Day after Fathers Day

What a difference a day makes. Fathers Day is definitely over...any leeway I may have received yesterday has been withdrawn today; tempers appear to be short. That's all I'll say.

I forgot to mention yesterday that the articles did print in both papers over the weekend. Grace and I made the front page of the Daily Herald; a cute picture of us kissing before taking her to VBS. This article was really nice! It seemed more well developed, better written and just a much better article than the one in the News-Sun. No offense to the News-Sun, I just liked the writing the author of the Daily Herald article did better. Now I know why we subscribe!

The video is up on the News-Sun website now and it's really good. Julie's giving me a hard time about what I say, but it's a nice video.

So this morning we waited for "A" to come over, but she didn't so I called her Dad and he reminded us that she has summer school in the mornings. So that's why she wasn't here first thing this morning. I guess that'll be for the next 6 weeks. After she did come home we went out to eat lunch because Grace didn't want to leave the house in the morning to go to the grocery store. Then we stopped to pick up some pictures we had printed and came back home. Grace and "A" played for the rest of the afternoon and her friend from across the street came over to play later.

That's about it for today, nothing exciting. Her friend from across the street's Mom made it home safely yesterday from her home country where she had been last week for work and for a short vacation also. Tomorrow will be the test for both Grace and I as we have to be at gymnastics by 8:00am in Antioch. At least it rained a little today and hopefully that cold front they've been promising is whats coming through because I'm ready for cooler weather!

Pre-Fathers Day

It's Fathers Day weekend if you will and I kind of took the day off. I'll have to make up for it tomorrow. It's just so darn hot outside; 94° with 77% humidity. It's rough to be outside in that weather. I did get up and get Julie's oil changed today, but even that I couldn't get right. Here I assumed (think of the definition of assume) I had everything I needed to change her oil and actually I had none. I had to go to Wal-Mart and get the oil filter and go to Pep Boys (Pimp Girls is what I like to call it) and get some oil. So after I wasted all that time the temperature was already up to 86° but at least the car was still in the shade. So I got her oil changed and didn't spill a drop on our newly sealed driveway. Took a test drive and all seems fine; no leaks upon return either.

So after that I just kind of did a small cleaning of the garage; eg: I threw a few things out that I didn't need. I emptied the old oil drain pan out into my recycling jug to take to the oil recycling place, put all the old oil filters on wire mesh to drain the oil out of them so I can throw them away. They have to drain for 24 hours before you can throw them out in the garbage. So tomorrow I can throw all of them away and be rid of more garbage from the garage. Interesting that garbage and garage only differ by one letter... So you can also gather from all of this that I bought a new oil drain pan today and used that with the oil change I did today. I'll empty that one into the recycling jug tomorrow after that oil filter is done draining into the oil drain pan.

The article I was in was printed in the News-Sun today. It was pretty good...not entirely accurate to what I said, but overall a good article. We bought two copies of the paper and my Dad called and said he had heard from someone else that I was in the paper and since he was out of town to buy him a copy. So I went out later and got another copy. I think the other article will be in the Daily Herald tomorrow.

Alright, I just looked at their website and the article is up already. I just skimmed it, but what I read was really good. A very cool article.

Anyway, most of the afternoon I spent in front of my computer doing various things. And then Julie had a Stampin' Up workshop tonight that unfortunately only one person came too. She's starting to lose confidence in herself to do this since no one ever seems to show up to her classes. I hope she'll hang in there for at least another year, she's good at it and really enjoys it and she needs things she enjoys in her life.

I checked the Regal Cinemas website tonight to check when their free movies for the summer start and what do you know - they start this week! So Grace and I will have to go this week. The two movies this week are "March of the Penguins" and "Barnyard." I'll have to put these on the SAHD's group site to see if anyone else is interested.

Alright, I've got to get some sleep, tomorrow is already here.

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.

Vacation Bible School

...is a wonderful thing. When Grace came home from there today, it was her first day and her first year, she was singing the songs and actually telling me what she did, the games she played, what the story was about. Whenever she came home from preschool she was never like that, maybe a few times, but generally if you tried to get any information out of her she would just say she didn't remember or didn't know. So we're pretty sure she really enjoyed it and she seems excited about going back tomorrow. I'm excited too because I'll actually get some free time.

So today was our neighbor's daughter's last day of school and she's going to be coming to our house most days during the week to help me with Grace. She took her babysitting class through the park district and she seems really eager to watch Grace and help out. The only thing was that her parents were going to talk to us over this last weekend about the whole plan for how everything was going to work, but we weren't really home so we never got to talk. So when she came over today I as a little surprised, but not a lot. I did know it was her last day of school today, but I just don't understand the whole going for an hour thing. I do in the sense that if they go for a certain amount of time they get credit for a full day from the state and get the funding they need for it, but it just seems like such a waste of everybody's time and effort.

So she came over after I had taken Grace to VBS and was with us until one of her parents got home which was about 5pm I think. So she was a big help with Grace today and kept her occupied a lot which was really good because we had the film crew here and the reporter stopped by for a few minutes in the afternoon. The film crew showed up at the time we were leaving to go pick Grace up from VBS so he came with us. He mic'd me up and was asking questions and shooting video in the car on the way there. Then he shot video of our neighbor and I going in to pick her up and then leaving to go back home. He shot video of me doing a little vacuuming and making and serving lunch. I had to save the vacuuming because he had called early in the day and asked what my plans were and I said cleaning the house and mowing the grass. He wanted to shoot video of me doing at least some of that. So I offered to mow the grass first and then I was going to start cleaning. Well if you remember from above, he showed up as we were leaving to pick up Grace so I had already done most of the cleaning but saved one rug to vacuum after we got back.

And I didn't get the back yard mowed either during the time Grace was in VBS, I had to do that later. Just before lunch Grace's friend from across the street came over also and she claimed she hadn't had lunch (I was pretty sure she had already eaten because she usually eats at a particular time and it was after that time) so I made her a grilled cheese sandwich anyway and I wasn't surprised when she didn't eat it since I had already presumed that she ate lunch already. So we all had lunch and then a little while later the reporter came and interviewed me and he interviewed Grace a little and then he had a few more questions and he left. The film crew stayed longer and shot video of the three girls playing and of us trying to go for a short bike ride. I figured doing something outside would be good considering it was a nice day and all, but unfortunately the neighbor from across the street was really tired and ready for a nap so we didn't ride our bikes for very long. But the video guy was happy with the footage he had gotten so it was just fine.

So he left and we had about three hours before Julie was coming home, so we all went in to cool off and relax. Grace was a little cranky herself and wasn't really cooperating too well. But we all got in front of a computer and were playing around for a while and then the neighbor went home because her parent/parents were home and Grace and I went outside and I pushed her on the swing for a few minutes and then was mowing the back yard. If you remember, it was like a field. I have to say though that my lawn mower really rocks. I used to have a craftsman mower that it would have taken me twice as long to cut the back yard considering how long it was, but this mower just pushes right on through without complaining or bogging down or anything. It's a Toro Recycler (model 20041) and it just plain works great. I didn't think I'd really care about electric start, but it's a nice feature to have and the self propelled I had never wanted either because all the old lawn mowers I had tried in the past that had it I just hated it. But this is done really nicely and works quite well.

While I was mowing her other friend from next door came over and played with Grace until a little while later when Julie came home and then his dinner was ready so he went back home. So when I was done mowing I came in and Julie and I talked and then we decided just to go out to eat to Dog-n-Suds. So I made Grace's dinner since she won't eat anything from there and we headed out. As soon as we pull in my phone rings and it's my BIL and he's wanting to know the logistics for tomorrow since we're going to the Cubs game at night. Well apparently as we pulled in the lights on the car turned on because we were under a covered area and I guess the car thought it was dark enough to turn on the lights. So I'm on the phone and the guy in front of us in his convertible starts flashing his lights at me asking me to turn them off. Obviously they turn themselves on and they also turn themselves off, so I figure he can wait a couple of minutes for them to turn themselves off while I talk to my BIL. But no, that's not good enough as he continues flashing his lights. So I turn off the car and show him the key in my hand. The lights will now turn off in 3 minutes. Not good enough for him as he GETS OUT OF HIS CAR and walks over and says our lights are directly in his eyes and to turn off the lights. I guess he doesn't give a crap that I'm on the phone and my family is with me and that the car is off and that they will turn off on their own. So I turn them off and say some snide comment and he 's finally appeased and walks back to his car and now I can finally talk to my BIL about the Cubs game. What an a$$. Sometimes I just hate people. All they care about is themselves. Maybe a little compassion or patience would be a good gift for that man.

So we finally order and get our food and Grace is just completely out of control. She's really tired and it shows, but we make it through dinner and get home. Then Julie takes her to get ready for bed and she just really loses it and can't cooperate for anything Julie tries to get her to do. But she finally gets to bed and I settle down to call my Gramma because today is her 79th birthday. So I call her and she seems to be doing quite well and seems happy and everything. She's going to a nerve specialist tomorrow to see about why her feet have been red and swollen and painful for the last 4 to 5 years. So that's good because she says she wants to walk more or even ride her bike because she wants to stay active. That's really good to hear. I don't want to lose her too and that's a really good sign that she wants to stick around and enjoy life as long as she can.

So we talk for over an hour and at the same time Julie's talking to Aunt Connie on the land-line phone. We both get done about the same time and watch most of the news together - neither of us can really stay awake at this point. So then we wake up and now I'm writing this before getting to bed. I have another fun day planned for tomorrow; we've got VBS obviously and another photographer from the Sun-Times is coming first thing in the morning and then there's the Cubs game. Can't go to too many Cubs games!

The Storms are a Coming

Today was busy as usual. But the real story was last night. After I wrote my blog last night, I stayed up until 4:00am writing a rebuttal letter to the Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan about Libertyville Lincoln Mercury. I think this is the first time I've actually mentioned them and if you remember a few days ago I said I would at some point explain this whole issue with ordering a new car and canceling the order. I'll get to that later after I write about the day today.

Obviously I had a difficult time getting up since I only got about 3 1/2 hours of sleep, but Grace also slept in until 9:00am which is when we're supposed to leave for dance class. So I got her ready real quick and thankfully she was in a pretty good mood. I gave her a quick snack and we "hit the road" as Aunt Connie would say. Unfortunately we were about 5 minutes late to dance class. It was the last week for dance class before summer break as our recital is on Sunday so a lot of extra people were there like parents that are normally working or grandparents that maybe wanted a preview of the dance before Sunday. Grace's friends Mom works for the Lake County Sherriff's Department and I brought the letter I stayed up most of the night writing for her to review. Julie and her said pretty much the same thing that it sounded very professional and that I had really done a good job. So anyway, Grace got her costume today to bring home and our friends that are moving out of the country were there and we were all saying goodbye. We're going to see them tomorrow for a dinner at another friends house and then Saturday for Stage Rehearsal and then Sunday for the Recital. Then on Monday they leave for Minnesota to visit family for the summer before heading overseas. So that was pretty sad. I don't think Grace really understands but she has asked when she'll see her friend again and I said I don't know if we ever will and she gets pretty sad, so maybe she does understand.

After dance class was over Grace was in no hurry to leave as usual, so she was coloring and I was making phone calls for some things I needed to follow up on. Then we went to lunch with my SIL. That was really nice and relaxing and Grace ate her whole lunch today. Plus she had two snacks and a sucker after dance class plus the snacks she had on the way to dance class, so she was filling up. Then we came home and I needed to fax my letter to the husband of the person who read my letter at dance class. He also works for the Lake County Sherriff's Department, is also a car dealership owner and works with arbitration so his opinion of my letter was very important to me. Unfortunately, my fax wasn't working right and it took some time for me to get it working. Grace when we first got home wanted to play outside and I told her she could for a few minutes, but that was it because it was just too hot. She didn't even pursue the 10 minutes for some reason and instead asked to play a preschool "game" on the computer. They are programs that are like games to her, but she's really learning things like patterns, same or different, does it belong, etc. So while she was occupied with that I finally got the fax working and sent the letter to my friend. He called me back and said that first of all he was sorry we had to go through all of this. He said we were right on the money with the letter and gave me some more ideas to follow up with if this letter wasn't successful in getting our money returned. He also basically said that the dealership is just playing hardball and want to keep our money.

I also got a call from another local newspaper today, the Daily Herald. I'm becoming famous! They are also writing an article for Father's Day but are taking a different angle and it sounds really interesting. The reporter said they did this for Mother's Day and had a good response so they're pursuing doing this for Father's Day also. She's contacting Father's from all different walks and trying to get a snapshot or glimpse into the Father/Child bond that exists in each situation. She did a much better job of explaining it, but trust me, it sounded very cool and interesting. I can't wait to read it. She called me back this evening and conducted the interview over the phone and is sending a camera crew out on Tuesday morning to take some shots of Grace and I doing our normal morning routine.

Speaking of newspapers, the reporter from the News-Sun called back today and said he wanted to come out on Monday and interview me and would also be bringing a camera crew and a video crew to shoot some video for their website. We didn't set up a time yet as when I returned his phone call he said he was in the middle of something (his phone was cutting in and out) and that he'd call later. I'm guessing he'll call back tomorrow.

Grace got to play at her friend across the street's house this afternoon and she was excited about that, but her friend was a little sleepy or didn't feel well or something. She had gone to the zoo this morning with her dad and since we had dance class, we couldn't go. So her dad said that she was exhausted when they got back. Maybe her nap wasn't enough to keep her going for the rest of the day. Then her friends mom's train was delayed for I believe mechanical reasons so she was really late getting home tonight. She's leaving for a business trip tomorrow overseas, so I'm sure that's the last thing she wanted tonight as she won't see her family for a week.

Then Julie went over to the friend that read my letter this morning's house and practiced her dances for the recital on Sunday. She took Grace with her so that her and her friend could play together and so I could get a little free time. I ate some leftovers and worked in the garden. I think it's too late to plant a garden now, but it looks horrible and we could still plant a few things that don't take a long time to grow. I've got to tell you though that the strawberries look GREAT! I had one that was ripe and it sure was yummy! So I need to get the netting out there TOMORROW so the birds and other varmints don't take them all like they did last year. I'm going to get a crop of strawberries if it kills me! The garden needs some general maintenance too as the posts aren't looking so great. I think they need some new toppers as the ones I have look very worn. The birds are always landing there en route to the bird feeders and they of course leave their muck/fertilizer right on my posts. Sounds like it's time for a trip to Menards!

After that, I just watched the Cubs game and talked to my cousin on the phone. I forgot to mention that my great-Uncle Chuck who was, I believe, my Grandmothers Brother passed away yesterday. Almost all of the older generation in our family has passed. There aren't too many left. It's very sad. Unfortunately we aren't going to be able to go to the wake and probably not the funeral either. The wake is Sunday and that's recital and I'm not being selfish in that I want to see my daughter and my wife dance, it's that I also shoot video for the dance studio and I believe I'll be taking and selling tickets this year as well. Which reminds me, I need to see about renting an HD video camera tomorrow. I just wrote that down, or I WOULD forget. But I only remember meeting my Uncle Chuck one time and that was just a few years ago when we went out to see my Aunt Annabel. They lived out in Seattle I believe for what seemed like forever to me, and then they've been living out west of here now for quite a while too.

So I think that about covers today. The title of the post is in reference to the approaching storms we have right now complete with tornado warnings. It's supposed to really storm tonight and it's a cool front so tomorrow should thankfully be much cooler than today - it was 92 degrees and VERY humid. The thunder is starting already. I'll post a second blog about Libertyville Lincoln Mercury.