Comments (40)

By kilax, February 2, 2018 4:15 am

Snow wasn’t around for dinner Wednesday night or breakfast Thursday and I thought nothing of it – he usually goes exploring when we get warmer spells like we had on Wednesday.

So I was shocked Thursday morning when Steven called me shortly after leaving the house to ask if I’d seen Snow that morning, and to tell me he was pretty sure he found his body along the road just over a mile south of our house.

He wrapped him up in a blanket and brought him home. It was definitely him. I didn’t look at his face (the freezing temperatures really messed up his eyes and Steven advised I didn’t look) but I recognized his muscular body. I was glad to see it wasn’t mangled. I hope his death was instant and he didn’t suffer long. (And I’m extremely glad that Steven found Snow, and he didn’t just disappear with us wondering where he was forever.)

We buried him in the backyard. It was in the teens and super windy and the ground was frozen. But we started a fire to warm the ground and were able to dig a hole for him. I’m glad he’s close to home and I can visit him.

I’d like to write his name on the stone

Ugh.

I’m still in shock, when I think about how he won’t be living in his house anymore, or crying at the doors and windows of ours. Crying for attention and playing shy, then being a total lovebug as soon as he warmed up. I look outside and expect to see him. I keep thinking I hear him meowing at us.

Snow never wanted to live inside and we knew the risks of letting him be an outdoor cat. I just wish he hadn’t explored a road so far away from the home, where there’s a 55 mph speed limit.

But I’m glad for the short time we had with him. He showed up late September 2016 and was here until he passed away on February 1st, 2018. He was almost always around the house, and would come running and meowing if you opened any door to say hello. He let me hold him like a baby, and would purr like crazy. He loved his sister Khali, and liked Data too. A lot of our guests loved him because he was so sweet and friendly. He’ll be missed by many.

Baby Snow

I feel very matter of fact writing this, and like my emotion isn’t coming through. I’m horribly upset and look like crap from all my crying. I hate that our time together was cut short. I hate that animals get hit by cars. I hate that Snow won’t be visiting us inside anymore – that was new and becoming fun.

Ugh.

I’m very grateful to our supportive friends and family who’ve been consoling us. We feel comforted by them. Thank you!

Comments (10)

By kilax, February 1, 2018 6:23 am

• My mom knows the way to my heart. She’s planning a trip to Mount Rushmore in March and I told her I likely can’t go. Then she texts me out of the blue, “Oh, did you hear about this race in the area around the time we’re going?!” Tempting! I haven’t updated my states raced in/run in map in a while!
• I was on my blog Facebook page the other day and saw someone liked a post that I completely forgot subscribes to my blog. Oops. I forget about the readers who don’t comment! I hope I am not offending too many people.
• I told Steven about the custom notebook I ordered and he liked the idea so much he ordered notebooks for himself and his friends to take coffee notes in! (Steven is on a quest to brew the perfect cup.)

• Yay! My snis and Will and William are traveling to Iowa the same weekend we are in April! I can’t wait to see them!
• Data and Khali get along and (I think) like being around each other, but Tuesday was the first time since Khali moved in last February that I’ve seen them sleeping and cuddling together. Aww!!!!

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 165

Comments (16)

By kilax, January 31, 2018 5:41 am

What a long month! January seems to be lasting forever (apparently I’m not the only one who feels that way). That’s not a bad thing though. It’s been a fun month, and I am 100% a-okay with time not flying by! But of course, I’m thinking ahead!

Here’s a few things I am looking forward to in February:

• A running date with Rachel!
• Teaching three fitness boxing classes, and one indoor cycling class.
• Valentine’s Day treats for fitness boxing class (yes, I favor them, ha).
• My parents maybe visiting to help with a house project, and take my classes!
• A massage!
• Anne and Terry visiting!
• Continuing my every day blogging streak?! Maybe?! (This post about what makes me blog more often is still true.)
• More bowling dates with Steven! We’ve been bowling more and I enjoy it. I wish we could find a league to participate in… that wasn’t a zillion weeks long. And was every other week. Ha.
• My work detail ending. That’s completely the opposite of what I’ve been saying, but after some things happened, I am ready for it to be done.
• Having another vegan donut?!

Notice what’s NOT on the list?! The Frosty Footrace! I’ll likely be there, but I just still feel so meh about it all. (Yes, I hold long grudges. Working on that. Maybe having a good race there will help!?!)

Comments (14)

By kilax, January 29, 2018 6:27 am

I’d been looking forward to this weekend for a long time – I had no social plans and wasn’t teaching! Laziness, here I come!!!

Okay, that’s sort of a lie. I had ONE plan, to get my nails done with my friend Kim Friday night. It was time to get the gel nails removed that I had put on in KC, and I decided to get new ones put on. They’re doing a good job protecting my nails, and it’s nice not to have them chip (too much, anyway… the left hand started to chip 1.5 weeks in). I wonder how long I’ll keep this maintenance up! So fance. Much self care. Very pamper.

Color is OPI “We Seafood and Eat It.” I love OPI! Background is Data. 

On Saturday, I ran, did errands (at an earlier time that I usually do, which was great because there were less people out), then assisted Steven with installing the antenna in the attic (this is the second antenna we’ve tried, with a stronger signal). My job was very important – I handed Steven tools, and sat on the couch and pressed buttons to see what the signal strength was and let him know, while he messed around with mounting it in the attic.

YOU GUYS. I made a major realization this week – now that we have an antenna we can watch things like awards show (the Oscars!), and sports games (the Superbowl), and Saturday Night Live (if I EVER stay up that late). EXCITING!!! We only got an antenna so I could watch the Olympics, so all of that seems like a bonus!

(Note: we can’t get cable on our street, and we didn’t get an antenna before because it wasn’t important and we doubted it would work with being too far from signals in Chicago and Milwaukee. But this super strength antenna seems to be working! Yay!)

On Saturday night, we had a “date night” in Milwaukee, and tried Beerline Cafe, a vegetarian/vegan restaurant. The food was delicious! It’s a treat to go to a restaurant where I can order almost anything off the menu!

Yay, I satisfied my nachos craving!

But the restaurant was in a super quiet residential area and I couldn’t come up with anything to do after! I suck at finding things to do OTHER than food, in any town. We don’t drink much, so going to bars and breweries is often out. I was looking for shows, and movies, etc., but it was too last minute. I need to work on that!

Sunday was another quiet day. More exercising, a few chores, knitting, short napping (Saturday too!), and relaxing. Yay! My next quiet weekend isn’t until March (if I get one!) so I am glad I had this one!

Comments (10)

By kilax, January 25, 2018 5:33 am

• I got more information yesterday about what’s going on at work. I’m still disappointed, but I understand it better now. I’ll share more when it’s all done (in a few months).
• The RAGBRAI route announcement party is this Saturday! We streamed it last year and it was horribly painful to watch – way too drawn out. This year, I’ll just look up the course before I go to bed. My guess is that it will go through the far south of Iowa.
• Shutterfly had an offer for a “free” (you pay for shipping) custom notebook. I love this photo of me and Steven, so I used it. It doesn’t really go with the message I put on the cover though. Ha!

• For those of you who saw the film It, what did you think of it? I was expecting it to be better, and scarier (note: I haven’t read the book or seen the mini-series). I typically don’t like movies with kids as the main characters, so that didn’t help. Eh. At least I could sleep after watching it! (Except for my usual wake up to use the bathroom then feeling wide awake happening.)
• Ha, we got this flier for the Frosty Footrace in the mail yesterday. The caption on the front page cracks me up (especially the typo). A lot of us must have complained when they changed the format last year. I’m glad they’ve changed it back! (Brief history – I’ve been doing this 5K since 2009 as a goal 5K and they changed it (after I registered) to a “2 miler” last year and the race sucked.)

• Snow has been coming in some nights to spend the night inside. He LOVES the bed. And is SOOOOO cuddly.

• It looks like I am going to be blogging for another two years – I just renewed my hosting until March 2020. I hate that I have to negotiate the rates each year. Blah.
• And now for the COMPLETELY random. I’ve been talking about nachos a lot lately. I should probably make some soon, so I shut up about them. Nachos… droooooool…

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 164

Comments (10)

By kilax, January 24, 2018 6:23 am

Not about the government shutdown. Although I am a federal employee.

Has something ever upset you so much that to deal with it level headedly, you had to step back and give yourself time to calm the eff down?

I know, dumb question. How the hell else do you handle things?

It’s just that I’ve had several moments like that over the last year, so I’m thinking about it. Moments where I was so upset, I really couldn’t think or do anything about the situation. I had to give myself time to calm down. Let my heart rate come down. Let that “I may throw up” feeling stop. I had to wait to deal with it until I wasn’t filled with firey rage just thinking about it.

Okay, that last part may be a bit of an exaggeration. Ha.

But I have to shut down on the situation, until I calm down. It’s not uncommon for me to say “I need time to calm down” or “I can’t talk about it right now,” and it’s not that I’m avoiding it. I just need to be less angry. Then approach it with less emotion involved.

This happened to me Monday, with something work related. I was so shocked I didn’t know whether to cry or throw up. Ugh. I felt horrible.

But I am proud of how I handled it. I didn’t take it out on anyone. I talked to Steven, my snis, and friends for support. I went on a run. I wrote an angry inappropriate blog post and waited until today to publish this (and not the other one). I didn’t binge eat (<—- that’s a big one).

I feel like such an adult.

An angry, screwed over one (who feels slightly better today).

Unrelated photo of our snow dump from Monday night! I was so proud of myself for doing all the snow blowing, even though it looked horrible because the ground was so soft under the snow and dirt flew everywhere.

Comments (12)

By kilax, January 23, 2018 6:23 am

Because if I saved this all for Random Thoughts Thursday, that post would be WAY too long.

• On Friday I came back in a great mood from my run… until I was undressing and realized my driver’s license was not in the pocket I put it in during my run. I was 99% certain it fell out somewhere in the car (not on my run), and was stressed out and annoyed until I found it. Ugh. I did find it though. When I unzipped the pocket it was in to take out my phone in the car, it fell in to that horrible crevice between the seat and the center console (you know, the one that the peanuts and popcorn and chapstick and dry cleaning stubs live in). I tried every different way of adjusting the seats to find it. Then, when I did, I had to use a pair of long tweezers to grab it, cause the slot it was in was so small. Fun times, for sure. I definitely learned my lesson to always keep track of my ID, though! And a huge thanks to Steven for spending time trying to find it, as well.

Photo from that run

• On Saturday we hung up the mirror Christina and Will gave us! I love how it looks! Every time we hang something, or decorate, or do a project, or a deep clean, or I walk down the stairs in to the living room, I get this feeling of “Man, I just love this house.”

P.S. That Cinnamon Caramel Swirl candle in the photo? Definitely a new favorite of mine!!!

• On Saturday, Bobbi and her husband came over for dinner and games, and we laughed so hard playing the 5 Second Rule game (not an affiliate link). The gist of the game is that you have to name three things from one topic in five seconds. For example, three breeds of dogs, three tv dads, three national parks, three books, etc. If you can’t name three items in your turn, it goes to the next person, but they can’t list any of the things you did! It gets silly and I was laughing so hard I almost cried. I love that feeling!
• On Sunday, I started working on some wash cloths my mom asked me to knit for her sister-in-law. I was ashamed when I went through my knitting stash and found MANY unfinished projects, and so many skeins of beautiful yarn I’ve been gifted and haven’t used. Ugh. But working on the first cloth, and having it go so easily and all come back to me, and enjoying it SO MUCH gives me hope I will get to those other projects and beautiful skeins! It feels great to MAKE something.

Totally posed knitting by the fireplace photo.

• Sunday was the first weekend day all year that I’ve had a free day with no plans and it was GLORIOUS!!! I got a lot done but was lazy too. My only regret is not taking a nap!

Comments (8)

By kilax, January 19, 2018 6:47 am

My baby, the KIMBOT, hit a huge milestone yesterday – 200,000 miles!

Major thanks to Steven for snapping this pic. I knew he’d be in the car when it hit 200,000 and I kept telling him over and over I wanted a photo of it. He was driving on the interstate when it happened, so he pulled over and took the pic. He said the lighting was really weird, so he had to wait for a semi to drive by and conceal all the shadows, then take burst mode photos until he got a good one. Aww. That’s true love!

To treat her, she got a car wash today! And maybe she’ll get detailed after the crummy weather is over in the spring.

I’ve had my Infinti FX35 since 2009. She’s a fun, reliable car (we’ve had typical wear and tear, and made investments in her). I foresee her being my ride for quite some time… but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been looking around. Particularly at the Jaguar F-PACE. drooooooooooool

Someday…

Comments (10)

By kilax, January 18, 2018 6:23 am

• When we were in KC this weekend, my snister gave me a mirror they had that no longer fits with the decor of their house, but I think will look great above the table in our foyer. I am excited to hang it!!! <— much adulting.
• Also, when we were in KC, I had to get a photo of me and mom (and Steven, ha) wearing our Holiday Mile Challenge tees and medals! Mom enjoyed the challenge, and wants to keep walking, and do the Chocoholic 5K this year!

• I was bummed we couldn’t watch the Summer Olympics in 2016 (we don’t have a cable account to log in to watch them stream), so we ordered an antenna and tuner to see if we can get a signal to watch some of the Winter Olympics in February. I hope it works! We’re equidistant from Milwaukee and Chicago, and kind of in a dead-zone, reception-wise, but this antenna is supposed to have a far range! We’ll see…
• A space I designed is actually being built, as I designed it (mostly), on the floor I work on now! That’s exciting for me!

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 163

Comments (12)

By kilax, January 17, 2018 7:35 am

The other part of our Kansas City trip was to celebrate a late Christmas with my parents and Christina and Will! This is how we typically split our holiday celebrations with our families – one in December (on Christmas) and one sometime in January. I like spreading out the cheer (and do not like trying to cram two families in to back to back weekends – too draining).

We drove to Kansas City because we had gifts to bring, and would have gifts to bring back. It’s about five hundred and seventy-five miles, one way.

GAH.

We did the first drive in four shifts. One of our stops was at Hurts Donuts in Des Moines. Steven loves sharing his love for Hurts Donuts with everyone!

Crazed, been in the car too long eyes

Nine hours is a loooong time to be in the car (we left at noon and got there at 9:00). We were definitely getting punchy well before we arrived. Ugh. But I know all about raising chickens now (that is what Steven researched while I was driving).

William waited up for us! Aww.

On Saturday I ran in the morning with Dad (William did not want to come, ha),

helped with party decorations and food prep,

ate Minskys,

then we had our Christmas!

Aka, all the ladies exchanging things we bought each other at Bath & Body Works. Seriously – my mom and I bought each other the same candle. Steven said it was somewhat painful to watch us open each item and ooh and ahh over it and smell it and pass it around. Ha ha ha. Ha. Don’t worry, it wasn’t ALL Bath & Body Works.

After presents, Christina treated me, Mom, and Alyssa (our sister-in-law) to manicures! Can you tell which hand is mine?

Then we ran errands for the party, and picked up Chinese food for dinner! I got the tip on where to order from from a worker at Bath & Body Works <— yes, we have a problem.

Why did the restaurant ask if we were having a party? This is food for six people. Ha.

Sunday was all about the party (and a morning run with Dad, and Steven met a friend for breakfast)! After the party, we went to see my brother-in-law Andrew’s new office, and he encouraged me to write my signature equation on his whiteboard. Ha.

On Monday, I ran with Dad again! I feel lucky we got to work out so much together. It’s a treat for me to chat with him, one-on-one, for so long, uninterrupted by other things!

We also went to Mud Pie, then headed out around 11:30. And made the long-arse drive back home (three shifts this time). I’d say we were less punchy this drive, yay!

Something exciting happened on our drive – we saw a sun dog in person for the first time! I was so excited! It lasted for a couple hours, and became most prominent/beautiful right before sunset. I was only able to get a bad photo through the car window.

And… that was our trip! Ha. My post makes it sound like we didn’t do much, but we were busy the whole time! I hope we have more relaxation time during our next visit! And that we take more photos together!