Facie’s Ramblings

I have a handful of thought in my head (and by a handful, I think I mean about 30). So rather than try to pick one topic, I am going to bullet point some. Let's see how many "some" actually ends up being... When the Penguins are done with hockey, so am I. I am not even sure who is still playing and if we are down to the final teams. I think the Rangers are or were in it. But that is all I know. I really like hockey, but as a true Pens fan who watches pretty much every single game, starting in October, once the Pens are done, I typically have had enough. Let the record show that I rarely complained this winter. So many people talked about how hard/bad the winter was. I did not see it that way. I am guessing that is because I drove to work this winter, unlike last winter, when I found myself waiting for the bus in frigid temps quite a bit. Even 5 or 6 minutes in windchills at -5 or even 0 degrees tends to bring you down. So this winter was like a picnic in comparison. I...

As regular blog readers know (and at this point, I think there might just be two of you), my family said goodbye to our beloved pit bull mix Sadie, a few months ago. Since then, three months and almost two weeks later, I still miss her. I can honestly say that I probably have not gone more than a week without tearing up. But, to be fair, I cry over silly things. When we adopted Sadie, we were not sure we were going to have kids, so the fact that Sadie was partially a pit bull did not concern me. And, honestly, when I first saw her, I did not know that was her dominant breed. But once we knew I was pregnant with J, I started to worry. Back then, there was not social media, but there was still the internet, so I did occasionally read about pit bull maulings. I very clearly remember my first day home alone with J. She was a week old, and my mom, who had been staying with us, and my husband both headed back to work. I was freaking out to begin with, just being a new mother. But havin...

Happy 2015, everyone! I wrote my first check of the year just two minutes ago, and I used the correct year. Already 2015 is off to a good start! :-) Regarding the check, I have to give a shout-out to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review . For only $13, I can get 52 weeks of the Sunday paper. Yes, the Trib leans right. So do I, sometimes (I lean left about as often nowadays, much to the disappointment of my family and a few friends). Regardless, once the P-G raised its rates to something like $60 every quarter to get the Sunday and Thursday papers, I bailed. I do think the PG has a good product, but I could think of many other things I would rather spend that money on. With the great Trib price, I can tip my carrier, donate to the NIE, and save myself several hundred dollars a year. As is typical, I did nothing for New Year's Eve. Well, I did get a lot done during the day. I dropped the kid off at a friend's house. I got four new tires (my third replacement set since I bought the c...

As of 12 p.m. yesterday, I am off until 1/5, without having to take any vacation days. Ah, the perks of working for a university. :-) This year, our actual Christmas Eve/Day celebration(s) will be about the least eventful I can recall. The hub's mom and grandma were to come down just this afternoon, and then we would head to 5 p.m. mass, for which J and the children's choir would be singing. But unfortunately the MIL came down with the flu or something, so here we are on Christmas Eve, with nothing much to do. My mom has been in TX visiting with my little brother and his family for almost four weeks now. She should be back this weekend, so we will celebrate, just after the fact. But it is just weird for me not to be around my family (besides my immediate family) during these few days. I am pretty sure the kid still believes in Santa, so there is that , but I am also pretty sure I will tell her what is what afterwards (or maybe tonight, if she brings up putting out milk and ...

Two months ago, I started a blog for/about our dog Sadie, just after we found out she had cancer. I was hopeful writing would be cathartic; I was particularly concerned how J would handle it and thought if nothing else, it would give her a chance to write happy things about our beloved dog. As with a lot of things, J started out enthusiastically, but in time, she did not have much to say. Plus school got in the way.  But I managed to write a good bit and post some good pics. I hope to continue it for awhile.  But just 23.5 hours removed from Sadie's death, I am still devastated. I never would have guessed it would have affected me this way. Sure, I'm a crier, but as been documented here, I cry for strange things. Not for my own wedding or birth of my child, but for strangers on TV. I definitely cry for tragic events (9/11, in particular), but I also cry when I see certain commercials. I did not cry when my aunt or Bri's grandfather died a few years ago, yet every year when ...

Pretty sure I've used that as a blog post title post before. But it fits.  Yesterday, we found out Sadie, our nearly 13-year old dog, has cancer and likely only a few months to live. She had a growth by her tail, which hindered its usual question-mark shape. I had thought it had to do with her injured ACL (maybe she was overcompensating). But when I really looked at it, I decided maybe we should get it checked out.  When we walked into the vets's office a few days later (last night), the vet took one look and said it was bad. No need to biopsy. He knew. And because of its location, he could not operate (though at her age, I would not put her through that anyway). He said things will probably get bad; she'll have trouble going to the bathroom, particularly if/when the mass grows. She is struggling with that now, but she can still go; everything else seems okay. She did get sick a few times this evening, but I am hoping it is a fluke and not the beginning of the end. I am cou...

Ten (nine, oops, bad math) years ago, I celebrated my first Mother's Day. I don't actually remember a thing about it, including where I was or whom I was with. My mom may or may not have been working (if the latter, then I was not with her). I may have been here with the hubby, the kid (who was a baby at the time), and most likely my MIL. The hub's grandmother was still living in SC with his (now deceased) grandfather, so they probably were not there. We could have been at my MIL. Or, actually, we could have been at the hubby's restaurant (or maybe he was no longer there). Yep, no clue. What I do remember is the Mother's Day before that. I, just over five months pregnant, took my mom to Heinz Field for a brunch. When we arrived upstairs, the hostess was handing out these nice, thick hardcover Steelers books to the moms. She asked me if I was a mom, and I recall touching my stomach and saying, "In utero!" Fortunately I got the book. :-) I don't remem...

Most of the blogs I read contain pictures. At least a few per post. Most of my posts contain no pictures. And that is mostly because I am boring and partly because I am lazy (and I guess partly because most of my posts don't lend themselves well to pictures, because, the posts are, well, mostly boring). But this is one post that I so wish I had not only pictures but also a video. Because I am certain my storytelling will not do this tale (tail!) justice. I typically watch Penguins games with the hubby in our den. And our dog Sadie typically strolls into the room and parks herself on the floor, completely uninterested in watching TV. Just as typically, Sadie is snoring loudly within a few minutes of lying down. I guess it gets pretty tiring sitting around doing nothing all day other than barking at a few cars she happens to hear driving by (when she is not sleeping, of course). Maybe going into the next room to get an occasional drink of water is what is wearing her out. Anywa...

Just three short weeks ago, I wrote a post about vacations . After a three-year hiatus, we were finally going to leave the Burgh to get away for three nights. We spent a lot of yesterday packing and organizing, which I actually started Friday night (how can it take so long?!). Then, while I was working on my online class, I received an email from the Stonewall Resort informing me that the resort could not accept Saturday's reservations due to a power outage. I ran downstairs to tell Brian, who was listening to the Pirates beat up on St. Louis. He was not happy. I immediately went on Facebook (where, seriously, I get a lot of my news) to the resort's page, and read some comments from people. The resort updated their page soon after. I spent a lot of yesterday evening checking FB and the resort web page, and doing internet searches to determine when power was going to be restored (someone on FB who had left the resort said that power was expected to be down for five days). I po...

As I am typing on the computer, I can hear my dog Sadie snoring in her crate next to me (I put her in there, after tiring of listening to her bark at every car and person who walked by). Sometimes I think about how great it must be to be a dog (or at least one who is loved and well cared for). Our tan-and-white daughter has it made. She sleeps on a couch, has plenty of toys, and is well fed. Best of all, thanks to Brian's working at home and my not working at all, this dog is around people a lot. Sadie loves to be near us (anyone, really), and, strangely, she loves to be hugged. She does not have to worry about paying bills or finding a job. She does not need to think about what she is going to wear today, what she is going to eat, or when she is going to clean various parts of the house or do laundry. She will never struggle with discipline (except she is on the receiving end a lot) or time management. No, her biggest concerns are being fed when the humans wake up and again around...

Nothing like losing heat on the coldest day of the year, but that is just what happened to us last evening. Fortunately, we have two electric heaters as well as a kerosene one, so we managed to keep from freezing. Sadie got to sleep with me under six layers of covers, before she eventually decided that was too warm and that sleeping on top of the blankets (and pretty much on my leg) would be better. A decent-sized dog is good at keeping you warm. A dog who had been recently bathed would have improved the situation. Hope Sadie does not think this is going to be a regular occurrence. (Maybe when I ship her off to "Aunt Amy's" permanently, she can do that.) By the time we woke up today, the inside temps were hovering around 57 degrees, which is what some of my friends turn their heat down to at night. Let me say right now that those people are a little nuts. Our bathroom floor felt like the garage floor, it was so cold. I think I took a piping hot shower, but in reality, it ...