I am so excited. The kids and I booked Madison’s birthday party last night (yes, I know her birthday isn’t until January. However, I’m anal. I look to book things early. I mean I’ve already talked to the caterer for Madison’s first communion which isn’t until May. Yes, I know I am crazy).

I have been trying to decide what to do for Madison’s birthday.  When your girl turns 8, it is incredibly hard to find something that is affordable yet fun for the girls!  Madison, who has never taken a dance class in her life, does love to dance around the house, so when we got the flier in her school backpack (many local businesses will give the school things to throw in the kids backpacks.  I don’t mind at all, and it introduces us to new businesses in the area), I knew what we were going to do for her birthday party.  Yes, we booked a party at The Dance Shop.

I got to meet with the owner last night, and she was sooo nice.  They host birthday parties for 12 girls for $200 (it is $5 for every girl after that), and you get a choice of a Hip-Hop party or Ballet.  Madison went with Ballet (which was surprising since I guess most girls her age go with Hip-Hop).  She is so excited.

I love that we are able to help support a local business.  When I was talking about this on Facebook, I’ve already got a couple moms interested in checking them out for lessons.  Since this place is very close to Madison’s school, I am glad that the moms get to check them out.  As for lessons, they have ballet, hip-hop, zumba (I guess these classes are pretty busy!), tap, jazz, and ballroom (think I can get Bill in for this one?).  (You can check out their class schedule here if you are interested.)

I am so glad to be working with them on Madison’s birthday party!  If you are in the Chicago south suburbs, The Dance Shop Inc. is definitely worth checking out!  You can also walk in and register any time you want!

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http://www.youtube.com/v/e2UvdmxnV-g&hl=en

We took this video the day after I came home from San Diego. Bill did the taping while he was playing with the Sony Handycam I got. When the video gets super shaky, Madison was trying to help tape. The kids are super cute.  Hope you enjoy this as much as we did.

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Fall Classes for Men

THE ADULT LEARNING CENTER

REGISTRATION MUST BE COMPLETED
by Monday Aug 27 , 2007

NOTE: DUE TO THE COMPLEXITY AND DIFFICULTY LEVEL
OF THEIR CONTENTS, CLASS SIZES WILL BE LIMITED TO 8 PARTICIPANTS MAXIMUM.

Class 1
How To Fill Up The Ice Cube Trays–Step by Step, with Slide Presentation.
Meets 4 weeks, Monday and Wednesday for 2 hours beginning at 7:00 PM.
Class 2
The Toilet Paper Roll–Does It Change Itself?
Round Table Discussion.
Meets 2 weeks, Saturday 12:00 for 2 hours.
Class 3
Is It Possible To Urinate Using The Technique Of Lifting The Seat and Avoiding The Floor, Walls and Nearby Bathtub?–Group Practice.
Meets 4 weeks, Saturday 10:00 PM for 2 hours.
Class 4
Fundamental Differences Between The Laundry Hamper and The Floor–Pictures and Explanatory Graphics.
Meets Saturdays at 2:00 PM for 3 weeks.
Class 5
Dinner Dishes–Can They Levitate and Fly Into The Kitchen Sink?
Examples on Video.
Meets 4 weeks, Tuesday and Thursday for 2 hours beginning
at 7:00 PM
Class 6
Loss Of Identity–Losing The Remote To Your Significant Other.
Help Line Support and Support Groups.
Meets 4 Weeks, Friday and Sunday 7:00 PM
Class 7
Learning How To Find Things–Starting With Looking In The Right Places And Not Turning The House Upside Down While Screaming.
Open Forum.
Monday at 8:00 PM, 2 hours.
Class 8
Health Watch–Bringing Her Flowers Is Not Harmful To Your Health.
Graphics and Audio Tapes.
Three nights; Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 7:00 PM for 2 hours.
Class 9
Real Men Ask For Directions When Lost–Real Life Testimonials.
Tuesdays at 6:00 PM Location to be determined.
Class 10
Is It Genetically Impossible To Sit Quietly While She Parallel Parks?
Driving Simulations.
4 weeks, Saturday’s noon, 2 hours.
Class 11
Learning to Live–Basic Differences Between Mother and Wife.
Online Classes and role-playing.
Tuesdays at 7:00 PM, location to be determined
Class 12
How to be the Ideal Shopping Companion
Relaxation Exercises, Meditation and Breathing Techniques.
Meets 4 weeks, Tuesday and Thursday for 2 hours beginning at 7:00 PM.
Class 13
How to Fight Cerebral Atrophy–Remembering Birthdays, Anniversaries and Other Important Dates and Calling When You’re Going To Be Late.
Cerebral Shock Therapy Sessions and Full Lobotomies Offered.
Three nights; Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 7:00 PM for 2 hours.
Class 14
The Stove/Oven–What It Is and How It Is Used.
Live Demonstration.
Tuesdays at 6:00 PM, location to be determined.
Upon completion of any of the above courses, diplomas will be issued to the survivors.

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I feel like crap right now, so this may end up being a short post. Or I might get going and this may take a while.

For those of you who do not know what is going on, I am going to do a short recap. About a month ago, I saw a little segment on CBS 2 Chicago news that Rachel Ray was doing a show about pizza and who had the best pizza: Chicago or New York. They asked us to vote for our favorite pizza joint. You could also enter to win 2 tickets to the Rachel Ray show which I did. I never win, so I was surprised when I got the call last Thursday that we were flying to New York.

We got on the plane at Midway Airport on Monday around 3 pm CST. Home Run Inn Pizza won for Chicago. These guys are awesome. They brought us pizza to eat while we were waiting to get on the plane. They brought us pizza to eat on the plane. We also got ice cream and cookies on the plane. We were on a charter flight, so it was all the winners and their guest on the plane and that’s it. It was the funnest plane ride I will ever be on.

We got to New York and to our hotel about 7pm EST. We checked out our room. It was pretty nice. Our hotel was the Grand Hyatt which is located right next to Grand Central Station. Let me tell you, that place is cool. After we got situated, we went and walked over to Times Square. There is no way to describe this place. I have some pictures that I will post later. It was almost like being in Vegas (but not). We bought some souvenirs and walked back to the hotel. We tried walking the other direction from the hotel, but there isn’t really anything exciting to tell. It was just New York.

We got up about 7 am EST on Tuesday morning. We showered and got ready for the Rachel Ray show. All of our clothes had to be ironed. I thought they would be fine, so I am glad we gave ourselves extra time. We met in the lobby of the hotel and hopped on a bus to go to the show. We drove over to the studio and boy were we surprised. Bill and I had walked past the studio the night before. We weren’t looking for it and had walked right past the building. We had to go check in with Rachel Ray’s people and then go through security. We then were all put into a holding room. They had water and food for us while we waited.

They prepped us to go into the studio. The taping would be 4 hours. If you left the studio, you would not be allowed back in. Tell that to a pregnant woman who has to pee every 5 minutes. Needless to say, I held it. What surprised me the most is how scripted everything is. We were told when to clap, when to laugh, etc. We got a snack while we there. I will actually be on 2 shows. The first show that I will be on will have Denny from Grey’s Anatomy. I might be on some of the audience shots.

The second show I know that I will for sure be on is the Pizza contest. We got to watch some of the clips that they got from the airport and the plane. I am in one of the clips eating pizza. I won’t tell you who won. You’ll have to watch the show. We also got a Rachel Ray hat when we left. AND I almost forgot. Each member of the audience got a free round trip ticket for pretty much anyplace in North America from Delta to use in the next year!!! It was awesome. We didn’t know that we were getting that, so the cheering you will hear from the audience is real.

We had about two hours to spend in New York before we had to catch our plane. We decided to take a cab and go see the WTC site. It was sad. I took some pictures there. It is definitely a place everyone should check out in you are in New York. It just makes you contemplate things.

We got back to the hotel, hopped a bus, and went to the airport. And that was my trip to New York.

I have to give a shout out to Home Run Inn pizza. Not only is it great pizza, but the owners of this company are some of the nicest people I have ever met. If you are in the Chicago area, go eat at one of their 7 locations. If not, you can order some of their frozen pizzas. They are the best! (and no this is not a sponsored post).

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The last time the Bears were in the Super Bowl…

In honor of the Chicago Bears going to Super Bowl 41. Here are 41 things that have changed from the last time the Chicago Bears played in the Super Bowl (which was Super Bowl 20 in 1986):

1. Brian Urlacher was in 2nd grade. Rex Grossman was in kindergarten.
2. Peyton Manning was 10 years old. Eli Manning was 5 years old. Their dad, Archie, had just retired from the NFL two years earlier.
3. Lovie Smith was in his first college coaching job at University of Tulsa.
4. Ronald Reagan was the President, and Harold Washington was the Mayor. James R. Thompson was the Governor running for re-election and his office was in the new State of Illinois Center, which is now called the James R. Thompson Center.
5. George W. Bush was 39 years old and still drinking. His father would run for President two years later.
6. Rod Blagojevich was just out of law school and was a low-level prosecutor working for the Cook County State’s Attorney, Richard M. Daley.
7. Barack Obama had just moved to Illinois, and Osama bin Laden was fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan.
8. Red Grange and Sid Luckman were still alive.
9. The Colts had just moved to Indianapolis from Baltimore and were the doormat of the AFC EAST. The Bears were the champions of the NFC CENTRAL.
10. Property in Wicker Park and Bucktown was cheap because they were really bad neighborhoods.
11. CD players, cellular phones and fax machines were expensive, cutting edge technology and only a few people used them.
12. “Surfing the net” meant a volleyball game at the beach, and virtually no one used the “@” key on their TYPEWRITER.
13. Sam Walton was still alive and was wealthier than Bill Gates. Windows were panes of glass…not a computer operating system that was a pain in something that rhymes with glass.
14. The Soviet Union was our main enemy, and Saddam Hussein was our ally.
15. There were no lights at Wrigley Field, and the oldest park in baseball belonged to the White Sox.
16. Michael Jordan and Ozzie Guillen had just finished their “Rookie of the Year” seasons. Jordan’s coach was Stan Albeck and Guillen’s manager was Tony LaRussa. (Three out of four of those guys are now wearing championship rings, but what ever happened to Stan Albeck???)
17. Soldier Field had AstroTurf. The Houston Oilers played in the AstroDome.
18. The Fox TV Network didn’t exist, and ESPN had yet to air a single live pro football, baseball, or basketball game.
19. MTV played music and so did some AM radio stations.
20. Lindsay Lohan and Hilary Duff weren’t born yet; Jackie Gleason and Richard Nixon were still alive.
21. Hillary Clinton had dark hair and was the First Lady……of Arkansas!
22. “The Love Boat” and “Diff’rent Strokes” were still on network TV every week.
23. Martin Luther King Day was about to be celebrated as a National Holiday for the first time. “9-11″ was a phone number many cities were just adopting for emergency calls – not a date of terror.
24. I-88 was called “Illinois Rt. 5″ and I-355 hadn’t been built yet.
25. What the CTA now calls “The Blue Line” had just been extended to O’Hare, and the Orange Line to Midway hadn’t been built yet.
26. Q101 played adult contemporary music and most teenagers listened to WLS. Music from the 70s and 80s wasn’t “retro” yet.
27. Tiger Woods hadn’t won an amateur golf tournament yet.
28. Most people knew Seattle just as a city in the Northwest U.S. – not the home of grunge or Starbucks.
29. Only Southerners went to NASCAR races and only Northerners went to NHL games.
30. The Chicago area had no WalMarts, Targets or Home Depots, and Walgreen’s was only in the Midwest.
31. Depending on your bank, your ATM card was good at only “Cash Station” machines or only at “Money Network” machines, but there were no fees.
32. “The Phone Company” was Illinois Bell.
33. They still sold leaded gasoline and you couldn’t pay for your gas at the pump.
34. Discover Card hadn’t been discovered yet, and Miller Genuine Draft hadn’t been brewed yet.
35. Stereo TVs were the rage that HDTVs are now. 8-track tapes were still being made.
36. All of the Blockbuster Video stores that are now closing hadn’t opened yet. Betamax was still competing with VHS.
37. You paid cash for your groceries and fast food, and you used a travel agent to book airline flights.
38. Bowl games didn’t have corporate sponsors, and if the #1 ranked team was in a conference that played in one bowl game and the #2 ranked team was in a conference that played in another bowl game, then so be it! They let the sportswriters vote on the national champion. (and no college football games were played after New Year’s Day)
39. The Baltimore Ravens were the Cleveland Browns. The Tennessee Titans were the Houston Oilers. The Oakland Raiders were the Los Angeles Raiders that had just left Oakland. The Arizona Cardinals (the former Phoenix Cardinals) were the St. Louis Cardinals, and the St. Louis Rams were the Los Angeles Rams. The Jacksonville Jaguars, Carolina Panthers, Houston Texans, and the Cleveland Browns (not to be confused with the Cleveland Browns that are now the Baltimore Ravens) didn’t exist. The Seattle Seahawks (last year’s NFC Champions) played in the AFC.
40. Number 9 on the Bears was their Punky QB…not their perky field goal kicker.
41. There were no iPods – just Sony Walkmen – so if you said something about a “shuffle” on your Walkman, they assumed you were listening to “The Super Bowl Shuffle”

and one thing that will be the same from the Chicago Bears last Super Bowl appearance…..

THEY WILL WIN!!!!

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