Why I Oughta...

I spent a good part of Saturday, straightening out our garage.  Back a few years ago, we built a 3 car garage that has - for the better part of the last year - housed 1 car.  And a lot of bikes and toys and wagons, and trikes.  My car has been sitting in the driveway all summer long,  but last week when I was getting up early to go to Cardio Tennis, my windshield had a thin layer of frost across the whole thing.  Winter was, indeed, near. So I dec-luttered and put a lot of our stuff up in the rafters to make room and after a few hours, I was able to drive my car into the space.  And there's plenty of room for Nat's big grocery wagon.  A win for everybody - but mostly me!  Just in time for the cold front that is set to arrive this week.

Costco sells this Glabani Precious brand of low-moisture mozzarella in a two pound pack that comes pretty close to the price of a one pound block from the Jewel.  They bill it as "Italy's Favorite Cheese brand" - which I was dubious of to begin with, but I went ahead and tossed it into the cart. It was cheap.  I have to remember that, but it also wasn't that great.  I used it on a few pies this weekend and it didn't pass the Babe's taste test.  When I'm grinding up the cheeses for our pizza pies, she usually says she wants to "help" which means eating cheese. She took a handful of this stuff and didn't go back for more. Confirms my thoughts. I won't be re-buying this stuff again. I'll take the $3 hit and go with something from the Jewel like Sorrento - which was the best 'raw' flavor on the Slice taste test .

The Elmhurst City Center has put up their Christmas lights and the downtown area looks pretty festive already.

Thanks to two of my brother-in-laws, we went to this place while we were in Denver.  Those of you who are South Park fans will get a little chuckle out of this.  Those of you who don't watch the show, this will be lost on you.

This morning, Nat and I took both of our girls to vote at Elmhurst City Hall.  And...I'll have you note that I took both girls into the booth with me so they can see the *right* way to cast their ballots.  In Illinois, that typically means voting for losers. They were both incredibly well behaved!  As a result, they both got their "I Voted!" stickers. Here's a photo of The Babe as a first-time voter in February of 2010 . Here's a photo of The Babe as a second-time voter in November of 2010 . Here's a photo of The Babe as a third-time voter in April of 2011 . And...there's no photo of her at the polling place from earlier this spring.  But...trust me!  She was there!

Do you know where to go to vote on Tuesday? Head here and plug your address into the little widget .  You should see your polling place and what races you can vote in.  Yes, the sad truth of the matter is that if you live in Illinois, our votes for President don't really matter. And, due to the Gerrymandering done by Speaker Mike Madigan, our votes for Congress likely don't matter that much either.  But, that doesn't mean you shouldn't vote, right?  It's our only opportunity to have your say. So....What time are you going?

I was walking by one of our two running stores in Downtown Elmhurst and saw this message on the window.   Turns out Coach Joe Newton and the York Dukes won their 28th State Championship .  That's one more than the New York Yankees!  Pretty incredible stuff.  

The altitude didn't seem to bother the Babe.

Take a peek at what Menards has this year from Lemax.  Me thinks that Mantleburg is going to come out of the recession with a bunch of new building permits this winter.

We had 327 trick-or-treaters come to our door last night.  Now...I have to admit, that my nephew wanted to do some of the 'tracking', so he was writing down some of the numbers so this may be fudged a bit, but not by a ton. That's 86 kids that we "know" (or live on our block/next block), 9 adults with no kids, 6 teens with no costumes, 1 girl who refused peanut M&M's and the rest made up of kids that we "don't know" and don't live in our neighborhood. The numbers saw a big jump this year and are on a clear upward trajectory. Last year, we had 269 total .  And only 37 kids that we "knew". In 2010, we had 236 total . In 2009, we had 184 total .