Random Ramblings

I wanted to get a quick post in, mostly so I could upload a picture of our "Good Things" box that I referenced in my last post. So far, I have managed to find at least one positive thing to put in every day, and some days I have had more than one. Truth be told, I could come up with at least a half dozen if I really wanted to, but I am going for quality, not quantity.

A few other things:

I wish hockey season would start. I have a glimmer of hope, but it is tiny. Regardless, it was nice to see Team USA beat the Swedes today in the world junior hockey championships. I had never watched a hockey game at 8 a.m. but glad that today changed that. Worth noting is that four of Team USA's members hail from western PA. Equally as nice for me was watching those guys (kids, to me) enthusiastically sing the National Anthem after they had been awarded their gold medals. You just don't see that often.
Today we "de-decorated." I feel a little bad about this because not only did we do this a day early (tomorrow is Epiphany, which is the end of the Christmas season in the church), but also because it means the holidays are really over. At least our house still smells of pine needles, because we vacuumed hundreds of them. This also means that for the next few times we vacuum, we will continue to smell pine needles, rather than (hopefully!) dog. It's the little things.
It was kind of nice when a couple of the kids from school said to me that they wished I was their new Spanish teacher. I reminded them that I know very little Spanish, but they said that it was more important that I could teach.
I know I should drop the four pounds I gained in the last four to six weeks, but, alas, we still have two boxes of candy left plus Girl Scout cookies have just gone on sale. If only I had some self-control.
I don't want to talk too much about politics, but I will say these things: I am glad that taxes were not raised on the middle income people. I know we all have to make sacrifices, but considering the cost of everything has gone up in the past few years and the hubby has not had a raise in more years than that, I don't know how much more we can do. I also don't like that the payroll tax has gone back up for the same reason, but it was supposed to be a temporary thing, so I can accept it. Those things notwithstanding, spending cuts need to be made. I don't know in which areas, but the country cannot continue down this same path.
Finally, here is the picture of the "Good Things" box. Jordan decided on the color scheme (the sides, which you cannot see, are orange) and doodads. Here's hoping we can continue to put good/positive things in there. Glass half full!

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...

And in this corner

This weekend I am running in the Regent Run Around the Square, my first 5k race since 2006 and my first Run Around the Square since 2002. The last time I ran in that race, I entered the "heavyweight" division. If you know me, you know that although I am not skinny, I am certainly not a heavyweight. And even if I were, isn't it more important to be healthy and in shape? Which I am. How else could I run 3 to 4 miles on a regular basis? (Okay, I have not run 4 miles since the beginning of June, and I sometimes let two weeks go by before I run again. But during the school year, I was a regular runner, and trust me, I am doing just fine now.) Who thinks up these things? Don't enough women have self-image problems without being made to feel fat when they are not (and even if they are overweight, why make a big deal about it)? Luckily for me, I think fairly highly of my physical self; at the very least, I (mostly) accept what I have, try to work on it somewhat, and just b...

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