Busy Start to Our Last Week in Illinois

Our day began early with a trip to see Mrs. H who was Dina's (of Jerusalem Hills Daily Photo) teacher in Chicago. Mrs. H is a very independent woman much beloved by everyone. Message for Dina: We've gotten Mrs. H set up with her e-mail again so she is able to receive e-mails and see our blogs bookmarked in her Favorites now.

Art worked on hooking up her digital converter for her TV. Unfortunately, the signal is weak so her reception is pixelated. I don't know if that's what you call it. I suspect that when the conversion happens there's going to be a lot of unhappy people who will find that the reception might not be great with just an antennae on an old TV. It won't be just snow, the picture will break up. I don't think enough people are really prepared for the problems that could happen.



We enjoyed spending time with Mrs. H and having KC go wild on her rocking chair. KC was also very interested in Mrs. H's dog, Annie.



After a shopping trip at Trader Joes, I was able to spend precious time with my dear teacher friends. We meet once a month at our favorite round table at Ruby Tuesdays. I even got to give a small box of Hawaiian chocolates to our favorite waitress there. We have been like family to each other during our teaching careers and after. Each time we meet, we tell another story from the chapters of our lives.

Tomorrow will be another busy day. I'm storing memories for our return to Hawaii.

Super Super Bowl Sunday Day

We started the day with a delightful brunch with Art's EPA buddy and his wife at the Noyes Street Cafe. That was loads of fun catching up with our family doings. Steve and Linda's daughter once played one of the daughters on the Roseanne shows a long time ago. Maybe it's because Linda was a teacher (high school) that we have always found it easy to chat about anything.


After brunch, we headed to Chicago to have dinner and watch the Super Bowl with Tif, Ed and KC. We were surprised to see that our friends from California, Jean and Mike had sent KC a gorgeous advent calendar wall hanging. I've never seen anything like it! There are adorable buttons for each day, that you remove and slip into buttonholes on the tree. They sent it for KC's next Christmas. Is this thoughtful or what?

We met Jean and Mike when we all took a bike tour through the Netherlands. Jean is also a teacher (for hearing impaired children) and she kept me on my bike all through those days when I would just as soon have jumped into a canal rather than bike another kilometer. Uhhh... this bike trip was definitely Art's idea, not mine. I loved seeing the country and the gorgeous Keukenhof Tulip gardens but...I'd not been on a bike in 30 years and it was a real...uhhhh....challenge. Jean kept me on my bike while Art and Mike went off with the "FAST" group. Jean and I have been e-mail buddies ever since.

Art and Ed are now watching the Super Bowl while Tif does her things and I post this entry. I will now focus my attention on KC who may be feeling a bit neglected. I'm just watching the commercials.

Happy Super Bowl everybody!

Same Time Next Year

Some 35 years ago we met Diane and Bart through Art's work at EPA. We became friends and discovered that we had the same wedding anniversary month. We decided to go to a movie and dinner together every January, no matter what!

Soon Jim and Terry, who are also close friends got married in January and joined our anniversary group. Somehow, we three couples have managed to keep this tradition going all this time even though, in some years we've seen each other only that one time. We no longer go to movies. We've decided to just take turns hosting a dinner at our homes with one couple bringing dessert and the other bringing salad.

This year, my son-in-law informed me that Portillo's Hot Dog Restaurant had the BEST chocolate cake around (on par with Cheesecake Factory) so we decided to bring that for dessert. Happily, it was a HUGE success!

I know. I know I shouldn't have the sugar but it was worth it! I most wholeheartedly recommend Portillo's Chocolate Cake.

The chocolate is getting me away from my train of thought.

Our Anniversary get-together was fabulous. Diane and Bart served a scrumptious dinner of beef stroganoff with grilled veggies. We loved getting caught up with the past year and we suggested they all come to Hawaii for the next get-together. Well... otherwise, I guess we'll have to come back to Illinois in winter again same time, next year.

Neighborhood Potluck!

KC spent a happy morning coloring with her "doggie Ace." She actually sat Ace on the seat herself. Ace was given to her by a friend who has an actual Golden Retriever named Ace.


Our Potluck Pizza Party was a success! What a relief! Even though some of us sat on picnic benches and we ate on paper plates, it was wonderful to be together with our neighbors again. They brought delicious salads, incredible chocolate dipped strawberries and cookies, not to mention great beverages and fabulous appetisers. We bought five large Lou Malnati's (deep dish and thin crust) pizza which everybody enjoyed.


Our first guests were Russ, a school psychologist and Caroline, a professor of anthropology at the University. KC is usually very reticent around people she does not spend time with on a daily basis but somehow she loved all the neighbors. Russ and Caroline were kind enough to have "tea" with KC who kept pouring them more out of her miniature teapot.


Vera brought over a pop-up book for KC and.... lo and behold! Bubble wrap! KC was in heaven. No wonder we heard her squeals of laughter throughout the evening. She went to bed perfectly content.

We are also feeling perfectly content and happy to have been blessed for so many years with such terrific, loving neighbors.

From Obama to Blagojevich

This is a Chicago Tribune photo.

We watched the Illinois State Senate remove Rod Blagojevich from office today. Suddenly, he is no longer our governor. That's pretty historic! It amazes me how this piece of news is everywhere, not just in the U.S. but in other countries. The State has already removed all of the governor's security protection and changed the locks to his office. They're even already changing all the signs where his name is posted on the tollway. Wow! Do you suppose they might really not like him? They've even banned him from holding any other public office in this state.

My husband, Art said isn't it interesting that we were here to watch LIVE, Illinois' favorite son (not to mention Hawaii's) become President and now we've watched Mr. Blagojevich get impeached out of the governor's office. And no, I did not vote for him. Cross my heart.

It's pretty incredible! The link in all this of course, is that Rod was planning to sell President Obama's vacant senate seat and was caught on wire taps.

Now Illinois has become famous for corruption and pay for play politics. All this is not exactly super surprising because Chicago politics is already known for the corrupt "machine politics" of the first Daley. Richard Daley, the son has carried on his father's legacy and yet things seem to get done so people vote him in anyway.

I do think it's a pretty interesting time in politics. I don't follow or understand it as well as my husband but I'm certainly aware of its significance at this time.

On a more positive note, I had my lunch (3 hours) with my two friends today at Bravo! restaurant at The Glen (shopping mall) in Glenview, Illinois. Bravo! is a very beautiful place with reasonable prices. We had such a terrific time catching up with each other's lives. It's pretty incredible how much can happen in 6 months.

Tomorrow, we'll have to set up for our neighborhood party. I'm trying to calculate how many pizzas we'll need. We bought a 6 feet folding table at Costco that folds in half for storage. Very nifty for setting up a buffet table! We'll pick up a party veggie platter at Costco tomorrow and maybe a few drinks. It's a pot luck so neighbors will be bringing more drinks, desserts, salads and appetizers. This will be so much fun! Heeey! This will be like one of our Hawaii pot lucks! Yahoo!

Obama Fan

Art and Tif had to go shopping for a new dryer because our dryer stopped working. (OK... we bought it in 1983 but couldn't it last a little longer?) Anyway, while they were gone, KC and I did a bit of coloring. I'm figuring she'll be the next Van Gogh. You can never tell. She's very good at circles.

Anyway, I put a sheet of newspaper under her drawing paper and she stopped and pointed to a photo and said, "Obama." Clearly, "Obama."
She can't say Grandma. I'm still Gobby which I'm getting to like but she can easily say, "Obama." Go figure. Then she said, "KC cower Obama." (Translation: I'm going to color President Obama.)
And she did.

In the short time we've been here, I'm just astounded at how much she knows and is soaking up like a sponge. Just 5 months ago, she could barely say, "Mama." Now I have to watch what I say because she'll understand and try to repeat it.

Today, while we were preparing dinner, KC called to her father, "Daddee."
When he didn't hear her because he was busy preparing something, she called out loudly, "Ed!" And that did get his attention.

This is so much fun! We have only a week and a half to go in Chicago and we're trying to get so much done. It's going to be close.

I'll be seeing a couple of my close friends tomorrow which I've been looking forward to. There's so much to catch up on.

Then the following evening (Friday), we're hosting a huge pot luck party with our neighbors. It's going to be tricky since we don't have much furniture or kitchenware but I don't think anyone will mind. Tif and Art also bought a 6 foot folding table today. It won't be fancy but it will help to set the food on. It'll be fun to see all the neighbors again!

And Saturday...........

Musings Visits Meggie's Musings

There was a big snowstorm that was sweeping past the Midwest that threatened to delay our trip to visit Peggy of Meggie's Musings. Mother Nature was kind and coaxed the storm a bit southward so that we could do the 2.5 hour drive to visit Peggy and her son, Kevin. We were so sorry to miss her husband, Jim but we have a full schedule this weekend. In fact, we're pretty much scheduled until we leave on February 8th.



Tiffany loved introducing KC to "Aunt" Peggy and Kevin. She was thrilled to see Peggy looking as beautiful as the last time she saw her 6 years ago (at her wedding) and Kevin looking so handsome and grown up. Kevin and Tiffany were best buddies when they were little. They reminisced about the time they both ate berries from the Bitter Nightshade and had to drink Syrup of Ipecac.



Although KC is normally very reserved around people who she does not have frequent contact with, she warmed up to Kevin right away.

I have delivered all your hugs to Peggy and we had fun looking at our blogs and talking about all the nice friends we have on-line.

Mommy and Daddy are Back!

Mommy and Daddy came back tonight. Art went to pick them up at Midway Airport (Chicago) and brought them home. KC took it all in stride. She just figured that was the longest (3 days) shopping trip Mommy ever went on. We sure did enjoy spending quality time with her and really hearing her communicate.

Tomorrow, we were planning to take a road trip down south to visit Peggy of Musings of Meggie but there's a snow storm brewing and we're not sure yet if we'll be able to do it. Ah well, this is the Midwest. If we can't tomorrow, we'll try again on Thursday.

Babysitting KC: Day #2

Two year old KC is doing very well while her parents are in Vegas for the weekend although she did get up several times last night and then finally insisted on having breakfast at 6:00 AM. Bless Art for doing the honors and giving me another hour of sleep.

Art was upstairs doing some work on the house for Tif and I was on the computer when I realized it was too quiet. I checked around the corner and caught KC just sitting quietly on the big chair reading a book. She sat there reading by herself for a good 20 minutes. It was one of those big Richard Scarry books that my son used to love when he was little. I was happy to see that she has a good attention span which will serve her well when she starts school in a few years.

Babysitting KC: Day #1

When KC got up this morning she looked at us and said, "Mommy eepn?" Translation: "Mommy sleeping?" Art told her, "Mommy is shopping."
It sounds silly but since that's the usual explanation when we babysit her, we thought it would be easy for her to understand. Granted, her parents being in Vegas, I imagine it's not that far from the truth.
"Mommy oppn," KC repeated understandingly.


KC started the morning leading us a merry dance basking in our attention. She loved being able to pull "Poppa" along everywhere.



Then it was time for her to do her own work. She had some vegetable cutting to do and worked at it industriously.



Then there were those puzzles to research.

At one point I was cleaning the floors in Tif's room and KC said, "Mommy oppn?" She looked about the room and there was such a look of dejection on her face. She walked over to Tif's bed and touched it, trying to understand. I picked her up and said, "Mommy did go shopping but she'll be back soon and we get to play." I hopped up and down with her and the moment passed and she was laughing again.



Gobby provided an art lesson. KC got to make her own crown since her birthday crown was at her parents' condo in Chicago. KC insisted it had to be done with markers and not crayons.



Now you know who the Queen of our hearts is.



Dinner was chili. KC just won't eat fresh vegetables so I blended a whole bag of cut veggies and a couple of carrots and mixed it into the chili. She never knew she was eating a bunch of veggies. However, she still had the last word. She refused to eat the kidney beans. Ah well. Actually it tasted quite good. I just might cook chili like this from now on.

Our neighbor and friend, Vera arrived this evening and said she'd read my blog so she brought over bubble wrap for KC. KC LOVED it! She was giddy with delight as she popped away.

Very soon it was bed time and as we put her in her bed with her bedtime doggy and blanket she said, "Mommy oppin." Then she snuggled into her blanket, rubbed her doggy's face, smiled at us, and waved goodnight.

Gobby and Poppa Babysitting KC

Here's KC with one of her favorite toys. Yup! Bubble wrap! Her little fingers are actually strong enough to pop them.



The other night we tried to get KC to say Grandma.
We said, "Say Obama, KC."
"Obama" KC repeated.
"Say Mommy, KC."
"Mommy," KC said perfectly.
"Say Grandma, KC," I encouraged her.
"Gobby." she said quickly.
"Grrrrannnndmmmaaaa," I enunciated slowly.
"Gooooooooooobbbbbeeeee," she smiled back at me.
I swear she's playing with me. Two years old and she's playing with me.

Tonight, my daughter and her husband went to Vegas for the weekend. They got some kind of great freebie deal with their flight and hotel because of my son-in-law's job and it was too good to pass up.

This is the first time that Tiffany is away from her daughter for more than a few hours. Tif's tummy was even a little queasy at the thought before leaving for the airport.

"It's the pizza I ate. I'm not worried," she told me. "I know you'll all be fine.

I was queasy wondering how KC would take it. I promised KC a small bag of fruit chews when we got back in the car to return to our house. Incredibly, an hour and a half later, she remembered my promise and held me up to it. I gave it to her. She asked me to sing to her on the way to our house and then brushed her teeth and went to bed.

So far... so good.

Let's see what she says when she gets up tomorrow morning and sees that Mommy is still gone. My stomach is feeling a little strange...

Ecobags

Here's an ecobag I was introduced to by my nephew, Barry's wife who gave it to me as a gift. I chained it to my backpack and used it all the time.

It worked so well that when I went to Japan, I was thrilled to get another one from my cousin. I bought one for my daughter, but she carries hers inside her handbag. Anytime I make a purchase, I just whip out my little bag. It's made of some kind of colorful polyester or nylon fabric that folds up very tiny and is quite strong. I feel a whole lot better now that I don't end up with loads of little bags that I feel guilty adding to the landfills.
P.S. My daughter, Tiffany just told me that she's seen these thin ecobags sort of like mine at Whole Foods and that those bags roll up into a covenient ball. AND she says Target has a different kind also but is another one that folds up tiny.

2nd P.S. Tif just came back from Whole Foods and Targets which is just around the corner from her condo and she said that the Whole Foods bag is $8.20 and the fabric looks thin like mine. The Target bag is 99 cents and folds up to the size of an envelope but is a different sort of thin fabric... not quite as thin as the ones from Japan.

Sky Watch Friday: Skies Over Salt Lake City

Here are a couple of sunrise photos as we flew into Salt Lake City, Utah. We were awed by the snow capped mountains, and Salt Lake that looked like it was being iced over.



I wanted to take photos when we flew into Chicago as the sun set but had to put our cameras away for the descent. For even more incredible skies around the world, click onto Sky Watch Friday.

It's a New Day!

Does the air feel fresher? .. the temperature warmer?.... our smiles broader?

I guess it just feels like a brighter, happier, more hopeful new day.

We spent almost all day watching TV and soaking in the excitement of the inauguration. I think I missed hearing the swearing in the first time because I was so busy taking photos of KC in front of the TV to record the momentous occasion.

Have a terrific new day everybody!

Any Opinions on the Honda Fit?

We're really leaning toward getting the Honda Fit when we return to Hawaii. It's either that or the Scion. We have an Odyssey minivan right now that we only used for family trips or to haul large things for the last 11 years. We need a smaller, gas efficient car for Hawaii. Does anybody have an opinion about these two cars?

A Retired Teacher's Welcome Home Party

It's nice to be home (in Illinois) again and it's nice to have two places that are home. Tonight my retired teacher friend, Fran had an Italian themed party to honor our visit. We did, of course, get another round of happy jests that we have certainly picked the coldest time in many years to return from Hawaii.

I looked around at my wonderful friends and colleagues and saw a community of teachers that I taught with and loved. There was Gerri (Behavior Disorder) who I often rode to school with, Joan and Deanna(1st grade) who I taught with, Fran (3rd grade) who threw the incredible party, Elaine (Music), Huong (ESL), Jos (Social Worker), Jan (2nd grade), Sue (4th grade), Priscilla (5th grade), Judy (Librarian), Elaine and Wendy (Kindergarten), Ari (3rd). Everyone was full of stories and we happily caught up with each other's lives. Every time I turned there was another loving, smiling face. Someone laughed to say there were only three people in our group who were actually still teaching. Everyone else was enjoying retirement.

The party was exquisite. The beautiful decorations everywhere made me wish I'd brought my camera. Fran has always been the most impeccable hostess. There were lovely appetisers and then salads and lasagnas and an assortment of desserts from brownies, tiramisu, fruit tarts to candies. This is very different from the parties in Hawaii which are more informal usually and require much less work. I know that Fran and the other teachers who are part of our little teachers group put a lot of effort into this. I couldn't quite take it in that they'd done this for us.

But I'm getting away from what I was also trying to say. It amazed me to look around and see all the teachers who were part of our teaching community that functioned together to create a beautiful learning environment for our students. We were lucky. Our district was well-funded. We had psychologists, speech and language teachers, a Learning Disabilities teacher, a social worker, music, art and drama teachers, a full time librarian, an ESL teacher (until they moved the program away), Physical Education teacher, and I'm sure I must have missed something. Everybody cared about each student. We really had a great school and we loved and served children of every income level and ethnicity.

With this worsening economy, I hope President Obama will remember the children and do what he can so that all children can have a school to go to like ours. Although there are problems to solve now, these children are our future.

Baby Genius or I'm Learning a Third Language

When we first got off the airplane KC greeted us with a lot of baby gibberish of which I understood "Poppa" for Grandpa and "Gobby" for Grandma. I told my daughter, Tiffany this morning that it's amazing how much vocabulary KC had picked up in just one week.

Well...that's not true, of course. It's just that Art and I can now understand more of her language.

ma no is no more
daggie is daddy
mo kutiki pee is More cottage cheese please
bebi kawa hewa is I'm going to color here.
ba pee is Please turn on my sheep music so I can go to sleep.
choo choo is train
ninyo is noodles
baby serel eat is I'm going to eat cereal.
COOKIE is cookie

I'm now babysitting while Art is out with his work buddies and Tif and Ed are out shopping. KC is napping while I make the most of my highspeed connection. I expect she'll wake up in a few minutes. (The neighbor in the condo next to us is having carpeting installed.) There's no way I can do anything on the computer while she's awake because she loves to see her Flickr photos and will impatiently take control of the keys very effectively. So she is a genius after all!

50 Degrees Below Zero! Are you Kidding Me?

Art called up to me this morning to say I needed to see the outdoor thermometer from the window. It read 17 degrees below zero. It's 6:00 PM now as I write this and I just heard Brian Williams say we registered 50 degrees below zero when you factored in the windchill.

I went to our monthly luncheon of retired lady friends in our little village and they all laughed when they saw me. They jokingly razzed me about the timing of our visit. It was lovely seeing everybody. Our schedule is filling up quickly and suddenly we don't have enough time to see everybody and do all the things we were thinking of doing. Well, it did take us a few days to get over the jet lag and another few days to see KC through her nasty cold. Now we've only got three weeks left! Good gosh!

Tomorrow Art gets to see his E.P.A. buddies and Sunday we'll be attending a party being thrown by my teacher friends. On Tuesday, everything will stop so we can celebrate the inauguration! Woohoo! I hope President Obama can stay warm somehow.

Frozen Chicago Skies

I'm not posting on Sky Watch Friday today because we're leaving Chicago after lunch to return to the suburbs where I have dial-up again and can't blog easily. However, here is the Chicago skyline outside my daughter's window. That's the Sears Tower shivering under the frigid skies. I hear it's below 0 until Friday! I think I'll call my mom and ask if it's cool in Hawaii, too.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr............rrrrrrrrrrr!

This is a photo of my neighbor's house. Their snowman's hat shows some of the snow we've accumulated.


Here's Tif and KC making a dash for the car to drive VERY SLOWLY into Chicago to stay for just one night at KC's place before returning to the suburbs. The very nice part is that we've got high speed Internet again and I can post a photo or two while we're here.

I'm slowly getting acclimated to the cold. We've got a couple of days of freezing below zero temperatures coming up. Can you believe it? Well.... yeah.... it is January in Chicago. Tiffany is so happy to have her dad take over the snow shoveling.

We're kind of rethinking visiting next time in fall or spring or even summer... but winter? Hmmmmm....