Facie’s Ramblings

I try to keep my running blog (that one over there to the right below some stuff) separate from this one. Why? Well, for a few reasons, thanks for asking. As you have probably noticed, this blog is typically all over the place in subjects, and many of my posts are long-winded (hence the second half of the name). On the other hand, my running blog, get this, is all about running. And, believe it or not, most of those posts are short. Brief. To the point.** In fact, if you read both of my blogs, you might find yourself wondering, "How can these two blogs be written by the same person?" Which brings me to my second reason. Sort of. This blog is called "Facie's ramblings" (the "r" in "ramblings" left intentionally lowercase, FYI), Facie being a childhood nickname. I don't refer to myself as Facie in my running blog; I instead go with, more or less, my "real" name (real is in quotes because of my various first, middle, last name ...

Today was the first day of second grade for Jordan. She was nervous last night, but she seemed pretty good this morning, much to my pleasure. She got up without a problem (we'll see how long that lasts; my guess is only one day), and we had plenty of time to spare. So much so that I am hopeful I won't have to get up around 6:40 tomorrow as I did today (her alarm went off a few minutes after that). I just don't know how people get up so stinkin' early! I am hopeful this will be a good year. Already she was a bit dismayed when I told her that she will not get to have a morning snack in second grade (I thought it was kind of odd that they had that in first grade), but she seemed to get over that pretty fast. I have no idea how academics will play out. This summer we spent most days working on a couple of pages from a workbook her first grade teacher recommended, which typically took about 10 minutes. In July we also starting reviewed basic math flash cards most days. S...

This weekend I am running in the Regent Run Around the Square, my first 5k race since 2006 and my first Run Around the Square since 2002. The last time I ran in that race, I entered the "heavyweight" division. If you know me, you know that although I am not skinny, I am certainly not a heavyweight. And even if I were, isn't it more important to be healthy and in shape? Which I am. How else could I run 3 to 4 miles on a regular basis? (Okay, I have not run 4 miles since the beginning of June, and I sometimes let two weeks go by before I run again. But during the school year, I was a regular runner, and trust me, I am doing just fine now.) Who thinks up these things? Don't enough women have self-image problems without being made to feel fat when they are not (and even if they are overweight, why make a big deal about it)? Luckily for me, I think fairly highly of my physical self; at the very least, I (mostly) accept what I have, try to work on it somewhat, and just b...

Unfortunately, that woman was me. Well, I guess is me. Still. And actually should be I, but that sounds akward. Regardless, me or I, I am definitely worse for the wear. Don't ask. But I will tell you, after I ramble a bit first. Today Brian and I took Jordan to her first-ever Bucco's game, as part of her b'day present. I like baseball just fine, and used to go to a game or two every year since I moved here, but a few years ago, we stopped. We hated to spend the money on such a crappy team on top of what we would have to pay for babysitting since Jordan, in our opinion, was too young to go. But this summer, we decided to throw the option out to her. Even with Chuck E Cheese on the table, she picked the baseball game. And we were both glad. Chuck E Cheese, although kind of fun, is also annoying. Plus I tend to get a little gamble-happy at some of the games, telling myself if I just play one more time, I will surely end up with a bunch of tokens (for a crappy ...

Knowing myself and my memory as well as I do, I checked my post from last year, and sure enough my title was "My baby is 6." But Jordan will always be my baby (and probably my only baby at that). She has spent most of this week telling anyone and everyone that her birthday is Friday; like a chip off the ol' block! Mostly I am just glad that I will no longer have to explain to other mothers at the park that my kid is almost seven (when they shockingly say, "She is really only six? She is so tall for her age.") But she is who she is. And that is sweet, thoughtful, sensitive, somewhat artistic, bit of a builder, a little silly, kind of a klutz, short-tempered, easily frustrated, and (sadly) too disrespectful towards me. Happy birthday, baby!

Heather, over at Pittsburgh Mom , recently wrote a post about the division of labor. She was contemplating learning how to hook up their camper, which is something her husband normally did, because she is a do-everything kind of gal. But her sister-in-law said that she refuses to learn how to do it because it will just be one more job she has to do. So Heather asked us, her sisters in Pgh Mom, how we handled the division of labor in our houses, and if there were things that we did not want to learn how to do just so these things would not become our jobs. I don't know about you, but the division of labor in our house does not always go smoothly. In theory, it should, because as I said on Pgh Mom, we both do what we are good at. For example, I am a much, much better cleaner than Brian. The times when he cleans up after dinner, he does not typically consider cleaning out the sink and sweeping the floor part of that job. I guess because they don't have the word "dishes...

I hate that phrase. If you start off by saying that you don't want to offend someone, chances are you are going to do just that. In fact, when I hear someone say that, I am usually offended right away. For that reason, I try not to use that pointless phrase, but sometimes it just falls out. My bigger goal is just not offending people to begin with. But I fail at that too. Right here in this blog. Sometimes it is because I am pretty opinionated about something. I don't feel strongly about too many things, but when I do, I tend to beat a dead horse, which means blogging about something a number of times. And if you are tired of hearing about it and particularly if you don't agree with me, then chances are I may have offended you. I am not extreme in my religious beliefs or political views, but yet I think that (ironically) offends many people, or at least those with strong opinions. I am Catholic, but not what most people would consider devout. And by most, I guess I mean...

That is one of my favorite slogan's (Or is that a tagline? Over a year removed from a design firm, and I can no longer remember). It belongs to Lowe's, although I am more of a Home Depot gal. But suffice it to say if someone handed me a $5,000 gift card to Home Depot (or Lowe's), I would be ecstatic. If I had $10,000 to spend, you could hear my shouts of joy from miles away. The things I could do with that money. Well, the things I could have Brian do with that money anyway. I love walking around Home Depot and admiring the fancy bathroom sinks and tubs. I look at the lighting and think about where I would put each fixture. I touch textured and colorful tiles and wistfully look at the fancy kitchen cabinets. I admire the various carpet styles and blinds. I look at the fancy front-loading washer and wonder what it must be like to have a steam dryer. I even look longingly at the vacuum cleaners because I can no longer buy a replacement filter for my eight year old mo...

When I moved to the Burgh just over 14 years ago, I had a lot of anxiety about getting from "here" to "there." I found the city, which is triangular, and even some of the suburbs quite confusing. On top of that, a lot of the signs were of little help. Clearly they were put up by either natives who had no need for directions or people with a sick sense of humor who thought it would be funny to put signs in random places, leaving off important roads. At some point, I got over that fear of driving to a new building downtown. I don't recall when it happened, but eventually I just figured most of the city out; and when I had to head to a new place, I just drove around, no longer with a feeling of dread, knowing I would eventually get there. But on Sunday morning, that awful, long-ago feeling returned, thanks to the closure of the outbound Fort Pitt Tunnels. I had to pick my mother up from the airport, so there was no avoiding it. (For some reason, my family think...

For years, pretty much for most of my adulthood, I have not looked forward to summer. Once you become a grownup, it kind of loses its allure, since you have to, in most cases, keep on working. And as I have stated many times, I am just not a fan of heat. There is only so much you can take, and you certainly cannot peel off layers of skin once it gets too hot. But for some reason, even though this summer has been hotter than last (to the best of my knowledge), I am finding myself not hating this season as I usually do. This is not to say I have not complained; a few of those over-90-degree days coupled with high humidity were pretty unbearable. But, holy crap, I think my body may have gotten used to it. Lest you think this has something to do with the harsh winter we had, I can assure you it did not. I complained very few times this winter. Most of my grumblings revolved around the big snowstorm when not only were we without power for about 30 hours, but we also had over 22 inches o...