the extra day...

Every four years someone has today as their birthday...I wonder if one of my readers has a birthday? (I just thought of that, and I thought, oh, now what would I give as a prize/gift?) But hey, I REALLY need to go to the post office, so why not. If today is your birthday, send me your email in the comments (I'll delete it so your email isn't on the blogospere too long) and I'll send you a gift. (But this is only if you read this on today...I know, I'm mean!)

In other thoughts, interesting how right now leap day always falls on a presidential election day. Is it an extra day to campaign? Or an extra day to wonder who we'll vote for? (No political comments, please, this is a neutral blog.)

In other news, on Wednesday, Pittsburgh lost an icon, Myron Cope. If you don't know who that is, google it, you'll find a ton of tributes. Yoi, double yoi! (He was the man who "invented" the Terrible Towel, and even cooler, all his proceeds for the Towel and other stuff he did goes to a school that helps autistic kids because his son is severely autistic. What I think is the coolest is that we never heard a peep about this before he died, the whole let your right hand not know the good your left hand is doing, etc.)

(I'm not linking it up because a lot of times if you link to something big like that, it traces you back...Sarah Louise is blogging about Myron...and while I know I have more than 3 readers, I don't especially feel the need to reach outside my audience to raging Steelers fans.) (Not you, silly!)

Well, I'm off to the big "Catch the reading bug" training, first of two. They'll be identical except for the venue and the caterers and the participants. I have six minutes to talk about the S*tuffed A*nimal S*leepover. I typed something up last night and it took *two* minutes to read. I'll ask for questions.

The cookies are still unopened. I've been too busy!

Oh, and I have a date for the "I-totally-forgot-and-so-did-NH-Sally-Anne-Lamott-event" tomorrow night. My boss originally bought the two tickets, one for me, one for Max. Sally was my next "date," she even took one of AL's books on her vackay. But her other half has something going on. She said, those folks that have birthdays on the first two days of the month never get cards from me--which is totally what happened, I was SO focused on February that I totally forgot about March 1.

15 minutes til my departure. Maybe I should try to dry my hair a little more and find out exactly how cold it is out there.

the cookies cometh...

Yes, it is that time of year. I was yesterday the recipient of one box of Samoa Girl Scout cookies. It is amazing that it has remained unopened for over 12 hours. It still has the red ribbon tied around its belly!

(Not for long, my sweet...)

Yesterday I found two books that have been on my library account for ages. I was really starting to worry I'd have to buy them and then, a "what's this? oohh!!" look at my desk and voila! They are on their way, woo hoo, and off my card.

Today is my momma's birthday! In the fluster of my dad's broken arm and my mom's trip to Mexico (with out him), I think the day has crept up on all of us, like wow! Oh yes, it's a birthday!

Oy vey. I can't believe I'm calling this a post. Better writing in March, I promise.

spoke too soon

Um, yeah.

So remember about February being great?

Yah, my therapist is leaving the practice at the end of March, I've been in "stalled" mode for the past coupla days...whine whine whine.

BUT...yesterday's weed-a-pa-looza (my friend Kelley organized some of us librarians to help another library weed its collection) was super fun.

And Juno won for best screenplay at the Oscars.

And my momma's back from Mexico.

And if I don't wrap this up, I'll be late to work. But it's been a while, I just wanted to shout out to my three readers (hee!)

MTC,

SL

A great February

Months that are hard for depressives:

• October. I had a pretty good one until I totaled my car.
• December. I had a nasty one, getting over the break-up, PLUS all the Christmas stuff
• February. Valentine's Day n'at, even though I pretty much like V-Day, but the winter blahs...

Except that this year:

• two weekends ago, my parents came up, so I took Saturday off and while I was being hostess, my computer was getting XPified.
• last weekend I went to Chicago, which was so wonderful to just GET OUTTA TOWN.
  
• this weekend I have two birthday parties--one was tonight (Saturday) and one is tomorow (Sunday). The Sunday one was rescheduled, so I can go, I otherwise couldn't b/c it was during work hours.
  

Someday soon I'll get my computer and my camera to communicate again, I promise.

Mama came home from Mexico today, but I haven't talked to her b/c the invite for the party said 6:15 (even though everyone else thought it said 7, even the folks whose house it was at...I got there at 6:45...)

I'm sure I had something brilliant to say, but I'm too tired, and it's already tomorrow on the East Coast.

xo,

SL

Fun at blogs! (and listening to the radio)

Every once in a while, I do look at my dashboard for more than "view blog" or "new post." Today I discovered the Shoebox greetings blog in the "Blogs of note." This post on the latest news is spot on!

Am listening to the "Movie Mom" on the radio and there's some new Jack Black movie coming out about two guys at a video store who accidentally erase all the flix and so have to remake the movies, starting with Ghostbusters and Robocop. Hmmm, I do like Jack Black.

Ooh, and on the Movie Mom's website, found this cool quiz on movie quotes, and found out why "I drink your milkshake! I drink it up" is appearing on t-shirts.

The Fonz is in town and is ready to go to the "O"! It's going to be a mini-reunion (not at the "O," at the convention center, silly.) Cindy Williams will be there!

I should be having breakfast with Pete this morning--well, coffee. I probably can't go without food until 10. I was considering walking until I heard the wind chill is 3. But then again, my car won't like driving that short of a distance (the Union Project) if it's that cold. Hmm.

Oh, what else was I gonna tell ya? I forgot. Oh well.

Oh--the shirt I thought the washer ate might have been stuck to the dryer wall--I found it. It still sort of fits. It definitely requires layering though.

Oh, and props to the folks that filled in some potholes in Highland Park recently. In February? I'm impressed! Usually it's May before that happens...

Open letters

To Verizon:

I paid my bill a few weeks ago. I forgot I'd paid ahead, so when I got your "reminder email" I tried to sign into the online bill paying thing I've been using since 2003. You told me I had to sign into Verizon first. I forgot my password, so yesterday b4 work I tried the "no time, just want to pay?" option and I needed my "account number" which is my phone number plus some alpha-numeric that I would know if I got my bill on paper. All of yesterday I had no time to double check this. This morning, the day the bill was due (I know...) I got up EARLY to make sure I'd be able to figure it out. I almost had a cow when you told me you had no such account but realized I had entered the wrong email. When I FINALLY got to the payment page, the payment due today was $0.00. GAH!!

Sarah Louise, who is contemplating returning to paper billing...

My dear 2nd floor neighbors:

How old are you? I could hear through the bathroom running and giggling and "there are people in this house that want to sleep" at 11:00 pm. I don't want to be a RA or something, but I hope we can still be friends after I had to come downstairs at 11:45 and rap on your door.

Sarah Louise, who has been living here 13 years, and don't you forget it!!

Dear country radio station:

Here are the songs I'm tired of listening to:

"Stay" by that band.
"Blink" by that guy (the one about turning 102).
"Letter to me" by that other guy.

If you have to play old stuff, try some Johnny Cash!

Sarah Louise, who doesn't have a CD player in this car.

Dear Lucy,

Darlin', I have no idea if I'll be keeping you. Your broken engine mount and rusted out rocker panel and cracked steering rack make you pretty unattractive to me. I understand more now about your name.

Sarah Louise, who named the car after the author of the song, Passionate Kisses, (Lucinda Williams) which goes like this:

Is it too much to ask
I want a comfortable bed that won't hurt my back
Food to fill me up
And warm clothes and all that stuff
Shouldn't I have all of this, and

Passionate kisses from you

Is it too much to demand
I want a full house and a rock and roll band
Pens that won't run out of ink
And cool quiet and time to think
Shouldn't I have all of this, and

(refrain)

In which SL has a snow day from Bible Study...

Well, it was really snowy in the South Hills, so E cancelled Bible Study. I had a 9 am appointment to get an armband (it's for the exercise study). So I came home and threw some laundry, which is probably ready to be flipped.

It was not so snowy here or anywhere else, but nice to have some extra time.

In which I have:

• started soaking some dishes
• laundry (see above)
• started loading library books into bag to take back but then realized that I wanted to record them, so stopped that. I might take them in and then scan them, as at work I can scan the barcodes into Library Thing and that might be quicker.
  
• caught up on Badger's blog (she's started thrift shopping AND sewing!)

So basically, nothing here. I will do a "SL went to Chicago" post one of these days but not now. Oh, and today I'll start using my flash drive, yo! The one I got not last Christmas but the year before that...

Oh, and I now am the proud owner of a twin box and mattress set. I'm looking for a day bed frame if you know of one, cheap or free. (We'll soon be getting rid of the sofa, I'll find an earring and probably some other stuff.) I'm thinking that it would be good to do this in March if possible, but that may not happen.

No news on the car front except that the lawyer can't help me b/c I signed an "As-is" contract. Doh! My therapist kindly said, anyone could have done what you did in your circumstances. I thanked her for that, because the lawyer made me cry when he said, "You look like a smart woman, why did you buy this car?" BECAUSE I WAS BLINDSIGHTED, you dufus.

Moving on. Better flip that laundry.

in which SL says go look at the cool picture on Katy's blog....

Yes, I'm back...

I had a LOVELY time in Chicago. More on that later. Right now I think I'll just direct you to Katy's cool picture of me taking a picture at the Bean.

We had lots of fun.

And I'm mostly over my cold now. I have to figure out whose trash week it is and if the city is picking up trash on President's Day.

But first, perhaps a nap. Which might turn into a night's sleep--I'm exhausted!!

I have pictures of the Windy City, but the computer and the camera haven't been reacquainted since the XP upgrade...

More later, I promise.

Oh, and just for the record--Katy has more yarn than I have ever seen outside of a yarn store. And we had a blast.

Oh, and now I like Breakfast at Tiffany's--not sure why I didn't before.

My sofa is calling me...

New and intriguing...or not

So the entire Pittsburgh area is riddled with snow. The public schools are closed, Bible Study is canceled, it's a mess.

I'm not sure I even want my blog to be associated with this YouTube I'm about to share, so I'm just giving you the link to the Pittsburgh news channel's website (WTAE). It is, well, going to ruin "Hooked on a Feeling" for me forever, I think. Which might not be a bad thing...

I think I lost a shirt in the laundry...is that possible? I mean I know socks get kidnapped, but this was an entire pink shirt that I really liked...

I think we will see a drastic change forward in the healing process of SL and Max, the saga. I made a list of things that bugged me. Um, I write big, and the pages of the notebook were small, and about one page was things I did like, but I filled 8 pages FRONT AND BACK. Um, maybe it's a good thing I'm no longer dating this man...ya think?! I mean, we disagreed on politics, money, religion...and that's off the top of my head.

I'm back, didya miss me?

Wow was it bizarre to not have my computer for most of Saturday, all of Sunday and most of today. Yikes!

The printer still needs installed (yes, I'm perfectly aware of my Pittsburgh-ism there.) Oh and snap, Blogger or someone thinks I need spelling help. Yuk. I think I fixed it the last time it happened.

But seriously, I have been online for over two hours, messing around on Facebook, taking quizzes, playing Scrabble, playing Scramble...

So I have no wise words.

Except these: it is time for SL to get off the computer and get ready for bed.

Hogs and quiches to you all,

SL

to xp we go...

"Why do you want to upgrade to XP?" asked one of the Sallys I work with.
"Because my computer currently runs on Me."
"Oh."

So tomorrow morning, I will dismantle my computer and take it to NH Sally's, where her hubby has generously agreed to wipe it and then install XP. Woot!

What this means is I will be without my computer... (read: without that thing that seems constantly connected to the edges of my fingertips...) But my fambly sans Bro will be here, so I'll be sufficiently entertained...

I'm tired. The stress test went well, apparently I did well. I'll get the results when I meet with the woman who is administering the study. The teleconference was...um. It was good to see CLP Main, and say hello to a woman I worked with when I did my internship there in Library School. (CLP Main is Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Oakland Branch, which is the main branch, connected to the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History.)

Then I went to work, worked, went to dinner, came back for an hour, and then went to Targét. Where I paid my bill and promptly spent almost as much as I'd just paid by getting laundry detergent and the soundtrack to Juno.

I think I need a lay down. I'll see you in a few days, unless I blog tomorrow. Oh, AND, I get to meet the Babelbaby tomorrow, woot!

It's REALLY Friday!

• I woke up to snow!!
• I'm going to a teleconference, so won't be "at work" until after 2pm. (The teleconf is 12-1:30)
• I have the next two Saturdays OFF!

The parents are coming tomorrow, but THIS JUST IN: Sis is coming with them!! We might go to the movies and stuff. Oh, this is fun!

Next weekend I'm flying off to Chicago. To visit Katy! I cannot remember the last time I took a trip that didn't involve family or work, but I read this article and emailed Katy. I haven't decided if I'm bringing *my* ice skates though.

I have (I think) the last hoop to go through today for the exercise study. So at 10 am, I go for a "stress test" (which involves a treadmill.) If I do the study, it will be 6 mos of tracking moods and working up to walking for 45 min, 5 days a week.

Well, my stomach is rumbling, so off to eat something and get ready for the "stress test." I might even have time to hang out at CLP Main before the conference, woot!

Pittsburgh weather n'at

So we had two days of 60 degree weather and now we're back to the 30s. This is why I live here. The days of 60 degrees are a welcome reminder that warmer weather is not a figment, more will come, but the return to 30 degrees is the return to normalcy.

I wonder if you can transfer that to relationships, she says capriciously. I, 36 year old Christian woman, for 6 months dated a 28 year old agnostic man. And then the weather returned to normal again. The six months were like those two days of 60 degrees. You knew it didn't fit, but it was lovely.

The only problem with this metaphor is that while I enjoyed the days of 60 degrees, I was glad to go back to 30 degrees because, hello, it's winter! But, I do know many Pittsburghers who say, oh, I wish it would stay warm. And to them, I think, um, move to Georgia. (Which most of them never will, their whole families and lives are here in the Burgh.)

I'm just rambling, playing around with words...

I'm reading Phillip Yancey's book, Prayer: does it make any difference? and LOVING IT. The thing I love about Phil (can I call you Phil?) is that he is so grumpy and NORMAL. He says all the things you've thought about prayer (why don't you answer me God) and really looks at what the Bible has to say about it (so many of the Psalms are really passionate and angry). I never read a Yancey book and think, oh, this man is so super-spiritual, he has no idea what it's like to live MY life. In this book, there are sidebars of stories from Christians and what their experiences are and one of the ones I just read was from a single woman who is probably about my age, asking the same questions I do about singleness. (Well, it doesn't sound like she just came off a six month relationship, but the other stuff.) So I am reading this book like it's a novel, knowing that I'll be buying a copy soon, so I can underline it like crazy.

Oh...Max said he never knew someone to annotate as much as I. Gosh he's a cool person, I hope we can someday be friends again. Maybe it's that waiting for when the weather is supposed to be 60 degrees.

I recently found an ex on Facebook, one of the ones I did stay friends with. It's good to have him as a FB friend.

Okay, enough blathering. Time to eat some breakfast and wash my hair--Sally is coming to help me tackle the Abyss (the nickname for my walk-in closet.)

ttfn,

SL

it's raining babies!

In case you came here first, go visit Babs! Gina has told us, a boy has been birthed.

Vera vera exciting.

(Yes, this from the girl who is not usually excited about babies.) (They have to be special babies for me to be this excited.)

Just another day in Paradise...

• I paid the phone bill this morning. I had to check something in my wallet, and in so doing, I put my wallet in the purse I'm NOT currently using. So when it came to pay for lunch, I was flabbergasted! Good thing Sally covered me. I'll pay her back tomorrow. I was so grateful when I got home to find my wallet, because of course I didn't remember putting it in the wrong purse. (Talk about an adrenoline rush...)
  
• The lawyer appt. for this evening? (About starting to pursue figuring out what to do with my car?) They called around 2 pm and postponed til next Wednesday. (But after all the adrenoline from the wallet and other earlier dramas, I was relieved.)
• Wednesday the car guy is going to do a couple minor things to my car--like lubricate my ignition, spray something so my shift won't lock in cold weather, and condition my steering rack. Basically stuff that will make my life nicer and safer. When I say the car guy, I'm talking about the guy who diagnosed my car as a not so great find.
  
• Did you know Easter is in MARCH? As in the week BEFORE I go off to the Public Library Association Conference in Minneapolis? So I might be in Pittsburgh for Easter after all. (I was hoping to spend it with my mom's side of the family in Myrtle Beach.)
• My parents are coming this weekend!! They may bring Sis!!
  
• The following weekend I may be going to Chicago!! To see Katy and go ice skating!!
• It's 8:30 and I am ready to crash into bed. Well, I do have to finish Blink for the book club tomorrow night, maybe I'll just brush my teeth and read in bed.
  

Oh, and guess who went for a walk this morning? I am SO out of shape. But it did me good to be out in the air.

Oh, and guess whose water broke during the SuperBowl? (Not mine, silly.) We may be having another bloggy baby right now or we might already have one...congrats to the Babe family!!

oh, and I know it's Superbowl Sunday, but I don't really follow football...

I'll write a football post later though. That sounds like a good idea.

Notes:

*winning tickets to playoff game (Redskins, 1984)
*Jerry Maguire, my fave football flick
*the WVU bowl game
*the year we got a TV for Christmas (Redskins vs. Raiders, 1984)

My Sunday morning...

So, it's your favorite (or not so favorite) thirty-something moderately depressed blogger.

tap, tap, is this thing on?

I wake up, knowing it must be light outside because the covers are over my head and it's bright, even under the covers.

Knowing it's not the best route to better mental health, I come to check my email. Ah, Facebook has Valentine's Cards. You know, I knew that already. Oh, and my Verizon bill is online. Thanks. Isn't that more of a "Monday morning" email? This electronic life takes away "days of the week, time of day."

And that was over 2 hours ago.

Since then, I have visited Babs, who is still blogging with a bun in the oven (she's still the mother of 3+1), Daysgoby (who won an award, twice!), and Badger, whose daughter talks mile-a-minute when she's happy. I wasn't able to be chipper about this, since it reminded me of what I'm like when I'm manic. (I'm not saying she's manic.) (I am WAY too in my head these days. It creates problems.) I posted a comment in response to someone's comment and browsed old posts on my other blog and went over to Newlywifed, who promises this will be the last post about breastfeeding. I don't comment.

I decide it's about time to eat something, so I have a breakfast drink, and decide to find a movie to watch this afternoon. We're having a "community meeting about covenant membership" at the OD at 4, so I have to go an early show. Sis has been trying to get to Atonement and I thought, yes, that's what I'll go see. Until I read the review on Yahoo! Movies and a few user reviews. Plus, the movie is 2 hours long...so I moved on. There will be Blood, no. First Sunday, no. I must have gone through all the movies that are on tap at my favorite movie house (I've seen 3, 1 is horror, 1 is Rambo, No!, two are the ones I just vetoed...) So I move on.

Persepolis catches my eye. So I click on it, read the review, read some user reviews (wowsa, there are some angry folks!), go to CT Movies, go to Rotten Tomatoes. So At 12:35 I'll be at the Manor on Murray Ave. It's 32 degrees Fahrenheit, so I'll have to get there early enough to spend ten minutes getting my key out of the ignition since Squirrel Hill isn't too far away but too far to walk and Sunday buses are notoriously slow and infrequent. Hmm, maybe I'll get lunch at Gullifties and maybe I'll go to Fox Books...

So at 10:44, I think, hmm, I could take a shower and give myself a book budget and go browse in a bookstore. When was the last time I did THAT? (For a librarian, it's a bit of a busman's holiday.) And I could have lunch at Brueggers, which would be cheaper than Gullifties. Oooh, and I could go get Winter White Chocolate at 31 Flavas...

It's been awhile since I've gone on a date with me and my city. (Hopefully I'll do better than Carrie in Anchor's Away) Yesterday as we walked out of work (we all walk out together when the library closes at 5 on Saturdays), someone said, Spring is coming and I said, "there's no rush..." and so someone and I had a conversation about how I have no family ties in Pittsburgh, if I didn't like the weather, I could get a job somewhere warmer.

Because the weather is one of the things I like about this crazy town. I know. (I'm a winter girl--which makes me miss Max, who is too. He likes how you can see further in the winter because the leaves are gone.) (Um, Max is a winter boy.)

Lent starts on Wednesday--I can hardly believe it! Which means Easter is egad! In March! So I better start planning my trip to South Carolina...

And since now my brain is about to explode and the movie is about an hour and a half away, I think I'll go take that shower.

Thanks for tuning in. (Or not.)

Books I'm reading:

• Blink by Malcolm Gladwell--for the library's book group Tuesday. It's a re-read for me. (It's NOT self help, even though the subtitle makes it sound like it is.)
• 3 Weddings and a Giggle (finished the first novella last night.) (Also a re-read)
• Prayer: does it make any difference? by Phillip Yancey. Phil is always so DOWN TO EARTH. I like that he's also a little grumpy.
  
• Getting Dumped...and getting over it. (this was a discard at our library and it caught my eye in the recycling bin. I read through it before bed and it was quite insightful. I underlined it like crazy, took quizzes and realized I'm NOT ready to talk to Max yet. I'll be re-reading this.)

Well, off to wash hair n'at.

a reminder to myself...

Be strong and courageous and get to work.
Don't be frightened by the size of the task, for the Lord my God is with you;
He will not forsake you. He will see to it that everything is finished correctly.

(from the book of Joshua.)

Are ya wearing red?

Today is National Wear Red day, the cheerful reason being that heart disease is the #1 killer of women. I think it used to be Wear a Red Dress day, but maybe someone realized that men might want to participate or that women wear less dresses now than in the past. And they can't use a red ribbon, because that was how the ribbon wearing thing started, with the red ribbons for AIDS.

I have a lovely red sweater that has been waiting patiently in the basement, dry now, after being washed. I don't think it really matches the turtleneck I'll be wearing, but the fashion police don't really take trips to my library very often. (Or ever, I guess.)

I'll be writing another installment of "This electronic life" on why email can be a really bad idea sometimes, but I need to tie up some loose ends and eat crow. Or humble pie.

from the WOH devotional:

Dear Lord, if today is a good day, hold me tight lest I grow lazy; if today is a bad day, hold me tight lest I grow faint of heart. For Jesus' sake, Amen.