Chicago Ideas

We're going to be in Chicago for a wedding the weekend of Sep. 5-7. Anyone have any good ideas for fun stuff to do while we're there? We've already been to most of the museums, so we probably can skip those. We're thinking of going to Second City. Any other ideas?

I'm spinning. Oh-oh-oh, I'm spinning.

The last 30 days have been absolutely crazy. I don't think I've watched more than an hour or two of TV the whole month. Those that know me know that's insane for me.

We closed on the house July 31st. So the whole week before that was spent dealing with appraisals, repairs, final walk-throughs, and contracts contracts contracts.

Since then, we've been packing, having utitlities switched, having hardwood floors put into the new place, having built-ins built, picking paint colors, painting, picking furniture, picking and moving mattresses, building furniture, waiting for stuff to be delivered, finding a pool guy, getting Jesse's immunizations, having his saxaphone repaired, buying school supplies, figuring out bus routes, etc. etc. etc. IT'S BEEN FREAKING CRAZY.

We finally had our big move-in day this past Saturday. And Jesse had his big first day of high school yesterday. The stressful days will continue for at least the next 30 days, I'm sure. We have to get our old place ready to sell and unpack at our new place. But at least we're halfway there now.

We brought the cats over to the new place last night too. That didn't go so well. Moka was so stressed during the car ride over, he wet himself in his cat carrier. So we had to dunk him in the tub almost immediately. Not a good way to spend his first hour at the new place. Poor traumatized kitty.

The cats are at home alone right now. I'm kind of scared to see what happens when I get home.

Don't rent a car from Budget

Brian and I went down to rent a minivan this morning (so that we could haul a bunch of furniture back from Ikea). When we got there, they told us we couldn't rent a car with just a credit card and a photo ID -- we also needed a power bill showing we lived at the address on our ID's. Gee, thanks for failing to mention this when I made my reservation over the phone. They also informed us that the policy applied only to locals. Had we flashed an Oklahoma ID, we would've gotten out of there without a hitch.

So the lady asks, "Is there anyone at your house who can fax a copy of your power bill?" We were like, "Yeah, we'll have our home secretary get right on that.". What the heck is that? We would've loved to have walked away, but we had to get on the road and all the other rental places had huge lines.

They ended up accepting our car insurance card as proof, but only after a huge rigamarole involving three separate bonehead clerks. One attempted to justify the policy by explaining that locals are.transients. He tried to prove his point by asking Brian whether he was born and raised in Vegas. Unfortunately for the guy, Brian answered yes to both. So pretty much all he succeeded in doing was offending us even further. I was livid and went off on the guy. Am I missing something, or is this policy totally f'in lame? They are totally getting a nasty-gram from me.

Fancy That

I guess Amazon.com censors the notes you send with gifts. We found out the hard way. Some of my college girlfriends and I got together to send our friend Maggie a car seat for her baby shower. Maggie got pregnant with her second child after she forgot to take her birth control pill. Here's what our intended card said:

Effective birthcontrol methods:
Up the butt;
Throwing it on your face;
Swallowing;
Taking your pill everyday.

Way to go whore.

-Happy baby from your bitches (Claudia, Erica, Jeanny & Leslie)

I have no idea why we got censored. There weren't even any curse words.

I should totally win an Oscar

I was making small talk with a guy the other day and he asked if I had seen the opening ceremonies to the Olympics. I told him I hadn't. He said it was the most amazing thing he'd ever seen, and that it should win an Academy Award.

That would be interesting, I thought. If the Academy Awards left one category open for just the coolest thing of the year -- any format. I would nominate this crazy ride at Legoland that looks like a giant robotic arm that throws people around. It's one of the coolest things I've ever seen. What's the most random thing you can think of to get an Academy Award?

Obama for my mama - now that's change I can believe in!

So my mom hates Barack Obama. She pretty much thinks he's a terrorist. She was planning on voting for either McCain or not at all. She, however, LOVES herself some Hillary Clinton. She thinks Hillary is "the number one woman" ever. So when I heard Hillary was going to be in town campaigning for Obama, right across the street from my house, I just had to find a way to get my mom down there.

I really thought she was gonna get pissed when she saw the Obama signs. Here's my mom at an Obama rally... a picture I never thought I'd see. (The roses are for Hillary.)And here's her with her girlfriend Hillary:
With all the crowd's excitement over Obama, and with Dina Titus and Hillary Clinton telling my mom to vote for him, my mom got swept up. She clapped when they talked about Obama being president. I couldn't believe my eyes.

So now my mom is voting for Barack. It's not all wine and roses though. I found out later that she actually thinks he'll be assassinated and Hillary will get the white house that way. Whatever. As long as she votes Democrat.

No kitty, that's a bad kitty!

Last night, I was crawling into bed when I noticed my side of the bed was wet. I moved the blanket and noticed my Burberry perfume bottle was part of the wet mess. Oh no, did it leak onto the bed? I picked up the bottle and sniffed it. Hmmm.... no powerful perfume smell. What could it be? Not having the best sense of smell, I woke up Brian to help me investigate. He confirmed immediately that it was cat piss. Enid strikes again.

Stupid cat. She picked the wrong time to piss on the bed. We're looking at $2,000-$4,000 mattresses to take to the new place right now. Essentially, we're at a cross roads. Do we take the retarded cat with us to the new place or send her to the glue factory?

Brian is terribly upset by the thought of giving her up. He keeps saying that it's like having a retarded kid. We just have an obligation to deal with it. But I disagree. She's a pet, not a human, and we've given her a great life for more than 7 years. Even our vet told us that most people would not keep a cat with so many behavioral problems. Besides, I think she'd get adopted right away anyway. She's very beautiful, and she might do better in a home with no children and no other cats. That's my theory anyway.

So that's where we're at. Should she stay or should she go?