Snow Play!

Posted in Isabella/Munchkin by teamtradermom

Way back in November, as the weather was starting to show signs of the coming winter months, I bought Munchkin a winter coat and snow pants. I hesitated on the snow pants because I was being cheap and they cost an extra $9. But, my practical mind won out and told me that she would need those some day and probably on a day when the streets were too crappy to drive out and buy some.

I was right!

Yesterday was just such a day. I was home working and kept promising myself that when I was done, I would take Munchkin outside for her first adventure playing in the snow. I was really looking forward to it.

At precisely 4:19 p.m., I logged off my computer and marched upstairs, determined to start having fun, dammit! Munchkin was napping so I stuffed my face with popcorn and watched Jenny McCarthy tell Oprah about her first Playboy shoot. It was fascinating (insert Star Trek Spock voice here). Eventually Munch woke up and I immediately changed her diaper (after she looked at me and said, “Diapa, poo poos.” I think she might be ready for potty training sooner than we thought). Then we started suiting her up in her snow gear.

First the snow pants, then the boots, the gloves and hat.

That look on her face kills me! It’s like, “Oh my God what is going on? Is the end of the world near? Is this my HAZMAT suit?”

Then we put on the coat and were ready to go!

I started out slowly because I wasn’t sure what her reaction would be. The first few times she was exposed to grass she freaked out and cried, refusing to put her feet on the ground…figured snow would be similar. But she actually took right to it!

I set her down on the deck and let her get used to it. She just sat there and looked at me. Gee mom, this is great fun. I showed her that you can kick it and run your hands through it and stuff. She eventually started getting brave and trying things.

After a few minutes, I took her down in to the yard. This time she stayed standing and tried to walk in it. However, the snow was up to her knees so she was unable to go anywhere. I suppose it would be hard for anyone to walk in that. I showed her how to lay back and make snow angels and she did! Sort of.

I love that she is laughing and enjoying herself. I remember being a kid and playing in the snow with my sister. We would pile it up along the side of the driveway and climb up, pretending it was Everest or something. And of course building forts and throwing snowballs. She’s too young for that yet but we got her started!

We went back in after about 10 minutes. I didn’t want her getting too cold since her gloves were wet and her face was exposed. Ok, fine, I was getting cold. Anyway, we headed in to get out of our wet clothes, take a nice hot bath and bundle up in warm jammies.

I’m so glad I took her out to play. Sometimes I hesitate to do that stuff because it feels like too much work. Or I’m afraid she’ll hate it and be fussy. But I do it anyway and am always surprised at how well she does and how much fun we have!

Happy snow days to everyone!

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The Perfect Day

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11Jan2011

Blog Stuff

Posted in Blog Stuff by teamtradermom

Yes, I changed the design of this blog again. What can I say? I’m picky when it comes to the look /feel and want it to be just right. Must be the graphic designer in me. If I had the time, I’d design it from scratch. But I don’t so I have to settle with an out-of-the-box theme.

The first two I had were nice but too “colorful”. In some aspects of my life I like color (like certain rooms of the house or my workout clothes or my husband who always wears bright colors), in other areas I prefer a more subtle look. I’m finding that TeamTraderMom.com is one of those areas. Hopefully this look is “the one” but if not, I’ll break it off gently. Hey, it’s not you, it’s me.

Also, tomorrow is the day that I chronicle “A day in the life of TTM“. Should be fun and interesting. Look for the pics to come soon!

10Jan2011

Weekend Wrap-Up

Posted in Family by teamtradermom

It still feels like it’s the weekend since I worked from home today. Even though I actually did work, since I’m wearing comfie clothes and sitting in the basement, it doesn’t feel like work. Here’s what went down with the Traders this weekend.

Saturday was fun because CJ and I went to a movie! Yeah, like an actual date! We were giddy with excitement. First we took Munchkin over to play with her boyfriend Owen. They were born 5 days apart (though they shared a due date) and naturally will grow up as best friends and eventually marry. What?

Since I’m trying to be all frugal and stuff, we went to an early movie because those are much cheaper. Or at least, that was the plan. I thought the movie was at 11:10 am but when we got there, the only 11 am movie was the 3D one, which was expensive even for an early show. So we got tickets for the noon show, which was regular matinée price. We were slightly bummed but what do you do? We headed in and upon seeing the concessions I was immediately starved. One of everything thank you very much! But, that would have cost us 1 gazillion dollars. Instead, we headed back out to McDonald’s since we had about 40 minutes before the movie started and got lunch for both of us for the same cost as one order of hot dogs would have cost in the theatre. Take that AMC!

We did buy some popcorn and a pop (which we shared) and then headed in to get our seats. We saw Tron: Legacy and it was really good. Here we are at the theatre. Yes, we’re geeks. No, we don’t have matching glasses.

We headed back to pick up Munchkin and found that she had learned to play the piano!

Well, sort of. Anyway, she had a great time and we headed home to settle in for the night. That was about it for Saturday.

Sunday the snow started. And it pretty much hasn’t stopped. Because of the weather, we decided to hunker down and spend the day at home. CJ slept in (I wish I knew what that was like) so Munchkin, Samson and I ate breakfast and then started playing.

At one point I had to, ehem, use the bathroom. I made sure all the rooms were closed off so that Munchkin couldn’t wander away and then went in to the bathroom, leaving the door open so I could see and hear stuff (all I could see was the hallway right outside the door). Right after I sat down, I see Samson walk by the door toward the end of the hallway and I hear him lay down (he usally does that with a big sigh or grunt). Pretty soon Isabella goes streaking by, headed in the same direction as the dog. I hear some noises including evil laughter and shrieks, then I see a lone woobie go rolling by the door. Reminded me of a western or something when you hear a scuffle off camera and then all you see is a cowboy hat rolling in front of the screen. Then, here comes Samson running back the other way, followed by Isabella chasing after him. I hear more scuffles in the living room and then Samson comes to the door carrying a deflated volleyball. I was hoping I wouldn’t find my child in an equally deflated state in the living room and alas, everything was fine but it was touch and go there for a minute.

Munchkin was pretty crabby all day. I think she was teething. She was also very clingy. I couldn’t go anywhere without her running after me and grabbing onto my leg, wanting to be picked up. I’m sometimes torn because I don’t want her to need holding all the time, but I also believe you can’t give them too much love. So, I did just that.

We played in the basement for a while (where CJ was working on volleyball stuff most of the day), and she had fun running around.

I love that she only has one Elmo slipper on. She’s gangsta like that, yo. That’s how this toddler rolls!

Samson was less than thrilled.

After spending the whole day inside with a crabby, clingy toddler, I needed a break so CJ was gracious enough to let me shovel the driveway and sidewalks. He’s sweet isn’t he? Actually, I asked to do it. I wanted something a little physical and get outside for a bit. It was very peaceful and quiet.

Here is what it looked like when I went out to shovel, around 4pm.

I felt better when I came in and made some dinner. Then Isabella and I played with some hats, as well as a game of pick-a-boo.

By the time she went to bed, I was pooped. Normally when I’ve been home with her all day by myself it’s been great. This was my first taste of a less than stellar day and now I can be more sympathetic when CJ has those days. I used to think he was just being whiny. Now I get it. It was nice to snuggle up on the couch, under my Steelers blanket, and hang with my friends on Wisteria Lane.

Like I said earlier, today was a snow day. Here is how it looked around 7:30am:

It has been nonstop all day so the accumulation right now is about double what you see in these pictures. Crazy, yet cozy. We’re planning to take Isabella out in her snow suit for playtime. I’ll definitely be taking pictures if we do!!

Stay warm and safe!

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8Jan2011

Look out Martha!

Posted in House and Home by teamtradermom

Last night I was in the mood to do some creative stuff. Call me crazy but sometimes I just get the itch to make something. So, I tried a new technique for baking a cake and I made a new journal!

Pampered Chef Deep Dish Covered Baker Cake:

I bought the Pampered Chef Deep Dish Covered Baker several years ago because it’s really versatile and you can make all kinds of dinners with it. Last week I discovered a recipe that allows you to bake cakes with it too! And it’s super easy!

You basically make up any cake mix (I did Devil’s Food) and pour it in to the DDCB. You then take your frosting (chocolate of course!) and scoop it out (I used a cookie dough scoop but you could use an ice cream scoop or even a melon baller, or even a spoon), placing about 12 scoops on top of the batter (without mixing it in):

From there you just pop it in the microwave and cook for 10-12 minutes (uncovered). That’s it!

Here’s what it looks like straight out of the microwave:

Looks like a normal cake huh? Only the kicker is that the frosting has sunk down to the bottom and basically frosted itself! So it’s like a chocolate upside down cake or something.

Now, here’s where Martha Stewart has a leg up on me. The recipe I had didn’t say whether to flip it out of the DDCB right away or wait until it cooled. Because I’m Ms. Impatient, I flipped it right away and ended up with a big mess as frosting oozed all over the place. I was able to salvage it and the cake tastes AWESOME, it just doesn’t look very pretty, so I didn’t take a picture. But you get the idea. Next time, I’ll let it cool before I flip it.

Calendar Journal:

Once that was done, I popped “Tron” into the DVD player and started making my Calendar Journal. I saw this idea earlier in the week while Design Sponge and it really stuck with me. See, I’ve always wanted to be a journaler and every year I start out strong but then fade as I get busy and don’t have time to write paragraphs about my day. So I end up writing one liners. Well, this journal is designed just for that and it can last forever!

See, it’s basically a bunch of index cards placed in a basket with the date written on top (just the month and day, not the year). Then, each year, you write the year on one line along with a quick note about what happened that day. There’s no pressure to write a novel, and you can start to see over the years how your life has changed ( or not ) as you compare events from the past. It’s super easy to make too!

I got all my supplies at the Dollar Store and it cost me $5 (granted, I had some on hand already). You basically need:

A basket of some type – could be as simple or fancy as you want!
Enough index cards for the year, and maybe some extra (I just bought 4 packages of 100)
larger index cards or thicker paper for dividers
Markers
Decorative stuff (I used ribbon) – optional
Scissors and maybe tape

All you do it write (or stamp) the date on top of each index card and put them in the basket. If it was a holiday, I wrote the name of the holiday on red at the top, to distinguish it. Then you take the paper you got for dividers and cut/fold them to size. I used scrapbook paper that I already have and folded it to be thicker, then cut the edges to the right size. The dividers should be a bit taller than the index cards. I also chose paper to correspond with the month, to make it more fun (snowy paper for January, Valentine’s paper for February, etc). Put a divider before the index cards of each month (you can write the month on top if you want) and you’re done! You can then decorate the basket or leave it as is. I weaved a ribbon around mine and called it good.

Here’s the end result!

And here’s how you’d write on an index card:

Other things you could do with this:

Decorate special days with stickers
Put small keepsakes in the basket (if you have room)
Add small pictures that are meaningful for a special day or at the beginning of the month

I put mine in the bedroom (thought about the kitchen counter but don’t want to clutter it up after I just de-cluttered it) and plan to write my one-liner each night before I go to bed!

Samson even helped me:

He really wanted to help me with the cake by eating it all but, alas, all he got was a lick of my finger.

Both projects were super easy and fun! Took me 20 minutes to make the cake (from start to finish and I didn’t have to frost it!) and 2 hours to do the journal. Normally I’m not “Sarah Stewart” but like I said, once in a while I get an itch that I have to scratch!

Today, CJ and I are going on a date to see “Tron: Legacy” and then we have a surprise party tonight. Should be a fun day and give me plenty to write about on my card tonight!

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7Jan2011

Annexed: What a Drip

Posted in Annexed by teamtradermom

Welcome to the next edition of Annexed!

This week – Explosions! Electrocutions! And a special appearance by Chewbacca!

So the week started off pretty quiet. Folks were coming back from their holiday breaks and getting caught up on emails. I thought, man if this is how the week is going to go, I’m gonna really have to pull something out of my arse for Annexed.

But, the week did not disappoint.

Tuesday: The Brit returned. It was great to have her back and we celebrated by having lunch at John’s, where she told us all kinds of colorful stories. She was a bit stressed having to come back and find hundreds of emails waiting for her so throughout the day we heard various mumblings coming from her corner of the world. Most of them I am not able to repeat because this is a clean blog. Did you know that The Strangler knows cuss words in like 8 different languages including Turkish, Spanish and Hindi?

Wednesday. As part of my resolution to eat better and save some pennies, I brought my lunch. It was some pasta, corn and grapes. The pasta and corn were in a container together, which I threw in the microwave, set for 1 min. and pressed ‘Start’. I was chatting with Bubbles (the female Texan – Bob came up with that name, don’t ask) when all of a sudden we both heard a “BOOM!” and look over in time to see corn flying up in the air. I ran to the microwave and threw open the door. Yep, corn everywhere. Doh! I cleaned up the carnage and then checked the food. Everything was still cool so I had to put the cover on before I could continue heating. We could hear popping as it continued to cook but the lid kept everything in. I was afraid I’d open it up to find actual popcorn but thankfully everything was a-okay.

Thursday: The day started like any other. Go to work, check email, chit-chat with the Texans, sterilize my desk, jack with stuff on Vicki’s desk, get a cup of tea, etc. I had a few meetings, ate lunch then went to another meeting. At one point I was chatting with Barry (the male Texan – again, you can attribute this name to Bob) and I saw something fall from the ceiling and land somewhere behind him. I thought I was seeing things and shrugged it off. Until it happened a second time and then a third. I went over to investigate but didn’t see anything on the floor. Oh well, must be the drugs messing with me again…

Off I went to a marathon meeting. When I came back, Bubbles asked if I heard any dripping. As a matter of fact, I did. We looked up to discover that the stain on the ceiling which we thought had been there all along, was in fact a new, fresh one (when there are as many stains on the ceiling as there are in the Annex, you become oblivious to them). The Brit had pointed it out on Tuesday and we told her she was crazy. Turns out, she is crazy, but not because of the stain.

Isn't it pretty?

Anywho, we walk closer and sure enough, we hear water dripping from the roof on to the back of the ceiling tile. It hadn’t broken through yet but we figure it’s only a matter of time and could be bad when it does, so we notify Facilities. As an added bonus, the leak is above and just to the front of The Brit’s cube so if it did burst open, The Strangler would really come out!

We go about our business when out of the corner of my eye, I see something fall from the ceiling again. I ask Bubbles if she sees it and she does! Ah ha! We go over to look and do not see anything. Then it drips again – turns out it’s water coming out of the light in the ceiling, which means there’s water running over electrical lines up there. NICE! We can see it come out but we don’t see it land anywhere. WTF!? I finally stand right under the light and look up to see where it’s coming out of. I see the leak and point up to it right as another drip comes down, and hits me in the arm. I swear to you I would not have been surprised if my skin started burning off considering what kinds of nasties are probably lurking in the ceilings up there. We finally find the landing spot – the water is hitting an electrical outlet on the wall. Double nice! For fun I stuck my finger in it to make sure it was in fact wet. It was and I had really big hair the rest of the day…Bubbles and I put a waste basket there to catch the water and prevent any further electrocutions.

About an hour later, the Facilities guy comes over. He climbs up on the ladder and starts poking around in the ceiling. I hear him say, “Hmm, you can hear more drips up here than you can down there.”

He also comments about how there is standing water in there. There is nothing he can do to fix it, since the source is the roof, which is under The Mall’s jurisdiction. He calls them and they promise to go check it out tomorrow morning (which is today). In the meantime he sets up a series of garbage cans around the cubes to catch all the drips.

Look close enough - you might be able to see The Strangler lurking

(look closely – after seeing this image I realized there is a shadowy figure up in the ceiling…The REAL Strangler maybe? )

He caught most of the drips, but not all…

A bit later, we hear this weird whining/growling/whirring noise coming from the roof. It sounded like Chewbacca making a death cry. Not sure if it was Facilities getting up there to check things out or what but I was starting to wonder if I would have to make a phone call to Malla , informing her that her son was dying.

The Brit has moved back to the West office so she wasn’t there to witness all the commotion going on in her cube. Don’t worry, I kindly let her know via email:

Me: “Facilities just put a trashcan in your cube to catch the water drips….I think the guy stepped and sat on your desk a couple of times but it should be all good. Also, one of the drip sounds might have been him spitting but I can’t say for sure…”
Her: “DEAR GOD NOOOOOO”
Me [a few minutes later after the guy had come back to do more messing around]: “OMG HE JUST STEPPED ON YOUR CHAIR AND I’M NOT EVEN KIDDING THIS TIME!”
Her: “I AM NEVER COMING BACK.”

I worked out of the West office today so not sure if they ever came back to fix the leaks. I fully expect to find that same set up there on Monday when I come in. Fortunately it’s supposed to freeze this weekend so that will stop the drips…at least the water ones.

Friday: As mentioned above, I came to the West office to work today. Here’s what I found waiting for me on my desk:

A docking station for my laptop
A new headset
A calendar from the company
2 Christmas presents (yeah!)
And this:

Yes, apparently when I left here the last time, I was in a hurry and forgot to rinse out the tea (with cream in it) that was remaining in my mug. Oops. That was over 2 weeks ago. I guess if you leave tea sitting for that long, it dries up and then cracks. Ew.

I’ll admit, this isn’t the first time I’ve done this. Once, many moons ago, I had some tea (with cream in it of course) in a paper cup with a lid on it. I left it overnight and the next morning took a big old swig thinking it was water. It was not. It was curdled up disgustingness. I literally spit it back out in the garbage and then promptly ran to the bathroom and rinsed my mouth out like 100 times. No, I haven’t learned my lesson.

Anyway, today was quiet, book-ending the week nicely. Bob, The Brit and I went out for lunch, which was its own adventure (The Brit ordered an appetizer for her meal and it wasn’t enough food. It turned out to have this black sludge stuff as part of it,which she ate out of desperation. I think she’s been making friends with the bathroom ever since). Before we left, Bob decided to mess with The Brit’s mind and he left his chewed up gum, stuck to a piece of paper, on her desk, while she was in the “loo”. We wandered off and observed from a far. When she came back and saw it, her head spun around 3 times, her heart stopped, she peed her pants a little and then turned to Bob and the following came out, “I KNOW THE COLOR OF YOUR GUM YOU FILTHY BASTARD!” Ah…good times.

Sadly, I will most likely be moving back to the West Office in a couple of weeks. While this is great news for me and my health, it also means Annexed has only a few weeks left, unless I figure something else out. I’ll probably be back there for meetings and stuff so there may be a few Annexed Specials coming! But never fear, there are still at least 2 more episodes so stay tuned!

Consider yourself Annexed!!