Lazy Dog

Every weekday morning is the same around here. Rick and I are up early, I make coffee, Rick gets the newspaper from the driveway. We have coffee, read the paper and yell for Lauren to get her butt out of bed. Once Lauren is off to school Rick takes Ozzy for his morning walk. The routine was thrown for a loop today when Rick had to leave early to bring his car in for repairs. As he was walking out the door Ozzy just sort of looked at him longingly since Rick had not taken him out yet. That would be my job today. I finished reading the paper and began to prepare to take Ozzy for his walk. But I couldn't find him. After searching high and low, alas...

I guess he was too tired to watch for "Big Dogs" this morning.

Bragging Rights

There are almost 1100 students in Lauren's graduating class this year. But there are only 107 that made the "Top Ten Percent." And yes, our Lauren is one of them. She can sometimes be a huge pain in the butt teenager but she has always done very well in school and for that we are very thankful and proud. So three cheers for Lauren!!!

Now I've Seen it All

Rick actually put salt and pepper on Ozzy's plate of leftovers tonight. He just knew that Ozzy thought the chicken needed salt.

It Must Be Summer!

Yesterday was the most beautiful day. Therefore, the only thing we could do was throw some chicken on the grill, pour some champagne and a scotch for the big man and enjoy the scenery from our deck. That is until the neighbor wanted to chat from his yard. We talked for a bit and then everyone was back to what they were doing. I really just wanted to spend some quality cocktail time with my husband, so in order to prevent further conversation I turned up the stereo. But did that stop Lee (aka Lenny in Andersonese?) NOOOOOOOOO! When he started talking again I told him I couldn't hear him because the music was too loud. What does he do? He stands there waiting for me to turn the music down so he could babble on about a bunch of nonsense! I'm not trying to be a bad neighbor but you would think he could take a hint. Next time I won't be so subtle. Let's face it, subtlety is not one of my best attributes!

Does anyone have an emery board?

That question was asked by Shirl about 400 times while we were in New York. The night before we left Shirl spent the night at our house and asked for an emery board which I promptly and dutifully provided. What happened to that one? We will never know.

New York City ROCKS! I had heard stories about how rude and unfriendly New Yorkers are. These stories came from people who have never spent time with my Uncle Pete, a native New Yorker. Uncle Pete, his lovely wife Mary Jo and her daughter Sara met us for dinner on Tuesday evening. Our reservation was for 7pm. The conversation was lively and non-stop, dinner was incredible and meeting Sara was a bonus. And I only spilled one glass of wine! Before we knew it, we looked up and we were literally the only table left in the joint. It was after 11 and it felt like we had just arrived. Never enough time when you're with people you love. And Uncle Pete's cocktail of choice is scotch on the rocks. Sound familiar? I'm sure he and Rick would get along fabulously!

We managed to do just about everything on our list. The day we went to the Statue of Liberty the wind chill factor was zero. I should have dressed like I do for Bears games. We were all chilled to the bone. But we braved the wicked winds of New York Harbor to see Lady Liberty in all her magnificent glory. Quite a spectacular site. And Shirl even climbed the 156 steps to the base of the statue. Not bad for a 74 year old broad with a bad knee. We never made it to the Empire State Building due to cloudy and overcast skies. Seemed pointless. We also passed on the carriage ride in Central Park because it was just too damned cold. New York City is generally 10-15 degrees warmer than Chicago, just not when we were there. What's up with that?!

To view all the pictures from our New York adventure, click here.

Countdown to NYC

Less than 24 hours from now Karla, Shirl and I will be in the Big Apple! We have lots of shopping and sightseeing planned for Monday ending with dinner at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill. Tuesday we are up and out early to see Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty followed by some Little Italy action. Dinner is at Ben Benson's Steakhouse with my Uncle Pete and his wife Mary Jo. I haven't seen Uncle Pete in 6 1/2 years. Needless to say there will be some catching up over cocktails of course. The real New York experience is Wednesday. Lunch at Tavern on the Green, a matinee performance of "The Producers" on Broadway, a Central Park carriage ride and we'll top it off with sushi at Koi. Yes, we are taking Shirley for sushi but we did make sure there were some cooked items on the menu. Fortunately, she is not hard to please when it comes to food. And finally a little more shopping Thursday morning with lunch at the famous Stage Deli before heading back to Chicago. At least it is supposed to be warmer here when we get back. I should have some good bloggin' material when I return. Four days with my mother will just about guarantee that.

Talk About Getting "Slicked"

Yesterday I had to get new tires for the Escalade aka "Esplanade." I knew exactly what kind of tires I needed and called ahead to be sure they were in stock. Of course when I arrived at the tire store the guy that I spoke with on the phone was not there. Big surprise there. I went through the whole spiel again about what kind of tires I wanted etc. The sales guy then asks me if I want 4 tires. Who the hell buys only one?! Blah, blah, blah. He starts to ring me up when he asks, "Do you want your tires slicked?" I'm like, "What?" Again, "Do you want your tires slicked?" I'm still not sure that "slicked" was the word he used but whatever. I thought it meant wiping the outsides of the tires with Armorall for that shiny look. NOT. Apparently, slicking is a process in which they coat the treads of the tires with some spray on shit that makes for better traction. I told him I did not want this because "I drive an Escalade. Do you think traction is an issue for me? And If I'm buying new tires and the traction sucks, you can bet I will be right back in here tomorrow to see you, Ryan!" Have you ever heard of anything so ridiculous? I should have asked how much it was and how many idiots actually fall for this. Unbelievable.