Peeks Through the Window

Todd's thing this morning was turning on the kitchen sink, pouring water into cups and bowls and subsequently dumping the water onto the counters and floor.  On the up side, the kitchen is now quite clean.  While I was mopping, I had Todd go to his room.  He was mad, so repeatedly kicked the door to show his displeasure.  This door and wall kicking is a constant source of the police being called. 

 

When I finished mopping, I went to Todd's room to try to redirect him to stop kicking the door.  I saw our neighbor across the courtyard hanging out her window, on the phone and pointing at Todd's bedroom window.  I think she fancies herself a neurology expert.  My husband calls her Peeping Paula because she looks like Paula Deen, no offense to Paula, who I understand is a lovely woman.

 

I really wish my neighbors calling the police would make my kids stop having autism.  Is that what they think?  The police have magical powers to stop repetitive behaviors and stimming?  I wish they did.  Oh no, that's right, they call the police simply because I'm a bad mother and I could easily stop the kids from being autistic at any given time.  I wish I had those magical powers!

 

In the meantime, Sean peed on my bed and two of my pillows, of course, my expensive memory foam pillow was the one most soaked. Sean is consequently suspended from computer privileges as a result.  So now instead, he is playing with his trains and making a high pitched train whistle sound over and over.  At least Todd is in his room being quiet.  I caved and gave Todd a chewable melatonin.  I try to dole those out conservatively because I don't want him to build up a tolerance.  The dose he gets is pediatrician-approved, 2 tabs to go to sleep, 1 tab as a chill pill.  I usually love Dr. Oz, but the hubs and I were annoyed by a recent episode about melatonin, how bad it is.  Just think relaxing thoughts and you'll go to sleep!  While perhaps and probably there are many people out there who take it too much and give their children too much, sorry, it's been a Godsend in this household.

I just took a shower a few hours ago, but now I feel slimy and sticky.  I woke up with a sinus headache, now I can barely see.  Thank God for coffee.  This season in the Midwest has been terrible for hay fever.  I haven't had sinus pain like this in decades.

 

Yesterday afternoon, I had an awful headache.  I started to doze on the couch.  My husband insisted I go into the bedroom, but Todd just cried outside the door the entire time I was in there.  I just gave up and went back to my day.  In the future, I hope he just lets me be on the couch.

 

We have rehearsal at 2 this afternoon for Music Man.  Theatre has proven to be very good for Sean.  He's very musical and the structure of being in a play really helps him as far as behavior, social skills, focus.  I feel bad about leaving Todd at home, but he can't handle it at this point.  I hope someday he can in some capacity.  Older autistic children of other theatre friends have helped backstage, helped with raffle baskets, tickets. Thank the Lord for Dr. Theatre!  Better than any prescription or therapy we could ask for! 

Caffe Baci

This a chain with several locations in the downtown Chicago area and has been one of my favorites for about 15 years.  There is a location in the building where I currently work and I could seriously eat both breakfast and lunch here every day if my wallet and waistline could afford it.

 

The breakfast menu has the usuals: omelettes, bacon, sausage, sweets.  My favorite is the veggie fusion: egg whites, veggies and low cal cheese.  You can substitute fruit salad for the side of potatoes if you’re feeling extra guilty (or not) that day.  The yogurt, granola and fruit parfait is a old standby or just fresh fruit salad in a cup.

 

For lunch, there are a ton of sides available.  You can order three sides as an entrée.  The side salads include fruit salad, tuna, chicken, couscous, pasta, vegetables and bean salads.  There are lettuce-based salads, too.  Their Caesar is a favorite of mine.  The sandwiches are some of the best in the city, in my opinion.  My two favorites are the JoJo Special and the Classico.  The JoJo Special has prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, artichokes, basil and tomatoes.  The Classico is filled with Italian meats: salami, mortadella, capicola with provolone, tomatoes and giardiniera.  All the sandwiches are excellent.  The individual pizzas are baked to order.

 

I’ve ordered catering from here for various office events in the past.  The food is always consistent with the vegetable lasagna as a stand-out.

 

There are daily specials.  The specials are not always Italian, but always good.  Sometimes there’s a Thai special, or Spanish or Mexican.  There’s also a pasta special, pizza special, two soups of the day (the pasta fagioli is my personal fave) and a ½ sandwich and soup option.  The soup and ½ sandwich special is worth every penny, as the soup is usually so filling, I eat the sandwich for another meal and get two meals for the price of one.

 

For dessert, there are cookies, tiramisu, dessert bars and the best lemon bars I have ever had.  There’s also gelato prepared in-house, usually about 4 or 5 different flavors available.  The coffee is very good, too, just the right combo of bitter and smooth.

 

Caffe Baci has been around for a long time.  The food and service have always been consistently high quality.  Once I wrote a review for a credit card points program and the only criticism I had was that the website didn’t state when they stop serving breakfast.  Within a day, I received a personal email from management telling me I was right and they would correct this.  That’s an example to me of how much they care about their business and a reflection of why they have survived all this time.

 

http://www.caffebaci.com/
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Ghosts at Circa 21 Dinner Playhouse

Circa 21 Dinner Playhouse is a dinner theatre in Rock Island, Illinois where I performed in a production of “Singin in the Rain” for about five months circa 1990.  The theatre is an old vaudeville house, beautiful, albeit somewhat rundown when I worked there.

 No sooner did the show open, I started hearing stories about the ghosts.  Years later, I tried to find information online to see if any of the said tragedies really happened, if these stories were local urban legends or rumors, etc.  I found absolutely nothing except one blurb from an Iowa paper mentioning the actors and waitstaff tell stories of ghosts.

 As a cast and crew, we experienced some “things.”  To this day, I can’t decide if these things were coincidence, our imagination or…?

This one is the story that most sounds like an urban legend.  Allegedly there was an engineer who worked in the building – the time frame was never mentioned to me.  Apparently he died in an explosion in the boiler room and his spirit is apparently angry about this.  Techies claimed to hear a voice in their ear telling them to “jump” when they were up on the catwalk or on ladders.  One evening, one of our leading ladies was complaining and complaining until suddenly a big blob of grease landed on her head.  Could have been a coincidence, but it shut her up and the rest of us found it quite funny.  I never personally experienced anything related to the creepy boiler room guy.

The female dancers’ dressing room was on the second floor and the costume shop was on the third floor, directly above us.  One night, I was lingering in the dressing room after everyone else left for the bar across the street.  I was almost at the end of a good book and wanted to finish it.  I heard the loveliest soprano voice singing upstairs.  I went up there to see who was singing.  Nobody was there, nor was there a recording or radio playing.  The next day, I talked to our costumer about what I had heard.  He said that legend had it that the costume shop used to be a dressing room in vaudeville days.  There was a fire and an actress/singer died up there.  He said he heard her all the time.  Were we both imagining that?  I don’t know, honestly.

The balcony of the theater was closed.  It wasn’t safe and at the time, the theater didn’t have the money to renovate it.  One night, while tapping in “Broadway Rhythm,” I looked up at the balcony and saw a woman in a long dress with a Gibson girl hairdo sitting in the balcony, smiling and enjoying the performance.  Several other dancers saw the same thing.  We were later told that was the third-floor soprano who died in the fire.  Were the locals playing a practical joke on us?  Maybe, but I don’t know.

 Ghost stories are fun to hear and tell.  I’m open to all possibilities while being skeptical at the same time.  The imagination is a powerful thing.  That said, I always had the creeps in that theater and I was relieved to not have to go  back there once the show closed. J

 

 

Bayside Market, Miami

We had some time between checkout time at our hotel (Madarin Oriental on Brickell Key, can't repeat enough how much I recommend that hotel) and our flight.  We drove around Miami, went past the Bayside Market and decided to kill some time there.  http://www.baysidemarketplace.com/  There's also a beautiful outdoor walkway with a lovely view of the Bay.

 

It is your typical big city mall with many of the shops you would find at any mall in a major city (i.e., Bath & Body Works, Claire's, Disney Store, Perfumania, you get the idea.)  There are also many Miami-themed shops.

 

We had a frozen adult beverage at Sharkey's.  You can sit in the bar or in the mall area.  The mall seating area has a beautiful view of Biscayne Bay.  The frozen drinks come in a souvenir plastic cup.

 

Before heading to the airport, we stopped for lunch at Bubba Gump's.  http://www.bubbagump.com/ This is a chain restaurant found in many cities, but we had never visited Bubba Gump's, even though we have a location in Chicago.  We got a seafood sampler.  It was so tasty and the seafood was very fresh.  It came with several dipping sauces.  It was the perfect light meal before traveling home.

 

A local mall is a good place to kill time when traveling and I definitely recommend this one. :)

Rachael Ray's Look & Cook

I'm a long-time fan of Rachael Ray and own several of her cookbooks.  When this one was released, I didn't really have an interest - I figured I had enough of her recipes in my repertoire and didn't really like the idea of the step by step instruction pictures.  I'm confident enough in my cooking that I thought I didn't need that.

 

I received this cookbook as a gift.  I was pleasantly surprised.  A lot of good stuff.  Many new recipes I hadn't tried that weren't just slight spins on previous recipes she's written, not to mention the fact that my husband likes these new recipes.  I've written before, he is a tough person to cook for - very picky and specific with his likes and the things he doesn't like. 

 

The majority of this cookbook is devoted to the new recipes along with the corresponding photo instructions.  There is also a 30-minute meal section, a section of sides and starters, desserts, simple sauces and one of my favorite features of her tv show - bottom of the jar sauces.  The bottom of the jar sauces are practical and perfect for someone like me who likes to get every penny's worth out of the things I buy.  For instance - peanut butter.  There's some left at the bottom of the jar, not enough for a sandwich, but the remaining peanut butter can be turned into a Thai peanut sauce or dressing.  (Except the time I made Thai peanut dressing, clearly relabeled the jar "Thai peanut sauce" and my husband inadvertently dumped it on toast, splashing it all over the kitchen.:)  There are ideas for bottom of the jam or marmalade jar, mustard, you get the idea. It's a fun concept to get creative with on your own.  (Fun to me, anyway:)

 

My mother taught me how to cook.  I have many happy memories from days shared with her in the kitchen.  She always encouraged me to be creative.  I remember once I made "fruit soup" for my dad.  I must have gone heavy on the lemon juice judging by the way his face scrunched up when he tasted it.  My mom said, "It's wonderful, he loved it!" and quickly whisked me back to the kitchen. Rachael Ray was just starting to become popular when my mom died.  My mom was a huge Food Network fan and I often wonder what she would have thought of the shows I follow on the network today.  I think she would have liked Rachael.  Rachael's ingredients are accessible, there's rarely an item you can't find at any grocery store, the recipes are easy, tasty and quick, and often she teaches you a method, not just a recipe.  Once you learn a method, your imagination can take over and create many more recipes.  That was definitely my mom's style.  My older son, who is on the autism spectrum, has developed an interest in food preparation and with these easy recipes, there are plenty of steps he can help me with.  My boys also stray from their addiction to chicken nuggets to eat some of these recipes-mostly those involving chicken, but hey, it's a change of pace!

 

In summation, this is a cookbook I had no intention to buy that was bought for me and is now my current favorite go-to cookbook for dinner.  It is available on Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Rachael-Rays-Look-Cook-Ray/dp/030759050X/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348342921&sr=1-3&keywords=rachael+ray

 

or at the Food Network online store:  http://www.amazon.com/Rachael-Rays-Look-Cook-Ray/dp/030759050X/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348342921&sr=1-3&keywords=rachael+ray

Buca di Beppo

The first Buca di Beppo I visited was in the Lakeview neighborhood in Chicago (which has since closed).  I have fond memories of one of my last restaurant meals with my mother there.  She passed away in 2002.  The Buca di Beppo closest to where I live currently is in Orland Park.  The other three Illinois locations are in Wheeling, Lombard and at 521 North  Rush Street in Chicago, just north of downtown.  It’s a perfect location for a family get-together.  The portions are generous and served family style.  The restaurants are busily decorated with vintage photos and ads, both Italian and Italian-American themed, plus photos of famous Italians and Italian Americans such as Sophia Loren and Frank Sinatra. (The location in Lakeview had a “Pope Room” dedicated to Italian popes, gives you an idea of the sense of humor of the décor.)

The menu is hearty, filling Italian.  My favorite appetizers are the cheesy bread Florentine and the fritto misto.  Fritto misto is typically deep-fried veggies in a light, tempura-like batter, but the Buca di Beppo version fries shrimp, calamari and pepperocini.  The stuffed mushrooms are delicious, too, stuffed with prosciutto, cheese, sage and come with a creamy pesto sauce.

The baked pasta dishes are basic, but I don’t mean that negatively.  The baked ziti, rigatoni, spaghetti and meatballs, eggplant parmigiana and stuffed shells are perfect.  I also like the linguini frutti di mare, seafood and pasta in a yummy red sauce.  The penne arrabiata is just as I like it, spicy sausage and spicy sauce.

For dessert, get the dolce platter, a little bit of everything:  Tiramisu, chocolate cake, cheesecake and apple crostata.

 There are several big rooms for families and friends to have private parties.  At lunch time, the huge family portions are available in smaller sizes as well. 

 Buca di Beppo in Orland Park: 15350 South 94th Avenue Orland Park, IL

Nationwide locations can be found at:  http://www.bucadibeppo.com/

 

Sam Buca's

I have been to Sam Buca’s for events related to one of my favorite organizations, Opening Night Arts Group.  We have had membership meetings and cast parties there.  The restaurant is warmly decorated and very comfortable.

I called to make a reservation for my birthday – 6 adults, 3 kids.  We were told getting a table at 5:30 wouldn’t be a problem.  This was true – we were the only customers in the restaurant, but were told our waitress wouldn’t be there until 6.  We were, however, brought beverages by a woman who appeared to be a manager.  There is a rooftop terrace that I have heard is very nice.  We originally planned on sitting upstairs, but my dad didn’t want to deal with the blazing sun.

We ordered fried calamari for our appetizer.  It was done right – not rubbery, just the right texture with a crispy but light breading.  It wasn’t drowning in oil, either.  I had the pasta fagioli soup, which is something I’m picky about.  I wasn’t disappointed, it tasted perfect.

I had the Penne alla Salcicia (penne with creamy tomato vodka sauce).  It was very tasty.  I hate when Italian sausage tastes like nothing but fennel seeds.  This sausage had just the right amount of spice with just a little heat.  My favorite Italian sausage of all time is from Calabria in the Beverly neighborhood.  I could tell this wasn’t Calabria sausage, but it was still good.  The portions are generous.  I brought home half and had it for lunch the next day.  I always feel like I got my money’s worth when I can get several meals out of a dish.  My sister-in-law had the lasagna which came in a small oval-shaped, but deep dish.  Tons of cheese.  My brother had a big salad, called the Sam Buca Special, which is an understatement.  Huge salad.  The unfortunate thing about big salads is it’s useless to bring home leftovers.  Salads don’t age well, just like French fries are useless to bring home because they’re soggy and gross as leftovers.  My husband had sausage and peppers and finished his plate.  The kids had Italian chicken tenders and regular fries.  (They also have Italian fries, which my brother had and were a bit spicy for him, so they were probably too spicy for the kids.  I, however, love lots of spice and heat.)  The chicken tenders were somewhat overdone that gave the breading a little burnt taste.  I think this is why the kids didn’t care for them.

We’ll be back.  I think we just went at an odd time of day, so things weren’t up to par like usual.  I’m sure I will return in the near future for a cast party or other theatre event.

Sam Buca's is located at 12231 South Harlem in Palos Heights, Illinois. 

http://sambucasrestaurant.com/

 

Article from Age of Autism & Comments

The below article struck me.  Most days I'm full of sunshine and positive energy in regard to my family's ongoing battle, but there are other days when I get angry.  I love the "Age of Autism" website, where the article appears.

 

I saw my first negative comment on this blog yesterday.  It had to do with an innocuous detail in one of my posts that had absolutely nothing to do with autism or anything that this blog is about.  It was also cowardly signed "anonymous."  I won't honor the comment by repeating it and it has been deleted.  Wow, really?  If someone is concerned about the details and not the substance of what I'm writing, why are they reading?  But enough on that asinine person...

 

I am honest and fair with everything I write.  I can't lie because not telling the truth would be a betrayal of myself and why I started writing in the first place, which is why I love the honesty of the "Age of Autism" site.  I came across this site after reading "All I Can Handle" by Kim Stagliano.  Kim doesn't candy coat anything.  One of my favorite analogies of hers concerns an autism awareness ad:  A beautiful, well-dressed little boy standing in what looks like a nice suburban cul de sac.  He's sad because he can't play baseball with the other children.  If it was a real portrayal of autism kids, they should show a messy bedroom, mattress on the floor with sheets pulled off, holes in the drywall, poop smeared on the walls - that's more like my kids' room!

 

Anyway, the article below is an honest expression of some of the emotions we on this autism rollercoaster experience.

http://www.ageofautism.com/2012/09/forgive-and-forget.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ageofautism+%28AGE+OF+AUTISM%29&utm_content=Yahoo%21+Mail

Sept. 22 Dutch Festival Offers Fun for All Ages ! | Elim Christian Services

This is the main yearly fundraiser of the wonderful school my children attend.  Admission is free and once inside, the food prices are very reasonable.  There are many baked goods for sale, Dutch blue china items and unique Christmas decorations.  There's a farmer's market, rides and games for the kids, and live music and Dutch dancers.

Sept. 22 Dutch Festival Offers Fun for All Ages ! | Elim Christian Services

Return to Deja Brew

Some of my friends were surprised I wanted to celebrate my birthday here because of its “young” reputation.  The crowd on the outdoor patio is always older.  We ordered the nachos and Southwestern egg rolls.  The Southwestern rolls are spicy, not too much – just enough to wake up your tastebuds and make your nose run a little bit, but nothing to set your mouth on fire.  I love the nachos here, even though the cheese is fake, gooey cheese – think Taco Bell.  The guacamole is fresh, chunky, just the right balance of everything – heat, lime, hint of onion, sweet avocado.  Our friends ordered the fried dill pickles (one of my favorite pub grub foods).  In the past when I have had fried pickles, the pickle slices were discs, kind of like how you get fried zucchini.  The Deja Brew fried pickles are pickle spears.  More pickle that way.  They come with a ranch dipping sauce.  Personally, I prefer remoulade sauce with fried pickles, but that’s me.  Our friends also had a club sandwich that they shared.  My husband had a chicken panini that he scarfed down – always a sign he really likes something.  Me, if I really like a dish, I savor each bite and take my time to make the yumminess last.  This was a perfect night to sit outside and something to savor, because before we know it, it will be cold in Chicago!

 

Deja Brew Bar & Grill is located at 5219 West 95th Street in Oak Lawn, Illinois.

 

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Some Disney Notes

I was going over my notes from our Disney trip - in a nutshell, these are the things I didn't devote a post to, but are worth mentioning:

Contemporary Resort - watching fireworks from the 4th floor deck. Get there early for seating, although standing isn't too bad. The fireworks don't last long enough for your feet to start hurting. Well, at least my 46-year-old feet.

Contempo Cafe at Contemporary Resort - cafeteria-style food, affordable by Disney price standards. My son went crazy for the Mickey waffles.

Road trip to Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach - admission price to the Kennedy Space Center isn't cheap, so make sure your kids are old enough to appreciate it. Cocoa Beach itself was worth the drive - my kids love the beach. It wasn't too crowded for July, either.

Usually when traveling, I try to eat local as much as possible, but there is nothing wrong with going to a chain restaurant when you have cranky kids and know said chain restaurant will have something they will eat, i.e., IHOP, Denny's, we hit both.

The "outlet" gift shops in tourist areas can be misleading. They usually advertise $1 towels or t-shirts - the $1 towels and t-shirts are from an event several years ago or contain rude sayings.

 The good stuff is still more expensive, although not as bad as the hotels. I recommend Publix, Target, WalMart - they have all the souvenirs at much cheaper prices.

Two events that will receive their own blog posts - Sean's tantrum at the water slide and our trip to Our Lady of the Universe Basilica, a National Shrine.

Why i write this

I was browsing the Internet this afternoon and I came across a Groupon for Vegas hotels.  I thought about how my boys would enjoy the bright lights and colors and general circus atmosphere of Vegas.  They would also enjoy the swimming pools and just walking through the hotels. 

I know some casinos in other states (Ho Chunk in Wisconsin) offer child care.  My first impression when I heard this was that it was sleazy – parents just dumping their kids so they can go gamble, drink and do who knows what else. 

Once on our way home from the Dells, the weather was awful.  We were near the Ho Chunk, so we decided to stop there to wait out the storm.  We walked past the child care center.  It was actually very clean, the people in charge were proper day care workers, there were plenty of things for the kids to do.  It was $6 an hour.  The kids took one look at all the fun stuff and didn’t even say goodbye to us.  We went to the casino for about an hour and a half, came and got the kids, who didn’t want to leave.  (Although my teenage stepdaughter told her mother we abandoned her with the children all day so we could gamble, but that's a whole other therapy session.) By this time, the storm was letting up, so we got something to eat and then headed home.

Remembering this, I wondered if any Vegas hotels had anything similar.  Several do.  I then did a search to see if there was day care available for special needs.  Nothing. 

 My kids really love the beach.  Maybe we could go to a beach resort.  I looked for any resorts that offer special needs day care.  The Beaches chain was the only one that came up.  I know there are nanny services where you can hire a nanny to go on vacation with you, but if that costs almost as much as your hotel or flights, what’s the point?

 I prefer doing things with my kids on vacation, but it’s nice for my husband and I to have some grownup time, too, whether it’s wandering around for an hour, a quiet dinner or just a soak in the hot tub.  This is a benefit of traveling with extended family, by the way – there’s usually someone willing and able to watch the kids for an hour or two or take one of them somewhere.  I hope the tone of this post doesn’t come off like I just want to go gamble on vacation.  This is about how an ideal vacation has a balance of things to make each family member happy, together and individually, whether it’s in a big city, a beach resort, another country, wherever.

 I read about a special needs theme park just outside of San Antonio, Texas (Morgan’s Wonderland).  I was so excited – booked flights and a hotel.  My husband cannot pick his vacation dates, his company does for him, so we had to go in February.  Morgan’s Wonderland didn’t open until March.  We had a decent time, anyway, kids actually got into our trip to the Alamo and I had the best Mexican food ever. I’ll save that trip for another blog post.

 The lack of information on the internet reminded me of why I started writing this blog.  When I officially became a special needs mom, I looked high and low online to find resources for special needs friendly resorts, theme parks, restaurants, activities, anything. The lack of information just increased the feeling of isolation.  I gave up searching and decided to figure it out myself and write about it for others like me. 

Oak Lawn Children's Museum

I love this place.  The price is right ($6 kids and adults).  We rented one of the party rooms for my son’s birthday earlier this year.  You bring your own food (some local restaurants will offer a discount for those having parties at the museum), drinks and decorations.  There is a fridge and a sink in each party room.  We booked the party room for two hours, but all our guests were allowed to play at the museum for the rest of the day until closing time.  Similar venues have a cut-off time for how long the kids can play.  I loved it.  The kids ate pizza in the party room, went to play in the museum, came back in the party room for cake and sweets, then ran around the museum to work off all that sugar and hopefully went to sleep early for their parents that night.

My 7-year-old Sean is obsessed with trains.  (Sean has PDD-NOS.)  They have a ton of trains here.  With some coaxing, I can usually get him to try something else for the sake of variety.  He loves the slides, reading the many books throughout the museum and building with Legos.  On the first floor, there is a water play area, a sand play area (Sean loved this and playing with the sand was therapeutic for me as well), tubes and “whirlpools” with golf balls to drop in and see where they end up.

 There are many fun areas to stimulate the imagination.  There is a mock grocery store with little carts, aisles with plastic groceries and a check-out counter that beeps as the items are checked out.  There is a woodworking shop where the kids can make wood crafts, supervised, of course.  There is an artwork area for painting and drawing.  There’s an ice cream parlor where the kids can either be customers or behind the counter making plastic cones and sundaes.  There’s an ambulance, fire truck, police car, all with coordinating uniforms.  There is a puppet theatre with a stage, puppets, costumes and props.  There is a house, a veterinarian’s office, an operating room and a milking cow.  Each section has shelves of books that coordinate with the theme of the respective play area.

 My 6-year-old autistic son Todd usually has a hard time “playing well with others.”  This can be extra challenging with non-spectrum kids, who he will just push out of his way, grab a toy from, bite if they take a toy from him, etc.  Todd caused a minor commotion last time in the little grocery store where he was grabbing everything out of the other kids’ carts and putting the things back on the shelves.  He is also happy by the Legos.  He likes to line them up according to shape, color and size.

 Todd usually lines up books and is very happy to spend hours doing so.  After he lines them up, he looks at them from different angles, walks back and forth along different angles, looks at them with just his left eye, then his right eye.  It reminds me of the movie “Temple Grandin,” where she views various things from a geometric perspective and that eventually leads to all her great agricultural science achievements.  When I see Todd obsessing over lines and angles, I fantasize that maybe he’s really a geometry genius.

 This is an affordable place for kids to make a mess, be creative and have a great time.  Great destination for a rainy, cold or hot day.  What a wonderful thing to have in our community!

 

The Oak Lawn Children's Museum is located on Museum Drive in Oak Lawn - just east of 52nd Avenue on 95th Street - Musuem Drive is the first block east of the Metra train tracks.

Deja Brew Bar & Grill

To be honest, I generally avoid this place because of the louder, younger crowd (sorry, not my thing anymore), but I went here to celebrate a friend’s birthday last week and was pleasantly surprised at how different it is if you sit outside.  I liked it enough that we’re going there for my birthday next week.

The food here is consistently good.  I have read many negative reviews on yelp.com, but that hasn't been my personal experience.  The chicken tortilla soup is delicious.  The southwestern egg rolls were spicy, but not too much, very tasty.  I would recommend these for people who like some heat, but not a lot. (I like a lot.) The nachos are huge and really good, as are the mini burgers (refuse to call small burgers “sliders,” as I remember why we originally called White Castle burgers “sliders”).  Fairly decent wine and beer menu, lots of martini options.  The chocolate martini is dangerously deceptive, tastes like dessert, not a cocktail.

 I wouldn’t recommend this place for kids.  This is more of a bar.  That said, the food is better than your typical bar food.  The indoor area attracts a 20-something crowd and can get really loud.   The outdoor patio is better for people like me who prefer a quieter area where you can enjoy conversation. 

 Deja Brew Bar & Grill is located at 5219 West 95^th Street in Oak Lawn, Illinois.

Urban Spoon reviews:

The Grand Ballroom at Joliet Union Station

We went to a wedding reception here this past weekend.  I didn’t know this was a wedding reception destination. 

 The ballroom is absolutely beautiful – big white pillars, shiny marble walls and floor.  The style and architecture is similar to that of the Grand Hall at Union Station in downtown Chicago (think the baby carriage going down the stairs scene in “The Untouchables) minus the benches and plus big chandeliers.  The room is echo-y, but the sound bouncing is tolerable.  The noise was not overwhelming once the DJ started playing.

There is an outdoor terrace that is also beautiful.  There were a few tables set up out there.  The terrace overlooks a cute area of Joliet with many old buildings.  This area looks like a charming small town from the 1800s.

We were served hor d’oeuvres while waiting in the receiving line.  These consisted of crab tartlets, spicy stuffed mushrooms and rumaki (bacon-wrapped water chestnuts, one of my faves).

 The tables were set with thick damask ivory tablecloths and napkins and good quality plates and silver (for a banquet facility). 

 Our salad came with strawberries and walnuts and was pre-dressed with a fruity vinaigrette.  Dinner was served family-style:  Roast beef, chicken Marsala (awesome sauce), broccoli, boiled potatoes and pasta with a creamy red sauce (so pink, I guess).  Basic banquet fare, but done well.

 Dessert was wedding cake, as well as a lovely sweets table set up near the entrance, complete with chocolate fountain.

 I loved the quirkiness that here we were at this elegant event and through the glass you could see people coming and going from their Metra trains. 

 The Grand Ballroom at Joliet Union Station is located at 50 East Jefferson Street in Joliet.