06/02 (Tue)
Went for my first dental cleaning since October 2024. I was dragging my heels on my next cleaning in early 2025 and then I started having health issues so I wasn’t in a position to go. When I started feeling better this year I didn’t want to go until after getting a COVID booster, which I finally did in May. In any case, I love my hygienist and dentist; they’re both so kind, caring, and easy to talk to. I got the once every five years mega x-rays and despite the time elapsed, my teeth look great. I did keep up with flossing and brushing even when I was in the worst time of my life, so I’m sure that helped.
06/05 (Fri)
Joe had a colonoscopy and upper endoscopy. Afterwards we came home and I made us breakfast. Then in the afternoon we picked up Culver’s. Usually we just get kids meals, but this time we also added pretzel bites and a baked potato soup. The bites were soooo good, even better than I remembered; they have a hint of sweetness to them. The soup was awful, though. I was shocked since their broccoli cheddar and stuffed pepper soups are really good (or were, it’s been awhile since I last got them).
06/07 (Sun)
Took a walk around East Branch in the morning and then decided to check out 7-11’s breakfast options. Got a vanilla latte and a waffle breakfast sandwich. First off, why did the guy attempt to charge us full price for the sandwich even after we confirmed we could get the free latte with a reward and still qualify for the discounted price for those with the 7-11 app? If you ask me, I think they try to see what they can get away with. He managed to fix it when we pointed out the discrepancy. How many people don’t notice? I won’t be going back there because I think they are shady. As for the actual drink and food, I was not impressed with the flavor of either. For the price I’d rather give in and get McDonald’s.
Lou Malnati’s was running a BOGO special on their medium pizzas so for a late lunch we got a deep dish cheese and Mike’s Hot Honey thin crust.
Both were delicious, as always. They ended up feeding us for dinner on Mon and Tue too so that’s a great value for $25.
06/12 (Fri)
Ran to Aldi and Costco by myself. Right before I left I realize I don’t carry a debit card (to pay at Costco), only Joe does. Luckily I remembered I could pay cash, but couldn’t use the self-checkout. I ended up grabbing a variety pack of chips in addition to the rotisserie chicken I went there for so I had both hands full when I arrived at the Costco check-out area. There were three lines and everyone seemed to be in the closest one, so I went to the furthest one that only had two people. A guy with the big pallet of items in front of me let me go ahead of him after he confirmed, twice, that I only had two, as if he thought someone else would creep up with a cart out of nowhere. Maybe someone did that to him before.
06/13-06/14 – Weekend recap
06/15 (Mon)
When Joe got off work we grabbed a healthy (lol) dinner from Burger King* and took it to Cantigny where they have a plethora of picnic tables. There were many people also taking advantage of the nice weather and grilling/picnicking at the park. And there were no leaf blowers for once!
In addition to the beautiful scenery, we got to see dogs! It just so happened to be Paws in the Park day which is every Monday from March through October. Talk about a wonderful evening!
* We haven’t had BK in a hot minute and I enjoyed their double cheeseburger and fries way more than I expected. It might have had something to do with the ability to select “off the broiler” in the app so the burger was guaranteed fresh.
06/18 (Thu)
We spotted a tiny cute bunny hanging around the patio recently and today we noticed all the zinnias have been eaten, but not fully, so hopefully they will recover. I put more fencing around the area to keep Mr. Cottontail from a repeat feast.
He needs to go next door and eat the neighbor’s large plot of mint instead (which he did, in fact, do a few days later).
06/19-06/21 – Extended weekend recap
06/23 (Tue)
I went to Great Clips for a haircut as soon as they opened and had the least friendly hairdresser I’ve ever encountered. He was very curt, bordering on mean, and didn’t make any conversation with me whatsoever. He didn’t even ask me to move my head, he just pushed it around like I wasn’t a person. It literally made me feel like crying.
When I came home I went on a walk to try and relax and a guy’s two unleashed black labs came running out of his garage (that he had opened after I had already walked past) and were jumping all over me. I’m glad they were friendly, but this is why there are leash laws! What if I was a small child?
Needless to say my nervous system remained on high alert after these encounters. Joe jokingly suggested that I need to avoid Asian men because the guy with the dog was Asian, as was the hair dresser, and the creepy guy at the library last week. What are the odds?
06/24 (Wed)
I had to run some errands and ended up walking around Target for an hour just browsing which is something I don’t do much these days. But it was nice and empty customer-wise. There were a lot of employees, however, and all of them were so friendly – many of them asked if they could help me. I found some awesome gifts for the kids that just so happened to be on clearance and cost 70% less than usual so that was cool since I planned on buying them regardless.
06/25 (Thu)
We had Popeyes chicken sandwiches for dinner before going to Carol Stream’s concert in the park. I’m glad we did that because it seemed like 2 of the 3 food trucks they said were be there didn’t show up.
We purposely got there late so we could sit in the back and off to the side.
We thought this was a safe place to be. We were wrong. Unfortunately that is where all these boys were running amuck and throwing a football which sailed over our heads and near us multiple times. I was legitimately worried I was going to get hit in the head, and it’s not like it was a soft Nerf football either.
We kept moving to different areas but it seemed like there was no getting away from them since they were taking up so much space with their football game. A couple with their baby angrily left due to their shenanigans, and it irked me that none of the police standing right there witnessing this said a word. Even if they just made the kids stay further back away from where people were sitting that would have been good enough. Shame on all their parents. They were probably way up front enjoying the concert while their brats disturbed other people instead of them. We never behaved like that when we were kids.
It wasn’t until about 3/4 of the way through the concert we discovered a quiet area more off to the side of the stage were no one else was sitting.
This will be our spot at the next concert. Even though it’s closer to the stage than I wanted to be, they don’t play overly loud so I don’t have to worry about my ears.
06/27 (Sat)
We stopped at Jewel to get some Bubblr since they sell them individually and I wanted to try some of their flavors. I had no idea they had 13 of them!
I picked up Wild Cherry Chill’r & Peach Raspberry Dazzl’r (spoiler alert: they sucked). There are plenty more to try in time, though. So far I only like Twisted Elix’r.
We also stopped at a local coffee shop to get a latte before heading to the Swedish Days festival in Geneva.
We usually go around 11 or so, but decided to get there early (around 8:30 am) so we could partake in the Lutheran Church pancake breakfast since it’s usually sold out by the time we arrive. It comes with two swedish pancakes (plain, lingonberry, or cinnamon sugar), two sausages, and your choice of coffee or apple juice. I got two cinnamon sugar pancakes which was a mistake since they were way too sweet. I have to remember to get plain in the future and put a little syrup on it (I hate lingonberry).
We ended up sharing a table with a young woman, her baby, and either her brothers or her brother and his partner. It wasn’t clear based on some of the info they shared with us, but they were all very nice. I love friendly people! At one point the woman picked a daddy longlegs off my back haha.
The downside to getting there so early was there wasn’t much to do since everyone sets up closer to 10 am. It was blowing our minds that many of the shops wouldn’t open early for that particular weekend to take advantage of the increased traffic. There was a coffee shop that wasn’t even open!
We did a lot of walking while it got increasingly warm and saw this cool mural:
We eventually left and went to Kiss The Sky (record shop) and then the Batavia Farmer’s Market. Apparently they pack things up at noon, though, and we arrived shortly before that so that was a quick and unproductive visit. We then went to Ollie’s where I got a rainbow pinwheel to replace the one that disappeared last year (I suspect it was stolen). Then we grabbed food from Just Kabobs and went home.
Around 8ish we were watching TV and a firecracker blew off right near our window. It was so loud it made me jump. I ran outside to see who could have done it but it must have been around the corner and traveled over a building to get by us.
06/29 (Mon)
I got an email from Disney+ that says “We noticed that you have more than one subscription associated with this email address. If you take no action, you may continue to be charged for all subscriptions.” As far as I can tell this is not true. We have Hulu free via T-Mobile and pay Disney+ $1 to add it to the free Hulu.
I wonder if T-Mobile is messing around with something because on the same day Joe got a text from T-Mobile saying they are removing the $10 kickback given to anyone who stayed below 2 GB every month.
Lately I’m the only one who was getting it, but now I won’t so our already expensive T-Mobile bill will be going up to $178 per month because they also raised our portion of Netflix from $11 to $13. Just last year we were closer to $150 monthly. I am done with them. I did an analysis and even if we pay Netflix $19.99 and Hulu $12.99 directly we’d save $75+ every month by moving our lines to Tello so we are probably going to do that next month.
Notable media this month:
Hoppers – Pixar movies are always full of laughter and tears. This was no exception. I love animals so I especially loved it.
Project Hail Mary – Was the book better? Absolutely. Was the movie adaptation better than I expected? Yes, especially because I don’t love Ryan Gosling for a reason I cannot explain.
As a side note, we finally watched La La Land this month and my instincts were accurate – we hated it. So much so about 1/3 of the way through I read how it ended and then fast forwarded so we could see the last few scenes. I don’t get the hype.
The Sex Lives of College Girls
I discovered this series this month and promptly binge-watched it all. I can’t believe Reneé Rapp left the show to pursue music. Good for her, but bad for us as she is such a good actress! Her departure might even be why the series didn’t get picked up for a fourth season since it felt a little flat after she left.
