Pray for the Whittingham Family

I was very sad to hear that a girl who graduated from Marian Catholic High School in 2002 was hit by a car this past Friday night. She passed away just a day later. I did not personally know Lyndsey Whittingham, but her older brother Kevin was in my grade. Kevin and his wife Colleen were in some of my classes in high school and were part of the Kairos program I was involved in. My dad lives in the same town as The Whittingham's. They are such good people. Please keep them in your prayers.

October 31, 2006
By Steve Schmadeke Staff writer

Out Friday night with a group of college friends, Lyndsey Whittingham was about to step into a stopped cab when a second taxi struck her about 30 minutes past midnight.

As word of the accident spread, dozens of the 23-year-old Frankfort woman's family and friends gathered in a waiting room outside the ICU at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.

But a day later, her family knew Whittingham would not recover.

She was pronounced dead at 12:44 a.m. Sunday.

"I feel so cheated," said Colleen Curtis, her college roommate and now a law student at St. Louis University. "It makes me sick. I just feel like there were so many things we were going to do together -- we were going to travel and be in each other's weddings."

A 2002 Marian Catholic High School graduate, Whittingham wanted to be a dentist, just like her father.

Holly Griffin, president of the Marian Catholic Mothers' Club, recalled watching Lyndsey and her dad.

"You could just see there was a special bond that she and her father shared," she said.

Whittingham's family respected their daughter's wish to donate her organs. She was being kept on life support Monday morning.

"That would be like them to find a way to do some good from this," said Mayor Jim Holland, who knows the family. "The whole community's thoughts are with them."

The accident took place on the North Side, in the 2500 block of North Ashland Avenue. The taxi driver who struck Whittingham was cited for driving too fast for conditions and failing to exercise due care for a pedestrian in the roadway, according to police.

Her friends are devastated that the energetic and kind woman they knew is gone.

When the Monday morning announcements were made over the PA system at Marian Catholic, Sister Mary Paul McCaughey also asked students and faculty to pray for the Whittingham family.

"Almost everybody here knew her and loved her," said Sister McCaughey, the school's president. Whittingham was a varsity cheerleader at Marian Catholic. "She just was darling, just peppy and energetic, always kind to people."

In May, she earned a biology degree from John Carroll University.

After her first year at John Carroll, Curtis drew Whittingham as a roommate.

"It ended up being the best thing that ever happened to me," Curtis said.

The two ate lunch together in the cafeteria and went to Quinn's, a local pub, on weekends.

A spokeswoman from John Carroll University said the school would hold a memorial service for Whittingham later this week.

Whittingham was applying to dental school, said family friend Bernie Krause. She lived with her folks while working as a sales rep for Fisher Scientific.

Her father, Ray, is a practicing dentist in Frankfort. The Southtown could not reach him or his wife, Betsy, Monday.

Ashley Pyle grew up across the street from "Lynz" and cheered with her on their high school squad. The two met at age 5 and delighted in diving together to the bottom of the Prestwick Country Club pool.

"She was always the light-hearted one," Pyle said.

As adults, they would take long drives on country roads south and west of Frankfort, talking nonstop along the way. Pyle is now a University of Maryland law student.

"She was the best listener in the world," Pyle said.

In addition to her parents, Whittingham is survived by her two older brothers Joe and Kevin and their wives, Ana and Colleen.

Funeral arrangements are pending, but the wake is expected to be Friday, followed by a funeral Saturday.

Weekend Trip to Florida - Happy Birthday Joe!

As usual, we had another busy weekend - this one was a lot of fun though. Dennis and I flew in to Pensecola, FL on Friday morning to see his best friend Joe. The best party of it all though was that Joe had no idea that we were coming. I had been planning everything with his wife Teresa for a couple of months so that we could surprise Joe for his 30th birthday. We showed up early in the morning. The boys went fishing and the girls went shopping. Later that night Joe's mom and brother came in from Alabama. We had a good time hanging out together. Saturday all of the guys went golfing while Teresa and I got everything ready for the surprise party that night. The party was great too. We flew back home on Sunday evening - just in time for another week of work....yay...haha
Anyway, here you can see a few pictures from our trip. Payton is Joe and Teresa's beautiful 8 month old daughter. She is so adorable and so happy. We loved getting to know her better...I don't think she remembered us from her trip up to Chicago. She came all the way up here for our wedding in May....then again who really remembers all that much from when they were only 3 months old anyway?
We had a great time and can't wait until we can all get together again - hopefully for a little bit longer next time. :)


The ocean is about a 10 minute drive from their house in Gulf Breeze. It is so beautiful here at the beach!


Here is a dome home on the beach that is built to withstand hurricanes. During the hurricanes, this is where most of the news reporters stay so they can be on top of the action. And, when it's not full of news reporters, you can rent it out for a group visit...anyone want to go?


Dennis with his new best friend Payton and her daddy on the couch. He just loved playing with her and getting her to smile. We even think she said "Hey D!" before we left!


Payton in her super cute Boo outfit with ghost hat getting ready for Halloween!


Bye Bye Pensecola!


Flying Home

another busy week(end)

I can't believe another week has passed. We have been unbelievable buys. Thursday night we went out to eat with some of my ex-co-workers from the myers group. Later that night we met up with our fomer office manager, Kristin, who was in from GA. A spectacular time was had by all. Saturday, Dennis and I drove down to Champaign to see my friend Stephanie. We had a great day picking pumpkins, carving them, and snacking on apple cider and pumpkin seeds. I will enclose some pictures below. Saturday night was a mind-boggling game of Cranium with the in-laws. Sunday I took the annual trip to Long Grove with my friend Christen and sister Lisa. We had a great time. and Sunday night I spent a bunch of time online looking for a new car. I have not been able to decide what kind to get. I have wanted a Prius for a LONG time, but I am not as sure anymore. I test-drove one last year and loved it, but my existing car - the Scion XA was in a bad place for trading it in at the time - I still owed too much and it wasn't worth as much. Now that I am able to trade in, I want to make a good decision. I have been a big fan of the Nissan Morano and the Toyota Prius for ages, but whatever car I do get, I would like to keep it for a long time. The Scion XA wasn't bad, but I only bought it for the great gas mileage and the long commute to work. I don't necessarily like the dark blue color - it's always dirty - always! and it is seriously like driving a roller skate. It is soooo small. This time around, I want to buy something that is nice, practical, and something that will last me a while....I have also looked in to some of the certified pre-owned cars because last time I swore I would never buy another new car again. My husband's truck was a pre-owned and it is awesome. Oh well...the search continues....any suggestions anyone?

Halloween in 22 more days!

Wow! We had one busy weekend. Friday night we saw "The Departed." It was pretty good but I had issues with how much alike Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio looked alike. Not only can these two pass for brothers but in the movie they give them the same haircut. It was a good movie though.

Saturday we went to The Real Men of Comedy show sponsored by Budweiser and Maxim at the Rosemont Theatre. It was great. Joe Rogan was the headliner. Charlie Murphy and John Heffron performed before him. They were all hilarious. I HIGHLY recommend seeing Charlie Murphy if you ever have a chance. (He is Eddie Murphy's brother for those of you who don't know.) We had an awesome dinner at Gibson's too.

Sunday was spent putting up our awesome Halloween decorations and watching the Bears Game. (Check out the pictures below of our Halloween decos - we went all out this year....I can't wait for Christmas!) We are probably the only people in our neighborhood with any Halloween decorations up at all and we don't even have kids. But we do have two nephews and they seemed to like all the stuff. My personal favorites are the hanging spider that is motion activated and drops from the ceiling, the skeleton that dances while hanging on the wall and the blood in the windows reading BEWARE!



Dripping Blood!


The Web




Dropping Spider!!!

It's Here!!!!

The moment we have all been waiting for has arrived. Our painting from Jamaica showed up yesterday safe and sound. We purchased it on our honeymoon at an art auction on May 23rd. 4 months and 9 days later we finally have it. We were beginning to worry that it was all a scam and that we'd been had by a smoothtalking Jamaican art dealer. But last Friday Elaan, the Jamaican art dealer, called me from Jamaica to apologize for the delay and told me we would receive it this week. With all of the moving etc. it was actually shipped to the US once but the Lansing post office sent it back instead of forwarding it to our new address. It was a long wait, but well worth it. Once we have it stretched and framed, we will post a picture of it here on the blog.

Football Snacks

With the Bears off to a great start, my husband has been more than happy to sit in front of the TV every Sunday. Instead of the usual chips and dip, I thought I would try something different this weekend. Here is a recipe I invented on the fly that tastes pretty good if you are interested....

You will need:

4 slices of bread (cut into 1/4 pieces so you have 16 pieces in all)
2 roma tomatos (cubed into small pieces)(or even a can of diced tomatos drained)
spreadable butter/margarine
garlic salt
shredded mozarella cheese

Set the 16 small pieces of bread on your broiler pan. Spread butter lightly over the top of them. Sprinkle the bread with garlic salt. Cover bread with cubed tomatos and top each piece with shredded cheese. Broil in the oven for about 2-3 minutes until the cheese is melted and the edge of the bread is toasted.

Let cool for 1 minute, arrange on a plate and enjoy the snack!

Fun Stuff

Here are some signs/cartoons I received in an email recently.

Frequent Flyer

I just got back from a trip to AL last week. I must say it was pretty nice. I had never been to southern Alabama, but it was much how I expected - pretty, scenic, and laid back. I met with a client and had a great meeting. It occurred to me on the flight home that I need to get some new luggage. I originally bought some cheap luggage for our honeymoon, but with as much travel as I have been doing, it is getting pretty beat up. Counting back, I have flown 14 times (7 round trips) in the past 5 months. Of course there are a lot of people who fly a lot more than that - but for someone who hadn't flown since 1999, that is a lot of flying. For the most part, I like it. It is very convenient and with companies like airtran, it is very affordable to fly. The part that can be a hassle is going through security - taking your laptop out of your carryon, taking off your shoes, belt, etc. checking your bags since you can't carry on makeup, hairspray, toothpaste etc. and the fact that it takes me just as long to drive to the airport as it does to fly to atlanta. Overall though, I enjoy my little trips - my breaks from everyday routine and I look forward to taking many more.

Sunset

Sometimes living "in the country" isn't all that bad. Here is a view from the main road we live off of on Saturday night as the sun was setting.

Unbelievable

Well, for my avid blog readers (haha) I apologize that I didn't have a chance to post last week. Among other things, I spent some time in Atlanta for work last week and was quite busy with that.

In other news some anonymous person has been continuously posting hurtful comments on my blog 5+ at a time and it was a bit depressing to even think about the blog. Luckily my husband intercepted most of them last week so that I didn't even have to see them. I don't know who I could have offended that much to the point that they had to write such horrible comments, but if I did something to personally affect you mr./ms. anonymous, I would like to apologize for it.

So here is what the "Unbelievable" title of my blog is aimed at. Yesterday morning I brought in the newspaper. Of course on the front 5 or so pages, there is memorial information regarding the tragedies of September 11th 2001. I read through most of that and found it particulalry more emotional than I did last year because the night before, Dennis and I watched United 93. The movie itself brought me to tears numerous times.

On the following page of the paper though, there is a huge story on how Marshall Fields has officially changed the name to Macy's downtown and there are people seriously standing outside protesting with signs. Not only is it unbelievable to me that people have taken the time out of their day to walk around with signs chastising macy's, but the fact that news reporters think this is such a huge story just blows my mind. Don't get me wrong - Marshall Field's has been my very favorite store for at least 5 years now. I have gone there for everything from Coach purses, to bedding, to jewelry, wine, and clothes. I love Marshall Fields. Yes, I am sad to see them gone. But I went to Macy's last weekend and I have to say I was very happy with the store. Most of the products were the same. In fact, there seemed to be a wider variety of things to choose from. Being a platinum cardholder member, I am entitled to several things at Macy's that I did not get at Field's including a discount for using my card EVERY TIME I use it, to free gift wrapping, to free clothing alterations. Yes I will miss the name, but I will also continue to shop there with the Macy's name.

I think the people with the protest signs should try to concentrate their efforts on doing something more positive with their time and energy. Perhaps I wouldn't have felt that way if the story wasn't directly after the September 11th memorial information, but seeing as it was, it kind of put things in to perspective for me.

If these people really think that the buyout and the name change are worthy of being called a "tragedy" I think that they need their perspectives checked as well.

aliens....

Here is an email I received today. I am not sure how true it is, but it is interesting, so I thought I would post it....
"Many will recall that on July 8, 1947, witnesses claimed an unidentified flying object with five aliens aboard crashed on a sheep and cattle ranch just outside Roswell New Mexico. This is a well known incident that many say has long been covered up by the US Air Force and federal government. However, what you might NOT have know is that exactly nine months later Albert Arnold Gore Jr., Hillary Rodham, John F. Kerry, William Jefferson Clinton, Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, Dianne Feinstein, Charles Schumer, and Barbara Boxer were born. That piece of information MAY now clear up a lot of things."

"Regrets Only" - bad idea

This past weekend we had a small "open house" so that our families could see this house we have been talking about building for a year now. We sent out invitations saying "regrets only." Well let me tell you, I will never do that again. Knowing that you always get way more food than you need, I only ordered food for 40 people even though we were expecting 60 - well we ended up having 40 show up. So 3 extra pans of roasted chicken and mostacholi later, dennis and I are ready to toss the rest of the leftovers. You can only eat so many roast beef sandiches....From now on, I will have a normal RSVP for all parties, and if you don't call, then I am not ordering food for you! so there!

Better Homes and Gardens

Today I went to the post office and found the new issue of Better Homes and Gardens. However it had been forwarded from my old address and still had my maiden name on it. Attached to the magazine was an envelope asking me to "renew my subrscription." This envelope has been attached to the last 5 issues and I have never sent it back in to renew. So, I thought this time I better call and see what's up. Upon speaking with someone in Customer Service, they assured me that my name and address have been changed so there is no worry of future issues being lost in the mail. I asked the woman how much longer I had on my subscription before it ran out. At this point she told me that I was paid up through FEBRUARY 2010!!! That's right - I am paid up for the next 3.5 years - 42 months more of BHG for me. I must have paid too much attention to those renewal forms at some point in the past 3 years and actually sent them in from time to time with money to extend my subscription. Well no more of that for me! Looks like I will be ignoring all the rest of those forms until I my 29th birthday. So beware if any of your subscriptions send you these "super special offers" with your magazines...you are probably not really up for renewal yet!

Dishwasher Detergent Matters

For the past month I have been at war with my dishwasher. We got it with the house and were starting to feel like we got ripped off. We did pick the make and model ourselves and thought it would be a good dishwasher, but everything I put in there comes out looking just as dirty as it was when it went in. I added jet dry, put an actual cleaner in the dishwasher without any dishes to clean the inside of the machine itself. Nothing worked. I was starting to think we needed to get a water softener. A few people around here have them. The water isn't super-hard but it isn't the best. Last week I gave up and started washing dishes by hand. Then I realized that we had switched detergent a while ago. I bought the Cascade Complete that I was accustomed to using in my old house. (Remember now, before moving in here, I was living like a gypsie for 6 months and didn't wash any dishes...) Anyway I was with a friend when I bought the Cascade Complete and accidentally left it in their car. Since I needed detergent right away I ran up to our local store here and bought the one kind they had - Sun Light lemon scented. So last night I asked Dennis to pick up some Cascade Complete on his way home from golfing. Today, I ran the dishwasher again with some seriously dirty dishes in there, but used the Cascade Complete instead. It worked! yay! So I will be throwing out the rest of the Sun Light and will remain loyal to my Cascade Complete.

allergies - yuck

so i have been feeling like absolute crap lately - i should have thought a little longer before deciding to build a house in a new subdivision between a corn field and giant vasts of open space filled with weeds. i am probably not in the best location for someone with severe hayfever, and major allergies to all things outdoors. august has always been the very worst month for me when it comes to allergies. i remember the beginning of every schoolyear, i would walk around with a box of kleenex and sudafed. it's no different now. i can't walk from one room to the nex without needing more kleenex. i got some allergy medicing friday morning which seemed to work great (wal-itin) but when i took it saturday morning and then sunday morning, it caused me to sleep all weekend. i literally slept 40 hours this weekend i think. does anyone have any other suggestions for allergy medicine that works without side-effects, or does anyone know anything about what a dr. might be able to do for me??? help!!!!