I got my grade

I don't want to brag but I seriously rock and roll. (No, I did not get 100%)

I guess 30 hours of studying really paid off.

YAY!

Now to memorize the 22 bones of the skull for our "pop quiz" on Monday.

Cannot Blog.

Must study.

Anatomy.

Physiology.

O
M
G

Test on Monday.

Anatomical Positions.
Biology Review.
Chemistry Review.
Tissue.
Integumentary System.

Been studying ALL day today.

Literally.

Except for a run to the grocery store and the fruit store, I'd say that I'm at about hour 8 or 9.

And the test isn't until Monday.

Need mnemonics.

Now.

Send help.

Or snacks.

Or coffee.

We Meet Again, My Pretties

Remember last year?



My pretties are back. But I bought myself a new pair. These ones are black and white patent. Pretty cute if I might say so myself.

I wore them today.

Yes, I wore them today.

Because WE'RE IN FLORIDA!

It's RACE WEEKEND!

As most of you know, this year it's not Benjie and Sara's happy little honeymoon. This year it's Benjie, Sara, Elisha, Shana, Jacob, and Dovi's Winter Vacay.

Things are a bit different when traveling with your kids.

Last Year:
Car: Sporty little yellow two door

Luggage: Two small rollies

Sleeping Arrangements: I got to share a bed with my husband

Dining: When we felt like it, where we felt like it.

Entertainment: Pool. Beach. Restaurant. Rinse. Repeat.

Race Day: I roll out of bed at 4 am, Wander downstairs to bus. Benjie takes spectator shuttle at 6:30 am. Alternate between hot tub and pool rest of day.

This year:
Car: Green Minivan. Yeah. We've got a sweet ride.

Luggage: Many suitcases. Many overweight suitcases that required rearrangement at the airport to avoid overweight charges.

Sleeping Arrangements: I get to sleep with a very cute little girl who is a bed hog, and Benjie with a fabulous 12 year old who has a habit of pishing out of his diaper.

Dining: Tightly scripted, ongoing. Much ongoing whining of "I'm hungry" heard over and over and over, even 5 minutes post snacking. Much ice cream and french fries eaten.

Entertainment: Lion Country Safari. Wanadoo City. Looking for more ideas (We did Parrot Jungle last time we were here. Need one more 1/2 day activity. And remember that I'm pretty cheap)

Projected Race Day: Benjie picks up babysitter at 3:45 AM (yes, 3:45 AM). I wrestle Dovi into his clothes without waking up ESJ. Dovi, Benjie and I go on the runners' bus at 4:30 am. Dovi will be crabby. Babysitter drags kids to spectator bus at 6:30. I do not envy that girl. I'm not sure the $10/hour we're paying her will be sufficient. Alternate between hot tub and chasing children rest of day.

But I have to say, it's all worth it. My kids were swimming at 10 am this morning while it was 10 degrees in Chicago.

Awesome. Just Awesome.

I started school yesterday. Oy. I have a feeling this semester is going to be a lot harder than my last one.

Introductory Biology and Introductory Chemistry vs. Microbiology and Anatomy and Physiology 1. Yikes!

So my Anatomy teacher was taking attendance. He's going down the list.

He says: Smith, Jennifer (or some such thing-I honestly don't recall)

She says: "Here, but please call me CRASH"

Honestly.

She asked to be called CRASH. This was not some 19 year old frat boy. This was a relatively normal looking thirty-something woman.

Call me CRASH.

The professor's response: "OK. Awesome"

CRASH.

Awesome.

An Obsession Confession

My name is Sara.

And I am inappropriately obsessed with:

Hoodies

and

Velour Yoga Pants.

I cannot get enough of them.

Whenever I go to my favorite store (10 points, or a bottle of kechup, whichever your preference, to the first person who names my current favorite storethatisnotJewel), all I have draped over my arm are those two types of clothing.

It's rather ridiculous considering that I do not wear pants out of the house, unless you count tucked into my Uggs under a long black skirt.

My hoodie obsession is bordering on inappropriate. Yesterday was grey velour. Today was navy terry. Friday was black sweater. It's ridiculous.

I always complain to Benjie that I have nothing to wear.

I'm beginning to think that it's not that I have no clothing. It's because I constantly buy the same items over and over again in slightly different versions.

But then again, maybe hoodies are my signature look? Jackie O had her sunglasses, Sara P has her hoodies? That's gotta be it.

And I must say that wearing velour yoga pants and a terry hoodie while drinking red zinger out of my monogrammed mug while your kids happily eat their tuna quiche, salad, and veggie rice is rather lovely and Susie-Homemakery.

And it's also much more relaxing to drink my red zinger now that I don't feel like I need to ration it. I'm plowing through box 1 out of 6 at a steady clip.

Hooray for Hoodies!

Hooray for Velour Yoga Pants!

Hooray for Red Zinger!

I promise that I'll share the P for Dummies book soon. But really, it's not so exciting. Don't get all excited over it. I'm also just very lazy, and my camera is currently full with 9 months of pictures that need to be uploaded to Snapfish so as to empty my memory card and take pictures of P for Dummies. Yes, Shosh, I still have not emptied my camera. I'm clearly mother of the year.

A plea for help

I admit.

I have an obsession in life.

I adore red zinger tea.

It is the most perfect, delicious tea around.

I drink a cup a day. (1 tea bag + 1 splenda = bliss)

I am down to one ONE ONE ONE ONE ONE tea bag.

Why is that you may ask?

Well, no grocery stores here sell red zinger. They sell lemon zinger. wild berry zinger. raspberry zinger. But (sob) no (sob) red (sob) zinger.

I have purchased it in Publix in Florida and brought it home with me.

Most recently, someone found a box in a random fruit store and bought it for me.

However, I don't remember who bought it/which fruit store it was.

Hence, I am down to ONE ONE ONE ONE bag of tea.

And I am freaking out here, folks.

Please, someone.

Anyone.

Buy

me

red

zinger

tea.

I will pay a premium for it.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

It would've helped to just find out

the cause of the squeaky, icky noise my van was making. (

(Alternate title: How Sara is an Idiot)

Well, I sorta knew. Back in March (yes, March) I got some work done on my van at a mechanic, not a dealer. Regular maintenance-new belts, etc. No big deal. In about May, it started making a squeaky noise. Kind of a squeal when you started the van, and every so often as you were driving, this awful, fingernails on a chalkboard squeak would happen for about 3 seconds, then stop.

So I took it to my dealer, because I have an extended warranty. They told me that it was from the belts my mechanic put in, they could change them for $180, but it was just an annoying sound, it wasn't anything wrong. I decided to keep my $180 and ignore the sound.

And ignore I did.

From May until October.

Around mid-July, I started getting concerned that my ignoring the sound was going to cause some real damage to my beloved Sienna.

Continued ignoring. Did not want to pay money. Was afraid now that real damage had occurred and would cost much more than $180


FINALLY took the van to the mechanic on Monday.


"Oh, we need to tighten the belt."

Took about 20 minutes.

No charge.

I'm an idiot. I've been driving a sqeaky, rebbe-mobile for six months.

For no good reason.

Packin' Up

So a few Sunday ago, Benjie and I had to go up to Milwaukee to clean out and close up my father's apartment. We had to gather all of the personal stuff-papers, artwork, wine fridge (I kid you not-it's in my living room now!), CDs, cookbooks, and pottery and bring it back to Chicago to sort out.

It took us about four hours to finish packing up-luckily some stuff had been packed already. As we were packing up, we left the storage locker unlocked. Benjie went back to get some stuff and found an old man going through the boxes. Ahem? That is not your stuff, mister.

So we packed up the van. Luckily we had no children with us. Or we would have had to strap them to the roof.




See those big silver things in the back? Those are two foldable, portable wheelchair ramps. They are now mine. Dovi has had much need for wheelchairs in his little life, so we're quite excited to have them in our basement. But we got to thinking: Dovi needs the ramps every so often, but, ThankG-d, not all the time. There have to be times when other people are temporarily in wheelchairs, or they are having wheelchair bound guests. How about we help them too?! So we called the people who maintain G'Mach listings. For those who don't know, a G'Mach is almost like a lending library of something that you might need for a short time. G'Mach stands for (I believe) G'Milas Chasadim, or good deeds)\. There are bridal clothing G'Machs, baby equipment G'Machs, medical equipment G'Machs, to name a few. In New York there is even a GPS G'Mach for people who are traveling out of state!

So we are starting a Portable Wheelchair Ramp G'Mach. Sounds a little goofy, but why not? People can now invite wheelchair bound guests and have an easy convenient way to help them into their houses. I'm mighty excited, and hope that the word gets out and people take advantage. I already printed out labels with our last name and phone number and stuck them onto the ramps. We'll see what happens.

Also notice in the right hand side of the picture is a burgundy van? That's my dad's wheelchair accessible van. It has now been towed to Chicago and is parked outside my house. We need to sell it. Know anyone who wants a van with undermount lift and hand controls? I hope it sells quickly...

But let's look at another view of how out van was packed up.


Oy. Makes me stressed just looking at it.

After all the holidays are over, I will begin the enormous job of sorting and cataloging everything so everyone can figure out what's going where. Oh also notice the 2 reams of copy paper shoved by the door? Heck if I was leaving good office supplies behind. I shoved those suckers in.

I still cannot believe the volume of stuff we got in there. Our van was so loaded down that Benjie could not go over 55 on the highway. And I was terrified that our tires were going to blow out. They did not. We got home intact.

Wish me luck in the sorting....

Normal

I've written in the past about what my normal is with Dovi.

Yesterday I picked up Dovi's meds from Target. You all know how I lurve Target pharmacy. Seriously. If you have medical needs that require prescriptions, I cannot stress enough my absolute adoration of the Target pharmacy. My only issue is that they are not 24 hours. Which is a problem when your nurse doesn't tell you that the valium is used up and it is Rosh HaShanah and you forget to walk to get it and only remember once they are closed when Rosh HaShanah ends and you have no valium in the morning. Don't know who that would have happened to. Just sayin'.

So I was unpacking Dovi's meds and as I was neatly stacking the 5 prescriptions that I picked up, it struck me how ridiculous my life is and how un-normal it is, but how normal it is for us. I had a virtual pharmacy of albuterol, pulmicort, valium, fludrocortisone, and clonidine all neatly arranged on my kitchen counter. Albuterol and pulmicort? Big boxes into the bathroom cabinet, individual packets one at a time into the side table in the den. Fludrocortisone? Kitchen cabinet. Valium and clonidine? Dovi's bedside table.

I started thinking about all the other hiding places I have for the equipment of the Dovi.

Feeding pump bags? Wicker basket on a kitchen shelf, of course.

Under bed drawer? Why that holds extra g-tubes!

Decorative box in Dovi's room? Diapers. Where else?

I try my darndest to hide all the stuff of Dovi. Because even though my house seems to function as a little mini hospital, does it need to look like that all the time?

So I try. I really do. And generally I think it works.

And my grrrr for the day? "member how I told you all that I won with the whole portable oxygen concentrator (Sequal) saga? And they WERE NOT going to charge my debit card? Well guess who was balancing her checking account and found a $200 charge? Why might you inquire, did I not notice a $200 charge? Well it was the day of my father's funeral. So there. Walgreens is getting a piece of MY mind at 8:00 am when they open. I expect that money back no later than 8:15. Will report in.


Oh and by the way...Bio quiz...aced that sucker. I think that unless my professor got all nitpicky and took off for something silly-I believe I got 10/10. But we'll see on Thursday...

Covalent Bonds, Isomers, Glucose, and the like.

I am officially immersed in school. My darned teachers think that they need to give quizzes and tests in rapid succession. I feel like I've spent the past week and a half cramming like in a summer school session.

But on an up note, I seem to be doing all right in most of the quizzes and tests. I'm not sure why some of my classmates have a hard time studying-oh yeah-they need to go out and party. There's a girl in my class who is on her third try through Bio 121. Yes, her third try. And it's not like she's trying her darndest and just can't pass the class. Nope. She just doesn't study. Ummm then why the heck are you wasting time and money???? I suppose that it's not my problem.

On another good note, I found a Jewel about a block from my Monday/Wednesday school, and only need to find another one near my Tuesday/Thursday location, for optimum deal shopping. Speaking of which, 10 packages of Eggo waffles? $4.90 + tax. I'm the nicest mommy ever with the little cinnamon toast waffly thingies.

Tomorrow I have a quiz on Proteins and Carbohydrates. They are about as interesting as this blog post. Which is not at all.

So I'll change topics, thankfully, because I'm boring even myself here.

As most of you know (because most of you know me in real life), my hubby davens from the Amud (leads services) on Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, so we don't go to our normal shul (temple). Last night, Benjie went to Maariv (evening services) at our normal shul. The Rabbi asked Benjie where he was over Rosh Hashanah. Benjie told him that he davens, etc. So the Rabbi asked Benjie if he was going to be at our shul for Yom Kippur. Benjie said no. So the Rabbi then asked if there was any way he could just come for Kol Nidre. Benjie asked why. The Rabbi responded that everyone really missed Dovi on Rosh Hashanah.

You see, Dovi has a job at shul. When the Torah is read, it is put on a large table called the Bimah. Various people stand around the table-on three sides. The fourth side is usually empty. Well Dovi has taken it upon himself to stand on a little chair at the fourth side. He helps open and close the Torah, and cover it, and holds the pointer. Everyone loves him. And he loves it.

He has totally charmed the entire congregation. And then some.

Why does that not surprise me?

Things I Currently Love.

• My "new to me" Keurig. Thank you, Tati (my father) for this little toy. When we cleaned out his apartment on Sunday I brought this back with me. It's soooo fun. Still trying to figure out why it makes so much better coffee than my Mr. Coffee. I think it might be because the little pods are oh so cute and tiny. Now to find a source for cheap pods.
• Fresh Figs. OMG these are so good. When my mom was here this summer she bought some and I rolled my eyes-what the heck are those weird looking little green fruits-and I hate dried figs so I figured they were icky. They are not. They are divine. I ate a pint in less than 24 hours.
• The fact that I am done with all my chemistry and biology quizzes and tests. Until Tuesday. But at least I don't need to cram study until Monday.
• All my wonderful family and friends who took pity on my pathetic self and invited me for ALL the Rosh HaShana meals. You saved me and my family from a sad pathetic meal of deli and chumus.
• Zara. Yes, Shana will most probably match most of the girls in our neighborhood this winter, but thanks to my lovely personal shopper sister in law, Shana's winter dress clothes are taken care of.
• The fact that my lovely other personal shopper friend Michelle picked up dress pants for Dovi. And they fit perfectly.
• Food 4 Less: kosher tater tots. On sale. Perfection.
• Dominicks: closing a store for remodeling, everything 50% off. $180 worth of stuff, most of which I can never get for awesome deals, for $60+ tax. Thank you Elisha for that.
• The fact that when I said "Goodbye, Stinky" to a I thought she was stinky T in the Dominicks parking lot, she looked at me and said "Goodbye Skunk" (seriously-how does a not even two year old crack jokes like that????) Oh look! Shosh blogged about it too! She's much funnier than me.
• My kids. They are cute. And funny.

I feel like

all I've been doing recently in my blog is kvetching (kvetching means complaining). I kvetch that my house is a mess. I kvetch that I have a lot to do. I whine. I complain.

And here I am, coming here AGAIN and kvetch about my house. But I suppose this is my blog and it's my darned right, right? On Sunday, Benjie and I went to Milwaukee and packed up and brought all my father's personal stuff. To my living room. Because, you see, as we got home last night, and Benjie started to shlep boxes (20 of them, if you must know, and about 6 large pieces of artwork. And a computer. And a wine fridge that is taller than Shana) to the basement, we discovered that our basement drain was backing up. Not flooding my basement making a terrifying mess, but making the floor a little wet.

So all the boxes are in my living room. As is the wine fridge.

So I need to kvetch more. Wow, my blog is just a barrel of laughs recently, huh?

We got the drain rodded out today. So we can take showers and run the dishwashers again. Now all the boxes need to get moved downstairs.

I have a terrifying list of things to do before Rosh HaShanah arrives. Luckily we're out for all the meals (I seriously don't know what I'd do otherwise).

But I have a list. And you all know that I believe that I can do anything with a list. I have my list of things to do. Shabbos shoes for Shan (Marshalls). Winter Shabbos dresses for Shan (I hear Zara is good this season). Sort out dress shirts for boys (climb into the attic and pull out the size 7 winter boxes). Move boxes to basement. Call shiva chair woman AGAIN (we've called every single day since shiva ended) to return the chairs that are in the middle of my living room. Take 2 biology quizzes, a chemistry quiz, and a chemistry test. All before Wednesday afternoon. Breathe. Deep cleansing breathes.

But I have to say that I am happy tonight.

I went to parent orienation tonight for ESJ. And I am the happiest woman ever. My kids have the best teachers for each of them that I could have ever imagined. Each of my kids have different personalities, different strengths and weaknesses. And each of their teachers is the perfect person to work with each of their personalities. I'm a happy person.

So it all works out. It always does. So we're fine.

I need to get all a-bloggy again. I need happy topics, peeps. Give me some ideas.

Do I get to take a deep breath now?

Woah. Time to put the brakes on here.

You might have noticed that my postings have been a bit...spotty? irregular? the past week or so. Let me explain.

Camp ended for the kids.

School started for me.

Dovi went to Orlando.

Dovi started school.

ESJ start school today.

Holy cow has it been busy in this here house.

Let me tell you, it's mighty hard to go to school four days a week when your kids are home. Correction. It's downright impossible. For the past two weeks, I have had college girls galore in and out of my house for a few hours here and a few hours there so I can dash my tired, overwhelmed self to my biology and chemistry classes.

And oh yeah, in between running to and from class, I'm supposed to be entertaining said children, keeping house, reading said chemistry and biology books, studying for biology and chemistry quizzes, and generally keeping it together.

I do not have it together.

Case(s) in point:

• Laundry is piling up (clean, but not folded).
  
• Coupons are flying through my house (I just spent about three hours organizing the coupon stash. It was getting scary. Downright terrifying).
  
• I have not been to Jewel in five days! (deep breaths. deep cleansing breaths. I'm in catalina and deal withdrawal. Must. get. Jewel. fix. tomorrow. must. get. Jewel. fix. tomorrow).
  
• I have not been to the fruit store in two weeks! (bought on sale items at Jewel).
  
• I just paid $28 in overdue fees to the library (and still owe another $20 on my card. I did not have the desire to pay $48 in overdue fees at one time. So my card is still on restriction. I took out Cecilia Ahern and Jane Green books on Shana's card. hee hee)
• A small animal (one of my children, perhaps?) could eat a meal off the floor of my car.
• I have not had Shabbos guests in two weeks. And I'm not sure I have it in me to cook for MY family this week, let alone someone else's, and my kids are starting a mutiny for guests. ( ok it seems that some people-that means you, Shosh and Benjie, think that I was wrangling for an invite here. Ahem. I was not. I merely meant that I need to get myself in gear and start entertaining again. But I do thank the lovely people who must have heard the desperation in this post and took pity upon my starving family and invited us for lunch. Looking forward to it :) )
  

But all is becoming well in my little home world. The fearsome threesome starts school. My house will remain clean. I will not need to pay a minor fortune to babysitters. I will have time to run errands sans 6 little helping hands (stay at home moms who shop with your kids, I tip my shaitel to you. My kids are 7 and it still gives me the shakes to shop with those little buggers). Routine will return to our home.

If you haven't noticed, I thrive on routine. Order. Normalcy.

Without order, my mental health suffers. I get stressed. Ornery. Crabby.

Here's to hoping that sanity returns.

Anyone who'd like to come over, say, around 4:30pm to help with homework, let me know.

The Kid of Courage Returns

Well, he's back!

Benjie flew down to Orlando today and picked up Mr. D from the trip. For my new readers (hi guys!), you can read about the Kids of Courage trip here.

Amazingly, even with the yucky rainy weather here in Chicago (What the heck, by the way-ummm it's AUGUST-not October! This weather is making me want to go plant some mums. Note to self: buy mums for urns in front of house), all the flights went off without a hitch. Benjie only had about one hour between flights, and somehow he managed to get Dovi, check in, and get back on the plane without any craziness. He said that as he was going to security, he saw the INSANE Kids of Courage charter flight private security line. It literally took the charter flight over two hours to get everyone through security-luckily Benjie didn't choose that line-he had a flight to catch!

Dovi arrived with quite a bit of flair at home-he ran in the front door and was bowled over by Shana and Elisha-then I got the hug of a lifetime.

He's been telling us all about the trip-what he did, where he went..who he hung out with... Raphi, Dovi tells us that you have 10 girlfriends. Ahem. Hope you all had fun :)

I've never seen Dovi so contented. This trip was just magical for him. I need to go through his camera and pull out some pictures-unfortunately, in typical Dovi fashion, most of the pictures are either of his knees, Ezra's nose, or Raphi's hair. He's a real photographer, my Dovi. So all my readers (hi, girl counselor whose name Benjie forgot!) who went on the trip, want to email me some pictures to share here? Thanks lots.

Dovi's big ole bag of laundry is started, children are showered. Dovi's back to school tomorrow. Back to life...


Speaking of school, Rach asked me how school is going for me. I've come to a conclusion. I'm a nerd. A big old nerd. Is it pathetic that I am actually enjoying school? I'm sure that my feelings will change, hey, when I'm insanely cramming for my biology final, but I seem to be enjoying myself just a tad. And good news-my biology class does not seem to include dissection. Phew.

As soon as I get pictures from the trip, I'll be sure to share them all with you.

So It Shall Be Written

So it shall be done.

I haven't blogged about this yet because I didn't want to talk about it until I actually committed.

But I did.

So I will blog about it.


I'm going back to school. Yes, I have a bachelor's degree. Yes, from a REAL college (Loyola). Yes, I've been out of school for seven years.

I have registered for my classes. I have committed/

My degree is in business (if you must know, I have a Bachelors of Business Administration with a Concentration in Information System and Operations Management). I finished my last class in December 2001. It took me so long to finish school because I took off two years when Dovi was born.

I've decided that if I have to sit behind a desk for the rest of my life I'll have a nervous breakdown.

So I'm going back.

I'm becoming a nurse. Well, I'm trying to become a nurse. First I need to take my science prerequisites that I'm missing and then I need to get into the program. I'm not overly concerned about getting in-it's a points system based on grades, and frankly, I'm a good student. I'm the girl in the front row, taking copious notes and reading ahead in the book. I'm the one who people borrow notes from. I'm annoying and compulsive about school. But hopefully that will serve me well in school.



The degree I'm hoping to get will be a two year associates degree in nursing and I'll take the registered nurse test. So in theory in three years I will be an RN. In theory. Hopefully. If all goes as planned.

Yikes. I'm feeling nervous. School? Huh? Sit in a classroom? Dissect a fetal pig? (OMG I have not a darned clue how I'll survive that!) I'm taking Chemistry and Biology. In the spring I'll take Anatomy. Oy.

Wish me luck!


On a side note, the fearsome threesome is seven years old today.



I cannot cope. HOW ARE THEY SO OLD? How are my babies SEVEN? What is that all about?

We took donuts to camp. I got yelled at by the Dunkin' Donuts man for ordering three dozen donuts in the drive thru. Umm it's not my fault that they don't understand English there and they couldn't comprehend that I wanted three dozen donuts, packaged 12, 12, 6, and 6. "Three dozen donuts, please. Please put them as 12,12, 6, and 6." Pretty clear, right? Then again maybe not.

Tonight we're taking them out to dinner to celebrate (we're having a debate about dinner. Shana wants to go to Main Pizza. Elisha is unsure, and Jakie wants Kens. Mommy wants Kens too so we'll see who wins this one). Dovi isn't coming because he is going to the Cubs game. And sitting in the first row. Dovi is such a scammer-how does he pull these things off? Everyone wants to take him to games!



And poor, long suffering, paint hating Benjie and I painted the den last night.


Step one of Operation Zen Den is underway. Pictures to come-my mom is coming in town tonight and we're going accessory shopping tomorrow. Yay!

Don't Mess With Me.

I will call your boss on you.

This morning, I was driving to work. Correction. I was crawling along the Kennedy to work, trying to avoid the maniac in the gladiola farm delivery truck that was terrorizing everyone on the road.

I'm not joking. This guy was literally drifting his large delivery truck from lane to lane across traffic. He was not looking. He was not signaling. I was chatty chatting with my mom (don't worry, I was using hands free), and suddenly I noticed that this truck was reallllly close to the yellow line. So I gently braked. He drifted into my lane without a signal.

Then he did it again-to another minivan a lane over (hey! It was a Sienna just like mine. Maybe he didn't like carpool moms).

Then he did it AGAIN to me-twice-drifted over.

So what did I do?

I hung up with my mom and called the number of the gladiola farm on the back of the truck.

Yup.

I reported that sucker for bad driving.

Next thing you know, I'll have a flashing light on the top of my van and will be making citizen's arrests.

Have a great weekend everyone. And don't forget to signal before you switch lanes...especially if you're driving in Chicago and you see a grey Sienna that is missing a hubcap behind you on the road. On a side note, do you want to know how much my dealer wanted for one freaking hubcap? $75!!!! Ummm no. I'll drive my white trash van with a missing hubcap and keep my $75, thankyouverymuch.

My day with Rachel

Yesterday, I went thrifting with a new bloggy friend, Rachel. I've known her for about 10 years-well known who she is-but we've become friends because we both blog.

And we have discovered a mutual love of thrift stores.

Yesterday being Memorial Day Monday, neither of us had to work. So we ditched the kids with various family members (me, my hubby, her, her mom), and hit the stores. Both stores we went to were half price-one is half price every Monday, one just this Memorial Day.

We had a blast! Here's the plunder.

White long sleeve shell... $1
White CK short sleeved tee for under tops... $.50
Tan t shirt... $1
Black velour hoodie...$1.50. I have a great obsession love for hoodies. And for yoga pants. Which is ridiculous because I don't wear pants out of the house.


Summer skirts! Yay!
Green layery skirt...$2
A line jean skirt...$2.25
Orange H&M...$2
Stripey Abercrombie...$1.50

Crazy dress (you can tell which that is)...$2
Black ruffly wrap dress...$1.75
short sleeved Gap denim shirt...$1.50
grey fringy, layery skirt...$2
2 ties for Benjie...$.50 each

Ummm...yes, I'm wearing my new yoga pants in the picture. Kind of a greenish color, velour.
JUICY COUTURE, $2.
I might have to sell them on ebay.


No, I don't have a two year old.

But it was so cute we got it for Shosh's incredibly cute daughter, T
Gymboree...$1.50

So grand total, $27.
For my wardrobe for the entire summer.

Not bad if I might say so myself.

Rachel-want to go again next week????

Lovin' the New Camera

So I'm loving my new camera, and today I'm sharing one of my latest crafts with you all.

If you're a blog-surfer, you might have noticed that one of the popular home decor items right now is silhouettes. ( Possibly one of the hardest words ever to spell, second only to diarrhea. So many superfluous letters!).
How freaking lovely is that? Imagine it in a kitchen...mmmmm.....more ideas abrewing. I did not make this. I got it from a free clip art blog I read. No mocking, please.

Well silhouettes are expensive.

I am cheap.

Soooo....here's what I did:

1. Since at the time of the craft, I was camera-less, I asked my lovely friend/neighbor Rebecca to take pictures of the hoodlums. We had them stand sideways against a plain wall. At dinner time. While Rebecca had to get HER hoodlums ready for swimming lessons. Immediate gratification issues, I know.
   
2. I then printed out the pictures of said hoodlums on my putey as an 8x10. Oh. After we spent like 20 minutes trying to email the files to me, until we realized, ya know, that I could just take Rebecca's camera home with me for a few minutes. Which I did.
   
3. Then, I took a very, very sharp pair of scissors and cut out the pictures.
4. (This was a many-stepped process) I then traced that cut out picture, slooooowwwwlllllyyyyy and carefully onto some black scrapbook paper I scrounged up from my scrapbooking days (Hi, Peta!!)
5. Then I cut that out.
6. Then, because I suffer from immediate gratification issues, I hopped in my car and drove to Michaels. I bought pretty scrapbook paper that was on sale for $.35 a sheet. I bought four. Because, ya'know, I have four little ungrateful hoodlums.
7. Drove home. In the snow. It was slippery. Remember, I need immediate gratification?
8. Then I used my kids' school glue sticks and very carefully centered and glued the black cut outs onto the pretty paper.
9. Then I needed frames.
10. Scrounged around in the scary slasher basement and found three black 8 x 10 frames from another previous craft. But that wouldn't work, because, remember? Four ungrateful hoodlums.
11. Remembered that Dovi had some pictures of him and his counselor Nuchie !who is getting married! on his wall. Ran upstairs. Removed a frame from the wall. What's my son's happiness at looking at his pictures when I have a project going???
12. Took said frame downstairs. Realized it was slightly different that the other three.
13. Decided to do two of each type.
14. Ran back up. Removed other picture from Dovi's wall.
15. Stuck picture of Dovi and Nuchie from now-spare-frame-from-three-from-scary-slasher-basement and ran back upstairs to at least give him one picture.
16. Put lovely silhouettes in four black frames.
17. Spent an hour measuring and making itty bitty holes in the wall to get them ever so evenly spaced.
18. Total Cost? $1.54.
19. Total time? Minimally two hours, all told.
    
20. Voila!
    

Here's the big question, though:

Can you tell who is who?

EDITED: I realize it looks like Shana's is a little higher than everyone else's. She isn't. Trust me. I've spent much quality time with my level to avoid that.

Hello My Pretties

Look! Look! Look!

I just packed for Florida.

Look what I packed!!

My fit flops.

My heart is happy.

Very happy.

Insanely, inappropriately happy.

Is it unreasonable that I kissed them?

Benjie said I need to be committed, but I swear, as I got them out from the summer shoe box under my bed, my heart was aflutter.

Why, oh why? do we live in Chicago? It is cold. And snowy. And you cannot wear Fit Flops year round in this stinky cold city.

Ahhhh....my pretties.

We shall meet again soon.

And I apologize. I tried to be snazzy with various-ly sized type. But obviously I'm a spaz and cannot do this correctly and now it looks all ridiculous.

Edited again. It seems my work computer likes to let me be snazzy, and my home one does not. So now it looks normal.

A Public Service Announcement

This is a public service announcement for everyone who lives in Chicago and ever goes to the professional building at Old Orchard.



You might read this and be like "OMG Sara is such a flake! How did she not know this?" But here we go.

Did you know that the Professional Building at Old Orchard has underground parking?

As in, go down a driveway, park underground, go in the door, and take an elevator up to your doctor's office?

If you didn't know, your jaw has surely dropped open. If you did know, you can't believe my incredible flakiness that I have lived in Chicago for seventeen years and did not know this.

Do you know how life changing it is? Previously, I would park in the Bloomingdales lot and either have to put Dovi in his stroller or drag him across the mall. Now, zoom down, park, and go in.

How do you get to this miraculous driveway, you may ask?

Pull around the north side of the mall-off of Old Orchard Road. It's little, itty bitty driveway that is right by the Toms Price customer pickup. You need to be driving south down the parking lane to access it easily. So I usually turn down Golf, take it to the mall entrance past the Nordstrom lot, and take that road all the way past Bloomingdales. Then I make a right. The drieway will be on your right. It goes down underground. It's kinda curvy.

It will change your life.

It's the little things, I swear.