Hi and happy Friday. We are drying out from all the rain that Debby dumped on us. It’s been a cloudy and wet week. The grey weather didn’t get me down though because I had an exciting visitor – my dad! While my mom comes to Charlotte a lot and Finn and I make regular trips to Florida to visit everyone, he had not been here since September 2021 when we were getting my mom to Duke to start her transplant journey. I really enjoyed his time here.
I’m keeping things light for you on this Friday morning with an update on all the lifey things. On deck next is a stuffed pepper recipe that I made for my dad and he encouraged me to put on my blog. 🙂
MY DAD’S VISIT
The occasion for his visit was no fun but we made the most of the time. He arrived on Monday morning while I was at work and it was great to come home and have him here. We spent the afternoon hanging out at home and picked the dogs up from the groomer. No one was happier to have my dad here than the dogs, haha.
I took him out to dinner at Dolce Osteria. It’s one of my all-time favorite Charlotte restaurants and never disappoints. I was actually wanting to try the new Mano Bella in SouthPark but they were closed on Monday.
We had an amazing dinner! My dad had the carbonara made with homemade tagliatelle pasta. He was excited because the Dolce uses guanciale in their carbonara. It’s an Italian salt-cured meat made from pork jowl/cheeks. I had the veal marsala and we shared a delicious calamari appetizer. The calamari came in a smoky and slightly spicy tomato sauce with green peas and fresh basil. It was such a nice switch up from traditional fried calamari appetizers.
On Tuesday my dad had an appointment with Dr. Hunter Dyer at Carolina Neurosurgery and Spine Associates. He’s had back pain and pain/numbness down his left leg that has been progressing for about five years now. He had some imaging ordered by his primary down in Florida that indicated that seeing a specialist was the next right course of action. We really liked Dr. Dyer and were THRILLED to hear that he didn’t recommend surgery at this time. He actually told us that my dad’s spine looks better than a lot of people his age and encouraged him to stay as active as possible – even though the pain and numbness will continue to some degree. They can’t “fix” that non-surgically but it’s not to a point where surgery makes sense.
Our other big activity for Tuesday was knife sharpening. Within an hour of being at my house and making himself lunch, my dad had ordered me an “early Christmas present” of an electric knife sharpener. He gave me a detailed lesson on how to use it and then I sharpened all of my knives. LIFE CHANGING! I have really nice Wustof knives (thanks to my dad) but nice knives can only do so much if you don’t keep them sharp. I can’t even believe the difference in how they handle and perform. The electric knife sharpener really takes it to a whole new level!
We made dinner at home. I cooked an old tried and true pork tenderloin recipe that I also need to get on my blog ASAP. It’s SO good. Alongside the pork we had kale, potatoes and sliced tomatoes – all from the farmers market.
This seems like a good time to show you all the things I got at the farmers market last Saturday. I’ve been buying cantaloupes from Hoffman Heritage the last few weeks that are out of this world. I’m not even a big cantaloupe fan but these are insanely good!
Also a good time to show off my homemade fig preserves! I recently picked a giant bag of figs from a neighbor’s tree and tried my hand at canning for the first time. My dad used to make fig preserves for my mom growing up and I’ve grown to really love them. I enjoyed the canning process and can’t wait to do it again!
On Wednesday we drove to Durham and back in a day – five hours in the car! My dad had a second appointment for his back at Duke. When one is considering back surgery, it’s always a smart idea to meet a couple of different doctors. While we ultimately preferred Dr. Dyer over the surgeon we met with at Duke, we were relieved when his overall take on my dad’s back situation was inline with Dr. Dyer’s.
We grabbed lunch at Dulce Cafe before heading back to Charlotte. They have great sandwiches, salads and coffees and the best homemade desserts! I couldn’t leave Durham without a slice of their carrot cake.
We picked up Finn on our way back into town. The poor guy had had a rough couple of days with a stomach bug so he was running at a low speed. The plan had been to take my dad out for dinner at the “hushpuppy restaurant” (Midwood Smokehouse is Finn’s favorite restaurant in Charlotte) but Finn was definitely not up for that so I made the stuffed peppers at home.
And then we dug into our Dulce desserts!
My dad’s flight home was on Thursday. The weather was so iffy with Debby but he was able to get out after a few hours delay. We were sad to see him go but he told Finn he had to get home to take care of Meme, Mema and Beau. 🙂
MARATHON COUNTDOWN: 99 DAYS
Quick update on marathon training…I am 99 days out from the race and on week 4 of my 18-week training cycle. I had my first double digit long run on Sunday and so far, so good (crossing all of my fingers and toes). I have completed all of my runs and strength training sessions and my body is feeling great. Hopefully I am still singing the same tune after my long run hits 20 miles here in a month or two.
I pushed 75 pounds of stroller for a five mile run when I had Finn last weekend and whew – that was tough! I have been pleased that I’m finally acclimated to the summer heat and humidity. While it’s still a challenge, I feel so much stronger running through it now than I did six weeks ago.
MOM LIFE
We are soaking up these last few weeks of summer before kindergarten starts! The pool is open through September 9 so we are taking advantage of our last month of swimming for the season. We invited some neighbor friends to join us last weekend and they all had a great time splashing around. My friend’s son will be starting K with Finn at the same school!
This kiddo is a fish! He swam for four hours straight last Friday and three hours straight last Sunday. He is completely confident in the water and can get himself all over the pool with no problem. Yay for all of those swim lessons! We are planning to have him do swim team next summer.
PARTING WORDS
Leaving you with my favorite reading on gratitude of all-time. It’s from Melody Beattie’s The Language of Letting Go. I read from a couple of different daily books every night before bed and then write reflections on them in a journal along with a daily gratitude and prayer list. It warmed my heart to read these words again on August 1.
Be well friends and enjoy the weekend!
QUESTIONS
Have you ever tried canning at home?
When do your kids go back to school? What grades?
Do you have anything left on your summer bucket list?
I have never tried canning at home and it’s one of those things that I keep meaning to try and haven’t done yet. How lucky you are to have a neighbor with an abundance of figs! I love fig preserves! Finn is growing up so quickly. How did this happen?!
It was a fun project to try! I want to plant a fig tree in my yard!!!
And yes – he’s such a big boy. But so sweet, smart and kind. I’m a lucky mama!