No Rain!

We actually didn't have any rain today. Can you believe it? I can't. So I took advantage of that fact and got the lawn mowed this evening. I actually was able to mow the lawn before it got super high and needed special attention to be mowed. So that is out of the way and I can rest easy over the weekend when we aren't here that the grass won't grow too much. Ha-ha; watch it grow 6 inches while we're gone.

Grace and I pretty much just hung out at home today. She slept in so we had a late start anyway. We didn't finish breakfast until 11 and then we had lunch at 2:30 or 3 so the whole day was a little off. But we did manage to get over to the village hall and buy some yard waste stickers so they'll take my grass clippings this week. Then we went over to the Fox Lake Menards and bought our new sump pump and battery backup system. It didn't include the battery and I didn't see one sitting there by the backup systems so they are either out or I have to buy it somewhere else. So that's another thing to add to my to-do list. We checked the recessed lights they were selling there and I wasn't too impressed. I'll have to try the Home Depot or Lowe's or an electrical supply company.

After Menards we stopped at the park near our house on the way home. We didn't have much time because Julie was going to be home from work soon. As it turns out she got home about the same time we got to the park so Grace only got to play for 15 minutes. She wasn't so happy about that even though I told her when we got there that we only had 15 minutes. The trials and tribulations of a 4 year old...

So then we came home and I made dinner - quesedillas - and then like I said I mowed the grass. After a shower and a shave I paid our bills and now I'm writing this. Did you hear that the space shuttle landed safely today? I'm so glad nothing bad happened when they re-entered the earth's atmosphere. I really was afraid it had been damaged too much. I know they do this anyway, but they had better check everything out now to make sure it doesn't need further repair besides just the heat shields now that it's been subjected to those extreme temperatures.

Oh the bike trip we're taking this weekend is called "Rolling on the River." It's down in Yorkville, IL which is 55 miles southwest of Chicago. That's 85 miles from here and will take us almost 2 hours to get there. It's a two day event to benefit Illinois' Environment. Since we've been trying to do little steps in helping the environment this sounded like a good thing to do. We'll be camping and helping with registration and hopefully riding in the event too. We're just hoping it doesn't rain the whole time and that our campsite isn't completely full of mud!

I'll talk more about this later - I've got to get to bed.

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.

Rain is here

Remember we had that really nice day yesterday and that rain was coming for the next several days. Yea, that whole cycle has already begun as it rained on and off for most of the day today. And no end in sight.

We were kind of busy today so I didn't get much done. I pulled the weeds out front and just as I was finishing (and hoping to mow the grass) the rains started. We all had lunch together at Culvers before heading to the grocery store. Pretty much the only things we picked up were things we needed for dinner tonight. I made home-made pizza including the crust. Since deep-dish is my favorite, that's the recipe I found and was trying. The pizza was pretty good (everyone else liked it) but I'll be using a different recipe next time. Plus we tried using fresh mozzarella cheese. Never experiment with two unknowns at the same time - especially with company coming over. It tasted fine, but didn't cook up very well because it has a much higher moisture content.

But it was nice to have pizza at home since Julie doesn't really like it. After I made the crust and it was just rising I ran over to Office Max and tried to get my money back for the web cam. Yea, it was easy, they did it with no problems at all. Got back nearly thirty dollars. It was definitely worth the trip. Glad I noticed it in their flier this week.

While I was out I also mailed a package to our Aunt in Nebraska; basically just a CD with some pictures on it. After our company arrived I threw the pizza together and tossed it in the oven. I was disappointed because it didn't taste the way I wanted it too, but it was pretty good I guess, just not was I was looking forward to. We didn't have any left-overs, so that's a good sign.

Then for dessert we had make your own sundaes with a new flavor: double vanilla. Guess that's new because I've never heard of it. It was really good! Really hit the spot.

Tomorrow we don't know what we're doing yet. Hopefully I can tie up a few loose ends around the house. Just wish it wouldn't rain so I could do a few things outside too.

I'm very tired, so I'll go for now.

A Nice Day

Finally we had a really nice day weather-wise today. Amazing! I was starting to wonder if we'd just jump right into fall or winter suddenly like we have in some years past. One day it's in the 80's or 90's and then all the sudden it's in the 60's. That's a big shock. But today was really nice - mid 70's for most of the day and a nice breeze and mild humidity! YEA! Now it's supposed to rain for the next several days.

If you remember from a few days ago a friend of mine invited us to go with them to Great America today and my foot was feeling good enough that Grace and I went. Like I just said, what a nice day! We went with two of Grace's friends from dance class and one of them is also in her pre-school class plus her sister and their Mom's. So there were seven of us and unfortunately for the friends sister she didn't have anyone her age with so that she could ride the rides she wanted to, she had to do what the 4 year olds were doing and she was bored out of her mind.



But the other girls and us parents had a good time. At the Wiggles World area they had the music cranked so loud we had to yell at each other to hear anything. And the Spy Girls Adventure Show was closed today. But we got to see the 3-D movie called Marvin the Martian. I think the girls really enjoyed that. It was pretty cool. They kept wanting to ride the rides in the Wiggles area over and over and then it was pretty much time to go so there was disappointment over not being able to ride any roller coasters but they all had a really good time (except the older one.)

After that we came home and it was too late to start dinner so we took care of the cat next door after letting Rosco out. Then we went to check on the other neighbor's cat because they were leaving on vacation today and hadn't heard from the person that was going to cat-sit for them. But alas, the cat wasn't there so we don't need to worry about her. They had come this afternoon and picked her up. I call this cat-sitter "the spa" because they just love this cat and treat it so well when it's at their house. It's kind of funny. But she is a really nice cat.

So we ended up buying Gyro sandwiches for dinner tonight. They were pretty good but I'm not sure if anyone really liked them a lot because nobody commented on them - good or bad. I won't say where they are from unless I hear that they liked them. We really like the restaurant we got them from but have never tried their Gyro's.

We saw most of High School Musical 2 tonight on the Disney Channel. I recorded it at home assuming that we weren't going to be able to watch it. I was partially right because we were so late bringing dinner over that the movie had already started before we got there. But Julie's "hip" parents had it on when we got there. So Grace disappeared as soon as we got there and we found out why as soon as we got to the living room. Grace has been so excited about the movie coming out and she's been listening to the soundtrack every chance she gets. I think she liked the movie, but I can't ask her now as she's sleeping at this time of night.

I thought it was a pretty good movie, what I saw of it at least. I didn't see much of it to be honest; I guess I only really saw about half of it. I suppose I should hold back on my judgment until after I've seen the whole thing. I was wondering and so was one of Grace's friends' Mom today about our friends that moved to Zimbabwe. We aren't sure if they get the Disney Channel out that way and their two girls are REALLY into High School Musical. If you read this Lauren and need a DVD, just let me know. It's all ready to mail as I recorded it straight to DVD tonight.

My foot as I said above was feeling better today. When I woke up it felt really good but as the day progressed (and I walked more) it was hurting quite a bit today. I think I'm being payed back for how I treated my foot yesterday. It felt good yesterday so I kind of resumed my normal activity. And then today I did quite a bit of walking all around Great America; plus a lot of standing too. I really should take it easy more, but it's hard to just sit around. I don't want to just sit there and wait.

I got the approval today to be part of a Bears Super Fan Blog Team. I guess they did this last year and it was successful so they're doing it again. Sounds like it's right up my alley. I'll let you know more details when I find them out.

So tomorrow I'm going to try and get Office Max to give me a partial refund for the web cam I purchased last week. If you remember last Friday Grace and I went in with our 15% off bag and filled it up with stuff including the web cam. Then we get the newspaper on Sunday and it shows the exact same web cam being on sale for 50% off. That's quite a big difference. So I'm going to first try to get them to refund the difference which is like $25 or if I have to I'll just return the one I bought and buy it at the new discount price. Either way, I'm not paying more than 50% of it's original price since that's what it's on sale for right now.

Julie is having a Stampin' Up class tomorrow morning and then we're having friends over for dinner. We have some cleaning to do and I have to get to the store and buy the ingredients to make dinner. So I'd better get going.

You must pay

I was finally able to pay for the Escape today. I called the credit union before they could call me this morning. He said that they weren't able to get their hybrid credit program approved through the state of Illinois. So he asked his supervisor and they agreed to allow us to close on the loan today and just get credited later for the amount we're supposed to get back which will be $1000.

Unfortunately we spent most of the day doing that. Grace and I couldn't pick up the check until after 1 pm. Then just before Noon my SIL's called and wondered if we wanted to have lunch at Panera Bread. So we had lunch with them and then drove down to Vernon Hills to pick up the check. Then we drove to Schaumburg to get Julie's signature on the check. Then we drove back to Libertyville to drop off the check at the dealership. We also brought the oil pan off the 302 c.i. engine I have in the newer Mustang for my cousin because he needs it for his 1969 Cougar. He has a new EFI 302 c.i. engine that he originally built for his 1989 Cougar, but with the oil pan it has, it won't fit in the 1969 Cougar.

Anyway, we got home only 5 minutes before Julie did. I didn't feel like making the pork roast on the grill since it was so late, and we just had leftovers. Guess we'll have that pork roast tomorrow night. Unfortunately it's only a two pound roast and we have to feed more people on Friday nights than just ourselves. I'll have to make other "sides" to go with it so we have enough food for everybody.

As short as this is, it is my day in a nutshell today. And even if I wanted to expound further, I don't really have anything else. We didn't have time for much of anything else. I can say that my foot is considerably better today. I haven't iced it at all although I'd like to because it is hurting a little. It didn't really start hurting until late this afternoon. I will ice it before going to bed though.

I heard today that NASA has decided not to repair the shuttle's damaged heat shield tiles. Like I said yesterday - I really don't think that's a good idea. It's just asking for another disaster. I feel you should do everything in your power to prevent that from happening again and I don't think they are doing that. I understand that they've analyzed it probably 100 times maybe even thousands of times but it's a very delicate balance between keeping enough heat away from the ship upon re-entry and allowing too much in. Obviously Columbia allowed too much in and the ship disintegrated because of that very fact. Now they can clearly see that the heat shield on the bottom of the ship where it receives the most amount of heat upon re-entry is damaged and they don't fix it. The only reason I can believe that fixing it might not better their situation is if the supplies that have to fix the repair are inferior to the originals or if repairing it would just end up making it worse somehow. I don't know. It's very scary and I'm sure every astronaut on that ship is worried like you wouldn't believe. I will definitely be praying for them when they return home.

Depending where you are reading this from it may not be news to you but the momma beluga whale at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago gave birth to another calf today. She just had one a year ago and the article mentions that the baby has a half-sister (different mother) that just celebrated her first birthday. I remember years ago when a beluga had a baby and it died and then everyone came out in protest that they shouldn't be in captivity, etc., etc., etc. I'm glad they are doing good. They're really cool to watch. That's my favorite part of the Shedd Aquarium is the Oceanarium where the belugas are housed.





Other than that, there isn't much going on. Oh here is a picture of the bookcase as it looks now.



I still need to put one more shelf up on the right hand side there. That'll be one of the six shelves I haven't painted yet. The other shelves will just be extras or replacements, however you'd like to look at it.

Well football season is upon us. College and professional football start soon. I'm already working on preparation for my fantasy draft which will be on Sunday the 26th. This is one of the most exciting times of the year with all the talk about football and the excitement of the unknown in regards to how each player and each team will do this season. Plus all the trades that occurred and how that affects those players abilities as well as the entire teams capability because of the trade. And don't forget about rookies as sometimes they can impact a team in their first season. Football is definitely my favorite sport. I could watch football all the time. And it doesn't even have to be the game itself, it could be just people talking about football. I watch every game I can during the season; since we have DirecTV we obviously subscribe to NFL Sunday Ticket so I CAN watch every game every week. But I can only physically watch one at a time.

My Mom is the same with baseball. She watches baseball all the time and she usually subscribes to the MLB Extra Innings package. She's lucky that she gets to watch her favorite sport for so long as the football season is shorter or at least there are significantly fewer games. NASCAR is the sport where it just goes on forever. I am a NASCAR fan, but haven't really watched this year because my driver Elliot Sadler switched on me to a new team where he's now driving a Dodge. I'm sorry but I just can't root for him in a Dodge. I have to root for someone driving a Ford. Since I haven't picked a new driver to support, I'm just not supporting the sport at all really. But my point of bringing it up was that they only have about 2 months off. Their season is 10 months long if I recall correctly.

Obviously I like baseball too as Grace and I go to several Cubs games every year, but if I had to pick only one sport it would be football hands down. Looking back at my childhood I wish I would have tried out for football or even baseball. I think I could have made one of the teams. I did play soccer in middle school and I was in track for a while too. I think that not having my Dad around when I was younger had an affect on me not doing anything like that. After 7th or 8th grade I didn't do anything sports related anymore except for marching band. I was really into music and even went to college as a music major my first semester. But playing an instrument came so naturally to me that once I got in college and it was something that I actually had to work at I didn't enjoy it any more and changed my major. And changed my major, and changed my major.

I've had trouble deciding what to do "when I grow up" for most of my life. I've never had a desire to do just one thing very strongly for a long time. My interests were and really still are changing all the time. Less so now than ever but nonetheless I still have a problem focusing on one thing and sticking with it for a long time. That's why it takes me so long to finish projects because I get distracted because I think of some other project I want to do or maybe I have to do some other project because it's a necessity. It's a major accomplishment that I've finally finished these bookcases. I first bought the plywood and supplies for this project about two years ago (March 2005.) And now it is actually a bookcase you can put a book on. It should have never taken me that much time and I don't know how I can change so that it doesn't take me that long to do other things. Somehow I need to keep my focus on what I'm doing so that I don't "move on" until I'm ready to move on (or until my current project is ready for me to move on.)

Rainy Day

Today was just a rainy dreary day. It rained off and on all day long. When I woke up this morning I knew I had to see some type of doctor because my foot was killing me. So I called my MD's office and they said the physicians assistant was accepting walk-ins until 10 am. Since it was around 8 am I thought I'd be able to make it, but I showered and Grace and I had breakfast and then it was 9:30 and I knew I'd never make it.

Julie stayed home sick today and she wanted to see the doctor too. So I called them and the doctor was only seeing critical patients today but the physicians assistant was in. So I set up an appointment for Julie and then called my chiropractor and got myself an appointment. So I left then to go and see him and Julie watched Grace. Grace's friend from down the street was coming over later and I wanted to get back soon so that Julie didn't have to watch Grace too much.

So I get to the doctors office and fill out my paperwork and see the doctor. From my previous post you know that he adjusted a bone in my foot and gave me electrical stimulation. And now I'm supposed to be icing it for 20 minutes every hour. I haven't done so well with that. Quite honestly I don't want to get up. But I have been doing things around the house - just not much. So anyway I got home about 10 minutes after Grace's friend was supposed to be over and they were playing already. I think her friend's Mom was a little surprised that Julie was here, especially since I called this morning to get everything set up.

Then Julie went to the doctor about the time I was making lunch for the girls. They both ate really well - made a box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. Although we used all of our milk at breakfast (except chocolate) and our milk delivery isn't usually until early afternoon. So I got creative and put double the butter and a little water. It tasted alright, just a little buttery and not as cheesy as it normally does. So that was lunch - I had leftover steak that I grilled up for dinner last night. It was still REALLY good!

So Julie called like an hour and a half later and said she just finished up at the doctor's office and was heading to the pharmacy. Just after she got home Grace's friend had to leave. Then Grace and I went to the neighbor's house to feed their cat since they are on vacation. I brought my laptop with me to see if our wireless network would work over there; it did! I don't like to just come over and feed the cat and leave. I like to spend a little time with them so they aren't so lonely. So Grace comes with and plays with toys and the cat a little. I usually just pay attention to the cat, but I was playing around with my laptop this time.

Oh I forgot about the MacGyver moment I had. We have the key to the neighbors house obviously, but we still couldn't get in. Somehow the screen door was locked. Since I only have a key to the front door we couldn't get in. I told Grace to wait there as I was going into our garage to look for something that would help us to get in. I found some electrical wire and some wire strippers. I stripped about 6-8 inches of the stranded wire and then separated about three of them and curved the end and stuck it into the screen and then up a few inches and back out the screen. Then I took the loop I just created and maneuvered it over to the latch and pulled to open the door. Grace was amazed, although I don't know if that's something she should really be seeing.

So then we came back home and I was going to make dinner which was supposed to be pork roast on the grill (it's a grilling week I guess.) But we decided to just have burgers on the grill instead. These are the all-natural burgers we've had before. Man are they good! They are from Oberweis Dairy which is who delivers our milk.

That is pretty much the day because after that I've retired to my recliner with my laptop and an ice-pack. The Cubs game was postponed about an hour and a half tonight because of the rain. I've been watching that off and on (because Julie doesn't really like to watch baseball on TV.) Last night at Target I bought the soundtrack to High School Musical 2 for Grace. She just found it as I had it on my desk earlier and so she's playing that kind of loudly on her little boom-box, I've got the Cubs game on and I'm checking the Disney website for when the new movie will be on and they have video playing all the time when you go to their website. So we've got these three sounds competing and Julie doesn't feel good (and wasn't so happy about all the sound.) So I mute the Cubs game and turn off the sound on the website. That helped, but Grace kept inching the sound up on her music until she had to go to bed.

Just so you know - and if you care - High School Musical 2 is on Friday night on the Disney Channel (DirecTV Channel 290) at 7 pm CT. And Diego has a movie on Nickelodeon (DirecTV Channel 299) at 6 pm. Can you tell I hang out with kids a lot? I swear I end up watching more of her shows than she does sometimes. She'll be watching and all happy and then she goes to do something else and I'll still be interested in seeing what happens so I'll still be there watching long after she's done with it. I guess that's just what being a parent is all about.

The bookcase is done except for the six shelves I still have to paint. I definitely made too many shelves because I have these six left and the bookcase really only needs like one more shelf. But I'd rather have too many shelves than not enough and have to go buy more wood and start cutting everything again. That would be a pain and this is far less pain to paint some extra shelves in case we ever need them in the future.

I was invited to go to Great America (Six Flags) on Friday with some friends and I had fully planned to go, but now with my ankle I don't think walking around that much is a good idea. I'll see how I feel tomorrow though before I make any final decisions. It's also our turn to cook at Julie's parents house Friday night. I need to decide what to make and probably have to go back to the store and buy it. Plus we're having company on Saturday and Julie's having a Stampin' Up class on Saturday morning. We have some cleaning to do too seeing as how our house is in construction mode, not entertaining mode.

So the space shuttle is up at the International Space Station and maybe you've heard that it was damaged during takeoff by some insulating foam from the external fuel tank. They've been analyzing this damage for days and it seems to me are trying to not have to fix it. I'm sorry but if I'm on that shuttle I'm fixing the hole. They've determined that the damage goes all the way through the protective insulation layer and has basically exposed some of the aluminum frame on the bottom of the ship. I don't understand how this couldn't be considered something that HAS to be fixed. I don't get it.

And then there is the mine collapse in Utah where six miners were caught in the mine during a severe shaft collapse. They just broke through with the third bored hole they have drilled in attempts to locate these men today and they found an area where they could have sought refuge and there is a curtain there that would have separated them from bad air. What really surprises me is that they still believe there is a possibility for these guys to be alive. That astounds me that after 10 days their is still a chance they may still be alive. I just don't see how that's possible.

Yesterday continued

I ran out of time writing my post yesterday and didn't mention that when I brought my new mirror home and was bringing it down the stairs, I missed the last step and fell - never hurting the mirror mind you - but I injured my foot pretty good. I went to see our Chiropractor today and he said some bone in my foot was out of place. He adjusted it back where it goes saying that if he didn't put it back like that that it would have taken a long time to heal. Then he used electrical stimulation on my ankle and foot. Now I have instructions to ice it for 20 minutes every hour. I haven't quite done it that much, but ice sure does feel good!

Another thing that happened yesterday was on the way to Target I was going the opposite direction as a 1969 Mustang - black. I'm not sure if it was a Mach 1 or not, but he was REALLY flying! Man did that engine sound good! Things like that make me want to get out in the garage and work on my Mustang but we don't have the money for that right now since we're doing all this work on the house.

And the other thing I didn't have time to mention was an unsolicited IM I got. Normally I just ignore them, but I was curious about this for some reason. I opened it and read it and was really surprised by what I was reading. It was a guy from Valvoline's Advertising Company saying he had read my blog about wanting to stick with Valvoline but that I was considering trying Castrol because it was easier to find. He's sending me a case of Valvoline SynPower so I can try it! Can you believe it? Now that's the power of the internet! And what a marketing ploy, searching out current customers that are considering changing. That's really cool!

So that's what I forgot from yesterday. I'll finish up writing about today later.