Why I Oughta...

We were out and about when I parked the van next to a normal-looking car.  But, the license plate was anything *but* normal-looking.  It was a diplomatic license plate.  What do I mean?  Instead of having a state listed on it, it instead read: CONSUL.  And had a seal in the top left from the US Department of State.  Here is a photo of it below.   Note...I'm posting a photo of a license plate that I normally would blur out, but since the photo doesn't show the vehicle, nor am I stating the location, I feel pretty good about sharing this photo.  Kinda cool, right?  I went online to figure out what the story is/was with the plate and I turned up at this tool from Quartz:  a Diplomatic License Plate Decoder .  Pop in the plate number and you discover this is from a Japanese diplomat.  And...based on the location, that *totally* makes sense. From Quartz's tool: I learned something today.  What do they say?  Get smarter everyday.  Done and done.

As I've mentioned in a few different posts in the past month or so, I've been increasingly drawn into bonsai videos on YouTube.  Thanks to their recommendation algorithm, I've been wandering into a bonsai rabbit hole and have, I think, come to the conclusion that I should try my hand at some form of bonsai.  So, on my recent trip to Tokyo, I decided to seek out some bonsai in person.  I came across this post on Bonsai Empire that recommended this small shop called Morimae Bonsai in Ginza that was just a few blocks away from my hotel.  That story mentioned that the store was small and recommended a trip upstairs.  I wandered over there and found the place and I went in.  It *was* small and had one person working in the place behind a counter.  The Bonsai Empire piece mentioned an upstairs, but I didn't notice any stairs, so I was stuck just looking around the little shop.  They had about a half dozen trees in the store and some tools.  The tree that grabs your at

As I posted yesterday, Easter is a (surprising, at least to me) big deal at Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea .  Lots of displays around the parks, but the stores are loaded with Easter-related items.  It wouldn't be a trip to a Disney Park without buying stuff you don't really need, right?  And holiday-related items for my kids?  Couldn't pass some of this stuff up. Here's a look at some of the displays in the stores including "Grand Emporium" at Tokyo Disneyland (which is the big store on their version of MainStreet USA) and the Emporio - the version at DisneySea. They have a big display of towels in different sizes featuring Mickey and Minnie in their Easter best. Pay attention to those outfits.  More on that down below. They also have these pretty awesome eggs in a package.  Inside of each of those are little candies.  You can see the display in the bottom left of the photo. There's a bunch of pins and post-it notes that are all egg-

As I've done in the past, this year, I went out early in the morning on Black Friday.   And I went to my favorite store:  Menards.  Yes.  That's right.  I'm guilty.  I was up and out of the house before six am and stood in lines for junk at Menards.  With all of these people. I wrote about my Black Friday experiences before here on the blog . I mean...it was a total zoo.  This is at the new Menards in Melrose Park, so it was the first time I've done Black Friday there, but it was more packed and the people were more aggressive than I've seen in year's past.  By the time I entered the store, all the shopping carts were gone and it was Lord of The Flies time.  People were grabbing garbage cans, buckets and even big cardboard boxes (see the woman in front of me in the line in the photo above with a big box) and jamming all the junk that Menards was peddling in them. The biggest sellers?  It seemed that there was yelling and screaming and huge crowds around

 Just like in year's past, I took the girls to check out the recently put-up Halloween section at Menards.   Here's the post showing the Babe in the 2015 Halloween section and here's a post from 2012 showing both girls .  They've both grown up a lot, eh? Here's The Bird doing her best 'scary' face and I'm not sure what the Babe is doing on the right.  With Back-to-School out of the way, we are now entering my favorite time of year at Menards: seasonal.  They quickly moved out the backpacks and highlighters in favor of ghosts and witches and it won't be long now for Christmas stuff to creep in.   Last year, we spotted snowmen and Santas as early as October 6th , so brace yourself, folks.  Christmas Creep is coming.

What doesn't say "I love you" more than a sweet discount on some tasty pizza?!?  I mean...what more could your Valentine want than $100 of Home Run Inn deliciousness for just $69.99. Head to your Costco (or...at least our Costco on North Avenue in Melrose Park) and amongst the other gift card deals for places like PF Changs and RedStone will be this deal of four $25 gift cards at just $69.99. I love taking my kids and my nephew to HRI (now that the one in Addison is closed, we usually go to the one in Hillside) and devour some tasty pizza and we can't leave without a Cookie Monster.   With $100 in your pocket, you can either hit the place up twice (if you're like us!) or really splurge for a big spread of loaded fries, multiple pies, and a couple of Cookie Monsters for your group. If you're a Costco shopper, you know that these things are hit-or-miss.  One day they're there.  Next they're gone.  So...Get these before they disappear.  

You know the feeling.  You just wrassl'd the alligator that is putting your kid into the shopping cart only to find out that the strap to keep them in there is broken.  The fine folks at Meijer have solved that problem with this crazy smart design.  See the red clip on the right?  It is a retractable belt that plugs into the left.   There's no way these can get caught in the seat itself and snap/break. Smart thinking, Meijer.  Oh...this isn't the first smart thing they're doing:   they have 'open out doors' on their bathrooms .

Well, well, well.  Look what arrived in the mail this week:  the 2015 Christmas catalog from the fine folks up at Duluth Trading.  With the King Arthur catalog already in our house, with this, I can *now* build out my full Christmas "want" list. I mean...who isn't all over henleys and fire house pants from Santa Claus this year, amirite?!?

This is the second (I think) season for this Maxine pop-up store that is housed in the Shaved Ice place on the west side of York Street right in the heart of the Elmhurst City Centre.  Seems like a pretty good use of the space for the winter as the shaved ice store closes down after Labor Day.   Maxine is only open October, November and December. Maybe they should be called "Purses, Purses, Purses"?  (Like, Closets, Closets, Closets?)

Just like they do when the Blackhawks make their playoff run, the folks from Clark Street Sports have set up a booth in the concourse of the Ogilvie Transportation Center full of Cubs gear.  I walk by it twice a day now and makes me wish it was all black/white/silver gear. With a few Cubs fans in my life (unfortunately), I've even (gasp!) made a stop AND a purchase.  I know.  Gross, right?

Over the weekend, I packed the kids into the van and headed out to visit the brand new Menards in Melrose Park .  Exciting stuff in our house.  Seriously.  A new Menards?  That's like 10 minutes closer to our house?  Sweet. I've been driving by this location for the past 6 months waiting for it to open and thought that it looked 'small'. Turns out...the footprint of the store *is* small.  That's because it is a two story store. From the Chicago Tribune : With the opening of this new 2-story store, the Melrose Park area will now enjoy all of the great services, low prices and shopping convenience that Menards offers. Jeff Abbott, Menards Spokesperson says, "We appreciate all the loyal shoppers who shopped at our former Melrose Park store for many, many years. We can't wait to open the doors to this impressive, new 2-story store so everyone can see for themselves all the latest, greatest home improvement products we have to offer." I've bee

I was walking down the ice cream aisle yesterday at the Jewels and spotted these beauties amongst the other novelties.  I resisted the urge to put them in my cart and moved on, but COME ON NOW.  Where have these things been my whole life?!?

Nat and I braved the (nice/warm/pleasant?) temperatures to try to capture some of the deals at Target on Thanksgiving night ahead of Black Friday.  Here's a photo of the line wrapping around the Target building that must be 400-500 people long.  We got what we came for - toys - but based on the number of tvs that were laying around, I'm thinking the electronics weren't moving as fast as they have in years past.

Nat picked up this 1.32 gallon mini keg at Standard Market right before Thanksgiving.  It's from Breckenridge Brewery - which is surprisingly in Denver.  I think Nat's sister and her husband are big fans of this place. The purchase wasn't really for us - but for Nat's two brothers who go all-in for various holiday/Christmas beers this time of year.  In fact, they brewed their own (once again) that should be ready at next Christmastime.  They'll be cracking open bottles of last year's brew in mid-December.

We were in Williams Sonoma yesterday and came across these Brookster Pans.  I consider myself to be someone who somewhat keeps up with baking blogs and the like and I had never heard of these things.  A quick search on the web and it looks like everyone is pointing to the same place that I am - Williams Sonoma where they sell a Brookster mix and - as you can see above - a Brookster pan. So, did W-S create the Brookster?  Are they trying to build something of their own like the Whoopie Pie?  Pretty neat idea, if that's the way this shook out.

There's 20 ounces in a G2.  They list a serving size as 8 ounces.  Meaning there's 2.5 servings per each bottle.  8+8+4=20.   But, somewhere, their calorie math got lost. If there's 20 calories per 8 ounce serving, that leads me to believe that there would be 10 calories per every 4 ounces, right?  So...the first 8 ounces has 20 calories.  The second 8 ounces has another 20 ounces and the last 4 ounces *should* have 10 calories.  That adds up to 50, right? Not according to Gatorade.

I picked up these eggs at the Wesco Gas station.  Cute package, eh?  And, another local Michigan product we've added to our usage up in Michigan along with Pioneer Sugar and Koegel's Hot Dogs . Yes...I bought my family breakfast from the gas station.  Along with a half-dozen doughnuts, too!

A 55 gallon tank is perfect for a suburban dad with a finished basement, right?  I'm in the market to start up an aquarium for both me and the Babe.  Nat isn't that thrilled with the idea, but she has given me her blessing to go ahead.  As long as she doesn't have to clean the tank.  Ever.

On Saturday, we went to Angelo Caputo's up in Addison for some various items including the Chellino Scamorza Cheese that I use in our pizza making.  Unfortunately, Caputo's was all sold out.  Weird.  But, I didn't want to give up, so Nat pulled out her phone and found this place:  Amici's Italian Deli and Fruit Market in Westmont.  We called them and asked if they carried Chellino Scamorza?  Sure enough, they have a lot of it they said. When we arrived, I immediately went to the refridgeration case and saw these beauties. A whole dollar cheaper than Caputo's at $5.99. We found a few other items to pick up, but didn't give the store a real good once-over.  It appears to be a solid Italian deli with the majority of the customers milling around in the back by the deli counter.  Lots of cuts of meat, lots of sliceable meats.  We'll give it a shot for lunch one day soon.

What's this?  Another stinkin' Christmas post?  WTF?  This is January you say.  It is, indeed.  But...the sad truth of the matter is that I still have Christmas on my brain.  And, I'm sad to report that the deluge of vintage Christmas shopping didn't stop with our little Christmas girl .   I couldn't put these (above) 3 vintage Santa cake toppers down at the Antique Mall .  I'm not sure we're going to keep them because they seem to be more in the wheelhouse of my mother-in-law.  While Nat bakes a MEAN cake (and other sweet treats), her Mom has used cake toppers of all sorts - including some vintage ones that her Dad brought over - so she's likely be geeked to have them. They've been packed away in one of our Christmas tubs, so come this November, we'll see what Nat thinks when we unpack them and if we're going to keep 'em.