What a difference a day makes

It's been hot and so humid here for some time now it was a real shock today to go outside. I forgot what nice weather was like - it actually felt cold to me and that's scary because this is my ideal temperature. The high today was 74° and a nice cool breeze. I should have changed from shorts to jeans, that would have helped. But that's just crazy talk for this time of year.

After Julie left for work today Rosco (our dog) decided it was time to get up. I usually sleep until Grace wakes up but not today as he had to go out. So I was up at 6:20 this morning and it was nice to relax and read before Grace got up, but I'm really tired! I'm not used to getting up early any more. Grace got up around 8:00 and she didn't want breakfast until 10:00 or so I think. But she did eat a good breakfast when we finally had it and then "A" came over. Julie's sister called and wanted to have lunch with us today so we all went to Panera Bread for lunch. There was a little "excitement" there as we were eating the police came and ticketed a car that was parked in a handicapped spot without a placard in the window or a plate. It was interesting to watch. There were two squad cars one parked behind the "offending" vehicle and another was writing the ticket out. Once they were done the one that was parked behind took a picture of the back of the car aiming at what looked like the license plate.

We tried to stick around long enough to see who's car it was, but Grace was getting tired of waiting so we left. Interestingly most of the people that were in the restaurant while we were eating had left so who knows who's car it was. They might not have even been there. After that we ran over to Office Depot and got some self-stick fasteners for file folders. I couldn't believe that the smallest package you could buy them in was 100 pieces. I'll have those for the rest of my life. Also picked up an optical mouse for my experimental "server" for only $5. And I grabbed the smallest package they had of DVD-RW's so I could experiment with them in my DVD recorder. Not sure how well those really work.

After that we came back home and Grace wanted to play outside but like I said it actually felt cold with the wind, so "A" wasn't too keen on the whole idea. After Julie came home I convinced her to go out to eat for dinner at Culvers. One of her other sisters called and mentioned that portions of their proceeds today were going to the Relay for Life/American Cancer Society. So we were just doing our part and helping out. We actually met Julie's sister and her family there, and our neighbors from across the street met us there later for dessert.

We were going to watch the movie "Citizen Kane" tonight as it's due at Blockbuster tomorrow but Grace wasn't cooperating too well to get in bed easily for Julie tonight, so we didn't really have time. Not sure what I should do; just be late since there aren't any "late fees" any more or just take it back. We can always rent it again.

So as you can see from my other post today I haven't heard anything from Libertyville Lincoln Mercury or Lisa Madigan's office about our complaint and I'm tired of waiting. I did finally hear from our credit card company yesterday or the day before that they are still reviewing the case and haven't made any determinations. I called the representative from Lisa Madigan's office again today and her voice mail again said she was out of the office. Maybe I should leave a message every time I call, but I don't want to be a pest they are helping me after all; at least I think they are.

I talked to the Ford store where we ordered our Escape from and our salesperson said that she thinks she knows why our order is taking so long. Apparently taxi companies in New York are using the Escape Hybrids and they've ordered a boatload of them. So of course these taxi companies take precedence over the "average consumer." Which really sucks because we really wanted to take this new car on vacation because it'll have a navigation system and it gets great fuel mileage (not as good on the highway as the city, but still better than any other car we've owned recently.) She said to pretty much plan on taking Julie's car to Colorado and if this one is in before we leave it will be a pleasant surprise. So that's what I'm going to do and that is usually my philosophy, but we've just been waiting so long for this darn car that I'm tired of waiting.

I asked if there was a way I could pick up the car from the factory and avoid the whole delivery time frame after the car has been built. She said absolutely not. But I know I've read somewhere before that some customers have done that. I'm thinking there is a way around that. Maybe it's more of a dealership policy that they want to take physical possession of the car so they can sell it, like they wouldn't trust me with it until I've paid for it or something; who knows. Obviously I'd be willing to do all the paperwork before I actually took possession.

On a lighter note, a blog reader suggested I look into myfantasyleague.com as an option for our Fantasy Football league this year. We have looked into that site in previous years when we were considering changing, but we weren't impressed at that time. I have to say after creating our league today on their site I'm very impressed with the number of customization options available. Thanks for telling me to check them out again. I'll bring it to every one else's attention in our league and see which one they prefer.

Swimming in Hot Weather

Grace had VBS today and I had to wake her up at 8:45 to get her to church at 9:00am. After I dropped her off I came home so I could get the driveway seal coated. Today was the right day and they were here to do it. I'm so glad I had this company (Adolfo's Sealcoating - Waukegan - 847-782-0758) do it because they did a really nice job; much nicer than the previous company we had. They didn't get any of the sealer on the brickwork that butts directly against the blacktop and there isn't any on the sidewalk either. It was worth every penny!

After that I worked on the DVD recorder and transferring video. I got one show transferred to DVD using the regular video output from my camcorder. So now I can just transfer it this way. It's not how the recorder is supposed to work, but it is working. After this "A" and I went to pick up Grace from VBS. We got there a couple minutes early and were able to hear them all practicing their songs they are going to sing tonight for their mini-concert. It was really cool and actually a little moving. It's pretty cool to listen to 500 kids sing the same song and sing it so well!

After that we were headed to her friend from dance class's house for a swim party. We stopped at Culvers for lunch first and then headed over there. We stayed there until 3:30 because it's impossible to get her to leave any place, let alone when she's having fun swimming. And she did have a good time and so did "A" I think. It was really refreshing to get in a nice cool pool when it's so warm out. The official high today was 87° with 73% humidity here in Grayslake, but my car said it was 90°; although that's only 3 degrees difference. Then we had to stop at the local paint store and return some wallpaper and fabric samples. We're trying to create and finalize our decorating plan for our family room downstairs here. The overall theme is Academy Awards/Kodak Theater. We know we want red velvet drapes that imitate a movie theater, and that old tyme look of the old movie theaters. So I showed her the patterns Julie and I liked and she picked from those the ones she thought the most in line with what we're looking to do. For those she ordered some samples for us to use in determining which one we really want and what color to paint the room in. She suggested we start by deciding what to do with the ceiling both with wallpaper and color and what furniture we want to put in the room as well. After that we can finalize any plans for the walls, etc.

After that we finally came back home. Grace and "A" only had about 30 minutes to play before "A" had to go home. Then Grace went to play at her friends house across the street. I went with to make sure it was alright that she go over there and then I ended up staying and talking to her friends dad. It's nice to have adult conversations. He asked me to fax something for him so I came back home to do that and Julie was already home (oops!) and she was wondering where I had been. We didn't have much time because we needed to get back to church so Grace could do her mini-concert/ice cream social. So I sent the fax and then we were getting ready to go when I realized (pit in bottom of stomach) that I had washed the shirt she was supposed to wear again tonight and forgot to put it in the dryer. So it was soaking wet and I put it in the dryer because we did have a "few" minutes before we had to leave. While it was in the dryer I went to retrieve Grace from across the street. She didn't go too willingly, but it didn't take too long. When I got back Julie had already taken the shirt out of the dryer and it wasn't really dry yet, but it wasn't too bad. She held it in front of the A/C outlets in the car and that helped it dry some more.

Once we were in the gymnasium, it was warm enough to dry anything, so her shirt was dry when we were done. But anyway the concert was really cute and Grace did a great job. I shot video of it and will put that up on her website soon. Then since Julie and I hadn't had dinner we left without the ice cream. We wanted to go somewhere that we could have both and we headed over to DQ in Round Lake. We waited in line and come to find out they don't serve food after 8pm. So we didn't get dinner tonight, just dessert. Guess we should have just stayed and had free ice cream at the church. Hindsight is still 20/20.

Then we came home and I had to call the police since we can't park in the driveway. We can't park in the street without permits unless we call and tell them we're parking there. And since my little "run-in" with the local police recently we don't want to take any chances. By the way, still no updates/no word on our new car; and no update on the rebuttal I sent to Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan about our issue with

Post Cubs Game Tiredness

So I got home late last night from the Cubs game and still had to get up to take Grace to VBS. I'm really dragging today - I have to get more sleep. Grandma (Julie's Mom) came with her today because it was bring a relative/senior day so she got to spend the whole time with Grace. But that time was shortened because we were really late getting there. There was a fatal accident this morning in Grayslake just a few blocks east of the church. So Rte.'s 120 and 83 were closed for three and a half hours this morning. It took us 20 minutes to drive the 2 miles or so to church. Here is the article from the Chicago Tribune. While Grace was in VBS I came back home because I thought my neighbor was having his driveway sealed and I wanted to get mine done too. Apparently I got mixed up because it's actually tomorrow.

So I went to pick Grace up and both her and Grandma had a wonderful time. Grandma was going to Libertyville to buy something afterwards, and Grace and I went to Best Buy and got a cable I needed to transfer video from my camcorder to my DVD recorder. Then we grabbed some lunch and came home because the neighbor that's helping out with Grace this summer (I'll call her "A" from now on) was going to be at our house at 1pm and we were a few minutes late. So then Grace's friend that she always plays with on Wednesdays came over and her friend from across the street. "A" had a really good time with them and had them busy doing all sorts of role playing and other fun stuff. So then I started dinner and "A" went home around 5pm and then Julie came home and we all had taco's. It's so funny that Grace loves tacos. I mean she really gets excited about them. She only puts sour cream and shredded cheese on them, but she usually has two. It's pretty much the only food she gets excited about.

Then Julie was getting ready for her monthly Stampin' Up meeting which she was hosting this month. Right after her friends got here, Grace was saying that the friend from across the street wondered if she could go to the park with her. I was confused because it was 7:30 and they usually get ready for bed then, but she wasn't kidding, they were going. So we all went down on our bikes to the park for a few minutes. I was pulling Grace and her friend from across the street in the trailer on my bike. And her Dad was pulling her sister in another trailer. And then "A" and her brother came with too. So when we got home Julie's meeting was almost over. I helped Grace get in her PJ's and then while Julie was putting her to bed I had to return some books to the library. While I was out I stopped at Wal-Mart to get a few things.

I forgot to mention much about transferring video from my camcorder to the DVD recorder. That's what I was trying to do most of the afternoon while "A" was playing with the girls. I mentioned that I needed a cable. This cable is a firewire cable that you would normally use on your computer to transfer video. But our new DVD recorder has a DV-In port which is firewire, but it's the 4-pin variety and usually on a computer it's the 6-pin. So I needed a 4-pin to 4-pin cable instead of the normal 4-pin to 6-pin cable. That's what Grace and I got at Best Buy (plus the first season of Las Vegas on DVD) and I got it all hooked up and the DVD recorder wasn't showing anything on the TV screen. So I'm thinking their is something wrong with either the cable or the input for the DVD recorder. I wrote LG's customer service and they want me to call about getting it serviced. So I guess tomorrow I'll try using regular video cables and see if that will work. I'll get is serviced later after I get everything transferred (as long as I can without using my computer.) It was very frustrating though especially since I went and bought a special cable to get everything working and then it didn't.

Cubs Game V3.0

Grace woke up late today like 2 minutes before the photographer from the Daily Herald got here. She let him in with her pajamas on. So he waited while she got dressed and then he took some pictures of her brushing her hair and of us eating breakfast and then getting in the car to go to Vacation Bible School (VBS).

While she was at VBS, I went to Best Buy to look around and then to Target to get Grace a second waterproof mattress pad for her bed. We're going to cut her off from the pull-ups at night, so we need the extra mattress pad.

She had fun at VBS again today and was pretty excited about it. After I picked her up we came home and were going to have lunch, but she got to playing with the neighbors outside in their new slip-n-slide and refused to eat. So she missed eating except for a snack. Then other neighbors were over and lots of playing took place. It was kind of a crazy afternoon. Then I sent Grace over to the neighbor across the street since I had to leave to go to my 3rd Cubs game of the season. I was stopping at one BIL's house on the way to the other to pick them up and our nephew came with too. So we left a little after 5pm and didn't get to the parking lot by Wrigley Field until 7:30pm. So we missed the first inning and a half. But the game went 12 innings so we got our money's worth (they were free tickets anyway.)

It was a good game, but they didn't win, so that wasn't so good. But we had a good time and actually since the game got over so late it was good after all that we drove instead of taking the train because we would have been home much later if we were waiting for a train to take us home.

I never really wrote anything about the recital on Sunday. It went really well; albeit a long day as well. We got there before Noon and Julie just dropped me off as she was going to get some snacks and some video tapes for me and I had to set up the video equipment and then help sell tickets. The videotaping went well except there was one dance where I accidentally pressed pause instead of record in the middle of the dance. So I missed at least a minute of that dance but other than that it went pretty well. Everyone danced really good and Grace and Julie looked great. I'm still working on transferring the video - I've been so busy I haven't had the 4 hours it'll take to finish that. Plus I needed a new cable to be able to transfer it straight from the camera to the DVD recorder I bought a month or two ago.

It's really cool to be able to record from the satellite straight to DVD; that's all I've done so far--plus recording from TIVO to DVD. Now if I could just convince Julie that we need a new Plasma TV and a new a/v receiver. Actually the receiver was acting up the other day. I was trying to make sure a DVD recorded properly and all I could hear was the TV; I couldn't hear the DVD playing at all. It had me worried more about the DVD recorder because I wasn't sure that it was recording the sound onto the DVD's. But it was fine the next day, so I'm not sure how long the receiver will continue to work plus the TV's sound hasn't been working in a long time which is why we rely on the receiver to provide the sound for us. So that's about it for today and for Sunday.