Tagged with domestic bliss …

Mar 14 2011
2 Comments
Elsewhere, Home, Ohio, Sports

11. foreshadowing.

 

Yes, those are Snuggies. What?

While taking a quick look at the NCAA men’s tournament brackets tonight, I couldn’t help but notice:

  1. Ohio State is No. 1 seed in the east region.
  2. North Carolina is the No. 2 seed in the east.

Granted, a game between my Buckeyes and Mrs. Crappy’s Tar Heels is far from being a forgone conclusion, but if it should happen that our teams play for a berth to the Final Four, March 27 promises to be an interesting day in the Crappy Household.

—

And, yes, boys and girls — the brackets are ready, which means it’s time for me to start bugging you about the Sixth Annual Uncle Crappy NCAA Final Four Challenge.

And I’ll do that as soon as I wake up this morning.

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Jan 04 2011
1 Comment
I Have No Idea

2010 > 2011.

What I’ve done with this post in the past:

  • Had a few drinks on New Year’s Eve.
  • Written an assessment of the year that’s about to end.
  • Added a couple of predictions or goals for the year ahead.
  • Got in bed in time to get up to jump in the river.

But we were entertaining our friend Carla on New Year’s Eve, and while I definitely satisfied the drinking part, I didn’t want to stick Carla with watching me write a post — especially when we could have so much fun watching the Burghseyeview New Year’s Eve party on the internets.

And New Year’s Day? It was busy. We swam — more about that in post later today — we met up with friends, we ate delicious stuffed pork chops and we watched the Winter Classic.

The new year has been busy since then; a lot of work stuff, including an hour on KDKA radio at an ungodly hour on Sunday morning, a lot of time just getting caught up with stuff.

In some ways, 2010 was hard. The pay cut I took at work a couple years ago caught up with us, and we really had to scale back. It was uncomfortable, frustrating and occasionally scary.

Note: I am not complaining. We both still have jobs. We have our house. We have each other, and we have our families and the best group of friends we could hope to have. We’re doing better than an awful lot of people who have had to struggle a great more than we have for the last couple years.

I listed a bunch of goals for 2010 when I wrote this post a year ago. I made progress on nearly all of them, but I can’t say I accomplished any of them. They all still apply, but I’m not making any promises.

What I will say is this: 2010 was a pretty good year, and 2011 will be better, for me and for Mrs. Crappy. There are little things and big things involved here, and we’re going to make them happen.

And you guys? Keep doing what you’re doing — because you help us in ways you may not know — and we’re all going to have a great 2011 together.

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Dec 24 2010
Home

79. helpful.

With a little assistance from Miles, we’re pretty much ready for Christmas. All that’s left tonight? The eating, the drinking and the watching of the Christmas televsion specials.

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Dec 15 2010
2 Comments
Home, I Have No Idea

74. happy happy.

It’s Mrs. Crappy’s birthday today. She’s just two months younger than I am, and I continually wonder if we’ll ever get to the point where we’ll start acting our ages.

The answer I always come up with? Jeez, I hope not.

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Dec 09 2010
1 Comment
Pittsburgh

69. blown.

For as long as I can remember, Mrs. Crappy has pointed out the Pittsburgh Glass Center whenever we drove by. She’s wanted to stop and look; occasionally, she’s also mentioned taking classes there.

A couple weeks ago, I was wondering what to do about Mrs. Crappy’s approaching birthday. And I saw someone mention on Twitter they had just taken a short course there, one that took you though making a blown-glass Christmas ornament.

I couldn’t find open slots a few days within her birthday — which is Dec. 15, for all those keeping track — so we went last night.

How was it?

It was a great night. Our instructors were personable, and took time to answer all the questions we had. The class was hands on; we picked our colors and did our own twisting and blowing. We even lucked out with our fellow students, who were all interested and engaging.

And this weekend, we’ll stop by the center and pick up our one-of-a-kind ornaments. Made by us. For Mrs. Crappy’s birthday.

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Dec 06 2010
Food and Drink, Home, Pittsburgh, Uncategorized

65. vacation.

On Sunday, I started what would have been my post-Christmas vacation, had I actually put in for the time off in time. But I think this is going to work out well; I’m going to get a ton of our holiday preparatory work done this week, and I think I’ll manage to have some fun along the way.

Want to know how I’m doing so far?

Sunday:

  • Sleep until 9:30.
  • Come down and discover we had everything we needed to make my dad’s roast beef hash for breakfast. I did it exactly as he did for the tailgate party we missed, with two exceptions: I used some Tater Tots instead of frozen hash browns, and I tossed some cheddar cheese on top of the hash just before I served it.
  • Take a nap.
  • Haul all the outdoor lights up from the basement.
  • Disturbed to find how many lights decided to die while they sat in the basement in the last 11 months.
  • Decide that re-stringing the garlands with lights will be easier than trying to figure out while bulbs are causing the problems.
  • Discover that I could have been wrong about that.
  • Head to Target for more lights.
  • Fix one strand. Start re-stringing the others.
  • Allow Mrs. Crappy to talk me out of finishing the re-stringing and hanging the lights, in favor of eating the delicious chicken/prosciutto/vodka/creamy pasta thing she made for dinner. And watching football.

Monday:

  • Wake up at 8:30.
  • Hit up Angie’s List to find a repair guy to fix our dishwasher and look at our ancient oven, which also has decided to quit.
  • The guy I pick says he’ll be over in the afternoon.
  • Discover the definition of irony: having to hand-wash a stack of dishes so the guy who’s coming to fix the dishwasher won’t see a stack of dirty dishes when he arrives.
  • Spend the next two hours re-stringing the lights. They’re all working perfectly while they’re sitting on the dining room floor.
  • Hang the lights outside. Find that two strands have quit again.
  • Just as I’m about to start swearing at the lights, the repair guy arrives.
  • The repair guy’s verdict: The dishwasher is fix easy, cheap and he has the part in his truck. The oven, however, needs a part we won’t find because it’s 50 years old.
  • Resist the urge to cook a bunch of shit, just so I’d have some dishes to put in the dishwasher.
  • After dinner, head outside to check out the lights. While there, discover that my street is the one Jacob has chosen for a break while checking out Brighton Heights. Boggle at the coincidence.
  • Shower and head to Walnut Street for a little shopping and to meet Jackie and her new-t0-Pittsburgh boyfriend for a couple beers.
  • Sit on the couch with Miles, write a blog post (twice, because WordPress is cranky tonight).
  • Start researching new ovens.
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