Why I Oughta...

Our bands arrived.  Our bands arrived.  Our bands arrived! Just like last year , I went with orange. The big difference?  There's a few more in the set this year than last. They usually ship these bands to you a month or so before you go and I have a feeling that in most households, the arrival of this box gets the kids all fired up.  But in ours?  I think I geeked out the most. As I said last year:  I couldn't be more excited to share all my personal identifiable information and payment details with a corporation!  Let's get after it.

When Google Now read this out loud, I had to run the query again and have Nat listen because it was too funny to me.  She humored me by listening to it over my giggles. "Large buttocks". That gold, Google Now.  Gold!

What's is this?   Pizza Poundcake ? That's a line I mutter to myself a lot when I hear people say "What is this?" or "What's this?". Now...you will too.

I probably should have put 'reading' in quotation marks.  But...here's the Bird giving The King of The Ball Tossers a lesson in how cats can cross the road.  He seemed to be into it.

At the office, I bought a few boxes of Girl Scout Cookies from one of my coworkers and instead of bringing them home for me to devour by the sleeve, I did what I thought was the honorable thing and put them in the common area for my team to enjoy. But...I'm not an idiot.  I absconded with one of my boxes and brought it home.  Samoas are not my favorite (more into the frozen Thin Mint, fyi), but they're a favorite of somebody special in my house.  You know what they say:  Happy....

A week or so ago, I posted this 'Finer Things' video from Steve Winwood and discussed how there isn't a more divisive artist in the Parrillo household .  (Well...maybe Nina Simone?  But...that's for a different post!) Someone I am connected with on Facebook posted this video this am and I *had* to share it here.  It sure makes me smile and move.  With the horns in this one, it sure seems to be more in Nat's wheelhouse than the synth-driven 'Higher Love', right?!?

Back in February, I posted about the two wall calendars I now have up in my office at the Aon Center .  Both a University of Illinois and a Disney one. It being March 11th, I thought it was instructive to note that it took until yesterday to flip both of these calendars over to March.  Can't say I didn't predict that I'd have trouble with keeping these things current. Here's what they look like:  On the left Disney is highlighting the 20th Anniversary of the opening of the Indiana Jones' Adventure in Disneyland.  On the right, the U of I has a photo (with no snow!) of Boneyard Creek up by the Engineering Quad.

Picture isn't great, but you get the point.  That massive, heavy tv you have in your guest bedroom or basement....Goodwill won't even take them any more. To the curb you go! Which...reminds me of one of my MOST favorite Simpsons moments (maybe only second to the time when Homer was in the Witness Protection Program). Hey...I can call my Ma from up here !

I've already told everyone that I'm a Disney Pin Trader .  Well...my girls are the ones who actually trade pins, but I'm the one who's pushed them into the action.  On our next trip, I've set up the kids with bags of pins for each day of the trip and a new lanyard for this trip.  They're each labeled and portion'ed out for use on each of the days we're in the parks.   But, importantly, I've also set them up with some metal pin backs.  These are the ones that they should use when they trade a pin for something they want to keep.  Those keepers?  They should get one of these metal pin backs.  Why?  Because the black plastic Mickey ears pin backs fall off a lot.  But these?  They don't.   So, where do you get them?   From this dude on eBay called the DisneyPatriot.  They're not cheap, but they just flat out work .  That's why they're the BEST Disney pin backs that money can buy.   If you're going to Disney and plan

On my most recent stop at Costco, the item that caught my attention the most was this Bakerstone grill pizza ovenbox.   On their site, they list it for $129 .  What's most interesting to me is that this thing has a baking stone at the bottom - but ALSO at the top - of the box. From the description: The BakerStone Professional Series Pizza Oven Kit provides you with everything that you need to turn your grill into a restaurant quality pizza oven and transform your backyard into a gourmet pizzeria. With the BakerStone Professional Series Pizza Oven Box, you'll be able to bake gourmet pizzas in around 2 to 4 minutes, bake artisan quality breads, sear and roast steakhouse quality steaks, pork chops and fish, roast vegetables, and even bake bakery quality cookies and other delicious baked goods.   The BakerStone Professional Series Oven is easy to use. Just place on the cooking grates of your grill and preheat like normal. The BakerStone Pizza Oven Box absorbs the heat p