Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Life In Mono

In her life, Rhiannon had only experienced two actual snow days.  

Remember when we had the blizzard that left over 900 cars stuck and stranded on Lakeshore Drive?

Those were her snow days.
  
She hated how everyone down south got out of school for dusting's while she had to walk through a foot of snow for seven whole blocks!

Now this year, she has already missed 5 days for extreme cold.  If this continues to be the norm I will have the Mister convinced to move to the northwest in no time.  You all can come visit us in the Redwoods when it gets to cold here in Chicago.

I'll put on a pot of coffee.  
We can watch the whales migrate together.

(*Eyes close, daydreaming starts....NOW!)






Happy Wednesday!


Wednesday, January 22, 2014

When The Roses Bloom Again

Does anybody else feel like it's been snowing for days on end?

I could use a healthy dose of baseball right now with a heaping side of vitamin D.

And maybe some nachos.  
And peanuts.  
And an Old Style.  
And two hot dogs. 
(Chicago style.)



Happy Wednesday!


Friday, January 17, 2014

White Castle Candles

I enjoy reading our local newspaper for a few reasons.  

First, the police blotter is laughable.  

Second, front page news usually involves what is happening with the senior citizens in the area.  For example, this week it talks about the Senior Citizens Idol contest.  

For an entire page.

As an added bonus, this week someone is trying to sell two slightly used white castle candles.Yes folks, for only $13 you can make your house smell like a white castle burger. 

That's the stuff dreams are made of. 

In other news, I am in the process of planning Clara's 4th birthday party.


How is it even possible this little buggar is going to be 4?!?!


I still see her like this.



Happy Friday!

Monday, January 13, 2014

Day Tripping

Yesterday it actually got above 40 degrees.

Heat wave!


Since the weather was enjoyable, The Mister suggested a day trip to Michigan. 
Like any good northerners, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and went to spend the day at the beach.


Clara likes to guide us with her map. 


Rhiannon climbed up an ice covered tree...


And then wanted to walk over these icebergs to get to the lake.  
I swear if that girl doesn't get some sense in her I will never let her move out of the house.  She scares me silly almost every day.


Some family ice skating action went down.  


As well as some slide racing.
I totally won.

These pictures were taken at Warren Dunes State Park.
I can't wait to come back for some great hiking this spring.

We stopped for a food break and ended up at the worst restaurant ever.  It was called Fitzgerald's.  It's in Sawyer MI.  The service was terrible.  The food was worse.  I wouldn't waste your time or money here if I were you.  However they did have a really cool painting of this dog.


We ended our trip by stopping at a few antique stores.

First, we met the worlds largest and sweetest dog, Maggie. 

I'm pretty sure this is the flying dog creature from 
The NeverEnding Story.

We finished with this place.  It's 3 giant barns, all connected, and filled with antiques and large beautiful, ornate chandeliers.
Drool....

Those windows = to die for.



Happy Monday!

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Wildflowers

Last year while we were in San Francisco I went to the almighty Zoltar and had my fortune read.

It was probably the most accurate fortune of my life.

"A wise old owl sat on a oak
The more he sat the less he spoke
the less he spoke, the more he heard
Why can't you be like that wise old bird?"

"Yes my friend your greatest fault is that you talk to much.  Learn to keep a secret.  However your other golden qualities make up for your talkativeness.  Your anxiety to help others, and your consideration of other peoples wishes has earned you many friends."

Although I don't have a problem keeping secrets, I do talk to much.  I need to start biting my tongue, I think.  That is what I am going to work on this year.  

Not telling people exactly what I think or feel, and perhaps stop trying to help others and help myself for a change.

We'll see how this goes.



This is the song my dad and I danced to at my wedding.  
I know its about Tom Petty's ex-wife, but I take a completely different meaning from this.

Happy Humpday
(And thank god snowmageddon 2014 is OVER!) 

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Snow Dog

Since I chose to live in the Chicago area of the world it is rare that I bitch about the weather.  



From the months of October, November, December, January, February, March and unfortunately most of April we will have bitter cold and winter weather.  


I'm totally okay with this, too.  We are completely stocked with hats, gloves, scarves, snow pants, igloo makers, snow ball makers, sleds etc ect to help get us through the long cold winter.

However, this really is a cruel joke mother nature is playing on us right now.  

There are two times when my kids are pumped to go to school.
  • After summer vacation.
  • After winter break.

This means I have two kids with severe cabin fever who are itching to go back to school.  

Instead, we are having forced snow days where it is to cold to even go outside and play!  

Oh, and the internet and cable went out.

AAAAGH!
This feels personal, Mother Nature.  

Yesterday was especially brutal.
 Rhiannon was so distraught (upon finding she had no immediate access to the outside world) she said to us, 

"Is this what it was like to live in, like, 1995?"

(Why yes.  Yes it was, Darling.)

 Finally I couldn't take it anymore.
I decided to bring the outdoors in.



You've had a pizza party+snowman building party in the bathtub before, right?  

This is totally normal?


I don't even care.  
This killed about three hours.


The snow was very powdery and not at all good for making snowmen.
Clara did a superb job at misting the snow and took her task very seriously.


(Make it BIGGER mama.  It needs to be BIGGER.  Hold on, hold on.  It needs more misty. There.  That's better. Make it BIGGER mama.  Wait, wait.  More misty...)

TA-DAAAAA!

Almond eyes, (Because who keeps coal in their house?) Candy Cane nose (those carrots are for supper!) and Candy Cane arms (it was way to cold to go looking for sticks.)


She was very proud of her snowman dog.
Buehrle was incredibly suspicious of him....


So I gave him some to eat as a snack.


And then pizza was had by all!


She had a pizza/tea party with her new friend Snow dog for a good 40 minutes afterwards.  

Thankfully, the internet came back on later last night.
(Phew, that was a close one!  Yea instagram and netflix!)

Happy Freaking Snow Day!