Drafts, beautiful music, shopping, parties, and giving

So apparently I have five drafts that I have not posted. Mostly I just don't have that much to say. And if/when I do, I tend to reread it and decide it is just too disjointed to a post.

So, here comes yet another attempt, which will be yet another bulleted update on my life, for the two of you who still stop by occasionally. :-)

I finished most of my Christmas shopping yesterday. Hooray! The snow falling and my playing Bach's Wachet Auf (Sleepers Awake) made the day pretty darn good. If I could find a way to upload the version the string quartet at our Lessons and Carols did last year, I would. I am telling you it is hard not to listen to that song and feel a a sense of calm as well as an appreciation for the beautiful music. Google it (or find it on You Tube), and you probably won't be disappointed.
I went to my first building holiday party Friday. I knew only the people on my floor and a handful of people on two other floors. But I did meet a few more. The food was good and plentiful, and there was a nice, small selection of beer and wine. One guy asked a coworker if I was his wife. I took that as a compliment because said coworker is nine years younger than I (no, don't even suggest that this guy just thought I was his older wife). Another guy asked that same coworker why he did not bring me downstairs for the "early start" to the party. Sounds as if I am "in" next year.
The Steelers have a losing record. Yeah, newsflash, I know. What I find weird, but I guess not surprising, is how people have jumped off the bandwagon. Normally there are at least two dozen people at mass on a football Sunday wearing some type of Steelers garb. Today I did not notice a single person. Now, maybe someone had a shirt underneath the coat he/she did not take off, or maybe I just missed a person or two. But the dearth of Steeler attire was quite noticeable. I did, however, notice two people wearing Pirates clothing. Never thought I would see the day that Pirates gear would outnumber Steelers gear in December.
I am probably the last person to sing the praises of technology. And you can bet I will always be one of the last people to try anything new. But I so love that you can upload a picture for a Christmas card online, and have your cards ready in a couple of hours. I remember years ago going to Target and getting J's Christmas pictures, along with our cards, done. I think it took about a week, maybe 10 days. One year, I was picking up the Christmas cards the day before Christmas Eve. This same-day thing is all that and a bag of chips!
As much as I fail as a parent, at least I am teaching my child the importance of generosity and appreciating what we have. She told me the other day that she took money out of her bag at school (she keeps $2.75 in there in case she forgets her lunch or lunch tickets) because not that many classmates contributed to the collection for a boy in the community. J told me that he really wanted clothes, and with the small amount of money, he would not be able to get much. She had already turned in money, but I was glad she wanted to do more and felt empathy for that boy, whoever he is.

And that, to me, is a big part of what the holidays are about. Even if you have no religious beliefs, this time of year you can be a little kinder, a little more generous, and a little more understanding. I am really trying to do my part.

Peace and blessings to you.

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...

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