Facie’s Ramblings

This post doesn't have anything to do with my being kind, which I mostly am. But I was pretty sure I had already used the post title I really wanted, "Make a decision already." Yep, just checked now, and I wrote a post with that very name three years ago, ironically about the topic this post is going to be about! But I digress. The real story? Ladies and gentleman: Facie bought a smart phone! This is monumental for me! Can you tell?! I am using a lot of exclamation points! The details: My over-three-year-old phone had been dying a slow death for quite some time. It couldn't hold a charge for an entire day. To make matters worse, my car phone charger died, but it seemed silly to replace that, knowing I was going to replace the phone soon. Or so I told myself for the past six or eight months. But despite my stopping into the Verizon store a few times in the past five months, I just couldn't pull the trigger. Last week, when my phone decided to shut its...

Do you have something or several things (not people) that you cannot imagine your life without? Or maybe there is just a thing or three that has made your life better? I have a few such things in my world, one which most people would find odd. I have this most wonderful, soft eye mask that I wear to bed every night (if I remember, I will take a picture and post tomorrow). I have thin eyelids, and light finds its way into my eyes when I am sleeping, thanks also in part to mediocre, not-dark blinds. But it goes beyond the sun, which is not even out yet when I am up most days, and includes my ridiculously bright clock. I could not, not have a clock, but at least I can block it out (and easily lift up the mask when necessary). I am not kidding you when I say that most nights, I think to myself how much I love my eye mask. Yep, it does not take much to impress me. I know some of you would say you could not live without (or at least would not like your life without) your iPhone and iPads...

Did you every notice how bad weather and holidays tend to bring out the worst in people? Sure, many come together in various, and sometimes positive, ways during those occurrences, but there are times when ugliness rears its head. Yesterday, western Pennsylvania was hit with some fast-falling snow, which happened to land on some ice. The roads, from the pictures and videos I saw and the comments I read on Facebook, were quite dicey in most areas. Considering this weather had been forecast for several days and this is PA in late December, not the deep South, the roads should have been in better shape. But on the other hand, you can pretreat all you want; when freezing rain comes down and there are a ton of cars on the road, it is unrealistic to expect smooth-sailing. But to read and listen to the number of complaints, it was clear that many (including the hubby) fell into the former camp. Admittedly, I was annoyed with the road conditions. Our taxes have gone up as has our house ass...

As the Christmas season is fully upon us (no denying it now that Turkey Day is out of the way), I am faced with dilemma of not only what to buy for others but also what to tell people to buy for me. A big part of me wishes we could completely take presents out of the equation and focus on what the season is really about (or what it should be, for us Christians). But that won't happen. And besides, I do obtain some joy in buying for others, though that good feeling mostly lies in my shopping for the giving tree at church, where I can feel reasonably secure that whoever is getting my gift wants and needs what I have bought. But most of the rest of us? Do we really need anything? I have lamented about my being under-employed for years and how we sometimes struggle. But I know that compared to so many others, my family and I have it good. We have a roof over our heads, cars that run, closets and drawers full of clothes, food in our kitchen, a new oven to cook that food in, an HD TV (...