Have I Mentioned Rain?

On Sunday we went to church and stopped at Panera Bread on the way home. After that we just hung out at home for the rest of the day. The Cubs game was rained out and the Bears didn't play so there certainly wasn't anything to watch on TV. Julie was doing the laundry and I was trying to determine what we needed to buy to put our bicycles on top of my Escape when we go on our bike trip this weekend. It took a long time to finally figure out what we actually needed and then I finally got it ordered which wasn't as easy as it sounds. Some sites I was checking prices at kept emptying my shopping cart. And then some didn't have the parts I needed.

As it turns out the place I did order the parts from didn't have the parts their site said they had since they called today and left a message saying they didn't have them. So I'm going to cancel that order as I placed the order with another website today. And now I have to pay more for shipping as we need it by Thursday. I called around to places around here where I could drive to get these parts and they didn't have them either. The entire reason I ordered them online was because it was cheaper than any place locally even with shipping. So now that I'm increasing my shipping costs, I had to check and see if anyone had them because it might be cheaper just to drive over and get them. But they didn't have the parts either. So I'll just hope that this new company has them and can get them to us in time.

Today was Grace's first day of dance class this year. It was this afternoon from 3-4 pm. I'm not excited about the time but I'm sure when we get our whole routine going it won't be so bad. I'm just wondering if Grace shouldn't be in a more advanced class. There are some girls in there that were in her class last year but there are some new kids that don't appear to have much experience or maybe any experience and Grace is doing really well with just about anything asked of her. I think I'll have to ask her teacher and see what she says. Maybe there isn't a class available for her to take or maybe she's in pre-school or gymnastics during that class.

We went to Menards before her class and were looking to buy a battery backup sump pump system and a new sump pump because they recommend that you buy a new sump pump when you buy and install the battery backup system. Well with all the rain we've been having I guess sump pumps are in high demand as they didn't have hardly ANY sump pumps nor the battery backup system I wanted. They checked in the computer and the Menards in Fox Lake and Gurnee both have the backup system I want so I guess Grace and I will have to check at one of those stores tomorrow.

Speaking of rain, we've had so much! Just yesterday we got about 4 inches. And it's supposed to continue raining for the next 4-5 days. Our sump pump has been working hard and I'm not surprised that sump pumps have been selling well lately. It's just like in the winter when the snow starts to fall people all rush to buy shovels and snow blowers, etc. So then the stores run out if it's a big storm and then lets say your shovel breaks and you need to go and buy a replacement, you're out of luck. It seems to be that way every winter. I suppose it shouldn't be any different during rainy times with sump pumps.

Anyway, it was annoying that they didn't have what I wanted but at least I didn't have to have one because mine was broken. So I'll just continue on my quest tomorrow. We came home after dance class and had dinner and then I went grocery shopping after dinner and just got home not too long ago. So its been a long day and I'm ready for the rain to stop! As a result of all the rain the mosquitoes are horrible. Rosco was waiting to come in and had about 8-10 of them flying around him as he waited. You walk outside and they start attacking no matter what time of day. We just have too much standing water.

If you've been watching the news lately, you might have noticed that Illinois has now gone 20 days without a state budget because they can't agree on the particulars. I don't know how or when they're going to fix this because both sides are trying to pull punches and neither side is giving in. The Governor Rod Blagojevich isn't giving in and has put new bills in front of the legislators that were hundreds of pages long and was expecting them to vote after only an hour or so. This could go on for a very long time.

Have you also noticed that the lady that was holed up in a church here in Chicago for over a year Elvira Arellano to avoid deportation recently left the security of the church and went to Los Angeles to speak at an immigration rally. She was on a nationwide campaign for immigration reform. As soon as she was done speaking, ICE came and arrested her and took her down to the border and handed her over to Mexican Authorities. Wouldn't you think she'd expect this? I don't think I would have left that church until the immigration reforms I was fighting for were in place. Her son was born here and is a US citizen and she didn't want to be deported so that she wouldn't be separated from her son. Of course her son has followed her down into Mexico for now.

Paint

Today is Tuesday so we had gymnastics this morning. Grace woke up around 7:30 and we were only 5 minutes late this morning. While she was working at the gym I ran to Menards to return something we didn't need and then went to pick up Grace's dance pictures. They are adorable! Here is a scan of it:



After that I played around on my laptop for a while to see what else I needed to figure out. I was actually able to turn a "feature" off that was annoying. Then we ran by Radio Shack to return something also. Then we came home and Grace played for a while, we had lunch and then she played all afternoon at her friend across the street's house. While she was there I started painting.

I got some of the shelves for the bookcase primed. Then I was working on our "Paint Organizer." It is a little notebook that lets you write down everything about the way your whole house is painted. It's pretty cool, got it from the paint store. It's made by Rubbermaid.

Then the wallpaper person stopped by. She gave us an estimate that was just a little more than I expected, but to put wallpaper on a ceiling, sounds great! The tile guy called me back today. Sounds like he wants me to get the old tile taken out and the floor repaired before we go on vacation so that he can stop over while we're on vacation and set the tile for us. So I need to get another estimate for the wallpapering and start working on other things in the family room like putting up the wallpaper on the lower portion of the walls, painting, puttying and priming the shelf I put on the ledge, painting the room, installing recessed lighting, making the cornices, having the drapes made and other things I'm probably forgetting.

After dinner which was burgers on the grill (and they were REALLY good tonight BTW) I came down and started painting parts of the bookcase I made. I got all of the face frames painted, the crown molding painted and part of one bookcase section. So we can get a pretty good idea for how it's going to look. And we both like it! Yea! And I painted one area of the room in the three colors we picked out. It looks really cool too. After I get a second coat on it and get the shelf primed and painted I'll take a picture and post that for everyone to see. Ditto for the bookcase although it's already primed and parts are already painted. Maybe we can actually have this family room looking like a room pretty soon! That will be really nice! And it'll be nice to finally be done with these darn bookcases. That's a project that has just lingered. I'm so excited to have the paint to get it finished and see how it looks and how well it will work out for us. It's fun to see an idea from your head come to fruition, but when it takes this long, it's nice just to finally be done with it and cross it off the list!

Well this isn't the most comprehensive blog posting to date, or the best written, but I'm really tired. I'll get more thoughts down tomorrow.

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.

Rainy day

Grace slept in again today (big surprise), as she got up at the time we needed to go to dance class. So we got to dance class only about 1 minute late. Then after class we were going garage saling with my SIL but she had a private lesson to teach first so we left about an hour after class was over. We had to eat lunch first and then we went on our way. It was raining on and off while we were out shopping. Grace found a new stuffed animal (big surprise--just add it to the pile) and a shirt for the fall. The only problem with the beanie baby was that it had a small hole in it and the little beans (plastic pellets) were coming out in the new loaner car. So now I have to clean the pellets out of there. I'll add more later...I've got to eat dinner soon.

It's warm out

Today was a hot day - 87 and quite humid. And of course Grace wanted to go outside and play. I finally let her because I couldn't take the begging any more. I let her and her friend who was here for a play date go outside and run through the sprinkler. But I don't think either of them really like going through the sprinkler so it didn't last long.

I made them wait a few minutes while I mowed the front yard. Since I need to mow the grass and I was going to get it wet with the sprinkler, I mowed it real quick before I turned it on. So they went up and down the sidewalk on Grace's bicycle and scooter about 2 or 3 times and then I turned it on for them. They were happy and playing for about 10-15 minutes and then they got bored. So they went to play in the back yard and I put everything away. Then about 10 minutes later Grace's friend's mom came to pick her up.

Then since she was hot, she wanted to watch TV. I turned on Fetch with Ruff Ruffman, if you haven't seen it it's a cute show on PBS. It was actually a new episode that had recorded on our Tivo. Then when it was over there was another episode on live TV. So she was really enjoying it. Then one of the neighbors came over for a few minutes to play and then Grace went back outside to play with some other neighbors. Then we all went up to Antioch so Julie could practice the "Mom's dance" for the recital.

I was right about the baby robins, they are gone. Didn't see any of them today. That's amazing to think they weren't even two weeks old and they aren't even in the nest anymore, wow! Alright, I'm tired so I gotta go.