the first day

this week i traveled back in time to the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition, for the 2nd time!!!

a few years back Erik Larsen wrote a page-turner called The Devil and the White City.  if you didn't read it you should. it was a wonderfully researched account of the EXPO and tells of Daniel Burnham and his dream of the making and building this type of exposition, that was unheard of at that time. and a tale of H.H. Holmes who's last name should have been Horrors as he uses this opportunity to lure the many visiting women to their death.

well, this 2nd visit was amazing! i live in the south suburbs of chicago so we boarded a lovely tour bus for our trip. first let me say that as a jr high teacher words like "buses" and "field trips" make me take 3 extra strength Tylenol before i even leave the house in the morning, and that doesn't usually help! 

we had bottled water, South Beach snacks, sugary snacks, salty snacks, huge windows with a view, footrests, armrests, and raffle prizes on the way home, i even brought my knitting!

we made many stops throughout the day such as: The Chicago Cultural Society to meet up with our tour guide (who, by-the-way is sooo in demand), we saw a great slide presentation, THEN we travel the paths in the bus, with maps in hand to see what the area looked like at that time and of course noticing the only 2 remaining areas, the Japanese Gardens and The Museum of Science. around lunchtime we stopped at a Hyde Park Bar for lunch and then back on the bus to continue our tour through the area that is now Chicago University Campus but in 1893 it was the Grand Midway for the exposition. and the last stop of the day, a quick, drive-by of the area where Holmes was recorded to have lived.

what a wonderful day and of course we not only re-lived a book that we had all enjoyed reading we learned so much about Chicago and History!!!!

just went grocery shopping and there were lots of things in my cart that are usually not there:

a great assortment of canned fruits and veggies, fruit snacks, applesauce, whole milk, teddy grahams, lots of extra bananas and apples, apple juice, cones for ice cream, mac & cheese, fig newtons.....and lots of other goodies.

guess who's coming to dinner?

the little grandson is coming for a whole 5 days...without his parents!

plus we plan to hit some of his favorite hot-spots and find new ones too.  did you know that Champs Restaurant is a favorite for 1 1/2 year olds? they love the menu, all the TVs, and the music. who knew?

all this extra time that i have and i haven't touched this computer......HA! that's the biggest joke ever!  but by the looks of this poor blog one would think that.

i have kept busy. i fill up my days. fun to fill them at my own pace.

i'm still doing a bit of cleaning....ripped through my home office the other day.

lots of weeding and working in the yard and on the flowers.

spending time with that puppy, i'm developing a better Frisbee arm, who knew?

reading and lots of movies and DVDs. some of the better ones: Friends With Money, Bee Season, Shop Girl, Cars, and The Break Up was okay, all the shots of Chicago were great but the movie was so-so.

and knitting, of course there's been knitting although i've been in a bit of a slump. not sure what to do. i finished my second Peony with the Prism yarn from SP7, just have the buttons to sew on.  hubby says it looks just like it was bought at Free People. quite a compliment! and it does a bit! i'm working on a larger, cabled sweater bag. kind of designing it myself as i go along. it will be nice for the fall. and i just cast on tonight for a vest from the Rowan Classic Weekend Book #8. i've had the book for some time and i had some Debbie Bliss Cotton Denim Aran hanging around so i'm trying that. (i saw that Yarnstorm had made one and got the inspiration from her). thought it would look cute with a white t-shirt. i'm not a big fan of cotton yarn but so far this stuff's not bad to knit with.

oh, the days of summer.......

you can tell i'm out of school and on summer vacation.

yep, it's only been a few days but the signs are already there.

weird stuff starts happening around here...

*furniture gets moved... "why is that cute kitchen work table being used as a desk in the quest room? it looks nice in there but it would look so cute back in the kitchen, and i could re-paint the drawers and move out the old butcher-block from the kitchen". i say to myself as i am dragging it through the house.

*stuff gets cleaned that should have been cleaned a long time ago... "wow, i thought we just didn't have the right watt light bulbs in here but if you clean the light in that dark hallway you can actually see something".

*the garbage cans outside fill up... "okay, these feather pillows we've been sleeping on are finished, they're too flat. how do we sleep at night? i need new ones tonight".  this is what i was thinking as i was changing the sheets, next thing i know i'm backing the car out of the driveway and i'm in TJ MAXX. i find a cute new summery bedspread too.

see that's the thing about summer for me. time. time to think. time to get it done. and "drop of a hat" time.

good thing is i usually start right out of the gate and slow down to a pace of reading and knitting.  if i kept up like this all summer i think i'd drive a few people and myself crazy...and we'd be in the poor house, cuz i could do a lot of damage around here!