A Rich, Colorful, and Multi-Textured Post

Due to a power outage in part of the city yesterday, I wound up with the afternoon off. So I decided to enjoy the extra sunshine by going for a hike at a trail near the McHenry dam. While I was there, I took a picture of a frog.


It turned out a little blurry, which is too bad. But he was such a friendly guy, and he held his pose so perfectly still, that I thought he deserved his own picture.

Also while I was there, I happened to run into some of our neighbors, who were just finishing their walk. They're an older couple, and have lived in the neighborhood for many years, even before our house was built. The conversation naturally shifted to annexation, which is still a hot topic here. The city has proposed to annex our neighborhood, with the promise of improving our water system, but also of raising taxes to help offset the costs. The city is currently deciding whether to put the deal to a vote, or just drop the proposal altogether, since a fair number of people in the community have raised objections. If it goes to a vote, Wendy and I are in favor of the deal. The couple I talked to are opposed to it, though, since they're retired and are on a fixed income. Despite our difference of opinion, the couple is very friendly, and we're pleased to have them as neighbors.

On the house front, we now have a freshly painted living room and dining room, a new light fixture in the dining room, new living room furniture, and a new shower in the master bath. The shower looks fantastic compared to what we had in there, and we had a great experience with the installer (we went so far as to write the company a letter telling them how much we appreciated his efforts).

Of all those things, painting definitely took the most work. It wasn't the act of painting, though, it was mainly deciding what color to pick. We wound up getting samples of several colors, and by the time the final decision was made, we had created this:


The winner? Grand Stand Tan. The verdict? We dig it. And apparently other people do, as well. When we were buying the paint at Ye Olde Home Improvement Mega-Store, the clerk mentioned it was a very popular color.

So, there you have it.

The "Royale With Cheese" Debacle

This isn't so much a debacle as it is a "How could they get that wrong?!" moment. Wendy's mom visited this past weekend, since she had a conference this week in Milwaukee. On Saturday night, she and Wendy were playing Trivial Pursuit, when Wendy was asked the following question:

What McDonald's item is known as Le Royale in France?

Any self-respecting movie aficionado knows the answer to this instantly. Wendy and I both knew it, and she correctly replied, "The Quarter Pounder."

But no! It's the Big Mac, says Trivial Pursuit. We were shocked. There's a famous scene in Pulp Fiction that goes something like this:

Vincent: "You know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris?"
Jules: "They don't call it a Quarter Pounder with Cheese?"
Vincent: "No, they got the metric system there, they wouldn't know what the @#$! a Quarter Pounder is."
Jules: "What'd they call it?"
Vincent: "Royale with Cheese."
Jules: "Royale with Cheese. What'd they call a Big Mac?"
Vincent: "Big Mac's a Big Mac, but they call it Le Big Mac."

At first I thought that the movie might actually have been wrong, but after a bit of googling, I was reassured: Trivial Pursuit was wrong. The answer is in fact the Quarter Pounder. Despite the temporary setback, Wendy went on to claim victory in the game.

We managed to get a fair amount accomplished over the weekend. We replaced a bunch of old light switches and outlets, installed a new thermostat, and bought a new light fixture for the dining room. And we're currently plotting a painting project for this weekend (when Wendy's mom returns, post-conference), although we're not sure yet what we'll paint or what color. Minor details, though.

And finally, the bathroom remodeling that we mentioned in our last post is going to happen on Monday! We're very excited, since it means we'll each now have our own bathroom!