Home from Michigan

I'm behind again here and I'm sorry for that. Last week (first week of February) was crazy busy. Last Sunday we went to our nephew's birthday party. I don't remember what else we did that day or on Monday. On Tuesday Grace had preschool and then I went to the village board meeting that night. It was a crazy meeting as usual; I still want to go to another village's board meeting to see how different it is which I'm guessing it will be quite different.

My personal feelings about this last meeting are that while I respect and appreciate one particular trustee's efforts, I don't think deriding the new Police Chief is going to prove or change anything. The Chief was embarrassed and annoyed by the line of questioning that he was bombarded with. I believe his thoughts were that he could concentrate on creating an exact budget or he could actually work on getting the department up and running. Those weren't his exact words, but were the gist of what his sentiments were after the meeting was over. I'm not discounting the fact that an actual budget isn't important and I'm not saying that the chief couldn't have just said that we will have one by such-and-such date, but I don't think what occurred at the meeting was necessary and it was definitely not productive.

Enough politics; on Wednesday Grace had her dance class where we were told that she will be dancing (or can if we like) at a church Fashion Show and Mother/Daughter Tea Party in March. Then we had to get home because the locksmith was coming over because we lost one of the keys to our house and so we had the locks changed so we can sleep at night. Now we begin the process of having extra copies made and then to re-distribute them to everyone that has a key. Quite honestly I didn't realize how many people had keys until I sat down and tried to think how many copies to make.

After that we went back to Antioch for gymnastics. There were so many parents there this week in the waiting room that I didn't even have a place to sit. I had only brought a book and a magazine to read and I ended up sitting on the floor reading my book instead of reading in a chair because I didn't have room.

Thursday was Valentine's Day and Grace had preschool. At school she had a Valentine's party. Grace was excited about "Valentime's" Day this year; that's what she calls it. This was also our last day at home before leaving on vacation. So throughout the day I was starting to get things ready for vacation, but most of our preparation was at night. We both went to bed late after getting almost everything ready for Friday.

Friday we finished getting things ready and brought it all downstairs but then weren't sure if we were going to even go. Grace was coughing and didn't really feel very good. Obviously in the end we decided to go, but for most of the weekend she didn't feel very good. So with the decision made I loaded up the car (albeit a little late after making the decision to go) and we ran up to Julie's sisters house and picked up our niece.

After that we all went to the Chicago Auto Show. I don't have any of the pictures ready to show you yet, but overall it wasn't so exciting. There were some good cars there to see, but for the most part it was just another auto show. I made sure I saw the Audi R8 which was really cool. It's an exciting car and looks really nice. Wish I had a spare $120,000 to just throw away to purchase one. Ha-ha.

With our late start we got to the auto show late and likewise left a little late from there as well. So we ended up driving later up to where Julie's brother lives and we ended up getting there sometime after dark. So we didn't even "see" the house until the next morning. On Saturday we went to a winter festival just a short drive from their house at a local resort. It was pretty cool even though I didn't get to go on a horse draw carriage ride. Grace and Julie and our niece all got to go on a snowmobile ride. Grace got to go on a pony ride and we watched a cherry pie eating contest. It was about that time that Grace decided that she just didn't feel well enough to be out there anymore so we headed out to go back to Julie's brother's house.

Speaking of the house it is really nice and quite large - larger than our house. I especially liked the yard - quite large and a nice neighborhood too from what we could see. Obviously since it's winter people are just like they are around here - you only come outside for brief periods. Most people you just don't really see in the wintertime until it starts to warm up in the spring.

Saturday also happened to be their daughter's first birthday so we were lucky to be able to enjoy the celebration with her. She's really cute and fun and puts up with her brothers quite well too. So after a day outside we had a nice party inside with a huge meal, a great cake that our niece wasn't sure what to do with at first and great times. I was especially enjoying the movie selection that the boys were watching. Not movies that Grace would normally watch, but for some reason while it was on there, no complaints. If we turned on those movies here - most movies really she complains. I'm not sure why that is but she'd rather watch a 30 minute program on TV than to watch a movie. That's why we don't really buy her any movies anymore because she doesn't really like to watch them.

Sunday we were heading down to see my Grandpa in Grand Haven and isn't it our great luck that it was freezing rain. It was pretty bad up there in the morning before we left with about an inch of ice on the ground. It was an ice skating rink in the driveway and getting the luggage into the car wasn't so easy, but I managed and it was actually warming up outside so the ice was coming off the car as I was filling it with all of our stuff.

Then after we got on the road (late again but mostly because of the weather this time) the further south we got the better the roads were. We made it down to Grand Haven before dinner and stopped to get our condo rented before heading over to see Grandpa. He decided to join us for the night as well and we headed out to get some dinner on the way back to the condo. We spent the evening talking and enjoying the really nice condo we rented and then finally to bed for the night. Grace got to sleep up in a loft that actually has a loft. So there is the loft upstairs where almost all of us slept but then there is a ladder up to another loft that Grace just had to sleep in. It worked out pretty good, but I think Julie and I would have been more comfortable up there instead of where we actually slept, but I was so tired it didn't really matter.

I wish we could have spent more time there, especially visiting with Grandpa, but we needed to get home because Grace and our niece had school the next day. And actually our niece had dance class that night. This trip was truly uneventful and we ended up getting home a little earlier than we planned. The next two days Julie had taken off work so we could do things around the house. So since my laptop's touchpad hadn't worked in some time and I finally had the opportunity to take it in for repair I did that on Tuesday morning.

This would explain why I haven't posted this blog until now. I took my laptop in and they kept it until Saturday the 8th of March. That's about two and a half weeks. The problem wasn't really the touchpad at all, it was the motherboard where the touchpad connects. So they had to order a new motherboard and it was backordered and so I had to wait that long to get my laptop back. I really missed it! Especially since I didn't have a desktop computer either. I was computer-less for several days.

But then President's day sales occurred and I was able to finally get my desktop computer, which is incredible! It's so nice to have a computer again. Especially after having nothing for a week or so. I suppose I could have timed that better, but I didn't, oh well. Only the strong survive right? ha-ha.

So anyway, back to what I was talking about. That was Tuesday that I took my laptop in and then on Friday Cubs tickets went on sale. Grace and I are going to two games by ourselves this year. Plus one with Mom (Julie) and one with my Dad (up in Milwaukee.) So all total we'll get to see four games this year. Any more and we'd have to start selling things on eBay (actually I've been selling some things anyway.)

Then the next morning my sister had her baby - April Josephine. She was 9 lbs and all cheeks - very cute! Then next day was the Oscars. I have to say that I thought they were pretty good. Especially considering the writers strike but I've heard many people saying how they feel the Oscars are just old and aren't really needed anymore. Obviously I disagree since I like them so much (and we're decorating our family room with that theme.)

Anyway, the next week we were busy again as usual but nothing out of the ordinary if I recall. We did have another village board meeting on Tuesday but it was much more civil than the previous one. I have to say though that there are some unhappy people in this town. That's all I'm saying.

Really nothing else happening that was out of the ordinary until this last Sunday, the 2nd. Julie had put a load of laundry in the washing machine and started it as we were leaving for church. When we came home from church, the machine said it was spinning, but it clearly wasn't. It was broken, and lucky for us (great planning) we let our extended service agreement lapse almost a year ago. So we had no way of getting if fixed under any warranty. I called Sears repair and they were able to come out on Tuesday. He reaffirmed our fears that it was pretty much dead in the water and that he personally would buy a new one considering the steep repair costs on this one.

So I set out to determine which washing machine would be the best for us and I thought I had it all figured out, but the guys at Best Buy helped us out a little and we ended up getting the Whirlpool Duet Steam washing machine. They delivered it on Friday the 7th. Best Buy was great (found out our neighbor went with them the last time he needed a washer too.) They matched the price of a local company which was at least $200 less than their sale price and they got it out to our house first thing the next morning. Plus one of the delivery guys found my keys that I lost outside snow blowing.

I've been purposefully not mentioning this for fear that someone would find them before we did, but one time when we got over a foot of snow and I was out snow blowing, I had done the walkway out to the driveway, and then moved our cars out to the street so I could get the driveway done. Usually after having done that, I put the keys in my jacket pocket and zip it up to prevent them from falling out. When I was done snow blowing I went to get the keys to Julie's car out but they were gone as I had forgotten to zip up my pocket.

We rented a metal detector, looked every time the snow melted (it still hasn't completely melted) and still we had not found them. That's why we changed the locks on the house because we weren't sure if someone else had taken them after finding them in the snow or something. Well, the one guy is finishing the hookup for our new washer and the other guy is bringing in the drawer that goes underneath it and comes in carrying these rusty keys asking if we had dropped them. What a revelation! What a day! I took the rusty key rings off and cleaned everything up. The inside of the remote wasn't even wet after all that time in a snow bank-amazing. The remote still works and we have our peace of mind again. I'll definitely be more careful about that zipper when snow blowing!

So the universe is now back as it should be because the next day CDW called to say my laptop was ready! I've had my laptop now for almost two days and it's just nice to have it back. So now I finally have a desktop computer again (after two months), my laptop works again and the keys to Julie's car have been found. Ahhhhhhh, so this is calmness and peace in the universe.

Now tomorrow Grace goes to see her pediatric ophthalmologist to see how her eyes are doing four months after her surgery. Then we have to hoof it home because she has preschool story time at the local library shortly after that. I'm going to try to get to the doctor's office early so that will hopefully help with the time constraint.

Then Tuesday is preschool, but in the evening she has Kindergarten registration. I think she's getting excited about kindergarten already. Her and Julie were pretending to be riding the bus tonight as I was cooking dinner. Actually Julie was driving. So I think there are a few things I need to procure so that Grace can go to school. I have some things, but they need things like her original birth certificate which we don't have or can't find. Neither of us really remember getting the actual certificate, just what the hospital gives you when she's born that you basically fill out yourself.

So while Grace is in preschool I'll try to get some of those things and see if we can't get her all set on Tuesday for the fall. There is a village board meeting on Tuesday also, and then the Chicago Flower and Garden show is going on right now too. I've been wanting to go to this for several years and have never made it. Maybe Grace and I will be able to go by Sunday which is the last day. We'll just have to see how everything goes this week. It should be jam-packed as usual.

Alright, I'll stop rambling. Sorry for making this such a long post but I just haven't been able to write for some time now.