Sixth-grade fashion

I stumbled across a website that had pictures of many Sears catalogs and found this beautifully groovy orange pantsuit in the Spring/Summer 1977 edition. I had the vest, the pants and even the flowered shirt. I wore the whole ensemble for my sixth-grade picture. I didn't remember so many flowers embroidered on the pants leg, but it was the '70s. I was stylin'.

I also found this Fisher-Price schoolhouse ad that Santa brought me in first grade. This was in the 1972 Wishbook.

This more enticing ad was in the 1971 Wishbook. And then I found lots of toys I wanted that Santa never delivered, like the big Barbie head that you could do her hair and make-up.

That's my dollhouse, or one very similar to it, at the bottom left of this page in the 1972 Sears Wishbook.

Chasing the sun

I thought Piper was chasing a gnat, bit she was chasing a sun reflection.

Silly cat.

‘Cheeseburger in Margaritaville’

Maybe we were chasing a beach vibe despite temperatures stuck in the teens yestedray. We ended up at our neighborhood spot, Babygold, for $5 burger night and a screening of the 1986 Jimmy Buffett film "Live From the Bay," featuring footage from two of his 1985 concerts. The evening was advertised as "Cheeseburgers in Margaritaville."

Imagine our surprise when a server gave us each a margarita ... which we didn't order. They were the "special" drink for the night ($8 each) and we thought maybe they weren't selling a lot so they were giving them out free to the customers they could tell were there to see the movie. A parrot head freebie lol. Our waitress, though, crushed all of those fuzzy feelings when she said she didn't charge us for them because they were intended for a table across the way and were misdelivered. Their loss, our gain, I guess.

This was my view, scrunching down in my seat. Most of the time, there was a family of four sitting there so I could only see around them.

We're not sure if they painted the walls since we were there last, but they did redecorate. There are clocks everywhere, a few musical instruments hanging up, a Roosevelt Road street sign that looks old (whether it's from the area, I don't know) and weird stained glass lamps that resemble 1980s Pizza Huts.

Bad cats

These two cats are something.

Good Times Brewery

Our plan was to go back to the 'burbs after lunch with B on Saturday and go grocery shopping but traffic was so light - and parking was so plentiful (because it was so cold)- we decided to stop in at Good Times Brewery, our first brewery stop of 2026.

Their beers were all Chicago-themed. Andy asked the bartender about the Alex Foley connection, but, aha, that's a guest draft so no connection.

I had the Walking Man IPA and Andy had the Weeghman Field (previous name of Wrigley Field) British Amber.

It's a big restaurant and the pizza looked really good.

We hadn't seen this before - a phone charger built right into the bar. Andy just set his phone on it and it was being charged. That's handy.

I've never seen the flag on the left before. Lots of rainbows near Boystown.

The sabbatical starts

Our minister is going on sabbatical until April so we held a potluck going-away picnic for him after worship Sunday. Turn-out was good considering we were in the middle of a big snowfall. The church parking lot wasn't even plowed (that's the village's job and I suppose they were more concerned about the streets).

The chicken and ribs were catered in. The chicken was OK. The ribs were lackluster, or I got a bad, bony piece. I brought baked beans and they were all eaten. I did get a piece of Portillo's famous chocolate cake for dessert and it lived up to its reputation - chocolately deliciousness.

Our snow-covered church as we were leaving. We should have went home but we grocery shopping.

The streets were a mess and slick ...

but the snow was light and pretty.

This snow is gently piled up on what's left of the coneflowers in our yard.

Belated b-day lunch

Lake Michigan was frozen (a bit) when we drove downtown to pick up B for Andy's belated birthday lunch yesterday. A lot different from summer views.

We decided on Wilde in Lakeview Eastand luckily found a parking spot right across the street. It helped that it was so cold a lot of people had stayed indoors.

The restaurant was very cute inside and it went back really far. We were seated in the very front so I had to pop into the restroom in the back for an excuse to see the whole restaurant. Very cozy with fireplaces and book nooks.

Andy got a burger, I had a hot chicken sandwich and B ordered the specialty, a chicken pot pie.

That looked delicious.

Father and son.

A random mural we saw when driving B back to his apartment.

‘Curious Cats’ puzzle

I knew this 500-piece cat puzzle was going to be easy enough to finish so I was surprised that the previous owner put all of the edge pieces in a bag. I didn't need the help. I worked on it a half-hour the night I started on it.

The puzzle may be called "Curious Cats" but I have a sleepy cat.

Two more hours of work and it's done ... and complete!

Emergency water repair

Even before the sun was up Thursday village crews had our street blocked off to fix a water main break. Andy and I both had time to take showers but then was water was shut off.

Andy took this picture of the water gushing out of the pipe on his walk to the train. The break was across from us, about four houses to the north.

I called off of work (woke up sick in the middle of the night and still felt a little wobbly in the morning) so I was able to monitor the situation between naps. This water shut-off notice said they estimated the work would happen between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Here they were at 3 p.m., still working in temps around 20. By 6 p.m. our water was back on but the street remained closed. Today's high temperature is expected to be -1 but maybe they have more work to do?

L is settling in

L said W fell down the stairs while they were moving in Monday. He hurt his leg so he called off of work Tuesday (went back Wednesday) but kept doing things to help them get settled. Here he is with the coffee table he put together - at least he didn't hurt his hands in the fall.

Then the new "roomies" drive to Ikea, I suppose to buy some more things for W to put together. Good thing he's handy.

L and T had the former apartment all cleaned out and sent me a video of their final walk-through. It looked pretty good so hopefully they'll get some of their security deposit back. She said it was a little sad to move out of her first Florida home even though she's still in the same complex. She even waved goodbye. We weren't able (nor planning) to help her move but we did pay for the after-the-move pizza.

Soup warms the soul

It's been a cold week. Andy came home early one night, said we should make soup and I said, be my guest. He made chicken soup ... with rotini, of course.

Moving day for L

Monday was the day L and T moved into a new, three-bedroom apartment in their same complex. They're still on the third floor though, but in a different building.

L's BF W is also moving in. Not sure what's going on in this picture. Maybe W is praying the move goes well? As for T, it's his typical flipping-off-the-camera pose lol.

It looks quite a bit larger than her previous apartment.

Red Rock Canyon

In search of a reasonably priced breakfast on the Strip, Andy and I ended up at Denny's. It had a full bar. We stuck with coffee.

We stopped in at Casino Royale. I played $20 on slots and cashed out when I was ahead. They advertise your first $20 is on them and I had a player card but we couldn't get it to load the $20 for me. Maybe because technically I was ahead?

After breakfast we checked out of our room and drove to Red Rock Canyon. The drive was pretty.

Lots of Joshua trees, which were neat to see.

Don't feed the burros or horses.

Good view of some red rocks.

Pretty scenery.

It was very bright.

We still had a couple of hours to kill so we stopped at Station Casino, where we were lured in with $1.99 margaritas. They were very sweet. We didn't gambe but we watched football. Then it was time to head to the airport, return the car and catch our 5:15 p.m. flight -- during the Bears vs. Rams game in the divisional playoff. I grabbed a couple of matchbooks they had sitting out. Smoking is allowed indoors everywhere in Vegas and some of those people were smoking stinky things.