Happy Spring with a gift

Signs of Spring! Last fall, we planted garlic bulbs. They started coming up with the little warmup we’ve had in the weather. So exciting! Have to get the chicken wire on the fence soon. The three shrubs in the back seem to have survived the winter, too. I’m a little concerned about one of them, but time will tell.

It was in the low to mid 60s around here, then the bottom fell out and we had snow (again) over the weekend. Saturday morning I woke up to, “Mom, it’s snowing! You have to shovel!” (I actually didn’t. No snow on the driveway or walks.) Yesterday, we had to get out of the house for a little and ended up having noodles and sushi at one of our favorite Japanese spots.

Elsewhere in the STiJ world:

• Last week, I interviewed for a volunteer position at our city hall. They’re forming a historic preservation commission. We’ll see how this goes.
• This week is Spring Break for Abby and next week will be Eastman’s. I might not be on top of my blogging game.
• To further my gardening skills, I’ll be attending a “Make Your Own Composter” class later this week at a local nature center.
• I have my first Craft Critique article coming out soon, too, and I’m finishing my second article this week. Let’s say I hope it “sticks”!
• Been making more cards lately. Will post tutorials soon.
• Lastly, I’m hoping some readers can help. I’ve made a very casual survey about handcrafted gifts. Hopefully it will help me organize some thoughts on opening an online shop. The survey can be forwarded to other people – so please feel free to do so. Go to the link below, answer the questions and participants can win one of two free subscriptions to Midwest Living. Survey is open until this Wednesday, 3-24-10.

Click here to take survey

Cheers,

Julie

Tags: free magazine subscription, Friends and Family, garden bed, garlic, kids, spring

Inaccessible Handicap Parking Spaces

I wrote about people who park “in the lines” a few months ago. Alright, these are two pictures from recent outings around town. I’m not exactly pleased by this, and I’m afraid I run the risk of turning into that lady. The “crazy-lady-taking-pictures-in-parking-lots”. First place, my kid’s school. Is the pizza delivery driver disabled?

Second picture is in front of a restaurant in the middle of town. This is the handicap parking space, but WHO is going to park here, disabled or not? So we had a lot of snow overnight, but there are other places for a plow to bring the snow. This spot wasn’t even touched! Grrrr.

Tags: handicapped parking

Ode to My Other Life: Construction Management and Estimating

This is a departure from the crafting, the cooking, the child-rearing, the housekeeping… and maybe I’ve mentioned it only a few times. My background is in civil engineering (some may not believe this) and after college, I worked for only one company for eleven years (rarity nowadays) but was fortunate to wear many hats. I’ve been a field/project  engineer, assistant project manager, and at the time I opted out, I was an estimator. Actually, my business card read: Senior Cost Analyst.

Reviewing blueprints, meeting with developers, trying to figure out how to get their projects within a reasonable budget, meeting with manufacturer representatives, architects and contractors to orchestrate a project – I loved it, loved the people I worked with (most of them, hehe) and for. What I loved most was walking through a building as it was being built and seeing the 3-D version of what I’d been studying and budgeting. Sounds idealistic, doesn’t it? The stress, I could leave behind, and I did – just traded it for other stress. Seems like many years ago, but it’s only been a little over 3 years. My notes from a project meeting looks so foreign to me right now…

Every once in a blue moon, I make a night out by attending a dinner meeting with a professional organization I used to belong to, National Assocation of Women in Construction, NAWIC (pronounced NAY-WICK). There are chapters all over the nation – two in the Chicago area and two in the far north and northwest regions of llinois. I coordinate meetings for one of the chapters and seemingly, it’s working out well. I’m a bit removed from the construction industry but have been pretty successful with keeping in touch with colleagues from my other life and some of them have become good friends.

The beauty of dining with these women and sitting in on the meetings is inspiration for me. Most evenings there is a guest speaker, someone from the industry, who might talk about a current project, hot topic in construction, or sometimes new construction materials. Recently, the dinner topic was to showcase your company, your role in the company and how it relates to NAWIC. These women meet every month and people know what firms they work for, but sometimes, you forget what people do on a daily basis.

It was completely refreshing to hear stories from the trenches. There were fun ones: I met a woman who managed projects at O’Hare Airport and whose voice is used in a few public announcements (think: Thank you for not smoking)! And, some stories not so fun… in 2010, there is still a sense of “the old boys club”. I recall going to a few meetings myself where there might have been 50-75 people and 2 women. Personally, I almost always used those circumstances as my opportunity to be memorable, but you have to be able to roll with the punches and maintain a sense of decorum amidst alcoholic-influenced people.

In NAWIC you see the encouragement and support for those struggling with difficult personalities or just the rough economy, and yes, people are trying to get work anywhere. People are losing jobs or getting hours cut and there’s little building to go around right now. Interestingly enough, there’s been some buzz in the insurance world regarding project inquiry in Chicago and apparently the same thing happened in Texas when George W. took office back in early 00′s. Perhaps there’s hope for the 10′s.

Sure, listening to these women showcasing their employers or their own companies made me miss the “ol’ days”, but really, I appreciate my former employers and the opportunities I had even more and I have a great deal of admiration for my talented, goal-oriented, multi-tasking, feisty, business-savvy “construction sisters”.

Tags: construction, Friends and Family, jobs, NAWIC, work

Welcoming Winter 2010

Late last week we were greeted by some snow… like 12 inches of snow. So, I got out like a good wife and shoveled the driveway with a little help.

At first he just wanted to stamp rectangles all over the place…

but then he insisted on driving his car instead of shoveling or making snowballs (it wasn’t very good packing snow anyway).

He said, “Mom, move the snow in fw-ont of mine car so I can roll it!” Then he’d call me for help because his car was stuck and he wanted to “go to work”.

Time to “come home”…

I had a quick minute in between pleas for getting inside for hot chocolate to take a couple of pictures of the rose bushes I neglected to cut down in the fall. Actually, I’m pretty happy that I didn’t. The color is beautiful…

Tags: kids, snow, winter

One Fall Day

Hope you all had a nice weekend. We certainly enjoyed ours. I should have been getting ready for the Craft Social, but I had other projects in line.

The boy is crying not because he was hurt. He tried to lock me up in the garden and I yelled at him. Needless to say, he went back inside the house for a while.

This garden tool was pretty nice to use once the hard clay was amended with peat moss.

After planting the garlic, it was time to enjoy the leaves.

**Updated: Wow! This is my 100th post – a great way to “celebrate”. Thanks to everyone who takes time out of their day to share time with us!

Tags: autumn, backyard, fall, family, fun, kids, leaves, living

About Line Parking (a.k.a. handicapped parking)

The diagonal lines next to handicapped parking spots in a parking lot… let’s talk about them.

I will admit that I have left a shopping cart in the lines from time to time, making sure it’s up against the post and never when it’s windy outside. But that’s wrong, and I’m truly sorry for those times. As a recovering shopping cart abandon-er, I haven’t done it in a long time. However, it is one of my pet peeves seeing people park their vehicles ON those diagonal lines, so much so that I want to carry post-it notes and leave neighborly reminders that THOSE spots are NOT legal parking spots, nor are they “waiting” spots. Like you’re waiting for someone to just drop off that rental movie in the drop-box. It’s not necessarily a pet peeve just because my husband is disabled, though it might fuel the fire. I have never in my driving career parked on the lines, in those spots. It’s respect, it’s the law.

I apologize for this eensy, teensy photo that I took with my mobile phone. We were out tonight grocery shopping and look at what happened. Those carts weren’t there when we got there.

Those lines are there not as mere or more spot holders for disabled drivers or those driving with disabled passengers. People are not supposed to park their cars or motorcycles there so that those disabled people have room to maneuver their car, wheelchair, equipment and/or themselves. The space is there for everyone’s safety. You might see an elderly person with a walker – they need room. Maybe you’ve seen a full-size van in the handicap spots – they might have a wheelchair lift inside and if you park right up next to them in the lines, you’ll be blocking their equipment. Your car could incur damage, or maybe their equipment might get damaged if they try to operate it. Either way it’s not a great situation.

How about someone in a wheelchair, paralyzed or not? Some people out there may not realize that the disabled person is actually the driver. They’re not always the passenger. So, don’t assume that just because there’s a spot on either side of that car in the handicap parking spot, you could possibly park next to the driver’s side. You can’t maneuver a wheelchair in a space that’s three feet or less. My husband’s chair is a smaller width, and sometimes he can shimmy by, but it’s tough. It’s even tougher if he’s by himself and has no room to take apart his chair as he usually does. We definitely don’t like to run the risk of dinging someone’s car.

And, you know where I find it most surprising where line parking occurs? At our church! And, on occasion, I have seen our fellow parishioners enter their non-disabled license plated cars (or sans handicap placard) after services while we’re also at our car loading up. They will not make eye contact with us whatsoever. They will not look up, they will not acknowledge, etc. Okay, maybe they’re busy, running to the Sunday pancake breakfast with the family, or getting ready to sit down for football, but I do hope that they think twice about parking on the lines.

Sometimes, people look at me and even approach me like I’m the one robbing the handicap spot and I have to explain, “My husband uses a wheelchair, he just went in ahead of me.” Then I get a “Oh, I’m sorry.” S’okay, folks, I appreciate you policing the parking lot! I wish more of you did! On the other hand, it’s a tough, tough call when I see handicap license plates or placards up in a car that’s parked on the lines. Lots of times it’s during the holidays when parking lots are packed. In those situations, I let it go, and usually, I end up seeing those people getting in or out of their car, and I nod in understanding.

So, please, friends, when you see those diagonal lines, remember those spots are already taken. Don’t risk getting that $250 to $500 fine. There’ll probably be more open spots in the next aisle or just around the corner.

Tags: driving ticket, fines, handicapped parking, parking, parking lots