Facie’s Ramblings

If you have been reading this blog for awhile, you know that honestly and doing the right thing are common themes. They are things I ponder more than occasionally. I have never served on a jury, and I hope I never have to. Why? Because other than with my own child, I am not very good at discerning the truth. For the most part it is because I am extremely honest (and open, for that matter), and I tend to think/hope that everyone else is too. For me that means that almost every time someone lies or is telling a half-truth, either I refuse to believe said person is lying or I am genuinely surprised that that person is lying. So how I am supposed to determine someone's guilt or innocence? Let's say Man A said that Man B shot Man A in cold blood/in an attempt to kill. Man B said the shooting was in self-defense. Someone is lying, and I doubt I would be able to figure it out. And what bothers me even more is what if I am wrong? You can say that you make your decision based on the...

I have missed this blog, if only a bit. There have been at least a half dozen times that I wanted to write a post. Mostly they were rants, including some customer service issues, and a few were about life events. But when you are away from blogging for only a few weeks, how many things could you have missed about me? Not too many! I had my kid's birthday party at the Animal Rescue League's Wildlife Center. I like a party where you can give back, which is what we did. The girls made cat toys and bird feeders, and I made a monetary donation as well as bought a bunch of needed supplies. Everyone seemed to have a great time (one mom told me the next week that her daughter said that was the best birthday party she had ever been to). And considering this was Jordan's first friend party and probably her last for quite some time, I am glad it went well, my over-planning and running out of time notwithstanding. As you might have guessed, my kid had a birthday. She is nine. How c...

Right now I am watching the Olympics, as I have done late every night since Friday. I don't know about you, but my favorite sports are, in no particular order, swimming, diving, gymnastics, beach volleyball, and some track and field events. I am a pretty good swimmer. I may not be the most graceful (my butterfly is more like the baboon), but I have endurance and a fair amount of speed. I am not even ashamed to admit that after a particularly good day of swimming last year, I actually looked up some Olympic records to see if I came close. Spoiler alert: I did not. Unfortunately, that is about as athletic as I get. I can dive the most basic dive; everything else scares me (not that too many pools in this sue-happy era have diving boards). But seeing the twists and turns these divers do leaves me almost breathless. In a good way. I am absolutely lousy at gymnastics. I cannot do a cartwheel, handstand, or split, which makes what these gymnasts do all the more amazing to me. Ser...

This is what Jordan has said a few times, after having watched several Olympic events. She asked us if she was going to be in the Olympics when she got older, and I said probably not, but if she ended up being really good at a sport because she practiced, it was possible. At her birthday party last week while swimming, she kept telling people, "I am the Olympics," or "I want to be the Olympics." I tried to tell her she cannot be the Olympics, but we won't have to talk about this again for another four years (well, I guess two), so might as well let that go. After all, I never corrected Jordan when she called an umbrella a rainbrella. I thought it was cute and could not bear to see that go away, and she probably does not even remember ever having said rainbrella. She might still say upslide down, but whatever. Who knows what Jordan will be when she grows up, but now that she has started kindergarten, there is no turning back now. Lord knows I have not figured it...

I find myself drawn to the Olympics this year similarly as I was when I was younger. I don't think I caught a single event in the 2004 Olympics, and I am not sure why; I have always enjoyed the Olympics, and I have quite a few memories over the years. I remember the '84 Summer Olympics and the men's gymnastics team. I thought I was in love with Mitch Gaylord. Loved watching him on the rings. Bart was great. And that Mary Lou Retton was so cute and amazing. I remember the '88 Winter Olympics. Debbie Thomas was one of the favorites in figure skating, and I think she stumbled, to Katarina Witt perhaps. Debbie ended up with the bronze, and I grabbed my ice skates, walked down to the frozen lake at our lake house, and took a few novice spins on the ice, as some sort of a cathartic process/homage to Debbie. At PSU three or four years later, I took an ice skating PE, where I learned some basic moves. My love for ice skating goes back to Dorthy Hamil. I had the doll and somethi...