BrickFest was a dud.

We’ve been to a BrickFest before in Virginia and it was AMAZING. So we were excited to go again… Except this one was a complete dud compared to that. Super SUPER disappointing.

There were basically NO displays—the previous one had city blocks, automation (think roller coaster), big things, little things, selfie stations…

This one had some giant creations:

and a very small area of smaller creations like this:

but that was about it. Most of it was lame (for older kids) stuff like “make and race a Lego car”

or “create a glow in the dark Lego” (which Owen did to at least do something).

The kids also did one square of a bigger design—which we would never see.

But man did the store and checkout lines take up a ton of space (conservatively 1/4 of the venue):

This was the best part for me—a local artist who did lilacs. I’m going to need that ASAP.

What was even more disappointing is that we were supposed to go with Anna and family—but long story short they got there after us and got stuck in a huge line and then we discovered it sucked so they just gave up and never made it in.

After we got home I decided to look up the last one we went to…and discovered it wasn’t BrickFest, but was BrickFair. UGHHHHH.

So this happened out of nowhere.

Tom randomly found a Facebook marketplace listing for a used GE Profile double oven for a price we could kinda afford…

Picking it up on the 21st.

So out with the 20yo original oven and in with the new! It’s super fancy! But now all our appliances match!

Anna christened it with seven layer bars and white chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies! Tomorrow I’m making Chex mix!

POTR, Day 4

On our way first thing in the morning.
The exchange egg I picked…with the designer.
Inspiration at the wax melting station!
Celtic knot class!

I bought $20 worth of raffle tickets and put them in a variety of things. Imagine my surprise when I got out of class to discover I won this ostrich egg!!

In case you thought I was kidding about wanting to do Pysanky now… I present my purchase — 10 dozen blank eggs! Already fully blown out and cleaned!! They were cheaper than actual eggs (she wanted to get rid of them so put them on sale!) so definitely worth the cost!! I’m actually debating getting more because they don’t go bad!!

(Yes I know there’s not a full 10 dozen here. Some are still being worked on!)

I spent a lot of time at this booth shopping…
And even bought one of her eggs!

SURPRISE! A visit with some family who only lived about 20 minutes away from where we were staying!

Introducing…Olive!

I loved Maggie fiercely and was devastated when we had to put her to sleep earlier this year. I knew we’d get another Boston Terrier eventually, but I wasn’t ready quite so soon (just over two months).

Emotionally I was okay but I was really enjoying having NOTHING to take care of (kids don’t really count as they mostly take care of themselves). Tom wasn’t thinking about that—he just wanted a puppy. But guess who’s going to be home with her ALL DAY EVERY DAY?! (You know if I would have told Tom I was getting him a new daily job he would have said oh hell no, right?!)

That said, I did kind of miss having SOMETHING around the house. And she IS super cute…I’ll give her that. This is the first photo we got of her:

Owen holding Olive’s sister. We actually had to pick from between the two. We picked Olive.
Look at that cute face!
Look at his smile!
Katie’s turn!

We stopped in Normal on the way back and had dinner with Marie and Gabi!

Meeting Anna.

Gummi and candy galore!

We’ve wanted to stop at the Albanese outlet many times but we always had Maggie with us and it was too hot or cold to leave her in the car. So we stopped today! They have our favorite gummi bears!

IT was quite crowded so I didn’t take pics — but here’s one I found online that gives you an idea! This is about half of it! And so much more than gummi bears!!

Our faves might be the Goof Ups Gummi Worms!

Look at me looking all normal!

Today was the kids’ dual birthday pool party and I was happy that I felt good enough to put on a face! (Don’t worry, I didn’t over-exert myself—I literally sat at a picnic table the whole time…but more about the party on the next post!)

  • CCTM Light Medium and Light Powder
  • Champagne Shimmer and Pink Ruby Shimmer ShadowSense on eyes
  • Pink Ruby Shimmer as blush
  • Clove ShadowSense as contour
  • UnderSense Primer and regular black Mascara
  • Glow Gloss

Lake Forest, Day 7—I’m sprung!

I woke up assuming it was discharge day but I had to get the official word. While I waited I took another walk.

And then one of the docs came in to remove my pouch—which I’m just remembering I didn’t tell you about. So I had a little pouch with a line in my abdomen to drain the surgical site. I hadn’t even known I had it until like late into the day after surgery. Anyway, they emptied it a few times and I didn’t think much of it. But last night, one of the nurses came in…and wanted to show me how to drain it in case I went home with it.

WAIT—WHAAAAT?

I might be going home with this thing? Oh hell no. I wanted no part of that. But I diligently watched and tried to accept that I might actually have to do it. Ewwwww.

So back to the doctor coming in to remove it. I was ecstatic and told her she just made my day! I had no idea what was involved in removing it, so I was a little surprised when she just said she was going to pull it out. Yikes. Okay. She said it shouldn’t hurt but it would feel weird. Ooookay. And she was right. And it felt just like you’d imagine it would feel to pull 4″ of plastic tubing from your body. (Which, sidenote, I had no idea it was that long. I hadn’t even thought about it. I mean it makes sense but ewwww.) Then she just put a bandage on it and that was that. She also then gave me the good news that I would be going home for sure today!

12:23p — Anna was on call to come get me because Tom had an interview that morning—so here I am in her car! In real clothes! Feeling sore but in good spirits since I was going home!

Final thoughts? Man was that a crazy experience… I never would have predicted SIX days in the hospital for a gallbladder issue (what should be a very typical and easy thing) but apparently it was as old and cranky as I am! Let’s just hope I don’t need another visit for a very long time. I think nine years (to the date!) between visits is good!

Oh! One thing that surprised me was how much weight I gained from all the IV fluids! I had thought I’d lose weight since I didn’t eat for five of the six days…but they were literally pumping me fill of liquid all day every day. There happened to be a scale in my room and I remembered what I weighed upon admittance…and I had gained like 12 pounds! And all my clothes—even though they were stretchy—felt uncomfortably tight. Yuck. But I knew it would go away on its own (which it did within a week).

1:56p — Ahhhh. I have my dog on me for a nap. I’m good.

2:02p — Three nappers. (I think we let the kids binge on devices to leave us nap in peace.)

I stayed pretty chill the rest of the day and moved slowly, but the pain meds helped quite a bit. I was only allowed to go up the stairs once a day, so that was at bedtime… At which point I finally got to take a shower!

I actually asked Katie to come in the bathroom with me so she could be there in case anything happened (I mean who knows?). I had her help me remove some of the bandages, too, so hopefully she wouldn’t be super freaked out… And also so she could see this really was serious so she would hopefully not be a poop when asking her to do extra things to help out.

The shower felt good but I couldn’t really bend much so everything was slow and measured and I spent most of the time just standing there. I know Katie loves her Band-Aids so I had her get some ready for me so they were unwrapped and ready to go!

And I was stupid excited to do my full skincare regime!!! After a week without most of it, it felt like heaven!

Kitchen table shake up!

Someone on Nextdoor was getting rid of household stuff soAnna grabbed a TV and sound bar…and together we grabbed the kitchen table and chairs—Anna wanted the table and I liked the chairs! So they got our old chairs and we had to do a switcheroo. They also took our old recliner that no longer matches anything in our house.

10 super random things you may not know about me

  1. My ears are uneven so glasses always sit askew.
  2. I have an abnormally large head—like baseball caps never fit large. If I’m taking a photo with Tom I will make him put his head in front of mine.
  3. I love the smell of smoke/campfires so much I will specifically not wash my hair or clothes after a fire.
  4. I hate selling but I love what I do. Which is mostly selling. So I call it sharing what I love.
  5. I have to drink water when eating ice cream.
  6. I still sometimes think “Oh my gosh I have two kids!” They are 8 and 12—you think I’d be way used to the idea by now.
  7. If I’m on time I feel like I’m late. I have to be early and get super anxious if I feel like I’m going to be late.
  8. I knew the night I met Tom that he was the one and we’d get married.
  9. I graduated from college in 3.5 years with no debt.
  10. I have very little sense of direction. I have gotten lost in malls.

Frontera in my own kitchen!

We did a Frontera pickup today from Dwell Social. It’s a bit more prep than just dining at a restaurant, but we didn’t have to drive to Chicago, so it’s a win. This photo is missing most of the main courses but trust me, it was all there.

Short Rib Enchiladas

Six homemade heirloom corn tortillas, each wrapped around braised Creekstone Farms beef short rib, roasted local gold potatoes, tomato-guajillo chile sauce, Samuel’s artisan Jack cheese. Served with black beans and chocolate-pecan pie bars for dessert.

Tacos al Carbon

Wood-grilled Creekstone skirt steak and Gunthorp Farms chicken breast along with everything you need to make fabulous tacos: guacamole, roasted poblano rajas, black beans, classic Gulf-style rice, grilled knob onions, shishito peppers, two salsas and handmade tortillas with heirloom corn from Oaxaca, Mexico. Finish off with Mexican vanilla flan for a sweet ending.

Guacamole and Chips

Mashed Michoacán avocados, local Mighty Vine tomato, serrano chile, cilantro, lime. House-made tortillas chips served with red three chile salsa & green roasted tomatillo salsa.

Queso Fundido

Samuel’s artisanal Jack cheese, garlicky roasted peppers, and homemade chorizo served with heirloom corn tortillas.

BAR SÓTANO CRISPY TLAYUDA (TOSTADA) STARTERS

Six crispy Oaxacan tlayudas (rustic tostadas) with 2 toppings:

  • Avocado Mash (luxurious Michoacan avocado, roasted poblano, pomegranate, fresco cheese).
  • Local Corn Esquites (serrano chile, epazote, chintextle crema, queso fresco).

This is great advice for anyone struggling.

THERE ARE NO RULES. Run the dishwasher twice.

RUN THE DISHWASHER TWICE.

“When I was at one of my lowest (mental) points in life, I couldn’t get out of bed some days. I had no energy or motivation and was barely getting by.

I had therapy once per week, and on this particular week I didn’t have much to ‘bring’ to the session. He asked how my week was and I really had nothing to say.

“What are you struggling with?” he asked.

I gestured around me and said “I dunno man. Life.”

Not satisfied with my answer, he said “No, what exactly are you worried about right now? What feels overwhelming? When you go home after this session, what issue will be staring at you?”

I knew the answer, but it was so ridiculous that I didn’t want to say it.

I wanted to have something more substantial. Something more profound. But I didn’t.

So I told him, “Honestly? The dishes. It’s stupid, I know, but the more I look at them the more I CAN’T do them because I’ll have to scrub them before I put them in the dishwasher, because the dishwasher sucks, and I just can’t stand and scrub the dishes.”

I felt like an idiot even saying it.

What kind of grown-ass woman is undone by a stack of dishes? There are people out there with actual problems, and I’m whining to my therapist about dishes?

But, my therapist nodded in understanding and then said:

“RUN THE DISHWASHER TWICE.”

I began to tell him that you’re not supposed to, but he stopped me.

“Why the hell aren’t you supposed to? If you don’t want to scrub the dishes and your dishwasher sucks, run it twice. Run it three times, who cares?! Rules do not exist, so stop giving yourself rules.”

It blew my mind in a way that I don’t think I can properly express.

That day, I went home and tossed my smelly dishes haphazardly into the dishwasher and ran it three times.

I felt like I had conquered a dragon.

The next day, I took a shower lying down.

A few days later, I folded my laundry and put it wherever the fuck they fit.

There were no longer arbitrary rules I had to follow, and it gave me the freedom to make accomplishments again.

Now that I’m in a healthier place, I rinse off my dishes and put them in the dishwasher properly. I shower standing up. I sort my laundry.

But, at a time when living was a struggle instead of a blessing, I learned an incredibly important lesson:

THERE ARE NO RULES.

RUN THE DISHWASHER TWICE!!!”

Author unknown

More Adventures in Moving, Dinner Edition

More Adventures in Moving, Dinner Edition:

So today we moved the refrigerators around. Our fridge from the house went to the new house garage. The rental fridge came back in from the garage. So this necessitated a bunch of coolers and rearranging of food and trying to decide what to keep here and what to take over to the new house. I have done this MANY times, but today…well.

So it comes time for dinner and I had found a package of what I thought was taco meat. I mean, I even tasted it and my tired brain thought it was taco meat. It was Italian sausage. So then I dug through the freezer and found enchilada mix–perfect for nachos! Except it turned out to be potato soup (I didn’t take off the last label).

Not to be deterred I went back to the freezer and found ANOTHER package of meat that looked like ground beef – but it wasn’t my writing but I couldn’t really make it out… Yeah, more Italian sausage.

I GIVE UP. So we were gonna have Italian sausage nachos.

Except guess what? I had NONE of my other ingredients! No green onions (missing), no mexican cheese (missing), no guacamole (missing), no salsa (missing). WHAAAAAAT?????? I knew I had all that stuff which is why I picked nachos to start with! But by this time we were all starving so it was just meat and cheddar cheese nachos.

And guess what? Miss Picky Eater herself said they were the best ever! WHAAAAAT?!

And then while we were eating…we were discussing all the missing foods and how I swear I didn’t unpack them at the other house…and we discovered there was one cooler that got pushed aside in the other room. So now we have a full fridge.

What shall tomorrow bring?