Me and my Dad

Dad and Kathie came into town Tuesday night to spend a few days. Today was Dad's birthday and he and I spent the day building my birthday present. He and Pete had gone out to buy the lumber the night before, so we were able to get started working right away this morning.
Here's Henry doing some of his work with a digger in the sand while Dad works in the background.
Here are the plans sitting with my iced mocha and other various items.
Dad taught me to use the saw and I didn't pull a Will on my finger.
I didn't have quite the muscle for the drill, but I managed okay.
Here are Dad and I with the finished product. It was really cool to be able to build something together. I'd never done any sort of project like this before, and it was fun to be able to do it with my Dad!
The part on the left is slatted so that you can do watering and the water will fall through. I'll put some sort of rain bucket under that part. Over on the right, above the can, there is a part on hinges that folds open. That's so you can sweep soil into the receptacle underneath. You can see there's space underneath for pots etc. I guess on the back I could even put hooks for tools or something. The middle of the top is a nice smooth surface. Pete has already commented that it would be a great work bench and he could really carve it up. Ha! He wouldn't dare.
Thanks for the great birthday present, Dad! And for spending your birthday building it with me!

And lest my brothers doubt that I actually did any of the heavy work...

(please note: when I call my husband a dork it's just one of my ways of saying "I love you")

Cicadas....the movie

Not sure if you can quite see the amount of cicadas on the trees and sidewalk, but here's what I've got...

"Skay-das!"

We've been doing lots of cicada investigation this weekend. My poor ginkgo has been swarmed. It's the tiniest tree we have and seems to get the most cicada attention. We re-wrapped it and they still get inside! Here it is pre-re-wrapped:
Here's Henry across the street checking out some of the unlucky fellows on the sidewalk. The street, also is full of cicada grease marks.
I'll put up my Henry and cicada videos as soon as I can get you tube going, but in the meantime here are some pics of other weekend activities. We went to the (short) Memorial Day parade and gathering in the park today with Grandma and Bampa. Henry loves the sousaphones.
Henry and I made raspberry-lemonade popsicles with my new popsicle mold. We're anxiously awaiting full frozen-ness. I admit I did have a taste of some of the not-totally-frozen leftovers in the ice cube tray, though. My first thought may or may not have been "these would be great with a little rum".
And here's a very flattering photo of me putting in my seedlings. I hope they do okay. I'm sure Pete was right when he said I put the tomatoes too close together (don't y'all pay attention to the adjective in my blog title?). I also planted peppers and cauliflower and broccoli (the latter two not from seeds- from an impulse purchase at the hardware store).

Cookin'!

Pete and I had date night last night, thanks to Liz. For Christmas she had gotten us a gift card to The Chopping Block, plus a night of babysitting. The Chopping Block is a place that does demonstration and hands-on cooking classes. We went for a 'Pacific Rim' hands-on class, which meant we cooked the entire meal and ate it. We shared our cooking table with this couple:
who were young and spunky and had been dating for about three months. We cooked our meal together with them, getting tips from the chefs on how to properly cut certain things and whatnot. Each station had its own stove and fridge. Here are Pete and I in front of our range, with the food almost ready:
Then we all sat down at some big tables and dug in! There were 4 total tables with 2 couples at each table. The recipes were Asian glazed ribs, Thai shrimp with black rice salad and coconut green curry noodles with salmon. SO tasty! I especially loved the ribs. I have never done ribs on my own before, but I think now I'm empowered to give it a shot! Please, invite yourselves over for a grilling party at our house!
Thanks for a great gift Liz!

Despite best efforts

Despite diligent tulle-wrapping of my ginkgo and my redbud, a few little buggers sneaked in. Do you see this guy peering at me over the leaf? Something chewed through the netting on this tree, but I don't think it was the cicada- everything I've read says they don't chew. Hm. A mystery.
Henry found some sweet little yellow flowers in our lawn today, but he kept telling me not to photograph him. "No! Those are MY flowers!"
Here's one of my birthday gifts from Pete. It was so nice to be able to listen to music outside today. I love my ipod, but I rarely want to listen to it with headphones.
Here's the planting Henry and I did this morning. I spent quite a bit of time weeding this area this morning. I don't remember having such a time with weeds last year. I think I'm just going to have to give in and embrace the usefulness of wood chips...though I hate how they look when they get old and icky. I may also have to embrace my true nature and realize that things in my life just weren't meant to be neat and tidy. It was nice to get the dahlias and the dusty miller in the ground. Now I just need to plant the moss roses and alyssum. It's too hot now though (already at 10:44 AM!) so Henry and I are taking a Sesame Street break.
You can just barely see the NeverKink hose in the upper corner there, not kinking!

First Sighting!

I guess I can't put off covering that gingko any longer! This is actually not the first one I saw. The first one flew away when I went to get the camera. It had red eyes. So far I've seen about a half dozen shells and just a couple 'emerged' cicadas. Very exciting!

A pretty nice birthday

It was predicted that the cicadas might come out just in time for my birthday. It's the big year for this brood. They only come out every 17 years, and when they come they come in force. I've never experienced it before (having come from west of the Mississippi), but I've heard stories of people needing to sweep their sidewalks and not being able to sleep from the noise. I'm very excited! The one thing I still need to do is cover a few of my baby trees. They look for "pencil sized" limbs to slit open with their ovipositors and leave eggs behind. I planned to make my birthday cicada day at school. I wore a new cicada t-shirt. We watched a short video, read some cicada books and made cicada origami. I also played for them the sounds of the three different types that will emerge. Here are the cicada cupcakes I made:
Those are actually gummy spiders. It was the closest I could get to making it look like cicada nymphs coming out of the soil.
Here are some origami cicadas:
Here's what I found on my desk when I went in to school this morning. We have birthday buddies at school, so we don't have to take treats on our own birthday. My buddy left a bajillion mini candybars and banners across my desk and the white board at the front of the room. He also brought a cake for the lounge. I may have had two pieces of cake. I pretty much abstained from the candy, though....so far.
After school Mary stopped by for a bit (she's feeling much better, thanks to all who inquired) and brought a Crate and Barrel gift! Bamboo plates for barbecues and Ravinia! Then Pete, Henry and I went out for dinner at Oliverii's. Henry loves to watch the trains there.
At home I got this great NeverKink hose among other assorted nifty gifts.
Henry helped decorate my cake. Please pay extra close attention to the candle placement, especially the two yellow ones on the left.
Pete was brave enough to light almost all of them.
And they almost burned the house down....
Thanks, everyone, for the extra special birthday!!!

New Furniture

For months Pete has been scouring Craigslist and sending me photos of bedroom furniture, most of which I rejected upon first glance. We went to see one set, but turned it down after opening the drawers and seeing the cheap quality. Recently there have been a few we've both liked the looks of, which we were all set to see, but then the sellers sold before we were able to get there. Finally we found this set and called right away. They were right in Northbrook, which was perfect. We ended up really liking the couple who was selling it- but they're moving to Ireland. It took Pete and his dad 3 trips to bring it over yesterday. A bed, two night tables and a dresser with a mirror! We had to rearrange the room a bit to make room for the bedside tables. I'm not a fan of blocking a window, but it works out okay.


Henry was so excited to come sleep in the new bed that he was in our room by 3:30 this morning. Now we just have to paint these ugly beige walls. I love cream, but I can't tolerate beige! I found a color I was quite fond of, I think it's called river rock...? Maybe that will be a summer project. That, the bathrooms, and finally painting over Prince Kyle's room.

Lovely weekend...and there's still a whole day left!

Happy Graduation Day to Sandy!

Pete had the day off work yesterday, so we were able to spend a whole perfect day together! The weather was lovely. We went to Evanston for Wiggleworms and a haircut, some walking about in the nice weather...and after being home for lunch and a nap we went back so we could have dinner at Dave's. Man we miss being close to that place. Here's Henry enjoying some pre-dinner bread. And me with my new haircut and sauce-drenched ravioli.
I took advantage of the nice weather today to plant my impatiens. I tucked them in amongst the hostas near our front door. This spot has always looked messy and unfinished.
I put a few more in front of our weird little fence and ugly rose bush. I also potted the begonias in a big painted pot that a kindergarten class gave me about 5 years ago.
It made the front of the house look a little nicer, but we do still need to rip out the horrid yew bushes. Pete started in on one today and broke his bow saw. They will be quite a challenge and we're secretly hoping for some help from some of the male members of my family.
Tomorrow: photos of our new bedroom furniture!

Henry's Socks

My Funny Columbine

Some great things are popping up in my messy garden. Here's a flourishing Columbine that mom brought me last year. I wasn't sure whether it would survive, but it has come out with beautiful purple blooms this year.
I plan to add a couple new Columbines to the same area. Yesterday Peter and Mary picked Henry and I up early in the morning and took us to the high school's plant sale. I filled up two boxes with bunches of exciting things all for just $29! I'm not sure you can see them in this photo, but I found a very pretty red and a lavender and white Columbine. There are also dusty miller, impatiens, begonias, dahlias, sweet allysum and some moss roses. They'll go into the ground by the end of the weekend.
Here's a shot of my messy vegetable garden spot. You can see the peas coming up on the right. Will and Sandy are probably right that I'll need something more substantial-or higher- to support the peas. The carrots are popping up on the left. I'll need to thin them, but I'm a little afraid of how much to do.
This is my ginkgo, planted last year from the IC Project Green sale. It's leafing out quite well!
And here's my new frog prince. He was sort of a self-purchased mother's day gift. I bought him a while ago but told Pete to wrap him up and give him to me for mother's day. Not sure where his final home in the garden will be. I love his crown! We do have a little toad friend that lives in the yard too...maybe they'll be pals.

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Windy Saturday

We didn't want to go to the grocery on mother's day, so Pete's out picking up Chinese. Can't wait! Henry is napping because due to being way off schedule yesterday and Saturday he wouldn't go down for much of a nap earlier today. So here are my few precious moments to bloggity blog blog.
On Saturday we bundled up and headed downtown to the beach. The plan is to try to get together with this group of friends for a monthly beach day. We didn't want to wimp out on the first outing- even though the temperatures weren't supposed to get much out of the 50's. Heck- it was a sunny day!
Once we got down to that lakefront though, and away from the protection of the buildings- the wind hit us hard. "Hold onto your hat, Henry!" was a comment frequently heard.

I sat huddled in my windbreaker with my hood up, getting up just once for a game of bocce. Not that I wasn't social- but it was a challenge to carry on a conversation. This video isn't the greatest, but if you turn up the volume you'll really get an idea of how windy it was. And do take note of Bolo the Boston Terrier. He's all of about 7 months old.



One couple brought their stunt kite out, which made for some pretty exciting times, but then one of their poles broke- maybe from dive-bombing straight into the sand? I'm sorry I don't have video of that though. The speed of the kite, combined with the wind created a really cool humming sound, but the person whose job it was to toss the kite in the air really had to watch out and run in serpentine patterns to make sure they didn't get pegged.
Here's hoping the weather is nicer when our June outing rolls around!

Happy Mama's Day!

We've had a very nice day! I got to sleep in a bit while Henry and Pete went to the bakery. Henry came back with chocolate on his face "I ate some of my donut in the car"! He also brought me a Snoopy card and told me all about the flowers that were waiting for me in the kitchen. I spent a nice morning snacking on donuts and reading the paper in bed.
Later we went to Deerfield for some burgers and salad made by Pete, Peter Sr. and Liz. When we came home Henry had a much overdue nap....Pete and I may have conked out too. It was actually sort of a championship level naptime.
When we awoke it was time for ice cream. I don't know how I've lived in this area for 7-8+ years and have never been to Homer's! Henry wanted "M&M ice cream!" but the closest we could get was chocolate chip.
I had a mother's day hot fudge sundae! Check out the olde tyme look of this place. It's been there since 1935! Story goes that Al Capone used to hang out there.
Henry was fascinated by the gumball machines.
I was fascinated by this lady behind him. She clearly had a wig on, with a sparkly headband, glitter butterfly clip and two pairs of glasses. She appeared to be there with her son, who was probably 50 or 60 himself. I wish I had a better shot! She was a classy dame. I can only hope that some day, when I'm as old, Henry still wants to take me out for ice cream on mother's day.
Happy Mother's Day to all Classy Moms out there!

Socks, fabulous socks!

As an early birthday present from Joyce I got these awesome hand knit socks! I love them! I keep meaning to post about them, along with some photos of the socks she made Henry, but I've been a bit of a slacker, so this is all you get for now. I think the name of the pattern is BFF, right Joyce? Which I also love (the pattern and the name). If you look closely you'll see the cabling. They feel very very good on my feet and I love the colors. I have to be judicious about wearing them, though, because I think they're hand-wash and dryer free. Franklin likes them too.
Thanks Joyce! If it's chilly on my birthday I'll definitely wear them then.