Calling all Chicago DISers #3

[princess.chell]

Happy New Year everyone! Glad to hear/see that everyone had a safe night. I had to work till close and got out of there at like 8:30. I was supposed to hang out with my best friend but she ditched me. But, it ended up being okay because I felt like crap all night, and still do today. I think I'm getting sick which is great considering I'm going back to school Monday...ugh. Not ready for school again.

KimRaye I skating from 6-12, only stopping because I had knee surgery that tore up every muscle in my right leg. Plus I wanted to play basketball. think I was FS 5? 6? 7? I don't remember hahah. But I cleanly landed my axel 2 weeks before I quit and a double solchow (I think) during my last lesson. I also was on the syncro team at my rink and was a volunteer teacher. Ah yes costs of skates, plus rink fees, and song fees, and the other crazy things they find to charge you. Tell your daughter good luck! and to HAVE FUN! Some of my best memories are from skating, I still run into friends from back then =)
Stitchfans

 

[KimRaye]

Same owner. They have two locations now. The new location is themed really cool. Big waterfall inside with palm trees and stuff. Makes me think a bit like a cross between the Poly and thye great movie ride. Same setup and food as the other.

Yep, that's the place! Thanks John!

KimRaye I skating from 6-12, only stopping because I had knee surgery that tore up every muscle in my right leg. Plus I wanted to play basketball. think I was FS 5? 6? 7? I don't remember hahah. But I cleanly landed my axel 2 weeks before I quit and a double solchow (I think) during my last lesson. I also was on the syncro team at my rink and was a volunteer teacher. Ah yes costs of skates, plus rink fees, and song fees, and the other crazy things they find to charge you. Tell your daughter good luck! and to HAVE FUN! Some of my best memories are from skating, I still run into friends from back then =)

Feel better! Was your knee surgery because of skating? Where did you skate/your rink? You were pretty advanced at 12, i.e. FS 5 or above! Kelly should be FS 1, but she will be after the next session. Her private coach is always working a level or 2 ahead of the lessons. And, let's not forget those private lessons that are In Addition to the group lessons! What was I thinking, thinking this was good for her? Girl Scouts is cheaper. Band can be pricey too, when those payments come up. Those are her choices tho, I told her she HAD to drop something after the last season's ended, and she dropped soccer and softball, for skating and band. GS is a gimme, but even THAT takes time!

Susan -

 

[Stitchfans]

Still haven't shoveled that snow. Not normally a procrastinator. Have to do it very very soon since I promised DH we would visit him today and today's visiting hours is 1:30 to 3:00. Plus of course the evening one of 7 to 8 but we very seldom if ever go to that one. I hate driving in the dark and plus when the sun goes down it is a lot more colder.

Well Monday is treatment number three and back to school for DD. Since I got rejections from all the literary agents that I sent query letters to, I decided to send all my books to Harlequin and take my chances with them since they do not require an agent.

I printed all of them out and have them all ready to be sent out, of course with my self addressed stamped envelopes in case they reject me. Crossing fingers. Here's hoping for DH to get well and back to his old self. Plus hoping that Harlequin accepts at least one of my books.

 

[princess.chell]

Does anyone have college aged kids here and had to fill out FAFSA yet? My parents and I are going to look at it today but being the oldest we have no clue what to expect or due. It's better than doing my homework for when I have to go back to school Monday...ugh.

KimRaye No my knee surgery was for something I was born with. The doctors though my knee would fix itself as I grew. But it didn't hahah. My home was Darien Sportsplex. Where does your daughter skate? Yep private and group lessons plus team practice and competitions. Does your rink have a syncro team? Tons of fun, tons of money too. They really are good at sucking you in and making you pay for your "choice" to be a skater. But I learned a lot from it: discipline, sacrifice, and how much I hate early mornings. I was a GS too. Fun times being younger, now its all work and school and college plans.

 

[KimRaye]

Does anyone have college aged kids here and had to fill out FAFSA yet? My parents and I are going to look at it today but being the oldest we have no clue what to expect or due. It's better than doing my homework for when I have to go back to school Monday...ugh.

KimRaye No my knee surgery was for something I was born with. The doctors though my knee would fix itself as I grew. But it didn't hahah. My home was Darien Sportsplex. Where does your daughter skate? Yep private and group lessons plus team practice and competitions. Does your rink have a syncro team? Tons of fun, tons of money too. They really are good at sucking you in and making you pay for your "choice" to be a skater. But I learned a lot from it: discipline, sacrifice, and how much I hate early mornings. I was a GS too. Fun times being younger, now its all work and school and college plans.

Good luck with FAFSA! My DS went to an unaccredited 'college' so we only had a Fannie Mae loan app to deal with.

Kelly skates at Oakton Ice Arena, in Park Ridge. I don't want to know if there's syncro! This is enough so far.

 

[Stitchfans]

Hi all. Our visit yesterday was cut short due to an older guy having a melt down. We had to leave 35 minutes earlier. Sure stinks since we don't get to see DH hardly at all. I just wish this could be all over with and have him home well and everything back to normal.

Also wish winter would hurry up and go away too.

Hope everyone's weekend is going well. Keep warm if possible.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Does anyone have college aged kids here and had to fill out FAFSA yet? My parents and I are going to look at it today but being the oldest we have no clue what to expect or due......

As a life long career financial planner, I have recommended this book (updated annually, as rules do change) to my clients for years. http://www.amazon.com/Paying-College-Without-Admissions-Guides/dp/0375429425 It is excellent, used it myself when my two were doing college.

And Susan, do hope things go well in days and weeks ahead. Good wishes for you, John and Allison. 's

A very Happy New Year to all here on the Chicago thread.

 

[Tiggerrn2]

Hey all! Sorry, seems I have been MIA for some time here.I have no excuses. I hope everyone had a beautiful holiday season.
We have just returned from a week visiting family in Buffalo. The ride home was very scarey. Snowstorms through New York, Pennsylvania, and eastern Ohio and again in the Indiana Dunes area of IN. 20 ditched cars, 4 accidents, 2 car fires...thank God we made it home in 1 piece.
And what do you get for a week on vacation in the winter time?.....1 white load, 1 red load, 2or 3 light colored loads and 3 to 4 dark loads of . Guess you all know what I am doing today!
Stitch, so sorry to hear how all of your days have been going. Lots of prayers and well wishes coming to you and hoping things will get better for your family soon.
Bunchkin, happy belated birthday!!! Hope you had a great day. And hoping you are enjoying the fact that you are not freezing your buns off!!
Welcome to our new friends that I have missed in my absence.
Hi to Dan, Slo, Geffic, momto1, Paint, DG, ID, Rose, KimRaye, princesschelle, Mac, Crissup, Hersey, and everyone else. Hope you all are having a great start to your New Year!!!
Later all.

 

[momto1]

Hi gang! I wrote a newsy update wishing all a belated Merry Christmas and an early Happy New Year last week and then "poof" it was gone!

Back to normal today - back to work and back to school. The routine is good.

After a thorough review of the budget we will be driving to spring break. Bummer...I really wanted to fly to get my Disney trip started. Airfare is not in the budget right now. So, time to plan the jaunt to Disney!

Tiggern - Glad you made it home safely! Sounds like quite the journey. Have fun doing all the laundry!

Paint - I was in your neck of the woods last week at the State Farm Basketball Tournament. It was just a good excuse to pick up gondolas from Avanit's. Yum!

ID - I saw you on the pantry challenge. Good luck to you!

Stitch - Hope things are looking up for your dh.

Have a good week everyone!
Lori

 

[geffric]

Does anyone have college aged kids here and had to fill out FAFSA yet? My parents and I are going to look at it today but being the oldest we have no clue what to expect or due. It's better than doing my homework for when I have to go back to school Monday...ugh.

good luck with the FAFSA.. we did it last year and didn't get much results.. with being unemployed this year maybe it will be better.. the book Dan mentioned is a good one..


well back to nornal.. still freezing ..

Geoff was home for 2 weeks and he did the friend thing, last week was more like normal; then he forgot his laptop so we had to drive to IA and back on Sunday..

Worked at lot before XMAS but have had call ins but no work last week.. I only have one call in this week.. so job hunting will step up and hope that it can go ok..

Eric took the ACT in Dec and got his grades.. he knows where he needs to work on before the April one..

 

[slo]

The enviroment is pretty drab around here.
I took down the Christmas decorations at home over the weekend, and I took the store decorations down today I have such a love/hate feeling about this. I love having things back to normal, but I hate how boring everything looks. I guess I'll just have to deal with it for the next 11 months


How was everyone's New Years?
Mine was great!!!!!
We went to our neighbors house New Years Eve and stayed there until 2:30am.
New Years Day I stayed home in my PJ's all day - it was great!!!
The rest of the weekend I was home, and put the decorations away.
Several times during the weekend, the girls and I played ALOT of wii - it was great!!!!
It was a good weekend!!!!!


Kim - Happy belated to your son!!!

Stitchfans - Continued hugs and prayers to you and your family!!!!
**I'm sorry to hear of your book being rejected Here's some PD for your book to be accepted by Harligen (sp?)

Bunchkin - I hope 2010 is better for you too

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTigern - Welcome home from Buffalo - I'm glad you made it home safely!!!!

geffric - Good luck with the job hunting

To everyone else -



Well, I gotta run - Katie will be here soon - this day went by so fast
Have a good day!!!

 

[Bunchkin]

Tigg Glad to hear you had a great time in Buffalo and made it home safely. Your van must be filthy on the outside from the drive!!!
Yeah, kinda glad not to be freezing.


momto1 Have you driven to WDW before? We have and it was a fun adventure. We were just talking about it the other day and laughing.

 

[geffric]

momto1 Have you driven to WDW before? We have and it was a fun adventure. We were just talking about it the other day and laughing.

we have too.. and have lots of experience and advice.. we were just talking about that yesterday coming home from IA about driving thru IN.. way from Indy to Chi is long, flat, boring and not much to do..

 

[Bunchkin]

Here's one tid-bit of something that happened to us on the drive, it cracks us up every time we talk about it.

One our way down to WDW we were basically trying to make it straight through. It was my turn driving again and it was the middle of the night/very early morning and I had been driving a while. DH was fast asleep and I didn't feel like waking him. But I was starting to feel the affects of driving for hours and needed a nap. So everyone in the van was fast asleep and I decided at approx. 4:45am to pull into a really large parking lot of a Waffle House in Georgia. No one else is around. It's quiet. Perfect! Or so I thought! I fell asleep in my comfy, slightly tilted back chair. About 15 minutes later I sprung up, awakened by the very loud noise of semi trucks. We were surrounded by them!!!! It was like a scene in a freaky trucker movie!!!! They were parked all around us at various angels which made no sense and made the situation even freakier!!! So as I woke, and was startled to see what was all around us, I let out a yelp! Which woke up DH. He was like "what the heck is going on and where the heck are we?" I took off out of there so quick and hit the road again. A short while later we switched places so I could snooze.

 

[slo]

I've been a very busy lady this morning.
I got up early, got Katie off to school, went to my Leads Group, came home and did some laundry, vacuumed and dusted the downstairs, and now I'm at work (10am). I love mornings when I get a lot done - it really sets the tone for the rest of the day


I've actually been very busy at home trying to catch up from all the downtime from the holidays. I haven't done any laundry in 2 weeks, and I haven't done any good cleaning since the decorations went up (like dusting and good vaccuuming). Now that everything is put away, and the holidays are done, it's time to start getting back into the swing of things


Bunchkin - That is so funny!!! I would have freaked out too, and got the heck outta there



Well, I do have work to do here, so I should get going.
Have a great day everyone!!!

 

[momto1]

momto1[/b] Have you driven to WDW before? We have and it was a fun adventure. We were just talking about it the other day and laughing.

We have except last year. I was spoiled. We do enjoy driving I just wanted more time in the sun and fun. Wine...

Your story is too funny!

Where is everybody today?

Slo - I like being productive, too. But, I really like to sleep in the mornings which isn't good for being productiver first thing in the day. I slept way too late most days of my vacation.

I have two boxes of Dunkin Donuts munchkins leftover from a meeting this morning sitting behind me calling me name. Not good for the diet resolution.

Better do something about the munchkins.
Lori

 

[DonnaW]

Happy New Year to all Chicago area friends! We had a really nice holiday season this year, with both boys home for awhile...I was just sad to see them leave. It kind of reminded me of when they were in school, and I would hear moms talk about being sad that the kids were home for Christmas break and looking forward to them going back to school; I was always the opposite, I was the one sad when they went back to school, whether it was Christmas or summer or spring break or whatever. Still have to tackle the job of taking down the Christmas stuff. Why is it that taking it down seems so much harder than putting the stuff up??

Hope everyone is managing to stay warm in this cold snap...

Take care, all!

 

[irish dancer]

Hi guys! Back into the same old grind. Had very mixed feelings about vacation ending. I liked not having a schedule and such but my house was a disaster and I needed everyone back into a routine. I've spent the past two days trying to put some order back into this place and trying to catch up on laundry. Haven't started putting any of the decorations away yet and won't until the weekend at least. It's very depressing just thinking about it, I can't imagine what it's going to be like once they're all down.

Donna - so glad you had the time with your sons. I think I'll be the same way with my kids.

momto1 - I too love to sleep in and you're right, it's hard to be super productive that way.
*Saw you on the pantry challenge thread too, hopefully I can stick with it. My freezer is FULL and am looking forward to saving some $$. Best of luck to you!

slo - my, my aren't you the busy bee I love those kind of days when you get so much done. I'm right there with you though on the laundry and cleaning.

Bunchkin - yikes, that is a freaky story! On our HHI trip last year we pulled into a rest area to sleep but I couldn't really sleep, just too creepy for me. Luckily DH zonked out and was able to finish the drive.

geffric - best of luck with the job hunt, I'm right there with you. Applied for a PT job at our library, keeping my fingers crossed for a call.

Tiggerrn - glad you made it home safe and sound, the snow amounts that some areas to the east got are crazy! They had a reporter on the Today show this monring in NY somewhere by Syracuse, it has been snowing for 9 days straight. I'm certainly glad we don't have that to deal with.

Stitchfans - that stinks that your visit was cut short. Hoping all is going better for you, will keep you in our prayers.

Well, one of my NY's resolutions is to go to bed earlier so I'm going to head to bed. Have a good night all and try to stay warm.

 

[Stitchfans]

Treatment #4 Wednesday morning. Dreading this snow storm they are predicting. So tired of shoveling snow. So wishing winter would end soon and be over with. So wishing DH was home well and all was back to normal. All my sense of security is slowly vanishing in front of my eyes. I am starting to feel hopeless. Need to get out of this dark place and stay strong since I have a 15 yr old daughter to take care of. Have to keep up my faith.

 

[piglet too]

Susan ~ Have you gone to talk to someone? It will help to have an outlet and I am sure it would benefit your daughter too. Please know that you have our love and support. If there is ever anything that I can do, just ask. ETA ~ I sent you a PM with my cell phone #.