You Capture: White

Posted in You Capture by teamtradermom

I love the You Capture assignments that revolve around color. Red, pink and purple were some of my favorite weeks. The interpretations are so varied and open – anything goes! I like that freedom. Sometimes I feel stifled when the subject matter is more specific.

When I saw “white” was the theme, I immediately began looking around for anything that might be interesting.

And I found nothing. I guess I was looking too hard!

So I started relaxing about it and finally found a few things that would work!

I kept leaving this white shirt out in the mornings for CJ to dress Isabella in so that I could get her in a “white” pic and every night when I came home, she was wearing something else. Finally on Monday she wore it and I was able to get this picture. What she’s looking at is CJ off to the right hiding under the dining room table and she’s trying to find him.

Samson is starting to get more white on his face and showing that he’s not a young pup anymore! It really hit me when we came back from vacation and I picked him up from my parent’s house. I guess being away from him for a week made me see it more clearly. He looks really sad in this picture but actually that’s his face of annoyance. I took like 8 shots before finally getting one I liked. He had about had enough!

On my way in to the kitchen this evening I spotted this. It struck me because with Isabella’s hat sitting on her shoes like that, it looks like a little person hiding under there! It made me giggle.

And finally, I had to get the white Mega Blok in there. I did a similar shot for the You Capture: Red assignment and it felt apropos to repeat it for white.

Well there you go! The only other white I could think to add was a picture of my legs, and no one wants to see that. Let’s face it kids, no matter how long I sit outside I will never be tan. Even at my most tan I look like a ghost next to everyone else. That’s all right. When I’m 80, I’ll have the skin of a 50 year old and be out cougaring around for a hot youngster!

Head on over to Beth’s to check out the white pictures other shot!

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3Aug2011

And This is Why We Have Roadside Assistance

Posted in CJ, Miscellaneous by teamtradermom

Today started off pretty normal. Got up, went to work, did work stuff and then headed out for a doctor’s appointment. 45 minutes later I was back in my car. I had to make a few phone calls and instead of turning the car all the way on, I just turned it enough to roll down the windows. Though it’s hot out, there was a nice breeze and I didn’t want to waste gas. I called CJ and my mom and then it was time to head back to work.

I turned the key in the ignition and nothing. Hmm. I tried again. Still nothing. Well poop. I tried a third time and then faced facts that my battery was dead.

I called CJ wondering what I should do and he reminded me that this is why we pay for AAA. Ah ha! I knew that brilliant idea of mine way back in October would pay off! Ok so it was CJ’s idea but I wrote the check so I can take some credit.

The lady I talked to was very friendly. She asked if I needed a jump start or a tow. Well, maybe both. What if they can’t jump it? So she put on the order that I needed both and that someone would be there within 45 minutes.

Thank god for Angry Birds! I stood outside the front door of the doctor’s office and played Angry Birds for an hour, interspersed with some texting and Facebook updates. Die little green hogs die!

(Source)

Finally I saw the tow truck pull up. I directed him to my vehicle and he pulled in behind it. Naturally, because this is a tow truck, it’s not exactly small and was blocking a few cars around me, one of which had a lady in it. Neither the tow truck dude nor I noticed her getting ready to back out until she came over and said in a very snotty voice, “Um, do you mind if I back out first?” Dude and I looked at each other and nodded in a look that said, “Wow, what a bitch.”

Once that was done he got his battery test kit thingie and came over. He was a young kid, probably mid-20’s, and very nice. He was easy on the eyes too, which always helps. I was afraid I’d end up with some old creepy dude like my friend Rhonda did a few weeks back. But I lucked out. He tested the battery and proclaimed it dead. We both paused for a few minutes in a moment of silence. Then he jumped it. Wow, that sounded sexual. Anyway, he got it to start with the jumper cables and told me I’d be ok to drive home or to a mechanic but as soon as I shut it off it’d be done. I thanked him and headed on my way.

The whole drive home I was terrified that it would stall on the Expressway or Interstate and I’d be the cause of a 5 car pile-up – and I’d be at the bottom of the pile. The news story would read, “Grieving husband sues AAA for letting wife drive on a bad battery” and CJ and Isabella would be set for life. Hundreds would show up at my funeral, hoping to catch a glimpse of the woman who died such a tragic death.

But none of that happened and I made it home fine. Once I got here I scooped myself up a big bowl of ice cream and promptly ate it with Munchkin. Hey, I deserved it!

Meanwhile CJ pulled the dearly departed battery out and went out to buy a new one. Apparently there was some “ta do” at the auto parts place because the battery they originally told him he needed was not the right one and they had to scramble to find another. But it all worked out and by 8:30, my new battery was installed and humming along.

I’m so glad I have a handy husband. He can fix darn near anything around here, which is really quite convenient for me and our checking account. CJ doesn’t always love it since he’s the one doing the work but whatever. If you have the skills man…besides, I do projects too when I can, like making sure to eat all the chocolate chip cookie dough before it goes bad in the ‘fridge. What can I say, I’m a giver.

Anyway, that was my drama for the day. Now it’s time to go put my pointer finger on ice. It’s hard work catapulting those birds in the air for 60 minutes!

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3Aug2011

Thank You St. Joseph

Posted in House and Home by teamtradermom

I haven’t posted about Operation Dream Home in a while because, well, there wasn’t much to say. We’ve had a few showings here or there, all with good reviews. Everyone who has looked at our house has liked it, yet none were willing to go so far as to make an offer. Frustrating.

A month or 2 ago, out of desperation, I went to a local religious store and bought a St. Joseph statue, who is supposed to help you sell your home. The directions say that there are no real guidelines for where to put him (i.e. front yard, back yard, by the FOR SALE sign, buried upside down, etc) so long as you believe and pray faithfully.

I guess we weren’t praying enough because it didn’t do jack.

Then, 2 weeks ago I moved him. I went with superstition, and recommendations of a few friends, and buried him upside down right beneath the FOR SALE sign.

That night we got 2 showings, followed by 2 more the next day. One of those showings yielded someone who was interested in making an offer, she just needed to get pre-approval first. Well, that ended up not panning out.

But the steady stream of showings continued. Things were looking up!

Last Thursday we had one such showing. I was still sick from that pesky sinus infection so instead of playing volleyball, as I normally would be doing on a Thursday night, I vacated the house and took Isabella out to dinner. When we returned, they were still there so I circled the block, than casually parked 4 houses away – far enough to not be noticed by them but close enough for me to see when they left. I’m totally stealth like that. A few minutes later they walked out, smiles on theirs faces and left. I waited a few more minutes and then pulled in the driveway, wondering if I had seen the future owners of our house.

Turns out, I had.

They made us an offer yesterday. As offers go in this market, it was a decent one. However, it was almost 5k less than our asking price AND they wanted us to pay closing costs. The kicker was that they asked us to be out of the house on 8/29. Yes, you read that right – a mere 4 weeks away!

GACK!

We met with our realtor, who is totally awesome by the way, and decided to counter. We agreed to pay the closing costs but only if they would pay the asking price and move the date of possession out to 9/30, thereby giving us an extra month to find a new house and move.

Our agent left us at about 9 p.m. with promises to call their realtor and tell him our offer. 30 minutes later he called back to tell us they had accepted.

And just like that, our house was sold, and for all the terms we wanted.

I kid you not, as soon as we hung up the phone, CJ grabbed my hands and we started jumping up and down in the middle of the hallway. Samson ran up to join in so we grabbed his paws and all 3 of us did our happy dance!

(Source)

What an amazing feeling to not only have sold our house but under conditions that we were comfortable with and no hassle what-so-ever. They could have come back and tried to haggle down the price, but they didn’t. They must really have fallen in love with our house, which makes this all the more sweet. We found out they are an engaged couple, getting married in a few weeks. Ours will be their first home as husband and wife and I am honored by that. After all, this was CJ and my first home together and it’s only fitting it should be handed off to someone in the same boat.

And I don’t have to make the bed ever again!

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2Aug2011

Retail Therapy

Posted in Finances, Friends and Fun by teamtradermom

Last week I got my first bonus at work. It was really awesome considering I hadn’t received a bonus for 3 years before that! Winning!

Anywho, part of me wanted to be responsible with it and part of me wanted to have some fun! So I compromised. I decided to put 10% of the bonus in savings, spend 10% however I wanted and then apply the rest toward our credit card balance. Sounds fair, right?

Well I couldn’t wait to get out and start shopping. For the splurge, I was going to buy some much needed new clothes for myself. I needed some change! So over lunch, I hit the mall with a vengeance. My plan was to go to every women’s clothing store there, that wasn’t a department store. I would go directly to the clearance racks and only buy something on sale. Generally I have trouble when I shop clearance racks but that’s because I am looking for something specific. When I go with an open mind, it works better.

My other goal was to leave a little love note, Operation Beautiful style, in each dressing room I used. Here was the first one:

I left this one in the bathroom, on the stall door. I saw a lady go in there as I was leaving the bathroom. I hope she enjoyed it!

At first the shopping was slow going. The stores I went to either didn’t have a clearance area or there was nothing for me. But that didn’t stop me from leaving a note for the next shopper!

First of all, pardon my bad hair day. It was really humid and I was pulling shirts over my head a lot. Secondly, I kind of have a crazed look in my eye. I think I was trying to smile, look in the mirror and look at the camera all at the same time. The result – crazy-eyed Sarah!

Finally my luck changed when I got to New York & Co. I ended up with 3 shirts and a pair of shoes from there.

The shirt on the right is one of the ones I bought.

Here I am modeling one of the other shirts. Do I look fabulous darling? The grand total for my purchase at NY&Co? $63! Boo-yah!

From there I headed to DSW to see about getting some shoes. I tried on several pair and after hemming and hawing, decided on 2 that I liked. One pair of flats and one pair of sandal heels.

Here’s my note:

And these are the heels I ended up getting.

I think they’re sassy and I love the color. Not your typical brown but more of a bronze. They are quite comfortable too! Grand total for 2 pair of shoes – $42!

After DSW, it was off to Old Navy! I didn’t try anything on there because I was running short on time. I was also in search of something to get for CJ and Isabella. After all, they should get some bonus money splurge too!

I found a shirt for me, 2 t-shirts for CJ (Superman and Captain America) and an outfit for Isabella. You can see part of it here:

By then my time was up and I had to rush back to work. It felt really good to get out and do some shopping for myself. I haven’t really bought any new clothes in months and my wardrobe was looking tired. Isn’t it amazing how a couple shirts and shoes can make life just a little more exciting?

Can’t wait for the next bonus!

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