Facie’s Ramblings

On Friday, I had planned to leave work a few hours early. Because the bus I ride runs every 30 minutes that time of day, some planning is involved. So after being too busy to make the 1:19 bus, I left at 1:44, which would give me 5 minutes to make the 1:49 bus. As I was about 2/3 of the way down the street, I saw two buses at the stop, across the street. I looked at my phone and saw it was 1:47. Since it was early, I told myself it was unlikely either bus was mine, so I decided not to run the rest of the way down the hill, knowing the light would change before I got there. Fortunately when I got to the bottom of the hill, I saw the buses, now a block away, were not mine. Less fortunately was it was raining harder than a sprinkle, and I had yet to replace my recently broken umbrella.  Before I knew it, 10 minutes had gone by, as did five other buses, and I started to fret. Maybe my bus had come early. After all, the drizzle did not seem to be enough to justify a delay....

Can someone please tell me I am not alone in feeling as if I were a different age on different days?! I am 42 3/4, and quite comfortable sharing my age with anyone. This is due mostly to my mom's shaving four years off her age and my finding out about it in the seventh grade, via looking at her yearbook at Grandma's. But the other reason I don't bother hiding my age is because if you are not getting older, then you aren't doing anything (except, perhaps decaying in the ground). You are welcome for that visual! But feeling and/or looking a certain age is another matter entirely. I think I look around 37. I don't know why I have that age in mind, but I am quite convinced few people would guess I was in my 40s. In fact just recently, two gals in the choir, who are somewhere between late 20s and early to mid 30s seemed genuinely surprised I was 42. I told them I think of myself as 37, and one said she thought I looked even younger. (She is my new best friend.) The ot...

I took a vacation day yesterday. Things have been slow at work, so I figured I might as well take the day (even though I will probably want/need that day this coming school year when J has about a dozen, somewhat random, days off). J and I were finishing up a visit to my mom's, which included my adorable, but somewhat whiny and very good storyteller, nephew. I did a little cleaning and laundry at home, nothing too exciting. Mostly I was just glad to be off on a Monday because who likes Mondays? Except by "losing" my Monday yesterday, I got punched in the gut by Monday's evil sister, appearing on a Tuesday. It started off as it had for the last week, which was with a slight pain in my back from something (cyst maybe?) that I will now most likely need to have removed. Try not to visualize that too much. After I was nearly ready, I went in J's room to wake her up. I act as her snooze, which allows her to slowly awaken over a period of 5 to 10 minutes. During th...

Pittsburgh is not very pedestrian friendly. This, despite the following law: 3542. Right-of-way of pedestrians in crosswalks. (a) General rule. --When traffic-control signals are not in place or not in operation, the driver of a vehicle shall yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within any marked crosswalk or within any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection.   I cannot tell you how many times I have been at a crosswalk and have been ignored by cars zipping by. At one intersection near a park, there is actually a flashing light trumpeting that it is a state law that cars must yield for pedestrians. Still some drivers completely ignore that, and my daughter and I have have found ourselves waiting for long periods of time as well as coming close to being hit because we were not running across the street (I did not realize that part of the law was pedestrians had to sprint so as not to further inconvenience the drivers). Near ...

Do you expect a lot from people? I do. Unfortunately I am let down a lot... I expect that when I buy donuts from Giant Eagle that turn out to be bad, that I will be offered a replacement in addition to my lousy $2. I expect that when I buy tires warranted for 60,000 miles, that I won't get fewer than 30,000 miles. I expect that when my child's school is delayed for cold when it is in the low teens, that it will also be delayed when it is in the single digits (or that if won't be delayed for either). I expect that when I call or email someone with a question or request, that that person won't wait weeks to get back to me. I expect that when the bus is supposed to arrive at a certain time in the morning, that if it gets there early, it won't leave until the designated time, particularly when the temps are in the single digits and the next bus is close to 10 minutes away. I expect people who use public transportation to bathe and use deodorant on a regular ba...

Those of you who read this blog and who are not one of my Facebook "friends" missed out on a good bus story. This is for you! So last Wednesday afternoon, we get an early (noonish) release from work. (Worth noting is the boss came in with her kid in the morning, so I spent some time at the beginning of the work day hanging out with her toddler. Best workday almost ever!) Anyway, after those grueling couple of hours of work, a few coworkers and I went to lunch. I had nachos and a beer. Yep, pretty darn good lunch. As we were finishing up, I checked the bus schedule and realized the next bus was coming in about five minutes. The walk was short, just up the hill, and knowing the bus is almost always late in the afternoon, I figured I could make that walk easy-peezy, with a minute to spare. So I walked slowly. Then, about a minute before the bus was due and when I was about 100 paces away from the stop, the bus drove by. What the what?! Knowing the next bus was not coming f...

I just cannot seem to come up with a coherent blog post. It is just easier to post pictures, tell a story, or do a bulleted list. Here goes my bulleted list (and why is it that blogger thinks that "bulleted" is not a word?) Last week when I got on the bus, I sat down next to a guy. Said guy had a can of something between his legs. My first guess was beer, particularly since he reeked of alcohol, but then I decided it could have been one of those canned energy drinks. When he turned towards the window (and away from me) to take a sip, that was a pretty good indication he was drinking a brew. Upon further review, I confirmed it. Miller Ice, I believe. As my bus driver friend said, "As long as the bus driver is not drinking, you are golden." After my third trip to my mechanic in five months, I told him that, no offense, I hoped that I would not see him until January 2015, when my next inspection is due. I don't even want to add up what I spent on the car in 201...

This is not going to be about health care; I just don't have the energy to talk about that. No, this post is about going to the doctor. Fun! Like an intelligent woman that I sometimes I am, I regularly go to a gynecologist. But the "regular" doctor? Not so much. I figure I get my heart rate and blood pressure checked at the gyne (along with my women parts), so what else would a regular doctor really do? I do try to get to one of those about every four or five years, and I get blood work, so I figure I am all set. Not quite, I guess. I was last at the "regular" doctor about 3 years and 10 months ago. I had been having leg pains, and I worried that it was something serious. So the doc checked me out and did some blood work. Nothing came of that, life went on, so I figured I was in the clear. Then a few months ago, I had to pick a PCP because of my new (via job) health insurance, and I went with that same practice I had gone to almost four years ago. The ...

I am fairly certain at one point, I may have written a blog post with that very title. But I am not willing to take the time to find out. Because the main point of my post is that I don't have time to write blog posts anymore. And, as bad, I am missing out on reading so many of my blogging buddy's posts. I long for the days when I would have read posts from 10 blogs and then the next day I would be all, "Why can't these people write more often?!" The truth is that I could make time for this. But once I got the iPhone, the computer took a backseat. And it is fairly annoying trying to write a blog post from an iPhone. That was my last post, and it took me probably an hour. I could spend that time playing Scramble with Friends. ;-) Anyway, let me just throw out a handful or three of updates, in case any of you still happen by these parts. Work has been going pretty well. The busyness comes and goes. It should pick up soon. But overall I'm still happy there...

This week, thanks to the college kids moving to (or back to) school, parking at work has been tricky. My usual lot as well as my backup one had been closed, and I received conflicting info as to when they'd open. Monday I drove around for awhile and lucked out, as some city dweller was just leaving his large space. But because I can't parallel park worth a crap and spaces are far and few, I decided to look into taking a bus.  Public transportation is not for everyone. In fact the hubby told me the only way he would ever get on a bus was if someone put his casket in there (lovely, eh). But I am all kinds of optimism mixed with sensibility so I figured it could not be that bad. Probably the worst part about it is there have been so many stops eliminated, so it is not convenient for everyone. My original plan was to catch a bus a couple communities over, where the kid goes to day care, since I drop her off. But, alas, I discovered that would entail dropping her off about 20 minu...

While on Facebook this morning, I noticed that WTAE-TV Pittsburgh posted a video reporting about a massive brawl that occurred among local high school students and some parents/adults near a school bus stop after school yesterday. At one point there were as many as five different fights going on. Naturally, someone took the video and posted it to You Tube, because that seems to be a requirement anymore anytime something violent happens. Apparently, there were two different videos posted; a brawl actually happened two days in a row. WTAE posted a few snippets of the fights, blurring out the people since some are minors. If you want to view the video, you can find it on the station's website or Facebook page. I am guessing the complete videos, with full-on fighting are still on You Tube. I, however, have little interest in watching the savagery of people anymore than what I already witnessed. And, quite frankly, it is stretch for me to call these fighters "people." As I...

Two Steelers-related things are on my mind, and not in a good way, I am afraid. First, my kid's school (as well as the city schools and others, I am sure) is on a two-hour delay Monday. Found this out last evening. Why? Well, because of the Steelers game. It may have to do with administrators' concern that kids will have stayed up late and thus be too tired to learn anything. A few parents said they heard it was because bus drivers might be hungover. One or two suggested that it might be for the teachers and parents as well. Here are my thoughts on that matter: The game should be over around 10. My guess is that the majority of the kids who will stay up to watch the game don't go to bed much earlier than that anyway. And for those who normally go to bed earlier? They probably will be okay staying up a little later for one night. If not, then parents should not let them stay up for it. Jordan certainly won't be up past halftime, mostly because she does not care enou...

Yesterday, the Burgh woke up to a bit of snow. Just a trace amount where I live, but enough to dust the roads and create some slick spots (it was worse in other areas). Pretty much every year without fail, the first time it snows, I get a teeny bit freaked out. I worry about sliding my car into another or getting stuck trying to make it up the hill out of our area. And our steep, downhill driveway is no picnic either. Back when my kid went to an at-home, city neighborhood daycare just off a hilly street, I was pretty much a nervous wreck anytime it snowed. With cars parked along both sides, you had just one lane to drive up and down the street, often making it impossible to turn around. So I was often forced to head down the very steep perpendicular road near her caregiver's house. Said narrow street often had cars parked along the side. Gives me the willies just remembering the many times I had the car in the lowest possible gear, holding my breath and clutching the steering whe...