May I request that anyone who reads this entry says a prayer/sends a good thought/ shares some good karma for the sake of my dad who is having a very invasive operation on Monday. Thanks.

Nothing much hapening here...just trying to stay out of the sun.

In my first pregnancy I was a lacto-ovo-and sometimes poultry "vegetarian" (i.e. - no mammal meat) UNTIL those hormones hit me and then I could not get my hands on steaks and ribs and chops fast enough! I craved beef all the time.

I just got back from a trip to the community indoor swim center. A nice indoor complex with a "family fun pool" (zero depth to 3 ft. with a flume slide, fountains and kiddie slide for the tots), a typical lap pool (3.5 ft to 5 ft) and a diving well with a drop slide. It appeared overcast today and since there was also a big outdoor event downtown sponsored by the park district, I guessed that the indoor center would likely be un-crowded. I was right! For about an hour we practically had the complex to ourselves.

Needless to say, due to my "situation" I didn't partake of the slides or diving boards (rules prohibit it for women of my condition) but nonetheless I had a wonderful time swimming and marvelling at the incredible swimming skills recently developed by my 5-year old. She managed to swim the full length of the lap pool, even though she can't even touch the bottom. Obviously, I was alongside her the whole way but she wanted to challenge herself and she proved to both of us how good she's getting with her forward crawl. She's also doing great learning to ride a bike. Perhaps I have a mini triathlete in the works?

Which reminds me...this year, as I sort of figured, there will be no triathlons in the works for me (for obvious reasons) but I'm planning to train to participate in a portion of an event next season as a member of a relay team.

Oh no.

Venerable (if not slightly predictable) Oldies station 104.3 WJMK-Fm, an Infinity (Viacom) station, has adopted the moronic JACK "we play what we want"/ "its like your IPOD on shuffle" format.

I am so saddened by this abrupt and seemingly needless change. Oldies 104.3 was one of the few stations I could comfortably listen to with my daughter - what is more family-friendly than Herman's Hermits, The Monkees, Motown hits, 50's classics and the occasional 70's pop tune????

I'll be honest - I loved singing along to many of the karaoke-destined hits found on Oldies 104.3. And like oldies stations around the country, it had its own unique take, playing songs that were hits in CHICAGO at the time of their initial release. For example, when I visit home, WOGL 98.1 FM (Philadelphia) plays much more 50's doo-wop, and east-coast hitmakers than you'd hear on WJMK. Here you'd have likely heard plenty of hits by 60's era midwest garage-pop bands like Shadows of Knight, The Buckinghams, and New Colony Six.

As of August 18th I will have a kindergardener in my home! Thursday was my daughter's last day of preschool but there was no hoopla as its a mixed-age class so some kids return in the fall (or summer, I should say - AUGUST?!?) while others (like my kid who is 5 1/2) go on to kindergarden.

Last week I attended a kindergarden orientation for parents of incoming students and it didn't tell me much. Perhaps the problem was that I kept reminiscing on my kindergarden days - especially my fascination with the the Letter People: inflatible characters for each letter of the alphabet. My favorite (or maybe I was scared of it...I forget WHY I was obsessed with it) was "Mr. M, with a munching mouth..." With the aid of a portable phonograph, Inflatable Mr M, who looked like a gangster out of "Guys and Dolls" sang about the various foods he enjoyed, like meatballs, macaroni, milkshakes...you get the idea.

Our class was lead by a truly groovy young male teacher, Mr. Varoski. I'm not sure how old he was, but I'm guessing he was in his early 20's or so. It was 1974 and my "cool" and exuberant teacher wore colorful psychedelic "blouses" (as my mother referred to them) and silver bangle bracelets. He drove a lime green VW bug. He had frosted blonde hair. In fact, I freaked out the first time I saw HGTV's ReDesign because Mr. V could have been the 70's version of none other than Kenneth Brown. Oh, wait a minute, Kenneth Brown IS the 70's version of Kenneth Brown!

(You gotta love that designer wisdom)

 

The Architect is coming over tonight to go over our revised addition plans which have changed since we are now chukking the septic and well. Oy vey, that water/swewr upgrade alone is gonna run just under 20g's. *Gulp!*

Plus the design and  construction drawings will be another $1800.

The bad news: we will have alot less moolah left in our budget to do much of the addition! There will be MUCH of the project left unfinished by the end of the year, I'm sure. But as long as it gets framed, sided, roofed and drywalled (oh yeah, and heating and water, electricity, etc.) that's enough to tide us over. Hubby can paint, do crown moulding, install interior doors and closets. He can also install bathroom fixtures but it would make more sense to have the tub brought in, 'cause Lord knows I ain't gonna help with that! Technically we won't HAVE to have the bathroom stuff done at first, either, if we run our of money. Just those functional bedrooms will be the bare minimum until, say, we get our 2005 tax refund! I do dream about the EVENTUAL completion of all this stuff but considering what's in the bank, I'm getting more pragmatic about it.

The good news: getting rid of the well allows us to do my "ideal" plan which will be a 2-car side-load garage, 2-story with 2 bedrooms and bath above. This allows some savings in that we can do a slab-on-grade foundation instead of trying to match up to the exisiting house with a more expenisve trenched foundation and crawlspace. It also means we can attach it to the area at the back door which is a rather unnattractive entryway, currently. It also will allow us to put in (finally!) a "real" foyer, coat closet and possibly a powder room, too.

But first things first...

I am still waiting on a second bid for the well/septic conversion. Once that is done THEN I have to wait some more for permits from the Village. THEN I have to coordinate the water hookup with the well sealing. And once the construction designs are completed then I have to face the daunting task of finding a budget-friendly-but-non-crapulent General Contractor. It was bad enough trying to even get plumbers to BID on my current job - some people totally blew off their appointments to give me an estimate! I guess they don't need or want the work. Must be nice.

I just got in after making a few copies of our plat of survey at Kinkos. So technically I spent my first $ on this project: $5.21 for 2 oversize map copies.

---

Post-script: oh fartypants, the Architect called; he had to reschedule for Monday.

As promised:

Chicken & Asparagus Casserole

1. Trim asparagus (if needed) and steam until bright green - if using frozen, also steam it.
   
2. Trim chicken into tenderloin-sized strips and poach (boil in water) for 10 minutes.
   
3. Spray a large baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and place steamed asparagus in it.
   
4. Place cooked chicken pieces on top of asparagus.
   
5. Mix together mushroom recipe mix, sour cream and milk and pour over chicken and asparagus.
   
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
   

Anyone who has read Raejane's blog has (hopefully) both chuckled and huffed after reading her tales of the uber-rudenicks that she somehow manages to be next to in line at the supermarket or unfortunately seated next to at a restaurant. Well I had a "raejane"  encounter - or NEARLY one of my own today.

Sorry folks but I won't be making that Chicken & Asparagus dish modification (and thus, then reporting the hopefully-corrected recipe) to you this week either as the price of boneless skinless chicken in my 'hood has just been too high lately.

Also, since hubby is still working that swing shift, we aren't eating "big" family dinners - we all have a lunch together then he sleeps and goes to work at 9:15 or so. Kiddo and I have just been eating small microwave-oriented meals for dinner.