The drive home

Sometimes the graffiti is interesting. This cat (?) on a box car caught me eye as I was driving home the other day. The picture looks more urban than the neighborhood feels.

And on the same drive my car hit 9,000 miles.

This is February?

What an unbeleivably beautiful day we had yesterday. It got up to 70 degrees. Not sure if that is a new record. Kids went to school wearing shorts ...

and daffodilas are starting to shoot up. Andy thought Schubert would stop by. He didn't. Fingers crossed he survived the winter.

The morning weather forecast yesterday.

We ended the day with tornado watches and hail. Gotta love Midwest weather.

Another cat puzzle

We've never had a puzzle do this before - the very thin backing slid off of several pieces. Guess it's a really old, dry puzzle. Doesn't seem to interfere with putting the puzzle together.

My helper, of course.

so cute and done but ...

missing one edge piece.

August and B

B has been getting up before dawn to work out then comes home and relaxes a bit before starting his work day. The other morning August sat in his lap and they both had a nap.

Long church day

The anniversary group planning the Black history celebration got a little carried away with all the activities they had planned yesteday. The morning started with a panel talking about health equity in different neighborhoods across the area.

There was also a Black vendor fair.

The presentation about cultural foods was interesting.

We tasted and judged 10 macaroni and cheese dishes. Mac and cheese isn't my favorite. It was interesting that the 10 people watching the presenatation were all church members. Some vendors stopped in to taste the mac and cheese but didn't stay for the talk.

There were also various health screenings offered.

The afternoon ended with two musical kids groups. The idea was to bring people into the church and I'm not sure that was accomplished aside from the vendors and health care professionals manning the various booths. We spent about $350 on publicity (not my idea) and overall a third of our anniversary budget on the Black history events. I'll have to talk to my co-chair and see what she thought.

It’s t-o-r-t-i-l-l-a-s

I asked Andy to add tortillas to the grocery list. He said, how do you spell that? I heard B answer and not sure if he told him wrong or Andy couldn't hear what he had said, but they got it wrong. It's creative spelling.

Let’s talk about history

Andy and I went to the Black History Forum at church last night. It was an event my co-chair and I cut from the budget which miraculously was then privately funded (long story). Anyway, my co-chair had another commitment so I thought I needed to show up. And the museum was selling books there which I drove over. Good thing I got there early because our "house managers" never set up a table as I requested.

We had about 50 people there, way over my prediction.

So happy to see my Pioneer friend Brett there!

And since it was National Margarita Day, Andy and I stopped by Shanahan's in Forest Park afterward for a $5 special drink.

My crockpot dinner burned (how does that even happen?) so Andy and I supplemented it with pretzels and cheese when we got home. I found this "Siamese" pretzel, two stuck together. Where's the quality control?

Sweet, sleeping cats

‘Be Kind’ puzzle

August is ready to start this puzzle.

Muffles likes the sunshine.

All done and missing two pieces. In the recycling bin it goes.

Kids on the move

E and D took advantage of the Presidents Day weekend by driving back up to Whistler, Canada, to ski and snowboard. This time they boarded the dogs.

Here's E snowboarding.

Cute picture.

L had Monday off and sent me this picture of her in Effingham. What?

She's with her friend T on a road trip.

They reached their destination by 2 p.m.

I went outside for a walk. It was almost 50 degrees here. Snowdrops are blooming. I thought that was unusual but a quick Google said they bloom January to March. Maybe they're usually snow-covered or I'm not outside.

I had to run up to church and saw this pretty cardinal in the tree as I was leaving. His mate was there too but harder to see.

Taking a look

This is Old Oak Country Club in Homer Glen where Andy plays on Saturdays in the summer. We drove there Sunday to look at a few houses that are for sale. Can't say I was impressed.

This was right across the street from the golf course. It had a bad layout.

This was a little farther away and had a horribly small kitchen with no storage.

This was my favorite of the day ...

but what's with this sunken living room? They all need updating. We'll be staying put.

Back to school

I was ready early Friday to be at the high school at 8 a.m. for a civics fair, trying to encourage students to volunteer with us. Here I am with our board president and operations manager. We had a few kids interested but it seemed they were all less energized than the students we saw last semester.

I couldn't resist sending this pic to E. I was searching for girls' sports photos later that day and came across this one, not identified at all. My manager said it looks like it's from the 1930s so I started going through all the 1930s yearbooks. Found it half-way through in the 1935 Tabula. Times have changed.

A muffin?

Came home from work yesterday and found this in the dining room. Apparently August climbed on the kitchen counter, grabbed a wrapped muffin, tore it apart and ate a decent amount. When B came downstairs I told him what I found and he said he found the same thing Thursday afternoon but he thought Andy dropped a muffin and August tore it open. The muffins have now been placed inside a cabinet.

Downstate snow

It was colder today than it has been but it was a pretty sunny day. Downstate, though, they got snow. L said it was like a blizzard by U of I and then Darla sent me this picture of her backyard bird feeder. She knows I love cardinals, especially against the snow. She goes through a lot of bird seed.

Tuesday night out

Andy and I went to Friendy's Tuesday night for their monthly comedy show. This is Jack Baker. He was doing a good job when a man from the bar walked in and started heckling him. It was awkward.

It was their one-year anniversary of doing shows so they had cake ... Costco cake. Second time I've had Costco cake in a week. They're popular and tasty.

Each comedian gets five minutes but this was the headliner, Tyler Fowler, last one to perform, so he was on stage a bit longer. He was funny.

This was the night's line-up. Maybe someone will be famous one day. We always think of going to the show but it's hard to remember second Tuesday of the month. Last (and first) time we went was in August. A free date night out and we were home by 9:15 p.m. Can't beat that.

A problem with balloons?

I'm blaming August for this but Muffles is also a suspect. We brought home the balloons from the church celebration Sunday and had them sitting on the dining room table, still tied to the balloon weight. We were gone about four hours for the Auto Show, walked in the house and saw the balloons on the ceiling. Then I notice ...

the balloon weight with the balloon strings all chewed up. Wonder what those balloons did to make the cats mad.