Moms, No Tots

This is another Girlfriends Story.

Once we all had Tots. In fact, three of us belonged to Moms & Tots, a local park district sponsored program. When Moms & Tots ended for the summer, Sylvia had the idea to get everyone's number and she organized our own group - and we took turns meeting at one anothers' homes all summer long. And we added other friends to our playgroup.

We did this for a couple summers and became good friends. But as things go, the Tots grew up. And some of the Moms disappeared.

And we changed our meeting place from our backyards to restaurants which served Margaritas and we continued our friendship.

Finally, the idea of a field trip was brought up and embraced with much enthusiasm. So, off we went to Lake Geneva where we had much fun despite malodorous ham hocks hurriedly disposed of in public waste containers.

Soon we changed our destination to Michigan City and here we are - on our first Moms' Overnight in Michigan City - in front of "Barb's Cottage", where we witnessed mysterious happenings such as pumpkins appearing in unexpected places.



Michigan City has become our second home, if only for one weekend every fall. Although we have stayed at different cottages, we have many traditions. This kind of makes our weekend flow in a very predictable and comfortable pattern; without much effort required in planning. I think this is what really makes our weekend one of extreme relaxation and no stress!

What I really love about our weekend the most, though, is being able to visit the shores of Lake Michigan during the off season. The Fall still offers some beautiful weather and we have spent a lot of time walking down the beach for quite a distance without even seeing another person.

Lighthouse Outlet Mall is in Michigan City and we always spend time there; and Michelle and I will always try our luck at Blue Chip Casino even though we never win. Sharon's beer bread and candy corn trail mix are always very popular with everyone.

Here we all are, just sitting around discussing our great finds from the outlet mall:


And going for a walk to enjoy the beautiful fall colors --


It seems that our annual weekend passes much too quickly, as all good things do. But at least we all know that many Margaritas, strawberry daquiris, Coronas, O'Douls.....and ice waters.... will help pass the time in between!

Girlfriends & Girl Weekends

I had to start out with the above photo. That is me on the left and Mary on the right. When that photo was taken, we had actually been friends for three years already. Years went by and years went by and we are still hanging out together.

Fast forward 9 years.....

Here we are again and its 1971. That's Mary on the left, I'm in the middle and we have a new buddy, Teri, on the right. This photo was taken in San Francisco and you might consider this the original Girls' Weekend, our Junior Class Trip (although it lasted a week, not a weekend and included many other girls AND chaperones). Didn't stop us from getting into some serious adventures, however.

A few years went by, some of us went away to college, we all got married, had kids and suddenly it became 1989. A few phone calls later and we had re-organized the Girls' Weekend. Off to Galena, IL we went.

From 1989, we barely missed a single year. In fact, we expanded our getaways to include a second annual getaway, the Family Getaway Weekend which included husbands and kids. As the kids grew up, the Family Getaway Weekend fizzled out, but the Girls' Weekend never did.

Our adventures were numerous and some were unbelievable. Over one short weekend in the early 2000's, we were steamed out of our room in the wee hours by a faulty radiator; locked out of our room in our pj's; caught in a blizzard so bad that we literally had to feel our way down the street by walking next to buildings until we found the most wonderful Italian restaurant; and the next day we trudged through the snow without boots looking for antique shops. After that weekend, we all agreed it was the worst one ever. But it is the one we talk about the most today!

And in December of 1995, I was 8.5 months pregnant and afraid to venture too far from home. So we stayed in the suburbs and went Christmas shopping. When we returned to our hotel room, my dear friends wrapped every one of the Christmas gifts I had bought while I sat with my feet up and supervised!

Another year we were adventurous and flew to Minneapolis and shopped at the Mall of America. But our big adventure, so far, was our 50th Birthday Celebration Cruise. We sailed on Norwegian Cruise Lines in March of 2005, ironically over the same dates as that California school trip of 1971.

We have some unwritten, but mutually agreed upon rules for our weekends. First of all, we try to take turns visiting each of our hometown areas - since we are separated by many many miles. Once in awhile, we choose a midway point, but generally we take turns going up to Wisconsin, down to Quincy and to the Chicago area.

The other rule is that we don't eat at chain restaurants. We have dined well and always search out the unique, local and BEST restaurants we can find.

And finally, the TV stays off. All we do is talk, drink wine, talk, shop (mostly antique and thrift stores), and talk some more.

Some of the places we've been: Galena, IL; Minneapolis, MN; Madison, WI; Quincy, IL; Orland Park, IL; Springfield, IL; Cedar Grove, WI; New Buffalo, MI; Bloomington, IL; Naperville, IL; the Caribbean.....and some I just can't recall.

Here's a photo of Mary and Teri taken just last week - on our weekend in Bloomington, IL.




Nowadays, if you pick up any women's magazine or do an internet search, you will find a lot of stories and information about Girls' Getaways. But back in 1989, before they were trendy, we were doing them. I don't want to say that we invented the Girls' Weekend, but it sure seems that way to us.

So, here's to you - my best friends! Cheers!

By the way, these are antique glasses that we found in a shop in Naperville - there were only three of them and it was the obvious thing to do - we each bought one and now we bring them along and toast one another on our annual Girls' Weekend every year!

More Pets - This Time In Action!

Here they are, the two active animals in this house. Doing what they do best:

The 60's

I love the 60's! I guess its because I was too young to understand exactly what was going on so it all seemed very vibrant and exciting. If you grew up in the 60's, you will probably enjoy this:

http://moreoldfortyfives.com/TakeMeBackToTheSixties.htm

About Teddy

This is Teddy, the little Pomapoo. Poma (pomeranian) and Poo (poodle). Teddy's dad was a pomeranian and his mom was a poodle. You can see that Teddy has little teeth that stick out on the bottom - he is so cute!

Teddy's Dad's name is Copper and his mom's name is Tabasco.

We adopted Teddy from a very nice family - his Dad (Teddy's Dad) lived a few doors down. We didn't meet the dad, but the owners of his Mom (Teddy's Mom) said that they could make a quick phone call and Teddy's dad would come running to their door for us to meet him. This is true.

When we were trying to decide whether to adopt Teddy or his brother, who was a lot smaller and seemed a little demonic, Teddy went running behind the couch. The little boy in the family evidently liked Teddy and didn't want to see him leave, so he shouted, "Chubby! Don't come out!" (the family had given Teddy the temporary name of Chubby).

This kind of became a family dog joke of ours. I think you had to be there, though.

Well, Teddy is also a very smart dog (see Toby, below). He is not even a year old and can already sit, lie down, and wave. He would be able to do hundreds more tricks, except we haven't taught him the rest at this point.

His favorite pal is William, our cat and they play together often, mostly chasing and hiding games.

Teddy loves to bark bark bark and his favorite crime is trying to escape the yard. Sometimes we can't figure out just how he did it, but we do have all kinds of interesting barricades at every possible opening. This makes it hard for the rest of us to enter and exit our yard, so we really don't use the back door much.

Teddy's birthday is May 30, so please stop by on that date and wish him a happy day. If you are a 'real person' out there reading this and you know where we live, please stop by for some birthday cake and bring your dog!

I Miss Board Games

These are some of the many board games I owned once, way back when I was a younger kid. I guess I must have been into ghosts and spirits and mystic things.

That Camp Granada Game was a real pain, though. It basically consisted of a camp bus and a game board. You would push the camp bus along the game board until it broke down and then you would read the instructions on the board. It was a LAME GAME.

During the summer, my friends and I would take games outside and play sitting on the picnic table in the yard. We would sit ON the table and play with the game board in the middle of us. I still keep buying games in the hope that someone will play, but it doesn't seem that people care about board games anymore. In fact, my son calls them 'bored games'. Ha ha.

Some of the best times I remember revolved around playing games -- I know I had a simple childhood. Thank goodness.

Today's Post is about my dog, Toby

Toby, the rat terrier, is 7 years old. We adopted him as a cute little puppy. We picked him out from a litter of puppies in a pen in someone's home. We had to pick him out really quickly because it smelled so bad in this house that we needed to get out in a hurry so we could resume breathing.

Toby is a pretty good dog - he's smart but he doesn't like to go on about it. He does a few tricks like sit, stay, beg, give paw, dance, lie down, roll on side, and crawl. He hates rabbits, squirrels, mice, birds and anything else that he could possibly catch and eat. When he was younger, he caught a bird in mid-air. Nowadays, he wouldn't be able to do that easily.

His best friend is little Teddy, the pomapoo. I'm sure I'll write about Teddy later. Toby doesn't care for William, his other room-mate pet. He would never admit it, but I can tell that he is terrified of William.

Toby's favorite crime is food-stealing and he does this at every opportunity.

His birthdate is June 18, which he shares with Paul McCartney. They are both Geminis.