Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Geeky Things I Like To Do - Number 4
I really enjoy adding animation to my Power Point presentations. More than I should. Then when I present, I like to make a big fuss, jokingly oooing & aahhing over it. I think I might be the only one who is amused by this. Others may only be politely patronizing me when they laugh & fuss with me over my clip art & animation skills. Now, I'm not always a complete fool. I try to reign it in when I'm presenting to customers, upper level management, or other boring people with no sense of humor.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Geeky Things I Like To Do - Number 3
I like to make up songs about my food. Examples are: "Doritos Are My Boyfriend" and "Ode to Pumpkin Pie". I usually sing the songs TO the food, not just about the food. I seriously have problems.
Scrapapolooza
Here are a few select pages from the scrapbooks. Sorry the pics aren't great.
I even did the rehearsal & (God help me) bachelorette pics. I was looking at the pictures from the bachelorette after a year had passed, and it dawned on me to ask, "What a##h&*$ thought it would be a good idea to take these?!" I knew it had to be Peg. When I asked her if she was indeed the a##h&*$, she proudly answered affirmatively & giggled happily. Here is an example of her fine, fine photography. Now, I want you to look at this at your own risk, and then contemplate the fact that this is NOT the worst of the pictures. There are some that I would not post online or put in my scrapbook. That should tell you something. I'm not going to say anymore about it; I'm going to let the image burn into your retinas & speak for itself.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Geeky Things I Like To Do - Number 2
I enjoy making pivot tables in Excel. Not much else to say. I am what I am.
Geeky Things I Like To Do - Number 1
When I can't sleep, sometimes I lay in bed with my bedroom laptop (yes, there are that many in the house that we have to name them by room), which I affectionately call "mini me." I read Wikipedia's "Random Articles". I just click on anything that looks interesting to me & read about it. I inevitably fall asleep on mini me.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
There's a Hole in My Living Room
Literally.
I've lived in my house for 8 years. It is now at the stage where things are falling apart. They are literally caving in. Last year, somewhere around a week before our wedding, a fairly sizeable hole suddenly formed in our living room ceiling, spilling water from the floor above. Yep. There was apparently water leaking from a small crack in the bathtub upstairs, and it was seeping into the floorboards & ceiling underneath for God knows how long. This is the largest of several things (water heater, stove, dish washer...) that have started to "go" in the last couple of years. I'm going to choose to blame Paul here. That seems reasonable to me.
So, this disaster area is FINALLY scheduled to be fixed (basically a whole new bathroom & ceiling) in a couple of weeks. Cross your fingers. We have been "scheduled" before. Between plumber #1 (who obviously did not fix the problem), the homeowner's claims, negotiating (and renegotiating) the contract, rearranging the living room so as to avoid MORE water damage (and gradually giving up any hope of aesthetics, eventually ending up with a bucket under the leak like the poor people in movies), and giving Lowe's the equivalent of a nice car down payment, it has been quite a little soap opera.
Paint colors are curious things when you live with a boy. I used to go to the store & pick a color. For realz. No drama. No compromise. Hence, I have a light pink bedroom, purple guest room, and a sort of dusty blue office. None of these are very masculine colors. Choosing the paint color for this new bathroom was far more difficult. I knew I didn't want something too dark because the room would seem too small. But for a time, I was looking at some warmer, richer colors that would go well with the wood flooring & vanity that are going in. Paul nixed those right away. "Too dark," was all he said. Then I remembered that we had registered for & received as gifts a really beautiful bathroom set with various shades of blue, green, and purple.
Now, not even I am obnoxious enough to have 2 purple rooms right next to each other. I wasn't going to go that far. But a nice aqua would have been nice. No. I forget why that got the kibosh. Then I moved to the green family of samples. I found a nice pale green to make the room seem lighter (there is no window) & bigger. Paul instead went a few shades up the wheel & basically picked what looked to me like the flourescent green that I wore circa 1986 with my jelly shoes. I carried swatches around with me for a while. Brought them to work, looked at them under different lighting. It's like I'm a high-maintenance wife all of a sudden!! What is happening to me?! Anyway, we did end up going with a bit of a brighter green than I originally picked that coordinates nicely with the new swanky bathroom set.
Oh! And I almost forgot. Paul works for PPG, so it HAD to be Olympic paint, which was also a slightly limiting factor, but PPG is an important business partner of Bayer's, so I am not going to complain about that part.
So another aspect of this bathroom remodeling project is the fact that we only have 1 bathroom. This is a problem for obvious reasons. I wanted to go live at the Fort Pitt motel down the street for a couple of weeks while the contractors were working. I mean, they do have weekly rates. Paul thought that was overkill, so we came up with an alternative solution. We happen to have the Pittsburgh toilet & shower. You know, a freestanding toilet in our unfinished basement that had not been used in 8 years, and a shower that had so many boxes stacked in front of it, that one might forget it was there. So we recently moved all of the boxes & cleaned in preparation. I mean we CLEANED. Eight years of non-use literally washed down the drain. It will be weird using the toilet in the middle of the open air of the basement. There is no way to really close off the bathroom area. I'm going to approach it as an opportunity to experience an aspect of prison life. I look forward to my new-found humility. I shall blog about it.
I will post pics when the bathroom is done. It's supposed to take 2 weeks. I'm just hoping to have it done before the next Olympics.
I've lived in my house for 8 years. It is now at the stage where things are falling apart. They are literally caving in. Last year, somewhere around a week before our wedding, a fairly sizeable hole suddenly formed in our living room ceiling, spilling water from the floor above. Yep. There was apparently water leaking from a small crack in the bathtub upstairs, and it was seeping into the floorboards & ceiling underneath for God knows how long. This is the largest of several things (water heater, stove, dish washer...) that have started to "go" in the last couple of years. I'm going to choose to blame Paul here. That seems reasonable to me.
So, this disaster area is FINALLY scheduled to be fixed (basically a whole new bathroom & ceiling) in a couple of weeks. Cross your fingers. We have been "scheduled" before. Between plumber #1 (who obviously did not fix the problem), the homeowner's claims, negotiating (and renegotiating) the contract, rearranging the living room so as to avoid MORE water damage (and gradually giving up any hope of aesthetics, eventually ending up with a bucket under the leak like the poor people in movies), and giving Lowe's the equivalent of a nice car down payment, it has been quite a little soap opera.
Paint colors are curious things when you live with a boy. I used to go to the store & pick a color. For realz. No drama. No compromise. Hence, I have a light pink bedroom, purple guest room, and a sort of dusty blue office. None of these are very masculine colors. Choosing the paint color for this new bathroom was far more difficult. I knew I didn't want something too dark because the room would seem too small. But for a time, I was looking at some warmer, richer colors that would go well with the wood flooring & vanity that are going in. Paul nixed those right away. "Too dark," was all he said. Then I remembered that we had registered for & received as gifts a really beautiful bathroom set with various shades of blue, green, and purple.
So another aspect of this bathroom remodeling project is the fact that we only have 1 bathroom. This is a problem for obvious reasons. I wanted to go live at the Fort Pitt motel down the street for a couple of weeks while the contractors were working. I mean, they do have weekly rates. Paul thought that was overkill, so we came up with an alternative solution. We happen to have the Pittsburgh toilet & shower. You know, a freestanding toilet in our unfinished basement that had not been used in 8 years, and a shower that had so many boxes stacked in front of it, that one might forget it was there. So we recently moved all of the boxes & cleaned in preparation. I mean we CLEANED. Eight years of non-use literally washed down the drain. It will be weird using the toilet in the middle of the open air of the basement. There is no way to really close off the bathroom area. I'm going to approach it as an opportunity to experience an aspect of prison life. I look forward to my new-found humility. I shall blog about it.
I will post pics when the bathroom is done. It's supposed to take 2 weeks. I'm just hoping to have it done before the next Olympics.
Saturday, October 09, 2010
Ten-Ten-Ten
10-10-10.
What a remarkable day. Not only is the date a unique one, but it is significant to me personally in a few ways that are intertwined in odd & inspirational ways. Allow me to explain.
20 years ago on this day, my grandmother passed away. I was 16. It was the worst thing that I had known to that point in my young life. She died of a massive heart attack at the age of 69, and I missed her dearly & still do. In years past, I have walked in or dontated to the American Heart Association's Pittsburgh Heart Walk in her memory. This year, this event just happens to fall on 10-10. I think it's a remarkable coincidence that truly honors her memory that the event takes place on the 20th anniversary of her death.
I made a donation to this year's Heart Walk, but I am not walking. That is only because 10-10-10 is my very first wedding anniversary. It was a happy coincidence that 10-10 fell on a Saturday last year. I always wanted an October wedding, and when I realized that 10-10 was a Saturday in 2009, I thought it was a great way to remember & honor my grandmother. Though none of our grandparents could be at our wedding, I wanted them all to be there in spirit, especially my mom's mom, who had died on that special day all those years ago. So, I also carried in my hand the rosaries she had given to my mother to carry on her wedding day. I carried them with my flowers & thought of her. We also asked my friend Jennifer to sing Ave Maria before our ceremony. My grandmother had a devotion to the Blessed Mother, and I remember that the Ave Maria was sung at her funeral.
Now, you might be thinking that we are morbid. Why would I want to get married on the anniversary of such a sad day? Because it was also an important day in my life. It was a day that really touched me. The first time that I started to learn what the circle of life was all about. I think that the saddest days of our lives are also some of the most significant ones & sometimes need to be acknowledged & remembered. Most importantly, I believe that my grandmother went to a better place on that day all of those years ago & that she was reunited with all of her loved ones that went before her. My grandfather just passed on Dec. 5, 2009. I enjoy thinking of them finally being reunited after all of those years apart. It makes me smile. I wanted to take that sad day & make it a cause for celebration.
Another oddity is that Paul's maternal grandmother passed on 10-01-09, just 9 days before our wedding, and mine passed on 10-10-90. I am a number geek, so all of these weird date coincidences freak me out! In a good way. :-)
Sometimes when I can't sleep, I like to imagine all of my grandparents (and Paul's grandma, who was the only of his grandparents I knew) hanging out together, singing, laughing, gardening, cooking, and doing all of the things they did in life when they were young, happy, and healthy. It comforts me to think of them like this. Free from the discomfort & pain of old age & illness. And watching me with love from whatever place is waiting for all of us when it's our time to leave this world.
One year ago today, on 10-10-09, Paul & I took the love that we feel for each other & shared it with our families & friends. We celebrated it, and we continue to celebrate it by living that love each day. We completed the circle of life that began 20 years ago. Happy anniversary to my soul mate, my partner in this madness we call life, my rock, my lover, my friend, my husband, Paul.
What a remarkable day. Not only is the date a unique one, but it is significant to me personally in a few ways that are intertwined in odd & inspirational ways. Allow me to explain.
20 years ago on this day, my grandmother passed away. I was 16. It was the worst thing that I had known to that point in my young life. She died of a massive heart attack at the age of 69, and I missed her dearly & still do. In years past, I have walked in or dontated to the American Heart Association's Pittsburgh Heart Walk in her memory. This year, this event just happens to fall on 10-10. I think it's a remarkable coincidence that truly honors her memory that the event takes place on the 20th anniversary of her death.
I made a donation to this year's Heart Walk, but I am not walking. That is only because 10-10-10 is my very first wedding anniversary. It was a happy coincidence that 10-10 fell on a Saturday last year. I always wanted an October wedding, and when I realized that 10-10 was a Saturday in 2009, I thought it was a great way to remember & honor my grandmother. Though none of our grandparents could be at our wedding, I wanted them all to be there in spirit, especially my mom's mom, who had died on that special day all those years ago. So, I also carried in my hand the rosaries she had given to my mother to carry on her wedding day. I carried them with my flowers & thought of her. We also asked my friend Jennifer to sing Ave Maria before our ceremony. My grandmother had a devotion to the Blessed Mother, and I remember that the Ave Maria was sung at her funeral.
Now, you might be thinking that we are morbid. Why would I want to get married on the anniversary of such a sad day? Because it was also an important day in my life. It was a day that really touched me. The first time that I started to learn what the circle of life was all about. I think that the saddest days of our lives are also some of the most significant ones & sometimes need to be acknowledged & remembered. Most importantly, I believe that my grandmother went to a better place on that day all of those years ago & that she was reunited with all of her loved ones that went before her. My grandfather just passed on Dec. 5, 2009. I enjoy thinking of them finally being reunited after all of those years apart. It makes me smile. I wanted to take that sad day & make it a cause for celebration.
Another oddity is that Paul's maternal grandmother passed on 10-01-09, just 9 days before our wedding, and mine passed on 10-10-90. I am a number geek, so all of these weird date coincidences freak me out! In a good way. :-)
Sometimes when I can't sleep, I like to imagine all of my grandparents (and Paul's grandma, who was the only of his grandparents I knew) hanging out together, singing, laughing, gardening, cooking, and doing all of the things they did in life when they were young, happy, and healthy. It comforts me to think of them like this. Free from the discomfort & pain of old age & illness. And watching me with love from whatever place is waiting for all of us when it's our time to leave this world.
One year ago today, on 10-10-09, Paul & I took the love that we feel for each other & shared it with our families & friends. We celebrated it, and we continue to celebrate it by living that love each day. We completed the circle of life that began 20 years ago. Happy anniversary to my soul mate, my partner in this madness we call life, my rock, my lover, my friend, my husband, Paul.
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