Come on in and pull up a floor

Welcome. I'm glad you all came to visit me in my new home town of Lake Villa, Illinois. It's a beautiful, if cold, part of the midwest. So far I've only unpacked, and not done much else in the way of decorating. You can understand, I'm sure. I still have an entire living room that is empty and in need of new furniture, so that said, come on in and pull up a floor and I'll begin the tour.

Hey, that rhymed.




Well, that's pretty much it. Our new abode. I quite like it. It's nice to have so much extra space. This home is more than double the size of our last, so imagine how many cabinets I have that are empty! It's wonderful. I've met a few neighbors, some from the Ward, most not, and Emma and Maggie have both made cute new friends. It's a wonderful feeling to see your kids adapt so well. Although this transition has been hard, especially leaving my family and friends, this is the most fulfilled and grown-up I've ever felt. Funny how that works. So I'm happy, which translates into we're happy. It's a good thing.

Like a bowl full of Jelly Belly's

On MLK day, or Civil Rights Day as it's now called, we headed up to the Jelly Belly factory in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. It's about a 15 minute drive from home. Good to know. It's not really the "factory", since the beans are made in a Chicago suburb then shipped to this warehouse, so it's really just the distribution center. Still, it's fun to ride around on the little train and see the video of how they make the famous beans. We also got to wear these cute paper hats. We learned that the best selling jelly bean of this year is Very Cherry, surpassing Buttered Popcorn after it's 3 year reign. We also saw what they do with all the Jelly Belly's that don't make it past QC, they're called Belly Flops, and they sell them in the store at a deeply discounted price. I found the new JBZ, which are kind of like M&M's with a flavored candy shell and filled with chocolate. There was Caramel, Vanilla, Chocolate Fudge, and Cappuccino JBZ in my bag of joy. Or so I thought it was a bag of joy. Cute paper hats worn by all.

Giant Jelly Belly's are creepy.

Turns out you should never vomit cappuccino flavored JBZ. Not so joyful. Maybe it serves me right for loving anything coffee flavored. Maybe it serves me right for eating the whole bag myself. Either way, bad, bad, Jelly Belly JBZ. Not that it will stop me from eating them again. I'm just a glutton like that.