Why I Oughta...

Although my days at Kellogg are now behind me, I found these photos on my phone over the weekend. During the 3 hour classes, we get a 10-15 minute break.  More often than not, I spent that outside.  Usually walking around the building, calling Nat, and NOT smoking (like most of the folks outside.)   The building's exterior has been under construction during a good portion of my time there and I always fancied this piece of stone.  I thought it would be a nice addition to our pavilion/patio.  But alas....I'm not a thief.  And...it probably weighs 3,000 lbs.   Above one of the doors at the school is this King Solomon quote that always struck me when I saw it. I'll miss this place.  Just a little.

Last night, Nat and I enjoyed the fireplace for the first time.  The temps were low enough outside to make it worthwhile.  Now that it is done, I'm thrilled with how it turned out. My nieces and nephews have already brought over a bag of s'mores fixings, so I'm certain we'll put it through it's paces this summer.

Back in March, Nat and I wandered by a "coming soon" sign for a new coffee shop in Downtown Elmhurst called "That Coffee Shop" .  They've opened their doors a month ago, but we've failed to go in.  Today, on our walk to the library we spied their new hours of operation. Cute, but the late start on Sunday isn't smart.

How about this?!?! Via EW by way of Fratty Matty's FB page.

The house is cleaned up, the yard is cleared.  The party is over.  I've spent entirely too much time in my yard over the past week.  Nat put together a great party....with carrot cake cupcakes (purple frosting!). Have 10 days of vacation time in front of me to kick off the Summer of Jake.

I've been at it all day long.  Put down 10 yards of mulch, planted a Ginko tree, set up the low-voltage lights, and most of the patio/pavilion got done. As I type this, I have 18 pounds of Boston Butt in the smoker. The Yankee Smoker - which looks like a dorm refrigerator.  14 hours at 185 degrees, and we'll have lots of pulled pork for our party tomorrow.

I've all but written off the grass.  I was thinking it would come back in time for this party we're having Saturday, but that's clearly NOT going to happen. But....the rest of the stuff?  I assumed it was a slam dunk - everything would be done by today at the latest. Guess what?  MOST everything isn't done yet.  The contractor hasn't been around for 6 days.  In fact, he called me back last night after I left him messages for the past five days.  He's apparently taken another job.  I begged him to come today after he's done and get the electric done.  He thinks he can get it done this afternoon and tomorrow afternoon.  If he doesn't, I'm sure I'll write a post about him specifically.... I've also had to quickly find another contractor to install the stone on the fireplace.  It showed up over the weekend.  This was on the original contractor's contract, but with so little time, I needed to turn elsewhere. That's the box of corners