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.