WINDOW KITTENS!

Aww. You know that house where the Jesus mobile always parks? And where the old lady and old man are always having screaming matches by the garbage cans? Well, they have WINDOW KITTENS! Possibly related, I'm convinced its a hoarding house.

Try and ignore my head in the reflection ruining the cuteness.

Yep.

Drove up behind this gem on my way to work earlier in the week.

Kitty Cuddles

Seen on my Run

A shoe bigger than my shoed foot next to a bench. Sorry about the chicken ankles.

Pretty tree. I liked the way it almost covered the entire building. 

Sidewalk toddler glasses. As a side note, there are two little twin girl toddlers that live upstairs and across the hall from me. The other day my cat tried to bolt out of the apartment and escape upstairs, then heard one of the girls crying, and freaked out and tore back into the apartment. Good call cat, good call.

They're at it again. Not quite as good as the last two, but I still dig it.

Autumn just came on so fast. This red/orange tree really made me realize it. 

Remember Pimp my Ride?

I used to watch that all the time.

Brother Visit Part 3

I'll text this one up too.

After our time on the beach, we spent some time at home where my sister-in-law had just gotten out of bed. I envy her.

This is Lola. My sister-in-law had her since before my brother met her. She looks grouchy, but really she just loves on her own terms. She treated me just like family in that she was nice enough to vom while I was there. On the one small 3 by 2 foot rug they have in the place. Everything else is tile, linoleum or wood.

This is Pancake, whom my brother found in a park one day. Declawed, spayed, and abandoned. She has the loudest meow quite possibly ever.

Played some video games from our youth. Yes. We beat one of the helicopter levels, but didn't get past the fourth level on expert. Also, Big Al is a snarky ass.

After going out to dinner somewhere my mom freaked out about in the past, we stopped for ice cream on the way back. I had key lime, my brother had a malt and my sister-in-law had blueberry pie. Very delicious.

The next day, we went out for breakfast, played some more games, and then dinked around the city before I took the 3:00ish train back to Milwaukee. This is the storm hanging out over the lake as I was leaving town. The photo doesn't do it justice. Also, totally picked the wrong side of the train. It was all sun.

Brother Visit Part 2

I'll text up these posts soon. I promise. I'm just so tired tonight!

See, I told you I'd text these up. After our Flugtag plans were cancelled, we walked around the beach, including through some water. 

Sorry for the veiny feet. Hopefully there aren't any crazy foot-fetishist out there that found my blog because of them. I'm thin, and I run a lot, so it just happens if I get hot. Plus, I was sitting on firm concrete, so it was slightly cutting off my circulation. Anyway, it was so windy that the waves at the pier (I would say it was about 12 feet down) were almost hitting our feet. Yes, I need to repaint my toenails, but as it was just my brother, I didn't really care. 

More sitting on the beach. The sky was such a gorgeous blue. Also, can you tell we're related in this picture? I mean, there are some differences but wow.

I was bending down to take a picture of a popsicle stick with a riddle on it, but accidentally had my camera on front facing. It turned into a funny shot, so I went with it. And yes, we did haul the backpack around the entire time.

Here's the popsicle stick. Hardy-har-har.

Finally, mini-golf at the public course near Diversey. I think my brother won, but we both had fun. After that we headed back up to my brother's apartment by simply hopping on one of the CTA buses. I've gotta say, the public transportation there is super convenient where he lives. We may or may not have kept singing "putt, putt, in the butt" the entire time we were playing mini golf.

Brother Visit Part 1

I went down to Chicago on the weekend on September 8th. I got up at 5:30 to make the 6:15am train. We were going to watch the Redbull Flugtag, but sadly it was cancelled due to high winds. We still had a fantastic time!

For some reason Dan and I have always met up in the awesome room in the old part of the station. I've always loved the way the ceiling looks. And on such a gorgeous, mostly cloudless morning (before 8am, I'm barely at work at that time), I managed to catch a wonderful picture. 

Before we knew the Flugtag was cancelled, we made a stop off for coffee at one of Dan's favorite coffee shops near his work, Lavazza. It was very tasty. The heart on top made me smile. 

We saw this sign on our walk to Flugtag. We both cracked up, as the rocks plus small plants continued on for another ten feet, and that was the extent of the "lawn."

Once we found out Flugtag was cancelled, we took a walk on the beach just past the staging ground and sat down above the waves and had some brother-sister talk time. I really miss my brother and I should go see him more often.

Troubs

Three years ago today I had to put my cat Trouble to sleep. I'd probably remember the date no matter what, but I'll never forget because it was the day before my birthday, which is now sandwiched in sadness by this and the 19th was my now deceased grandmother's birthday. (Not to mention National Talk Like a Pirate Day). Yar! Grandma Lois, you live on in the great pirate ship in my heart.

I know pet owners always say this, but my Trouble was truly one of the sweetest, friendliest cats you'd ever meet. She was so sweet she even made my roommate at the times parents get a cat. (Why you ask? She and Boo stayed with them when our apartment had a five alarm fire and we had no where to live for a couple weeks).

Trouble stayed sweet through everything life threw at her too. Through a six hour car ride at four years old all the way from Minnesota where she became an indoor cat instead of an outdoor one. Through firemen axing open a smoke and ash filled apartment while she hid under a bed with her son. Through moving to Illinois for a month to let her "parents" rebuild a home in Milwaukee after the fire. Through moving in with my (now ex) boyfriend, who in reflection was nothing but abusive to her (not hitting, but chased her, yelled at her, etc until she hid under the couch or in a corner) and through helping me start over again when all I could do was cry and it felt like the weight of the world was crushing my soul. There was sweet little Trouble, nosing her way under the covers and pushing up against my back.

She welcomed all my friends into my "new" apartment (I am starting my fifth year here now). Pushing herself between us during our LOST parties, our Mad Men parties, and well, whenever she felt like it. Nosing into our snacks; she would not be ignored, nor would she stop purring or asking to be pet by everyone in the apartment (or in the hallway if she ever made it that far).

When she was barely ten years old, she ended up getting cancer of the epithelial cells, which are basically the cells that line your organs against your other organs. So really no chance there. She got really thin, really fast and towards the end I could just tell something wasn't right. She wasn't her sweet little self, who would greet me with mews everyday when I got home from work and not leave my side until I left again in the morning. She would just hide in the closet, and gradually, just after Labor Day, I noticed she was swelling with fluid because her cells were breaking down and giving up.

She was unhappy, she couldn't move comfortably, hid in the closer all of the time and seemed ashamed of the fact that she had lost control of her bladder. One day, in between vet visits, i just looked at my girl and realized I couldn't put her through that anymore, so two of my best friends went with me to let her go. The vet thought she probably had three days left at the most. It was tremendously sad, and we looked like the most unusual little family (my best friend his wife and I), but we all loved her. Just like almost everyone who met her did.

Cancer's a bitch. In humans and pets alike. Hug yours tonight!

Flashlight in my Nose

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