Creepy.

So, just before lunch time today, I took some light bulbs upstairs so I could get the new Target lamps fired up. To my dismay, one of the switches was missing. Bummer. So today's lunch time meant a return trip to Target. No biggie though, since I love Target!

I returned the broken lamp, grabbed a cart, picked up a new lamp, some different light bulbs (they require 3-way 100 watt bulbs) and then decided to do a lap around Target. So, I cruise through the shoe section because many a blogger have gone on about the Miss Trish of Capri line currently in stores. I'm strolling through and I plop a flip flop on the floor. As I'm slipping my toes into the shoe, a man comes racing around the corner, stops and pretty much watches as I try the shoe on. Then looks back up like he is perusing the shoes. The WOMEN's shoes. Whatever. So I move on. He moves on. I stop and admire another shoe. He does as well. So at this point, I'm mildly annoyed/weirded out. I give a brief though to whether he thinks I am a shoplifter and perhaps he is store security? I move on out of the shoes and cut a sharp turn around the corner. No biggie.

I cruised the toddlers clothes for a few minutes and then stroll back over and am taking a quick glance at the clearance clothing racks. I'm checking out sweaters, not really digging (and not really intent on buying, just looking) and all of a sudden I look up and that SAME DUDE is about one rack away. WTH?! Mind you, he wasn't overly creepy looking, I say he was mid-thirties, average height, medium complexion African American, wearing a baseball cap (like a JCrew baseball cap, not a sporty one), jeans - decent looking guy (I might of thought good looking if I weren't freaked out by now!). As I realize his presence, I hear him say, "This is adorable". We are the only two in the section. Um...WHAT?! I bolted. And fast. Straight to checkout at this point. I saw him go by checkout and continue to loop around the store.

The crazy thing is, I'm so not averse to talking to strangers. Matter of fact, I'm rather chatty with people in public (what can I say, growing up in a small town will do that to you). But, the dude in the women's shoes and women's clothes, following me...ummm NO I DON'T WANT TO CHAT. Part of me wonders if he was trying to hit on me, but even if I were single, I really don't think that's a tactic I'd be interested in. Oooh...what if he wanted to be my fabulous gay boyfriend? Hmmm...nope, still creepy!

I swear I kept my eyes super peeled as I left Target and as I drove home. Didn't want to end up on the 10 o'clock news as being killed by some freak who followed me home from Target.

Just some stuff...

1) Potatoes? Decided it was not for me. I know sugar isn't good for me, but I'm going with a rule my Dad liked to enforce, "Everything in moderation". I particularly enjoyed listening to him give my sister this lecture after she came home trashed ;-)

2) Remember the free fancy face repair serum I won from Lucky Magazine? Loved it's immediate effects, but after about a month with no other changes to my routine - breakout city. No thank you!

3) I've been moaning about feeling fat lately, searching for some answer. And though she isn't always my favorite RHONYC, I bought Bethany Frankel's book, Naturally Thin. What can I say, girlfriend looks fabulous on this season and I was curious what she had to say. There is a helluva a lot of name dropping in the book and I can't say it is telling me anything revolutionary, but it's a good reminder of how I think I used to eat! Now, all that being said, reading the book and such, I'm down about 6 pounds so I think just reading has been helpful!

4) We finally pulled the trigger and are having an interior drain tile system & a sump pump put in our basement. Cha-ching$$$$$! Let's hope it stops the water leakage problem.

5) We are all battling yet ANOTHER cold. Ugh. I can't wait for spring/summer to fully "stick" so that hopefully the sickness will end!

Weather

When I was a kid, I used to wonder how the heck my parents could stand to watch the nightly news. How boring! Why on earth would someone want to watch that? Now, I still don't religiously watch the news each night, but if it's about that time, I do turn to a local channel. I may not watch the whole thing, but I have developed a "thing" about the weather. I like to see it. I want to see it. The seven day forecast specifically. Someone at work told me that means I'm getting old - obsessing over the weather!

I have to admit, the seven day forecast isn't my only weather based "thing". I'm not sure when I started doing this, but it's my Chicago winter coping mechanism. I like to check weather.com for the monthly forecast, as far out as it will go to see how much better the average daily temperature will be when we get there. And since today is March 1...

YYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!! The end is in sight....

Would you drink a milkshake for breakfast?

Now you all know how much I love Starbucks. It's my life line many days. Sick and wrong, I know. But anywho. So, this morning, I watched the woman in front of me order a venti Caramel Frappuccino®. She was practically salivating as the barista swirled a tower of whipped cream, followed by ribbons of caramel. Now I'm generally not one to judge other people's nutritional choices, cause I certainly don't always make stellar choices myself. But, it's 15 degrees outside, that thing has 500 empty calories and 16 grams of fat! Just for shits and giggles, I looked it up and yes, a small milkshake from McD's has less calories than that venti Frap! In other scary news, the largest milkshake they have (32 oz) rings in at a scary 1, 160 calories. I think I've been watching too much Oprah (the last two days have been about obese children).

Seriously though, would you drink a friggin' milkshake for breakfast!?

"I'm just one stomach flu away from my goal weight."

Well, not exactly, but things have been a bit rough around my household for the past week. Yep, stomach flu. And it totally and completely sucks. Luckily Henry's round one was literally just one round (cleaning out a puke soaked car seat may be the most disgusting thing I have ever done). But he has been left behind, stuffy nosed and with a hacking cough reminiscent of a pack a day smoker. Just when I thought we had survived without receiving the infectious plague, it struck both my husband and I, at nearly midnight on Sunday night. And to add insult to injury, HDog still had a fever on Monday, so we spent all day watching PBS cartoons, praying to the porcelain god and trying to negotiate who felt worse when H needed more attention.

The rest of 2009 better be golden after the shit storm of a start that I've had!!!

Two steps forward...

and now for the one back. After just three days back at daycare, Henry has the stomach flu. Lovely. Tossed his cookies, in the car seat, just one block from daycare this morning. Poor kiddo. Trying to remain positive, but puke patrol is NOT my idea of a good time. Fortunately there is no fever. Let's hope for a 24 hour quickie.

And I pray we don't all catch it.

Stuff

I can't say the move in process is complete. We finally had to dig out the mud room a couple weeks back. That had been my dumping ground for "stuff". If it didn't have a home yet, I dumped it in there. That had to end sometime. It felt really, really good to clear it out.

Lately I've been looking around and realizing we have entirely too much stuff. It's hard because I feel like the stuff is part of who I am. As far back as freshman year in college I can remember people coming to me if they needed something. I've always enjoyed being the person with the perfect "thing", or solution whether it be clothes, shoes, tools, medical supplies, whatever. But it's not like I haven't known I have too much stuff, but lately, and maybe it's the economy, it's started to actually feel like too much. And really, I could get rid of a LOT and still have all the perfect things. I really want to start weeding things out, but it is so overwhelming to think of where to begin! Just a few things I need to organize and sell:

• Old KJB Designs stock. For anyone who doesn't know, I used to have a small side business making jewelry. I made a fat ton of stuff for my booth at the JL holiday fair years back and I swear I still have some pieces from that. I should really sell this stuff, even if it's at bargain basement prices. It's just taking up room.
• KJB Designs supplies. The massive number of semi-precious beads I have sitting around again, is staggering.
• Vintage clothing. I have a good number of vintage pieces that I have purchased over the years that either never fit, or I just didn't find a way into my wardrobe properly (black puff sleeve sweater dress, I'm talking to you!)
• Electronics. I know we have many, many pieces of slightly older electronics that should be shown the door, ebay style, because even if we only made a small amount, the sum would really add up.
• Wrought iron decorative pieces. I had a major passion for this stuff for a few years. I've put a few pieces of it up here, but the rest feels tired. A craigslist lot could do nicely for this.
• Clothes. I did take a small step last week and tried out a new consignment shop in the neighborhood. However, in the strangest consignment move in history, the woman did not want my COH jeans!? I have a couple pairs of the Faye style that I've just never worn much (the wide legs just aren't my thing) so I thought it was time to let them go. I mean, I know skinny jeans are more the thing these days, but seriously, I still think she could sell them in a heartbeat. Again, ebay, or maybe fashionswap needs to get these suckers.
• Purses. I truly need to take inventory and made some tough choices. I'm gonna guess my purse count is over 50 and who knows, might be much higher than that.

While I'm rolling on the organizing topic, I'll add another list (mostly for my own purposes) of places that really need a solid hit in the cleaning/purging/organizing department:

• Garage. I need to take a few choice piles of stuff from our massive garage shelves. I know of at least one kitchen box that has never been opened post move. I may discover its all crap, but still, it should get opened. There are also massive numbers of CDs and books out there, some of which (books that is, not CDs), should be loaded into the guest room shelves.
• My closet. I'm not happy with it's layout and again, there is way too much stuff in it to begin with. I'm certain their are pieces that even if I were skinny enough to not loaf into them I wouldn't want anyhow.
• Upstairs linen closet. I'm so happy to actually have a nice sized linen closet, so why, oh why is it poorly stuffed?
• Filing cabinet. I approached this project with gusto earlier in the summer. Then I slowed to a halt because it was boring and never got back on track. The "to be filed bin" is now massive.

Whew! I do feel a bit better even after just listing all of this. Yet somehow each evening the allure of GossipGirlANTMGreysAnatomyBrothers&Sisters, etc pulls my fat ass to the couch. Perhaps if I organized & unloaded the stuff I could also successfully get rid of the extras pounds I'm hauling around in my jeans these days!?

Monday, Shitty Monday

We had a pretty nice weekend. Watched Henry's little friend C on Friday night and even managed to make it out to dinner with both of them (though thank goodness we did not have twins!). Both kids SLEPT IN on Saturday morning, with C getting up around 7:30 and Henry not up til nearly 7:45! I was almost worried something was wrong. Sunday we made a trip to the pumpkin patch. Although it was very windy, Henry enjoyed it immensely. We carved a pumpkin and I potted a couple of mums into pumpkins too. Nice weekend. And then things took a turn for the worse:

• Mid Sunday afternoon realized that the siding on the north of our house is completely flapping in the window. Huge chunks laying in our neighbor's yard. Shit. Guy was supposed to come between 8-9 a.m. this morning. Had to call and chase him down. He finally came after 10 a.m. and with not very good news.
• Around 9:30 p.m. felt nauseous last night. Spent a large chunk of last night praying to the porcelain god. Total suckage. And no, NOT pregnant, just sick.
• Realized this morning that our car was due at the shop. Drove over to find construction everywhere, related to the Brown line el renovation (the shop is under the el). Had no cell with me (was dead, left it at home on the charger). Had to drive home, look up the number and call. They are still in the same place I just didn't push hard enough on the office door. Crap.

I feel like there is more bitching to be done here, but nothing else is floating to the top of my brain at the moment. It just all came down on me in one big shit storm so I guess that's why I'm crabby. Feeling better now (stomach flu? food poisoning? gone), but it just blows when this kinda stuff happens on a Monday right?

Oh well. Two huge positives to close with -

1. my lovely husband will be home for the next month or so. He cooked up a storm last night so we will have food all week with little effort!
2. Nephew #3 is arriving TODAY!! Yippee!!

Hell Has Frozen Over

Glimpsed on my walk from the train into my office this morning...a standalone CROCS STORE. Great, now it will be easier for people to purchase these hideous monstrosities?! Because people need a WHOLE STORE devoted to those ugly things?! Please, someone...STOP THE MADNESS!!!

On a better note, I was excited to see an Ulta going in across the street. That's the kind of new retail we need on State Street.

Hate

People always tell you "hate is a strong word". Normally, I agree. However, when speaking of the massive amounts of rain we Chicagoan's have endured in the past two days, I'm gonna say it. I HATE the rain.

Don't get me wrong, I know we are super fortunate compared to those braving the hurricane, but still, the weather is making me stabby. Several reasons:

1) Our lovely lower level, filled with soft, brand new carpet has disgusting water seepage. We have moved our entire entertainment center, couch, lots of toys, pillows and ripped up that gorgeous carpet. I attempted to use our Little Green Machine on it, but felt akin to drinking an entire swimming pool of water with an adorable bendy straw. NOT COOL. So I gave up. We are working on a rotating towel system around the edges. Praying we can get it dried out and put back together without spending thousand of dollars.

2) H, Z & I are all going nuts. Like stir crazy. I was forced to take my boys to McDonald's this morning to fulfill Z's breakfast out craving and H's need to run at the same time. Nothing like trans fats for all today.

3) Our yard, in all it's loveliness, looks like a swamp. Crazy standing water, floating toys and I'm about a zillion bugs. Yuck.

4) My hair. I look like a scraggly drowned rat every time I leave the house. It blows.

Sorry to be absent for like a month and only to return and post a ranting mess. Life has been so busy that I just haven't had room for blogging these days. Will try to return soon. With something nice.

Triple Play!

One of my new favorite reads, elements of style, filled out this fun meme, and left an open ended invite that I decided to take! (because work is so less appealing right now)

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1. What are the last 3 things you purchased? - Reef flip flops for Henry - a stainless steel spray bottle to keep granite counter top cleaner - blue vintage maxi dress 2. What are the last 3 songs you downloaded? - I'm afraid I can't even answer this. My husband is the music guru in this family. My iPod has been dead for months. However I did purchase the Old 97's Blame It On Gravity on CD. Ok, I lie, my husband bought it for me. But I love it! 3. Where were the last 3 places you visited? - Central IL for the floatilla - Hilton Head, SC - NYC 4. What are your 3 favorite movies? - Heathers (since I first saw it with my best friend at age 11) - Stand By Me - almost any 80's John Hughes flick 5. What are your 3 favorite possessions? - my new house - our photo albums, I try my best to keep cataloging our lives through the years - my Nikon D40 6. What 3 things can you not live without? - my family - Starbucks Chai Tea Lattes - the internet 7. What would be your 3 wishes? - a job I love, with hours like my current job - a non-travelling, job for my husband that he would love - my whole family, especially my mom & sister to live much closer 8. What are 3 things you have not done yet? - travel to Australia - gone zip-lining (always think this looks so cool) - learned to speak a foreign language

9. What are your 3 favorite dishes? - honey soy flank steak - Cheese Tortellini with Prosciutto, Peas & Mushrooms in an Alfredo Sauce from Basil Leaf Cafe - can a brownie ice cream sundae be considered a dish? 10. What 3 celebrities would you want to hang out with the most? - Rhett Miller - Drew Barrymore - Eleanor Roosevelt 11. Name 3 things that freak you out. - bugs that crunch when you kill them - used band aids - losing my parents 12. If you could describe yourself in 3 words, what would they be? - out-going - reserved (seems strange, but I can be both depending on the situation) - anal retentive 13. Name 3 unusual things you are good at. - bargain shopping - roller skating - I have a nearly photographic recall for numbers (could still tell you my phone # from many childhood addresses & we moved a lot!) 14. What are 3 things you are currently coveting? - building a new closet for DH (so he won't share mine!) - West Elm's storage bed - an attractive, reclining (DH's request) chair & a half for our family room 15. What 3 bloggers would you like tag? Purple Cat on a Bike DowdyDiva Shopaholic

Swiped

While browsing blogs, I came across BS of the Day (whom I don't know, but thanks for the fun reading!) and loved the post from Friday, June 13. I swiped it cause it is super cool.
Check this out:

Answer each of these questions and type your answer into Flickr Search. Pick an image from the first page only.

Then copy and paste the URL for each picture into fd's Mosaic Maker.

The questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you?
12. Your flickr name (I subbed my blogger name since I don't have a flickr account)

My answers:
1. Kim 2. Ice Cream. 3. Red Bud 4. blue 5. Rhett Miller 6. Raspberry Stoli 7. Free shopping spree 8. All of the desserts 9. Rich (to never worry about $$ again!) 10. My family 11. tired (first thing that came to mind!) 12. heaven in a paper cup

My results:
Cool huh? Three things that came to mind as I worked on this:

1) Someone shares my feelings on Starbucks. When I searched Heaven In A Paper cup, that Starbucks cup was the first image that came up!
2) I cheated in one place. There was no good photo of my dreamy Rhett Miller on the first flickr page. I refused to put a photo that did not capture some of his dreaminess into my mosaic, so I looked through a few pages (and drooled)
3) This took a really friggin long time, it's almost 10 p.m., my lovely child will be up at the crack of ass in the morning and my husband is out of town. So why the hell am I doing this?!

Addictions

Well, I've developed a new addiction and it made me think about how when I get into something, I GET INTO something. I'm not talking about booze, or crack, or anything like that, but my own vises. So I thought I'd make a list of my current addictions:

1) Craigslist. Since moving into the house, I am obsessed with selling tons of our old stuff and buying some new things for cheap. I've made $110! And I bought a fabulous, like new set of counter stools for just $20. $20!!! For two counter stools! And it just so happens they match our floors. Heading out tonight to buy 4 black chairs for $40.

2) As evidenced from the name of my blog, Chai Tea Lattes from Starbucks. I've tried just about every other chain, non-chain, from a box, from powder Chai Tea latte there is and NOTHING compares. This addiction *never* goes away.

3) Zip ties. I had a whole canister of them from Target that had never been used. I came across them in the move and now I'm a zip tying fool. I'm sure this has to do with my crazy anal nature, but whateva, they make me happy.

4) Costco. Ties into the Ramen noodle diet we are taking on with the new house. I get very excited when I find new cheap things there!

5) Roomba!!! Goes hand in hand with #4, as I purchased it at Costco. I love that I can go to bed at night and wake up in the morning to see that the whole downstairs has been freshly vacuumed and I didn't have to lift a finger.

6) Still digging Mint.com. It's a bit scary to see how much we've spent in the last two months, but it keeps it in perspective and helps me juggle if I think our balance is getting too low!

I'm sure there are many more I'm not thinking of at the moment...

Spring Cleaning

Cleaning out my condo and cleaning up my blog! I think something more cheerful is needed. I just switched the white/black, but I think I want to jazz it up a bit. 'Cause that is really what I need to spend my time doing...more later!

Sunny Basement

So, I am already mentally decorating our new house. However, with the potential roof repair, we are definitely on hold with any upstairs changes. So, I'm concentrating on the basement. I use the term "basement" loosely, as the basement is only two steps below ground and has fantastic light.

The main area in the basement will be combo family room/"manland"/Henry's play space. I've decided this photo will be my inspiration:

Of course this is what I'm starting with (not our furniture though): I'm thinking the wall behind their tv will be painted the yellow (possibly Pottery Barn's semolina). The carpet is going to be replaced and I'm pretty sure we are going with a grey or charcoal with some texture. Something that won't show kid/dog traffic ;-) And, this rug that currently lives in my office at the condo will go down somewhere...

I like my decor so much bolder than the current palette at our new place. I'm ready to jazz it up!!!!

I fail at blogging.

I want to blog. I think of things to blog when I'm not in front of my computer, yet when I sit down and have time, I usually feel the need to say something witty, fail miserably and then just skip posting altogether. So, instead of being witty, I'm just going to post several random thoughts. Enjoy.

1) Chicago weather sucks. Easter should be all springy & pretty and instead it's snowy and crappy. We are heading downstate tomorrow, which will help a bit. H will wear his seersucker suit in the snow!

2) I want lots of new furniture for the new house. I can afford none. I've spent way too much time googling for Queen sized platform beds with pull out drawers underneath. Can't decide what color wood or color scheme in general I want to go with in our master bedroom. Hmpf.

3) I have a sore throat. HDog has a snotty nose and a cough. Poor kiddo.

4) I need a nap.

5) I need to get more work done than I have been getting done in the past few weeks.

6) The battery in my new Palm Treo 755 blows royally. It runs down a charge in like a day.

7) I am currently a sugar addict. All the house stress and the losing our nanny stress drove me to sugar. And caffeine. And large amounts of both. Thinking about doing this crazy detox thing that my neighbor did recently to kick the habit. Wondering if I can survive a couple days of lemon water and "cleansing".

8) Think we got H's nanny sitch figured out. Found a lovely family with a little girl to share a nanny with. And they already had the nanny, which is the hard part. The little girl & H get along really well too.

9) I'm done. Have a good weekend. Hope someone is having a sunny, proper Easter!

Excitement...turned to worry...turning to anger...

Well, our lovely house was too good to be true. Not totally, but that is how it feels. We had our inspection of the place last Thursday. Two major issues came up:

1) Water in one corner of the basement. The seller obviously had no clue because their entertainment center, full of electronics, was sitting right in that corner. I think they are willing to pony up money to fix this.

2) There is a sag in the roof and a bow on one side. I think the current seller's thought it was just a siding issue and didn't mess with it. Well, our inspector suggested a structural engineer take a look.

So, on Monday we had more people out, estimates given, blah, blah, blah. Problem is, for both of the issues, without opening up walls and siding, the complete nature of each problem can't be determined. The water thing I'm not as concerned with. But the structural thing is a GIANT can of worms. A can the seller is hesitating to even touch. Which is pissing me off. At first I was worried because everything else about the house is lovely and we reallly want it. Now, as much as I want the house, we shouldn't have to buy a house with a potentially large defect without some sort of financial concession from the seller.

Interesting interpretation...

I like to read Jen Lancaster's blog, Jennsylvania. She was discussing Elizabeth Gilbert's memoir Eat, Pray, Love. I love her interpretation of the woman's enlightening tour:

"...Eat, Pray, Love inspired me to do the same thing. That is, if you substitute "find enlightenment" for "not be so tightly wound I'm going to punch the next asshole I run into right in the throat." "

Given how tightly wound I've been in the last two days, I think I need to follow Jen's lead...

Bastids!!!

Our realtor just called. Someone else put an offer in on said 2-flat and the owners accepted! Grrr!!! What I don't understand - our realtor said she never got the seller's realtor to call her back! She talked to his assistant multiple times, but never the realtor himself. So...as someone selling a house, if you knew you had a second buyer VERY interested, going back for another look today, wouldn't it be in the best interest of your seller to wait for another offer to come in?! I mean, I'm not saying we were definitely putting in the offer, but why wouldn't you wait? OR at least call the realtor back. I almost feel like something shady has gone on. I'm totally pissed.

Hmmm...where have I been?

Where have I been? I suppose the holidays were a bit crazy and I just sort of fell off the map. And, shortly after creating this blog, I was pondering why blog? Who is going to read this? Who do I want to read this? Is is weird to have random info about myself floating 'out' there. Hmpf...still not totally sure, but I feel like I need to do some updating...where do I start?