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It's snowing

Right now we are getting enough snow that it is actually sticking to the ground and the little girls are ecstatic. They immediately bundled up in every bit of snow gear they could find and went out to explore the snow. I hope the fascination lasts long enough to make the winter seem really fun for them for a long time.

Dinner with Ted

I'm ready to throw my computer or camera out the window. Something happened and I lost the pictures I was going to post today. They were really good ones. RRRGGGGGG!
The other day we went to dinner at Ted's Montana Grill in Naperville as guests of (drumroll please). . .Ted Turner himself. It was a small group that included the mayor and his son, Richard and me, the owner and manager of the local bookstore, and Ted and Sally, or in his words,"my gal, Sal. She's my pal." He had spent the day in Naperville at a book signing to promote his new book, Call Me Ted. The food was great. Of course, we all had buffalo. I had ribs. I highly recommend them. The conversation was more dull than I thought it would be. He seemed pretty disinterested in nearly everything. To be fair, I'm sure he was super tired. He is in his 70's and is in the middle of a long book tour that is taking him all over the country. But he was very nice and took the time to walk around the restaurant greeting the customers and thanking them for coming to his restaurant. His staff took pictures of him with Richard and the mayor, and were kind enough to take a shot of him with us using my camera. But, when I tried to load it onto my computer something happened and it looked like it was going to crash, but didn't, but I lost my photo. I am so bummed!!! Oh well, it wasn't that flattering of me anyway. Maybe I'll have to photoshop a picture of us together. :) The best part of the night was when the owner of the bookstore (a woman) told him that she also owned the building that his restaurant was in, making her his landlord. He didn't know that and was suddenly acting beholden to her. It was pretty funny. Other than that, no matter how much people tried to draw him into conversation, he remained fairly quiet. He did suggest that we try the buffalo and told us all of the redeeming qualities of it. I guess it's more healthy than beef. Anyway, it was pretty fun to be there.

Product Review

Only two items in my product review today. These are two things that I think every household should have.
1) Downey Wrinkle Release: I have been using this item for about a year and it has changed my life (slightly). I was not a big ironer before, but now I look like I am without all the work. Here's how it works. You spray it on the clothing you need to iron and then kinda finger press or "rub" the wrinkles away. And, presto, wrinkle free clothing. I use it mostly on laces and trims, unruly hems, and embellishments that become misshaped during washing--mostly on kids' clothes. I have also used it on shirts that sat in the dryer too long. Spray it on and let it hang while you rub the wrinkles out. It also has a nice, clean smell to it. It's great.

2) Mini Saltine crackers: I first found these about 5 months ago. I have been getting them ever since. Do you love the taste of saltines, but hate to eat them or give them to your kids because of the crumbs they create? Truly, the size of the regular saltine is a drawback because you have to eat them in several bites, resulting in crumbs. This is the answer. They have a nice Cheez-Its feel to them, but with a yummy saltine taste. They are a new snack favorite of ours. We never have stale saltine crackers anymore.

The Greatest Show on Earth

 

On Thursday Richard called me at about noon and asked if we wanted to go to the circus that night. Ummm. . .an unplanned trip to Chicago on a school night? We won't be back until 11:30 and I'll have to miss choir? Sure, why not. So, there we were under the big top (Allstate Arena) watching the big show in the big city. There was just about everything you could ever want to see at the circus--- including the goats riding on Llamas - who would have guessed that was an attraction? But the seven motortcycles in the sphere of death were excellent, and I always enjoy elephants sitting on each other and playing dead. And guess who's decided she wants to join the show. Yes, of course, be watching for Lauren in about 15 years. She wants to be a trapeze girl in the circus, but I think she would even settle for clown.

Field Museum in Chicago

 

Last Saturday was a cold day in Chicago so we decided to go to a museum. We all had a great time. Our membership to the Exploratorium in San Fransico got us in free which made it so much better. There was so much to do. We spent about 5 hours there and didn't even come close to seeing it all. There is a hands-on children's area where the kids spent a bunch of time. They loved that. But, we also saw Sue the dinosaur and felt like Noah when we walked through the animal section. They must have every animal (well, it seemed like it) and they are all nicely displayed in "natural habitat" scenes. We will be going back soon to see the rest of the place. We'll take Maddie next time. She had other plans for this day. Emma liked the Egyptian area. She is studying that in school right now. I was glad to able to take her on a school related field trip. Richard was fascinated by the cool globe they had. Ellie spent a lot of time studying rocks and filling out the scientist study sheet. Lauren liked beating on the drums in the rhythm room. And I enjoyed the fact that there were a couple of nice restaurants (one being McDonalds) so we didn't have to go OUT to eat. There's lots to do in Chicago.

Singing for her Supper

 
You may remember this post about Ellie dancing on the street. Apparently she still thinks this is a great way to earn money. She remains undaunted. The other day I found her out on the porch singing her heart out and strumming away. Someone tuned the guitar into a chord, so all you have to do is strum it and it plays a nice G chord or something. So, there she was strumming and singing away hoping to catch some passersby on our quiet part of the neighborhood. It looks like she's taking dollars and cents. Sad to say it wasn't a very profitable day for her.

. . .And I do my little turn on the catwalk. . .

I almost forgot to post this, but it's something I do NOT want to forget. A couple weeks ago Richard and I went to a women's club annual fashion show. This is a big fund-raiser event in Naperville at one of the posh country clubs. It includes lunch, a silent auction and a fancy fashion show. We were enjoying this afternoon with about 400 women from the area. Richard was invited to go AS A MODEL. He, along with the mayor, a Chicago area radio DJ, and a local college Dean of Fine Arts (or something) were asked to join the professional women models to show the men's line. So, there he was, strutting his stuff on the catwalk to the applause of all the women. I didn't have my camera and the pictures I took with his phone didn't turn out because I just didn't know how to work it very well. Bummer. But take my word for it, he's. . ."too sexy for his shirt."

Twilight trailer

This is for you Maddie (and all other Twilight lovers out there.) A new trailer you may not have seen yet. Click here.

I Voted

Yay! I'm so glad it's almost over. I'm so tired of political debates. "Can't we all just get along?" (My favorite Rodney King quote.)
I am very fearful for the future of our country. I'm also extremely cynical and have almost lost all hope that it will get much better. I have lost a lot of faith in our government and our leaders. I think most of them are corrupt and have their own selfish interests at heart (both sides). I think we're in for big trouble and all I can say is. . . get your food storage ready. Sorry for the downer (wha-wha). Are any of you more optimistic? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Pancakes

 
I love 'em! And why do I love them so much? Because my kids ALL love them too. This is the one thing that they beg me to make on a regular basis. They eat them 'til they're stuffed and wish they had room for more. I have heard them say many times that I should open a pancake restaurant. They also think I am somewhat of a pancake artist, which they think could be the draw for the restaurant. I am proficient with Mickey and Minnie and have been successful with Goofy and sometimes Donald. My Mickey always wears a top hat and bow tie, but I serve way more Minnie's in this house. I can do hearts and stars on request and any name you want.
Pancakes are my affirmation that I can cook good stuff that everyone likes. They are the standard for sleep-over breakfasts. And every guest agrees--They are yummy. My kids especially like my homemade syrup (which isn't really mine. It's the same syrup my mom used to make). If you've never tried it it's super easy and really yummy.

Syrup
1 C. packed brown sugar
1 C. white sugar
1 C. water
Bring to a boil and then add 1 tsp. maple extract. Serve hot.

On one condition

Lauren was experimenting with the power of publicly guilting parents into doing what she wants them to do. This was the note I found written on the driveway the other day after she was begging me to go out and play soccer with her, but I just did not have time to do it. Apparently she thought I wasn't showing her any love. I didn't get the word "me" in the photo, but it was there. I'm sure you can figure out where it goes. And just so you have an idea of the scale, here's the whole thing.

Just in time for all the neighborhood families to walk by and wonder who the mean parents were that didn't love their children. Nice.

Happy Halloween

This was the year of many costumes. Several years ago we decided to start getting a new costume only every other year. This because our costume trunkS were becoming very full and I figured that we really had a pretty good selection on hand. There was no need to put effort, time, or money into this every single year. Well, this was the off year and instead of picking a costume and "being" that thing for the Halloween season, my kids (in very predictable fashion) couldn't quite decide or wouldn't until the last minute. So, we ended up with a total of 9 different costumes this year. None of them great and unbelievably bad photos of the ones we were even able to get. So, here's what we ended up with.
Ward Party
Ellie-Minnie Mouse
Lauren- prom queen vampire (no photo)
Emma- witch (no photo)
Maddie- Bella from Twilight (no photo)
They were all so busy running around doing stuff, I never got a chance to get a photo of them.

School
Ellie- Princess (photo shows under skirt all bunched up)
Lauren- Scary vampire

Trick-or-Treating
Ellie-pioneer girl
Lauren-rock star?
Emma- vampire (it was handy because Lauren had just taken it off)
Maddie- nothing. No trick-or-treating anymore. She stayed home and made the traditional chili

It's embarressing really, but oh well. They had fun and got gobs of candy, and isn't that what Halloween is all about anyway? Wait, what is Halloween about really?
The weather was PERFECT. Better, even, than most of our Sacramento Halloweens. We were out in short sleeves and it wasn't even cold. Now that is what makes a great Halloween to me. We couldn't have asked for better.