Chicago has been consumed by the NATO Summit the last four days.

Our mayor’s $14 million party is almost over. Washington is sending Chicago $40 million to help defray the security costs. How nice that the rest of the country chipped in! Frankly, I took the whole thing personally. My lovely city was turned into a police state, and the residents of Chicago—you know, the ones who pay the property taxes, vehicle taxes, and support the schools—were inconvenienced by awful traffic snafus, closed roads, and detours.

Chicago police officers worked 16 hour days and tried to maintain control of protesters, who were holding signs that said, “Why Am I Here Again?” The nurses union planned a well-thought-out protest march that was thwarted by the mayor’s office due to technicalities.

The dignitaries were all nestled in our large convention space and slept soundly on one Mag Mile in the city’s finest hotels. Our police force made sure they slept soundly.

Obama and his sidekick, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, were proud that they could show the rest of the world that Chicago was a world-class city. Okay, so now that we are on the international map, maybe we can find a place for all the mentally ill patients whose facilities were closed due to lack of funding,

improve our public schools, revisit property taxes and foreclosures, and for God’s sake, would it be too much to ask for parking meters that did not suck?

Cole is off to the Big Easy for two weeks.

We drove to the airport this morning at 5:30am—well, actually he drove, having one final moment with his car.

Cell phones and electronic devices will be collected by the chaperones when they arrive in New Orleans and contact will be minimal. I hate it. I know, I know, I’m supposed to be mature and understand that if the kids are texting and checking Facebook they are missing the opportunity to interact with the people they are with and live in the real world, as opposed to the virtual one. I get it. My kid was television and computer free for the first 12 years off his life, but this was before he went gallivanting off without me. And, in the case of full disclosure, it’s not that I’m worried about him… I just like to be a part of the adventure. Between mani-pedis, spa days, and amusing myself with friends, I’ll live happily for the next two weeks, but I was still happy when he hugged me at the airport and said, “I’ll find a way to call.” That’s my boy! He has learned the value of taking care of his sponsor… I won’t give Rascal his room.

Let’s see, what other fascinating tidbits can I share with you?

Gemini birthday’s kick off today: Gemini is the astrological sign of the twins. My sweet mother is a Gemini. It has always been one of my favorite signs. HI! I’m a Leo, what is your sign?

In 1990, Bob Newhart woke up in bed with Suzanne Pleshette, his wife from a previous series. He had been dreaming since 1978.

Happy birthday, Harold Robbins (1916). One of the best-selling novelists of all time, he is perhaps best known for his novel The Carpetbaggers (1961), which is loosely based on the life of eccentric businessman Howard Hughes. It is also Janet Dailey (1944) birthday a novelist who decided, after reading a number of Harlequin romances while she was sightseeing her way across America with her husband, that she could write one her herself, and did just that. No Quarter Asked (1976) sold more than one million copies.

If you like celebrating the food of the day, then you will want to fix yourself a bowl of strawberries and cream because today is National Strawberries and Cream Day. Did you know that you can also stuff strawberries? I didn’t, and I am pretty sure that I never will, but if you would like to give it a try, here is a recipe for Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries. In case you were wondering scooping out those strawberries is, well, challenging.

This amused me today….I am easily amused.

I hope your day was good and full of plenty!

Odd Loves Company!