Here is another upcoming Plainfield IL community event, and this one is for a great cause too! It’s really easy to tell all of Plainfield about your upcoming event by using the Event button at the top of the page. You fill out the form and I’ll do all the rest

Here’s what’s coming up:

“A Pieceful Journey Through The Heart of The Prairie”

Approximately 300 quilts will hang at the bi-annual quilt show of Plainfield’s own Pride of the Prairie Quilters, March 8 and 9, 2008

This year the show will be at Richland Grade School, located at 1919 Caton Farm Road in Crest Hill, IL

The show will include “mini art quilts” as part of Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative, founded by Ami Simms to help raise awareness and funding to find a cure for the all too common disease, afflicting so many older Americans.

The show will feature “Prairie Pineapple” the group’s raffle quilt, a silent auction, raffle baskets, demos, and appraisals by appointment. For more information visit: Pride of the Prairie

The cost of the event is $5.00 and doors open at 9:00 am.

Richland Grade School
1919 Caton Farm Rd.
Crest Hill, IL

If you have questions about this event please send an e-mail to plurfit@aol.com or call 630-420-8583.

Julie Ferenzi | Realtor®
Plainfield IL Homes
630-673-6233

Below is a message that I received from a member of the community. Scott Leturno contacted me to help spread the word about a fun day planned at St. Mary Immaculate Parish in Plainfield IL this weekend using the “Event’s” button on the top of the page! See how easy it is to let Plainfield know all about your upcoming event? Don’t you just love technology!

Your friendly neighborhood message from Scott:

Being the President of the Saint Mary Immaculate Parish Men’s Club I thought I would let you and your readers know that this Saturday, March 1st, the Men’s Club will be hosting a traditional St Patrick’s Day party.

The doors open at 5:30pm. Admission is free. Corned beef sandwiches and hot-dogs will be for sale and there will be a cash bar. We will have activities for the kids, and a local Irish Dance School will be performing traditional Irish dances as well.

This will be fun for the entire family! The church is located on Rt 59 on the east side of the road north of Renwick. Hope you can make it and bring lots of your friends. It is certain to be a great party!

Scott Leturno
President
SMIP Men’s Club
Plainfield, IL

As promised, here is my dad’s: ‘Should’ve Been Famous Vegetable Soup!’ It’s a favorite among all of our family and friends!

I can’t even remember how times my senses were flooded with the delicious aroma of my dad’s soup when I was younger! I was a walker at Fullerton Elementary School, and by the time I walked home from lunch every afternoon, I was more than eager to sink my teeth into my dad’s delicious soup!!! Here it is! Tell me what you think!

• 1/2 Kettle or Pot of water
• 2 bags of frozen vegetables (corn, green beans, peas, carrots and lima beans….)
• 1 large can, undrained, diced tomatoes
• 1 can of tomato paste
• 5 beef bouillon cubes
• 1 large onion diced
• 5 large carrots sliced
• 5 stalks of celery sliced
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3/4 regular sized bottle of ketchup (the secret ingredient!)

Add all of the above ingredients and cook until tender. When the vegetables start to soften, (1-2 hours ) add 1/2 bag of egg noodles and cook until tender. Feel free to add any kind of beef or beef stew meat, but because I lean toward vegetarian tendencies, I prefer to omit the meat. Either way, I’m sure you’ll enjoy this delicious one pot meal!

Julie Ferenzi | Realtor®
Plainfield IL Homes
630-673-6233

I made a huge pot of my dad’s Famous Vegetable Soup today. It was cozy fall day, and it just felt like the perfect day to remember how he used to take spend the afternoon cutting vegetables and stirring the pot until it was “finally done!” Comfort food to the fullest!

Now that my dad is gone, soup days are just one of the days I like to remember him. I’m usually good for 2-3 bowls before the leftovers finally make it the fridge! (you’d never guess his secret ingredient!!! I’ll post his delicious recipe tomorrow.)

My friend Andrea lives down the street from us and wasn’t feeling well today. I knew a bowl full of my dad’s soup would be the perfect way to “feed a cold”, so I rode my bike over to her house and dropped off a container for her and stayed for a quick visit.

Our son’s are actually best friends, and I mentioned that there was a house decorated for Halloween that we have gone to in Romeoville IL every Halloween since we moved here, and that we should try to go to tonight. She had a “haunted” house in her old neighborhood that she used to go to as well when she was younger so we decided to take the trip. Since today was Sunday she decided to do a Google search to see if there were any houses here in Plainfield IL that were decked out for Halloween.

We hit the JACKPOT!!!

2205 Stonhaven Dr. in the Wedgewood Subdivision in Plainfield IL is home to Tammie and Dan Krein… and these two know how to CELEBRATE HALLOWEEN!

I’m just such a chicken when it comes to spooky stuff, that I hadn’t even made it a few steps along the sidewalk when I jumped and screamed; much to the fun of everyone watching!

Tammie and Dan both attend Halloween conventions throughout the year and add to their ghoulish collection. This is seriously one of the most intricate and professional displays that I’ve ever seen at a private residence. It features high quality animatronics and displays, in addition to the fog, lighting and strobe effects.

I’m going to be including a few more local haunts between now and Halloween. It’s one of my favorite holidays and Plainfield IL and the surrounding areas are rich with history and local folklore.

Nearby, Naperville IL, has historically been a well known location of hauntings in the area.

Stay tuned. There will be more fun Halloween postings between now and October 31st!

Happy Halloween!!!!

Julie Ferenzi | Realtor®
Plainfield IL Homes
630-673-6233

It’s been a while, but their back! Friday Fun Facts…

1. Did you know that “stewardesses” is the longest word typed only with your left hand?
2. Marilyn Monroe had six toes one foot!
3. It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
4. Maine is the only state whose name only has 1 syllable.
5. American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first-class
6. No word in the English language rhymes with the words; month, orange, silver, or purple!
7. “Dreamt” is the only word in the English language that ends in the letters “mt”.
8. You can’t kill yourself by holding your breath.
9. Leonardo DiVinci invented the scissors.
10. Michael Jordan makes more from Nike annually than all of the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined. (that is actually not very funny at all….)

Check back again for some more fun ways to waste 5 minutes at work!

Plainfield Real Estate
630-673-6233

If you live in Plainfield, you simply could not have missed the Homecoming Celebrations going on all over town last week!

The theme for this years homecoming parade was “Great Moments in American History”. The parade included the participation of all 3 Plainfield high-schools, as well as most of the junior highs and elementary schools. The parade started at 9:00 am on Saturday, September 29th.

This year Plainfield welcomed back alumni celebrating their 50th highschool reunion! Now, that’s a homecoming!!!

Many questions have been raised about how the community celebrates homecoming with 3 (and soon to be 4 ) highschools within the district, and the answer is… Plainfield celebrates 1 community homecoming in conjunction with the schedule that was in place long before the growth now taking place here.

Plainfield South participates in the community festivities, but celebrates separately and independently of the community schedule. It was decided soon after the school was built that this situation would help Plainfield South develop and identity independent of the Plainfield Central campus.

Plainfiels South’s homecoming week activities are open to the community during the week of October 15-20.

• Tuesday, Oct. 16th- Mr. Cougar Pageant and Variety Show 7:00-9:00 pm ($3 admission at the door)
• Thursday, Oct. 18th - Movie Night, showing…. Night at the Museum 7:00-9:00 pm at the practice soccer field. Bring your blankets. Admission is free. (If weather is inclement, it will be shown in the field house.)
• Friday, Oct. 19th- Varsity Football Game vs. Romeoville 7:15 pm. Fireworks at approximately 10:00 pm.

Since Plainfield South is the high-school for our neighborhood, we plan on taking our family to the football game. I remember how much fun it was to go to the football games in high-school. Ohhh to be young again!

See you all at the game!

This weekend marks the second year anniversary of the revival of the Taste of Joliet after a 10 year lapse in planning. 23 food vendors will crowd the Memorial Stadium at 3000 W. Jefferson St. in Joliet.

This year the band popular from the late 90’s, Everclear, will perform! (Checkout their myspace page via the link!) Everclear will perform on Saturday night (6-30-07) from 9 to 11 pm. I met these guys twice over the last 10 years. They’re really funny charachters, if you get the chance to meet them this weekend! I still have my autographed Everclear t-shirt signed on tour bus. I can only imagine why the tour bus driver invited on the bus to “meet the band” but unfortunately for him, it didn’t work out like that! Actually all of the guys from the band are quite the gentlemen. Art Alexakis is pretty funny too!

The will also be a competitive eating contest sponsored by Milano Bakery at 2 pm on Sunday. Contestants will need to pre-register prior to this event.

A mud volleyball tournament it scheduled for 10:00 a.m. on Saturday.

Local area food vendors include:

Baby Back Blues
Bella Cucina Catering
Cemeno’s
Chesdan’s Pizzeria & Grill
Drag ‘N It Concessions
Harold’s Chicken
Home Plate
Hometown Sausage
Joliet Firefighter’s Corn
Joliet Park Foundation Ice Cream
La Mex
Louisana BBQ
Maurie’s Table
Minor’s Pizza
Pogliana Pork Wagon
Precious Reception Services
S & L Catering
S & S BBQ
Shanghai Bistro
Silver Spoon
Sweet Home Kettle Corn
Taste of Polonia

In addition to the food vendors, the stadium will also be filled with fine art. Over 200 artists are taking part in the Fine Arts Festival. Admission to the displays will be free and artwork will be available for purchase!

The Taste of Joliet will be open:

Friday: 5 p.m. to midnight
Saturday: noon to midnight
Sunday: 1:00 to 10 p.m.

If you get a chance to go to the Taste, send me the pictures of you and your family having fun, and I’ll post them on this page!

Plainfield Real Estate
630-673-6233

It’s the middle of June and school has been out for about 2 weeks already. Are you sick of hearing, “I’m SOOOOO bored!” too?

I know I am, which is why I’ve decided to add The DuPage Children’s Museum in Naperville IL to my list of fun things to do around Plainfield.

Every year we become members of The Brookfield Zoo in Brookfield, IL as well as the DuPage Children’s Museum. Believe me, when you have more than 3 kids, and plan on visiting more than twice in one year, it’s always more money savvy to enjoy the benefits of a yearly membership! The annual family membership of the museum is only $88 for a family membership and also includes a 10% discount at the museum store. It also entitles you to admission on Monday mornings which are members only days. There are several different membership packages available and all of them are tax deductible!

Today I bargained with my kids. (yes, Dr. Spock… I know it’s wrong!) I told them if they behaved in the office while I had root canal, that I’d take them to do something fun. Since we were already halfway there, the DuPage Children’s Museum made the most amount of sense.

Believe it or not, I had 4 kids behaving like angels for a complete hour! My endodontist, Dr. Michael Elasaad was relieved… and I was amazed! I still wonder how they pulled it off?

The Museum is located at:

301 N. Washington St.
Naperville IL 60540
(630) 637-8000

The Museum hours and Explorer Store Hours are:

Monday 9:00 to 1:00 pm (members only)
Tuesday 9:00 to 5:00 pm
Wednesday 9:00 to 5:00 pm
Thursday 9:00 to 8:00 pm
Friday 9:00 to 5:00 pm
Saturday 9:00 to 5:00 pm
Sunday 9:00 to 12:00 pm

They have a cafeteria area located in the lower level which includes a microwave and vending machines. We usually pack a sack lunch and snacks, and head down there mid day. There are so many fun things to do at the museum. Some of my kids favorites are the tool shop, the bubble center, and the lights exhibit. Everything is tangible and interactive.

It’s also a great place to host a birthday party!

If you looking for a place to take the kids this summer when it’s too hot to go outside, be sure to make time to head on down to Naperville’s Riverwalk district to spend some time with the kids at the DuPage Children’s Museum in Naperville IL.

Julie Ferenzi | Realtor®
Plainfield IL Homes
630-673-6233

Last night we headed out to the downtown Plainfield area for Cruise Night on Lockport St. with some friends. My husband Tony and I love old cars, so we were really excited to make it out to the strip for the first time this summer.

We invited our friends Brian and Danielle Kulpit, and their two children to join us… before long, we were in route to Gourmet Junction for some hand-dipped ice cream cones. I read off the flavors that were available to the kids; vanilla, chocolate, butter pecan, strawberry, play-doh, cookie dough…. WAIT! Did you catch that too? Play-Doh flavored ice-cream?!

I questioned the employee… with a strange look I’m sure, “do you really serve ice-cream that tastes like Play-Doh?”

She started laughing. I guess it’s really just vanilla ice-cream dyed blue, with colored chunks of sugar cookie dough in it!

It wouldn’t be hard to guess which flavor all the kids picked. (and just for the record, I did too :))

Our husbands, the macho car buffs that they are, opted for old-fashioned A&W Rootbeer floats, topped with whip cream.

We loved really loved the ice-cream, and the store, so I decided that I should write about it here to share with everyone. I introduced myself to one of the the owners, Mary Anne Waldorf, and mentioned that I’m an real estate agent in Plainfield. I told her that I write about the community, events, and local area businesses on my webpage. I asked Mary Anne if she had any more business cards, and she ran in back to grab me one. When she came back, she actually had two in her hand.

One for Gourmet Junction, and one for her husband, The Plainfield Village President… James A. Waldorf!

Mary Anne and Jayne Schorr are quite the hostesses! In fact Danielle and I agreed we will be coming back to treat ourselves and our daughters to an afternoon tea party and leave all of those boys of ours at home! In fact, this Thursday, June 14th they are hosting “A Tulip Tea” from 11:00am until 7:00 pm . Just call 815-439-3933 for reservations!

Gourmet Junction not only serves ice-cream and tea, but offers customized designed gift baskets, confections, and gourmet specialties.

Gourmet Junction is located at 505 W. Lockport St. in downtown Plainfield on the west side of the street.

Sometimes I forget how much I love Lockport St. and the downtown area! That is until I’m down there for events like Tuesday Night Cruise Night, or other community events that takes place downtown. You can come on down for Cruise night every Tuesday evening from 6:00 to 9:00pm through the end of summer. Cruise night is sponsored by several of the Lockport St. retailers, as well as other local area businesses.

Julie Ferenzi | Realtor®
Plainfield IL Homes
630-673-6233