Why I Oughta...

I'm a sucker for Disney stuff.  And with our two girls getting into Legos and being totally addicted to anything in a 'blind bag', there might not be something that is more addictive in our house than these Lego Disney Mini Figures.   There's a set of 18 different Disney characters in what I think everyone is presuming is the first edition of multiple editions that came out earlier this year. We've been picking up blind bags here and there, but I also went on eBay and bought a dozen bags.  The girls have begun to go through them, but we're no where near the full set.  No Ariel so far.  And like three Captain Hook's?!?! But, we did get Ursula that you can see down below.  She's pretty great! The whole Disney Vinylmation thing ran it's own course and we stopped buying them, but these feel different.  With a Mini Figure display in the works, these seem like something that the girls can get after.  If a second edition/season comes out (which

Well...we don't actually have it on hand, but I've cut a deal and my Dad is picking it up this week while he's in Coloma. That's right, we're the proud owner of that beauty of an apple press.  I found it at a yard sale up in Coloma and after passing on it initially, we went back later in the afternoon only to find it closed.  The woman told me that they bought it from a farmer back in the 1970's but she had no idea how old it was.  It has two parts: a grinder in the box (that's the wheel on the side) and the 22 lb press on top (that's the handle on top). Fortunately, the house was for sale, so I took a shot and emailed the agent with my story about wanting to reach the owner of the house she was selling to try to buy their apple press.  Well...a few days later a lady calls me and....yada, yada, yada....we now have an apple press.  (Or...we will have it this week when my Dad comes home from Michigan!). And...yes...I yada-yada'd over the good p

Along side Ariel and Flounder, that orange and white fish on the left is our new pet: Lucky.  Well...his name *might* be Lovie because the Savage calls her that, but everyone else calls her Lucky.  She's been living in this two gallon bowl for the past few weeks after being 'won' (can we call it that?) at the Naperville Rib Fest. This new 'pet' has, ummmm, been a source of disagreement around the family.  I've taken on the bulk of the burden of keeping her tank clean - which hasn't been super easy - but getting her at a carnival is a sort of 'loophole' that was exploited that I don't think was appreciated by senior leadership.  Add the fact that we've been out of our temporary home for five weeks and the burden has been shared across generations. Over the next few days, we'll transition her back to Elmhurst and if she survives the multiple water changes, the car ride and the change of locations, then she's far hardier that I exp

Earlier this month, we spent some time up in Coloma for our annual July visit and as we normally do, we went out to St. Joe's for some Silver Beach Pizza and what-have-yous.  On this trip, we went a few times and spent time both down below the bluff and up on top in town.   I covered one of the stops earlier this week with our visit to Silver Harbor Brewing Company . St. Joe's always has public art and this year is no different.  The theme is 'beach bugs' and there are lots of little statues/art that kids can climb on and have fun, but one of these bugs is a bit different. It is a caterpiller that was built by a team at Whirlpool named H-E-L-L-O.   You can read more about the bug here.   It was built by a cross-functional team at Whirlpool.   The team that built this thing can be found here . So...while it it *is* public art, this is interactive public art that takes your photo and then allows you to save it on your device.  There are instructions on the statue

Just like the Mr. T bicycle book I posted earlier this week, I picked up this sweet vintage Golden book for the kids at a garage sale for just $0.25.  The vintage cars and trucks alone made this un-passable.  If you look at the 3rd photo down, you'll see the 1973 date in the edition.  The cars are pretty sweet, but the work trucks and jeeps make this a keeper and worth adding to the 'vintage books' tag here on the blog . Look at those rides?!?!? Soldiers?  Criminals?

I have to tell you:  something just *had* to give in terms of St. Joe's Michigan restaurants.  I mean...the wait at Silver Beach Pizza sometimes gets to be like 2 hours on non-holiday weekends and sure...the pizza is great(!!!), but it also tells me that there's a huge unmet demand for eats in town. Couple that dynamic with the craft beer movement and what pops out the other end is the new Silver Harbor Brewing Company that has opened recently in Downtown St. Joe's.   Silver Harbor has a taproom that opened up in a 100 year old building and is located on the 'other side' of the main drag through town.  You can comfortably park anywhere in town like near the bluff and still walk to Silver Harbor.   We decided to bring all three kids and give this place a try on a Friday night.  They have a system of texting you when your table is ready, so we were given a 45 minute wait and we went to town to walk around and check out the public art.  Once we were texted, we

On our trip to Italy earlier this summer, we made a journey back to Cortona where we had spent some time a few years back.  It was interesting to be in a place that is so foreign, yet somehow feels familiar.  We hit up some of our old haunts, hung out in the two town squares and even took the kids to see Le Celle - a Franciscan Covenant that was started in 1211 and housed St. Francis of Assisi .  It is a pretty special place and once you arrive there and take it all in, you can quickly realize why people - even a long time ago - thought his place was special and magical. This place had a big impact on Nat and I when we went the first time and (I think because of that!) St. Francis has a special place in our lives now, so taking everyone back was worth the effort.  If you find yourself in or around Cortona (which....I gotta tell you...just do it!), take the time to go to Le Celle. The photo above is a Google Photosphere picture that I took of St. Francis' cell (his room) that

Another month, another turn of the wall calendars at my office.  On the right, the University of Illinois calendar features the ACES Library (which, I think was built after my time) and on the right, one of the best animated movies of all time yet this list has at #11 ?!?!).  Looking at my Google Photos auto-upload library, I see that I took this photo above on the 8th of July, so even though today is the 20th of July, let's call this one turned on the 8th. And a big swing here!   Last year, it was July 22nd that I turned the calendars a net of -14 days. For those keeping track like I am: January took 8 days to put up the calendar . I don't think I was tracking January last year. So let's call it a wash. (+0 Days) February took 16 days to put up the calendar. In 2015, I turned it over on the 17th . (-1 Days better) March took 8 days this year. In 2015, I turned them on the 10th . Posted on the 11th. So...that makes it -2 days better. April took just 7 days. I did

This Rothaus coaster that we used in Triburg, Germany is the 12th coaster in the Coaster Collection here on the blog .  We enjoyed a Rothaus Pils ( which has a 91 on Beer Advocate ) in the Black Forest right before we went off and checked out the cuckoo clocks all around tow.  We actually came away with one (or...we'll eventually have one), but I'll share that in a separate post later this week. Full Coaster Collection here on the blog.

If you look closely at the mark on the bottom of this sled, you'll see the words "Made in Occupied Japan" and that's the very reason why I couldn't pass this Santa and reindeer by at a garage sale in Elmhurst a few weeks back.  I've posted many a time about the vintage Christmas stuff we've collected at garage sales, estate sales and antique stores here on the blog , and MOST of them have a little sticker on the back of the figures that reads 'Japan'.  But, this is the FIRST piece we've ever bought that says "Occupied Japan". This story says that items marked this way were made in between 1945 and 1952 when the Allies 'occupied' Japan and to encourage the growth of the economy, we imported items during those years as long as they were marked thusly. This is, I think, called celluloid and it is pretty delicate, but it still works.  When you roll this forward, the wheels under Santa move and ding a bell every time they rol