back to work

I am in from mon-wed this week. next wee is going to come as a shock to the system as I haven't worked a five day week in a while.

Anyway I hope you all have a happy and healthy new year. If you are going out on New years Eve please be safe about it. Enjoy the Rose Bowl, I am hoping OSU can at least win this bowl game.

See you in 2010.

this is for you Alana

My menu:

Honey Baked Ham (Bill's Favorite)
Mashed Potatoes (made with sour cream, whipping cream, Parmesan cheese and herbs)
Sourdough bread dressing with sausage and chestnuts
Balsamic braised Brussels sprouts with bacon
Sauteed veggies with minced ginger and garlic
Sauteed bok choy
and of course rice and pretzel rolls

I made our favorite Christmas cookies, Russian tea balls, and some chocolate chip cookies plus some more of those pumpkin muffins.

So now I want to know what did all of you have for Christmas dinner.... and what is the one thing that really makes it Christmas dinner?

Merry Christmas

I hope you all had a great Christmas! Bill and I had a wonderful two days off. We had Christmas Eve to ourselves. We baked cookies cleaned the house and then went to midnight mass (at 10:30). Yesterday, we had Bill's family over for a lovely dinner. and as the evening drew to a close we got our white Christmas. And now, it hasn't stopped snowing. We wanted to go out for a bit today but after shoveling twice we have decided to just stay inside. Maybe we can go see a movie tonight or tomorrow afternoon.

I hope you and yours had a great Christmas, and if you don't celebrate I hope you were able to have a nice day off.

ideo o o ideo o o ideo gloria...

so i was talking to my co worker Ed who is our resident expert on all things religious and all things operatic/classical. I was telling him about HB's tradition of singing IDEO through the hallways on the last day of school. We had a tough time finding a song called Ideo, but eventually found out that it is called Personent hodie.

interesting info about this carol: (all from wikipedia)

"The most common English translation of the text is by "James M. Joseph", a pseudonym of the composer Jane M. Joseph (1894-1929). She translates the title as On this day earth shall ring, although there are several other English translations."

interesting because at our all girls school we're all about female cultivation

"The Latin text is probably a musical parody of an earlier 12th century song beginning "intonent hodie voces ecclesie", written in honour of Saint Nicholas"

interesting because IDEO day had been a day that the juniors would perform parody sketches of the Seniors (until one year it got too out of had and feeling were hurt and now they just do a talent show)

and finally once you hear it it will be stuck in your head all day and you will be singing Ideo -o-o

bad blogger

Time has slipped by me in the past week. Bill has been working crazy hours which means most of the holiday getting readiness has fallen in my lap. But don't feel too bad for me because I really love Christmas.

Anyway in the past week I:

• roasted my first ever pumpkin
• used said pumpkin in a delicious muffin recipe
• did 7 loads of laundry (1 on Monday and 6 yesterday)
• decorated most of the house for Christmas
• wrote Christmas cards
• went to the mall and lost all hope for humanity while looking for parking, then regained said hope and then paid it forward
• decided on a menu for Christmas dinner
• listened to copious amounts for Christmas music and now have a conglomeration of songs stuck in my head

So that's what has been shaking with me. I work through Wednesday and then have a long weekend. Since Thanksgiving week, I have only worked one full week. Got to love the holidays.

Christmas yay!!!

This weekend we went out and cut down our Christmas tree. We also ran around a lot and wrapped up much of our Christmas shopping.

Today I took the day off, an along with a visit to Hyde Park I was able to decorate me house get some cleaning done and get the car serviced.

We haven't trimmed the tree yet, but I hope to do that in the next few days.

Oh and I will be doing the Christmas cards soon. If I don't have your address and you would like a card (ie if you moved over this summer to a better apartment in new york) just email me your address: sarahyoung921 at gmail dot com

glenwood

View Larger Map

this is where the package I was referring to in that post earlier this week was last seen.

this is also the most recent location of a package i bought this week.

the race is on. will the amazon books i bought on the 8th with super saver shipping reach me before the shirt i bought on the 30th of Nov?

***Update***
since i don't know which package landed on my door step first I regretfully have to call this a draw, but the MVP is totally amazon super saver shipping. Well played.

brrrrr

I hope that where ever you are, dear reader, you are warm.

This morning when I got up it was 2 degrees outside, and that wasn't including the wind chill. I guess it could be worse. My co-workers hometown of Alliance Nebraska was a nippy -17 early this morning (though it has warmed up since). And Bill's friend Pasha wins best facebook posting as yesterday he said "Now is the winter of our discontent". Leave it to Pasha to find something funny to say about the weather in Minneapolis.

Bundle up stay warm and for pete's sake don't go taking any triple dog dares!

_____

saw this story on two of the blogs I visit daily. And now I have that song in my head.

snow snow snow (2)

as i write Bill is outside shoveling. But Sarah, you ask, why aren't you helping him? Because I did a round of shoveling when I got home, and am now cozy and dry.

I have been mightily confused about the days of the week this week, as so often happens when you have a Monday off of work. I am now pretty sure today is Wednesday, and that means only two more days until another 3 day weekend!!

cyber monday

last week bill and I made a few different purchases online between Monday and Tuesday. All of these purchases have arrived except one. All of our purchases were free shipping, but I find it interesting that this one has not arrived. This one has traveled from Georgia to Montana to Wisconsin to Glenwood, IL to TriCity A/O, IL back to Glenwood, IL. I hope that this purchase arrives soon. I should say that amazon wins the prize for fastest free shipping. Bill received one of his orders on Thursday after ordering it on Monday.

snow snow snow

Flew home yesterday and most of the snow that we had was melted by the time I landed. I woke up this morning, however, and it was snowing again. bill asked me how it was snowing and I said it was like powdered sugar through a sieve. When we got to the train station Bill corrected me and said it was much closer to a child playing in flour. I countered that there would be clumps of snow if it was a kid playing in anything, so we agreed it was most like flour through a sifter. Like when I make some of my favorite Christmas cookies... Russian tea biscuits (or Mexican wedding cookies or tea balls or whatever you would like to call them) Now on top of decorating I have an incredible urge to go home and bake cookies.

What types of cookies should I make?

hi from az

Flew out to see my mom yesterday. Apparently, I escaped just in time.

Anyway we have an action packed weekend planned so I'll probably be mia until Monday. Have a great weekend.

last night

Last night one of the best holiday movies was on tv. I really don't know why I love this movie so much, but I do. Today I have been humming the Island of Misfit Toys song over and over.

I made this delicious looking acorn squash last night. It was perfect.

The acorn squash is usually something I mess up because it doesn't cook long enough, but last night I got it just right.

• About 35 min cut side down @ 350 in a pan with about 1/4" water.
• Then flip score/ poke the insides and put a bit of butter in them (I also spread a small amount along the top cut part)
• Then I made a yummy mixture of cinnamon, clove , freshly grated nutmeg, and ginger (also probably know as pumkin pie spice) and mixed it with 2 scoops of brown sugar (one for each side) and about a 1/4 a cup of finally chopped walnuts).
• After the 25 min are up this mix got evenly divided between the two and baked for another 10 min or so.

When you take them out of the oven make sure to stir the mixture so that all the sugar gets yummy and melted.

rudolph the red nosed reindeer

ooh one of my favorite holiday shows is on tonight on cbs(8E/7C). be there or be a misfit toy.

pedway

In my excitement about the beef recipe I forgot to metion that this morning I was able to walk from my train station to Randolph and LaSalle. The pedway is finally open.
This means that I can make it 2/3 the way to work in a warm covered autoless environment. Yay!

yummy beef recipe

I made a really yummy recipe that I got from a co-worker who got it from this woman. I added ginger and an extra pepper to it, but I think some of you might really like it:

Pepper Steak

* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 medium onion, chopped
* 2 large bell peppers, sliced into thin strips
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 1/3 cup soy sauce
* 1/3 cup honey
* 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
* 1 1/2 pounds flank steak, cut into thin strips

1. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook onion, bell peppers, and garlic in oil until tender-crisp, stirring frequently. Set aside.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Pour soy sauce, honey, and red wine vinegar in pan, then add beef. Cook beef, stirring frequently, until done, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in cooked vegetables, and cook another 10 to 15 minutes

back

So we got back last night. I knew that the posting would stop once we left -- sorry but there is just too much going on when I am back at home.

We had a wonderful time in Cleveland and though we didn't get to see much of Erin's family or my grandparents I felt that it was a great time.

Interestingly, though, I took no pictures this trip. It was weird... we had our camera, but just no need to snap pics.

Anyway this will be a long week, that will end in more travel. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.

I love the muppets

Always have always will, so when I can across this today I just had to link to it....

Yay christmas lights

Saturday we got most for the Christmas lights hung, but because of poor planning we ended up with too many lights on one side of the house and not enough on the other, so we had to go out and get another set on Sunday and finish things off.
Sounds easy right? But apparently the only light in the color and style that home depot sold were the ones in the 250 bulb set that we had purchased. so we went to a different home depot to see if maybe ours was just out. nope so then we drove a bit further (now about 20 min away from our house and found a similar style by a different brand at lowes.
We got the lights hung yesterday afternoon and saw them last night. they look good and they are now unplugged until after thanksgiving.

We saw Brian my brother yesterday. He just got back from Ghana. He had a good time it seems. We celebrated my GMAT completion with some tex-mex food at Uncle Julio's.

This week is a super short week -- just Monday and Tuesday. Then we have the rest of the week off to celebrate thanksgiving.

Blogging at the art institute

Hi every one. I am hanging out at the art institute waiting for my ride. I took me GMAT today and did better than I had hoped. Thanks for all you good thoughts I think it totally helped.

Up next is convincing bill to hang the Christmas lights and starting to pack for Thanksgiving. Tonight lily and I are dragging bill to go see new moon. Just the sort of mindless entertainment I need after the test this morning.

Thnksgivign Dinner!!!

No I didn't just visit the future and come back, we had a full thanksgiving dinner here at work today. and I am just as stuffed and tired as I will be next week.

This is so awesome since I love thanksgiving (I may have mentioned that once or twice). So I am wondering what is your favorite holiday. take the poll above.

Thank you all!

I am feeling better. I should note that popping a rib out of place is not something new or unusual for me. and once back in place i start to feel better right away (though yesterday took longer that I thought it would). most of my ongoing back problems are due to either my poor posture or the damage that I have incurred due to walking around with a rib out of place (hoping that it would fix itself).

Anyway, since I started seeing Dr. Matt for my back and neck problems I have been able to stand up straighter and sit/ stand for longer periods of time without adjusting for pain. And because I am seeing him on a regular basis my rib never stays out for too long. I just wish I could get to the point where I wasn't dependent of re-alignment and instead had a back that was stabilized.

Because of the back issues, I was not able to sit for a full test last night and am now worried that I am too far behind to get a good score on my GMAT. I haven't decided what would be my cut off to retake the exam, but I seriously hope that I can just get a respectable score.

I am awesome!

that should be read with the sarcasm font that I totally need. I got up today all happy and proud: last night after talking to family members and doing practice test-y things I did the dishes folded 3 laundry baskets work of laundry stripped the bed and re-made it with the now dry cleaned winter down blanket and down comforter. Oh and i vacuumed straightened up the room and swiffered under the bed. Basically all those domestic goddess things I avoid. So this morning, I woke up happy -- my room was in order my bed was supper fluffy and warm and my back was still doing great (did I mention that yesterday was the first Tuesday in a very long while that I had not gone to the chiro-cracker.)

I should have know it would be down hill from there. It's cold and rainy, so I grabbed my rain boots (more sarcasm font) oh yeah I don't have rain boots. I roll my pant legs up (which made me thing of french cuffing my jeans ages ago) and put on my high heeled leather boots. I need to continue practicing GMAT stuff so I ditch the book I completed and pack up the computer. Now to be fair the book was large and heavy and the computer is smallish, but I will still blame the computer. I walk to the train (in the rain thank you very much) and get settled in for the trip down town.
Somewhere near Hyde Park my back started spasming. It started in my lower back (oh its just the heavy book bag) and then spread (hmm maybe it will go away). I treat myself to a cab and get into work (sign it seems to still be painful). By 10am I couldn't breath with out pain, and following my doctors advice from last week ("if you are in pain don't wait just call me") I made an appointment.
Apparently, I am awesome. I managed to not just put the normal rib out of place but genius that I am I put a rib on the other side of my back out of place as well. yay me!
And yes at the age of 28 I shouldn't have these types of problems.

ewe's not fat ewes fluff

back at our house on Hillstone (age 1-7) our kitchen had kitschy country things hanging on the walls. I remember one was the wood plaque with a fuzzy sheep on it and that phrase.... i didn't "get it" until years later, but I still get a mental image of my kitchen on Hillstone when I think of it.

anyway the point is i read an article today in the tribune about Hugo Chavez, no not the rain maker one, and obesity. you can read the article here or a non Chicago version here, but this is my favorite part:

"I'm not saying fat women, because they never get fat," he added. "Women sometimes fill out."

And that, my friends, is one way to win votes.

____

on a side note talking about Hillstone... the other day I had a dream about doorbells. dad do you remember that crazy doorbell at Hillstone. it was like 3 long organ pipes that would clang together.

soup for the soul?

The soup turned out pretty good, though we didn't really have any last night because I knew with the beans it wouldn't be done in time for dinner.

I have down loaded the GMAT study software from mba.com and either the kaplan stuff was much harder, or I am finally improving on these questions.

ok well have a good day people I have to go toast this bagel, which smells even better than it did yesterday. (Maybe I am just hungrier?)

Yin yang and cannellini beans

Yum thank you dad for the fun yin yang beans
_____
These beans are going into my very altered version of the olive garden soup that Bill likes. Altered because: I use mild sausage, it isn't cream based, I have 2 types of beans and 2 types of potatoes, and mostly because the broth currently tastes like a wonton soup.

If it turns out well, maybe I'll post my off the cuff recipe.

this bagel smells so good

So i was trying to think up a title for today's blog, but I have a cinnamon raisin bagel sitting next to me waiting to be toasted and all I can think is this smells soooooo good.

So Saturday night, after enjoying the beautiful day and studying a bit I rescued my husband from his jail, i mean office, and we went to dinner at one of our favorite places. Unfortunately, we picked this place for its family style food with all our favorites, only to find out that Saturday night they had decided to try a whole new menu. It was good and all, but when you are expecting veal meat balls and you get pumpkin soup, no matter how good the soup is, it isn't a veal meatball.

Yesterday we ran some errands in the mid morning and then went out to Lily's in the afternoon. by the time we got home it was late and we were tired and we still had dinner to make and laundry to do. somehow laundry keeps getting done but not folded and we now have two weeks worth of clean clothing sitting in baskets waiting to be folded. Did I mention that folding laundry is one of my least favorite tasks right up there with ironing women's blouses.

Today i have more studying to do and maybe i can turn that kale and sausage and beans into a yummy soup.

Last leaves ... We hope

Winnie and I raked the last leaves of fall on this beautiful day

time to get serious.

thinks to do things to study and all that jazz are piling up. it's time for me to get serious and take some gmat practice exams. I also need to start working again on my essays and my resume.

then there is laundry and vacuuming and all sorts of domestic-y things that need to be addressed. Oh and I should be getting my stalla level 2 study stuff today. yay. no really let me see if i can pump some more sarcasm into those three letters yay... nope that cup overfloweth.

I need to find a hobby other than studying or reading for the winter months. something that gives me the pride and peace that gardening does. (and I have tried knitting I am embarrassingly slow at it).

link to article

I found this article very interesting and it has really made me think about both sides of the situation.

In other news due to the number of bloggers who either are private or not posting I have changed around my side bars again. hopefully it won't cause problems for the 4 of you who read this.

Holiday

Most people still have to work on this holiday today, but I wanted to take a brief moment to say thank you. Thank you to all of the men and women who are serving or have served our country. While I might not always agree with the politics, I will always be grateful for the sacrifice and service you and your families give to our country.

Thank you.

I didn't know Brussels sprouts were so dangerous

That would be my thumb all bandaged up after repetedly slicing it halving the brussels sprouts. apparently recently sharpened knives and tiny cabbages require cutting boards not my thumb.

sigh

way over due

yeah I was really slow about posting these, though it's not entirely my fault. I had Bill load these on his account as mine is getting very full. I didn't realize that I couldn't link to the album. So last night I had Bill email me the link, and hopefully this works.

oh well

It's just really hard to sit down and blog on the weekends. But I have been regular with the weekday postings at least.

Bill's case had a big meeting which wrapped up a bunch of the work he had been doing last week, so we were able to spend a nice weekend together.

Saturday we go outside a little with the dog, but no bike ride like I was hoping. Lily came over in the evening and hung out. We taught her how to play some of the games on the wii resort game, and then we got pizza at aurelios.

Yesterday, we celebrated Avi's birthday by brunching at the Publican. It was very fun (and yummy) and the food kept us going at we worked in the yard until the sun set. Bill caught up on some of the tv shows we like that he had missed last week and we hung out for the evening hours.

This week is already shaping up to be a busy one. we'll see what happens.

part II

sigh... sometimes i wish that the news would stop. I wonder why a person would go back and kill people he had worked with because he lost his job. I couldn't imagine doing that to people I see 40 hours or more a week. I see the people I work with more than family and friends combined what causes that break (or snap as they call it) in morals and humanity.

Sometimes things just don't make sense

I really didn't want to post about Ft Hood, but I didn't want to ignore such a horrible tragedy. Sometimes things in life just don't make sense. I know that statement provides no comfort to those effected by the shooting, but honestly how do you explain how a doctor goes on a rampage shooting those he was sworn to protect. Or, for that matter, how a man could live with 11 bodies rotting in his home.
It seems that too often we are confronted with horrible crimes that can't be reasoned. I don't know what any one person can do about it, but maybe if everyone tried to be a bit more flexible and a bit more understanding, maybe if we could all reach out to our neighbors and know more about our neighborhood, maybe some senseless act could be prevented. Or maybe I am just living in the clouds.

Have you seen him...

Missing: William Young aka Bill
Missing since: this past weekend
Last know whereabouts: work

Bill has been working extremely long hours to the point where i see him through squinting eyes late at night when he gets home and early in the morning as he kisses me good bye. Poor thing is going to end up sick if he works many more days like this.


Last night I turned off the world series after Matsui brought the score to 4 to 1 and watched the Changeling on HBO. I never saw that movie and had wanted to. It was very interesting and disturbing. I like that the focus wasn't solely on the woman looking for her son, but more a statement on how women were treated and ignored back then.

a public service announcement

today's post is a reminder about the new area code in Chicago. if you have any phones programed to just dial the 7 digits you have to re program them by Saturday.

This is slightly annoying at work, but since my cell is 630 and my home is 708 it won't be a problem like it is for some of my co workers.

____

An update on Winnie-poo she has a skin infection and will be on antibiotics for 2 weeks. it is some type of Staph bacterium that is on their skin usually but can cause problems sometimes. Hopefully within a week the scabs will be gone and in two weeks she have nice healthy skin.

and more pasta

pasta!

pass the pasta

Last night I tried making homemade paste with my Christmas present from dad.

Making the pasta was fairly easy, though I used the semolina, which is rather expensive and not easily found so I may have to try it with bread flour next. I tried making both the "fettucini" and "spaghetti" (they have other names but essentially that is what they are). I tried some of it just quickly boiled with olive oil and cheese. I feel like I should have rolled it thinner, but we'll try some of the spaghetti this week and see how it is.

In other news something is wrong with miss winnie and I will be taking her to the vet this evening. Lets hope its nothing too bad.

sigh

So I missed the first day for blogging everyday this month. Oh well. I guess I just can't believe that November is already here, and yesterday was my silent protest.

Halloween was nice -- cold and windy, but dry and sunny at least. We had a fair number of little visitors, many who were more interested in petting and seeing winnie than getting candy.

I did carve our pumpkin about 45 min before trick-or-treating began, and around 6pm roasted the seeds, which turned out very yummy.

Otherwise, we enjoyed a quite weekend, mostly at home.

I hope you had a great weekend and welcome to November!

lazy blogger

so we went on our BBQ trip and I didn't blog about it here or on the vacation blog. I'll try to write something up this week with pictures and a nice story and all.

Anyway, we're back now and this week Uncle Chris is going to come over for dinner and at some point I need to get candy for the 150-200 kids we see. Sigh.

I've also kept busy studying for the GMAT and need to sign up for level 2 of the CFA exam. busy busy busy.

So that is my life recently. I might try to celebrate national blogging month like I did last year, though I didn't sign up then and I don't think I'll sign up now.

happy birthday winnie!!!

Picture from Sally Denning

The day we picked Winnie up

Below are more pics from the last two years. It might be silly to those of you who don't have pets, but Winnie is our family and we love her so much.

THANK YOU!!!

I wanted to give a BIG thank you to everyone for their support on our 3 year of walking for making strides. It was a beautiful day (first one in a while) and the turn out was great. Bill and I have raised 2045$ before matching gifts from my company, which generously will match all 900$ of the employee donations. Overall, I think this year has been a smashing success in our fundraising efforts, and we couldn't have done it without the help from every one of you.

If you still want to donate you can follow the link on the side bar or in the posting below.

Thanks again!!

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer

***Please Note: Newer Blog entries can be found below this one***

~~Update~~
Hey everyone we have a week and a half to go until the walk. Bill and I have raised over $1500 $1700 $2000 so far. Thank you to everyone, and it isn't too late to donate. just click on the link to the right and click on "donate to my team".

You guys are the best!!!

~~~~~~~~~

Hi Everyone!

For the 3rd year in a row, Bill and I will be participating in the American Cancer Society Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk. In the last 2 year Bill and I have been able to raise almost 6000$ for our local American Cancer Society. The moneys raise go to help the ACS's efforts in research, support, and awareness. If you are interested in joining our team or making a donation please click on the link on the left or below. This year we are just having people donate to the team instead of to the individuals.

The walk is Sunday the 18th and all are welcome to walk.

Thanks!!

Think Pink - Our Team

Doh!

"Plant the largest cloves to grow the largest bulbs. Leave the outer skin on the bulbs and do not separate the cloves from the bulb until you are ready to plant."

dad do you see the problem in these instructions? yes it says to plant the cloves, and yes that is not what we did. Bill says it is better this way rather than the opposite (cloves can't be put back together into a bulb). I think the squirrels have been trying to send me a message when I come home to find my bulbs unearthed ever day.

sigh I know what Bill and I will be doing on Saturday.

all we have are memories.

So Dad came in for the weekend, and I realized today that I never grabbed a picture, which is disappointing because I wanted to do that with the boys. Yes I said boys as in Bobby drove in to Chicago for Saturday.

Anyway we had a great time. Dad did help me with my garlic (he says he oversaw and blessed them :) ) He also helped me take down my garden, finish the path we were building (that we started in June), and make apple sauce and apple pie. We taught dad to bowl and play tennis on the wii and also how to race cars and play guitar.

Now its back to work and I am tired and achy from the weekend (too much gardening). I have another Drs appointment today (it was a rib out of place along with a variety of other problems).

This week will probably fly by since it is already Tuesday. Sunday is our breast cancer walk. We've raised nearly 2000$ so far. Our goal is 2500 and I think there is a chance we could still raise that amount.

pain in my neck

no literally I have been walking around with a pain in my neck for about 2 weeks. I am pretty sure I know what it is, and pretty sure I was just hoping it would go away. sigh. I have an appt with the chiropractor and hopefully he'll put my rib back into place, as I am pretty sure that is my problem.

dad comes in today, so I probably won't post while he is here. have a nice weekend y'all.

Fall....

So it is really fall... the chill in the air, the lack of light in the morning and evening, and (obviously) the leaves falling. I am using a fellow bloggers post on "Maximizing Fall" as a jumping off point this morning.

Friday I made an apple bacon and cabbage dish that was quite good. this is only the second time I have ever prepared cabbage, and I was quite pleased with the results. Not quite maximising fall, but since the bacon, cabbage and apples all came from the Frankfort farmers market It was utilizing local/ seasonal foods. Fall count: .5 Friday I also worked on making the crusts to my apple pie.

Saturday I got up ran errands and then started on my apple pie. making dough for a crust is easy. rolling said dough out proved to be much harder. I ended up not having a double crusted, but a crumb top instead. Its OK though, it was still delicious. (score count for fall 1.5)

Saturday evening was Bill's 10 year HS reunion. It was fun (more so for Bill). I hung out with Mitul's girlfriend Christy all evening, which was nice.

Sunday brought the farmers market and a purchase of half a bushel of Apples (what ever that means) a pumpkin for pie /roasting and more bacon and eggs.

Yesterday evening, I made 5 1/2 lb of tomatoes into sauce, which is apparently nothing compared to my cousin (45lbs?!). I count this as maximizing fall because canning (or in my lame case freezing) is a fall activity. Fall count: 3 (.5 for getting the apples and pumpkin, but not quite apple picking :) )

Up on deck this week:
Dad is coming to visit!
Garlic shipped today!
First night below freezing :(

wow too many posts today

but i can't pass up linking you all to this article on the freakonomics blog.

Bid Part III

well that is really too bad. I think most people were confident that it was down to Chicago and Rio, so to be knocked out in the first round is really disappointing.

Olympic bid II

I was reading an article about the final pitch for the bid today on NBC5.com (here is the link) and they quoted Daley.

"Chicago will deliver," Daley said, "because in Chicago we just don't talk about what we will do, we do it."

So, I send this over to Bill and point out the quote and he says to me

Bill: nice

i think i want that on a t-shirt

along with a picture of a tommy gun and meigs field

Now I am picturing the orange shirts (which why orange... they look like a see of IDoT cones) with:

and:

Olympic bid day

snapped these when I was walking into work today. I liked seeing the massive amount of news crews all lined up in the street.

I know people have mixed opinions on getting the 2016 bid, but I must say I was so proud of our city when I walked past Daley Plaza this morning.

BLAH BLAH BLAH

So I was talking to some co-workers of mine today and we were chatting about how we all yell over our cubes to talk to the people on the other side, but often after talking you find out they aren't even sitting there. One on them said, "yeah the other day I was talking away, and you weren't even there. I was saying... BLAH BLAH BLAH..." at this point he is being rather loud and we realize the doors to the big conference room are open despite the fact that there is a meeting in there. sigh... it's so embarrassing when that happens. It isn't like we were talking about anything embarrassing itself, but you wonder what the visitors are thinking when they hear that going on.

The other big to do today was that they ran out of flu shots. Now they have a system set up that you are supposed to go at a time slot according to your last name, but if you can't make it to go at some other point. No need to sign up just bring your 10$. This system is so they aren't flooded by too many people at anyone time. Last year, they had 90 people show up. So, they ordered the same amount they did last year 105.
Well I went up early as I had some trades to get out during my time slot (last, always last). My supervisor handed his trades off to me and when up after i got back (late, as he had been too impatient to wait in the line when he went up during his time slot.) By then time he had gone up they had run out.
We called hr. Nope all out, nope not coming back, nope not reimbursing (by the way these are from Northwestern Hospital so it isn't like they themselves ran out). The building offers the same flu shot for 30$ and the Walgreen's across the street offers it for 24$. But the system that was set up as to not flood the nurse broke down and the message sent was that this is truly first come first serve, and even though we told you it would be there for everyone we only ordered 100 for a company that has 7 floors of workers. Also, we like to discriminate against people with last names s-z (as they ran out in the n-r slot). I don't know why this is bothering me... I jumped line so to speak and got mine. and even if i didn't i have the money to go and get mine from across the street.
Oh and lets not even discuss why the building is offering a flu shot for 30$ when there are advertisements right across the way for the 24$ one at Walgreen's. Is going across the street anytime any day more of an inconvenience than waiting in line on one morning only (first come first served)? Maybe I am the only one who would think about this like an economist and am reading into this too much.

harvest

nights are getting cold here. harvested the lettuce some of the basil cucumbers and the peppers. there's a bit of sages there too for drying.

Glee

I am addicted to this new tv show, and here is a quote from Sue on last week's show...

It's not easy to break out of your comfort zone. People will tear you down, tell you you shouldn't have bothered in the first place. But let me tell you something. There's not much of a difference between a stadium full of cheering fans and an angry crowd screaming abuse at you. They're both just making a lot of noise. How you take it is up to you. Convince yourself they're cheering for you. You do that, and someday, they will.

So on top of the singing and dancing you have decent character development and insightful lines. I probably shouldn't bother liking the show as it will either get canceled or become bad.

Medieval Times

King Mitul and part of his royal court

Enjoying our Grub

Our Red Knight was no match for the battle ax

King Mitul getting his souvenir signed by the Red Knight

Weekend in review

This weekend was just as busy as the last few giving us little time to do anything but mow the lawn and do some laundry on Sunday night....

Saturday we had brunch with Brian and Christie (the company was great but I don't think I'll be going back to Lockwood again... ever). Then we had our friend Mitul's birthday party at Medieval Times. We got to cheer on our faithful and brave Red Knight. I think between driving back and forth Bill drover about 5 hours on Saturday. Poor Bill.

Sunday we went off to the market to get some more tomatoes for sauce and another acorn squash (one of my fall favs). Then by noon we were downtown for the Chicago Gourmet Food and Wine festival. It was a lot of fun. We got our tickets through Group On and I am now a group On believer.

Last nigh,t we ran around the house trying to get things in order for the week. I made my tomato and bean soup (with bacon!) again, and around 9:45 we heard the warning sirens go off to the north of us. We were expecting a bad storm but since the rain hadn't even started the warning sirens we a bit unexpected. We hung out in the basement and tried to find out what was happening by going online There was a tornado warning for our area, and because of how detailed Doppler radar is we knew exactly what was happening and how long we needed to stay in the basement.

So that was the weekend... a few things I have come across this morning that mad for interesting reads.

Graveyard etiquette?

Hungry Planet I Hungry Planet II two features on this new book Hungry Planet. Very interesting idea and pictures. Notice not only the differences in what the developed nations have, but what they don't eat. Also, it was interesting to see the more expensive foods/ developed counties had much more packaging involved in getting their food.

Finally, I leave you with this cartoon. Happy Fall!

kindle duex

In case you were wondering what it looks like or how big it is, I have taken a picture and put it next to a clicky pencil. Underneath is the case Bill bought me from sfbags.com We love their bags. A bit pricey maybe, but well made and thought out and made in the US.

Happy Wednesday!

So for right now I am going to try and keep my post from the other day at the top of my blog. Bill and I are off to a great start with our fund raising, and though this year has been tough on people I hope there are still people willing to donate to such a good cause.

In other news, I have a new love in my life. It is my birthday gift, Miss Kitty the Kindle (That was the only cute name I could come up with on the fly). I am currently reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes on it and love love love it!

Not much else going on in my life. Here are pictures from Mom and my Grandparent's visit. most are at the bean the night we went to see Jersey Boys.

happy birthday Erin Alana and

ME!

This weekend we were busy busy bees again. We were out everyday and I am now getting to the point where I don't want to leave my home for a while.

Anyway I don't have much to say because it is ugly gray and rainy outside. The weekend made me tired and the weather isn't helping.

happy birthday neil

and many happy returns....

Today is wednesday, but since i had a three day week last week it feels like it should be Friday already.

this week has been about getting back to a normal schedule, and for the last two nights Bill has made it to bed before me. I guess I am too much of a party animal.

back to work

Bill said to me this morning, "That was a long short weekend."

Indeed, that is a great way to describe it.

Mom flew in on Thursday evening, and we stayed up for a while chatting and catching up. Friday I took that day off, but Bill worked so we both got up and going not too late. Mom and I went and had lunch with my grandma (Mimi) and we then walked and shopped before catching a cab to meet Bill and Giddo (my grandpa) for dinner. Dinner was at millennium park's Park Grill. Then it was off to Jersey Boys. I think everyone really enjoyed the show.

Saturday my uncle Chris drove up from Indianapolis and we had lunch/ brunch at The Gage and then went over to the Art Institute. Bill and I spent the entire time in the new wing and after allowing for some shopping time for my mom and Mimi at the gift shop we headed over to the Celtic fest. We hung out there for about an hour and a half and the headed over to Shaw's for dinner. Saturday night I introduced my mom to the HBO shows True Blood and Hung (she enjoyed the latter not so much the former).

Sunday we got up and went to the Frankfort market and then off to Costco (I know the juxtaposition is disturbing). We got home and got things ready to have Bill's parents and sister over along with my Mom, Mimi, Giddo and Chris. We had a lovely day for a great cook out, and I was able to show case some of my garden's delights: garden heirloom tomatoes and basil, a salad with market green beans, garden cherry tomatoes, garden cucumbers and garden herbs, and lettuce from the garden for the burgers.

This morning we dropped mom off at the airport before going back home and getting ready for the day. I have a feeling Bill and I will both be to bed early tonight.

never forget...

garlic!!

I just ordered on pound of garlic to plant for next year. I have no idea how much that is, but I have a page of instructions and I think I am going to ask (sucker) my dad to help me plant it as they say it should be planted in October after a light frost.

Not sure about this latest adventure as I didn't think the whole process out. The events went more like this...

I get an email from seed savers saying that the the time to order garlic is now!! hurry up and get your garlic only 3 varieties left!! Hmm I think to myself this must be good stuff, and I like garlic, so I click on the link.
Oh no! It is selling like hot cakes (where did that phrase come from anyway); now there is only one variety (with an organic or conventional) left. Oh dear I think if I want yummy garlic next year I had better do this RIGHT NOW. No time to talk to Bill or think about the logistics. So I click add to cart and then I try to log in.
ACK!! My password isn't working. Don't you people know I am in a hurry. I search my gmail for an email with a password on it, of course instead of my password it was some generic thing they gave me. I log in make the purchase and let out a sigh of relief.
The relief last about 2 min and then I think to myself, What in the world did I just do?!? How much is a pound of garlic? Where am I going to put it? How do I plant it? How do I harvest it?

Ok, I have calmed down and found some nice general instructions. After every line it says: be careful not to bruise your garlic cloves, or be careful not to drop you garlic cloves, or be careful not to yank your garlic out buy the stems. Apparently, garlic needs to be handled with care, as after all of these warnings the end of the instructions reminds you, once again, that your garlic is a living plant and must be treated with care.

Pictures from Saturday

tuesday = monday,

but Thursday=Friday.
yes I know I sound confused, but with family visiting this weekend I am taking Friday off to spend with my mom and grandparents. So, even though my week just began it's hump day already.

This weekend started off with a wonderful dinner at Japonais. Bill and I enjoyed our hot rock beef and our yummy nigiri. Then it was to home and bed because we had important things to get up for on Saturday, namely seeing Carolyn and watching the Notre Dame football game. ND won, playing a great game, and it was so much fun to see Carolyn and get a tour of her campus. Pictures will be posted hopefully tonight. By the time we got home on Saturday night and had some dinner we were fried. We watched Howl's Moving Castle -- Miyazaki's take on the story was beautiful and whimsical.

Sunday we spent a good portion of the early afternoon at the Franfort Fall fest. We had a lovely lunch at Francesca's Fortunato and had fun weaving through all the artisan booths. We ended up purchasing a framed photograph for our living room. We saw the same booth last year and love the pictures from Italy and France, and with our dining room all painted and everything it was too pretty to pass up. Friday evening we went to Bill's co-worker Steve's BBQ. He smoked briskets and a turkey and we had a really nice time.

Yesterday we got an early move on the day, but sorta petered out after lunch. we did hang the new painting and Bill mowed and edged. Mostly I played my new Nintendo DS game: Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box. This is a puzzle/brainteaser game that I got for the train rides, but I needed to "try it" yesterday to make sure it was good :)

Today we will need to work more in the basement and first floor getting things ready for our guests. I not have very little time so the work put in should increase exponentially until Thursday when I pick mom up.

That's all for now.

tv od

Last night i finished watching season 2 of Veronica Mars on dvd. I really should never buy tv on dvd. I can't stop myself from watching too many episodes all at once. Which means I have not gone for a bike ride or done laundry or anything of that nature this weekend. Luckily, I am all done now.

I called my acupuncturist to make an appointment yesterday, only to find out he has left for Afghanistan unexpectedly. I tried to google him (to make sure it wasn't lawsuit or criminal), but either its nothing or I need some tips on Internet sleuthing from Veronica Mars herself.

I made a delicious homemade soup on Sunday. Never doubt a recipe that tells you to chop up bacon and fry it. Garden is going well... I should do something with my celery... I guess we'll use some in our stir fry. We're starting to get a decent number of peppers and my big tomatoes should start being ready today or tomorrow (I had originally hoped yesterday, but it's been so dang cold here.)

This week isn't a short week, but it feels like it should be. Things are going to start picking up at work in the next few weeks. Mom and Mimi will be coming in on the 10th, but before that I get to see Carolyn at the ND football game this weekend - yay!!!

Fall is here as marked by the shorter days and the need for an extra blanket on the bed. enjoy the season.

spring cleaning or is that fall?

I cleaned up my blog a little and added some things to my side bar. Nothing big but it is part of my cleaning movement. I am trying to clean up and organize my live. I cleaned and sorted and filed at work before I left for vacation and cleaned up my email in boxes upon my return. I tried to clean up our dumping ground known as the kitchen island (that lasted about 2 days). I also tried to clean up my dining room and will have to make more head way on the basement this weekend. If anyone has ideas or suggestions to keep thinks like the kitchen island (or desk etc) free of clutter like bills and coupons and just junk I would love to hear them.

We have had a lot of rain this week and our grass which was dead when we got back 2 weeks ago is bright green and looking like its mid may instead of late august. Garden seems to have survived, but I bet the tomatoes haven't liked the 60 degree days. My big tomatoes were getting tinges of red before the deluge this week.

This weekend is like the extra paycheck of weekends. You know when you get paid every other week there are two months of the year that you get an extra paycheck. I feel like because this is the last week of August this weekend should be Labor Day weekend, but it isn't and it, therefore, feels like a gift of one more weekend of summer. Unfortunately, no one told mother nature about this treat, and so the weather is supposed to be wet and dreary as it has been this whole week.

Last night, there was nothing on TV and it was pouring and nasty outside, so Bill and I broke into the second season of Veronica Mars. It's always nice to watch a TV show you liked again with out commercials. It does annoy me, though, that good shows end up getting cancelled too early.

Enjoy your weekend!

firefox and 21st century tech

I was able to get firefox on my computer today at work. So for people like Bill who have made fun of me for years I have now entered the 21st century. though i don't feel as accomplished as I thought I would.

in honor of bill

who was attacked last night

check out savage chickens -it's great!

bad fish

we tried a new type of fish yesterday, turbot. this was a large waste of money and we will never purchase again. instead of being light and flaky it was fishy and mushy. yuck!

harvesting weekend in three acts

Just like "This American Life" I will present my weekend in three acts:
----
Act 1
Also know as attack of the large creepy spider:

This past Saturday, I got up at a reasonable hour got dressed slathered on some sunscreen and some bug spray and set out to work in my garden. due to the neglect of being gone on vacation and the massive amount of rain we received last week I had a jungle on my hands.

I started at one end cleaning up some of the larger weeds in my flower/mulched areas working my way back towards the garden. One of the things I noticed was that there were a ton of crickets all over the yard. This weather must be perfect for them or something because my yard is literally crawling with them. As I get to my garden area I notice how well my herbs are doing and then I start pulling the big weeks.

I get about 2 feet down the fenced part of the garden when I feel spider web on my arm. Like a lot of spider web. Like I need to brush my arms and check this out only to see a big crazy freaky spider right next to me on the brown bag I had been tossing the weeds in. I scream my bug scream and freak out. by freak out I mean I simultaneously run while slapping/brushing off my entire body. I also start shedding extraneous clothing: one glove laded half way to the deck in the yard the other on the deck stairs the hat on the deck it self (it received a few good kicks). Then I proceed inside with Winnie, who is wondering what in the world is going on. I then take off my clothing in the down stairs bath and stomp on it a few times. After checking my body in the mirror for any bugs, I replace the clothing and decided that I can wait until Bill wakes up to finish weeding.
----
Act 2
Actually harvesting in the garden:

After Bill awoke, we went back outside and he took care of the spider. I know spiders are good for my garden and what not, and this morning I told Bill not to disturb the very large web on the side of our garage, but I couldn’t work in the garden ever again knowing that thing was out there waiting to get me again.

I take the view that if I get about 60% of the weeds each time I go out and if I weed regularly the diminishing weed population will be a very acceptable amount to maintain. I would like to get more but the way my tomatoes and cucumber plants grew there are weeds I just can’t reach without harming my plants.

Anyway, I wrap up my weeding and go get some of the farmers market containers that we have. I grab a pair of kitchen shears and snip a bunch of tomato clusters. I then get two semi-overripe cucumbers snap off two peppers and cut a bunch of the remaining broccoli. I then go crazy on my 4 foot tall basil plants and cut foot long pieces off of them.
----
Act 3
Cooking and Sunday activities:

Sunday mid-morning we head over to the farmers market after dropping Winnie off at pet smart for a bath and nail trim. With the bounty from our garden and some leftovers from last week, we don’t need much this weekend so it was a quick trip. I should note that this weekend was the first time in a month that we went to the grocery store. (we had gotten some milk at fair oaks farm on our way home last week). Once home we made some left over chicken into a chicken salad and got to boiling the carcass to make stock. I also get started on my pesto. With as much basil as I had culled I made 4 one cup batches of pesto. I don’t’ know what I’ll do with that much, but there you have it.

Last night, after wrapping up cooking and playing with our clean nice smelling dog we went out to dinner. I know, with all the food and stuff around I doesn’t quite make sense, but I had been bugging Bill about trying fondue for like a year now, and he had made reservations. We had a great time and I have decided I need to learn how to make the cheese sauce they had at the restaurant.

Ok I hope you all have a great week.

chicken and biscuits

Last night, Bill found an easy recipe to bake a split chicken and I tried for the second time in my life to my biscuits. I should probably note, I have made grands plenty of times, and as a kid made the Bisquick drop ones a number of time too. What I am talking about is taking the flour and shortening and milk and rolling out and cutting round little pieces of dough. This time I had my pastry cutter thing that I invested in to make pie crust last year. that helped a lot. I still don't have a round cookie/biscuit cutter so I used a wine glass, which, with its stem, makes an excellent biscuit cutter.

We have had a lot of rain here since Sunday and yesterday my walk home from the train was a very wet ordeal. Bill had to dry out his wallet which he had in his front pocket and that was with a rain coat and umbrella. The rain in Chicago does not fall mainly on the plains. Of course, it's because we have paved over the plains, and that is why the streets become rivers as the water had nowhere to go.

back and what not

so we had a great trip. you can read about it more on our travel blog (see the link in the post below.)

It was really nice to come home on a Saturday (something we have tried to do with longer vacations) and it was super nice that Bill and I had had the time to clean our house before we left... which made Sunday truly a day of rest.

Yesterday, it was back to the grind in wet nasty weather. It the morning, Bill noticed that our gutters in the front were over flowing. A definitive sign that the gutters need cleaning. So, we head to work knowing it will be on the top of the to do list in the evening.

Last night, after changing Bill says he is going to go deal with the gutters before we head out to the gym. I wanted to run to the library, but told him I would wait if he needed me. He said he didn't and off I went. As I was coming home, it was starting to drizzle and Bill was on the second side of the house. Good, I thought, he'll be done before the rain really starts up and we'll be at the gym durring the storm . Sadly, we never made it to the gym last night. When Bill came in he informed me that he had slipped and fallen off the ladder on the first side of the house after coming upon a bee hive while cleaning the gutters. poor bill. he seems fine other than scrapes bruises and swelling. I might be the one, however, getting up on the ladder the next time.

Today the CFA exam results for level II and III came out and I am proud (and very happy) to report that Brian passed level III. Brian turned 24 last week and has now passed all three levels of the exam making his sister who will turn 28 next month and who passed level one this year feel a little inadequate. such is life... sibling rivalries are slow to die.

That's about all the news that is fit to print. I will try to be better about posting down that we are back.

don't forget we are on vacation

which means we are posting on our vacation blog.
www.sandbsadventures.blogspot.com

4 wonderful years

...and looking forward to many more. I Love You!

busy as a bumble bee

we leave on Saturday for our trip so we have been booking hotels and planing routes looking up bbq joints and making lists. Now for those of you who know me you know what a control freak I am about things like vacations. I like to have a plan and I like to have a schedule and I like to have lists. So because the plan is finally forming and lists are being made I am finally feeling a bit more at ease about the trip and am now very excited.

On top of that we had a busy weekend which included a nice long bike ride on sunday. unfortunately, since that ride. i have had itchy bumps on my shoulders and across my chest. and no, i haven't changed detergent/soap/lotion. the sad thing is it's wednesday and they haven't gone away.

yesterday we ate some broccoli from the garden... i am always so impressed by how much each plant can provide for a person. we have 8 plants and about once a week harvest a small serving for each of us either to be steamed or put into stir fry.

ready for a road trip?

Follow allong on our other blog:

Sarah and Bill's Adventures

We leave this weekend.

all my plants are falling down....

...falling down falling down

I don't know what i should do about my bush beans, but i think some bamboo steaks are in order.  dad says that next year i should try topping my tomato plants before the get to be 6 feet high. today i found a pepper plant on its side....  i give up!

not really but it is annoying to find all your hard work fall over.

any suggestions or ideas?

my cucumber plants are dying by the way.  i think it needs to be warmer for them to thrive.  When should i pick a cucumber?  i have one that is almost pear shaped and about 6" long  I am thinking it might need to be picked but i don't know.

that is it for the garden update

AC in 60 degree weather.

Yesterday Bill and I had our AC and furnace replaced. Annoying and expensive, we hope that it will leave us with better savings and in a more comfortable environment. We got energy star rated appliances that qualify us for the Obama tax credit. Of course, this morning it was 60 degrees so I doubt we will really get to try this out for a little bit.

Last night we went to dinner with Dan(ny) and Brian. It was a lot of fun and reminded me how much I miss my cousins back home.

Since I didn't blog about the weekend I need to give a quick recap --the highlights if you will.

Friday: Pierogi Fest in Whiting IN (complete with the Polka Parade)
Saturday: 13 Mi bike ride to shed some of the Pierogi Pounds :) and then Dinner at Blackbird with Bill and Lena
Sunday: Frankfort farmers market with Lily and then lunch on the deck and a movie to boot.

I spent much of Monday worrying about my test results and whether I should acquire an application to clown school.

I PASSED!!!!

Level one... which means I get to do this all again next year.

I'll have to get the pictures from this weekend up at some point but right now I am too excited to write my blog.

Happy Friday!

I hope you all have a great weekend. I hope to go ogle some bikes this weekend and Bill has to go to the dentist.

So I may have mentioned this before, but I am currently reading two books. Wuthering Heights, which I had never read in HS/college and this book...

I am really liking it, as I love history books and this writer is very good at his storytelling. Anyway, I am on the part where the Spanish are hunting across all of the Americas for gold. And just to tie things together, last night we watched that new Indiana Jones movie where they travel to South America in the hunt for el Dorado.

picture updates

Maura might kill me as she didn't like this photo, but this is the gang at the white sox game on Monday night


Bounty from my garden. I wanted to blur the background in the photo editing program we have, but no luck. I think I am either very inept at those programs or they are very counter intuitive.
____

Not much else shakin' these days. we tried the bacon we bought at the farmer's market last night. had it with blueberry pancakes and farm fresh eggs. yum!

gray-no-more

ok so that is a really bad pun about the bike ride bill and I took last night. We are still exploring the areas around our house so we try to go to different places on our bike rides. last night we decided to aim towards the deli we like so that we could get some dinner part of the way through the ride. we enjoyed our ride through homewood and flossmoor and decided to go down a decent looking development off of vollmer. the street we turned down was graymoor. and then we came to a cross street in the development ... it was called graymoor. in fact we say a sign more confusing than those ones in Ireland one side of the street had three road signs all for graymoor and the other had a one way sign for... ...yup graymoor



in case you don't believe me

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More visits

I had a great weekend that started on Thursday with an 8:30 showing of Harry Potter and ended with relaxing on the couch last night watching some tv with Bill. In between...

Friday Bill took the day off for some much needed rest. The case he had been working on ended Thursday and he needed some r&r. Bill drove into the city and picked me up early from work and we drove out to the west burbs to attend the Nordstrom Anniversary sale. Now I like shopping and in my list of things not to miss this ranks higher than any day after thanksgiving or day after Christmas sale. Nordstroms is expensive but the quality and customer care they have are great. And when they have a sale they do it right. Bill and I both got a few new items for work. (and I finally got the black pants I have been belly aching about since November.) Since we were out there, we ordered food to go from Wildfire --with points! So we had ribs and salad for dinner. We spent the rest of the evening hanging out.

Saturday I spent sometime in the morning weeding the yard. I also took out two tomato plants that were wilted and not coming back. we aren't sure if it was some type of bacteria/fungus or just over watering (I am hoping the later), but to keep it from spreading it was the best option in case it was contagious. For my troubles, I ended up with so nasty mosquito bites. Bill got some work to do so I relaxed and tried to zen away the itchies watching Miss Congeniality. We then packed up the car and headed out to Naperville. We ran some errands and then headed to REI to look at bikes and their summer sale items. I didn't purchase a bike but did see a few I might test drive. The we had some returns to make at Nordstroms and some other stops at the mall. Finally we stopped and got Winnie some more food and headed home. After some left over ribs we cleaned up the house a bit for our guests that were coming.

Sunday morning was filled with a bit more tidying, going to the farmers market and getting ready for Maura Jeff and the boys to visit. We had such a wonderful evening with them and Brian. It was nice to sit out and enjoy the summer night (even if it was only 70` outside). After they left, we played a few games of corn hole (or "bags" as you Chicagoans call it). Then we settled in for some Sunday night tv and hanging out with the dog.

I hope you had as uneventful but enjoyable weekend as we did.

bicycle BICYCLE!

ok i was trying to think of a title to this post... ...its sad that you all probably don't get it and now I am stuck with a Queen song in my head.

Anyway. now that i have my bicycle in working order I am loving it. I enjoy my spin classes when I go, but there is something so much nicer about riding outside. Of course, I am now having bike envy because Carolyn and her brother brother recently got bikes. I am tossing about the idea of a good bike, but then i feel like maybe i need to prove myself first. we my bike isn't in good enough order to do any long ride, but there is a ride in October called the pumpkin pie ride. they have 25, 61 and 100mile courses. I am pretty sure that i can do the 25 in about 2 hours, so I am considering signing up. I would love to be in good enough shape to do a century, but that isn't happening without some serious training and a new bike.

great weekend... for me at least

So I had a fabulous weekend. I unfortunately cannot say the same for Bill who was stuck in the office during the day both days.

Saturday we had a HVAC guy come a pitch a new A/C and furnace to me. Bill scheduled this a few weeks ago when we had to get the A/C fixed. an hour and a half later I had discovered just how priced replacing these things are and that my furnace, which proudly claimed to be a carrier was actually some bottom line furnace with a carrier emblem affixed to the outside of it. (that was real classy previous owners...)

Since that was at 8am I had a long day ahead of me. I weeded my garden (I need to show you guys pictures... my tomato plants are taller than me!) ran some errands with the dog, ending in getting a grilled salmon salad from a local butcher/deli type place. laid out and read a book (which I have never done at this new house!) played some wii fit (I love the boxing ans hula hooping!) drove down town and got bill at 5 and then got read for the concert we had tickets for.

Bill had bought tickets to see No Doubt with Paramore back in March as his birthday gift. Little did he know how busy this weekend would be. But, we got to the show and had a great time. Gwen Stefani looks really good for a woman with to kids, but I guess that is what she is paid to be/do. anyway we got home and in bed around 2am.

Poor Bill had to be up around 6 something to catch a train into the city to work on Sunday. I got to sleep in until almost 9 which was much needed. Highlights of Sunday include Frankfurt's farmers market, Winnie getting groomed, and a cooking spree. I made tabouli, hummus and mom's blueberry coffee cake. I picked Bill up around 8pm and we had a late dinner around 10.

Yesterday I enjoyed a nice 50min bike ride around Homewood and had a quite evening at home. Bill caught the 12:40AM train. he got home around 2am. I want my husband back! this is now basically tradition that at some point in July every year he has to work an 80 hour week.

Happy Friday!

So my work has a subsidized cafe up on the top floor. And when I don't have breakfast, like today, I will go up and snag something up there. There is a woman named Terry that works upstairs, mostly at the register, but also serving some of the food and keeping things clean. Terry can always make you smile, remembers you name and ever detail of your life you have told her and greets you on Fridays with a big, "HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE!"

Terry - you are awesome!

Bike ride

Bill cleaned off our bikes put air in our tires and we went for a 45 min bike ride last night. It was nice to get out and about, and since the weather was over cast and cool it was a very refreshing ride.

Last night, we made more of the beet greens from the garden. Bill has decided the greens are ok even if he doesn't like the beets themselves.

Mosquitoes are in full swing. every evening I seem to get a few from taking winnie out. if any one knows of ways to prevent this without long pants or bug spray i would appreciate the tips. (I don't want to change or spray just to take winnie out)

The other problem we are having for the second year in a row is a rust fungus of some sort on part of our lawn. I am thinking it is because of the rain but I don't know how to organically fix this. Any ideas?

pictures

Fourth of July

So we were back in Cleveland over the weekend. Bill worked a half a day on Thursday and I took the day off. I made us a health lunch of lettuce and beet greens from the garden to make up for the garbage that we would eat on the way into town. We packed the car and got on the road before any major traffic and arrived in Solon around 9:30 far earlier than we are accustomed. Winnie was really excited to see Macy Jane (my Aunt & Uncle's lab). We settled in and made plans for Friday since Erin and Brad were off of work.

Friday we all went to the barn and then Brad Bill and Larry left to get fireworks on an all day excursion. I stayed and rode Dandy (and Bailey for a few minutes) and then we were off with much of the 4-H club in tow. I helped my cousins with their horse costumes for the fair and also visited with Bob and Cathy Clarke who came into town from Arizona. That night the adults went out for dinner and then a quick trip to my cousin Billy and Tina's house in Chagrin Falls. They just got a new puppy (9 week old boxer!) and have been doing a ton of work since moving into their house a few months ago.

Saturday we went to Dad's for a fabulous breakfast (that included fresh blueberry pancakes with smashed blueberries and cream cheese frosting on top.) Bill Dad Winnie and I took a quick walk down the tow paths by the canal and then we were off again. We all got to Maura and Jeff's in the late afternoon with plenty of time for a long creek walk before dinner. Jeff , as always made awesome burgers and grilled chicken, and all the sides brought by family were great. After dinner there was wiffle ball, Irish dance and time to catch up with all the family. once it got dark we had smores and a great fireworks display by Brad (who had help from Larry Bill and Danny). By the time we got home the girls could hardly walk to their beds and the dogs fell asleep and wouldn't budge all night.

Sunday E&B made a great breakfast and we got on the road around 11:30. We were home around 4:30 (Chicago time) and and time to unwind and get read for the week.

I have pictures from the weekend and will post a slide show later today.

Hope you all have as much fun as we did -- Happy Fourth of July!

Cheesecake...

So I hadn't had a chance to post my picture of the cheesecake which I took because they had a sign about posting your picture to Eli's website. But I think I have reached celebrity status with the commenter on my previous post. Unless someone is messing with me, which wouldn't be nice.

Anyway, here is my picture that I took for the Eli's Cheesecake contest. Actually, Bill took it as I was in it. Also, notice that I have the nifty "I back the bid" bracelet, which can be yours if you sign up at the 2016 tent.

I love the Taste!

Bill and I went to the Taste of Chicago last night. Since I started spending my summers here, (the summer of 2001) I have gone to the Taste every year. This year was no exception. I was bummed when I read that there would be less vendors that last year (including the loss of bella luna). But I was excited for the new format and the mandatory 2 taste portions. Anyway, as the rain held off yesterday Bill and I decided to try to go because we weren't sure about the rain today or tomorrow.

Tickets are still 8 for 12$, so we bought 3 sheets of tickets for the two of us. now usually we end off the night trying to figure out what to do with our one or two tickets, but with two taste offerings at every booth I was optimistic.

**note we only get taste portions unless otherwise stated**
We started off right away with my curry fries. I have never been to Abby pub, and if I did go I don't know if I would even try their curry fries, but it is a tradition for me to start the taste off going up Jackson and getting my curry fries. We then hit up Sweet Baby Ray's for a meatball sandwich (or a large meatball on a sad looking bun). I then got two cheese perogi from the Polka Sausage and Deli (usually I get perogis from kasia's). We couldn't pass up the sweet potato hashbrown from Hashbrowns, but with all of that heavy food I ended up passing on my normal frozen banana. (I could always get it on my way out).

Time for the main strip! We head down the main drag, that was surprisingly open due to the redesign and the smaller number of vendors. Seriously, I hardly ran into anyone while walking down the main drag. We happily past Robinson's (as we still had meatball on our pallet) and Eli's (oh we'll be back don't you worry my sweet cheesecake). We stop by Lou Malnati's for some bruschetta and then turn toward the Buckingham Fountain. We check out the offerings at the chefs table, and while they all sound great we weren't willing to part with enough tickets for any of them. We picked up some churros from Adobo Grill (though I really wish they had a taste of their guacamole.) then we went down the southern most part. Bill sadly past Las Tablas (they don't do a taste of their empanadas) and then hit up Arya Bhavan for a taste of samosa.

On our way back, I hit up Tuscany for some fried ravioli. As we walked, we were trying to figure out what to do with our 6 tickets. We were happy it wasn't 5 because then you never know what to do with the two. anyway as were are walking a little boy comes up to us and asks us if we would like his ticket. Now Bill and I are hardened city-ites and so we assume something is wrong with this picture, but we see he is there with his mom and we ask her and she says they are leaving. What a genuinely nice thing- it really made our day. And, because we had 7 tickets, we were able to get an Oreo Eli's cheesecake with ice cream on top (the only non-taste portion of the night). It was a sweet end to a wonderful taste experience. And again little boy -- I don't know who you are but thank you for making our night so nice.

Beautiful Weekend

We have had a beautiful weekend here. We had dinner downtown with Angela Jason and the kiddies on Friday. And Saturday we had the four of them over for a cook out. Today we took winnie to Starve Rock and went hiking for a few hours.

Anyway we have had a great weekend and the heat and humidity finally broke so the weather has been phenomenal.

hot hot and more hot

so it went from lows in the 40s to highs in the 90s in a week and a half period of time. my garden, which has been bombarded by rain doesn't know what to do, and the weeds are taller that the plants in some places.

Out air conditioner got fixed yesterday... i don't know if we will replace it or not. sigh... sometimes a house is not all it is cracked up to be.

work is busy for me and bill, and our second wave of visitors are coming in today.

Taste of Chicago starts up tomorrow and Bill and I will have to make plans to go for dinner or lunch next week.

that is about it... we're still eating muddy buddy/ puppy chow here in our office. I guess when each recipe calls for 9 cups of cereal you end up with a lot.

Better luck next time James

I won the muddy buddy puppy chow throw down at our office today. It was James vs me and we did a phone in American Idol style contest replete with a paula, randy and simon. Even after discounting the fact that I added extra voters (thanks Bill) I won. The real winners are my co workers who now have 18 cups of cereal covered in chocolate to eat.

Apparently, I won through intimidation as two different people called into Lani and told her they were voting for me because they thought I would "hit harder" or I "would yell at them more". Geez people can be so sensitive sometimes.

Here is a picture of us and our entries sorry it's blurry Amy couldn't hold the camera and press the button. Amy was not allowed in the picture since she forgot her entry. maybe I'll take a picture of her red white and blue cupcakes she is supposed to make as reparation for forgetting the contest today.