When girlfriends blog...

That was then...




This is now...


Here's to a fun 10 years!

The evolution of the chocolate chip cookie

First, there's the batter:



Then, fresh-from-the-oven cookies, browned to near perfection:



Next comes the expectation: (will he like it?)

(The flour on the face was added for effect...)


And then the payoff: (He likes it!)



And then there's Bella...ever so hopeful one of us will drop a crumb. Or four.

'Headline' news

So at work I'm writing a story about one nearby city that in an effort to curb air pollution is enacting a "no idle" policy. City vehicles will not be allowed to sit idle for longer than 30 seconds. I told Andy about the story and was excited to see that he and his boss, Tim, did some brainstorming for me for the headline.
They e-mailed these suggestions, "City gives idle car cold shoulder" and "Idle cars are devil's workshop."

I totally loved their ideas but couldn't part with the one I came up with:

"New city commandment: Thou shalt not have idles"

Remember this guy?

It's Wizzo, the wacky wizard from the magical land of Arobia from “The Bozo Show.” He was best known on the show for being creepy: he'd say "doo-dee-doo-dee-doo" as he wiggled his fingers and opened his eyes really wide. He also cut Cookie in half with saws a lot.

Today, at almost 74, Wizzo (real name, Marshall Brodien) is alive and well and still doing magic. I (Erin) did a story about him and not only got to meet him, but he also invited my co-workers and I to his home in Geneva to tour his basement full of memorabilia. So we took a little field trip last Friday.





Marshall has some amazing stories, including some about his run-ins with a Chicago mob. If you have some time, check out my story and a short video from the time we spent at his house at http://www.chicagosuburbannews.com/geneva/homepage/x1925662819.

**Plus, all the extra looking by you guys will make the higher-ups at my work think, "Dang, Erin's really getting people interested in Geneva. She's a keeper!" :)

Guess who pooped in our dish chair...

The Kaiser's came over last night and we got to hang out with them and their three kids, who are always entertaining.
Abbey and Tommy can't get enough of our footstool on wheels. Usually we store blankets in there, but when the Kaiser's come we know Abbey and Tommy are going to want a ride.






Mollie makes us want to have six children. She sat in her car seat most of the night entertaining herself. (We'll make fun parents...)



Unfortunately Tommy wasn't feeling that well. (What's with Andy and I and the sick kids??) Sarah and I were in the kitchen talking while Ben and Andy were in the livingrom entertaining the kids. Suddenly we see Ben rushing to the bathroom with Tommy, yelling for back-up. Apparently Tommy had some diaper leakage...well, we'll just leave it at that. Since he'd already gone through two outfits (the first one had to be changed after he stuck his hand in the toilet), I found a shirt of mine for him to wear. Luckily he didn't mind.



It's so great how the Kaiser's are already teaching their children the value of hard work. Right after dinner, Tommy got busy cleaning up...

In lieu of things being a little quiet around the Andy and Erin household lately, I (Erin) will share a little bit about what life was like growing up speaking "Deb-ese." (My mom liked to tweak common names or words to make them more appealing to kids.) What Andy finds most hilarious is that to this day my mother can be heard saying these things.


Restaurants:
McDougals (McDonald's)
BurgerWhop (Burger King)
Taco Hell (Taco Bell)
Red Gobster (Red Lobster)
Fartees (Hardee's)
Pizza Butt (Pizza Hut)
Crackle Barrel (Cracker Barrel)
Wuby Tuesday (Ruby Tuesday)

Stores:
Wally World (Wal-Mart)
Crotchers (Krogers)
K-Farts (K-Mart)
JCPenn-wah (JCPenney)
Mannie-Fay (Fannie May)

Common words:
Toofers (teeth)
Necklace (neck)
Shoesies (shoes)
Tenny runners (also shoes)
Pantaloons (pants)
Noseyrosie (nose)
Sockees (socks)
Skizzors (scissors)
Beddy-by (bedtime)
Army (arm)
Glassies (eye glasses)
Bibble (Bible)
Granny Goodwitch (grandma)
Girl Sprouts (Girl Scouts)
Choich (church)

Food/beverages:
Poopsie (Pepsi)
Roast beast (roast beef)
Sodeepop (soda)
Poopcorn (popcorn)
Moo juice (milk)
Li-muh-nada (lemonade)
Eggies (eggs)
Boo-tar (butter)

TV/movies
California 2-4-6-8-10 (Beverly Hills 90210)
Ralphie (A Christmas Story)

I'm sure there's more but this is all I can think of for right now.

If you ever hear me ask you for a cuppy for my Poopsie, be kind. I had a rough childhood. :)

Christmas in Arizona

What a contrast--we left the snow and cold for sunny and warmer (if only slightly) temperatures.

Of course we spent much of the time eating, including feasting on LOTS of meat. Shown here is Bob Sauder's famous prime rib.


We had fun with the nieces and nephews:



Andy, his dad, Anniliese, Sarah and Sam went to the shooting range to blow off some steam after a little too much time was spent with the nieces and nephews: :)



Andy and I got to put some parenting skills to work while driving from Chris's house with Ben and Olivia to meet the rest of the family for breakfast. Ben started looking really upset and soon announced he didn't feel well and thought he was going to throw up. Luckily for us, we found a plastic bag for him. Unluckily for Ben, the plastic bag had a hole in it. Yeah, you get it. In the meantime, Olivia sat in her carseat with her nose plugged. The car started to smell like a mixture of fruity candy and vomit. I sat in the front passenger seat rocking back and forth, head in my hands, begging to be let out of the car. Andy tried to drive steadily while looking back at Ben every once in a while, calling out encouragements. "You're doing great Ben! Hang in there!"
Luckily, hours later, Ben was in high spirits again:


We also visited a swapmeet, where Andy, me, Anniliese and Sarah all bought sunglasses. (Chris already had a pair but we let her in the picture anyway...) :)

We were so excited to spend time with Sarah, Anniliese's roommate and longtime friend. She has the best laugh of anyone we've ever heard--it's contagious.

Also at the swapmeet, Andy put Sam to work since Sam had just gotten a new camera for Christmas. The assignment: they were both to take pictures of objects that resemble the letters of the alphabet with their own cameras and compare later. For example:
Andy's letter "D"

and his letter "S"

(Sam also had some good ones, "better than mine!" Andy said, but as of press time he hadn't posted them so we couldn't snag a few to add to our blog.)

I wish we could capture the awesome time we had in Arizona in this blog but it really wouldn't do it justice.
But we do think Anniliese's face here sums it up:


For more pics, check out our flickr page.

Happy New Year!

A Christmas Story...

Two days before Christmas, Andy and I headed down to Morton to spend the holiday with my family. On Christmas morning we all got up to open presents together.
Some may not know this but my mother is obsessed with the movie "A Christmas Story." Because of this obsession, we are forced to endure the 24-hour marathon on TNT. This means we literally watch the movie ALL DAY LONG. There is no shutting off the movie while we open presents.
"Sacreligious!" my mother would say.
Case in point:
Me, my youngest brother, Andrew... and Ralphie

Now, my sibilngs and I are so ingrained with the movie that we are all guilty of throwing out lines from the movie throughout the year, in a Tourettes-like fashion, whether they fit into the conversation or not. We just can't help it.

Andy: "Erin, should we have pizza tonight?"
Erin: "No! You'll shoot your eye out!"
Andy: "What?"
Erin: "Nothing. I don't know."

My brother Stevie, a clean freak, was most excited about this gift Andy and I found for him:

(The knives in the background, an odd Christmas present, went to my older brother Dave from my mother.)

The day after Christmas, Andy and I packed up our stuff and headed home so we could fly out to Arizona the next day. Unfortunately Andy's car broke down and we ended up spending five hours at a car dealership in El Paso. We passed time by complaining (oh wait, that was me...), reading and watching "Bridezilla" on the television they had. (Awful, awful show by the way.) Soon they had fixed the (unintelligible words uttered by mechanic) and we were on our way again.