Facie’s Ramblings

In a span of about four hours on Tuesday, I went from worrying about summer childcare for my kid and my unknown work schedule on two projects, to thinking I was going to be working from home on only one project (thus needing a lot less childcare), to finding out all my work was wrapping up due to budget issues (thus needing no childcare). Sigh. Have I mentioned recently how much I hate the economy? I just heard on the news today that the Pittsburgh Public Schools are sending out almost 300 provisional furlough notices. I know of so many people who are either looking for work or who have had to settle for something. I know even more people who have not gotten a raise in years even though the cost of living has continued to go up. When does it end? As for my situation, it is not so bad, really. I highly recommend getting laid off to anyone. Seriously. Once you have gone through that and figured out how to survive it, most work-related things that come after are not so bad. When I s...

Yesterday while at the park with J and another third grader and her mom, the third grade friend of J announced that their social studies teacher "said something inappropriate in class." I am pretty sure I stopped breathing for a few seconds, worried about what this teacher could have said. This girl went on to explain that their teacher talked about how the Republican party (except the girl did not call it that) does not believe in gay marriage. I first corrected the name of the party (I honestly cannot remember what she thought it was called), and both the mom and I agreed that the comment was not appropriate. Then my kid asks, "What is gay marriage?" My all-too-typical (in situations like these) reply: "I'll tell you later; don't worry about it." Here is where the hypocrite part comes in (in case it was not going to be obvious): I have no problem with gay marriage. And I am perfectly willing to tell that to my daughter. But just not when she is...

After an embarrassing layoff in my thank-you note project ( my last note went out over two months ago), I am happy (well, more like relieved) to report that I wrote two notes over the weekend. Note 1 This one went to the woman who pretty much runs the lunchroom. She updates the schedules for the monitors and kitchen helpers, which is a feat in itself considering it is next to impossible to get four or five parent volunteers every day. Part of that task includes sending emails begging people to volunteer because if there are not enough monitors, then the kids cannot go outside for recess. But wrangling the kids is the most difficult task. She has to move the line forward, keep the cafeteria down to a dull roar, and dole out discipline as needed. And that is just during the eating portion of lunch. While outside, someone almost always falls down, throws a ball at someone else too hard, or does not share a jump rope or other toy, and she has to deal with that as well (more so than thos...

I just wrote two very short (incomplete, really) and entirely different blog posts, and I decided to delete them both. I want to share things that have been going on in my life, if for no other reason than to document events. But I just cannot seem to get into the groove of blog writing. Oddly, I have started writing in my journal again over the past few months, something I had not realized how much I missed. As I said in a post some time ago, I am unwilling to lay it all out here for anyone to read. I don't care what strangers think about me. But I do have friends and the occasional relative who read my posts, and I am pretty sure there are a number of people I am connected with one way or the other (two or three degrees of separation) to whom I cannot bare my soul to. And that is where my trusty, not-out-there-for-all-to-see journal comes in. I can write about a fight that Brian and I had and not worry that someone will think my marriage is in trouble. I can lament about wo...

I am spending the weekend (though it is winding down) with the two reasons I celebrate Mother's Day, my mom and my daughter. Those two females mean more to me than any other females ever have and ever will. And for this I am so grateful. Happy Mother's Day!

As J and I were pulling away from after-school care on Wednesday, she pointed out something tucked underneath the passenger side wiper blade. There appeared to be two slips of paper flapping about, and, of course, my first reaction was it/they must be a parking ticket. As I was driving away, afraid to stop the car for fear of sticker shock, I tried to recall if there were street sweeping signs that I had missed. I have been working on the South Side for about six weeks, though not with much regularity until recently, so it was possible, and quite likely, that when I first started, I could have noticed a street sweeping sign, but did not pay much attention to it since I was there only about once a week. Then I thought back to how the block did seem a little less crowded that morning, so that had to be it. I spent the 10 minutes home wondering how much this ticket was going to set me back, hoping there was only one ticket, and listening to J beg me to stop so we could see what it wa...