Barometer

I'm willing to bet that there are few people out there who are as excited about the recent (and upcoming) weather warm-up as I am.  I have already talked about how much I hate the winter, and even DH has been feeling the SAD (seasonal affective disorder.)  We've even had some semi-serious conversations about moving to a warmer climate, but when it comes down to it, I'm pretty sure we're not going anywhere. 

This past weekend was the first taste of "the warm-up."  Yesterday the temperatures were in the upper 40's and all of the snow finally melted on our driveway.  It was also the first migraine that I've had in a while.

Source

Do you remember science projects from grade school?  I once did a project on barometers.  I made two different types of barometers and had a real barometer as well and used them to measure changes in the atmospheric pressure.  Some were more accurate than others, but I remember at the time being amazed that I could actually observe these devices reflecting changes in pressure when I myself was too unobservant to notice them.

Being unobservant to atmospheric pressure is no longer the case.  Now, it seems that whenever the weather changes, I get a migraine.  It's particularly bad when the weather goes from cold to warm, instead of the other way around.  Some people feel weather changes in their joints, and as someone who had a relatively major knee surgery, you'd think I'd notice it there instead of my head.  In fact I think I'd rather feel it in my knee.  But for some reason my brain hates changes in the weather, and I suffer dearly. 

It makes me appreciate the warm weather just a little less, and when I'm in the throes of a migraine I might even be heard saying something crazy like, "I just want cold weather again!"  Don't worry, it's not true.  I love the warm weather and I really do love spring.  But after last spring, when I had the worst migraines I have ever experienced, and after this most recent one - when it's not even spring yet! - I am definitely concerned about what the upcoming months have in store for me. 

For now, I feel like I should put together some makeshift barometers again and see which predictor model is more accurate - one of my homespun devices, or my poor little head. 

The Snuggie

I have longed joked about getting Murphy a Snuggie.  DH would roll his eyes at me and firmly say, "No." 

But then one day when I was on the phone with my mom, she announced that she had purchased a Snuggie for Murphy on a whim, because it was on sale.  I told DH, and he gave the requisite eye roll, but he knew he lost that war - the Snuggie was already purchased and I did my part by not being the one to buy it!

So imagine my surprise when we both agreed that the Snuggie was pretty darn cute.  Murph seemed to love it, or - at the very least - didn't hate it, which is basically love in dog speak, right?  The day we receive it in the mail he wore it the entire evening.

First he played with his alien toy in it.  Then he curled up in in the towels that we keep next to the door for drying him off.  We're pretty sure he thinks we just set up make-shift beds for him near every door.

Then he jumped up onto our bed to sleep, proving that the Snuggie does not hinder his jumping ability at all.

Later than night, as we were getting ready for bed, we noticed that he had already crawled into his crate with his Snuggie on.  He was all curled up and ready to go to sleep and even though I tried to coax him out for a minute or two so that I could remove the Snuggie, he had no interest in moving.

I guess I can't really blame him.  I mean, I'm always freezing in this house, and that poor dog doesn't even get to layer on the clothes like I do!  He was probably thrilled at opportunity to get to wear a blanket around the house.  In fact, the next morning I was running late from work and didn't remember to take it off of him then either, so he spent the entire next day with it on.  It didn't come off until that evening, when it was raining and he came in from outside completely soaked.  The cool thing? I took off the Snuggie and didn't even need to dry him off - his fur was totally dry.  Awesome.

So, whether his daddy likes it or not (and I think he does), Murphy is a Snuggie doggie.

Happy Birthday to me

Last Thursday I turned 30 years old. I decided not to make a big deal out of it, since it didn't feel like a big deal at all to me.  I know that a lot of people think that 30 is a huge milestone birthday.  Some even fear it, leaving their 20s far behind.  But for whatever reason I was neither nervous or excited about turning 30.  It was just going to happen and I'm ok with that.

We went out to eat at Mad Mex the night before and the next day DH bought me a mini-almond torte cake to eat for dessert. It was a low key, subtle celebration.

If you're my friend on Facebook or you follow me on Twitter you'll know that I was somewhat overwhelmed on the day of my birthday this year. I received more birthday wishes on Facebook and Twitter than ever before, and even more birthday cards.  Thanks to everyone for the well wishes - I don't want anyone to think that my ambivalence towards the 30th anniversary of my birth means that I'm ungrateful.  But I'm certainly not dwelling on age - it's only a number, and definitely not a state of mind. My state of mind is "young at heart," proven by my desire to go to the South Side for the Super Bowl when all of my - older - co-workers looked at me like I was crazy and said things like "Why would you want to go there? It's going to be crazy."

I have no regrets about the way that I celebrated my birthday, and I'm already looking forward to the next one.

Thanks again, everyone!

Well, that sucked

So, let's start out by just stating the obvious - the Steeler's lost.  And if you ask me, that sucks.

Picture of smiling faces taken BEFORE the Steeler's lost

Of course, I'm not really sure that they deserved to win.  It wasn't their best game ever, and they made a lot of stupid mistakes that cost them the win. You can't make stupid mistakes when you're in the Super Bowl.  All of the fumbles, the sacks, the turnovers - just plain stupid.  But like any true fans might, we truly believe the entire time that they could win it - would win it - right down to the last two minutes, until they missed that 4th down pass with just over a minute remaining. Then we left.

We went to a party at Mullen's in the South Side for the Super Bowl.  We had to pay a $10 cover, which simply got us in the door.  The party was a friend of a friend of a friend's wife (or something like that) sort of deal, so we didn't really know anyone but were happy to have a home base.  We lucked out and were able to get a table, which was really nice, since we got there around 4 p.m. and didn't leave until after 10:30.  I hate standing for long periods of time so having a place to sit was essential for me.  The vibe was great, and there were a great number of really drunk people, particularly large football-player-sized men.  I kept my distance, and I think that sporting events are one of the only times where there's a line for the men's bathroom and not for the women's.

In preparation for possible craziness, the Pittsburgh police closed East Carson street and prohibited parking along Carson and up side streets one block on both sides.  We were lucky enough to be walking by when the tow truck caravan arrived, and it was really a crazy site to see.

Of course, the craziness didn't happen.  Do you think that the police were relieved?  Since that meant no craziness? Or do you think they were sad, since that meant no Steeler's win and they were probably Pittsburgh Police?

Either way, we walked out of the bar after the game and the streets were pretty much empty.  Not filled with cheering, celebrating people like they should have been (if they had won.)  I know there was worry that if we lost people would be belligerent and angry and try to cause mayhem by doing things like setting couches on fire, but that didn't appear to be the case, at least where we were.


Even though the streets were closed, everyone stayed on the sidewalks.  As we walked near the Birmingham Bridge we passed the police, SWAT, and military barricades that had been set up.   There were at least 8 police officers on enormous, beautiful Clydesdale horses, all standing in a line.  We even got to see the LRAD device which they used during the G20 riots last year, which puts off crazy noises and dispersal messages (which they obviously did not have to use.)  They were clearly prepared for the worst, and I guess in the "public safety" sense, the best case scenario happened.

Can you see the horses back there? On the other side of the street from the cop car?

People were sad.  Some were stunned into silence.  Others were still positive and hopeful, saying things like, "It's ok, we'll get it next year." Or "It just wasn't meant to be." But no one really seemed to be angry.

And really, how could they be?  The Steeler's are one of the best teams in NFL history.  We've been to the Super Bowl THREE TIMES in the last SIX YEARS!!! That's unheard of!!!  What other city can say that about their team!!? Of course, not winning means that you're the first loser, but if you're the first loser of the Super Bowl, is that really such a bad thing!?!?  Only two teams get to go to the Super Bowl, and our team has been there 50% of the time in the past 6 years.  That's actually remarkable.  Pittsburgh - a football town at heart - got to host two playoff games at Heinz field this year.  We got to wear our jerseys and tailgate and watch our team on TV into the month of February this year!!!!  February people!!!  Only one other city gets to say that!

Yes it's sad that the Steelers lost.  But what a game!!! What a team!!! How awesome is it to say "I'm from Pittsburgh" right now??  I'm over that game. We didn't win - so what. Moving on. We'll get them next year!

I'm going to end this with a video, taken at the bar.  It's pretty poor quality, from a point and shoot digital camera, but you'll get the gist of it.  THIS is why people do things like go to the South Side on Super Bowl Sunday even though we live in the suburban wilderness.  THIS is why we dress up in black and gold and this is why people drive all the way from Baltimore to be in Pittsburgh for this game.  To be a part of something big.  Bigger than ourselves.  To hug people we don't even know and not care in the least, because we all want to the same thing. To experience to gamut of emotions from extreme excitement - shown here - to extreme sadness and loss.  That's what sports teams can do to us, and I think it's an amazing thing.

Thanks, Steelers.

Here we go!

In honor of my recent birthday, the Steelers have decided to go to the Super Bowl.  We have decided to venture to the South Side for the festivities although we may regret it later tonight when we're trying to battle traffic to get home tonight.

In any case, Murphy is all ready to go! Let's go Steelers!

The Groundhog

I know I'm a few days late on this one, but better late than never, right?

I don't put a lot of faith in the weather predicting abilities of Punxatawney Phil. Sure, he's cute beyond belief and I just want to squeeze him whenever I see him, but a weather man he is not.

But in an effort to "look on the bright side" of this horribly cold, snowy, depressing winter, I decided on Tuesday - after hearing that Phil did NOT see his shadow! Yay! - to buy into the little critter for at least this one year.  After all, he said that there would be an early spring!!!

Then yesterday when I was driving into work I was blinded - literally could not see where I was driving at all - by the intensely bright shining sun.  Yes the temperatures were still pretty chilly, but it wasn't snowing or sleeting and the sun was out.  It seemed like Phil might be on to something.

Please don't let me down, little guy!

A dozen ways to skin a turkey

Or at least a dozen ways to use turkey leftovers!

On Sunday night I cooked an 18 pound turkey for dinner.  We had always planned on eating the turkey on this particular day, but thankfully some friends came over to help as well.  I'm not sure that 2 lone people have any business trying to finish off an 18 pound turkey on their own.

 Isn't that a good looking bird?

I should be - but still am - amazed at how much meat was on that bird, and I've been thinking about how many meals we're going to get out of this turkey.  Here's where we're at so far.

5 meals - Sunday night, full Thanksgiving style dinner
2 meals - Lunch on Monday; I had turkey and stuffing, DH had turkey and mashed potatoes
2 meals - Lunch on Tuesday, I had a hot turkey sandwich on ciabatta (yum!) and DH had turkey and mashed potatoes again
2 meals- Dinner on Tuesday; turkey burritos
2 meals - Lunch for both of us on Wednesday; leftover turkey burritos

That's 13 meals right there! (A baker's dozen, if you will.)  And we still have a ton of turkey left.  I'm thinking we'll get at least 6 more total meals out of it.  I for one am definitely interested in doing the hot turkey on ciabatta again, although we also talked about making California turkey clubs or turkey chili.  And of course there's always the old stand by - turkey salad sandwich.

I also made the tastiest rolls and best gravy ever.

The rolls are frozen dough balls that you can only get around the holidays.  We stocked up so that we'd have some around when we wanted them.  You have to let them rise for 5 hours, which means a lot of planning ahead, but it's so worth it.

The gravy is all of the liquids from the turkey bag pulled out with a baster (minus all of the turkey scraps that always fall off), two packets of turkey gravy seasoning and a little bit of gravy flour mixed with cold water.  It was seriously the best gravy I have ever made, and I love gravy.  It had the perfect turkey flavor, wasn't too salty, and the consistency was perfect. 

I've always found that cooking big meals like Thanksgiving isn't really that hard if you plan ahead appropriately, but I really must say - I am getting good at this!