On the lighter side

I spent most of the day yesterday watching various 9/11 programs on the History Channel. Some I had seen last year, one probably a few years ago, and at least one was new to me. As gripping and harrowing as they were, by 11 p.m., I had, quite simply, OD'ed on 9/11.

So tonight I want to think about things that have made me smile the past few days. My family (most especially Jordan and Brian), relatives, and friends make me happy so much more often than not, but I decided not to include them in this list. Not surprisingly, since it is September, quite a few of my happy thoughts revolve around football. :-)

Football season. Every year I expect the Steelers to make it to the playoffs, and much more often than not, they don't disappoint. Even though I can't say with a lot of confidence that the Black 'n' Gold will get there this year, there is something exciting about the first game of the season (and, during this unusual year, seeing what a relatively new QB can do).
Troy Polamalu's hair. I am not just talking about his beautiful, flowing locks (though how can you not love them) or even his great Head 'n Shoulders commercial. The gray hairs he was sporting today were what made me smile. If this man can be okay showing his gray, maybe, just maybe, I can stop plucking mine out!
Jordan's slight interest in football. Jordan came into my room this afternoon as I was watching the game. She asked a few questions, sort of watched for a couple of minutes, left, and then came back about 10 second later wearing her Hines Ward jersey. I think my eyes might have welled up with tears.
The priest at my church, during football season. From September through early January at least, you can pretty much count on Father John to work the Steelers into his homily. Today he said it is the feast of the first Steeler game of the season, which caused a few chuckles. He also said he hopes he has grown spiritually in the past few months so that he won't be mad about the losses all week long. Yeah, I know it is just a game, but some of us do take it kind of seriously.
JoePa. Yes, the man is older than some fossils, yes, he probably should step down sooner rather than later, but I just can't help loving him. He really is a great guy. I just wish I had had my camera with me when I met him back in '02 (and I told him I loved him).
Fall weather. I love when the air turns cooler. (I love that the AC is off!) I love the smell of burning wood. I love the colorful, crunchy leaves. I love the pumpkin patch (and eating just about anything that is pumpkin-related). But definitely near the top of the list, I am all too happy to stop wearing shorts and to put the jeans back on.
Our windows. I fretted over spending money to replace our windows, but that was the best large sum of money I have spent in years. Maybe ever. Our house stays cooler/warmer (as appropriate), we hear less outside noise, we can actually see out of the windows, and our dog can still catch some rays while lying in front of the living room window, which I know makes her happy.
Coffee and flavored creamer. Who needs Starbucks when I can brew my own and throw in a different delish creamer every couple weeks. And because it is fall, that means pumpkin spice should be back on the shelves (I know what I will buying soon). But for now, I can look forward to sipping that cup of joe in about nine hours.

I hope you can come up with many things that make you smile. :-)

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...

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...

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