Terror On The Brown Line

Ever since moving to the city of Chicago (and probably just because I come from a small town), I have been wondering and waiting for the day I was going to get mugged.  Because, let's face it:  some of the people here are scary.  I had prepared myself as best I could.  Pepper spray key chain, keys themselves, cell phone always with me, and I always turn my rings in toward my palms when I get on the Green Line train.  Always.

This past Tuesday, I got out of work, walked to the Green Line (turned my rings in and kept my pepper spray in my hand) and calmly read a book for the ride into the Loop.  It was pretty uneventful.  Like usual.  At the Loop, I have to transfer to the Brown Line to get home.  I sat on a bench, read and waited for the train to come.  Now, I always feel safe on the Brown Line, mainly because the people on it are all college students and business people.  Why would they do anything to hurt me?  

 The train finally came, I got on, got a seat, opened my book, and tried to settle in for the twenty minute ride.  Just before the doors closed, I noticed two men, dressed in black sweatshirts with the hoods up and carrying black bags jump on the train.  As soon as the doors closed and the train started moving, one of the men shouted, "Can I have everyone's attention."  He didn't say anything else for probably 5-10 seconds and I thought:  

Dear God, I'm going to get robbed.  Well the day I get robbed in Chicago is finally here.  A year and a half was a pretty good run.  Hey, I've got the pepper spray Dad gave me!  Crap.  It's in my zipped coat pocket.  Okay.  I have no cash, so that is good.  Wait, my wedding rings and Mom's opal ring and necklace are all hanging out!  He'll have to pry those out of my cold, dead fingers.  He looks like the kind of guy who'd be willing to do that, though.  Do I have time to hide them?  I could put them all in my mouth.  No, he'll see and take them.  Maybe I can put up enough of a fight for someone else to call the police...

And that was when the guy said, "Is this the Green or the Brown line?"  PEOPLE.  Can we take a minute and talk about the heart palpitations and chest pain I was having at this point?  A lot.  And for a guy who scared the crap out of EVERYONE on the train because he wasn't smart enough to look at the color and destination of the train before he got on.  Anyway, the guy pulled the emergency stop/door open lever, jumped off the train with this friend (we hadn't even made it away from the platform yet) and took off.  We all just sat in the car, completely silent, completely stunned, until one lady said really loud, "I thought they were going to rob us."  We all had a good laugh, though I'm sure more than one person--myself included--was on the verge of filling their pants.

This Was My Day...

I am a receptionist.  

Apparently, this means that all I do alllll day long is have meaningless conversations with patients.  

Patient 1

Old Man:  Do you have anything to eat back there?

Me:  What?  Like a cafeteria?

Old Man:  Do you have anything to eat??

Me:  (Looking behind me) Like in the room back there?

Old Man:  Yeah.

Me:  Um, no.  That is where the people taking appointments are.  We have vending machines by the windows behind you.

Old Man:  Do YOU have any food?  Like your lunch.  You must have lunch.  

Me:  I didn't bring my lunch today? (Question mark because I have NO idea what we are talking about at this point.)

Old Man:  What about her? (pointing to my coworker) She looks like she brought something.

Me:  You have to use the vending machines.  I'm sorry.  If anyone here brought food, it is because they need to eat it for their own lunch.

Old Man:  I don't want to put a dollar in those machines!  Do you have a dollar I can have?

Me:  No!

Patient 2

Me:  Okay, I'll just need to see your referral, your ID and your insurance cards.

Lady:  I didn't bring my referral.  I don't know where my ID is.  I don't have insurance.

Me:  Ma'am, we can't see you without your ID because you're new.  And your insurance won't pay for your visit without the referral.

Lady:  I don't have insurance.

Me:  Well, how do you pay for your medical care?

Lady:  I don't.

Me:  You have to pay something.  Do you pay cash?  Do you have a Medicare card?

Lady:  I don't have insurance and I don't pay anything to see the doctor!!!

Me:  Ma'am, you have to have insurance to see the doctor who referred you here. 

Lady:  No.

( In case you're wondering, YES, the lady had insurance.  We had it faxed over, along with the referral, from her medical doctor)

Patient 3

Lady:  Can I use this phone to call my home?

Me:  Of course!  Just dial 8 to get the outside line.

Lady:  Dial 9?

Me:  No, 8.

Lady:  Dial 1?

Me: ...?

And that's about when my brain melted. 

Superbowl Sunday

This is pretty much what our own little Superbowl "party" looked like.  Please pardon the mess and the sheets stuffed in the window (I broke the plastic seal thing and this was the best I could do to keep the blizzard out, OKAY?!)

Roscoe was almost as bored as me, so he made his own fun.

 

 

 

We also had the BEST guacamole EVER.  I wanted to take a picture of it to post with the recipe, but Bart, sneaky husband that he is, started eating before I got the chance.  And then I wanted some.  And then I forgot all about my camera and only focused on the deliciousness that was in this bowl.   It was so good that we (clearly) ate it all.  You can still see a smudge here and there.

 

 

Guacamole (from foodnetwork.com)

 

3 avocados, halved

1 lime, juiced

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 medium onion, diced

2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced

1 tbsp cilantro, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1.  Coat avocados in lime juice .  Drain and reserve juice.  (I actually just squeezed one half of the lime in at this point and didn't empty the juice out)

 

2.  Add cumin, salt, cayenne and mash.

 

3.  Fold in onions, tomatoes, cilantro and garlic (I used roasted garlic powder I get at this spice shop on our street.  It's really potent, so I knew the flavor would be okay).

4.  Add 1 tbsp of reserved lime juice (This is when I squeezed in the whole other half.  I tried to measure it out, and before I got tired of holding the measuring spoon and squeezing, it was about 1 tbsp anyway).

5.  Stir and let sit for one hour before serving.  But if you live with Bart, you only wait 30 minutes because he is like a 2 year old and CAN'T WAIT MUST HAVE FOOD NOW!!!!

We were hoping to have some of this left over to spread on wraps for lunches, but oh well.  At least you know it's good!!

I hope you all had a wonderful, relaxing Sunday/Superbowl!

Dreaming...

...of two weeks...


...on the Cape...


...with Bart <3

THE Coat

Ladies and...ladies, today I finally bought that coat I keep talking about! You know, the one I've been eyeballing since Christmas. And let me tell you what a crazy hunt it has been!

Last week when I went to have my wrist checked out by the orthopedic surgeon, I stopped at the Northface store since is was basically right next door. I saw the coat, tried it on, loved it and was then told that it would be ON SALE on February 3rd. Well, what was another week? I'd already waited months and for days where the temp was 12 degrees. I could get by in my fleece/peacoat double-up for one more week.

Fast forward to today. Could life get any better? I was going to buy the coat of my dreams and I had the day off, which gave me plenty of time to hop a bus and get to the store. Right? I woke up, called the store, and they were SOLD OUT OF THE COAT!!! And not only was this store sold out, but they were sold out NATION WIDE as of two days ago. Okay, I thought, I'll just order it online from the website and pay full price. Whatever, that's what I had originally planned on doing anyway. Well, guess what? They were sold out on the website, too. So I googled the coat. Every. Single. Site. was sold out of the coat. They had alllllll the other colors in allllll the other sizes but mine. I tell you--If I didn't have bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all.

I freaked (because c'mon, I've been fantasizing about that coat for a long time) and Bart tried to search different sites too. We looked at about 15 in all, with no results. I was broken hearted. Then Bart had the greatest brainstorm ever! He offhandedly mentioned ebay! The ONE place I hadn't looked yet, because, seriously, who uses ebay anymore?

Well, I found the darn coat in my size and bid on it. It was full price, but whatever. A girl needs to be warm and look good, too, right? And I won it! It's mine! It should arrive by Tuesday, so I'll post pictures of the beauty then!

SNOWMAGEDDON!!

So, you might have heard that we got a little bit of snow here in Chicago over the last couple of days. Normally I hate snow just as much as the next person, but this was just awesome. I got out of work at 2pm on Tuesday and won't be back until SATURDAY! Yes, people, that is how bad it is out here. The official count was 21 inches at O'Hare airport, but I think we got more here by the lake. Anyway, I've got pictures (we braved the blizzard for you, my fine readers!) and some interesting little tidbits about it all. Here goes!

1. The clinic where I work was closed, Wednesday for the first time EVER. And we just found out tonight that the clinic and Bart's school are closed tomorrow, too. ANNND Fridays are my day off, so you can just imagine the level of love/excitement I have for this storm right now.

2. We had 50mph winds All. Night. Long.


This is what it looks like in the middle of a blizzard at 11pm in 50mph winds.


3. It was almost total white-out for hours at a time because of the wind and snow, which was falling at 2-3 inches per hour.

4. Lake Shore Drive (a major city road that is 3 roads over from us) was closed down while drivers were still--trying--to make it home. Most of the drivers started their commute home at 5pm and we saw them on the news at 11pm still sitting on the highway. They were averaging 20ft per HOUR. Nearly all of the cars had been abandoned at this point since people had run out of gas or just needed to get home. There were some reports this morning of people spending the night in their freezing cars.

5. The wind was so strong that it was actually shaking our building. We have french doors on our bedroom, which were shuddering like someone was pushing against them and the water in our toilet was actually sloshing around in the bowl.

6. We got to experience "thunder snow." It's seriously JUST as cool as it sounds--when a blizzard is really bad, you actually get a thunderstorm, lightening included, right in the middle of it all! It is super weird to look out the window, see nothing but snow, and then have thunder and lightening flash and boom.

7. Chicago Public Schools were closed yesterday for the first time in 12 years. They are closed tomorrow, too.

8. I am REALLY glad Bart and I don't have a car right now. I do, however, wish we had a dog sled.


It Begins:
The view from our back porch(ish) thing at about 3pm on Tuesday.



This was at about 9pm on Tuesday. This is the door to the entry way with the other door to get out to the street. Apparently the street door no longer fits the jamb, because alllllll of this snow had been blown in through the crack.


Clearly, I couldn't resist going outside in the snow--I mean, how often do you get to see an almost-record-breaking/close-everything-down-for-days snow storm?


Taken this morning at about 10am. Still snowing. Unfortunately, this is also what Bart's snow day looks like. Studying for the Board exams--yuck.


The Aftermath:



This is the back stairwell that goes into the alley where we put the trash. It's enclosed on three sides and we had about 3-4 inches of snow in there.


This is our street! It's a side street, so they won't be officially plowing until Lake Shore and the other major roads are plowed out. There isn't too much snow because this street faces the lake and the wind blew most of it further down.


Isn't it nice when the plows push the snow onto the sidewalk at the intersection? It sure makes trying to cross before the "don't walk" sign starts flashing exciting.


One sidewalk that was ACTUALLY shoveled clean!


The wind blew the snow through the screen.


Huge pile of snow at the other end of our street. Hope no one wants to go anywhere!



This is the newsstand and BUS STOP near us. There is no way to get to the bus. At all.



It's just a yucky mess out there.


There you have it! We've survived, I have the next two days off, and we are loving being snowed in!