Tagged

I am finally getting to it... I was tagged by Emmy. Here are the rules...
Name five things that you can't live without. It can't be a person, it has to be something material that actually makes your life easier. It can't be something in general, it must be exact. Also, it can't be the obvious like a cell phone or computer.

1. Diet Coke - I don't drink hot beverage, so I drink a Diet Coke in the morning to wake myself up. I try to stick to one a day, but sometimes I just NEED another.

2. Clinique's Dramatically Different Moisturizer - it's the yellow stuff. I love it - keeps my dry skin from flaking in the winter.

3. Digital Cable - not so much for the channels, but for that awesome guide thingy. Even if I am going to watch tv in another room (without digital), I put on the tv in the living room and scroll through to find out what's on. Makes the TV guide seem so archaic!

4. Kitchen Aid Mixer - I profess my love to it, each and every time I use it. I may not need it every day, but it sits on the counter and waits patiently for me to use it. And it never fails to disappoint.

5. Pampered Chef Stoneware - I use my bar pan at least twice a week, and it is now black. I love that I don't have to flip things over when I bake on it...

I'll tag Sara...I didn't see this on her blog yet. ;)

Church funny

During the service at my church, the pastor asks if anyone has any prayer joys or concerns. You raise your hand and tell your joy/concern and then the congregation will include you or your loved ones in their prayers. The day before Walt's surgery, I raised my hand and asked everyone to pray for Walt during his surgery. As soon as I finished, Noah's little hand shot up in the air and he says really loudly "I get rashes!" He had a mystery rash (that even the doctor didn't know what it was!) and I guess he wanted to make sure that everyone prayed for his rash. It must have worked, because the next day, the rash was just about gone.

Tag

Emmy...I see your tag and I promise to get to it once I'm home nursing Walt back to health. :) Just wanted you to know that I saw it. :) It's about 5 things I can not live without

The ride home...

...was not nearly as smooth as the ride in. In fact, I felt a bit traumatized. I get to my bus stop and I see my 61 C, so I jump on it. It's great, not crowded, I have my own seat again. I'm just chilling, listening to my iPod telling myself how easy this was! Then, I notice the bus driver telling us something, so I take one ear piece out and hear him saying something about getting off in Homestead. I think "well, I don't get off there" and back in went my ear bud. Then, he turns off of the road he should be taking and EVERYONE gets off. So I start to worry...I go up and we have this conversation:
ME: Is there a reason everyone is getting off of the bus?
DRIVER: Yeah, this is my last stop.
ME: (with deer in headlights look): WHA?!? What do I do? How do I get to my car? I'm parked at....at....(I blanked out)....the Duquesne Park and Ride....WHAT DO I DO???
DRIVER: There's another bus, he should be at the corner shortly, if you head up now you can catch it.
ME: It's a 61C, right?
DRIVER: Yep!

So, I step off of the bus, and honestly, if I didn't have to dart through traffic like Frogger, I know that I would have just stood on the street corner in Homestead and cried. I know it was broad daylight and there was tons of traffic, but I was overwhelmingly frightened that I was alone on the street in Homestead. I catch the REAL 61C (perhaps Pat should call the other one, something else...like 61C and a half!) and it's jam packed with all kinds of scaries. I have to stand. And I'm totally paranoid that this bus is also going to bypass my stop. Eventually, we got close enough to my stop that I was scared not to get out, knowing that at least from there I could walk a block or so to my car. I may have to reevaluate where I park and ride. Saving the $13 a month on parking and whatever it is I save in gas, is not worth feeling the way I felt on that bus ride home.

The good news is because of Walt's surgery, I'm off this coming week, so I get a 2 week reprieve from any more bus traumas. :)

I survived the 61C

This has nothing to do with Noah...but today was a big day for me. I had to take the bus to work. I signed up for a 3 day a week parking pass. I work 4, so that leaves one day to take the bus. So, I drive to the park and ride, and first, I'm freaking out because 61 C is not listed on the little bus sign. But, I decide to wait anyway. I sit in my car because I didn't want to sit at the little bus house by myself. I can see the road, and figured I'd hop out when I saw the bus turning. Of course, as soon as the bus turns towards the bus house, a guy is backing in right next to me, so I can't throw open my door and jump out. CRAP! I was relieved that it was my bus...but it just drove by! Now, I did what any out of shape girl (who's also carrying around 30 extra pounds) would do. I ran after it! I thought maybe I could catch it on the way back down from around the block. Not so much. I saw it drop someone off about a block or so down and away he went.
So I had to walk back to that little bus house, where there were now a few people, and I couldn't help but think they were laughing at this girl who must be new to the bus system. Anyway, their bus shows up, so I'm left alone again. But, just then, another 61C comes around the corner, and I jump on. The rest was smooth sailing. I had a seat all to myself (and as we got closer to Oakland and more people got on I'd think "PLEASE don't sit with me...." I know this isn't a huge deal - but yet, to me it was. I was so scared this morning! I hope soon I look like the girl across from me who was just chilling with her coffee and looked like she enjoyed the ride. My iPod knew exactly what to play this morning, I think she felt my vibe.
Now to survive the ride home...we'll see how that goes!

Roses are Red...and Firetrucks are too!

This weekend we were in the car and passed an accident. We were in the left lane, and the accident was in the right lane, right next to us. We got stopped at a light and a firetruck was going to pull up. So I told Noah to look out of the window that a firetruck was coming. The firetruck goes past us and stops at the accident. Noah says "Well, THAT truck didn't look red to me! Who painted it yellow? Who did that??" I guess we've spent so much time learning colors and things that are those colors - it really didn't make sense to him why someone would paint a firetruck yellow. And he was MAD about it!

The New Zoo

During our recent trip to Ohio, we decided to take a trip to the Columbus Zoo. We're members at the Pittsburgh Zoo and Noah loves all animals. He told anyone and everyone that would listen during our trip that we were going to " a new zoo". And then he'd list all of the animals he'd think he'd see at the new zoo. The Columbus Zoo has these great statues all over the place, he wanted his picture taken with each one. Above he's hugging the Kimodo Dragon. When we ask him what his favorite animal that we saw was, his answer is "that one that is half zebra, half moose or something." He's referring to an Okapi. Which none of us had ever seen before. But, here it is. And it does sort of appear to be zebra on the bottom, moose on top.

A lot of people asked me if the "new zoo" is better than Pittsburgh's zoo. They do have some different animals, and it was laid out in a nice way. But, the thing that made it highly superior to the Pittsburgh Zoo - is that it had a Chick-fil-A inside.

Freak Out

This morning, Walt and Noah were eating breakfast. They could see that our neighbor had some kind of workman there to clean her gutters or do something on her roof. He put his tall ladder up to the top of her house. (Which is visible from our table). Walt said Noah got up and walked to the window and said in a very serious voice "Oh my God. If that guy falls I'm going to freak out!" Sometimes I can hear my voice coming out of his small body - that's totally something I'd say, too!

Vacation...All I Ever Wanted...

Last week we packed up the Jeep and headed west to our neighboring state of Ohio. We rented a cabin in the Hocking Hills area. It's a lot of woods, a few caves and probably more churches than houses! But, it was beautiful, and we had a very relaxing time. Noah had a great time. He experienced a lot of firsts during this trip - his first nights in a big boy bed. (We just haven't moved him at home yet). He did fantastic! In fact, he slept in until 8 am every day. I'm glad one of us slept because I didn't. Between being worried about him in a big bed in a strange place and just knowing that Jason was going to come creeping out of the woods to chop us in to bits at any minute, I barely slept a wink.

Anyway, Noah also visited his first cave. You can see him above in a little recess in a place we visited called Old Man's Cave. It was truly beautiful, we walked back through huge trees, crossed these great stone bridges and climbed about a million steps to get to Old Man's Cave. Supposedly an "old man" and his 2 dogs settled there and lived out their lives there in the late 1700's. Surprisingly, Noah walked the entire hour we explored the caves. He kept saying "This is AMAZING!!" And he was very independent, and would only hold our hands when we insisted. (Like on this bridge - I had the death grip on him!) Below us is a thing called The Devil's Bathtub. The shape the water has worn away in the rocks looks like a bathtub, and they say that once you get in there, the current is so swift, that there's no way to pull you out. And over the falls you go.
He also sat around his first campfire and roasted his first marshmellow. He found that eating them right out of the bag was much quicker! He came away with a mantra from our time out there. "Mans pee in the woods and get dirty". This came from him not understanding why I didn't pee on the trees like he did. It was one of his favorite activities. All in all we had a great time. I'll post a few more specific stories later.