When work took over

Each year Chemical Engineering hosts Grad Recruiting Weekends.  The first weekend is combined with the whole engineering school.  The second week is just our department.  A few other departments have 2 weekends too and sometimes they overlap which is really complicated. January was a really busy month for our family and I thought once it was over life would settle down.  I was very wrong. At least for me it did not.

One of the responsibilities that I took over for Jennifer at work is grad recruiting.  This means I am in charge of contacting perspective students after they have been notified by faculty that they are accepted into the PhD program and arranging travel, hotels, food, coordinating with grad students in charge of activities and hosting, arranging schedules (this is the most complicated part) getting swag from UVA together and lots of other things I was not aware of.  It has been intense.  I have worked my normal 4 hours each day often staying closer to 1:30, so 5+ hours and then at least 3 times a week coming home and working for 3 or more hours after Jared and Lydia have gone to bed.  The last 2 weeks in particular have been more like 30+ hour weeks with some really late nights.  It has been quite the learning curve.  Part of it is just that this is my first time doing it and I also have to do all the tasks I normally do.  I am so looking forward to this week when it will be over.  I will send out schedules to recruits and students hosting tomorrow at work and then just have a few things to do. Even though next year will not be my first year it is still just going to be a work intensive time each year I am there.  I knew that Jennifer put it in a lot of extra hours last year doing it and it will always be like that for whoever is doing it.  The great thing is that I have lots of time built up for our upcoming trips which I can now start thinking about.

While work was busy we had a few other things happen.

1. We got a new roof.  I thought I took pictures of it but don't see them anywhere.  It looks very nice.  We are still waiting on the gutters but they finished the roof in one day.  For whatever reason Jared and Lydia were both sound asleep when the crew arrived and started working around 8:00 am on Saturday.  They were surprised to be woken up by people tearing off our old roof.  It was quite loud.

2.  We refinanced our home and got an improved rate which is great.  For the past 7 weeks I have been attending a self reliance finance class.  We meet from 3:30 - 5:30 each Sunday.  It's a big time commitment especially with how busy Mark is on Sundays but he really wanted me to take class so I am.  Therefore we are having a lot of conversations about budgets, and where to put money, and the best approach for us to get out of debt, all things I find pretty boring and frustrating but know are very important.  It has encouraged a lot of good conversations with Jared (not so much Lydia she is not interested which I totally get) and a lot more awareness and discussions between Mark and I which is really good.

3.  We went roller skating. For a physical goal Lydia wanted to learn to roller skate.  We made our plan and that involved finally taking them to Carver Rec Center downtown for their free roller skating.  They started out slow but quickly gained confidence and made great improvements by the end of the night.  They were sad to leave and can't wait to go again. We went with the Shaw's which made it even more fun until right near the end Sam had a hard fall and really hurt his arm.  We hope he has a quick recovery. We are committed to going back to Carver Rec Center March 13th and then once she has accomplished the goal we will celebrate with a trip to Funky's.  We got a pair of roller blades from Good Will at the beginning of the year and they have practiced at the church a few times with them which really helped.  I am so glad they are gaining confidence in this.  It meets a goal that I set for myself as well.  I needed to pass on my love of roller skating to my children. Or at least see them learn how to skate.
Such Focus!

4.  I've ran a lot.  My half marathon training schedule has me running three days a week.  I have been running 3 and 4 miles on 2 weekdays for quite awhile now and adding one mile to my weekend long runs each week.  This past Saturday I ran 9 miles.  It felt good.  I am building endurance and listening to lots of podcasts! I found a new route (Dickerson to Frays Mill) because I desperately wanted to avoid running on Berkmar the road of too many hills.  I also ran down Hydraulic from the Sams Club parking lot a few times which worked well but I needed to add distance so I had to find a new spot. Its nice and level and there are very few people out between 7:30 - 9:00 on a Saturday morning so that was good but I think I like this one closer to home more.  So its going really well!  I am terrified of injuring myself but will just keep running.

5. Mark and Jared are training for a 10K.  This was the day of their first mile. I think they will do great.

Unfortunately Mark had a bad fall yesterday and really twisted his ankle.  They went on a walk after church and he just slipped near the long bridge, which is just under a mile from our house.  The county finally came and added more gravel to our road, the pot holes were so bad and so there is a lot of loose gravel on the road.  He cut up his arm and hand and then had to somehow make it home up hill on his throbbing ankle.  I was t my self reliance class and was not around to help him. I was surprised he did not call me to come help.  We hope it heals quickly not only so he is not in pain but so they can stay on track with their training.