8/03 (Thu)
Joe’s work gives employees a half day off work for their birthday so we decided to pick up a movie from Redbox and grab lunch from Beef Shack. They recently put an Atlas Chicken Shack next door so we got some rice balls from there as well.
8/04 (Fri)
Joe took a vacation day and we went to Cantigny Park in the morning. My biggest gripe with them – they have landscapers with very loud and obnoxious leaf blowers all over the property. I don’t understand why they can’t do that outside of visitor hours. Needless to say, despite the beautiful gardens, the visit wasn’t exactly peaceful. To add insult to injury, they proceeded to ignore my inquiries about whether there are certain times they do the leaf blowing so I can plan my future visits accordingly.
8/13 (Sun)
We went on our first bike ride of the year at Armstrong Park. I only made it 15 minutes before growing too exhausted. Apparently the fact that I walk on my treadmill nearly every day of the week doesn’t mean squat when it comes to riding a bike. Muscles I forgot were there were so sore.
8/15 (Tue)
Ran into a fellow nature photographer I’ve been talking to online at a local park. I knew it was only a matter of time since she lives in the area and frequents many of the same places we do. We had a nice conversation and she gave me some helpful info on where to find certain species of birds.
8/16 (Wed)
They ripped up the road in front of our house as part of ongoing roadwork that started in July which includes replacing most curbs (ours excluded since they were in good shape) and the entire street in our subdivision.
8/17 (Thu)
Bought a new dip at Costco from La terra fina called Smoked Gouda & Peppers, and let me tell you, that has to be the single best dip I’ve ever had. Not only is it delicious with crackers, pita bread, and naan, but later in the month I mixed a small amount into some scrambled eggs and it was amazing.
8/19 (Sat)
Was craving takeout, but wanted something a little healthier than normal fast food fare. Yelp to the rescue! We discovered a Korean place called Bibibop and decided to give them a try. So glad we did because the food is fresh and flavorful, and the green sweet tea is amazing.
8/22 (Tue)
Joe had the day off work since the original plan was to visit the DMV (or Secretary of State as it’s called in Illinois) to get our REAL IDs. We cancelled it when we realized they were working on the roads and we didn’t want to chance not being able to easily get back to the house because Wookie is on medication I need to give her at a specific time every day.
That being said, we did go out in the early morning to Springbrook Nature Center in Itasca.
Unfortunately, it was a morning of loud noises. When we arrived at the nature center the landscapers were unloading mowers. We walked out to a section far away from them but the loud expressway was there and the planes taking off from O’Hare were flying low overhead every minute.
Stopped at Krispy Kreme and there was a mower right by the drive-thru speaker so the employees couldn’t hear us ordering, nor could we hear them. Then mower guy just stopped there but didn’t turn off the mower. So annoying! We couldn’t go inside to order like we tried originally because the doors were locked for some reason even though it was 8 am.
We got home to them paving the street so that racket was going on for hours as well. Lukcily the road was safe to drive on by the time we were ready for a late lunch.
I had a sudden craving for Red Lobster and they had a lunch deal where you get to pick four different types of shrimp, two sides, cheddar bay biscuits, and drinks for two for only $22. Not a bad deal, even having to pay a bit extra for caesar salad which is considered a premium side. They had this crab rangoon shrimp which was absolutely amazing, particularly with the accompanying dipping sauce. Everything else was ok, but that stole the show.
8/26 (Sat)
I’ve had a Super Mario t-shirt for approximately two years (Joe found it at Savers but I stole it because it’s so soft and comfy) which I wear frequently and no one ever commented on it until two men complimented me on it in the same day. Talk about random.
We took advantage of a T-Mobile Tuesday offer at Burger King so we could get “free” Whoppers. Mine wasn’t actually free because they charge $1 extra for the Impossible patty and another $1 for cheese. I’m ok with the latter but was a bit annoyed since there was no fine print about the Impossible Whopper not being completely free. It wasn’t even as good as I remember it. You had to spend $3 to get the “free” sandwich, so we also tried the chicken fries (pretty good, although the strong pepper flavor gets overwhelming after awhile) and the bacon double cheeseburger which was hands down the best item. In fact I keep craving another one.
8/29 (Tue)
I realized what I’ve been experiencing on and off since I got sick in 2019 is called closed eye hallucinations and they aren’t indictive of brain or eye damage.
Sometimes when I have my eyes closed I’ll notice a colored orb that kind of pulsates across my field of vision while changing size. These orbs are usually purple, bright pink, or neon yellow. They can get pretty intrusive and hard to ignore, but it doesn’t happen too often.
8/31 (Thu)
I started reading a Stephen King book (Fairy Tale). This is significant because years ago I got so frustrated with the shitty endings in his more recent work that I vowed not to read another book of his again. Luckily this one didn’t suck and had a proper ending with closure.
