Why I Oughta...

This morning, University of Illinois Athletic Director Mike Thomas sent out a mass email asking for local farmers (and Illini Fans) who might be interested in putting up Burma-shave signs along one of the major highways in the State. Based on the map they've included , they're interested in putting them all the way up towards Chicago, so hopefully we'll see them pop up soon. Think it is a pretty cute idea and a nice way to boost enthusiasm for the programs.

Over the weekend, we went to see the Walt Disney Archives (traveling version) at the Museum of Science and Industry.  We arrived right when the museum opened, so we had very few lines to deal with - which was pretty nice. The exhibit is really broken down into three four parts: 1.  Walt's early life, launching his companies, failing, hitting on the Mouse 2.  Growing his animation Studio 3.  Developing the theme parks 4.  Some 'artifacts' from Disney productions I really loved 3/4 of it and found the whole story of Walt's entrepreneurship pretty compelling. The Bird - who is four now - didn't love it.  By the end, she just wanted to get going so we could go see the baby chicks hatching in the other part of the museum.

I picked up one of these at the Great Midwest Train Show before Christmas.  It was billed by the dealer as being "basically a perpetual motion machine".  Unfortunately, one of the plastic pieces in the box was broken, so it didn't work too well. So, I went looking on Ebay for another one to use as parts.  Found one for just a few bucks.  When it arrived, guess what?  Had a break in the exact same spot.  Thinking I've found the vulnerable piece in the production, huh?

The final piece (for now) of our Vintage Christmas binge after the New Year are these gift tags.  In this box is 15 different cards.  They're all 3 dimensional and each one different.   And they're stamped "Japan" on the back.  Pretty cute stuff.  

This was the first Grandma Moses piece we've come across - and Nat reminded me that she gets covered on the Roadshow from time-to-time, so we had to pick this up and put it with the rest of our Christmas stuff.

With the demise of Elmhurst's "My Favorite Toy Store" plenty of folks around town were pretty bummed both because everyone loved the store and tried to support it as a local merchant but also because it was leaving a gaping hole right in York Street. The good news is that it appears that we won't have that hole in our City Centre as there are now signs in the empty storefront for a place called Main Street Candy and Toys.     You can find them over her on Facebook .    They posted a 'we're expanding' note you can see here. Post by Main Street Candy and Toys . We're excited to see them come to town and hope they open up quick.  We'll be one of the first in line to support them!

We had a pretty incredible sunset earlier this year up in Michigan. Shot from Rocky Gap Park - which is technically - in Benton Harbor.  We hit up the park on the way to St. Joseph, so it is St. Joe's to us!