Flooded lab and a trip to Denver

The last couple weeks have been interesting ones.  I submitted the first round of IRB documents on Thursday the 26th.  The deadline was actually the 27th, but I managed to get everything done and submitted a day early.  It is a VERY good thing that I did because the next day (Friday the 27th), we had a major flood in the lab.  The line of thunderstorms and torrential rain that came down was too much for our building's roof to handle, and our lab was one of several areas that flooded.  I was in the lab by myself when the flood started, and it is a very odd sight to see a waterfall pouring from the ceiling.  So that day was spent moving equipment out of the lab and trying to clean up as much water as possible.  Here is a picture of me and one of my professors in one of our storage rooms that got flooded the worst (yes, I am playing with a rubber duckie!).

It was probably a good thing that the flood happened when it did; i.e., during the summer when no research projects are ongoing.  Also, none of us were in the lab last week because we all went to the annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine, which was held in Denver this year.  I had never been to a national ACSM meeting, so I was pretty excited to go.  We all either presented a talk or a poster, which was fun, and I also tried to go to as many endocrinology, immunology, and cancer-related sessions as I could, as that is the focus of my dissertation.  I met some new people, which you never know, could one day turn into a job or collaboration opportunity.  It was also a good chance to hang out with people from my lab in a more relaxed environment as we shared meals or coffee together.  I learned several other things too, like the word "nutriceutical" and that I am really bad at texting (texting is a good way to contact someone if you're not sure if they're in a session and you don't want to risk their phone ringing).  And totally unrelated to science, but important when participating in air travel, I learned that it is a bad idea to drink lots of water during the flight and not visit the bathroom because once the captain turns on the seatbelt sign and starts the descent, you will find yourself in an extremely uncomfortable situation!

Does this bother anyone else?

When you're in Microsoft Word and you're cutting and pasting from somewhere else and it decides to randomly autoformat your pasted selection and change the font.  Drives me nuts!

I am preparing my IRB documents to submit for a deadline tomorrow, and I would really appreciate no more funny business from Word!

My conclusions about guilt and parenting

Okay, despite the heading of this post, I am going to try and keep it fairly light and straightforward.  Ben and I spent last weekend with his family in Portsmouth, VA, celebrating Nana's 90th birthday.  It was a great time, and I think I have eaten enough cake to last me for a while.  It was also great to chat with brothers- and sisters-in-law and let all the cousins play with each other (Ally is one of 5 Evans grandchildren and one of 6 Jackson great-grandchildren).  After spending time with all the kids and watching them interact, I came to some conclusions.

As a mom, I have often fallen victim to "Mommy guilt."  Over the past 2 years, my guilt has generally revolved around the issue of balancing the roles of working outside the home and being a mom.  Is it okay that I don't want to be a full-time stay-at-home mom?  Is it okay to want to attend a conference out of town for presenting research and networking?  I have felt guilty for being required to teach an 8am class 3 days per week last semester and for being required to attend Doctoral Seminar in the fall which went until 5:45pm two days per week.  I have wondered if being away from Ally from 8am-5pm during the week is a bad thing, and if we're going to pay for it somewhere down the road.  But after this weekend, I came to some very important conclusions; some directly related to Ally and her cousins and most unrelated:

1.  Guilt is self-inflicted.  A person cannot "make" me feel guilty.  Sure, a person can say something with the intention of inducing a guilt trip, but the decision to react with guilt is completely mine.  If I have confidence in myself and my decisions, then I have no reason to feel guilty.

2.  As far as I know, there is nothing in the Bible that says that a mom is absolutely never ever allowed to have a career outside the home.  But rather, the choice to stay at home or work outside the home should be made prayerfully, with an open mind and heart, the willingness to be led in a direction I may have never considered, and the willingness to be flexible and understand that what I'm being called to do now may not necessarily be what I'm called to do in the future.

3.  Kids' behavior is probably more related to their age, their personality, and how their parents handle them, and not because of whether one parent stays at home.  We have friends and family who run the gamut here; some who stay at home full time, some who stay at home part time and some who work full time.  One of my sisters-in-law stays at home full time; the other works part-time.  I wouldn't say that their kids are necessarily better behaved than Ally or that Ally is necessarily better behaved than her cousins.  We have friends with toddlers who are mellow and toddlers who throw temper tandrums at the drop of a hat, and their parents career/staying at home choices span both sides of the fence.

4.  And when I'm feeling a moment of doubt, all I have to do is look at Ally.  She is happy, sweet, laughs a lot, keeps up with her peers, easygoing, and one of the most agreeable toddlers that I know.  That's my answer right there.

Dingalings

A recent picture of us Chelsea Chimes handbell ringers, or as Fr. John calls us, the Dingalings

Random lesson learned

Original flavor almond milk is very tasty on its own, but absolutely disgusting as a coffee creamer.

She's two!

Some pics from Ally's 2nd birthday weekend, which we celebrated with my parents and some friends from church.

Enjoying our new deck, which Ben built entirely by himself.

Ben grilling on the new deck.

 Victoria with Elaina and Ally.

 Ally and Elaina, with Rebecca and Kate in the background.

I made birthday cake cones, which were enjoyed by all.

Ally, Grandma, and Grandpa.

Ally, Ben, and me.

Dissertation proposal-APPROVED

This morning, I successfully presented the proposal of my dissertation project.  My committee made a few suggestions but no major revisions.  They have now signed off on it, and now the real fun begins!