Facie’s Ramblings

I had a pretty good title for this post, but it escapes me, probably because I actually wrote two different posts for what this will end up being. Which is loooong. I was in NC from Thursday afternoon until Monday morning. And man, did we fit a lot into those few days. It started off pretty smoothly. Because flying stresses me out and we had to go through two tunnels, J and I left the house, 30 miles away, about 2.75 hours before our flight was scheduled to leave. Even though it took us just under 40 minutes to get there, I still felt nervous, so I decided not to wait for the airport van/shuttle that takes you from a shelter in extended parking to the beginning of the airport. I was afraid the next one might not come for 30 minutes (I did not walk up to a shelter to actually confirm this). After dragging several bags for over 10 minutes, I regretted that decision. Fortunately, we made it through security pretty quickly, although clearly the novices we are at flying, we had a full ...

I hate traveling, both long car rides and any length of a plane ride. I am fairly certain I have mentioned that here, back in the height of my blogging days. Time, money, inconvenience, and, most of all, fear are the reasons. Unfortunately, my family is not close by. One brother is in TX, a plane ride away, and the other brother is in NC, a nine-plus-hour drive away. So, when a brother invites us for a holiday or other gathering, I rarely say yes (it helps that they do come to this area several times a year). About a month ago, my NC brother suggested the three of us and our families along with Mom get together over Easter to celebrate Mom's upcoming 75th birthday in NC. Of course, my first selfish thought was that either I was going to have to suffer through a long drive in my crappy car, or I was going to have to shell out money for some plane tickets. I could not use work as an excuse, as I did last year when one of them invited me (I did not have enough vacation time at tha...

Just three short weeks ago, I wrote a post about vacations . After a three-year hiatus, we were finally going to leave the Burgh to get away for three nights. We spent a lot of yesterday packing and organizing, which I actually started Friday night (how can it take so long?!). Then, while I was working on my online class, I received an email from the Stonewall Resort informing me that the resort could not accept Saturday's reservations due to a power outage. I ran downstairs to tell Brian, who was listening to the Pirates beat up on St. Louis. He was not happy. I immediately went on Facebook (where, seriously, I get a lot of my news) to the resort's page, and read some comments from people. The resort updated their page soon after. I spent a lot of yesterday evening checking FB and the resort web page, and doing internet searches to determine when power was going to be restored (someone on FB who had left the resort said that power was expected to be down for five days). I po...

What do you consider a vacation? Does your trip need to be a certain number of hours or miles away? Do you need to be gone for at least three or four days for it "to count"? Or as long as you are off work or school for more than two days, is that enough of a vacation? I was a pretty spoiled child. We went to the beach for a week pretty much every year in addition to going to another place or two for a day or more. When I was in high school, my family had a house in Ocean City, Maryland, which meant several weeks at the beach. And for about a year, my family also had a house on Indian Lake (near where Flight 93 crashed), so we had many weekend getaways there as well.Yep, rough life I had. But as an adult, I never felt the need to go away every year. And once I got married, we often went several years in between "going on vacation." In fact, during our 13-plus years of marriage, the only week-long trip we have taken was to Disney for our honeymoon. It took us 10 m...

I wish I could subscribe to the quality, not quantity theory, but for whatever reason, I don't. I'd like to blame it on Catholic guilt, because that is convenient. I could also blame it on some people who make me feel guilty, but I suppose I can choose not to feel guilty. But there are few people who make me feel as guilty as I make myself at times. Regardless of whose "fault" it is, I would be nice and healthy if I could care more about what I am doing and living in that moment and care less about counting every single minute and worrying it is not enough. I had a nice Christmas break, and it is not even over yet. I managed to spend a good bit of time with my older brother and his family, which is nice because they live about nine driving hours away. I also got in extra time with my mom, hanging out with her briefly just a week before Christmas, spending two nights a few days later, and then spending time with her and the bro/family the latter part of this week. La...

If I were a betting a woman, I would bet that I have used the above post title before. I will try to remember to check before I post this. Here it is, another New Year's Eve. Unlike Barry Manilow, I don't feel the need to make it the best. This night really is just another night for me. My guess is that I have stayed up past midnight only once in the past decade (old-cough-old). Tonight will probably be no exception. I will be going out to dinner with my mom and the kid. We waited until yesterday to make a reservation, so we will be dining at 4:30 (speaking of old). My guess is if we had tried this in the Burgh, we would have been out of luck (we are at Mom's in Indiana County). But the worrier in me likes to be off the roads pretty early anyway. Mom has been in PA since Sunday night, just before midnight. For some reason almost an hour elapsed from the time her plane landed (around 11:50 p.m., not exactly a prime flying time) until her suitcase made it on the luggage...

I realized I never posted my blow-by-blow account of our getting our Christmas tree, which was such a fun experience that I had to share. If you have never gone to a tree farm to pick out and cut down your own tree, I recommend you do it at least once or else go with someone who is doing it (this is our second year). And in case you think it is bad for the environment (what, killing an innocent tree and all), know that these trees are grown specifically to be cut down for Christmas, and many trees are planted each year to take their places. Plus, you are supporting a local tree farm! So here goes our little story. And by little, of course, I mean long-winded. We went to Fleming s in New Alec, which I would guess is about 45 minutes east of downtown (yes, Pittsburghers really do measure distances in time, rather than miles). They also have a bigger location in Indiana, the Christmas tree capital of the world (or so Indiana likes to say). First, we walk through the field (forest?) ...

If you have been reading this blog regularly, then you know my mom was hospitalized about two months ago, and once she got out, she headed to Texas to stay with my little brother and his family. Up until that time, Jordan and I spent a night or two at my mom's about every other week. Today, we drove to Indiana County, where she lives (lived) for the first time since. It felt weird to drive on those roads again after that hiatus. I was at once sad thinking about how long it had been and comforted by the familiarity. But I was not going to see my mom; rather, we were headed to spend a few hours with some cousins followed by dinner at an aunt and uncle's (they all live in the same town Mom did/does). Between destinations, I decided we might as well stop by Mom's house to "check on things," something that probably was not necessary since my aunt had just been there a day or two before. As we neared Mom's house, I noticed the car of a neighbor whom Jordan and...

As part of my embracing the holiday/Christmas season, I am trying to be chipper about the snow. Seeing as how we most likely will be seeing a lot of that white stuff over the next three months and all. Well, maybe chipper is pushing it a bit. I guess I am going more for not loathing it just yet. But, already, we have had our first delay of the school year. A delay that was rather pointless, in my opinion. Sure it is cold today. It was maybe 18 degrees with a windchill at or just below 0 degrees when I woke up around 6 a.m., turned on the TV, and discovered we were on a two-hour delay (FYI, this "discovery" took some time; our school's automatic call system did not go through this morning, so I found out about the delay after staring at the bottom of the TV screen until we got to the saints). The low temp was no surprise; the weather people had been calling for it for days. The same weather people did not, however, tells us that by mid morning, the mercury was going ...

As I mentioned in a previous post, I traveled to TX for a few days because of my mother. As I also have mentioned in at least one other post, I do not like to travel in general. I am a homebody. Boring. Don't like change or to get out of my routine. As significant is that I hate to fly. My little brother does that for a living, and every time I have to get on a plane, it is not good. On the way to the airport, I was in tears. Not just a few runaway droplets, mind you, but full-on sobs punctuated by halted breaths.This was partly due to the exhaustion and stress of the previous two weeks and partly due to car trouble (I see a future post there). But more than those things, it was the thought of leaving my kid for more than three days, particularly when I had to get on a plane. Rationally, I know that flying is pretty safe, even post-9/11 (and maybe more so). But there is just something about a large object becoming airborne, literally leaving the ground. How is that...

Late this afternoon, I arrived home from a three-day trip to Texas. This trip was not really for pleasure; unfortunately, my mother was recently hospitalized for a handful of things. Before she got out, my brothers decided that she would be better off, at least in the short-term future, living in Texas, where she could stay with my little brother and his family and have access to better medical care than what she was receiving in the small local hospital in her area. I went to Texas to spend some time with her and help her and my brother and his family in the best way I could. I am kind of numb about the whole ordeal. For over a week, I spent an insane number of hours on the phone talking to doctors, nurses, and many relatives and family members. I went back and forth to the hospital, a two-and-half-hour round trip, a few times. A car issue, still not resolved, further complicated matters. Nine years ago this weekend, I was riding in a truck with a friend en route to visit...

When I moved to the Burgh just over 14 years ago, I had a lot of anxiety about getting from "here" to "there." I found the city, which is triangular, and even some of the suburbs quite confusing. On top of that, a lot of the signs were of little help. Clearly they were put up by either natives who had no need for directions or people with a sick sense of humor who thought it would be funny to put signs in random places, leaving off important roads. At some point, I got over that fear of driving to a new building downtown. I don't recall when it happened, but eventually I just figured most of the city out; and when I had to head to a new place, I just drove around, no longer with a feeling of dread, knowing I would eventually get there. But on Sunday morning, that awful, long-ago feeling returned, thanks to the closure of the outbound Fort Pitt Tunnels. I had to pick my mother up from the airport, so there was no avoiding it. (For some reason, my family think...

My father lives about nine hours away, which means I don't see him much. He used to travel back to the Burgh a few times a year, but as he has gotten older and his knees and hips cooperate less, the long drive has become more difficult and has occurred less often. Last year was the first time since he moved south that he did not make back this way this way. Fortunately, I was able to spend a little time with my dad when I went to visit my brother and his family just over a week ago, since they live about an hour apart. Of course, it is never enough, since I tend to be about quantity, not quality. But when traveling is not your thing, you have to take what you can get. Regardless, today I am thinking of my dad. Even though our relationship has had its ups and downs (when your parents divorce, this is almost inevitable), I think we are in a pretty good place (even if we are not in the same place). I had a really great childhood growing up, the kind that most kids envy, I am sure...

Tomorrow, Jordan, my mom, and I will be heading to NC to visit my brother, his wife, and their kids. I am not a fan of being in the car for hours on end, and even less a fan of being the driver, which is what is about to happen. Fortunately, we are breaking our trip up, traveling about five hours tomorrow and stopping at a hotel (with a pool for Jordan) for the evening, before tackling three hours the next day. On the way back, I plan to do it all in a day. We'll see. I know a lot of people love to travel. They like checking out new places or visiting their favorites again and again. Most people appreciate getting away from the everyday stuff. Forgetting about bills for a few days or weeks. Not working (or at least not going into an office). Having someone else make their food and/or clean up. Enjoying the mountains, the woods, the sites, or the beach. Sleeping in and/or staying up late. I totally get those things. But I am a worrier, a homebody, and a frugal person who really li...