Let’s try this again

Andy and I tried to use a promotional United Card offer at Salerno's for his birthday dinner but his birthday was on a a Friday and, we found out while we were there, that the offer wasn't valid on the weekends. Last night, we tried again. This time it worked.

Getting ready to crop

I was on my way to mail my deposit for this October's scrapbooking crop and had to pass the Goodwill so thought I'd stop in. You never know what you might find. I found an unopened pack of Creative Memories paper - 10x12 inches (odd size), 17 colors, 34 sheets. I think it was a sign. You can't have too much paper.

Workshop with a surprise

Tuesday wasn't a work day for me but I attended a workshop at the local library about branding, sponsored by a business association and given by the local community college. It was a nice surprise to be offered sandwiches, chips and coffee. I wasn't expecting that. There are two more workshops in the coming month - websites and social media - and once I complete them all I'll even get a certificate.

Picture of the group posted by the business association.

Goldfinger Brewing

Andy and I had fun exploring local breweries last summer and found ourselves a little farther out west on Sunday and discovered Goldfinger Brewing Co. in Downers Grove.

Beer was good but the place itself was pretty chilly. Those chips were our lunch. The back side of the tall glass says, "Drink more lager" because they brew lagers, of course.

Andy is deep in thought as he studies the beer options to see what he'll try next. We'd go back if we are in the area. They don't serve food but you can get pizza delivered from a nearby restaurant for free.

Memories of Easter

"Holy, Holy, Holy" was the opening hymn at church on Sunday. It's weird for me to sing it when it's not Easter as it was the opening song every Easter growing up. And in our hymnal, it was song No. 1. I didn't even realize churches sing it when it's not Easter.

So Oak Park

We drove up behind this car the other day and it's a moving billboard for everything Oak Park from the "Adopt don't shop" and NPR stickers to the Democratic candidates and equality stickers. Apparently a Chicago sports fan but not into baseball. When I mentioned the car was everything Oak Park, Andy said, "And it has an 'I love Oak Park' sticker too." I thought he was joking, but there it was on the bumper.

Neither of us had heard of Regis University so I had to look it up. It's a private Jesuit Catholic University in Denver. This quote on its home page is definitely a welcome sign to Oak Parkers.

Beautiful tiger puzzle

One of the problems with buying resale puzzles is that they can be missing pieces. This one was missing the poster and the picture wrapped oddly around the box so I was doing it pretty much blind. The pink tiger that's on the right side of the box is in the middle of the puzzle and the big tiger in the puzzle isn't shown on the box at all.

I was snacking on some cheese and crackers when August jumped up on the table and swiped a piece of my cheese.

It's been too cold (not even 5 degrees outside) to go outside so I've made a lot of progress in a short amount of time despite August.

All done and complete! Such a pretty puzzle.

Trellis in the alley

This trellis behind our garage has been hanging on by a thread and when I tossed out some garbage the other night it was laying in the alley. We have a metal trellis in the yard that we might put in its place. I'm wondering if the clematis that were attached to it will come up this spring.

Tree works

We've been enjoying how simple is it to put up our pre-lit Christmas trees. I'd like to do a traditional green tree this year but said it would be nice to find one that could change between colored and white lights.

Andy found one after Christmas that can do that and more. He brought it in the house the other day to make sure it worked before the return window closes.

Purple, anyone?

New job site

L picked up a shift at the French Quarter the other day and how cute is this costume? She said it's her favorite so for.

Cat ‘helps’ with cat puzzle

Without B at home I thought start the New Year slow with a 750-piece cat puzzle rather than my usual 1,000-piece puzzles. August is back to his usual trick of sitting on the puzzle.

He does knock pieces onto the floor, usually when they stick to his paws, but these big chunks of pieces he knocked to the floor was a new, not helpful, trick.

He's definitely thwarting my progress. He has a knack for sitting on the area I'm working on.

All done and complete with lots of "help" from August.

Dark times

As I was leaving church Sunday I was handed this little battery-powered candle. I asked what it was for and was told for "dark times." Did I hear that right? That's not very optimistic.

Party before the freeze

I went to my friend J's Pampered Chef party yesterday - the last decent day before the Artic cold sets in for a few days. It's always fun to socialize, see what items the consultant is demonstrating, snack on some food and have a glass of wine. I bought a tool to clean the crevices on the kitchen sink, a fancy garlic cutter and a zester (this one was on sale).

This recipe book was the incentive to place an order. I've received their recipe books before and they make me laugh, using odd ingredients sold by Pampered Chef and with instructions specifying what Pampered Chef items to use. I know I can convert the recipes to suit myself (my ingredients and my tools and cookware) but am I willing to do that?

Andy’s b-day

Who schedules a dentist appointment on his birthday? Andy does so he went to the dentist Friday then worked from home. He came home Thursday with a card from the staff and a cupcake. How cute is it that there's a candle taped to the box?

And the cupcake is cute too!

Taking a break from working at home and taking advantage of our 45-degree weather, he took all of the outside Christmas lights and decorations down. He certainly knows how to live it up on his birthday.

We did go out for dinner at Salerno's. Hello, 58!

We get extra miles on our United card if we spend over $50 there (which is easy to do) but Andy checked the offer while we were there and it's not valid on weekends. Guess we'll have to go back.

Back to Costco

I just bought these fake UGG booys from Costco in December (I think) and I went to put them on yesterday and my finger went right through the back. The previous fake pair I had from Costco lasted years and I thought these were better because the sole was level and not a mini-platform like the old ones. I'm not sure what happened to them but I'll return them and see how that goes.

Thanks, kids

I made lasagna the other night and we tried out my Kitchen Aid slicer/shredder the kids gave me for Christmas. It works!

August missed us

August can't seem to get enough of us since we got home from Disney. I got warm while doing some housework yesterday and turned the furnace down. Then the house got cold (Chicago high temp of 16) so I sat by the kitchen furnace and August even joined me there.

Back to B’s

Allison offered to drive to B's Monday if we there was anything else he needed and since we had his water bottle, I decided to go. I packed up a small bag of things he wanted and a few things I thought he should have. We weren't able to find a good parking spot so we just dropped things off and came back home. It is nice to have him close by.

B’s first visitors

Nice but drizzly drive to B's apartment Sunday. Andy left his tool kit there, B had a few requests for more things from home, and E wanted to see his apartment.

We got lucky and found a parking space right in front.

Siblings chatting in the kitchen. He said he's found the recycling bin but isn't yet sure where to take his trash.

Andy checking out the view from B's bedroom window. It's a courtyard. The view from his living room is better, the street where there's more to see.

He has his desk set up with two monitors in the living room. He also has a futon there that he'll use as a sofa. He's trying to decide where to put the TV as it needs to be near an outlet and the futon is currently hiding the outlet.

After we left his apartment we drove around the neighborhood, Lakeview East, a bit. It's very walkable. He's close to a health club, a Jewel, Whole Foods and Walgreens.

He realized that he had left his water bottle (a freebie from Housing at U of I) in the Uhaul on Saturday. We had to go back home so E could grab a jacket she forgot and swung by the Uhaul store and, yay, they had the water bottle. It's B's favorite.

From there, we did some shopping with E then drive her to O'Hare for her flight home. Driving to the airport I could have had a perfect picture with a huge United plane going over the road and an El train passing by but my phone was in my purse. I took this on the way home. We were directly under the landing oath of several planes.

Officially empty-nesters

Saturday was the day we (mostly Andy) moved B into an apartment in the city. He nonchalantly told us exactly a month ago that he signed a lease. We knew he had been considering moving out but I didn't know he was seriously looking for a place.

I did tell him he's living my dream. When we got married, I wanted to move into a trendy neighborhood in the city. If I was going to be moving to Chicago, I wanted to be in the city, not a suburb. With me working a low-paying newspaper job and Andy in law school, though, we didn't have the money to be in the city or even an apartment by ourselves for that matter.

The moving van Andy rented only had two seats so I stayed home during the actual move. I was OK with that.

Andy got lucky and found a legal parking space so he stuck around to help B put his bed and desk together.

B gets settled in.

E flew to Seattle from Disney on Thursday night then flew in to O'Hare on Friday. While we were moving B into his apartment, she was at the Univeristy of Illinois-Chicago in her role as her sorority's national expansion director installing a new colony. She'll be back later this year to install them as a new chapter. She's gone to other chaoters around the country but it was nice that this time she could be at home with us. August was glad to see her. She wasn't so happy with him when he chewed through her Surface computer cord ... while she was doing installation prep work on it.

Random Disney

It was so nice to have the kids together. We think this was likely our last "all family" vacation but who knows?

This Christmas Mickey Mouse was hanging from someone's license plate.

This bird got a little too close to us in the England area.

L and her friends on the Rock 'n Roll Roller Coaster (and a random girl sitting in the front by T). L knows when to pose for the ride pictures.

The construction is finally done at Epcot. It's nice not to walk around the construction.

L told the kids there's a hidden Mickey on the globe at the Yacht Club. They found it.

This was in the Carousel of Progress. Have I noticed this cat before? I'm not sure. There is so much to see on all of the rides that I tend to notice something new on every one.

L sent this picture Friday hanging out at Magic Kingdom. She said it was warmer than when we were there.