Why I Oughta...

Yesterday was the Passholder version .  Today is one of the 'normal' versions that the team at Disney World put out during their annual Very Merry Christmas Party.  This one opens just like the Passholder version but features Lilo and Stitch and a 'sandman' that is their version of a snowman.  This one, too, is destined for one of the girls' pin boards in their new rooms.

One of the girls picked up this pin from Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party late last year for their board and if you look closely, you'll see that it is a 'Passholder' version, which is pretty nice.  All of the Very Merry pins have this same 'look' of being openable with that snowflake thing on the front.  We got a few of these, so I'll share them in the next few days.

One of the gifts that one of my sisters gave me were these Lord Nut White Cheddar and Jalapeno peanuts.  You can find out more about them here on the "Who is Lord Nut?" site (which is cute, right?) I cracked open this can one day over break in the car and it never left the van.  We scarfed them down quick. If you come across some Lord Nuts at a party, plant yourself near that bowl .  Don't mingle.  Just stay there and horde them to yourself.  Get a tall frosty beverage to wash them down, but trust me....don't mingle.   Just plant yourself .

About a week ago, we went to a salvage and antique shop with Nat's parents and her sister on the northside to pick out some windows for our new place.  We ended up buying this matching pair of beveled glass windows that will go on the southside exterior wall in the library up front of the house.  We also bought a really sweet transom that I'll post a photo of at some point. With the new year here, our attention turns to the construction of our new house.  And despite it being a long, long, long process, I think both Nat and I are excited to see it come to life... like...really come to life in terms of being built!  These windows are the first thing we've *bought* for the new place, so this brought an extra level of reality to the situation. We put in some vintage windows in our first place on Indiana Street and I always liked how they transformed the house a bit with an 'new old house' feel.  It was one of the best decisions we made.  I'm hoping we'll

That's solid advice to follow for NYE.  You can take that to mean that it's just fine to think about going to bed well before the Eastern Time Zone Midnight ball drop as I usually do.

A good friend of ours is running for re-election as the West District Councilman in Wheaton, Illinois.  His name is Todd Scalzo and you can find out more about him and his campaign here on his site . Todd was first elected back in 2009 and has served the West District in Wheaton well over the past 8 years.  He's been endorsed by a strong and diverse set of stakeholders in Wheaton including the Wheaton Mayor Mike Gresk, many of his fellow Councilman and even members of the local school board.   You can review the full list of endorsements for Todd Scalzo here . I first met Todd Scalzo back in the Spring of 1997 and have gotten to know him well over the past 20 years.  (Yikes!  I just realized that I have known Todd for more than half of my life!)  Some of you know that I too, spent time serving my local government as both a Village of Frankfort Trustee and as a Commissioner on the Frankfort Park District Board of Commissioners.  I know what it takes to make a difference on y

Behold, the hard-to-find 2016 Anchor Christmas Ale !  Nat's brothers are *really* into this stuff and they have a big to-do every Christmastime when one of them comes home from LA and the other one migrates to the Suburbs from the city.  And, I have to tell you...when it comes to traditions, this is one of the good ones! Each year, the fine folks at Anchor Steam come up with a new ale and tree on the label.  From their Christmas Ale page: It is sold only from early November to mid–January. The Ale's recipe is different every year—as is the tree on the label—but the intent with which we offer it remains the same: joy and celebration of the newness of life. Since ancient times, trees have symbolized the winter solstice when the earth, with its seasons, appears born anew. With a heavily guarded, secret recipe, Christmas Ale is a highly anticipated seasonal delight, complex and full in flavor with a velvety texture and alluring, yet subtle, spiced aroma. I've covered th

And in with the new?  Well...maybe?  Who knows at this point.  And,  just like I posted in March , these bands are going to go in the circular file as I don't quite understand any reason what-so-ever to keep them around?   But same thing holds true - just like in March:  We're still not talking about any new ones. The band above features Mary Poppins and Bert (or a reasonable, yet legally-conforming to a generic-enough-version-of-the-characters-so-the-creator-doesn't-get-sued) that I wore on my band on a trip earlier this fall.  I really liked this one and just like the other ones, this too came from MyFantasyBands.com . A peek through the archives show that I wore a Chewbacca one back l ast year.  I had a monorail one in the Spring of this year .    And there are more magicband posts on the tag page from over the years here .

Hard to believe that the Babe has hit seven years of age.  Went by in a blink.

There is ONE upside to this whole being out of our place because the owners of the house are home for Christmas stuff: I don't have to remove the tree.  My post-Christmas funk starts in earnest today, but the house construction will give me something to focus on for the next few months.