I had the stomach flu yesterday and just didn't trust my stomach or my nose today. But I just KNEW that the package of chicken that I opened did not smell right when I opened it today. It was had an overwhelming funky smell, not just a slightly bad smell. I took it down the street to my neighbor and asked her if she would please smell my chicken. She was happy to (like I ask her to smell poultry all of the time) and confirmed that I was correct in my chicken assessment- it was BAD. She asked me a few home ec type questions like "when did you buy it?" "when is the sell by date?" and "where did you store it?". Upon answering "2 days ago", "4 days from now" and "fridge" She told me to take it back! I was happy to hear that Kroger did NOT want my rotten chicken back but were happy upon seeing my receipt to give me a good smelling bird. Supper is saved!
Urban Triumph
I can plan a month's worth of meals, do six loads of laundry, and read a very long book about vegetable gardens twice to my four year without much effort. I can go to three grocery stores in one morning and get all of the best deals on food, tolietries and paper products.
But the real question was could I get myself and my four year old from near O'Hare Airport to various sites in Chicago, in one afternoon, on different public transporation systems.
Well, the answer to that question is a little tricky. If we concentrated on the "various" part of that question, the answer would be "no". We really only made it one. Well, two really but the second one was an after thought and right across the street from the first. Is the question "did we get lost?" Then the answer is no (but Jonah will tell you that we did). If the question is-did we take all of the right trains and buses? Then the answer is "no" (but the lady that works at the train station told us incorrectly). Is the question- did we have to walk a LONG time from where we got off the bus to the Lincoln Park Zoo? Then the answer is YES! But again, we were only following directions. Did we ask LOTS of people throughout our trip on how to find the zoo AND how to take the CORRECT bus/trains home? YES! But, if you're asking if we made it to our tourist spot of choice and had lots of fun, then the answer is "yes"!!!
My urban experience began with us tagging along with Jake while he had a trade show up north. We swam while he set up and then we went out to dinner with some of his co-workers. Yesterday he went to the show and Jonah and I took a shuttle to the train station.
I will say that I was a little unprepared for this trip. I had looked up the train lines ahead of time and had an idea of where we might go. But I thought I would finalize plans while we were relaxing at the hotel. But then we didn't have wifi and I couldn't find a good map. Although I was ready to scrap the whole idea I asked Jonah if he would like to go to either the zoo or the children's museum. He very much wanted to go to the zoo so we decided to give it a try. I thought that surely we make it to ONE spot and back. So with lots of help from kind Chicago citizens (one even called Chicago transit for me to find out the correct bus numbers incase I did want to go to Navy Pier after the zoo-no way, but it was nice of her anyway)we made it to the Lincoln Park Zoo and had a wonderful time. We saw two polar bears, a pygmie hippo and lots of other animals.
We then walked across the street to the Nature Museum because that is where the RIGHT bus stop was located, instead of a mile down the street(three nice park district employees directed me there). It was very much like a Children's Museum and much easier than trying to get to the one at Navy Pier. We saw lots of butterflies, traced a bear skull, and climbed around a pretend tree house. We then made it back to the train station to meet Jake without any trouble, although there was almost trouble because Jonah REALLY had to go potty...
Advanced Development
Today Jonah made his weekly call to our family pumpkin expert, Grandma. He called to report our pumpkin status and unfortunately, my fears were confirmed. Three of our pumpkins, that are basketball size in diameter although oval in shape, are already turning orange and therefore will probably be ready for picking long before October. Jonah is ready to carve a jack-o-lantern now but personally I'll be a little annoyed if we have 10 pumpkins in August but I still have to purchase some come October (especially after they have taken over both my garden and my yard- there is a vine threaded through a tomato cage and Jake has to move another vine when he mows!)! "You might have planted them a little too soon" she said, "and your conditions were probably about perfect." Oh well, if anyone wants a Labor Day jack-o-lantern, we have you hook-up!
Update without a Plot
Recently I am recieved a few e-mails from friends saying that they have "updated" or created a new blog and that everyone should check it out for new information. Well, I don't really have lots of new info or a new blog, but here is a little update anyway since I have been slow to blog lately (mostly for lack of a good story).
Here is some of our summer "highlights" so far:
Jake turned 30 over the weekend. The milestone didn't bother him much and he enjoyed his "bash". I did collect ALMOST 30 poems for his book of birthday poems. Thanks to all of those who wrote one (I asked 30 plus people to write a poem about Jake turning 30 and e-mail it to me so I could put them together for a fun surprise. (If you weren't asked to write a poem it wasn't because I didn't think you could write one it was probably because I didn't have your e-mail address, but I am 3 short so you CAN still write one if you want to!!!).
Our garden is huge and spilling over into the yard. I'm in the process of making relish and will tackle pickles next week. I'm expecting am explosion of cherry tomatoes any day.
Jonah has chosen this summer to not take a nap. I've been still making him "rest", which has not been restful for ME since he gets up constantly to see if its 4:00 o'clock (or whatever time I said that he could get up).
We have only been swimming ONCE this whole summer! But we did sign up for swim lessons yesterday, they start Monday and last for two weeks (maybe 8 days of the pool in a row will make up for the fact we haven't been all summer...).
Jonah is in the reading program at the library. Even though he cannot read and I am the one doing the reading, it still seems unreal that he is old enough to be in a reading program.
We have spent a lot of time at the park across the street. We have a park leader for the summer during the afternoons and Jonah loves to go and say "hi" to her. We sometimes even go for lunch or snack which is provided by the park district. Not too many kids frequent our park but Jonah enjoys when there are a few to play with.
So that's my uneventful-not blog worthy summer update (THOUGH it has been relaxing so I'm not really complaining!).
All with a Pringles Can
I'm really not surprised that my husband can entertain himself with one pringles can for over an hour. My surprise came when he somehow entertained little J, who has a short attention span when it comes to most outdoor activities, for almost that long with just a pringles can and the promise of blowing something up. Or off as the case may be. After finishing off the can of pringles tonight on our front porch they proceeded to see how many different ways they could "blow" the lid off the can. Stepping on it, hitting it really hard from both sides and kicking it when it was propped up against the step all succeeded in blowing the lid off. Throwing it at Jonah's head didn't make it happen although a head bunt to the can from Jake seemed to work out pretty well.
First Fruit
Hidden among the pumpkin vines I found our first ready-to-be-picked garden fresh vegetable! Although it wasn't as delicious as we hoped (raw), we are still looking forward to more fruits of our efforts. And a little worried as well- our tomato plants are bursting with green fruits (why did I decide on 8 plants?), several zuchinni and hot peppers are almost ready to be picked, there are tons of baby cucumbers and the pumpkins are taking over the place. We have high hopes of making salsa and learning how to can but I having a feeling will be begging neighbors to take "our efforts" off of our hands!