Posts

'Cue For A Cause BBQ Competition - Elmhurst Walk-In Ministry

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Spotted this flyer in a City Centre business window recently for a BBQ competition on Sunday, September 6th.  The host is the Elmhurst Walk-In Ministry - which I have no idea where/what they are, but the fact that they're having a meat competition makes me interested.   And...frankly...this competition is a success by just having people like me head to their site and try to figure out what they're up to.  (Turns out, it sounds like a really great organization doing hard, necessary work !  Good for you guys!) The competition is set to take place in a spot that they're billing as "the Elmhurst City lot at the corner of York and Vallette", but I think that means it is in the lot behind (east) of those businesses at that intersection in the lot that hosts the Farmer's markets on Wednesdays. The Elmhurst Walk-In Ministry is  hosting a pdf on their website with the full rules and it appears that this is a true competition with judges and a 'clamshell tur

Menards Halloween Inflatable Light-Up Animated Dragon

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On Saturday, I wrote about how we went to Menards to check out the Halloween stuff , but on that trip there was a stand-out piece that is worthy of a separate post.  It is this HUGE inflatable animated light-up Halloween dragon. Check out the video below to see it in action, but here are the details as I gathered:  it has wings that move back and forth, it's belly glows with a fire-y glow, the eyes light up red and it makes some noises of some sort.  (Pay no attention to the 'Monster Mash' you hear in the video, that came from some other inflatable!) It is $199.99 right now on sale.  I didn't buy it (we bought a different inflatable that I'll post about later), but wondering if someone I know out in Naperville will/should buy it.  Granddad loves a good inflatable, right?!?

Almanac Saison Dolores Bomber

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Nat grabbed my phone and took this photo of this Dolores beer when we were at some friends' house for pizza and beer last night.   We drank a few different craft beers, but I don't think we ever got down with Dolores, unfortunately.

Menards Halloween 2015 Is Up

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We went to the new Menards in Melrose Park to check out the Halloween section.  This is the new two-story store and I wasn't sure where the 'seasonal' items would be set up.  They had a bunch of space for the Halloween stuff and even took over some of the outdoor patio section for the blowups, but...one thing that they didn't have was the Halloween Village that the Glendale Heights store has up usually. Wonder if they'll do a Christmas Village at the new Melrose Park store? Here's a post from three years ago when I took the girls to check out the Halloween stuff at Menards back in the day.

Big Rob's Moving And Hauling

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Looking for a mover in the Chicago suburbs that doesn't break the bank?  Look no further than my guys at Big Rob's Moving and Hauling .  We used Big Rob and his crew to move us out of our home and into storage and we couldn't be happier.  They took great care to protect our stuff AND our house and were courtesy and prompt and super hard-working. Call Big Rob himself at (773) 858-3965.  Tell him Jake in Elmhurst sent 'ya!

Good Guy Clif Bar Customer Care On Twitter

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Yesterday, I posted what I thought was a funny video showing off the new 'zero calorie' Clif Kid Z bars that we got from Costco .  I went on Twitter and gave the fine folks at Clif Bar a little bit of grief and included the #ThanksObama hashtag for these new light bars.  This wasn't brand-shaming and I wasn't going crazy, just trying to get their attention of the problem we encountered using a channel of my choosing. Customer care via social isn't easy and the good folks at Clif Bar stepped up and responded and directed me to their other customer care channels.  Good for them.  Would have loved to see a little bit of brand personality come out in their reply, but we can't get everything, can we?!? Thanks for the conversation, Clif Bar team.  I went to the contact form and filled it out with details.  We'll see if they get back to me.  If they do?  I'm sure I'll post it here. @jakeparrillo Sorry about that. Please contact our CS team @ h

We Got A Fake Clif Kid Bar #ThanksObama

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Nat picked up a box of Clif Kid Organic Zbars at Costco this week and as I cracked it open to give one to the girls, I found what is best described as a 'fake' Clif Kid bar.  It was a perfectly sealed wrapper of a bar, but just simply filled with air. Check out the video: The girls thought it was awesome.  Me?  Not so much.   I had to dump the whole box out to figure out if we just got this as a 'bonus' or if we were short one bar.  Sure enough...short one bar.  They counted this 'air-filled' wrapper as a bar.   Maybe this is a not-so-subtle message that we're eating too many bars?  Dropping some calories through ingesting air instead of granola? #ThanksObama

Come On, Disney! Where Are The Android Apps?!?

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Imagine my delight when I fired up gmail and saw this promo email from the fine folks at Disney.  They're promoting some new mobile apps tied to the new Pixar movie 'Inside Out' - which my girls loved. Squee!  I couldn't wait to open the note and then download some stuff to show off to the girls tonight.  I mean...anything to get them away from watching unboxing videos on YouTube Kids, amirite?!? I open the email and my excitement quickly turns to frustration.  See all those iOS app store logos?  Hrumph.  All three apps that they're promoting are available in the Apple App Store only. What about us Android users?  No apps for you, I guess. Add this round of disappointment to the pile that exists because they rolled out their cute "Disney Side" app that allows you to overlay a Disney character image on a selfie.  We'd love to do that, right? Oh...too bad.  No app for you, Android user.  iOS only. Come on, Disney!  I *get* that devel

Jollay's Dairy Bar And Welcome Center in Coloma

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This little spot is right at the exit ramp when you get into Coloma.  It is run by the same folks who run Jollay's Orchard and Grandpa's Cider Mill.  We stopped here on the way to pick some peaches and Nat picked up a (what she said was) tasty iced coffee and even (gasp!) a few apple cider donuts.  You loyal readers will remember that we covered our quest for 'off season' apple cider donuts back on the blog earlier this summer .  (what my baby wants, my baby gets, right Vince?!?)

Michigan Donut Peach - 2015 Edition

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Four years ago, I posted about these Donut Peaches that we picked at Jollay's in Coloma Michigan .  Today, we picked more peaches (and nectarines) but had to just 'buy' the Donut Peaches at the little store that Jollay's has set up.  There weren't any on the trees.