some cool things around the internet and in my life

1. rainbow  is offering pre-orders for some pretty awesome hand-made halloween cat toys.
2. another online friend (not sure which identities I should link together?) has made a VERY GORGEOUS dragon/crop circle art quilt. i just cannot get over the circlet of stars honestly.
3. I am teaching my cats how to jump through a hula hoop. Steps completed so far: acquire hula hoop; remove things that cause hula hoop to make noise; show cats hula hoop is not a portal to the dungeon dimension; show cats treats fall from the sky when they go in hula hoop on ground; show cats that treats fall from the sky when they walk through upright hula hoop. Surprisingly (because I was certain the dungeon dimension step would throw him for longer), Chance is progressing faster than Lily thus far. She's learning from watching him. My main struggle atm is juggling hula hoop, target stick, clicker, treat bag, and cats demanding treats.
4. Heartily recommend Switched at Birth. The plotline is all *mega drama* over the top a la Telenova (but maybe not so over the top, judging by some of my family?) But the awesome is they deal really well with so many actually important issues! Like teenage young women wanting to have sex, and so far *there is no slut-shaming* or parents moralizing, only "are you sure that person is the right person to sleep with?" and "so, you do know about protection?" and "sleeping with him won't let you change his behavior." WHAT SORCERY, ABC FAMILY. Also, there are multiple Deaf characters and as the show progresses and more Hearing characters learn sign there is more and more sign in the show. And a lot of time when people are signing, unless it's like some pivotal romantic moment, there's no filler background soundtrack. Just silence (sometimes for effect) or standard traffic noise or something. They also deal amazingly well with single moms, white privilege, class issues, white guilt, white savior syndrome, Latin@ identity issues, alcoholism...like, they're not perfect but WHAT SORCERY IS THIS.
5. I actually want to list more, but my partner and my cats want to spend time with me so I'm gonna do that. <3