On the train:

I saw an old guy dry shaving his face on the train into
Chicago.  I see lots of interesting/odd things on the train.  Oh and the stories I hear are pretty good too!

Overheard on the street:

You know how when you walk down the street you sometimes hear just a few words of a conversation as you walk past someone going in the other direction.  These words stand out above the drum of traffic and other conversation noise.  These are the fragments of conversations that I heard yesterday while walking on the streets of Chicago:

“My Mom and Dad…” in a very excited tone

“I made some really good…”

“Oh, shut up…”

“don’t play dumb with me…”

“fucking moron…”

“of me in Chicago for my…” said by a traveler with a strong accent and a camera

In the grass:

I live in a suburb of Chicago and take the train into the city for work every day.  I leave for work to catch the last express train and always have to park in the parking lot farthest from the train.  On the past few Tuesdays the parking lot has been full by the time I got there (I guess more people take the train to Chicago on Tuesday that any other day), so I had to park on the street an additional 3 blocks away from the train.  As I was walking back to my car last evening I counted some things that were laying in the grass in the three block stretch of grass that runs between the train tracks and the street.  There were 24 alcohol containers and 4 shoes (not pairs, just single shoes).  The neighborhood is a little less than desirable.

My earliest memory is of my sister being born when I was two and a half. (Both my sister and I were born at home) The way I remember it: I was taking a nap on the bean bag and dreaming of a caterpillar when the midwife (or my mom’s friend) woke me up and told me that my sister/brother was about to be born. Then my dad tried to show me her head as it was crowning. I have very few other distinct, clear memories from my childhood (even the later years), so I am not sure how I could remember this from when I was two and a half. I may have made it up – or parts of it, but that is the way I remember it. The actual memory of my sister after she was born was not stored, only the birth part.

Rude Cactus asked everyone to put somethig on their head yesterday and post a picture. I thought that my two neices and my husband in these pictures from the hat store at Navy Pier last summer were way funnier than anything I could put on my head.

I will say just thinking about the prospect of putting something on my head made me smile.

This is how cold it is. Actually this is how cold it was on Friday. It is even colder today.

 Oh yeah, I decided to return to my blog.

I am not a huge fan of winter, ice, cold weather, or snow.  Yes I know I live in Illinois.  I have lived in this state all my life.  I should move.  I am not going to move, so I guess I should start getting used to it. 

Cooper however, loves the snow.  I was not sure how he would react when I took him out at 6am on Friday when we already had several inches and it was still coming down.  He thought it was the best thing since his squeaky toy! Absolutely loved running around in it, attacking it, chasing it, digging it, and getting covered in it.  We have had to drag him inside (because we are freezing – and he is shaking).  Click on the picture to see how he ended up covered in snow like he is. 

I am glad I decided to jump into this blogging thing, and to do it with the commitment of posting every day for a month.  It has been a great experience so far.  I plan to keep up with it.  Probably not everyday, but that is probably a good thing.   I have enjoyed getting out there using the Randomizer and finding other people to read and being found.   Also it got my hubby to update his nearly year old blog! 

In honor of December, Illinois has decided to celebrate with a snow storm.  It is currently sleet/snowing out and it is supposed to continue tonight and into tomorrow.   Today at work I decided that I should plan to work from home tomorrow, just in case it is too dangerous to get the car out and drive to the train.  Planned ’snow days’ rock! 

I will take some pictures of whatever we end up with tomorrow.

Sometimes we forget to slow down and actually notice the things around us on a daily basis. Sure we are all pretty good at looking at all the buildings and people when we are on vacation or somewhere new. But what about that drive or walk that we take everyday? As I drive to and from the train, as I walk to and from my office, and I walk around other parts of Chicago, as I sit on the train I try to open my eyes, look up, and observe. A lot of times I just see normal things and nothing of beauty jumps out at me. But other times something will just catch my eye.

• The huge deep eyes of a little boy with crazy hair standing with his mom at a bus stop (seen from a cab in Philadelphia).
• The contrast of the edge of a building with blue sky behind it.
• The collection of items in a window seen from the street.
• The wrinkle filled face of a homeless man wearing a fishing hat in the park by the lake.
• The joy or frustration on someone’s face.

Sometimes I am lucky enough to have my camera along so I can capture these moments, other times I just have to remember them. I also have to remember to go back to them and “look” at them. And I always need to remember to slow down and take the world in.

It is late (OK so not that late – but I am a wuss).  I am tired.  The dog is hyper.  I really need to start these posts earlier in the day.  Good Night.  Also I really cannot stand the sound of ice being scrapped off of a windshield.  In fact I cannot even watch it.  My husband is eating a popsicle thing and making the same noise.  I have the shivers.

I love the Christmas season.  I love being crafty and stuff.  I love combining the two into Christmas crafts.  However, I always seem to wait too long to get started on my Christmas crafts.  Every year I say I am going to start earlier and give myself more time to be creative.  Again, it is the beginning of December and I am still trying to figure out what my craft is going to be.

Several years ago my mom had the idea for me, my younger sister, my older sister (and two nieces) , and her to exchange Christmas crafts each year.  I am pretty sure am the only one who has come through with a handmade craft each year.  The others have done it nearly every year.  It is fun, but hard (especially because of the procrastination problems I have). 

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  • The first year I made some really neat and intricate santas (only two though – mom and older sister got one) and some hanging snowmen for my other sister and nieces.

  • The second year I was taking a pottery class – so everyone got some sort of pottery.

  • The third year I painted three large gourds into santas.

  • The fourth year I made snowmen ornaments out of baby socks.  

  •  This year… like I said – I am still working on coming up with an idea

• Wow this has been a long 4 days.

Wednesday night:  

• dealt with the mice issue in the basement.

 Thursday:

• dealt with the mice issue in the garage.
• dinner with B’s family on Thursday.

 Friday:

• cleaned the house.
• B’s parents and grandma dropped by for lunch.
• went out and got a Christmas tree and lights to decorate outside.
• decorated the trees outside and the tree inside.

Saturday:

• Brunch in Chicago with my sister, parents, and cousin.
• Picked up out of town friends from Chicago.
• Hung out with out of town friends.
• Out of town friends stayed the night.

Sunday:

• Lunch with out of town friends and out of town friend’s dad.
• Nap.
• went to see Happy Feet at the IMAX.

See…. long weekend.  But very fun!