Category: Kids

Holidaze

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It really sucks when you can’t hold back the feelings of irritation, annoyance, frustration, and depression for even an hour after arriving back at work after a week away. I have my first headache and incidence of acid reflux in over a week. Gee, wonder why. Anyway…

The weekend ended on a high note at least. Saturday we had our Christmas with the kids and it finally felt more like a holiday than it had all the other days combined. They loved their presents. E got a bunch of stuff like DS games, Nerf stuff, and a remote controlled Jeep and helicopter, and K got the iPod Touch she’s been wanting. Of course it wasn’t even 12 hours later she was bemoaning how she wants an iPhone. Kids, they’re never satisfied.

Yesterday we headed to the mall to browse the sales and check out the yogurt place that caught my attention. I ended up with some body mist from The Gap, a few items from Bath & Body Works (their after Christmas sale is better than the before Christmas sale), two games which the cashier sold to me for 50% off (even though one was only 30%) from a specialty store, and $100 worth of Pyrex (a 10 piece and an 18 piece storage set) for only $50 from Carson’s. Merry belated Christmas to me!

I told Joe he better do me proud for my birthday. It’s fine that we didn’t exchange gifts for Christmas, although in retrospect I did miss that thrill of opening something, but dammit, I want a fun birthday! And yes, fun equals presents in my book. I’m not completely selfish, just so you know. I did donate to the Humane Society since we had “extra” money by not buying each other anything. I just missed the traditional holiday where we see my family and open gifts. I even joked with Joe – “Do I have to pop out my own kids just to have a family holiday?” Although I don’t know what I’d do with them on non-holidays when I don’t want to deal with them. LOL! Next year if my family doesn’t want to get together maybe I can rent a family for the night. Hmmm…

Gallery of Ghoulish Homes

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Gallery of Ghoulish Homes Tour

We took the Gallery of Ghoulish Homes Tour in St. Charles again this year and made it a point to visit all our favorites from last year. They are the most fun because they feature live actors. They are getting pretty ballsy too – one guy got into someone’s van to scare the people who hadn’t come out! And another guy kept following me. I tried to take a self-portrait of the two of us but it didn’t come out, see?

Self Portrait with Scary Stalker

* I told him he doesn’t photograph because he’s dead. ;)

The same guy later followed us, and K in particular, back to the SUV, even going so far as to run alongside the SUV as we pulled away, while threatening us with his (fake) knife. K and I got a serious case of giggles from that. I took a video but it’s so dark you can’t see anything so there’s no point in posting it.

There’s not enough time to ever see all the houses on the tour, but it was easier locating them with my iPhone’s GPS than putting together maps like I did last year. Interestingly enough, we didn’t visit most of the homes that the judges liked best, so we’re going to have to make a point to check those out before Halloween.

Gallery of Ghoulish Homes Tour Flickr set

Dirty Rat

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So another weekend comes to a close and there’s a ton of stuff I thought about doing but didn’t. Typical pipe dreams when you’re at work thinking about how great the weekend is going to be and then it gets there and you don’t have the motivation to do squat. I really want to get back into shape but for some reason today I felt incredibly exhausted even though I got a good 8 hours of sleep both nights. WTF?

Yesterday we took the kids garage-saling which was mostly a bust. Nothing real good although K and I each got a purse for $1. I was even more excited about my find when I looked it more closely after getting home and found it came from New York & Co.

K wasn’t in the mood to do much yesterday and since it was her birthday weekend (her actual birthday was the 19th), we let her choose what to do which was sit at home on Facebook. Teenagers! LOL! She’s 15 now so I can hardly blame her. She wasn’t even in the mood to shop with the money and gift card she was given. So it was a pretty lazy day.

This morning we ran errands and then contemplated what to do for fun. Couldn’t really think of anything and since we were both feeling run down we ended up just having lunch at Sonic (strawberry limeade = yum) and then coming back home and taking a nap. I know, how lazy can you get!?

After that we gave the rats a bath. I bought ferret shampoo at Petsmart and while neither rat was happy about it, we managed to get them a bit clean. Let’s put it this way – the water was darker when we were done. I didn’t use nearly as much shampoo as I should have, but this was their first bath so I wanted to ease them into it. Templeton was really enjoying being rubbed down (dried with the towel, pretty much) and was doing this chattering and eye-bulging thing that rats do when they are happy/content. Even Nutterbutter, who really isn’t a fan of being petted or picked up, let me pet him after his bath. Then they got treats of grapes (with the skin peeled off). I’m hoping that they will associate the massages and treats with the bath experience and come to enjoy it. We’ll see since I plan to give them a more proper bath next weekend as they still are smelly.

Indiana Beach

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Yesterday was our annual visit to Indiana Beach. We mixed things up this year by choosing a weekday which was a good move since even though they waived the admission (normally $2.50), they raised the wristband prices from $23 to $27, but we had a BOGO (buy one get one free) coupon valid Mon-Thur for the combo ride/waterpark pass which is $30. The coupon was only valid for one wristband, but they also have the same BOGO promotion if you bring in any Coke product so we only paid for two wristbands but got four. We didn’t use the waterpark portion of the wristband but overall between the free parking and admission, it was still cheaper than last year.

We got there around 2 pm and the free parking lot was pretty dead. I guess Mondays are good days as it was less crowded than when we’ve gotten there first thing on a Saturday. Plus the weather was beautiful – only 78 and a bit cloudy so we weren’t sitting in the sun all day.

Amazingly, E went on three roller coasters with Joe. He’s become quite the adrenaline junkie. I think his recent visit to Great America with his school’s band might have started that. And they say peer pressure is a bad thing. ;)

He even went on the Falling Star which used to be my favorite ride when I was a kid. Alas, my stomach hurt yesterday so I barely went on any rides at all. But I got my tacos that I talk about every year (and who even have an entry over at Yelp!), so I can’t complain. And if you follow me on Twitter you’ll see that I was posting tweets while the kids were on the rides. I think they went on the swings at least eight times each. It’s by far their favorite ride.

We left the park a little after 8 pm and got home around 9:30 pm our time (the park is in the Eastern time zone). Everyone had a sandwich and then retired to their respective rooms to watch tv. I managed to get in an episode of my new favorite show, The Big Bang Theory, before passing out on the couch. All in all, a pretty good day.

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During the ride to the park we were Googling info on Indiana Beach and I found out why they painted the skyride last year and raised prices – they are under new management as of February 2008. It’s kind of sad – the same family owned and operated the park since its inception in 1926. Luckily the management change hasn’t affected the quality of the park. In fact, it seems less run-down than before. I also noticed the ride operators seem more attentive to everyone’s safety, so as far as I’m concerned the increase in prices is worth it.

We’ll definitely be going again on a weekday to save money and not have to wait in long lines. We might only have a few years left before the kids would rather go to Great America anyway.

Charlotte Sometimes

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Well, as usual I’ve neglected my blog. It’s not that nothing has been going on – more like too much has been going on and I’ve been too tired to sit down and write about it. Let’s see …

Friday night (the 3rd) we went to a pool party where most of the men proceeded to get drunk. One lit firecrackers from his butt (no joke) and some of them decided to strip down to their skivvies and jump in the pool, proving that alcohol does warm the blood as it was not terribly warm outside by that point. There was more than one beer run made (with a designated driver, of course) and the girls, who weren’t drinking at all, made a run for marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate and made s’mores on the host’s cool fire pit.

Saturday (the 4th) we were up bright and early to head to Darien to see Joe’s son’s in the annual 4th of July parade (he plays bass drum in the band). It was rainy and cool so it was not the best time ever, unfortunately. After the parade we took the kids back to our place for a bit before heading over to my parents’ to hang out, eat, and play games. Then we headed back toward the kids’ neighborhood to check out the fireworks before going our separate ways.

The rest of the week fly by in the blur thanks to lots going on at work and having two rats who desperately want to run around the house for at least an hour every night. Templeton is definitely the naughty one – he’s obsessed with climbing over the gate that is preventing him from getting behind the couch so that he can crawl under it. No matter how many times I pick him up and try to distract him, he runs right back over there. So we took some empty boxes and Joe made a barrier with them. They are too tall for either of the rats to climb over and once we get the entire living area surrounded by our homemade gates, we will even be able to let Oreo run around (separately, since the rats could harm her) without fear of her getting under the couch or behind the furniture.

Earlier in the week we got a shipment of painted lady caterpillars in the mail (care of a kit we bought) and as of this morning all five of them have formed a chrysalis and will soon become butterflies. I’ve wanted to do this for years as it’s a very interesting process to watch. Too bad once they are butterflies they will only live two weeks. We’ll probably keep them for just a day or two and then release them so they can enjoy their short little lives.

Today I awoke to a welcome surprise – a notice from AT&T that my iPhone has shipped. I couldn’t be more excited! I was really starting to worry I wouldn’t get it before the 20th when the kids are coming to stay for a week (and I’ve got a few days off). We’re going to Indiana Beach one of those days and since both kids love riding the swings over and over I’ll now have something to entertain me.

The kids are with us this weekend so we might be heading to the pool later on once my brother gets here. Joe and I went to the pool last Sunday and I got burned even though I put on sunscreen. We’ve lived here nearly five years and I think that’s the first time I’ve actually gone in the pool. I’ve been poolside a few times but I don’t think I’ve ever gone in before because I was heavier and felt uncomfortable being half naked in front of other people.

Downloaded apps: 57 and counting
Current phrase: “My iPhone is coming!!! Woohoo!”