Facie’s Ramblings

Did you follow that? If you did, and if you have a will, then you are my hero. Even though I am married, and more importantly, I have a kid, I cannot bring myself to do a will. Why? Well, one reason is one that is shared by many: I am too freaked out that once I do it, then something will happen. Is this irrational? Of course it is. I can hear Dave Ramsey saying it is silly (maybe he said stupid) not to do a will out of fear of dying because you are going to die eventually anyway. Does not matter; still a thought in my head. Another reason I am will-less is because I am frugal. I am happy to say that I have somewhat counteracted this reason (not the frugality) by purchasing a will kit online via Dave Ramsey for something like $25 at the end of last year. I assume it will be official, although I am guessing it may have to be notarized. The last thing keeping me from doing my will is sheer laziness mixed with indecisiveness. This will kit came with about a half dozen documents th...

Have you ever been mad enough at someone to throw a dish at said person? And by someone, I am pretty sure I mean a spouse/significant other/partner. I have contemplated doing just that to Brian on more than one occasion. And by more than one occasion, I am pretty sure I mean about 30 times in our almost 12 years of marriage. And I might really mean 30 x 30. :-) But I have never done so, for practical reasons (i.e., I am cheap). We have 10 dinner plates, mostly acquired via wedding gifts. We have only six matching smaller (salad?) plates. And although we rarely have more than a few people over for dinner (and it is not too often when we have people over to begin with), I just can't imagine wanting to forfeit these discontinued dishes. But, alas, today, I said good bye to one of our dinner plates. I washed my hands just before I unloaded the dishwasher. Not wanting to take the five seconds to completely dry my hands, I proceeded to start putting dishes away. Unfortunately, one ...

I cannot believe the last time I did a "random ramblings" post was way back in May of 2010. Since I have a handful of things (and by handful, I mean at least 10) on my mind and not any one thing heavily weighing me down, I figured I might as well ramble. So here goes. Earlier today, the weather people were calling for 3 to 6 inches of snow, with the snow to start in the mid afternoon and one of those inches coming before midnight. I cannot speak for the rest of the Pittsburgh area, but we have gotten at least three inches so far, at around 10 p.m. Brian has twice shoveled our driveway and sidewalks as well as our neighbor's, and each time everything was covered by the time he finished. Speaking of snow, I am scheduled to substitute tomorrow, which also happens to be "Steelers Dress-Down Day." I will be so bummed if I don't get to wear my Hines Ward jersey while teaching, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that we will have only a two-hour delay (already c...

If I were not a Steelers fan, I would not be a wee bit nervous right now (well, at least not about football). If I were not a Steelers fan, I would not be excited right now, either. I have blogged about the Steelers and football so many times, but those two things are so ingrained in my life and personality that how could anyone expect any less. I won't bother to say that football brings people together in some mostly positive ways (except I just did). I also won't once again stress that is good to have something rather mindless or at least unimportant to think about, particularly in these trying times (and I was just stating that, not stressing it). And there is no need to bring up my superstitions, as I like to think I am (mostly) over those.  I will just say that I am looking forward to a good game tomorrow between the Steelers and the Baltimore Birdies (or Ratbirds, as some call them). I hope the Steelers prevail, but if they don't, I like to think I can get...

Snow is coming, ladies and gentlemen! Go out and buy your bread and milk. Cancel all plans. Get ready to hunker down. I almost hate to joke about an impending snowstorm. Last February, my mom was all freaked out about the predicted six to eight inches of snow (today and tomorrow's "snowstorm" is calling for three to six inches). She was convinced, like so many others, that she would be snowed in for days, that her power would go out, basically that the sky was falling. Like the good daughter I am, I made fun of her, reminding her that it was February in western Pennsylvania, and snow is not that uncommon for that time and place. I also laughed at her fear of losing power. Really, what damage could six lousy inches do? Well, we all know how that turned out. And, as I blogged about, the joke was on me; not only did we get about 22" of snow, we (Brian, Jordan, and I), were without power and cleared roads for days. So for that reason, I am hesitant to make light o...

Pittsburgh, or at least many of the suburbs, is not super pedestrian friendly. On several occasions, Jordan and I have attempted to cross the street near the section of Frick Park on Forbes and Braddock Avenues. In a crosswalk that is flanked by a sign that proclaims it is a state law to yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk. Typically, about a half dozen or more cars would drive by before someone finally stopped or else there was a break in the traffic. Sure, I would get frustrated, wondering if these people were illiterate, anti-pedestrian, or just not paying attention. But I also remember when I first moved to Pittsburgh, in the Avalon/Bellvue area, just north of the city. That was the first time I recall seeing those "yield for pedestrian/state law signs," and it took me probably several weeks, maybe longer, to get used to stopping for walkers. But once I did, I was always on the lookout for people crossing the street. Fast-forward to this century. I live about five m...

I know in previous posts I was all like, yeah, Santa, you rock. I was embracing the jolly old guy because of the magic he added to Christmas. Well, my Santa love has faded a bit, I am afraid. And I am not exactly a fan of Prospirit watches either. Santa brought Jordan a water resistant watch for Christmas. She wore said watch to the pool yesterday. As soon as she hit the water, the watch stopped working, even though it was supposed to be water resistant to 30m. I realize that resistant is not the same thing is waterproof, but I guess I just expected it to last literally more than five seconds into three feet of water. Fail. Because Santa brought this watch, as you can imagine, complications arose. Jordan questioned why the elves would have made something defective. Jordan was worried we would not be able to get in touch with Santa. Jordan wondered how and when she would get another watch. So I told Jordan I would email Santa to see what he had to say. After all, as I said to Jordan...

Last week while at my mom's, my brother, his wife, their three kids, my kid, and I went sled-riding down a smallish hill speckled with snow. On the surface, that might not seem like a lot of fun, but I am here to tell you otherwise. The last time I went sled-riding was in college, via a dining hall tray. I think I did it only once, but I seem to recall it was fun (those trays can actually move on the snow). Or maybe it was just one of those things you have to do before your graduate. Anyway, because Brian and I are overprotective, Jordan's sled-riding experience consists of Brian pulling her on a sled down the approximately 10 percent-grade hill that is our side yard. As you can imagine, there is no speed involved.  But over the last year, I am proud to say I have been letting loose a little as far as my kid is concerned, so when my mom's across-the-street neighbor offered us the use of three sleds, we jumped at the chance, thinking the hill would be tiny (in other wor...