Wishful Slacker

Zoo Fail

On a cold and windy Chicago evening in December, 2009, Jim and I met each other after work outside of the Lincoln Park Zoo.  We were going to enjoy Zoolights, that annual Christmas light spectacle that seems to get even better year after year, the zoo emblazoned in millions and millions of Christmas lights, with ice carvers, hot cocoa, and Santa.

Instead, on that night we found ourselves standing at the black iron gates which were shuttered with a metal slap of finality.  Everything was pitch black.  And cold.  Did I mention it was cold?  "Damn..." we exhaled, our breaths melting into our heavy scarves.  "It's closed."  With a disappointed shrug, we turned and slunked to a restaurant.  "Why didn't we check the website?" we asked ourselves while slurping up noodles, "it must only be opened on weekends this early in the season."

I had completely forgotten about that evening.  But I remembered tonight, as we met at the Lincoln Park Zoo and stared at the black iron bars closed upon the even darker zoo behind them. 

"Crap...." we muttered, looking guiltily at the baby, bundled up in her stroller and wearing her ladybug zoo hat. 

At least we were not the only ones.  One poor Mom, pushing a small child in a stroller and holding the hand of a very impatient-appearing preschooler, slowed to a stop next to where we were standing. 

"It's closed?!" she looked at me in desperation.  "I had to run for the bus, get them all bundled up...oh my gosh how can it be closed?"  I then witnessed her trying to tell her son that the animals had all gone to sleep early tonight.  "I BET YOU TOLD THEM TO GO TO SLEEP!"  the son started to wail. 

I am thankful at these moments that we have a child who is of the age when explaining is not necessary.  Expectations do not have to be honored, at any point if Jim or I change our minds, we simply turn the stroller around with no argument.  Last weekend we took the train down to Macys on State Street, where, after glancing at their very, very disappointing window displays (which are usually so magical- what the hell, Macys?) we ventured inside to try to find Santa.  Ellie has not been to see Santa yet, and we were hopeful that this might have been her time to meet the big guy.  After roaming the first, seventh, and fifth floors, we finally found the line- nothing was signed, no Buddy the Elf was there to add any cheer, and after watching the parents who came out after seeing Santa (most rolling their eyes, most saying that it really wasn't worth the wait), we decided to call it a day and went home. 

So, in anticipation of the day when we will have a child who pitches a fit when we decide NOT to wait in Santa's line, this year, we will try again.  We will find Santa, somewhere....somewhere small and quaint and perhaps not in a department store.  And we will probably attempt Zoolights again, (checking that they're open before leaving the house), even though by the time the next weekend opportunity rolls around it may be freezing cold with a fierce wind coming off the lake and no available parking.

But we will try, damnit. 

And if we fail...well, at least this year, we won't have to hear about it the whole way home. 

And we're back

Why hello there.

It has been a while, and in that while my husband and I dabbled in the world of "what else can we do with my blog?" and basically, as you can see, we are mostly back to where we started.  Okay, well I changed the background, but only because it seemed slightly pathetic to have made the attempt to create something fancy and to be completely back to square one with the boring page we started with.  So, here you go.  We are now orange.

There are other blog hosting sites that have some really cool premade designs (because hell if I know how to do any of that on my own!).  We got really close to importing the site into another platform, but couldn't figure out how to get the photographs to transfer over.  Then we just gave up after I slunk about the house with a newly developed tic because I had no way to create a blog post.  It was as though we decided to upgrade our living room furniture and spent many afternoons saturated in the task of finding a gorgeous coffee table in the right finish, only then to consider that in the center of the room currently sits a large inflatable duck bathtub converted into a plastic ball pit, so we might as well just stick with our scratched Ikea stuff.  That is basically what happened when we tried to fancy up this website.

Oh well, we tried.  And maybe we will try again some day in the future.  I have come to the conclusion that I will never, I repeat never, get up to speed in the world of technology.  I am a broken covered wagon stuck in the mud and choking on the exhaust of the Formula One race cars zooming past.  If anything ever breaks in this house, and Jim is away, then it will just have to stay broken until he returns.  This is why I keep buying notebooks when they go on sale- for the day when my laptop breathes its last and I can no longer use Word.

Since I last posted, we have been pretty boring so you didn't miss much.  The baby turned 10 months old last weekend so I have her 10 month letter to post.  We spent a day in Kalamazoo with my family which was nice, and my husband celebrated a birthday.  Major keeps meowing, and trying to change the baby's diaper is now like trying to catch an eel with my bare hands.  She now also shakes her head "no," and points to what she wants.  The pointing is cool.  I don't think we are ready for the "no" part yet, though!  The most glorious part of everything is that it is finally fall, our favorite season.  This means slow cooker meals and soups and long sleeves.  I transitioned my closet over to fall and winter clothes yesterday.  I am so ready!

Hope everyone has a good start to their week!