Girl’s Night

Posted in Family, Isabella/Munchkin by teamtradermom

Every Friday night is Girl’s Night at the Trader house. CJ has a standing engagement with friends so Isabella and I take advantage of the time to have some mommy and daughter bonding. Don’t worry, we include Samson too, even though he’s not a girl.

All day I was itching to get outside because it was so beautiful (67 degrees at one point)! Of course, by the time I got home, it had started to cool off a bit, and the wind picked up. But that didn’t stop Munchkin and me from putting on some jackets and heading down the street to the park!

The last time I brought Isabella to this park was in the fall of 2010 (probably Octoberish). Back then, she was new to walking and hadn’t started climbing or anything so there wasn’t much she could do. This time she was all over the place! I pulled her out of the stroller and she took off! The first thing she did was run to a big circle cut out and crawl through it. She loves to go through things like tunnels and what not.

Then she ran over to the slides. She hasn’t quite figured out yet that slides are for going down, not up. She always tries to climb them.

She actually got about halfway up before sliding back down again. I tried to take her down on my lap and she wasn’t interested. Some day she’ll get it and love it!

I took her around to show her the stairs and she quickly climbed up them. At the top there were all kinds of things to do, like driving a fire truck…

…crawling through a tunnel….

…and climbing in a bubble!

We spent a good 45 minutes there running around, doing all kinds of things. They had a rocking horse and rocking turtle thing there too but she said “No!” every time I tried to coax her in to riding on one. She wasn’t much interested in the sea-saw either (although she likes to yell out, “See-SAW! See-SAW!”).

When it was finally time to head home, because it was getting cold, I let her walk instead of riding in the stroller. She half walked/half ran the whole way too (which was only 2 blocks, but still, that’s a lot when you have short little legs)!

She even pushed the stroller the last half a block home, though I couldn’t get a picture of that because she was leaning on it enough that I was afraid if I let go she’s face plant in to the sidewalk.

As soon as we got home it was time to make shamrock cookies! She helped me put them on the cookie sheet but didn’t quite get that they are still raw dough and need to bake before they can be eaten. She cried when I took the pan away and put it in the oven. But, she was plenty happy when they came out 10 minutes later and were ready to eat!!

She’s in bed asleep as I type this, which gives me some much needed downtime. I plan to head upstairs soon, curl up on the couch with Samson and catch up on my DVRed shows.

I really love our Friday nights and am very hesitant to give them up, which is why I don’t accept many invitations to go out. I would much rather be home with my angel, getting some quality time in.

Another girl’s night down, many, many more to come!

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9Mar2011

Don’t Have it Your Way

Posted in Health and Weightloss, Isabella/Munchkin by teamtradermom

Yesterday was a long day. I worked a full 8 hours and then had a board meeting for a professional organization. By the time I left the office, it was about quarter to 7. I hit the road and headed out to pick up Munchkin from my parent’s house (CJ was at volleyball). On the way, I decided to swing by Burger King for a quick dinner. I debated stopping there since I’m trying to be healthy but in the end decided it was better to do fast food now, then wait to eat until I got home and put Isabella to bed. By then it would be almost 8:00 and I’d surely inhale every.single.thing in the house.

This BK has 2 drive-thru lines. One of them had a car in it already so I went to the other one. Then a third car pulled in behind the first guy. BK finished taking his order, then took the order for the car behind him, even though I was there first! *grumble* Finally they got to me and I ordered a kid’s meal – chicken nuggets, apples and white milk. Figured that was a good choice – smaller portions, cheaper, healthier sides and you get a toy!

I got to the window, gave him my money, got my food and left. As I got to the first stoplight, I reached in the bag and to my surprise found french fries, not apples! I specifically ordered apples because I didn’t want to be tempted by the fries! *GRUMBLE*

Now I was left with a choice – do I turn around and go back to get my apples or just deal with the fries? I was already short on time so I kept going, figuring I could just not eat the fries.

HA HA HA! I just reread that sentence. Have fries at my fingertips and not eat them? I mean, come on, have you met me? Besides, it’s not like I didn’t try to be good. I ordered the apples and milk. It’s not my fault they screwed up the order. Perhaps this was the universe’s way of saying, “Hey Sarah, give yourself a break…eat some fries…it won’t kill you.”

Why thank you universe – I think I will!

I do have to give myself props. I ate the nuggets first and then had a few,er, some, uh half of the fries. But not all of them. And I drank all my milk. Go me!

Isabella saved the night though. We always play a game during our drive home from grandma and grandpa’s. I give her a word and ask her to sing a song about it. Here is what she came up with last night.

“Dooooog, dog, dog, dooog. DOOOOOOGGGGG, dog, dog, dog, dog, dog, dog. Doggie, dog, dog, doggie, dog. Elmo!”

Didn’t see that ending coming did ya? What can I say, she has a gift.

Then she sang this one:

“Moon, moon, moon, moooooooooon. Moonie, moonie, Muno. Sun, sun, sun!”

Which must be the sequel to last week’s song:

“Moon, moon, moooooon. Moon, moon, sky….BRIGHT sky! Sky, sky, sky, suuuuuuun!!!”

I see a record contract in her future…

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9Mar2011

You Capture: Body Parts

Posted in You Capture by teamtradermom

I think this has been my favorite You Capture assignment yet! I decided to try and capture 2 favorite body parts from each member of my family. It was really fun to do it and I think some of these photos are my best work yet!

One thing I paid special attention to this week was lighting. I read a post on Kevinandamanda.com about finding the right light for shooting pics and I really tried to keep that in mind when composing each shot. Consequently, many of them turned out just right in their raw form and I didn’t need to do any editing other than adding the watermark. Gotta love that!

Here we go!

First up – Samson. Two of my favorite Samson parts are his “lion” eyes and his big paws. I also love his soft fuzzy face but it doesn’t translate as well on film as it does when you’re snuggling up to it!

Wanna know something? Samson hates having his paws touched. I like to rub them and he always jerks away. Big baby.

Next – Isabella. Of course I love everything about her but this week I captured her face (particularly her big eyes and pouty little mouth) and wild hair! Poor thing inherited my hair – fine and thin. So no matter how many times we brush or comb it, her hair goes wild and does what it wants. I hope for her sake that it thickens up as it grows longer and she gets older. Mine became more manageable right about the time I graduated from college…

Her hair was doing some weird Alfalfa thing on Saturday. She woke up with this one piece sticking straight up and nothing I did would tame it. Made for a fun picture!

Finally – CJ. I have always been attracted to men with muscular arms/shoulders/chest because it makes them seem strong. I guess no matter how tough I try to be, that base part of me still needs to feel protected by my guy. CJ is certainly strong (both physically and mentally) and I’ve always loved his arms. I also love how our hands look when they’re intertwined. I remember when we were dating and I glanced down one time as we were holding hands and couldn’t tell which one was his and which one was mine. I knew then it was meant to be. Can you tell whose hand is whose?

Don’t you just want to go squeeze his arm? Well I do (and did)! And he’s not even fully flexed in this pic! Be still my heart…what can I say, my honey’s still got it!

So there you go! I hope you had as much fun looking at these pictures as I did shooting them. I’m excited to get started on next week and continue playing with light. I had forgotten how important it is and what a difference it can make!

To check out more You Capture photos, go visit Beth!

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8Mar2011

Samson’s Room

Posted in House and Home by teamtradermom

As mentioned in previous posts, we are planning to sell our home this summer and move to a bigger place. In order to get our current house ready, we need to go through and really clean out the rooms/closets and also do some small maintenance work. I have slacked lately but with spring approaching, it has reminded me that we need to get crackin’! Summer will be here before we know it!

So, I’ve decided to tackle one room/closet each weekend until we’re done. I’m going to start at the back of the house and move my way up, which meant that this last weekend I knocked out Samson’s room.

Yes, Samson, our dog, has his own room. I thought all dogs got their own rooms, just like all chocolate is good for you. No? Huh.

Ok, so he only has his own room because his kennel is so massive, it practically takes up a whole room. ~~When~~ If he gets to the point that he can be trusted without a kennel and/or we have another child, he will lose his prime real estate. But for now, we let him live under the illusion that he’s high enough in the pack to earn a room of his own.

This was a good place to start because there is not that much in his room and so I knew it would be a quick job (and thus instant gratification). Saturday I tackled the visible surfaces (shelves, top of his kennel which we totally use as a giant table) and storage cabinet. Sunday I cleaned out the closet.

I started with the storage cabinet. It’s basically divided in half with the left side open from top to bottom, with a shelf on top and a rod for hanging stuff. The right side is split into a cabinet on top (with 3 shelves) and 2 drawers down below. The shelves I use to store all my cameras (I have 5), miscellaneous scrapbook stuff, and board games. The drawers contain candles and candle accessories and the left open side is for gift wrapping.

(NOTE: I am totally OCD when it comes to how I organize my gift wrapping stuff. I have gift bags grouped from largest to smallest and split out between Christmas and all other occasions. I have a container for rolls of wrapping paper, boxes to house ribbons and bows, and then keep extra boxes on the top shelf for wrapping the gifts in. Finally, and this is the piece de resistance, I have all tissue paper neatly folded and hung on hangers, organized by color and pattern. What’s that noise? Was that the sound of my readers mouths hitting the floor in total awe of my mad organizational skills? Oh, wait, no, it was the sound of everyone laughing at my crazy nerdiness. Eh, same same.)

When cleaning out the cabinet, I pretty much just tossed extra boxes, bags and papers that aren’t needed anymore and then shuffled other things around to look neater. I also went through the candles and accessories, getting rid of a lot of them (do I really need 8 votive holders and 5 blue candles? I think not). This freed up one of the drawers completely and left the other one looking much better.

Here’s the result:

Nice, huh?

Next I tacked the top of Samson’s kennel. Most of this was just stuff that got thrown there at one time or other because we were too ~~lazy~~ busy to put it in the right spot. So it was just a matter of taking the items and putting them in their rightful home. Done and done.

From there I tackled the CDs. We have one whole bookcase full of CDs. We also have one full of DVDs but I culled through those last fall so I didn’t spend any time there. Some of the CDs were duplicates, some were just old or ones we didn’t want anymore. I put all those in a shoebox and plan to take them to Half Price Books or CD Warehouse and sell them. I don’t think I’ll get all that much money but hey, a couple bucks is better than nothing!

With that, I was done on Saturday.

Sunday came and it was time to dig in to the closet. Here’s the deal – this closet is CJ’s. He keeps all his clothes in here and I keep all mine in the 2 closets we have in the master bedroom. So what that he has one closet and I have 2? I mean, one of mine is only a half closet so really we’re practically equal. Anyway so most of this closet was going to be CJ’s job to go through. I was not about to decide which of his clothes to keep and which ones he should toss. .

However, in the back of the closet was a whole bunch of my old artwork that I totally forgot I had. It was stuff going all the way back to Jr. High and High School. I spent a lot of time just looking through the pieces and remembering when I created them. It really brought a lot of memories and emotions flooding back. But, I can’t keep it all so I set up 3 piles: Keep, Toss and Sell. I figure, while I may not want to keep them all, some are too good to throw away so I might as well try to sell them. If no one buys, fine, at least I tried.

To be honest, it was hard to decide. For any of you who are artists, you know how personal your work can be. A lot of blood, sweat and tears went in to making these. To throw them away seems heartless and to put them out there for sale really makes me feel vulnerable. But it was a step that was time to take. So I filled one bag with paper for recycling and my portfolio file got filled with items for the trash. Most of those were paintings I’d created during a really dark time about 10 years ago. They are VERY depressing images and it was actually kind of healing to throw those away. It was like closing a chapter on that part of my life.

Now I’m left with items to keep and items to sell. The keepers are few and they will tuck back in the closet nicely without taking up much room. The items to sell create a bit more work for me. Now I have to take pics of each one and post them on this blog (which will come when I have time!). Again, this really makes me nervous but in a good way. I just hope people like them and I can sell at least a couple.

The only other items in this closet were some extra pillows and comforters, which we put in space saver bags (you know, the ones that you use a vacuum to suck the air out of. It’s so fun to do that and watch them shrink down to a fraction of their size. Love it!). Now the 2 comforters and 3 pillows we had, which took up a massive amount of space, are flat and easily slide under the bed or on a top shelf. Woot!

That’s it for Samson’s room. It’s all done and organized (except for the stack of artwork I have to shoot). Feels good to cross one room off the list. Next weekend will be the master bedroom!

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7Mar2011

Old Mother Hubbard

Posted in Health and Weightloss by teamtradermom

Ok so I’m not old and my last name isn’t Hubbard, but one thing I do have in common with this English nursery rhyme is that my cupboards sure were bare!

[That and she obviously had a dog with an independent and mischievous personality, which I totally do too. Smoking a pipe? Standing on his head? Reading the news? Yes, I can absolutely see Samson doing all those things along with stealing money from my wallet and taking CJ’s car for a joy ride. Then he’d come back home, give us this look and hope he could get away with it.]

Anywho, I digress.

As I was saying, our cupboards were in fact very bare and when that happens, so does another phenomenon – I eat like crap. That’s right, I totally blamed my poor eating on our pantry. Take that! Ok so my poor choices are part of it too but the fact of the matter is that when the selection at home is limited, I have to get creative when making meals/snacks and I tend to get lazy and just grab junk. Or eat out, which is neither friendly to my waist or wallet.

My main goal was two-fold – 1) get items that can be used in a variety of ways, thus giving me lots of options, and 2) buy healthy foods. Oh, and for the sake of our budget, keep it under $100. In particular, I wanted to buy items that I could take to work, so they had to be portable. What can I say, I spend almost half of my waking hours during the week at the office and I want to make sure I have healthy foods to eat while I’m there.

So, I made a list, checked it twice and then headed out to the store! [I also grabbed my coupons because it was double coupon day at Hy-Vee! Booya!]

2 hours later, I was back home and very happy with my haul. Not only did I meet my 2 goals but the grand total of the bill came to $98.97! Go Sarah, go Sarah, it’s your budget-day, go Sarah!

Here’s what I got as far as healthy items for me to take to work (meaning, I won’t show you pics of the dog bones I got Samson or the Ziploc bags that were purchased):

Frozen/Refrigerated items

Salad mix
Sweet Potato Fries (we had these for dinner last night and they were awe.some.
Edamame
VitaMuffin Tops (double chocolate of course)
Chocolate Milk (a childhood favorite)
Laughing Cow Light French Onion cheese spread (mmmmmm)
Cottage Cheese
Healthy Choice Steamers (for when we don’t have any leftovers for me to take)

Not pictured (because I forgot about them – oops!)

Carrot chips*
Sharp Cheddar cheese

*Yes, I know that buying carrot chips as opposed to whole carrots is more expensive, but for me, it’s worth it. I am not a fan of the orange veggie so anyway to make it EASY for me to eat them is good. These chips are the perfect size/shape for throwing on a sandwich/burger or dipping into dressing or peanut butter (yes, carrots in PB. Sounds gross but it’s de-lish!).

The reason you don’t see a lot of fruits on the list is because CJ had gone out the day before and gotten some already. Apples, oranges, strawberries and pears – oh my!

Dry goods:

Pop-Secret HomeStyle microwave popcorn (snack bags) – hands down, my fav microwave popcorn. It has that salty buttery taste that reminds me of what mom used to make!
Triscuit reduced fat crackers
FiberOne 90 calorie bars – Chocolate Peanut Butter

Not pictured:

Nilla Wafers
Cheese-its
Tortilla Chips

Doesn’t seem like a lot of food (sure seemed like more in the cart and as the total was being tallied at the cash register!) but the possibilities are endless! Cottage cheese and pears! Carrot chips and peanut butter! Triscuits smeared with the Laughing Cow cheese!

Here is how my menu looked today:

Post workout drink: Small glass of chocolate milk (fact: chocolate milk is just as good, if not better, at helping you recover from a workout than Gatorade or water due to its high carb and protein content. Plus it tastes way better and makes me feel like a kid again!).
Breakfast: oatmeal with strawberries
Mid-morning snack: apple and FiberOne bar (not as good as it looks on the package but still tasty)
Lunch: big salad paired with one of the Healthy Choice Steamers
Mid-afternoon snack: microwave popcorn
Dinner: Chicken and broccoli Mac n’cheese with a veggie/fruit and bread
Evening snack: 2 Girl Scout cookies (we have like 10 boxes of these so it is my duty to eat them up)

Pretty good, eh? And tomorrow will probably be something totally different, with no repeats. Gotta love that!

I’m really, really, excited about my now full cupboard. What can I say, I dig food. And more specifically, yummy, easy food.

I also had a productive weekend in the de-cluttering department but more to come on that tomorrow. If I revealed everything today, you all might fall over and die from sheer excitement. And I don’t want to be held responsible for that (Death by Blogging).

So, come back tomorrow and until then, healthy eating!!

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