With the crazy weather we’ve had the last couple of weeks, it is hard to believe that it is really summer here in Chicago.  Last weekend, for Will’s birthday party, it was hundred degrees.  At one point (since we can’t have a birthday of his without rain), we had some pretty severe weather come through here too.  We had put up a tent outside and everybody had to grab on and hold.  Little did we know, but about a mile or two away, that same wind uprooted pretty large trees!  We also lucked out, because many parts of my village lost power.  I lucked out that it wasn’t mine!  Just as the storm started, I was starting dinner, so life would have gotten really interesting without power.

It’s hard to believe that Will is 4 now though!  He officially turned 4 on Tuesday which also happened to be his last day of school.  After his presentation at school, we surprised the kids and took them to Kung Fu Panda 2!  They loved it.  Heck, I loved it!

Then we had crazy weather.  We sustained over 100 degrees for several days in a row.  I also remembered that our air conditioning unit is on its last legs.  It was put in in 1994 (I have the paperwork from the prior owners).  When it was so hot outside, we couldn’t get the house lower than 78.  (It was set at 74).  We luck out that we have a basement that was even cooler than that.  However, I still want my house to get as cool as I want it!  However, air conditioning units are expensive.  You are going to spend a lot more on that than an antique vanity with mirror or really any bedroom vanities on the market.  At this point, I think we are just going to put up with it.  However, it gets much hotter here I’m not sure. (We have lucked out now that we had some thunderstorms come through and cool us down.  I think we are in the 60′s now!)

With the start of summer, I also have some projects I want to get done.  One of them is painting the front porch.  I’ve asked for advice of what color I should paint the porch.  Everyone I have asked I told me a different color!  It’s enough to drive you insane. 

I also think I need to repaint the bathroom.  Right now, it’s a light green.  However, it is tiny, so it has to be a light color.  (We did a complete remodel a couple of years ago, so I don’t need any new bathroom decor.  Just new paint.)  I can’t decide if a light yellow or brown would go good in there.  I don’t mind painting.  I just hate taping and picking out the color. Sigh.

How have you spent the summer so far?

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Nothing is worse than when you come out to your van realized that somebody broke in. That was our morning this morning.

My glove box was all over my car, so I called the hubby to see if he did it.  (He didn’t).  Ask Madison.  She said no.  Well, that left that we got robbed, since all the change in my console was missing.  Normally, we lock the van doors, but Bill has run out to get some stray groceries that I didn’t bring in in the morning.  The van didn’t get locked back up.  I feel lucky though –

1.  Nobody got hurt.

2.  They didn’t take anything besides the change from what I can tell.

3.  They didn’t break a window.

4.  They left my passenger door open though.  It didn’t rain inside (which is a miracle in itself) and my van started.

This could have been a lot worse.  A police report was filed in between me dropping Madison off for school and Will going to preschool for his first day.

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It is terrible here in Illinois.  This is what my house looks like this morning:

We broke our back door trying to open it this morning.  My house is a sheet of ice.  We have about 4 inches of snow.  On top of that, we have freezing rain, so it is definitely an interesting combination we have going on out there.  We watched the traffic report starting quite early this morning, and at this point, Bill isn’t even going to try and go to work.  The bad thing is that he left his laptop at work, so he’s trying to do what he can from his cell phone.  It actually was hailing and snowing at the same time this morning if you can believe it.  We are hoping to take the kids out a tad later and maybe build a snowman.  However, the snow is more like ice chunks, so I don’t know how easy that is going to be.

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I am so bad. I have been so busy since I got back, I am finally now writing about this awesome event. I was contacted about this the day before my birthday (I know, what a great birthday present!!!). Sony wanted to talk to 15 mommy bloggers and give us some cameras (I didn’t know this last part till the day before I left for the trip!). All expenses paid trip, how could I say no?

I flew out on April 16th to San Diego. They got me an a flight through Midway (which I seriously needed since Midway is only 15 minutes away and Ohare is about an hour). Sitting in the airport always sucks, but I made due. My plane flight there sucked. A little girl screamed the whole way. This is why I don’t fly with my kids. I am terrified that is going to be me. The mom was by herself, and she walked up and down the aisle for the four and half hour flight. I felt so bad for her.

We then got to San Diego and I had a limo driver waiting for me. He had my name on a sign. It was super cool. I know I’ll never see that again. He took me to the La Valencia Hotel in La Jolla (it was about a half hour drive). The hotel was awesome (I’ll be writing about it on my travel blog, so I won’t go into too many details here). Sony had boxes set up in our room (to use to Fed Ex our cameras back). They also had left us headphones for our kids, a rose, and two chocolate candy bars. They obviously know the way to a woman’s heart. We were on our own for Wednesday night (though we did have a $50 certificate to use at the restaurant). I met up with Deanna and Anne Marie , and we went to dinner. I had filet mignon. It was super yummy. It was one of those steaks that you didn’t even have to chew it — it just melted in your mouth.

The next day we had to be at breakfast at 9:00. We had a buffet breakfast (which was awesome). This is the view we had from the room we were in. Beautiful, isn’t it? We spent the first two hours after that introducing ourselves. We then had lunch out in the beautiful sunshine. We were only out there for about an hour eating some of the best food ever and I got sunburned!!! Here’s a list of all the awesome ladies who were there (if you have more blogs that I haven’t listed, let me know and I’ll get them added):

• Ciaran from MommiesWithStyle.com, Celebrity-Babies.com, CarandCaboodle.com
• Jenny from Momminitup.com
• Stacy from MomCentral.com, MomCentralConsulting.com and Mother-Talk.com
• Deanna from DomesticChicky.com, Apronista.com and HappyHousewivesClub.com/hotmama.html
• Kim from InAShoe.com
• Tracey from Sweetney.com, MamaPop.com and RocknRompBaltimore.com
• Erika from PlainJaneMom.com and emomsathome.com
• Heather from TheDomesticDiva.org and idivalicious.com
• Anne-Marie from AMamasRant.com, MyReadableFeast.com, ThisMamacooks.com, The-Write-Spot.com
• Christina from GeekGirlfriends.com and Tynanwood.com
• Amy from Amalah.com, MamaPop.com and Advice Smackdown on AlphaMom.com
• Laura from PaulnLaura.com
• Janice from 5minutesformom.com

After lunch, we got to learn about Sony and the impact of women on their business (Let me tell you, we have a huge impact!!!). We then got to start playing with the cameras we got. Oh wait, I didn’t show you the cameras yet —-

Camera #1: Sony Cybershot

Camera #2: Sony DSLR-A300K

Camera #3 – Handycam HDR-SR10

Yes, Sony gave us all three cameras! They also set aside time for us to work with their trainers so we could learn how to use them!

We then got instruction from photography expert Me Ra Koh. She gave us shooting instruction and tips of how to get specific results. She was really nice and she’s a blogger too!

We then got to go out to the beach and play with the cameras!

We then got a little bit of time to run up to our room and get ready for dinner. I took these pictures from my room!

We then met up with Sony and went to dinner at the Azul Restaurant. I got back to the hotel between 10 – 11 and went to bed.

On Friday, (April 18th), we met again for breakfast. Me Ra took some of our photos and critiqued them for us. She told us how to make our photos better. We then had a presentation from Rocket XL (the advertising agency who helped pull this all together). Us mommy bloggers ended up taking over that session with our opinions and thoughts.

After this session, we were able to do whatever we wanted till we caught our plane. Sony also gave us certificates for the spa, so I went and had a deep tissue massage. I then ate lunch and then had to get on my plane.

And that was my trip to San Diego!

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Well, the dumpster got delivered this morning. Tomorrow, Bill and his brothers start demoing the room that is in the basment. They have tear the drywall down and tear the subfloor out. We are suppose to have excellent weather (high of 62). Once that is done, Bill starts on the electric down there. He has to rerun a bunch of stuff, use some  splitters, and get rid of all the boxes (I think they are called electrical boxes but I am not sure).  Once that gets done, the drainage tile gets put in in the beginning of May.  Then we have the drywall and the bathroom that needs to get done.

Well, my plans are to take a picture after they get done tomorrow, so you can see the before and after. 

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