we think that they have been watching us from a house that’s being renovated behind our house.  watching us, learning our routine.  and it’s the only place you can see the window - the only open window in the house - where they got in.  and, ya know, even if those guys didn’t do it, i’m sure they could have called up their buddies about this grand opportunity. 

the cops came (40 minutes after i called 911), checked the house, took our report.  csi pittsburgh came out later and took fingerprints, but they think the burglars wore gloves.  

we put fraud alerts on our accounts, stopped payments on our cards, and filed a homeowners claim this afternoon.  hollyg was kind enough to bring me smokes and money last night.  she’s pretty much the best.  my parents stopped over too, since we were all supposed to go to the phipps for the chihuly exhibit.  wah!

i’m ok, had some trouble sleeping.  feel dirty that someone was in my house.  haven’t told my parents that they got my grandma’s jewelry.  feel like “they” are coming back.  it’s damned creepy.

on our way back, we noticed a big FOR LEASE sign on the window of our favorite coffee/brunch spot, grasso roberto. 

sure, we still have enrico’s tazzo d’oro right around the corner, and coca cafe a few minutes further down the road (another place we can never manage to get a seat), but grasso roberto was just fantastic.  that coffee put hair on my chest.

RIP grasso roberto. 

…OH WAIT I DO KNOW SOMEONE:

leakyBA!!!

i haven’t seen leaky’s commercials in ages - maybe their advertising budget dried up or maybe i just fast forward through them with my sweet sweet baby tivo.  doesn’t matter.  

point is, these commercials worm their way into your brain and stay with you.  seven years later, kenny is still with you.

for shits and giggles we went to price new fridges at home depot.  then chris suggested sears scratch n’ dent in lawrenceville, but dang if their prices aren’t higher - and for fridges with big gouges in noticeable places.

on our way home, we stopped at a red light and noticed there was a riotous outdoor church service happening in an empty lot to our left.  a preacher, a man on the drums, people praising jesus, the whole nine yards. 

and ya know, it looked really fun.  i kind of felt like pulling over and jumping in, but the tent revival scene really isn’t my thing.

“dream job!” i shouted.  he raised his eyebrow and asked if i was being funny.

not at all, i told him - although i do realize that i’m romanticizing the job:  when i think about working on a barge, i think about the view of the city from the river, crunching through sheets of ice in the winter, waving to kids on the shore. 

this perspective is, of course, ridiculous.  the job is dangerous and requires years of training.  but if i had the muscle, and wasn’t such a baby about the cold (and hard physical labor), i’d do it. 

today is going to be ninety degrees.  nine zero.  i’m sick of talking to people who say things like, “i’m from texas, ninety is nothing!”  no, stupid.  ninety is really hot.  especially when there is ninety-nine percent humidity and everything is sticky  and you get angry at the drop of a hat because you just might be melting.  oh, and the river smells really pleasant, too.

our plans for the day include complaining about the heat and then maybe heading to the mall or the movies to hang with the other people who don’t have air conditioning (hippies!).

when we bought our house, we didn’t think the lack of central air would be a problem:  the dorms at duquesne didn’t have air conditioning.  our first apartment in the hill didn’t have air conditioning.  my shoebox in squirrel hill didn’t have air conditioning.  oh, but the thing we forgot about all those places?  was just how fucking miserable they were.  

unfortunately, being that our house is hella old and built from rocks and sticks and chewing gum, it can’t be outfitted with central air.  i really think that as soon as we’re done fixing it up, we’ll sell it and trade up.  i will scrape and pinch every penny for air conditioning.  that’s right.  i would sell my house for air conditioning.  i would sell my mom for air conditioning.

it’s a chance to escape the city for a day with the added bonus of church fair food (hot dogs and sauerkraut, funnel cake and rc cola, diabetes and cardiac arrest).  

oh yah, and antiques, too.

one year i found a totally creepy brooch (is it a cat?  is it a fox?).  i named him roger.  observe:  

hey roger!

another year, holly and i picked up metal locker bins ($3 each!) from an old high school gym.  i’ve purchased jewelry, vintage aprons and linens, glassware, books, etc.  point is, there is a huge selection that spans several blocks, a parking garage and a couple empty lots.

this year, the antique show is on august 11th, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. 

visit the somerset county chamber of commerce website for more info. 

you should know this isn’t my only blog.  i’ve got another one.  it’s the place i carefully record information about my menstrual cycle, my chihuahua, my coworkers, etc.  and i’m gonna keep it, too, because i’m hoping to create something a little more substantial here. 

i don’t know what, exactly, but something.

one thing i didn’t mention there is my deranged love for pittsburgh.  and when i heard that andy was creating a pittsburgh-centric site for local bloggers, i had to get in on it.  a million and one ideas flashed before my eyes:  “bill peduto is a dreamboat” and ”pittsburgh neighborhoods” and “the illustrious babushkas of pittsburgh.” 

but now none of that seems quite right, because there’s no one thing that makes me stay.  i can’t limit myself here. 

it won’t be all pittsburgh all the time, but i promise i won’t talk about tampons or weaves, unless i happen to find either of the two in the park.