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By kilax, September 3, 2018 9:58 am

I used my birthday Bath & Body Works gift cards yesterday and picked up some fall scents!

Now, for a very important question (click through post to see poll):

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I am in the “fall starts on the equinox camp,” so it feels odd to put fall things out before then. I like seeing them in stores, and hearing people being excited about things like apple picking and PSLs, but it feels premature to have fall things out in my home when it’s still humid and 87 degrees! (Run on sentence much?!)

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But… I DID IT! I put out two fall candles and that super cute animal candle holder. I also drank a hot cider this weekend. YOLO!

And P.S. I am ON TO YOU, B&BW. When I picked up “Caramel Pumpkin Swirl,” I thought it smelled very similar to “Cinnamon Caramel Swirl,” a favorite scent of mine.

Look at the fragrance notes (click to see larger)! They are basically the same candle. And as my snis pointed out, the “pumpkin” candle doesn’t even HAVE pumpkin in it. BLASPHEMY!!! (But I kept it, duh, because I LOVE those notes together!)

Guys. I could talk about B&BW candles for days. My happy place is smelling candles in B&BW (if it’s not busy) and I love gifting them. Last week, a friend told me that she’s addicted to them now that I sent her one for her birthday, and I don’t think I could be more honored than hearing that. That text seriously made my day. Ha. It’s the small things, right?!

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By kilax, September 1, 2018 9:04 am

Today is our eleven year wedding anniversary!

Happy Anniversary, Steven! I appreciate all the hard work you do for our family, and the support you give me. And I especially applaud your idea to expand our family this year!

Ha, I was going to write out our story, but it appears I did that last year! <— so click there if you want to read it!

I did dig up an old photo from around the time we first started dating (fall 2002):

Aww, babies!

I told a coworker our eleven year anniversary is this weekend and they said “Wow! You married young!”

Maybe? I was twenty-three, and Steven was twenty-six. That is somewhat young for Chicagoland, but not for where I came from. By the time I got married, a lot of my high school classmates had been married for a while and had children. Everything is relative, right?

It’s interesting to me though, to look back at our wedding photos and see so many old friends – not old in age, but old as in, “from a long time ago.” That is due to getting married young (right after college) and not having any “adult” friends yet, outside from my job. So most of the people at, and in my wedding party, are people I’m not in touch with anymore outside of social media, because of life – we aren’t around each other every day due to school and work. There’s nothing wrong with that – it’s normal – just something I think about once a year when I look at our wedding photos!

Anyway.

We don’t have big anniversary plans! I bet we’ll go out to dinner or do something fun at some point. For now, we just want to chill at home. And maybe we’ll take a trip this year – that’s something we wanted to do last year but it didn’t happen due to work.

Here’s to another year of fun and adventure!

Our most current “nice” picture

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By kilax, August 30, 2018 6:07 am

• Ahhh!!! I received some super thoughtful custom gifts! This mug from my snis, and these socks from xaarlin. Both of them had me looking like the cat making home alone face emoji!!!

Christina said this originally said “All you need is love and a cat (and coffee).” I love that she changed “coffee” to “chai tea latte”! And I love that all my cats are on the mug!

Ha, when I opened these socks, I think I said “Is that Data?!” four or five times. So cool!

• The RAGBRAI store (finally) opened three weeks after the event and I was able to order my 2018 pin! And put it in a drawer with the other four. Why am I collecting these? Ha.

• We’ve been shutting Data in the bedroom, so he can eat at his pace without other cats gobbling up his food. Someone does NOT like that and digs up the carpet. Sigh.

• We let the dishwasher sit open after it’s done washing, to let the dishes dry. Not so much anymore. Someone thinks it’s a playground! Thanks for keeping us on our game, Apollo!

• Cute picture of Starbuck and Apollo:

• How is Data doing? Not great. He is eating a little and using the litter box, but losing weight. A few nights in a row, he seemed to like being petted for a long time, but he wasn’t interested in that last night.

• I was able to finish A Lady’s Guide to Selling Out, and The Last Time I Lied on our flights to and from Kansas City (I was almost done with both) and am now reading Extreme Ownership. I recommend both of those novels! A Lady’s Guide to Selling Out felt so current/relevant, and The Last Time I Lied kept me guessing until the end. Like, literally, the last page!

• Good news for anyone who cares, ha ha – I had previously lamented that the new gmail is getting rid of Labs, which contains “undo send.” Good news – they made “undo send” a permanent setting you can use! Woot!
• I had more random bullets on here but the internet ate them! That is probably for the better!

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 192

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By kilax, August 28, 2018 6:12 am

When I started my blog in 2005 the purpose of it was to keep in touch with family while traveling abroad. It was before Facebook was prevalent, before everyone had smart phones, and before WIFI was widely available. Skype was kind of new. I still took photos with an actual camera. I didn’t text, I called (whut?!).

Anyway, things have changed. Now we can get in touch with anyone within seconds – IF we have signal, and IF they respond.

So the purpose of my blog is no longer to keep in touch with family. It’s to document what I want to from my life, and sometimes, to meet new people (rarely happens anymore though! blogging is dying!).

I’m writing all this because sometimes people say to me “Sorry I haven’t been reading your blog” as a reason why they don’t know about something about my life, OR, just because they actually feel sorry, and like I expect them to.

NO – do NOT be sorry. If you know me, if you are a family member or friend, and we are in touch with each other outside my blog, I do NOT expect you to read my blog to stay “caught up” on my life (I don’t expect anyone to). I’d really LOVE IT if you’d ask me questions about my life. I write all of this for me. And while I LOVE when people read and respond, I do NOT expect them to AT ALL.

PLEASE. TALK TO ME. I spend a lot of time alone. I crave someone asking me a specific question about my life. I crave someone reaching out and just asking me how I am doing. I crave purposeful interaction!

And I do have it! I do! What I am saying though, is, you don’t have to read my blog, or follow any of my social media, as a primer for talking to me! You don’t have to be sorry for not reading this!!! Really!

Social media* can make us lazy (along with a lot of other things). We see someone’s posts, and we don’t reach out to that person – eh, we got an update on Facebook. Or worse, we see someone’s post, and they are a completely different person online than in-person, and we don’t WANT to reach out to them anymore – the online them ruins the in-person them for us.

That will always blow my mind – having a completely different online persona than in-person. The internet DOES bring out the worst in some people! And then, yes, there are people who only post happy stuff online, so if you don’t reach out to them, you do think things are all hunky dory (usually not the case).

What is the point of all this? Ha. Just a reminder to actually talk to people, to ask how they are doing**. And if you want to be extra, to remember something important to them, or something going on in their life, and ask about that. I guarantee they’ll appreciate it! I do!

You can always ask me about our cats! Ha!

*Not that you need social media to be lazy in relationships. Some people are without it!
**And I am not implying that people need to be asked to share information. Just that it’s NICE to be asked!

Comments (16)

By kilax, August 27, 2018 6:44 am

We were in Kansas City this weekend to celebrate two birthdays – my snister’s and Steven’s dad’s. Steven’s dad, David, is turning seventy this year, and his brother, Andrew, had the idea to throw him a surprise party. So we bought flight tickets in April, and told Steven’s dad we were coming for my snister’s birthday.

FRIDAY!

Unfortunately, when it was time to go on Friday, Steven and I were feeling uncomfortable leaving Data. He was having a rough day – not eating much and he peed on the bed (ALL HAIL THE MATTRESS PROTECTOR) –  both things our vet told us to watch for as signs he was declining fast. I was worried things were going to go way downhill when we were gone, but they didn’t (he ate and used the litter box). Bobbi took great care of him and sent me lots of updates. Love her!

But I would be lying if I said I was feeling chill Friday night, traveling there. I wasn’t. I was worried about Data.

SATURDAY!

I slept horribly Friday night and woke up feeling sore and achy, and had a headache. Yay! Perfect for a day filled with activities and being social! Excedrin Migraine, a short run, caffeine, and lots of water helped, thankfully. I didn’t want to travel all that way just to miss out on the party!

The “surprise” party for David was at a restaurant he likes around noon. Surprise is in quotes because as we were parking by the restaurant, all of his family who traveled in from out of town walked in front of his car and he saw them. Surprise!

Saturday was my snister, Christina’s, actual birthday (David’s is this upcoming Thursday). So, yay, snister, come celebrate your birthday with me and all my in-laws. And Mom and Dad. Ha. (She was totally fine with it.)

David and Christina

After lunch, we hung at David’s for a bit, then nine of us (from Steven’s family) went to the Indians vs Royals game. The Royals won 7-1, the game was in the shade (it was in the 90s), then in the dark, and I had vegan hot dogs. So, all in all, a good night!

Steven went to get his free popcorn refill and this is what they gave him. Score!

After the game we hung out with all of Steven’s family in their hotel room for a bit.

SUNDAY!

Whenever we visit David, Andrew brings over donuts one morning. So the rest of Steven’s family came over to partake.

Andrew picked me up two vegan donuts from Mud Pie! I’ve already included Mud Pie in my vegan donut tour in January. But I got those donuts in Kansas. These donuts are from Missouri. Do I include them in my tour? Hmm.

We hung out with Steven’s family for a bit, then when they left to drive home, we left to meet my family for lunch at Lulu’s Thai Noodle Shop. Everything was amazing, and if you’re ever in Kansas City, go! This was the best food I had all weekend, EVEN BETTER THAN MY BALLPARK HOT DOGS!!!

After our short lunch we went to the airport and went home. Our evening was spent unpacking, playing with the fur babies, and doing a few chores! Data was really purry and happy to see us. I think I spent thirty minutes petting him before I went to bed.

I’m glad I got to see my snis on her birthday again this year, and that we got to do something special for David for his seventieth. I think the last time we were together with David’s brother and his kids and their families was in 2011. So that’s special!

Comments (19)

By kilax, August 23, 2018 6:12 am

• Thanks for all of your kind and thoughtful comments on my post yesterday about Data. They really made me feel better, and supported!
• I’m going to keep posting silly posts like Random Thoughts Thursday as long as I feel like it – a lighthearted distraction is good for me.
• Our library was closed for a week, and it seems like all the books I’ve had on hold for several months came in during that time. Eek. I’m still trying to finish A Lady’s Guide to Selling Out!

• We saw Mission: Impossible – Fallout, and I really liked it (and figured I would!). I knew this was a movie I wanted to see in the theater from the time I saw the first trailer. The end was so suspenseful, I kept wanting to bite my nails (but didn’t since I have a no chip, ha. Instead, I just kept tapping them together). I knew I should have worn some bracelets so I had something to twirl when the movie made me feel anxious!
• We shared baby pictures at work yesterday, and guessed who everyone was. A few of us younger people on the staff were saying we should have made ours black and white to throw people off. Ha. Ha ha ha. It was fun to see whose was SO obvious, and which ones weren’t!

• Apollo got to try being outside on the harness yesterday, for the first time. He was definitely freaked out – he had his tail low between his legs! He eventually chilled a bit.

• And, I have to share this picture of Steven’s lunch companions yesterday. What a bunch of troublemakers.

• Yesterday someone at work told me that an email I sent was the best part of their day because it was so concise and clear, and had everything he needed in it. And that he was going to send it to someone else as an example. Hearing that made MY day, especially as it was for something where I don’t feel like I know what I am doing (project management).

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 191

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By kilax, August 22, 2018 12:09 pm

We didn’t get awesome (paw-some?) news at Data’s vet appointment yesterday. Data is losing weight fast (a half pound in under three weeks), and based on the symptoms, our vet suspects Data has GI lymphoma.

We knew he might have lymphoma in June, and made the decision to treat the symptoms with steroids, rather than have an ultrasound and do potential cancer treatment.

Our vet said there is nothing else to do at this point, and that Data is in the “end game,” meaning end of his life. He said we can take him off the steroids – they aren’t doing anything at this point.

I didn’t ask how much time he suspected Data has left. That information doesn’t help me. I just asked what signs to look for to know when it’s time. He said when he stops eating and going to the bathroom properly, or, earlier (if he’s in pain, and so on).

We’re obviously hoping Data has more time than less. He’s still eating, going to the bathroom, and enjoys going outside. He doesn’t want to be on the floor (he’s still camped out in the bathroom sink), but he likes being held, and will sometimes sit in my lap and watch his siblings play.

So yeah. That’s where we are. We’re both upset, but weren’t expecting better news, either. Now we’ll just focus on spoiling Data for all his future days with us.

It’s so strange to have him here with us, cherishing our moments together, but also thinking about when he’ll be gone, and trying to prepare for how hard it’s going to be to say goodbye. There is NO WAY to prepare. There’s just no way.

We gave Data some drugs to help with his vet appointment, which meant he was okay with being upstairs on the bed after

Data’s sisters wanted to show him some love

I can’t get off the struggle bus lately. This month has been a mess. I’m so overloaded at work, that I can’t do anything to the best of my ability – I just need to get things DONE. I don’t feel like I’ve had a “normal” week in a while that’s letting me get back in to a groove. I feel myself becoming shut off because of all this. I’m trying to fit it. And really hoping that having a travel-free, somewhat normal (???) September helps me. This is all normal adulting stuff, my life is pretty great except for a few things (see above), I just wanted to acknowledge I don’t currently have my sh*t together. And am struggling. And realize I will get it together in time. But blah.

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By kilax, August 21, 2018 5:58 am

I’m a lucky gal – I got to see three of my girlfriends this weekend! I’ve been feeling lonely lately, and it was good for me to connect and share with them.

THURSDAY!

I’m starting my weekend recap with Thursday because Anne spent the night! She was in Chicago for a conference that ended that day, and instead of going home, she hung out with me and Steven (and our fur babies). I appreciate her traveling up from the city to spend time with us!

We got Chinese take-out and ate and chatted. I feel like we still have so much catching up to do! We email a lot, and text a bit, but nothing beats face-to-face time.

FRIDAY!

On Friday Anne came with me to the 5:00 am strength class, and we ran after. Then she left for Columbus. Sad face! But I’m grateful for our time together!

Apollo helped Anne with her towels

In the afternoon I drove to Rachel’s house. I got to meet her newest cat (!!!), Nala, and we hung for a bit then went to the expo.

We both commented on how they make you walk by ALL of the vendor booths to pick up your bib and shirt, but we both also ended up buying a few things (for ourselves and gifts) after we picked up our stuff. Ha! They got us!

A bell we knew we wouldn’t be ringing

We went to Fuego, a Spanish restaurant in Madison, for dinner. They have a full vegan menu, and a full meat menu too. We decided to get vegan stuff and split it all.

We thought the tapas were the best – guacamole and salsa, and patatas bravas (fried spicy potatoes). We got the chile relleno and paella for our main courses, and didn’t like them as much! The chile relleno didn’t have much flavor other than spicy, and the paella was deconstructed and had a huge freakin’ eggplant in it that tasted way too earthy to me! Gag! I enjoyed trying something new though, and the opportunity to have so many choices!

The paella – the best part was the crunchy bread dipped in the savory broth

Of course, we got drinks too, and cake (mango coconut) to celebrate Rachel’s birthday!

After checking in our hotel, we went to Dane Dances on the Monona Terrace rooftop, where Rachel’s coworker’s group (well, one of a few that he’s in) Orquesta Sal Sol del Mad was playing! I enjoyed their salsa style music, and thought it was fun when they covered a pop song – it made the song even better (or helped the song if I didn’t like it – I’m looking at you Ed Sheeran)! We danced until they ended their set then got a drink with her coworker.

And went to bed close to midnight! On the night before a half! But we were running for fun so I totally wasn’t concerned.

SATURDAY!

On Saturday we ran the half marathon, had an interesting experience at the Farmers’ Market, and shopped/ate on State Street.

We were planning on having ice cream for lunch <— adulting!, but when we walked by Ian’s, we had to stop in for a slice. Ian’s is one of the very few places I like to get pizza, because they have so many vegan options (surprise surprise, pizza isn’t very fun when you’re vegan, unless the place caters to that diet!).

My jaw hit the ground when I saw they had three vegan slices ready to order (I thought I’d have to wait for a custom order) and one of them was mac n’ cheese. While we had been standing in line, staring at all the ready-made pizzas, I told Rachel mac n’ cheese was what I would get if it was vegan. So, that they had it?! BEST. DAY. EVER. Dreams do come true!!! Here’s a horrible photo that makes it look completely unappetizing:

We shopped a bit after pizza (gah, so many fun shops on State Street!) then got rolled ice cream. We had walked by the rolled ice cream shop on the way back from the race and didn’t have enough cash with us to get any, so that’s when we planned to go back for lunch, because, again, adulting. It was my first time trying rolled ice cream and I liked it! Watching them make it was a lot of fun.

We headed back to Rachel’s after that. I hung for a short bit then drove home. I could tell I was going to be tired when we were riding back to her place and I sure was on my drive. Eek. Too. Much. Fun. (really, too. little. sleep.)

Since this post is recap style, I’m saying more about what we did and not really explaining how nice it was to be together for a chunk of time catching up, but also, hanging out and making NEW memories. We’re typically together for only a few hours and trying to cram in as much catch up as we can!

I admire Rachel – she’s got a lot going on, and she has her sh*t together, and goes after what she wants. She’s actually very good at adulting, beyond our initial plan to have ice cream for lunch. Ha. And talking personal and work things out with her this weekend gave me some insight. Yay, friend time!

I spent the rest of Saturday night hanging with Steven and the cats. We made dinner and watched an episode of Mad Men (we just started season six).

SUNDAY!

I was lazy on Sunday. I got up at 5:00 and fed the cats, then went back to bed until 7:00 (!!!), and ran errands from 9:00-11:30. Errands were frustrating and I kept telling myself “these are small things that don’t matter,” but I’m in a state where I’m just waiting for one small thing to make me crack and lose my sh*t and it almost happened but didn’t. Phew.

We had lunch together and Bobbi and her girls came over after to play with the kitties (and talk to us too, ha). It was fun sharing cat stories – their cat is our kittens’ mother! We want to socialize Apollo and Starbuck with lots of people so they aren’t shy/scared, so I keep inviting people over to meet them. Come on over!!!

They were pooped after playing with their visitors!

We took Data out for a walk in our yard in the afternoon. He’s still playing the floor is lava game inside, but seems completely fine outside, so we stayed out there for about an hour. When we came in, he didn’t immediately run back to the bathroom sink – he hung out with us for a few hours!  Is this progress?! It made me so happy to have him hanging with us again (he did go back to the sink at the end of the night). He has an appointment with the vet today – we are concerned he’s losing weight too fast.

Steven was craving corn on the cob so we made that part of our dinner, and watched Avengers: Infinity War. And that was my Sunday, besides a few chores, and a lot of kitty time!

Random cute cat pics from the weekend:

We got this tent out of storage and it ended up being very popular!

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By kilax, August 20, 2018 6:25 am

I am still editing my weekend recap, so in lieu of that here is a story from Saturday!

During the beginning of Saturday’s half marathon, we ran by the Farmers’ Market, and I asked Rachel if it would still be open when we finished running for us to check out. It was, and we did, yay! (She warned me about how crowded it gets, and while it was shoulder-to-shoulder crowds, they were at least moving. I appreciated the warning – I don’t always do well in crowds.)

I had no idea the “Saturday Market on the Square” had so many vendors! Whoa! I was impressed by the variety of produce, baked goods (even some vegan ones!), and crafts. I decided to buy peppers, since we kept seeing them, and they were on my shopping list anyway. Fresh peppers would be a treat!

Then Rachel and I had the strangest interaction with one guy selling them (although I wonder if he was actually selling any, with his attitude…).

He was selling sweet peppers, and I said to Rachel “I wonder if these will be good on salads, or if they’ll be too sweet?” I always buy bell peppers for our salads, and didn’t know! So Rachel wondered that out loud to the vendor and he answered “No, they won’t be good.” Then scowled and said “Of course they would be, why would you ask that?”

We were both so taken aback with what a dick he was being. I said something about typically using bell peppers so I just wondered how these would be, and he quipped back with “just go back to using your watered-down tasteless peppers” (or something like that, it’s been a few days now, ha).

Um. What. Da. Fuq. Did he want to sell his peppers or not? Is it offensive if someone asks if the thing you grew and are selling would be good eaten a certain way? So freaking bizarre. And he definitely was NOT trying to be funny. He was straight-up rude and pissy with us.

So we obviously walked away! I bought peppers from someone else who was nice and let me ask questions about what she uses them for. Because YES I have been buying conventional bell peppers from Aldi for five years so please enlighten me. Jeebus.

Nice lady peppers (some bell, some sweet)

That interaction didn’t ruin our market experience, just made me wonder what the hell was up that guy’s butt and how he expected to sell anything if he was being such a dick to anyone who asked a stupid question. Maybe you should NOT be at the Farmers’ Market, interacting with people, buddy. Know your limits of human interaction! I am proud that my interaction with him didn’t take me to my limit for the day, ha ha ha.

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By kilax, August 17, 2018 7:57 am

I lied! I have more than five items!

Gosh, it’s been too long since I posted an update on our cats. Ha.

1. Apollo and Starbuck still need voices. We have well defined voices for Data and Khali (and had one for Snow, too), but Apollo and Starbuck’s still haven’t come to us yet. Which makes it hard for us to communicate for them.
   
2. We also do not have songs for them yet. Yes, Data and Khali each have (several) songs. I’ve sung a few things to them, about themselves, but I don’t think it’s gonna stick.
   
   Ha, Khali was running around like crazy and Apollo’s tail got super puffy!
3. In the training I was in at work this week, we had to say something we like to do for fun during an introduction, and I totally said “play with my new kittens.” Happily, I got an “aww” response. 
4. Apparently four cats is the amount you need to have to call them each other’s names. I mainly accidentally call the girls each other’s names. Sometimes I almost even call them by their mother’s name – Athena!
   
   Apollo and Khali
5. Apollo is a total crier for attention (and food!). Yesterday he was crying out from another room during a conference call and my boss goes “is that one of your new babies?” Luckily, it was an internal call, and my boss is totally cool. Oh, Apollo.
   
6. Steven sends me pictures of the cats and I sometimes can’t tell them apart if I can only see their face!
   
    I thought this was Apollo at first. It’s not!
7. Data is STILL in the sink from last weekend (when he moved there from the tub). We got him some new meds (hemp oil) to try, per the recommendation of our vet. I hope it helps. Some of our friends have used it for their pets and said it has! But he’s really declining physically – losing a lot of weight and muscle mass. We’re very concerned and have an appointment for him at the veterinarian next week.