Happy 19th Birthday Smiley!

Happy Birthday Smiley! I love you more than words can say. I hope you have a great day!!❤️

- Lisa

A memory of Junie's

Last week when we were at Rocky Rococo's, Junie told me of a memory she has from 5th grade: she won a reading contest, and Mr. Byrne's was handing out free pizza certificates as the reward. Junie listened to instructions and waited until after school to pick it up, but by that time her friend EVIL ONE/Bella had already gone in and claimed Junie's prize. 

Devastated, Junie went home crying and her Momma took her and Smiley for pizza at Rocky's to make up for it. 

Dinner by Smiley

Tonight Smiley made dinner for the family: two delicious meatloaf along with mashed potatoes.

Once the potatoes were boiled I was in charge of seasoning and mashing them and I will admit they turned out no better than average.

The meatloaf however, was one of the best I've ever had. And I'm not saying that to blow smoke. Lisa's made a heck of a meatloaf over the years and so the bar is high - I'm not sure this reached the pinnacle of her efforts but it was sure close. I thought the texture was perfect.

He described the ingredients as rather simple: meat, shredded carrots, Worcestershire sauce, two eggs, garlic, and Dijon mustard with barbecue sauce on top.

I regret I did not get a very good photo of it I was too busy concentrating on the consumption thereof LOL

Good job Smiley 

Pawprints Keepsake

This is another of my Christmas presents, this one from Smiley. We did them late today,  after I got back from my road trip with LuLu. 

We anticipated Sawyer would struggle and fight to the point where it just wouldn't happen at all. 

As it turns out he was super agreeable and it took two seconds, sooooo.. we look dumb for rushing it with a muddy paw. D'oh!

Huckleberry on the other hand DID fight and squirm and raise a moderate fuss so we made do with what we could get in the moment. 

Then, without my permission, Smiley made a cast of both Kahuna and Benny's paws -  even though this was MY Christmas gift and I didn't want someone else's kitty cat memorialized. Hrmph lol

It was a thoughtful gift Smiley. Thank you!

Dig a Mammoth Skeleton

For Christmas Yaya bought me a mock mammoth skeleton that came encased in a block of clay. The box included a plastic hammer and chisel with which to free the individual skeletal pieces. 

I greatly enjoyed digging them out but, just as with model airplanes as a kid and Legos when Smiley was briefly interested in them, I really am no good at assembling these kind of things. So Smiley stepped in to help with that part of it.

Shortly thereafter Lulu and I delivered the mammoth to my office in Kenosha, where it sits a top my microwave and one side of my Polish flag, with the other side guarded by a porcelain bird that Lu got me for Christmas.

It was a very thoughtful gift.

Ralph Passes

At 11:15 this morning I saw that Smiley was calling me at my office. Knowing that it would have to be something bad for him to call (not text) during work hours, I answered by saying "What's wrong?"

He told me that Ralph was dead.

Smiley had woke up and found Ralph beneath his cat tree, clearly having passed away overnight.

I remember wondering that morning why Ralph wasn't downstairs to greet me as I prepared for work, as had become his custom.

Even in this picture, you can tell he'd lost a lot of weight in the last three months.  We were concerned enough to adjust his food to a less diet- conscious brand, but we chalked it up to the stress of joining a chaotic household. 

In retrospect, while he did become a resident of the second floor instead of the common areas on the first, he never seemed phased by the noise, or by Sawyer. 

I told Smiley to wrap Ralph in a pillowcase and lock him inside one of the dog's cages and to tell the rest of the family.  I told him I would leave early to bury him and say goodbye, but that I had to stay at least until early afternoon.

Shortly before 4:00 I came home, dug a hole along the fence line, and gathered Lulu and Junie with me. Yaya had been notified by phone and sent her sympathies and a number of great pictures of Ralph. By this point Smiley said that he had shed his tears and said goodbye and did not want to participate.

We clipped some hair from him, collected his custom engraved brown leather collar that I had ordered for him, placed him in the grave, and said some prayers.

He was not with us long, just like the grandfather that I named him after, and the similarity of him passing in his sleep unexpectedly was mentioned more than once.

He deserved a longer life. We deserved more time with him.  But I am confident that his 3 months with us were spent surrounded by happiness and love, and were certainly a better alternative than life in the shelter that I took him from in September.

Rest in peace Ralph. We love you. 

Turkey Trot

A flock of wild turkeys that Smiley saw today near UWM, no doubt glad that Thanksgiving is over.

More Office Decorating

This morning Smiley joined me in transporting a lot of items from my storage unit down to my office, with Lisa paying a co-worker to load up his truck with my couch, mirrored coat rack and chairs while my Mazda was filled with the odds and ends you see here. 

I gotta admit, getting that couch up 2.5 flights dang near killed me and that was with Smiley doing 65% of the lifting.  My word. 

The office is nowhere near finished, but it IS improving  . . . 

My Day

While I spent the morning filling up a Little Library downtown with Lisa, took Junie to and from work, delivered a centerpiece to YaYa for her upcoming party,  and sacrificed half my Jimmy John sub to LuLu -  the bulk of the day was spent with Smiley.

First we went to the library to pull some books for his classwork, then went suit shopping

Then we spent the rest of the evening at a coffee shop, where he did coursework while I did some work of my own. 

A busy day - but a good one!

An Evening with Smiley

After work, at his request, I went with Smiley to the library to keep him company as he wrote a paper.  We were there 3 full hours, right until they closed at 8.  On the way home we stopped at Pita Palace and shared a great sampler plate while we traded Pokemon and discussed WWI.

The Cat Tree!

After a study session at Collectivo, Smiley and I came across this colorful cat tree abandoned in our alley. A brisk vacuuming later, courtesy of Smiley,  Ralph (and to a lesser extent Kahuna) love it!!

Sawyer

pics by Smiley

Happy, um... what month is it anyway?

Look what Smiley and Lulu did to our house - "because we should do it while I'm in the mood" he said - on this 15th of September, 46 DAYS before Halloween.

Yes, we're those people.

Stay tuned for our Christmas tree next week.