Father's Day

You know how on Facebook, ads will come up on the sidebar, like "Your friend Helga likes Pringles" and then show the status update for the Pringles page? (Pringles was chosen because there is a can of them in my sightline.)

That happened to me this morning with a status post not by Pringles, but from a page sponsored by a particular maker of household products. I was intrigued and wanted to read the comments, so I clicked over to the page (advertisement successful, I guess). Here's the status:

I'm the daughter of a household where the father enjoys golf and has completed a myriad of home remodeling projects on multiple houses. He also cooks most of the meals (not on a grill), drives a Vespa, and once performed "emergency surgery" by sewing up my stuffed Elmo's nose when the dog ripped it open. My dad and mom both fill roles all along the parent spectrum, and I believe my husband and I will end up in a similar situation when kids come along in our house. Because of all this, I was interested to see where all the comments fell along this line.

We kind of pigeonhole parents on these holidays. Mother's Day, Father's Day. Put the Riesling on sale because all women love sweet white wine. According to the ads, Dad wants power tools or a grill, not a handmade gift or card. Also, at least in the church, mothers tend to be elevated to the status of angels on Mother's Day, while men may get a guilt trip on Father's Day about being a good role model.

Anyway, back to my research. After perusal of the comments, here are some of the answers:

Negotiator
Fixer-upper
Make-me-laugh-er
Baby maker (that one really did make me laugh)
Vacation planner
Provider
Camper
Hugger and storyteller
Cook
Carpenter
Advice-giver and listener
Photographer
Intercessor in prayer
Popcorn maker
Story reader
Role model
Rescuer
Quilter (!!!)
Chemist
Problem-solver
Cookie-maker
Artist
Gardener
Air guitarist
Provider
Teammate
Teacher of unconditional love

Sounds like our dads are doing alright.

What would you say if you had to fill in that blank about the parental figures in your life?

PS: Tell those people you love them all the time...not just this Sunday. :)

A Georgian Vocabulary Lesson

Having lived in Atlanta for almost ten months now (!), we've come to notice a number of regional differences between Georgia and Tejas (duh). Yesterday morning, Travis and I were reflecting on some of the differences in terminology: some that confuse(d) us, some that make us laugh. For example...

"Call out" v. "call in." Travis' coworkers say "So-and-so called out sick" instead of "called in sick." Isn't the person calling IN to work to say they're sick? I guess you could say that they're trying to get OUT of work...but I still don't think it makes as much sense. 

"Parking deck" v. "parking garage." This makes sense. It just sounded weird at first. 

"Tag" v. "license plate." Someone said this to me and I had no idea what they were talking about.

And the best one of all...

"Package store" v. "liquor store." What package? Is it because you leave with a paper sack sometimes? For at least the first month we lived here, we were driving around going, "There sure are a lot of places to mail stuff here..." 

Just call it what it is, son. Liquor. 

Anyone have other examples or want to defend these alternative terms? Are they really representative of Georgia, or have I just encountered an unusual crowd? :)