You're damn right I just told three ladies to STFU on the quiet car. If I can hear you over my Carly Simon on my headphones, you are too goddamned loud.

getting there

So, we're almost done with the unpacking and putting away of all of the things.

FINALLY.

I have one more ikea bookshelf to put together, that'll be tonight, and when that's done, I can get stuff on it and be set to go.  There are still some other things that need to be taken care of, like we gotta find somewhere to hang the surfboards, and I have to put the pictures up and that sort of thing, but at least now we don't have clothes living on the bed or on a folding table, they actually have a home in a wardrobe.

Once the house is done I can get back to my fun bike projects.

Suburban silver lining

Ikea. Lots and lots of Ikea. And Home Depot projects. Gonna hack the ever loving shit out of some Billy bookcases. Because I can. So there.

OMG: Singer Sinead O’Connor reported missing in Wilmette, Illinois

it's the suburbia curse.  first moline got prince, and now wilmette has its claws into sinead. WHY DOES NOBODY BELIEVE ME????



Singer Sinead O’Connor reported missing in Wilmette, Illinois: pIrish singer Sinéad O’Connor, who achieved worldwide fame in 1990 with her version of the song “Nothing Compares 2 U”, has been/p

Another week of suburbia hell

Well so this weekend I could have been anywhere, not just the suburbs, since I only left the house once (it was laundry and unpack/put stuff away weekend).

Monday morning Metra: the train is one car short and some sorority brat is saving seats. Fun times.

I have a secret.....

I really enjoy some of Meghan Trainor's music. I still really dislike her and most of her lyrics  (even in the songs I like) are problematic and terrible....but ngl, I will totally cubicle-dance-party to Me Too, No, and All About That Bass on the reg.

Suburban goodness, one quiet car at a time

I do not mind a long commute at all.  I don't even mind a long driving commute. Even in bad traffic. Cuz if it means a long time in the car by myself, that just means I get to listen to my shitty music longer really loud and sing along.

And if it's a long train or bus ride, that means more reading or knitting.  The down side to that though is the other people. Especially the loud ones. The ones who have stupid loud phone conversations, or worse, the ones listening to music without headphones. Gross.

But the Metra has a solution for that. The quiet cars. No talking, no music loud enough to be hear by others in your earphones, no kids, no noise at all. It is glorious.

I thought that I'd be super sad that they no longer have the bar car on the Rock Island Line (I'm still *sorta* sad, that bar car was fucking COOL) but the quiet car is my jam. (Not my lady jam, too loud for that)

So yeah, there are some good things about loving in suburbia. :)

Suburban suckage alert!

Seriously you jerks at the LaSalle Metra station GOTTA learn to fuckin' use the escalator. You're making all of us look bad.

two projects are better than one!

So, about the bikes.

Right now in the garage I have three bicycles.

One of them actually runs and is in good condition.  It's the new one.  A single speed clearance bike from somewhere.  It's called an Americano or something.  It had an A decal on the front but that fell off the first day.  It works and it gets my butt to the train and back daily, so that's good.  Not doing anything with that one for now. :)

The other two are in bits.  And are rusty. And dirty.  And are the projects!

Bike the first, the Amish bike.  This is an AMF Prestige three-speed from lord only knows when.

the Amish

Bike the second, the Czech.  This is a bike from (best I can tell) 1979 and is Czechoslovakian.  It's called the Rapido.  Dunno. It's got a cute little accent place on the front that I like. 

 

the Rapido!

Here it is not yet dismantled.

So, there must be a plan, right?  Damn skippy there is.  Course, right now it's all just ideas in my head, but I figure that's better than nothing, right?

First up is the Czech.  I'm gonna paint the frame and the rims and the chainguard satin gray.  except for the little indent place in the front, that's gonna be pink.  I'm gonna shine up all the silvery bits that need shining.  Also going to replace the grips with pink ones.  and replace the shifter with a silver one.  gonna replace the cables with pink ones, and also get a pink chain.  I think the brakes themselves are in pretty good shape, but if not, then those get replaced.  also gonna get a silver rear basket rack and then some pink side baskets.  I think I'm going to keep the center kickstand, it's pretty fun.  Not entirely sure what I'm going to do with the seat and pedals. I may just see how the seat cleans up and keep it on there.  If I do that, I may keep black grips on the bike rather than pink ones, we'll have to see.
Yup. Gray and pink and black.

And then the Amish.  Oh man, the Amish.  This is the one that's going to take more time and more dollars.  But I think it'll be fun.  First, flat black the body. Replace the handlebars with black ones that sit up a bit higher.  Gonna get an autoshift 2 speed with a coaster brake, so no cables whatsoever!  also going to get black wheels.  I'd REALLY like to get some three- or six-spoke wheels, but I'm not sure that I can get them along with the 2 speed autoshift coaster brake setup.  Something like this:

Then I'll get red grips for the handlebars, a red chain, red pedals, and a black seat with red accents.  Red reflectors too of course.  And maybe some sort of red LED setup for lights?  Gotta take a look into that.  

Yup. Gonna turn two (probably kinda) walmart commuter bikes into fun bikes to ride in the suburbs. 

I don't know ANYTHING about bikes, and I've never done anything like this before.  It's gonna be a learning experience, for sure. 

I do not outside very well

Greetings, ahoy, and all that other happy hello nonsense!

So, I live in the suburbs.  The wilds of suburbia.  The great outdoors. In other words, NOT the city.  I miss the city.  People there know how to use escalators (stand on the right, walk on the left, people!) and revolving doors and how to survive without a car.

But I will figure this out.  No really, I totally will.

proof that I do not outside well

We all know that Rachel + outside = disaster.  But did you also know that I haven't ridden a bicycle in decades?  And I hit a lot of trees when I did.  And parked cars.  And other people on bikes.

Although once I was running outside and I ran into a parked car, so let's not assume that I'm only a disaster just waiting to happen when I'm on wheels, it's also when I'm on my feet.

Or when I'm sitting on a chair.

On a chair IN THE SHADE.

But anyhow, outsiding is not a strong suit of mine, but damnit, I'm going to get better at it.  I camped once as an adult (Campsgiving 2015 FTW) and that was okay.  Also, I have recently re-learned how to ride a bike.

I've been riding said bike (single speed, coast brakes) to and from the train station to get to work.  It's just a mile, so no big deal, but totally fun.    And also now I have a couple of craigslist bikes that I want to overhaul to play with.  So that I have a few options. There will be way more of that later.

Also I'm getting some time in on the motorcycle.  I drove it on the street a couple weeks ago (stupid weather is SO not helping!) and survived, so that's totally a bonus.

So yeah, the suburbs aren't my favorite, but I'm learning to adjust.  Also I'm a huge whiner. (oh wah wah wah the suburbs, wah wah)

But I've got some things that will totally help with the suburban life:
- my husband has a garage full of tools that he allows me to use while I'm working on the bike projects
- the dog actually doesn't hate going for walks
- the stepkid will be here soon for the summer
- I may actually finish unpacking before we end up moving again
- weekend spin class

So that's it! I think if I can really stick to the bike project thing that'll be super helpful, I've got all these really great ideas, and tons of online resources, and since I started taking the 1st bike totally apart last night I think I'm gonna actually get going on that.  So yay!