squirrels

squirrels spend the summer gathering acorns and burying them beneath the ground to munch on through the winter months. i spend my summer gathering berries and burying them in the freezer to munch on through the winter months.

first there were the blackberries. 7 heaping full gallon buckets with the help of my family.

then the blueberries. 28 pounds with the help of my migrant worker team.

amy-squirrel is quite satisfied. AND we found some treasures on our way home...our secret beach, notre dame ave in the middle of nowhere, and a new favorite michigan city dining establishment.

i call him DINOMAN!

the valley family likes to celebrate birthday month....therefore this post about nick's bday is not late...infact it is early since bday month is not yet over....and thus may be a preemptive strike. AND i finally finished the last piece of the presents so it is doubly not late. AND there is still the rock bottom brewery bday dessert so i'm triply not late.

for nick's bday i decided to embrace his inner dino.

first there was walking with dinosaurs: the area spectacular where we cheered for the dinos, ooohh and ahhed at the flowers, ewwwwed at the dino poop, and made dino chomps at each other.

then there was the dino cake. a fabulous blue dino covered in swiss butter cream with toblerone spikes. and yes it did get the appropriate number of candles even though we had to turn off the air condo to keep it from blowing them out.

and then there were the presents. dino cuts sandwich shape cutter, dino pez, dino pants, and later dino fun nuggets and land before time.

when does your vacation end?

my mom and I are at my grandparents in kentucky. we are trying to decide when to hit the road and head back to chicago. we found a chalkboard and made a list.

it is not making the decision any easier since both can be done in one day...and we have three days. to leave and make it home for nickface's birthday or to stay and have one more day with the grandparents. why can't I be in two places at once?

what's in your freezer?

after 50 pounds of blackberries and 28 pounds of blueberries I think I'm ready for the winter.

goin' to kansas city...kansas city here i come

one of my favorite attributes of kansas city (minus the friends and family and childhood spent there elements) is the existence of a number of songs spouting the glory of this town. I can create the soundtrack of my life as I head out on the road heading for home.

"well I might take a train; I might take a plane; but if I have to walk I'm going just the same. I'm going to Kansas City, Kansas City here I come"

here are a few moments from my recent trip home...

the city is shaping up quite nicely...this is appropriate after all as the town is commemorated in the musical oklahoma!

"every thing's up to date in Kansas City. They've gone about as far as they can go."

workin' girl

my little sister has her first job. ok not her first job, but her first job where she'll let me come visit. in fact she not only has one job, but two. I'm just not allowed to visit at one of them so that doesnt count.

she spends the morning at job one...underground in a cave, or more correctly a limestone-mine-turned-office where she preps patient files for scanning, then in the afternoon she heads to Sheridan's to scoop custard (not to be confused with it's counterpart ice cream served 20-25 degrees colder) and make concretes for the masses.

Here I am allowed to visit. Here I am actually encouraged to visit with my half price family discount. Here, I took tons of pictures to document the experience and had her manager ask if I was obsessed with her job. Here, therefore, will be the site of my sister's first job, at least as i will remember it.

I used to take a lot less entertainment

on my recent trip to kansas city I made certain to see one of my better halves. the only half that still calls KC home and who is always up for an adventure.

upon arriving in KC I sent a text message "in KC till next thursday...play-date soon?"

I received a phone call back. "absolutely. what should we do?"

I yelled down the hall to my mom who has recently turned into KC tour guide extraordinaire "what should linds and I do?"

my mom rambled off a half dozen ideas none of which were good enough. since when did hanging out require some big elaborate hullabaloo? we used to be content to sit around and knit scarves while listening to music or create imaginary bands and come up with CD titles and play lists. we would stay up late talking about our lives or making up stories of what our lives might hold for us in the future. now we needed an event to provide entertainment? we have to go somewhere to hang out?

I want my sleep overs back. where we bake cookies or watch movies and just get all giggly. next time I'm home I'm planning it. a central point. get the girls together. no boys allowed. (ok maybe boys allowed for awhile...but then they must leave and go have a sleep over of their own....yes I know they'd call it something much more manly than a sleep over)

for this visit I settled for dinner. twice. and ice cream.