little blog on the prairie

Top 2 reasons why flying Airtran Airways (out of Bloomington, of course) is just like driving in my van:

1.) The XM radio at every seat.

2.) The vitaminwater.

The Urbana Free Library is located at 210 West Green Street.

The Champaign Public Library is located at 200 West Green Street.

Why is that creeping me out?

(Speaking of the CPL, they have a Chinese New Year program this weekend that looks like fun.)

I’m in birthday party hell. Yes, that’s right. My daughter is turning two years old in a couple of months, and for the past couple of weeks I’ve been tearing my hair out trying to figure out what in the world we are going to do for her birthday. Some of you are probably laughing. Why all the stress for a 2-year-old’s birthday? Didn’t I always say I wasn’t going to be that mother?

The real reason: because I don’t want 10 2-year-olds in my house. I will do anything to have this party off site, anything my friend. So if that means I have to fork over a little cash, I’ll do it. The problem is where? I think I’ve explored almost every birthday party option in Champaign-Urbana and ruled them out for one reason or another.

Orpheum Children’s Museum? Just went to a party there. Don’t want to be a copy-cat (wink). YMCA tumbling? Can’t do it on the day I want. The Little Gym? A little overpriced and the timing isn’t good with Peanut’s nap; last resort. Champaign or Urbana Park Districts? Don’t offer birthday parties for children that young. Ants in Their Pants? Dude, I think I can buy my own cake.

If Peanut’s birthday wasn’t at such an unpredictable weather time of the year, this birthday party thing would be a piece of cake. Maybe we can pretend that she was born in say, July. Where is Chuck E. Cheese when you need him?

I recently discovered how to close comments, which I felt was necessary on certain posts. However, in the midst of my power trip, I forgot that I have to enable comments now on every darn post. Ah, the joys of wordpress. So, comments are now open on the last two posts. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Today I noticed that the University of Illinois was offering a “sneak peak” to its new Web site. Only, here is what I found when I clicked on the link:

• I desperately need new pants, to the point that my mall boycott has loosened (although not the conviction behind it). Those of you who know me know why. I am the incredible shrinking woman. Anyway, what is really annoying me is that if you try to buy certain clothes online (at places including Banana Republic and the Gap), the price might be different than it is in the store. I am hereby calling this practice the short penalty, as I am now getting punished monetarily because I want to buy the ankle or petite pants that they don’t always carry in the store. Of course this is called regional pricing (cue my brother the MBA here). The price for a certain pair of pants isn’t going to be the same here as it will be in Manhattan or even Chicago.

• The new “I” hotel website has made its debut and the hotel is open for bookings. Something tells me that if I wanted to stay there tonight I might be without heat and running water, but what do I know. Actually, they open just in time for football season, in August, but it appears as if all UI pigskin weekends have already been booked up. Room rates range from 139 to 299 (for a suite), which has to be the most expensive rate in C-U history. One of my favorite amenities? The in-room Starbucks. And to think we didn’t even have one of those until a few years ago.

There are some things we will never agree on.

Cubs vs. Cardinals.

Cable vs. Satellite.

Barney vs. Elmo.

Coke vs. Pepsi.

Somehow, somewhere, someone in this town decided that we all must like Pepsi. It seems that virtually every independently owned restaurant/food purveyor in C-U — the kind that I like to support — only sell the dreadful fizz.

I’m tired of it, so tired of it I can’t even stand it. I need my Diet Coke. Can’t you see I have a toddler? No, I won’t drink your nasty Diet Pepsi. The word makes me want to … you know.

And please don’t remind me that the University of Illinois will complete its transition to the stuff by the fall semester. Maybe I should just go to Fiesta Cafe any time I want to eat out. At least they sell Coke in bottles, even if they have that other stuff in the fountains (how do they get away with that?).

(by the way, the rest of my answers are: chocolate, Cubs, satellite, and Elmo, of course.)

Kudos to Unit 4 Superintendent Arthur Culver for maintaining a tradition I never even knew existed — he wants to make sure that next year’s district “fall holiday” falls on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism, instead of on Columbus Day.

But what shocked me the most about this revelation was that although the opportunity presented itself, the Jewish teachers on the committee setting the district calendar didn’t seem to mind that their most solemn holiday wasn’t chosen for the district’s fall holiday, as it has been in years past.

Where I grew up, it was just as common to have girls and boys named Schwartz as Smith. There was no school on the High Holidays — Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur — and our high school auditorium was even used by one synagogue for its observance. Obviously, if our child goes to public school here, she will have a much different experience.

I know there are a lot of Culver haters out there, and he certainly has had a controversial tenure since arriving on the scene in 2002. Since I don’t have a child in the district — yet — I don’t feel I have enough knowledge to develop a complete, independently formed opinion about him. But it’s comforting to know that the superintendent respects the Jewish students and the Jewish employees in the district, even if some of them don’t respect themselves.

I bet I can count on one hand how many of you know where Watseka is. But I bet a lot of you know the Moore family, one of the Market at the Square’s top vendors. The Moores — who raise produce as well as livestock — are also the sole source of food for Prairieland Community Supported Agriculture, which supplies more than 100 area families with produce every week in the summer. Their eggs are super yummy, and I’ve heard their turkeys can’t be beat.

Anyway … the Moores are perhaps the most well-known (they’ve been in USA TODAY, after all) of the flood victims in Watseka, a small community in Iroquois County more than 50 miles northeast of Champaign. Currently their house is surrounded by water. Some of their livestock is stranded, visible by binoculars. But the Moores say they are fine.

There are other animals stranded too, companion animals. Of course the reports rescuers in boats going from house to house in search of animals conjures up images of Hurricane Katrina. Obviously this disaster isn’t anywhere near the scale of what happened in New Orleans, but it’s just as devastating to the people and animals who are in the middle of it.

The good news is that the flood waters are receeding. School is back in session. But when you walk by the Moores’ stand this summer — think of what they have been through to put food on your table. And when you hug your animals tonight, think of the ones in Watseka, and their owners — and anyone else affected by the great floods of 2008.

Good news for mad recyclers like myself: On Thursday (Jan. 10) , computers and monitors will be accepted for free at Mack’s Recycling in Urbana. This event is being sponsored by WCIA (Channel 3) and its “Go Green” initiative (not sure exactly what that is, but we’ll go with it). Normally Mack’s charges $6.00 to take a computer monitor; computers without batteries are usually taken free of charge.

Also good news (in the better late than never department): Five locations in Urbana are collecting regular, alkaline batteries for recycling, among them the Urbana Free Library and the Urbana City Building.