Random stuff

I woke up today

to Sister Too, trapped in her bedroom.

She wiggled the doorknob from the inside.

I wiggled it from the outside.

It wasn't budging.

In this old house (1941),

I was afraid we would need the screwdriver

to take off the doorknob

and release Sister Too.

Mr. stayed in bed, 

listening,

and thinking it was funny.

Finally I chastised him for his lack of help

and he went to work.

He deduced that the door was locked.

And when he coached her,

she was able to unlock the door

and spring herself free.

She didn't know the door was locked.

HA!

Meanwhile the Mac Doctor was here again.

He left me with a corrupted photo library.

And instructions to keep deleting libraries

and going further and further back

until I find the library BEFORE the corruption.

You know that means I am losing pictures.

And I have a back up.

And it frustrates me that my camera has 400 photos on it

that I don't dare load onto the computer

or post here.

It frustrates me that the back up drive 

has saved corrupted photos

and is no good to me.

It frustrates me that I paid someone lots of money

to NOT FIX my problem.

And I am really sad that I may be losing some of my pictures

for they are really the only thing I collect.

Boo hoo for me!

Growing up

I need to hang the pictures in this house.

First, I need to find out what is in the attic.

Then I need to organize the basement,

finally, the things in the garage that go in the basement 

or in the attic need to return to their respective places.

Only then will I be able to access the pictures to hang.

I started that process yesterday.

This move was perfectly timed.

The moving company packed everything up, and loaded it into the truck,

and dropped it off here while

 the sisters and I went to the cottage for the summer.

We had a fabulous summer.

Now that we're here, and the house is smaller,

we no longer have a toy room.  

Actually, we no longer need a toy room.

The sisters have outgrown their toys, 

and are satisfied to store them in the attic,

and generously donated a few as well.

Yesterday, while in the attic,

sorting through the boxes,

organizing the holiday decor which we will need in a few weeks,

I opened the box of dress-up clothes,

which was full of lots of things that didn't belong in there,

because kids rarely put things back where they belong.

I found two napkins from a tea party,

and a wipe-erase board listing 18 different kinds of tea served.

The long lengths of fabric used for so many things:

rivers, beds, forts, and costumes, 

were hopelessly knotted and tangled with safety pins,

couture designed by the sisters, 

worn by themselves and their friends.

It was weird, to see these items frozen in time,

and suddenly I wished 

for a moment

that the pretending days in our house were not over.

I wanted to post a picture here,

taken 4 years ago,

of all the neighborhood kids,

but iPhoto is still mad at me, 

and told me so by giving me a big, red exclamation point.

I gotta call that computer guy back.

Cincinnati Football

Our friends came to Cincinnati

to see a University of Cincinnati football game.

Folks here called it the University of Pittsburgh game.

Pitt for short.

First, we tailgated.

We suck at tailgating.

These people put on a spread.

With linens.

And flowers.

I liked their style.

Some Pitt Alumni were playing the fight song

with their fancy Pitt band horns and flags.

They played for beers1

There were about a million high school bands there too.

They got to play at half-time.

They were so proud.

Our new city is awesome!

I love the giant ketchups on the Heinz scoreboard.

Here's our crew...

The band lines up:

And they can spell.

As the evening got colder, we layered up.

Here's Mr. wearing his handsome hat.

Knitted by ME!

It's the Irish Hiking Hat.

Not usually my thing, 

but it was TONS of fun!