July 5th

On Thursday Mom and I got up early and went to the Libertyville Farmer's Market. Here are a bunch of pics that delighted my senses. It was a lovely little market with all sorts of things. I even got to meet the flower lady who supplied all the peonies for our wedding.





There was a charming little table of baked goods, produced by French Nuns in the city. The sweet woman who was there let me purchase a "kwah sahh" for Brad, but their specialty was the apple tart.



And this lovely table had all sorts of olive oils and vinegars. Strawberry balsamic, anyone?


This table had all sorts of adorable baked goods... for dogs.


And if you look closely here, you can see the vibrant purple cauliflower!

July 4th

We got into O'Hare late Tuesday night and went straight to Mom's place to crash. On Wednesday we woke up late and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before getting ready for a walk. We headed toward Independence Grove, a forest preserve in Libertyville, but stopped at Ace Hardware to pick up a few things for the house and got a little carried away. By the time we left we had enough anchors and such to hang curtains and put up garage organization items, and ditched the walk idea. We got some lunch and took naps before meeting the Martens family at Max and Erma's for dinner. Here is the lovely Audrey Anne, star of Shanel's blog.



Afterward we ran up to Dairy Dream for a lovely treat of lemon custard ice cream, an old favorite from way back. Then we headed back to Vernon Hills to catch the fireworks.

Late June goings on

I think I mentioned a while ago that there are burrowing owls living in the vacant lot across the street. Finally, here are some pics of the happy family. We go out in the evening to check on them and make sure all seven of them are accounted for. We also try to approach them and get just a teeny bit too close, which makes them bob their heads and sort-of bow. Which we do back at them, but we look rather goofy. I don't know who put the T's out there for them to sit on, but they like them. Except for one, which isn't nailed together very well, so when the owl tries to sit on the end it swings down and frustrates him. Makes for a fun show, though.






In other news, Brad has been experimenting in the kitchen lately. He invented his own recipe, called "Hot Dog Surprise." He dices onion and peppers and sautes them for a bit, then throws in sliced hot dog or brat until it caramelizes. I'm terribly impressed, as he hasn't taken to cooking much before.



And finally, we celebrated our last day of mutual unemployment by heading over to Sanibel again last Tuesday. The skies were just beginning to rain at home when we left, but we could see that the clouds were lighter by the water. We parked on one of the islands between bridges (the causeway has three bridges) and had a little private beach. The water was like bath water, so we jumped in and played a bit of whiffle ball in the water before taking the chairs in and sitting in the water. It was a wonderful afternoon.


When we got home we threw our gear in two suitcases and headed to the airport, Chicago-bound!

Taken with a REAL iPhone. At a REAL Apple Store.

Having fun!

This is being posted from the Apple Store on Michigan Avenue in
downtown Chicago. We've had a great two days so far up in the 'burbs
and we got downtown this morning. Brandon and Lori and the girls from
Columbus are driving in any time to meet us. Tonight Brandon and Brad
will go see The Police at Wrigley Field!!!

So much to tell you-- can't wait to post all my 70-some pictures when
we get home!

And I think to myself...

After a lovely evening with family, capped off with a late-night viewing of Music and Lyrics (thumbs up), and lots of sleeping in, we headed off for an adventure this morning. We stopped in at WW (weight watchers) for the good news of -1.2 pounds this week and then went to test out the new section of the Sanibel Causeway Bridge that opened last night. The causeway has three sections-- mainland to itty-bitty-island-number-one, number-one to number-two, and number-two to Sanibel Island. The middle section has been completed for a little while now, the third section has about another month to go, and section one opened last night. It includes a new toll booth area where they take your six! dollars gleefully and a realllly tall bridge which negates the need for the drawbridge. Here's the approach (sorry for all the dashboard in the shot):


...and the new toll booths, with actually very friendly toll collectors:


... and the view from the toll booth:


This is near the crest of the bridge, where you can see the old drawbridge stuck in the up position:


And the descent from the top:


It was pretty fun to test it out. A-ok in our books. We stopped at the Chamber of Commerce to ask where the best burgers can be found. The very kind lady didn't have an opinion but gave us a brochure that had information on all the restaurants on the island, including their menus! Great find. We chose to go to The Island Cow since we've never been there before. It felt vacationy and was full of European tourists. The burger we split was pretty good, and the seasoned fries were great.


We drove around a bit more and then stopped in at a place I've wanted to go in for a while-- a little antique store. The facade was deceptively small as this place went on and on, and had a t-o-n of stuff inside. I could have spent a mint!


We found this bag of coffee and took a pic in honor of my dad, who likes to refer to himself as Uncle Bill from Libertyville:


LOVE these old suitcases. Someday I'd like to stack them and use them as a nightstand.


I saw this and immediately thought of my grandfather who is the absolute king of clever gags.



And this was in the parking lot (notice the crushed shells instead of gravel!). What a lovely hibiscus bloom all lonely and waiting to be stepped on. I almost felt sorry for it.


We were just about to leave the island when we decided to go dip our toes in the water. We drove over to our usual secret spot and parked illegally. (If you're ever on Sanibel and want to sneak onto a beach and borrow a private cabana, the name rhymes with Oliday Nn. Never had a problem parking there.) We were just going to dip our toes in, but once we felt the gulf breeze and the ten-degree-cooler temperature by the water, we decided to go for a little walk. It was delightful and a soothing, calming way to get a little exercise.

Here's the walk to the beach:


This was taken by a gentleman tourist who I'm pretty sure hasn't used a camera phone before. He kept holding the face of the phone up to his eye and squinting... not a good sign.


After a brief washing-off,

...we headed home. Here you can see a bulldozer taking apart section two of the bridge. They're going to create a man-made reef out of the hunks of concrete.


And this is how I'd like to go to heaven. In a Miata, on a beautiful day, up, up, up the bridge, and I'd like to just keep on going.

All is well

I'm sitting on my comfy purple couch, listening to the hum of the very-full dishwasher and well-fed Roomba. These are the sounds that make me happiest, as they are the sounds of cleaning up after another family night. I love family night, not just because of the sweet moments watching baby Kaya learning to walk, Papaw teaching Chase and Bethany a new Carrom game, Chris and Bethany having some mother-daughter chat time, Brad grilling out and connecting with his brothers-in-law, and so much more... it just feeds me, and I don't even know why. Having a crowd to feed in my home is a true joy to me, and as I sit and let the modern conveniences (and Brad) do the cleanup for me, I feel just so very blessed.

Since we're on a tight budget we're being much more careful with the shopping budget for these family nights. Feeding eight adults and four kids can be expensive! But in true loaves and fishes form, God did a little something fun tonight. Chris had the idea to grill chicken and donated a package of three large chicken breasts. She also brought a big bowl of homemade potato salad and some apple crisp. I went to the groc yesterday and got six more large chicken breasts for $1.77 a pound (sale! yay!). I also made rolls and corn on the cob. Jeff brought salad and celery to add to my carrots for a crudite tray. And Beth and Rico brought drinks. While I was trimming the chicken breasts I realized that we were going to have a ton of food! So we invited the next-door neighbors over as well-- two adults and three pre-teens. And we still have leftovers. Not quite enough for each disciple to have his own basket, but there was plenty and it kept stretching and stretching.

Brad requested to make dirt for dessert-- you know, the Oreo concoction with chocolate pudding and Oreo crumbs? He whipped that up this afternoon and it went over exceedingly well. Here's a pic of Kena enjoying her dirt. Of course, mean cousin Chase convinced her it was real dirt and she wouldn't eat any for a little while, until he finally told her he was kidding (and Aunt Kathleen gave him the look).

Reason to love Florida No. 568,923

On the way home from the groc this evening we spotted this dandy of a ride. Big ol' truck, license plate reads, "KRACKA," and the antenna was adorned with ever-classy figurines of pole-dancers. Two of 'em. Bummer than I didn't get a shot of those ladies.

Star Struck!

Barry Wood is at my house.

No, this is not another one of my crazy dreams. Barry Wood, famous architect and star of Trading Spaces and now Hidden Potential, is actually at my former house, the one I lived in during high school, where my dad lives right now. Apparently his realtor has connections at HGTV and they came to film for the show Hidden Potential! They originally filmed in April or May for the "preliminary round," and they're back today filming all day! If you haven't seen the show the premise is this: a buyer has a budget of, say, $600,000, but can't find a suitable house in that price range. So lovely Barry and his crew take the buyer to three houses that are priced well below that budget with the intention to do major renovations, which Barry has designed in 3-D on his cool Mac Powerbook. The buyer chooses one of the houses to buy. The end.

If you're in the Libertyville neighborhood, go pay Dad a visit. Bring over some Malnati's Pizza and you'll make some friends.

My present

Today I sewed a fleece backing onto my scratchy mathy blanket. Here is a self-portrait. I lurve it. Notice the fun equations. Takes me back to Physics 152 at Purdue... force, velocity, things involving deltas...

A little ketchup.

We had a lovely time celebrating our anniversary. We headed off to Sanibel for a late breakfast/brunch at the Lighthouse Cafe, one of my favorite places. I got my usual-- one blueberry whole wheat pancake, sausage, and potatoes. Yum. The owner even told me his recipe for the pancakes! I'm going to have to do a bit of experimenting to get them just right, but that's ok.

Jeff and Shelley and the kids came over for dinner and the lasagna was a hit. No one could taste the spinach-- crisis averted. The strawberry pie turned out just ok. I think I like uncooked strawberries better. But it was so fun to make, so so beautiful.


It was a bit soupy, despite the cornstarch I put in there. Argh. That always happens to me.



That day we got a mysterious package in the mail... seems we forgot that we ordered that free taste test kit from Diet 7-Up, and it finally arrived!

We did a blind taste test on Thursday. Brad and I both agreed that the Diet 7-Up had more flavor, but it wasn't a good thing. It tasted almost medicinal. Our favorite was the Sierra Mist Free. Light and fresh without much of an aftertaste.

Friday and Saturday we undertook a few projects. We put up a valance in the guest room:

... and also some sheers in the master bedroom, which I don't have a picture of. Then we embarked on a little adventure. We wanted to put up a curtain in front of the shelves in the laundry room, and I thought about those cool tension wire curtain "rods" from Ikea. However, with no Ikea nearby and no desire to wait for mail order, I found a tutorial on Apartment Therapy for a d. i. y. version. We bought screw-eyes, plastic-coated wire, a turnbuckle, and went to town. We got everything up, started to apply tension, and one of the anchors popped out of the dang wall. I swear they make drywall out of sawdust down here. It's worthless. We brainstormed a bit and then decided to screw in blocks of wood to stabilize the screw-eyes... and voila!


I still need to hem the curtain and put a split in the middle. But we're thrilled with it. And it cost less than $10 for the hardware!

On Saturday we also went to Weight Watchers in the morning, where I got my little gold star for reaching the 10-pound mark! Quite a success for me. Now, if I can only have discipline when we go to Chicago...

On Sunday we went to church in the morning and brough a couple we haven't seen in months. They were in our old small group and we knew they weren't really going to church anywhere, so we invited them to church and then to lunch afterward. It was nice to be a bit social! We took naps when we got home and then went back to church for a small group they're having on Sunday nights. It's basically a training group for learning to pray for people. I've heard the training a few times but love love love being part of it and watching people learning to step out in their giftings. The people there are definitely very green, but they are earnest and eager to experience God and minister to others and it was terribly encouraging to participate. I'm finding that my main gifting, which I've thought for a while was prophecy, is really lie-busting. Not one mentioned in the Bible so much (though it's probably part of another gift mentioned), but it's what happens when I pray for people. Something about what they say or their countenance triggers something in me, and I just know what lie they're believing and living in. I love it. Brad had a great time, too, and it just felt so right to be back in the "game." I have so missed being part of a ministering community!

Today is another day of job-applications, although I sort of have my heart hung on the T. A. job at the university. The closing date for the applications is July 1, so I anticipate interviewing mid-July with a start date of August 1. Not sure if our finances will last that long. We'll see. I'm also going to do a little sewing-- fixing up that curtain for the laundry room, and also backing my new blanket. Brad gave me a really fun throw for our anniversary-- it's from the hotel we stayed at in Boston and has equations and mathy stuff all over it. I love it, but it's a bit scratchy so I'm going to line it with fleecy stuff.

Wayh.

It's 12:06 a.m. and I can't sleep because there is an excited frog outside my window, squeaking away. Loudly.

Brad is sleeping in the master bedroom, alone, as he is a sicky. Yesterday he was riding in his client's car with the a/c blasting, and he thinks there might have been something funky in the a/c as his throat hurt yesterday and hurts even more today. I put him to bed with a dose of liquid Tylenol with Cooling Action. Poor man.

I spent the evening baking a strawberry pie. Inspired by this post and the delicious pictures, I decided it would be just the thing to cap off our lasagna dinner with Jeff, Shelley, and the kids tomorrow night. I feel a little bit deceptive as I snuck a little spinach into the lasagna sauce without telling Brad. He'll figure it out tomorrow, I'm sure. I'm just trying to get us to eat just a little bit more healthily as I'd like to celebrate many more anniversaries.

Ahhh. The frog has quieted for now so I'm off to sleep.

Happy Father's Day!

I'm a day late-- sorry, Dad. But that doesn't mean I wasn't thinking about you! And we got to chat a bit, so that's good.

Happy Father's Day to the man who taught me how to save up for big-ticket items, like a red 10-speed Schwinn bike or a dual-cassette boom box; to always buy the case as well, so the camera will be protected; to network, network, network, because everyone has connections; and lots lots lots more. I love you, Dad! (He's the one in the middle, at his 60th birthday party!)