Facie’s Ramblings

Litter is my biggest pet peeve. It bothers me even more than when someone uses a hyphen instead of an em or en dash, and that is really saying something. I have said many times, in many mediums that there are only two acceptable reasons to litter: Someone is threatening to kill you if you don't throw your empty McD's bag, water bottle or losing lottery tickets out of the car. Continuing to carry your grocery bag of wing bones, bag of chips, or half-eaten burger will impeded your ability to run away from a would-be assassin. I am tired of people having no regard for their community. But I am even more tired of having to look at it when I walk my dog nearly every day. So most days (not including a couple of winter months) I pick up things along our 1-2 mile neighborhood stroll. Fortunately, because I do this so often, most days I have just a couple of things to pick up. Unfortunately, last year, my perception of litter became more heightened, and I started to become bother...

I mostly believe in the power of prayer. I have no solid proof that praying for something or about someone actually works, but as a person of faith, albeit not of the rock-solid kind, I like to think it helps. And I don't see how it could hurt. Right? I am looking at you, my faithless/atheist/agnostic blogging friends (and I will really be looking at you at the end of this post as well). As I commented in another blog (probably in several blogs, actually, and perhaps even here), last year, a priest said that God answers our prayers, but not necessarily how we want them. I liked that thought. Well, not so much that it means I may not get what I want, but more so that it helps to explain why sometimes legions of people pray for something for days and weeks, and then it all seems for naught as they did not get what they so fervently prayed for. I can't say that if I prayed for something major, like the health of a loved one, and I did not get what I wanted, I would be okay with ...

In a span of about four hours on Tuesday, I went from worrying about summer childcare for my kid and my unknown work schedule on two projects, to thinking I was going to be working from home on only one project (thus needing a lot less childcare), to finding out all my work was wrapping up due to budget issues (thus needing no childcare). Sigh. Have I mentioned recently how much I hate the economy? I just heard on the news today that the Pittsburgh Public Schools are sending out almost 300 provisional furlough notices. I know of so many people who are either looking for work or who have had to settle for something. I know even more people who have not gotten a raise in years even though the cost of living has continued to go up. When does it end? As for my situation, it is not so bad, really. I highly recommend getting laid off to anyone. Seriously. Once you have gone through that and figured out how to survive it, most work-related things that come after are not so bad. When I s...

April is a tough month. Not so much because the weather is often crazy around here (near 80 degrees one day and freezing temps another). But rather a lot of sad/tragic things have happened over the years, particularly two years ago. Amy's (of Callapitter) two precious children were taken from her two years ago. Although the anniversary was two weeks ago, I reminded of it now because it happened during Holy Week. Plus today is her Peter's birthday. Just a few days before that tragedy, three Pittsburgh police officers were gunned down. And it was on Good Friday that a priest at my church accidentally ran over some parishioners, killing one and injuring several others. The anniversary for that too was two weeks ago, but since Good Friday is tomorrow, I cannot help being reminded of it. On some less personal notes, the anniversary of the Columbine school shootings is coming up. Or apparently just passed. I remember that well because it happened on our honeymoon 12 years ago...

April is normally a month of hope. The first full month of spring. Typically Easter falls within it. We usually end up with at least a week or two of nice weather (one year we had a week in the 80s). People spend time outside. Baseball season starts (remember, no one starts with a losing record!). This April, however, and particularly over the next two weeks, I will be thinking about the one-year anniversary of some sad things that occurred within a seven-day period last year. The tragic death of Amy's (from Callapitter) children. I will be sending her good thoughts and vibes over the next few weeks. As difficult as this last year has been for her, I am surmising the anniversary will be trying in a different way. I am, however, glad to see that plans for the playground memorializing her children are coming together. If you are interested in donating, please go here. The slaying of three Pittsburgh police officers. Sadly, someone is killed almost every week in and around the ci...

Yesterday I took J with me to confession. I must not have discussed this part of my faith with the hubby before because he questioned what sins I had committed that warranted confessing them to a priest (this is what Catholics do). I explained confession was not just reserved for major indiscretions, so he did not need to worry that I had a boyfriend on the side or that I was plotting or had committed some insidious act. While waiting our turn, I explained to J that I was going to tell Father the things I did wrong and then he would tell me some prayers to say. I told her we would be doing this behind a screen, and we would only hear (not see) Father, but it was important that she was quiet during this time. When it was my turn, I kneeled in front of the screen. Probably less than two minutes into it, I heard Father laugh and say, "Oh, we have a visitor." J had peeked her head on the other side of the screen while I was rattling off my not-so-good deeds. I tried to end ...