June 30, 2008 by kim.

Two years ago today (June 30th) I started this blog!

Yay me!

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June 25, 2008 by kim.

That’s what we are. Fish chickens. We are afraid of fish. Not afraid of them jumping out of the water and slapping us in the face with their scaly tails, but afraid of cooking and eating them.

We’ve mastered one fish, so far. Tilapia. Breaded and broiled, it is very tasty and easy to make.

Salmon is another story, though. We just don’t have the skills and know-how to fix this particular fish. We tried once when we lived in Las Vegas. We broiled it. It tasted terrible.

The other night, we tried again. We decided to bake it this time. I prepared the dish, prepared the $19 fillets (boy, did WE get suckered), and put it in the oven for 10 minutes based on the recipe I found. It came out looking like this:

What is that oozing out of the side? I took one look and told Chris that there was no way I was eating that. Not only that, but it was still pink. I know it’s salmon, and it’s supposed to be pink, but in my mind pink means raw, and I’m not one for raw meat.

I just ate a salad, asparagus, and rice, and Chris tackled the salmon. I think he was okay until he had to pull some bones out of it. Then he was completely turned off.

Oh well. Maybe we’ll just go with fish sticks.

Posted in Food | 2 Comments »

June 23, 2008 by kim.

Last Friday, June 20th, Chris and I had our 5th Wedding Anniversary! Yay, us!!

Our wedding photo

To celebrate, we went out for a fancy schmancy dinner at…

Hey - we’re easy to please.

Posted in Food, Happy | 1 Comment »

June 17, 2008 by kim.

We went home to WI last weekend for a lovely visit with my family. As Chris was having my brother check out a noise the car was making, he (my brother) noticed this screw in our tire:

No! We had just replaced this tire a couple of months ago, because there was a huge nail stuck in it. We didn’t want to drive back to Chicago and risk a blowout, so we decided to take it in to be fixed.

The first place we went didn’t have the size tire we needed, so they suggested that we replace it with another tire, and buy an additional one for the opposite side so that it would be balanced. With labor, etc., it would come to over $200. We opted for a second opinion. They also pointed out that we were missing a lug nut. Where it went, nobody knows.

The second place we went was closed, even though the hours listed were 9-5 on a Sunday. On to another place.

The third place didn’t have the size we needed, either, but even if we did, they wouldn’t change the tire until we bought a lug nut. Unfortunately, this place didn’t sell lug nuts, so they directed us to an auto parts store. Before going there, they called a fourth place to see if they had a tire for us. The fourth place did, so we went there after buying a lug nut.

By now, we were tired. No pun intended.

We arrived at the fourth place, and after locating the $160 tire, we saw that it looked much wider than the tire we had. After multiple calls to my folks through all this, we came to the conclusion that we would just drive home carefully, and take it to someone in Chicago.

That’s just what we did.

Chris took the car in, fully prepared to buy a whole new tire. They took one look and pulled out the screw:

I don’t even know how that tiny screw could have stuck into the tire in the first place! Happily, they didn’t charge us, and away Chris drove.

It definitely pays to get another opinion!

Posted in Observation, Annoyance | No Comments »

June 13, 2008 by kim.

I like to take pictures of things as we drive by in the car. This particular window caught my eye:

What do you think?

Just screams Kim and Chris, no?

Posted in Observation | No Comments »

June 10, 2008 by kim.

The Midwest has been socked with rain lately. Chris and I were visiting his folks in WI the other night, and the storms were so bad, that this poor little frog decided to attach himself to the window screen rather than drown in the massive puddles outside:

Hold tight, little froggy!

Posted in Animals | No Comments »

June 7, 2008 by kim.

There is a cute little church in our neighborhood, with a cute little sign in the side yard. I just thought I’d share:

And there you have it - the 11th Commandment.

Posted in Observation | No Comments »

June 3, 2008 by kim.

Last night, I was stretching in the dining room before retiring to bed, when I heard a muffled whimper coming from the bathroom. I looked up to see Chris appear in the doorway, toothbrush in mouth, beckoning me to quickly hurry to where he was standing. I did, and he showed me what had him so distressed:

Whoa!

My first reaction was to run and get the camera. Which I did. Chris took this picture and then we looked around for something to put the spider in so we could remove it from our apartment. We found a small plastic container and scooped the spider inside so that we could transport it outside. We’re all about catch-and-release here.

I’m not completely sure what type of spider it was, but I think it may be a Woodlouse. If anyone out there can identify it, please let me know. From what I read, the venom isn’t dangerous, but the bite can hurt.

That’s comforting.

Sort of.

Posted in Insects | No Comments »

June 2, 2008 by kim.

A number of weeks ago, Chris and I took a walk along the lakefront. As it happens to be over a mile away from our apartment, we ended up getting in quite a nice bit of exercise.

We were looking for a place to sit and gaze out at the water, but we noticed that there didn’t seem to be any park benches in the shade. At all. Not even a little bit. I don’t know who designed the park that way, but I’m beginning to think they didn’t like people.

Eventually, there didn’t seem to be any benches in the park. Only this:

Cold, concrete blocks. How cozy.

The name of this lovely little area?

What do people sitting here contemplate? How much their butt hurts?

Thanks. Thanks a lot.

Posted in Observation | No Comments »