Opa's New Car

Mitsubishi Lancer, Cobalt Blue, 5-speed manual transmission, many gizmos too numerous to list.

Result, happy Opa! :-)

Bye-bye, Taurus . . . .

David's Baby Dedication Trip . . .

This weekend was a trip to Columbus for me to attend the baby dedication for our little guy, David. I drove over on Friday night right after work. The dedication service was at the 5 o'clock worship service at Heritage Christian Church , so I had time on Saturday to spend a little time with the family.

Katy and I did a short trip to Tim Horton's for a donut on Saturday morning. Then we went down on Lane Avenue to Opa's very favorite place on the planet, Half Price Books! It is never too soon to start cultivating a love of books, and the love of donuts with sprinkles comes early without any cultivation!

Katy enjoyed her donut; and she named every color of sprinkle on that donut! I never paid attention to how many different colors there are in the standard mixture. Leave it to a 2-1/2 year old to educate you on this type of thing. I drank a cup of coffee and ate a cinnamon-raisin bagel while Katy named colors and sipped her milk. Then we went off to the kids' corner at Half Price. There were lots of books, and Katy picked two and I picked two as well. Hers were about Cookie Monster and another about rainy-day projects that had some neat pipe cleaners and things to complete projects in the package with it. I picked a kid's book about Mozart for Katy and a crossword puzzle book for myself. It was a FUN trip.

David's latest new skill is that he can now climb up the stairs. And he is so proud of himself when he does this. You can tell in the picture here that he is king of the mountain when he gets to the top.

He is just the cutest little boy on the planet when he does this . . . well, actually he's that cute all the time. But he is still our smilin' darlin'! How could you help but love that face and kiss those cheeks?

The baby dedication was really great, and the minister, Jim Zippay, talked a lot about taking your worship beyond just singing and making it count for the poor and hurting people around us. He particularly hit a nerve with me when he talked about an organization called Rahab's Hideaway that assists women in escaping from white slavery. Ever since I read The Natasha's, I have been really passionate that I need to somehow make an impact in helping these women. I plan to check out this web site . . . . More on that later.

I'm really proud of the kids, and it is wonderful to see this great family thriving and growing. After the service, we picked up lasagna on the way home. We had a great dinner with family!

I got to see Melanie for a little while. She is heading off to Florida next weekend for her training at Great Commission Ministries. I am so proud of her for taking on this ministry position. Ever since she was 7 or 8 years old, she has been my little women's advocate. Her first career choice in elementary school was to be the first woman president of the United States. (There's still time on this dream, by the way!) From that time forward, she has been learning what it means to help young women get the respect they deserve . . . from themselves as well as from other people. She is the perfect person to demonstrate what it means to be a young, single woman on a college campus who is lovable and worthy of respect. I know she will be a great supporter of the students on Ohio State campus. Drive safely, Melanie! I love you!

This morning, I got up and started for Pittsburgh about 9:30 because we had symphony tickets at 2:30 to hear Gabriela Montero playing Rhapsody in Blue with the orchestra. It was the most lyrical, amazing performance of this piece that I have ever heard. It was wonderful! As an encore, Gabriela played an improvisation on "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" that was just as amazing. And before the second half of the concert, she played a John Williams arrangement of "Simple Gifts" that she performed for the inauguration last Tuesday. Anyway . . . it was a wonderful concert. I was really glad I came home early anyway, because it was snowing by the time we got downtown at 1:30 p.m.; and by the time we came home at 4:30 p.m., it was kind of slippery.

Hey, Pam! I hear that Danny is scheduled for entry on Wednesday! I am thinking about you this week and can't wait to hear that you and your family are doing well.

Let's hear it for the Stillers!

I can't wait to see the cartoons of bulky steelmill workers raining destruction on twittering cardinals. And here is the Pittsburgh theme song for the next 2 weeks . . . and beyond! (It was also the closing song at church yesterday.)

Here we go!

The Superbowl Fever will be a fun time . . . even for a football curmudgeon like me! In 2006, the celebrations and rallies kept people's attention off the weather and the economy and other things for weeks. The winter goes faster this way. And the parades and fun after the Steelers won in 2006! Well, that was ALMOST as good as the Buckeyes beating Michigan after a competitive season. And some of my readers can probably relate to that! :-)

Here's a quick review of the week in Pittsburgh weather.

The temperature has not been above freezing for about 10 days to date. There was actually ICE on the Allegheny River.

My birds have been very hungry!

For the most part, we have been eating inside. The table on the deck hasn't been too inviting.

Let's hear it for cabin fever! My car is so dirty even the road grime has dirt on it. So, yeah, I'm willing to be distracted by happy people anticipating the Superbowl. Pass over the wings and the pizza rolls . . . .

It's Winter . . . and the Stillers are playing football.



As many of you are aware, I am about as interested in sports as . . . well, I don't know very many people more clueless than I am. Living in Pittsburgh, it is REALLY hard not to care about football and the Steelers. People around here consider it heresy to even suggest that you don't follow the team.

I'm sitting here typing while Greg is watching the playoff game with the Steelers against the Chargers this afternoon. (The score is currently tied 7 all.) When we went to church this morning, about a quarter of the people in the congregation were either in football jerseys or black and gold. The preacher ended the service with "Let's go Steelers!" The owner of our favorite restaurant where we had brunch was wearing black and gold. And people at the Giant Eagle where we stopped to get groceries were rushing around buying "game food" and doing their own version of rushing the line to get home so they could get control of the remote. Whatever! I need to at least know the final score in order to get into the office in the morning.

Personally, Greg and I were outside for an hour or so this morning shovelling the 5+ inches of snow off the driveway in 24-degree weather with the sun shining on us. Given that experience, I am having a tough time imagining the 65,000 or so people down there at Heinz Field waving their terrible towels for 4 or 5 hours this evening being able to bend their knees when they get to their cars later. I think there is a chromosone missing on somebody in this scenario. I'm just not sure if it's me or the people down there that have the deficit.

On to another topic. Winter and associated weather. As you may have noticed, it is January. Our area got about 5 inches of snow between Friday and Saturday. Greg and I didn't bother to shovel yesterday since we used the snowy Saturday to stay home and putter. This morning, we got up and worked on clearing the walks and driveway. I kept thinking about people who have moved to warmer climates saying they miss the changing of the seasons as we were shovelling. Is there a place where you can get the deciduous trees and the leaves changing and have about 1 week of winter with one pretty snowfall on a weekend that melts by Monday and turns into spring? If so, let me know. I'm interested.

Happy Birthday, Mom (one day late)!

I am a little behind this week coming off the holiday vacation and all. It has been brutal this week working 5 days in a row after sleeping in later every day for 10 days in a row.

Anyway, January 7 (yesterday) was Granny's birthday! Here's to you, Mom! We love you!

Hey, Emily! My new cookbook holder works great!

I love it! Mom