Facie’s Ramblings

Sometimes Person A will tell you something that happened, which happened to involve Person B. And then Person B has a slightly different take on it. Both believe their version is the truth. Whom do you believe? There are people in life who lie. This happens pretty much every day, particularly with politicians. I am sorry to say, but at this point I almost refuse to believe anything that comes out of an elected official's mouth, regardless of political party. Sometimes they are just going with the whole CYA strategy. Other times they might actually be convincing themselves that they have it right. Maybe their fingers are crossed? We also see this with (mostly college) coaches. How many of them say that this is their dream job and they are here for the kids. And then a few weeks or months, or maybe even a year, later they have found another "dream" job. (I do realize people can change their minds. And, yes, I am speaking about Penn State, now that the tables are turned ...

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...

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...

Ever since J was a toddler, we (or at least I) have been taking her to the Pittsburgh Zoo. Once or twice, we went when it was free (thank you, RAD). Mostly, we would go with the Pittsburgh chapter of the Penn State Alumni Association. And the past two years, J and I went during the week when the Penn State College of Education sponsored a day at the Zoo, most recently last week. I love our zoo! I cannot say that enough. I could spend all day there, but unfortunately, we seem to end up going on days when it is near or over 90 degrees. Still, I have never had anything less than a great time there. As creatures of habit, we always start out clockwise with the tigers and leopards. When it is hot, those guys and gals aren't too exciting, so we tend to see them (if they are not hidden) and quickly move on. I like to spend a few minutes looking at the flamingos because they are so pretty.  I am not too enthralled with the rhino, but I still manage to get a pic for good mea...

I have "written" versions of this post in my head many times. In fact, if I went back and looked, I would probably discover most of it in an older post. But since I don't feel like trying to figure that out and because this is what I am thinking about now, I am just going to put it out there now. Not well written, but, to quote one of my favorite sayings, it is what it is. I cannot seem to go more than a few days without lamenting that I have only one child. This was a mostly intentional decision, mind you. Brian and I had said we would have another child once we sold our house and moved into another. But we tried the house selling in 2007 and 2008, and got nowhere. By the fall of 2008, I really did not want another child, so I gave up that thought. I still don't want another child. Really. But much like some (many?) childless people, I wonder if I won't regret having an only child down the road. There are many days when I think about it. My kid is stuck with ...

In the past few days, I have read in the paper/saw on the news two heinous acts against children. A boyfriend of some woman beat her 11-year-old son over the course of a nine-hour period, and the boy eventually died. I won't go into any more details, other than to add that the mother waited over an hour after she got home before calling 911, because what I just wrote is so disturbing as it is. Then last night, I saw on the news (and read this morning) that another boyfriend of another woman sexually assaulted a three-month old. I am so incredibly sickened and angered by this. What normal person would not be? And that is the thing: these people cannot be normal.There are lacking something, but what I do not know. In the first horrendous crime, some neighbors who were interviewed cried, saying they should have done something. This made me wonder, how many people hear screams or crying down the street or down the hall and actually call the police. Would you? I am one of thos...

As has been documented here and elsewhere many times, I am a crier. But, oddly enough, not always for logical reasons. I did not cry at my own wedding or at the birth of my child, yet I have cried at countless other weddings and births, most of which I witnessed on TV, involving people I don't even know! Speaking of my child and NOT crying, today my baby made her first communion. This is a big deal in a Catholic's life, though most kids cannot fully grasp what is going on. What pretty much every kid does understand is that they will be getting dressed up, quite a few people will be coming to watch them, they most likely will be having a party or going out to eat afterward, and the odds are great that they will be ending the day with some loot. We had a pretty small gathering at our pretty small house. Unfortunately, the weather dudes were wrong about the weather. I know, hard to believe. Last night, one of the weather guys said there may be a shower or two, and it would mos...

As you may already know, I am pretty much a helicopter parent. There are a number of reasons for this, including that I had overprotective parents and that I am the parent of only one child. I am really trying to be less insane about my hovering, and reading the Free-Range Kids blog has helped. However, I have to comment, in true helicopter parenting style, on one of their/its recent blog posts. The abridged version of this post is that a free-range mom (FRM) wanted her 9 year old kid to walk home alone from his friend's house two blocks away, something the kid wanted to do as well. The helicopter mom (HM), however, refused to let said boy do so, and had a woman who was visiting her home (a woman FRM knew) drive FRM's kid home. FRM wants to know what to do/say next time as HM disregarded her wishes. Here are my thoughts, some of which I included in a comment on the FRK's site: We are free to raise our kids as we wish. The FRM can tell HM that she wants her kid to walk...

As I have ranted and rambled about before, Brian has rather crappy insurance, which I unfortunately had to get on at the beginning of the year because we could not afford paying the monthly Cobra payment. But, as I learned in econ or some other class, "opportunity costs" or something like that. So to save several hundred dollars a month for the right (er, privilege) to have insurance, we have to hope we don't need much of it. If one of us gets sick, well, then, it may have made more sense to pay more money monthly. When I went to my annual day of torture on Friday (i.e., the gynecologist), I was surprised that my copay was $25. On my insurance card, there is a line for Office Visit Copayment, for $15, and there is another line for Specialist Office Visit Copayment, for $25. There is nothing special about going to the gynecologist. It is something that I am pretty sure women should do yearly once they become "grownups" or younger, if they start doing the horizo...

Last week, I had a particularly trying day while subbing. I don't think I have ever gotten through a day without some small challenge, which is typically the loudness of a large class (and for the record, I think having over 30 kids in one class is too many). But usually, all is well that ends well. The day started off fine. By late morning, I bribed one of my toughest (i.e., largest) classes by saying if I did not have to tell them to be quiet more than two times, I would let them out two minutes early. The school has no time between classes, which means that other than the first period, no class really starts "on time." But since this class is right before lunch, and I was hungry and knew we could get through what we needed to, I figured this was an acceptable trade-off. The class was probably about as quiet as it ever was; I did have to say something three times, so, much like I parent, I did not hold completely to my threat, but I called it a success. And as the s...

If you follow the local (Pittsburgh) news, then you probably know that Steeler James Harrison's pit bull bit his toddler son, the mother of the child, and another person. The son appears to have had the worst of it, having spent about a week in the hospital. Apparently this two-year-old dog had never been aggressive before, but something in this young child's cry set the dog off. I have a pit bull, who, according to our vet, may actually be a pit bull-shar pei mix (who knew). Sadie has been with us since July 1, 2002, when I brought her home, with a little help from my friend Amy (whom we refer to as Aunt Amy, although Ame refers to herself as Aunt Mimi), from the Human Society. As some friends know, my plan was to get a dog or have a child. Not both. When we adopted Sadie, I told Brian that was it, no child (clearly, I changed my mind several months later). When I first saw Sadie, it was practically love at first sight. I thought she was cute, and then I moved down the row of ...

As some of you know, I had an interview on Friday. I met with the husband of one of my (now former) work clients to talk about an office manager position. We had already spoken for over an hour Monday. We hit it off rather well; he is just a guy you feel comfortable with. I had not been on an interview since Good Friday in 1996, which happened to be the second/last interview I had for the job I just left. But I was very at ease during this conversation. I told him how during my first interview for my last job, the person who interviewed me told one of my references that she was worried I was too introverted for the job. I still laugh about that. He laughed too; he could see already the kind of person I was. When I was done talking with this gentlemen (he needed to make some phone calls), I spent some time with his wife, who helps out in the office on Fridays. She said she does not think this is the right job for me. She thinks I am over-qualified and that I would be bored by some of th...

Growing up, my family received a few Christmas letters. One family's in particular stands out. It went something like this: This year started off with a bang. The family rang in the new year at Time Square. I am pretty sure Dick Clark winked at Kitty. In the spring, Katherine was inducted into the National Honor Society while Nathan placed first in the science fair. Both kids kept busy studying, volunteering, and staying active in sports. The summer brought a fun trip to the beach, although Red sure ended up just like his name with that hot sun! This fall Katherine was a beautiful homecoming queen and best of all, she found out she got accepted to Harvard! She is hoping she can continue to play volleyball there while she studies science. For now Nathan is just going to have to settle for being at the top of his eight grade class and fighting off the girls. Kitty and Red have stayed busy as well, with Red getting another promotion at work, and Kitty driving the kids everywhere, deli...

Some people feel very strongly about working mothers (for or against), and with Sarah Palin, mother of five, including a special needs child as well as a teenage daughter who is pregnant, on the ticket, the debate is really heating up. Some time ago, Sarah Palin said she was not even sure what the VP did (I am paraphrasing). And I have to say I am not entirely sure either, other than knowing that the VP is one heartbeat away from being president (I think I have heard that phrase no fewer than 20 times in the past five days). Sometimes I think Cheney's biggest claim to fame during his tenure will be that he shot his hunting buddy in the face. I have already forgotten most of the details about the Scooter Libby saga, as I am sure many have as well. I am a working mother; I don't think I am wired to stay at home full time. But when I was pregnant, I don't think I gave it much thought; due to our circumstances, we had no choice but for me to work. Some people seem born to be wi...