Playing solitaire on the computer at two thirty in the morning...

Yeah, so if I play endless games of computer free cell or solitaire, you can guess that I am in anxiety h-e-double hockey sticks.

Called my parent's house this morning as I woke up from bad dreams around 10 a.m. (Thank you God that I work at 1 p.m.)

So, what are you anxious about, my dad asked.

• my car
• the surgery (for deviated septum -- nose sinus surgery, Wednesday the 19th)
  
• my mother coming to visit; (my apartment is SO NOT READY)
• getting into grad school
• what if I don't get into grad school
• things I'll miss if I do get into grad school, like how well the Penguins are doing.
• Sidney Crosby (so you can imagine my GLEE that he has been cleared for contact today!!!)
• moving
• Mother Goose (where I sing to babies and their mamas)
  

Yesterday I had 64 folks (babies and adults) in my 10 am session. That's like performance, making sure you are projecting to the folks in the back of the double room. In the 11 am session, I was off (don't know why...) (um, anxiety, um, having 64 folks in session 1) and so were they. It was like doing story time to a wall. I didn't let them know THIS IS PARTICIPATORY and even though we're four weeks in, it was almost all new folks so there weren't people modeling "this is what we do when she reads the book about animal sounds." (You make the animal sounds!!)

My dearest friend, Marian the Librarian, is a ghost that I see once in a blue moon...she can't seem to get healthy!! And she was my sounding board at work for years! So then I started going out with the ladies who lunch (my nickname for them) and then the soy allergy came ker-blow into that, I eat in, and now I've gotten to a point where I just read on my lunch hour, so I try to not go at noon, I go at 12:30 so that I miss the people that sit and talk while eating. Yes, I am going into myself. It's bad.

I need to find out WHAT I can eat at some of the restaurants the ladies go to. B/c I need to spend some lunch money--the way you get to know what's going on, and the way to kvetch about it, at our library, is to go out for lunch.

Advent(ures)

Helen just stopped by to say "hello, long time no see." Well, I'll say hello...

Hi! We'll do bullets, b/c life has been CRA-ZEE ovah heah.

• I'm writing an article for an academic journal. GAH. It's due Wednesday. I've been spending most spare moments researching/piecing bits of writing
• Thanksgiving/Birthday (Forty minus one) was wonderful, the fam plus D, my sister's beau, came to visit me in da Burgh. We had turkey on the Gateway Clipper, which is a boat that takes you on all three Pittsburgh rivers. When dinner was over, there was dancing, I did the Electric Slide. My sister got a picture of my parents dancing to "Unforgettable." (Did I mention that this summer they celebrated 41 years of marriage?) I got pictures which maybe I'll post...
  
• My sister gave me a "grown-up" watch for my birthday. By that I mean, it has the 12 at the top and dots where the rest of the numbers would be. My parents got me a Penguins Jersey (or the financing for one) which I have to pick out. More details forthcoming.
  
• Today was the Children's Department Holiday potluck. There is beautiful snow on the ground everywhere and the way the hostess directed me was just breathtaking, through forests of bare trees with snow, like a picture book.
• For the potluck, I made quiche. Yes, I'm cooking and baking again. And washing dishes...I've become kind of domestic again, after a 13 year hiatus!! And I'm losing inches ever so slowly. I haven't weighed myself because I don't want to see that I weigh the same. (I gained 30 pounds last year due to stress, not eating well, and not exercising, due to the departure of North Hills Sally who is now Michigan Sally)
  
• It is winter here, my favorite season of the year.
  
• I LOVE my new church. This past Sunday, we had a U2charist, which is a service that has Eucharist and all the songs are U2 songs. It's our second annual. Here's an article about my church!!
• For my birthday, my brother got me Season 1 of Boy Meets World. I LOVE IT!! I watched that show on ABC's Friday night line up "TGIF" for just about the entire 7 year run.

This is the busiest weekend of the year, I think: I skipped Bible Study this morning to work on the article (although I have been back since I last wrote), I made quiche this morning for the potluck this afternoon, tomorrow is a neighborhood party (where you walk from house to house for Christmas food goodies), and Saturday after work, Lilly and I are going to the movies. Sunday it might REALLY snow, and if it does, I'll write at home, and if it doesn't I may spend some time at the graduate school looking at articles. I haven't been to a movie since Thanksgiving. I know! And today was the first day in eons that I watched breakfast television...which included old episodes of the Pink Panther...um, I had no idea it was a cartoon first. (But so very awesome!!)

Hopefully soon I'll have brain cells enough to write something that has wit, but this will get you updated for now.

Applebees didn't pay me to write this post...a few open letters

Dear Applebees,

OMG! I drink a lot of iced tea, year round. And I have not had iced tea that good in a very long time. I must have the recipe...

Also, you had me at hello when the bathroom stall had a purse hook (what is it with bathroom stalls these days? Did a hook pirate come and steal them all??)

THEN, there was a door to the outdoors right by the ladies room, such that I didn't have to go back to the front where throngs were waiting with their dates for tables.

I'll be back. For the tea.

Yours,

SL

**********

Dear Pittsburgh,

You have stolen my heart. You know that, right? They say TCK's are of two kinds--one kind spreads shallow roots all over the place. A big wind, and they move to the next place, like a tumbleweed. Then there are the "me" type--we grow a tap root that goes all the way down. So here's the thing. You have offered up some opportunities. I need one of them to come through. You know that I will want again to be closer to family, and you may someday have to concede to my love for the beach. But for now, you are playing all your cards, with community, mentors, friends, and your trump card, geography. You know that I love that there are five ways to get to any one place. You know that I love walking mornings in Highland Park. You know that I hate moving. You might win this time. I might let you. Do me a favor, though? Start working on getting me a better paying job, and start looking for a beau. I like them tall and Christian. I don't need it to be right now (you know I have enough going on right now) but you know, in the next decade or so...

Yours, till Niagara Falls,

SL

***********

Dear body,

WHY? Do I not feed you well? That you must betray me monthly with the aches that remind me I could be making babies? Isn't there an on/off button? I'm not interested in having babies right now, can we dispense with the pain? PLE-ASE??? You know what I'm talking about.

I'm watching you...

SL, who is allergic to Advil, Pamprin, and all NSAIDS, including Aspirin.

*************

And one last peeve.

I don't know how to make it into an open letter. I am grateful for people who have THEIR picture as their Facebook profile. Hey, if you have a kid, sure, have a picture of the child in your profile picture. But don't put THEIR picture as your profile picture--are you them? Are they you? And what is the deal with wedding pictures? I'm glad you got married. But I don't really need to see your wedding dress every time I pull up your profile.

Signed,

A trying-so-very-hard
and-not-succeeding-to-not-be-peevish
single-childless-36-year-old woman.

*************

A woman at work this week said, that Sarah Louise, I've never seen her get upset at anyone. Humph, I giggled inside. She doesn't know me well enough. But it's nice to be thought of nicely.

Okay, I think I'm done being snarky. Here's a story about butterflies, and when I let them go yesterday at the Picture Book Picnic (our library's summer storytime.)

We set free our five Painted Lady butterflies yesterday. I did a storytime with The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Relatives came (love Cynthia Rylant), First the Egg, and Waiting for Wings (Ehlert, very good factual info at end about butterflies). At the end, I opened the house and three went right away. The fourth one had to be coaxed, and the fifth wanted to stay on the flower we had in the house, so I lifted the flower out and it finally flew. We didn't take pictures, but it was one of those moments that you really couldn't capture on film. I will never forget it, and I bet the kids that huddled around me won't forget it, either.

Go hug someone. Or a pillow. Smile, it makes people wonder what you're up to. And I'll be here all week. (And all weekend--I have tomorrow OFF!)

I'll mow your lawn...

So I went for an evening walk with the twins. Well, their parents and grandmother did the walking, but they came too. I upped my paltry step count of the low 4000's to the low 7000s. (As a part of the study, I now wear a pedometer. I'm supposed to walk 9000 steps a day.

As we walked, we watched a man mow his postage stamp front lawn, and the twin's mom told me about signs they'd seen around the neighborhood, "I'll mow your lawn for $10." The best part, she said, is that the signs are printed on the back of printed sheets, like from drafts of a research paper.

We saw three on our walk tonight. We determined that the person who will mow your lawn for $10 is a seminary student who got an A. (One of the signs is printed on the back of the grading sheet, which at the bottom has A, A-, and A, presumably for varying components of the paper.) Another sign was printed on the back of an annotated bibliography. Yet another had actual parts of the paper, with comments. (This was the sheet that led us to our conclusion that he is a seminary student.) The twin's dad, a seminary grad, said, I wish I could map out where all the signs are and determine which order he posted them in so that I could read the paper. It was amusing, to say the least.

And now I'm back, in my dark third floor walk up, as I haven't turned the lights on yet. The very last bit of the sunset is disappearing between the roofs of houses outside my west window, and the noise of children on their big wheels, squealing as if they were on a ride at Kennywood.

Gee, I feel so good, I think I'm gonna break somebody's heart tonight (no, not really, that's a lyric from a Richard Thompson song.) But I might do some dishes...

This post is brought to you by the letter W, which is a V, twinned.

As I tweaked the prose, the sun has almost completely set and the children are presumably in their homes, as all noise from children has ceased. The birds are pretty loud though...

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

Miracles happen in the garret--it's true!

NO JOKE! I have unpacked:

1. my suitcase and sorted out the dirty from the clean laundry.
2. my carryon bag
3. the duffle bag I took to visit Mama in March.
   

Now, not everything is put away, but this is HUGE process for Ms. Procrastination, me!

I have started sorting pictures. Sis and I shared my digi camera on the trip. Al(most) all of her pictures are of landscapes and animals. Mine...well, they're on a smaller scale and rarely of livestock or wildlife. I won't be posting many of hers (one buffalo looks like the next, one mountain range...) (don't tell my family I said that...) but a few will show up here and there. We took about 200, and I think it is cruel and unusual to post ALL, but let's just say you'll be getting pictures again after a long drought.

I'm slowly learning how to work with Picasa.

AND Sis fixed the clock in my car, Hallelujah!

Off to the OD--church, yay!!

Wait a minute, where is the chocolate I bought for the ladies at work? I should have found it upon unpacking...

The Summer of 97: Walks, Dollar movies, and Highland Park: or Sarah Louise and the best things in life (and Pittsburgh) are free

Last summer, Loretta instituted List Fridays. They sort of died out, but I'm all for bringing them back. (I'd link her, but her site is taking like five minutes to load today...)

So it's truly bizarre to think that Toot and Puddle is ten years old. Wow. But it gives me a milestone, as Mr. Ten Years Ago was the one who convinced me it was a great book.

The summer of ninety-seven, he was studying for the qualifying exams for his Ph.D. We had broken up in April, but we were back together by July 4th, and there it was: he had no time (he was studying for the exams) and no cash (he was studying for the exams).

It was the best summer ever.

We had a standing Saturday or Sunday "date" which was often just a walk around Highland Park. We were pretty boring--We'd walk up Jackson, maybe go around the reservoir, and down Highland Avenue. None of this "which way shall we go?" which I personally find very fun.

Every once in a while we'd go see a dollar movie. I think we went to see whichever Batman movie was out.

So, honor of the best summer ever (and Mr. Ten Years Ago, who is happily married and the father of a son) here's another Sarah Louise List.

Free or almost free things to do in Pittsburgh in the summer.

1. Take a walk in Highland Park. Optional: take a penny, and make it a "Penny Walk." At every intersection you drop a penny, and heads is right, tails is left. (I read about it in a book once.)

2. The Three Rivers Arts Festival. I haven't been in YEARS, and this is the last weekend. Maybe Saturday night. (I have the wedding Friday.) Just checked the schedule and Ricky Lee Jones is playing at 6! I suppose if I drove straight from work... well, special guest Lohio--that usually means "opening act," huh. So I could drive home, take the bus down...

3. The Frick Art Museum. Now, I myself love the Carnegie. But if you drive, you have to pay for parking AND a ticket in to the museum. Plus, they took my favorite painting down years ago. The Frick Art Museum is a sweet little art museum with a permanent collection and traveling exhibits.

4. Bach, Beethoven, and Brunch--Mellon Park Rose Garden. Sundays, 10:30 to noon, starting June 17 through August 12. I've never been, because, well, church is Sunday morning. But, hey, I go to church in the evening, so maybe I'll try this out.

5. Cinema in the Park. I love going to Flagstaff. But you can go to movies seven days a week, check it out!

Now, of course, this weekend is Father's Day, but that sort of was off my radar, since we're doing the whole "Celebrate Dad's Birthday and go to Montana" trip. His birthday is the 20th, so in my mind, Father's Day always gets smushed into Dad's Birthday. It's Friday and I still don't have a card for dear old Dad. But hey, it's 8:30 am and I still don't have a gift for the wedding at 5:30! Last month for J&A's wedding, I worked at the library in the morning, ran to Target, perused J&A's registry, found some wrapping paper, and a card. At the register, I confessed that the wedding was a scant hour and a half away. The cashier gave me some grace. "If it weren't for the last minute, I'd never get anything done." Yep, that's me. K&C are registered at Bed Bath and Beyond, so I'll head over to Waterworks this morning.

I guess I'll get on that. Later Babs and I are going SWIMMING! Lunch is with a high school friend who is a prof at CMU.

Weather report brings laughter--"it'll warm up today, expect 33 degrees F": Sarah Louise catches you up on everything and much much more!

And the Post Gazette front page that is in my car's backseat says, "What happened to winter?" (It's an old front page.) (My back seat is where things go to die, and books go to become overdue.)

Sitting at the Take Care Nurse-in-a-Box two weeks ago (right before I was diagnosed with the double ear infection) I read an editor's letter in a magazine that said, "Readers reading this will be saying this was the winter that wasn't." (not an actual quote, but from memory.) You'll forgive me for tossing that magazine aside.

Yesterday we had 1-3 inches of snow in the morning. We got winter, it just was a little late.

I got more antibiotics, this time for a sinus infection. Things I learned:

• Throw out your toothbrush! (I sort of knew that.)
• Warm vaporizors are great at harboring bacteria. The cold vapor ones are the way to go. That cost me $50 yesterday. This is counter to a magazine article I read, but as seen above, magazines LIE! Nurses, however, are smart!
• This one surprised me: guaf and decongestants might actually be detrimental if you're not drinking enough liquids, because they dry you up.
  

I came home, had the lovely leftovers of General T's chicken*, lay down for a nap around 7 pm, and woke up at 11 to take my bedtime meds. I was going to do a load of laundry, but nixed that idea and went back to bed, sleeping until 7 this morning. The news tells me it's around thirteen Fahrenheit. Yahoo tells me it's about 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Duquesne Light (call for the time and temperature: 412-391-9500) says it's 16 degrees. One of these days I'll figure out how to make the degrees symbol show up (tell me if you know, in the comments?).

I have no committment to be at work until 1 pm, but since I was all petered out at 3:45 yesterday, the plan is to go in today 9ish or 10ish (I'm not rushing!!). I was actually at work for six hours yesterday--a veritable record!! (I worked four hours on Tuesday.)

The Pens might go to Vegas? What would they be, the Las Vegas Pens? I mean, blech!!! I had planned to go see them at the Igloo (yes, the Mellon Arena) this season but it hasn't happened yet...

Oh, and Happy International Women's Day!!

And since my last post, folks have been clamoring for other bipolar symptoms.

So here's a "Could it be Bipolar?" test sponsored by Seroquel, a drug used for bipolar disorder. The last bipolar book I took out of the library (I don't even remember the name, it was that bad) was written by a doctor who was convinced that most of the population of NYC has bipolar to some degree. That Bill Clinton exhibited bipolar leanings. And a number of other people. Forgive me for not remembering--the book was trash!! The book sort of glorified the manic portion of what used to be called manic depression. As long as it was hypo-manic (the energetic feeling you get before it's really dangerous), use it. Well, if you have bipolar, you sort of know that, and that is when you clean the house, but seriously, if it goes to manic, then you get the "what goes up must go down"--depression!! The higher the high, the downer the down.

That pause was a call from my work-a-holic mom. Yes, she has a two hour delay, but she was calling me from the school parking lot. "It's like a gift of two hours!" I am grateful for Mary, over at My Vast Veranda**, for showing me that teachers do and can have actual lives. Over the weekend, my mother crowed, I work and then it gives me more energy to do more (extra stuff) (work). She claims it's because there's no one to do stuff with (that she puts so much into her work.) I cannot fix my mama. It's really good that I'm NOT living down there right now. I told her, I'll come down to VA and make you play Scrabble with Daddy!! No one in that house communicates with each other. I go home and stir the pot. Yeah, I think I'll stay up here in Pittsburgh for a while. My need to FIX THINGS could really get out of hand if I moved down there right now.

For the first time in YEARS, I don't have a crush. It's sort of a bizarre feeling, but I feel good. (Although, the first coupla weeks were HELL, as folks that I email to can attest.) I had hoped something might happen with the guy I met at the Jubilee dinner (from Annapolis) but there was nothing on his end, no "What's your phone number," or "Gosh, I hope to see you when you come down to see your Mom in a few weeks." Which I didn't. Sunday, I went to the fellowship where I had initially met him and he was nowhere. Oh well. And at breakfast, Friday, with one of my truth-teller friends, Sasha, when I told her about playing "Dutch Bingo" with the guy when I saw him at Jubilee, she said, no, that just means God is telling you there are guys out there. Oh. So I don't think I'm heading for lifelong singlehood, if God is telling me there are guys out there, but WHERE IS HE***???

Anyways.

Hmm.

So.

So, it's International Women's Day? What will YOU do to celebrate? bobbie, of Emerging Sideways, one year celebrated by giving her and her daughter red plates (a celebratory tradition in their house.) I think I'll celebrate by GOING TO WORK for seven hours!! I think I could actually do it! Be home to watch the Office? Hey, it sounds kind of fun...

*My local Chinese restaurant is great: for about $6, I get tea, soup or egg roll, water, and an entree. AND, the portions mean I get two meals. Chinese for lunch, Chinese for dinner. YUM.

**Okay, a bad choice for a post to show that teachers have lives. But she has time to blog. And she has pets. And if you read this, you'll see she has time to read, and watch TV, two things my mother doesn't do. (Gee, do I have issues with my mother loving her job?) My mother works 24/7. I-am-not-kidding. (It actually reminds me of my father, when he was fixing the economy in Poland, in the early nineties. Hmm, do you think work-a-holism can be contagious?)

***(Charlotte, from SATC. The actual full quote is: "My hair hurts. I've been dating since I was fifteen. I'm exhausted. Where is he?")

It's a meme for Monday...books and n'at...

From Katya who got it from LC, who got it from...

1. How old were you when you learned to read and who taught you? I was in second grade. I learned from a basel reader called A Duck is a Duck. My teacher's name was Mrs. Butterbaugh.

2. Did you own any books as a child? Oh yes!! The Wind in the Willows (which my mother started to read to me when I was five but I didn't read completely until I was 27), Little Women (which I think I got for Christmas when I was in 2nd grade?) and lots more. (Too many to list.)

3. What’s the first book that you bought with your own money? No clue. But I had two main sources: the Scholastic catalog and a bookstore at the nearby mall. I remember buying What Katy Did.

4. Were you a re-reader as a child? If so, which book did you re-read most often? Re-reader? I was the only name on the library's card for Mandy by Julie Edwards. I read it over eleven times in fourth and fifth grades.

5. What’s the first adult book that captured your interest and how old were you when you read it? Madam, will you talk? by Mary Stewart. I must have been in either fifth or sixth grade. I still haven't read her Merlin books, but her mysteries are my favorites. I liked the fact that MWYT had a quote from literature at the top of every chapter.

6. Are there children’s books that you passed by as a child that you have learned to love as an adult? Which ones? The Wind in the Willows. I was really mad for a long time that my mother never finished it, but when I finally read it, I loved it. To pieces.

**************

I think today's project may be to re-mantle (is that the opposite of dis-mantle?) my blogroll. I like LC's style, which starts with "Book blogs" and then finishes with "Favourite people to read, whatever they're writing about." Hmm. I've pretty much just been reading folks that comment these days, plus of course Babelbabe and Gina (more BB than G, but you know what I mean, unless you don't).

Blogging can be a pressure cooker, if one lets it be so. I know I have been a blog victim more than once upon a time, and I'm trying to stop being a victim/diva/martyr/what-have-you.

In other news, Bec is taking some time off. We'll miss her, though I have to say I don't visit the Down-Under blogs as much as I used to.

I'm still feeling off balance (a double ear infection will do that...) and exhausted. So today will be more lounging on the couch. What happened to Ellen's LIVE Oscar show? It's the "Best of Ellen" today, so I shut it off. So I still have no clue who won anything, really.

Remember I'm going home this week? For my mama's 64th (I mean 29th) birthday? But remember this cold has really messed up my brain? So my mama said, I'd really like us to all get together for a birthday dinner and I said, "Whose birthday?" Your aunt's and mine. "Right!!" I can be such an airhead.

And in the blood is thicker than water category, I want to be in Virginia NOW, with my mama!! It seems cruel that my fabulous job is here in da Burgh. Because the truth about the Burgh is this: blood is thicker than water and everyone (just about) has relatives, whether they be mothers, sons, daughters, or husbands. Which is why I was attracted to da Burgh, back when my family seemed a dream away. But I only have water connections here, and I gotta tell you, it's getting kinda lonely. I love my church. I love my job. But at the end of the day, I love my mama more. Crap, where's that Kleenex box? So, the angst over that isn't over. Besides, everyone's having babies, and some folks I never got to see their first one!! Okay, pity party over. I think I'll make myself some tea.

Although my neighbors are all barbarians,
and you, you are a thousand miles away,
there are always two cups on my table. (Tang Dynasty)

Tuesday Blues...

Or maybe not. After all, I've just had my Wendy's dinner: Junior Cheesburger Deluxe and a plain potato, two sour creams, and an iced tea. And I filled my tank (the top half) at $2.14, which is pretty good. It's about 10 degrees Fahrenheit out there.

We did in fact have Women's Bible Study, woo hoo! Which was good, because it was the sort of chapter you really wanted to discuss with others...

Afterwards, I went to lunch at Chili's. A dear friend waitresses there, and I think there is a special place in heaven for waitresses. I was so discombobulated (being with the women at Bible Study sometimes dissolves me to pieces...*) that she basically picked out my lunch for me, bless her! And she kept the decaf coming.

I've been listening to Gilead on CD in my car and so my music choice is only the radio (which is dying a slow death--I can't even get AM Radio) I dare not take the CDs out so as to lose my place... It is a wonderful book, tender, gruff, exhortational, and just plain crazy. An eighty year old preacher who is about to die is writing a book length letter to his now 7 year old son, a letter that he hopes the boy will read when he is older. It is heartbreaking and wonderful--and yes, it won the Pulitzer. I can only take it in doses, before I have to listen to something like "Good Golly Miss Molly" or something bright.

I love my job. I love my apartment. I love Pittsburgh. But I don't have as much as a cat (nor would my garret support such an acquisition.) So I am contemplating whether I should move South of the Mason Dixon Line to be closer to my parents. I'm not moving quickly on this, as it could just be the doldrums of February encroaching on me. (April is NOT the cruelest month--it's most definately February.)

Well, my dinner break is over, so back to work. I have some interesting titles and quotes to share with yinz later.

Keep on keeping on--stay on the sunny side, always on the sunny side of life... (for Kiki, who taught me that song)

*I've been hiding my pain at WBS since September, but today I shared that being not the youngest member anymore but still the only un-married, childless woman is a bit like a being a barren woman at a baby shower. I blubbered. Much Kleenex was used. I got prayed for but I didn't get hugs. I would have liked hugs. (Demanding, aren't I??)

I can see clearly now...

What do I love about winter? The whiteness. The austerity. Yes, it is cold, but very uncluttered. You can see through the trees because there are no leaves. And right now the hills are covered in white snow or icicles. This morning, on the way to the chiropractor, the Allegheny River was almost completely frozen over. And on the way home, the air was warmer than the river, because there was steam coming off the ice. It might have been the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, and it reminded me of Genesis chapter 1, verse 2, "while the mighty wind swept over the waters." (NAB Translation)

School is cancelled for the second day in a row here in da Burgh. Monday is a day off for me, and I spent it cleaning the garret, napping, and doing homework for Women's Bible Study, which probably won't meet tomorrow, as school is cancelled. I also drove a friend home to Mt. Washington. That was a treat. I love driving around town and now that I spend so much time commuting to the North Hills, I don't see the grandeur that is this great city as often as I'd like. So I'm grateful that I have friends I can give rides to.

Today was a day of much soul searching and intense emails and phone conversations. And I labored over the Bible study homework. And I listened to Michael W. Smith's Worship album. The result? I think everything is going to be okay. Not in a Pollyanna sense, but in a real sense. I don't know when, or where, or how (especially how--as Babs would say, have you met me? And have you met the world we live in?) but I am confident:

Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,

18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.

19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to go on the heights. (Hab. 3:17-19, NIV)

I checked a coupla blogs that have been dormant for awhile and was rewarded with new content. (Yay!) Tomorrow is another day...in eight minutes. I plan to be asleep very soon.

It's eight degrees out there, I don't want to know the wind chill, thankyouverymuch!

And I'll be at church at night, without the advantage of the sun. Yeah, this will be layer city, I'm thinking...

So a few words on blogging. I have added a few to the right (and I still laugh at when I first did a post on adding things to the left and Poppy was like, um, is your screen aligned differently?).

I have been spending the morning at Poppy's. We're kindred for many reasons, including she is also a Sagittarius. I sometimes worry about how I spend too much time on one blog, commenting five times in one day, are they going to think I'm stalking them? Because, truly, I'm not. I'm just bored out of my gourd, this being the fifth day of this cold and I've only been out of the house twice. (Friday, to spend some much needed time with my peeps, and Saturday to work a few hours and grocery shop.)

Yesterday I wrote a rant about how everyone in Pittsburgh has their family nearby (except lil ole me). It was a little too ranty for my own taste, I may tone it down and take it out of drafts. I'm also crafting a post on "Mama Said" because mine is the smartest woman in the world. Or so she claimed, when I was in fourth grade. Nowadays she denies that she is the SWITW, but to me, she always will be. In my real world, I'm working on a "positive piece" about the bus crisis in da Burgh to publish over at I heart PGH. I will not be publishing it under Sarah Louise, or linking it to this blog, but you're smart enough to figure out how to find it, I'm thinking. While I do not currently ride the bus in da Burgh, buses are an integral part of this vibrant city and...well, they just can't take away 100 routes without a fight!!

My diet is pretty much oatmeal and ramen soup, clementines, water, and zinc. Although the zinc is not really helping--it usually clips the main pain of the cold after the first day and hasn't this time...

So, I have added on the left, I mean the right, Colin, a student at MIT. Found him through Pat and Adrian. There's this fun Pittsburgh expatriate vibe going with Adrian and Colin...anyways.

Also, Jenny. She is a hockey mom and very funny. The meme below this post is one I swiped from her.

Let's see, oh, I added Paula's photo blog, Finding Beauty, to the "Bohemian Shoes" area. I'm considering stopping the whole "Shoes categories" because I have a definate order in which I read them--it should be like "Everyday shoes" "Once a month shoes" "Once a week shoes." Because some of my friends don't update but every two months (but I still love them to pieces!!) I think there is a way to fix the HTML (maybe with RSS) so that you can see which ones have updated (because Bloglines is like crack for me--a bad idea) I think the PCUSA blog has that going on. Maybe since I'm homebound AGAIN today I'll work on that. Or maybe not. I feel a nap coming on...

Also, church is during the SB, but GO BEARS!! I wonder if You Tube has the Superbowl Shuffle...

(The super-fun music video was pulled due to copyright worries, but this gives you an idea at least...)

Hope College and me: Six degrees of Separation

You might be familiar with the game, Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. There's even a book! You might even be familiar with the play which became a movie, Six Degrees of Separation.

Well, in Pittsburgh, there's only one degree, usually. We're a city with a small town feel. (For instance, I just transferred a hold on a book from our library that will go to another Allegheny County consortia library--for a woman I went to library school with.)

But, you might be asking, right about now, "SL, I have no clue WHAT you are talking about." Okay. So. Degrees of separation: there's a theory that everyone can connect themselves to everyone else by six degrees of separation.

When we lived in Poland, I got to shake Bush Sr.'s hand as well as Lech Walesa's hand. So that would put me one degree of separation between Bush Sr. and one degree of separation of separation from Lech Walesa. Since Bush Sr. is the father of Bush Jr., our current president, I am two degrees of separation from Bush Jr.

Okay. So, of all the places I've been, of all the connections I've made, the connection that has brought the most connections is Hope College, the alma mater of my grandparents (who met there and later got married) my parents (who met there and much later got married) and my brother (still single, and living in Austin).

Hope did send me my first college acceptance letter, but I decided to not attend due to many factors. I have one or two regrets: I always wanted to have a radio show, which my brother did and I'm pretty sure my dad did too. Also, Holland, Michigan is a super cool place with a ton of taquerias. (This is due to the fact that Heinz has their pickle picking operation there--a lot of Mexican migrant workers came up and stayed and so there is a large Mexican community in Holland) (Michigan!! not the Netherlands). My dad quips that the pickle pickers became pickle packers. There is no welfare system--local churches and civic organizations pick up the slack for community needs. Also, this a weekend in January, (THIS POST IS FROM 1/13/07) the college is hosted a symposium with such giants as Lauren Winner (Girl Meets God) , Donald Miller (Blue like Jazz) , and Jars of Clay (the band? I'm sure you've heard of them). Oh, and Derek Webb, formerly of Caedman's Call.

My cousin used to be the president of Western Theological Seminary, which is in Holland, Michigan, home of Hope College. He has had major correspondence with the author of Housekeeping and the more recent Pulitzer Prize Winning (and amazing--I'm reading it now) Gilead, so that would be two degrees of separation: My cousin, 1, Marilynne Robinson, 2.

Sufjan Stevens, the sweetheart of indy music, went to Hope College. I have been to the café his best friend runs, Lemonjellos. I even have a bumper sticker on my car. So that would be the café, 1, the owner of the café, 2, Sufjan Stevens, 3.

Or, I'll be at a party and start talking to someone. "Where are you from" is my opener (I find it's much more interesting that "What do you do?") and inevitably I'll meet someone who says, I went to school in Michigan. Oh really, what school? I've met at least five people from Hope College this way.

Oh, how could I forget the Beleza Seven? My brother is friends with every one of the seven Hope graduates that formed a community coffee house on the North Side of Pittsburgh. I've been there once--and it was so much fun saying to the girl behind the counter, "Do you know (my brother's name)?" "Yes..." "Well, I'm his sister, and this is his mom, and his dad." My mom even got a picture with the girl, whose name escapes me, but apparently my brother was one of her first friends at Hope College.

Other connections? Robert Schuller, the televangelist who hosts the Hour of Power from the Crystal Cathedral once spent a summer working for an aunt of mine. Both he and his son went to Hope.

Lynne Stewart didn't graduate from Hope, but neither did my aunt. They were, however, roommates at Hope in the early 1960s.

Um, also, for those of us who were the person of the year for 2006, we share that title with Rob Malda, creator of Slashdot, which pretty much revolutionized this thing we call the blog. Yep, he went to Hope.

This is all very fun for me, because unless you're from Pittsburgh, you've never heard of Carlow College University (where I spent my first two years of college) and unless you're from Maryland you've never heard of Washington College (my Alma mater).

I cling to the greatness of Hope College...

Who should you root for? Superbowl XLI tips

Okay, so your team didn't make the cut. Here's a quiz that will help you decide who to root for.

I'm fairly football illiterate, but here's why I'm glad I'm supporting the Bears:

• The Colts left Baltimore in the middle of the night to go to Indianapolis. Although I was a born Redskins fan (born on a game day, they beat the Buffalo Bills, I think) Baltimore is pretty close to D.C. and we were all apalled.
• I love Chicago--it is a beautiful city and lots of nice people live there (including Katy).
  
• I still remember the year the Bears went to the Superbowl and they had a rap that even played on M-tv (you know, back when M-tv played music--that is the "M" in M-tv.) That was the year they played the Patriots and the Patriots came up with a song, but um, it was sort of lame and clearly reactionary only to the Bears' song (sorry Amy).
  

I find it interesting (not surprising, just interesting) that I've heard more news about the Steeler's choice of new head coach Mike Tomlin than the fact that Pittsburgh may be losing major bus routes...

10 bus and 2T routes carry 37% of riders (Post-Gazette article, 1/21/07)

Full house expected for first transit hearings (Post-Gazette article 1/21/07) (Bonus feature: a chart of the Top Ten buses)

Port Authority Hearings Scheduled (Post-Gazette article 1/22/07) I have never been to a public hearing, and hello, my apartment is in dire straits, but I think I will try to go to the hearing in Oakland today from 4-8 pm.

I don't currently ride the bus, and the bus routes I would ride are not under the axe, but buses are the lifeblood for a lot of Pittsburghers and I need to learn more about the political process.

I think if anything, as I read what I write here, that I am my own selfish pig, living the posh life in my Highland Park garret.

I imagine I'll take snacks, a water bottle, and possibly a pillow--who knows what kind of chairs they'll offer for sitting for 4 hours...yikes. Stay tuned to see if I chicken out on this one...I think my neighbor on the first floor (a fine upstanding young man who makes his living by teaching piano lessons) went to the hearings this morning...

And, yes, I'll take the bus. C'mon, who drives to Oakland if they don't have to? Parking there is a zoo. And the 71A runs about every ten minutes.

Okay, so that means I better get a move on the rest of the stuff I was planning to do today...

Flip the laundry--then...I seriously need to go to the Post Office. But sitting here, telling you, dear internets, what I'm doing today doesn't help me get any further down the road of getting stuff done...I hereby stop procrasinating.

Pittsburgh news: Drink more Iron City!!

Pittsburgh Brewing Acquisition: To save the company, people took a 15% pay cut. (Post-Gazette article) "But if the people of Pittsburgh don't start drinking more of our product, it's all for naught."(quote from TV-11 news)

Mike Tomlin is the Steelers new head coach. (Yes, really) (There was some confusion) (Tribune Review article)

Transportation crisis in da Burgh: talk to the legislators!! (Post-Gazette article.)

Anyways, the season opener of Crossing Jordan did not disappoint. Peace out, yins!

Oh, and it is truly winter.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin...

...but by the content of their character. (Martin Luther King, Jr.)

Happy Martin Luther King Day! This is an excerpt from "The Drum Major Instinct," so turn up your speakers.

And here's the "I have a dream" address.

If yins want to go to a knock out amazing King Day event, the Open Door and the Union Project (click on the UP link for directions) are hosting their second annual King Day event. It's free and it's from 7-9 pm tonight and features step dancing, choirs, and audio of seldom heard audio of MLK speeches. Go early for some soul food. Go early in general--last year it was standing room only...

I'm going to be an introvert and watch the GG's, but I highly recommend the King event!!

Oh, look, here's the blurb from the OD:

Martin Luther King Jr. Event Jan 15th, 6:30pm@ the Union Project
The Open Door and the Union Project welcome the Pittsburgh community for an evening of motivational entertainment on January 15th at 7pm, held to honor Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his vision of connecting communities, cultures and individuals. The evening will include a community dinner beginning at 6:30pm, step performances, local gospel choirs, readings of Dr. King's selected works and a featured speaker, Rev. B. De Neice Welch.

***********

In other news, I'm at work today. Yes, I know, I never work on Mondays, but my boss is on her way to Seattle for the midwinter American Library Association meeting, so she needed someone to come in. Plus, it being a holiday n'at, two other folks that work in our department on Monday are off.

The biggest thing to happen today: Eragon, the beta fish that is the mascot of the Administration Department lost his home. His bowl (a tall vase) was leaking and when Terry went to pick it up, it exploded. Dear Eragon was on the floor, gasping for dear life. There was a lot of vacuuming, to clean up the water and gravel...but the good news is that Eragon has a new home, and by the time I returned from lunch, he was swimming around again. Hallelujah!

Everyone and their uncle is here at the library, since we are one of the only libraries open today. No trash pick up, and no mail...and flags are still at half staff for the memory of former President Gerald Ford.

I can spend hours in a grocery store. I get so excited when I see food, I go crazy.

I spend hours arranging my baskets so that everything fits in and nothing gets squashed. (Cameron Diaz)

For years, I have been wondering why no one has ever thought of this:

The Giant Eagle at Shakespeare Street!

I mean, as a singleton, I often go in thinking I'm just going to pick up a carton of milk and then I decide midway to pick up some yogurt, and there happens to be a sale and then I'm stuck with a carton of milk and six cups of yogurt, with no cart. Someone was thinking here--it's multi-functional, because not only do you have carts near the tiny cups of yogurt I couldn't carry in my arms alone, you also have a sign reminding you that milk is now around the corner. I remember when this GE had an Iggle Video. Sigh.

And, not being one to usually take pictures in stores, this made me think of Blackbird, who is forever showing us pictures of stores.

Show and Tell: A very useful thing.

This rant has been pre-empted to tell you something you already knew

You are 100% Pittsburgh.

Great job! There's nooooo doubt about it. You're from Da Burgh. You deserve a reward, so go have an Ahrn City or two. And GO STILLERS!

How Pittsburgh Are You
See All Our Quizzes

But hey, it's nice to be recognized.

And the rant--well, I'll leave that to the ranting bloggers. You want to see some cute shoes? Thanks to Colin for this lovely validation of my geographic sensabilty. He got it off I heart Pgh, a wonderful site. I really should get one of their lovely t-shirts.

HOPE is the thing with feathers

HOPE is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all... (Emily Dickinson)

On my walk, I said Happy New Year to all, and they to me. It's around 50 degrees (Fahrenheit) and quite nice, although the wind'll hit ya! Everyone was out walking their dogs.

Any day that I see men playing tennis in the park side courts, I have hope. And what a better way to start the new year, than with hope, and joy.

Resolution: to get better at taking pictures of people with my digi camera.

My store is closing this week. I own a store. Did I ever tell you that? Probably not. It's a lovely store --

(Meg Ryan as Kathleen Kelly, in You've Got Mail)

My Fox books closed today. I was there when it happened. This is where I would tell you how it was my first bookstore job, how I ended up working for the company for seven years, in three different stores.

But right now I don't feel like writing that post.

What happens when the going gets tough? The tough go shopping. So, I needed shoes and so I went next door to Burlington Coat Factory. I also got a new purse and a hat, which I sort of needed.

And I have dinner in the microwave.

Well, more on that later. I promise. Cause this is the stuff blogs are made of: talking about books and bookstores, and SHOES!

Oh, but here's the good news: Mike, Vince, and Bob all have jobs! They'll be going to Waterworks, Monroeville, and Squirrel Hill, respectively.