Chicago sight seeing Day 1

 We went and got some Deep Dish pizza at Giordano's.  We made the lunch special which was a personal pizza with fries and a drink for $10.  Bonus for us.  Plus, with our hotel only 3 blocks away we could bring back the leftovers for the fridge/microwave for later.

 After dropping off our pizza we headed back towards the pizza place and kept walking so we could get to the "Bean."

 There was going to be a jazz festival happening over the weekend (this was a Thursday) so they were busy getting tents set up for vendors and such.  Very neat and a nice location for this.  The concerts were going to be taking place at the oddly shaped silver thing you see below.

 The Bean:

 It was just so neat how it was super shiny, reflected things and was just cool.  I enjoyed checking out the bean very much.  Luke wanted to move on.  So we did.

 Where the Jazz Festival would be taking place.  Such a nice outdoor concert venue and love how the speakers are all over the criss cross work over head and not just on the sides.

 They had a nice little flower/nature garden that we walked around the outside of and not through.  On the one side was a little "river" where people were sitting and putting their feet in.

 We took a bridge kind of up and over a street and continued on our way to other sights.

 I will say that I am very impressed by Chicago and all the open space they have and green spaces.  Just walking through the city there were lots of little squares and greenery between buildings for taking a lunch or just relaxing.  It was not like NYC at all.  It was quite quiet overall and the people were very friendly, offering directions to us if we looked confused.  I guess the business people are used to tourists and just offer help.  Quite refreshing for such a big city.

 Our next, tourist attraction, must see was the giant fountain.  It was huge.  Luke was confused as to why the pavement was all wet on the one side of the fountain.  Um, the wind caused some of the spray to leave the fountain and end up on the pavement.

 It never felt crowded while we were walking around and I enjoyed that most of all.  I suppose that there are times of the day and places that get crowded but we really didn't encounter that.  The most "crowding" we had was walking the Magnificent Mile and that was primarily at street crossings.

 We were enjoying checking out all the nifty looking buildings and ended up at the Willis tower.  Yeah, formerly known as the Sears tower and all the locals still refer to it as the Sears tower.  Good luck with trying to get people to go with the name change Willis, it's not happening.  We called it Sears too.  All about that is up next.

Chicago road trip

Luke and I went to Chicago for two days over Labor Day weekend.  Luke had been there very briefly for work and thought it would be a cool place for us to go back and explore.  Road trips are always fun with my Manfriend.  I go to the grocery store and get a bunch of snack type food to eat and he laughs at me cause I get fidgety in the car so I drink soda out of boredom and then have to pee like every hour.  At least it gets me out of the car and moving for a little bit.  

 I find ways to entertain the both of us in the car with useless games.  Like triple, double, trips... as evidenced by the triple piggy back type truck.  I started pointing out the trips and doubles and when they came up near each other they were full houses.  Yah, he was only slightly amused but I thought it was hilarious.

 Then I played the alphabet game by myself and felt the need to point out yellow and orange cars.  I always win that game.  But I guess I always win cause he doesn't play.  I was beyond ready to get out of the car when we spotted the Chicago skyline in the distance.  An hour later, and some traffic we arrived at our hotel.

 Our hotel was on Wacker Drive and was really nice.  It was right on the river and an easy walking distance to just about everything.  About 4 blocks away was Millenium Park with the Bean and about 3 blocks the other direction was the start of the Magnificent Mile shopping area.

 Manfriend upgraded our room for $15 a night upon check in so we would have a river view room.  In the lobby I was thinking it was a stupid idea but it turned out to be a good thing cause we could see the city all lit up at night and as the sun came up in the morning (hello 1 hour time difference).

 The view from out our window:

 The two "corn cob" buildings have parking garage on the bottom half and condos on the upper.  Cars have to back in to their parking spaces.

And directly across from us was the Trump building.  What was the first sight we went to see in Chicago?

NYS Fair

 Mom, Papa Bear, Jen, Little Dude and I went to the State Fair a few weeks ago.  I hadn't been in a really long time and was beyond excited for the little things that I remembered from being a kid.  The butter sculpture, 25 cent glasses of the most delicious chocolate milk, the bridge with a different painting on it, the sand sculpture and of course all kinds of animals (with the little ducklings in their pool with a slide being my favorite).

 It was a really neat Dr. Seuss sand sculpture with all sorts of characters and those tongue twisters from the books.  But the bridge was gone.  It should be in the area where the building entrance is but now is a bunch of flowers.  Perhaps it just kind of crumbled and they didn't rebuild.  Disappointment from Jen and I but we did enjoy sitting in the shade with a nice breeze while mom went to get Papa Bear a baked potato for $1.  She didn't want to wait in line for over an hour and walked up to a lady near the front and offered to buy her a potato and drink if she would get a potato for my mom as well.  Hmm, who wouldn't go for the free food and a drink if offered?

 I had to laugh at the cows all buttered up and ready to be judged.  I also felt bad for them since they looked like they needed to go and help make our chocolate milk.  While they were walking they were "leaking" milk everywhere.

 Maybe it didn't smell as bad as you would think in the cow barn because they were washed, blow dried, buzz cut and then shellacked with a variety of products as evidenced in the bin below.  Must be nice to be a State Fair cow instead of back at the farm munching in the fields attracting flies.

 I got a kick out of the sign in the bathroom that said NO Tipping.  Obviously it was meant for an employee who might be cleaning up but still, in the cow barn bathroom.  It's ok to laugh.

 The biggest reason we all went was so Michael could see his first concert.  We took turns dancing with him and he was moving/shaking/smiling the entire time.

I had the pleasure of entertaining the Little Dude on the car ride home so he wold go to bed about his normal time.  I am going to toot my own horn here and say I did a good job with the help of some Baby Einstein thing Jen pulled up on the phone (I make a good "tv" holder) and then just making sil

4 years ago...

Luke asked me to be his happily ever after when I finished the Disneyland half marathon.

DIY Cleaning stuff

So Manfriend was on a whole kick of reading financial planning blogs and books.  He's always thinking and asking questions.  So I figured I'd do my little part to help his blog but he has yet to use my numbers (and I spent time running them).

Traditionally I would go out and buy cleaning products (powder stuff for scrubbing, window cleaner, toilet bowl cleaner, spray/gel for shower).  I figured I had to buy the stuff 2x a year costing $18.12 a year (I used the prices from the supermarket and doubled).  I decided to try and make my own cleaning products and the total cost was $7.38 for the year.  If I added in an essential oil (lemon) to avoid my house smelling like we just dyed eggs then the cost is $12.37 for the year and we aren't using any chemicals in our house.  This is only a savings of $5.75 for the year--enjoy your breakfast wrap at Bruegger's 1x with that savings Manfriend.

My homemade product is distilled water, vinegar in equal parts with some essential oil.  This has been amazing at cutting through grease and cleaning the counters.  To cleanse the sink and for scrubbing I use baking soda.  As for cleaning the toilet I am still buying toilet bowl cleaner.  I'm sure a combo of baking soda and such would work for that but let's face it--I picked the easy way on that one.

Laundry detergent is where we found some major savings for the year.  Making my own costs $11.36 for the year and I make it twice ($22.72).  Buying detergent (Tide) costs $17.99 and I would go through three ($53.97).  Homemade laundry detergent is saving us $31.25 a year.  Again, we don't have any extreme chemicals and our clothes are just as clean.

That's about all I have figured out so far (and all that I have DIY for taking care of the house chores).  Now if I can find a way for the lawn mower to work on grass clippings we will be in business!

house maintenance painting and concrete patches

I painted the exterior trim around the front door, garage door and sliding glass door after we moved in.  All of the trim is holding up well for the most part except the sliding glass door trim that bakes in sun a good chunk of the day.  This photo is after I did some scraping (where most of the paint just flaked off).  Most of the paint was already off in all fairness.  

 Almost all of the paint flaked off the top of the trim.  Only a little from the kick board of the door along the concrete came off.

 And then I dug out the exterior paint that we had used.  I could not get the can to open.  I used a screwdriver and nothing.  I tried to get a hammer claw end under the part of the lid I could and nada!  I ended up using a pair of pliers and prying the can open.  It took me about 10 minutes to get the can open.  I called it good enough and dipped the brush.

 I did one coat in the morning and a second in the afternoon.  I followed up with a 3rd coat the next morning and now it is back to looking the way that it should.  I am hoping that it will be much longer lasting than before since the temps were in the low 70's this time.

I also had my Papa Bear teach me how to do a concrete patch.  He showed me on our front walkway step how to mix and then patch concrete.  Our back patio step was starting to crack and break so I tackled that by myself now that I knew how.  It wasn't very hard but you had to be kind of quick so the concrete wouldn't dry (it was quick set).  I was careful to wash the tools as soon as I finished up so they would stay nice.  I am pleased with how it came out considering this was my first attempt.

new concrete under the top step where there was a huge gap/crack.  

Home from Florida

My mom and I arrived home from our whirlwind trip to Florida around noon on Saturday.  Both of us somewhat exhausted and then she went and pulled an all nighter to wait for concert tickets that went on sale the next morning.  I took the more practical route and went home, packed for the cottage and took a lot of little naps and relaxed.

 Luke and I attempted to go watch the sunset but there were too many low clouds so it wasn't going to happen.  The sun disappeared from view 15 minutes before the actual sunset with no chance of the clouds breaking for a more beautiful sky.  Oh well, we tried.

 We went back to the cottage where Luke basically proceeded to rub my feet and calves for almost the entire Transformers movie that he rented.  Then he stayed up to do some work and slept on the couch so I could get a great night of sleep after all my travels.  He is an amazing husband and always trying to make me happy.  He's winning in that category (although I do complain sometimes).

My skirt haul from the trip to Florida cause my handsome Manfriend said, "get what you want."  In all fairness mom bought me 2 and one was already paid for and had to be picked up (saved shipping cost).