Samson patiently waiting for my OK to eat the chocolate chip on the floor in front of him (hard to see the chip but it’s on the far right of the pic). I love how his forehead gets all wrinkled up in concentration. He looks like a Shar Pei or something. He waited for a full 2 minutes or so because I was taking this picture. What a good boy!
Happy Hump Day!
Not much going on today so I thought I’d give updates on a few things and share other random thoughts I have.
For those of you who were wondering (all 2 of you), Samson and Willow are back together. He was at Doggie Day Camp yesterday and the report is that he and Willow played together all day. I guess he forgave her for two-timing him. That or it was a nasty rumor started by Karen just so she could get her poop-eating paws on him. Either way, all seems to be right in the dog world again.
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If anyone has been dying to know how I fared in Fantasy Football, I finished in 3rd place. [gulp] It pained me to lose in the semi’s, but I did. Ironically enough, the first and second place teams going in to the playoffs finished 4th and 3rd, respectively, and the 3rd and 4th place teams finished 1st and 2nd! I’m kind of glad it’s over. It was getting to be too stressful for me. And hey, all that matters is that the Steelers won their division and are headed into the real playoffs.
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On, a more somber note, there was a shooting at Millard South High School today. Apparently the shooter was a student who had been suspended. He shot the principal and assistant principal. Scary stuff. Millard South is where I’d have gone to high school had I not chosen to go the private route and head to an all girl’s catholic school (that’s a whole other post). But all my junior high and grade school friends went there. My parents still live in the neighborhood.
3 years ago, there was another shooting in Omaha, at the Westroads Mall. That was the first really major incident like that we’d had here and I was in Pittsburgh working at Del Monte. One of my friends sent me an instant message telling me about it. It was very surreal to be in another city and see your local mall on the National news.
Makes me so sad that violence seems to be the first thought these days when one is angry or upset or lonely or whatever. Columbine…Westroads…school board meeting in Florida…Virginia Tech. Can’t people talk things out anymore? It seems cliché to say it but, can’t we all just get along? I mean, I’ve been angry at bosses or co-workers but I would never think to get a gun and start shooting! Makes me sad at the world that I’m raising my daughter in. Prayers go out to both victims and all the families.
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Ended the day having drinks out with some girls from work. It was what I needed – a good old-fashioned bitch session fueled by Mexican food and alcohol. Can’t beat that! Seriously though, I enjoy socializing with co-workers, whether it be a lunch, happy hour or whatever. We spend more time with them than with our families it seems so why not get to know them better? I hope for more of those outings soon!
Came home to spend some time, though not enough, with Isabella before she was off to bed. She started to fuss and I had flashbacks to Sunday night. Fortunately, she calmed herself down after a few minutes so it was all good. Going to sit down and pay bills now, then head to bed, and dream of spreadsheets and budgets.
Happy Hump Day!
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Our New Year’s Eve was quiet but it certainly had some interesting moments. I also got a little glimpse in to what 2011 might have in store for us.
I spent the day cleaning and putting away Christmas decorations so by evening, I was tired. I had run to the store in the morning, grabbing a pizza and some sparkling juice to ring in the new year (neither one of us really like champagne. Last year’s bottle sat untouched in our refrigerator until September when I finally threw it out). There wasn’t enough room in the ‘fridge for either one so I stuck them outside on the deck, figuring it was cold enough out there to keep them chilled. I put the pizza on top of the grill and the bottle of juice on the deck railing, to keep them up and away from any animals, namely Samson.
Mid-afternoon, I let Samson out and then went about my business inside. All of a sudden I heard a “thump” outside and I looked up in time to see Samson tearing in to the pizza box! He had jumped up and knocked it off the grill and was now trying to get at the contents in the box!! Fortunately, it was wrapped up in plastic and I got there before he could tear through that. However, as I was trying to wrestle him off of it, Isabella came wandering out on to the deck (in my hurry to get outside, I’d left the door open) with no shoes on, which was covered in snow. So here I am, wrestling a 90lb dog off our pizza and also trying to grab a squealing 15 month old who thinks this is a fun game. I finally managed to get everyone inside, and Samson in his kennel. *sigh*
Later that evening, I heated up a pizza for dinner and Isabella happily ate it up, shouting “pissa, pissa!” the whole time. I had bought some New Year’s Eve party hats and noisemakers so I let her play with those while we ate. When we were done, she started running around the house with them.
Let me tell you, those $.99 party hats were not made to stand up to a 15 month old. It took all of 5 minutes for her to get part of the lining off the bottom and crunch up the top of the silver one. Good thing I had bought 3 of them!
CJ left around 7 for a quick meet up with some old friends and Munchkin, Samson and I stayed home. We were playing and Munch started to get a little, uh, out of control. She was taking the cardboard noisemaker and hitting everything with it. Samson thought this was a game so he attempted to snatch it from her hand on the up swing. I told him “no” and made him sit on the couch to calm down. Isabella then ran over and started beating Samson on the nose with the noisemaker! I had a quick flash that told me “this is what the ‘Terrible Twos’ will be like so get used to it lady”. I took the toy away and scolded her. She then went and sat against the window, pretty much putting herself in time out.
Around 7:45 I put her to bed and started cleaning up the living room. It was then that I realized I still had the bottle of sparkling juice outside! I went outside only to find that the bottle and it’s contents were frozen solid. I mean, there was not one ounce of juice still in liquid form. Crap. At least it hadn’t exploded. I guess that was the upside. I brought it in and stuck it in the refrigerator, thinking it was best to thaw it out slowly.
CJ was still gone so I made up a quick breakfast casserole that would get heated in the morning, and then threw together some nachos. Hey, it’s NYE – I can chow down on a snack of nachos if I want! 
I then stuck my “Friends” season 9 DVD in the player and tucked myself in the couch to watch until CJ got home. At one point, I kind of felt a loser for not having a party to go to and sitting by myself, eating greasy food with my “Friends”. But, I got over it and realized that it was actually a good night and I was very happy with my life.
CJ got home around 9:30 and we contemplated playing Wii or a board game or watching a movie. Instead, he joined me on the couch and we continued with my “Friends” marathon. We laughed a lot and what better way to ring in the new year than with humor?
By 11:30, the juice was thawing but still had a block of ice frozen in the center. We ran it under some water until that melted too. As midnight approached, we were ready to toast goodbye to 2010 and hello to 2011. We even let Samson have some sparkling juice. At midnight we toasted, kissed and rang in the new year just right.
And of course we had to take a picture with Samson…
(This picture should have a caption that reads “Help Me!” because he looks like he’s being held against his will.)
While it wasn’t a crazy, drunken, party all night kind of New Year’s Eve, it was still a good one full of everything that is important to me – CJ, Isabella, Samson, pizza, chocolate and “Friends”.
Today will be spent eating and watching football with the family. Tomorrow, I start my 2011 resolutions, which I will post about later.
Now, on to 2011!
Today is Christmas Eve. The first gift the universe gave to me was a day off of work! Yee ha!
Traditionally, Christmas Eve is a time for our little family to be together. We do our own thing and then get together with the rest of the family on Christmas Day.
Growing up, the Atencio family had its own traditions. We would open one present on Christmas Eve, which was a big tease and lots of fun. We always went to midnight mass so we would stay up and watch A Christmas Carol to pass the time. My dad would guffaw with laughter at the exact same spot every time (when the charity guy comes up to Scrooge and says “Excuse me sir, you don’t know me..” and then Scrooge says, “And nor do I wish to”). If you know my dad, you know that he rarely guffaws at anything. Inevitably, one of us girls would fall asleep before the movie ended and my parents would have to wake us when it was time to get dressed for church. Then we’d pile in the car and head out. It was always freezing and so when we got back, my mom would make hot cocoa and we’d warm up with that and some cookies. Then we’d crash in bed and anxiously await Santa’s arrival.
Here I am with my sister. This was taken Xmas Eve 1994, right before we left for church. I was 18 and she was 20. Don’t you love our shiny purple shirts? No we didn’t dress to match on purpose, we just happened to have the same taste in clothes. We don’t look-alike at all, do we? Although, she looks more babe-a-rific here than I do.
Don't you love the look on CJ's face?
CJ and I have tried to start some Trader family traditions of our own. When we were first married, we would drive around town and look at holiday lights while drinking hot cocoa. When we got Samson, we brought him with us and he got car sick and puked in the back seat. We’ve left him at home ever since. Last year we didn’t go look at lights because Isabella was so little…and we were buried in snow. We won’t make it out this year either. That tradition will have to wait until Isabella is older and can enjoy the light show with us.
Samson's bday breakfast
Christmas Eve 2010 started out with me making pancakes for everyone. Isabella enjoyed them immensely, as did Samson. Since today is his birthday (he’s 5, can you believe it?), I put a candle in his pancake and we all sang “Happy Birthday!”
Then we all got dressed and headed out to the SAC Museum because they had a couple exhibits CJ wanted to see and we thought it would be a great place to let Munchkin stretch her legs. SAC is pretty much a big hangar of airplanes so there was lots of room to walk and we didn’t have to worry about her breaking anything.
Isabella was really in to the Christmas trees they had there. We liked the planes, she liked the trees. I guess that would be about right for a 1-year-old.
(It kind of looks like I have a bomber jacket on in this picture. I’d like to say I coordinated it that way on purpose, but I didn’t. She was pointing off camera and shouting “TREE!”)
She actually did enjoy running around the hanger under all the big planes. Although, she also enjoyed the garbage can, the utility truck and the signs too so not sure we can say she will grow up to be a pilot just yet. I purposely stood back and let her get ahead of me to show just how tiny she looks under this massive jet. We had a lot of fun there.
Then we came home, had some dinner and started in on the other traditions, like opening one present!
Samson
Isabella
Me
CJ
Last year we started a new tradition of taking our family picture wearing Santa hats! CJ and I have had them for years and wear ’em when we go caroling with his old high school friends. CJ’s has a black band, mine is all sparkly and then we got Isabella a “Baby’s First Christmas” hat.
2009 - Aren't we cute?
I love the look on Munchkin’s face that says “OMG my parents are so weird…someone help me…” That, or she’s pooping.
Here is this year’s picture:
2010
She’s still not so sure about this whole hat thing. She didn’t really want to sit still for the picture so this was as good a picture as we could get!
Now the little one is sound asleep, dreaming of sugar plums, airplanes and Christmas trees.
In honor of Samson’s birthday, I’ve included some links to albums I have made of him over the years. If you feel like strolling down memory lane with me, take a look!
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Samson Stories: The Escape Artist;
Yesterday was Samson’s day for Doggie Day Camp. Boy was he ready to go. He was eyeing the hall closet all morning (that’s where we keep his leash) and when I opened it to get my coat, he practically did flips in the air. He bounded in the backseat and was so excited he couldn’t even sit still. I’m not sure why he was so excited. The only thing I could figure was that he couldn’t wait to see his girlfriend, Willow, the Golden Retriever. They’ve probably been messaging each other on Dog Book (doggie Facebook) and sending virtual love licks. All the other dogs just roll their eyes at how sickly in love Samson and Willow are with each other.
So we get to PetSmart and he does his usual trick of dragging me in to the store as if I’m on a sled and he’s pulling me across the Adirondacks. He gets all checked in and I leave to go to work. I get back to pick him up around 6:00 p.m. and this is how it plays out when they bring him up front:
[sound of record scratching and music halting]
WHAT?! His girlfriend, the love of his life, was there and they didn’t play? What on earth?
The whole ride home I tried to get the story out of Samson but he refused to talk about it. He just laid down in the backseat. Then we got home and he tried to pretend everything was ok by stealing Isabella’s food, but I knew something was up. As we were watching TV, I look over and he’s laying on the couch with his sad eyes. I pet him and ask about it. He still wouldn’t talk so I could only deduce what happened. It’s one of four possible scenarios:
My money is on #1 based on how Samson was acting. I could tell he had a broken heart. That two-timing bitch, thinkin’ she’s all that and a bag of milk bones because of her long golden flowing locks! She probably cheated with some “stud” who wasn’t neutered and she will end up preggers, drop out of school day camp and spend the rest of her life wishing she never would have cheated on Samson.
Last night he changed his Dog Book status to single and blocked Willow before he went to bed.
I just hope it’s not too uncomfortable at Day Camp going forward. The other dogs will have to pick sides and that can get awkward. I’m pretty sure they’ll pick him though. I mean, he is the Mayor and, let’s be honest, there are some fame whores there.
He’ll be ok in the end. He’s a tough guy and with looks like his (he’s basically the Brad Pitt of the dog world), it won’t be long before he’s found a suitable replacement. It probably won’t be Karen though. I hear she eats poop…
Team Trader Mom 