My Dear and Loving Husband of 5 Years

Today Mark and I are celebrating our 5 year anniversary and I must say that I could not have found a better mate to share my life with. He has been so good to me and we have shared so many good things together. I love him with all my heart.

I must thank Mark for everything he has put up with from me all these 5 years of marriage and the 6 years of courtship before. Namely:

1. My messy desk that I have been cleaning....for 7 years

2. My procrastination habit

3. My long long hair that seems to land on every space of flooring in the house

4. My fear of bugs & insects & the fact that I yell for Mark to do it instead of doing it myself

5. My habit of getting American idioms wrong and Mark not saying anything when I pull the "my parents were immigrants" card

6. Living with my bad habit of putting my foot in my mouth around people we do not know ("So you live here with your mother," (when the guy lived there with his WIFE) "I'm sure your daughter walks just fine now..." (when her daughter was sitting in a wheelchair - I didn't see her) "So are you putting on your burka for your mother-in-law's benefit?" etc etc etc

7. My fear of the squirrel trap

8. My inability to understand ANY foreigners with any type of accent - even if they are speaking English

9. My love of seafood, books, and foreign films (not bad things, but things Mark's not really into)

10. blank - I'll let Mark fill this one in because I'm sure there's something I'm forgetting - although he may claim he needs more than one space to fill...

We had a great weekend to celebrate our anniversary. Little Ricky spent the weekend with my mother and we got a hotel room downtown. We walked around and went shopping, stopped to leisurely sip coffee - which I never get to do anymore, went out to dinner and had a blast. We also had brunch at the Signature Room - which I highly recommend. We had our wedding reception there and felt like going up there for a nice meal. The food was great and we stuffed ourselves so much we napped for 4 hours that afternoon!!

I love this time of year!

Happy 34th to Me

Yesterday was my 34th birthday, but I wasn't able to blog because of a great night of celebrating the night before - ahem...We went to see Metric play at the Metro and our friend works at that club and is friends with the bartenders. I just had 2 vodka tonics and 1 shot of some fruity yummy stuff and before I knew it the room was spinning, my words were slurring and everything was funny. 11 pukes later, I was a-ok to celebrate my 34th! I haven't puked from alcohol in about 4 years!

When I think of the number 34, it almost sounds middle-aged, but I can't be middle-aged yet for sure! I remember that show in the 80s called "Thirty-something" and I thought all those people were so old! But now that I am in my 30s, I don't feel old - I still feel like I'm 26. I think my 20s were spent figuring out who I was and my 30s seem to be about growing my family. I'm just glad that all seems to going well in my world and all the people I love are safe & healthy!

A Trip to the Botanic Garden

Last week Ricky and I went with my friend Liz and her daughter Helen to the Botanic Gardens. Helen and Ricky are one week apart in age and they play together very nicely. Ricky had a great time and tells me he wants to go back there.

I've been there a few times but never truly appreciated how great it is for toddlers. They can run and run and discover nature in a nice, friendly environment. Not to mention the fact that the mommies get lots of walking time in there - exercise.

The only bad part about the trip was that Ricky had some type of allergic reaction and his face got a bit puffy and he was scratching his arms and neck like crazy. So I had to give him some benadryl and the following day he had a slight fever. So I guess we won't be able to go back to nature too often.

Movie Recommend: The Painted Veil

This is a movie based on the novel by Somerset Maugham. I never read the book, but I like actors Naomi Watts and Ed Norton, so I took it out of the library. My husband made a comment a few weeks back that he thought this would be a chick flick and the evening I watched it he was conveniently busy at his computer. But that's ok.

I liked this movie more than I thought I would. I did suspect it would be a hit for me because it had all the elements of a movie that the Chipper Librarian is drawn to: sadness, love story, against a beautiful backdrop (China), and historical elements.

It is the story of a woman who marries a doctor without really loving him first. He practices in China and she has an affair while they are living there. He then decides to take her further into the country in the middle of a cholera epidemic.

The book is on my list of Books To Read Before I Die, which I will post at a later date. But I think I liked the fact that this movie stressed the fact that we should love and appreciate those we love in the here and now because nothing lives forever.

Maybe a chick flick, I don't know. I don't want to prevent the men out there from seeing it because it's quite good. I hope that when I feel the urge to watch it again that Mark will be watching it right next to me. Even if he is rolling his eyes.

Good in Norway, Obscene in America

My mom came back from a nice tour of Scandanavia recently. As one of her souvenirs for my husband, she bought him a hat of Norway's football team but I think she really bought it for the Carlsberg logo on the side. Well the front of the hat, as you can see, says "FCK".

So the fans of this team walk around Norway wearing this hat to support their team. Well that's just dandy. I can just picture a bunch of people walking around wearing "FCK" hats like it was no big deal. I think I would snicker for a while but eventually get used to it and feel so immature for laughing in the first place.

My mom is pretty innocent, and seriously bought him the hat and expects him to wear it. When she brought it over, we saved our giggles until she got in her car and drove away. My husband certainly does not want to go out in public wearing that and neither do I. If I wore it I am sure I'd be getting lots of unwanted attention.

Thomas the Train Day

The rear-ender story completely made me forget to write about the Thomas the Train event we attended a few weeks ago with Ricky. Goes to show that details can get in the way of focusing on the things that *really* matter!

Anyway, Mark and I took Ricky to see Thomas the Train at the Illinois Railway Museum. The Thomas train tours the United States like a rock band so you can only go when it's here. The engine of this train looks exactly like Thomas and you ride it for 20 minutes and get to walk around the museum grounds and look at all the old trains on display and you can ride old trolleys too.

The only part of the outing that wasn't so great were the lovely port-o-pottys and the fact that the food sold was carnival-like quality. But beggars can't be choosers - they didn't have to provide food vendors I suppose.

It's an all-around nice family event. Ricky seemed to enjoy the day a lot. We had to ride a school bus to and from the event from the local high school due to recent flooding from heavy rains so that was an added plus. He still talks about that day we went to see Thomas so it was definitely worth it.

Whoa Think Twice, Just Another Day for You & Me in Paradise

Another librarian in my department was offended that our resident homeless man was playing with the zipper on his pants for too long and she complained to the Administrator (=big cheese). The Administrator told the homeless man that unless he is looking at books/magazines, etc. he has to stop using the library as his hotel.

I know I have complained about his BO several times, but this is SO SAD. I spent all night at the library wondering what he was doing rather than sleeping in the middle of Fiction like he usually does every day since I started working there 5 months ago.

I was afraid to give him some of my dinner thinking that he would then expect me to give him food every time I saw him - just like Max, our neighborhood outdoor cat. I regret not trying harder and I just hope that he found a new place to hang out in peace. I actually miss seeing him - and yeah BO and all. =(

Wah Wah Wah

Today is a sucky day. Today was my due date for the miscarriage I had in January...sniff sniff... I'm letting myself feel sad today and then no more. Life goes on!

In honor of that, I am listing the Top 5 Things You Should NOT Say to your Friend When She is *Trying*

1. "Did you get your period this month?" Say what?

2. "You guys ARE having sex, right?" No.....

3. "Are you pregnant yet? Any luck?" Shut up....

4. "My friend so-in-so had a miscarriage too...blah blah blah blah" Hearing about the misfortune of others does not make me feel better.

5. "There's something wrong with you. What does the doctor say?" Shut up....


I know my mommy friends mean well, but sometimes they should just shut up. Yesterday I went out to lunch with 5 of them and our toddlers - hoping to keep my mind off of what today is. Two of them are newly pregnant and I am very happy for them and the day I wanted to be away from pregnantpeopletalk was the day I got snowballed. Everything was pregnant around me - even things on TV. Everything in the world seems to be pregnant but me.

Sorry this entry is so freakin' whiny.