Chicago Museum of Science and Industry

While I was staying with my friend Kara in Chicago, she took me to the Museum of Science and Industry. She actually had an annual pass, which allows for a free guest when you come, so I actually got in free! It was really cool, and they were beginning to decorate for Christmas, which I always love.


The circus exhibits were fun.






I had to take this pic of all these Oscars! Luckily I have the best Oscar at home!


I thought I'd try out as an astronaut.


Here's the actual command module from Apollo 8.


And the rockets used during takeoff.


This is hard to see in this picture, but this is the actual U505 submarine that was taken by the US in 1944. It ultimately contributed to the allies' victory during World War II because it allowed them to prevent further submarine attacks by breaking secret codes found on board. This was HUGE since these attacks were causing the vast majority of the Allies' death toll between 1940 and 1944. Years after the sub was originally taken to Bermuda, it was brought up to Chicago through Louisiana along the Mississippi river and up to Lake Michigan. We took a tour inside of it, which was really cool. They didn't allow for pictures inside of it, though, but these two sites will show/tell you more about it http://www.uboatarchive.net/U-505.htm and http://www.msichicago.org/whats-here/exhibits/u-505/.


I had fun trying to make my shadow catch confetti.


This was a really awesome exhibit of Christmas trees. Here I am with the Italian tree.


There was a tree for almost every country in the world, all with ornaments and decorations that represented their cultures (even for countries that don't traditionally celebrate Christmas).




I liked how this one was pretty much just an advertisement for a Sports team!


There was a place where you could watch chicks hatching.




It was pretty cool to go into the train room and see the incredible miniatures of famous cities. This is the Chicago section.



And, of course, I had to take a pic at the Seattle section.


It was really fun to twirl this monstrous sand swirl. You can't tell from the pic, but it's about 50 times as large as me!


And I LOVED this LED dress! I want one!

"Chicago is my kind of razz-ma-tazz, and it has all that Jazz..."

In November 2010, I had the opportunity to visit Chicago for the first time. I'd never been anywhere remotely close to it, but I couldn't turn down the opportunity to go when I received an audition for the Santa Fe Young Artists opera program. I didn't get the role (though I thought it was one of the better auditions I've sung), but I still had a really fun time.



My friend Kara Jo, who I'd known at the University of Utah and performed recitals with, had recently moved there for her husband's residency. I got to see her for the first time in a long time and meet her little boy, Henry (He's adorable! Such a great laugh!). Plus she gave me a place to stay, drove me where I wanted to go, and gave me an excellent tour of Chicago. I got so spoiled it made it hard to be on my own the next month when I went to New York for auditions.



I loved the views of Mt Ranier and Mt Adams from the airplane.



I really lucked out actually getting decent pictures from the plane.



It was cool to see the gorge from an aerial view. I'd just seen it close up a few months earlier, and I posted those pictures in my post "ziplining in the rain."



During the evening after I'd had my audition, Kara drove me downtown to go to the top of the John Hancock building. We searched for awhile, never thinking we'd find street parking in downtown Chicago on Saturday night. At that point we were just looking for the least expensive garage parking, and we miraculously found street parking!

The John Hancock building is not the tallest building in Chicago(the Willis tower is), but it's right next to the lake and the view is fantastic! Here's a view of Navy Pier.



The gorgeous city lights!



The all teddy bear Christmas tree inside



More gorgeous city lights from the other side





Me washing the windows (and suddenly appearing on a gorgeous, sunny afternoon)



and me by the Christmas area.



Here's another view of downtown, but I thought this shot was pretty cool since you can also see the reflection of the Christmas trees.



Inside they had the story of the great Chicago fire, and the story of how it started with Mrs. O Leary's cow kicking over the lantern. Surprisingly enough, both the cow and farm survived the fire! What's interesting is that, even though it sucked for the generation who lived through it, it was the best thing that could have happened for the generation after. The city was rebuilt to be much stronger than it ever was.



They had a little area where you could go outside and feel why it's called the Windy city. This is me with the Willis Tower in the background.



After we came down we walked through the city and saw some pretty cathedrals.





And ultimately ended up at Pizzaria Uno, one of the most well known places for having authentic Chicago deep dish pizza.





Kara gave Henry some mini m&ms, and I thought it was hilarious when he tried to eat them with a fork.



This was only half of our small pizza! It was delicious!!! It was incredibly filling, and the pizza itself was like a mix between pizza and casserole. The crust was so good, and the combination of cheese, pesto sauce, and tomatoes was perfect!

Nibbler's Illness, Surgery, and Recovery (Part VII)

After a fantastic year of having Nibbler complete our home, improve our lives, and improve our other cats, he got very, very sick. He'd only ever had an upper respiratory infection before, and he recovered from that just fine. So at first we weren't all that concerned. But then one Saturday night he started throwing up bile. The next day he wouldn't eat, he wouldn't sleep, he wouldn't play, he wouldn't purr, he wouldn't use the litter box. He literally wouldn't do anything. He looked absolutely miserable. I didn't want to take him to the vet on Sunday since only emergency vets are open, and I knew that would cost me hundreds of dollars just to bring him in. So we looked up his symptoms, and taking him to the vet would mean lots of x-rays and possibly surgery. That could mean over $1,000, which we weren't prepared to pay. We hoped that he could just work it out on his own. We read that he likely had a foreign object stuck in his stomach and that if you fed the cat hairball formula food, he might be able to pass it on his own. So we went out and bought the food, but Nibbler simply wouldn't eat. He wouldn't even lick his paw when we tried putting some hairball formula liquid on it.

Since he kept vomiting on the carpet, we kept him locked up in the bathroom when we left the house. You can see how miserable he was just from this picture when he climbed into the sink.



First off we were hesitant to take him to the vet because of a previously bad experience. We were burned off of the vet in general in 2006 when we took Leela there for a limp, and they charged us nearly $300 to do nothing for her. They took a bunch of x-rays and told us she'd just have to walk it off. So now whenever I have a cat get sick, as much as I'd like to take him to the vet, I worry about spending several hundred dollars just to be told he'll get over it on his own. With something as serious as this clearly was, we were worried we'd be spending thousands of dollars for a surgery he might not need. But when we realized that there was no way to avoid taking him there, Oscar looked up vets online and found one with really excellent reviews for pricing and customer service.

We learned that when we took him to the vet, they would do an x-ray and then a barium scan. The scan might also help him pass the object on his own, and we really hoped that would happen. In the meantime he just kept getting severely dehydrated, and after forcing him to have some water, we took him in to the Animal Hospital at Murphy's Corner on Monday afternoon.



After the vet called to tell us the news, she informed us that Nibbler's stomach was basically twisting itself into knots, which kept him from being able to take anything in or get anything out. She didn't even bother to perform the scan. She knew from the x-ray alone that this was bad and called for emergency surgery. She told us he would die without it, and that she was surprised he'd lasted as long as he had. She also told us that the surgery had a high success rate and that she'd just performed it on a cat 5 days earlier.

When we came in to wish Nibbler luck and take a look at the x-ray for ourselves, she showed us Nibbler's in comparison to the cat from a few days before. The other cat had actually had complications during surgery. His intestines ruptured from the pressure of all the objects he'd eaten. Fortunately they were able to save him, but only because he was already on the operating table with his belly cut open. We compared Nibbler's x-ray to that other cat's, and Nibbler's was noticeably worse. At that point I really wanted her to just put him under the table immediately and get to work. She had two assistants and another doctor come to assist her with the surgery, and we thought it was hilarious that her name was Dr. Bishop. Dr. Bishop is also the mad scientist on the TV show "Fringe," and we laughed that maybe this was his female, veterinarian equivalent.

We held Nibbler for a few minutes before he had his tummy shaved and went in for surgery. He was so miserable I had to stop myself from crying.



Fortunately the price she'd quoted us was much more reasonable than we were expecting. We'd read online that the surgery could be anywhere between $1,000 and $4,000, and she said $975 max. I was relieved by that price since that's really not bad considering all they have to do for the cat. First off we had two doctors and two assistants working overtime after business hours. They had to cut open his stomach and physically remove the objects. They had to be super gentle too or they could rip the intestines apart. Things like ribbon (which was one of many objects Nibbler had in his tummy) are very sharp on the sides and they had to knead it out tiny piece by tiny piece. Imagine how much that surgery would cost for a human child! And it requires every bit as much care and precision to perform it on an animal.

She said she'd call us when Nibbler woke up from surgery and said it could be as late as midnight. But she called at about 9. His surgery actually went perfectly and Nibbler woke up purring. He was just delighted to finally be out of pain. And for no extra charge they kept him at the hospital until Friday and monitored his eating and litter box habits. When we came in to visit he was much happier and extremely purry.

We got to visit Nibbler at the animal hospital on Wednesday. By then he was doing good, he was eating, he was purry, sweet, and lovey, and they were just keeping him for a few days to make sure he didn't have any setbacks from the surgery. They also told me he was beautiful, playful, and had been so sweet and purry with them that they wouldn't want to let him go. It was nice to have someone else confirm how I feel about my cat. :)

When we went in to see him, Dr. Sowder said that Nibbler was eating and drinking normally, but that she'd be really happy to see a bowel movement. I noticed the litter box had no litter (just newspaper) and she told me they do that because the cats often flip the box over, and it just makes a mess. But when I told her that Nibbler actually loves litter, she pored a little bit in. He immediately walked around in it. He didn't use it just then, but he knew what it was for and it wasn't long before he used it and was back to his normal self.

When I picked him up on Friday they sent me home with pain medicine, antibiotic, and a lot of prescription gastrointestinal formula cat food. Adding $975 to $30 for the new patient fee, $100 for the x-ray, and more for the medicines and special cat food, I was expecting to pay at least $1200. But the final bill was only $994. They didn't even charge me to have the staples removed a few weeks later. For all the services they gave us, I think it was worth every penny. This is what his belly looked like for about a month after surgery.



We did have to pay an expensive surgery for Nibbler, but he wouldn't have survived without their intervention. He actually had balloon ribbon, rubber bands, and well over 30 of my hair ties trapped in his stomach and intestines. The veterinarian assistants even took pictures of the mess. The doctor said she couldn't believe
he'd been able to survive as long as he did with all that blockage. But now he's all better. Apparently they caught it just in time, too. Nibbler must have organs of steel to make it as long as he did, but even steel has its limits. We don't plan on testing them again! We are going to be more diligent at keeping our house clean and keeping those things away from him. When I went to pick him up at the end of the week, Dr Sowder tossed me a bunch of scrunchy-type hair ties and said "Use those. He can't eat them."



I was really happy to have Nibbler home. He recovered well from major surgery, and he was soon as affectionate as ever. Plus he proved to all the ladies at the animal hospital that he was worth saving.

When we had to put Nibbler on his special diet, all he wanted was to eat the other
cats' dry food. And, of course, the other cats wanted his wet food really bad. Nibbler had to have his special wet food, but the other cats couldn't have it since we wanted to make sure Nibbler was able to eat it for as long as possible after the surgery. Since he could only eat so much at a time, I had to refrigerate it a lot so the rest of the can didn't go bad before he got to it, and he refused to eat it cold. And believe it or not, the smell of microwaved cat food is not pleasant. It was only ever in the microwave for a few seconds, but boy did it make the house reek long after it was consumed. And Fry and Leela about went crazy for it. They would just spin in circles and slam against the bedroom door desperate to get a piece of Nibbler's food. We'd let them lick Nibbler's cans when he was done, but otherwise Nibbler ate all of it. Fortunately he started being willing to eat it cold after about a week.

Fry was grumpy when Nibbler came back. He growled like when Nibbler was new. But he got used to Nibbler much quicker than the first time.



We decided to get a real tree this year so that Nibbler wouldn't eat the fake tree like he did last year. He must have been climbing all over it while I was gone since we'd come home and he'd reek of pine! Plus an added benefit of the real tree is that Nib taught himself to the fetch the small sticks that broke off. How many cats will fetch a stick?!



I knew that Nib was eating my hair ties, and I'd try to stop him if I'd see him doing it. But since I'd find a hair tie in the litter box every once in awhile, I wasn't too worried about it. I just assumed they would pass through him eventually. I had no idea so many were still stuck inside him. I'm so glad I didn't let my cat die from my own ignorance.

Ultimately what brought us to our decision to save Nibbler was the thought "would we rather have a new computer/new vacation/new TV or Nibber alive?" We'd spent so much money on trips that year that our funds were much lower than usual. We'd actually just returned from a short trip totally astonished by how much it had cost us, and we'd promised to stop spending so much money for awhile. But we knew we wanted Nibbler alive much more than anything else that was worth $1,000, and I have to say that even though it cost a lot of money, I've never once regretted saving Nibbler. I've regretted spending $1,000 on a television or computer, but never Nibbler. He's as delightful as ever, and if anything I think we love him more now that we realize how much he's worth to us. I know I've had the thought "why did we buy this flat screen HD TV when we already have a perfectly functioning TV, but I've never thought "gee, I wish I'd kept that 1,000 dollars since I already have two perfectly functioning cats." In all honesty, even if Nibbler died tomorrow I'd still be happy that I paid for his surgery if only for the love he's brought into our home since he got back.



This was Part VII of a 7 part post. If you would like to read more, there's a ton more info and a lot more cute pictures in the other posts. Part I tells about never thinking we'd pay a lot of money for a pet and then doing it, Part II tells about first getting our first kittens, Part III is about our cat Fry, Part IV is about our cat Leela, Part V is about our cat Nibbler, and Part VI is about all of our cats and the cute things they do together. Enjoy!

Interesting Kitty Habits and how Nibbler Ultimately Improved my Other Cats (Part VI)

All of our cats eat all kinds of cat food. I've heard of cats that will only eat one extremely expensive type of cat food, or cats that only eat wet food. I'm glad my cats aren't picky.

Leela and Nibbler have particularly keen senses of smell as well. They always know when I'm eating deli meat, even from a room away. I felt really bad once when I forgot to put my chicken in the fridge one night and had to throw it away. I wrapped it up in a plastic bag and put it in the trash. When I came home, the house smelled strongly of chicken. My poor cats had to be home all day with no food while smelling chicken the whole time. Poor kitties. And of course, a cat's sense of smell is much stronger than a human's. That must have been torture for them. They also didn't have any water. I am just a horrible pet owner sometimes!

Leela started sitting on our laps again not long after Nibbler joined the household. She doesn't do it as often as he does, but when she does decide to sit, she can sit a long time. She adores Oscar and sits on him constantly, but every once in awhile she'll sit on me too. This is the only picture I have of her on my lap. She'll never do it while Oscar's here since she'd always prefer to be on him, so I can't just ask him to take a picture whenever she decides to grace my lap with her presence. This is the best I could do taking my own picture of Leela on my lap.



Fry too, started first walking on us while putting tons of pressure in his paws, and then eventually started sitting sometime after Nibbler moved in. To this day, though, he stands when you pet his body so he can feel the pet more, so if I want him to stay sitting I have to just pet his head.



I love that watching us love Nibbler didn't make our cats jealous and bitter (as I'd feared), but it actually made them more affectionate. I assume they observed how happy he was crawling all over us and they realized they could do the same. Maybe if Fry and Leela had been as sweet before Nibbler as they are now, I wouldn't have felt the desire to have another cat.



After 3 years of cats who refused to sit on my lap, it was so nice to get a super affection lap kitten, who became an even sweeter lap cat, and to my complete delight, somehow inspired the other two cats to also be lap cats. :) But there is a downside. Nibbler is now so comfortable on me that he actually jumped 3 feet from my stomach to the top of the desk, which felt like being punched hard in the gut. :(

Now that Leela is a lap cat again, she loves to sit on Oscar's lap and even lets him rest his laptop on her.



Sometimes Nibbler joins the group.



Both Nibbler and Leela can stand on their hind legs, and they'll do it for petting. It's rare to train a cat to perform for anything but food, but Nibbler and Leela are comfortable on those back legs. Both of them also know how to lead you where they want you to go. They're excellent communicators when it comes to needing food and affection. And both have good senses and are sound sensitive, much more so than Fry.

I sometimes tried getting all 3 cats to cuddle together, but for the first couple months they refused. In December 2009 I got to watch them all cuddle together for the first time ever! It was so cute. I'd seen Fry cuddle with Leela, and each of them cuddle with Nibbler, but I'd never seen them all cuddling together. Whenever I tried to put them all together one of them would always leave. It was nice that this time they all came together on their own. It was one big purr fest. It was really nice to see after how much Fry and Leela LOATHED Nibbler the first week.





It's amazing how much cuter my cats are when they cuddle on their own than when I try to force them into cute positions. All 3 are asleep on the cat perch in these pictures, which already fills up with only 2 of them. It's super cute!





Nibbler as well as Fry and Leela are convinced that any clothes, coats, and towels that aren't hung up must be their new cat beds. One time we put a towel on our bathroom counter and all of a sudden they weren't interested in any other place to sleep but there.

I haven't been able to capture it on the camera, but when Nibbler and Leela cuddle together and Nib sticks his head off the perch, they look like one monstrously fat cat with a tiny head. It's funny.



On the rare occasion that Seattle gets snow, all of our cats love it. Surprisingly, though, Nibbler is the least interested. But Fry and Leela could watch the snow forever.



All of the cats like watching us while we exercise. Nibbler actually pounced on my leg once while I was doing jumping jacks!

Sometimes while Oscar and I pray together, Nibbler or Leela comes and curls up underneath our arms. Very cute!

When we cut Fry and Leela's nails, they bite them and trim them down, and it makes them less sharp. For some reason Nibbler won't do it. He's way too playful to have constantly sharp nails.



All of our cats are nuts for the laser pointer. I wonder if the inventor of the laser pen ever thought to him/herself "Wow! This would make a REALLY good cat toy!"



There is so much cat hair in my house (especially from sheddy Fry), which I generally don't mind. But I do insist that it stays out of my eyes. I seem to always find it on my contacts. It must be from burrowing my head into their fur.

One night my husband and I woke up to music at 7:00am and were cursing our neighbors for playing music during quiet hours. However, when we opened our door this morning we found it was actually coming from our computer! We'd left it on during the night and the cats must have stepped on the play button on the keyboard. Hopefully our neighbors weren't too mad at us :)

Unfortunately, all of our cats generally prefer Oscar. Though he spun them around as kittens they think the sun rises and sets with daddy. As soon as he gets home they go running to him. And if both of us are available for affection, they always pick him.



I live on the first floor of an apartment building, but it's over the garage so it's not the ground floor. My porch is low enough to the ground that my cats could jump off of it, but they'd never be able to jump back. So I don't let them out just in case they do jump off. But one time I accidentally left the porch door open only to find all 3 of my indoor cats outside. I have no idea how long they were out there before I noticed. I'm glad none of them jumped since I'm not sure we'd ever find them again. One time Fry got stuck outside all day once. I'd gone out to the porch to get something and closed the door behind me without realizing he'd come out too. He was out there a long time. I'm really glad he didn't jump down!

I like that I've had my cats a long time and yet I still find myself just staring at them sometimes and and enjoying their cuteness. The other day Nibbler and Leela got into this adorable Chinese finger trap position.



I love the "cat donut" they made.



And they're just always cute when they cuddle together. They're both so pretty!



I thought this position was hilarious!



He's totally straddled on top of her.



Fortunately, she doesn't seem to mind at all!



And to hear about how Nibbler's procedure went, continue on to the final chapter Nibbler's Illness, Surgery, and Recovery (Part VII).