Just stuff

Been up since 8 am doing … laundry. Fun, right? When we moved here I thought the convenience of having a washer and dryer in our place would allow me to do laundry whenever I felt like it, but I’ve found that I still save it all up for the weekends. In my defense, there’s only two of us, so if I did loads during the week, I’d probably have the same number of loads to do at the end of the week, only they’d be smaller, so what’s the point?

Anyway, Spring has finally come to Chi-Town! Friday we bought some flowers and Joe planted them in pots yesterday for the patio. We even had the windows open all day which was a nice change. I love the smell of the outdoors, at least when the neighbor isn’t sucking on their cancer stick, that is.

We also got the fluffiest, softest bath towels (in Lavender Frost) at Kohl’s. They normally sell for $19.99 each but were on sale for $9.99 each, plus I had a 15% off coupon. I am in love with these towels. I could live in them, I swear. I also wanted a new pair of sandals but couldn’t make a decision on the two pairs I liked, both Skechers. The one with the strap at the ankle was more comfortable, but I felt like it could keep slipping down while I walked, which would be really annoying. So instead I ended up with a white pair of Keds. I couldn’t believe how comfy they are! They are made from microfiber and are really cushy inside. I still need a black pair of sandals, though. I was almost going to get brown ones, since I don’t own any brown shoes, but black shoes would better match my outfits and even though I currently own more shoes that I ever have in my life, I don’t want to go insane.

Last week when we had Joe’s son birthday party, we spent some time outdoors even though it was on the chilly side because we had bought him a bike. He really wanted one, so Joe was teaching him how to ride. Joe’s daughter kept bragging how she doesn’t want a bike or want to learn how to ride one. Is that cool nowadays to not have a bike? Every kid, including myself, had one growing up. It was weird. She did say she wants one of those Razor scooters, but she said she wants it for Christmas and not her birthday, which doesn’t make any sense since she’d get more use out of it getting it for her birthday since it’s in August. Apparently she’d rather have yet another GBA game which we’ve already decided she’s not getting from us. So a scooter it is, but I hope she’s not expecting the motorized one because a) it costs too much and b) she could use the exercise. Plus I honestly can’t see her using it very much at all. She’s just not very athletic like her brother. She’d rather sit in front of her computer all day or watch tv. Gee, that sounds like me, actually, but I’m an adult. As a kid I got more exercise than any of the kids nowadays do. God that makes me feel old. ;)

Anyway, one thing she had outside with her was a jump rope. Admittedly, not a good one, although I was able to teach her how to anticipate when to jump since she kept tripping herself. It made me miss grammar school and playing double-dutch. Did any of you do that in school? It might be a black thing because it was usually the black girls who always played double dutch. The white girls would try, but we didn’t have the same coordination. I loved it, though. It was very exhilarating to play, not to mention challenging. And I guess they even have leauges now. Cool.

Going to my parents’ in a bit to celebrate Easter, although like my boss’ boss likes to say, I am a recovering Catholic. Happy Easter to all who celebrate!

I love my library

Canvas Library Bag Do you support your local library? I do. Well, kinda. Actually, I support the library of the neighboring town because I don’t like my town’s library. It is poorly designed, the selection is terrible, and they lost half the items I returned the first time I ever used them!

So I’ve been using the other library exclusively since last year. I’d consider myself a voracious reader as I visit the library at least once a week and read several books within a month.

One thing I like to do when I frequently use a library is purchase a canvas bag from them. I guess I could just use the bag I purchased from the library I previously used, but something about that seems wrong to me. Plus that money goes toward the library and I want them to do well so they will continue to have new books for me to check out.

When I think about all the books I’ve read in this year alone, I imagine it would equal hundreds of dollars had I purchased them. So $8 for a bag is nothing. This library in particular has an even better bag than the library in my old town because this bag is larger and it zips closed. I guess you could call me an organizational junkie, but I like this because I keep the library books on the bottom shelf of the table in our foyer and it looks neater with them hidden in the bag.

Park district follow-up

This weekend our townhome association threw a neighborhood party. Or more like the village threw a party at our association. Something like that. Anyway, we took Joe’s son because his daughter was at her new school’s open house with her mom. It was just down the street by the pool, so we walked.

They had a couple of games set up for the kids and they got little prizes, plus everyone got free hot dogs and ice cream.

At one point the district trustee came by to introduce himself and we got on the topic of my e-mail to the park district that went unanswered. After a bit more chit chat, he took off with the promise he’d look into it.

He came back about 5-10 minutes later with a woman who works for the park district in tow. I was impressed that he took my concern (complaint?) seriously enough to bring her over to talk to me, although I have to say I got the impression they were just humoring me. Maybe I’m just paranoid, but I felt like they were rolling their eyes at me in their heads. I guess we’ll see since the woman talked as if putting up some signs, particularly by the baseball diamond, was a real possibility. Although she did have to sneak in there that this is the first time someone has mentioned that people loiter on the fitness path and put themselves and people using the path in danger. To that I say, just because people don’t know where to voice a complaint, it doesn’t mean there aren’t any.

Fog

I saw the coolest thing this morning and wish I had had the time to pull out my camera and tripod and capture it to share. I don’t think my words will do it justice, but I will try.

My subdivision is surrounded by a golf course and I could see behind the townhomes across the street that there was a lot of fog on the course. The sun was just rising, so there was this gorgeous orange glow coming around the trees through the fog.

When I got onto the main street that borders the golf course, I could see the huge sun, completely orange, rising behind the trees. The sunlight was streaming around the trees, through the fog, and the fog was also rising off a little pond. The combination of those things gave the scene a heavenly quality that I’m not likely to see again for awhile. It was breathtaking and peaceful.

Park district annoyances

What is it with park districts ignoring my e-mails? It’s not as if I’m some grammar challenged idiot who is rude and forceful in my e-mails, so a little note to acknowledge me would be appreciated.

The first e-mail I sent was to my local district regarding the loitering I encounter on a daily basis at the park’s fitness path. I’ve heard nothing, and nothing has been done to stop it either.

I sent an e-mail to the park district of the town where I used to live two weeks ago. Take a look at this page. Do you really think that photo is a good representation of what is offered at the park? Why in the world would you take a photo of a water park that is only open during the summer during the winter when there’s snow on the ground? It makes no sense. Since I went to this park with the kids recently, I took some photos of it. I took this one and cropped out Joe’s daughter before e-mailing it to the park district. I wrote:

My name is Nicole and I’m an amateur photographer and former Elk Grove Village resident. I noticed the photo you have on your website for Fountain Square Park (Re: [website link here]) was taken during the winter in the snow when the park isn’t open.

I’ve attached two photos of the park I took today (one larger, one much smaller for use on the site in case you didn’t want to edit it yourselves). I encourage you to use this updated photo for your site as it more accurately depicts how fun the park is for kids. I don’t ask for anything in return for using the photo other than a credit for taking it.

Thank you and have a great day!

I only wanted credit for taking the photo, and I don’t think that was a lot to ask. I also don’t think it would have killed them to reply even if it was “thanks for your submission”. People are just rude, and I find it highly offensive particularly when I’m trying to help them. I have to wonder why I even bother when the people who are being paid to care about this kind of stuff don’t.