Waited 40 minutes for Cheeseburger in Paradise.
Fried Pickles.
Need I say more?
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
Day 31
Everything is still in black and white, so I guess we survived the tornado producing storm.
Breezily Yours,
Kelly
Breezily Yours,
Kelly
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Day 30
Well I had been feeling pretty good about life in Omaha. I found the secret was to ratchet down my expectations way low and then knock it down a little more for good measure. But (always a but) nothing like finding a dead animal (another dead bird on the stairs to our deck) and the pool (pump not working) to bring me back down.
I had dreams last night of being stuck on some Lost type place with snow. I woke up to discover that my blankets had fallen off and I was still in Omaha.
My cooking frequency and quality has an inverse proportion to the quality and variety of take-out places surrounding us. Let's just say that last night I made the best Chinese food that I've had since leaving San Francisco.
Piper's cavity filling went really well. She said she didn't even know when he used the needle. And the dentist was super nice and called last night to make sure she was doing okay.
Piper's birthday party is Saturday, so I might be busy tomorrow, but I'll be sure to post the results.
(I always feel like I need a good sign off, I'll try out a few and see what stays)
Cloudy in Omaha,
Kelly
I had dreams last night of being stuck on some Lost type place with snow. I woke up to discover that my blankets had fallen off and I was still in Omaha.
My cooking frequency and quality has an inverse proportion to the quality and variety of take-out places surrounding us. Let's just say that last night I made the best Chinese food that I've had since leaving San Francisco.
Piper's cavity filling went really well. She said she didn't even know when he used the needle. And the dentist was super nice and called last night to make sure she was doing okay.
Piper's birthday party is Saturday, so I might be busy tomorrow, but I'll be sure to post the results.
(I always feel like I need a good sign off, I'll try out a few and see what stays)
Cloudy in Omaha,
Kelly
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Day 26
We ended up not going out for Indian last night. We thought we might hook up after dinner with this guy Barry works with and his wife. Their kids were sick and they wanted not to go all the way "downtown". So we went to this restaurant called Mark's Bistro recommended by the waiter from the Sushi place. Coincidentally that is where Barry's friend and his wife ended up eating.
Mini-Review of Mark's Bistro
Not in a Strip Mall = 10
Atmosphere - 10 (had a beautiful outdoor patio that reminded us of Bistro Aix in SF)
Service - 5 - extremely slow and not in a good "I don't want to rush you" way, in a I ordered a glass of wine that took 10 minutes to show up way. They were not busy
Food - 6 - Nothing special. It was ok. Barry had Local grass fed lamb so they get points there. I tasted it and it was good, but not die for good. I liked his cumin sweet potatoes that it was served with, though it seemed the wrong season for sweet potatoes and also the pomegranate sauce. I had almond encrusted tilapia. The almond encrusting was a bit thick and seemed more like breading obscuring the flavor of the fish. The mango salsa on top made the breading soggy and it wasn't as tasty as I would have liked.
So over all it gets a 6.2 though grading on the curve for Omaha we give it an 8!
I really liked the area Dundee where the restaurant is. We looked at three houses there and it made me second guess my decision not to live in a cooler area where we could walk to a cute little street. I had to go over my thought process again as to why I chose not to live there. 1. The school district is not very good and I didn't get a good vibe from when I visited the elementary school. 2. The lots were tiny and for the money the rooms were kind of cramped especially the kitchen 3. There were some kind of sketchy looking areas around it. So the positives a really pretty neighborhood and a little street with restaurants (that was smaller even than Central Street in Evanston) didn't really offset the negatives enough. Plus, we can always drive there to eat/hang out etc.
Ended up not hooking up with Barry's friend. We tried one bar where there was supposed to be live music at 9, but at 9:15 he wasn't even there or setting up or anything and the bar had a weird vibe to it and was really smokey. They are trying to get rid of smoking here also and some bars have already complied like the trendy English pub theme place called Parliament Pub. It was fun to see the night life of "trendy West Omaha". Kind of like North Shore lite.
We were home by 10, but it was a really fun evening and so nice to have a great date night with Barry.
Mini-Review of Mark's Bistro
Not in a Strip Mall = 10
Atmosphere - 10 (had a beautiful outdoor patio that reminded us of Bistro Aix in SF)
Service - 5 - extremely slow and not in a good "I don't want to rush you" way, in a I ordered a glass of wine that took 10 minutes to show up way. They were not busy
Food - 6 - Nothing special. It was ok. Barry had Local grass fed lamb so they get points there. I tasted it and it was good, but not die for good. I liked his cumin sweet potatoes that it was served with, though it seemed the wrong season for sweet potatoes and also the pomegranate sauce. I had almond encrusted tilapia. The almond encrusting was a bit thick and seemed more like breading obscuring the flavor of the fish. The mango salsa on top made the breading soggy and it wasn't as tasty as I would have liked.
So over all it gets a 6.2 though grading on the curve for Omaha we give it an 8!
I really liked the area Dundee where the restaurant is. We looked at three houses there and it made me second guess my decision not to live in a cooler area where we could walk to a cute little street. I had to go over my thought process again as to why I chose not to live there. 1. The school district is not very good and I didn't get a good vibe from when I visited the elementary school. 2. The lots were tiny and for the money the rooms were kind of cramped especially the kitchen 3. There were some kind of sketchy looking areas around it. So the positives a really pretty neighborhood and a little street with restaurants (that was smaller even than Central Street in Evanston) didn't really offset the negatives enough. Plus, we can always drive there to eat/hang out etc.
Ended up not hooking up with Barry's friend. We tried one bar where there was supposed to be live music at 9, but at 9:15 he wasn't even there or setting up or anything and the bar had a weird vibe to it and was really smokey. They are trying to get rid of smoking here also and some bars have already complied like the trendy English pub theme place called Parliament Pub. It was fun to see the night life of "trendy West Omaha". Kind of like North Shore lite.
We were home by 10, but it was a really fun evening and so nice to have a great date night with Barry.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Day 25
Yesterday was a much better day. It was Piper's birthday and the first day of summer vacation so maybe I was getting vicarious good vibes from the kids. It was really nice not to have to rush through the morning. Their school day starts about 30 minutes earlier than it did at Romona.
I felt motivated to unpack some more boxes and do some organization. I had been feeling like if I weren't unpacked then we weren't really living here. I believe it is called denial, f0ur more stages and I'm home free.
We went back to Thunder Ally (see previous post). It could have turned out terrible especially when I saw the four (yes four) school buses in the parking lot. It was really crowded, but we played in the arcade and then had lunch (free chocolate cake for Piper's B-day) and then were able to have the Go-Kart track to ourselves.
Piper wanted sushi for her birthday dinner so we went to a place recommended by my neighbor called Sushi Japan. It has those Yakiniku tables where you cook your own meat. It was excellent fish, with a fantastic Vodka/Sake martini garnished with cucumber (like a spa in a glass). I was really impressed with it. I liked it better than Akai Hana. Tonight Barry and I are going to try an Indian restaurant. It got mixed reviews, but it is hard to tell if people who didn't like it, was because they know good Indian food or because they don't and wanted something more Westernized.
In any case I'm looking forward to finding out.
I felt motivated to unpack some more boxes and do some organization. I had been feeling like if I weren't unpacked then we weren't really living here. I believe it is called denial, f0ur more stages and I'm home free.
We went back to Thunder Ally (see previous post). It could have turned out terrible especially when I saw the four (yes four) school buses in the parking lot. It was really crowded, but we played in the arcade and then had lunch (free chocolate cake for Piper's B-day) and then were able to have the Go-Kart track to ourselves.
Piper wanted sushi for her birthday dinner so we went to a place recommended by my neighbor called Sushi Japan. It has those Yakiniku tables where you cook your own meat. It was excellent fish, with a fantastic Vodka/Sake martini garnished with cucumber (like a spa in a glass). I was really impressed with it. I liked it better than Akai Hana. Tonight Barry and I are going to try an Indian restaurant. It got mixed reviews, but it is hard to tell if people who didn't like it, was because they know good Indian food or because they don't and wanted something more Westernized.
In any case I'm looking forward to finding out.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Day 23
The day started out gray and depressing matching my mood or perhaps vice versa.
It was the last day of school and I felt so disconnected from the community here. It made me miss Romona School and all of our friends there. I think Zach felt it too. He said how much everything was making him think of his friends and Chicago. I really feel like I need to snap out of my funk so that I don't infect the kids with my "I hate Omaha" negativity.
I was the mom with the scarlet C on her chest. It's Piper's first cavity and it turns out she might need a root canal! The dentist was quite nice about it. Even the hygienist was nice and I always feel like they are like the Gestapo of dental care. Piper was devastated last night when I told her it was probably a cavity that was bothering her. She did really well today, next week is when she has the work done.
After dinner today (made my own Thai food thank you very much) we discovered Thunder Alley . Imagine Pinstripes minus the bocce and fanciness add an indoor go-kart track and a Chuck-E-Cheeze like arcade and you've got Thunder Alley. Not sure if it cheered me or made me more depressed.
A bright spot; we found a babysitter!
Yeay!
It was the last day of school and I felt so disconnected from the community here. It made me miss Romona School and all of our friends there. I think Zach felt it too. He said how much everything was making him think of his friends and Chicago. I really feel like I need to snap out of my funk so that I don't infect the kids with my "I hate Omaha" negativity.
I was the mom with the scarlet C on her chest. It's Piper's first cavity and it turns out she might need a root canal! The dentist was quite nice about it. Even the hygienist was nice and I always feel like they are like the Gestapo of dental care. Piper was devastated last night when I told her it was probably a cavity that was bothering her. She did really well today, next week is when she has the work done.
After dinner today (made my own Thai food thank you very much) we discovered Thunder Alley . Imagine Pinstripes minus the bocce and fanciness add an indoor go-kart track and a Chuck-E-Cheeze like arcade and you've got Thunder Alley. Not sure if it cheered me or made me more depressed.
A bright spot; we found a babysitter!
Yeay!
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Day 22
Last night I went out with one of the mom's from Zach's class. (I will call her G) Her husband works at the same company as Barry, so when I found out that her son was in Zach's class I called her up and asked her out. (i.e. for her son to come over for a playdate) The first playdate went well she reciprocated and last night was our first Mommy Date.
We went to an upscale Mexican place and split some surprisingly good fish tacos and had a little wine. Then she invited me back to her place for some more wine. So, it seems to have gone well (plus she called me this am to check in).
G has lived in Omaha for 5 years and is originally from CA and has moved a lot, so we have a lot in common - especially since a lot of the other people here are born and bred Nebraskans. But there is no tennis or book club. :-(
G also invited another Omaha transplant (14 years here). I'm not quite so sure how that one went. I don't think that we quite clicked, but it is hard to say why.
Today Barry encountered something new in Omaha - no not a democrat - traffic!
Have a playdate now scheduled for Piper for next week (school is out already!) I was unsure if the mom wanted it to be a whole family playdate or not (she has a daughter in Zach's class too). So we left it at playing it by ear.
I feel awkward with whether I should stay at playdates now. I would love to get to know some more people and plus feel comfortable that everything is ok at the house. I think it will be ok to stay for a little on the playdate next week since it is an after lunch.
OK, I have to go take cupcakes to Piper's class for her birthday. I was thinking about bringing fruit kabobs, but I think I'll save that little quirk of mine for another time and let the kids get more secure in their classes.
We went to an upscale Mexican place and split some surprisingly good fish tacos and had a little wine. Then she invited me back to her place for some more wine. So, it seems to have gone well (plus she called me this am to check in).
G has lived in Omaha for 5 years and is originally from CA and has moved a lot, so we have a lot in common - especially since a lot of the other people here are born and bred Nebraskans. But there is no tennis or book club. :-(
G also invited another Omaha transplant (14 years here). I'm not quite so sure how that one went. I don't think that we quite clicked, but it is hard to say why.
Today Barry encountered something new in Omaha - no not a democrat - traffic!
Have a playdate now scheduled for Piper for next week (school is out already!) I was unsure if the mom wanted it to be a whole family playdate or not (she has a daughter in Zach's class too). So we left it at playing it by ear.
I feel awkward with whether I should stay at playdates now. I would love to get to know some more people and plus feel comfortable that everything is ok at the house. I think it will be ok to stay for a little on the playdate next week since it is an after lunch.
OK, I have to go take cupcakes to Piper's class for her birthday. I was thinking about bringing fruit kabobs, but I think I'll save that little quirk of mine for another time and let the kids get more secure in their classes.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Day 21
Well, $1000 dollars later and I think we have the plumbing issue taken care of. The plumber is coming back today to powerwash the pipe, and I hope that will be the end of it.
We went to downtown Elkhorn (see previous post) to check out the BBQ place for dinner last night. It was pretty good. Not as good as Womack's in Tahoe, but better than Hecky's in Evanston. And best of all, it wasn't in a strip mall.
I went to the Old Market district in Omaha today to get my hair cut. I thought that I'd go early and check out this cute French looking place that has walls lined with wine bottles and ladies sitting with their toy dogs on those rattan chairs. I had a vision of sitting there with my book (still reading Moth Smoke by Mohsin Hamid - it is wonderful and I highly recommend it) and sipping on a perfectly made cappuccino and a flaky almond croissant. I guess the open at 9 sign was merely a serving suggestion. Sigh...not even a safe bet Starbucks in Old Market so I went to this other cafe, Delice. Barry, the kids, and I went there last Saturday. It is okay there, but no yogurt to go with their homemade granola and muesli.
Old Market looks cute with brick streets and some cool looking restaurants, but there aren't enough retail shops there yet. I'll give it some more chances though (not like I have a lot of other choices).
The haircut place was cool looking inside with a lot of whitewashed brick and stained glass windows and arches. My haircut is a little too spiky and anime. I miss Melanie (the gal who did my hair back in Chicago, not that I don't miss you too Mel from SB). I will probably keep looking. I'd been with Melanie for 4 years with just one indiscretion, but I was on vacation and it didn't mean anything. No sense jumping in too quickly.
I can't get home delivery of the New York Times here, so I decided to go for the mail option of the Sunday paper. I wasn't expecting to get the paper until Wednesday or Thursday, but it came yesterday. I'll actually end up reading more of it since I don't get the daily anymore. I'll try to look at the upside of not getting it everyday as saving trees.
I'm going to play a game of Wii tennis. It is quite addictive. We got the kids the Wii as a moving present. The Wii tennis is keeping me on tennis mode until I join a new tennis league in the fall.
We went to downtown Elkhorn (see previous post) to check out the BBQ place for dinner last night. It was pretty good. Not as good as Womack's in Tahoe, but better than Hecky's in Evanston. And best of all, it wasn't in a strip mall.
I went to the Old Market district in Omaha today to get my hair cut. I thought that I'd go early and check out this cute French looking place that has walls lined with wine bottles and ladies sitting with their toy dogs on those rattan chairs. I had a vision of sitting there with my book (still reading Moth Smoke by Mohsin Hamid - it is wonderful and I highly recommend it) and sipping on a perfectly made cappuccino and a flaky almond croissant. I guess the open at 9 sign was merely a serving suggestion. Sigh...not even a safe bet Starbucks in Old Market so I went to this other cafe, Delice. Barry, the kids, and I went there last Saturday. It is okay there, but no yogurt to go with their homemade granola and muesli.
Old Market looks cute with brick streets and some cool looking restaurants, but there aren't enough retail shops there yet. I'll give it some more chances though (not like I have a lot of other choices).
The haircut place was cool looking inside with a lot of whitewashed brick and stained glass windows and arches. My haircut is a little too spiky and anime. I miss Melanie (the gal who did my hair back in Chicago, not that I don't miss you too Mel from SB). I will probably keep looking. I'd been with Melanie for 4 years with just one indiscretion, but I was on vacation and it didn't mean anything. No sense jumping in too quickly.
I can't get home delivery of the New York Times here, so I decided to go for the mail option of the Sunday paper. I wasn't expecting to get the paper until Wednesday or Thursday, but it came yesterday. I'll actually end up reading more of it since I don't get the daily anymore. I'll try to look at the upside of not getting it everyday as saving trees.
I'm going to play a game of Wii tennis. It is quite addictive. We got the kids the Wii as a moving present. The Wii tennis is keeping me on tennis mode until I join a new tennis league in the fall.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Day 20
I finally got my computer set up, so I can start my Omaha blog. I've been using my laptop with wireless (the best invention ever) connection, but I couldn't set up a blog on it because of cookies or java or some other food sounding problem.
Days 1-20 have found my emotions vacillating wildly between thinking that this is the worst mistake we've ever made to thinking maybe it's not exactly terrible.
The first week was ok, I was on an unpacking high. Week two, I was getting a little depressed with tons of boxes and dealing with workers and not feeling like I could get a minute to myself and only leaving the house to pick up the kids from school or get groceries (at the Super Target).
But...Mother's Day is Sunday, surely that will find me some relief. Only if you spell relief S-E-W-E-R. Our main line was clogged and we had yucky water backing up in the drains in the basement. So Mother's Day was quite a shitty day.
Other little gems to brighten up the experience have been a dead squirrel in the pool, dead birds by the window (we closed the blinds, hopefully that will help), the dog dribbling pee all over the basement (white carpet) because we don't have a fenced-in yard and we forgot to walk her, and today a redeux of the sewer in the basement trick.
On the bright side I can't clean the bathrooms like I planned and so I'm finally starting this blog.
All hasn't been bad - the neighbors are very nice and have brought us various treats like brownies, popcorn, and homemade Irish Soda Bread. People seem very friendly, though everyone has lived here forever and the other mom's have been nice, but no one has really gone out of their way to invite us anywhere. I guess I got kind of guilty of that myself in Wilmette after I had been there for a while and I could have been more welcoming to new people. But, I'm sure that I will find my niche and I'd rather wait to see how things go rather than jumping in to a new relationship right away. Finding friends is so much like dating, but without the free dinners.
The sunsets here are incredible. It is one of the happiest parts of the day if I can get the kids to bed before 8:30 and watch the sun set.
On the food front, we haven't really found anywhere to eat that I can say is really good. We've tried two Thai places (out of about a total of 6) and one was terrible and the other was mediocre. Tried one Chinese place that was inedible. So I've bought a Chinese cookbook (which I've already started having some success at making) and a Thai cookbook (which I had just started getting in to). There is also an Asian market, but I haven't made it out to there yet, it is kind of a long drive, about 20 minutes.
There are a lot of strip malls here, so we've been trying to look for other things. We've been going to the Farmer's Market in the Old Market district of downtown and on Sunday we went to downtown Elkhorn (the name of the town that we live. It is on the far west of Omaha and was forcibly annexed by Omaha last year). Downtown Elkhorn is one street with a lunch/breakfast place that was ok. We had the breakfast buffet, the eggs were cold and the bacon burned, but I'll give them another shot ordering from the menu next time. There is also an Italian restaurant, a BBQ place, a pub, and a Scandinavian gift shop. Also on Sunday we went to a wildlife preserve that you mostly drive through with elk, deer, Sandhill cranes, and buffalo and also a nature trail with wolves and bears (the wolves and bears are fenced off) and were really cool to see.
Our yard is almost like it's own nature preserve with wild turkeys in yard every morning and tons of other birds too.
Sunday was a much better day so I hope to have more of those.
The kids are getting along quite well and seem happy especially with the pool. The water is only 65 degrees but they've been going in anyway. Barry also is doing well and likes his job.
We all miss Chicago and I still miss California.
-oh one other good find is a really good beer brewed in Lincoln called Luna Sea. Love everything about it.
Miss you all!
Kelly
Days 1-20 have found my emotions vacillating wildly between thinking that this is the worst mistake we've ever made to thinking maybe it's not exactly terrible.
The first week was ok, I was on an unpacking high. Week two, I was getting a little depressed with tons of boxes and dealing with workers and not feeling like I could get a minute to myself and only leaving the house to pick up the kids from school or get groceries (at the Super Target).
But...Mother's Day is Sunday, surely that will find me some relief. Only if you spell relief S-E-W-E-R. Our main line was clogged and we had yucky water backing up in the drains in the basement. So Mother's Day was quite a shitty day.
Other little gems to brighten up the experience have been a dead squirrel in the pool, dead birds by the window (we closed the blinds, hopefully that will help), the dog dribbling pee all over the basement (white carpet) because we don't have a fenced-in yard and we forgot to walk her, and today a redeux of the sewer in the basement trick.
On the bright side I can't clean the bathrooms like I planned and so I'm finally starting this blog.
All hasn't been bad - the neighbors are very nice and have brought us various treats like brownies, popcorn, and homemade Irish Soda Bread. People seem very friendly, though everyone has lived here forever and the other mom's have been nice, but no one has really gone out of their way to invite us anywhere. I guess I got kind of guilty of that myself in Wilmette after I had been there for a while and I could have been more welcoming to new people. But, I'm sure that I will find my niche and I'd rather wait to see how things go rather than jumping in to a new relationship right away. Finding friends is so much like dating, but without the free dinners.
The sunsets here are incredible. It is one of the happiest parts of the day if I can get the kids to bed before 8:30 and watch the sun set.
On the food front, we haven't really found anywhere to eat that I can say is really good. We've tried two Thai places (out of about a total of 6) and one was terrible and the other was mediocre. Tried one Chinese place that was inedible. So I've bought a Chinese cookbook (which I've already started having some success at making) and a Thai cookbook (which I had just started getting in to). There is also an Asian market, but I haven't made it out to there yet, it is kind of a long drive, about 20 minutes.
There are a lot of strip malls here, so we've been trying to look for other things. We've been going to the Farmer's Market in the Old Market district of downtown and on Sunday we went to downtown Elkhorn (the name of the town that we live. It is on the far west of Omaha and was forcibly annexed by Omaha last year). Downtown Elkhorn is one street with a lunch/breakfast place that was ok. We had the breakfast buffet, the eggs were cold and the bacon burned, but I'll give them another shot ordering from the menu next time. There is also an Italian restaurant, a BBQ place, a pub, and a Scandinavian gift shop. Also on Sunday we went to a wildlife preserve that you mostly drive through with elk, deer, Sandhill cranes, and buffalo and also a nature trail with wolves and bears (the wolves and bears are fenced off) and were really cool to see.
Our yard is almost like it's own nature preserve with wild turkeys in yard every morning and tons of other birds too.
Sunday was a much better day so I hope to have more of those.
The kids are getting along quite well and seem happy especially with the pool. The water is only 65 degrees but they've been going in anyway. Barry also is doing well and likes his job.
We all miss Chicago and I still miss California.
-oh one other good find is a really good beer brewed in Lincoln called Luna Sea. Love everything about it.
Miss you all!
Kelly
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