Hike!

In this case, "Hike" means...."Get movin'!", in sled dog lingo...

The husband is still out of the country, foraging for new business and my kids had cabin fever in a BIG way.  About this time of year I wonder why in God's name did I choose to live in such a cold climate. 

A recent poll listed Chicago as number 10 of the top 20 most miserable places to live in the US.  Lovely distinction, but apt on a weekend such as last.  Cold, slushy and the damp chill just never left me. 

Back to my kids, we needed to get out and about so we headed over to Northerly Island for the park district's "Polar Adventure Days". 

Northerly Island is a lovely park on the lake that was created when Mayor Daley, in a bold midnight gesture, backhoe'd under the runways of Meigs Field.  Needless to say, Corporate Chicago did not think it was funny, however, the park IS nice. 

All along the museum campus the parking equals a mortgage, but the kind park district folks did not charge for parking. 

Once there we enjoyed the creative results of ice sculptures, volunteers holding menacing  birds of prey on their arms and one kind mom who brought snow block kits. 

That was the best since hordes of kids worked with each other to create this cute little igloo. 

How many kids can cram into a tiny igloo, anyway??

My kids were very into the block building process, although the engineering produced a very weak structure....

oh who cares, anyway?  It was fun! 

And about 20 husky sled dogs, were chained to an apparatus around a car.  The owner hooked the lead dog to a sled on wheels.  Once he was attached the rest of the dogs went crazy, like they were saying, "Pick me....Ohhhh....Pleeeease pick me to go, too!!!" 

Otherwise, the sled dogs really could have cared less about the kids, except for this white doggie, who wanted to lick my son.  Poor kid loves dogs and is allergic...

The temperatures hovered around 40 degrees, so the snow was very wet and there were great patches of mud. 

Hopefully that means spring is around the corner! 

So, we survived a Saturday outside, got a little fresh air and lost some of that cooped-in feeling. 

I do have beach on the brain, though....it would be nice to escape. 

Did I mention that my husband got sunburned in Dubai over the weekend?  I smell payback in a BIG way.....

When Doilies & Cocktails Mix...

Yup, Any chance I get to have a creativity throwdown, I'm in....

So, Valentine's Day is in a couple of days, and what greater opportunity for crafting is there?

  In the past I have put together little Valentine card making parties and after about a 10 year hiatus, I thought it was high time to do it again.  Tommy helped me set the mood with red lighting, a roaring fire and lots of candlelight...

  After all, there is a foot of snow on the ground, the flu is racing around the local schools and everyone feels generally crummy.  Time for a little levity! 

 It's amazing what happens when you offer a little champagne, chocolate martinis, cookies and lots of stickers, trims, ribbon and glue sticks.....wonderful things happen!

Prizes were given to the 2 best cards, as judged by my ever objective husband.  Two deserving friends won a gift card from Paper Source and a bottle of Mad Housewives wine.... 

It was great to see what my friends made and I think they were happily surprised by their creative missives of love!

And, they got to take home some of my homemade heart cookies to share with their kids.....or maybe not...

It felt good to float away from the drudgery of February, if only for one night.....

Happy Valentine's Day!

Cabin Fever

It's one of those few Saturdays where after basketball and ballet the whole day stretches without a pressing commitment.  The temperature is in the midteens outside and the cabin fever could run high without a little of Mom's "Entertainment Committee".  And while the piles of toys and my urgings to get them to peel themselves from yet another episode of "Sponge Bob" are more often my pleas, today I actually had a plan up my sleeve. 

Baking. 

The kids love to help stir (and fling flour to every corner of the kitchen), crack eggs (rather smash them as I pick the shells out), lick the batter, scrape out the bowl, and lick some more.  From time to time, I have to take a deep breath and remember that the messiness of kid cooking is balanced by the sweetness of their willingness to cook and watching those little hands stir does warm my heart.  Soon enough they will want to anything but hang with mom, so I try to remember that. Not sure why my silly son has his shirt off!!

So we made banana chocolate chip bread from this awesome cookbook called Babycakes http://www.babycakesnyc.com/  The recipes are gluten, dairy and mostly sugar free.  My son is intolerant of dairy products, so our household is free of milk, butter, cheese, etc.  As a foodie, this is like asking a mechanic to work without wrenches, but I digress.  There is a surprisingly large number of dairy free products out there now, so while a traditional recipe may not end up tasting exactly the same, it gets pretty darn close.  Erin McKenna's recipes are totally geared dairy free, so they come out tasty.  The ingredients can get funky, so you have to invest first in the agave nectar, coconut oil, etc., but once the pantry is set, life is easy.  We mixed all of the strange exotic ingredients and the banana bread was deelish! 

Next were the truffle brownies.  This time we went old school box mix.  Trader Joe's has a fabulous brownie mix that has no dairy.  We switch out the melted butter for margarine and all was well and bowl lickin' good!  As I write this, it is now Sunday.  Tonight will be braised short ribs, mashed potatoes, some green veggie and rolls.  The fun part will be what to make for dessert.......

Dreaming in Rick Rack...

As I shiver through January, knowing darn well the snow and bitter cold will last until mid April, I am fine with that.
There is plenty of wood for the fireplace, my pantry is well stocked and I have so many creative projects in mind.

Gone are the holiday obligations, lists, deadlines, shipping dates and endless sale emails from desperate retailers. Now I can really sit down to the sewing machine after the kids are put to bed and make spring skirts. I will now have the time to make some little dresses and make patterns for yet more.

I have more time to cook, too. Oh man, yesterday I made these awesome meatballs and sauce.

Click Here

You make the sauce from scratch and I really needed a food mill or tomato processor thing. Instead I mashed them through a colander. Lots of work, but so dang tasty. We had spaghetti and meatballs again for dinner tonight...mmmmm!!

I did a little shopping for accessories to spice up the old nest, too. Sometimes you just need to shake things up a bit and it felt good to have something new among all the old, beaten up hand-me-downs I call my home.

With Valentine's Day a month away I decided to resurrect my annual Valentine's Day Card making party. A few friends come over for dinner, drinks, creation of cards, more drinks, well you get the picture. So much fun to see what happens. More on that next month...

So, the creative juices are flowing and the quiet peace of the snow and cold have slowed things down.

I'm liking it....

Ta Ta, 2009!

For those of you who haven't heard from us much this year, may I provide a brief explanation, describing 2009 at the Herlihy's....

We do not care for those annual epistles that bestow unreal glory of perfect, unimagineable lives...."Timmy was just accepted to Harvard at the mere age of 10, while little Annie will be joining the Peace Corps after her run as a Rockette for Preschoolers...she speaks eight languages.

Barf...

Our year, however, was the exact opposite. In fact it resembled a country western song. We would venture to say, the song "Gloom, Dispair & Agony on Me", of Hee Haw fame Click here to see what I mean, best describes what occurred in our lives this year. So much so, that we were compelled to share our tale of woe with you.

Actually, it’s pretty funny….

Let's recount the year, shall we?

September 2008: Construction commences to dig a basement under our 120 year old home.

October 2008: Construction continues slowly; we worry that 4 guys and a wheelbarrow do not appear to be working on the project in a professional manner.

Garage is now full of dirt. Huge hole/doorway cut into back wall. Can no longer park in garage.

November 2008: We hear a thunderous noise at 2 am. Look out window to find sidewalk has
collapsed between our home and the neighbors.

Joy.

January 2009: We come home from Christmas vacation to find that there is an 8' deep trench spanning the entire length of our house, between us and the neighbors, with no support of the neighbor's home.

Tom freaks out.

January 9, 2009: While Tom is at General Contractor's office, pleading with them to fortify the neighbor's house, he gets a frantic call to evacuate both buildings. Neighbor's foundation slides out from under their house.

The same week I started a new job, all the while, Tom is starting his own company.

Click here for Heat Armor's website/

Oh, and Jack changed schools that week and was the new kid in school.

Jan/Feb: All occupants of both buildings are forced to live in hotels for 40 days in the coldest, most numbing weather in ages. Imagine being in one hotel room with two small children for that long. Cue the vodka….lots of it.

Mid Feb: We say screw it and move back in the house even though we were told not to.
Dayglo orange sticker graces front door..”STOP WORK ORDER”. Might as well say “VERMIN LIVE HERE.” (which they do, under the house)




Plywood at front of house to secure crevasse between the two houses.




Heavy rains causes erosion in front and back of house. My attempts at landscaping get sucked under and the redbud tree stretches one sad branch up and out as a last gasp under the house.

March 2009: Insurance denies claim, citing “Ground Movement”. Doesn’t that mean earthquakes and landslides????

Neighbor sues us to recoup his costs. Attorneys get to work and start billing. Construction ceases.



April 2009: Tom has 2 car accidents in one day. No construction happening...


Receive letter from city stating our house must be torn down......hmmmm that might be a good idea!!



May 2009: My car bottoms out in an unmarked construction area, costing $2,000.00 Still no construction.



June 2009: A U Haul hits my parked car. Drivers have no insurance.


That’s right, the big hole under and between our houses still exists.


My once lovingly landscaped backyard is full of weeds, construction debris and anything remotely dangerous to children.



July 2009: Summer is here and our house just needs a couch in front to be redneck complete. STOP WORK ORDER SIGN has faded to yellow.



City wants our remodeling plans from 1984 to reissue permit. We bought the house 2002….What the hell??



August 2009: City wants us to remove three bricks from our sidewalk as they intersect the imaginary line with city property OR pay an annual trespassing fee….What the @#*&?




September 2009: Remember the job I started in Jan? The one where I left a great job of 10 years to take? Laid off…..Still no construction, no permit. Husband working constantly to get that first sale…



October 2009: Not sure what is scarier, the head on a stick decoration for Halloween in our front yard or our FRONT YARD?! No construction, no permit.


I get “hired” to be the office secretary at Tom’s factory. Former secretary jailed. (don’t ask)


My parked car gets hit AGAIN.


Tom’s car window bashed in by vandals.


November 2009: Work resumes! Promises are made that this nightmare project may end soon. No permit yet, however.




Tom heads to Bangkok, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and London for 16 day sales trip.




So now it is December and we are 11/12 done with this crappy year. We would like 2009 to have an American ending, with the home project done, all negligent parties found liable, to secure a big sale for Heat Armor and for our devastated finances to be made whole. I don’t see that happening in the next 30 days, however, we are on our way.




And we have much to be grateful for. No one (knock on wood) we know or love has been ill, our kids have had a great year in school, I started my own children's clothing line named Mac & Fitz Check out my store on Etsy and the dog didn’t die (oh, right…we don’t have a dog!!!)



We hope your 2009 was a good sight better than ours and don’t look for an epistle next year.

Love, The Herlihy’s