Make it Stop!

Posted in Health and Weightloss by

Last night was a humdinger. I’ll preface this post by saying it involves the bathroom so if you’re grossed out by such conversation, leave now. Don’t worry, I won’t get too graphic. I know it’s kind of personal and not something people talk about, but hey, it happens to everyone so here goes.

The day started out with Samson puking. I was eating my breakfast and watching the TODAY show, not really paying attention to the world around me when I hear, “Oh Samson, really?” I turn around to see that Samson has proceeded to upchuck the entire contents of his stomach on the carpet which included all his breakfast plus the 2 treats I had given him. It was all undigested so I could easily make out each piece. We stopped him before he could eat it back up and got him outside. CJ gets squeamish around bodily fluids so I cleaned it up (though he did help me scoop it onto the dustpan and in to the garbage – yes I said scoop).

The rest of the day was fine. I worked from home because it was a holiday for my client but not for my company so it was either take PTO or work. I chose to work, but thankfully could do it from home. Anyway, I had a perfectly lovely day for the most part and was logged off by 4:00.

I was in the mood to bake so I got busy on some chocolate chip cookies, sampling the dough as I went. I mean, you can’t NOT do that. Heck, if it were up to me, I’d make a batch of cookie dough just to eat and never bake! But, I don’t do that (much). I finished up with my preparations and put the dough in the ‘fridge (baking tip: cookies have better form if you chill the dough before baking it. My dear friend Katie told me that trick and it works!). Then I set to work on dinner. We were going to have chicken parmesan. I made the breading, cut up the chicken, coated it and put it in the oven. As I was doing dishes I got a wave of cramps but it passed quickly so I didn’t think much of it. Just then Munchkin awoke from her nap so I went in to get her. As I was changing her diaper, I got another wave of cramps, a little more intense this time.

Uh oh. I know the drill. It’s just like contractions. The closer together and more intense they are, the sooner the “package” will arrive.

I finished up with Munchkin and took her in to the bedroom where CJ was folding laundry. I told him, she’s all yours man, I got a date with the bathroom. She cried when I went in the master bath and closed the door. I was all, “Honey, trust me, you do not want to be in here with what I think is coming.”

The cramps came and went. They got worse and worse. I started getting feverish. I started getting nauseous. I didn’t know which end things were going to come out of! I was having visions of fainting again and really did not want that to happen. This went on for 15 minutes! I seriously felt like I was in labor again. I tried doing La Maze breathing and it worked just as well as it did during actual labor (translation: not at all). I called out for an epidural but no one would bring it to me. So instead I squeezed the holy living bejeezus out of my hand. Maybe that’s why I was feeling light-headed…finally, the packaged deployed and things subsided.

Phew. It was over. I breathed a sign of relief and went back out to join my family.

Then the universe pointed a finger at me and laughed.

5 minutes later I was back in the bathroom. This time I brought the garbage can in with me in case I had to hurl. I was in there for another 20 minutes going through the same ordeal as before. I was calling out to Jesus, Buddha, Zeus, Thor and anyone else who could possibly help me. By the beard of Oden make this stop!!  This time, there were multiple packages being deployed and they kept coming. I didn’t think a person of my size could have so much in her!

By the time it ended I was spent. I curled up on the bed in the fetal position and waited to die. Surely I was on my death-bed after experiencing something so awful. I closed my eyes, thanked God for a good life and eeked out a whispered “I love you” to my family.

Then the world went black.

I woke up 5 minutes later and realized I hadn’t died but instead took a cat nap. I crawled out of bed and went to join my family, eating toast and drinking tea while they had chicken parmesan. But I didn’t care, so long as the ordeal was over. And this time it really was.

When I got up today I weighed myself out of curiosity and am down 3 pounds. Yep, that’s right, I “delivered” 3 pounds worth of, uh, “stuff” last night. Oi vey. When I told CJ that he said, “Guess it was time for some good poopin’.” Gee, thanks honey.

On the up side, one of my New Year’s resolutions is now met! Though, I wouldn’t recommend anyone to do it this way. I would much rather exercise for 24 hours straight than go through that again.

I’m better today for the most part. Still watching what I eat but things seem to be operating normally. Not sure if I got a little stomach bug or if it was something I ate (raw cookie dough anyone?) but whatever it was, I hope it never happens again!

P.S. Samson is fine too. I think he just likes to puke sometimes – it’s a nice morning snack.

I Heart the Steelers!

Posted in Friends and Fun, Miscellaneous by

I don’t know about you, but I’m really enjoying this football season. Not only is my team (the Steelers) doing well, but there have been some major upsets and surprises.

Some of the underdogs, ehem Chiefs, came out of no where to really kick some butt.

Last year’s Super Bowl winner got beat by a team that no one saw coming.

The two #1 seeds going in to the playoffs got beat this past weekend.

And the Steelers are still in it! Does it get any better? I don’t think so.

I haven’t always been a Steelers fan. In fact, I haven’t always loved football. Ask anyone I grew up with. I had exactly zero interest in the game, either at the college or pro levels. This surprises a lot of people given that I’m from Nebraska. You’re practically born here with a Husker pacifier in your mouth. I’m probably not a Husker fan because I didn’t grow up in a Husker household, no I was spared from the fever. We’re a Notre Dame family. Wait, what’s that sound? I think I just heard half of my Nebraska readers “tsk tsk” in disgust. Yes, you read that right. We’re (or rather my mom, dad and sister) are Notre Dame fans. I didn’t drink the kool-aid though. I just endured it.

Then I went off to a college that wasn’t UNL or even in this state and was able to get further away from the Husker Hoopla. I went to a small private school that had a Division 3 football team. The games were a fun social outing (read: drinking event) but nothing that we got super crazy over. The only sports I really cared about at Coe, when I wasn’t studying or shooting photos, were drinking and partying (and yes, those are athletic events much of the time).

My parents weren’t devoted followers of any pro teams either (though my dad watches pro football, and roots for the Broncos, he isn’t super in to it) so I wasn’t exposed to it. Heck, I don’t even remember watching any Super Bowl games until 5 years ago or so, and even then I only went for the social aspect of it (and to watch the commercials).

The turning point came when I did a 6 week assignment for Del Monte in Pittsburgh in December of 2007.

In my hotel room

I was in the heart of Steeler Nation and it was hard not to get sucked in. I was surrounded by it everywhere I went. The Del Monte office shared a parking lot with Heinz field so I saw the stadium every day.

Heinz Field

Jerome Bettis’ restaurant was downstairs from our office and we ate there for lunch several times a week. All my co-workers were huge fans and everyone would wear Steeler gear on game days. When the Steelers were featured on Monday Night Football, there would be people everywhere around the stadium with their Terrible Towels. One night I had the MNF game on in my hotel room as I did some work and the commentators were talking about how it was pouring rain outside. I thought to myself, “Yeah it’s raining here too” and then realized my “here” was the same place they were talking about on TV! I looked over and saw an image of the Pittsburgh skyline and could see my hotel. It was surreal and I instantly got hooked.

And I’ve been a fan ever since.

I bought my first t-shirt that week from the airport on my trip home. I still have it (along with a handful of others) and wear them every weekend of football season.

The 2008-2009 season was the first where I really followed them – and they won the Super Bow!. Oh man that was exciting! I thought maybe I was their good luck charm!

Then the next year came and they didn’t do so great. It’s the Super Bowl curse I tell you!  

And now here we are again, heading in to the game that determines who will be the AFC champion and move on to the Super Bowl. All they have to do is beat the Jets. Ha! I say that like it will be easy. It won’t. In the past 2 weeks, the Jets have taken down the might Colts and Patriots so the Steelers will need to bring their best.

And Isabella and I will be cheering as loud as we can!!

(CJ says I look a little crazed in this picture. I was trying to show enthusiasm and get Isabella to smile. You can see how well that worked.)

 

Wait

Posted in Samson by

image

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!

Annexed: The Finale

Posted in Annexed, Photography by

aka A Day in the Life of Team Trader Mom

Last week I read on Simply Rebekah the idea of taking a picture once an hour to chronicle your “typical day”. I committed then to doing this experiment and randomly picked Wednesday, January 12th as “the day”. Well, turns out 1/12/11 was to be my last day working from the Annex so it was kind of fitting to document that day, as the end of an era, so to speak.

This will also be the last Annexed post, as least for a while. There may be more if I have to go back there for some meetings, but most likely I’ll try to find another series to fill this one’s place.

So, without further adieu, here is “A Day in the Life of TTM”, from Wednesday 1/12/11.

[Note – in some cases I shot 2 pics for the same hour because there were a couple things going on that needed to be documented. Hey, sometimes you have to break the rules!]

5:00 a.m. – Time to get up!

Yes, I get up at 5 am on a typical day. Why? It’s a form of self-mutilation. Some people cut themselves. Others get piercings. I prefer to violently jar myself out of a restful sleep so that I can get a workout in. Time to rise and shine!

6:00 a.m. – Pilates

This is the view of the TV as I’m laying on the ground working my inner thighs. As a freeze frame, it looks kind of weird and a little sexual. Believe me, there was nothing sexy about it. I purposely workout in the dark because it’s less painful, especially when I’m doing stuff on the floor that requires me to look up. Who wants to stare in to the lights while being tortured conditioned at 6am?

7:00 a.m. – Getting ready for work

First of all, I hope you appreciate the fact that I am posting a pic of myself without having done anything to my hair and or with a stitch of make-up on. I sacrifice because I love you. Anywho, I am getting ready for work and at this point have blow-dried my hair and am about to get dressed and paint my face. I also shot a pic of Samson. No, that’s not poop in front of him, it’s a treat that had been sitting there for 10 minutes and he wouldn’t even touch it (maybe because it looks like poop?). See, as part of our routine, I give Samson a milk bone before I jump in to the shower. This morning I thought I’d mix it up and give him a treat from Three Dog Bakery, cuz I’m fancy like that. I figured he’d jump for joy! But instead he snubbed it. Notice how he’s looking away as if to say, “Pashaw…is this what you have to offer me today? Really? Come on lady, you can do better than that.”

8:00 a.m. – Arriving at work

It’s a lovely building isn’t it? Very inspiring to walk in to every day. Also note that it was FREEZING cold that day so it was a big sacrifice to roll my window down for the 10 seconds that it took me to take this pic. Nothin’ but love for ya.

9:00 a.m. – Dialing in to a conference call

The first of many meetings. Notice that I have 2 phones on my desk. An old crappy one (that I’m dialing) and a new IP phone. Those have both been sitting there since I started and I’ve had to use the old one because no one knows how to set up the new one. Brilliant! But the IP phone does make for a good paperweight.

10:00 a.m. – Checking the drips

It was at this point in the day that Bubbles and I decided to check on the leaks still coming from the ceiling. They were supposed to have been fixed last Friday morning but that never happened. I’m guessing Facilities thought that the cold temps would freeze the ice back up and stop the leaks. They thought wrong. So….this one has been dripping down in to The Brit’s cube for 5 days now and has left a nice stain on the wall. Stay classy Annex!

11:00 a.m. – Another conference call

Time for another meeting. My work day is really exciting isn’t it? Don’t you wish you had my work life? Well, some of you do and I’m sure many of you can relate to days filled with meetings and documents and more meetings to talk about those documents. But, it pays the bills so I shan’t complain…too much.

12:00 p.m. – Lunch!!

The gang decided to go out for lunch because it was the birthday of one of the Indians. The original plan was to go to a local BBQ joint but when we pulled in to the parking lot, we found that it was shut down. So, our second choice was Mexican (it was yummy too. I have 2 words for you – white cheddar cheese sauce. ‘Nuf said.).

The funny part of the story though has to do with the journey there and back. See, Bubbles offered to drive us in the rental car, which was a Chevy Cruze, because it had a remote start and heated seats. It’s a nice little car, with the operative word being “little”. Bob is not a small man. I had called shotgun, so Bob and the Indian climbed in the back. Well, the Indian climbed in. Bob had to use some of his Marine training combined with a few yoga moves and a little bit of butter to squeeze his way in back there. As he put it, he looked like Grape Ape.  On the ride home, I graciously offered him shotgun. He proceeded to put the front seat all the way back which meant I was conjuring up my own yoga poses and ended up sitting  with my knees up under my chin. Even with as much leg room as he now had, he had to squeeze in and was sitting with his head cocked to the side because it was butted up against the ceiling. We almost had to call in the Jaws of Life to get him out of there when we got back to the mall.

1:00 p.m. – Guess what – another meeting!

Stop the excitement already!!

This meeting was an elicitation session so we were all in the conference room with our laptops. See that yellow mess of cables? Yeah, that’s where the fun really comes in. Some of them are “live” and some are not. The goal is to find one that’s working so you can have internet access. Wireless? That’s like so next Century. We’ll have robots here first! Scooter will be president before the Annex has wireless!

2:00 p.m. – Birthday Cake!

We wanted to show the Indian a proper American birthday celebration so Bubbles brought in a cake for him. It was yummy. We didn’t sing though because, well, that would have been traumatizing for everyone involved. No candles because it’s a fire hazard (course, we would have had plenty of water to douse it with given the 3 trashcans nearly full of leaky ceiling water)! So it wasn’t a full and complete American birthday celebration but he got the idea. My piece of cake was gone exactly 2.5 minutes after this picture was taken. Take no prisoners!

3:00 p.m. – Excel Hell

(notice the meeting invite on my screen is a reminder to take a photo for that hour.)

NoteI’ve been workin’ on some spreadsheets…all the live long day! I’ve been workin’ on some spreadsheets just to pass the time away!Note Ok, I can’t really complain because Barry has taken on the bulk of the load when it comes to managing spreadsheets for this project. The one I’m working on here is tiny compared to his monster – 400+ rows, 50 + columns and 7 tabs. It’s massive.

Speaking of Barry, Bob noticed that he was wearing multiple shirts. He was going to ask him about it at lunch but Barry was unable to join us. So Bubbles and I asked him about it later. Here’s how it shook out:

  • Bubbles: Hey Bob wants to know why you’re wearing 4 shirts today.
  • Barry [with a southern accent and oozing charm]: I’m not wearing 4 shirts.
  • Me: Um, yes you are.
  • Barry: No, I’m not, it’s only 3. See, a t-shirt, a polo shirt, a button up shirt and a sweater. Oh crap, it is 4!
  • Bubbles: Told ya.
  • Barry: Well I was cold this morning so I kept putting on more layers!
  • Me: Maybe tomorrow you should shoot for 5 layers. Throw a sweater vest over that and you’ll be set!
  • Bubbles: Also, why do you wear 2 scarves?
  • Barry: I do? Well, I don’t know, I just do!

4:00 p.m. – Excel Hell, continued

By now I have transitioned into working on the “massive monster mother of all spreadsheets” spreadsheet. But at least it has pretty colors. I am frantically trying to finish up my work because I still needed to pack up my desk and try and get outta there by 5.

Once I had everything packed up, and loaded in  my car it was time to say goodbye. I had Bubbles take this extra picture of me at my desk, as sort of a final way to remember my life in the Annex.

5:00 p.m. – So long suckers!

And then I was out the door!  These are the doors to my freedom the outside. Notice that pretty blue haze of the outside world that is in stark contrast to the dreariness of the mall? Yeah. That about sums it up.

6:00 p.m. – Making dinner

This is a chicken and broccoli braid from one of my Pampered Chef books. It turned out de-lish. This pic was taken prior to cooking so looks a bit weird (and a little bit like the spine of some huge animal) but trust me, it turned out good.

7:00 p.m. – Eating with Munchkin

This is the face I get to see every night when I eat dinner. Doesn’t get much better than that. Notice too that her tray is licked clean which just goes to show how good my dinner was!

8:00 p.m. – TTM Updates

After dinner, I had fun playing with Munchkin and then it was time for her to go to bed. By 8:00 I was at my desk writing up a TTM post for the day before letting myself chill and veg. That’s day’s post was on some of the updates I’ve made to the house but WordPress was giving me issues so it took longer than I anticipated. CJ was itching to get on the computer but he patiently waited and watched “Celebrity Rehab” while I worked.

9:00 p.m. – Chillin’

Finally getting some time to sit and relax. I was starting to feel a sinus infection coming on (it’s here full force now) so I just wanted to snuggle under my Steelers blanket and let my mind go numb in front of the tube. Which is exactly what I did. I was watching “The Cape” that I had DVRed Sunday night. I didn’t really like it and probably won’t watch again.

10:00 p.m. – Nightie night!

By 10:00 I was asleep so I cheated and snapped this right as I laid down and turned the lights off. I was down for the count!

So there you have it – a snapshot of my life and a typical day at work. I really, really tried to find Scooter so I could take a picture of or with him but alas, he was no where to be found. Go figure that when I actually want to see him, he’s gone.

And with that, The Annexed series draws to a close. I have received a lot of feedback on how much you all like this series so it makes me sad to end it. I will try really hard to find something to replace it with though. Perhaps I can find little gems from the West Office to write about. Who knows. In any event, thanks for following and I hope you continue to do so!

Consider yourself Annexed!!

If you liked this, you might also like:

Annexed: The Premiere

Annexed: The Haunted Theatre

Annexed: Land of the Lost

Op Dream Home Update

Posted in Goals, House and Home by

One of my NY resolutions was to get the house de-cluttered and organized, in preparation for moving this summer. I got a couple more projects done this week.

Monday, after I had officially signed off from the computer and called it “a day” in terms of work, I decided the first order of business was to clean up my work area.

As I was sitting at the desk all day working, I started looking around at how cluttered it was. And it was getting to me. I don’t normally spend a full 8 hours at this desk so it’s easier to overlook it. But yesterday I decided it was time to tackle the desk as my next Operation Dream Home  project.

Here are the before shots (I’m actually embarrassed to share these because it was bad.):

The full desk

 (The Spiderman mask is a purchase CJ made in Cancun. It’s a Mexican wrestling mask. He thought it might be a good way to spice up our sex life. He thought wrong.)

The Drawer

(That file thingy on top is used to sharpen charcoal pencils. I bought it in college for one of my art classes. Not sure why I still have it because I literally haven’t used it since graduation. It’s gone now!)

The shelves

(Notice the Guinness stress pint in the front middle. I bought that when we were in Dublin and toured the Guinness factory. I had to put my initials on it because the guys at my old job always threatened to steal it. As if it wouldn’t be obvious that someone else suddenly had a Guinness Stress Pint.)

The desk

(Files, files everywhere!)

Gag. How embarrassing. This embodies the epitome of clutter in my mind. And it drives. me. crazy.

I started with the shelves. On the right side you can see a whole gaggle of CDs and pictures piled up and stuffed in there. I went through those and determined what should be kept and what should be tossed. Most all the pics got tossed because they were doubles of ones I’ve already scrapbooked. Many of the CDs were tossed too as they contained old computer backups or programs which I no longer needed. The remaining CDs got consolidated into one of the black sleeves that can hold multiples (we have 2 cases – one holds 36 CD/DVDs and the other holds 24). At some point I’ll probably take the data that’s on those and transfer it to one of our external hard drives. But that will have to be another project.

Better, right?

I then consolidated the bills/files (which is the middle area). Instead of having them stacked hither and yon, I gave them designated cubicles/slots. I also shredded a TON of stuff (I don’t think I need to keep my pay stubs from 2007…). From there, I started filing away the user manuals/warranties that we need to keep. They were previously stuck up on the left side of the top shelf. I put them in expandable files and all of those got place in the large open area on the left side.

Then I tackled the drawer. Most of the stuff in there was random little things that we don’t need. A lot got tossed. The rest got sorted and organized into containers. Then the desk itself got arranged a little neater.

That’s pretty much it! I think it looks much better. While there is still a lot of stuff there, it’s all organized and tidy now, which makes me feel much better.

Here is the after shot:

Full desk

CJ said he didn’t notice much difference (until I kicked him in the shin and then he suddenly noticed), but I can see it and feel much better.

 Then last night I decided to organized the play area in the living room.

Here is the before:

Stuff everywhere and it was driving. me. crazy. Target had organizers on sale so I ran out and got one for $30. I put it together and got everything organized in about 2 hours.

Here’s the after:

Much better right? The little OCD girl inside of me was squealing with delight last night. It’s not only organized but it’s cute too (Isabella loves the “hippo” bin)! Don’t worry, I know that it won’t stay this neat and tidy and I’m totally cool with that. So long as everything has a place to go back to at the end of the day, I’m a happy camper.

Note: I put the shelves together last night after Munchkin went to bed and it involved a lot of hammering. CJ was vacuuming at the same time. She slept through all of it and the woke up 15 min. after we were done because she couldn’t find her woobie.

I love to see progress and am really happy that these projects are getting done slowly but surely. Go me!