Adeline update

Her name is Adeline. Sweet Adeliiiiiiiiiinnnne... After the Elliott Smith song on XO.



She is a sweeeeeeeetie. I love her. She loves cat toys, and her cat bed, and scratching post, and sitting in the window; she's like a cat in a children's book. She meows a lot. She will go upstairs and meow for us to come up and play with her in "her room." Or meow at the cat charmer toy when we are not holding the wand and bouncing it, like, "Heyyy! Move arounnd! Be fun like you were before!!" She likes to hang out with us and follow us around the house. She's not much of an eater but she gets excited when it's food time. She loves to watch TV, especially baseball because she can follow the ball. She really, really loves to chase her sparkly ball toys. Especially in the middle of the night. She's real good at finding the balance between batting them all over the place and keeping them under control. But her most favorite game is played on top of our bed at 5am every morning and it is called CHASEMYTAILCHASEMYTAILCHASEMYTAIL. It's a little bit cute.

She's kind of dumb. But in a good way.

Apart from dangling fun things to bat at, I've been pretty busy. Last week involved a lot of late nights and a lot of drinking, so I'm trying to slow it down a little bit this week. It was graduation week, so I had my guitar class graduation on Monday and the Tuesday crew of course went out on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday I got a beer with my friend Robin from grade school who was in town for work. Thursday I was good and stayed in. Friday Ben, Molly and I went out for sushi, to see Kevin's play, to the Red Lion and the California Clipper. Saturday Ben and I slept late and then drove around going to multiple Home Depots and hardware stores to get stuff to make a scratching post for the kitty. Home Depot blows. It's too big to find anything, they never have what we need, and they put smaller nicer stores out of business. Luckily our day was saved by the best barbeque I've ever had at Smoque with Ben and Jess, followed by a beer at the Charleston, an excellent smoke-free cozy bar not far from home. Sunday morning was the Sp00ky Singalong, so I donned my Hungry Caterpillar outfit once again and played some fun Halloween songs for costumed kids. It was so much fun. Lots of kids from my classes were there this year, and we were all excited to see each other in our outfits. Happy times. We made the scratching post in the afternoon and then Ben and I went to his coworker's wedding at the U of C that evening; it was a real good time. Good food, good drink, good dancing, good company.

On Monday night Ben and I went to Soupbox for dinner, and we went to the one downtown so parking was a real challenge. We saw someone at the end of the block getting ready to leave, so we pulled in front of them to back into the spot after they left. But before we could do so, some other car zipped in from behind. Ben waved outside the door right away, before their car was all the way in, to say that it was our spot. But this lady, on her cell phone, acknowledged him and refused to give up the spot. She wouldn't get off the phone, and Ben got out and said, "Hey, this is our spot," and she was like, "Sorry, I'm late for class." And she took the spot. She wouldn't move, and Ben was just standing there next to her car, while she got her books together and kept talking on her phone and walkled away. It was infuriating. She was a total bitch. Ben said, "Well, you're gonna be a great lawyer!" We were both so mad. But what could we do? Punch her? Key her car? Yell in the street? As someone who does not do bitchy things like flat-out steal someone else's parking spot, I was flabbergasted. And frustrated. Hasn't she seen that commercial where everyone sees someone else doing a good deed, and it makes the world a better place?

Good thing I had a kitty to come home and play with.

Possibly the best cat of all time*

Meet our new roommate. We adopted her from Treehouse last night, after months of waiting for clinic visits and dentist appointments. They called her "Sweetie," and she really, really is. She is the best cat I've ever seen. Ben and I are completely in love with her. When I was in the waiting room while they were getting her all set at the shelter, the woman working with her came into the office and said, "Are you sure we're charging this lady enough money to adopt this cat? She's awfully cute." She was a staff favorite, because she is so totally awesome and great. She is beautiful, and healthy, and cute, and very affectionate, and playful, and chill, and used the litterbox, and purrs when we enter the room. She is very snuggly, loves to be held, loves to nuzzle and be scratched. Holy crap she is a great cat. She is one year old.

We put her in our little music room, since when you bring a new cat home they recommend keeping them confined to one room to start out and then gradually letting them explore the house. She seemed very happy in there, playing with her toys and sitting in her little bed. She loves the "Cat Charmer," which Julia told me I must get for a new cat. (Thanks Julia!)

This morning I woke up and went right in there, eager to say good morning. But when I opened the door, I didn't see her. I couldn't find her anywhere. The door had been closed all the way, and there wasn't a way for her to escape. She hadn't gotten into the closet....

"Ben! Ben! Where is she? She's not in here!" He came in right away to help me look. And then suddenly:



Every time after that when we went into the room this morning, she would be in there, and we'd see her little black nose poking out, and then she'd come out right away to say hello to us. I think the bass drum is her house. There's a blanket in there to muffle the sound, and it's all cozy inside.

Sigh.

She is the best cat ever.

We don't have a name for her yet. But we have a lot of ideas:

Delilah (after the bar + Plain White T's song)
Gorby (Whatcha gonna do? She's one cool cat. With a white blotch on her head.)
Basie (in the bass drum, plus she's black and white like a piano)
Barack Obama (because he too is black and white)(just kidding)
Charlie (Chaplin)
Emily Kane (from the Art Brut song)
Danny Rodgers (after our boss when we worked for College Pro Painters)
Jackie (from many New Pornographers songs)
Boomer (bass drum, also Aerin's affectionate nickname for everything)
Lula (after the restaurant)
Susannah (Oh)
Catty Wampus

What do you think? Ideas?

I have an idea. You should come over and play with this cat ASAP! She's the best EVER!! You will be smitten.


*No offense to Sundae, Penny, Molly, Fraidy, Dorothy, Isabel, Jaffy, Jasmine, Taffy Jane, Mittens, Lightning, Comet, Thunder, Vanna White, Teaser, Tickles, Cleo, Chloe, Patches, Cuddles, Speckles, Riply, Betty, Leonard, or Satan.

Fattening up for the winter

My appetite is insatiable! Since the weather has begun to change I am never too full to stop eating. Everything is delicious. I was worried for about a minute that I might be pregnant, but no, I'm just eating for one. One hungry girl.

I think my appetite is also a product of our trip to Seattle, which was amazing. When I'm on vacation, I just eat whatever I want. And for the most part I spend whatever I want. But I've been back for several days now and am still eager to trade my dollars for cookies, snacks and coffee. The coffee is the real tricky one; I justified that in Seattle I was allowed to drink coffee whenever I wanted, since it was Seattle. The city is a comical stereotype of itself in some ways: every other building really is a coffee shop. Full of grungy hipsters. With long shaggy hair. Wearing skullcaps and scarves. Over their big comfy cardigans. The update to the grunge scene of course is the skinniest pants you've ever seen beneath the oversized sweaters. And the truly amazing thing is that every single one of these coffee shops is thriving.

When we weren't drinking coffee in Seattle, we were catching up with friends, eating great food, watching free live opera at the public library, having Wigglworms class with Owen and the other babies Delaney nannies, getting lost on our late-night drive to a rented cabin with friends, drinking boozes, or hiking on snowy Mt. Ranier. It was so much fun. You can see our photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/benchandler/Seattle07

Sorry not to blog sooner everyone (Isabel). I've been working A LOT to make up for the shifts I missed on the trip. And when I finally had a day off, Ben and I painted our kitchen all day. It's lovely. We love our little house. And we are excited to share it with the cat we're adopting TOMORROW.

I thought it would be a good idea to paint the kitchen before we got our new cat. Ben said, "Yeah, definitely. We don't want our cat to think we have an ugly kitchen."

They don't call 'em itch mites for nothin'

Remember when we thought we had bed bugs? The mystery has been solved. Chicago's infested with itch mites. They fall out of trees onto you and then several hours later little crazy welts show up and itch for a couple of weeks. I got a bunch of new bites in the past couple of days, because it's been so warm out and I've spent some time sitting outside. Anyway, they're not kidding about the name. These little fuckers itch.

I've been working all the time. And I've been tired. Spent a lot of evenings crashing early at home lately. Let's see, what is of note since last posting...

My family's cat Penny died. She was a sweet one. They spend a month or so dealing with her as she got pretty sick, but it seemed sudden from my perspective, since she was fine the last time I was home. I think about her from time to time. We miss you Penny Lane.

It's really, really hot and humid in Chicago. Especially for October! Today was the Chicago marathon and they called a halt to it early. I guess people were dropping like flies. One person actually died. Scary.

Last night, Ben, Poppy, her friend Joy and I had a little dinner party together. We decided to all make Indian food, and it all turned out great! Poppy made curried shrimp, she and Joy also made a yummy eggplant dish. Ben made saag paneer, and he made his own paneer cheese from scratch! It was really cool, and delicious. I made the desserts: coconut custards and galub jamun. Everything was delicious. Very rich. And spicy! We sat in Poppy's dining room, eating and sweating and mopping our brows with our napkins. Did you know that riesling pairs really well with spicy Indian food? Well it does. Everyone was stuffed by the end of the night.

Ben and I saw The Magnificents at the Viaduct last week. It's by House Theater, with some collaborators from 500 Clown. Good show; good spectacle, magic tricks, neat videos, interesting characters, audience interaction, surrealism.

The most exciting happening since last post was of course Jenna and Jeremy's wedding last weekend. Let's see if I can make this slideshow work:



It was a beautiful day, ceremony, and reception. We had a great time. The farm was incredible. Different friends of the couple played music all night long, since they know so many professional musicians! I played a song I had written for Ben. It was his first time hearing it, and it was very romantic, and I was very nervous. He loved it, and I was happy, and a lot of folks got teary. We were all googley-eyed and in love all weekend. We had a fun time road tripping out there, eating lunch at a small town Pizza Hut, dancing at the wedding, holding the limbo stick for some kids, staying at the hotel with Andrea and Aerin, sticking out as city folk over breakfast in "Historic Galesburg," and driving home to catch the end of the Packers game at Will's. Will's is so great, and ridiculous. Here, you really ought to take the tour. But it doesn't really look like that, because every time I am there it's during a game and there are about 300 green-and-gold-decked Wisconsinites packed in every corner. In fact, when we went last weekend, we couldn't even get inside. We stood outside on the sidewalk, watching the TVs and cheering along with everybody else.

Ben and I are planning to go there tonight to watch the Packers/Bears game. It's sure to be crazy. We're trying to decide how early we want to go to try and get seats/a good corner to stand in. There are free cheeseburgers, and a halftime raffle for cheeseheadstuff, and pitchers of Leinie's galore. Every time I go I always want everyone I've ever known who is a big Packers fan to go to Will's for at least one game. Seriously, it's worth making the trip. I know that sounds silly, to come to Chicago to watch Wisconsin football, but the crowds are so amazing, and the vibe is so exciting and fun. Lambeau is always sold out anyway, so you might as well make the trip hang out in this little corner of "God's Country."