Guess I should have been paying attention . . .

Today I just *had* to make a phone call. Had to. You know those moments when you think, "I HAVE to call someone"? So I did and while I should have been putting N down for a nap, I was dialing my friend Leanne. After sharing the story I just *had* to share, we found several other things we needed to chat about and while this was all going on, my children are continuing to hang out in the family room where P is playing a video game and N is watching. I BELIEVE that's what's happening. I am so wrong.

During my phone call, I'm wandering back and forth between my living room and dining room, periodically peeking at my children. At one point, N starts to signal me that he's doing something he shouldn't, a signal I MISS COMPLETELY. He's ordering me to, "Go away!" which is usually N-speak for "I'm pooping." Despite the quick-change-in-the-open-back-of-the-SUV-in-the-freezing-cold today when he announced he'd pooped *after* we'd reached the parking lot and couldn't easily go back into the building we'd just left, I mistakenly believe that "Go away, Mama" isn't a not-so-subtle hint to come running and find out what crisis I could have avoided had I been more attentive. Nope, I keep chatting with my friend.

Until eventually, I wander a little closer and N informs me happily, "I made a mess." Um, yeah. If by *mess*, he means one of those moments when you're just not sure where to start or what to do because the mess has been created by something harder to clean up than red wine on white carpet?

Try BUTT CREAM. Well, OK, A&D Ointment. Which in our house actually has a grosser name because we never used it for diaper rash but I'm not even going there. It's basically BUTT CREAM and it's not only sprayed willy-nilly on my family room carpet, it's ALL OVER HIS FACE. Needless to say, my phone conversation was over.

And actually, A&D on the face, not so hard. Wipe off the excess and know that he won't get diaper rash on these cheeks. And look at that happy grin! The carpet, well, it's seen better days and I'm sure the A&D I missed will start attracting more dirt and continue the cheetah-spot effect in that area. I'm figuring some day we'll have to get it professionally cleaned but during toddlerhood just seems so pointless.

I love homeschooling

There's an awful lot that I love about homeschooling my kids. But this morning, I was downstairs and happened to see my neighbor's little girl come outside, all dressed for school. Neither of my kids were downstairs yet; P wasn't even out of bed. If he was in school, he would be taking the same bus that our neighbor takes so still being in bed wouldn't be an option. What a treat to not have to rush my kid out of bed, through breakfast, and out the door.

And our plan for the morning was to go get donuts. We have such freedom to make those kinds of plans - spur of the moment or otherwise.

Of course, our plan was also to go to Krispy Kreme which failed miserably since apparently Krispy Kreme is no longer operational here. We got close this morning and realized that the windows were papered over and the lights were off. Ack. Quick change of plans took us to Starbucks instead where glazed donuts were consumed with great joy alongside mocha creme frappucinos.

I love homeschooling.

I do not use the term b*tch lightly

And perhaps by tomorrow, I won't feel quite so strongly about the grade-A bee-ah-tch I crossed paths with today.

But I have sortof a philosophy on kids' behavior in public. If I wouldn't allow my child to do it to someone else, then it's unacceptable for someone to do it to my child (hitting, spitting on, throwing things at, etc.). And typically I just move on but today was different. And apparently I don't know the rules . . .

We went to the Dupage County Fair today, because I love it. Actually so does P. Ridiculous amounts of money are spent there (and we don't even ride the rides) but there are so many things we like that I guess it's worth it.

P's favorite place is a Hamman Farms-sponsored 'booth' on grains raised in Illinois. It consists basically of three large tractor tires on their sides, each filled with a grain (corn, soybeans, and wheat). The kids can get in and play with the grains, reminiscent of a sandbox.

On one of our many stops there today (can't just go there once), it was PACKED with little kids from what turned out to be two families there together. They were all barefoot (my kids wear their shoes, I think it's foul to go barefoot in a place where who-knows-who-else has been barefoot and left behind heaven-only-knows-what?) and the girls starting demanding that N take his shoes off. First, I ignored them and when they got really obnoxious, I said, "No, he doesn't have to take his shoes off." Well, then I got, "YES, HE DOES!" and lots of complaining about his feet hitting theirs. So not bothered by that. They want to protect their little piggies, they can wear their shoes. There are no signs saying kids have to take off their shoes and again, it's a FAIR. It's not like someone's *sanitizing* this stuff. Eeeewwww.

Then I realize one of their little boys is throwing handfuls of corn at P, who is asking very politely for the kid to stop. That's not working and none of the three parents (this child actually had both mommy and daddy there, I later learned) with the group are saying squat. So I stepped up and said, "Hey, let's stop throwing corn."

The child climbs out of the corn wheel, into the soybean wheel, and starts picking up handfuls of beans and dropping them on N's head. Who isn't too thrilled. So I step over and say, "Excuse me, does this child belong to you? He's dropping soybeans on my kid . . ." Before I can actually finish saying it, B*tch Mom gives me the biggest, fakest smile, and says (imagine the sarcasm here, she was oozing it), "Oh, yeah, that's really awful!" Huh?

So (Queen of the Comebacks I am not) I went on to tell her that he'd also been throwing corn and I didn't think that was OK, and she continues in her drippy, sweet-as-honey, sarcastic voice, "Well, I'll beat him when I get home!"

The only thing I could come out with (thankfully stammer free) was a sarcastic, "Well, thank you for handling this in such a mature, adult fashion."

There was actually a slightly longer exchange than that because at one point, I said that I don't let my kids do it and I thought perhaps she'd like to know and got a snotty turn in response. She walked off with the parent of the other kids and left her husband behind putting shoes on somebody and D*MN was I tempted to ask, "Is that your wife? You actually put up with her?" but I just couldn't do it.

I did think later that I probably should have responded (when she first said, "Oh, that's just awful!"), "Yeah, I guess you're right; truly awful would be my children growing up to be like you."

Small town Aurora

I grew up *near* a small town, not even actually *in* the town so I know what a really small town is like. Aurora is decidedly not that. It is the second-largest city in the state of Illinois (which sounds more impressive than it is, I think) and has a definite city personality.

But I have to say that we put on one very small town 4th of July Parade. This is the second year our family has attended - minus the spousal unit this year - and it's just not a big city event. Which makes it more appealing to me for sure.

First of all, the parade is supposed to start at 10 AM. We arrive at 9:15 to secure our spot - which may sound late to folks from say, Arlington Heights, who have been advised to stop reserving their places days in advance and asked to voluntarily wait until 7 PM the night before to stake a curbside claim. In the case of Aurora, we get downtown at 9:15 and I really did think this - "Do we have the right day?" There are huge stretches of street that look like any other normal weekend morning (because everything is closed) and an intersection that I'm pretty sure the parade is supposed to go through isn't even blocked off yet. I am 99.9% sure I have the right day so after verifying the right location via cell with folks we are meeting up with, we put down our blanket and chairs and wait for almost 40 minutes for them to block the intersection for the parade that's allegedly going to start in 5 minutes. Eventually the cars stop flowing so apparently they cut access at the other end. It's just about 10 by this point.

Shortly after 10, a bicycle cop casually rides by. Boys with our group are playing the street, my youngest is trying to join them (and being blocked by me). And here comes a golf cart whizzing around the corner telling the kids to get off the street, here comes the parade.

I suppose most people expect parades to have lots of floats and bands and Shriners in little cars. We get lots of politicians (the mayor went around twice, once as mayor in a carriage and once on foot as candidate for mayor), some church groups, some local businesses (Geek Squad actually had the largest presence in the parade with something like 15 or 16 vehicles - they just kept coming, it was pretty funny), a few Cub Scout packs, and of course, the police and fire trucks. I wish there were more fire trucks.

Some special highlights for us lucky Aurorans -
1. A fire truck from the Aurora Fire Museum. Such a cool place, located about a block from the parade route in the city's first fire station.
2. Some Revolutionary War reenactors who fired their weapons RIGHT IN FRONT OF US. My eldest and my mother were ecstatic. I'm glad I had the presence of mind to cover N's ears.
3. Lots of people handing out all sorts of advertisements - for community theater productions, candidates for office, and churches primarily. The most worthy that we got was for Honor Flight Chicago, an organization that flies veterans, especially WWII veterans, to their memorial in DC, at no cost to the veteran. They've taken two flights from Aurora and have two more scheduled. Very cool stuff. Some of the veterans themselves were in the parade.

There were only two (maybe three?) marching bands and one is a summer band camp. The best was probably West Aurora High School.

One decidedly big city feature of our parade is that the horses (what parade is complete without horses?) are followed by a streetsweeper. Both groups got their own streetsweeper. I'm guessing most small towns have a slightly more manual scooper method for horse-doody clean-up. Us big city folks pull out the big guns.

And the most nagging question for me - who decided that the only way to distribute candy is to fling it on the ground? Everyone who gave out candy did that - threw it, on the ground, at the curb. I guess they don't want to hurt anyone but apparently the streetsweepers are resting before the parade instead of warming up by cleaning the parade route because the street near us was just GROTTY. Yuck, yuck, yuck. My pale green shoes came home black and I had to keep stopping N from picking cigarette butts out of the street. So flinging EDIBLES on the dirty nasty street was, frankly, just gross. I did let my kids eat most of it anyway, though. What kind of mom would I be if I didn't?

More Y&G randomness, now at the zoo

Apparently it's my year to just run into people from Youth & Government. Now I'm looking at everyone at Target and in front of me at the grocery store and wondering if they're from Y&G and I somehow don't remember them.

Last Tuesday, with the spousal unit still out of the country (I really need to post about that but it seems like it will take a really long time and I haven't had a really long time to sit down at the computer for a while), I rounded up some free passes and took the boys to Brookfield Zoo. I figured the Stingray Bay exhibit would be a hit with stingray-fascinated N and P always loves the zoo. I apparently made a good choice because N has been asking almost every day since, "We go to zoo today?"

Anyway, we did the stingrays first and that was really cool - one of them totally splashed Bugaboo and I in the face and you really can just lean down and touch them. Totally neat. We wanted to go to the penguins next but I got completely confused and we walked the wrong way and ended up at the dolphins - also a big hit but not the right way.

Course corrected, we were wandering past the new Ibex Island now that they've torn down the old one and moved the ibex to a new home, and as we are walking up to the fence to see what we can see, I realize I'm walking right towards Mike B., advisor from Naperville Central High School. Who also happens to be Assistant Camp Leader Josh's advisor and a sortof co-advisor for Dan-the-Full-Figured-Man. So there's kindof a theme in who I'm running into and it's kindof freaky. Mike's eyes popped out of his head when I told him I'd run into both Josh and Dan the week before at the Arboretum (side note - Josh's eyes popped out of *his* head when I told him on Friday Dan worked at the membership desk, he had no idea). It's definitely strange to see Y&G folks outside of Y&G events but strangely reassuring, too.

So now I'm thinking about future field trips (Centennial Beach in Naperville is coming up next week) and wondering who I might run into there. Eww, that's not a place I want to run into Y&G folks. None of them need to see me in my swimsuit, and vice versa.

Youth & Government randomness

Despite the fact that I live near about 10 high schools that participate in Youth & Government, I don't frequently bump into students that I know (or even people who have heard of the program). But this week was quite the exception to that rule.

Monday, I took P to the first day of his science camp at the Arboretum. While I was dropping him off, his camp leader told him he could put his lunch box in a bin next to the assistant camp leader, Josh. Assistant Camp Leader Josh turns out to be a Josh that I know, personal page to the governor two years ago, advisor to the governor this year, and a student who told me more than once this year that he’s going to run for governor this fall. Random. What are the odds, right?

Then on Tuesday, after I picked P up from camp, we went to the Children’s Garden to hang out; afterwards, we cut through the visitor’s center on the way to the car to enjoy the A/C since it was toasty out in the sun. Walking by the membership desk, I glanced at the person behind it and it is none other than the current Lt. Governor Dan, the full-figured man. Having floored Josh the day before by remembering his name, I was really hoping I could shock Dan by pulling one of his campaign pens out of my purse but alas, I failed (I have a couple of them at home). Probably just as well since I realized later he might have thought that was totally creepy.

We stopped to chat and he said he didn’t realize I lived in the area – I guess I remember what that’s like – the adults at Y&G are like your teachers in grade school who must live at the school and have no life other than school because they are your teacher and you can only identify them as such.

Completely random, though. I have to wonder how many other Y&G connections there are at the Arboretum and how to make use of that.

Not our best week

The last week has been completely crazy. A week ago this past Thursday, we got a call that the roofing contractor was going to start the job on Monday. P was already scheduled to start science camp at the Morton Arboretum that day - meaning we had to be out of the house by 8:15 or so to get to the Arboretum by 9. If you know my kids, you know that 9 is about breakfast time and sometimes it's wake-up time so expecting me to be 40 minutes *away* from my house at 9 is quite a feat.

The spousal unit was already planning to stay home with N on Monday morning so I could take P by myself without the craziness of the 2yo who wants Big Bro around all the time. It worked out well because he also wanted to be there when the roofers started. So he worked from home on Monday. But the noise level was unbelievable - I wouldn't have thought that removing a roof would be louder than installing a new one but it was! Ridiculously loud - Monday nap, shot by the noise.

Tuesday, the noise level was better and N was just wiped. Spousal unit was already working from home again because the roofers were almost done and he figured they would want to be paid; plus he wanted to make sure everything was finished up correctly. So we actually put N down for a nap on Tuesday and P and I spent an hour or so at the Children's Garden after I picked him up. We also discovered the hedge garden, something we've never wandered over to before - wow, it's beautiful. I imagine I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I was wearing bug spray. Even standing next to P who had redoused himself with spray at least once and therefore REEKED of the stuff wasn't quite enough.

By Wednesday, I'm sort of getting used to the 9AM drop-off. Wednesday then turned into the day where everything that I have to do is just a *little* bit harder or more frustrating; hence, the whole day was a train wreck. For starters, we left right on time but it was raining. Folks here forget how to drive in the rain so any rainy day starts with idiots blundering around and traffic being stinky. I try to bypass the regular route and choose other roads that might be faster - except every time I turn onto a new road, a very large slow truck pulls out in front of me. Not joking - every single turn, a brand new large very slow semi-of-some-sort pulls in front of me. D*mn. And yes, by this time, I'm pretty much saying it out loud and apologizing to my kids.

We're getting close to the Arboretum and I'm watching the clock and thinking, hey, we might actually make it when traffic STOPPED. Completely. It took me ten minutse to go about 1/4 of a mile because a very small construction crew (two guys and a bobcat) had blocked one lane of a major four-lane road and of course, that was one of the two lanes going the direction I needed to go. 9AM came and went while we sat there. I HATE being late and I'm really annoyed by this point.

Alas, we made it, only about 12 minutes late, but still *totally* the last kid to be dropped off. And my attitude apparently rubbed off because when I picked him up that afternoon, the camp leader gave me that dreaded-by-a-parent "Um, could I talk to you for a minute?" OMG. This all came on top of the most frustrating annoying day and I was so not in the mood.

By Wednesday night, I'm thinking, well, it's got to get better, right? Ha, famous last words.

Thursday morning, on my way to drop P off (and we left early enough to make it by 8:45!), the spousal unit calls to tell me that his mom's sister has died. Zia lived in Italy, in the same town they're all from, and was close to my mil. So instead of continuing with my plans after drop-off (which included going to buy new supposedly rabbit-resistant plants for my yard), N and I just changed direction and went to spend the day with Grandma. At this point, the discussion is whether or not Grandma will go to Italy. My sister-in-law is planning to go. I tell my husband it's OK if he goes but he doesn't have a passport. This particular saga is really another story but the bottom-line is that after much convincing and cajoling of Grandma, and a phone call to a Congressman's office to ask about passports, by Thursday at about 2:30, all three of them are going and they're going to be gone for a week. Yes, Thursday was officially worse than Wednesday.

Friday, I rolled out of bed at 5:45 so I can say good-bye to my husband who is leaving for a week. He's not actually leaving until 5PM but he has to go get an emergency passport in downtown Chicago and has been told to get there at least an hour-and-a-half before the office opens at 9. So he's planning to get there at 7. And we're assuming this could be an all-day event so he probably won't be able to come home. So we said good-bye, which was weird, and then I got the kids up and out the door and arrived at science camp at 8:50. I finally got the hang of it.

Both Thursday and Friday, P was ready to come straight home; he was done, cooked, wiped, finito. Of course, being the good mom that I am, on Thursday, I dragged them both to see the big bugs display by the Arboretum Visitor's Center. And on Friday, I insisted we stop and get some movies for all of us at Blockbuster and then buy the plants that I had intended to buy on Thursday but couldn't because we went to Grandma's. Both of them were exhausted (N didn't nap on Wednesday or Thursday and had a one-hour nap on Friday - this for a child who can sleep 3 hours a day - he was JOYFUL) and short-tempered and missing Daddy and I freely admit I did nothing to help that. So Friday evening was full of lots of screaming and fit-throwing (mostly not me).

But I did get to watch Juno last night and I loved it. So it didn't end on the worst possible note. And P really did enjoy science camp (just not one particular game on Wednesday) - and actually learned a lot, too, so I'd sign him up again. And I would say that I'm glad this week is over but the next one doesn't promise to be *that* much better.

I must be doing something right

We've had beautiful weather this week - just perfect, really - so I decided to take the boys to the Morton Arboretum today. The tadpoles at the toad pond are mid-transformation and we wanted to see them; you can actually get right in the water and catch them in your hands. And there are always small rocks that N can pick up and drop back in the water so everyone's happy.

There is also a stream that runs downhill in the Adventure portion of the Children's Garden and the kids can get in the water and move the rocks around and build and tear down dams to alter the course. Both my boys had their shoes off, splashing around and climbing the rocks surrounding the stream. Knowing their history, I packed an entire extra outfit for both of them and we needed it - N doesn't know how to keep his butt out of the water when he squats down and P just likes to get wet. They were both soaked from about mid-chest down when we got back to the car. N's shirt was soaked, primarily thanks to a teeny little boy who dropped a big rock right by N's head when he was bending down to get more rocks - shirt, hair, face, arms, all soaked. The kid's mom missed it completely and a minute later was praising him for being such a good boy and not throwing rocks. ?!? I'm not a particularly good playground mommy but I'm also completely non-confrontational so we just moved to a different part of the stream. I can't stand parents who threaten to end their child's playtime if they do something "one more time" and then never follow through so the kid continues to throw rocks or splash other kids or hit his sister to the accompaniment of the parent's continued, "if you keep doing that, we're going to leave!" Gah. We left instead.

But anyway, my kids had an awesome time as usual - entirely the reason we have the membership there. It's nice to be able to go for just a couple of hours and not feel like you have to stay longer to get your money's worth.

And the best moment of the day was at the beginning - P likes to go through the hedge maze right by the visitor's center so we started with that. There are 3 possible entrances and I asked him which one he wanted to start with - and he came back with, "Since you're such a generous mom, I'm going to let you pick where we start." Awwwwhhh. Heart melts, puddles on the ground. What a sweetie! So I guess I'm doing something right!

Forget Raffi, give me Cauterize

When I was about 7 or 8 years old, a family friend gave my sister and I a big stack of records (yes, records!) - including a bunch of Toto and Foreigner albums. I remember vividly listening to songs like Dirty White Boy and Rosanna and having no clue what the lyrics meant.

Now as a parent, I am grateful for that childish innocence and simple appreciation for the music itself. I take full responsibility for the music my children listen to; I'm just really glad that so far I haven't had to answer too many questions about what the songs mean! P has been a big fan of Matchbox Twenty for a long time and he's quite partial to Rob Thomas' solo album, Something to Be.

But what really gets N going is Cauterize, in particular the song Choke. We were all introduced to the song playing Nintendo GameCube's 1080 Avalanche snowboarding game - it's the intro song as well as a song you can select for your ride. It's a bit head-bangy and loud and it's a boy-crying-over-girl type song; nothing really awful. But it's hilarious to watch him when the song comes on (yes, we listen to it in the car, too) - he gets a really big smile on his face and starts bobbing his head and bouncing around in his seat. And eventually he's trying to sing along.

So forget traditional kids' music; give my kids the good stuff. Though writing this I am reminded that neither of them has been introduced to Foreigner and I should probably rectify that. They need to know the music their mother grew up with, too. :)

On the subject of Colorado . . . Eat at Beau Jo's

I used to be related to a guy who wouldn't watch the same movie more than once. I've known people who don't want to travel to the same place twice. And I can totally respect that.

But I am SO not one of those people. The spousal unit and I realized a long time ago that as much as we like to travel to new places, we also really like to go back to those that we've enjoyed so we can enjoy them some more. We love the hiking in Sedona; we love the Colorado mountains in general, Summit and Lake Counties in particular; we love where we get to stay in Florida (but the area is nice, too).

We've also discovered that food can make or break a vacation (Prince Edward Island, Canada, wins the prize for the worst food on vacation EVER - except for breakfast at our B&B, the places we ate on that island were cr*p and got worse each successive day until we gave up after a restaurant served us a microwaved steak and chicken breast and drove over an hour to the worst Pizza Hut in the world because it was at least edible - there apparently *is* a reason why there are Italian, Japanese, Chinese, French, Indian, Mexican, and plenty of other restaurants but NO Canadian restaurants - but I totally digress).

Suffice to say that our best vacations have been those with good food - Sedona has great restaurants but Colorado has been the most consistent - with one minor exception (a Chinese restaurant in Breckenridge that was merely average and is no longer there) we've had nothing but good luck in Colorado with restaurants.

And because we've only ever stayed in the mountains in Colorado, we've always had to take I-70 there and back and have discovered that Idaho Springs is a great place to have lunch. It's probably also good for breakfast and dinner but we've only ever experienced it for lunch and I've not yet gone to Colorado (as an adult) when I didn't get to eat in Idaho Springs - so that's something else I'm looking forward to in August. Lunch in Idaho Springs.

Unfortunately, as N is a pain in the *ss to feed, we'll probably have to go somewhere that will serve French fries just so he will eat something in which case we'll probably visit Tommyknocker's. Which is not a bad thing - I love Tommyknocker's, too. But if I had my druthers I'd be goin' to Beau Jo's for pizza. Y-u-m-m-e-e-e-e-e.

Colorado here we come!

Gas prices are kindof freaking me out. Especially gas prices for airplanes since we've had a reservation in Breckenridge for several months now and have been planning our week there since last fall. We just didn't have plane tickets yet. And every time I checked the airfare, it was scary pricey. I suppose some folks would contemplate cancelling the reservation and just vacationing at home - we've done that; staying home is not a vacation for a SAH parent. It's just more of the same with an additional body in the house to feed and clean up after. Our vaca-at-home was more depressing than relaxing. Even with margaritas.

Instead, we contemplated driving. Which is probably more insane since driving to Denver would already be a 2-day affair with kiddos and we're going 2 hours *beyond* Denver. So I kept checking the airline websites and Hotwire and Sidestep and YAY WE FOUND TICKETS. And the price isn't completely insane; we've definitely done better but we also could have done much worse - especially if you listen to the news stories about airfare and the percentage increase in price over last year, yada yada yada.

So with the exception of a car and a hotel room for the first night (our reservation in Breck is Sat - Sat but flying to Denver Friday night was so much less that we can stay in Denver Friday night and still save a little money - and Saturday won't be so crazy now) - we're all ready to go to Colorado. And I realized today that it's actually less than 2 months from now. Yippee! I'm so ready for a vacation and I adore Colorado and Breckenridge. I'm going to wish I was there skiing but at least I get to be there.

So Colorado, here we come!

Random Starbucks review

After finding a blog devoted entirely to donuts in NYC, I got to thinking that there's not really any one food / food-type item that I purchase regularly.

And then I remembered Starbucks. We are (unfortunately?) Starbucks devotees in our house. We go to Starbucks far more often than I'm even willing to admit though I will 'fess up to changing up *which* Starbucks I'm going to if I think I've been to one often enough recently that the employees will think it's weird. Which is probably weirder on my part.

And we typically order EXACTLY the same thing when we go. Slight change-up with warm weather here now - I order my summer beverage now. But everyone else in the fam still gets the same (and I feel like we're very high maintenance but have been told that we're really not). And I do mean *everyone* in the fam - my 2yo gets all excited when we stop at Starbucks and it's not for a kiddie drink. Except for the extra extra whipped cream.

But I realized I have enough Starbucks experience under my belt now that I have some definite opinions on particular locations and Starbucks in general. So I thought I would share.

Starbucks in general:
Where do they train these people? Whoever created their training program - I hope you get a big-*ss bonus every year because customer service is almost annoyingly top-notch. I have yet to go to a Starbucks (except perhaps downtown Chicago and that's been a while) that doesn't have the friendliest / perkiest / most social employees *ever.* They want to know how I am. All of them. They want to make jokes with me. They frequently tell me what's going on with them - memorable moment at the Starbucks in Oswego (IL) - the guy at the window (yes, I'm mainly a drivethru girl) told me that working at Starbucks was his dream job and he'd asked for his first job application at age 12 and now that he was 16 he was thrilled to be working at a Starbucks. And they never question my asking for tall drinks in grande cups with lots and lots of whipped cream - and sometimes they put grande drinks in venti cups and only charge me for tall.

I guess I should have a ratings scale if I'm going to review these places - let's say cups out of four.

Starbucks 1 - Aurora, IL, corner of Ogden and Eola:
Closest to my house. Lovely location. Very good drinks every time. Never made a mistake (of course, they've also not been open for long). Weird guy at the window once made a joke that didn't make a lot of sense and then tried to cover for himself. Good frappucinos.
Above average frequency of being out of decaf mocha frappucino base.
Rating: 3.5 cups.

Starbucks 2 - Aurora, IL, New York & Asbury:
First to open at a convenient to my house location so it's a sentimental favorite. Generally very quick service and probably the most friendly around. Periodically out of the decaf mocha frap base. More often than other locations will give my kids a larger drink for the price of the smaller one. Rarely will screw up the soy order. Tables inside sometimes dirty. Not enough seating inside.
Rating: 3.5 cups.

Starbucks 3 - Naperville, IL, North Aurora Road by the train station:
I was pretty psyched when this one opened up because it was a drivethru convenient to the tollway. Not one of my favorites, though. Slow service about half the time - especially if you go inside, then the service can make you think they had to go roast the beans first. Drinks are always good though.
Rating: 3 cups

Starbucks 4 - Naperville, IL, 75th Street near Plainfield Road:
One of the oldest around here. Consistently good though the drivethrough is pretty much always busy and that can slow you down. Not the friendliest crew (not unfriendly but nothing special). Used to be a favorite but not as convenient for me now. Recently redone interior is very cozy.
Rating: 3 cups

Starbucks 5 - Naperville, IL, 7th Street by Costco:
Another one of those locations that had me really psyched. Not worth it. Never had a good frappucino there - the ice chunks are straw-blockers. Other drinks are only average. Service isn't good enough to make up for the fact that the drinks are better elsewhere. In fact, I always wish I had gone elsewhere when I do go there. You'd think I would learn.
Rating: 1.5 cups

Starbucks 6 - Plainfield, IL, Route 59 and 127th:
Consistently good, very friendly, not the easiest parking lot arrangement. Probably one of the best that we frequent. They don't mess up orders and sometimes upgrade.
Rating: 3.5 cups

Starbucks 7 - Aurora, IL, Orchard Road and Indian Trail:
Very good frappucinos; not the best of the best service but above average. Convenient to west Aurora and not much else.
Rating: 3 cups

Starbucks 8 - Oswego, IL, Route 34 near Douglas:
Probably the most anticipated of the many that have opened here in the last few years. We were so excited about it, we stopped as soon as it looked like it was open only to find that it wasn't *actually* open but they were opening the next day. I felt rather stupid and Peyton was pretty disappointed that he didn't get his mocha frappucino. As I shop a lot in Oswego, I go here . . . A LOT. Comfortable inside, very friendly people, excellent drinks. Quick service, inside and out. For some reason, the trash can is *always* full, even first thing in the morning. Somebody empty it!
Rating: 3.5 cups

Starbucks 9 - Shorewood, IL, somewhere near Theodore:
I've only been here once and I found it only because I figured with all the new development, there simply had to be a Starbucks in that area. Slow slow slow. It took us almost 25 minutes in the drivethru with about 3 cars ahead of us. Did I also say it was slow? It was out of our way and I won't do it again unless it's my only choice and I'm desperate for a frappucino or latte. BTW, it was really slow.
Rating: 2 cups

Starbucks 10 - Naperville, IL, Downtown, near Chicago and Washington:
Incredibly friendly service. Order was more complicated than usual (with food and a need for separate bags) and they figured it all out for me nicely and were even sweet about my 2yo being a bit of a terrorist. Complimented my eldest on no cavities at the dentist which came up as that was part of our reason for going there. More inconvenient than most since parking s*cks a big one there and there's a mini-Starbucks in the B&N across the street. But I still like it.
Rating: 3 cups

Starbucks 11 - Naperville, IL, in the SuperTarget:
I don't go here very often since I'm not willing to shop with a 2yo who wants to walk *and* have his own mocha frappucino. And I typically don't go to the instore ones since they don't carry the decaf mocha frap base; however, the one time I did ask, one lady actually knew how to mock one up and that totally impressed me. So I would be willing to try it again and it scored points for good training or at least good innovation and creativity.
Rating: 3 cups


Can't think of any others around here that we frequent but here are a few we've found on our travels:

Vacation Starbucks 1 - Sedona, AZ, The Shoppes at Pinon Pointe:
By the end of our week there, they knew when my husband walked through the door what he was going to order. Very friendly, sympathetic (we went there right after a really bad experience at a nearby restaurant and sympathetic is the best word to describe their response), consistently good. Or maybe it's just that a latte on vacation tastes even better than one at home?
Rating: 3.5 cups

Vacation Starbucks 2 - Camp Verde, AZ, I-17 and Hwy 260:
Slow but it could have just been the time of day. Our second visit there, the poor kid behind the counter was new and ended up not charging me for most of my order - I think I paid $11 for 4 drinks, two pieces of bread, a donut, and piece of coffee cake. So I have a bit of a soft spot for them. Probably won't be so lucky next time but I would definitely go back. It was all good.
Rating: 3 cups

Vacation Starbucks 3 - Avon, CO:
Slow, but they're usually very busy. Consistently made small mistakes. Friendly but not exuberant. Would go back if I was there again but only because it's the only Starbucks anywhere around.
Rating: 2.5 cups

Vacation Starbucks 4 - Breckenridge, CO:
Cute old building right in the middle of town. No drivethru but that's not the point in Breck. Always good and friendly and they happily recommend food items if you're browsing. Of course, I was also preggers and looking for chocolate, too. :)
Rating: 3 cups

Vacation Starbucks 5 - Frisco, CO:
No drivethru. Pretty quick for a first thing in the morning visit. Very good.
Rating: 3 cups

Vacation Starbucks 6 - Forest Lake, MN (I think):
It's the only Starbucks between the north side of the Twin Cities area and Duluth and as we weren't going to Duluth and hadn't stopped in the Twin Cities, we were pretty desperate. There's a great billboard on the side of I-35 that tells you to get ready for it and that's what we did. Not particularly convenient to the highway and they blew the soy order so Fiore didn't even get a drink. But we'd go back, if only because it's the only one available.
Rating: 2.5 cups


I'm sure there are others but I've been at this awhile and find it a little disturbing that I go to Starbucks so often. Probably not disturbing enough to stop though.

I could've driven to Detroit today

At some point last fall, Peyton did something special enough (how sad am I, I cannot even remember *what*) to earn a major treat - we agreed on a trip to "The Dinosaur Museum" a.k.a. The Field Museum in Chicago. Surgery came and postponed that plan; about two weeks ago, we settled on today, January 31. Part of that choice was that a friend of mine from college who lives in the city could join us and hang out for the day.

Despite a forecast that earlier in the week called for upwards of 12 inches of snow (revised to 4 to 6) and a Winter Storm Warning that was supposed to start at 6PM, this morning at 8:40, my intrepid travelers and I set off for the Big City. We had engaged to meet Shilpa at 10AM. By 9:15, it was clear that wasn't going to happen so I called her and we agreed on 10:30. Traffic into the city was pretty awful because it was *already snowing.* Not a good start to the day.

For those of you who've never been to the Field, the general parking lot is Soldier Field parking which is nice in some ways (indoors), bad in others (a *really* long walk from the museum and an even longer one from the accessible entrance where us stroller-pushers must enter). It's also 15 bucks but so is everything else nearby.

We parked at Soldier Field, bundled up appropriately (it was about 18 degrees downtown at this point) and set off at a jog for the museum. Peyton's face was freezing and he was nearly in tears so I stopped to help him with his coat - I stopped the stroller, turned to Peyton, zipped him up, pulled up his hood, velcroed it around his face, turned back . . . no Nathaniel. Seriously - the stroller was gone. I look up - it's IN THE STREET. He has rolled into the street. Dear Lord in heaven. My child could have been crushed by a car but no other nincompoop is actually out in this awful weather. A few profanities and an adrenaline burst later, we are all safely back on the sidewalk, running for the entrance in the snow and wind. Because the storm that wasn't supposed to hit until 6PM is already here. And it's barely 10:30.

We had a lovely time at the Field, Shilpa's always so much fun to chat with and the boys both loved it, especially the new hands-on kids area. I had originally aimed to hit the road home by 2PM. Not so much to miss rush hour (because there is no rush hour in Chicago anymore; there's just a brief lull in traffic from about 11 - 1) but to try to get home at a reasonable time. At 2:45, we're trying to pack up and by 3, we're actually pulling out of the parking lot. Into the snow.

Now at this point, I informed the boys that it was probably going to be about 2.5 hours until we would get home - the roads in the city were cr*p, the snow was still coming down, it was "rush hour" and all the radio stations were reporting increasingly frightening travel times on the highway I was pointing my car towards. By the time we hit the highway, I admit it will be closer to 3 hours. After averaging about 6MPH (not making this up, I was actually using my GPS for distance and timing myself) on the Ike, we finally got up to about 25 on I-88 but the snow was getting thicker in the sky, deeper on the roads, and actually piling up on my windshield we were moving so slowly. I've never actually seen that before today.

So 3.5 hours later, we are finally home. The boys are running around like they've been freed from shackles (and both were troopers in the car - Peyton was great the whole way and Nathaniel didn't start to freak until about 3 miles / 30 minutes out when he dropped a toy and then it was bursts of yelling at me not screaming or crying). I am a bit wired - I still have to go shovel the driveway, take out the trash, retrieve the newspaper, and move my car so Fiore can get his in the driveway tomorrow when he gets home. Assuming he actually makes it home tomorrow since he's flying back into O'Hare, the worst-equipped-to-handle-bad-weather airport in the country, the morning after a major snowstorm. That was supposed to bring 4 - 6 inches, which I already have in my driveway, and is continuing to snow. Wheee!

Getting my hands dirty

The most lasting side effect of my surgery in November has been the impact on my sense of smell. It's coming back, slowly; I've been told it can take up to 6 months to come back fully. It's definitely better after having the ENT clear what he calls "crust" out of my sinuses (I call them boogers - that's what it is, dude, call a spade a spade).

But it's just not that great yet and particularly not good at a distance. Perhaps the most noticeable thing that I don't notice is when N's poopy. Right after my surgery, he was standing next to me, apparently stinking to high heaven, and my mom, on the other side of the next room, could smell him. Me? Not a clue.

So how does a mom, who can't tell from across the room that her son has a poopy diaper, check? I LOOK. I pull back the top of the back of his diaper and take a peek (or I get my eldest, lovely child that he is, to check and he will actually sniff his brother's butt). But if it's up to me, I take a peek.

Now, it's also important to note that we just had a round of stomach flu in our house - first time EVER. N had diarrhea for about 10 days (horrible, awful, and disgusting at times, it was like entering the first circle of h*ll here at times for the first few days).

So TWICE recently, I've gone to see what he might be carrying and lo and behold, STUCK MY FINGERS IN IT. Ewwwwww! Once I was actually on the phone with a friend and shrieked in the poor woman's ear - she thought somebody was hurt. Nope, I just have poop on my hand. Lovely. 'Cause it's not enough that I wash my hands 30 times a day, now I need to disinfect them, too.

Press 2 for international abductions . . . .

Seriously. That's an actual option on the auto-attendant when you call the U.S. Department of State. I'm not even sure what option 1 is - hopefully something even more serious than being abducted in a foreign country.

But let's think about this for a minute. First, I'm assuming that if I'm personally abducted overseas, I'm not going to be able to call the State Department on a U.S. 800-number. So presumably the people who need to press 2 are friends or family. Your loved one is traveling abroad and OMG - is kidnapped by who knows who. You think - at some point in the nightmare you're experiencing following whatever means of communication that has delivered the news that your loved one is now starring in their own version of Proof of Life - I need to call the State Department. You look up the number. You dial.

Do you really want to get the auto-attendant? And I have to wonder: what happens when you do press 2?

(Side note: apparently, further down the list, is an option for International Adoptions as well. The State Department covering all its bases.)

Planning my summer around Barack

Ever since Peyton turned 3, the D'Orazios have been a traveling family. Each year, we've taken at least one trip, usually two, somewhere. Arizona, North Carolina, Florida, Colorado. Most of those more than once. But only once have we traveled somewhere in the winter. So it's a little odd that Fiore's gone to Canada this week and he and I are going to Colorado next week.

Traveling out of a Chicago airport isn't generally a well-considered move. Flying out of O'Hare is especially risky. Flying out of O'Hare in the winter . . . . well, you're just asking for trouble. Yesterday, Fiore's flight was supposed to leave at 4:25. It was cancelled. Rebooked on an 8:05 PM flight (to Seattle, no less, travel time of 3.5 hours). Delayed until 8:42. At 8:45, he calls me from the airport asking me to track the inbound flight that is the actual plane they are supposed to take to Seattle since it's not at the gate yet (lovely website, flightaware.com, live tracking of any commercial flight and then some). Yep, it's there, in the 30MPH winds and blowing snow. Bad enough that when they finally got on the plane, it was sitting at the gate ROCKING in the wind. I love to fly and I don't particularly want any part of that.

They finally make it to Seattle, get to their hotel at 1AM Seattle time (3AM home). He actually called me to let me know and thankfully I slept right through the phone ringing. But all of these travel woes have me concerned about next week, flying to Colorado. Denver in winter isn't exactly a guaranteed cakewalk either. They're one of those airports that ends up on CNN because it's been shut down by oh, a BLIZZARD.

And then I get to thinking: we're supposed to fly to Denver this summer. We're planning to take the boys to Breckenridge for a week to go hiking and experience the ski runs that I won't actually ski by taking the lift up and hiking them. And didn't I hear on the radio that the Democratic National Convention is in Denver this summer?

Egads. Yes, it is. August 25 - 28, exactly the week we were considering going to Colorado. Don't really want to fly through Denver at a time when thousands of media, delegates, candidates, Secret Service, candidates, etc. are filtering in and out. Denver International's bad enough without that wackiness.

So now I find myself in the position of planning my summer vacation around Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Never thought I'd say that!