Weekend Recap

So, here we are, almost the middle of the week and I am just getting around to posting about my weekend. Julie and Luke came to visit for the weekend. I always forget how much I miss having my friends around. Granted, we have new friends, but it is somehow not the same as seeing your old friends.

For fun, we stayed up until after 1 a.m. (both Fri and Sat) - this is extremely late for me and Daniel, by Sunday night we were both exhausted.

Saturday morning, we all slept in (except for Luke who got up to do his marathon training). After we were all up we got ready and headed uptown to the Blues, Brews & BBQ festival where we were able to get some pretty decent BBQ. After BBQ, the guys went to the gun show while Julie and I hung out. Saturday night the Irvine's went to a seminar downtown, while Daniel and I were able to get caught up on some things.

Sunday we slept in, went for breakfast at the Not So Original Pancake House followed by church. Then finally we came home, hung out and then grilled out before Julie and Luke headed home to Richmond. After they left I ended up crashing on the couch for a 2-hour nap and I still managed to sleep all night.

Overall it was a nice, catching-up weekend. Wish we could have these types of weekends more often.

The Ideal Creative Workflow...

Unfortunately real life is not always this simple.

This makes me feel old...

Last night we were invited to dinner with a bunch of "young adults" from our church. We were sitting across from a couple and the girl mentioned something about being from Searcy.

I didn't recognize her, so I said, "Oh, I'm from Searcy too." We discovered that she went to Harding Academy and that I went to SHS. We both went to HU for college.

We proceeded to talk about when we graduated... she said she graduated in "2003." So I say, "That's weird, I graduated in 2002." At this point we start to try to figure out if we have any mutual friends.

So I say that from Harding Academy, I was friends with Alicia T. At this point she says, "Oh, Alicia is way older than me, I went to school with her younger sister, Andrea."

The awkward, I feel old part happened when at this moment it dawns on me that when she said that she graduated in 2003, she meant from high school. When I said that I graduated in 2002, I meant from college.

Anyways, she is the age of my youngest sibling and I definitely am feeling like we are no longer "young adults." Overall, It was a good meal and we met some really nice people that we had not had the opportunity to meet before.

Confessions About the Dentist

Here is my big confession: I am almost 28 and I have never really been to the dentist before today. Sure there was the one time when I was 10 to have sealant put on my molars, but other than that, this was it.

To be honest, I was a little petrified of today's visit, but it went really well. My dental hygenist did a great job of taking care of me and my dentist was very frank with me.

My dentist told me that as far as he was concerned I could walk out and not come back and I would be fine. He had some minor concerns, but my teeth and gums are in really great shape (especially for never having really been to the dentist before). He did recommend that I come back for more regular cleanings, but that was up to me. I will be back just so the cleaning takes less time and so that I will be more aware of the health of my mouth.

There was one area of concern, there was a white spot on my x-ray (probably a calcium deposit on my jaw). This makes me nervous. He said that it might be nothing, but we will have an oral surgeon review the x-ray just to be sure.

And then there is the whole case of my jaw. I once went to an orthodontist who told me he couldn't help me and that I would have to seek advance treatment. This was not an option at the time due to finances... it may still not be an option. However he suggested I at least consult with a surgeon to see what my options are. Mostly I need to find out what the ramifications of leaving things the way they are... there is a possibility of arthritis in my jaw (long term).

Anyways, the consultation is a little overwhelming, but the actual part where my teeth and gums are healthy is good news as far as I am concerned.

Thoughts on Women

When I was in high school, I remember one of my guy friends asking me if I was a feminist. At the time I was offended and thought he was making fun of me. For some reason, being a feminist seemed to carry a stigma.

In college, I had a group of guy friends who really knew how to goad me. They would make comments like, "Get in the kitchen, where you belong." They said these things knowing they could get a rise out of me. I am sure they thought it was funny. Looking back, it was funny at how they could get me (a calm, peace-loving human being) so riled up and angry.

Anyways, I am beyond those phases of getting angry about comments and snide remarks. I am married now and I actually spend a lot of time in the kitchen - because I like to, not because I have to.

If by feminist, you mean that I think women are capable human beings and should be treated as such, then yes, I am a feminist.

The reason for this post is that I am really frustrated with the comments I hear about Sarah Palin needing to spend more time taking care of her family and less time focused on politics. You would NEVER hear that expectation for a man. A man is never told that he needs to go home and take care of his family.

While I believe family is extremely important, I believe it takes two parents to adequately raise a family and to put that burden solely on a woman's shoulders is ludicrous.

Many of my roll models in life are capable women who are very able to do it all. I have an aunt who is in her 40's, who has 4 children. The youngest has down syndrome AND she works outside of the home. She is a fantastic mother and great at all she does. She has a wonderful husband and has surrounded herself with a good support system to make her world function.

My mom is another roll model for me. She chose a different path. She was a stay-at-home mom. I love her decision to be home for me and my siblings. This is the greatest thing about America (and Canada)... if as a woman, you want to stay home, that is OK. If you want to have 4 (or 5) kids and hold a job, that is OK.

In the six+ years that I have been out of college, I have only had one female department head and she was amazing. I have also had an incredibly inept male boss (I have had several great male bosses). To me, positions should not be assigned because you are male or female. You should never receive a position as a handout. You should have people in the positions they are in because they are capable human beings. Period.

Laboring on Labor Day

So who labors on Labor Day? We do, of course. On the national holiday from taking a break from labor, if you visited us we would probably put you to work as well... you may think I am kidding, but Daniel's dad is visiting and replacing our fence for us.

This particular weekend, you would find us: replacing a squeaky floor... installing sound proofing between two walls... installing fresh drywall to finish a room... tearing out part of an old fence and installing a new one... There were probably other things, I just don't remember them all. So much for a reprieve from labor.

 

Me cutting styrofoam insulation for sound insulation between the two bathrooms. If you look at the next pic, you will see that I am standing over the section that we replaced - the one where Daniel is sticking his head through the floor.

Daniel below the bathroom floor, reinforcing beams before replacing the floor.

Daniel's dad, Wesley, tearing out the privacy fence (behind him). We are going to put in a split-rail fence in this section to match the rest of our fence around our yard.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Image of a street in Charlotte this morning. 

In case you can't tell, that is an almost completely submerged car that you are seeing...

I am actually quite thankful for the rain, we have been in a drought for some time, so several days of rain is much needed.

However, this morning, we woke up to having big puddles on our dining room floor where the rain had made its way through the window. It evidently rained so hard last night that it found a way in. So before leaving for work, we were frantically mopping up water and laying fresh towels out in case it rains some more. Now we question whether we need to go ahead and replace our windows (which we don't have time to do right now) or just wait and hope more big storms don't come through.

Then on the way to work this morning, we heard on the traffic report that 2 of the major roads (Monroe and Independence) we use to come into town were closed due to flooding. So we wandered as far as we could through neighborhoods to avoid most of Randolph (which we figured would be pretty bottle necked).

There was one section of neighborhood road closed due to flooding, but we found a way around it. Then we wandered through Grier Heights before coming out at Randolph right where there was a creek. Amazingly the creek was not yet flooded over the road, but it was significantly above its banks and flooding the areas next to it.

If we get any more major rain, I wonder if we will be stuck downtown since all major roads leaving downtown seem to cross creeks.

We received 2 phone calls on the way in, one from one of Daniel's co-workers who had gotten lost trying to find a way through neighborhoods and another from Daniel's dad who said that the news was reporting that we received 10 inches of rain last night!

Our meandering through neighborhoods was a good choice because it only took us 35 minutes to get to work and so far, I am the only person who is here from my department and there didn't seem to be a lot of people at LandDesign when I dropped Daniel off.

Update: It took most of my co-workers who lived in a similar area of town as me close to 2 hours to get to work this morning due to all of the road closures because of flooding.