they’re just fun. But having Mr. Hemsworth to look at doesn’t hurt either!

Neither does him taking his shirt off, which was my only criticism with the second movie, Thor: The Dark World. Not enough shirtless time.

(source)

But I digress.

Yesterday I was chatting with a co-worker about upcoming weekend plans. He mentioned that his son’s birthday party was on Sunday and it had an Avengers theme. Then he rolled his eyes at his wife and how she’s one of those “Pinterest Moms” that goes way overboard for their kids’ birthday parties – overdoing a theme, hand making decorations, going crazy with food and inviting everyone they know. He went on to tell me some of the items she was making – including cake pops that will be in the shape of Thor’s hammer.

That’s when this conversation happened.

Me: Oh how cute!
Male co-worker: She’s also making cake pops that have to do with Hulk.
Me: Huh. Well I would like the hammer ones. I think I would eat Thor’s hammer.
MALE co-worker: [just stares at me and smirks]
Me: I mean the cake pops. Not THAT way. [nervous giggle] I don’t care about Thor’s hammer. Well, not that I don’t care I mean I’m sure he has a nice hammer but you know…

And then I just stopped talking.

I think my face was 50 Shades of Red.

He just laughed and changed the subject while in my head I ran screaming from the room, all the way to Asgard.

I’m pretty sure I won’t live that one down for a long time. Not even 30 minutes later, another co-worker asked me for some help and when I went to her desk she said, “Oh, before I forget, I’m supposed to ask you about Thor’s hammer.”

You said it Ron…

Have you ever had a super embarrassing moment at work? Or kept talking and digging yourself deeper in to a hole?

More posts: Me, 30 Seconds Ago | Re-Starting Over | Deep Thoughts

1Jan2014

Me, 30 Seconds Ago

Posted in Miscellaneous by teamtradermom

These days, I have to make good use of my time. For example, If I’m going to leave work over lunch, which often means walking a quarter of a mile to my car, then I’m going to use the time wisely. That’s how, on Monday, I ended up at Petco around noon.

You see, my sister and her family were out of town so my parents were staying at their house, watching their animals. The weather had just undergone a dramatic change, going from 60 degrees on Friday to a high of 7 degrees on Sunday.

My mom was worried about the house staying warm and the pipes freezing so she asked me to swing by and “flush the toilets.”

Yes, you read that right. My dear mum didn’t want me to get their mail or bring in the newspaper or water the plants. She had others taking care of those tasks. No, instead my very important job was to flush the toilet.

(source)

Ok fine.

But I certainly wasn’t going to leave work and drive across town simply to flush a toilet. So I plotted out a list of other stops I could make on my way back. That list looked like this:

Go to Mom and Dad’s. Flush the toilet. Grab a snack.
Stop by the Goodwill and drop off one last box to donate before year end.
Swing by Petco for dog food.
IF TIME, wander over to Ulta for glitter nail polish (hey, New Year’s Eve was coming and my nails felt like dressing up).
Head back to work

I made my first stop and completed the aforementioned toilet flushing. But I didn’t just flush one toilet. No, no. If I’m going to do a job, I’m going to do it well. I flushed TWO toilets and I also ran a few faucets.

There will be no pipe freezing on my watch!

I grabbed a bag of apple slices and off I went to Goodwill.

Part of me was bracing for a huge line of people doing the same thing but the universe was smiling upon me for I pulled up and found only one car ahead of me. I handed over my box, got a receipt and headed out. As I looked in my rear view mirror I saw a line of literally 10 cars behind me. Damn. Talk about good timing!

Next stop – Petco!

This is where is gets weird.

I pull in to the parking lot and spy a rock star spot that is a pull through.

Sidebar: to know me you must know that I never pass up a pull through spot. I hate driving in reverse – it’s inefficient and, well, not my strong suit – so any time the opportunity of a pull through presents itself, I’ll take it. If you really want to tick me off, pull in to a spot with a clear pull through and don’t take it. That makes absolutely no sense to me. At all. God gave us pull throughs for a reason people. (I’m not alone in this as it ranks as #879 on a list of 1000 Awesome things)

(source)

But I digress.

I’m all set to pull through when a red Honda CR-V comes out of nowhere and TAKES the spot I was going to pull forward into. I’m sitting there, aghast, staring at 2 women my age wondering what they could possibly have been thinking. One of them looks up and makes eye contact with me and I’m pretty sure I saw guilt in her eyes. Or maybe it was shame.

I glare at them from behind my sunglasses and exit the car. As I’m approaching the store, I notice the driver of said CR-V is walking in to Petco behind me.

I stop to get a cart because I’m there to get dog food and with a big dog like Samson, you buy as big of a bag as you can on each trip or else you’ll be there all the time. And I’m not going to schlep around the store hauling a 35lb. bag of food over my shoulder. I’ll leave that for the barbarian pull through stealer, who by the way walked passed the carts and ahead of me in to the store.

As I’m making my way to the back, where the food is, I see the Thief coming back to the front and getting a cart. I find the aisle I need and hoist that big bag o’food in to the cart. At that moment, Thiefy enters the same aisle behind me.

Having acquired what I needed, I exit the aisle and turn left toward the check out area. I hear Stealy McStealerson grab a 35 lb. bag of her own (the same brand of food I had just picked, by the way) and put it in her cart. Sure enough, pretty soon here she comes out of the aisle and plotting along behind me toward the cash register.

I enter the check out queue and so does she.

I wait behind a lady buying crickets for a snake (ew) and the Robber Barron waits behind me.

At my turn, I hand over a coupon and member card, pay and continue on. Out of the corner of my eye I notice her hand over her member card and a coupon.

Seriously? Is this a prank of some kind? Or did I enter another dimension where someone is always doing the same thing as me, only 30 seconds later?

I quicken my pace and load the food in to my car. Stealy’s friend is sitting in the CR-V waiting for her. I return my cart and practically run next door to Ulta.

I made a beeline for the clearance section, which happened to be conveniently by the nail polish, and wait, just sure Robbie Robberson is going to walk in at any moment. But alas she does not. I seem to have shaken her for good.

I grab my sparkly shellac, along with a holiday lotion set that was 50% off (it would be a crime NOT to buy it!), and head out. The CR-V is gone when I get back to my car.

Ok so maybe the whole thing wasn’t as dramatic as all that but it was still very weird. It sort of made me think about life’s little coincidences. Or what about the times we miss a catastrophe by mere seconds and think, man, if I had been 10 seconds later, I would be the one in that accident.

(source)

I’ll never know if there was a purpose for all that or if it was just a happenstance but it sure amused me. Who knows, maybe right now, somewhere in Omaha, there’s another 37 year old mom and owner of a big dog just starting a blog post, as I finish mine.

Related posts: Re-starting Over | Fat Talk | Munch and Punk