little blog on the prairie

Peanut has more fun at the park collecting trash than she does in the swing or on the slide. I don’t know what is about those foreign objects but they’re a constant source of fascination.

Lately I’ve been doing a sweep — my own personal campaign to keep our local park beautiful — and in turn save my daughter from putting anything too nasty in her hands or even worse, in her mouth.

My take has included:

• an open condom wrapper
• a cigarette lighter
• a cap for a bottle of bud light
• McDonald’s paper cup and other assorted meal items
• a sock

Is it too much to ask people to walk an extra 25 feet and use the provided trash can? I know I’m fighting a losing battle, but I can’t consider the alternative.

• Mosey on over to Checkered Moon, the knick-knack/housewares/etc. store in Old Farm Shops that ranks as one of my all-time favorite C-U stores, for a 20 percent off sale this week. After closing Saturday, Checkered Moon will be out of commission for two weeks of renovations — and they’re making room for a bigger baby department. Checkered Moon carries such wonderful baby stuff like Pediped shoes, Trumpette socks, eeboo toys, and Little Giraffe blankets and silkies — all great gifts. I’m stocking up.
• If you like really burritos and happen to be on campus Thursday, Chipotle is giving them away — no strings attached — for free. All day. Beware, eat too much and you’ll get a stomach ache — I always do.
• Thumbs up to the people behind Papageorge, who are inviting the public to come in and buy the stuff that used to adorn the former Pickles, and then plan to give the proceeds to the Don Moyer Boys and Girls Club. We ate there a few weeks ago, but I neglected to mention it here. I have to say it was odd for the people around us to all be ordering nachos while others are ordering cheese on fire (otherwise known as saganaki). I think I would like to eat there again — after they redecorate the place — before dissecting it.
• We ate again at the yummy Escobar’s the other night, and Mr. lbotp couldn’t help but make fun of the outside seating there. I’m not sure what’s so appetizing about dining al fresco on Columbia Avenue, unless you just like to eat outside.
• Quote of the Day: “I don’t know that we want Champaign to look like downtown Tokyo.” — Champaign city councilman Michael La Due, on the electronic billboard on Kirby Avenue.

When I was in high school, pretending to be a varsity basketball player on the worst team in the Chicagoland area (probably ever), I was told in no uncertain terms that someday I would need knee replacement surgery.

This may sound odd, but I even though my knees are fine, I want the surgery NOW.

That’s because I just found out that one of the newest orthopedists in town is one of my childhood heroes. Debi Thomas, the Stanford-educated figure skater who was the first black woman to win a medal at the Winter Olympics, starts her new job today fixing hips and knees in Champaign at Carle Clinic.

It’s difficult not to admire a woman who didn’t rest on her laurels and followed her dream. Debi Thomas probably could have mined her fame for the rest of her life without ever having to pursue a career outside of being Debi Thomas. But she pursued her desire to become a doctor, and although it took her longer than most, Thomas achieved that goal. That’s the kind of person I’d want to take care of my knees. Welcome to C-U, Dr. Debi.

We made it to the last day of this year’s Showcase of Homes, held this year in some way off subdivision in Savoy that has a great view of air traffic coming into Willard (if you’re into that). There were four homes this year, which ranged in price from $550K to $660K or so. I happened to vote for the cheapest house as the best, because I thought it was the most easy to live in. I wonder what the tally was.

One of the homes boasted of a “hidden surprise in the garage.” Hmmm. What could it be? As it turns out, it was a plasma TV hanging on the far wall with a bar under it. (They might have been referring to the staircase that led to the basement, but I digress.) Am I missing something here? Who buys a 3,000 square foot house, complete with the obligatory fancy media room in the basement, and watches television in the (albeit heated) garage??? That reminded me though of a walk I was in with Peanut this summer when I saw just that — some dude sitting in his garage with the television blarring. I understand that some people do various chores and hobbies in their garages, and might want to have some entertainment, but this guy was there for the express intent of watching television.

Perhaps this is some sort of Central Illinois thing that I wasn’t aware of.

• Remember my rant about froyo? It turns out Pinkberry, the LA craze, is coming soon to Chicago, along with two other new “upscale” froyo joints. (thanks Chicagoist). That means we’ll get some in oh, about 14 years.
• The sad house is sad no more. Last spring, the man who lived in the sad house sadly passed away. As it turns out, I read from his obituary that he had two children, one in the area and one out of state. The conditions he was living in were seemingly deplorable. A dumpster has been at the house off and on since his death, and just recently they have cleared all the brush and branches and weeds from the front. For a while there was a for-sale sign sitting on the decrepit lawn, the gurney tracks still visible near the street. I imagine that someone (probably a broker) bought the house and will be fixing it up. I’m kicking myself for not calling to ask the price.
• We should have known that it was Adams Outdoor Advertising behind those “Something Big in Champaign” billboards. I’m kicking myself. Cassie reminded us that they were behind that Outhouse Springs campaign, too.
• A few months ago I wrote about a web site called sittercity.com, that matched up parents with potential sitters in their area. I even got a free membership (and some for lbotp readers, too.) Well, now there’s a new Web site you should know about that is targeting Illinois students. It’s called collegesitter.com. It doesn’t seem as sophisticated (no option for a background check, etc.) as sittercity.com, but it might be a good option. They are advertising on facebook.com and in two days they already have recruited six potential sitters. (By the way, I didn’t end up using any of the people I conversed with on sittercity. I found Peanut’s (evening) babysitter via craigslist, and she’s awesome.)
• Earlier this summer I mentioned the proliferation of tie-dye vendors at the Market on the Square. They seem to have disappeared and in their place have come the caricature artists. We tried to get one of Peanut and Killer Cockapoo together, but Peanut was hiding behind her sippy cup and wouldn’t come out.

• I made it to one of the last showings of Once at Boardman’s Art Theatre last week. If we’re lucky, Once will be re-released around Oscar time. This is a film that deserves to be seen by a wider audience.
• I overheard a gentleman at the farmer’s market talking about a new German restaurant coming to downtown Urbana. That’s all I know, folks.
• Check out the Pantagraph’s special report on Bloomington’s downtown and its issues. The article about feuding business owners is particularly illuminating. And the comments are pretty funny too (wish the N-G allowed comments on its Web site … )
• Enjoyed the Festival of the Arts‘ move to Downtown Champaign. I bet the businesses liked it, too. And the kids section kept my 5-year-old cousin occupied for a good hour. Hopefully the weather didn’t scare too many people away. Perhaps this move may spurn the Champaign art fair to become a regional attraction, in time (ala the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair. OK, a girl can dream …).
• There’s a new billboard in the gotcha marketing campaign known as “Something Big is Coming to Champaign.” It says that it’s coming to the corner of State and Kirby. Besides being a terrible intersection (although I noticed that they recently took down the no-right-on-red sign), I can’t imagine to what it is referring. I’m thinking it’s the remodel of Jerry’s IGA, but could the IGA be that creative? Directly on that corner is a parking lot (the building that used to house Andy’s Shoes), an old Busey Bank that the company uses for HR, a jewelry store and the entrance to the Hilton Garden Inn.

It’s time to welcome the newbies. You know who you are.

Driveways across Champaign-Urbana are filled with your vehicles bearing license plates from foreign states (Texas seems to be popular, as does Missouri and Washington (state).

You don’t know where you’re going. You can’t figure out when you’re in Urbana or when you’re in Champaign, or why Kirby Avenue turns into Florida Avenue, when University Ave. is all the same street no matter it’s jurisdiction.

You’re the ones who went to the grocery store yesterday, befuddled as to why the shelves were empty. (The Sunday after Move-In Day: Bad Time to Shop. Or the Sunday after any University of Illinois vacation period.)

You’re the ones who will still call this place Urbana-Champaign, even though everyone else calls it Champaign-Urbana.

It’s OK. You are who you are. We welcome you, and if you have questions about why you seem to have allergies for the first time in your life after one night in your new hometown, don’t be afraid to ask.

We won’t bite.

Is it possible to create a blog that reports on the New York social scene from one’s ’70s-era dorm room in the heart of the Midwest — and gain a following that led to a paid internship at New York magazine?

That’s exactly what James Kurisunkal, a University of Illinois sophomore from Chicago’s northern suburbs who hasn’t decided on a major, pulled off last spring. And the other day, his blog-to-Broadway story made it to the New York Times itself.

This was just too funny not to share:

This may be more exposure to fabulousness than Mr. Kurisunkal’s return to his under-age and understimulated existence at the University of Illinois can bear, but not every night in New York has been so exalted. He said that despite the steady flow of party dispatches to his site, he has attended only three other functions this summer — something at Christie’s, a promotional event for a new Versace bag, and the debut of a celebrity fashion line.

Now, back to your understimulated existences.

That’s what Peanut says now every time she hears a dog bark in the neighborhood. Or sometimes she points to KC and says it. Anyway, it’s been a little while since I wrote about the fledgling Champaign dog park. When we last visited this issue, it was up for vote at the Champaign Park District board meeting.

The Park District board gave the dog park a lukewarm nod. If you read the detailed minutes from the May meeting, it’s easy to tell who is in favor and who is against this project. But overall, it seems that they have seen the light that this is a project that should be a high priority, but they want to see $5,000 raised by residents before they will move forward with signing a lease and any infrastructure.

That’s where you people come in. I happen to have in my possession several lovely brochures detailing the future park and its needs. If any of you would like a brochure, or have ideas as to where I should send them, let me know. In the meantime, every dollar helps. You can even donate online; be sure to check off the dog park box to designate your gift.

The debacle known as the only local organic/vegan/vegetarian deli/cafe in town closing down came as quite a surprise to me. The news hit as we were headed out of town so it’s only now that I’ve begun to digest it. I can’t believe that I might have had my last Californian sandwich (with mustard on whole wheat, please), although that remains to be seen. According to management they will resurrect the carry-out food business in another form, but on a much smaller scale. 

It is quite fascinating to me the outrage that this has engendered in many quarters. I am not angry, but rather befuddled. I find it hard to believe that SF was not raking in the cash from the cafe, which was always a mob scene at lunch time. I am also sad, as I will definitely miss the food and the odd ambience — and as a working mom, the easy access to prepared healthy choices for my family. This Chambana community thread on the topic is quite enlightening and includes some posts from purported former SF cafe staffers. Of course, I don’t believe everything I read on the Internet, but this thread paints a very unflattering picture of the SF management.

This decision, in my opinion, makes SF even that much more vulnerable to competition from any future Wild Oats-Whole Foods in C-U. Have you ever been to a Whole Foods deli? I’m salivating as I write this ….

There are so many more options to buy organic products these days, the cafe and the bread were really the only reasons I found to shop at SF (and GuS, of course.) I find myself going to Jerry’s IGA (Round Barn) as well as Schnuck’s in Champaign to buy most of our organic products, and I stock up from Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods when I go up north. I have never been a big SF fan. I really wanted to like it, but it was never a good match. This is just another reason why.