Borrrrrrrrrring..zzzzzzz

Its the day after Christmas and no one is at work. No emails, no phone calls, no one is stirring. If I sit here too long I soon will be snoring. Yes, it is really dead at work. It might even be more dead than it was on Christmas Eve. Crazy. Its only 8:46am and I feel like I've put an entire day in already. I guess you have to enjoy these days amongst the typical chaos.

Christmas was a WONDERFUL day. It couldn't have been better. I woke up really excited to open presents - I almost felt like a little kid. Craig got me an umbrella, leather gloves, a Natasha Benningfield CD, new shoes (Clarkes- the best!), and a BEAUTIFUL diamond band. He's a good good man.

Craig and I went to see National Teasure (the 2nd one). Good, clean flick. Its nice not to be bombarded with boobies and the F bomb every 3 seconds. A nice suprise - the tickets were only $5.00!! We splurged and ate lunch there - our day old hot dogs w/ crusty buns and nachos with fake cheese only cost 20 bucks! That is so crazy, but we had fun.

After the movie I had a phone call from Wesley - he was waiting at Grandma's house for our arrival and he told "Greta, I've already opened my stocking because you are taking too long." We arrived at Grandma's and the wrapping paper starting ripping. I think Wes and Iris had a good Christmas too. After Iris opened a present she would instantly say Help, please - Help, Please. She wanted the toys out of the box asap. So cute.

Then Craig and I tromped home and wore off the Christmas buzz by watching "Home Alone" (good classic Christmas movie).

Office Christmas Parties...

Office Christmas parties are not usually my favorite thing. That being said - last night we had the all of UPMC HR Christmas party at Shootz in the South Side. This year was a little bit different than last year because I actually knew some people. I have to say it was much more fun that last year. Some of the night's festivities included my Vice President of HR singing karokee. Never thought I would ever see that in a million years. As the night unfolded and the alcohol kept flowing there were some pretty interesting karokee debuts. Some of the people that I viewed as very staunch - loosened up and went all out. I guess I missed the manager of Healthplan's HR ripping his t-shirt off. That would have been hilarious. I had one office party, when I was a teacher in VA, that I will never live down - so I chose to keep it to one drink at office parties. You never want to be the talk of the company - especially at UPMC. I remember one year we went to Craig's office party when he worked for a small public accounting firm -- they had hired a comedian for entertainment. The comedian made some comment about a guy that was getting up to leave (the guy was an employee's husband) and the guy turned around, flipped the comedian off and screamed F*** You! I think everyone had their jaws on the floor for a very long time --- need I remind you that this is a room of stuffy accountants? I remember a Partner that was sitting at our table saying that the employee who was with this guy would probably be fired. Needless to say I've attended and been a part of some crazy Office Christmas Parties.

Updates and bits of useless info..

Well, I blogged a couple of days ago about Messiah Connectedness and I just got the call that Emily, the candidate from Messiah accepted our position! It was a very hard to fill position so I am very excited that she took it.

We had groundbreaking on our new kitchen yesterday!! So exciting. It looks good so far - can't wait until its completed. Doing dishes in the bathroom sink is not fun and kind of gross.

Craig is loving his new job. Those of you that are familiar with public accounting know that life can be non-stop - working until all hours and on the weekends. Craig has finally found a job that allows him to have life/work balance. He loves it!

My job is much better. We finally have a full staff and I can breathe. Yeah!

Its like 99% sure that my brother, my sister-n-law, and the kids (Iris and Wes) will be moving to Warren, PA - our old hometown. My life as I know is officially being picked up and transplanted 3 hours away. I'm totally bummed. I will miss them like crazy, but I know its all in God's plan.

Hunting season was successful. My dad and brother both got deer.

Looking forward to some upcoming trips -- April 13th - Robin's wedding in New Orleans and sometime in Spring heading to Vegas to visit Craig's family.

Sprite Zero is pretty good. I'm not one for diet stuff, but sprite zero is decent

I'm heading off to Bible Study tonight. Can't wait to find out how pregnancy is going for Kaitlyn.

Steelers VS Patriots

Well, the big game is this Sunday and I have to say I am kind of scared to watch! I really really really really really really really want the Steelers to give Tom Brady a good beating, but we all know that Patriots know how to play the game especially against the Steelers. Lets hope it doesn't rain again -- I'm getting sick of those games. In Pittgirl's blog www.theburghblog.com she says this --- and this says it best.

"In light of the upcoming game with Satan’s Football Team led by Satan’s death angel and coached by Satan himself, I think all of Steeler Nation joins me in asking Willie Parker to HOLD ON TO THE FREAKING BALL."

GO STILLLLLLLLERSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Forgot the picture..

Snow that goes up...

This is the view from my cube at work. I'm lucky enough to get a window. You can't tell from the picture, but it is really snowing outside. My window must be right in front of some sort of fan or something because in front of my window the snowflakes are going up. Its kind of like being in a snow globe. I'm probably one of the few people that likes snow. I like when there is a fresh, untouched white blanket on the ground and this morning there was. No one had even driven down our street. It looked really pretty.

Messiah Connectedness

I interviewed a candidate that graduated from Messiah College the other day. Messiah College grads are few and far between on this side of the state. Typically when you tell someone that you attened Messiah College - they look at you funny and ask if you are a pastor. I was once asked if I was Jewish... think about it....c'mon! I have to give props to Messiah too because the manager of the dept said that she was a very mature candidate especially compared to the others we interviewed. I have to say that Messiah College does a great job... okay everyone can stop gagging themselves. During the interview it was fun to talk about Messiahisms. I've heard people say it sounds cultish, but we who have attended know how it really is. Visiting hours with lights on, door open, and feet on the floor, signing the community covenant, lottery system for apts on campus, living 5 deep in the the tiny apts (my closet was in the kitchen, my bed was in one bedroom, my dresser was in the other bedroom), Naugle, E-town marshmellow wars, swiping for chapel credit, parking in the "D" lot - D for dirt, Lottie Nelson, sledding w/ trays, yellow breeches, swinging bridge, etc etc etc. Needless to say she was glad that one of her interviewers was a fellow Messiah Grad --- in fact I will be offering her a job today - I'm just guessing she will accept.

Random Rain Blog

Yet another Steelers win in the rain! I'm happy to report it is a win, but at first I was afraid it was going to be the Jets game all over again.

Why rain? Its December -- its time for some snow!! It started snowing a little this morning, but its more a wet snow... a wintry mix. I'm ready for some serious ground covering snow. There is nothing like waking up and seeing white. I do have to say, and some people will probably smack me for this, but I miss the lake affect snow we got in Warren. Piles and piles of snow. I can remember sled riding off the roof into big piles of snow and digging snow tunnels and building forts for snowball fights and sled riding down big hills... I kind of miss that. I guess it wouldn't be the same because the wouldn't cancel work like they cancel school so I would just be miserable trying to drive in it.

We put the finishing touches on the Christmas decorations this weekend. Craig opened a train that was given to him 30 years ago - he had never taken it out of the package. He did some research and saw that it wasn't worth anything so he took it out and put it around the tree. I love turning all the lights off and watching the tree lights sparkle. I wrapped a million billion presents this weekend. I tried to do some prep cooking becaue I will be out of a kitchen starting this weekend. They are putting in the new cabinets on Monday and I'm soooo super excited.

Well, this post has taken randomness to a new level... I think I'll post later when I actually have something to say.

Funny

I saw this t-shirt design on wearpittsburgh.com -- it validates my post from a couple of days ago.

Family Fun at the Farm

making veggie and fruit pizzas, long hike in the woods, jama time, glitter craft time, shootin in guns, laughing, barfin, watchin the credibles, ladybugs, making smores in the winter, the 1 hour run to wal-mart, mexican night, food food and more food

Wesley is 5!!

Its so hard to believe that my nephew turned 5 this year! Time flies so fast. He celebrated with a cowboy/girl themed party. Everyone got sheriff stars with their names on them and cowboy/girl hats. Too cute. They played "Race around the haystacks" and "There's a snake in Wesley's boot!" Andrea made a long train cake. She is so creative!

Blame it on the rain...

I'm a big Steelers fan. But I have to say I'm getting pretty disgusted. I know everyone is going to blame the poor playing on the rain last night - but c'mon! The Miami Dolphins and you only win with 3 points on the score board. We should've chewed them up and spit them out! After losing to the Jets I thought for sure we would come out ready to tromp all over what lie before us -not the case. We looked pitiful and we definitely do NOT look like a superbowl team. Is Ben going to blame his interception on the rain? (Nice catch, Joey - we miss you!) Is he going to blame his sacks on the rain? By the way, who gets sacked by the worst defense in the NFL?? Are we going to blame the penalties that cost us first downs on the rain? I don't know whose fault it is, but the Steelers better get their act together because if they continue to play like this the Patriots game is going to be the biggest disgrace of the season. I'd also like to see some reaction out of little Mr. Tomlin - show us some anger, some disgust, show the boys that you are the boss! Thanks Hines for showing up last night - you always make me smile!

So much for the Mayor's Hotline

Cars (abandoned, broken down, junky, illegal, etc) all manage to find themselves parked right smack dab in front of our house. Now granted we live in a free country and anyone is welcome to park in front of our house - we don't own the city street - but c'mon people there are 50 other spots on the street - park in one of those! I don't know if its because the street light keeps the front of our house well lit or what, but I don't care if people live 10 houses down and there is an open spot to park at in front of their house - they park at ours! On the the next rant.. We had a tan nissan maxium parked in front of our hourse for well over a month. And I love how our city dealt with the issue - they just kept putting parking tickets on the vehicle (we have parking zones in the city and you have to have a sticker displayed in your window to park for more than 2 hours) - So after about the 5th parking ticket (my gut instict if I was the parking lady would be to call someone to tow it, but NO we wouldn't want to do that). So I take matters in to my own hands. Pittsburgh has established this 311 - Mayor Hotline - number that you call to complain, gribe, report, etc to the mayor and he (relatively speaking) is supposed to arrive in his superman costume and rid Pittsburgh of all crime and clean up the city. Riiiiiiiight. So I call the number - get a very nice woman on the phone and explain to her about the abandoned vehicle that has been sitting right outside of my front door for over 2 weeks just collecting parking tickets. After a long conversation explaining parking permits in the city (you work for the city you should know this...right?!) she explains that I can call back after the holidays (which was well over a week away) and see if my order was being processed. Okay, so I know things take awhile - but c'mon HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO CALL A TOW TRUCK and have the thing taken away. Well, Craig and I arrive home after being up at the family farm all weekend to see our lovely abandoned vehicle still collecting tickets - as far as I could count there was 10. (I still want to meet this meter maid that thought it was okay to just keep giving tickets and not tell someone that we might have a stolen vehicle or something --- c'mon people we live on the northside. Anywho - Craig calls 911 - which I hate using for these purposes, but we've tried callin the police directly and were promptly told to call 911. Interesting. So about 10 minutes later I see flashing lights and hear the loud noise of a tow truck. I was so excited I ran all over the house and said THEY ARE TOWING THE CAR, THEY ARE TOWING THE CAR! My excitment only lasted the night... this morning we awoke to find a crapper old junker covered in stickers sitting in the towed car's place. I know the owner of the car - I've seen them go into the house 4 doors down --- there was no one parked in front of that house this morning -- just our house! There is a license plate on the front of the junker that says "Pam & Ken" - funny, because I see two teenage boys driving the car. Well, Pam & Ken, park in front of your own house!! I guess I need to turn into the typical burgher and put lawn chairs up to guard the spot in front of my house. And if anyone reading this blog is not from the burgh - you will never realize the importance and sacredness of parking spots in Pittsburgh. I've never seen anything like it. One time when I was renting a house - I came home, it was winter and snowing - the neighbor had obviously shoveled a spot for a car on the street, but it was the only spot open on the street so I parked there --- free country right --- Its a city street. Well, my neighbor knocked on the door and made me move my car!!! YUP!! Craziness. Welcome to the burgh.

Thankful ABCs

I'm thankful for all these things and so much more!!

A = Andrea
B = brother
C = Craig
D = Dad
E = entertainment
F = friendships and family
G = God's grace
H = home and hugs
I = Iris
J = jokes
K = kindness
L = love and laughter
M = Mom
N = naps
O = outdoors
P = patience
Q = quality time
R = red hair
S = snow
T = Trent
U = umbrellas
V = vision
W = Wesley
X = (is there ever a good word for X)??
Y = youth
Z = zoo

Kitchen Cabinets

I am very excited because there is a delivery coming our way. Tomorrow we are supposed to get our delivery of our new kitchen cabinets... which means that our kitchen remodel is just around the corner. We picked our new appliances which should arrive on Saturday. I'm so excited to have a kitchen. My kitchen now only has about 1 foot of counter space next to the sink and that just doesn't work. I've resorted to walking around the corner to my mom's house to use her kitchen to bake. I just can't wait for it all to be done. I'll make sure to include pictures of the newly remodeled kitchen when it arrives.

My Boy's Birthday

Today my baby turns 37. I have to say that I haven't had much time to think bout doing anything special - so I pulled some stuff together at the last minute. I feel bad, but he is so cool - he doesn't care. I just hope he knows how much I love him and I can't wait to spend many many many more years with him. MUUUUUUUAH!!! Love you baby!

Amazing Maui

Messiah Reunion

Messiah Reunion was great - it was pretty much girls weekend - had a blast w/ my best friends. Its so awesome that 4 friends (minus Naomi "Pony"..there in spirit) can hold such a close bond and live so many miles apart.

Heidi better known as Heids from B-town (Baltimore) - one of the dearest, sweetest, bestest girlfriend anyone could ever have. She would do anything for you - she is always the one at the brunt of the jokes, but laughs along and keeps us laughing w/ her stories. She loves deeper than anyone I know. She can make you feel like the best person and always remembers to send you those reminders that she's thinking of you. She's creative and happy. Teacher of the Year!! Who hangs out with their students on the weekends - thats my Heids.

Lisa better known as Lease, Queen LaLisa, Lisa from the Bronx. My dear sweet, quiet, observing Lisa. She feels and cares and knows more than anyone I know. She has the purest/truest heart for the city - i don't know anyone who loves the city more than my dear sweet friend. She may appear gangsta on the outside, but she is soft as icecream in the inside. We will always be the gummy sisters and have a special bond that no one else can have. We can go weeks without talking and still be closer than ever. Thats my Lease.

Robin better known as Rob, Robs or Robin moved to the south - New Orleans. Rob is always there for you - she is selfless and so so so sweet. If you want a true loyal best friend -pick Robin because she will always look out for you and include you in her adventures. She is very adventurous - moving to Armenia and meeting the man of her dreams! She keeps us stable and straight and still knows how to have fun. She knows what she wants and goes after it. She's beautiful and tender. Thats my Robs.

I'm so lucky to have such beautiful Christian women in my life.

Steeler Parties

I love Steeler parties! Every Sunday my family gets together to enjoy the game and try out new recipes. We always have way too much food. Of course Nachos are a favorite. This particular Sunday Steeler Party we headed out to Costco afterwards to enjoy some icecream bars. Iris wouldn't allow anyone to help her eat the icecream bar. She had to hold it herself. If anyone tried to help she would cry and slump to the ground. You can't tell from the picture but she is wearing the cutest little cheerleading outfit. She shakes what her momma gave her in her little skirt. Too cute. HERE WE GO STEELERS! HERE WE GO!

M&Ms...mmmmm....

Well, its been pretty stressful at work and I've created a "junk food drawer" at work in my desk. The entire office has now found out about the junk food drawer and it is the most frequented watering hole in the office. Ya know how people talk about offices talking around the water cooler - well, my junk food drawer has become the center of social activities at work. So needless to say I've had to keep it well stocked. My boss has been frequented so much she felt the need to replenish and replenish she did! Look at this HUGE bag of peanut M&Ms - one of my favs- I didn't even know they made bags this big!! I was estactic. 3 1/2 pounds of peanutty goodness. This doesn't help the waistline, but it does make me popular.

Maui - here we come!!!!

I can't believe it - I'm getting to go to Hawaii for the 2nd time in my life. Amazing. Craig has a week off in between his job change and we decided to do a spontaneous trip to Maui. We didn't get to visit Maui on our honeymoon and have heard lots of good things about it. I'm very very very excited. I feel very lucky for this opportunity... a little guilty(who gets to go to Hawaii twice in their life?), but I'm sure all the guilt will wash away on the pristine beaches. Aloha!

Its been a long time and so much has happened...

Well, so much as happened since my last blog and I still need to download pictures. I think we have gotten rid of the fleas. I haven't had a new bite in 3 or so days. Yippee. Maybe they go south for the winter. Wes, Craig and I enjoyed Geauga Lake very much. Wes was very nice and wanted to make sure that Craig and I got to go on big people rides. Craig and I would take turns and ride a roller coaster. Its not as much fun riding by yourself. Craig and I also had our 2 year anniversary on Sept. 10th. Hard to believe its been 10 years. We haven't had a chance to celebrate w/ job stressors so this weekend we are going to Chicago to do some sightseeing or more like sight-eating. I can't wait to go to Gino's East for some deep dish pizza! Craig got a new job at PNC. He is really looking foward to some life/work balance and we are hoping PNC will provide. KPMG has been good to us and it was really hard on Craig to talk to his boss, but we both feel this will be a good move for him. And now this this weekend... what a crazy blur.

Friday: My brother and his wife went to NYC for the weekend so the rest of the family bounced the kids around our busy schedules. Friday night Craig and I skipped out on Chuck-E-Cheese and went to Sports Rock in the Strip for dinner. They had a mechanical bull and Craig rode it for 10 seconds so he won a shot and a VIP pass to some night club. I wish so badly I had a picture to prove this incident because never in my life would I think my husband, the CPA would be bull riding. He was very very proud. He gave his shot away to some guys at the bar, but he kept the VIP pass to prove that he rode the bull.

Saturday: We had a meeting w/ Home Depot in the morning to go over our final kitchen design. We are getting a new kitchen!! I'm so excited. I only have 10 inches of counter space right now and that is no exaggeration. Our kitchen needs remodeled so badly. The meeting was 3 hours long and I think we still have more meeting. Blah! I just want it to be done. Then we picked up Wes and Iris to take them to lunch so that my parents could get some stuff done for the house tour. Their house was picked to be part of the Deutschtown house tour http://www.deutschtown.org/ - so they had some last minute cleaning and touching up to do on the house before 700+ people went through their house! So I asked Wes, where do you want to go to lunch and was trying to get him to say Eat-n-Park, but without fail he begged and begged to go to Chuck-E-Cheese. Because Craig and I are softies - there we were eating cardboard pizza and watching spazzed out kids run around punch buttons, knocking each other over, looking under the machine for lost tokens or tickets, etc. Remember Wes was just at Chuck-E-Cheese the night before. I swear this is a kid addicition. Luckily our kids were half in a stupor badly needing a nap so they were very well behaved and did as they were told. Iris just wanted to ride the carousel - or the "ferry-go-round" as Wes would call it. We had a lunch full of conversation. Iris is at the entertain you stage - so Wes spends most of the time saying "Iris, what does a dog say" Iris barks. "Iris, what does a duck say" Iris quacks. "Iris was does a pig say" Iris squinches up her nose and blows out like blowin in a kleenex - I love that one. Of course all the adults laugh on command and both kids are very proud of themselves. So we take them back to their house and put them down for naps. Then mamaw and papa arrive to relieve us. We head home to take a jog (what beautiful freakin' weather!) and then clean up for dinner at a co-workers house.

Sunday: We go to early church and then we have the kids waiting on our porch for us. Today is the house tour so my parents are attending to that all day. I also need to prepare because a bunch of friends that are going on the tour would like to see our house even though its not on the tour - so I need some snacks and wine to feed them. I head out to Donetelli's cute little Italian Market in Bloomfield (Pgh's little Italy). Craig watches both kids! Another feat that he accomplished - I was very proud. Granted he had a box full of crunch berries. What kid wouldn't love you with a box full of crunch berries. I come back and we head out to eat-n-park for lunch. I didn't even allow for a Chuck-E-Cheese option. Wes tried, but I said no. Eat-n-Park was PACKED! After lunch we walked to the fountains for a quick dip and then headed back up to their house to drop them off. Then back down to our house to do final touch ups on the house and prepare food for our guests. The guests arrived and loved the house and food. The Steeler game was also going on simeultaneously - so I did my wifely duties and sacrificed by entertaining while Craig and the husbands got to watch the game. Luckily it wasn't a game I wanted to watch. What the heck, Steelers?! I went to bed at 9pm. I was really tired and then I was rudely awoken by some crazy lady screaming outside on the street around 4am. I wanted to wring her neck. That's city livin. So after all that I was pretty worthless at work today- just dreaming about my 3 day work week and then off to Chicago baby!

TGIF

Thank goodness its Friday. This week has been a struggle. I haven't felt like working. I'm dying for my Monday break. This weekend Craig and I will have my nephew Wesley staying with us. Weather willing we will be heading to Geauga Lake to do some waters slides and rides. I have to admit I'm excited to go. I've never been to Geauga Lake, but it looks nice. I can get discount tickets through work which makes it even nicer. This is also Steeler Season kickoff/Rib Fest on the North Shore. We have been taking jogs along the river and smelling the wonderful grills getting warmed up for this weekend. YUM! I love Ribs. I'll be sure to include pics later of our party weekend. Also - I will be blogging later about our fleas. Yes, fleas. We have all hardwood floors and no pets, but we have fleas. LOVELY. And they have successfully chewed up my feet and legs. Gross. We've fogged our house a couple of times and we are hoping that does the trick. More to come...

First Day in the Blogosphere

Well, I've joined the blogging world. I've really enjoyed keeping updated by reading other blogs. Not sure how this blog will take shape, but I'm sure it will probably involve my husband, my family, or my friends - 3 of the most important things in my life.

Work has been REALLY REALLY crazy lately. We've lost 3 staff in the course of week - so we are down to 2 recruiters for the entire hospital. I think I made 40 offers in one week... that is a record! I've survived with peanut M&Ms and dibs! I LOVE DIBS! Needless to say - I've added some cushion to the tush. Not fun! Craig and I are trying really hard to have a healthier lifestyle... I'm laughing as I type that. Just thought I'd include some pics of my neices and nephews. Wesley and Iris at Halloween and Trent and Chayselynn at Christmas - soooooo cute!!

I LOVE THEM!!

Hopefully, I'll have some more interesting blogs in the future....