A Visit to the Windy City

One of my uncles turned 80 last week, so my cousins threw a birthday party for him. He and my aunt live outside of Chicago. I drove to Seattle last Monday and my kids and I flew to Chicago where we met my mother, my sister, and my sister’s boyfriend. The seven of us stayed in an Airbnb in Naperville.

[My uncle has three daughters, one of whom (the youngest) is also a buyer at Nordstrom. She and DD#2 have desks across from each other in the office and see each other every day. They had to do some explaining to their co-workers about how they are related to each other.]

We had a great time, although the Airbnb left a bit to be desired. The toaster had a broken knob. The dishwasher racks were also broken, which meant we had to wash dishes by hand, but there was no sink stopper, no dish drainer, and only one dish towel in the entire kitchen. 🤦🏻‍♀️ Lights were out in a couple of the bedrooms, and the smoke detector went off one morning while someone was taking a shower and we had to tell dispatch that no, we did not need an engine to respond. The bedroom I slept in could only be accessed by going through the bedroom my mother was in, but she’s my mother so we made it work.

On Friday, my sister and her boyfriend took the girls and DD#2’s fiancé to the Field Museum. (My son-in-law couldn’t come with us so DD#1 came by herself.) While they did that, my mother and I went shopping. One of our stops was Bernina of Naperville. I’ve been watching Gail’s videos for several years now, so it was great to actually see the store. I found some wovens and took them to the cutting table to be cut, where I spied three bolts of Robert Kaufman Arietta Ponte in a cadet blue, royal blue, and emerald green. This fabric is still available, but only in black, charcoal, white, and red. The other colors—including some sparkled versions—were discontinued several years ago.

The employees offered the ponte to me for 30% off, so I got three yards of each. After we left the store, I had to swing by the post office to get some Priority Mail boxes so I could mail the fabric back to my house. I had no extra room in my suitcase.

Friday night, after dinner, DD#1 requested a trip to Culver’s for ice cream. I got a Concrete Mixer, which is custard with anything you want mixed in. I had Reese’s peanut butter cups added. It was yummy but very rich.

We flew home on Sunday. All of our flights—to Cleveland, Charlotte, and Seattle—were supposed to leave around 9:30 am. When we landed in Seattle, I discovered that my mother’s plane had had mechanical issues and she had to spend the day in the airport waiting for another flight. She finally got home around 7 pm.

Our flight landed in Seattle at 12:30 local time, so I grabbed my suitcase, said goodbye to the kids, and got on the road to Spokane. I spent the night there and came home yesterday morning.

*****

And now I have to catch up. That is the only downside to traveling. I did a lot of paperwork yesterday afternoon but still have some work to do in QuickBooks this morning. (Oh, joy.) And for my local peeps, our church is hosting the Ten Thousand Villages fair trade sale this weekend. I will be working in the Village Cafe on Thursday and Friday mornings, so come by if you get a chance.