Hi, people
Apr. 20th, 2015 12:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eee1313First off, I'm using this icon in honor of Jonathan Crombie, the actor who so wonderfully played Gilbert Blythe in the 1980s Anne of Green Gables TV miniseries. My sister and I LOVED these, and whenever they'd be on PBS we'd camp out and watch them all day. I own the first two (though I refuse to buy the third because it was so off-the-rails bonkers) and still love them. Hearing of Jonathan Crombie's death this morning made me really sad. He was only 48. *sigh*
In happier news, things are going well around these parts. This weekend the Scientist and I celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary. As always, to all of my LJ friends who were there to celebrate on our wedding day, you were definitely thought of yesterday. That was a great time and I'm so glad I was able to share it with some of you. (Also, we really do need to try to get together more!!!) Anyway, we made a weekend of our anniversary. On Saturday we dropped the kids off with the Scientist's parents, who graciously offered to babysit all day. Then he and I took off for Acquaviva Winery in Maple Park, IL. It's about halfway between Geneva and DeKalb, for those of you who are local who've also never heard of this town. And I say "town" loosely, as Maple Park appears to be mostly a farming community with some random housing developments. Anyway, the winery tour was surprisingly good. All of the grapes are grown on the premises, and unlike most Illinois wineries/vineyards that grow the typical "Illinois grape" like Niagra, Norton, etc., this place only grows their own hybrids. Their white wines were nice but tasted like a lot of other whites we've had, though we were both very impressed with their reds. So we did a tour of their winemaking facility and got to try everything, and then at the end we picked out two bottles to take home. It was a good time (and totally worth the price of the Groupon deal!).
After that we went to downtown Geneva and stopped at the Galena Cellars satellite location. We had another tasting and sipped wine on their courtyard patio, then went for a brief walk and stopped at a bakery for a snack. On the drive home we stopped at the outlet mall where I got some tights to wear later that evening, and the Scientist bought me some new earrings and a ring from the Swarovski store. I told him I didn't need anything more but oh well. Then we went home, changed clothes, and headed to Ditka's Steakhouse for dinner. We wouldn't have picked it for an anniversary dinner except that the Scientist was given a gift card for his birthday so we figured he'd cash it in. Despite it being a steakhouse, we skipped the steaks and both ordered fish. (I couldn't justify paying $40 for a steak and then another $7 for a side of mashed potatoes, whereas the non-steak dinners actually came with side dishes and cost about $10 less. I'm cheap that way.) Our food was really good, though, and we left completely stuffed. Then we went home to get the kids.
VEE had been rather sad about not being able to celebrate our anniversary with us, so yesterday (which was our *actual* anniversary), we took the kids to the Brookfield Zoo. They were doing their usual "Party for the Planet" Earth Day celebration, so we went and picked up some freebies and got to see a serval and wallaby up close. It was a nice day. But it did start to rain early in the afternoon, so we headed home a bit early.
Last night MDR was in bad shape, what with cutting his third tooth. He's having a hard time sleeping because he has a lot of saliva when teething, and that all runs down his throat at night and makes him cough. VEE was up at 3:30 or so asking me to put her back to bed because she couldn't sleep. By the time I tucked her in she was back asleep, but MDR was fussing and coughing and kicking. So I took him downstairs and gave him some milk and he fell asleep. But once I put him back in his crib he woke back up due to coughing. I didn't want him to wake his sister so we went back downstairs where I bundled us up in blankets and settled in for a night in the recliner with him in my arms. Needless to say, I did not sleep much between 4 and 6:30 a.m. So I stayed home because I was falling asleep just as the alarm was going off. I don't have much at work right now, anyway, so it was a good day to call in. Plus, it's cold outside again. (Cold being the high 50s, but after reaching 70-plus degree days last week, this feels downright chilly.)
I should be doing more around the house today. The linens need to be washed and I should pick up stuff as well. Oh, and I should probably go grocery shopping without the kids. Everything's faster to do when you don't have the kids in tow. Honestly, I don't know how stay-at-home moms do everything they do when the kids are constantly demanding attention.
What else? The Scientist may be getting a new job. He's going in for an interview sometime this week or next, we're not sure which. He really likes working at Argonne and doesn't necessarily want to leave, but this opportunity that popped up has a lot of perks that are too good not to at least look into (health coverage, 401k, etc.). My only concerns are that he might be bored with the work in a few years, and that the hours are considerably longer due to the commute and he won't have as much time with the kids. But as long as he's happy, that's what really matters. And yes, it's still a science job. Instead of working in biochem he'd be in straight chemistry work so it's less research, more formulations.
Anyway, that's all I've got for now. I should go do chores. Y'all take care.
In happier news, things are going well around these parts. This weekend the Scientist and I celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary. As always, to all of my LJ friends who were there to celebrate on our wedding day, you were definitely thought of yesterday. That was a great time and I'm so glad I was able to share it with some of you. (Also, we really do need to try to get together more!!!) Anyway, we made a weekend of our anniversary. On Saturday we dropped the kids off with the Scientist's parents, who graciously offered to babysit all day. Then he and I took off for Acquaviva Winery in Maple Park, IL. It's about halfway between Geneva and DeKalb, for those of you who are local who've also never heard of this town. And I say "town" loosely, as Maple Park appears to be mostly a farming community with some random housing developments. Anyway, the winery tour was surprisingly good. All of the grapes are grown on the premises, and unlike most Illinois wineries/vineyards that grow the typical "Illinois grape" like Niagra, Norton, etc., this place only grows their own hybrids. Their white wines were nice but tasted like a lot of other whites we've had, though we were both very impressed with their reds. So we did a tour of their winemaking facility and got to try everything, and then at the end we picked out two bottles to take home. It was a good time (and totally worth the price of the Groupon deal!).
After that we went to downtown Geneva and stopped at the Galena Cellars satellite location. We had another tasting and sipped wine on their courtyard patio, then went for a brief walk and stopped at a bakery for a snack. On the drive home we stopped at the outlet mall where I got some tights to wear later that evening, and the Scientist bought me some new earrings and a ring from the Swarovski store. I told him I didn't need anything more but oh well. Then we went home, changed clothes, and headed to Ditka's Steakhouse for dinner. We wouldn't have picked it for an anniversary dinner except that the Scientist was given a gift card for his birthday so we figured he'd cash it in. Despite it being a steakhouse, we skipped the steaks and both ordered fish. (I couldn't justify paying $40 for a steak and then another $7 for a side of mashed potatoes, whereas the non-steak dinners actually came with side dishes and cost about $10 less. I'm cheap that way.) Our food was really good, though, and we left completely stuffed. Then we went home to get the kids.
VEE had been rather sad about not being able to celebrate our anniversary with us, so yesterday (which was our *actual* anniversary), we took the kids to the Brookfield Zoo. They were doing their usual "Party for the Planet" Earth Day celebration, so we went and picked up some freebies and got to see a serval and wallaby up close. It was a nice day. But it did start to rain early in the afternoon, so we headed home a bit early.
Last night MDR was in bad shape, what with cutting his third tooth. He's having a hard time sleeping because he has a lot of saliva when teething, and that all runs down his throat at night and makes him cough. VEE was up at 3:30 or so asking me to put her back to bed because she couldn't sleep. By the time I tucked her in she was back asleep, but MDR was fussing and coughing and kicking. So I took him downstairs and gave him some milk and he fell asleep. But once I put him back in his crib he woke back up due to coughing. I didn't want him to wake his sister so we went back downstairs where I bundled us up in blankets and settled in for a night in the recliner with him in my arms. Needless to say, I did not sleep much between 4 and 6:30 a.m. So I stayed home because I was falling asleep just as the alarm was going off. I don't have much at work right now, anyway, so it was a good day to call in. Plus, it's cold outside again. (Cold being the high 50s, but after reaching 70-plus degree days last week, this feels downright chilly.)
I should be doing more around the house today. The linens need to be washed and I should pick up stuff as well. Oh, and I should probably go grocery shopping without the kids. Everything's faster to do when you don't have the kids in tow. Honestly, I don't know how stay-at-home moms do everything they do when the kids are constantly demanding attention.
What else? The Scientist may be getting a new job. He's going in for an interview sometime this week or next, we're not sure which. He really likes working at Argonne and doesn't necessarily want to leave, but this opportunity that popped up has a lot of perks that are too good not to at least look into (health coverage, 401k, etc.). My only concerns are that he might be bored with the work in a few years, and that the hours are considerably longer due to the commute and he won't have as much time with the kids. But as long as he's happy, that's what really matters. And yes, it's still a science job. Instead of working in biochem he'd be in straight chemistry work so it's less research, more formulations.
Anyway, that's all I've got for now. I should go do chores. Y'all take care.
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Date: 2015-04-21 01:10 am (UTC)no subject
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