Well it’s been a little over 5 years that I started this blog. So I thought I would update the look of it, it will be a work in progress. Looking forward to writing some more.
No Words
I haven’t written anything in awhile, and truly miss writing. I was working on a post about holiday traditions. But in light of the tragic events in Connecticut, my heart is heavy.
In October, I lost my father suddenly and that grief is hard to bare on some days. There are no words that can possibly convey comfort to a parent who has lost a child to such senseless violence. There are no words to comfort a child who has witnessed such horror. All I can do is offer my prayers to every family affected, and pray for this hurting nation of ours.
Blizzard of 2011
It started Tuesday afternoon at about 1 p.m. The snow did not stop falling and blowing (30 – 40 mph) until Noon on Wednesday (today), leaving 19 inches of snow with 3 – 5 foot drifts. This is the 3rd largest blizzard in our area.
My mom always talks about the blizzard of ’67. It was my sister’s 4th birthday, I wasn’t born yet. But she spent the day cooking and cleaning and preparing for a birthday party, she was unaware of the snow falling until my dad walked in from work late that evening, covered in snow. The whole issue with that blizzard is that no one knew it was coming, so it paralyzed many areas. With this storm we knew it was coming, the weatherman had been talking about it since last week and gave everyone plenty of time to prepare. Those who weren’t prepared probably just chose not to believe it was coming. With history repeating itself, Elijah’s birthday is today, with the blizzard coming to an end in the afternoon, I made sure I was fully prepared to have a birthday celebration at home. Monday we went to the store to stock up on food and stuff. Tuesday, I baked the cakes and cooked his favorite dinner (Italian Beef sandwiches), just in case we lost power. With the way the storm was coming in, the worst of it hit us while we slept. Not taking any chances I also made a pot of coffee before I went to bed. If we lost power I could still heat things up on the stove. I also cranked up our heat so it would be nice and warm in the event the power went out in the middle of the night. Thankfully we did not experience any major difficulties.
This morning we all went out to shovel and got some welcomed help from a neighbor with a snow blower. Cook, Joshua and Olivia went to her friend’s house the next block over to help her shovel out, and helped another lady whose husband was out-of-town. They had fun helping. After that Elijah had his cake and opened his presents and we’ve just been hangin’ out inside enjoying this quiet lazy day. As Elijah is known for saying, he summed up the day as, “the best day EVER!!”
This is what our backyard looked like before we went to bed, and then what it looked like when we woke up in the morning.
Being so close to Chicago, I have been watching the news and seeing what they are dealing with in the city. Last night they closed down the major street that runs right along the lake called Lake Shore Drive (LSD). This was after 3 accidents occurred, but not in time to prevent 900 drivers from being stranded. Emergency crews were able to get the people to safety leaving their cars stranded. I have never seen anything like it!! Lake Shore Drive looked like a parking lot with cars buried and stuck between snow drifts. Today they have crews out there to dig the cars out and tow them away, there’s about 200 cars left to remove. I am so thankful that I didn’t have to be anywhere or try to get home like so many people experienced.
Even though the snow has stopped and some people are slowly getting dug out, I don’t know that the worst is over. Tonight and tomorrow we will be experiencing dangerous wind chills of 25 to 35 degrees below zero. One thing we can say for sure is, the snow isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon. But hey…I like snow…right?!?! Anniehow!
Photos by Olivia Jakira
Chicago Bears Training Camp
My family went to the Staples Bears Training Camp presented by Chase on the campus of Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Illinois, and we had a lot of fun. This is the 9th consecutive year of them being at Olivet Nazarene. This training camp is open to the public, and there’s free admission and free parking, it’s a great time for the family, especially Bears fans. The training camp started on July 30, and ends today, August 19, 2010. 
There are three different practice times, Noon, 3 p.m., and 7 p.m. The gates open one hour prior to start of practice and close one hour after. It’s a lot of fun to watch them practice, and you get a chance to see your favorite players. There are several Theme days, where they have extra activities going on throughout the camp ground. There is the Staples Kids Only Autographs on select days. Where the first 150 kids ages 4-12, in line will receive a pass for the autograph session for that day. Kids are allowed one autograph per person, but they are not able to take pictures with the players.
There is also the Staples Bears Pride Poster Contest on select days as well. Kids ages 4-12 can make a poster, and are entered into a random drawing. The winners receive a pass to enter Staples “Front Row Kid Zone” along the players exit from the field. There were several booths and tables with free things available. We each received a Bic marker and a folder for autographs. There were free roster posters with pictures of different players. Staples had a booth and were giving away free Bic markers in all kinds of colors. I was excited about the free markers!! Staples also had a Back to School day, the day before we went and they were giving away free Bears/Staples brand backpacks to the first 500 kids. I didn’t know about it until after we went. The website didn’t list that as one of the theme days until probably the day before.
Jewel-Osco sponsers the Inflatable Kid Zone where they have this huge obstacle course shown here with Benji sliding down. They have other inflatable things as well as a basketball toss and football toss. Benji and Elijah really enjoyed this. We were there at a good time, since there weren’t a lot of kids waiting in line. Throughout the camp grounds there are concession stands to purchase food, and they also have hydration stations for fans to access free water and Gatorade.
There is also a Pro Shop that has everything Bears to purchase, hats, mugs, footballs, jerseys. We were there the second to the last day, and they were selling the Training Camp T-shirts for $10, which had originally been $25.
There’s just enough things to see and participate in. The day we went was very pleasant, the sun was warm, but there were some areas of shade to cool off. Of course Elijah thought it was the “best day EVER.” It is a lot of fun, especially for the younger kids. For anyone in the southern suburbs, its a pleasant drive to Bourbonnais. I look forward to going again next year.
Tax Season
This year I went back to using my favorite tax program, Turbo Tax www.turbotax.com. They had a couple of new things this year. One thing was the option to get your refund put on a Green Dot Prepaid Debit Card. This is especially helpful for people who don’t have a bank account. Otherwise, you can have your refund direct deposited into your savings or checking account. They also still have the option to have the TurboTax fee deducted from your refund. I have done that in times past. There is an additional $29.95 fee for this service. TurboTax has really made doing your taxes easy. I personally find it enjoyable, I look forward to doing my taxes every year. Having TurboTax walk you through the filing is so helpful and beneficial. This year we actually received a new “making work pay” credit just by answering a few questions.
For my state taxes, I usually just file for free on the Illinois Department of Revenue website http://revenue.state.il.us. I recently learned that our state has an Education Credit which anyone, including home schoolers can use. You will be allowed 25% of your student’s qualified education expenses after the first $250. Your total credit may not exceed $500 in any year regardless of the number of qualifying students. Expenses included in this credit are tuition, book fess and lab fees. On the website there are publications that you can review for more information. For Home School review Publication 119, for regular school review Publication 132. Illinois may not be the only state that offers this credit, check with your tax preparer or use TurboTax to file your state taxes and they will let you know if your state is eligible.
One benefit of using TurboTax is that you can go through all the questions before you have to pay for the use of the software. This year I actually went through the state tax filing to see how the education credit worked. When I went to file my taxes TurboTax was going to charge me $29.95 to file the state. But knowing I could do it for free, I went back and deleted the state tax info and then proceeded to file my federal taxes.
I highly recommend using TurboTax, the process is so efficient, quick and easy.
Carrie Ann Alexis 
