Adventures in Damaged Appliances

This morning we visited Northside Park in Wheaton so I could get some photos of the wildlife. I love this park so much!

Northside Park

We saw a Great Blue Heron as well as other birds.

Great Blue Heron

Afterwards we went to Lowes to buy a new dishwasher since ours finally crapped out last night. It was 26 years old so it was time. I did a little research online and Consumer Reports recommended Whirlpool so we went with that even though we didn’t get the specific model in their recommendation as it was $150 more. We didn’t want any bells and whistles – just a basic dishwasher like our old one.

The model we bought was on sale for $299. We brought it home and when Joe was getting ready to install it we noticed the side panel was cracked. And of course it wasn’t the side of the dishwasher facing the sink so you’d never notice it. Noooo, it had to be the side facing out where everyone walks past and it’s noticeable. Can we seriously not catch a break with buying damaged appliances? I know it’s only a cosmetic issue, but WTF?

Cracked Dishwasher

We didn’t want to take it back to Lowes since it was the last one in stock other than the floor model so I called Whirlpool and they are sending someone out on Friday to determine the part that needs to be replaced. Because me taking pictures and sending it to them isn’t sufficient. Even though they know exactly what piece it is and the model and serial number. Then of course they will have to come back to actually do the replacement. I feel like someone should pay me for my time and aggravation.

Brookfield Zoo

Giraffes

It’s been a few years since we visited Brookfield zoo so Joe snagged free passes from the library on Thursday thanks to the Museum Adventure Pass program in Illinois. We debated what day to visit since the passes are good for a week and settled on Monday thinking it wouldn’t be too crowded since many kids are still in school and it’s too late in the year for field trips. Boy were we wrong! I’ve never seen so many kids – it was ridiculous. The line to get into the zoo was the longest I’ve seen considering we got there just as it opened. Usually the early bird gets the worm but not this time. I’m not sure if that’s because they don’t open until 10 am but I think we would have been better off going on a Sunday.

Despite wanting to leave the second we got there, we braved the crowds since it cost us $11 for parking. We didn’t go into all the animals buildings, however, since that’s where the highest concentration of screaming kids and strollers could be found.

Every time we visit the zoo I feel more and more sorry for the dolphins. They have the most unimaginative tank to swim around in. There’s absolutely nothing in it – just a concrete tank for these amazingly intelligent creatures. It feels cruel and I waver between loving seeing the animals to hating that my patronage pays for them to have such unfulfilling lives. Anyway…

We skipped the section that has the red pandas because it’s $3 to get in and more likely than not they’d be asleep. Plus my friend went recently and they don’t really have an exhibit that’s conducive to photography.

I was happy to get a photo of an animal I’ve never seen before called Prevost’s Squirrel. Isn’t it cute?

Prevost's Squirrel

I also got a decent photo of the snow leopard with his eyes open!

Leopard

My favorite section of the zoo is the giraffe exhibit because it’s huge and I love how quiet and gentle the giraffes are. I could watch them for hours. This one was cracking me up with his long tongue.

Giraffe

I don’t remember there being pelicans at the zoo before but there was a whole group of them by the pond near the south entrance.

Pelican

Despite wanting to take our time and enjoy the weather, we couldn’t help but be done with the place in two hours. I think next time we’ll try arriving at 2 pm to see if that goes any better. Maybe by then a lot of people, particularly school groups, will be heading home.

Or maybe the zoo could consider having an adults only day? Yea, I know, it will never happen because it wouldn’t be very profitable. But boy would it be nice not to have little kids running into me and almost getting mowed down by strollers. Plus adults go stupid when they’re with their kids. How else can you explain all the grown people standing directly in front of the doors to the restrooms blocking foot traffic?

Lilacia Park

Tulips

Every year we like to visit Lilacia Park to see all the blooming lilacs and tulips. I had been keeping an eye on the park’s Instagram account to determine when best to visit, but they totally dropped the ball. Three weeks ago they posted this:

LilaciaPark2016-1

Then there weren’t any photos again until Thursday when they posted this:

LilaciaPark2016-2

I already had a standing reminder in my calendar to visit on Friday, but we really should have visited the weekend prior because the lilacs were already disappearing from the trees/bushes. I wish they were better with updating their Instagram! The park was also much more crowded on a Friday than we expected. I’m sure the beautiful weather was somewhat to blame, but I was a little bummed that it was almost as crowded as a weekend day.

Park

That being said, I still got a lot of great photos. We made two full loops around the park, the first one with my wide angle lens so I could get landscape photos, and the second one with my zoom lens so I could get close-up shots.

Tulip

Afterwards we went to Taco Diner for steak tacos since we hadn’t gotten a chance to eat any on Cinco de Mayo. There was a concert at E’s school Thursday night and when we discussed meeting up for dinner beforehand he didn’t seem that thrilled about having Mexican so we ended up using a Restaurant.com certificate for Nino’s Pizza. He brought his girlfriend so we all shared a large cheese pizza which was pretty good.

Weekend Recap: 4/22-4/25

Friday we took my car for an emissions test and then to the DMV for the renewal license plate sticker. Mine expires in May and Joe’s in June and we were able to get his sticker too even though technically his car required an emissions test first as well but the woman at the DMV said the new rule doesn’t take effect until June. The emissions guy made what he thought was a joke about the saftey of the town we were in compared to Hegewisch. That was interesting since a) most people don’t even know where Hegewisch is (I do since I grew up there) and 2) it’s not a dangerous area. SMH

Saturday I spent the day watching a backlog of shows on our DVR and cancelling some of our series recordings because we truly are cancelling cable soon. We’re just waiting for the Stanley Cup playoffs to end first. We are probably switching to WOW for internet and possibly basic cable since it’s only $10 more which should save us at least $40 since we’re paying $99 for cable/internet from Comcast at the moment. Plus WOW doesn’t have a data cap like Comcast does and we’ll be streaming more often so that’s a plus. The only thing we’re not sure about is how we’d keep our home security with Comcast if we don’t have their internet as it works through their router. WOW doesn’t offer home security.

Sunday we used a previously purchased Groupon to attend the Chicago Pet Show in Oak Lawn. What a complete and total disappointment. There were barely any actual animals there (for instance – there was a sugar glider rescue that didn’t actually have any sugar gliders with them) and I’d say the ratio of non-pet related booths to pet booths was 1:1. No less than three different booths bugged us about home improvement stuff as we strolled by. And they wouldn’t just take “I’m not interested” for an answer until Joe said “we don’t own our home”. That really left a bad taste in my mouth. I don’t like being pestered to buy stuff, let alone siding when I’m at a pet expo! Needless to say we were there less than a half hour before leaving. Never again! I’m just glad we didn’t pay anything out of pocket or I would have really been pissed. The admission was regularly $7 per person which is a total rip-off for what was there. I felt sorry for the families I saw going inside knowing they’d probably be very disappointed.

After the pet crap we went to the nearby mall to walk around a bit and collect points on our Shopkick app. Then we went to the arboretum to eat the lunch we packed.

Once we got home I decided to declutter the hall closet a little. I went through my candle and marble stuff and filled a box full of things I’m going to sell or donate. I finally opened the label maker I purchased a year ago and labeled all the storage boxes left in the closet so I know what’s in them with a quick glance. I also realized I still have way too many old Yankee Candle votives so I brought some downstairs to use up. I freed up a box for my camera lenses so I can keep them all together and easily accessible.

Today (Monday) I tackled some items I’ve had on my list for awhile, including cleaning out my car (the backseat and trunk were very disorganized), filing some paperwork, and going through my closet to get rid of more clothing. There were more than a few shirts I haven’t worn in years yet I continue to hang onto for unknown reasons. I tried them all on and decided if they don’t fit well now I should get rid of them. In addition to the clothing, I’m getting rid of a few Ipsy makeup bags I didn’t like and three board games that were fun but we no longer play – Trivial Pursuit Nickelodeon Edition, Beat The Parents, and Scene It Jr.

Weekend Recap: 04/15-04/18

Happy Tax Day! Hope you remembered to file them on time. In the past when we were owed a refund we’d be all over it but we waited until mid March since we had to pay. Still waiting to get our money back from Illinois, however. Not surprised they are taking so long either. SMH at this state.

Friday after the Cubs game we stopped at Chipotle to pick up dinner. We used the coupons they sent us in the mail so the total for two burrito bowls plus chips & salsa was $7 which was covered by a Chipotle gift card. Shortly after eating we drove down to see Joe’s son in a music competition at his school.

Saturday morning we did a little shopping at Target and since we have $50 of credit on our Starbucks card thanks to Groupons (gotta love the $10 of credit for only $5 offers) we stopped for a little treat too. Joe had a coffee and I tried one of their shaken iced teas since it was 10% off in the Cartwheel app.

Green Tea with Lemonade

I chose the green tea with lemonade flavor in the smallest size possible since I wasn’t sure if I’d like it. Turns out it was delicious! But $3? Come on. Seems pretty steep (pun intended) for half a glass of tea since the rest was ice.

A little rant – Target needs to get their shit together with their signage. See this little gem?

Target Sign

Guess what? NONE of the Lays chips they sell fall within those size parameters. Luckily I decided to check the Cartwheel app and the size range was different than the sign posted because I was getting very frustrated thinking they’d offer 40% off non-existent chips. Sheesh.

When we got back from the store I wrapped Brother #1’s birthday gifts while doing some laundry.

20160416_183229000_iOS

20160416_183835000_iOS

Yes, my brother is turning 37 next week, what of it? LOL. We also got him a shelf from IKEA to store his overflowing DVDs and video games that were piling up on his bedroom floor due to lack of storage.

We arrived at my parents’ house around 5:30 pm. Brother #2 was already there and Joe put the shelf together while my brothers played video games. It didn’t take long because IKEA makes it simple and you don’t even need more than a hammer which is nice. Once Brother #2’s girlfriend arrived we had dinner which was Dominos pizza, meatloaf, mashed potatos, mac & cheese and some other stuff. We played some games my mom put together where the prizes were $1 bills and lotto scratchers. She’s really into that lately.

After dinner we played Cards Against Humanity and then had cake.

Cake

My brother wanted a purple theme but the pink & purple letters look girlier than the cake my mom had for my birthday!

At some point prior to the CAH Brother #2 brought out glow bracelets and the one he was shaking up had a hole in it so blue glow particles ended up everywhere on the floor, his shirt, and the table. Luckily the cake was covered or it would have been ruined!

We brought our Bears cornhole set with us at Brother #2’s request but didn’t get around to playing since Brother #1 isn’t into it and it didn’t seem right to play something he wasn’t going to participate in at his birthday party.

We ended up staying until a little after 11 pm because that hour drive home is a bitch.

Sunday we went to a craft show at Lisle High School where we ended up paying $14 for this soy candle.

Aloe Candle

It smells soooo good though and it burns for 60 hours so I don’t think it’s too bad. The woman makes them in her kitchen so I didn’t mind spending a little money to help someone with their own business.

We also grabbed two steak tacos (one for each of us) from a booth set up at the show from a place called Taco Diner. I’m always worried about trying a new place since good steak tacos are hard to come by but these were delicious. They had the perfect flavor, no fatty/chewy pieces, and the tacos were stuffed with meat so they were very filling. We took them outside and sat enjoying the nice day. When we were finished we walked around the park that borders the high school.

On the way home we drove through the arboretum to see how the trees are coming along. I want to make sure to catch them in bloom but they haven’t started flowering yet.

We made sure to get home before 2 pm so Joe could watch the Hawks game. I worked out on the elliptical a little and then installed a game on my iPad. I’m completely addicted to Disney’s Tsum Tsum game. Joe alerted me to its existence on Saturday and I haven’t been able to get enough of it. Since you only earn one game play every 15 minutes I had to install it on my iPad so I can play it more often. Puzzle games always get me and this one is super cute on top of it.

Today we went to Cosley Zoo in the morning just so we could enjoy the nice weather. It was way more crowded than I expected for 10:30 am on a Monday. The main parking lot was full and there was only one spot left in the secondary lot. I took a lot of photos and we just sat at one of the tables people-watching. By 11:30 it was half as busy as before so note to self – go closer to lunchtime during the week.

Coyote
More Cosley Zoo photos here

On the way home we stopped to get some food for the meals Joe plans to make this week. I must say, I’ve adapted quite well to him being home. I don’t even miss my alone time as much as I thought I would and I like not having to worry about cooking and cleaning. It’s going to be a rude awakening for yours truly once he goes back to work.

I joined Joe for his weight lifting today and my arms are sore even though I didn’t do much. I wanted to add weights to my routine since all I’ve been doing is cardio, plus right now it’s difficult to go on the elliptical because it’s too warm in the house. Loving this time of year where we don’t have to run the heat or air conditioning, though!

Now I have to get going – we’re making homemade pizza for dinner.