Meanwhile, as can only happen in real life, SuperBoy picked today to wake up with a bad headache and an upset stomach. He threw up all over a pillow from my couch and our living room rug. Guess what my garage sale funds are going to go toward?

Ah, until you’re a mother, you have no idea.

But there’s only so much pool awesomeness a girl can take before she must demand a Blog Adventure!

So we piled in the car and drove to a diner I’ve wanted to try.

Food was A-
Gross Floor under our table was F
So – overall, a C experience! If you’re ever in the Portage area, give it a try. Maybe they’ve cleaned the floor by now.

All in all, a perfect blog adventure.

The first was eating pizza at Gino’s East. I had never been – a strange anomaly in my life – but always wanted to go, especially after that one Amazing Race finale where the final task was to order and eat a pan pizza and then race to the finish line. Mr MIP and I ordered a small sausage, black olive and mushroom pan pizza and patiently waited the 45 minutes you always wait while waiting for the waiter to bring your waitful Chicago deep dish pizza.

Oh, yum. Crust is a little more like Lou Malnati’s and the sauce wasn’t quite as good as Giordano’s, in my opinion. But the quiet little booth with the graffiti left by hundreds of other diners, made the experience a great one. Definitely recommended!

Blurry, but I wanted you to see the graffiti covered walls:

And the other thing we accomplished from The List was to visit the Lincoln Park Conservatory. Free and beautiful – it’s definitely a place to check out. Not very large, but filled with beautiful plants and a fern room and orchid room (my fave) and tons of 1st graders, it’s located just north of the (also free!) Lincoln Park Zoo.

Oh, I love orchids. Don’t you?

One time on a way to a birthday party for one of his bandmates, we were pulled over by a policeman. The cop took Mr’s license and went back to the car…he came back in a few minutes and said that there was an arrest warrant out under his name. I freaked out. I didn’t know where we were… I didn’t really want Mr to be arrested! Trying not to cry, I watched as the cop pulled out handcuffs and asked if Mr knew what those were for. “Yes.” He pulled out a taser and asked if he knew what that was for…”Yes.” He pulled out a box and asked if he knew what that was for. “Yes.”  Well, good luck the cop said.

And Mr turned to me and opened the box with my ring in it and asked me to marry him.

We laugh now, because maybe it wasn’t the most romantic way to get engaged, but it was the only way Mr MIP could think to surprise me! We went and ate at Hardee’s after we got engaged and then went on to the birthday party and watched Spinal Tap. What a romantic night!

Oh, and look at my daughter – can you guess what she was doing to entertain us?

Anyway, I know you’re all dying to see the card SuperBoy made me for Mother’s Day.

Here’s the front: (Although monster trucks might not seem to fit Mother’s Day – it’s a little known fact that my mom and dad took my boyfriend and I to see a monster truck rally for my 16th birthday – by my choice. Can’t explain.)

And the inside:

You’re thinking that’s a monster, right? But no, according to him, it’s our house. And upon taking a closer look, it’s even more disturbing:See the person on the left (in the “monster’s” mouth?) That’s me sitting there watching the Cubs on tv. And see the person up on the right? That’s SuperBoy looking pensively out the window. How sad is that? Is this how he sees our relationship? Our home destroying us? Eating us? Me watching the Cubs and poor him longing for his mommy?

What a relief – here’s the other side:With a nice heart and what at first looked to me like “I heart you”  – but now I’m reading it more as “I O U”. Because, yes SuperBoy, you owe me big time. And if he doesn’t think I’m doing enough for him, I’ll just go back to watching TV.

I found my old Sparks books in a box last week and my Sparky Award banner and showed it to them. Can’t quite say they understood the history and tradition that is being carried on here, but it means a great deal to me!