You Capture: Warm

Posted in You Capture by teamtradermom

You Capture is moving to Wednesdays until American Idol is over (Beth’s new rule) so, now you get to see my photos a day early! 😉

I’m beginning to think that Beth from I Should be Folding Laundry can predict the future! Last week the theme for You Capture was “cold. And boy was it cold! This week’s theme was “warm” and guess what – it was warm! Who woulda thunk that it’d reach near 60 degrees in the middle of February. I hope next week’s theme is “millionaire”!

When I originally saw what this week’s theme was, I assumed I’d be shooting photos of things that keep me warm in the winter, like blankets or hot cocoa or a fireplace. But since the weather cooperated, I was able to go outside !

This was the first picture I took. It was last Friday when the heat wave started. I was at Target getting some last minute Valentine’s stuff and the sun was just blinding as I drove around the parking lot. I had to stop and take a pic (and got a few weird looks too)!

I took this one on Saturday, as I was coming out from getting my hair cut. The sun was shining right down on my car, which was parked next to this tree. The heat felt amazing!

Then I climbed in my car, turned it on, and saw this one the dashboard!

Yeah, I would say that’s pretty warm for February!

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You Capture: Happy

15Feb2011

V-weekend, part 2

Posted in Family, Holidays and Seasons by teamtradermom

Now on to part 2 of our Valentine weekend. You can read all about part 1 here!

After we got home from Heather and Jeremy’s, we spent the rest of the day, taking it easy. The weather was really nice and the sun shining through the windows was awesome. Isabella and I both took a nap in the morning and while we were asleep, CJ hid Valentine’s around the living room for us. We went on a hunt for them together and Isabella had so much fun with it. I would see one and then ask her if she saw a “card” nearby. She would look around, spot the card, point to it and yell, “YES!”

Here she is handing me the pile of Valentine cards (they were superhero ones):

During the afternoon, I got my baking groove on and made a heart-shaped cake, some cake truffles and chocolate covered rice-Krispy’s, while CJ delivered Valentines to the neighbors (and took down the Christmas decorations). Sounds like a lot but I basically used the same ingredients for it all. I first made up the cake batter and used half of it for the heart-shaped cake and the rest got poured in to a mini-cupcake tin to be baked together. When the mini-cupcakes cooled, I put them in a bowl, crushed ‘em and added chocolate frosting. Mixed that all up and put it in the fridge to chill for a bit. In the meantime, the cake was cool so I frosted it with the remaining chocolate frosting. Then I took some chocolate almond bark and melted it. The truffle batter was chilled enough by now so I rolled it into little balls, dipped those in the melted bark and voila – chocolate cake truffles! With the leftover almond bark, I poured the cereal in and spread on to a cookie sheet. Then everything got topped with red sprinkles! Done and done!

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. Just a lot of playing and laughing and snuggling. Isabella must have known it was a weekend to celebrate love because she sure dished it out – and I soaked it all in!!

Monday arrived, the actual Valentine’s Day, and I woke up to find some flowers from my honey in the refrigerator.

I worked out, got ready for work and then found another gift in the cupboard when I went to feed Samson – a card and chocolate heart. CJ sure knows the way to my heart!

Sunday night I had made up and hid some more cards for Isabella to find and she had fun discovering them throughout the day. I was a little sad that I wasn’t home to see her find each one but at least she knew I was thinking of her while I was at work. Here is her collection of cards, including ones from the grandparents! She is one loved little girl!

After dinner, we gave Isabella a little gift. She got an Elmo Valentine book and a Leap Frog Alphabet Pal caterpillar (which she calls an octopus. I guess they do both have a lot of legs)!

That was pretty much our Valentine’s weekend! Fairly low key and simple, yet filled with lots of fun and love, the way V-Day should be. To me, it was the perfect way to celebrate.

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15Feb2011

V-Weekend, part 1

Posted in Holidays and Seasons, Isabella/Munchkin by teamtradermom

I’ve never been one to go all out for Valentines’ Day. When I was single it was because I was alone and just wanted the day to get over with as quickly as possible. Then, when I was in a relationship, I still didn’t make a big deal out of it because it sort of felt silly. But, over the years I have relaxed and can now enjoy it for what it is. It also makes a difference having a child. Every holiday seems so much more meaningful and fun when you have a little angel to celebrate it with.

Our Valentine celebration this year had 2 parts to it: one with Isabella on a “date” while CJ and I went out and the other was Valentine’s day itself!

Last year, we celebrated Valentine’s with our friends Heather and Jeremy, and their son Owen, who is Isabella’s boyfriend. The parallels in our friendship are kind of spooky sometimes. Jeremy and I work together, Heather and I were pregnant at the same time, had the same due date, had doctors within the same clinic and we all go to the same Chiropractor. Weird, huh? It’s like it was meant to be! Owen ended up making his debut in to the world 5 days before Munchkin so technically she’s dating an older man. Like mother, like daughter!

We had so much fun celebrating with them last year that we decided to do it again! Boy what a difference a year makes! For Valentine’s 2010, the babies were almost 5 months old so they pretty much just laid around, rolling back and forth and batting at toys. This year was much different. They are almost 17 months now and both are super active. They were running all over the place, talking away, climbing on couches, throwing stuff, eating solid food and actually interacting with each other. They are both such great kids and I think they will grow up to be good friends (at least that’s what I’m hoping).

Think they’ve grown up at all?

We got together on Saturday, to start the Valentine’s weekend off right! Isabella jumped right in and started playing with Owen’s toys – that’s the whole fun in being at someone else’s house!

(She’s also showing her runway strut – work it girl!)

Owen had a lot of fun hanging out with us too. He really liked my necklace and camera!

One thing that I think is really cool about our relationship is that Owen knows us and Isabella knows Heather and Jeremy, so neither kid is shy around the other set of parents. I’m glad because I want Owen to be comfortable around us and visa versa. The kids will basically run to whichever adult is closest when they needed something. Always fun to be a universal parent!

For dinner, we ordered heart shaped pizzas. Isabella gobbled hers up. I have to admit, it really hit the spot for me too. I think it tasted that much better because it was shaped like a heart – and because we were eating it with such good friends. We also had chocolate covered strawberries for dessert, because we’re fancy like that! Plus, calories don’t count when you’re celebrating with friends. Like, duh.

After dinner, it was time for CJ and I to leave. We had tickets for a play so Munchkin was going to spend the night at Owen’s. It was her first non-family sleepover. I tell ya what, it never gets easier to say good-bye. We put on our coats and she hardly even noticed. She was playing away and giggling up a storm. I gave her a hug and kiss, which she quickly squirmed out of in order to get back to the toys. As we walked out the door, she came running up to it and pressed her face against the window. My heart started aching. I knew she was in good hands and would be totally fine once we left. But seeing her little face pressed up against the window was like a magnet pulling me back to her. CJ said, “Keep going and don’t look back.” So I blew her a kiss and walked away. As I got to the driveway, I turned to look and saw her toddling off down the hallway, chasing after Owen. I knew then that she’d be perfectly fine and it made it easier to get in the car and drive away.

Apparently, she did more than fine – she did great! The kids got in their jammies and had some more playtime. They stopped for a bit to watch the puppies outside too.

Then it was time for bed. The plan was for Owen to sleep in his room and Isabella to sleep in a pack-n-play in the guest room, but the kids had other ideas…

“Come on mom! Please can’t we sleep together? It’s a slumber party after all!”

Looks like we might need to have “the talk” sooner than anticipated….plus Isabella still thinks her girl area is a “pocket”.

Both slept like a charm, which was good for Heather and Jeremy. I would have felt awful if Munchkin had kept them up crying for a woobie or something.

The next morning, they woke up and had eggs for breakfast. Muchkin needs a lesson in manners though as she thought it would be ok to eat with her feet on the table.

We brought donuts with us when we came to pick up Isabella, so everyone had a second breakfast! We were so happy to see our little girl and couldn’t stop kissing her, even while she ate her donut.

It came time to say goodbye. At first, Owen seemed happy to let us leave – he ran down the hall to the front door and tried to open it! But then we realized he had such feelings of sadness in him, at the thought of letting his love go, that he acted out in the opposite way. Typical boys, right? They pull your hair when they want to hold your hand and kick you out the door when they really want you to stay!

Eventually he relaxed and decided to say goodbye the proper way, with a kiss!

All together now…awwwwwww! Good thing Isabella had her woobie in her mouth to keep that kiss from going further!

It was a great start to the Valentine weekend and a big thanks to our friends Heather and Jeremy for being such great sitters! I feel totally comfortable having them watch her and I know she feels loved there too.

Now, on to part 2!

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14Feb2011

Don’t Call me Late for Dinner!

Posted in Health and Weightloss by teamtradermom

Lately I’ve been feeling sluggish and tired all the time. I thought it was because I had a cold or something. Then this weekend I realized it was because my eating habits have gone downhill and I’ve slacked on the exercising. Time to get back on track and on the road to feeling better. There’s just one problem – I love food!!

Anyone that knows me knows that I have an obsession with food. It is constantly in the forefront of my mind. And not just any food – tasty, rich, yummy food (vegetables need not apply)!

Most of my life this was not a problem. I had a high metabolism and so didn’t have to worry about it. But the years have caught up with me and my metabolism isn’t what it used to be. Combine that with a 56 lb. weight gain during pregnancy and you have one unhappy, overweight mom with sore breasts and no sleep. Be afraid, be very afraid. So, I worked hard and lost 61 pounds last year and now actually weigh less than I did before pregnancy.

However, my love for food has not gone away and with no motivation to lose weight, my will power and resolve have flown out the window. Lately I’ve pretty much been eating whatever I want or feel like, giving in to whims, temptations and emotional eating. It doesn’t help that a new sugary piece of heaven shows up in our pod at work everyday and I can’t refuse. That would be rude. I haven’t starting gaining too much weight yet (just a pound or 2) but if I don’t curb this now, I’ll end up right back where I started.

Part of the problem is that I don’t like vegetables but do love starches and sweets and generally all things high in fat and calories. Like I said before, I think about food all the time. So while I’m eating breakfast, I’m already wondering what I’ll have for lunch. During lunch my mind wanders to my afternoon snack and then quickly to dinner. If I’m sad, I want chocolate to make it better. If I’m stressed, please hand me some cookies. If I’m happy, help me celebrate by going out for burgers!

See what I mean?

The following are statements that I totally don’t understand:

Wow, I was so busy today that I forgot to eat lunch.
Hold the cheese please.
Could I get extra vegetables with that?
I’m not really a ‘sweets’ person.
No dessert for me, I’m full.
Oh man, these fresh veggies really hit the spot!
I’m craving fruit right now.
No bread for me, I’ll just wait for my meal.
Just a small piece of cake please.
No french fries, I’ll take a side salad instead.

I mean, come on. How does one forget to eat? And why on Earth would you want extra vegetables? I read a few healthy living blogs each day and they always showcase their meals, which consist of quinoa and veggies and kale and ground flaxseed and more veggies. Who really eats like that? I admire those women as I wish that would satisfy me but it just doesn’t.

When CJ and I were dating, he wanted to order a pizza with only half the cheese and I almost broke up with him on the spot. I mean, really, there are some things that are non-negotiable. Thank goodness he was cute or his butt would have been kicked to the curb!

So how is one to maintain their weight loss and yet feel satisfied and able to enjoy the food they love?

They say that if you treat yourself with small portions of your favorite foods, you’ll be able to stay on track. The problem for me is sticking with small portions. I’ve tried the “grazing” thing where you eat 6 small meals a day but it didn’t work. Apparently a burger and fries doesn’t count as a small meal.

The only thing I’ve found that works for me is to either be mandated to eat better (like by a doctor or something) or have a specific target/goal in mind (i.e. being able to wear a bikini during our summer vacation). Right now I don’t really have either of those so I need to find something to drive me. I realize that wanting to be healthy should be enough but honestly, it’s just not.

But I will keep trying. My goal? To feel good about my choices every day. One smart choice at a time is all it takes. A fruit or veggie at every meal? I can probably do that. Skipping the chocolate chip cookies in favor of celery? Probably not. I know my limits.

Here’s to a fresh start, and one good choice at a time!

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11Feb2011

The OCp: The Exchange

Posted in The OCp by teamtradermom

This week had a few themes to it: stress, cold, cookies, stress, cold, melting, stress, cold, drips, and stress. Oh, and I forgot to mention it was cold.

For the purposes of this blog, I’ll spare you the details of the stress and cold and talk about the other things. They’re more interesting anyway.

Cookie Exchange

There are pros and cons to being a consultant. On the plus side, I don’t have to worry about the politics that occur at my client site. I can go about my work and leave the company issues to the others. But, on the other hand, sometimes I get excluded from company events.

On Monday, the department organized a “cookie and cocoa” hour for it’s employees. Basically, it was a chance to get away from work, socialize with co-workers, and get stuffed with lots of sugar so that everyone was all the more hyper upon returning to their desks. And would then have a big sugar crash thereby guaranteeing no work would get done.

I wasn’t invited.

Mid-way through the morning I got an Instant Message from one of my co-workers (RG) who asked me if I was going to the cookie hour.

“Um, what cookie hour?”

“Oh. Oops, you must not be invited. Sorry!”

At this point it was like, ok, you’ve already spilled the beans, now just tell me what ‘cookie hour’ is. I mean, it seemed secretive so I was intrigued. Plus, it involved cookies. Um, hello! She explained it to me and said she had a conflicting meeting and couldn’t attend. She had pinged me to see if I’d snag a cookie for her. Well, obviously I couldn’t do that so she went in search of someone else who could. I told her to have that person sneak a cookie for me while they were at it!

The day went on and I pretty much forgot about the impending events. Then 2:00 p.m. came, which is the International Hour of Cookie, and people started to wander over to the conference room where this magical event was to occur. One of them (AM) told me to come along but when I reminded her I wasn’t invited, she laughed and said, “Whatever, I’m gonna get you a cookie!”

Sweet, so if the first person that RG found forgot to get me one, then AM could. Either way, I was getting a cookie!

Everyone headed over and I noticed that my cube mate (KC) hadn’t gone yet. I asked him about it and he said he’d forgotten, then asked why I wasn’t there.

“I wasn’t invited.”

Instead of offering to get me a cookie, like everyone else had, he asked who was going to do it. I told him that 2 people had offered. That’s when he called me the Puppet Master and accused me of orchestrating this whole thing just to get a stock pile of cookies. I’m not saying he was right. But I’m not saying he was wrong either.

He took off and I was left to work alone. A few minutes later he came back with 2 cookies, one for him and one for me. He also told me that he had announced to the group that he was getting a cookie for me and no one else needed to. Guess he wanted to make sure justice prevailed and I only got 1 cookie like everyone else.

Cookie #1.

A few minutes later, I heard someone come up behind me and then saw a paper plate with a cookie on it slide on to my desk. I looked up and one of the other guys (BE) had grabbed one for me. Ha ha! Score!

Cookie #2.

I casually turned and showed KC my little gift and he threw his arms up and fake-yelled, “WHAT!? I can’t believe it!” To which I replied by putting on my best Dr. Evil face and cackling, “MUHAHAHAHAHA!”

About 30 minutes went by and then I heard more footsteps behind me. In slides 2 plates of cookies – one chocolate chip and one monster cookie. It was RG! She had snagged 2 cookies and wanted to know which one I would prefer. Since I had already eaten 2 chocolate chip cookies, I opted for the monster one.

Cookie #3.

I giggled uncontrollably to myself. KC was on a call so I waited. As soon as he hung up, I turned and said, “Hey, KC, I think I’ll have another cookie.” He saw the 3rd cookies and his eyes grew about 5 sizes. He pretended to throw his computer across the room and slammed his hands down on his desk. “Are you kidding me?!? You really are the Puppet Master!!! Argh!”

Oh how sweet it is!

Desk Exchange

Two weeks ago I told you how Barry was “asked” to find a new place to sit when he comes over to OCP. Basically he was told to reserve a Quiet Work Space (QWS) because, “his kind wasn’t welcome ‘round these parts”. So on Tuesday, when Barry and Bubbles came to OCP to work, they each reserved a QWS. No harm, no foul.

Or so we thought.

We all went out for lunch and then had to hurry back so I could get to a noon meeting. When I walked out of the meeting at 12:30pm, an admin was waiting for me. She said Barry had been spotted in the building and wanted to know where he was sitting because he had been told he must reserve a QWS if he wanted to work from here. She had personally gone around and asked all the other admins if they had reserved a QWS for him and none of them had. I told her that he was in a QWS (and we proceeded to walk by the very room he was sitting in while I was telling her this) and Bubbles had reserved it for him (cuz she’s smart and stuff). She said that was OK but he wasn’t to sit at an empty desk because she had received complaints about him being loud on the phone. I had to balk at that because I sat next to him for 2 months and never got bothered by him being on the phone. I rather enjoyed it actually. Hearing that sweet Southern charm being oozed over the phone lines to unsuspecting business stakeholders the world over brightened my day on many occassions. But apparently others didn’t find it so charming.

Guess next week he’ll just have to work from the parking lot. Wonder if the WIFI reaches out there?

Water Exchange

Well, the saga of the leaking roof at the Annex continues. For those of you keeping score at home, it’s now been a full month since the leaking started. At first, it was just 2 drips above The Brit’s desk. Last week we saw that there were a few more and facilities was starting to put up tarps with hoses coming out of them. This week, it got even worse.

I haven’t personally been to The Annex in weeks so I’m getting all my information from Bubbles and The Brit (Hey, that would make a really cool band name! Although, we’ve already decided that if we form a band, it would be called Snotty Tissues. Don’t ask).

Bubbles and The Brit came in today to find the 2 open holes in the ceiling over The Brit’s desk had been fixed. And there was much joy and celebrating. One of the tiles had been replaced with a tarp/hose combo deal (for a limited time only! Or maybe not). And this was not your ordinary tarp/hose – it was one with a double hose!

Two! Two! Two hoses in one!

Isn’t that awesome!

So the day went on and all of a sudden, Bubbles started hearing a “ping….ping….ping”. She asked the Brit if she heard it. “Ping….ping….ping” OMG, the drip was back! Then they heard this, “Ping….ping…plunk. Ping….ping….plunk.”

There was a new leak!!

They called Facilities who came in again to investigate. Pretty soon, everyone in the office started hearing more pings and plunks and plops and began discovering more and more drips! It got so bad at one point, that they had to clean out the document storage room and cover everything with tarps to protect it!

By the end of the day, there were hoses coming down every which way.

Before leaving for the day, The Brit moved her keyboard and docking station under her cabinet to try and protect them. When she did, she noticed a new stain on her desk, coming from under her monitor. She moved the monitor to find a big puddle!

Ok, that is bad when you have your electronic equipment standing in water.

Apparently the cause of all the new drips was due to the change in weather. Today it got up in to the 40’s and so all the snow and ice on the roof of the building started to melt. It’s a flat roof so the water has no where to go. And since the building is 40+ years old and not well taken care of, there are plenty of holes for the water to come through. I’m almost afraid to see what the place will look like come Monday, after a weekend of warmer temps!

Other Exchanges

A few other fun tidbits before we leave you tonight…

…Scooter was spotted having lunch at John’s again and as he was leaving, John called out to him, “Bye Davey!” Yes, that’s right, Scooter has a name and it’s Davey!

…As The Brit was leaving, she heard some voices coming from the lower level of The Mall. It sounded like children down there and she heard someone saying things like, “Now stretch and there we go. Good!” We think it was some kind of weird children’s aerobics. Maybe they are part of the church that lives in the theatre. Or is it a cult? Or is it Jane Fonda? I guess we’ll never know.

Thanks for tuning in! Come back next week for another edition of…