Facie’s Ramblings

I have a bunch of thoughts swimming around my head. But since they center around things that are currently perplexing and/or bothering me, I am forgoing a "random ramblings" post title. Here goes nothing. I love Joe Paterno. But I am not sure if he should keep on coaching. On the one hand, he has done so much for the school, and he really is a great, funny (at least he was when I met him about eight years ago) guy. But on the other hand, considering he is almost 84 and seems to have lost a bit of his step, shouldn't he hang it up? Is there an intelligent reason that about 13 million people are still paying off last year's Christmas purchases? I saw this stat on the local news and was appalled. Other than someone's buying a car or perhaps a computer, IMHO there are no other purchases that should not have been paid off within a few months (for the record, if I get to the point where I have to carry a credit card balance, it would not be for gifts, but I am tryin...

I am guessing that in years past, I have listed things for which I am thankful. Might as well continue down the path. So here goes my list. I hope every single one of you can find something, even many things, for which to be thankful. Wishing you a happy Thanksgiving, Toforkey, and Slapsgiving! Family (especially Jordan and Brian), friends, and Sadie too Roof over my head and food in the fridge and cupboards Health Football and hockey, particularly winning seasons for the Steelers, PSU, and Pitt football teams (as well as my fantasy football team) and the Pens Running and my improved times Pittsburgh Freedom of speech and religion and the right to vote Tenacity That Jordan likes school The most wonderful time of the year That I actually have my Christmas cards ready to go (just waiting to mail them so people don't receive them in November) Funny things Food (I kind of already said this, but I just love food, particularly on this most special food day of the year) H...

If you live around the Burgh, you have probably heard by now that some idiot apparently shot himself on Light-Up Night (as an aside, apparently there is no hyphen in the official Light-Up Night moniker, but I am choosing to put one in anyway). I had wanted to take Jordan to that event, but Brian thought it was too dangerous. I scoffed at that, but relented to his wishes, as much for the all the traffic as for anything else. It turns out he was kind of right. However, since Light-Up Night was actually a two-day event this year, I decided that we would go to the second day, during the afternoon. I was not about to let a little shooting and some fights stop me from heading downtown. Any time I read about what I consider an isolated incident at a place I would normally go to (or at least would considering going to), I make it a point to get right back on the horse or to try it out if I had never been there before. When there was a shooting at Boyce Park this summer, hours after we had...

This morning on my way to school, as I hit my preset for Wish 99.7, I was greeted by B.E. Taylor singing "Mary's Boy Child." For a second, I thought I was mistaken, but then I remembered what today is, Light-Up Night. As all Pittsburghers know, Light-Up Night, which is actually going to be a two-day event this year, kicks off the holiday season. Now I don't get all worked up about what people call this time of year (though I am glad the city has abandoned the stupid "Sparkle Season" moniker). I am a Christian so I celebrate the Christ part of Christmas, which to me also includes the giving tree at church. But I love the secular aspects of it as well. I am all about the lights, the carols, the decorations, Santa, the reindeer and elves, the Christmas specials, the food, the goofy sweaters, my silly jingle bell necklace and Santa hat. I cry a couple of happy tears as soon as Westinghouse puts up its tree light decoration along the Parkway East. And the Eat...

If you have read this blog for awhile, you know I try to keep my friends and relatives out of it. At the very least, I don't get into super specific things because I figure these people may not want their stories "out there." You probably have also noticed I very rarely blog about my husband. About the only post that was (mostly) about him centered on a birthday gift I got him which he did not appreciate so much. I have long gotten over that, and believe me, we have much more petty (and important) things to discuss. But this week I went where I had never gone before, and I am ruing the day. A couple of nights ago, during a Pens game, I mentioned to Brian that I thought his stomach looked bigger and I was worried about his weight. I realize saying something like to another person will go poorly probably 99 percent of the time. But I am concerned, I have noticed this for quite some time, and I want my husband to be around for awhile. Once Bri got over his anger at my s...

Surprisingly (at least to me), the Steelers cut Jeff Reed today. Sure, his percentages were down this year. Yes, he missed a chip shot as well as a handful of kicks from 40 to 49 yards. And he did have a penchant for drinking and getting himself into trouble as well as running his mouth off. But that still did not seem to be enough (for me, anyway) to cut Skippy halfway through the season for some guy many of us in these part have never even heard of, former Washington Redskins kicker Shaun Suisham. I'd like to think Skippy would have picked his game up. After all, the Steelers signed a couple of former Steelers this year, even though they are certainly no younger and seemingly not better than they were when they were last here. Clearly, I will never be a coach or owner of a professional sports team. I just would not be able to do figure out and then act upon things of that nature (those last three words were a Tomlinism, in case you did not know that). Sure, some paper towel d...

When Skippy missed that short field goal last night, I said, just as I did last week when he missed another short(ish) one, "The Steelers must have known what they were doing when they did not sign him to a long-term contract." Not that it would have mattered. The Steelers were totally schooled last night. I did not care so much when they lost to New Orleans. After all, the Saints were the defending Super Bowl champs, who perhaps did not take the Browns (aka the Clowns) as seriously as they probably should have. Plus, the Saints are in the NFC, so no biggie. But for the love to Pete, the Pats, who are, unfortunately, in the AFC, sure seem to have the Steelers' number. As much as I do not like Big Ben (as a person), I thought he played pretty well last weekend (and, yes, I realize, that was against the Bungles). Sure some throws were low or high (I forget), and he probably had an ill-advised pick (who can remember), but he just looked good overall, particularly the way...

For the fun of it, I looked at the labels I have used for various posts. Money was number 2, well ahead of most others, other than football, which was a close second. {Kids was the runaway label winner, more than double that of money. I am speculating, however, that the kids posts are as much if not more about kids in general, thanks to my teaching, as they are about my kid.} Money. I have so much to say about the subject, but as with many things in my life, it confounds me. I read mostly useless financial advice from various sources. I can't imagine too many people don't realize that they could save money by not going to Starbucks every day or by forgoing the water in plastic bottles. And, duh, who does not know that it is more expensive to go out to eat or go see a movie versus cooking at home or renting a movie?! Yes, I am aware that I should be contributing money to a 401k, something I did as soon as I was able to at my first job and continued to up until my last mont...

My kid seems to be a little accident prone. A couple of years ago, Jordan fell backwards into a register, thus necessitating a trip to Children's Hospital and subsequent rants about health care. Less than two months ago, she had the mystery injury at recess. Last night, while swimming (thanks to my mother-in-law we have a six-month pool membership at a nearby hotel), Jordan said to me, "Mommy, I think I chipped my tooth." This immediately caused flashbacks to when I was about 10 and chipped my front tooth while going backwards down a water slide (yes, that was a stupid thing to do, but technically I chipped my tooth as I was turning the right way, once I realized just how dumb I was being, so I was probably more stupid doing the right thing). Anyway, I walked over to Jordan, who was clutching her mouth and crying a bit by now. I asked her to open her mouth, upon which I discovered she no longer had her top front teeth. Eek! For a couple of seconds, I panicked, but the...

As I mentioned in a previous post, I traveled to TX for a few days because of my mother. As I also have mentioned in at least one other post, I do not like to travel in general. I am a homebody. Boring. Don't like change or to get out of my routine. As significant is that I hate to fly. My little brother does that for a living, and every time I have to get on a plane, it is not good. On the way to the airport, I was in tears. Not just a few runaway droplets, mind you, but full-on sobs punctuated by halted breaths.This was partly due to the exhaustion and stress of the previous two weeks and partly due to car trouble (I see a future post there). But more than those things, it was the thought of leaving my kid for more than three days, particularly when I had to get on a plane. Rationally, I know that flying is pretty safe, even post-9/11 (and maybe more so). But there is just something about a large object becoming airborne, literally leaving the ground. How is that...

Although I am so very glad I won't have to suffer through dozens of political ads for at least a little while, it looks as if I will be listening to, watching, and reading the strong opinions of friends, relatives, bloggers, the media, etc., for the foreseeable future. So many people think their way is the only way. But is it possible there is not just one right way? I can see the beauty of gray, so why can't others? Why must so many refer to those on the opposite side as crazy, extreme, out of touch, socialist, racist, greedy, idiots, morally bankrupt, gun-toting, stupid, lazy, uncaring, religiously fanatical, and smelly? I am only partly kidding about that last adjective, but I do find it sad that conservative and liberal have become "bad" words for many people. I am neither all-knowing nor able to predict the future, so I have no idea how this will turn out. I do find it a little sad that a lot of young people who were so jazzed about the 2008 election did not ...