Archive for September, 2010
Dumplings
Sep 28th
My grandmother taught me how to make these. You could make them for chicken and dumpling soup however we prefer to fry them up in butter and onions and server them as a side dish.
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Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 c water
1 tsp. salt
4 c flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
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Directions:
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Adjust if needed. If too stiff add water, if too wet add flour.
I like stiff dough, my grandmothers is not as stiff. So if you prefer use half the amount of water.
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Boil water with 1/2 tsp. salt. When comes to boil, put dumplings in by tsp fulls.
When the float they are done.
Unless you have a very large pot you will have to do this in batches. Place them on a paper towel to drain.
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If desired fry in butter and onions until slightly browned.
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This recipe serves about 8-10 side dishes. You can put any leftovers in a container and refrigerate.
Pittsburgh Public Market
Sep 27th
This past Saturday I was very happy to be able to take another trip down the Strip District to shop in the new Pittsburgh Public Market since my last visit during the preview. This trip I planned on making some purchases and brought my own bags for that purpose. I find the concept of the public market wonderful. It will especially come in handy when the Burgh is freezing and outdoor farmers markets won’t be possible. This trip I had hubby by my side to get him excited about shopping there. Why do I want him excited? I want to go as often as I can and since I don’t drive I kind of need his assistance 
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We started by walking around to see what vendors had and grabbed a cup of coffee from La Prima Espresso. They have very strong but very good coffee. I wanted to buy many of the products I saw but I had to be realistic about what I could purchase. It is pretty overwhelming as there are so many different items available. Besides food there are handmade items. This trip my focus was on food.
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My first purchase was from Goose Creek Gardens. Not only do they have fresh herbs and greens they have honey from their own hives. It’s getting colder out and this is the time of year I love to have a cup of warm tea at night to which I add honey to it. The herbs and greens looked wonderful. I will have to try them another time as I had already purchased those items and didn’t need any.
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Considering we have a new puppy in the house I had to hit up the Four Paws Bakery. They don’t have a website that I can locate but they provide all natural homemade treats as well as Steelers gear for your puppy. They had so many different types of treats. I glared over them all many times thinking what on earth my Baby would enjoy. Hubby suggested we get the plain biscuits since they were tiny enough for our tiny puppy to eat. If she likes those we can get something else next time. I think the price was pretty deacent too at $2.75 for the bag. Hubby later told me a few of the cheese ones had mold on it so please keep your eye out. He said the guy did remove them when he pointed it out.
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European Desserts also does not have a website but they are on Urbanspoon. Apparently they have a store in Bridgeville. Hubby was engrossed in the strudels. I was engrossed in the tiny little mice.
We went home with an Apple Strudel. Warming it up in the microwave led to a yummy dessert to share. Well, I got about two bites he ate the rest.
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After looking at and buying food we were both starving. There was a place called Sito’s, a Mediterranean cafe, handing out free samples of a wrap they serve. After one bite I was in love. I stared at the menu for awhile and after looking at the ingredients I wasn’t too sure I wanted to brave it. Could it really be that good? I told the girl I wanted the wrap they were offering as a sample. She was already making one and asked what I wanted on it. I told her whatever was in the sample just don’t tell me what’s in it! Hubby liked it but said it was just too much for him to eat as a meal. It was delicious. I couldn’t eat all of it so I wrapped it up to take home. Unfortunately the amount of oil they put on it made it pretty soggy later so it’s defiantly something to eat there or share.
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We couldn’t let hubby starve now could we? Last stop Gosia’s Pierogies. The man would eat pierogies any day if I let him. That and cereal. He stood in line and ordered 6 pierogies for himself. I could barely get a bite from him he hoarded them all like he wouldn’t eat again. He said he knew when they didn’t speak very good english they would taste great. Next time we are getting some frozen to take home. I do regret not doing that.
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If you have not been to the Pittsburgh Public Market you really should go at least once! There is great food, the vendors are very friendly and once you go you will want to return.
Anxiety Is Very Real
Sep 24th
If you don’t know me well you may not know that I suffer from Anxiety.
Anxiety is a normal reaction to stress. It helps one deal with a tense situation in the office, study harder for an exam, keep focused on an important speech. In general, it helps one cope. But when anxiety becomes an excessive, irrational dread of everyday situations, it has become a disabling disorder.
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/anxiety-disorders/index.shtml
So that’s the gist of it. I have anxiety disorder. There are 5 major types of Anxiety Disorder. There is Generalized, Obsessive, Panic, Post-Traumatic Stress, and Social Phobia.
The doctor classified me as generalized in the beginning. I do experience Panic Disorder and Social Phobia. Sometimes it all plays hand in hand and I can experience it all in the same situation.
It is hard to live with. As a child growing up I didn’t know what was wrong with me. It runs through my family but they wiped it all under the rug because they didn’t believe in it. It caused a huge impact on my life.
As a child downstairs, alone, at night I would stay up late watching tv to find out I couldn’t bring myself to go to bed. Why? Well when I finally brought myself to go to bed cause I was too damn tired to stay up anymore I would run up the stairs because my brain would imagine that someone would appear out of thin air and chase me with a knife. Yeah what a fucked thing for a kid to deal with. I feared death, still do but as a child it was to a point where I thought about it often and would cry hysterically at the thought of my being gone the next day. I would fear falling asleep, I might not wake up. In high school I remember having to excuse myself to the bathroom only to drop to the floor, sitting there sweating and feeling like I would have a heart attack.
Fast forward to adulthood. At first I really only had issues at night. Then I was having panic attacks in front of my children. I remember taking them for a walks and telling them what to do if mom would fall to the ground. I was scared and I can’t imagine what went through their head that their mother had to say this to them. I hope I didn’t scare them too much!
It took me many years into adult hood to tell my doctor. I wanted to know what was wrong with me. In some ways finding out was comforting, in some ways I was devastated. What the hell do I do now? We tried two different medications. The first one was Welbutrin which actually made my attacks worse. I couldn’t live like that.
I was then put on another medication. I remember zoning out for almost a week after I started taking it. I don’t remember much of what happened that week. I spent almost a year on it before I realized it wasn’t good for me. I was too calm, so calm that I could barely feel when my father died. Everyone walked all over me, I could have cared less about anything going on around me. Not good. I had to stop. You are supposed to wean off but I didn’t want it anymore. It took me a good 30 days to feel like myself again.
But was that me? The anxiety eventually returned.
I have found myself at the ER on many occasions with the overwhelming feeling that something was wrong and I was going to die. It hits suddenly most of the time so it can be difficult to control. Nothing is ever wrong with me. It is all in my head. While that is true it is a very real problem that disrupts my life. When will I know if there really is a medical problem? I feel like an ass with every trip to the ER.
I have luckily surrounded myself with a few friends who have the same issue I have. I have people I can talk to. We comfort each other, listen to each other about episodes we have had. I think partially I don’t want to have them around people who don’t understand. They tend to think your just nuts.
So what works for me?
- Klonopin. I have been prescribed it on an as needed basis. I only need to take it when I am having an attack. It calms me down and directs me to not think about it anymore. I don’t have to feel emotionless all day every day, only when I take it. It does make me very tired so I take 1/4 or 1/2. Many doctors won’t prescribe this, but if they do be very careful it is highly addictive. Do your research on it I have watched a few people almost overdose on it. Daily medication may not be good for me but it may work for you.
- Sleep. It helps if I can fall asleep tho that’s not always possible.
- Water & Air. I drink water and if possible get some fresh air. If I am at home I pace a lot.
- Eating Healthy – not only eating healthy I switched to mostly natural and organic food. I can’t say for sure it’s helped but ever since I do have less attacks. It has also helped my gallstone not act up.
Why mention this now? I walked into work this morning and it just came over me. I got dizzy, sweaty and my heart was pounding. I thought I was close enough to passing out that I took medication and sat in my co-workers office for awhile. Then went to CVS to walk around and get my mind off it. Now all I want to do is sleep.
It’s hard to allow people into my world with this over me, but here it is for all to see. Now that it is out there I may share more of what I have gone through as an adult if I feel people will benefit from reading it.
If you suffer from anxiety disorder know that there are many other people out there like you. Consider talking to your doctor if you haven’t already.
First Day of Autumn
Sep 23rd
If you didn’t already know today is the first day of Autumn. It usually signifies the start of fall. Here in Pittsburgh it gets colder and the leaves start to fall. I am not much for colder weather but one of my favorite things about fall is the smell of wet leaves.
This year in Pittsburgh it is a hot, muggy day that feels nothing like fall.
We often do an annual trip to Cedar Creek Park with my sister and her kids.
Hubby does the cooking. He is the master chef of the grill in my family.
After filling our belly’s we go on a hike.
Doesn’t she look thrilled? I think in her teenage mind she would rather be anywhere than stuck in the woods with her family. That teenage angst makes for great photo opportunities tho.
Other than swimming pools and the beach this is the one time a year we go somewhere that the kids can get wet. We don’t even take clothes to change into. Air dry baby!
Back to Autumn. My daughter. Back in the first grade she came home and told me a story while choking up a bit trying to hold back a few tears. She is just going about her normal day as a 1st grader. She was sitting at her desk minding her own business when the teacher had an announcement to make. ”Today is the first day of Autumn.” That didn’t bother my daughter at first, it was the kids who all turned and pointed their little first grade fingers at her and started to laugh. They weren’t trying to be mean because they didn’t like her but try telling her that.
It’s a joke now. Today I texted her “Happy 1st day ” We shall see if she texts me back today.
She may not talk to me at all.
What are they thinking?
Sep 22nd
According to a KDKA report city parking rates are going to go up if this lease goes through. They aren’t just going to go up they are going to the moon. What kind of city do they think we are? We are not NY where downtown is the place to be at all times.
Apparently the mayor was able to set the rates with the sale of the parking garage lease. So what did smarty pants do? Some of the rates will triple! $15 an hour for one garage, you have got to be kidding me. Yeah, I will want to do a little shopping downtown. Forget the issues with bus fares supposed to be going up that’s minimal compared to these rates. Parking meters will be hit up as well with the highest one reported at $4.50 an hour.
I sure hope they find another solution. I am not paying $30 to go to a function at my kid’s school. I am not paying $4.50 to pick up a book or pizza. This is far from any good idea to try and get the city more business; they are doing a damn good job of driving it away.
I spent years on a major war against living here and started to finally find the love. This is the wrong time to do this. Year by year the city is driving people away.
Pod Camp Day 2 #pcpgh5
Sep 20th
PodCamp weekend is officially over. I spent the weekend with a couple hundred people I don’t know, some of which I talk to on twitter and read their blog. I’ve been to many events in my life time considering I have volunteered for a few organizations and have even ran some events. I have never learned so much in one weekend nor had such a good time with strangers before.
Thank you to all the organizers and volunteers!
Sunday’s attendance was lower but it left me the ability to talk to people that just the day before had people flocking to talk to them.
My first session was Our Burgh Story Through Blogging by Joe and Betsy.
They went over the phases of their personal blog since 2006 and were a joy to watch interact with each other. I think Joe looks a bit like Justin from Brothers & Sisters
The next session I attended was Advance your Career with Marketing 2.0 with Nicole Crimaldi.
She gave some great advice to stay on top of industry trends by reading blogs. Make relationships and understand your prospects.
She also shared 8 ways to be great on Linkedin.
1. Complete your profile (in the 1st person)
2. Update it often
3. Groups: join and participate in them
4. Start a group
5. Check status updates
6. Think about keywords
7. Always connect with people you meet in person.
8. Get recommendations.
Lunch yesterday included chicken and of coarse another visit from The Goodie Truck. I got my peanut butter cookie fix and purchased extra. Guess what I am having with my lunch today at work?
My last session was 10 Things I learned on my journey with Girlhack.
The best advice she gave in my opinion was to be passionate. When your passionate you will be authentic. Great advice and that can apply to anything you do in life. Something else that struck with me is her discussion on low blog/video views. We all worry about it at some point and wonder if people really read our blog regularly. Even if you have 20 views consistently to your posts imagine if they were all in one room to hear you speak. You would be thrilled at having those 20. Your always going to want more.
Who did I get to meet yesterday?
Wormy of BitchBurgh! We talked a bit before lunch as well as after lunch out front where she let me take a pic of her. She is really down to earth, funny as hell and easy to talk to. She is someone you wanna hang out and drink with.
I had lunch with YinzerParty gal. Well, I had lunch then she sat down. Some other guy sat down pitching stuff to her. I butted in to give her my business card and tell her that she took my pic at a bar one night last year. That’s all I got in but still cool in my book.
I also got to talk to Hutch of Burghseyeview. Hutch and his son do a webcast together. I talk to his wife on twitter LOL I love watching the two of them have twitter conversations to each other.
To end the day before I went home I found out they had extra Swag Bags. Gotta love goodies.
Until next year, I will see you all on Twitter
Pod Camp Day 1 #pcpgh5
Sep 18th
What a day. It was a long and early day but for once I sat in classrooms and learned useful information. If you have never heard of Pod Camp it is an unconfernce for people interested in social media, blogging, podcasting, stuff like that. I attended a day full of great sessions at Pod Camp Pittsburgh 5 at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. There is another day of sessions tomorrow and they are free! So head down even if you didn’t pre-register. You can also watch the sessions live online at their website. Today’s sessions are up at The Tech Buzz.
We started with the keynote address by Norm & Bill Peduto.
Bill had many videos to share but one stuck with me the rest of the day and had the most impact. I am very interested in social media already. I utilize what I can, when I can. I was amazed by the facts in this video all about Social Media Revolution. Company’s really need to watch it and see the impact social media really plays today.
The first session I attended was 10 Ways to Create Social Media That Matters with Justin Kownacki.
Not only was this session informative he is a really funny guy. He easily engaged the audience with humor. I had to stand in the back, it was hot, and I wasn’t leaving. One of the things he shared with us was that there are 3 reasons to create.
#1 Educate
#2 Entertain
#3 Engage
My next session was Blogging 201: Finding Fodder 52 weeks a Year with Michelle of BurghBaby.com.
I started reading her blog some time ago and came out of lurker world and started commenting here and there and talking to her on twitter. She is incredibly nice and keeps me wondering what her daughter did each day. Her session helped understand that you need to know why you blog. She gave many questions that a blogger should ask themselves such as; how often should you blog? is this topic ok? and should i have ads?
Lunch was provided to us after that session and yay I finally got to eat from The Goodie Truck! I found out about them on Facebook or Twitter one day and thought it was such a neat concept I started following them. They drive to local events and sell homemade treats such as cookies and brownies. Sorry to my lunch mates who I dashed out on to get me something yummy!
After lunch I attended Friend Me? No, Friend You! – Creating Real Relationships with the internet with Justin Burdett
He talked about listening to people out there before blogging and figure out who your trying to reach. Who is that one person you want to impress the most.
Then I went to Living Out Loud: Real Life Effects of Living Online by BitchBurgh
The room was packed. So packed there was no where to sit, the room just wasn’t set up for more people than there were chairs for. I went into the overflow room to watch the live feed and the audio wasn’t working well. It got so bad that everyone left, including me. It is unfortunate I missed out on it. I love reading their blog. From what I was there for they talked about expecting your readers not to always agree with you and pissing off your loved ones, which they have. I write a blog where I do a bit of bitching so I really wanted to hear this session.
I wound up going to another room for that session since the audio wasn’t working.
I went to Memo From Your Blog’s Legal Department by Cris Hoel who is a lawyer. He had some great info! He shared many things to be careful about sharing and copyrights.
Things he said to stay away from:
1. Accusing someone of criminal conduct.
2. Accuse someone of loathsome and communicable disease.
3. Direct effect on someones livelyhood. It could affect ability to earn a living.
4. Don’t accuse a female of being un chased or a male he is impotent. However you can accuse a male of being un chased or a female impotent LOL
A website he gave that has good information is the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
The last session I attended was SWF Seeks… The Birth of a Blog: How I evolved from Lurker to Creator by Tara of Stylish White Female.
She talked about how she started on the internet on ICQ and the like, gave up Myspace and got to where she is today. She talked about how our online converstations are very real and finding your social voice. She was very informative.
My one big issue was I didn’t socialize much in person. I shook Chachi’s hand on his way out a door. I talk to him via Twitter and read his blog. I also met a few people at lunch that I had a good conversation with. Part was I was into the presentations I was there for, the other is I am shy. I mean hundreds of people where there I had never met. I talk to many on Twitter through the week but I couldn’t just go up and say hi to them. Ugh, WTF. Once I know someone I don’t shut up, but I just can’t seem to always be that outgoing person around so many new people. I also had made business cards. I failed at giving them out. I probably only gave out 5 of them the entire day.
I still had a great day and learned a lot. It was organized better than most events I have attended and the Twitter was going insane with Pod Camp talk. My Twitter friends who don’t live here or weren’t there were probably annoyed. My feed was full of Pod Camp. You can find all the Pod Camp talk with the hash tag #pcpgh5. People tweeted about the sessions they were in, some one liners the presenter had said they thought were great. They also had a live feed of the Twitter hash tag in one of the rooms. Thank you Pod Camp Pittsburgh!
Now I have to decide if I can handle another day and what sessions I will attend if I go
Baby Visits the Vet
Sep 17th
Yes, we are officially calling her Baby. We took her to her first visit to the vet tonight.
It was an unfamiliar place. It was as cold as a human doctors office which made me glad I brought her blanket in to keep her warm. It was a fairly small waiting area. I imagined it would be larger. Human waiting areas are larger and we don’t chase each other (ok maybe the kids do), or try to eat smaller animals. The picture below is the nurses station. So image an L shaped area with some seats and a door to my left.
We have only had her a few days so we had no idea how she would take to other dogs being around. Right before we came in we encountered two other smaller dogs to which she casually strolled on by sniffing the wall which I am pretty sure many dogs have urinated on. She patiently waited in my arms for about 10 minutes looking around at the other dogs and people…….
…… until the dog seated right next to us crept a little too close to us. Oh man she started growling, barking, crying, you name it. She was the loudest pup in the joint. The other dog barked back a couple times but Baby was trying to jump off me and go after him. Uh honey, your an appetizer to that dog please calm down! The one lady at the nurses station commented that everyone always blames the big dogs. Did you miss the part where the big dog kept coming towards us? Yeah she was fine until he started invading her comfort zone. I attempted to calm her down by having her look out the window covering her with the blanket so she couldn’t see enormous doggie. Every now and then she would let out a growl, she knew he was there she isn’t stupid. Everyone else in the room thought it was funny.
The exam room was tiny as could be. I have no idea if they have smaller rooms but if they don’t I feel for people with big dogs or who’s kids wanna watch the vet.
She was weighed on the tiny infant looking scale and came in at a whopping 6 lbs. They also said they think she is 9-12 months (we were told 14 by previous owner). She went over her shots and some testing they wanted to do. She went over prices for the visit and I was semi okay with it. Two of the shots require a return visit in 3 weeks, that will cost more money. Then she went into having her spayed and when I saw that price sheet I almost hit the floor. The previous owner claims she was up to date on shots, but had no proof. Oh yeah, and hubby forgot the bag of poop (I mean turd) in the waiting room. Apparently they like to test poop there. I just hope I grabbed the right animals poop 
When/if we take her to get spayed they can also remove two baby teeth that haven’t come out. They may fall out on their own, but if they don’t they recommend having them removed as it can cause tarter build up problems. I will be sure to brush her teeth.
They offered to take her in the back to give her shots and take blood to test for heart worm or give her shots in the exam room. I opted to allow them to take her back and sent her with her blanket. I wish my kids doctors had asked me that question. I hated having to hold my kids down so they didn’t screw it up while they screamed and cried. I felt horrible. I remember the docs saying the kids will understand one day you did it for their own good. Really? Well, right now they are hating me, thanks.
We received a new puppy goody bag with food, flea medicine and heart worm medicine. Of coarse to keep buying it from the vet will cost ya. Sometimes them freebies get ya, they rope you in. Was nice though. I paid the bill, OUCH. When it was all over they brought back my sweet Baby all swaddled up like an infant.
Freaking adorable! She was so content and happy in there…… until she saw that same damn dog again and let out a few groans and growls.
All in all the vet visit went well. They said she looked good and we will get her poop test and blood test results in the next few days.
