Peonies About to Burst Open - 2012

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They won't be opened by Mother's Day, but they're getting pretty close to popping open.  Unfortunately, I didn't get to putting all of the Peony plants inside of cages, so some of them are starting to droop to the ground under the sheer weight of the flower buds.

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Lou Malnati's Salad Dressing Recipe as Published in the 60's

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Earlier this winter, I wrote about the old Lou Malnati's menu and mentioned that as I was waiting around for my pie to finish up, I spied an old Chicago Tribune article posted on the wall that included the original Lou Malnati's Italian Salad Dressing Recipe.  The Tribune reporter called it "prized".  We were set to host a little pizza party over the weekend, so I figured I'd give it a shot.  Here's the article as seen through my mobile phone's camera.
I'm not a wine drinker, so the fact that the recipe called for Burgundy wine didn't strike me as odd.  I went shopping at Angelo Caputos in Addison - a really incredible shopping experience - and when I got to the wine section I found Burgundy wine was carried ONLY in those HUGE jugs.  And they were dirt cheap.  The only issue is that needed just 4 ounces.  We ended up with a whole-lotta-wine that Nat won't drink.

I've taken the recipe and modified it a bit by eliminating the percentages (60…
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Menards Halloween Blowmolds - 2012

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We made our way to the happiest place on earth this weekend - Menards - and found their entire Halloween display up and running.  One thing I noted is that they've expanded their blowmold collection.  It seemed like they downsized their inflatables at the same time.

See those pumpkins on the second shelf?  The two on the right (grey and white) have a glitter on them. They're pretty neat.  The cute ghost on the bottom and the witch on the top are the same ones they had last year.  They did, however add some black lawn flamingos.  See them on the top right in the boxes?

I still don't think we'll be getting any blowmolds this year, but I hope to add to our yard display, though!  Those details to come!
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Costco Pink Princess Castle Super Palace

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Tears and tantrums were in full effect as we walked by, stopped and then moved on from this Princess fairytale castle at Costco.  Both of the girls were doing their best to make me bring this monstrosity come home with us.  It is meant to be used outside, but in our old house, we had a plastic version of a building like this in our basement, so I suppose you could easily bring this inside and use it your basement.

At $429.99, it seems pricey to me, but your kids will love the styling and details.  It has a bunch (9!) of turrets and even a musical door knocker.  At 78" long and 95.5" tall, you need a pretty good size spot to keep this thing in or else you'll be squeezing past it whenever you go by it in your basement.  
It comes in a pretty bib cube of a cardboard box that doesn't appear to be able to fit into most cars but would probably fit into most SUV trunks with the 3rd row down or our minivan with the 3rd row down.  
Alas...this didn't work for us right now…
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