Dryer Woes - Final Update!

OK! So...the last you heard we were limiting laundry to smaller loads to avoid stressing the dryer out. We were making some calls to get quotes on having the vents professionally cleaned and also trying to work with our Home Owner's Association to try and get a group rate together. Well, that wasn't working...the HOA was too slow and the pros were WAY too expensive - we're talking around $200! Considering we got the washer/dryer set on a super sale and already paid $80 to get the thing looked at...that was way out of our league!

Cue Brian's new plan.

Bri ran to Home Depot yesterday and picked up a $40 solution - a 2-Speed Leaf Blower! This baby had a quiet setting and a SUPER setting!

We (he) took the vent apart (again) and sent me outside in the rain...I flashed a light up at the roof while he SUPER setting blew the vent. All I could see from outside (in the rain) were some leaves blowing around the roof...every time the blower was on...which I soon realized was not leaves blowing around the roof...but tons of dryer lint exploding out of the vent! I blame the rain...did I mention I was outside in the rain???

We did a regular sized load last night and put it in the dryer...watched an episode of the Walking Dead...and duh du du duh! DRY CLOTHES! Mission Accomplished...please kick me if I ever post about a dryer again!!! Let the laundry circus begin!

Recycled Design

As you heard, we finally cleaned the garage out over the weekend. While removing as much as possible to make room for MY car we got rid of an old desk in the corner of our garage. Hanging over it was a garage sale find from over a year ago - a black cabinet with some hooks. I think it was $8 when I picked it up and didn't really know what to do with it at the time. After we took it off the garage wall, I had an epiphany! Why not hang it in the bathroom...it was also kind of a duh moment since that is where most people would have probably hung it in the first place!

Our master bath is a decent size, but whoever re-designed it to sell didn't know what to do with all the wall space so they just covered it in towel rods...seriously, they are oddly placed and just don't get used. The bathroom was also blessed with high ceilings - which you sometimes forget to notice because you are so busy staring at empty towel rods...

SO...Bri and I took our recycled garage crap and made it beautiful again in another room. We also finally hung a mirror that was a shower gift...and some towels from the wedding! The end result is a HUGE improvement and we love it! 



Please ignore the heap of mismatched towels to the right!



In other news...BEARS WIN!

Magical Weekend

To quote Arrested Development:

So this is the magic trick, huh?
Illusion, Michael. A trick is something a whore does for money...

It's funny, I can't even read that quote to myself without hearing the Final Countdown playing...

On Friday night, Brian and I met up with the Cunninghams for a cheap night out. We had an interesting dinner at a dive in North Aurora thanks to Pat's mom who bought them Groupons to use. The food was OK but the drinks were reminiscent of our college days - cheap and delicious!

After dinner, we went to the bar right by their house and got a pitcher...we were there for a short time when a magician came to our table and gave us an AWESOME show! This guy was quick! He did a handful of amazing card tricks that involved all 4 of us and even had Pat exclaiming out loud with awe! It was awesome...we were all considering how we could hire this guy - the girls thought it would be cool for Book Club while the guys were thinking of paying him to scam their friends out of money in a Poker game!

In other magical news - Brian and I tackled the garage on Saturday...and we are FINALLY seeing some progress!!! I really think I will be parking in there before the first snowfall!

A Dryer Miracle!

The last time you saw us, we were resorting to commando-like tricks to make it through the day...I broke down when Brian urged me to just do a light load and let the dryer run overtime...I grabbed as many pairs of underwear that I could find and loaded the wet goods into the dryer expecting an all-day-and-all-night drying fest...only to find that we have had a DRYER MIRACLE!!!

OK...so I'm sure it's not fixed and we're probably stressing the poor girl out without a good cleaning, so we are using the dryer sparingly (i.e. underwear and sock needs) until the pros get on the roof and clean that vent! I just thought I had to give an update so everyone realized I wasn't REALLY wearing my dirty underwear inside out!!!

Spooks & Goblins

Spooks and goblins - oh how we love Halloween! If you know me, you know that I make up songs...and I found out that I got that trait from my M-O-M! She made up that Halloween song when me and the sister were little and we still sing it every Halloween!

Anyways, a little belated - but here are the pics from the 7th (I think!) Annual Halloween Party! Our favorite time of year - as Anthony said, it's the one time of year that we get together and act like we're still in college. We always try to put a lot of effort into the costumes and we play flippy cup like it's our job! 

Brian used his Nashville deal and went as a "flamboyant" cowboy...I waited until WAY too late but threw together my outfit and went as Tom Cruise from Risky Business...that's Ryan dressed up as a Flasher! Don't worry, after reviewing the pictures when I was sober, I immediately started applying self tanner...I look more like the ghost of Tommy!

Here are the boys (yeah, that's Pat on the left) after losing AGAIN in flip cup against us!



Betsy went as Sister Wife #2 - what a ho!



The night was fantastic - as I said, we played a lot of flippy cup, had some rum apple cider and the night ended when Mr. Flamboyant got dragged by the dogs through some dog poo! I left the party barefoot and Brian left barefoot and in his underwear! We shacked up at the Cunningham house where they treated us to a GREAT McD's breakfast and a day of football and movies on their couch.

Me and the Trimarco girls! The Mad Hatter and Queen of Hearts.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Can't wait until next year...



Our Annual Group Shot - Halloween 2012



Dryer Woes - UPDATE

For those of you following the washer & dryer woes...we had an LG repairman come out this morning to fix the dryer...only to find out that it is indeed a clogged vent.

Well, that was $80 well spent...looks like I'll be hoisting Brian up to the attic again tonight for some more fiberglass fun!

I'm really starting to run out of clean clothes! Thank goodness it's Halloween weekend and I will be dressed up...and I can use Dad's old trick...just turn your underwear inside out!

Nashville Weekend (Part Deux)

So it's been over a week since we got back from Nashville so (spoiler alert) almost everyone has already seen the cowboy boots that I got! So, I better write the dang blog already!!!

On Sunday, with renewed hope, Mom, Bri and me hit downtown Nashville again and stumbled upon another awesome boot store rockin' the same sale as another place...buy 1 get 2 free. Luckily, all THREE of us found our loves! I finally got me some cowboy boots and I LOVE them! I love them so much I only took a pic of Brian's - oops!



Loving this look! Brian is goin' country ya'll!


After a nice lunch and walk around downtown, we went to a bar closer to the college campus's to just use the bathroom really quick and then discovered that the beer's were buy one get one! WOO HOO! We were lovin' Nashville ya'll! We got home and watched the Bears game together and passed out shortly after that.

Monday was our last day - so we had to do something good! Well, Mom had a good idea and a chance to cross something off of her bucket list...she mentioned that she had always wanted to try Rock Climbing and she knew of a place - Climb Nashville...where we rocked the harness look!

Hopefully Betsy isn't seeing this so I can keep the t-shirt I stole!

Part of the tricky thing with this place was that they don't have a climbing support staff - they literally teach you how to belay (AKA hold the rope to make sure your parter does not plummit to their fate). So, I let Brian and Mom learn how to do that. Here's Brian helping M-O-M!

Looking good M-O-M!

Here's Mom belay-ing Brian! It took her a while to get the hang of it...and Brian was a little nervous!


Looks like Mom finally got rythm going!

 It was a great time! It's an activity that really challenges you physically and mentally! You really have to push yourself to take the next grab and go higher...

Wall climbing day pass.............................................$17
Training to belay.......................................................$15
Hand chalk...............................................................$3
60-year old crossing a big one off the bucket list.......PRICELESS

GREAT TRIP!

We cleaned up at the house, did one last engine check for Mom's radiator, had my last Nashville style Rib dinner and went to the airport. We had a great time!

Nashville Weekend!

Bri and I took off to the south this weekend for a long break visiting my mama in Nashville! We were able to find some super cheap tickets after contemplating a drive down there. I’m glad we flew so we could make the best use of our time during our visit, but the thing about cheap tickets is that they usually have you booked at more inconvenient times…so we were rising and shining at 4 AM on Saturday! Sometimes that’s our bedtime on weekends, so it was a bit hard to get up and moving, but we managed. The good thing was that we got to Nashville before 9am…Mom met us at the airport and we headed home to see her “new to me” house.

Unfortunately, on before we could get there, we noticed some smoke coming from under the hood…we got her home though and Bri was able to look under the hood. Looks like we had a radiator leak and a bunch of steam spewing out of it. We cooled the car down and got to the auto store for some JB Weld to seal it. Mom was grateful that Brian was there to help out since he is a master at handling this kind of stuff! Brian…our hero!!!

After he saved the day, us ladies took him to Johnson & Murphy where the fabulous saleswoman, Wendy took extra good care of him…he must have tried on every shoe in the place! We took advantage of mom’s 50% off discount and let Bri shop ‘til he dropped! We were a bit nervous about getting all of these goodies on the plane home…

We got home so mom could get ready for a wedding and Brian and I got ready for a night on the town! We dropped her off and headed to downtown Nashville. I was determined to find a rockin’ pair of cowboy boots – especially after Brian outdid me in the shoe department earlier in the day (I can be quite competitive and if he gets shoes than I get shoes!!!). Of course after making our way to the good boot stores I couldn’t find any boots in my pre-set price range and Mr. Shopper finds his pair in seriously less than 5 minutes!!! OMG! I was so frustrated…so we left boot-less and ate some Country BBQ Ribs! That was good!

We bar hopped a bit and finally found a bar to our liking with some live country tunes. We sat at the bar and noticed a mason jar of alcohol. Something called Popcorn Sutton’s Tennessee White Whiskey that we of course had to try! It was kind of gross, but also kinda good! We looked up the website while we were sitting there and now are afraid that this guy actually bottled the stuff we drank!

That’s day 1 of our trip! More to come later on even more fun that was had!

Dryer Woes

So, I had a particularly stressful day at work yesterday when some bad news about bonuses and profit sharing came through to the little people...I got home and we decided to relax a bit and "Draper" it up. We poured some cocktails and sat in the living room to talk about our days and played with Brian's new toy - a remote control helicopter. It was quite pleasant. We made dinner and cleaned up and then went upstairs to do some laundry in preparation for our Nashville trip on Saturday.

I had a load in the dryer and Bri had a load in the washer. I went to start folding and discovered that all of my clothes were still wet. Well, that's funny becaue my clothes were still wet earlier in the day when I had already run the dryer once already. GREAT! Houston, we have a problem...

Brian was on the phone downstairs doing dishes which meant I needed to start tackling this on my own. If you don't know much, know that I can sometimes be messy. And when I say me, I definitely mean WE. It may be a serious problem. Anyways, one time a few years ago I was on a girls trip to Wisconsin when I got a flat tire...it wasn't the worst thing in the world but when you travel with an entire trunk and backseat loaded with crap and you have to empty it all out on the side of the road just to access your spare, you realize you make more work for yourself. Well, consider the laundry room last night to be like a stuffed trunk. I basically had to spend about a half hour just clearing out all of the laundry and stacks of folded clothes before even pulling the dryer out. I guess, blessing in disguise, those clothes are finally put away in their drawers...

By the time everything was clear, Brian was off the phone and digging in...except I was on the computer googling troubleshooting ideas. All Brian needed to troubleshoot with me was why his drink was empty! So, Bri continued to problem solve and I began pouring additional cocktails.

One disassembled dryer drum, a vacuumed lint trap and two cocktails later we still weren't getting anywhere. It was already 11pm...then my dad calls. Dad talks Brian through a few more ideas and hands the phone back to me. A few minutes later Brian was screaming that we had an emergency and I basically hung up on Dad and ran into the room where I swear I smelled something burning...nope, what I was smelling was actually natural gas leaking into the laundry room. STOP EVERYTHING! Brian thinks for a second and determines the problem (no, it was not time for another cocktail) and fixes it...still not sure what was wrong or if this was an attempt at an insurance claim...hmm, story checked out and there was no explosion.

Never fear, Brian had another idea...Lauren mixed cocktails and Brian dragged the air compressor upstairs where he proceeded to blow compressed, high pressure air into the lint trap in an attempt to clear out a possible clog...not sure if there was a clog but the entire room filled up with clouds of lint dust...he cleared something out, I guess!

In a final attempt to insure the dryer was running properly, Brian decided to go up into the attic where our vents lead and confirm that there was actual air flow. I used my pro cheerleading skills that I picked up from many viewings of Bring It On, Bring It On Again, Bring It On: In It to Win It...you get the drift...I hoisted Brian up into the hole in the ceiling! He gave it the all clear and even took a few pics so that I could see what it looked like up there and then I helped him back down. Please keep in mind that my husband is wearing an old t-shirt, underwear and crocs...which means that nearly his entire body has now been exposed to insulation and he is itching like crazy! I sent him straight to the shower where he huddled in a corner until the water warmed up...you are supposed to wait until the shower it steamy so it opens your pours and the tiny sharp material doesn't go further into your skin...well, what's a hard working naked man supposed to do in a cold shower while waiting for it to warm up? Babe, can you grab my drink?

Cocktail time!

After the shower and clean up, the dryer had been running for a while and MIRACLE!!! It was working! I finished my load, we folded and hung up and put all of the washing machine clothes in the dryer for the night...it was late and we were tired after all of that hard liquor...I mean work!

This morning I got ready for work and went to grab a shirt out of the dryer...but everything was still wet.

Surprise!

This weekend was a whole weekend celebration devoted to our friend Anthony. Unbeknownst to him, his wife Theresa had planned a surprise golden birthday party for him on Saturday night. As a result, Ant decided to throw another little party on Friday night at his house with a few of the same guests!

The Friday part was a Wii Tennis Tournament. I must admit that I was bit skeptical going into it about how fun it would be. Much to my surprise it was AWESOME! It was so much fun that we all want to make it a regular occurrence. As Brian likes to remind me though, I am soft (as in not much muscle going on here)…so although it was a great time, I am seriously still sore! My entire left arm feels like I flexed for 5 hours straight – which may be what actually happened. I have to give props to the winning team – Brian & Betsy! I’d also like to give props to the other (much better looking) final team in the playoffs – Lauren & Pat! Both teams did walk away with prizes – the Siedors had a new golf scope (that I’m sure will be used at the (gun) range) and the Cunninghams had a mini marshmallow gun. I’m sure both will be put to good use soon!

Saturday, while everyone recovered, Theresa began the surprise setup. We all got the bar along with a lot of Ant & T’s family where we definitely got Anthony! It was a lot of fun – Theresa even setup a slideshow of lots of pictures of Baby Anthony which were hilarious! We loved seeing his parents rocking their 80’s style!

Speaking of rockin’ style – there were quite a few matching outfits on Saturday proving how stylin’ we all are! Charlie, Anthony and Pat had on the same outfit…then Ally and I had almost the same shirt on (the real life color looked way more identical)!

We wrapped up the weekend with a lazy Sunday for me and an amazing one for Bri! He did a great job on the tests for a job he is going for.

Unfortunately Monday started out with some car problems that are slowing life down a bit…wish us luck!

La Blondina - La Stuffina!

So, a few weeks ago I bought a groupon for a bakery (called La Blondina) that was right down the street from my office (correction: TWO groupons)! The bakery appeared french and full of all sorts of freshly baked bread and treats...I patiently waited until Brandy agreed to go with me and try something new for lunch and we are SO pleased!

Just to make you jealous of how thrifty I am, I will share the breadown: (2) Roasted Veggie Sandwiches with goat cheese (on FRESH french bread rolls) ; (1) Tiramisu (like half of a full cake); (1) Polish Cheesecake (not sure what this is, but it looked cheesy good...again, this was the size of half of a cake); (2) Boxes of French Brownies/Fudge? Again...not sure what this is but we already snuck a taste and they are good!; (1) Box of Cherry Kolachki; (1) Giant Loaf of Potato Rosemary Garlic Bread. ALL of this and factor the Groupon in for a grand total of $22.86!!!

I'm thrifty and looking like I'm going to be a chubbo! Don't worry though, all of this dessert is for Anthony's birthday party tonight! Looking forward to a FUN night...HAPPY WEEKEND!

What a waste!!!

Yesterday was (supposed to be) my LAST blood clot checkup…I had to make the appointment for 30-days post warfarin completion so that they could do a blood draw that was clean and drug-free to test all of my levels. I took a half day since the only appointment I could get was at 2:40 in the afternoon. I was annoyed that I had to waste a half day off work to go to the doctor, but work was really starting act like an a-hole so I was happy to bolt!

Bri took me to the doctor – which was good – because since my last appointment sometime in the winter, they had completely changed locations! We got to a brand new, gorgeous building so that was nice and got in right away to the doctor. Well, the doctor seemed to have no clue why I was even there! She read my chart (out loud) for a while and then I tried to fill in the gaps, to guide her to the answer of – why was I even here??? Well, she came to no conclusion, but I guess felt like she needed to do something, so I laid on the table and she felt around for a minute or so, told me I looked like I had lost some weight, asked questions about the wedding and we were off!

The very next day I get a call explaining that since my name changed she didn’t get to thoroughly review my info before my appointment and it turns out that I DO need blood drawn!!! UGH! So…there goes the “final” appointment. I luckily just need to hop over to the lab right by our house to get blood drawn. It should take a few days to get the results and (fingers crossed) my risks are low and I will not need more drugs!!!

The only thing worse than going to the doctor is going to Buy Buy Baby with your husband. We’re virgins to this store and if you haven’t been – consider yourself LUCKY! We jumped over there after the appointment yesterday to pick up a shower gift and it was alarming just how much of everything baby there is out there.

Gallery Wall

OK…so many blogs ago, I had mentioned that we were starting the process of creating a gallery wall in our entry way. Well, we FINALLY got around to that last night. As a refresher, I created newspaper templates to play around with the arrangement. We hemmed and hawed about this for a while. Then when we were finally ready to put some holes in the wall, we realized we didn’t have any nails!

After even further delay – we FINALLY made it to the Depot, picked up some nails and “finished” the job! I use the term loosely since as you can see the pictures are all the leftovers from our wedding shoot – we plan to mix in some real wedding pictures from that day. Plus, the picture configuration is goofy. Give us a few more blogs and hopefully it will be just right!

Nice job to the lovely husband for the sweat...if anyone was wondering, I was in the kitchen making some delicous thai chicken cabbage cups! Let me know if you want the recipe...

Great Weekend!

Well, aside from a bit of potential "radiation poisoning" AKA too much sun (my hubby can be a bit extreme on occasion) and a big L for the Bears it was a fantastic weekend! Note to self: Do not let your husband read the blog about him before publishing. Writing was briefly interrupted by a demand to google and read about radiation poisoning symptoms. Now back to the blog...

We started the day off with a good old Sunday breakfast - eggs, sausage, toast and some STRONG coffee! We watched the Bears game and Brian is playing a video game while I blog...I love Sundays.

On Friday evening we met up with Pat and Betsy to go down town to see our friend Nick sing with his band for a fundraiser. We had a nice drive downtown together and then realized that we had to try to find parking in Lincoln Park. The boys dropped us off after we drove around for a good 15 min. Betsy spent the next 20 minutes fearing for her car since she didn't think Pat could parallel park and Brian had a little buzz going already...everything turned out fine though and her lucky husband found parking that didn't even require parallel skills! that guy wins at life. I've never met anyone that gets that lucky all the time! We watched the show and got killed on beer - we are so used to the cost of beer from a grocery store - we forgot that city beer was like $5 a bottle. Betsy pulled out a ten to pay the bartender and realized she needed a bit more then that...I think we even overdrafted trying to pull cash out!!! It was still a great time though and it's always fun to see Nick sing/play. Our dogs were barking though - we didn't sit the whole evening and then had the 20 minute walk to the car...

We made it home and got a few hours of sleep in before we were up and moving for our big Saturday plan. Our FIRST trip to Arlington Park for horse racing!!! Brian and I met up with Betsy, Theresa, Brandy and Eric for a FUN day! Brandy and Eric met up with us a bit later which was hard for us since they were the ones who had been there before. The four us tried or best to understand exactly what was happening without a guide - which was mildly successful. We skipped buying a program at first, we didn't want to spend $2.50 unnecessarily. We returned shortly and coughed up the dough though when we had no clue what was going on. We sat in awe of everything that was going on for the first bit and when the Kosniks finally got there, they showed us how to place bets.

Well, we were sold after that! The girls waited in line to place our bets with a real person...the meanest woman in the world. She was not amused with our novice betting skills. We got our tickets though and went down the general seating to watch the first race. I was the big winner!!! I had placed a $2 bet on a horse to show (place 1-3) and she won! My strategy was to bet on any horse that had a cat in it's name - for example Cats Bells or Cat has Claws. I hit it big and collected a whopping $.60! The funny part is that Brian and I decided not to cash in our tickets until the end so every time we won we tried to figure out what we'd get based on the odds...needless to say we thought we were doing a bit better than we actually did...I mean, $.60 doesn't even buy you a soda at the park. We had a great time though! We got to go to the back and watch the horses parade around and decide who we would bet on, go to the machine, place a few bets and watch the race. Betsy ended up walking away with a $2 profit! Everybody else lost big. Brian and I decided to bet it all on the final race and then lost it all! We're not planning on jumping on a plane to Vegas anytime soon. We were glad that we finally made it to the park, especially since it closes for the season next weekend. We are excited to go back again next year.

The downside about Arlington was that although it was actually kind of a chilly day - 65 for a high...it was VERY sunny! You would have thought it was in the 80's...Betsy was in a tank top and the rest of us in short sleeves. Nobody had really even considered sunscreen...hence the radiation issues. Brian got significantly more sun than me...perhaps because I would frequently get up and go place bets? He had a slight burn and little to drink...so when we went to go hangout at our friends place later that night, he was struggling....he ended up going to lay down and thought he was going to puke. I got him home quickly and loaded him with water...he's doing fine now!

We'll continue with a lazy day - it's raining outside and seems like the best thing to go do is make banana bread and do laundry!

Top Golf

Last night was Brandy's first official night of vacation as she is off of work for the rest of this week. If you know anything about me and Brandy, then you know that this is possibly the worst news that you could give me. Basically coming into Madden without her takes away almost ALL fun that may have happened here in the first place.

On top of that, her husband had been home Monday and Tuesday without her looking for something to do...so he called my husband.

After helping Brandy clean up her desk so she could be stress-free during her time off, we went over to Top Golf where Eric and Brian had been golfing / drinking all afternoon!



Upper right is the proof that Brian beat Eric! Don't they look cute in their matching gloves?

 The boys hit a few balls...Brian actually beat Eric in one match...one match! The girls just had a drink, some dinner and looked pretty.



See, don't we look pretty?!?


I had a great time, but I'm pretty sure I was invited so that Bri had a ride home! That's what wives are for! I am still trying to figure out what exactly husbands are for...haha! Only joking!

Game 1

Fantasy Football (and I guess regular Football) has officially started! My first team to play was the Pretenders - AKA Kevin Heniff - an owner at Madden who loves to beat me. I swear we take this game against each other VERY seriously...which is why it was especially heartbreaking to come SOOO close to winning!

What is was even worse...he just had to rub it in this morning by sending me a picture of a waving big "L" for loser flag...

Things better get better soon because I am probably going to lose my money from the Big Brother pool tomorrow, $50 in fantasy football and I'm going to the horse races on Saturday.......I'm developing a bad losing habit!

Generic Update

I haven't been blogging!!! Nothing too exciting has been happening. I (we) have a lot of half-finished projects, late nights of drinking and hanging out which leads to quiet days and just falling into general routine. Brian is running on the regular to get in endurance shape for Tough Mudder...look it up! He's going to get electrocuted at the end of it.

For the record, I couldn't remember the name of Tough Mudder...so I just asked Brian what the name of his race was and he answered "Caucasian."

And that just about sums up life for now. We'll try to mix it up a little bit more over here. I mean, things are pretty exciting today...it's the season finale of Bachelor Pad. Anything could happen!

Fantasy Football Season

SO - Fantasy Football season has begun! I drafted my team last night and I'm ready for action!!! I'm dissapointed that I don't have Tony Romo...because he is just so cute. I'm not sure what I enjoyed more, getting an awesome team together or the ice cold beers that I am still relishing! Even better, they were free beers - thanks Madden! Here's the current lineup:

Get ready for FOOTBALL!!! Bear Down....

Dance Off

I would like to address the lack of content and ample discussion of food in this blog that I have been acused of by my younger siblings. Today, I will only slightly discuss food...and do a lot of dance-off discussion.

On a typical work day, I like to escape the confines of my small prison (AKA cubicle) and head to my favorite location - the golf course across the street from Madden. I like to take that time to bitch and moan about the suck of work which just leads to more and more negative thoughts upon returning to work. This week, my lovely friend Brandy and I have decided to stop that non-sense and start dancing off! We turn on the most popular Kesha or LMFAO (or whatever Red Fu's band is called) as loud as possible and rap / dance our way to lunch...we have found this to create a GREAT mood both before, during and after lunch.

I did try to do this on my way to work and found that the results are not typical. I'm not sure if it's the fresh air after breathing in the waste of my building or the fact that I have Brandy by my side...or any combination of those things...but the lunch dance-off is a huge win!

Many of you may be surprised (or may not be surprised) to find that this is not my first experience with a dance off. Bri and I did at one point find ourselves drunk on a Friday afternoon dancing off with our neighbors who had just been dropped off by their bus driver after school. But that was long ago.

I think that my sober, positive-mood-inducing dance offs are probably the better choice over weird, drunk neighbor ones. I just wish that I could find a similar mood-lifter for the mornings. I could copy my friend who thinks that she sounds like Taylor Swift...just sing along to the radio while recording your voice on your phone to play back later! Now that's entertainment...

Party Weekend

I was lucky enough to win a drawing at work giving me 4 tickets to the Sox game on Sunday. I brought them home to my husband who replied, "oh, I'm already going." SO...I extended the offer to Betsy, Pat and Theresa! We spent a beautiful day out tailgating and sweating our butts off at US Cellular watching the Sox win a blowout game! Although I'm a true Cubs fan...baseball is always a good time!

 I haven't been to a baseball game in a loooong time. It was awesome though! I enjoyed a grilled hot dog with lots of onions - WAY better than the boring dogs they used to have. I saw everyone go to town on a bag of shelled peanuts...not my scene! And then there was the taste of an ice cold ballpark beer - it's been too long old friend!

Red Neck Yacht Club

If you aren't in Chicago and you didn't see my other posts, it was a beautiful weekend! There were a ton of random parties that sprung up because everyone just wanted to be outside - including us. After over a week away, Ryan & Sadie stopped by to pay us a little visit. We ended up having ourselves a little redneck party!

We chilled outside, played with dirty motorcycles, drank some brews/wine and practiced some archery on unconventional targets. The boys created a makeshift target out of an old beer box and an old bag of soil from a previous hobby (forget to mention that one...I try to get a green thumb on an annual basis). We were a class act!

We even got Ninja in on the "red neck" fun. What red neck day would be complete without your cat outside on a makeshift leash?

After everyone was a little buzzed, we ordered a pizza. By the end of the afternoon, Sadie had spilled red wine all over her shirt, I had pizza sauce all over mine and both boys had managed to destroy their forearms from shooting - but at least nobody lost an eye!

Sadie and Ryan left too early for our taste - so we drove out to Roselle to the Foster house. We sat around a fire and got pretty much eaten alive by mosquitoes. We even got a little cruise on Dennis's new jeep.

All of this fun meant that nothing adult-like or responsible got done this weekend! I guess that's what next weekend is for!

6 Months!!!

Happy Last Day of Coumadin!!! Six months ago today, Bri and I were racing off to the hospital with pains in my lungs. I spent a few days there and have been thinning my blood ever since. I'm VERY happy to be done with the medicating process and still a bit nervous to come off of them. I'm sure that life will return to normal before I even notice.

I have to be completely off the blood thinners for a month before revisiting the hematologist for one last check on my blood. Nobody expects to see anything though since I've also been off of birth control (with hormones) for 6 months too. So fingers crossed until September 21st for that final look.

In the meantime, I am being showered with love & support! Bri (who is on the road this morning to Oklahoma) surprised me last night with day-before-off-coumadin clean house, champagne and flowers! I also have a "Re-Birth" party on Friday - hosted by Betsy - complete with an all beer themed dinner (beer cheese soup, beer bread, beer can chicken). I am excited to kick back and have a few with my friends!

Thanks to everyone for showing me so much love and care over this time! I hope I never have to repay the favor...and everyone who ever got a sober ride from me over the dryest period of my life since I was in highschool...get ready for payback!!! I know who you are!!!

Big Sale Weekend!

There was lots of buying going on the Siedor house this weekend! If you haven't already heard, Bri found another great motorcycle deal that he jumped on...he was already at the dealership today giving it some attention and he hopes to have it out the door with a profit in the very near future....well, to be honest, I'm not sure how much he hopes that! Maybe it's just me!!!

I also decided to jump on the shopping bandwagon...I made several attempts on Friday evening to cheer myself up with some new clothes..........but that was a big fail!!! Instead, we woke up earl on Saturday morning to do some garage sale-ing! I picked up a few picture frames and a basket (shocker - I think I am obsessed). We also found a really cool Stanley(?) level from 1865. We picked it up and thought it was wall-worthy, so that will be hanging in our home sometime soon! It was a gorgeous weekend so it was nice to just be outside and in the convertible...we even found out that there was a twin yellow Honda S2000 that also lives in Bartlett. There are a lot of interesting characters to meet when you are off garage-sale-ing.

Speaking of hanging things in our home - we are trying to find a spot for a collage wall. I found inspiration from one of my favorite blogs here and would like to follow in the footsteps of Sadie who actually got hers up (all by herself too!). It's on the list this week...along with that chalkboard I talked about from last weekend. Any ideas?

P-P-P-Poker Face

After a long (loonoong) day at work for me…and a long (FUN) day of shooting for Brian, we met up at the Cunningham household with Anthony and Theresa for a “friendly” game of poker. I don’t know how friendly any game can be when you are required to put money into a pot. Regardless, the cards were dealt and we rocked it out.

Well, things didn’t start out too well when I publicly destroyed my husband by going “all in” and things only got worse when his cards never came…several hours later, we had determined that Theresa slowly bled everyone dry and managed to pull at least one Ace in her hand every round, but that Pat was the big winner.

I would say the biggest lesson learned was that playing “The Gambler” on repeat all night doesn’t result well for anybody!

Dinner Tonight

Most people would agree that the hardest part about getting dinner on the table is the planning...or the grocery shopping...or is it the prepping...or maybe the actual cooking & timing of the meal?!?! I guess it's just a hard task overall! Bri and I have a great system and typically run VERY smooth...we had all of the tools necessary - we had a meal plan, the groceries were at home, the food was cooking, it turned out delicious...it just never made it to the table!

After cooking an entire meal we packed it up, hopped in the convertible and went to downtown St. Charles for a night sitting at McNally's outdoor patio. It was just too nice of a night to not be driving around - and who can handle the twists and turns of Brian's convertible driving on a full stomach?

At least we had good grubs for lunch today!

COLLEGE

Seven years ago I left the happiest place on earth – COLLEGE! This weekend I was lucky enough to go back for a day and stroll down memory lane. I saw all of the sites – the lovely quad, all the new buildings that seemed to have just popped up (I was reminded it has been 7 years!), the college bookstore, Budget Liquors and the sorority house. While I reminisced about all of the places I had puked, my new friends were able to have their first ISU pukes in my presence…they just didn’t have hair to hold back. That’s right, I hit college with a bunch of babies…real babies…

There were a lot of memories being shouted out. Remember when you got your public urination ticket over there? Remember when we burned those pictures of guys? Remember Parrot’s Echo? I felt like I was giving the most realistic and entertaining campus tour to a few future students!

It was a fantastic weekend – Bri and I got to see my old stomping grounds, meet the newest Reuber – Carson, see Jackie get a little hammered and have a great time with my old college friends and all of our new families! We only had to explain maybe a dozen times to Nichole that we were not having babies any time soon…

Sorry Nichole! We like to play with everyone else's babies!



Todd's theme song of the night - I ain't got no money...way to go Jeff!



Going back to college really knocked us out – we crashed hard on Sunday!!! But hopefully our trip will turn into an annual tradition…I know I can’t go that long again without Pub food…I love me some good cheese balls!!! THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID!











And don't worry - no matter where we go...Brian seems to find a weapon!!!

I'm baaaaaack!

I would assume with the many followers out there, people may have noticed the plunge in blog posts. I know this was very disappointing...but I'm back! Perhaps 30 straight days was a bit radical but I believe that the real problem here is my hobby commitment.

Over the years I have felt the need to devote my life to something. That something could be anything. The most obvious first hobby that comes to mind is bicycling. After college, I decided what better way to spend a free afternoon, but on a bike - perfect in solitude and with friends! I grabbed my bike expert Ryan and headed to Target. At least I was smart enough to not buy anything too expensive! I went on a few rides with friends, but alone was lame. Then, late one night, I was wooed into an "easy" little bike ride in Aurora. It was called the Night Ride and it was a NightMARE. Everyone says it's SO fun and easy but it was literally the worst 4-1/2 hours of my life...yes, it took me that long to ride 25mi on a bike in the middle of the night...through a rape zone. Fermilab after hours was a scary place. F Bike Riding as a hobby!

Shortly after that, I purchased a teach yourself to knit book and starter set. I was a natural! I got through a few inches of my first scarf. Then everybody started going to the bar, so I put that down. Several years later I was convinced to take a class. This was last winter. I was such a superstar! Attending Knitting 101 every week...I bragged to coworkers...I made a yarn washcloth. Life was great! After graduating, Sadie really tried to get me to sign up for a Socks class...but it just seemed silly to spend like $100 on yarn to make A pair of socks. This hobby sucked...plus, who wants to knit when the weather starts to warm up?

After that, I got engaged then married and just made Brian my hobby. He is a lot of work! After all, you all saw that last post with Sears (FYI, to follow-up, Sears has sent Brian an email apologizing for the bike being out of stock and has offered him a $15 gift card).

So, never fear my blogging fans! This post is my first step towards re-committing. I mean, in retrospect, it doesn't hurt my ass, doesn't make me too hot and doesn't give me a headache!

Weekend Projects

Happy Saturday! I have to admit it's a lot harder to commit to writing a blog on the weekends vs. camped out in a cubicle Monday-Friday (sorry Madden!). Bri and I are off to a busy weekend! We are both taking on some projects today - after a little GTL (that's Bartlett for gym, the depot, and lenses - just a tad less glamorous then the Jersey Shore). I plan on doing a little copy cat action from this picture that I found in the Pottery Barn catalog - hopefully I will have it finished by the end of this weekend and blog about it on Monday...you know, when I have all the free time at work.

Brian is touching up the paint on my old Honda Accord so that somebody (anybody) will buy it. My poor old car has seen better days and is thinning out in the paint department all over. Hopefully Bri can touch it up and get her outta here!

As for the lenses, we got our eyes checked last weekend and we both have new glasses to pickup! I'm sure we'll look fabulous!

We had a nice Friday night last night - we tried a new restaurant for Pho - this is a Vietnamese soup that Brian is a big fan of. I can take it or leave it! I left it last night and got Chicken Pad Thai! We took the convertible out and cruised around, but ended up at Ogden 6 - the discount movie theatre! I snapped a pic (Bri was super embarrassed) of us in the convertible. Aside from my new haircut being convertible-challenged, it was a great summer date night!

Tonight we are off to a rooftop party hosted by Nate & Sue. I'm sure there will be a lot of fun stories from that. After all, this is the 1 year anniversary of learning what being "Iced" was. If you don't know what this is, ask Brian (who got Iced on our wedding day by Sadie) OR check out the details on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icing_(drinking_game). Now that you know...beware!

Book Club Rules

Well, yes book club totally rules! But what I meant was, here are the rules of book club. The first rule is you don't talk about book club...but seriously...

1. Don't feel like you need to read the book. Most of us don't even buy it.
2. Over consume as much as possible while in attendance - this includes beer, wine and all food.
3. Be prepared to share more than needed about your female anatomy.
4. Along the same lines...share a lot about male anatomy! Please use visual aids to help illustrate!
5. If you do read the book, please don't discuss it because you may spoil the ending for others.
6. Bring any documents in your possession that may aid in the book club members developing your love life.
7. If your significant other doesn't have anything else to do that night, bring him along and send him to the basement to play.
8. Don't recommend any books that may be too serious, too long or contain too small type.
9. Clear your calendar in July for the December Xmas party - it's a goody!
10. You DO NOT talk about BOOK CLUB

Here are a few shots from the 7/27/11 Book Club! It was fun - looking forward to next months! If you feel like reading along, One Day by David Nicholls.




Betsy's Stuffed Mushrooms - my fav!

 


Tastefully Simple Carrot Cake Dip w/Graham Cracker Pretzels - AKA Crab Dip



See you next month ladies!