Visits and Change

Hello again from the Rutherfords!

It has been a strange spring at our house with lots of disappointments followed by great things. With a thankful journal in tow for Lent this year, I'm going to say that we have even more to be thankful for than all the little day to day things.

In short, Mary lost a job at Radio City with Heart and Lights closing before it even began and then gained another great one at Aladdin doing four permanent days of day work. Plus, her now permanent 3 shows a week at Jersey Boys makes for a good week of work before any swing work comes in addition. When that does happen, Mary is generally working a 50+ hour week and trying to fit in a bit of guitar and yoga in between all the normal things that need to be completed.

Kurtis is looking forward to a great deal of change coming up! He was left behind on the spring tour that Cedar Lake took out across the West Coast and found himself in a rocky Spring with his company with no artistic director and the executive director being let go. Then, his boss and good friend, Andy decided to leave the company. With no hope for any significant raise in pay, but a promise for a raise in the workload and an under appreciation for the work done, he made the difficult decision to move on. His last day with the company will be at the end of July. As he always intended to work more in the theatrical world, Kurtis wanted to shift his focus toward that area in New York again and, having gained a lot of knowledge and skill from his current position, decided it was time to move himself in to a position where he could move forward in that. So, back to free lancing for a while! Beer continues to go well and he is enjoying the spring now in New York.

The most exciting thing recently was a visit from Mom and Dad! They came for the weekend, Dad a short one and Mom a long one. As Mary was working both Aladdin and Jersey Boys for the weekend, the two of them and Kurtis decided to see the shows, got back stage tours at both and seemed to really enjoy the visit. I know we loved having them here!!!

Mom, Kurtis and I went to visit The Cloisters on Monday. It was a beautiful day and an interesting branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

This little woodchuck was out front of The Cloisters, protecting his territory. Fort Tyron Park is apparently home to many critters and is a beautiful walk through on the North end of the island of Manhattan, only a few blocks away from our home.

Winter in Chicago is Rough!

Hello Family!

It's been quite a busy spring, but especially the last couple of weeks.  Let's see if I can cover the highlights of the last 4ish months.

Katie's birthday gift in January was tickets to see Phantom of the Opera during it's tour stop in Chicago.  While she was approaching a second hand on number of times seeing it, this was my first experience.  It certainly lived up to its billing!  In February, we attended the Chicago Auto Show which was a lot of fun.  Every dealer you can think of is there and you can sit in most of the cars.  The Bugattis and McClarens were only viewable from a distance unfortunately.  A trip to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Field Museum, and a Blackhawks (NHL) game rounded out the rest of winter.  In a quick list it sounds like we did a lot but that was spread over 10 weeks or so.  The rest of the time we were huddling in our apartment with the heat on high!

This winter has been one of the worst in decades.  We set top 5 marks for average temperature and most snow.  There were multiple days where the high was below zero and multiple days where the snowfall totals were in double digits.  It felt like every weekend usually had a snowstorm that beat estimates by at least 3 inches.  Our gas bill was quite expensive, especially when you consider we only heat 900 square feet or so.  It's become the city's pastime to dodge potholes deeper than wheels.

Fortunately, we've had moments of spring!  Even though snow accumulated as recently as two weeks ago.  We traveled with Katie's family to Milwaukee in March to see the comedian Mike Birbiglia do a show.  He's an excellent comedian than doesn't rely on crude humor or language to get you laughing.  He genuinely has a funny outlook on life and can make most stories seem hilarious.  He's also had sleep issues that led to him producing a whole comedy sketch about it, including the movie "Sleepwalk with Me."  Spring break came early for me with Mom and Dad's arrival for a conference in Chicago.  We did the standard tour, seeing the building formerly known as the Sears Tower, Chicago History Museum, Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, and the Lincoln Park Zoo.  We were also able to do dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, which Dad went back to with his students later in the week.  Mom and Dad upgraded from the inflatable mattress on our floor to a two room suite at the Marriott on Michigan Avenue thanks to NASM, which was especially nice when Dad came down with the flu for a couple days.

Since then, the Cubs have started their season and we are the first option for disposing of unused tickets in the family.  Katie's father is a season ticket-holder but a combination of April weather and the Cubs lack of talent makes games difficult to sell when they're not intending to go.  So I went to 3 of the first 13 home games of the season.  We also went to Cincinnati for Easter.  Katie's brother John lives there and works for Tesla Motors, which has the nice side-benefit of allowing us to ride around in a Tesla all weekend!  We visited their favorite restaurants (which meant we missed Skyline) and went to the Zoo as well.  We hadn't seen him and his girlfriend since the Wedding so it was great to catch up.

Of course we do have jobs/school as well.  Katie is in the middle of her travel cycle this month because it's the slow season in risk modeling.  She went to Tennessee in early April for 3 days of business.  Then she went to Washington D.C. last week for her orientation trip to the American Farm Bureau Federation that she was supposed to do a year ago.  Now next week, she's at a conference downtown again!  So 4 weeks of April and 3 of them had multiple nights away from home.  I'm finishing up school in two weeks.  The big highlight of this semester has been my Master's Project which looked at bus delay caused by large weather events.  It was submitted and accepted a couple weeks ago so I can move forward from that.  I only have a paper, a presentation, and two finals left!  However, then I become unemployed.  The job search is starting but unfruitful so far!

We keep thinking that the next month will be quieter, but are realizing that's always an illusion.  Our summer is already filling in with weddings vacations and hopefully employment!

I'll leave you with a couple pictures I found on our phones in between the chronicles of Scout's daily adventures.

This was the usual state of our weather in January and February.

The PVC pipe drip water out at a very slow rate.  This is 4 months of build-up behind the apartment building.  It was tangible proof of spring as it melted!

The Chicago Symphony Concert from the nosebleeds.  If I had known how many stairs we were going to have to climb I would have had us arrive an extra 20 minutes before hand.

We rode the old carousel at the Lincoln Park Zoo!

A view of the capital from the top of the Farm Bureau Building in D.C.

The interior of our Tesla ride for the day.  The picture doesn't do the car justice.  Space and technology abound!

We paws ….

It’s time to bring everyone up to date on our daily life.  As everyone knows, we have a pack of dogs living with us.  They bring us joy, laughter, frustration and much fur.  But, we enjoy them.  Here’s a picture of Tim’s newest acquisition-Liza Doolittle.

  Liza is a character and we like to call her the hedgehog.  She is settling in nicely, but is a sneaky girl.  She darts under the bed very quickly before Tim can catch her so she doesn’t have to go in the crate.  I mean, Tim could get down on his hands and knees and dig her out, but with our luck that would throw his back out of wack.  Ellie Mae and I finished our first agility class.  She liked it a lot.  The teacher taught it like we were all going to compete in dog shows but Ellie Mae and I just did it for fun.  What this translates into is, that once again we were in trouble quite a bit in class.

Here is a video from our last night of class.

Jobs are going okay.  With the end of tax season, Tim is slowing down.  He did have his first customer make a break out of a nursing home.  He was safely returned and has remained there since.  My job has been more stressful than usual.  There is lots going on and it seems everyone needs something.  I’m going to have to start telling people no so I can get things in order for camp.  We are hoping to do some painting on our deck over Memorial Weekend.  Of course, you are all invited for that activity.  Last weekend, Chris was home and we all went to the doggy Easter Egg hunt.  Here is Ellie Mae in her Easter “Bonnet”. 

  Summer should bring lots of fun and new adventures.  We will be helping Chris campaign, attending a dog class that Kate is helping teach, planning our entry for the 4 ^th of July parade and Kate and I will be working on our “bedazzled bra” to enter in the State Fair.

Until next time…

Baked Pesto Chicken (and Pasta)

We have a late addition to the recipes! This is a new one at our house, but it's a keeper!! The recipe originally is only for the chicken, but we add in pasta and fresh veggies to make it a full dish.

Baked Pesto Chicken

Ingredients: 
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
salt and fresh ground black pepper for seasoning chicken
1/2 cup basil pesto
mozzarella cheese to taste (we use the whole bag since we adapted this to be a huge recipe by adding pasta)

16 oz angel hair pasta

assorted veggies - we use zucchini, yellow squash, green squash and a few peppers. Tomatoes and mushrooms would be good if you're into that sort of thing :)

Instructions: 
Preheat oven to 375*. Cut each chicken breast lengthwise into 2 or 3 pieces. (I cut the larger ones into 3 strips and the smaller ones into 2 strips.)

Spray a 9" x 12" (or 8.5" X 12.5") baking dish with non-stick spray, then spread 1/4 cup basil pesto over the bottom of the dish. Lay chicken strips over the pesto, then spread 1/4 cup more basil pesto over the chicken.

Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil (or use a baking dish with a tight-fitting lid) and bake the chicken for 15-20 minutes, just until chicken is barely firm and cooked through. (Don't cook too much at this point, or the chicken will be overcooked by the time the cheese is melted and browned.)

While chicken is cooking, cook a box of angel hair pasta al dente. Also, chop veggies - they don't have to be small.

When chicken is barely cooked through, remove foil and add in pasta and veggies. Top with mozzarella cheese. Put dish back into the oven without foil and cook 10-15 minutes more, just until veggies are cooked.

The pesto is such an awesome part of the dish, so if you feel inclined, add another container! I also think I did 6 chicken breasts because of adding the pasta.