Facie’s Ramblings

This Christmas turned out to be one of our more eventful ones. It started off with no electricity when we arrived at Brian's mom's house early that afternoon and ended with a power surge in our neighborhood soon after we arrived home later that evening. Brian, Jordan, and I were sitting at the dining room table at about 8 p.m. when the lights went out. While Brian went downstairs to check the circuit breaker, the lights came back on, accompanied by a popping sound, complete with light bulbs popping out over our heads! A lovely burning smell ensued, and, alas, our dinner became inedible thanks to the bits of light bulbs scattered across the table. Within moments, I could hear people talking outside, and I noticed many houses were dark. I went outside to talk to some neighborhoods, and a couple minutes later, two fire trucks were on the scene. Apparently a transformer/wires (no idea exactly) were burnt. All in all, it made for an exciting, electrifying evening. I was pretty freak...

No long winded post from me tonight. I just want to wish you all a merry, happy, healthy, peaceful Christmas. I hope you get just what you want. And even better, what you need. God bless, Faith

A friend forwarded me the following email. I have no idea the origins, but I really liked it, and I hope you do too. If you are religious (and some of you are far, far more than I am), I hope it is meaningful. And even if you are not religious or don't believe in God, I think you should be able to appreciate most of the sentiments in the letter. ********* Letter from Jesus about Christmas It has come to my attention that many of you are upset that folks are taking My name out of the season. Maybe you've forgotten that I wasn't actually born during this time of the year and that it was some of your predecessors who decided to celebrate My birthday on what was actually a time of pagan festival. Although I do appreciate being remembered anytime. How I personally feel about this celebration can probably be most easily understood by those of you who have been blessed with children of your own. I don't care what you call the day. If you want to celebrate My birth, just get al...

I have a number of thoughts swimming around my head, so I thought I would put them down, in no particular order. Here goes. I think this holiday season people are less rude and crazy. Am I the only one seeing this? Maybe it just seems that way because I am in a better place emotionally and I am doing my best to be kinder and more observant. But so far, I don't think I have witnessed a single rude act (traffic not withstanding). In fact, people seem friendlier than I remember. I know that people saying "Happy Holidays" bothers some of my Christian friends. Me? Not so much. It is a holiday season after all, and there are Jewish people out there shopping for Hanukkah gifts. On the other hand, I have never forgotten when one of my Jewish friends from college actually scolded me for sending her a Christmas card. I was not trying to offend her; I simply wanted to send her a card as I did all my other friends, and as a poor college student, I did not have the extra money to get ...

As both a parent and a person who wants life to be fair, I hate that I cannot explain why bad things happen. I think about children who are abused. I think about parents who have lost their child(ren). I think about young widow(er)s. I think of broken marriages and relationships. I think about people lacking health insurance who owe 100k in medical bills. I think about those out of work or underemployed struggling to pay their bills. I think about people suffering from horrible diseases, deformed in some way, or addicted to drugs. I think about countries so poor that some may not eat for days or have clean drinking water. I think about places where war and strife are constant. I think about people right here in the US killing each other. Why? As someone who believes in God, I tell myself that our life on earth is but a brief moment compared to eternity, whatever that is. And that we live in an imperfect world. And that we all have free will. But sometimes those explanations are not eno...

In the late part of last century and the early part of this century, I was very lucky when it came to winning things. From bridal shows and contests the Post-Gazette had, to various raffles and events, I have snagged cookware, crystal, candy, tickets to events, CDs, cosmetics, and money. In fact, if you have been reading this blog since the beginning, and you have a better memory than I do, you probably know this already. My favorite win was at a bridal show in 1998. I really wanted to win a gift certificate to a small bridal shop near where I grew up. So when the MC announced that prize, I slowly started to stand. I recall my mom telling me to sit down, but I kept inching my way up, until I heard my name called. My mom was surprised. Me? Not so much. That was the just the way it rolled for me. But for whatever reason, once I had a kid, I stopped winning things. In fact, the last thing I won and cashed in on was a VIP pass to Steelers training camp just a few weeks before I had Jordan....

Today I celebrated birthday 38. Nothing too monumental about that one, although I am pretty sure I can no longer deny that I am in my late 30s. Funnily enough, I did tell a group of students a few weeks ago, when I was impressing them with my stretching abilities, that I was almost 40 and could do that . Who says they are almost 40 when they are still 37?! Regardless, I never understood lying about your age. My mother did it for years, until one day when I was at grandma's for the week and happened to look at some old yearbooks. Strangely enough, she was a senior or junior and yet her two "older" brothers were underclassmen. A quick attempt at math also revealed that she must have graduated from high school when she was 13. I showed the evidence to Grandma Yoyo, whose reply was, "Your mother was gifted." When I further protested, she told me to ask my mother. That was worse than finding out the truth about the guy in the red suit! But back to me. I had a great w...

Yesterday when I dropped Jordan off at school, I felt inexplicably sad, and the feeling continued the rest of that morning and afternoon. In fact, I found my eyes tearing up a few times throughout the day. Normally I love this time of year. Once Thanksgiving hits, I enjoy the Christmas songs on the radio and in the stores. Most of the time, I don't even mind the frenetic pace and crowds. But yesterday something was just not right. And I think it was more than I was having troubling finding a sweatshirt or t-shirts suitable for an elderly woman for the giving tree. I am thinking that this is how people suffering from depression feel every day or most days. Pretty much nothing makes them happy, and they are unable to see the joy in anything. I know people who have gone through or are going through this, and it is tough. And it is real, despite what Tom Cruise (maybe he was just anti-drug) or anyone else may tell you. You just can't say to a person who is depressed, "Just be ...