It rained last night (the ground was wet when I got up) and it rained this morning and it rained this afternoon. Now I know some people don't like that but my yard and my garden do. The part I don't like, loss of electric power, hasn't occurred today. We're trying to remedy that with a natural gas generator but our guy hasn't gotten back to us. I'm really sorry to have that happen because our Cast In Stone Rule is not to give a second chance on the first try. Learned that lesson the hard way but that's another story. One I may never retell because of the painful memories.
We did go to Sam's Club this afternoon. Ron opened is last bag of potato chips at lunch. It appeared to have rained while we were gone. The humidity is getting higher and higher and no it's not entirely my hot flashes.
Not much going on here. Doing this and that to get ready for the New England/Canada cruise this fall. Think we pretty much have it under control. Ship reserved and paid for, airline tickets purchased, hotel room booked and transportation to and from the airport in IL reserved. Now it's wait and get all the stuff done so we're ready to go.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Sunday, July 24, 2011
"Interesting" weekend.
Actually it wouldn't have been that unusual if the power had stayed on but, alas, it did not.. We started the weekend Friday evening when Ron's brother, John, and his wife, Pat, came down from Brown Deer, WI for the weekend. Headed to the Knights of Columbus fish fry. Yes the one on Cass Street, the only one as far as I'm concerned. All enjoyed plenty of good hot food and Ron and I enjoyed seeing an old friend, Stan Lantka, that we used to work with. After some catching up and some hugs he took his carry out and left and we enjoyed our sit down.
As usual, we never know when to shut up and go to bed. It seems we never run out of things to talk about. Saturday morning and it rains, we need the rain but we also had promised Pat at trip to Oak Brook Center and she'd already been rained out once. It did stop and we took off. I love that mall. I have such good memories from the 60s when my friend, Caryl, and I would go "shopping" and then stop for a salad. It was one of the very first malls in the area and it was, and still is, an out door mall. The landscaping inside is always beautiful and this year they had giant "frogs" painted in different motifs. We did a lot of walking and shopping. I have reason to believe Pat really liked the experience by the number of shopping bags John was caring. She realized why I wanted the guys to stay close. We used and abused them with shopping bags. It was a little warm for me and I had a few problems but a bottle of water and a sit down helped and we managed to hit all the stores we had planned on. There is never enough time to hit them all.
Since it was going to be John's birthday on Sunday he got to pick the type of food he wanted for supper. Pat choose Italian. We don't eat out a lot when we're in IL so we headed to Pappa Joes in New Lenox where we had enjoyed a meal the Saturday before with friends Larry and Judy. We were late enough to get there after the entertainment started and chose to set in that part so we could enjoy it. Unfortunately, Ron and my lasagna was NOT up to the high standards the chicken parmigiana had been the week before. Pat insisted her pizza was fine and she ate it all and John said is lasagna was fine too. We had a nice leisurely meal and enjoyed the band and their excellent renditions of 50s, 60s, 70s, and some Country music.
Well, if we'd all gone to bed when we swore we were going to we probably wouldn't have known about the power outage but, we were still up so we all went out on the front porch and talked and waited for the power to come back on. Didn't take but a couple hours so it wasn't to bad.
Sunday was a sleep in day with more rain to add to the weekend. We didn't loose our power. Our neighbor, Marge, came over after church to say hi and got caught in a down pour so we had a nice chat. We ended up going out for breakfast in the afternoon. We we got back to the house we settled some more issues with our upcoming cruise and divided up some more items to get us closer to being ready to enjoy our cruise. There can't be much more to do and it's only 54 days away.
As usual, we never know when to shut up and go to bed. It seems we never run out of things to talk about. Saturday morning and it rains, we need the rain but we also had promised Pat at trip to Oak Brook Center and she'd already been rained out once. It did stop and we took off. I love that mall. I have such good memories from the 60s when my friend, Caryl, and I would go "shopping" and then stop for a salad. It was one of the very first malls in the area and it was, and still is, an out door mall. The landscaping inside is always beautiful and this year they had giant "frogs" painted in different motifs. We did a lot of walking and shopping. I have reason to believe Pat really liked the experience by the number of shopping bags John was caring. She realized why I wanted the guys to stay close. We used and abused them with shopping bags. It was a little warm for me and I had a few problems but a bottle of water and a sit down helped and we managed to hit all the stores we had planned on. There is never enough time to hit them all.
Since it was going to be John's birthday on Sunday he got to pick the type of food he wanted for supper. Pat choose Italian. We don't eat out a lot when we're in IL so we headed to Pappa Joes in New Lenox where we had enjoyed a meal the Saturday before with friends Larry and Judy. We were late enough to get there after the entertainment started and chose to set in that part so we could enjoy it. Unfortunately, Ron and my lasagna was NOT up to the high standards the chicken parmigiana had been the week before. Pat insisted her pizza was fine and she ate it all and John said is lasagna was fine too. We had a nice leisurely meal and enjoyed the band and their excellent renditions of 50s, 60s, 70s, and some Country music.
Well, if we'd all gone to bed when we swore we were going to we probably wouldn't have known about the power outage but, we were still up so we all went out on the front porch and talked and waited for the power to come back on. Didn't take but a couple hours so it wasn't to bad.
Sunday was a sleep in day with more rain to add to the weekend. We didn't loose our power. Our neighbor, Marge, came over after church to say hi and got caught in a down pour so we had a nice chat. We ended up going out for breakfast in the afternoon. We we got back to the house we settled some more issues with our upcoming cruise and divided up some more items to get us closer to being ready to enjoy our cruise. There can't be much more to do and it's only 54 days away.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Shop Hoppin I-80
Thursday and Friday were very special days. Started out Thursday with email newsletter form Robert's Sewing Center. One of the items was the Shop Hoppin I-80 Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It consisted of picking up a "passport" at one of the nine quilting stores and visiting the other eight during those four days. Ron and I decided to give it a try. Didn't have anything planned so why not? Started out Thursday afternoon at Roberts Sewing Center in Crest Hill. Then back to Lockport and Thimbles and on to Frankfort. We decided the chauffeur deserved to have a passport too so we got them both stamped at the three stores. We didn't purchase anything at those stores but learned a bevy of information regarding the rest of the journey and conveyed some to people for the ones we'd been too. If you haven't been on I-80 thru Joliet, DON'T. Construction is making it a giant parking lot.
Friday morning we slept in but still managed to hit the road about 9 am with a cup of coffee, donuts, lunch and plenty of water and snacks.
First stop was Morris because of a tip we got the day before. Got our stamps and a kit to make a Christmas runner. Next actually get on I-80, activate the GPS and head west to Molene. The trip went fine till we got within a block of the quilt store. Road construction with the lane closed for a few minutes at a time. We did get to Quilt's by Oz and got our passports signed plus a yard of pretty Civil War material. The lady there told us how to get to the next stop, East Molene, by not getting back on the road under construction. Which we used and it worked. Ron fell in love with a quilt that they were raffling off to celebrate something in the Quad cities so he bought chances on it and I got our passport stamped.
Back on the road, Kewanee is the next destination but with a stop at an empty baseball diamond with a shaded picnic bench for lunch. Hard rolls with ham and swiss for you Milwaukee relatives. Kewanee was one of my personal favorites. They had pieces made and set up thrughtout the store with kits next to them so you could purchase the kit or just get the pattern. Got our passports stamped and bought material for Christmas tree napkins, pattern was free. OK, my favorite thing about Kewanee was when we walked in the door. Someone greeted us with "the bathroom is straight back, bottle water, chocolate and coffee is to your right".
Next with Princeton. It was a small shop on the main street and we didn't find anything so we got our passports stamped and our free pattern and left, minus Ron's passport.
Last but definitely not least was Peru. When we couldn't find the quilt shop and stopped to get the phone number off the passport we discovered Ron's was missing. Eight shops and you had to visit all nine to be eligible for the grand prize. Not happy. I called Princeton and they advised me I had left Ron's passport there but they had already called Peru and told them to tell us they had it and would validate it for Peru and send it in from there. Ron called D Quilt and got directions which meant go back where we had been and read the sign to go in back to the quilt shop. As we discovered, the people on this hop were friendly and helpful. By then we'd seen the same groups of people for 3 or 4 times so we were old friends.
I left my completed passport in Peru and bought 6 yards of material on sale. Heading home with one more stop, I-80 exit 90, Ottawa, Cracker Barrel for dinner. We talked about our adventure and both agreed it was a lot of fun and would do it again with another group of shops. Except for people complaining about the giant parking lot thru Joliet, everyone seemed to be having a good time, too. Shops were eager to help you around I-80 for the three out here but we explained we were from the area and knew how to by pass I-80. Maybe next time we can get other people to join us.
Friday morning we slept in but still managed to hit the road about 9 am with a cup of coffee, donuts, lunch and plenty of water and snacks.
First stop was Morris because of a tip we got the day before. Got our stamps and a kit to make a Christmas runner. Next actually get on I-80, activate the GPS and head west to Molene. The trip went fine till we got within a block of the quilt store. Road construction with the lane closed for a few minutes at a time. We did get to Quilt's by Oz and got our passports signed plus a yard of pretty Civil War material. The lady there told us how to get to the next stop, East Molene, by not getting back on the road under construction. Which we used and it worked. Ron fell in love with a quilt that they were raffling off to celebrate something in the Quad cities so he bought chances on it and I got our passport stamped.
Back on the road, Kewanee is the next destination but with a stop at an empty baseball diamond with a shaded picnic bench for lunch. Hard rolls with ham and swiss for you Milwaukee relatives. Kewanee was one of my personal favorites. They had pieces made and set up thrughtout the store with kits next to them so you could purchase the kit or just get the pattern. Got our passports stamped and bought material for Christmas tree napkins, pattern was free. OK, my favorite thing about Kewanee was when we walked in the door. Someone greeted us with "the bathroom is straight back, bottle water, chocolate and coffee is to your right".
Next with Princeton. It was a small shop on the main street and we didn't find anything so we got our passports stamped and our free pattern and left, minus Ron's passport.
Last but definitely not least was Peru. When we couldn't find the quilt shop and stopped to get the phone number off the passport we discovered Ron's was missing. Eight shops and you had to visit all nine to be eligible for the grand prize. Not happy. I called Princeton and they advised me I had left Ron's passport there but they had already called Peru and told them to tell us they had it and would validate it for Peru and send it in from there. Ron called D Quilt and got directions which meant go back where we had been and read the sign to go in back to the quilt shop. As we discovered, the people on this hop were friendly and helpful. By then we'd seen the same groups of people for 3 or 4 times so we were old friends.
I left my completed passport in Peru and bought 6 yards of material on sale. Heading home with one more stop, I-80 exit 90, Ottawa, Cracker Barrel for dinner. We talked about our adventure and both agreed it was a lot of fun and would do it again with another group of shops. Except for people complaining about the giant parking lot thru Joliet, everyone seemed to be having a good time, too. Shops were eager to help you around I-80 for the three out here but we explained we were from the area and knew how to by pass I-80. Maybe next time we can get other people to join us.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Monday Monday
What was it the Carpenter's sang? Rainy Days and Mondays Always Get Me Down Long night followed by a wake up surprise. My morning alarm clock gave me my 8 am kiss but it was still dark out. Darker than it had been at 1:45 am and 4:15 am when I had gotten up. He started pulling curtains open but it was still dark. Time to get up and take a look. With that the sky opened up and a down pour ensued. That show over with, I proceeded into the family room to see how that side of the house looked and lo and behold the ice maker wasn't on.....That's because we didn't have any electricity. Oh well, been there, done that and about to get a generator cause the newness wore off a long time ago. But for today, grin and bear it. Coffee was already made and juice poured so that was a plus. We had six very old and stale donut holes which became breakfast on the front porch. The paper was a bit awkward from a stiff breeze and high humidity but we both got it read and the Trib puzzles done for the day. ComEd has a program where it's all done with automation so reporting the outage was pretty easy but then wait till they called back with an estimate on time to restore. Of course the encouraging remarks from friends telling us that they heard it was going to take days to get service restored.
Off to lunch since we weren't touching any of the refrigerators or the deep freeze. Want to keep everything cold or frozen as long as possible in case those news reports were accurate. Curtains were drawn to keep out the sun and candles were placed around the house in anticipation of an all nighter without electric. According to Ron, a trip to the grocery store would keep us occupied. So, off to Food 4 Less in Crest Hill for four items, two of which we couldn't get because they needed to be refrigerated but that's OK, Food 4 Less was closed because they didn't have electricity either. Traffic lights were out for some of the adventure to the store so we came home a different way. Saw trees down across side streets with saw horses blocking the road and no one working on them. Let me tell you, that gave us a reason to believe it would be days before we got power back. The house was holding the cool air pretty good so we sat outside for awhile so we would appreciate the cooler weather when we went in.
Neighbor across the street came home and started her generator, what a noise, and then came over and asked if we would like to borrow it for an hour or so to plug in our big frig and deep freeze. We kindly refused since we felt they were doing just fine so far. With that Ron stuck his hand inside the front door to turn on the porch lights so we'd know if we did get power and the lights came on. 8 hours with no power wasn't our idea of spending a rainy Monday but we survived. Our hearts did skip a beat when they flickered and went out for a few minutes when we were eating those meatloaf sandwiches we'd been planning on for lunch for supper but it's back on now and we're happy campers.
When my parents bought this place in 1962 they lost their electricity at the first drop of rain and it continued that pattern for quite a few years but then it stopped. Guess it's started up again. Oh yes, the kicker is it's usually just our street, the people in back of us on the next street usually have power and the same with the people in back of the people across the street have power when we don't.
Off to lunch since we weren't touching any of the refrigerators or the deep freeze. Want to keep everything cold or frozen as long as possible in case those news reports were accurate. Curtains were drawn to keep out the sun and candles were placed around the house in anticipation of an all nighter without electric. According to Ron, a trip to the grocery store would keep us occupied. So, off to Food 4 Less in Crest Hill for four items, two of which we couldn't get because they needed to be refrigerated but that's OK, Food 4 Less was closed because they didn't have electricity either. Traffic lights were out for some of the adventure to the store so we came home a different way. Saw trees down across side streets with saw horses blocking the road and no one working on them. Let me tell you, that gave us a reason to believe it would be days before we got power back. The house was holding the cool air pretty good so we sat outside for awhile so we would appreciate the cooler weather when we went in.
Neighbor across the street came home and started her generator, what a noise, and then came over and asked if we would like to borrow it for an hour or so to plug in our big frig and deep freeze. We kindly refused since we felt they were doing just fine so far. With that Ron stuck his hand inside the front door to turn on the porch lights so we'd know if we did get power and the lights came on. 8 hours with no power wasn't our idea of spending a rainy Monday but we survived. Our hearts did skip a beat when they flickered and went out for a few minutes when we were eating those meatloaf sandwiches we'd been planning on for lunch for supper but it's back on now and we're happy campers.
When my parents bought this place in 1962 they lost their electricity at the first drop of rain and it continued that pattern for quite a few years but then it stopped. Guess it's started up again. Oh yes, the kicker is it's usually just our street, the people in back of us on the next street usually have power and the same with the people in back of the people across the street have power when we don't.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Happy Independence/God Bless America
Today should be a day of just the two of us relaxing and enjoying the weather. I fixed a crock pot of sloppy joes yesterday so they're plugged in and cooking. Smelling good already. Since Tara and the kids are back from WVa Bob will be off doing things with them and Betsy and Alan will be staying home since Alan has a bad infection on his leg and combined with the diabetes will be off his feet for a few days. Eric stopped in yesterday afternoon for awhile. It's always nice when he stops by.
I've been after Ron to buy a gun, I know he wants a new one but he keeps saying he doesn't know what he wants. Well, Eric spilled the beans yesterday. Not that I'm going to go buy him one for my birthday but it gives me an idea. I've been know to buy power tools and sheds for my birthday. Aren't I a nice wife?
Friday, July 1, 2011
The Week that Was
It's been a week I hope I never have to go thru again but not as bad as it could have been thanks to my State Farm friend, Steve Ostrowski.
Started out last Friday with a letter from Arizona DOT. It stated that if we didn't have AZ insurance on the Honda within 15 days they would suspend our license plates. Yes we've had insurance on the van since we bought it January 15th. Nothing to do over the week end so I called our agent's office on Monday. The lady whom I spoke to, turned out to be the office manager, refused to do anything to help but send me a "binder". She kept saying that it would prove we had full coverage. I tried to explain to her that AZ doesn't care if we have full coverage, they're only interested in liability coverage. Her answer was "well then it's between you and the State of AZ". Thank goodness I've been involved in the insurance industry and State Farm for a hundred years or so. I didn't want to interrupt my friend, Ozzie, so I sent an email explaining both problems. He answered me that evening with a short note that it was being taken care of.
Tuesday morning dawned with a trip to the beauty shop for a hair cut but when I went to pay with my State Farm Visa it rejected the card. Well I figured it was the beauty shop's problem and paid them and left.
When I got home I picked up my kindle and sat outside reading. Just finished a book and decided to order another one by the same author. Well, Amazon informed my my State Farm Visa wasn't any good.
Straight in the house and up the stairs to my computer, logged into State Farm Bank and found a charge on the Visa bill for Safeway in Chandler, AZ. A quick call to State Farm Bank gave me the answer. They had noticed some questionable charges on our account and upon trying to contact us (they had the house phone number which is no more) with negative results they suspended the account until we contacted them. They took over from there, issued new cards, which we received today and sent out a document for us to verify the fraudulent charges. So far there are three, two to Safeway and one to Home Depot, all from Chandler/Phoenix, AZ area.
Back to the previous problem. After Steve got the answers from AZ, he put me in contact with an agent in Tucson who got a hold of my soon to be former State Farm agent and got the van policy transferred to their office. A letter sent to proper authorities and the hopefully no suspended AZ license plates on the van.
I know the coincidence is rare but I believe it was just that. Thank you State Farm for keeping an eye on our account and taking proper action. Thank you Steve Ostrowski for being a good friend and helping me contact the correct people.
I believe I know who and how the credit card happened but can't prove it. Just a word of advise, if you're in a store that's not busy and all the clerks are helping you at the same time, do not let anyone touch your credit card. Swipe it yourself if you can.
Started out last Friday with a letter from Arizona DOT. It stated that if we didn't have AZ insurance on the Honda within 15 days they would suspend our license plates. Yes we've had insurance on the van since we bought it January 15th. Nothing to do over the week end so I called our agent's office on Monday. The lady whom I spoke to, turned out to be the office manager, refused to do anything to help but send me a "binder". She kept saying that it would prove we had full coverage. I tried to explain to her that AZ doesn't care if we have full coverage, they're only interested in liability coverage. Her answer was "well then it's between you and the State of AZ". Thank goodness I've been involved in the insurance industry and State Farm for a hundred years or so. I didn't want to interrupt my friend, Ozzie, so I sent an email explaining both problems. He answered me that evening with a short note that it was being taken care of.
Tuesday morning dawned with a trip to the beauty shop for a hair cut but when I went to pay with my State Farm Visa it rejected the card. Well I figured it was the beauty shop's problem and paid them and left.
When I got home I picked up my kindle and sat outside reading. Just finished a book and decided to order another one by the same author. Well, Amazon informed my my State Farm Visa wasn't any good.
Straight in the house and up the stairs to my computer, logged into State Farm Bank and found a charge on the Visa bill for Safeway in Chandler, AZ. A quick call to State Farm Bank gave me the answer. They had noticed some questionable charges on our account and upon trying to contact us (they had the house phone number which is no more) with negative results they suspended the account until we contacted them. They took over from there, issued new cards, which we received today and sent out a document for us to verify the fraudulent charges. So far there are three, two to Safeway and one to Home Depot, all from Chandler/Phoenix, AZ area.
Back to the previous problem. After Steve got the answers from AZ, he put me in contact with an agent in Tucson who got a hold of my soon to be former State Farm agent and got the van policy transferred to their office. A letter sent to proper authorities and the hopefully no suspended AZ license plates on the van.
I know the coincidence is rare but I believe it was just that. Thank you State Farm for keeping an eye on our account and taking proper action. Thank you Steve Ostrowski for being a good friend and helping me contact the correct people.
I believe I know who and how the credit card happened but can't prove it. Just a word of advise, if you're in a store that's not busy and all the clerks are helping you at the same time, do not let anyone touch your credit card. Swipe it yourself if you can.
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