10 Christmas Questions–part 2

Posted in Family, Holidays and Seasons by teamtradermom

Ok, let’s try this again. The last time I tried to put together the remaining 5 questions, my computer crashed and got rid of it all. Bah-humbug. But, there’s always a second try so here we go…

6. Worst Christmas present you ever got – a used Dirt Devil hand vac. The bag was even half full of dirt! And before you ask – no this wasn’t an white elephant gift. It was an honest to goodness real gift. It was actually a couple gift for me and CJ. We even tried to use it and it wouldn’t turn on! Regifting fail!

7. Best Christmas present you ever got – the most recent one that stands out in my head is my Steelers blanket from last year. I friggin’ love that thing! It’s so soft and cozy warm.

From childhood I’d probably have to say my Cabbage Patch Doll. I think I was in 3rd grade the year that they were so popular. Parents everywhere were storming the stores to try and get their hands on one. I had a weird thing where I only wanted to have black CPDs. I thought they were cuter.

8. Most bizarre Christmas – probably the one from 2 years ago when we got a big blizzard and we literally had to postpone Christmas because no one could get out of their houses! That was Isabella’s first Christmas so it was actually kind of nice to have it be our little family spending the day in our jammies, watching movies, eating cookies, napping and enjoying each other. And then we got to celebrate with everyone else 2 days later when the roads were clear!

9. How many ugly Christmas sweaters do you have? None. I’ve never even bought one for a gag. Just couldn’t bring myself to do it. One year for work we had an ugly sweater contest so I took a red sweatshirt I already had and doctored it up but that’s as close as I’ve come. We’ll stick with ugly Christmas socks in this house!

10. Something new that you did this year which you’ve never done for the holiday – every year we try to make it to one new holiday event around town. Last year we went to SAC Museum on Christmas eve.

This year, we went and saw the Gingerbread House Display at the Mormon Trail Center. I had no idea what to expect but it was actually pretty cool. There were rows upon rows of gingerbread creations (not just houses).

Some were fun ones done by kids just starting out. Others were more professional and very intricate.

Here was a cute little pumpkin patch one complete with a working bonfire!

And this little fall scene was pretty – with the colored leaves, kids playing in the piles and a pumpkin wreath!

This was a whole scene of Santa’s village and workshop. I like that Santa is lounging outside on his chair as if he’s on the beach. I think the elves filling a bag with coal is a nice touch too!

One fun touch was a scavenger hunt! They had sheets of paper with various items listed on it that you had to find amongst all the creations. We found all but 2, then had to ask for help on those.

They also had a little play house for the kids and some gingerbread cardboard cutouts.

Ha ha! I caught CJ in the gingerbread LADY cutout! He said he’s comfortable with his masculinity so it doesn’t bother him. To be fair, I posed in the man one.

And then Isabella took her picture in both!

She had lots of fun running around the house too, and peeking out all the windows and doors.

All in all, it was a fun little adventure and I would recommend it. The detail on some of the pieces was really quite amazing. Makes me want to try my hand at it!

That’s it for the questions list! 2 more days until Christmas! Can you believe it? And I still have one more present to buy which means I have to go to a store.tomorrow.on.Christmas Eve. [gulp]

Pray for me.

P.S. Isabella totally cooperated tonight while brushing her teeth! She even said, “I brush my teef then mommy brushes my teef. That’s cooperation!” I don’t have any delusions that this will last but I’m happy for one hassle free night!

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21Dec2011

Amazing

Posted in Family, Holidays and Seasons by teamtradermom

What better way to celebrate the holidays then to surround yourself with screaming kids and loads of carbs? I can’t think of one.

That’s what we did tonight. Our whole family – CJ, Isabella, my mom and dad, sister, brother-in-law and their 3 kids + a family from my parents church all met up at the Amazing Pizza Machine for dinner and “fun”.

As we were waiting in the lobby for everyone to get there, a woman came up to my mom and me and asked if we had seen a nun. At first I thought this was the beginning of a joke so I waited for the punch line. Turns out she was really looking for a Sister – her blood sister actually. The nun soon spotted us and came over, wherein my mom took to praising her for wearing her full garb out in public. For those that don’t know, my mom was a nun once herself. No my dad was not a priest. Guess how many times I got asked that question any time someone found out about my mom’s habit?

Anywho, eventually the gang arrived and we sat down at a table for 15. We downed pizza, pasta, breadsticks, fruit and cookies and then the kids started getting antsy. I can’t imagine why…

Isabella looks high – or evil. And my nephew Ben seems to be in a carb-induced trance.

Finally we headed to the machine part of the Amazing Pizza Machine. Isabella is too little for a lot of the stuff there but she did have fun playing those that only involved hitting a button. She figured out that the more tickets the machine spit out, the better so she got really excited with each one. It was so fun to see her get in to it. Made me forget about all the ~~brats~~ other kids running around.

Her cousins are older and were going on some of the rides and playing other games. She enjoyed watching them. She even helped her cousin Micaela play Ice Ball (aka Skee-ball).

By the by, Skee-ball was my favorite arcade game growing up. And not to toot my own horn but I was pretty darn good at it. I didn’t play tonight because I didn’t want to embarrass all the kids but I so could have kicked their butts.

At one point there was some weird looking dude dressed all in black giving me the stink eye. He gave me the creeps. I later discovered that he is a priest. Oops. Didn’t notice the white collar before. God bless us everyone!

Finally it was time to go. We were all tired and overstimulated. So we counted up the tix – Isabella had earned 65 all by herself! So proud! The only toys they had there for 65 points were junky so we just left. It wasn’t worth waiting in the long line for (or fighting off the redneck looking couple behind me).

All in all, the night was great – especially seeing Isabella so excited and having fun. And really, isn’t that what Christmas is all about?

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18Dec2011

Countdown to Christmas

Posted in Family, Holidays and Seasons by teamtradermom

T-minus 7 days until Christmas arrives! In some ways I’m feeling very stressed and anxious about that. Too many small little things left to do – last minute gifts to buy, food to prepare, work to be done. But at the same time, it’s exciting and fun! So, in the spirit of said fun, I’m going to try and post every day this week about happy positive things that show the spirit of the season.

Today was a good day. It was productive, yet full of family fun and Christmas cheer.

I started the day off by meeting some girl friends for brunch. This is a group of gals who email a lot but don’t see each other as often as we’d like. With our busy schedules it’s hard to find the time and that makes it extra special when we do! We had a great time chatting and catching up, then I ran a few errands and headed back home.

While I was gone, a few elves had stopped by the house and dropped off a holiday basket. The elves were our good friends and Isabella’s boyfriend. They brought over several kinds of cookies, cupcakes, granola, an ornament and holiday soap. It was such a sweet gesture and really made the day that much brighter.

During Isabella’s nap, CJ went out to pick up a toddler bed that a friend was giving us while I worked around the house. I got so much done and it felt great! Emptied the dishwasher, did a load of laundry, switched the car seat around in CJ’s car, hung up some more pictures on the walls, wrapped a few gifts, unpacked a box and even had time to enjoy a cookie while watching the Packers get beat by the Chiefs!

Oddly enough, it was a really nice day out. So Isabella and I played in the backyard for a while. When I say “play”, I mean we picked up Samson’s dog poop. What? Isabella actually thinks that’s fun. And no I don’t let her handle the poop. She likes to point out the piles to me and I scoop them up. Believe me, there were plenty of piles too since we hadn’t been out there in a few weeks, what with all the snow on the ground. With that done, it was time to walk around the neighborhood!

Inspired by our “elf” friends, I decided to make up some cookie bags for our neighbors. We’ve met most of them but in many cases it was a quick wave across the street or something brief like that. What better way to make more of an introduction, and leave behind some holiday cheer, then to deliver cookies! The 3 of us went door to door, to our immediate neighbors, and played elves ourselves. I had planned to just say “Merry Christmas”, drop off the goodies and go but every neighbor invited us inside to chat. That was totally unexpected and super nice. Not only did we get to know each other better, I also got to see inside all their houses! Hey, you already knew I was nosey! However, there was one awkward moment. One of the husband’s answered the door wearing only shorts. No shirt. He mentioned something about how he would have been more decent but he was in the middle of working out. Um, really? You couldn’t grab a t-shirt? Or else just don’t answer the door! AND he invited us in! So we’re standing there in the entryway, chit-chatting, all the while I’m trying not to stare at his bare chest or stomach that were right in front of me at eye level (he was a tall guy). Awkward! Other than that, it was a great experience and Isabella loved it!

Then we ate dinner and it was off to Target for me, to do some quick grocery shopping and buy a few gifts. I also had to get cough syrup for CJ who’s come down with a cold. The check out kid asked me for my birthday in order to ring up the cough syrup. I said “November 14th, ‘76”. He just stared at me. Then he said, “Um, what number is November?” Seriously? So I changed it to “11/14/76”. He slowly typed in “11” then “14” and then said “Um, 1976?” No kid, 1876. YES NINETEEN!! Not sure whether to be insulted that he thinks I’m 135 years old or appalled that he couldn’t figure any of that out on his own.

Now we’re winding down for the night and I’m hoping to get some laundry folded and put away before heading to bed. Tomorrow I am starting my workout routine back up and I can’t wait! I haven’t worked out since Kosama ended on 11/30 (that’s November for those of you who may not know). I’ve really missed exercising.

‘Til tomorrow!

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21Nov2011

Mums the Word

Posted in Family by teamtradermom

Yesterday we decided to pack up and head downtown (well, to South Omaha) and see the Chrysanthemum exhibit at the Lauritzen Botanical Gardens. It was the last day of the show so we wanted to catch it before it was gone.

Fun fact: Chrysanthemums are the November birth flower, and therefore, my birth flower! They mean compassion, cheerfulness, rest, loveliness, optimism, abundance, wealth, friendship and secret love – all qualities that can also be used to describe me! Except for wealth. And secret love. And rest.

Anywho.

The flower show was lovely and Isabella enjoyed running along the paths and smelling the different types of mums (there are 9 classifications and over 30 types).

We were the only ones there (except for some cute little old man) and it was kind of fun having the place to ourselves.

They also had a koi pond in there with about 6 large koi fish of all colors.

Isabella thought they were really fun and she kept calling them “gooey fish” (from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse).

She was in a rather silly mood.

When we were done in there, we headed outside to Kenefick Park, where they have the 2 of the greatest trains built by Union Pacific Railroad. Neither CJ or I had ever been there so it was a fun adventure for all of us.

It was a chilly day so we made Isabella bundle up in her “Murray” coat (everything these days is related somehow to the Wiggles. Murray is the red Wiggle) and put her hood up. She also insisted on wearing her sunglasses.

She looked very “Jackie O”, don’t you think?

Here’s “Big Boy”, the world’s largest steam locomotive (or Wags as Isabella called it):

And here’s Centennial No. 6900 (or the “Sam” train), the largest and most powerful diesel-electric locomotive ever built:

These guys were huge! I really felt small standing next to them. Pretty cool to be so close to something so powerful.

But soon Isabella grew tired and it was time to go. She was also starting to get cold. And was tired of having her picture taken.

She fell asleep in the car on the way home.

It was a fun day and a nice little family outing – something outdoors before the weather turns too much colder!

Happy Fall!

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13Nov2011

Another Day Older

Posted in Family, Friends and Fun by teamtradermom

Well, almost. My birthday is actually tomorrow, the 14th, but since it fell on a Monday this year, the celebrations have been going all weekend long.

Normally I’m not one to make a big deal of my birthday. Not because I hate getting older or anything like that. I just generally don’t like to have all the attention focused on me. But this year, for my 35th, I decided to get some girlfriends together and do it up right!

The formal plan was to meet at Cheesecake Factory for dinner around 6pm Friday night. Well some of us from work couldn’t wait that long to get our drink on, so we headed over there at about 4pm. I told the hostess when we arrived that there would be about 15 people coming at 6pm. She gave me a snotty look and said they don’t take reservations after 6. We went back and forth until finally she complied that they could have a table ready at 5:30pm. So we headed to the bar area and got foo-foo drinks and yummy appetizers (fried macaroni and cheese balls…HELLO!). It was great to unwind and have a general bitch session about work before everyone else arrived. A couple of the girls gave me my first gift – a winter survival kit – which included warm hat and gloves along with a lantern should my car break down. All very cool and super stylish.

At 5:30 I went back to the hostess station and found a different gal there. She said the table was all ready but they couldn’t seat us until most of the party was there. We had 6 so far, which wasn’t enough by Cheesecake Factory standards. Really? So, we kept waiting and drinking in the bar. Finally there were enough of us that we could be seated. That whole ordeal was kind of a pain in the ass but it all worked out.

Dinner was yummy and of course we all had to order cheesecake. I wish I had thought to get a group picture of everyone but I didn’t. Oh well.

Most of the group headed out around 8 except for a few of us who were wanting to go out. We decided to venture to Two Fine Irishmen, a local restaurant/bar that has live music on Friday and Saturday nights. On my way I got a text from CJ to get bananas before I came home. The question was, do I stop before or after the bar? Clearly, the right answer was, before the bar. So I swung by Hy-Vee to grab a bunch. Wouldn’t you know, I got a couple compliments on my couch coat while there! It never fails – every time I wear it I get a compliment. Winning!

Finally I got to the bar and the 3 of us ( me and my 2 friends ) grabbed a table and drinks.

Turned out, one of the most interesting parts of the night was going to the restroom. Each time any one of us would go, we’d hear something crazy in there. First, it was a gal offering $10 to anyone with a piece of gum because she wanted to kiss a guy she’d just met. Then, it was one girl complimenting another gal on her “beautiful boobies”. Another time it was some gals discussing a threesome. Entertainment for hours I tell you!

We also had another source of entertainment. This guy:

He was some dude (never even got his name) that was trolling around trying to pick up chicks. He bought us each a drink and loitered at our table even though we clearly didn’t want him there. At one point, desperate for conversation, I asked him what he did for a living. He told me he was a graphic artist. That was my major in college! I told him. He stuttered then and said, “OK fine, I sell toner cartridges for printers.” Um, that’s not a graphic artist dude. Then when I told him what I did he muttered something about that being impressive and sauntered off to talk to someone else.

But he didn’t give up so easily. Anytime we went out on the dance floor he’d come over and dance with, er, near us.

I think he was harmless enough, just annoying. Never the less, the 3 of us had a great time dancing, people watching and messing with Printer Boy. We called it a night around 12:30 am. That’s a late night for me and I was ready for bed. Not to mention my ears were ringing.

Boy do I sound old.

Today was the family birthday celebration. We always (well, since I’ve been an adult) combine my dad and my parties because our special days are only 4 days apart. We went out to lunch and then back to my parent’s house for gifts and cake.