The Things That Amuse Me

Now, for those who are unfamiliar with Twitter, you are generally supposed to read it from the bottom up. However, sometimes at work when its been a while since I checked it, I'm lazy. I jump to the top and scroll down. Scanning tweets. I frequently use "view conversation" to catch up if I happen to see something interesting as I'm scanning...

These were all  random conversations going on. Most of them are not between the people pictured. Just the words matter in these cases. I blocked out names since I'm not sure who is private and who isn't these days.

I giggle as I'm reading from the top down and see stuff like this:
(BTW, screenshots are the favorest feature ever on my phone.)

Things get lost a lot:

THE PANTS. They are missing.

Or there is a misunderstanding at the most basic level:

The old men? ALL CONFUSED.

When animals mix in:

EVERYBODY HURTS. Sometimes. Even Pandas.

When it comes to bras, this group of tweets are funny no matter what direction you read them in. LOL.

BRAS. In lots of places they should NEVER be.

This group? Well, you can read both images as one or separately...:

VINTAGE. In a way I never want to know.

WORDS TO DESCRIBE THIS. I have none.

Finally. The screenshot that inspired this post:

LOVE. and Muppets.

It's not the damned size.

I have noticed something over the last 6 months or so, and its gotten to a point where I need to bitch about it.
I'm going to talk about girl parts. Specifically? Breasts.
Oh. And boy parts too. (Since you started it.)
Look, I understand that as human beings, we are physically attracted to things. Some like to do the plastic surgery route, and I'm not saying a damn thing about it in this post, to be clear. To each his own. Some people like red heads. Some people like short women. Some people like tall men. Some people like iPhones.
That is NOT what I'm talking about.
I'm talking about the need to criticize and be *nasty* about physical traits we were BORN WITH.
Like eye color, height and DUN DUN ...breast size.
Some are big. Some are small. But let's clear some shit up right now. We didn't stand in the boob line and pick the damn size.
Saying... "...But she has small (or big) boobs..." In a nasty, judgemental way is just fucked up. Ok? I have had guys tell me I'm too endowed and that it is "a waste." Conversely, I have had some of my friends discover that their ENTIRE character as a PERSON, is being judge because genetics didn't give them something bigger than what they have.
WTF. THIS HURTS MY BRAIN. So, your a bad person if your rack isn't some predetermined, bullshit size?
I'm looking at men AND WOMEN HERE. Which ? WTF ladies??! You know that you get what you get, unless you buy bigger.
MEN.
The next time I hear one you utter in that nasty tone, I'm going to demand to see what is in your damn pants. Then we will see how the judging goes.
KNOCK IT OFF.

Apartment warming party

Twitter ordered me to have one. So... I am. If you can read this? Your invited. Just rsvp to me by 12/1 thru Facebook, text, email, or twitter. It's not hard to get a hold of me.
DETAILS: 12/10 @ 7 pm. At my apt. With the after-party around 10:00pm at Tramps. (412 greentree rd) Let's admit it... I have a small place even with the little patio, hence the other location for later. You CAN smoke at tramps. I request that smoking be taken out to the patio while at my place please.
I was told to post a list of things I needed still. BUT YOU DON'T HAVE TO GET ME STUFF. SRSLY.
I feel ... Weird... Asking, because I've had so much help already. In moving, emotional support, stuff people gave me.... It's been so much. 
As of today, I kinda need :
Potholders (the catalyst behind this all. I don't have any)
Canister set (sugar, flour, etc type.)
A full set of measuring cups
A blender (I don't have one. Do I need one? I don't know?)
I really want a little charcoal grill for my patio and the charcoal chimney. But I'm probably not grilling anything till spring.
Bread pan (promised a friend meatloaf)
Cake pans. (Round, square, whatever. I have none. And I have a mini stove.)
Small coffee maker (for the handful of visitors who may drink coffee)
Someone mentioned a tool set. I lack hammer, pliers, level measuring tape, stuff to hang pictures...  maybe a little box for it to go in. You may decide if I should really own a hammer or not LOL
Gift cards to target and walmart are always good.
I don't know what else. I can't think of anything.
You don't have to get me stuff. Just come over, hang out. Good friends and family are all I really need.

#PoolTour2011 South Park Wave Pool

Last week I decided we were going swimming damn it.
My sister suggested the south park wave pool since she was over that way.
Admission is the same price as north park.
DAYTIME Adult 5.00
Senior Citizen 3.00
Junior 4.00
Youth 3.00
Children 1.00
The changing area was fairly clean. The concession stand was pretty extensive, but chaotic... Because it was kinda of self serve, if they were out of something you had to wait. This caused a bit of confusion. The prices were not too bad and the food was pretty good.
There was a good bit of seating though outside the concession area, thought not a lot of it was shaded with table umbrellas. There is a reasonable sized play area for toddlers and a larger tree just inside the gates. But there is no baby pool.
The wave pool was clean, has a sloped entry and the waves seemed to be turned on randomly. A bell would ring as warning. The towel area was covered in indoor/outdoor grass carpet and rafts could be rented for $4 + $1 deposit.
Over all we had fun. It was Julia's first wave pool experience. She got a pretty big kick out of it. The water was a bit cold. But at 90* you tend to welcome the numbness from the cold. And waves tend to take care of getting you wet fast.
I would give it a B. Because the tables were missing their umbrellas and lack of kiddie pool

#TheGrave

Before I start, I would to say that the way I use really long hashtags has evolved after seeing how @sheepthemoon starting doing it. Capitalizing the first letter of the word makes it so much easier to read.

On to the story.

A couple weeks ago I got to help celebrate @chilla's birthday weekend with @mindbling, @cc_0920 and @wildthang412. Our venue of choice?? The Linden Grove on RT 88 in the south hills.

I can't take credit for the tag. That was all @cc_0920's doing after the first time she was there.

To start off the night in true Angie fashion, I was late because I got food on myself. This required me to run to Walmart and buy a clean shirt. At ten pm on a Saturday night. That my friends? #scary
Once I make it back, I spend 20 min looking for parking. Apparently, that is THE PLACE TO BE in the south hills. It's been about 12-13 yrs since I was last in the grove. I will say the front entrance has seen better days.
The "bouncer" cards me. And for a moment I'm not sure he is gonna let me in. Really? Really. This has become a new trend. I know people say I don't look 34. But I know I don't look under 21. This happened in cranberry once, when I wanted to purchase a small bottle of wine. The cashier studied my id to the point that I was sure he was gonna make me leave with out it. But I digress.

When I step inside the main area, it is like meeting 1995 while 1995 was tripping on acid. The music is loud. The place is *packed* with the wildest assortment of people I have ever seen crammed in to a dance club. The music was fast, slow, older and some newer. Everyone could find something to dance to there.
There were barely 21, faux Bohemian chicks (aka the dance floor drink police) all the way up to 85 yr old grannies. Frat boys and old men. Cougars and cowboys. I saw suits, dresses, jeans, animal prints on people who should never ever wear animal print and just plain old fashion fail.
Turns out. I could have worn the swimsuit top I bought that day instead of buying a clean shirt. Nobody would have noticed. LOL. It took me a bit to find my friends in the massive crowd. I am pretty sure an older man grabbed my ass. It took forever just to get a drink too. The place was packed. It was also hot as Hell in there.

I have decided that every organized dance is just a rip off of the OG, the electric slide. It stalks me and haunts me every place I go for music and dancing. At least this place? Warns you. So you can run to the bar for a drink while everybody rushes to the dance floor.

I could spend all afternoon talking about it. Honestly, you have to experience it.
I hope to see you next time I set foot in #TheGrave.

Sometimes it's educational

A lesson In Hashtags...

Recently, I made a new friend on twitter. He is very new to twitter and decided I was a good person to learn something from when it comes to tweeting. *flattered* I have over 21,000 tweets. But there are people out there who have more. Maybe it is because once upon a time I did not like twitter. (Only he couldn't possibly know that since we just met.)

Pick yourself up off the floor. It's ok. That was like...2008ish.

I started 2/21/2009 (thanks to my friends who could see the date even though I can't.) It took 6 months to write this post:
Dear Twitter, I'm Sorry

Its been all down hill from there. LOL. Most of my tweets started rolling in around early 2010, when I finally had interwebs on my phone. Anyway, the reason I post, is a lesson in Hashtags. My new friend asked me what they were, I wasn't prepared for the question. I answered it as best I could.
It got me thinking about them.

Hashtags are Twitter's way of connecting tweets, to put it simply.  A utility in its purest sense. Search Twitter for #pirates and you may see a lot of weeping as our baseball team gets killed by opposing Major League teams. Search Twitter for #gosharks and you will find some hilarious, possibly untranslatable tweets from @superfro432.
There are no real rules. We make the tags up. If enough people use the same tag, then it becomes a twitter trending topic.
My fellow hashtag addicts and I use it that way. We use it to get a point across when squeezing something in to 140 characters. (#StillSoWorthIt) We use it to honor an icon. (#MyronCope) We make it up as we go along. (#GoodDayDammit) We hashtag our texts and IM's too. Because... it just makes sense to us. It took me a very long time to understand hashtags. Honestly, its an organic thing. As you get into twitter more, you will eventually start tagging shit. It's a fact of life.

Tags I have used:
#saveme, #stab, #thegrave (that is another blog post), #fakesquare, #WTFSnow, #lifewitha4yrold #CauseIm14 #nerd
 
We use it for games too. This is how I got immersed in them. Twitter games.
To see the games we play, go to twitter and search #FakeMarathonTweets

I really, really wish I had screen caps of the #FakeLifetimeMovies and #BadKidsMovieSequals that we did a while back. Oh that? Was some funny shit. The point is to have fun with it. Make up your own. You are allowed. :-)

Any questions? ask away on comment or on twitter of course. :-)

Here is a sneak peak at my next blog post topic:

*sigh*

Well, we didn't win. It sucks.
At the same time...  I can tell you there were quite a few of my own friends who were sure that we would not even make the playoffs. So? I'll take it. Train wreck and all.
There will be tons of game break downs. I will skip that part.
Julia cheered like a little trooper all the way to the bitter end.
Twitter provided me with the most hilarious feed last night. Between the commercials, fail half time show, fail during the game, and the relative whom tried very hard to get smacked in the head with my beloved Droid.... Twitter saves.
I even had non-Twitter people laughing with some of the posts I quoted.
Thank you steelers.
Thank you Twitter.
LET'S GO PENS!!!

Happy Ranting

I will bitch about our football team #fail later. For now?
A Happy Post
WOOT!!

So first up? I am checking some *more* shit off the list.... I know!!! I need a New List. Funny thing... I was saying I needed to add something to it and now I forget what it was. Shit....
Original List:

• Go to the Ocean. 
• Go to see Falling Water
• Go to a Penguins Game at the CEC (I will sell my kid for a ticket.... just kidding. maybe.)
• Go to a Haunted House and actually get scared, Scare House maybe? I am so freaking jaded that the last haunted house I went too my heart didn't even race a little bit.
• Go to Karaoke and actually sing. Nothing scares me more than singing in front of people. I am working on planning a Twitter Karaoke night. Soon.
• Go to Kennywood for phantom fright nights with out a kid in tow so I can ride the coasters in the dark and really get a rush.

See all that Purple??? See that the Pens Game is IN PURPLE??!!
That is thanks to @douglasderda. I will have a ticket. For a pens game. ON MY BIRTHDAY.
I am stoked.
BTW Karaoke was a roaring success. In the house for my first song at Dukes (in bethel) were @feuxdeforet, @jackieinserra, and new friend @chicklitlisa. And?
We ROCK.
From what I understand very few try and succeed well at Evanescence. Well, Jackie and I nailed that shit twice and I'm pretty sure we were encouraged to come back by some of the regulars. (It was loud so I couldn't hear the whole conversation). We danced, we sang. It was fun as hell girls night out. The place is nice, smoke free, has an excellent DJ and sound system. (New fav drink? Cherry vodka and Sprite)
Now that I have overcome the fear... I am pretty sure we will have to do this on a regular basis. So anyone who missed out.... There will be future outings. I promise.
Gawd I love singing.
I will get a new list posted soon....

A Bunch of Random...

So first up... The List

I am pretty sure with the exception of Twitter (and Friends) Karaoke... nothing else is getting checked off before next year..... So, Haunted House? Done. Karaoke? NEXT WEEKEND!!! WOOO. Anyway.
-------------------------------------
How can you go insane in under 20 minutes? {mom blogging}

Julia: What is this street's name?
Me: Pioneer.
Julia: Why is that its name?
Me: Cause it is.
Julia: Why?
Me: *brain explodes*

Julia: Why is there 2 green lights?
Me: Seriously? I don't know
Julia: Cause they put them up there.
Me: *brain explodes*

Julia: Where is Greentree Road mommy?
Me: What?
Julia Greentree road.
Me: Its the other direction.
Julia: Are we gonna go on it?
Me: No. We are going this way to grandmas
Julia: Why?
Me: Because This way is faster.
Julia: Why?
Me: *brain explodes*

Julia: Look mommy that police car matches our car
Me: [believe me] I know
Julia: Why is it a different color?
Me: Because police cars are different since they are the police [cut me some slack, my brain was hurting at this point]
Julia: Why does it have those lights in the window? Why we don't have those lights? Where are our lights? You NEED those lights mommy. Mommy how are you gonna get those more lights? Mommy one of the police lights is broke [burned out break light]. Where are all the other cars? Where did they go? Are they hiding from us?.....

Kid 1 - Mom 0 {/end mom blogging}
-------------------------------------
Dear Steelers and Penguins

Srsly?? Seriously? You all need to get your acts together. NOW. There is only ONE loser sports team in the city and that is the Pirates. Do me a favor.... KNOCK IT OFF.
love, me

Strange (and scary) Sightings.... Random Edition

Resurrecting the Strange Sighting tag on the blog tonight... woo!!! lol 
I have a few things to show you tonight.... The first up::

Hideous Dress Courtesy Of Scarehouse Scott (pictured with said dress) He is the Creative Director of Scarehouse... and I would love to know where he found this....

Scott and the freaky bunny next to him enjoyed tormenting Burghbaby with that dress Ryan Secrest Style. Even though she eventually put it on. (Your welcome for me not posting the pic with you **in** the dress standing next to him. I have a few of those.... but they are too scary to post here lol...)

The dress?? **shudder**

From reader Beth:

I don't want to ask. I really can't imagine how desperate you are to work to BE IN this musical. Do you think the company who made this sign for the bus giggled the whole time??? Do you think the drivers were all: "I'm not driving the Menopause bus!! You drive it." Is there a union rule that says you don't have to drive the Menopause bus if you worked at PAT for at least 10 years???

Also from Beth:

As you see.... Proof that sometimes... the smart kids have WAY WAY too much time on their hands.... And no girlfriend....

And Finally.. All I'm gonna say is that they were doing their hairz out there the other night with hair dryers and curling irons.

Yes. Its a floor lamp. Yes, there are car cleaning products on the porch wall.... Yes, they started painting and then stopped. No. I am definitely  NOT gonna ask.

What I learned at Scary Crazy....

I learned that some people will do ANYTHING for a good cause. Like running (yes running.) through a haunted house that terrifies her. Or putting on the most hideous dress and make-up I have ever seen in my life. They both looked like they wanted to puke and/or cry. But they sucked it up for KIDS.

Scary Crazy raised $6,299 to split between the 2 charities (see prev post)

Damn.

Here is a taste. Trust me. Listening to this through Ginny's wireless mic in the VIP/RIP room? Hilarious! (For the record. Ginny went in it *a second time* w friends which I didn't know until later)



And From Unclecrappy... Our point of view....


Now that your done laughing.... What I learned....

I learned that I am not a screamer. ScareHouse made me jump out of my skin a several times. But I never screamed. Apparently, I have to be truly terrified to scream. Haunts just dont because I am too f*&%ing "its not real" about the whole thing. Only giant roller coasters  scare me enough to scream. Case closed. I lived vicariously through Ginny's screams.... Thanks hon. :-)

Also I learned that I am still the biggest klutz. EVER. Ginny might have lost a shoe... I freaking FELL on an uneven spot when I got too close to a rail near the end.  I felt it, but I was reacting to someone yelling at me and had no chance to save myself from ending up on my hands and knees.  And I missed doing a header into the opposing rail by hairs.

I was the head of the the group of 6. So 4 Scarehouse Actors, 2 ladies I didn't know, 1 reporter w camera man, and 1 twitter friend saw me bite it GOOD. My knee is killing me. I took 2 layers of skin off in one spot.

Now that your done laughing.... I would go again. It was pretty cool. I'll watch out for the rail next time... or maybe just not wear heels to disguise how freaking short I am.

Checking shit off the list....

So. First I want to mention that like 12 people Googled how to get rid of stink bugs... or stink bugs in general and then clicked on my previous post : Things that piss me off: Bug Edition

I wonder if they were inspired, amused or horrified by my murderous spree. One which continued with 4 more deaths and 4 that committed suicide when they found out I was coming for their little bug asses the other day.....

Second I want to mention that Strange Sightings tag may get revived. Cause I have seen some strange shit recently. Its amusing. I promise.

Anyway.

Tuesday I get to check off Scarehouse off my list... Now the issue here is I am so jaded that this stuff doesn't normally scare me. It may or may not. I am kinda hoping it does. Srsly.
However.
I have a ticket ordered from Michelle/Burghbaby that votes for Jane Pitt/ThatsChurch to go thru there by herself... I'm sorry Ginny, but if it doesn't scare me, I would like to live vicariously thru you... LOL.

The biggest thing I LOVE about all my twitter friends is their generosity. Both these ladies are raising money for sick and needy kids. Read the posts I linked to. Tell me you have done something this wonderful recently.... SRSLY. They are not the only ones. Just two examples of good people doing good things for kids stuck in a hospital, or ones whose family doesn't have enough money for Christmas presents. Twitter Friends Rule.

I'll be there Saturday, I hope I get to scream from Haunted House for once. And that Ginny does too....

heh.

:-)

Things I would like to do

I am not calling this a bucket list... too f&%$ing cliche.... Its just a list of things I would like to do in the next 12 months.

• Go to the Ocean. 
• Go to see Falling Water
• Go to a Penguins Game at the CEC (I will sell my kid for a ticket.... just kidding. maybe.)
• Go to a Haunted House and actually get scared, Scare House maybe? I am so freaking jaded that the last haunted house I went too my heart didn't even race a little bit.
• Go to Karaoke and actually sing. Nothing scares me more than singing in front of people. I am working on planning a Twitter Karaoke night. Soon.
• Go to Kennywood for phantom fright nights with out a kid in tow so I can ride the coasters in the dark and really get a rush.

Okay... I think that is a start. Some of these would work better to have someone (or a group) to do it with. But if I go it alone... then so be it.

Getting my Inner Bitch on

I am still on vacation... but there are a few things I would like to get off my chest.

First, the foremost thing on my mind... When the HELL is the West End Circle makeover gonna be done?? For the love of GAWD. Put the switch plates, cabinet handles and socket covers ON and call the Realtor!! (house flipper reference) Jez. And what ever they did with that damn light coming from the Main St. Ramp? It is TOO LONG now. Fix it.

I took Julia to Erie at the beginning of my vacation to play in splash lagoon and then a beach on Presque Isle the next day. Two things stand out that annoyed me.

First: Signs. I don't know if it is an Erie thing or what, but all the damn signs were small or 27 feet from the road!! While Google Navigation is yelling at me to make a U turn, I can't see the hotel sign in the dark, pouring rain cause its HIDDEN behind the Shell Station at the curb. And the hotel is set WAY back off the road. This happened with Splash Lagoon too. I passed it, looking for a sign along the ROAD, not right up against the building.
It's not like that here. Signs are along the damn road.
For about 30 minutes at the beach I thought Erie would be a nice place to live. Then I remembered how f&%$ing cold it gets and how much snow they get and I changed my mind.

Second
.....
Shit... all that bitching and I forget what number 2 is.... must have been the snow. Snow definitely pisses me off. Well I reserve the right to revisit this should I ever remember what was.

Some Other things that piss me off

My car hates Sams Club gas, I swear I put the good stuff in right before I left to come home an I have some horrific gas mileage ratio for this current tank.

Local Radio: OMG PLEASE there are LOTS of other songs NOT by Katy {fake} Perry, Keeeesha {the skank} or John {the whiner} Mayer. Please play some of those songs. My non hate of radio lasted all of 3 months. I am sick of it. Also DVE can take some pointers from Erie's version of them (102.3 I think) and note how they play all kinds of classic and new rock with out sucking or killing me with the same Ozzy song billed as "new" for 8 months.

Those creepy "stink bugs" that are f&%$in invading my room. Whats the best way to get rid of them?? Please??

Now Things I Heart:
I heart Google Navigation. I would have never done that trip on my own w a kid without some GPS in the house. Especially in the dark. Pouring rain. In a city that hides signs. There was no epic fails, minor ones, but no epic ones because of my awesome droid inc.

Pandora Radio cause I can refuse to hear any of the previously mentioned crap above that I am sick to death of hearing.

And Finally,
I heart all my twitter (and some real life) friends. For totally being here for me and sticking with me through the ups and downs the last few months. I mean that. Without you guys and gals.... I can never say thank you enough.

7 things....

So first... Oops. I didn't realize it had been like 10 days since my last post.... Sorry about that. Life has been a bit busy.

I owe a reader a PAT rant... but that's not what this post will be about today. Soon. I promise. One of my favorite blogs inspired me the other day.... Now I am following thru with the comment I left saying I would blog my answer...

The other day BurghBaby wrote This Post: Celebrating Our Talents that was inspired by a blog she saw.


I have thought long an hard about 7 things I feel I excel at. And it is very true.... Somewhere along the way we stop being proud of our talents. Here are 7 things I am proud of about me.

#1. I am Self Taught. For years, I have built (rebuilt) my own PC's from scratch .  Starting w a memory upgrade to my first Packard bell when i was a freshman in college. No Formal Schooling. Everything I know about building pc's, I have taught myself. I asked a ton a of questions, did tons of research, made mistakes... (last upgrade my mistakes were admittedly cause it had been 5 yrs since the last build). I may not have always done it the "right way" but "Angie's Way" has never failed me yet. I know one reader who did have schooling for it that nearly died when he found out how I greased a processor.

#2. I am a good mother. Julia is behaved for a 3 1/2 YR old. She says please, thank you, kisses my boo-boo's when I have them... ( I'm good a being a klutz too) She is an outgoing, smart and sassy little girl. I would like to think that is because how much I love her. Sometimes she is still the mistress of destruction, but hell... what girl isn't every once in a while?

#3. I am an excellent singer. While I never got to do much w my voice after high school... I have never stopped singing. My range is not as big as it used to be, but its decent. (Ask the person who drove me home from HelloSAL and had to listen to me sing Fiona Apple's Criminal as loud as I drunkenly could) I was in a special program for 2 years in high school that required an audition to get in to. I sang at a wedding when I was in college too.

#4. I am Creative. I have written a full novel. I like to believe it is a good book. Some people who have read it gave me great feedback. I have half of one done that I might one day get time to finished. I but I wrote the whole story from scratch. Edited it 10,000 times. I am proud of that book. One day I will get it published.

#5. I am great friend and listener. I am not always ranting. I am there for my friends. Listening, giving advice when I can. Consoling or supportive when I cant. I try to always be there for my friends. I do my very best to be the kind of friend I want to have.

#6. I can RANT. Just ask the twitter friends of mine who met up with me at @pghrugbyangel's birthday party... Me ranting in writing is apparently just a taste of entertainment compared to me ranting out loud when I am pissed. That is probably because you get the inflection, and the written word has more thought than words just coming out of my mouth when I am venting...

#7. I can arrange me some furniture. It was a skill I acquired in high school when I needed to be in control of something. I laid the smack down on my bedroom more than a few times. No matter the size... i find a way to move it. Myself. Till this day, put me in a room and I will find a way to arrange it. Multiple ways. Usually in the middle of the night...

Now, there is my 7. Can you name 7 for yourself??

A Day with out Epic Fail

[mom blog post w mini rant]
On Thursday, we made plans to go to North Park Pool... With friends of course. Funnel cakes were rumored to be found there so yeah... We were going. We were DARING the weather to not get nice by going... Damn it got really nice...  Julia LOVES water.... I went with @pghrugbyangel,  also @burghseyewife, @shellrenee and their boys, along with @aphotobug‘s son. The kids and the adult pools are enormous. I was stunned.

First I must say that I Giant-Red-Heart the Android OS and Google Navigation for getting my ass to North Park in the first place. (aka F you iphone)
I was supposed to follow my friends out there but my drive way was blocked:

And these men were making my head explode when they did this to my sidewalk:

Because they are preparing to tear down the house across the street.
Assholes better fix that shit right!

Anyway.

I get to NP and the place is damn empty. So its easy to find my friends. Julia plays in the kids pool for a bit but refuses to get in the big pool. "Jen says this is MY pool." She says referring to @burghseyewife's comment that Julia had the kids pool all to herself.
                    ---------> empty ass pool!

When @pghrugbyangel asks her, Julia goes right with her. To the Big Pool! Next thing I know Julia is diving off the ledge at her. It was adorable. When we tried to get her to go down the slide... There were about 14 thousand trips up and down those steps to the water slide. She would watch everyone else go. Chickening out every. single. time. I promised to catch her. Jen said she would catch her. Finally, I told her she was going or not at all. She looked at me and said "I want my new friend, Claire to catch me." 
The boys (what great kids they are) raced down the slide to go find her for me and tell her. 


Here is where I know my kid. She will love the slide if I can just get her ON it. When her new friend was waiting at the bottom, I pried Julia's hands off the railings and ignored her totally when she said she didn't want to go. And I MADE her. She LOVED it. As soon as her friend caught her, She said "I want to do it again!"


It was 3 more times she went down. The last time she came off the slide sideways (lol) and was done. She then proceeded to play in the kids pool, eat and try to drown her new friend later... LOL. After the others left, we finally made our way out via ice cream bribe. She did ask... when could she play with her new friends again....

Then, I got lost leaving, Google got me to RT 8, But seriously, Someone should tell Google that RT 28 should never be an option for travel unless the world is ending. Period. Even that wasn't that bad. We even made it to the Family Fest at Brookline park. Julia made crafts, jumped in the the blow up things they had and had loads of fun.


After lots of Epic Fail for me lately... There was no epic fail Thursday. It was wonderful.

Sunshine Personified

Tonight's 2am post is not a rant.... It about Secret Agent L
She also writes {with love from Pittsburgh}

I got to meet her and even got to snag a hug from her, like twice on Saturday night at her reveal party. It was awesome. Sorry, no pics posted here. I hate what I look like in pics. Esp after stuffing myself with good food and pms blah before going over to the Firehouse lounge.

I think I have a girl crush on Laura...

She is a constant ray of sunshine in my twitter feed, and is as beautiful on the outside as she is on the inside. I am glad to have met her. I am glad that she reached out to me when I was having self esteem crisis. I was astounded to see how happy she was to see me at her reveal when we had only been twitter friends a couple weeks.

I was also reminded that even in heels, I am barely 5 foot 4... and she is like 6 foot tall. I was worried that she might fall down when she was hugging me.

I had so much fun, seeing my friends, putting faces to those not met before, meeting new ones...

I am glad I went. She makes me want to be better at something in life. That's what I'm gonna try to do.

SnOMFG! I am SICK of SNOW!!!

I swear to god, I have **HAD** it with snow.

We have MORE snow than freaking Alaska!!! Thats just WRONG.
I saw these tweets from Jeff Verszyla ( @verz) Friday night. He is Kdka's weather man. (that I love cause he tweets me back):

Snowapalooza stats...feb 5-26...13 days w/ measurable snow, snow total = 42.2
(in 3 weeks!)...avg high = 34 (normal hi is 41) about 9 hours ago via web

AND Later in the evening:

Ready 2 close snow shop for business 2day...latest total for feb 2010,
46.6...total for season 73.8"...please stop, now! about 2 hours ago via web

*headdesk*

I am sick of the "death grip on the steering wheel" drive this month or the near death experience of sliding across route 228 because despite the heavy traffic on the road... it SUCKS every. single. time. it snows. I saw 4 accidents on the way home tonight on 79 & 279.

I think we should be grateful that PennDOT put up all those weird little bars, with and with out the cables along 79 and 279. I predict that when the snow melts, FINALLY, that we will see how many cross over accidents they prevented due to this Shitty, Stupid, F&%$ing Snow.

I *promise* that when its humid and 90 in a couple months, you wont hear a PEEP of complaints from me.
Why?
CAUSE YOU DON'T HAVE TO SHOVEL HUMIDITY. Or Heat.
Or scrape it off your car, or fall in it and get dirty wet snow all over you. Or skid and slide the whole way home from work.
Cause dumb people wont stop in the middle of the highway (asshole) because its TOO SUNNY. (I didn't make that up.)
Proof that really happened from the PG:

"At least she wasn't texting" Feb 12, 2010

From the Beaver County Times: Since the snow started falling last Friday, local emergency officials have sent a consistent message: If you don’t have to go out on the roads, or you’re afraid of driving in the snow, just stay home. PennDOT spokesman Jim Struzzi said the best example why officials have been urging that happened shortly after 9 a.m. Wednesday. As the heavy snow was winding down, a woman was driving a small car in the right lane on I-376 in Robinson Township, near the off-ramp leading to The Pointe at North Fayette and Robinson Town Centre.

Struzzi said the woman, who wasn’t named, apparently became frightened because of the poor road conditions and didn’t want to drive anymore, so she simply stopped her car in the right lane.
That created problems for other motorists who were sliding on slush to get around the woman, Struzzi said. PennDOT crews saw the car on surveillance cameras and sent out a member of the agency’s Parkway Service Patrol to help the woman.

Struzzi said that when a member of the patrol arrived, they found the woman sitting in her car, reading a book, waiting for storm conditions to improve.

That's right kids, read that again.... SHE WAS READING A BOOK ON THE HIGHWAY. I think my brain wants to implode. What makes a person think that it is SAFE to stop in the MIDDLE of the highway EVER, and throw it in park??? And THEN whip out a book!!!???
I would love to find that lady and CLUB her in the head with that f&%$ing book. She is too stupid to be allowed to drive. Or even breathe. The highways have a shoulder to pull over on for a reason for goodness sake.

Btw, I disabled Anonymous comments on my blog because people were calling me racist and a coward over a sarcastic guest post from a reader, but were too much a coward to IDENTIFY themselves.
SO, F&%$ You. You want to call me names in comments??? OWN UP TO IT. BITCH.

Dear Twitter, I'm Sorry.

That is right. I said I was sorry to twitter. I discovered a program on facebook called Selective Twitter. And I made some friends on twitter too. (That helps.) I am firmly in the "twitter is cool" camp now. Don't judge me.

When I wrote about twitter here: Odds N Ends I didn't really understand it. My problem was I was trying to use it the way it was presented. "What are you doing?" That, I learned is the stoopid way. Now, I am a twitter fan girl, but I am not a power user like some of the people I follow who use hash tags, post pics, and such. I use twitter like AIM/YAHOO IM.

I talk to my new friends. I post my blog links. I rant (when I can, and believe me that takes some thought and creativity when you only have 140 characters). I give advice. I cheer for my team.
I can't wait for football season now. LOL.
Yeah.
Hook.
Line.
Sinker.

You got me twitter. :-)

Public Service Announcment

Every couple months I try to do what I call a public service announcement. Its a friendly and hopefully informative reminder to those online that what you see is not always what you get.

From MSNBC Red Tape Chronicles:
Red Tape: Why phishers love Facebook

Didn’t you know? Facebook is forever ‘Forgot your password?’ may be weakest linkFacebook ID theft targets 'friends'


And jez, From "Sometimes you should put the damn phone DOWN" files:

Holy Twitter! Tweeting from the pews

From Pc World:Facebook Updates: What Kind Do You Write?

These articles are some of the reasons why I don't do quizzes, "500 things about me you wish you still didn't know" notes or add just ANY application sent to me by another user. I am an equal opportunity ignorer (yes, I made that word up). I don't care about who the sender is at all. I promise. :-) I never did live journal or blog about deeply personal matters. I just like to keep some things... private.

I am online. I have been for years with various pages going back to Lycos and Tripod (remember them? then your old too hahaha). However, unlike some people out there, I don't reveal *every* single thing about my life. I don't find it that important to post a facebook status saying "I have to pee." "I have cramps" or other nonsense like this. (you know who you are Miss T.M.I.) I will unfollow you on twitter if there is nothing interesting said other than something like: "woke up. went to work" all the time. Don't be offended. I am trying to keep my twitter flow uncluttered.

I try to make posting worth while or interesting on facebook, twitter or this blog. I'm satisfied that maybe 30 people read my blog cause this is all for fun. And this is my place to say all the shit I want when I need to rant. So, if this post helps just 1 reader not fall victim to these dirtbags, then it is worth it.

Now back to your regularly scheduled ranting.