Naked Legs + Cheesy + Burn

Posted in Isabella/Munchkin, Samson by teamtradermom

I’ve been meaning to sit down and write a post for days now. I even drafted one the other night but never got around to publishing it. I look back at it now and it no longer seems relevant.

Funny how life changes. I used to have time to blog everyday. Now I’m lucky if I get it in twice a week. But I do think about it a lot and some day I’ll figure out how to work it better in to the routine. Until then, you have to suffer through another “random updates” post (I feel like I’m cheating when I write these).

Samson

The big guy is recovering well from his surgery last week. He got the bandage off yesterday which helps him move around a bit more freely.

You can see that his whole back leg is shaved. I feel embarrassed for the guy, having half of his hind quarters exposed for the world to see. I hope it grows back soon.

You can’t see the incision. Heck, I couldn’t even find it! CJ had to point it out to me (it’s on the inside of the leg). The stitches are actually on the inside of the skin so you can’t see them at all. Amazing what they can do these days!

He’s getting around well and can do stairs again. We still have to walk him outside on the leash, even for potty time, just so that he doesn’t try to take off after a rabbit or something.

Isabella was trying to help Samson be extra comfortable so she started putting blankets over him. He just laid there and let her do it.

I think he quite enjoyed it actually.

And then she brought over a pillow for him.

And then CJ joined in and wrapped the blanket up around his shoulders.

Gee, Samson’s not spoiled at all.

Cheesy

Yesterday afternoon some of us gals went out for another team outing. We went to a place where you can either bring your own flower pot or buy one there (which is what I did) and then plant flowers as a group! It was a lot of fun and now I have one pot ready for the backyard (need to get going on the rest of them). I don’t have a pic to show as part of the deal is that you leave your pots there and the owner takes care of them for a couple weeks to make sure they survive the shock of being transplanted. I’ll post one once I pick it up though!

I did however buy this guy from her shop.

He’s a little mosaic turtle with spoons for the head, tail and legs. I thought he was super cute. There’s a little ladybug on the other side too!

I told Isabella she could name him and right away she decided to call him “Cheesy”. I gave her a questioning look when she said that and she immediately responded with, “What? Cheesy’s a good name Mommy…”

And so it is.

For now I have him inside, next to the buffet.

See him at the bottom of the pic, tucked in amongst the “plants”?

He may get moved outside one of these days, I haven’t decided yet. For now, he’s chillin’ inside with us.

Burned

I got my first sunburn of the season on Wednesday. I was literally outside for 1 hour and got this:

Yes, it hurts as bad as it looks.

What can I say, I’m fair-skinned and go from white to red and back to white again. I will never be tan. I’ve finally accepted that over the years but I’ve definitely had my share of bad burn experiences.

The worst one was on a canoeing trip down the Niobrara river. I forgot to reapply and my whole body got scorched but my tummy worst of all. I blistered and literally had to peel off skin from there every night for weeks.

There was also a bad one on our honeymoon. I was good the whole trip, and then let my guard down on the 2nd to last day. Ended up with a bad burn on my thighs. My skin was so hot, that it turned a frozen washcloth from ice cold to warm in less than 5 minutes.

I try to be careful though and I promise I’ll put some sunscreen in my purse to have with me at all times, just in case.

Finally

I leave you with these images of Isabella.

Here she is helping me buy food and treats for Samson.

And sound asleep in the car:

There are angels among us.

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14Apr2012

Stormy Saturday

Posted in House and Home, Isabella/Munchkin by teamtradermom

Today’s the day a giant catastrophic storm is supposed to roar through our area. Jim Cantore from the Weather Channel is even here.

That’s not good.

However, so far the storms have been fairly mild. Some rain here. A few thunder claps there. Nothing that would suggest the end of the world. But you never know with Nebraska, it could change in an instant.

I used the inside time today to be both productive and relax. Isabella and I ran to the store for supplies (like water) and then we lazed around watching TV. We also took a nice long nap. That felt good. There’s nothing better than napping on a stormy day.

Before the nap I got the hall closet organized.

I forgot to take a before picture (oops!) but imagine it was something like this, only inside the closet:

I culled through our towels and sheets, getting rid of ones that were old or mismatched. I kept enough for each of us to have 3 towels each, and 3 sets of sheets (for me and CJ – Isabella’s bedding is stored in her room). I also went through all the toiletries, medicine, and other paraphernalia and organized it.

Putting frequently used meds on the turntable works great. It’s handy because everything can be “up front” with a quick turn.

I also corralled all the bulk stuff (big bin on the left) so that I know what I have and what I don’t.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve run out and bought deodorant or something only to realize later I had an extra one on the floor of the closet. Hate that!

You can see that all my mani/pedi supplies were consolidated as well. Now I can just grab that whole bin and take it with me when I want to paint my nail, instead of searching for everything I need.

Feels good to check that project off the list.

Changing subjects….

Now to some random odds and ends from the week that I have been meaning to blog about but never got around to.

I love fresh flowers. I used to think they were an occasional treat but now I try and have them around the house all the time. Nothing brightens up a room better.

I bought a bouquet on sale for $5 the other day and split it up. This vase is sitting in our dining room.

And these little beauties went up in to Isabella’s room!

Funny how something so simple can make a big difference.

Remember how I told you about our puzzles at work?

Well we finished another one!

As you can see this was a 3-D one. I found it at a used toy store for $3 and thought, what the heck?

To be honest, I only put like 5 of the pieces together. I was too busy to help much this time around but the other gals did a bang up job!

We’ve already taken this one down and started puzzle #3. It’s a landscape scene with lots of water and sky. We’re about halfway done so far. I’ll share when we finish completely.

And now for a story about the Dog “Whisperer”

Samson was taken to the vet last week to have his leg looked at. He’d been limping around for a month or so. They x-rayed and found a sprained knee and really bad arthritis in both hips. He had never limped or shown any signs of the hip pain before. Doc said it’s because he’s so athletic and strong, that he was able to transfer the weight off his hips to his knees. But unfortunately, that’s how his knee got sprained. Anyway, he’s doing fine, just has to be on pain meds for a while. But we’re also supposed to keep him from running or playing too hard.

You tell me how we’re supposed to keep a lab from running?

Anyway, the other day, Samson started feeling his oats and grabbed one of Isabella’s stuffed toys and ran around the playroom with it. I yelled at him to stop and drop it and he ignored me. I yelled again and he just stood there with it in his mouth.

I was obviously having no effect on him.

Isabella calmly walked over to Samson, stood about a foot in front of his face and screamed, “DROP IT!!!!” at the top of her lungs.

Samson promptly opened his jaws and released his prisoner.

Isabella picked it up and brought it to me saying, “Here you go mommy. I got it back for you.”

Here’s hoping the big storm goes around us! Stay safe!

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6Apr2012

From the Mouths of Babes–Bedtime edition

Posted in From the Mouths of Babes by teamtradermom

Isabella says the funniest things at night when she’s talking herself to sleep. Tonight it was,

“Spiderman is a superhero. He is red and blue. That matches. Ironman wears a mask made out of iron. Spiderman wears a mask made of spiders. Batman has a mask like a bat. Robin’s mask looks like a robin. Wolverine wears a mask that looks like a wolver.”

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2Apr2012

Spring Things

Posted in Family, Holidays and Seasons, Isabella/Munchkin by teamtradermom

Don’t you just love this time of year? It has been unbelievably nice and warm here in Omaha lately. We were in the 80’s and 90’s all weekend and in to today.

No complaints from me. I’d much rather have warmth than cold; sun than snow; green than brown.

But I will miss my cute winter boots.

Remember that glass art project I did a couple Friday’s ago? Well we got them back last week and I forgot to show you how AWESOME everyone’s stuff turned out!

Ta da!

Aren’t they all great? Each one is unique and different, yet super cool. Mine is the second from the left on the bottom row.

Here’s the before pic:

And a close-up of the after!

I am super happy with it and I particularly like how the colors sparkle and shine when the light shines through the window. I plan to hang it in one of the windows above our door. I just have to figure out a way to do that…

Speaking of projects…I tackled another one on Sunday.

A co-worker friend had given me a doll cradle a while back that was hers as a baby. It was in great condition, just needed a little TLC in terms of dusting and touch up work.

(By the way, it was impossible to take a picture without Samson photo-bombing it. Apparently the cradle had some tantalizing smells on it that REALLY intrigued him!)

I decided to paint the wood white and re-upholster the bed part. I’ve done it once before so naturally I’m an old pro…

I started by pulling the bottom out and ripping off the old fabric. I found some cute flannel stuff at the fabric store that would work for a couple projects, this being one of them.

I first laid the board on the fabric so I’d know how much to cut.

Then I trimmed a nice rectangle, making sure I had a couple inches of trim around each side.

The next step involved some very intricate fastening measures that should really only be left to people who know what they’re doing.

In other words, I used duct tape.

I folded in each side and taped it down with a long strip.

Then I folded the corners in and secured those.

The back can be ugly since it’ll never be seen.

When all was said and done, the “bed” looked like this.

Then it was time to tackle the painting. I simply drug the cradle outside and sprayed the bejeezus out of it with white spray paint.

The finished project turned out really nice! Isabella is going to love it!

I plan to give it to her on Easter, and use it as a “basket” for all her other goodies.

And I’d be remiss if I didn’t include one final picture of the cradle with Samson in the background.

Somehow I managed to get this whole project done during Isabella’s nap time. Unbelievable.

Finally…you can’t have spring and Easter season without sugar cookies!

Isabella helped me make them yesterday. I got the dough prepared ahead of time and she helped with cutting them out.

At first she didn’t get the concept of using them as actual cutters. She would just set the cookie cutters on top and them pull them off leaving very faint outlines.

Eventually she got the idea though.

Not only did we do bunnies and butterflies and dog bones (for Samson of course), we also had to do Christmas trees and candy canes and gingerbread men.

Naturally.

Once they were baked and cooled, she helped me frost them too. She chose to use yellow and pink frosting.

They all turned out absolutely perfect! And they taste even better because they were made with love!

My last project of the day was to fix her Gingerbread Man doll which she has slept with every night since December. Mind you, “Ginger” was a toy of mine as a kid so he’s not exactly a spring chicken. As such, part of his shirt was coming unstitched and he head was, um, partly falling off.

So morbid.

I used the same fabric that I bought for the cradle to fix Ginger, basically just sewing a new “bib” on him (which also attached his head back to his neck).