For Adam

This one's for my brother-in-law Adam, who complained that I never wrote about him.

So, Adam, now I'm writing about you.

Actually, my brother-in-law is a great guy and I'm proud to have him as a member of my family. He's a fabulous husband and father. He's funny and smart, though his taste in music is questionable (Van Halen? Really?). I'd say he's a good golfer but I have no idea what that means.

OK, Adam, you can quit riding me about not ever blogging about you. Shut up already. You know I love you, right?

The Haircut

She did this yesterday.

Picture day at school is Thursday.

So That's How Pommeranians Get Across Country

We Are Scientists is one of my new favorite bands. What's not to like? Smart, catchy lyrics; a sense of humor; a bit of retro 80's sound (a little Wall of Voodoo, a little Psychedelic Furs). This video for "Chick Lit" is hilarious.

Enjoy.

Aw, Shucks.

Yesterday I was poking around on the computer, checking up on the other blogs I read regularly when, to my surprise, Harley Quinn over at Homestead HQ gave me this:

She also wrote some very kind words about me. I'm not entirely sure I can live up to the praise (Me? Cool and stylish?), but it's certainly appreciated. A little ego stroking is always a good thing. Really, I was gobsmacked and a bit giddy.

Even before Harley lauded me, I read her posts with an appreciation of her honesty, kindness, humor, and total love for her two completely adorable children.

We haven't had many opportunities to get together in person, but hopefully that will change.

I guess I'll spread the love around. I think all of my favorite locals have been feted with this award already so I'll gift the following:

Go check out Jinjur. Sarah is a wonder woman of sorts: among her varied talents she's an expert seamstress (she may say differently, but trust me she's a genius with a needle and thread), cook, artist, and writer. Oh, and she's a mom to boot. Her site never fails to inspire and she's cheered me on to projects I probably wouldn't tackle otherwise (like sewing pajamas and candy making). I've been a fan of Sarah's work (and that of her husband and partner Evan Dorkin) for a long, long time and it's been sheer pleasure getting to know her. If there weren't like 2,000 miles between her home and mine I'd totally want to share a cup of coffee with her, while listening to the Aquabats or Puffy AmiYumi, because she's just so freaking cool. And I like her shoes.

I've raved before about how much I adore Stacy. So, head on over to Olive Loaf Design, a site consisting mainly of art, local (i.e., Chicago) and elsewhere, that inspires Stacy. She also showcases her own artwork. Stacy is the queen of papier-mache; she makes these funky flying pigs and other things. I don't know if there are enough good adjectives to describe her, so I'll just let you figure it out for yourself. I'm just happy to call her my friend.

If you'd like to tell some one how much you like their blog, the participation rules are simple:

1. If you get tagged (and want to play along), write a post with links to blogs that you love, then
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme.

Sickness and Snoring

Evan is home sick today. Apparently, he has whatever virus making the rounds at school. I picked him up early yesterday and took him to Convenient Care. The rapid strep test was negative and we were given the "lots of rest and fluids" spiel. So. As I type this, he's holed up in my room reading up on knights and medieval life.

In other news, in spite of two big mugs of coffee I am dead tired. Seriously, I could take a nap. I should not be this tired as I got more sleep last night than I have the previous two.

On a slightly tangential note, did you know how big a difference a new pillow can make to a snoring husband? A lot. Frank snores and it's something I've mostly gotten used to over the past thirteen years. But there are nights when it's not just the volume of the snoring that drives me out of our bed. In addition to his nasal cacophony, Frank has a tendency to moan like a Scooby-Doo villain or Frankenstein's Monster in his sleep.

Believe me when I say I have tried kicking him and/or shoving him to get him to stop, but that man sleeps the sleep of the dead. And the snoring and moaning just. doesn't. stop.

And it's bloody irritating.

When one's bed pillow can be folded in half like a taco and it stays that way, it's time for a new pillow (I think that's something Martha Stewart taught me. That, or I read it in a magazine.). No wonder Frank was raising such a ruckus; he was basically sleeping on a relatively thin piece of fabric and getting no support for his head. I realized this yesterday and remedied that with the purchase of said new pillow.

Last night? A very brief bout of snoring, but no moaning.

And tonight I'm hitting the hay as early as possible.

Yep, it's all Lego.

Saturday Frank and I took the kids to the newly opened Legoland Discovery Centre in Schaumburg. Aside from the hefty price of admission ($19/adult, $15/child over 3), which was augmented by my smart sister-in-law who had sent along coupons for a free adult's admission with the purchase of a child's (Thank you, Karin), it was a nice way to spend an afternoon.

The space is fairly small; 2 stories of a corner building in an upscale strip mall. But then again, it's Lego. They're tiny. The first thing we saw was the amazingly detailed Chicago cityscape. It took over 10,000 man hours and 1,000,000 Legos to build 25 Chicago landmarks. It even had the green building on the corner next to the Chicago Theatre (it wasn't marked as a McD's, but trust me it was there - we've used their restrooms many times over the years). Navy Pier was especially impressive. The carousel played music and went round and round.
The lights and sounds of the city changed over the course of the simulated day. Lights came on and went out in the high rises, street lamps came on, etc. Pretty cool.
There was even a Sears Tower with a little Lego Batman perched on it, watching over the Windy City.
The next section of the Discovery Centre was devoted to the jungle. The kids were given a scratch off card and were asked to answer multiple choice question about various animals (i.e., snakes, tigers, hippos). All of the jungle animals were made out of Lego.

The jungle led us to the Lego Hall of Fame which had life-sized replicas of Batman, R2-D2, Darth Vader, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter and Hagrid. All. made. out. of. Lego.

There was a very tame little ride, a 4-D theater (which showed a very cute film), a Lego "factory" that asked kids to help make the Lego (at the end each child in the room was given a special brick with Legoland Chicago imprinted on it), a cafe with play place and tables stocked with, you guessed it, Legos. Of course there was a gift shop, but you can find a better selection at any Toys R Us or at the Lego shop online.

We're happy to have had the time to go explore this newest addition to the Lego universe. But Frank and I were both of the opinion that once was enough.

Though, I could look at that Chicago cityscape for hours.

Good-bye Mr. Chipmunk. Hello, Dead Jesus.

We traveled northwards this weekend to spend some time with my mother-in-law and other family members.

Helga, my mother-in-law, has a chipmunk nest under her back stoop and routinely catches the little guys in a live trap, oftentimes not even using any bait. The chipmunks must be naturally curious (and/or a bit stupid) because they fall for it. Helga is a kind-hearted soul and finds the chipmunks to be a nuisance but she doesn't want to kill them. She simply transports them to a local forest preserve and lets them go, though lately she's been taking the chipmunks to the cemetery where my father-in-law is buried.

Saturday morning found yet another chipmunk in the trap and Flynn could hardly contain herself. She was out the door in a flash to watch the little thing skitter from one end of the trap to the other while she chattered to it. And when Frank and I took Evan to the barber's to get a descent haircut (unlike the chop job he got at a local place before school started), Flynn went with her Oma to let Mr. Chipmunk go and run a couple other errands.

When Flynn and Oma arrived at the cemetery, they said good-bye to the chipmunk then Helga spent a few minutes watering and tending the flowers at my father-in-law's grave. While she was doing this Flynn played among the gravestones, stopping often to admire the statuary (most were a depiction of Jesus).

As they walked back to the car Flynn said, "Oma, there sure are a lot of dead Jesuses around here."