Homeowner Blues

 What's a girl to do when her brand new very expensive patio less than a year old has a crack such as this running across the length of it, and potholes?  

Weep?

dinner with friends

Last Saturday, we joined friends from Adam's work at Emmett's.  It is a small local brewery with amazing food and a great atmosphere.  I have heard of it, but have never been.  We loved everything about it from the beer to the cheese curds.  There were 2 other couples and it was a really fun night.  HI David, if you are reading this!!!

 Afterwards we went to a bar across the street, with a much older crowd.  The sailboats on their sweaters gave it all away!  Karaoke was in the background, and it wasn't long for David's girlfriend Paula to request a song.  Before we knew it she was up there singing Four Non Blondes, What's Going On, and shortly after that David was up there with her.  It was by far one of the greatest performances of karaoke I have ever seen!  I seriously have all the respect for anyone who does it... serious. I wish I had the guts.  

And I couldn't resist posting this super cute picture of the 2 of them!!!

Lacey Visits

Flossers Re-Unite

Lacey came to Chicago for a quick visit, and by quick I mean QUICK.  I only got to see her for less than 24 hours.  But we made the most of it!  She was here attending a conference for work.  She finished Tuesday, and then rode the train home with Adam.  Once I got home, where else would we take her besides Portillo's for dinner.  

After we got back we chit chatted until the both of us were passed out tired.  The next morning we went to breakfast and then shortly after I had to take her to the airport.  I am thankful to have seen her at least, even for a short time!  Next time... COUNTRY MUSIC!

"I Ain't No Killa"

Set the Scene: 10 p.m. Wednesday night, Adam is out of town, I let the dogs out... Charlie peed and came inside.

And ACTION!!!

Lucas took off and went straight to the back of the yard and barked and barked and barked. I look out and he is attacking an animal a bit larger that Charlie. It was horrible. Fear ran thru me in an instant. I have been fearing this since the day we moved in as our backyard backs up to a field and is not well lit. Lucas saw this creature before I even had the chance too. So here I am screaming at him to come in. He just kept barking and pushing this animal with his nose. And then the animal would hiss back. And then he would push it with his nose again. I ruled out skunk. THANK GOD. I got outside closer. It looked like an oversized rat or hedge hog. Hard to tell in dark.

I tried ringing the doorbell to get Luke to come in, tried saying "Adam's home!", tried offering treats, banging pots and pans.... NOTHING to hold the attention of my 1 year old pup. This went on for like 1/2 a hour. Me screaming obscenities in the middle of the night, and out of ideas.

Finally my neighbor Scott comes out, and goes "what's he barking at?" I say I don't know.... I described to Scott what I thought it might be. I told him Adam was out of town and he asked me if I wanted him to come over, letting me know if it's a rat he was going to kill it. "Oh dear, do what you gotta do!" I say. So Scott comes over. With a PITCHFORK. And gets closer than I ever would. Lucas is STILLLLLL barking and now Scott and I are trying to catch Lucas, while this animal is scared out of it's mind. Lucas thinks this is hilarious and has turned this into a cat and mouse game. FINALLY I catch my trouble maker dog. And Scott gets closer to the animal. We now think its a hedge hog or possum, but are still debating. He pushes it with the pitchfork. (Not the sharp part!) And he thinks it might be pregnant, I ask "how do you know" as everything turns into an educational lesson with me. He says "the stomach is poofy, and if you think about it, this animal didn't really fight back." He nipped Lucas, but it did not hurt Lucas, you could tell. So anyways, he then says "do you want me to kill it?".... and I say "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO."

After me apologizing profusely and offering beer and baked goods to my neighbor, he says "NO NEED.... call anytime." At this point I am in tears... and I go... "I dont even know your number!" And wait for it.............. the kicker of the story..... he pulls out his business card!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So here I am all weepy over my dog getting in his first real fight, and he hands me a business card! It definitely made me laugh. And you better believe I am filing it away!!

Lucas is okay. He didn't have any scratches on his nose or anything, I had debated taking him to the vet, but he was acting normally the whole next day. He just wanted to make a new friend. I'm not quite sure that he did though.

1 Year Homeowners

It's hard to believe, but Adam and I have been homeowners for 1 whole year!!!

March 6th, 2010

It's been nice to look back upon this blog and see all the work we have put into our home, and all the work ahead.

We wish we could snap our fingers and everything we would like to be done... would be done. But alas, life is not like this...

It all takes time.

Hey, we have 30 years!

7-0

We were able to visit Adam's dad, John, last weekend for his 70th Birthday. We left Thursday and returned Sunday. They did what they do best. GOLF GOLF GOLF.

My in-laws live on a golf course and it is one of the most peaceful places. While they golfed, I read books in total peace and quiet, chit chatted with the passing golfers, and obtained quite the sunburn on my arms and shins.

Here they are stopping by the house for extra beer and a quick bite to eat.

Barbara is quite the cook. I look forward to whatever she has to serve when we are there. She made me a tuna sandwich and it was seriously the best tuna sandwich I ever had. Pictured above however is not a tuna sandwich... fillet wrapped in bacon, shrimp, baked potato and green beans... surf and turf if you will. My favorite.

Our post dinner drinks were served in these teeny little glasses...Limoncello.

They definitely warmed me up!

As always we had a wonderful time and hope that John had an excellent birthday!

Can't wait to come back and visit!!!!

Guys and Dolls

Last year it was Seussical the Musical, this year we supported community theater with Guys and Dolls. Again, a good friend, one of my first ever back in the day was one of the Hot Box/Havana girls. Jen did a fabulous job, and I was so happy that we made it out to see her!

Of course, now I want to go to NYC and see the real deal, but this was enough to suffice me for now. It was a great show performed at Elgin Community College. 2 thumbs up!

Love ya Jen!!!

Chicago Wolves

We had 4 tickets to the Chicago Wolves vs. Rockford Ice Hogs, yes Ice Hogs last Wednesday!!!

So we asked Alisa and Mike to come along. We ended up sitting 3 rows behind the players which was an experience. You were able to watch them up close screaming and yelling.

I do enjoy watching hockey and had a great time.

Wolves won!!!! Thank goodness. I would have hated to lose to a team called the Ice Hogs.

28 on the 25th

My 28th birthday was the 25th of February, and I had a super, wonderful day. My restaurant of choice that night was Texas de Brazil. If you like steak, you will love Texas de Brazil. It's all you can eat salad bar and meat. I mean, what's not to love?

Each person gets a card. When you want meat, you flip to green, and a bunch of men scramble to your table offering you the finest cuts of meat you'll ever see. When you want them to leave you alone, or you think you have had enough, you turn the card back to red, and eat and savor and eat and savor some more.

Another great feature of Texas de Brazil, you eat for free on your birthday!! So if you are in the email club, you get a coupon to eat for free with a paid customer. It is pretty expensive to dine there especially if you are multiplying the bill with a few people, or buying a couple bottles of wine.... eh, it was my birthday, I shared, don't worry.

I was hoping for a better group picture than this one. You can't see any one's faces!!! What was the server thinking??? But anyways, I was so happy to have all my best girl friends AND their husbands present for my birthday! It was a rare occurrence. And I always really love times like these! It was the best birthday present they could have given me. Too sappy? I don't know, it's true though!

After dinner, we went to Fox and Hound for drinks.

The night ended around 2am.

So happy!

So fun!

Happy 28th Birthday to me!