Random Ramblings

When I lie awake at night, often post ideas swim around my head, most of which are pretty good. But when I wake up the next day (or at least when I have the time to sit down and write a post), those great ideas and half-written-in-my-head posts have disappeared. So I just thought I would throw a few things out there.

I went to a fashion show today, to support J's school. Considering my near lack of fashion, it is kind of funny, but it was actually a nice time, made better by my winning a small door prize. If nothing else, I was happy to see a pair of medium-length shorts on one of the eight-grade models. Anymore, it seems as if shorts come in two sizes—an inch or two just below the butt or well below the knees, which I guess are not really shorts. Hooray for a happy medium!
In case you were wondering, being out of work for three years is kind of like a lifetime. Unfortunately, those few freelance projects over the past few years as well as my share of subbing are just not the same as going into an office a few days a week. I had truly forgotten what it was like to sit in traffic, work a long day in an office, and deal with clients on a daily basis. Things are different out there in 2012, and we all know how much I love change...
Date night/afternoon/a couple of hours is important. I realize I did not say anything new here, but Brian and I are quite guilty of putting our child well above our marriage, which is not healthy for the marriage. We last went out for dinner, just the two of us, back in December. Yesterday, we spent most of the day together while J spent the day and night (and today as well) at Grammy's. It was nice to eat lunch out, go to Home Depot (which I love), watch a movie together, eat in, and just hang out. Even today, thanks to my forgetting my cell phone on my way to church, Brian met me after church with the phone, and we spent 10 minutes together at the coffee shop before I headed off to the fashion show/luncheon. We really needed that time together.
It took me only one day to get over the Pens early exit from the playoffs. I think I am getting pretty used to hockey being over in April, though I don't like it one bit. It does make me feel a little sad to think I have to wait over five months to see the Pens play again, but so is life. And as one of my former students said after the final game (loss), many of the players are still rich and I am still not. Indeed.
I have never pretended to know a lot about the health care overhaul, but I am supportive of at least some aspects of the Affordable Care Act. I know that someone has to pay for it, but there are probably a lot of people out there who do not get regular checkups because they don't have that extra money to spend (and, yes, some just choose to spend that money elsewhere). And no matter where you stand on the issue of birth control, the fact is that it is much cheaper than having and raising a baby.
I am glad the primary is over. I received a record number of calls in the past month or so, sometimes as many as six a day. People who were not even on my ballot called me. Sheesh.
Finally, as I have said here and in many other blogs, try to remember that one of the most important things you can do in life is treat others well (or at least not badly). You can be the biggest believer in God and the most regular church attendee, but if you treat others poorly, you might as well just stay home.

Now go out there and try to do the right thing. :-)

Let's build something together!

That is one of my favorite slogan's (Or is that a tagline? Over a year removed from a design firm, and I can no longer remember). It belongs to Lowe's, although I am more of a Home Depot gal. But suffice it to say if someone handed me a $5,000 gift card to Home Depot (or Lowe's), I would be ecstatic. If I had $10,000 to spend, you could hear my shouts of joy from miles away. The things I could do with that money. Well, the things I could have Brian do with that money anyway. I love walking around Home Depot and admiring the fancy bathroom sinks and tubs. I look at the lighting and think about where I would put each fixture. I touch textured and colorful tiles and wistfully look at the fancy kitchen cabinets. I admire the various carpet styles and blinds. I look at the fancy front-loading washer and wonder what it must be like to have a steam dryer. I even look longingly at the vacuum cleaners because I can no longer buy a replacement filter for my eight year old mo...

If only I had taken pictures of my detoured drive

When I moved to the Burgh just over 14 years ago, I had a lot of anxiety about getting from "here" to "there." I found the city, which is triangular, and even some of the suburbs quite confusing. On top of that, a lot of the signs were of little help. Clearly they were put up by either natives who had no need for directions or people with a sick sense of humor who thought it would be funny to put signs in random places, leaving off important roads. At some point, I got over that fear of driving to a new building downtown. I don't recall when it happened, but eventually I just figured most of the city out; and when I had to head to a new place, I just drove around, no longer with a feeling of dread, knowing I would eventually get there. But on Sunday morning, that awful, long-ago feeling returned, thanks to the closure of the outbound Fort Pitt Tunnels. I had to pick my mother up from the airport, so there was no avoiding it. (For some reason, my family think...

Summer in review

This summer I made it a point to try to take at least one pic of Jordan whenever we went somewhere, which most often was a park. I wanted to capture all the great, fun things we did this summer, knowing that it was probably going to be my last summer not working for quite some time. So here goes. I have expressed my love of Frick Park, particularly Blue Slide Park, in other posts ; it really is one of our favorites. And this summer marked the first one I did not feel the need to follow J around like a little puppy dog. I actually let her run around and explore, though, admittedly, I would panic if more than three minutes went by and I had not seen her. In the pics above, J is at the end of the blue slide, and then hanging several feet above concrete (which scared the crap out of me). We also visited another section of Frick Park, the area on the corner of Braddock and Forbes, a few times. There is not as much to do as Blue Slide, but we go there to mix things up a bit. In the p...

bluzdude said…

You know, I keep a tablet and pen on my nightstand for just that very reason. Unfortunately, most of the time, I am completely incapable of deciphering what I wrote.

April 29, 2012 at 6:51 PM

Facie said…

There were a few times I would scrawl some things down, but what you said is pretty much what happened. Plus I am usually so tired I cannot even muster the energy to open my eyes, let alone pick up a pen and start writing. If only osmosis (from my head to paper or the computer) would work...

April 30, 2012 at 7:38 PM

chris h. said…

What struck me the most is that you had a "date" to go to Home Depot (and that you still love to go). I lost that lovin' feelin' for Lowe's & HD after about a year in fixer-upperhood...used to be my favorite store, but going seemingly every weekend for years (and WAY too much time in the lumber, electrical, and nails & screws aisles) finally got to me.

May 2, 2012 at 9:50 PM

If I went to the HD like I went to the grocery store, I would feel the same way. But I typically go once a month, so it is still nice. If I could win a gift card anywhere, it would be to that place; the things I would do (or pay someone to do)
:-)

May 3, 2012 at 9:58 AM

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