Crooked Can brewery

Several months ago, Doug and I decided to try Crooked Canned Brewery.  It was unique in that it featured a local brewery and several food court style restaurants inside one long building.  Since he was staying at Meg’s while she out of town, Doug thought it would be a great place for him and I to meet as it was a little over halfway to Baldwin Park from Ocala. I liked the idea because it saved me quite a bit of time in the car and I would still get to see Doug. He and I met after he got off work that night and really loved the place. It not only had beers for Doug to try, but also several food vendors to choose from as well including a barbecue restaurant, an ice cream store, and a pizza place, just to name a few.

A couple of weeks after our visit, we noticed that there was a new Crooked Can Brewery being built along I-75. It was even closer to Ocala and from the looks of it, the place was huge. Doug and I both really wanted to try it as did Meg once she passed it on her way to visit us in July.

The three of us decided that tonight would be the perfect time to try Crooked Can Brewery especially since Meg had not seen Cameron since he arrived and was ready to hang out with him. We were also happy to show him another new place that we had found since his last visit in March. All four of us absolutely loved the brewery. It didn’t quite have all of the restaurant in place yet, but the ones that we tried were fantastic. We started with an appetizer of pork rinds along with a round of beers before picking out dinner. Cameron, Meg, and I had the empanadas which were absolutely delicious while Doug ordered a pizza for him and Cameron to split. Before we left, I treated everyone to dessert from the new donut shop, and we all agreed that the fried s’mores donuts were absolutely delicious. In the end, we all enjoyed the new place very much and it was the perfect place for Cameron to give Meg a surprise gift from his summer internship. It was nice to know that even the pink Panther loved Crooked Can Brewery.

A Day at Home

Cameron had a great first full day of his summer break at home in Ocala.  He slept in, signed his offer letter from Owens Corning, and went to lunch with me at Depot on Magnolia which he had never been to before today.  He was glad for the quiet day and I appreciated the company.  We even made time for a few rounds of Hands Down Yahtzee before Doug came home from work.

There were two things on Cameron's list that he really wanted to do while he was here.  First, he wanted to cook.  Since we were staying in this evening, it was the perfect time for him to try and make cheeseburger pods that Disney had made famous.  He had gotten the recipe for bao buns online and picked out his own ingredients for the filling.  I was incredibly impressed with how great they tasted and his ability to replicate one of our favorite theme park meals.  

The second thing that Cameron really wanted to do was watch Jaws 2.  He had watched the original every year with our family for as long as he could remember, and after seeing the sequel on the Rewatchables list, he decided that he wanted to watch it.  Doug and I had seen not seen the film all the way through in years, so we were more than willing to set up the tv on the back patio for a movie night.  Jaws 2 was just as good as I remembered and the perfect sequel to the first movie.  I was glad that Cameron got the humor out of the gasoline, water-skiing scene without even listening to Bill Simmons talk about it first, and that he enjoyed the last forty-five minutes as much as we did.  Overall, it was a wonderful night in Ocala, and I was extremely happy that Cameron was here to share it with us.  

Summer Break

Cameron arrived this afternoon and he couldn't have been happier to have a week in Florida before school started.  He talked non-stop all the way to Ocala from the airport filling me in on his two days at Grandma and Grandpa's beforehand and his weekend in Southern Indiana.  The biggest topic of conversation, however, was Owens Corning and Cameron's job offer.  He still hadn't come off of cloud nine from that and wanted to go over the benefits with me while we were driving.  I was impressed with the company's bonus structure, relocation stipend, employee stock opportunities and their 401k employer contribution match program.  Although he didn't have to choose his insurance plan yet, we still went over it and talked about what made sense for him.

When Doug got home, the topic continued and Cameron had his dad read his contract.  Once we all agreed that it looked great, we picked Hiatus to celebrate.  I hadn't been there in months, and we enjoyed a beer there before heading to Taco Tuesday at Tijuana Flats.  It was a fun night of hanging out, talking about careers, predicting IU football's success and listening to Cameron's plans for his senior year.  I was glad that the pressure was off this week and we could just focus on having fun and relaxing.  Cameron hadn't been in Ocala since March and Doug and I were definitely looking forward to spending time with him.

Vitamin D

Last week at my biweekly appointment, my therapist asked me to take a quiz on depression.  She felt that my weepiness was caused from a mental health issue and not just from being overwhelmed by the events of the summer.  I had never been diagnosed with depression before but definitely understood her concerns.  I had been very weepy.  In fact, I cried for an hour after I cut Doug's hair and realized that the scar from his last bought with skin cancer would be noticeable.  For some reason, I couldn't focus on the fact that Doug was healthy and that he honestly didn't care about his hair.  I just kept thinking about that scar.  Maybe my therapist was right.  

After the scar incident, I told Doug what my therapist said.  He listened but didn't really feel that I was depressed.  He felt that I still enjoyed life too much.  He also thought that I had other issues going on that I hadn't mentioned to my therapist. He suggested I should talk to Dr. Aich instead.  After Doug said that, I realized that he was right.  I had been having a lot of joint and muscle pain.  I started getting headaches and I was physically exhausted.  Even my morning walks had become too much.  He also pointed out that my weepiness could have been from the news that we received from Syracuse last week.  Our long-time insurance agent whom I had known since I was fourteen had died unexpectedly from pneumonia.  It was hard not to think about as he had children Cal, Meg and Cameron's ages.  

I took Doug's advice and had bloodwork done in anticipation of my appointment with Dr. Aich at the end of the month.  As soon as I read the report, I knew exactly what was wrong.  My Vitamin D was very low.  That had happened one other time in my life and I had the exact same symptoms that I was having now - fatigue, joint pain, nerve issues, weepiness, and more.  I messaged my doctor right away and she increased my Vitamin D to every other day instead of every other week.  I know that it will take a while for it to make a difference, but just finding out that there was something medically wrong and that I could do something about it made all the difference.

Windchimes Instead of Bird Feeders

When I was living in Indiana, I loved to feed the birds.  With the woods behind us and a big Maple tree in the front yard, we attracted hundreds of birds each week.  I not only fed sparrows, but gold finches, hummingbirds, cardinals and even orioles.  Out of all of the feeders that I set up in our yard, and there were many, my favorite was my peanut feeder.  I loved watching all of the blue jays flock around it when ever I filled it with peanuts.  They would fly up into our front tree and start cracking the shells with their beaks hitting the peanuts repeatedly against the branches.  When I couldn't see the blue jays through the leaves, I could hear them working on the shells.  The peanuts rarely lasted an hour or so before they were gone.  

Unfortunately, I haven't had any luck here feeding the birds and I am not sure why.  I researched what would be native to our area and set up several different kinds of feeders to accommodate those birds, but none ever came to our backyard.  I didn't know if the huge black crows that were hanging out in the oak tree across the street scared them off or if the birds in Florida had plenty of food and didn't need feeders.  Either way, my bird feeding days were over, and it was one of the few things that I missed about our home in Syracuse.  

Recently, Doug and I decided to give it one more try.  I set up the pole, filled up a regular birdfeeder and the one for peanuts, but nothing happened.  I waited a month and never saw one bird in our backyard.  I finally gave up.  Instead of being sad about losing all of my birds, I decided to try something else on my shepherd's hook.  I found a beautiful solar lighted hummingbird windchime on Amazon to hang in our backyard and decided that would be the best way to remember my fun days of being "the crazy bird lady" in our family.

New Furniture Shopping

I noticed a few weeks ago that Doug's armchair was getting pretty dirty.  The main section was fine, but the arms looked downright filthy.  I tried to clean them, but it didn't help very much.  I asked him what he thought about getting a new chair.  He still liked the one that I got him when we bought the house but agreed that it was probably time to start looking.  Once Meg saw the chair, she was all in for us replacing it.  I definitely was ready.  Doug's chair had served a nice purpose these past few years but had outlived its lifespan.  

I had purchased Doug's chair on Amazon but didn't really want to use them again.  We got lucky with his as it was the perfect firmness for Doug, but I thought it was too big of a risk to try buying online again.  I also thought that we might get better quality from a furniture store.  Doug and I spent this afternoon shopping for chairs.  We stopped at Ashley Furniture first.  It had the perfect set of barrel chairs complete with a marble table, but I was worried about the color matching our couch.  I was more than ok with getting rid of my armchair but really didn't want to buy a couch as well.  Our next stop was Rooms to Go.  They had a lot more chairs to choose from, but the prices were more expensive, and I didn't like any of their chairs better than the set at Ashley.  

In the end, Doug and I decided to wait.  We used Google Gemini to place the green chairs in our living room and liked how they looked.  We just weren't sold on the color.  Maybe we will go and look after Cameron visits.  Either way, it was fun to window shop today and start thinking about new furniture.  

A Job Offer

Last week, Cameron gave his final presentation to the Supply Chain Department at Owens Corning. He was very happy with how well it went and was pleased with all of the compliments that he received. This week, he interviewed for a position with their development program. He had met with several members of the steering team for help and had spent a lot of time over the weekend preparing for the interview. By Tuesday, the stress level was at an all-time high. There were seven interns vying for four positions in the Supply Chain Department. He felt that he had a good chance of receiving an offer but wasn’t 100% sure. 

This morning at 8:30, Cameron had an appointment with his intern coordinator. I had told him last night that no matter what he heard at this meeting, we were extremely proud of him and that the skills he had learned at his internship with Owens Corning would serve him well wherever he ended up getting a job. Thankfully, Cameron no longer needs to search for a job. Owens Corning made him a fantastic offer that he plans to accept once he reads through the contract with his dad next week. I was extremely pleased for him. The job market is tight right now with a lot of layoffs. Cameron doesn't have to worry about that and knows that for the next three years he will be employed with a company that has made a commitment to develop him. At the end of that time period, he will be able to apply for a position within Owens Corning that would suit his talents. He doesn’t know yet where he’ll be for the first year as they take tow 6-month rotations at a plant somewhere in the US. I secretly hope it’s Ocala or Tampa but realize that that’s a longshot. No matter where he ends up next June, we are absolutely thrilled for him and very happy that he took advantage of all that Owens Corning had to offer this summer. It proved to be the difference in getting hired or not.