September 28, 2009 by kim.

MONTH
National Pizza Month - http://www.hpl.org/kids/pizza.php

National Popcorn Popping Month - http://www.popcorn.org/poppinmonth/press.cfm

DAY
October 6 - Mad Hatter Day - http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~ari/madHatter.html

October 9 - Leif Erikson Day - http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/leif-erikson-day

October 9 - World Egg Day -
http://www.internationalegg.com/corporate/eggindustry/section.asp?id=26

I couldn’t find much else for the rest of the month. Meaning, I couldn’t find actual websites to corroborate them and sort of prove that they exist. Like:

*Take Your Teddy Bear to Work Day - Oct 11
*Moment of Frustration Day - Oct 12
*Be Bald and Free Day - Oct 14
*Wear Something Gaudy Day - Oct 17
*No Beard Day - Oct 18
*Evaluate Your Life Day - Oct 19
*Babbling Day - Oct 21
*Count Your Buttons Day - Oct 21
*Punk for a Day Day - Oct 25
*Plush Animal Lover’s Day - Oct 28
*Hermit Day - Oct 29

Are they real, or are they not real?

Your guess is as good as mine!

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September 24, 2009 by kim.

Yep – here we go again!

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September 17, 2009 by kim.

Chris and I went to the lakefront in Evanston last Saturday. Thought I’d share some pics that we took:

Do you know how excited I was to catch the birds in flight?

A flock of seagulls (I couldn’t resist)

A duck. I love ducks!

A floating pier. I started to walk on it and turned back because I felt like it was going to sink. If I’m going to walk on water, it had better be sturdy (or a miracle).

Chris took this picture of a tree that we liked. Isn’t it lovely?

Chris took this picture of me.

I took this picture of Chris.

This is Chris’s hand with his wedding ring actually on his finger! He had been wearing it on a chain around his neck for years as it didn’t fit anymore. When he was in NYC a couple of weeks ago, he took it in to the jeweler we bought it from and had it re-sized. He didn’t tell me he was doing it though. When he got back, he was pointing to something and I saw it. I squealed and jumped up and down (like a little girl), and hugged and kissed him again and again! I was so excited for it to be back on his hand!

I am so easy to please …

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September 12, 2009 by kim.

We all know that we should shred any unwanted documents that contain sensitive information instead of just throwing them in the recycling bin. Old check stubs, copies of tax forms, bills (after you pay them) … anything that might be gold for someone trying to steal our identities. I have a shredder that works pretty well – or so I thought.

I shredded a number of documents the other day, and just happened to glance at a piece of paper in the basket. What did I observe? Oh, just my social security number sitting there in plain sight. Complete. For all to see.

Apparently, my shredder doesn’t do the greatest job after all. I pulled these two samples to show what I mean:

Then I thought I’d do a little test to see just how bad it really is. I came up with these horizontal and vertical samples, both in a 10pt font and a 12pt font (Times New Roman):

Here is what they looked like after the shredder:

10pt 12pt

10pt

12pt

As you can see, the documents are not thoroughly destroyed. Anyone with a lot of time on their hands could piece these documents back together. I don’t like that one bit. Now, for my own peace of mind, I am going through each little slip of paper in the big pile below, making sure that I cut any important information into teeny tiny little pieces.

Definitely time to invest in a black marker and a cross-cut shredder.

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September 9, 2009 by kim.

Walking down the sidewalk, Chris and I saw something very peculiar. We weren’t sure what it was at first. We only knew that we saw something green go flying past us at eye level. Looking around, we saw this little guy:

He looked drenched, as if he fell in a bucket of green paint.

I wanted to help him, but there was really nothing we could do as he was quickly scampering up trees and jumping onto rooftops out of our reach.

Poor squirrel!

Posted in Animals | 2 Comments »

September 5, 2009 by kim.

On one of our random walks through Rosehill Cemetery, we took notice of some simple, everyday names. I decided to make simple sentences out of them. For fun.

Here we go.

It was a

that the

escaped being held for
.

I know the word is spelled ‘tenant’ and not ‘tennant’, but I work with what I have.

Here is another one (they don’t get much better).

Only a

would



with a

stick.

Groan …

Here’s the last one.

In a
,


are a

.

I’ll stop now.

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September 1, 2009 by kim.

As you know, I’m fascinated by insects. I like looking at pictures of them and watching them in their natural habitat. I’m not fond of them crawling in the house or on me, but I’m interested, just the same.

Imagine my excitement when I thought a saw a cicada! I never get to see them up close, I usually only hear them. Here was one, right before my very eyes! I got my camera ready and tiptoed to get closer. I took a quick shot (for safety) and got even closer, expecting it to fly away.

I didn’t need to worry. It wasn’t there at all.

It was only it’s discarded skin:

When I first glanced at it from that angle, I thought it had impaled itself on a nail or something. Then when I looked closer, I saw what it was. The cicada had merely molted (see an example here)
and left its skin behind:

Here’s a close-up:

Gorgeous!

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