cole slaw story

we found a great cole slaw mix in the salad area of our local Jewels. It came with it's own sauce, but we added a little may to "wetten" it up a little. But, it reminded me of a Little Kimmie story. And, I'll admit that my memory isn't so good and isn't exactly clear, but with that caveat, I present

the cole slaw story.

When I was in first or second grade, I was not a picky eater like Annie, but veggies weren't my favorite. But one day, little kimmie came home from school apparently raving about the cole slaw that the lunch ladies served that day. So creamy and sweet, not like dad's vinegary, sour cole slaw that was STRICTLY a grown up dish. My dad, who cooked our dinner at the time, asked me to approach the lunch ladies and ask for the recipe. So, I think, mortified, I approached the lunch lady with a recipe card and pencil and squeaked out "my daddy wants the recipe for your cole slaw" so embarrassed. I don't remember the actual moment, but I'm pretty sure she gave it to me, because from then on, dad made a delish creamy cole slaw.

the store bought is nearly as good as the Gard Elementary version

final bit of the move

We unpacked our last boxes this weekend - finally. We've been waiting to get bookshelves for the living room, so we've been living with a few boxes of books and miscellany hidden behind the couch.

Here is what the west wall of the living room looks like now. I have some notes about the "junk" on the shelves on the flicker site if you're interested.

also did a little staining project on the island that we bought at IKEA.

Also, the final bit of the move is..... getting the Illinois drivers' license!! The law is that within 90 days, you have to get your license, but i might have to take a written test.

I'd say most of you don't know this, and the ones who were there, may not remember, but I, little Kimmie Geiter, age 16, failed the written portion of my drivers' test, not once, but TWO times. I am an intelligent human, maybe higher than average intelligence, and I FAILED MY DRIVERS' TEST. I blame test anxiety. And it can't have been by much, I don't remember, but NOW it's making me nervous about attempting the Illinois test. The rules are different. The way people drive around here, they are VERY different. I downloaded the guide and sample questions, but it's SO LONG and i'm SO LAZY! I need to at least look it over, but i think i may go sometime this week. It would take me downtown, just a block away from the famous Chicago Theater, so at least that'll be fun. Wish me well.

sorry kids

Can't believe i haven't blogged all week! I've been a little busy, I guess.... and maybe lazy :)

we went to the Lincoln Park Zoo on Saturday. It's awesome because it's free! and they've got some great stuff. The Gorilla and Chimp area is wonderful and both parties put on nice little shows for us. I uploaded some pics to my flickr.

On Tuesday, I had an interview at Lookingglass Theatre for Props Design or Props Assistant. I think either way it's a no. They're a little bigger than I anticipated and while I'm sure that I am capable, I'm just not into committing as much time as they require. But it was nice to get out, go all the way down to Michigan Ave. (The Magnificent Mile) and wander about a bit.

I also had another interview, but I'll wait and post about it after we see the outcome- don't want to jinx or get my (and your) hopes up :)

We've been watching the olympics pretty much every night. Matt's favorite event is women's beach volleyball, can you guess why? Actually it's a pretty great sport and it's nice that the US Team is so dominant - really gives you something to cheer for. I'm enjoying Michael Phelps' run as I think most people are, but I'm starting to feel sorry for his poor body. How tired must he be, really. I'd probably pass out at about half the length of the pool.

Going to see Tropic Thunder tonight, brunching tomorrow and don't have plans yet for Sunday, but plan to enjoy the wonderful weather and the now fleeting days of summer

Olympics and Santa

I love the Olympics. This is not news to most people who know me. So last night's opening ceremony was a must. and It blew. my. mind. china totally brought the big guns. Overwhelming.



Another part of the opening ceremony that matt and i were both looking forward to was watching our favorite athlete, Dirk Nowitzki of Dallas Mavericks and German Team fame. He was selected by the german team to carry their flag into the stadium. Because we follow Dirk, we know that taking his team to the Olympics has been his life-long dream. So we knew how excited and honored he was to carry the flag. Well. China didn't follow American Alphabetical structure, which i guess they shouldn't have to do since it's china. They went by number of friggin brush strokes in the name - WTF? So Germany instead of being in the middle of the pack, they were country 399 of 405 (or something.)

So like two kids waiting up to see santa, we fell asleep and woke up to see all the presents there and couldn't believe we missed the man in red.

I woke up to see china, who was the last team, walk into the stadium. I couldn't believe it. What lame old people we are.

But, looking forward to watching the games. Love swimming, gymnastics, diving, rowing. not so into track and field, but enjoy the sprints alright. Will definately watch the German basketball team.

Hard Knocks

What has Matt done to me? I am a FOOTBALL FAN!!!



Actually, it might have been Hard Knocks that did it. It's a show on HBO and back in 2001 when we were living in Nac in the house with Cam, the three of us watched the show and loved it. It goes inside training camp and you get to know the players and the coaches and see what practice is like, all very interesting to me. Matt's been a Cowboys fan for most of his life and I've been watching games with he and David since the 2000 season, but I think it was Hard Knocks that started my fandom, because I like to know the players and their personalities and whether or not they have families. It's a girl thing I guess. It makes it easier for me to cheer for them on game day if I have some (even small) emotional attachment to them.

Now it's 2008 and I'm a dang Cowboys fan and I don't even need Hard Knocks to get excited about football season. But, it started last night and I was delighted! Watched the whole thing with a big smile on my face. Love me some Tony Romo and some Jason Witten and even (I'll admit it) T.O. Owens.

What a football dork. Now the challenge will be finding a place here in Chi. that will let us watch the boys games that aren't national.......

we also had breakfast for dinner last night, which I love. Pancakes, bacon, eggs, juice and milk. When I was a kid, it would usually be waffles, and it would be such an unexpected treat.

TORNADO!

We thought we were well out of tornado alley up here. Not so much. After finishing dinner last night, (a "30-minute" shepherd's pie) we were sitting at the table and it was raining outside and we start to hear a siren. Now, it's not unusual for us to hear sirens, we live on the corner of a pretty busy street and one that is a main artery to get around the neighborhood. I lightly said "that's just a regular siren, right?" It was not. It was a tornado siren, and just about that time, the rain started coming in sideways and the tree in front of the window was blowing like crazy. The Weather Channel said that there were reports of tornadoes all around us including one in a neighborhood directly west of us heading "due east." That was it, we decided to bunker down in the basement laundry room. Rose got the message and crawled on her belly to the safety of the closet and her bag of baseballs, and we tossed a terrified Lily into the bathroom. I checked the interweb to see what it looked like, and sure enough we had a big band of red mess heading right for us. We stepped outside and there was no need for the umbrella - even with it up we were getting soaked.

Now, there's a bit of "vintage charm" about the doorknob on the back door.... it sometimes falls off and, of course it picks this moment to express it's "charm." Matt fiddled with it and fiddled with it and we noticed that the slight water problem we have at our back door was starting to breech the threshold. Finally got the door shut and the doorknob came out again on the outside - DAMN! Soaking wet, we run down the stairs in the worst downpour i've ever been in, crashing thunder and lightning every second. There was only one other couple in the basement and they came down earlier, so were nice a dry. We sat down there for about 30 minutes until it stopped sounding like a gully wash and started sounding like a normal storm.

so that was exciting.

there are new pics at my flickr page, but not of the storm