Calling all Chicago DISers #2

[HERSEY]

Good morning! Some how it seems wrong to be awaked to thunderstorms in December. The snow is melting which is good in a way,cause I was running out of room to pile it. I hope no one is experiencing any flooding or won't.

The dogs let me sleep in a little this morning

Mac How about we wait till after the orthodox new year on January 14. That should give us plenty of time to come up with another delay. Maybe we could pass along a few $$ to the Govenor for a pardon. Sorry bad attempt at humor.

 

[Bunchkin]

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to all respectively!!


The past few days have been so busy around here. We've baked up a storm!!
Christmas Eve we went to my mom's for dinner. When we arrived she told me my sister was on her way to the hospital. Not sure if I mentioned it here, I think I have, but my younger sister is/was pregnant. Due to complications with her blood pressure and other issues, she delivered the baby a month early. The baby is fine and doing well. And we now have a Christmas Day baby in our family!


Christmas day went well here. Very laid back and lots of fun. We had no one over, for a change, and we quite liked it!!! We made it all about just us. The kids didn't get out of their Christmas p.j's all day.


Ice was really bad here too. In fact, yesterday I woke to what I thought was someone riding a snowmobile in the park across the street at 5:30am!!!
Instead it was a guy from down the street who spun out his work van and ended up on a hill down the street and was spinning his tires trying to get out. When I got up and looked out another window I could see another car in another snow bank and some guy in front of our house directing traffic so that it would hit this work van of his. Well, Tony went out to help this guy in the van. Tony takes his van and pulls him out, the guy decides to go home and not to work, and then as Tony is coming back up our stree (which is on a hill) his van couldn't get traction on the ice!!!!! So much for being a good semaritan! It took a while, but he was able to make it back up the street, which has a huge landscaped median in the middle, via the wrong lane!!! In the midst of all this as I'm watching from the house, various other cars are getting stuck or spinning out!!! Our whole subdivision is on a hill so it was very dangerous here yesterday morning!!!! In fact the area down here is hilly. We didn't go out till 5pm, till after all the ice had melted from the rise in temps.


paint A ring!!! ....and a new purse!!
Have a great trip and drive safely!!
Sorry to hear about your grandmother's condition. It was good though that all of you got to spend time with her.


mac Let me finish all my cookies I baked first before we go kamikaze!


slo Sorry to hear about Kevin falling, I hope he's feeling a little better today. And I'm sorry to hear about your parent's dog.
We wait until both kids are asleep for a while before we set up presents, actually ALL the presents!! The only presents under the tree before Christmas Eve is presents to Dh or I from the kids. It's our tradition to wait until Christmas Eve to fully put them all out, under and around the tree. It really has an awesome effect on the kids Christmas morning. And my kids have never woken up in the night while we do this. I usually let them stay up late so that I know they'll fall asleep right away and stay asleep. We kind of have a system to it and it gets done rather quickly.

wendygrace Sorry to your DH took a fall. I hope he's doing better! I hate Lenscrafters, haven't used them in a good decade! They are sooooo sloooow! And I never thought I was dealing with well qualified people!


geffric Congrats to your Brother in-law's daughter!


Leigh DH & I loooooove Chipotle!!!





The boy is up. Time to go feed him!!!

 

[Bunchkin]

Good morning! Some how it seems wrong to be awaked to thunderstorms in December.

Tony just asked me why I woke him in the middle of the night!!! I reminded him it was the thunder....NOT me!!!

 

[slo]

It felt good to sleep in a little today
I actually would have liked to stay in bed longer, but I heard the rain stop, so I jumped out of bed to take Sophie out. As soon as we got back in it started to pour again - we went out at the perfect time!!!


I"m not going into work today, but I won't be relaxing This house looks like an A-Bomb went off in it The living room and one of the hallways is full of the presents we got, and all that stuff has to be gone through and put away. Plus, I have laundry to do, and a playroom to start cleaning - it will be a very full, productive day


All the towns around here are worried about flooding again, which would not be good, because some people still haven't recovered from the last flood. Kevin said that our FD is prepared in case of flooding, but they are really praying it doesn't happen. These guys still are talking about the last flood, they don't need another one so soon


Thank you for all the kind words about my mom's dog, and wishing Kevin well after his bad fall. I spoke to my mom and she took Daisy to a funeral home that cremates dogs, and she was so pleased with their service. She said they were as nice to her with Daisy dying, as if a human family member died - I was very glad to hear that!!! One of her dog club friends went with her, which I was also glad to hear. I wanted to go, but I had to work, so I couldn't.
**Kevin said he hurt worse yesterday, than he did Christmas Day. I keep replaying that moment when I saw him laying on the ground - it was scary!!! I was afraid to touch him in case he broke his back . Thank God he didn't break anything!!!!


geffric - Kevin and his parents went to the mall yesterday to get some bargains. He was surprised with how many people were there.
**Congrats to your neice on her engagement!!!!!

HERSEY - Thank you for asking about my dad. He went with my mom when they put Daisy to sleep, so he understands what happened, and that Daisy is dead. But he has such a false concept of time, that when he was talking about it on Christmas Day, he was saying it happened yesterday, and then later he said a couple of days ago He definitly gets worse everytime I see him, and I see him pretty often

Leigh - I've never had Chipolte. The nearest one is by the mall, and I've always wanted to try it, but then we never do (no real reason why). Is it a sit-down restaurant (with a server), or is it like fast food?

Mac - My vote on the dieting is the first Monday of January. I need to snack on all my left over New Years Eve snacks on New Years Day Plus, I like to eat a Christmas cookie with my morning coffee

paint - I"m sorry to hear about your Grandma I will keep her in my thoughts and prayers
**It sounds like the rest of your Christmas was nice, and you received some great gifts When do you think you are making your voyage to The World?
**Have a safe trip to TN

Wendy - You all didn't have a very good 12/26 I hope today is a little better for you and your family

Bunchkin - Congrats on becoming an Aunt, and congrats to your sister
**I can imagine how your subdivision would be with the ice Much worse than mine - we don't have the hills.






Well, I should eat some breakfast and get this day started - I can't be in my robe all day, even though I would really really like that I hope you all have a good day today!!!

 

[irish dancer]

Morning guys! Wow, what a night...I was the only one in the house to hear the thunder at 5am which I can't believe because it was so loud but just as glad the kids didn't. They are in their sleep in mode, not getting up until 8:30-9a.

My two neices were over yesterday and I had to drive them home last night, I couldn't believe the fog. It was scary. Thankfully they only live a couple of miles away so it was a quick trip. This weather is freaky.

Our Christmas was very enjoyable. On the Eve we went to church which was insanely crowded, we were there 30min early and barely got a seat. I can't wait until the kids are old enough for midnight mass. After we went to the inlaws for dinner and presents. The kids high tailed it to bed when we got home and didn't get up again, thankfully. We told them they couldn't get up until 7:30a and they didn't! DD7 was the first up at 7:30, then DD11 at 7:40, they woke up DS who was dead asleep still. They loved their presents. I made the Main Street Bakery french toast loaf and the Potato Casserole from CRT and they were delicious! Then we went to DBros for dinner and more presents. My family has had its ups and downs over the past few years but everyone was pleasant and all had a good time.

It has been so nice sleeping in these past two mornings. DH is off until after the NY along with the kids we we'll just be hanging out together all week. FILs sister is coming in today from NJ for the weekend to visit. They have both been having health issues and haven't seen each other in a long time, I'm hoping there aren't any issues with their flight today.

Leigh - my DHs office closes this week too, they've done it for a few years now. It's so nice to all be home together. Enjoy the break!

wendygrace - welcome back, so glad you had a great time. Hope you'll tell us all about it, how were crowds, weather, etc....
*How frustrating for your DH with Lenscrafters! I hope the ice is melting around you, it sounds scary!

mac - so glad you had a nice Christmas
*I vote for Jan. 5 as the diet start date too although I got Wii Fit from DH so I'll be trying that out before then but it'll barely make a dent in what I've been consuming this past week.

slo - I'm so sorry Christmas was stressful and that Kevin was sick and then fell on the ice. DH did that to but thankfully wasn't hurt.
*Condolences to your parents on the loss of Daisy, I'm glad your mom had a good experience with the pet cemetary people.
**The potato casserole came out just fine with the black pepper, delicious.

geffric - congrats to your neice on her engagement!

paint - so sorry to hear about your Gma, I'll keep her in my prayers. Glad the rest of your holiday was enjoyable.
*So.....when's the trip to the World? Congrats on the GC!
**Hope you have a safe trip to TN and OH.

Hersey - it is strange to be awakened by thunder in December! Our snow and ice is melting FAST, we can see grass again!
*LOL I like your idea to wait til Jan 14 for the diet!

Bunchkin - sounds like you guys had a wonderful Christmas.
*Hope the ice is melting around you too!


The shower is empty and calling my name so I've got to run. Have a great day everyone!!

 

[macraven]

Mac How about we wait till after the orthodox new year on January 14. That should give us plenty of time to come up with another delay. Maybe we could pass along a few $$ to the Govenor for a pardon. Sorry bad attempt at humor.

mac Let me finish all my cookies I baked first before we go kamikaze!

Mac - My vote on the dieting is the first Monday of January. I need to snack on all my left over New Years Eve snacks on New Years Day Plus, I like to eat a Christmas cookie with my morning coffee

mac - so glad you had a nice Christmas
*I vote for Jan. 5 as the diet start date too although I got Wii Fit from DH so I'll be trying that out before then but it'll barely make a dent in what I've been consuming this past week.

hey, i have an idea, let's start the diet on january 14th..........

we can start on january 5th for the mental portion of our starvation diets and implement it starting on the 14th..............

when i start a diet, i always start on a Tuesday.
i enjoy the weekends too much as mr mac and i have date night on saturdays........i love food that is made for me. i am always a member of the "clean plate club"

if i start a diet on a tuesday, but in this case of the chicagolite club on a wednesday, i do better.

nothing is more depressing to start a diet on a monday after a full weekend.
the scale mocks me on mondays......




bunchkin, happy happy day for the new addition to the family!
that is so kewl!

 

[Sk8Leigh]

Leigh - I've never had Chipolte. The nearest one is by the mall, and I've always wanted to try it, but then we never do (no real reason why). Is it a sit-down restaurant (with a server), or is it like fast food?

It's fast food. It's like Subway, where you go down the line telling them what you want on it. I hate tomato chunks, so I can't get the mild salsa on my burrito because it's really chunky. And I don't love the two mediums either, so I get the hot, which is really hot! Sometimes I can't finish the burrito just because of how hot it is. But it's good, and I just save it for another day to finish it. And what I really love is the chips. If you're lucky (IMO) you get them with a ton of salt on them, and those are the best chips in the world! I think the salt has some lime or something. They're just great. I don't eat them with salsa, just plain.

 

[wendygrace]

Hershey - Somehow I slept through the thunderstorm. Dh woke up though but then, apparently, dd woke him up a little while before with her feet in his ear (she crawled into bed with us in the middle of the night). I had no clue though.

Bunchkin - we had a ton of noise hear yesterday with ice and all. Today, we have no snow left on the streets or sidewalk and only some snow on our front lawn (we get little sun on it). I just hope the weather isn't cold tonight and freezes it all. Congrats on the new addition to the family!

slo - my house also looks like a bomb went off in it. packaging everywhere, toys in all the wrong places, dirty clothes everywhere, and luggage where they don't belong. Not to mention papers from our trip. blah. Thankfully dh isn't working this week so he can help clean and he's been keeping up with the kitchen.

irish dancer - weather was in the 70's all week in FL. it was beautiful. I thought the crowds were fine but regulars I talked to said it was busier than usual. I can't imagine. At MVMCP, we rode all the rides with no waits. I think we rode BTM three times with no wait in between and splash mtn with no wait. Dh rode Goofy's Barnstormer 6 times with no wait that night as well. Fairies were 60 minutes to 75 minute waits all week but I saw the fairies in less than 15 minutes on two different occasions and there was no wait at the Judge's Tent the two times dd and I went to see Mickey. Biggest waits were Soarin' (I saw it as high as 170 minutes) and Toy Story Mania (not sure what it was but I know when we got there at rope drop it was at least 20 minutes) but that's not surprising. We had a blast!

maccraven- i like your idea. Is anyone joining a club or anything? We're looking at going to our local gym that is attached to the hospital. The have free babysitting and you dont have to even been in the gym to utilize it!! It is expensive though, at least I think so.

So I spent over an hour trying to buy things off the Disney Website. They are having a free ship and addtn'l 20% off but its not worth it. I just sent dh to pick up our mathing pjs from the mall. It'll be more expensive but that website it awful!!

 

[macraven]

wendy, i have a membership with Curves.
it's only for females.

i have been on a medical leave with my membership but hope to get a release in march. this way the monthly fees have been waived for me. i paid a year in advance and received a 15% discount for my membership. i think it runs $39 a month for my club i am in.

it's a small club with 14 machines but i can go to any curves club in the usa as a visitor.

 

[slo]

Today is Kevin's birthday and my MIL is taking the girls overnight
We are going to celebrate Kevin's birthday by going out to dinner tonight, and then tomorrow Kevin and I are going to the Museum of Science and Industry. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow, because I haven't been to MofSI w/o children since way before Stephanie was born. I'm one of those people that really loves to take her time at museums, and read alot, so going w/o the kids will be a treat.


Last night Kevin and I watched the movie Stepbrothers - it was so bad!!!!!!! Do yourself a favor everyone, and don't rent it - such a waste of money, and such a waste of 2 hours of my life. On a scale of 1-10, I give it a -5, so bad!!!!


I got a lot done here yesterday - I was so happy with myself!!! I made some order in the family room, and got the majority of gifts put away. I started cleaning the playroom, which was a terrible terrible mess!!!!! It was both the girls and my fault, because we just kept throwing stuff in there. Finally, after I was done, you could see the floor, so the girls took their new bean bag chairs in there and watched a movie last night - the first time they've done this since the September. I still have a lot of work to do in there, because there are so many baby toys that need to be gone through for the garage sale, and many other things that need to be gone through and thrown away. Since these are chores that the girls can't do, because they would throw nothing away or sell it in the garage sale, I need to do it (which is fine, because when I'm in a cleaning mood, I get a lot done!!! )



ID - I'm glad you had a nice Christmas Church by us wasn't as crowded as normal, and I think it's because people were nervous to venture out with the ice. I was glad that I was lectoring, because when I lector I hang my coat up in the sacristy, so I wore my Crocs, and took my dress shoes with, and then I left my Crocs with my coat. I was so glad I did this, because there was so much ice by church, that I would have definitly fell in my heals In fact, the lady that sang that night, her MIL fell outside of church and broke her elbow This ice has been so crazy!!!!!!

Mac - January 14th sounds great to me!!!!!

Leigh - Chipolte sounds great!!!! The girls would love being able to pick out their own stuff - we'll have to try it sometime soon!!!!

Wendy - Good luck with getting your house back in order It's such a chore
**I workout alot, but I don't belong to a gym (with my work schedule, I just don't have time). In the winter, I work out at home with several different workout DVD's (this is not my favorite way to workout, but I don't have a choice). When the time changes in March I will be out walking alot. When school is in session I walk approx 15-20 miles a week. When school is on summer break I walk 20-30 miles a week (depending on weather). My goal is to someday walk a marathon, especially The Disney Marathon, so when I walk I look at it as training, because in order to walk The Disney Marthon you have to walk a 16 minute mile, and by the time change in the fall, I was walking a 13-14 minute mile. I hope I can pick up where I left off when the time changes in the spring




Well, I have to go change some sheets. The girls got flannel sheets for Christmas and I washed them yesterday, so I'm going to put them on their bed for tomorrow night - they'll love them!!!!!

Have a good day!!!

 

[macraven]

to MR SLO aka kevin

hope you like pink, real men do, you know..


hope all is good in chicagoland for the homies.

slo, sounds like a winning plan for tonight and tomorrow for you two.
enjoy your time with the birthday boy.
i do hope your parents are handling the loss of their pet ok. it will take time.


to all the other homies,
i would say more to all but in a rush to head out for church.
your backs will be covered another week.


have a great day everyone!

 

[geffric]

morning..

yesterday was band practice today they are coming over at 1 and practicing a bit and then relaxing for the concert tonight in Rolling medows community center.. they are one of four band and they are very excited.. they are looking into another local concert Jan 28th?? .. i'll post pictures tomorrow night ..

 

[geffric]

hey, i have an idea, let's start the diet on january 14th..........

we can start on january 5th for the mental portion of our starvation diets and implement it starting on the 14th..............

can we start on Jan 15 as 14th is my annivasary.. yep more years than I want to count.. 19 years.. wow.. although we celebrated 20th on the cruise a head of time but why not..

 

[macraven]

the new diet begins January 15th..............

 

[Bunchkin]

HI to all!!

Anyone else gone shopping and found any deals yet?
On Friday we went to Bath and Body Works, they had $3 body creams!!!
And then to Barnes and Noble, they have all holiday stuff 50% off, and they have some really nice things. Then we took DD to Limited Too who I thought would still be having the great sale they had before Christmas....but they weren't!! That made NO sense at all. But she had gift cards from there and was able to find several things on the sale racks she loved.
Yesterday at Target we found a few things in the holiday area 50% off too.


No ice here. And barely any snow mounds left either. No flooding because we're on a hill, but down the road it a mess including all the pot holes the ice and snowplows made!!!


irish dancer I made the Main Street Bakery French toast loaf this morning!! YUMMO!! It took a wee bit longer to cook however. And at one point I turned up the heat to 350 to move it a long faster!! I know my oven temp is ok, so I don't know why it took longer to cook. I don't have the recipe to the CRT potato casserole. Would you mind sharing it?
I have a few of my own I make so I put one together last night after I prepared the loaf and made it this morning too.


slo Our house is a mess too, but what are ya gonna do? It happens every year at the holidays!
We almost rented Stepbrothers at the Redbox the other night. Glad we didn't!! Sorry to hear it was such a bad movie.
Happy b-day to Kevin!!! How old? How is he feeling?
Hope you'll have a great time at dinner. And the Christmas trees from around the world are still on display at MSI!!


geffric What kind of band does your son belong in? Music wise?


Leigh I can't believe you get the hot salsa!!!! YIKES!!!

 

[wendygrace]

mac - Thanks for the info.

slo - Happy BDay to Kevin. Hope you have a wonderful time! My dh used to do marathons and he loved it. We're hoping to get him at least half way back. He gained weight with me with both my pregnancies but while I lost mine, he never did. We're both making a committment to getting back in shape.

geffric, the 15th sounds good to me!

bunchkin - glad to hear you have no flooding. none here either and no snow as well. potholes galore though. wheee! And we still have some slippery areas. I keep hearing wheels spinning down my street periodically.

Today went to church. I work in the nursery but we had no babies at either service so I sat in on the service. I really enjoyed it as I learned a bit about hanukkah and a bit about the apiphany that I hadn't known before. And we got to sing the 12 days of Christmas. LOL

The house is still a disaster but we've decided that right after nap, we'll be cleaning again. We had a turkey and sweet potato dinner so I may have to roll around for awhile though. When is that diet starting?

And ds, 6, ordered the Tinkerbell DS game off of Amazon today for $30 while I was away at church. I discovered this while he was taking his nap. Someone's in big trouble. Grrrrr! We don't even have a DS!! Anyone need a Tinkerbell DS game?

 

[roseprincess]

the new diet begins January 15th..............

I'll have to put this date on my calendar

 

[roseprincess]

morning..

yesterday was band practice today they are coming over at 1 and practicing a bit and then relaxing for the concert tonight in Rolling medows community center.. they are one of four band and they are very excited.. they are looking into another local concert Jan 28th?? .. i'll post pictures tomorrow night ..

Hey geffric-
I remember the boys were over at your house 3 weeks ago, as you stated at the Doorway to Dreams Dismeet.
Hope all goes well at the concert tonight!

Congratulations to your neice getting engaged!

 

[roseprincess]

Hi to all

Slo- Happy Birthday to Kevin!
Hope he is recovering ok from his fall the other day.


Wendygrace- welcome!
I thought I recognized you on the Wishtrippers thread
I haven't read your child's Wish trip TR yet. My DD had a WDW wish trip granted via MAW in June 2004! I don't think I ever wrote a Wish trip TR of it on the Disboards. I still need to write a TR of our last WDW/ UO trip this past June

 

[Tiggerrn2]

Evening all! All caught up now. Whew!
Slo, hope Kevin is doing OK now. And Happy Birthday to him.
Paint and Donna, many hugs and prayers for your families.
Bunchkin and Sam, Happy Birthday (albeit a little late) to the both of you!! Hope you had great, enjoyable days.
Slo, so sorry to hear your mom and dad lost their beloved dog. So hard to lose a beloved family member-especially near the holidays. My best friend's father passed away last week as well, so they did not have the best holiday. I helped with her kids as much as I was able to.
Congrats to those newly engaged and those new babies. We have been a zoo at work-babies poppin' out all over!!!
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy New Year to all!!
Welcome home to all the wayward vacationers-sorry you had to return to snow, cold, ice, rain, thunderstorms, wind, near 60s, and now chilly temps again.
Safe travels to all those heading out for the new year holidays.
We had a nice Christmas Eve and Day. I was off work for both this year which was a nice treat. Family was here for the Eve. By the time everyone left and we were set for Santa, it was nearly 3 AM. Turned on Christmas Story. Leg lamp part!! Had a chuckle at the Pink Nightmare and then headed off to bed. Kids were up and running by 7.
So glad to not have had to head out Friday in the ice storms. It was horrible here as well. Now, nothing left. Hopefully not have to start that mess over again any time soon.
Well all, I need to get off to bed. Sure hoping to get to sleep in a little tomorrow morning. Nothing exciting planned and liking it that way. I do hope to get to see Marley and Me this week some time. Kids want to see Desperaux and Bolt as well. May be a movie week.
Night.