Cubs Game

Today was mostly occupied with going to the Cubs game. Got up early and before showering fixed the dining room table so that Julie could have her Stampin' Up class today. Then I got everything ready. Julie mostly watched Grace and got her ready so it was a pretty easy morning. Dad came and followed us to the train station so that he could leave from there when we got back. The train was a few minutes late, but we were early - too bad it couldn't work the other way around sometimes in that they'd wait for you. Train ride was uneventful, Grace was excited to be going and was pretty good. We brought a lot of extra stuff with us as there was a chance of rain today and after the rain it was supposed to get cooler. Plus it's always cooler by the lake. But as it turned out, it didn't rain at all downtown until it sprinkled as we were about to get on the train to come home.

The bus trip to the park was horrible. The only thing I can think to blame it on would be traffic. The first bus we got on was making all stops, then when we got to the blue line they put everyone that was going to the Cubs game on a different bus that wasn't going to make any stops. But it still took us about 50 minutes to go the 8 miles or however many it is from the Grayland Metra stop to Wrigley Field. Normally that's a 30 minute ride with stops. But we still were there before the game started and Grace got her batting helmet that she seems to really like. This was her best game yet which makes sense since she's getting older. She pretty much sat in her seat the whole time and either watched people or the game or colored in her notebook. She ate most of the lunch I brought and she only had to go to the bathroom one time while we were there. Last year we must have gone an average of 4-5 times each game.

The game was really good as the Cubs pulled out a can of whoop-a$$ and beat the Atlanta Braves 10-1. Neither my Dad nor I knew before we got there that Lou Piniella had been suspended indefinitely and we both noticed he wasn't in the dugout. So I looked on the internet on my cell phone and read the article about how he was suspended indefinitely and fined an undisclosed amount. That seems a bit extreme to me especially considering what other coaches have done in years past. But what can us fans say about it?

So we took the bus and train home without any incident unless you include the idiot underage drinkers that could hardly walk to the bus or train. When we first got off the train and were headed to the bus stop we saw them all drinking before they got on the bus. Then we didn't see them again until after the game when we were waiting to get on the bus. The one kid was helping the other kid walk and he was clearly out of it. We met another guy on the bus on the way to the park who was also waiting for the train to go back home and he said they were on his bus coming back to the train stop and the guy was sick the whole bus trip. Apparently the bus drivers weren't even letting him on, but he snuck on through the back door I guess and finally got on. He didn't look too good waiting for the train and still didn't look so good when he got off the train in Libertyville. I hope his parents find out.

Speaking of parents, there was some kid about 12 or so at the train platform that had bought a baseball at the Cubs game that he was throwing at the fence and on the tracks. And he was picking up rocks from the tracks and throwing them and standing on the tracks and then was playing catch with whom we all thought was his Grandpa across the tracks. I guess they don't take the threat of a train coming by and hitting them and the signs that say to keep off the tracks very seriously. Everyone was commenting among themselves about it. I just don't understand people.

So we came home and just hung out for the night. We were pretty tired. All of us went for a walk around the block with the neighbors from across the street and then the girls all played together for a while then Grace had to have some dinner. Julie and I never did eat anything. I was excited about what I got in the mail yesterday that I forgot to mention. I got an Ipod Nano 2nd Generation 4 Gb mp3 player off of eBay. I'm so excited - have I mentioned that? I've been wanting one for a long time and finally just got one. I had some money that my Dad had given me for my birthday and I had saved some of my weekly "allowance" since I haven't been able to go anywhere for a while so I had enough to get one. It is used, but it appears to have been used quite gently as it looks and works like new. So now I feel the need to get all the accessories that go with it so I can use it the way I want to. The biggest reason I wanted it was to use while I go bike riding (when I'm riding alone.) So anyway, while Julie was putting Grace to bed I ran out to Target to see if I could get the cable that hooks up the Ipod to the car stereo. In the loaner I'm driving and the car we have on order, there is an input for that so I needed the cable to do that. I had looked at Wal-Mart yesterday, but the cable they had looked pretty cheap so I didn't get it. So I ran to Target at like 8:30 and they were only open until 9:00 and of course they didn't have it they were out of stock.

So as soon as I realized they didn't have one, I got back in the car and drove across the parking lot to the Best Buy, but they were already closed. So I went back to Target to look at the other stuff they had. I got an armband so I can wear it on my arm while I'm bike riding instead of trying to stuff it in a pocket. So I'll have to go to Best Buy tomorrow and see what they have to offer. Then on the way home, I stopped at the grocery store and picked up a few things that I knew we needed since I need to go there tomorrow also. I thought it would make the trip a little easier tomorrow since I'll have Grace with me.

Saturday and Birthday Parties

Grace got up super early today - 6:20 - which really sucked because I didn't go to bed until like 2am. So I was a little tired today. Julie had dance class and then after that Grace went to a birthday party for a friend of hers. His party was at My Jump Place in Lake Villa. She loves going there and was very excited. We got there a few minutes late because "somebody" was taking their time getting ready. After we'd been there a few minutes Julie came to watch Grace and I got a little free time.

I went to Staples and made some copies of a book I borrowed from the library about southwest interior design for ideas of how to further decorate our first floor since it's an Arizona theme. After I returned the book to the library, I went to Menards to get a new weed-trimmer attachment for my weed wacker. For some reason it stopped working. The edger attachment still works fine, but not the trimmer. But of course they didn't have any. I'll have to look somewhere else for that. I did get a new thistle feeder bag to feed the birds with since the one we have has a gaping hole in it that lets the seeds fall on the ground in big piles.

Then I went over to my Dad's house to install Microsoft Office 2003 on his new computer. It came with a 60-day trial of Office 2007 Home & Student which isn't enough for him (doesn't include Outlook) plus he'd have to pay a lot to keep it after the 60 days. This took a while to do because in the interim he was using the new version of Outlook Express that comes with Vista called Microsoft Mail. So I had to import his old mail file (.PST) from Outlook and then try to import the mail from Microsoft Mail. This proved difficult as following the instructions didn't work. I had to make it up as I went along. After this, I went home and Julie had just gotten home too. We just hung out and ordered a pizza - YEA! I don't get to do that often, as Julie doesn't really like it.

While I was at my Dad's house, I had turned on the Cubs game just a few minutes before Lou Piniella went on his tirade that got him ejected. That was exciting. Can't wait to see how he is at the Cubs game tomorrow as Grace, my Dad and I are going. YEA!

Friday!

So today was Friday - YEA! Grace slept in. I know you're surprised. I sure was - ha, ha! By the time she got up and I got up and showered, it was 11:00 or so. She was watching TV and came downstairs at like 12:00 or 12:15 and wanted to have breakfast. I said you slept through breakfast, it's time for lunch. She wasn't too happy about that, but asked for a grilled cheese sandwich (she only has 3 or 4 choices on her menu.) I said we don't have any cheese (we didn't go to the grocery store this week) how about a peanut butter and sandwich (as she likes to call it.) She finally agreed, so I made one for her and one for me (did I mention we haven't been to the grocery store?) and we had lunch.

I then called a friend to ask what her child would want for their birthday since Grace is going to their birthday party tomorrow. We ended up talking for over an hour and a half, maybe two hours all together. We were talking about our kids and our kids friends and their parents and about how to bring up kids and just a lot of stuff. We never seem to have much time to talk since we are both busy. So it was really nice to talk to this friend.

So after that, Grace and I went to Wal-Mart to get the gifts for the birthday party tomorrow morning. She was a bear in the store. She wanted this and she wanted that and can she have this, AHHH. So I explained that if she didn't ask every 3 seconds for something and that if she helped me pick things out for her friends that we'd get her one thing when we were done. That worked pretty well, but I didn't put a limit on what she could get, so of course she picks a $15 item that wasn't marked with a price. I know that somewhere in the store they have a scanner that will tell you how much it is so we set out to find one. We finally find it on the other side of the store and it doesn't work. So by this point I'm like I don't care how much it is, lets just get OUT OF HERE! So we check out and spend lots of money and leave. I dropped a book off at the library and we came home.

Get home and she watches another episode of Fetch with Ruff Ruffman. Then her best friend from across the street comes over. She really hasn't seen her all week since we've been so busy. Then I look out and see her friends Mom and sister coming over too, so I meet them outside and we were talking. Then Julie comes home and the girls come outside to play chalk on the sidewalk. So we were all outside talking and having a good time and then we realized what the time was and were trying to hurry to get to Julie's parents house. Unfortunately we got over there pretty late - after 7:00pm. But dinner was good and dessert was good and (I was starving since I had only had a peanut butter sandwich) we had a nice relaxing time. And another week is in the books.

But did you catch the Cubs game today? I didn't see much of it since we were at Wal-Mart during most of the game, but holy cow! Apparently either Carlos Zambrano (my favorite Cubs pitcher) is getting really frustrated since his season hasn't been going well or maybe he just didn't like the way Michael Barrett the catcher was calling the pitches, but they actually had fisticuffs in the dugout and in the locker room. It'll be interesting to see how Lou Piniella deals with this. He's a real class guy and I really respect him as a coach. Hopefully he can get this team turned around. I'd say he's had a pretty good impact already even though their record doesn't really show that. I wouldn't think Carlos was upset with Michael for the passed ball (even though that really screwed up the inning) since there really isn't much you can do about that, but you never know.