Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Sporty

Trevor and I had an unprecedentedly busy weekend. We spent Friday night at the White Sox game with Neill and Fran. It was mullet night and Fran came prepared.

Check out the tee-shirt
Peace. Out.














The view from our seats and some dude's head

The Sox were ultimately defeated, 9 - 5, by the Washington Nationals, and the four of us took off before the end of the game, which went into extra innings (14). But we had a great time and we ate some ball park food, so our night was a success.

Sunday was a soccer day. We went to the Fire game with our friend Jayson. We took a "luxury" bus provided by the Windy City Wanderers from Fado's to Toyota Park. The day was perfect for a game and we enjoyed every minute of it, from the bus ride...


To the field...

Jayson looks angry. Or suspicious. Or both.


And everywhere (the beer stand, the Dippin' Dots cart) in between.

We came home on Sunday afternoon, sun-happy and tired, so we took a two hour nap and then ordered pizza. The perfect kind of day.

Monday we went out hunting for the kitchen remodel. While noodling around the Clark and Barlow hardware store, we came upon the perfect cabinet pull for Pop Power's garage:


T. and I agreed that it would drive us crazy if it weren't actually level, though. But it's pretty sweet. As was the rest of the hardware store.



And we finally found a faucet! We're going to get a beautiful Delta stainless steel fellow named Trinsic.

He's one smooth guy
Now, I'm very excited about my new kitchen buddy, but I do have to show you the runner up, a gorgeous gal named Pilar. She really, really, really wanted to come hang out in our kitchen, but Trevor ultimately gave her the kibosh. He thought she was just too touchy-feely. She was a little fresh...

Oh, pretty, pretty Pilar

We've got the demolition and installation scheduled to start the second week of July, so we'll keep you in the loop about that. This weekend is our trip to Door County with the Power and Madel clan. Trevor got a new pair of swim trunks and some shorts (what?! shorts?? yes, that's right.), so he's ready. Henry's been spending a lot of time in the sun to get his base tan going--he doesn't want to get a burn when he's on the beach.

Can I call it "sun tanning" if I'm inside and the sun is coming through the window?

Stop judging me! I'm a lazy animal!

Bye, all!

Friday, June 24, 2011

Bunco, Baby

I'm in a bunco league with some gal pals and this month was my turn to host. I decided to use the party room at Mom and Dad Bork's building rather than jam twelve people into our small place, and it worked out perfectly.

The ladies, getting their roll on
And, because I'm currently a lady of leisure, I spent two days preparing: menu planning, grocery shopping, getting liquor. I had too much fun at the party store and got some foam dice and a money bag (because bunco's no fun unless the stakes are high...)

This is what $3.75 gets you at Doolins
I made us some party food--layered bean dip, spinach dip, pasta salad, cucumber finger sandwiches (because we're ladies, after all)--and I enlisted Destiny's help to bake an awesome bunco cake. She rocked it out and the girls were thrilled with the delicious results.




Liz was the big winner of the night:


And I still have leftover cake in the fridge, so really, I'm a big winner, too.

Trevor and I are looking forward to a sporty weekend, with the Sox game tonight with Neill and Fran and the Fire game with our friend Jayson on Sunday. The weather's supposed to be clear for both, but I might pack emergency ponchos just in case. Wish us dry stadium seats and fun!

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Happy Father's Day!

For Father's Day this year, Trevor and I met Mom and Dad Bork, Greg and Paula (the "new" mom and dad Bork), and Bosco for lunch with the Nichols at the Evanston Country Club. The weather was perfect for al fresco dining and we all enjoyed mooning over Bo for an hour.

Mr. Nichols, Trevor, Bosco, Greg, Dad

And even though we didn't get to see Trevor's dad today--he and Fran just got home from their Ireland vacation--here's a picture of him and T.'s mom with the little guy who first made John a father, Sean (who is, himself, celebrating his own Father's Day today, with Angi and Sadie!):

Mom, Pop, and tiny Sean Power

And our Father's Day presents were the chocolate chip cookies I was moved to make by Craftwhack's recent post. Although they weren't exactly chocolate chip cookies--Nestle sells a bag of milk chocolate chips mixed with peanut butter chips (yu-hum), and this was, of course, the bag that I bought. So these were extra special cookies. And I made some teeny tiny cookie bites with the remaining 1/4 cup of batter so that I can eat them in one gulp and not feel guilty about the two sticks of butter and 1.5 cups of sugar that went into making them.


And in other news, earlier this week I got some information about the volunteering I'll be doing the week after next with Open Books. I'm going to be a "book buddy" and have two buddies from Cameron Elementary School in Humboldt Park who I'll visit twice a week and read with. I'm pretty geeked out about it, and at the info. session I learned that I can bring some of my own books, so this week I'll figure out which ones from our shelf are appropriate for 1st and 2nd grade readers and then get some supplementary material from the library. I'm betting that I have a few that will work (since my bibliophilia extends to children's literature...), but I'd like to pick up some classics, too.

And speaking of classics, and of things Craftwhack inspires me to think about, Jeanette from Craftwhack recently posted her top five kids' books. Among her choices was a book by Richard Scarry, who wrote about Lowly Worm. When I was little, I adored Lowly Worm, and as I got older I always remembered his tiny worm hat, tie, and smile, but I forgot his name. Until Jeantette reminded me, and I'm so happy that she did.

It's Lowly Worm! Wouldn't you like to have him around all the time? I would.

After getting my volunteering information, I kidnapped T. from the gallery for lunch. It was a nice day and we sat outside.


This week we're taking Henry in for a check-up (who is doing much, much better after a scary surgery he had last month) and then we might continue with a Movie Monday viewing of Tree of Life (we saw Super 8 last Monday and [although it's no E.T.] we really enjoyed it). Or, if the weather is nice, we might just ride around on the motorcycle like we did this evening. Whatever we do, we'll have a full report by the end of the week. So until then, Happy Father's Day, and happy mid-June nice weather!

Thursday, June 9, 2011

I'm On Vacation

I started my summer vacation at the strike of 3 p.m. on Friday, May 13, and it was at the last stroke of 3 p.m. that I promptly switched bodies with a student of mine who failed my class. We then had a hilarious three weeks of body-swapping fun during which I played the drums in her all-girl punk band and learned to love life as a teenager again, and she payed bills, did laundry, and cooked dinners and learned how to be a responsible adult who didn't fail English composition classes.

And that's what I've been up to. I also managed to hang out with Bo a little bit. This is what he's up to these days:



I've also made a list of things I'd like to do over the summer.

  1. Get a new battery for my watch
  2. Finish my Fall syllabus on time (July 1)
  3. Go to the beach
  4. Take Henry on numerous adventures, like The Search for a Strawberry Milkshake and The Dog Who Walked to the Coffee Shop (and other snack-related quests)
  5. Clean the closet
  6. Get a haircut (this is actually happening today, so I'll be able to check this off the list)
  7. Take Bosco to the zoo
  8. Continue Movie Mondays with Trevor (so far we've seen Bridesmaids [disgustingly charming], Everything Must Go [difficult to watch but rewarding], Midnight in Paris [whimsical and witty], and X-Men First Class [loud, violent, and fun as hell])
  9. See the movies that Trevor refuses to see with me (Fast Five, Troll Hunter (I might convince him to see this one; it's foreign horror, which is a little classier), the awesome new body-switching movie The Change-Up, and Shark Night [which looks like the most fun ever but it doesn't come out until September])
  10. Write some stories and stuff
  11. Catch up to my Goodreads goal of reading 75 books this year (I'm currently 14 books behind my schedule)
We'll see how far I get.