Cheetah Gym

With the new move came multiple other new things. New commute to work, new parking laws, and also the need for a new gym. Working out is a must for me and a gym is another must if I'm going to keep lifting heavies for the next twenty years. Steve and I were members of Bally's back in Massachusetts because it was really convenient and cheap. Now it was not convenient and when you would have to factor in either an L ride or driving to the gym it was not so cheap. So we looked around our house. Our choices were a sketchy gym, a gym that turned out not to be a gym but a physical therapy facility, and Cheetah gym.

When we walked into Cheetah gym we were greeted by a short stout flaming gay man. Welcome to Cheetah gym!" he exclaimed from behind the counter. We asked if we could have a tour. He told us we could but we would have to wait a moment while he got someone to watch the desk.

A few minutes later he pep-ed up to us with a clip board and told us we ready to start the tour. To start with I should say that Cheetah gym is a lot nicer then any Bally's I've ever been to. For the most part there are hard wood floor except in the weight lifting area. Large gold framed mirrors suspended from the celling separated each room giving the building a big of a dizzying feel. You never are quite sure if you are looking into another room or at the one you are in.

Our first stop on the tour was the locker rooms. "These are just your normal locker room" he assured us. They were. Next he showed us the "stretching area" which consisted of a lot of mats and some odd platform multiple springs pointing out of it in every direction with pictographs of various yoga poses on it.

"Oh my gawd!" I gawked at the machine in front of me. "Is this the machine from the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Movie? What dose it do?" I asked.

Our tour guide started at me blackly and said he had no idea what the machine did, maybe it was from the movie, but he did know that it was loud when people used it.

Our tour continued with an in-depth description of the person TV's and free towel service but when asked on the use of any the machines we would get a "i don't know" answer.

Despite what was possibly the best tour of a gym ever given (insert sarcasm here.) We ended up joining Cheetah gym.

Meet the Neighbors

This is going to be another cat post. I'm putting the disclaimer up so if you are tired of hearing cat stories then don't read anymore.

For most of Moose's life he has enjoyed the luxury of a cat door. A small door that sits in one of our windows so that Moose can dictate when he comes in and goes out. The cat door was great! Except for our last year in Somerville when various unwanted guests used the cat door make their way into our house and help themselves to Moose's food. Other cats, a raccoon, and a possum to exact. When we moved to Chicago we were resolved not to put the cat door in such an easy access location for all these creatures that want in. Steve and I had a great debate over it and in the end we still had no answer and Steve (the installer of cat doors) left for two weeks for work. So moose and I have made due without the cat door.

Saturday morning I got up and let Moose out so he could enjoy so morning sunshine. I was in the kitchen when I heard an odd sounding meow. I went to check on Moose and found the his meow had sounded so odd because he had a mouse in his mouth. As I opened the door to try to prevent the ingestion of the mouse Moose started to play with it. Batting it around, throwing it up into the air and pouncing on it. I realized I didn't have anything to remove said mouse so I just stood their watching Moose enjoy a snack. I looked over and noticed our neighbor, who must have been out for a morning cigaret, was using his phone to record Moose playing with/eating the mouse. I stared at him for a few moments before he looked up at me and asked me if I minded if he taped Moose. I said I guess not and went back inside to try to find a shovel to dispose of what would remain of the mouse. When I came back Moose was gone, the neighbor was gone, but a mouse head remained. I buried it in the front yard and went in and searched youtube for video of Moose eating a mouse.

Sleep

Ok, no post yesterday but I did work on my template so I count that as blog related work. Also, I know this is post has the same name as B's last post but B and I both suffer from absent-husband-insomnia. At least I use to. Since moving to Chicago I have not had any problem falling asleep. At first I thought it was related to the fact that I have been drinking a bit more since alcohol can be purchased in the grocery store but the last few nights I haven't had anything to drink and have fallen asleep with in five minutes of laying down. Steve's been gone almost an entire week and I still am able to fall asleep quite easily. Why the sudden change?

I think it has to do with the layout of our new house. Our house in Boston had the front door located in our bedroom. It sounds strange but we got use to it. We also had bay windows in our bedroom that were on the front deck. If the windows were open you were hear every person enter or exit the house. I would often have a dream while Steve was gone of a tall ghostly figure trying to break in the room. In the dream I would hear the outside door open and the lock to our house being picked. The door in our bedroom would slowly open and I would see this large dark figure standing over me. I wake up with a scream chocked in my throat and Moose staring at me wondering why I was making weird noises.

That is not the case in this house. Our bedroom is tucked in the back of the house and I blissfully sleep the whole night through.

Crazy Cat Lady

This weekend I will be cat sitting for my friend H while she and her sister are out of town. I went to their house last night to get the keys and also to learn the responsibilities of cat sitting their two cats. Half way through the intense training I was being given I realized how everyone has different quirks for their cats.

For example, Moose is a pretty independent cat. Some of the people who cat sit him never even see him so that is why when Steve and I went on our honeymoon we had a friend actually stay at our house over night a few nights to make sure that he was ok. When we were moving to Chicago one of the maine qualifications for us was that it was easy for Moose get in and out of the house. To the first realtor we talked to this seemed like a large request.

"Hmmm, you want grass and a way outside for you cat!" he exclaimed after we had turned down multiple nice apartments because they were located on the top floor of an apartment building on a busy street. He followed up with "Look, I know you think your cat is your baby, but he's not. He's just a cat. He will adapt." We had become crazy cat people to him. No amount of clarification on our search criteria would clear that from his mind.

The next realtor we went to we were a bit more cautious with the cat expectation.

"It would be nice if we could have easy access to the outside, for both us and the cat" we eased in.

"Oh, I totally understand. When I got my condo one of the maine selling points for me was the large windows for my cat."

We were immediately at ease with this man because he was a cat crazy person like us. Which is why we ended up renting a house from his agency and not the first's.

Why I stopped Blogging Part I

Oh my, no post for almost half a year. What a sad looking blog. Anyone who use to look at this blog most likely stopped a long time ago. I don't blame them. I stopped blogging for a number of reasons. I felt the only people who read this were my mom or my husband's ex-girlfriend (who admitted to cyber-stalking me but now I cyber-stalk her, the world is odd). So I stopped writing. But recently,Adrianne posted about the Yo Lo Tango Summer Blog Contest and I decided to take up the challenge.

Since I posted last lots of things in my life have changed while some have stayed the same. I miss writing. I want to start sharing myself again with the people who feel like reading. So think of this as a warm up post to the September 1st official start of the blog contest.