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There is a magical place you’ve probably never heard of. Even if you had, you couldn’t go searching for it if you wanted to. I am talking about none other than the cat palace, a beautiful, fantastic place where your cats can sneak off to hobnob with other felines and to make purchases (with money they’ve stolen from you, of course!).

The cat palace is never in the same place twice, so you won’t find it try as you might. Even if you could, the doors for customers are too small for humans to enter. In fact, humans are only allowed to enter through the back, where they are required to set up stock for no more than an hour a day and disappear from sight before the real customers come in.

The cat palace is stocked with treats and goodies that would make any kitty’s eyes light up. From tuna snacks, to feather toys, to cherry-scented sherbet shampoo that’s specially formulated for their fur, the cat palace offers it all. The cats sneak away from home through holes in the walls and open doors, stealthily make their way to the cat palace and enter after meowing a secret code that periodically changes. Once their orders are complete, cats can return home with their treasures, this time laden down with goodies in tiny packs that they wear on their bodies.

Although it might seem tricky for both staff and customers to trade money for goods, especially when you consider that neither has opposable thumbs, the cats make it work every day. Besides, these fuzzy creatures are all about the some. Many cats head to the cat palace simply to socialize with friends and strangers. From housecat to alleycat to wildcat, all cats are welcomed at the cat palace.

And once they’re there, they can enjoy images of birds and rodents on screens, play with toys, climb trees and jump between shelves, and relax by giving each other massages or baths. The cat palace is at once a spa, a store, and an amusement park. No human institution is as fun or crucial to happiness for humans as the cat palace is to cats. Even if something like this existed, it would fail to achieve the luxury and harmony exhibited by the cat palace.

So the next time you’re not sure where Simon or Smokey or Max is, they could be at the cat palace having the time of their lives!

It is 4:26 and I am newly showered. I am waiting for Wendy to awake but I realize that she may not work at her usual time. So, I am sitting here in a towel, listening to the quiet hum of my laptop. It is very calming and I realize that I have not been in a place where I could simply listen to it hum away. Wendy’s computer is ridiculously loud–so loud that you can easily hear it down the hall, in the bedroom. My laptop hums away; although, sometimes it is nearly silent.

It’s a shame that I do not take solace in the comforting and familiar sounds around me more often. The narrator of my relaxation CD tells me to do this as I fall asleep and, I must admit, the CD is more effective now than ever. Where I used to listen to it all the way through, and be wide awake, I am falling asleep with no concept of how long I have been listening to it. And sleeping through the night without so many awakenings. The result? I am sleeping far less than I used to. Perhaps still more than your average person (although, I have nothing on your average bear).

Now to get on a normal sleeping schedule because, as you can guess, it is quite abnormal for me to be awake at 4:26 in the morning and I won’t even make it to 8 o’clock tonight. I didn’t last night. That’s okay. I sleep much more soundly when it is dark. Luckily, Wisconsin offers me around sixteen hours of darkness every day and it certainly messes with one’s inner clock–especially if one is not awake during the few hours of light. This is also why I want to adjust my schedule.

But, for now, it is 4:41 and I am calmed by the sound of my laptop and that is all I need.

Sometimes and sometimes not. Sometimes it means Cole just isn’t blogging because she doesn’t want to say “I was in a car accident with Wendy and while everyone is okay and it wasn’t my fault, the car isn’t doing so well and it should have been so much worse.”

Sometimes it also means that Cole and Wendy went to see movies like Coraline and Watchmen which were both good or that they spent hours wandering around downtown, 2 minutes visiting the Alamo (which is all you really need) and dined at a “British” style pub where their server was a friendly lad in a kilt who Wendy loved.

Sometimes it’s both.

Last night, Wendy and I headed out to a local bar/venue known as the White Rabbit. We saw 3 bands play before heading out. Toward the end, we could definitely tell which was the local favourite and there was some talent to be seen but the bar itself was a little lame. All drinks were prebottled and just sitting in refrigerators to sell. If you wanted something non-alcoholic, there were vending machines outside. How odd, no? Still it was an interesting experience.

Well, she was late. Wendy’s first flight was delayed 3 hours because f the snow but she finally made it to Chicago where he second and third flgihts were rerouted to just a second flight straight to San Antonio but that flight was delayed 3.5 hours itself. She finally wound up leaving Chicago for San Antonio at the time when she should have been here already so my sister in law couldn’t pick her up from the airport. Wendy wound up taking a taxi, after I explained to the cab driver how to get here (okay, it’s a weird street name but you drive a cab!) and she showed up around 3:30 in the AM. It was exhausting just waiting for her!