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Bored While Stuck Inside? These Links May Help You Avoid Going Stir Crazy.
Now that so many people are going to be stuck inside, we know that we need more than just a few days worth of ideas and activities to keep us from going stir crazy. I am trying to put together a list of links that we all may find useful in our quest to make the most of this difficult situation. We may actually find something really unique that we otherwise would have never seen, tried, or experienced. This post may not be pretty or look complete. I just want to make it available as soon as I can. I have tried to list items in a somewhat organized fashion. …
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Israeli Folk Dancing on a Wednesday Night
My good friend, Donna, invited me to join her at her Israeli dance class on a Wednesday night. She has been dancing with this group for years, and she knows that I love both trying new things and dancing. I marked my calendar for a Wednesday night and gladly joined her. I could quickly tell that this was a wonderful group of individuals who knew each other not just as classmates or dancers but also as people. They developed real friendships through their dancing. That feeling had a positive impact on the whole evening. Since I was a newbie with the group (I had done some Israeli dancing…
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My First DJ Lesson!
Ryan lives in my community and, in response to one of my regular requests for people to teach me something, offered to introduce me to his professional world! I knew what he did, so I was excited! I was about to have my first DJ lesson! Before getting my hands on any of his equipment, I asked lots of questions, and he was nice enough to take the time to answer them for me. What is the name of your company? 4 Sure Entertainment & Chicago’s Best DJ How did you get into this industry? Does your previous education/background tie in to your current work? Started as a little kid,…
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Furnace Fixing “FUN”!
One recent Saturday afternoon, I heard a beeping in my house and followed the sound down to my basement. Lo and behold, I realized that the beep was to inform me that a nice puddle had formed which I thought was coming from the hot water heater. Fast forward to later that day, my husband realized that the problem was the furnace, not the hot water heater. Neither is fun, but a non-functional heater in Chicagoland on a weekend in the winter, to put it gently, sucks. To add to the situation, my husband, the handy one in my house, was going to be out-of-town few that following Monday and…
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Looking for Something to Read?
In my effort to continue growing and learning, I will often look for book recommendations. (There are WAY too many options available if I were to just check out the shelves at the bookstore or library.) Using the WWF (Wonderful World of Facebook), I posed the questions below to part of the FB community. More specifically, I posted this (and received responses) on my personal page as well as three local community pages. I knew that I would be reaching out to groups whose members’ opinions I respect. This is what I posted: I want to try to create and share a list of non-fiction books which have had a…
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TEDx: Reboot–Prepare for a Reset, a Fresh Start, a Do-Over
We all have times when we feel a need to reboot. We need a reset, a fresh start, a do-over. Sometimes you need to stop, turn, and take a new path. Sometimes you want to simply find a better way to do something. My local library hosted a TEDx event back in September A TEDx event is an independently organized TED event. These events take place literally all over the world. This type of program is about community. They spark conversations. A TED talk presents “ideas worth spreading.” The recent one in my community had the theme of “Reboot.” Although the event was last fall, now, with the start of…
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Terrain, Terrain, Pull Up, Pull Up–Our Experience at Extreme Flight Simulation
Disclaimer #1: My family received a complimentary Extreme Flight Simulation experience in exchange for sharing our adventure and opinions in my blog. Disclaimer #2: I shared several links in case you are interested in learning more about some of the airports mentioned. Some of these links are to Wikipedia or other blogs. I acknowledge that these may not be the most ideal sources of information, but, since no life or death decisions are being made here, I figured that these sites would be fine in this situation. During winter break this year, my family flew around the world! It might be more accurate to say that we “flew” around the…
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WE ARE BEING INVADED BY EUROPEan buckthorn!
I originally heard about buckthorn at a TEDx event at my local library last year, but I honestly did not do anything afterwards. I recently saw on the Lake County Forest Preserve District calendar that there was a program at one of the nature centers close to me focused on the removal of buckthorn. I figured that I would take the opportunity to learn more. (I was the only person in attendance who really did not know what buckthorn even looked like. Everyone else there knew of their buckthorn problem and wanted to find out what to do about it.) Well, I learned a lot! Buckthorn is found extensively in…
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Enjoy Your Wine; Then Upcycle the Wine Bottle!
Last month I attended a local craft show at my area community arts center. Several of the vendors represented larger brands, but there were some individual crafters and artists as well. One of the tables really caught my eye–it was covered with beautifully decorated bottles. I had seen similar items on-line, but you get a different reaction seeing such artwork in person. I chatted with the artist for a bit and took one of her flyers. Later that day, at risk of freaking this woman out, I sent her an e-mail telling her a little about my blog “project” and asking if she would be interested in showing me how…
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Chicago History Tour–I Love to Play Tourist Locally!
Disclaimer: I received complimentary tour passes in exchange for sharing my experiences on the tour. Last Saturday, I played tourist in downtown Chicago for an afternoon. There were no loud shirts, dark socks with sandals, or large cameras on straps. (It’s November for heaven’s sake–winter coats and hats were the appropriate attire!) My group included myself with my husband, teenage daughter, and my other teenage daughter (more specifically, my daughter’s BFF). (She took my son’s place since he was participating in an Operation Snowball retreat that weekend.) We started at the Hyatt Regency for a Chicago History Tour. This activity was conducted by Chicago’s Finest Tours. There we met up…
If it's not illegal, immoral, or blatantly stupid, I am willing to give it a try!
