October 2015 – Not Content to Crawl

Our Anniversary and Lincoln Park Zoo

Posted onOctober 26, 2015November 18, 2015

Friday was our ten year wedding anniversary so Joe took the day off work so we could spend it together. We didn’t have anything too exciting planned – just a relaxing day and then a nice dinner to celebrate. In the morning we participated in a gummy vitamin taste test and a research facility. It was about an hour of our time and we each made $25 so that was nice.

We tried a new Thai restaurant in Wheaton. Well, it was a Thai place before so I’m not sure if it’s new owners and the old owners changing the name and trying to garner new clientele, but it wasn’t that impressive.

After lunch we made a trip to the arboretum to check out the fall foliage.

We also stopped at a forest preserve called Churchill Woods but the weather was turning more grey so I didn’t get any good photos there.

We debated over whether to try a new to us, but expensive steakhouse, or stick with a place we knew. We opted for the latter and had it narrowed down between Claim Jumper and Lonestar, deciding on Lonestar which required us to drive out to Elgin. The meal was disappointing to say the least. My filet was way overcooked so I had to sit there watching Joe eat his (I insisted since I didn’t want it to get cold) while they prepared a new filet for me. The new one was at least cooked like I requested (medium), but I need A1 to make it tasty, which in my mind means the steak sucks (never needed A1 at Claim Jumper). I have no idea if this is a fluke, the location we visited sucks, or if Lonestar in general has gone downhill, but it ruined that chain for me. I’ve always loved their inexpensive food but I’ll think twice before ever eating there again.

We decided to get dessert and went to this Mexican ice cream place that had high ratings on Yelp. I didn’t care for it at all. My chocolate ice cream tasted like Hershey’s syrup. Ick. Needless to say the eating portion of our anniversary sucked.

Saturday we drove down to Oak Lawn to pick up E for lunch. We went to Culvers out in Orland Park. After dropping E off at home we hit the Walmart where I was finally able to find a pair of jeans in my desired size and color so I can wear my Cuddl Duds underneath them at work from now until April.

We had planned to attend a Halloween flea market Saturday night but changed our mind. It’s $7 to get in and all outdoors (for some reason I thought it was indoors) and it was drizzling. A few people online complained about the long lines last year which really discouraged us. So we went home and binge-watched some more Modern Family instead.

Sunday we decided to visit Lincoln Park Zoo. They had been bragging on their social media sites that the two red panda cubs born four months ago had just made their public debut and encouraged everyone to come visit them over the weekend. So we came, but we didn’t see squat!

We arrived to the zoo early and found free parking on Cannon Dr. which was awesome. The zoo gates were open already so we walked over to the red panda exhibit but it was empty. Thinking perhaps they wouldn’t be out until the official 10 am zoo opening, we checked out some other animals, including the lions where I got some great photos.

We made our way back to the red pandas just before 10 am. By then a crowd had formed but we were able to secure a spot in front just to the left of the exhibit. I had just learned that my SLR’s battery was on one bar so I vowed not to use the camera again until the red pandas came out. In the meantime, two cute little Eurasian Lynxs were let into their exhibit to our left. I wanted to get a photo and/or video of them but didn’t want to miss out on the pandas, so I reluctantly waited some more.

At some point after 10 am a zookeeper came into the exhibit to prepare it for the red pandas. Why they didn’t do that before the zoo opened, I don’t know. We waited almost an hour before an employee informed us that one of the panda cubs wasn’t ready to come out yet and they weren’t planning on opening the exhibit until he was and had no idea when that would be (and their indoor habitat is not viewable to the public). By this time the lynxs were back in their non-viewable to the public den so I missed that opportunity as well. To say I was disappointed, not to mentioned pissed off, is an understatement. Sorry, but I think if you’re posting all over social media asking the public to visit your zoo to see the pandas you better damn well put the pandas somewhere they can be seen. Seriously!

We spent another two hours at the zoo checking out the rest of the exhibits and returned to the red panda one several times but they were never out.

Finally we gave up and drove to Rodgers Park to this great Thai place to have lunch.

Monday I had an early doctor appointment to go over some stuff and she sent me for some routine blood work.

Gallery of Ghoulish Homes & Sonny Acres

Posted onOctober 19, 2015

E bailed on us for the weekend to watch the playoffs with his friends so we did our October traditions alone.

Friday we were going to do a haunted hayride but it was too cold. I hope next weekend the weather is more cooperative so we can go.

Saturday evening, with homemade cocoa in hand, we took the Gallery of Ghoulish Homes Tour in St. Charles. There were a total of fifteen houses this year but we only visited eleven because four of them we’ve seen before and didn’t like. There were four rookies this year and all but one were very good.

Here’s a video I took of our favorite homes on the tour.

Sunday morning we headed to Sonny Acres for apple cider donuts and a walking taco for yours truly. The weather was pretty decent and we enjoyed people-watching for awhile. We stayed for about an hour and then headed back home in time for the Bears game.

Modern Family

Posted onOctober 19, 2015

I didn’t care for Modern Family when it first aired, and even when we would catch an episode here and there, I still wasn’t thrilled with it. But I guess repetition breeds likability, because Joe has been watching some of the reruns in syndication and now I’m really liking the show too. So much so, that Saturday we borrowed the 1st season from the library and have already watched 12 episodes.

Funny how that works, huh? Something similar happened with The Big Bang Theory too. I don’t think we started liking it until maybe the 2nd or 3rd season. Of course, we have what, six seasons of Modern Family to watch to get caught up, right? Challenge accepted.

Weekend Shopping

Posted onOctober 19, 2015

Saturday started out with us running errands, including a very fruitful trip to the library. I really love to read so it was effortless to walk out with a stack of books. I just hope I can put aside the necessary time to actually read! We tend to watch tv most weeknights until 8:30 pm and then head upstairs for awhile before going to bed around 10 pm or so. Sometimes I can’t tear myself away from the internet in favor of reading which is way more relaxing and helps me sleep. So I will try to be better with that.

One of our other stops included Yankee Candle. I typically just browse, but had a $10 off anything coupon (no restrictions) and they were giving away a free votive with any purchase, so I ended up with a box of tealights and three votives for only $4 and some change.

I almost succumbed to their $10 medium jar candles sale when you spend $35, but that would have been way more out of pocket, plus I prefer their newer tumbler candles as opposed to the jar style. They gave me a coupon for buy two get two free that’s good through the end of next month so we’ll see if I can resist the temptation to go back.

We also went to White Barn (Bath & Body Works’ candle store) because I had heard how much people like their scents, and they were not wrong. Dare I say their candles, on average, smell better than Yankee Candle. However, they don’t sell most scents in anything but the large 3-wick jars which are not cheap, so we didn’t buy anything. I’ll stick to my cheap $5 candle from Menards for now.

It’s not bad for the price. I also recently bought a small jar candle from Meijer for only $2 which isn’t bad either, although due to the size you really can’t smell it unless you burn it in a small room like the bathroom.

Speaking of bathrooms, you have to watch this video.

That advertising is clever, and it works, because we went out and bought a squatty potty Saturday night from Bed Bath & Beyond. We had originally seen it on Shark Tank but forgot about it until I came across the video. I have to say, I like the “end” result (haha) of using it, although I find it a bit annoying. It’s designed to fit around the toilet seat but it does stick out a bit and I keep hitting my feet on it. I’m sure I just need to adjust to it being there.

Other things we purchased over the weekend:

A nice fuzzy warm sweater from Walmart.
A Big Mac to stuff in my piehole.
$40 in bird food.

Oh and I have a beef with Walmart. I happen to love their jeans – they fit me well, look nice, and only cost $20. However, now that it’s getting colder I will need to start wearing my Cuddl Duds underneath my pants, particularly at work. They add bulk, so I need to buy a size larger than my regular size. It must be a popular size, however, because I’ve visited two different Walmarts and both have a ton of sizes in the style I like except the exact size I need. I went online and they claimed to have the size I wanted at our regular Walmart and noted I could order them and pick them up at the store. I was skeptical, but then figured I might as well try; maybe that size was in the back or something.

Here’s where things went wrong.

# 1 – They asked if I wanted to be notified by text when my order was ready for pickup. I agreed, provided my number, and immediately received a text confirming that I signed up for notifications. Then I went about my day and approximately five hours later starting wondering what was taking so long. I happened to check my email and there was a notification that my order was ready to be picked up, sent four hours previously. WTF? Why ask if I want to be texted if you’re only going to email me?

# 2 – When I arrived to pick up my order, the employee helping me came out from the back with a box that someone had put the jeans in that said “color” on the side because they didn’t actually have the color I wanted so they just threw a pair of black jeans in there instead. She then informed me their inventory is 48 hours old so that’s why it said they were in stock when they weren’t. WTF? I would have preferred if they had contacted me to ask if I wanted the black jeans or to cancel my order. Why would they think just sticking a different pair of jeans in a box would make me happy? Needless to say, I had to request a refund (since you pay online ahead of time) for something I never got. So stupid. Luckily I was also there to return a different item or I would have been even more pissed about them wasting my time.

Scarecrow Fest

Posted onOctober 12, 2015October 12, 2015

Another fantastic weekend is behind us.

Saturday morning we got together with friends to check out St. Charles’ Scarecrow Festival. It was the perfect day weather-wise. It was cool in the morning but the sun was out so it wasn’t too hot or cold.

First we had breakfast at this fabulous restaurant near the festival. I got the same thing as last time – Hawaiian eggs benedict. Joe and our friends each had a skillet. Both men ordered bloody marys too.

After breakfast we browsed the scarecrows before the festival officially opened. I didn’t bring a camera because I wasn’t sure whether I would take any photos, but I couldn’t resist, so I used my iPhone. The photos with the sun behind me came out fine but the other ones leave a lot to be desired. Ugh, I hate the iPhone camera because it’s so inconsistent in quality!

We left the festival temporarily to check out a Ferret show at the Kane County Fairgrounds (our friends are huge ferret fans and own one). They had some really cute hammocks for sale so we got two for the rats. One is a big Halloween-themed cube hammock which I put in Milo and Gizmo’s cage. They love it.

After seeing everything at the show, we headed back to the festival so we could check out the craft booths. By this time it was close to noon so the parking garage we had used earlier that morning was completely full. We drove around the area for awhile and stumbled upon Delnor park which turns out is only a few blocks walk to the area where the crafts were. Score!

We spent some time checking out all the booths together. I bought a chocolate covered pretzel to snack on since I find them irresistible. We also spent some time checking out their petting zoo from a distance. They had a very interesting collection of exotic animals including a kookaburra and wallaby, but we had difficulty identifying one of the animals hopping around. The first thing that came to mind was jackalope which is funny because they don’t really exist. But this thing looked like a cross between a rabbit and a deer which is why my mind went there.

At this point, a stranger who had apparently been listening to our conversation, stuck his phone in my face to “prove” to me it was a capybara. I told him I’ve seen those at a zoo before and they were way larger than this, but he insisted, claiming it was a baby. Whatever. Mind your own business, dude! Finally, I got the attention of one of the animal handlers to ask her what the creature was and it turns out it was a pantagonian cavy.

We were pretty hungry after all that walking around, but the one thing that is not impressive at this fest is the food, so we went to Beef Shack for lunch. It was such a beautiful day we sat outside to enjoy our food. And we officially ruined Portillo’s beef for our friends by introducing them to Beef Shack, haha! Their beef sandwiches are the best!

On our way back home (we picked up our friends at their house that morning so we could take one car), I pointed out to our friends that Fermilab was nearby if they ever wanted to see the bison, so they asked if we could stop then. Unfortunately, the bison were way out in the field so it was hard to see them. We did see a hawk, though, and some killdeer (which is the only place I’ve yet to see these birds).

When we got back to our friends’ place we went inside for a bit to talk and play with their cute ferret. Overall it was a very long, but fun, day. There are very few people I could spend that much time with but even so, I did have a headache and we used the rest of the evening to decompress by watching tv. It has become very clear to us that while we do enjoy time socializing, we are very much introverts who could not do it two days in a row.

Which is why on Sunday we renewed our Costco membership and did some grocery shopping before the Bears game and spent the rest of the day inside. Since it was what I’m guessing the last warm day of the season, we opened the windows to get some fresh air. It was nice to walk around barefoot in the house; I predict I won’t be able to do that again until spring. For dinner I made beef stroganoff in the crock pot and apple muffins for dessert, both of which were delicious. It was a nice relaxing end to our weekend together.

» Scarecrow Festival photos on Flickr