Sunday, July 31, 2005

Sunday Night Decompression

We just got back from Michelle's bridal shower a little while ago. It's kind of overwhelming for me to be around large groups of people that are not part of my usual circle. To be honest, I don't find myself that interesting so I don't really know how to make small talk with people unless it's about my kids, and then I start to feel like it's the only thing I ever talk about. At functions like these I usually end up talking to somebody's grandma because I have the girls with me and they always attract the grandmas since they're just so gosh darn adorable. I put them in their matching dresses today so they were walking "ooh" and "ahh" magnets. Overall though, it was a nice party and I'm always happy to go to bridal showers because I'm pretty gung-ho for people getting married in general. Plus, I'm super psyched to be in the wedding in a few weeks. Bring on the sanctity!

I'm feeling pretty wiped this evening. Jason and I were up late last night installing some window treatments in the basement and dismantling one of our old computer desks. If I wasn't so tired I would jump up and give three cheers for organizaton. Well I'm off to have dinner, watch Six Feet Under, spend some time drooling over photos of this house and then sob over the subsequent lofty price tag. Curse you inflated housing market!

Friday, July 29, 2005

Casual Observation

I was buying white t-shirts for Jason at Target yesterday and as I looked around me I noticed that every single shopper in the men's section was female. Do men never have to buy their own underwear and socks? Do these things just show up magically in the dresser drawer at home and they never question it?

Also, while shopping for a bridal shower gift at Kohl's it was brought to my attention that Hilary Duff has apparently exploded all over their stores. Oh, the humanity!

What Exactly Is Patriotism Again?

I just learned this morning that there was an addendum attached to the Patriot Act that will protect pharmaceutical companies from being sued by parents of autistic children should it be proven conclusively that there is a link between autism and vaccinations. Apparently, vaccines used to contain a drug called Thimerasol (a form of mercury) that may or may not have caused autism in children. They stopped manufacturing vaccines with Thimerasol in 2000 and so far it is inconclusive whether or not the Thimerasol caused any harm. But why, if this link is proven to be true, should the companies who manufactured the vaccines be protected by law? Also, why on earth would something like this be included in a bill about national security? Grrrr. I don't know all the details surrounding this but now I have something new to research. For the time being I'm sticking with "Grrrrr."



Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Fixer Upper

I had an eye exam on Monday night and ordered my batch of disposable contacts for the next year. Don't even get me started on how much it costs to keep me from walking around completely blind. It's almost as bad as taking care of my rotten teeth. Speaking of which, I've had four dentist appointments this summer and I still haven't had a teeth cleaning yet. That's FOUR occasions of having my face drilled. Me and my dentist are old friends now.

You may remember a few months ago when I talked about having a hole in my tooth. Well when I went to have it looked at it turns out I had lost a filling. Then, after having my entire mouth x-rayed it was brought to my attention that in addition to the broken filling, I also had four other cavities. PLUS, it was highly recommended that I have two other fillings replaced. What a joy. Luckily, I just finished taking care of all of them last week. However, my dentist also wants to replace a crown I have at some point because apparently I used to go to the crappiest dentist in the midwest. On the bright side, at least we have really good insurance now and it didn't completley break us. I remember a few years ago when I had a root canal and a crown it cost me NINE HUNDRED DOLLARS. And the guy only took cash. I swear I did not go to a ghetto dentist. It was in Schaumburg and he was the closest dentist on my insurance providers list. Yep, I had insurance and it still cost me nine hundred bucks. And now it needs to be replaced.

Anyway, I just wanted to say that I'm feeling good (if not broke) now that I have my teeth and eyes in check.

Completely unrelated, I also wanted to say how disappointed I am in Jon Stewart for going so easy on Senator Rick Santorum on the Daily Show the other day. I tuned in looking for a smackdown and Jon seemed so timid about debating that Santorum almost came off looking like a reasonable person- which is quite an amazing feat if you ask me. Oh, Jon! Why hast thou forsaken me? (Okay, okay, I know you wanted to play nice and it is a comedy show, but I would have enjoyed at least one little jab.)

Monday, July 25, 2005

Movin' On Up?

Over the weekend, Jason and I once again revisited the idea of possibly selling our townhouse and looking for a "real" house here in Bartlett. We're looking at buying something closer to the downtown area where the houses are older, but have a bit more character than the litte boxes on the hillside over by us. (Ok, they are more like GIGANTIC boxes on the hillside but after a while they all start to look the same to me.) Anyway, we got into this conversation because we only have a 5-year mortgage on our condo, and I mentioned to him that we should probably refinance to a 30 year one before the rates go back up. He then said if we are going to get a 30 year mortgage, why not get one on a house that we want to stay in for a longer period of time?

Me= WHEEEEE!

I really like where I live right now. On the inside, at least. But I've always wanted to have a house that is not connected to someone else. A house with a private back yard and maybe a deck or patio for parties. Plus, an extra bedroom and a separate formal living/dining area would be really cool. I also think it would be fun to live within walking/biking distance of the library, community center and train station. We're going to have to pay more for it of course, but if we crunch the numbers and it looks do-able I will be insanely excited. Luckily, we are most likely going to come away with a decent profit from the place we're in now so we should have a hefty down payment on a new home.

Which brings me to my question: How does one deal with the down payment for their new house when they need to sell the place they already have in order to get it? Do we sell our townhouse and then live in an apartment for a while? (This is scary because I would be afraid of not being able to find a new place after saying goodbye my already good one.) Or do we find a house we like and say to the owners, 'Hey, could you put this on hold for us while we sell our old place?' How does it work? I've never done this before so I have no idea. I don't really know who I'm asking either. I'm basically just getting all my thoughts out about the situation. I need to do some more research.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Me, February 1979

1979Tracey.jpg

Rockin' out on the blue linoleum.

Monday, July 18, 2005

FINISHED!

I got my Harry Potter book in the mail on Saturday at 1:30 and proceeded to have a 9-hour reading session until I passed out exhausted on my bed. I was so engrossed in the book that I couldn't be bothered to move to cook anything for myself so I ended up eating an box of Wheat Thins with red pepper hummus, a Wonka chocolate bar and an entire pitcher of iced tea. Jason was so nice to take the girls to visit his parents for the day so I had the whole house to myself while I immersed myself in my reading. I finished the book on Sunday around noon and I'm pretty close to saying that it was my favorite Potter book thus far- with Book #5 running a close second. When I got to around page 600 (where there is a major shocking development in the story), I actually yelled out loud because I could not contain myself. Now I'm absolutely bursting with excitement because i want to talk to somebody about what happened in the book but Jason hasn't read it yet so I feel like I'm going to explode. I actually went looking for some Harry Potter message boards online so I could at least read what other people were saying about the latest story and what their specualtons are for the final book. Now I just have to wait probably TWO YEARS to read how the whole series will end. Gah!

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Before I Forget

I would like to thank Billy for hooking me up with my new iPod!

ipod.jpg
I like my pink leather case too.

It seems that I am becoming more like Jason with every gadget I acquire. See! I even took a picture of my new toy! And he used to be the only one in the house with a taste for expensive computer-y doodads. Oh he will rue the day he decided to introduce me to the wonders of Apple...

Hey! I just noticed my iPod is color coordinated with my webpage! And I remember a day when I preferred to dress in black and hated the color pink.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Primed and Ready for Consumption

1) I finished re-reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
2) I watched all three of the Harry Potter movies (with Juliana, of course.)
3) I have my copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on pre-order from Amazon.com, GUARANTEED to be delivered on it's release date this Saturday.

I'm sure since I will be waiting by the mailbox like a puppy dog that the mailman won't swing by my place until around 5pm or some other ungodly mail-delivering hour. I'm almost wishing I didn't have it shipped so I could be at the Barnes and Noble when it opens in the morning or better yet, be there at midnight with a throng of other Potter-Maniacs. I don't have a wizard robe though.

Oh yeah, I also get to take Juliana to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on Friday. Good times!

The Cloud Has Lifted

Thank goodness we were all feeling better by the time Monday came around so we didn't have to cancel our trip to the Milwaukee Zoo with Steph, Greg and Maddie. Saturday and Sunday, however? I reeealy could have done without. Saturday especially. What's amusing though is how long it took me to realize that I ACTUALLY HAD the flu. You see, on Friday night I had a couple of beers after dinner while Jason and I were sitting on the back porch (with our laptops, naturally.) So when I woke up with a tummy-ache early on Saturday morning--after first being genuinely surprised since that never happens to me--I was quite mad at myself. Then as the morning wore on and I couldn't snap out of my funk, and my body started to feel all achey, I got REALLY mad at myself since Jason had to take over watching the girls for the day all by himself as my lazy bum laid on the couch. I felt awful but could barely stand to be vertical since I was so very nauseous. So I spent the day feeling like a jerk because I thought I had the beer-flu over three Leinenkugels (which sounds quite ridiculous at first but there is another Gessner female who shall reamain nameless that is infamous for being laid up on the couch the morning after having a solitary alcohol-laden beverage. So, stranger things have happened.)

Then, at around 4:30pm Juliana said that her stomach hurt and proceeded to throw up. And I know this sounds horrible but as bad as I felt for her, for a brief second in the back of my mind I thought: "OH MY GOSH! I REALLY AM LEGITIMATELY SICK!"

This lasted about ten seconds until I realized that not only did I feel awful physically, but I also had a tiny person who felt as awful as I did- if not worse. Seeing one of my girls sick and being unable to do anything about it makes my heart break. I would have been thrilled to be twice as sick in order for her to stop moaning "Ooooooooh Moooooommmmy! My tummy HUUUUUURTS!"

Anyway, I probably don't need to add any more details because you get the picture. By Sunday afternoon we were both feeling much better, although I was completely exhausted. We spent the afternoon crashed out on my bed watching The Incredibles for about the tenth time (and it's STILL funny EVERY time I see it.)

Now things are back on their usual track. My house and all it's inhabitants have been scrubbed down and sanitized. As I mentioned at the top of the post we made it to the zoo yesterday and had a blast. It was great to get some fresh air away from all the germies. Plus, every day is more fun when there are camel rides involved.

Sunday, July 10, 2005

Lose Weight and Feel Great* in One Weekend on the All Vomit Diet!

Boy do I feel wrecked. I've spent the last thirty hours or so in a haze of yuckiness that I'm just starting to pull myself out of. Oh yeah, and Juliana caught it too. Have you ever tried to take care of a puking child while fighting the urge to spew chunks everywhere yourself?

More on everything later. Right now, I'm off to put some real food in my body and de-germify my house.

*Results may vary. Most experience feeling like total poo.

Friday, July 8, 2005

Feh.

Well, I WAS worried about the fact that Jason rides the train into downtown Chicago every work day, but then Mayor Daley got on the television and assured me that I had absolutely nothing to fear and that everything was under control.

I'm being sarcastic because it's really the only thing I can do. I've been worried ever since 9/11 that something would happen on the trains here because I see how completely easy it would be for someone to just walk on the Metra or CTA with a bomb. I realize that something like what happened in London is eventually going to happen here in the states and there's nothing anybody can do about it. I just have to hope that when it does happen that nobody I love is anywhere near it.

I know the mayor just doesn't want to people to panic but I still think it's crazy that I should believe just because there are some extra police officers patrolling the downtown train stops that we all are perfectly safe. You'd have to search each and every person who gets on every bus or train in the city AND the suburbs to prevent that and there is NO WAY anybody could ever expect that to happen.

It such a strange and helpless feeling when you know you're at risk and that bad things are most likely going to happen but you have to put it out of your mind and go about your daily life anyway.

Tuesday, July 5, 2005

My Love Affair With Dyson Continues

I have been known to rave to everyone who will listen about the wonders of my Dyson Vacuum Cleaner. It is one of the greatest household inventions I can think of. It works like an impossible dream, it's super slick looking, and comes a posse of divine customer service agents ready to assist me with all my vacuuming needs. You'd be surprised at how many people there are out there who feel the same way I do about this miraculous inanimate object. And those who do not own the Dyson yet, do covet it.

My Dyson has been acting sick as of late. When I use the mighty attachment to clean the mounds of cat fur off of my couches it has been making a sick, sad noise. I took the thing apart, inspecting for any blockage and upon finding none, I came to the conclusion that there must be a tear in the flexible accordion-like hose. I remembered how last year when I had problems with the cannister staying closed I called customer service and discovered that they were oh-so-happy to send me an entire new cannister, complete with a brand spanking new Root Cyclone thing-a-ma-jig FREE OF CHARGE. (And to top it all off they didn't even care that I had bought the thing second-hand off Ebay for HALF THE PRICE to begin with.)

Anyway, I remembered this and decided to call the friendly 1-866-MY-DYSON number again and told them my latest story.

And my new attachement hose should be arriving in 3-5 business days via UPS.

WHEE!

See? You may have thought I didn't like big businesses but I have no problem being a walking advertisement for companies I love with my heart and soul. Such as:

Dyson
Sharper Image
TIVO
Costco
Target
XM Satellite
Apple

Sunday, July 3, 2005

Chillin' Out

blizzard1979.jpg

Me and my mom just after the blizzard of 1979.

I'm scanning in a lot of old family photos today. Two things come to mind when I look at this picture:

1) CHECK OUT THAT YELLOW DOOR! Our house was so cool.

2) I wish I was hanging out with my mom today instead of just scanning photos of her. Can't really do anything about that though.

Well, back to work! I should be posting more stuff like this in the next few days.

Friday, July 1, 2005