Powerless

Apparently some pretty serious storms ripped through here this morning.


Being at work 40 miles away, it didn't seem all that bad, but I came home to a completely blacked out building.

(I'll gloss over the fact that I almost killed myself going up 5 flights of stairs and stumbling into a pitch black hallway where I proceeded to run into a wall.)

In the 6+ years I have known/dated/married Hubs, I have never once seen this building blacked out. And according to him, the power has never gone out for more than a few hours. So this is a pretty big deal.

So while ComEd gets their act together, we had no choice but to visit the in-laws for dinner to escape the heat.

Lucky for us, there was homemade cherry pie!


But now we're back to reality in the heat of the night, literally (and not in the fun way).

The first thing Hubs did was survey the damage to his beloved garden.


Unfortunately, the awesome 6 foot tall yellow pear tomato plant was cut short and the tops were snapped in half. The pretty little tomatoes on it are sadly gone.


But all things considered, we had it easy despite still not having power.


It just means we get to watch the beautiful sunset on the patio.


(And blog - courtesy of AT&T's awesome network and my iPhone. I'm still connected to the world!)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Picnic in the Park

I'm telling you, these bikes are paying off more and more every day.

Tonight, Hubs came home with food for a dinner picnic.  Let's just say that I was dressed in my biking gear in record time.

We somehow found this gorgeous park with a lake and bike trail.

So we set up camp at a nearby picnic table and enjoyed the sunset.

And since I'm sure you're dying to know (or not), we used Hubs' new rear rack (I giggle every time I type that) to transport the cooler and other fun stuff.

Also, I almost ran into the side of a bridge on my bike while admiring the sunset.

An Ode to the Schwan's Man

Oh my dearest Schwan's Man
Whose name is Joe
You are certainly my friend
...Definitely not my foe.

You came to our place
In a big yellow truck
Bringing all sorts of frozen goodies
Boy, was I in luck!

From blueberries to biscuits
and potstickers too
This delivery service
Leaves me with less things to do.

So thank you, dear Joe
For all things worthy of drool
But most of all
Thanks for being cheaper than Jewel.

(Ok, that last part was a rhyming stretch.)

I'll sum this up by saying that I'M SO HAPPY THAT I SET UP SCHWAN'S DELIVERY!!

The Back Rack That Almost Wasn't (Or, Why We Should Have Had Them Install It)

You'd think that something like a rear rack on a bike would be easy to install, right? A few screws here, a few bolts there, tighten, and voila! Gear toting readiness.


Uh, notsomuch.

It was supposed to be simple. It was not.

Ok, first of all? These idiots that make directions now only in picture form instead of INSTRUCTING you on what to do can get a life. If you can't read English, or can't read at all, you have bigger fish to fry than to complain about how instructions should be modified to cater to your issues.

Care for an illustration of a useless illustration?


And don't even play like these are totally clear to you, either. You're not fooling me.

Our only option was to go online and search for pictures of how it's supposed to look.


And another thing! One should not have to own a hack saw to install a stupid bike rack (see illustration 4 on useless illustrations). Come on.

Since we happened to own a hack saw that was broken from some other insane home improvement project, we were forced to break out the angle grinder again.


Again, one should not have to own an angle grinder to install a bike rack.

(Also notice how I was behind glass when taking this picture. Until I was called in to help hold the bar. I may have been excited to wear the safety glasses again. Safety glasses = me looking more important than I actually am to whatever is happening necessitating the use of said safety glasses.)


Over an hour later, it was finally installed. Hubs can now ride his bike to work if he so chooses since this fantastic rear rack can hold his laptop and files.


And we can take more picnics!


But one last point - we should have taken my advice when we were at the bike store and I said, "we should just have them install it for free like they offered."

Men. Always gotta break out that angle grinder.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Chicken on a Stick

I'm not gonna lie - I loveeeeee our town (or is it a city? village?).  That love is intensified during certain times of the year.

Like, for instance, during Grove Fest.

Grove Fest is going on right now *literally* right outside our door.  Picture the typical small(ish) town carnival with deep fried foods, rides, and vendors.

We decided to hit up the Fest for dinner tonight and were pleasantly surprised by the offerings.

Chocolate covered strawberries that were begging to be eaten...

Fried Oreos that are better than they look (warning: don't attempt to eat more than one)

And the quintessential funnel cake that we could only eat a small, small portion of.

But this year, our favorite local grocery store was there providing a lovely alternative to the deep fried mayhem.

Mini flank steak sandwiches. They were AMAZING.

(Also, I find it hilarious that we end up at their booth when there are tons of other vendors there. I'm pretty sure we're there every day as it is.)

Ah, to be a kid again.

But one thing I haven't been able to figure out is this obsession with chicken on a stick.

I mean, it's at multiple booths.

I feel a little sick just looking at it.  But maybe I just have to try it?  Have any of you had one?

Bananas!

Mrs. Chen and I visited our second home tonight after dinner - Capri (le sigh). Unfortunately, our normal bartender wasn't there tonight, so the martinis weren't as good as normal (sad face).


Fortunately! It was martini night (= super cheap martinis) AND we were able to order Bananas Foster for dessert.


Bananas, brown sugar, butter, rum, cinnamon, and ice cream - what's not to love?

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There Was a Tornado?

Last night's storms were c-r-a-z-y.  It was pitch black and the wind was whipping our patio chairs into the sliding glass doors.

...except we didn't think it was too dangerous.  After all, there were no tornado sirens going off, and our power only flickered.

This morning when I woke up, I couldn't believe the damage from the storm.  Trees were down everywhere right next to our building.

Then Holly texts me about a tornado in my town. A what?

Upon further investigation, it looks like a tornado was confirmed by the National Weather Service to have touched down here.

One.
Block.
Away.

And we had no idea.  I was blogging during the whole thing!  Did I mention that the sirens weren't even going off?  But they were in all neighboring towns?

I'll be saying some prayers of thanks tonight.