Facie’s Ramblings

As noted here and on FB, the hub's previous employer had pretty crappy health insurance, for which he paid about $1,100 a year for single coverage. I pay less than that per year for my individual plan (which has far better coverage), but adding him would have cost another $2,100, year. Since he has been to the doctor about three times in our many years of marriage, we had decided when I started my job a little over three years ago, it was not worth the extra $ to put him in on my better plan (J is on it). We were right. :-) Sadly, the hub's new employer's plan makes the last plan seems like the gold-star option. If B goes on this plan, which he could not get on until August, he would pay almost $3,000/year. But on top of that, he would first have to pay a $1,500 deductible. If our entire family was on the plan, almost $19,000 would be deducted from his yearly pay , plus there is a $4,500 deductible. Coinsurance (no idea what that is) is 30% after the deductible. And the c...

As far as income tax refunds go, I know most financial planners will tell you that your goal should be to get nothing back, because otherwise the government is keeping your money. I agree with that sentiment for people who have credit card debt. It does seem silly not to not pay down more of that debt each month. But my feelings have changed (and changed again) over the years.  About seven or eight years ago, I thought the hubby and I were getting too much money back in our tax refund. I decided I would rather have a larger paycheck and then be able to put more money into savings. So I changed my withholdings (or whatever that is called) from 0 or 1 to 3, plus I even had extra taken out each month. I figured/hoped we would end up with well under 1k in a refund, and I was cool with that. But the funny thing was that for many years, we never got anywhere close to that small of a refund. Some years we did well enough that we were able to do some home improvements (windows one year...

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...

I spent bits and pieces of the past week gathering tax papers in "anticipation" of our accountant coming to get all our crap this weekend. On Saturday, the 1st, I could not understand why one of our banks had yet to send us an interest statement for our interest checking and money market accounts, when I had thought everything had to be in our possession by the 31st. Then an awful thought occurred to me, which I was certain could not be the case: What if we had not earned enough interest last year to actually get an interest statement from the bank? Nah, I was fairly certain you needed to earn at least $10 to get a statement, and surely we had earned that . Spoiler alert: We did not! This may not seem a like a big deal, but since we started saving money many years ago, we had typically earned a decent amount of interest. I know the interest rates have been quite low for the past few years, but I still thought we were making some money. So I logged into my account, and saw...

I wanted to get a quick post in, mostly so I could upload a picture of our "Good Things" box that I referenced in my last post. So far, I have managed to find at least one positive thing to put in every day, and some days I have had more than one. Truth be told, I could come up with at least a half dozen if I really wanted to, but I am going for quality, not quantity. A few other things: I wish hockey season would start. I have a glimmer of hope, but it is tiny. Regardless, it was nice to see Team USA beat the Swedes today in the world junior hockey championships. I had never watched a hockey game at 8 a.m. but glad that today changed that. Worth noting is that four of Team USA's members hail from western PA. Equally as nice for me was watching those guys (kids, to me) enthusiastically sing the National Anthem after they had been awarded their gold medals. You just don't see that often. Today we "de-decorated." I feel a little bad about this because no...

For some people, 2012 was really awful. For others, 2012 brought many blessings. For me, 2012 was pretty good and mostly uneventful; there is not any one particular things that stands out for me. I had a short-term job for almost three months. But, much like my last steady/regular job, it seems like almost a lifetime ago. I also did some freelance work for the company where I used to work, and at times, I kind of felt as if I still worked there. And of course there was subbing. I won't even venture a guess as to what 2013 has in store for me job-wise. I am, however, pretty worried about my impending 2012 tax bill. Our run of getting a nice chunk of change back and putting it toward home improvement is over, at least for this year. I just hope we (I) don't owe too much money... I ran, swam, and did Zumba, but did not set the world on fire in any of those areas. Of course, I ran in the Race for Pace 5k and earned a third place medal ( albeit several weeks after the fact ), so...

Unfortunately, this year January does not mean a deep run into the playoffs for the Steelers, as has been noted in an earlier post. January usually means snow, although so far, a little over halfway into the month, the weather has been anything but usual. Sunny and 18 degrees one day, rainy and 55 the next, and snow squalls a few days later. Kind of makes your head spin. But I digress. What I am talking about is tax time. Oh, how I hate it. The gathering of the papers and receipts. Trying to guess at the value of donated items. Lamenting over the few dollars we made in savings this year (though, looking on the bright side, that means giving less to the government). But mostly just trying to figure out how we can get as much money back as possible. I read in the AP News yesterday (and in a few other places today) that Romney pays taxes close to the 15 percent tax rate, which is higher than most. But the thing is, he has made most of his money on investments....

There is no one thing at the top of my noodle, so here are some random ramblings about things I should probably know more about than I do. I keep vacillating about privatizing the state liquor stores . PA is one of the few (maybe two?) states that operates this way. The prices are high. The selection is minimal, though for someone like me whose buying consists of one box/cube of margaritas every month, I don't notice it as much (well, I have noticed that my usual brand has been MIA the last two times). And the service I have received at my local store is rather lacking. For those reasons, I have supported privatization for years. Yet now that it seems as if we are getting closer, I can't help but think that a year or two after the state gets the initial windfall from selling off the licenses (which you just know will be spent ASAP), PA will be in really bad shape. Won't the state be missing that revenue that comes for all the sales? I don't think the sales tax will b...

The PA Department of Education has a page entitled "How is my school doing?" If you are interested in how your school district (or others) is doing, I encourage you to check out this link . The information goes beyond the typical standardized test results; things such as drop-out rates, attendance, and teacher qualifications are also included. I gave the reports a quick glance and was dismayed, though not surprised, to see how poorly my district is performing. To be fair, I just don't know a lot about No Child Left Behind and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP); my opinions are based on what little I have read and the opinions of others. But even so, one thing I have questioned and struggled with is the dreaded standardized test, which, of course, is how the academics are rated/ranked. In fact, this week Jordan and her schoolmates are taking the Terra Nova tests (I think most or probably all the state public schools take the PSAAs instead). I could read up on the differenc...

I sent Jordan to school today (Friday) with turkey pepperoni. A smarter, less controversial parent would not have done so, but my kid wanted the pepperoni, and she is not doing anything wrong! And now that the kids know the Lenten guidelines, they really should leave her alone. Will they? Well, I guess we will find out. To follow up from earlier this week, the girls at Jordan's table (including Jordan) did meet with the principal on Monday, although no one admitted to taking the sandwich or seeing anything. Regardless, I consider the issue closed, and I hope whoever took it will learn something from this. One of the moms did email me asking what went on, as her kid was apparently upset by the principal confrontation. I emailed her back what I knew, saying that most parents would be concerned if their kid's lunch was taken. I also said it was good for the kids to hear the correct guidelines (of course, Jordan brought in the guidelines and shared them with the kids at lunch pri...

Ah, election season. Who does not love watching snippets of lies, exaggerations, empty promises, and unflattering photos (good thing I avoid getting my picture taken as often as possible)? I am a regular voter. I try to vote even in the primaries, even when there is not much at stake. After all, about 90 years ago, women could not vote in the US. As I have stated in previous posts, I have taken Jordan with me a number of times, to hopefully instill the importance of this right. But I can see why some people never bother. It seems as if so many candidates promise a bunch of crap and don't bother (or are unable) to fulfill half of it. I remember when Tom Ridge first ran for governor of PA. One of his campaign promises was that he would not vote himself a pay raise. That was all I needed to hear; he got my vote. But, alas, he broke that promise at some point during one of this terms. And I have never forgotten that, as small of a thing as it was. Honestly, I don't remember i...

I have been pretty nice over the past year and a half. Well, generally speaking, I have always been a nice person; not too many people would describe me as mean, moody, or bitchy. But as much as I try to be kind (or at least not hurtful or rude), today I just have to say that some people are stupid, as mean as that sounds. Yesterday, some idiot on a bike biked right in front of me. Why was that stupid? Well, I was the second car in line waiting for the green light. Once it turned green, the first car went. Then I started to go. Except I had to stop because this moron bicyclist crossed right in front of me when his light had been red for at least 10 or 15 seconds. And he was biking on the sidewalk. At least he was wearing a helmet... ****  Last week I received a letter from a law firm that represents Duquesne Light (you may recall, we had our second power surge in just over eight months, and many of us think DL is responsible). The letter asked that we complete an inventory s...

I have no idea what the answer is. But here is the question: How do you "fix" poorly performing school districts? I ask this as much as an educator as a taxpayer and a parent. For many years, the Pittsburgh Business Times has published the " Guide to Western PA Schools ." I have been following this guide since 2005, when the school district I live in ranked 91/105 districts in the area. This year, my district stayed at 98, although it has now dropped to 104/105 in the overachieving rankings, which takes into account the economics of the area. In other words, if you live in a district where people don't make a lot of money but the kids school high on standardized tests, then your school will rank high on this list. In my school district, the kids did just as poorly as you would expect considering the economics. Sigh. What is going on? How can things keep getting worse when my school board has raised taxes a handful of times in the eight years ...

I get grief from people (both to my face and via other people) about my receiving unemployment compensation. Believe me, as a conservative (well, really a Libertarian, but I refuse to give up my opportunity to vote in the primary, so I have remained a registered Republican), taking this money is not an easy thing for me to do. So let me explain myself for those of you who are wondering or those who may have forgotten my story. I worked at the same company, loyally, for 13 years. The company paid into unemployment on my behalf for those 13 years. I did not ask to be laid off. I was not one of those people, some of whom are still there, who complained relentlessly about everything that went on and how they could not wait to find another job. I was not one of those people who actually tried to get another job but decided they had it better where they were. This is not to say I never had a negative thing to say. But I realized quite some time ago how good I had it. I have applied to num...

As I have mentioned before, I am very anti-litter. I have called the Pennsylvania Recycling and Litterbug (1-888-LITTERBUG) hot-line dozens upon dozens of times to report people throwing trash out their car windows. I go around my neighborhood many times throughout the year to pick up litter. If I see trash in a park and there is a nearby garbage can, I dispose of it properly. Last month, once the snow melted, I noticed the large amount of trash left behind an empty lot at the bottom of our street, a lot from which I have picked up trash numerous times. This time I decided I was tired of cleaning up after everyone else, so I called code enforcement. The person I spoke with said she would try to get in touch with the owner of the lot, but it may take a few weeks for anything to happen. Much to my surprise, in just over one week, I saw someone picking up litter from the lot. I am not sure if that person was a concerned citizen like I, or if her picking up the trash was a direc...

Here is what is on my noodle today, in no particular order:   Yes, the snow is pretty and all. And I won't even say that it would be fine with me if it does not snow again until December (except I just did). But I will say, I am done with excessive snow and the ensuing snow days that seem to keep on coming. And I am even more irritated that some schools want to get out of teaching 180 days. The kids need it, and I pay a lot for my kid's education besides. I read a somewhat disturbing but not too surprising article about how being laid off affects your health. I am really trying to be positive about my situation, and most of the time I am, but I can't help feeling a little down and of course worried sometimes. Not as worried as Brian, however, and we all know what worry can lead to. Speaking of health, which leads me to health insurance, is it any wonder that people ignore their health problems when they have little or crappy insurance? I was having some weird pa...

How many times have you heard someone, usually on talk radio or a news channel, imploring you to write to or call your congressperson? I have done just that with one senator, several times now, only to be left more frustrated than before I ever composed my email. I will call this man Senator C (wink-wink, nudge-nudge). This past November, while reading Senator C's newsletter, I learned that C and another senator were cosponsoring a bill that would extend the Cobra subsidy program for six months. This was welcome news for me, since my subsidy was ending in December, and I really could not afford for my health insurance premiums to triple. So I checked C's website a few times over the next two weeks, and when I found no updates, I emailed him. I explained that I had been out of work for eight months and even though it bothered me to accept this subsidy, which is really, or will be soon, taxpayer assistance, paying the full Cobra premium would be nearly impossible for me right n...

As I am sure I have written before, I have come up with some of my best blog posts while lying awake, unable to fall back asleep. Unfortunately, by the time I get up the next morning, most of those gems have left my head. With all the technology we have, you would think someone would be able to invent some type of osmosis-y thing that would enable whatever thoughts you had in your head to end up on a piece of paper or in your computer. In college, friends and I would often stick our heads up to one of our textbooks and pray for osmosis rather than study for hours. That was almost 20 years ago. We've come a long way, baby. Anyway, I have some various things I have wanted to write about: kids' birthday parties (I have a rant about that one), friends and moving on, frustration with my job search (I have already touched on this on), guilt, the state of the world, taxes, health insurance, and other things I forget. If I can remember any of those posts that come to me in the wee ...

Just because Thanksgiving is over does not mean we should stop counting our blessings and being grateful for what we have. But just as important, in my opinion, are having some compassion and doing the right things. When I picked Jordan up from school on Monday, she asked me if I saw the Christmas tree at church. I told her it was actually the Giving Tree, and that even though I did not have a job and money was tight, we could still pay our bills and were blessed. Therefore, we would be giving someone less fortunate a gift. I explained to Jordan that I chose a tag for an elderly woman who probably had no family. I went on to say that some people have little or no money and they probably wouldn't be getting any presents. Jordan then said she could give someone one of her toys. That thought made me smile (and brought a tear to my eye). After I picked out a tag from the Giving Tree last week, someone in my choir commented that people should not be studying the tags; they should just p...

I don't have a lot to say on any one thing, so I thought I would share some random things on my mind. Here goes. That was quite a storm the Burgh and surrounding areas saw last night. Our garage was starting to flood (we have no basement). Kind of scary. But at the same time, there is something cool about a storm. Hopefully there were no injuries to anyone. More people at the company where I worked got laid off this week. Well, furlough was the technical term. On the one hand, I guess the company wants those people more than I, which is bothersome. On the other hand, those same people might not see a dime of severance since they can always be called back. My guess is not everyone will get called back. I am nearly over my Penguins euphoria. I did not go the parade; I just thought it would be too much with Jordan to have to stand there for hours. It was cool to watch it on TV. Glad that Steelers training camp starts in about a month, though! Having Father's Day come right after t...