Play Kitchen Pics

The play kitchens are still in the works. As Jase predicted, they are taking a lot longer to make than I estimated. But I'm having a blast working on them. Here are some preliminary pictures. Hopefully they will be complete by the end of this weekend and I can show them off! Better pictures and descriptions to follow.

Kitchen #1 before and during it's "renovation":

Kitchen #2:

Play Kitchen Fun

I love making stuff. Baking, cooking, painting, ceramics, writing, collage, woodworking, sewing, crafting, etc. I've often said my dream is to make a living "making stuff". The problem is I'm not really great at the aforementioned hobbies. I'm just OK, and OK isn't good enough to sell stuff, usually. No one will buy a cross stitched tea towel, for example, if the stitches aren't nearly perfect. A majority of the reason I believe I'm not really good at crafts and stuff is because I'm impatient and a little OCD. Nothing it more tedious to me than spending hours on one little piece of a project. I would much rather spend a few minutes sewing, then a few sanding wood, then some painting then...you get the picture. Working on an assembly line would make me insane in about an hour.

I think I've found my new favorite hobby. It's making play kitchens out of old entertainment centers. My friend Jen's sister-in-law Erin made one and posted it on her blog. I thought it was simply brilliant, so I set out to find an old cabinet and some materials to complete the project, for cheap. Found the cabinet for $10 at Goodwill, and spent another $20 between a salvage place and a Habitat for Humanity ReStore. Spent another six bucks at Home Depot for some foam rollers and tape. I have about another $25 dollars I need to spend, on a "sink", some fabric, some hardware and more foam rollers. The total cost should be about $55.

Since starting my project last week, I have spent nearly every discretionary minute working on my kitchen. Actually, it's plural: kitchens, because I went crazy and bought two entertainment centers since they were so cheap. I'm excited to post pics but I'm less than half way done with each kitchen. But I'm having a great time designing and putting together my little kitchens mostly from stuff I have on hand. And it beats Chemistry any day. :)

I'm not quite sure what to do with these kitchens. Sell them? Donate them? One of my friends who has a little girl has said she will buy one for her girl's birthday in January. And there are lots of charity events in the fall where I could donate to a silent auction. But I could really really use some extra money so Jase and I can have a Christmas this year, so maybe I could make and sell a few. Although I have no idea what to charge. Not a clue. But since I've gone part time and Jase has taken a pay cut, we're in deficit each month and Christmas is going to be paltry, as in homemade cards and IOU coupon books, without some added income.

I will post some pics when the kitchens get closer to being finished. In the meantime, I'm loving my new projects.

Bad bumpersticker - Charlotte NC

I saw a truck yesterday with signs all over it for "So-and-so's Martial Arts Academy". Then on the lower left bumper, a sticker:

My kid made your honor student tap out.

My immediate thoughts:

1. I'm sure he's a great parent, always supportive of any hobby or interest his child wants to try, including art classes or reading, right? Right.

2. The sticker and people like this make me nauseous.

3. I'm glad I didn't follow my childhood career aspiration of being a teacher because I would have to deal with parents like this. It would not be good for my blood pressure.

4. Sports are so good for kids; let them learn and play and compete but keep the "bully aspect" out of it.

5. I wonder how much the guy driving the truck resembles this fella from Karate Kid:

I dropped Chemistry

It's been a very hard decision to make, but after all the work I've done my grade is still in the 40s. The last day to drop is this Friday. I could maybe eek out a C but if I don't, it's not worth wrecking my GPA over it. I will take it again next semester with a different teacher. Since I now have a bit of a base I'm sure I will do much better. I plan on continuing to work on the material over the next few weeks.

I slept so well last night after making the decision. Best sleep I've had since I started the class.

Now that I'm only taking 8 hours of class and working 17, I will have so much more time to do stuff! Good stuff, like working out, going to the park, volunteering at CRC and exploring career options. I also need to look for an internship/part time job for winter break. I'm hoping to get into a Veterinary Hospital near by, Carolina Veterinary Specialists. They have over 30 board certified veterinary specialists. To get board certified a Vet needs an additional 2-4 years of school after vet medical, which means specialists have a total of up to ten years of education. An amazing amount of knowledge and talent is under one roof at CVS. I would be honored to work as a part time receptionist or kennel assistant.

I also would like to finish up at The Raptor Center. I will have 100 hours in a few weeks and would like to take a break for a while. Because it's a 40 minute drive from home it really eats up my time. I need something closer. I would love to find something on a farm but I'm not sure where to begin. There are some Belted Galloway cows down the road from here and another place with goats. I'm wondering if I could just stop by there and ask if they need any help. I love the cows, they make me smile whenever I drive by.

Sharing CRC

I shared it with Jase, a girlfriend of mine from work and her three year old daughter, and a friend of Jason's.

I was nervous, giving my first "tour" of the place, I'm not sure why. Maybe because I wanted CRC to live up to the expectations of them as much as it does to mine. I'm not sure that's even possible, now that I think of it. While they all had a good time, I really feel like I enjoy being with the animals on a different level. No better or worse, just different.

It felt neat to be able to take them through the woods, stopping at enclosures to talk about the different birds. I surprised myself a little by how much I have learned in just a few months. Jason took a few pictures, and his friend with the paparazzi lens, as Shan called it, will be posted soon.

Lazy Saturdays in the park rock!

Since the weather has cooled down a bit, we can finally spend some time at McDowell Park. There are great little picnic areas with grills tucked in the forest, accessible only by foot trails. It makes for a great peaceful environment to hang out, read, and make and eat dinner. Last weekend we took the dogs to the park to hike, then decided we should really go home, get some provisions, and grill out.

The flames only lasted about 30 seconds after dousing the charcoal with lighter fluid. Mmm, lighter fluid, the new condiment.

We had fun despite the "old charcoal" Jase was blaming it all on.

We ended up tossing the meat into the woods for the raptors. Our "gross" is a raptor's "nom nom nom".

We hit Five Guys (best burgers in Charlotte) on the way home. Overall, we had a blast, especially making fun of Jase's inability to get the grill going. Good times.

I really wanted to go back this weekend but yard work and Chemistry are keeping me home. Good news: the yard looks great and I'm starting to understand some of the basic concepts that alluded me. Thank you, YouTube Chemistry videos!

A realtor is coming over tomorrow to talk about putting our house on the market. We really need to lower our monthly expenses and renting or buying a much smaller place would help tremendously.

Wear hooker shoes to get ahead?

So I used to work with this girl who wore these shoes to work. I'm not saying she wore them on occasion, I'm saying she wore them every single day. At a financial services company. She had a pair in black, white, and *shudder* red.

The women at the company had no respect for her, because of the shoes. But there were no women in power at this company; all of the higher ups were male.

The men at the company had no respect for her, because of the shoes, but they were always very nice to her, never challenging her opinion or giving her a ton of work with a short deadline. So she appeared like a *superstar employee*, because it's easy to be seen as really really good when you only have two things that take 5 minutes to do during the course of a day.

One Tuesday afternoon, I remarked to one of the board members of the company, a man, who I had a close friendship with, "Does she just not get it?" He replied, "Oh, she gets it.", meaning she understands what men like and how to give it to them. I remember the conversation today, nine years later, because it was such a bizarre moment. I was floored.

I left that company about three months later.

Shuffle forward a few years, and this is one of the styles I have seen worn around the office. They're patent leather, and six inches high with a platform at the toe. They are definitely more conservative than the hooker shoes of yore, but are they appropriate?

I personally don't think they are, mostly because if you wear something that is an obvious distraction, it's inappropriate in the workplace. It doesn't matter if it's a pair of shoes or a tie or a hair style. And if financial advisors are gabbing about your shoe choice-of-the-day at lunch with their buddies, it's a distraction. But guess what? The people who wear these shoes don't get laid off. Even though some of them might be poor performers, they don't get laid off. So I'm wondering, am I the idiot, for not wearing them?