Facie’s Ramblings

When I first read about the woman who had eight babies, and I immediately assumed via in-vitro fertilization, my first reaction was that was insane. But when I stepped back, I tried to be sympathetic, thinking perhaps she cried herself to sleep for years wanting a baby so much. I know women who were in that situation, and I support their wanting to have a baby by whatever methods they chose. But my feelings of understanding lasted probably five minutes. Why have eight embryos implanted? As I understand it, IVF is expensive (around 10k?), so I get not wanting to implant only one or two embryos and then risk having to go through it all over again. But what normal person could afford to take care of that many babies at once, both financially and mentally (John and Kate do seem to have it together)? You have to assume that all embryos could be implanted and therefore turn into real, live babies that you will now have to take care of. And having that many babies in one pregnancy is harder ...

With my 20-year high school reunion coming up, I am wondering who has been doing what. Fortunately, some of the reunion organizers created a web page that allows us to enter info about ourselves, family, job, favorite high school memory, etc. (this is my equivalent of Facebook!). I find myself checking this site every day just to see who has posted what. A few of us have this shared memory that involves leaving a dead grouse on the lawn of our biggest football rival. I am still trying to remember everyone who was in the car and who was the one who almost got ran over (two people insist it was me, which seems believable given my coordination). Another classmate was reminiscing about the time I had about 10 people over drinking what we should not have been and my parents came home a day early. Good times. Most of all, I am thinking about what I have accomplished since high school and how I now care so much less about what I have done than I did for my 10-year reunion. A couple months be...

Just over one week to go. Can you believe the Steelers are going back to the big dance, after only three years? As I have said at least three times, there is no better place to be right now than the Burgh. If you need any more proof, check out the PG's website forum entitled " Coming to Pittsburgh for the Super Bowl. " I am surprised at the number of people traveling from places as far away as California, Seattle, Texas, and even Florida, where the Super Bowl is going to be, just to be with other Pittsburghers for the game. Since I have a five-year old and I am not a fan of crowded bars anymore, I won't be going anywhere for the game; I will stay right here and watch it in the comfort of my home, on my 42" HD, flat-screen TV, glad that I can pause and rewatch any play thanks to the DVR. Part of me would love to go somewhere just to be a part of all the camaraderie; if we win, the city will be crazy. But that is beauty of being a Steelers fan and part of Steeler ...

But, alas, two of them made it into Jordan's head this afternoon, following an incident for which the details are nebulous. Typically on Wednesdays, my day off, Jordan watches TV while I take a nice, long shower. This morning she was playing with her dolls in her room, so I let that continue, against my better judgement as she was getting frustrated trying to turn a mat into hammock. When I had finished and was putting on my various creams and lotions, she told me that she figured out how to make a hammock in the living room. Had I been clothed, perhaps I would have followed her, to see how she proposed to do this. But just a minute or two later, she was crying, saying she hit her head. Jordan gets hurt. A lot. Sadly, she has my coordination and grace (I have none and little). I hugged her as she was crying, but did not think much of it. Brian, who was home, thank God, happened to notice the back of her hair was wet, and discovered she was bleeding. Then I got scared. Fortunately, ...

Nothing like losing heat on the coldest day of the year, but that is just what happened to us last evening. Fortunately, we have two electric heaters as well as a kerosene one, so we managed to keep from freezing. Sadie got to sleep with me under six layers of covers, before she eventually decided that was too warm and that sleeping on top of the blankets (and pretty much on my leg) would be better. A decent-sized dog is good at keeping you warm. A dog who had been recently bathed would have improved the situation. Hope Sadie does not think this is going to be a regular occurrence. (Maybe when I ship her off to "Aunt Amy's" permanently, she can do that.) By the time we woke up today, the inside temps were hovering around 57 degrees, which is what some of my friends turn their heat down to at night. Let me say right now that those people are a little nuts. Our bathroom floor felt like the garage floor, it was so cold. I think I took a piping hot shower, but in reality, it ...

In case you are a not regular reader of the Blog 'N' Gold (a blog at the P-G website), the following post appeared yesterday: Props to the Yinzer Yap-line caller who left the quote of the day with the the folks at ESPN Radio 1250: "I don't care who wins the Super Bowl, so long as they don't have a bird emblem on their helmet." I was more worried about the San Diego game than I am about the upcoming game against the Ravens. Why? Just when you least expect, the better team loses, often taking a lesser team for granted. This happens more often than not. Otherwise, some of the players on my fantasy football team would have scored tons of points pretty much every week (I had some top-notch guys). As I said on Sunday, if the Steelers play their A game, they should beat the Bolts. I think the same is true against the Ravens, though the teams are much more evenly matched (note: it would also help if Limas Sweed could actually hold on to a ball and if the refs woul...

I either tripped on or missed the last step yesterday morning before going to work. I immediately cried out in pain and fell to the floor. Jordan's reaction? "Daddy better take me to school." It reminded me of when Brian and I were playing (and I use that term loosely for me) tennis on the 4th of July back in '99. I simply stepped funny on my ankle, yet it swelled up to the size of a grapefruit, and I was on crutches and in a soft ankle cast for a few weeks. Even though I have little tolerance for pain, I like to think I am tough, plus I hate medication or seeking treatment, so I decided to soldier on. Unfortunately, walking around the South Side for lunch and not putting ice on my ankle until about 4 p.m. yesterday did nothing to help it (neither did Mike spilling half a Dr. Pepper on me, for that matter). Currently, my ankle has swelled to perhaps only the size of a plum, and it hurts just mildly. But as my post title suggests, I will be fine by kickoff tomorrow. Ah...

Now that it is January and the school year is half over (I think), I am starting to worry about Jordan not yet reading. She recognizes the 20 words in her the first sight word list and probably another dozen or so, but I just thought she would be reading most of the words in some simple books by now. I clearly am not some type of overachieving parent. I have no expectations for my child to be at the top of her class; I will be happy if she makes A's and Bs. Brian said as long as she tries, that is important. I mostly agree with that, but I will be disappointed if she does try hard and she ends up making mostly Cs. I'd like to think since I made mostly A's from 5th grade on, and I tried, surely she can make B's and A's if she tries; it is not as if I was some brainiac, though, to be fair, I think school was easier back then, and I don't think my alma mater was that tremendous. When I visited the kindergarten class near the end of last January, to determine if we ...

At the beginning of 2008, as anyone who read this blog knows, I was irritated about the drink tax. It seemed unnecessary to me, and I took issue with the Port Authority getting this money. But after a few months, I just got over it. A big part of the reason is, I don't go out that often or drink that much (at least not since the office holiday party in 2007). So I am figuring this tax probably cost me and Brian between $15 and $25 this year, a rather paltry amount when you think about it. That notwithstanding, now that the tax has been lowered to 7 percent, does anyone really think that many businesses are going to lower their prices? Show of hands? I think I see one, although she might have been fixing hair. Should the Port Authority have gotten that money to begin with? And now there is debate about the excess. Considering the condition of our roads, I am mostly for the overage being spent there. I read today that if the county does not get that money for the roads, which a judge...

Today we took down our past-its-prime Christmas tree. I normally like to keep it up the weekend after New Year's Day, but it was looking pretty pathetic, and it was my last weekday off, so I figured I might as well get it done. Besides, with live Christmas trees (at least in our house), we will be discovering needles probably through the middle of February, so the season will keep going! I did manage to stay up until midnight for NY's Eve this year, and it felt good and bad. I am trying to be hopeful for this year, and I am somewhat, but the pessimist in me thinks things will probably get worse before they get better. Penn State started off the year in the wrong way, but what can you do. Hopefully the Steelers will do better, but I am not so sure there either. Mostly I am just glad the Steelers end up in the playoffs more often that not. Like most of Steeler Nation, I expect it. I also ended up coming in third for fantasy football, but you can't win the Super Bowl every yea...