Facie’s Ramblings

In honor of Thanksgiving, I thought I would list all the things I thank God for, in no particular order after the first three, off the top of my head. Happy Turkey Day! My family (both my little family of three and my "original" family plus their spouses and especially my nieces and nephews) My and my family's health (Jordan's 85th cold of the year notwithstanding) My friends The roof over my head that we can still afford to pay for Food to eat Cars that run and only one car payment That Brian and I both still have our jobs My obsession with money (that has kept us from spending what we don't have) Having a flexible job Jordan's school My church, the choir, Fr. John Penn State in the Rose Bowl The Steelers at the top of their division Celebrating a birthday lunch with friends every year at Mad Mex Happy hour with friends Just knowing I can go back to the gym next year Having gained only 5 pounds in the last few months despite non-stop eating Sweat pants and sw...

Today Jordan went to a concert at Heinz Hall with her kindergarten class. She informed us that Miss someone or other (not one of her teachers) was wrong and there WAS a harp there. Jordan also said she saw chandeliers and that they sat in red velvet seats. (Are those new at Heinz Hall or was it that I never noticed them? And by new, I mean in the last six or seven years or however long it has been since I was there [man, this makes me miss my theatre subscription].) I am glad Jordan was able to experience this outing, but that, unfortunately, was not the thing she focused on. No, she informed me that the mother who drove her smoked. Jordan then said that she must be a bad mommy. I told her, no, smoking does not make her a bad mommy, and I reminded her smoking is a bad habit. But then Jordan informed me that this woman threw her cigarette butt on the ground. Houston, we have a problem. Pennsylvania has a litterbug hot-line. The number (888.548.8372) is programmed into my cell phone, and...

My friend Q has an apple-tasting party every November. During this evening, guests sample about 15 to 20 different apple varieties (BYOK--bring your own knife) and then comment on and rate them. Once done tasting, everyone has the opportunity to try to guess the "mystery apple." This evening is a lot like a wine-tasting, except you actually consume the apples rather than spit them out, as you would wine. And, happily for me, there is plenty of snack food, including cheese and bread, to help cleanse the palate, as well as an array of beverages (yes, wine). At the end of the tasting, the group goes around the room and shares some of their comments on select apples. This year, there was a decidedly anti-Obama crowd, so some of the comments centered on Hope and Change as well as a few other gems. When it came time to reveal the mystery apple, I held my breath, wondering if I would once again guess correctly, yet also lose the inevitable tie-breaker. I and four others correctly gu...

I may not have had a lot of jobs in my life, but I can tell you that parenting is by far the hardest. And I am very aware that the most difficult years are yet to come. More than anything, I want Jordan to treat everyone with respect and be as nice to everyone as much as possible. During the past couple of months, I was made painfully aware that racism is still alive and well. Not as bad as some would have you to believe; after all, Obama would not have been elected president were it not for the white votes. But, as one poster in the P-G forum accused me of, I had been living in La-La Land, completely unaware that there were more than a just a few people who harbored racist feelings and agendas. I live in a community where I am in a minority or close to. On my street, if nothing else, there are more black people than white people. Having grown up in a town that was about 98 percent white, I welcome this, and truth be told, I was a little prejudiced growing up. So I think it is great th...

Just when I was finally heading into the acceptance stage after Tuesday's election, Penn State had to lose today. I was really starting to believe that PSU might actually end up playing for the national championship, but with a couple of minutes to go, I knew it was not to be. Except I was still holding out hope. Just as when I went to bed around 10 Tuesday night and Obama had something like 200 electoral votes. I told myself that maybe McCain could pull it out. Once I knew PA and Ohio went to Obama, the chances were pretty close to zilch, just as I knew PSU was headed for its first loss when Iowa was on the 20 yard line (or thereabouts) and had almost no chance of missing a field goal from that close. So now I am back to sadness or depression, or whichever stage that is. There is almost no way PSU can play for the national championship, and what makes it so hard to take is I feel as if this would have been JoePa's last, best chance. I love that man. My eyes actually welled up ...

I want to be happy that the country has elected its first black president. It really is a great, long overdue event. But why did it have to be Obama, such a liberal guy? I was on one of the P-G forums yesterday, and a poster told some people to stop bashing Obama because we have had to put up with 8 years of W's stuff (or something like that; I cannot seem to find the forum anymore). So let me get this straight: I have had to listen to Bush bashers for eight years, but only 12 hours after the election was called, people are not allowed to be upset or say negative things because their candidate lost/the candidate that they did not like won?! Since the forum is now gone, removed, vanished, I guess that gives me my answer. Perhaps the Fairness Doctrine was put back into place overnight! Another poster talked about restoring the image of the country. I believe that a big part of the tarnished image is that people did not stand behind Bush. It is one thing to disagree with a president, ...