Family

Teddy bears are generally known to convey warm feelings of affection. It’s even nicer when one can bring you a happy ending. As with family members getting elderly there have been times when we’ve had troubles with certain caretakers or cleaning crews. A teddy cam would have probably alleviated much of the stress and damage; in addition to future people getting hurt.

Time to find a bear-cam that roars.

A forensic science graduate and her father caught his terminally ill mother’s care assistant stealing by putting a camera in a teddy bear’s eye.

Sit back, relax and turn on live independence. Most of all, have a fun, safe and happy Forth of July!

This is as American as it gets.

At 9:31AM this morning, twenty-four years after I emerged into this world, I was sitting infront of my computer at work - my first “real-life” job - and I said, “So this is the day.” I looked around my office some and realized, this is the day that I had to finally “work” on my birthday. Never before had I worked on my birthday… in-fact, for my entire life I’ve only ever been three places on the big day. Pittsburgh (Home), Stone Harbor, and Boy Scout camp. Now that “Pittsburgh (Work)” is being added to the list, the feeling of “old” has started seeping in.

Although, my uncle graciously reminded me on the phone tonight that this is the last year I can answer the question about my age as, “Oh, I’m in my early twenties.” Next year it’s, “the mid-twenties” and the year after that it’s, “the late-twenties.” So looking at it in his view, I’m still plenty young!

Tonight I went and had dinner with the family at the CheeseCake Factory. I feasted on some avocado egg rolls and a giant grilled portobello mushroom treated like a burger. Afterwards we came home for a relaxing evening which included a double-decker cookie cake. All in all a fairly mild Wednesday evening.

September of 1985, I was 1 year old and hanging out with smokey the cat

In June of this year I was checking out a summer music festival in the park next to work. In between one and twenty-four? Well thats a story, I can direct you to several photo albums or meet you for a drink.

So I made it twenty-four years before having to work on my birthday, I guess that’s not to shabby…

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes, cards, emails, phone calls and fb posts; I enjoyed hearing and talking to everyone! It’s because of people like you that I forward look to at-least sixty more years in this life game.

Over the past 6 months I have started a new job, lucky for me I was able to live at home to save money. I have never been a fan of living at home as I like being out on my own and I find it hard for me to relax around my immediate family [not sure why,] but I like my family, extended family and grandparents very much.

Right now, my Grandma is living across the street - and one of the main benefits to me living at home is being able to spend time with her. I actually grew up really close to my Grandma and Grandpa E because they lived across the street (kinda like the Everybody Loves Raymond, except different drama.) The memories and times I have had with them are very fond and I feel fortunate to have such memories.

Well, since my grandfather died a few years ago my grandmother has been slipping. I feel really sorry for her, seeing her suffer is hard on me, seeing her live alone is hard. Luckily though, before my Grandfather died he bought my Grandmother a yapper of a dog. My grandmother has been treating the dog like a daughter almost and I can tell that she and the dog have developed a connect - even so, I still feel sad for her. The way I have found to deal with the pain is to be there for her, help her out, spend time with her, fix up the house, have lunch with her, take her out for a drive. I decorated her house for Christmas this past year, put her pumpkin out for Halloween and most recently been tending to and grooming the yard this spring. It’s also been useful that I work mostly evenings, which has enabled me to be there during the day for her (other family usually around in the evening.)

So as the months have been going by, I have been finding it harder and harder to live at home. I keep desiring my own space, my own kitchen! (A vegetarian always cooking in a meaters kitchen gets annoying.) So I went and visited a realtor the other day to start the apartment search and/or entertain the idea of possibly owning a house. So when I told my Grandmother this the other day, I felt like I was hurting her - even though she agrees that it is in my best interest, I could tell she was crying inside. Luckily though, she felt better when I mentioned that I’d be able to visit and spend the night fairly often. In addition, once my Grandmother gets back from her summer home this year, I think we are going to have full time help in the house for her - which will help and make the situation better.

So it’s official, I have joined the real-estate game. I’m searching seeking places / certain areas in Pittsburgh - stay tuned.