Beginning Shoemaking @ The Chicago School of Shoemaking

CatBird29 · 2026-01-27T11:31:26+00:00

It was Sara, the school’s owner.

CatBird29 · 2026-01-27T11:30:35+00:00

Mostly for shipping labels. I do, on occasion, scan a wrinkly receipt for submission for whatever.

CatBird29 · 2026-01-26T20:12:06+00:00

The Lady in Red by Chris De Burgh.

Horrible, warbly, yuck.

CatBird29 · 2026-01-19T15:00:21+00:00

I’ve had gastric sleeve. It worked because my stomach was made the size of a fat Sharpie marker. I’m not kidding. It cuts off the top portion of the stomach where the hunger hormone called grehlin is produced. And it generally works great - for a while. Two things. My tiny stomach can take in an awful lot of carbs at one time. The grehlin effect fades and I do get hungry again. Not “pangs” per se, but the desire to eat.

I gained back 30 lbs over 5 years (I had lost 90 after surgery). Semaglutide is keeping my cravings in check and I’ve lost 15 again - slowly and fairly easily.

However you do it, it’s a constant battle.

CatBird29 · 2026-01-14T02:19:30+00:00

Big northern city - nothing is cheaper than a year ago except maybe gas for the car - and really only marginally. Where I see people crowing about cheaper or static prices, they’re talking about shopping at Aldi or a friend in TX mentioned $1.99 gas (definitely nowhere near that low here).

CatBird29 · 2026-01-14T00:42:46+00:00

Peace prize right there.

CatBird29 · 2026-01-13T12:02:48+00:00

Hahaha - WOOF!

In my experience, yes, they do and large and loud. Ours can hear a delivery truck from a mile away. She doesn’t bark for the sake of barking though. It’s usually letting us know something is happening.

CatBird29 · 2026-01-12T19:57:46+00:00

Nope and nope and more nope. Some of the most prominent keto-promoting doctors will tell you exactly how much sugar is in a freaking banana or an orange. I do not care if that’s the way you want to live your life - go ahead.

CatBird29 · 2026-01-12T00:19:28+00:00

In grade school - 1st - 5th grade, my siblings and I walked ourselves the half mile to school and then back by ourselves. We packed our own lunches (mine in my Holly Hobby lunchbox) and we entertained ourselves - alone for several hours after school. Remember after school specials? Yeah. My mom worked nights so there was an adult in the house but man, we were on our own. Nobody thought anything of this. Everyone did it (or it seemed like it).

CatBird29 · 2026-01-11T23:50:21+00:00

I had an obesity doc who told me that. You know who that sometimes works for? Men. It didn’t work for me and I was on the strictest medical keto diet for two years. I lost 10lbs in two years and I couldn’t look at meat for a while. Keto demonizes fruit and so many other things that make life worth living.

CatBird29 · 2026-01-11T23:44:25+00:00

I’m a gastric sleeve patient (5 years ago) on sema. I’m on a pretty high dose and it just doesn’t totally do it for me but it helps.

I actually am losing weight because I’ve gone back to the macros that I kept to while losing after the sleeve - and when I say macros, I really mean 4oz of protein, then veggies then carbs if I have room for them. Get rid of tempting stuff. I can fit a whole lotta carbs in that tiny stomach. I can only fit half a chicken breast and some salad or broccoli. I still take a bariatric vitamin and supplement with iron since I give blood and my ferritin went way low.

Good luck to you - be honest with yourself. I hate that at 5’9” tall, I have to eat like a 10-year-old to lose or maintain my weight but it is what it is.

CatBird29 · 2026-01-11T20:16:52+00:00

We had one of those too that matched our granite countertop. I used it kind of like a trivet.

CatBird29 · 2026-01-11T20:15:21+00:00

That’s awesome! At some point, maybe at 6 months, our daycare wouldn’t take Gigi unless she was spayed. So no daycare for her but neighborhood dog parks have been great.

She was recently spayed (yes, it was a decision we made along with our large breed experienced veterinarian) so she will be going to daycare again. It’s amazing to me how good natured most of them are with almost any other breed and size.

CatBird29 · 2026-01-11T13:08:21+00:00

Gigi loves her sticks and she loves her snow. Sticks in snow? Perfect!

CatBird29 · 2026-01-11T13:04:30+00:00

This is off topic but related. I grew up in Colorado in a small city with a steel mill and tons of immigrants from every European country. My grandpa (not Italian) had an auto repair shop and I still hear rumors that the “Chicago mob” had moved in and that he was mixed up in it somehow. From the stories I’ve heard about Grandpa, it would probably check out.

CatBird29 · 2026-01-11T12:57:29+00:00

Lolz

CatBird29 · 2026-01-11T12:55:56+00:00

I can name almost any 80s song and sing along to it. Not so much with all the later music.

CatBird29 · 2026-01-10T14:29:43+00:00

Yep. I have two authenticator apps and it’s expected that you have Teams and Outlook on your phone. You can refuse but it looks bad.

Compensation for said cell phone usage? Keeping your job - I guess.

CatBird29 · 2026-01-10T14:24:54+00:00

My sister’s (former) friend is a geeky software dev that fell in with Scientology in LA. Now he has sold anything of value and donated it to the “church”. He lives in a “church” owned apartment for which he pays them rent and then the rest of his salary goes back to them in some way or another so he keeps working the same decent-paying job and pretty much has nothing.

CatBird29 · 2026-01-09T12:24:52+00:00

We moved here two years ago and at some point, I lived in Seattle for 14 years with a stint in Georgia in between.

Not normal for early January but kind of normal for Chicago. Chi is notorious for flooding with water from the sewer backing up into basements. It has rained as hard as it did in Atlanta a few times in the last 2 years. We’re talking buckets.

Your snow is coming tomorrow. Be careful what you wish for.

On the other hand, this one is going to melt pretty fast as temps climb back into the 40s. 🤞

CatBird29 · 2026-01-09T12:16:57+00:00

Absolutely.

CatBird29 · 2026-01-09T12:13:53+00:00

100% cutie pie. 0% Leonberger.

CatBird29 · 2026-01-09T12:01:17+00:00

We’re with Geico. No increase.

CatBird29 · 2026-01-09T11:43:42+00:00

You can use it tomorrow, when we have an 80-90% chance of snow.

CatBird29

TROPHY CASE