The Land of the Free & the Home of the Brave (expats)... All Those in the US!

[UnderRated]

I just finished the old thread by accident

I swear I've seen the word Nutella more in the past week than I have in the rest of my life. It is still creeping me out.

Yesterday Colin had a foot emergency. We went to the water park, and as I was chasing after Caitlin to stop her from running, he started screaming. His foot was all scraped up and swelling up and turning purple. He couldn't walk on it, and was screaming when anyone touched it. So I loaded him up in the car and called his Dr. office. They had me come in right away, especially since I didn't see what had happened, and he wasn't coherent enough to quite tell me. They thought it wasn't broken, so we went home and iced it and put it up. A few hours later, it was not purple and not swollen, just scraped. It was so much better, DH was really looking at me funny for taking him to the Dr. I knew that would happen.

I wonder what happened to his foot. I'm glad it is much better already - it's funny how something can look really bad and then in a few hours is almost like it never happened. Children are quite remarkable.

Sorry about Nutella haunting you.

I am psyching myself up for the MulletFest county fair. I think I don't want to go, really. Might be interesting though.

I loathe county fairs. Guess what the one and only thing Colin wants to do for his birthday is?????

Hey UR, some questions to show you my absolute lack of knowledge about Chicago:

Does the thing that I can't remember what it is called, but is like an above ground subway go most touristy places? If it does is it something I want to ride with my kids?

If one stays on the magic majestic magenta Magnificent Mile, is one within walking distance of touristy type attractions that you sent me oh so long ago?

Is Chicago a fairly easy city to drive?

If one of the minor reasons I hate San Fransisco is the fact that there seems to be a Walgreens on every corner in some areas, I'm pretty much going to want to off DH myself this trip, aren't I?

What other question did I want to ask you, but forgot?

So, the county Fair was interesting. It reminded me a lot of Blackbushe Market with fairground rides. This weekend, I have eated the biggest mountain of crap ever, including:

Deep Fried Twinkie (for Jabber)
Deep Fried Oreos
Deep Fried Snickers
Deep Fried Mac and Cheese
Elephant ear (deep fried dough)

See the theme here?

Um, Chicago:

The El is quite good fun but I rarely use it (because I have no need). DS has never been on it but he talks about it all the time and would love to ride it. It goes around the business district and then out to neighbourhoods on the North & West Side. I usually take the bus or the Metra Train (but I live on the Southside in a neighbourhood where the El doesn't come).

The Magnificent Mile is indeed the best place to stay for touristy things. Any of the hotels should be fine. If you want to check the location with me, I can tell you more. There are some slightly cheaper hotels just off Michigan Ave which are perfectly fine too. If you are on the Mag Mile or thereabouts, most places are within walking distance or you can get a bus/ free trolley/ water taxi/ cab to the places further away like the museums.

I don't chose to drive downtown. I have done and it is possible to do so without losing ones sanity bt parking is soooo expensive (at least $20 per hr) and there are so many one-way streets, I find it easier to get around on foot/ public transport.

Walgreens will almost definitely be a problem for you, sorry. There is one on every corner.

I don't know what your other question was

If you want to email me, my address is: busy mamama @ gmail.com (no gaps, obvisouly)

That be fair food for ya. We got it all set up with IL's to come up for Colin's b-day and the fair festivities. He wouldn't even be swerved with the promise of a party at a pizza, games and mini-golf place with friends. All he wanted was to go to the fair with grandma and grandpa. So will you be sporting a mullet any time soon????

I shall take you up on your e-mail offer in a bit, I think. Am horribly busy today. DH is very happy with any news about cheaper hotels. DH is very happy with the news about cheaper anything.

Thanks for the info on the transportation issue. I see parking rates are equivalent to those in Boston. I guess it won't matter anyway, because it isn't like we will see anything else other than Walgreens (like I didn't know that anyway) because DH has to go in every one he sees.

So I just stuck to the deep fried stuff with extra sugar. Fried mac and cheese is an odd thing - it is made into nuggets then battered & dropped in the oil. I wouldn't have it again. Turns out most food on a stick was meat (am veggie), frozen bananas (why?) or pizza (not on a stick, thank you).

THe Bennetton shopping must have been a nightmare. I think I'd have lost patience. Dooney, you may not want to see this, but here is a map of Walgreens in the downtown area.

I hate going into Nieman Marcus because I am sure the staff all look down their nose at me when I walk in because I am not dripping in gold. They do have some fab shoes though. Not that I could ever afford them.

Oh, that first paragraph was all back to front. The first sentence should have been at the end. I think

I'm off to see a friends 5 day old baby today but have to brave the thunder storms and torrential rain. Given that we are meant to be walking to her house, I think I'll change out of my white t-shirt.

Knowing that Chicago is where the headquarters is, I know what that map is going to look like, and for my own sanity I chose not to look at it and stick my head in the sand. I already told DH that it will not be like our San Fransisco trip, or we will not be going at all. I'm not really wanting to go anyway, so he's going to have to be good. (Not that I don't want to go, I just would rather get the house painted, instead) Did I mention how much I loved our Boston-Maine trip last year, because he only managed to find 1 the whole time we were there?

I loooooved frozen bananas. Such good memories of them when I was 5 or 6ish. And then I had one not too long ago, and was sadly disappointed.

Do you have a Nordstroms, Cali? I think it might be too late, but they were having their 1/2 yearly sale this weekend.

So blagging a free lunch and hijacking someone's washing machine for the afternoon makes one a lovely person, does it?? I dunno, you lot in the US are easy to please, hehe! But why didn't you ask me to post your parcel for you in the UK, Cali? I know how much it costs to mail abroad and I'd have been very happy to do that.

Dh, dd2 and I really enjoyed our day with you and your ds's and meeting your dh, you're all gorgeous. (I think the boys will have the girls chasing them when they're older - both boys have such killer eyes and eyelashes!) Where you live is amazing, so near the countryside (do they call it that in the US??) and citrus trees and prickly pear and humming birds and hawks, all to be viewed from your patio. Going into every shoeshop in Great Mall at Milpitas least 20 times in order for dd2 to get Converse trainers probably won't be an experience I care to repeat though, lol. By the way, I trimmed my nails down a bit, I couldn't function with those talons!!!

I must say, we had a wonderful holiday in Ca and now I want to move there. I shall avoid San Fran itself, it's blooming cold there, 56deg, brrrr. Maybe Napa Valley is calling me.......

Hello Sue

Am glad you had such a good time in Ca & with Cali. Her boys sound gorgeous. I love boys with long lashes.

Dooney, are frozen bananas squichy and slimey? I am tempted to try one but in my head are in the category of things that shouldn't be frozen and I really can't imagine what the texture would be like.

Hello, mind if I join you guys. Currently in exile in Toronto. I am trying to MN a bit less, get out and enjoy the sunshine etc. It's not really worked today!

No, they're pretty hard. And then you put them in your mouth and they turn a funny consistency. Just make sure they're covered in chocolate and dipped in nuts, and it makes it not as bad of an experience.

Link, please, Cali. I want to see. Purses are a slippery slope. I didn't even really own one until the winter of 2006.

Hi MrsSprat. Yay, more people here.

It looks fun. I couldn't pull it off, but I don't dislike it. I'm just jealous you can.

You don't have a winter where you are, Cali. Therefore I demand you send that winter bag to meeeee. Right now, immediately, pronto.

I didn't even get inside a Nordstrom. Between dh, dd2 and ds1, I somehow lost the battle and in fact didn't get a single chance to shop-alone. But I forced dh to take me to Michael's and Jo-Ann's as penance for visiting Harley Davidson dealers.

I shall be in chilly Scotland for...um...some time over Xmas, Cali. And my current bag is far too summery for December. So you've got to give me yours, ok?? Dh managed to sort out the dirty v clean contents of the suitcases by identifying his Sunday pants which you had kindly washed for him.

I'd better get to bed, dh is catching the red-eye in the morning to visit his aged mother in Kent. He's programmed the Sat-Nav in order to drive to the airport here, a journey he's done a million times without so much as a map.

Honest opinions, please. What do you all think of the name Gaius Marcus?

For a baby.

in my opinion, it's a bit pretentious as an ensemble, unless he's a Roman Emperor. Quite like Marcus though

So, say if your husband's cousin had a baby and your husband's aunt called to tell you and she told you that is what it was named that maybe it would be slightly understandable if there was a long pause on your end and finally you told her you must have heard her incorrectly????

(Your response was exactly what was going through my head, even the liking Marcus part. Along with feeling horribly for the child imagining how it will be for him when he gets older)