March March March!

I can NOT believe it is already April. March was amazing. We just had spring break and now Micah is back to the call of duty in his surgery rotation. Fun times.

Before spring break we had a visit from Micah’s sister! We went downtown and all around and back again.

At the beany bean

My favorite painting at the Art Institute.

I want this teaset.

 

All of these things sold at the museum shop. I want them all.

The Museum of Science and Industry! My favorite place!! They have a new “Science Storms” exhibit which is awesome. They had a giant simulated tornado and a Tesla Coil!!! See below!!

 

Clowns!

We also got to be pretend doctors at this live exhibit where you can work with a patient dummy “Stan”. As you can imagine, this is a hoot when you are doing it with an actual Medical student.

And I always love watching the baby chicks.

We still had the museum pass after Kristen left, so, WE WENT AGAIN!

ROBOT!!!!!

Hall of Mirrors

Heat sensitive video capture device! See the smiley face on my hand? I licked it so cool it down and it appeared on the screen! Neat!

Cold moisture waterfall

Cubs Stadium

Castle! In the middle of the city!

 

 

We were sooo excited for a whole week off of school. So here is a list of a few of the exciting things we did during spring break:

1. A science project: our first attempt at making Ferrofluid.

2. Visited Navoo, Illinois

 

3. Went to the Ukrainian Village District to find my favorite Ukrainian candy

4. Ate spaghetti

5. Took cool pictures downtown

5. Did several weeks worth of laundry

6. Got haircuts

7. Put a new muffler on the car and fixed the brakes

8. Made Ukrainian Pysanky for Easter

colors are most vibrant in this first pic…with the rest I was just lucky to get them in focus…

Micah’s:

 

Betsy’s

9. Made some Paska for Easter. Yes, obviously I am not over the whole Ukraine thing…

phew. That’s a lotta pics.

Pi Day and sleep paralysis.

Hi-ho, people, it’s been a good March so far for us. Last Wednesday was surprisingly warm, about 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Today as I type it is morning, and 47 degrees. It is supposed to be sunny today. This is joy! I did not expect to be this excited about spring, but at the same time I realize that this was a very mild Chicago winter. I was blessed to be eased into this whole thing, I suppose.

Before the nice weather hit I spent some time sewing inside. I finished my first bag! Lined and everything.  I started it with my friend Laura on Thursday and finished it Friday.

 

Pockets! I love the leafy stitch on my sewing machine. It adds a nice touch.

Not to be mistaken for a hat.

In other news, being the nerds that we are (or that I am, I should speak for myself) we decided to celebrate Pi day (3.14) this past Sunday and had a great time spending all of Saturday making pies. I am sorry to report that one pie failed; my first attempt at a lemon meringue pie. I used Alton Brown’s recipe and followed the directions ever so carefully. But I failed to cook the lemon goo as long as I should have. Granted, the instructions I had did not tell me to continue cooking it after putting in the lemon juice and zest, so I assumed that it would set in the refrigerator. Wrong. It was lemon soup. I was a bit frustrated, as this kind of thing rarely happens to me. Still, it was a good experience and I look forward to trying again. When it was time for our Pi party, I was so busy manning the door to our apartment (three locked doors? Yup) that I did not manage to take any pictures. But here’s what’s left of the pies (apple, cherry, strawberry rhubarb, berry, pumpkin and not pictured is chocolate silk and the lemon meringue):

And the “Happy Pi Day” poster.

Monday was strange. I don’t know if any of you have heard of this, but occasionally I get this thing called sleep paralysis. It’s when you are awakening or falling asleep and you can’t move even though you’re awake. When this happens, it is very scary because often I am dreaming or hallucinating that someone is trying to break into my house (!) and there is nothing I can do about it because I am paralyzed. It is a very strange sleeping disorder and I thought I was going crazy until Micah did research on it and found that it is common, especially in families. So turns out my mom had it too when she lived in New York. I guess this means I don’t really like sleeping alone, even though I have to be alone when Micah is at the hospital. Learning about it, though, has helped me a lot, because I know now what’s going on when it happens and there are even ways to prevent it.

Yesterday was a free day at the Museum of Contemporary Art.  Guess what, Micah actually got out of school around 10:30 and had the REST OF THE DAY OFF!! Can you believe it? Nope. Neither could I. So we spent some time downtown. It was rad.

Cool fish pond at the bottom of the stairs.

Mobiles!

Interesting photography.

Yellow wall.

For those of you interested, our fishies and bunny are doing well. I hope my fish grow to be as big as the ones at the Museum.

Here is another little sewing project. Which bunny is cuter? I don’t know.

Oh, and Happy St. Patricks day! Corned beef and cabbage for dinner! Yay!

Project SKIRT!

Yes, it can be done! I am happy to say that I finished my first article of clothing with my new sewing machine. While I really had little guidance, I was determined to do it by myself and figure it out.  CHECK IT OUT YO!

 

The funniest thing happened in the process of making this skirt. When we went to JoAnns to purchase the fabric, I kindof went a little crazy buying all kinds of fabric. I reasoned that I am just a beginner and I needed it all to get started. Anyways, when we eventually went to the register, the computers broke down and we ended up waiting for 45 minutes…people started getting very angry and upset; one woman even told the lady at our register, “you are going to lose a lot of business today", and left in a huff. As she left I proclaimed “well it wasn’t her fault!” and the register lady smiled.  I was getting a little tired of waiting that long but I never understand why people think that’s an excuse to be grouchy and ill-behaved. The reward of all this was that we eventually were able to pay in cash and the lady gave me all that fabric for 2 dollars a yard! Made those 45 minutes worth it, to be sure.

Museum Days.

This week ended Micah’s work at Mercy hospital before he goes into cardiology, so he had a little more time for fun. We were able to get FREE admission to TWO museums; the Field Museum and the Shedd Aquarium. They were magnificent!! I love natural history and feel lucky to live so close to these amazing institutions.

Outside the museum there were geese.

TURTLES!

MICAH!

Big, big fish!

Sea horse!

 

The remains of snow sculptures.

We can’t seem to find our camera, therefore I am unable to post the amazing pictures of Sue, the Tyrannosaurus Rex ! But once we find it I will post! In the meantime, here are some pictures from my phone:

Rather interesting taxidermy.

 

That evening we went to Barnes and Noble to warm up and browse the books. Micah found an interesting book: The Secret Lives of Men and Women.

When he opened the book, he found this inside! I real secret note left by a real person!

I wonder how many people have opened this book and found the note. It seems there have only been two. Or perhaps more, and just didn’t want to write on the note.

 

I decided to leave a secret of my own on the note and put it back in the book.  I’m not telling you what the secret is, suckahs!