Monday, September 22, 2008

"Pet Shenanegans" Clinches It (as do the Cubs)!


While Amanda's support was lovely and Matt's critique was predictable, I need to give the people what they want. And since Bill and Phay were the only people who actually said what they wanted, I will be sharing the lastest and greatest pet news.

Being very cautious from the beginning, Arlo and I decided it was best to keep the pets apart for quite some time. So, the cats were living in our room, and Marley was in his bedroom if the cats were out. The cats had free reign when Marley was in bed and during the day when he was in his bedroom and we were out. All of that changed last week when we began letting the pets see one another. It started with Arlo walking Marley by the bedroom door and not letting him push in. Both cats stared at him, freaked out entirely, but for the most part stood their grounds. After this event, Fizgig became bolder, and anytime Marley walked up to the bedroom door or sniffed underneath, Fizgig would hiss and make this other weird sound that wasn't growling, but sounded like coughing, and he would hit the door. It was pretty funny to witness.

Since then, there have been other pet interactions, always with Marley on the lease. Sidd has finally seen him and not gone running right away, and he hissed at Marley. Last night, Fizgig actually growled at him, a low, suprisingly loud growl. While I felt really bad for Marley (after all, he is doing nothing wrong except for being their instinctively hated species of animal), a small bit of me is actually kind of proud of them, kind of like when the parent of a scrawny kid finds out that their kid made the bully cry or wet himself. I'm hoping that eventually they can learn to get along, and I have no doubt that at least Fizgig will be able to exist in the same room as Marley eventually. Sidd on the other hand may take up permanent residence in our bedroom, which would be fine by me except for the occasional poo after I've scooped.

Other news- Arlo and I went out for the Packer's game. We walked up the street to what is literally our neighborhood bar, as in it is in a house in our neighborhood. That's right, Deb and John who live on Plainfield Ave. have created Deb and John's Plainfield Pub. It was awesome! I wish I had taken pictures. There was Packers stuff everywhere, pretty much everyone there but us was in Packers regalia, and there were 4 tvs all displaying the game, so I was surrounded by football. Sounds like my personal hell, right? Actually I had a lot of fun! We had beer and snacks and I actually watched a good almost half of the game. Unfortunately the Packers were slammed. We got to vote for the Best Dressed Packer Fan (we weren't even nominated as we were both wearing brown.) And, I saw the Best Women's Restroom ever! (not actually called that or voted by the people.) Ask me why. Well, because the place was plastered with pictures of half-naked men and jokes and forwards covering such topics as menopause, the menstrual cycle, men being idiots, and the need for chocolate. Hilarious!

So, just to conclude, as I was typing this, Arlo went to take Marley out to pee. While walking him by the bedroom, Fizgig tried to swat at Marley, shutting the door and then proceeded to open it again to posture at him, as if to say, "You wanna play!?!? You wanna play??!? Oh, I see how it is! Yeah, run away, little doggie. Go running back to your daddy." Oh Fizgig, you badass.

p.s. Pics are of the cats' favorite "TV" show- the nature channel going on outside of the window and (soon to be posted) picture of Deb and John's Pub.

I miss you all!!! Take care!

Monday, September 15, 2008

Finally, The Pictures!







Okay, so the plan was to put pics of the house online yesterday, but I was in a crazy rush to get out of the house for a music festival, followed by a concert by Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet (cue knowing laugh by Kevin). Two, count them two, occurrences of live music in one day!! Add that to the tally (which hasn't been updated, by the way). Abigail Washburn was amazing, but more about that later.




The pictures are of the various rooms of the house, namely the bedroom (Elsie), Marley's room (Susie), the Kitchen (The Daisy Diner) and the living room (The Planetarium) (Arlo and I gave them the names the first day we moved in to make putting furniture and boxes away more fun). It's tough to see the colors perfectly, but the main bedroom is a sky blue and Susie, Marley's room, is a bright green. The living room is a khaki tan. I made all the sets of curtains and Arlo helped me pick out two of the fabrics. Please notice the new couch, which is comfy, big enough to nap on, and sporting a fantastic ottoman. Also, the bedroom is definitely a work in progress as far as stuff on the walls. We have to move that one painting to over the dresser and put more pictures up. Fortunately, Amanda and Bill sent us a great frame with four pictures and we are going to be hanging that up, so that will definitely add something, especially with Bill's handsome face! I'm really pleased with the way that everything in the house turned out. Our place isn't perfect, but it's pretty awesome! I know we're both very happy here.
Okay, so here's where you come in, Choose Your Own Adventure Style. I would like to know where you want me to go from here. You can either hear more about my new job at Louise's Trattoria, the Abigail Washburn concert, or the recent shenanigans amongst the pets! You choose. Whatever has the most votes by Friday will be written about thoroughly. But not too thoroughly. Entertaining, concise, and titillating. That's my style.
Night, y'all.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Damn! I've been lax!

So sorry to those of you who check on a regular basis! I really wanted to wait until I took pictures of the house, which meant I wanted to wait until the curtains were done, and then my sewing machine was a bit possessed, and there you go. It didn't happen. So, despite the fact that I STILL don't have pictures, I decided to write about what else is going on. I did actually finish the fourth and final set of curtains (hurrah!), but I don't feel that the place is fit to take pictures of, as there is still A: a lot of crap around, B: the process of switching over to the fall clothes in the bedroom and hence, piles of clothes, and C: A CAT LITTER BOX IN THE BEDROOM!!!! Emphasis on that last tasty morsel. The plan right now is to clean up the laundry room so it's kitty-proof and move the litter box and food dishes in there, but it hasn't happened. So, please continue waiting for those pictures as it's probably going to be a few days. This is not due to sheer laziness, I assure you. It's due mostly to the fact that I recently accepted a job at Louise's Trattoria, an Italian restaurant in the city. I worked a double there today, and will do another one tomorrow and another on Saturday. They are all stupid training sessions, so I'm trying to pack them in so that I can get on the floor and start making money!!
As for the other job, you know, the one where I do social worky type stuff? Well, haven't found one of those yet. Unfortunately, this continues to be a bit difficult, but I am still sending out my resume, calling places and checking online. I'll keep you all posted on that.
I guess nothing new to report otherwise. Oh, yeah, there is one thing. I saw an Indy race last weekend. It was the Indy 300, held at Chicagoland Speedway. I went with Arlo and his friend Scott. Having experienced it, I can safely say that while aspects were enjoyable (the crashes once the people were discovered to be fine, the company, and the finish), I have to say that I was wondering why people would pay actual money for this. I mean really, it's a bunch of cars driving in circles 200 times! However, who am I to judge. If given the choice, I would so dig watching a marathon of shows from E! and Style to my heart's content.

Alright, time to go study the 10 Points of Service for my quiz tomorrow. Man, this puts the LCSW-C exam to shame! Night, y'all. Pics to post soon. Love you!