Update

It's been a really long time since my last post...I keep thinking about it but never have gotten around to it. :) Anyway, I'm sure everyone who reads this knows by now, but we're expecting our first child this July 24! So far everything is going along well. So that's pretty much been consuming my energy of late. That, and our massive clean-out-the-house endeavor that we're in the middle of. Anyone want some free books? !! Sometimes it seems like we're not making much progress, because lots of the progress isn't visible (in closets and such). We are probably also going to replace the carpet in the bedrooms because it's in worse shape than I though (now that we're moving furniture around that was cleverly concealing the stained areas). So, more stuff to do! But we're really excited about this summer!!

Weather

It's a sad, sad thing when 20 degrees starts to feel warm---compared to the last few days of single digits. When we woke up on Saturday morning, it was 6 degrees outside. By yesterday, our kitchen sink pipes had started to freeze because they're on an outside wall; despite our best efforts to keep the water running, keep the cabinets open, heating the room, etc., the cold water slowed to a trickle. But now it's back...at least for now. We need to get the condo manager to do something about that one.

Also in the single-digit temperatures on Saturday morning, we got a flat tire. We called AAA and sat there for a very long time waiting for them, though that was much better than changing a tire in that weather! Not that we could have anyway; it turned out that we don't have any tools in the trunk. Whoops! So we had an unexpected major expense last weekend, too---we replaced all 4 tires at once. The traction on snow is much better now, thankfully.

One sort of amusing thing that happened this week was that downtown by the train station the wind took my hat right off my head, and sent it sailing for almost a block. I would've given it up for lost, except that it got stuck on a fire hydrant (after skipping through a puddle), so I went and got it. I'm very picky about hats, so I'm glad I don't have to buy another one!

Living in IKEA

It's been a while since I made regular trips to IKEA; I can safely say that we have plenty of furniture by now. Maybe too much, even. But I'm still a fan, even though I haven't been there in a while. And I couldn't pass this up: a guy who convinced an IKEA store to let him live there for 6 days while his apartment was being fumigated. This is also the same guy who visited all 171 Starbucks in Manhattan in one day. I think he's a comedian/filmmaker/performance artist/etc., so this will probably buy IKEA some free publicity, as if it needed it.

The videos are hilarious, by the way.

Mental lapse of the day...

This all happened in a matter of a few seconds, but I got a huge laugh (at myself) out of it:

In the kitchen at work, I reached up to get a mug out of the cabinet, then reached down to fill it with water in the sink. I noticed I was starting to get very wet, then looked down to see I was holding the mug upside-down. HA!!! Note to self, always make sure the cup is right side up when filling with water. Or, in general, watch what you're doing. :)

Have a great day, and don't forget to laugh at yourself!

It took 2 more attempts before I could find a yogurt with the fruit in it like it was supposed to be. I think I'm going to send them an email and see if they'll send me some free stuff.

weird incident of the day

This is as unimportant as things get, but I was somewhat amused by it: my lowfat blueberry fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt had no fruit on the bottom. Weird.

In other news, I really need a weekend. And a vacation.

Caution: Falling Ice

One of the things I didn't know about skyscrapers before working in downtown Chicago is the amount of ice that forms at the tops of the buildings in the winter....and then later, falls in big chunks on the sidewalks below. Lots of buildings have "Caution: Falling Ice" signs, but today was the first time I actually saw chunks of ice raining down. There was so much falling from one building that they actually had a guy with a shovel clearing it off the sidewalks. Fortunately these chunks were fairly small and couldn't hurt anyone! I think people have actually been injured by falling ice (hence the warning signs).

It's funny, I have mixed feelings about winter in the city. On one hand, I love the Christmas decorations and the falling snow, and the lakefront is really pretty with the ice and snow, but I really hate the piles of slushy brown snow that I inevitably end up walking through, and the biting cold wind. But I guess I shouldn't be too negative about it, though--I have another 3 months, at least, before it warms up!

Snow!

I know it's freezing cold, but I always like the first real snow, where we get a couple of inches of snow and it looks nice for a while. I'm hoping this one lasts a little while. It has definitely helped me get more into the Christmas spirit! That, and the realization that we only have a few weeks left to do lots of shopping, wrapping, decorating, party-attending, and traveling! I actually had almost all of my Christmas shopping done a long time ago; it's those last few difficult gifts that I'll probably buy online at the last minute. :)

Scared of Santa pics of the day

Scared of Santa

One of my favorite holiday traditions is the Chicago Tribune's annual "scared of Santa" photo gallery. Anyone can submit a photo, and they've amassed quite a collection. Here's last year's gallery, and here's this year's. SO cute and funny and sad at the same time.