Why I Oughta...

Over the weekend, we hit up the Oak Brook Costco and came across this behemoth.  This is the Suncast Wood and Resin Playcenter - Costco Part #588674.  It is priced at $1299.99 (see the bottom photo for pricing details). This is the 2012 version of the VERY popular Costco backyard playground/playset series.  Last year, they featured the Cedar Summit Panorama - which we brought home.  This year, they've gone with the Suncast Wood and Resin Playcenter which has many of the same features as years pasts. ***Update on 2/28/12 - If you are looking for the Cedar Summit Mountainview Resort Playset you can find the details here .  Turns out Costco is indeed selling a Cedar Summit swingset, but just not in Texas or the Midwest.  *** The 2012 Suncast structure is made up of both wood and a lot of plastic parts - unlike the Cedar Summit.  There are certainly plastic elements in the Cedar Summit version, but they're mostly highlight/enhancement pieces like window frames.  The Sunca

Since I posted on the (unfortunately) early emerging French Pussy Willow plant last week, I've been keeping a close eye on it to make sure things don't take a turn for the worse.  When I was out there yesterday, I noticed that some sort of critter had decided to hack away at a few of the branches and there were 6 or 7 of them laying on the ground with gnaw marks on them.  Maybe a rabbit?   Not sure. I picked 'em up, brought 'em in and decided to hop on the ole' series of tubes to see if it was possible to get them to root in a glass of water.  Sure enough.   It sounds very easy .  Just trim them up, drop them in the glass and wait.  A few weeks from now, we should have some cuttings that we can give away for others to enjoy the pussy willow in their own backyards.

This morning, we packed into the car and went wandering out for some doughnuts.  After a not-so-great experience at Dunkin' Donuts a few weeks back, we wanted to go local so we went down to Elmhurst's Julianne's Bakery.  But, what did we find?  The place is closed and has been shut down due to a fire.  Bummer. When we got home (BTW, we found a bakery in Villa Park on St. Charles that was pretty good), I looked around to see what happened with Julianne's.  Turns out, the fire that took the place out occurred LAST OCTOBER.   Almost six months ago . Guess we don't get out for donuts often enough.

Look at the size of that stick.   I put the 'Ove Glove' in there for some perspective.   I normally try to avoid pepperoni in favor of sopprasetta, but I was in a pinch last night and had to pick something up at the local Jewel.  Instead of the normal pre-sliced version, I came across this HUGE stick from Bridgeford.  The skins came off really easy and it was mighty tasty.  Liked it all around, but still not the best product for the pies we make at home.  However, when we're in a bind and buying the meats locally, I'll choose this one.

Yesterday, Politico ran a sharp piece on how the Santorum presidential campaign is running ads with Google that feature a endorsement from Rush Limbaugh and lead to a custom landing page that plays a Limbaugh clip that promotes Santorum.  Politico pointed out the importance/relevance  of the Limbaugh connection: It's a smart ad regardless of what state it's in, since Limbaugh tends to be popular with the types of GOP primary voters Santorum is hoping to pick up. But a Google  search analysis   shows that on average, Michigan residents search for Limbaugh in much higher numbers than internet users of the overall United States, meaning the ad is even more effective in that state than it may be elsewhere. Here's a screenshot of the ad.  It was running for users up in Michigan against a series (as far as I can tell) of generic GOP-related queries like [Michigan GOP Primary].   Campaigns have been using search for years, but the possibilities of targeting/messaging i

Nat picked up this little pot of Cineraria a few weeks back at Trader Joe's.  They had these really pretty purple flowers that bloomed strong.  Then...it started to fade and wilt and the leaves started to go limp and grey.  Something was wrong.  I mean...look at it.   Sad, right?  Lots of deadheads and sick foilage.  So, I replanted it into a real pot (with drainage) and hoped for the best.  It kept going the wrong way, so I turned to the web. Turns out, they thrive in cool weather .  Our house, with the thermostat set to 70 degrees was, apparently too warm for it.  Weird, right?  This is how it is described: Locate the plant in a cool room where temperatures are near 50°F to 55°F at night. Provide bright light but not direct sunlight. Excessive heat or dry soil can cause rapid decline.  So...off to the basement it goes.  On a ledge on the south side of the house to get some of that light.  But...NOT direct light.  I'll keep an eye on it and see what happens.   Seems to

What's this?  Another Christmas post?  In February?  Yes indeed.  Sorry about it.  When I was cleaning out the trunk of my car over the weekend, I came across this light set that I picked up close to Christmas (during their big sale) for Nat.  She'd been eyeing this thing since Menards put up their Enchanted Forest display but it was priced up near $25. I think I picked it up for $12.50 - 50% off but I forgot all about it.   I gave it to her for Valentine's Day because there's no reason not to. I'll put it away in the crawlspace with our other holiday stuff and when Thanksgiving comes around we'll pull it out having forgotten all about it.  Merry Christmas to us!  Indeed.