Facie’s Ramblings

For about four years, J and I would visit my mom approximately every other week (not counting that bad/sad/dark period when my mom was ill and living many states away). Since I worked only sporadically and am close to my mom, it was pretty easy to have frequent visits. During that same four-year period, I would also go to multiple grocery stores most weeks, to get the best price on things. Particularly during the school year, when I had many hours most weekdays to myself, it just made sense. Plus, for some odd reason, I get a rush when I combine double coupons with a sale at one store and then price match with two or three different circulars at another store. When I went back to work full time last April, I tried to continue to do those very things. But eventually I realized that I cannot live my life as if I am home many hours during the week when I am typically out of the house at just after 7:30 a.m. and I do not return until close to 6 p.m. My mom has not taken my fewer visits...

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...

Tomorrow the kid starts daycare. I am not even sure that is what it is called when your kid will be 10 in about 2.5 months and headed into fifth grade. As I said on Facebook, it has been almost five years since I had to gather up extra clothes, write my kid's name on things, etc. I am not even sure what the etc. is  because I cannot remember what you are supposed to do when you send your kid off to a child-care facility (which in this case is a church-school)! J is a little apprehensive about it, but I think she is also slightly excited (and by think, I mean hope and pray). It will be a chance to meet some new people who hopefully will be kind-hearted. We are both glad that the place provides breakfast, which means that J can sleep in an extra 10 minutes from what she did the past nine months. The place also provides lunch, most choices which she likes, which also means that she won't have to pack her lunch too often. I still am sad that she has to do this. I am sad that she ...

Before I launch into this post (and I am not entirely sure where it will go, but it will need to happen in about 20 minutes because I have lunch duty), let me begin by saying my hubby is pretty darn good as far as hubbies and daddies go. He cooks for us almost every day. Considering how much I love to eat, he could do little else but that, and it would not matter too much to me. [Note that a few years ago, I cooked for the family but was "fired" after a week or several. No one appreciated what I thought tasted good.] He also keeps the "mechanics" of the house running. He has black-topped the driveway, mixed cement to fix our crumbling steps, and planted grass. He moves heavy stuff around, figures out some electrical things, and when I fail at toilet unclogging , he helps me there too. Unlike a lot of dads, he spends time with his kid (though, he will be the first to admit not nearly what I spend with her), and is happy to help out with physical projects and cert...

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...

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 ...

Heather, over at Pittsburgh Mom , recently wrote a post about the division of labor. She was contemplating learning how to hook up their camper, which is something her husband normally did, because she is a do-everything kind of gal. But her sister-in-law said that she refuses to learn how to do it because it will just be one more job she has to do. So Heather asked us, her sisters in Pgh Mom, how we handled the division of labor in our houses, and if there were things that we did not want to learn how to do just so these things would not become our jobs. I don't know about you, but the division of labor in our house does not always go smoothly. In theory, it should, because as I said on Pgh Mom, we both do what we are good at. For example, I am a much, much better cleaner than Brian. The times when he cleans up after dinner, he does not typically consider cleaning out the sink and sweeping the floor part of that job. I guess because they don't have the word "dishes...

There has been some controversy surrounding a comment that Tom Corbett, who is running for PA governor, made recently. He said that some people would rather collect unemployment compensation than return to work. Do I doubt this is true for some people? No. There are dishonest people. There are lazy people. There are freeloaders. There are all kinds of people in all kinds of places. What a great world this would be if everyone always did the right thing, from politicians, to business owners, and to everyone in between. But not everyone does, unfortunately. In fact, most of us have, at one time or another, done a few things that we could justify or that were not "so bad." But back to Corbett's comments. Speaking from experience, I can tell you that receiving UC is not a way of life, only a temporary solution. Most people receive about 50 to 60 percent of what they made while employed. I think there is a cap on this percentage (say, if you make 100k, you won't get 50...

We have had our new windows for a couple of months, and I am happy to report that we are very satisfied. I really think it has cut down on the outside noise and has kept the house cooler (and warmer, for those few cold days we had in May and/or June). I hope we are still happy years down the road. But I also hope that we are no longer in this house in another seven years! Which brings me to our next house project: the bathtub. I am assuming it is the original (our house is about 60 years old) or at least very old. The porcelain finish is long gone, though in all fairness, I have to bear some or most of the responsibility for this since I clean the tub with harsh/abrasive cleaners every two to three weeks because it gets so stained (strangely, on the off weeks, I use Simple Green). Our tile is also a mess. Brian replaced some of it a few years ago, but that did not work out so well. Apparently, there are several shades of white, and he ended up buying tile in a different shade without...