Do you collect anything?
On my flight home from Denver yesterday the little kid sitting next to me asked if I collect anything.
I thought about it before I responded. I purposefully try NOT to collect things (besides memories, aww) but then I felt my head and my answer occurred to me, “sunglasses!”
Then I asked them if they collect anything. And they excitedly told me rocks. And I was like “OMG DUH KIM YOU COLLECT ROCKS TOO.” (Also, why didn’t I think of that? Don’t most kids collect rocks?)
As the little kid was enthusiastically describing all the rocks they found on their trip to Arizona to me, I was thinking they’d be excited when I told them about my painted rocks.
Fam, they were NOT excited. Ha ha ha. I explained that I was even on a rock painting trip, and had a backpack full of painted rocks and even offered them one when we landed (they were stored in overhead luggage) and they politely declined.
Then went on telling me more about different rocks in their collection.
I thought maybe when they saw mine after we landed they’d want one. Nope! Rejected! Although the adults around me were very interested in them.
It was so funny to me. Especially that this kid had already mastered the technique of asking someone a question in hopes they’d ask it back.
On my flight to Denver, we passed by Guttenberg, Iowa, where my family has cabins, and I could even see them from the plane!
We flew right by my hometown in Iowa too! That was a fun surprise.
We’ve flown to both these places in the Cessna, but it was fun to see them from above 30K feet!
Where is Penny?
Oh Pennifer.
Home girl really wants to live inside.
Let’s back up though. I was working downtown Wednesday and Steven texted me to ask if Penny was at the house in the morning before I left, because she was currently MIA.
I told him she was, and felt really bad when he told me he couldn’t find her. Steven worries so much about her wandering off and forgetting how to get back, and I was teasing him the day before about how I saw her wandering around in the woods that day. Oops.
So Steven walks all around the yard, calling and looking for her, and no luck.
He comes back inside and continues getting ready to leave and is about to remotely start his car and thinks “wait, what if Penny snuck into the garage when Kim left?”
It’s hard to see in the camera footage, but that is exactly what that little stinker did!
I was so careful backing up to make sure she wasn’t there, that I wasn’t even looking at the door and watching it shut all the way. Now I will.
Penny was fine, just waiting to come inside. So she got to walk through the house and go back out to her cat house and eat breakfast.
She keeps doing this – showing up when we arrive home or leave, to run into the garage. Most of the time it’s cute. Sometimes it’s annoying. Sometimes it’s dangerous. We don’t want her to come running when delivery people come down the driveway! They aren’t expecting her. Sigh.
Random Thoughts Thursday 492
- Steven is always making little (and big!) improvements to our house to make our lives easier. The most recent was a sensor he added to the washer and dryer to notify us via the speakers on our main level when the wash and dry cycles are complete (and to do a reminder notification). We don’t always hear the timer go off since they’re in the basement. And then we forget! It’s been really helpful so far.
- Another example? All the research Steven’s done to find the perfect enclosure for the cats’ litter boxes. Doesn’t this look so much better than an open litter box sitting on the floor? And he found one that fits perfectly in that spot!
- We have four litter boxes, so we’re testing this enclosure on one box before committing to more. Gotta make sure the cats will actually use it! So far, we’ve left the door open, and they’ve been using it that way.
- The litter box enclosures are just one of many projects we’re tackling before our summer guests arrive in August! Their visit is the perfect motivation to finally check off some things we’ve been putting off. This weekend/week Steven patched and painted some holes with rust stains in the living room ceiling too.
- I want to thank Past Kim. Sometimes she really has her shit together. Like when she had the foresight to put readers in her flying bag so she could see the ipad in the dark in the plane this past weekend. Good job Past Kim!
- Speaking of that flight, the Timmerman airport must have found that blog post because they sent me an email about some cool events they have coming up – a flour drop and spot landing contest (two separate events). For the flour drop you try to drop a bag of flour on a bullseye. Sounds like a blast! I’m glad they emailed me!
- I have a special obsession with All Dressed chips and was really excited to see them in the stores a few weeks ago. They were absent for a bit during the pandemic!
- Every March our gym does 65 burpees at each class. It’s horrible and f*cks me up, even with modifications. I actually tried to cancel my membership for March (for other reasons) but was too late! Needless to say, I’m glad March is almost over.
Reading Update (2025 #19-21)
[19] Wild Side (Rose Hill #3) by Elsie Silver
Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, third in series, Kindle
Synopsis: Forced into marriage to protect her nephew, Tabitha vows never to forgive Rhys Dupris – the brooding, secretive man who betrayed her – and she now calls her husband. But as they share a home, the tension between them begins to slip away and she discovers a fierce protector, a patient partner, and a man who makes it far too easy to fall in love… even when she swore she never would.
Review: This is an enemies to lovers, fake marriage tale with a fierce and stubborn female protagonist and I. Was. Here. For. It. There is a misunderstanding that gets resolved quickly enough, then we just get to enjoy these two falling in love. Most of the complaints about this book on GoodReads are disinterest in what Rhys’s job is – but that didn’t bother me! I’ve really enjoyed this series and can’t wait for the fourth book!
Recommend? Yes!
[20] All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1) by Martha Wells
Fiction / Science Fiction / Action & Adventure, was looking for something to listen to, Graphic Audio
Synopsis: Murderbot is a security android on a remote planet with one job – protect their set of humans. The problem is, Murderbot is bored and would rather watch serials then read the briefings they’re given or pay attention to what’s going on. When comms from a nearby mission go dark, Murderbot is forced to do their job, and interact with their humans.
Review: Sigh. I was looking for something on audio and was so excited when I saw these novelas (there are a ton of them!) were all available on Graphic audio on Hoopla, but UGH. This was so bad. And boring. It was hard to follow because it throws you right into the story and doesn’t explain anything and the characters names are unusual and I could NOT keep them straight at all. It’s supposed to be funny and lighthearted – like that this security android who is supposed to kill things would rather just chill and watch tv and wants to avoid humans at all costs cause they make them feel so awkward but it was NOT doing it for me! Nope. Pass.
Recommend? No
[21] The Locked Door by Freida McFadden
Fiction / Thrillers / Psychological, received in the book club book exchange, paperback
Synopsis: Twenty-six years ago, Nora Davis’s father was arrested as a serial killer and sentenced to life in prison. Nora changed her last name, moved in with her grandmother, and later on built a quiet life as a surgeon, determined to keep her past buried. But when a patient is murdered in the exact way her father killed his victims, it’s clear someone knows the truth, and they want her to take the fall.
Review: Is this a page turner? YES. Did I feel like I was being lead astray throughout the entire book when I read the twist at the end? Yes. Did I care? No. Ha, this is what Freida McFadden does. You are sure you have it somewhat figured out but you never do. I enjoyed this one and was glad it didn’t get too gruesome, and that nothing happened to the stray cat that Nora takes care of.
Recommend? Sure!
Flying to Milwaukee (Timmerman)
Our latest flying adventure was to Milwaukee, WI!
Not the “big” Class Charlie/international Milwaukee airport (KMKE below), but a little Delta airport to the north of it – Timmerman Airport (KMWC).
Steven wanted to practice nighttime takeoffs and landings, but wanted to do something fun with it, rather than just hanging out in the pattern at our base airport an hour after sunset, so we found a restaurant to fly to.
So I researched and found a few restaurants with a vegetarian/vegan option and within walking distance of Timmerman Airport. Are these restaurants we would ever purposely drive to? No. Are we way less picky when flying because we are mostly doing it for the fun of flying and for Steven to keep building his skills and working on his proficiency? Yes.
We actually had this flight planned out for Friday a week+ ago but we canceled due to an incoming windstorm – it would have been safe to fly when we had it booked but the plane would have sat out all night and gotten beat up during the storm. Anyway! So we rescheduled for Saturday and had one beautiful non-windy day. Yay!
This trip required quite a bit of planning because we wanted to avoid different Delta and Charlie airspaces on our way up (hence the path not being a straight line below). You can actually call these airspaces and ask to fly through them, but that would be a lot more communications for a 30 minute flight than we wanted!
We aren’t super familiar with the GPS in the airplane – like we don’t know how to enter a route with multiple heading changes like this in it – so I went over the checkpoints with Steven several times to make sure I knew which and when to enter them. I’m getting ahead of myself though.
When we got to the airport, we saw all of the school’s airplanes were out! We haven’t seen that in a while! We preflighted on the ramp (outside) – also hadn’t done that in a while. We even had to wait in line on the taxiway for other GA (general aviation planes). Again, it’s been a while.
We took off at 5:34. It was a beautiful clear day to fly with hardly any traffic in sight.
I enjoyed seeing the Milwaukee cityscape from the plane. It doesn’t show up in a photo, but of course I tried.
Our planning paid off, too. There was a certain point on course when Steven had to turn and fly between the Charlie and Delta airspaces, but it was right as he had to call the Timmerman tower to announce himself and state his intentions. And he had to listen to the weather before that turn so he could tell tower he’d listened (Ah! I just remembered. When we listened to weather it had a warning about birds in the vicinity. Eek. I did see a few right before we were landing but they weren’t in our flight path.). Blah blah blah, it went well.
And we found the airport right away! Go us!
You could see the city off in the distance when we landed. I enjoyed it. Steven was focusing on landing. I tell him about these things later.
We landed at 6:09 and tied the plane down. One of the interesting (???) things that happens to general aviation ramps in the winter is the tie downs fill with water and freeze so you can’t use them (and use chocks instead). The good news is they are thawed now! The bad news is they are full of mud. It’s a bit messy.
On the way to our base airport, Steven was telling me how he listened to an aviation podcast this week and they were saying to always check the FBO (fixed base operator) hours so you don’t have to do “fence jumping” to get in and out if you leave after hours. I never thought of that.
So I called the FBO before we left and they closed at 4:00. Oops. I told Steven we should just check it out – maybe there was a clear code to get in and out. And if not, we’d be waiting a bit so that we could fly back (hungry) at official “nighttime.”
Good news – there was a clear code to use and we were able to leave!
The restaurant I found, Syrs, was so close to the airport. Below is a view of the airport from the restaurant. And there were even sidewalks to walk on. It was about a 5 minute walk. Woo hoo!
Ha. So this is funny and a bit long to explain (but is anyone even reading this?). We were originally going to go to a different restaurant but they close at 4:00 and weren’t an option. I found Syrs as a backup (open until 2 am!) and text Steven about it this week saying “This place by Timmerman shows a veggie burger on their menu 🤷♀️ also looks like a vibe 😂 Like it’s also a hookah lounge?”
So I knew the restaurant was also a hookah lounge but didn’t know it was going to have security to get in because it was also a club! We had to go through a metal detector. And Steven always has a multitool on him with a blade and they kept telling him he could take it back to his car. And twice he was like “I flew here.” Like… I don’t have a car to take it back too. Like that even matters. Buah ha ha. Eventually he asked if he could throw the blade out and they were cool with that. They were nice the whole time and it wasn’t weird – we just weren’t expecting it!
But wait for this – we sit down and Steven goes “I didn’t know this place was an actual hookah lounge. I thought you were just saying it looked liked one.” I laughed so much!!!!!! Still laughing about it now as I type this.
I was glad I pregamed with Tylenol for an existing headache on the walk over, cause the hookah smell got to me a bit by the end. The food was great though! We had fried okra and burgers.
We enjoyed chatting (Steven got his weekly work dump/rant from me – it always seems to come out at restaurants) and did our flight planning there before heading back to the airport.
We preflighted, did run-up, and discussed several times how we’d keep an eye on altitude because of the nearby Charlie airspace. The runway we were taking off on pointed right at the MKE Charlie airspace. The airspace shelf starts at 2200 MSL (meaning we have to stay under that altitude) so not a lot of wiggle room there!
We left at 8:27, and sunset was at 7:05, so we were well within the nighttime flying time starting at 8:05.
And Steven was able to turn off course and avoid flying under the Charlie airspace, and slipped right between the Charlie and Delta easy peasy (ha, said as a passenger).
The Milwaukee skyline looked amazing all lit up but nighttime photos from my iPhone suck. Here’s one anyway:
The flight back was a little shorter, with a tailwind (we landed at 8:57).
Our home airport tower closes at 8:00 so it was up to the pilots to communicate what they were doing with one another. Someone was talking off to the west a bit before we were landing, and we had them in sight, so all good!
When you approach the airport you can press the comms button a certain amount of times to turn the runway lights on. This is what they look like when you hit it 7x:
Max brightness! Too bright! Steven only hit it 5x after that.
We landed, then did 3 more takeoffs and landings. It’s required to do nighttime takeoffs and landings every 90 days to stay “current” so you can fly at night with passengers. Steven has told me several times (and I’ve read it in books and heard it on podcasts) that proficiency is more important than currency, which makes sense! So he wasn’t at his 90 day limit, but wanted to practice. If he waits 90 days to do this again it will be the summer solstice and quite late. Ha. We’ll see how much nighttime flying we do until then.
And that was our Saturday night! I had so much fun. Our last landing was at 9:22 and I think we got home around 10:00 – that’s late for me. Hee hee. But it doesn’t bother me at all when we are out flying!
Book club & volunteering
Look at me, I’ve been so social this weekend. I’m proud of me. 🥹
Friday night was book club at the gym to review Saving Noah. I didn’t care for it, but it was insightful hearing what everyone else thought of it, and someone pointed out part of the twist at the end that I didn’t figure out on my own when I read it. So that was interesting!
We’re reading The Let Them Theory for April. Book club switches back and forth between fiction and non-fiction each month. The picks have been super meh thus far, so at morning class another student and I asked our trainer if she could suggest a top-selling non-fiction instead of what we normally do (let everyone suggest a book and read the last one that is drawn). We suggested that book as an option and I am glad that’s what she selected (watch, I will dislike this one too!).
I brought a chickpea salad to book club and it was a huge hit, which made me feel good!
This also made me feel good – afterward when I was getting ready to leave and was chatting with a group of people, someone came up to me and said “Kim! I just learned something about you!” I was like, “ooo, tell me.” And she said “You paint the rocks that are here at the gym?” She was acting like it was some secret I was keeping, and the people in the group were like “you didn’t know?!” It was cute. Then she was very complimentary to me and I gave her one from my stash and encouraged her to take the one that’s been in the gym for ages so I can replace it.
On Saturday morning I volunteered at a food bank. Today is my friend Kris’s birthday and that’s what she wanted to do for her birthday – get a big group together to volunteer.
It was my first time volunteering there and our job was to put 6 single serve cereals in a mesh sleeve, then put 10 of those sleeves in a box, tape it up, and put it on a pallet.
There were 20 in our group, and there was another group there, and together, over 2 hours, we prepped 19,260 servings of cereal to go to food pantries.
I had a lot of fun. It was very fulfilling and satisfying!
Okay, I guess that is where my “socialness” ends. So maybe it wasn’t actually that much! It just felt like a lot because I got home late Friday night, and again last night because Steven and I went out for dinner (flew there then did nighttime takeoffs and landings when we got back – more on that in another post).
Random Thoughts Thursday 491
- First, how cute is this mani? I love how it turned out.
- And loved that it matched my Starbucks from Sunday! I don’t often get Starbucks on the weekend but I woke up Sunday with a killer headache from the pressure change, and caffeine helps (ha, although, that marker smell was NOT helping with my headache! I dumped it in a mug when I got home).
- We’re having a typical March here. Friday it was sunny and in the 70s. Saturday it was warm and hella windy. Then Sunday it snowed (hence the pressure change).
- Lately, when I wear my hair down and curly, people ask me if I cut it! Nope. The curls just shorten it that much.
- The dentist appointment happened on Tuesday! Woo hoo. And I impulse bought a retainer. I had braces in high school and had a retainer then that I wore for a few years and quit in college. I was asking if your teeth are at risk of moving when you age and the dental hygienist said yes, then I was asking what I could do to prevent it because I like how my teeth are now … and here we are! I had NO idea they just put a wand in your mouth to map your teeth and order your retainer. My mind was blown! The last time I had one made I put my teeth in that clay/foamy stuff.
- I stumbled across an article on toxic positivity yesterday and the explanation of why people do it was so insightful: “some people are uncomfortable with negative emotions, and so they invalidate your sadness or disappointment. Their response is disingenuous, and it comes at the expense of your well-being because we have to process our feelings in order to grow.” “Even though the person expressing toxic positivity wants to make the disappointed person feel better, the ‘suppression makes a person feel worse because they are alone in their reality.'” Yep yep. That explanation seems so obvious but it was helpful to me.
More rock stuff
I’ve been leaving a painted rock at Starbucks when I visit before going into the office. Today the barista picked it up and said to me “I love it, I love it, I love it so much! Thank you! I took one home and put it in my office.”
Aww, that made me feel really good. I thanked him and told him there would be more to come! (I felt good when he went to show it to a coworker as I was leaving too.)
I also left another in the women’s bathroom on my floor since I got such positive feedback on the last one:
We had the ultimate lazy weekend this weekend and I painted 14 rocks and watched a lot of bad movies. It was lovely!
If you want to see more random rock art, check out my Instagram 🥰
Reading Update (2025 #16-18)
[16] The Marriage Act by John Marrs
Fiction / Literary, second in series after The One, Kindle
Synopsis: In a near-future Britain, the government enforces marriage through the Sanctity of Marriage Act, punishing those who remain single and giving perks to those in the Act. As four couples navigate love under constant surveillance, they deal with the consequences on their bond.
Review: This is such an interesting concept. Unfortunately, with all the different POVs, it was hard to keep the characters straight for too long. And I despised most of them. There were so many characters and I couldn’t find one that I was interested in or wanted to root for. But I did finish to see if they got what they deserve muah ha ha.
Recommend? No
[17] The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan
Fiction / Women, Green Light by Jamie on The Popcast, Kindle
Synopsis: Bestselling author Cate Kay has captivated the world – but she doesn’t really exist. Having kept her true identity hidden for years, Cate has been on the run since a tragic event happened in her last year of high school. Now, a shocking revelation forces her to confront the past she’s spent a lifetime escaping.
Review: This book was absolutely captivating and beautifully written once I got into it. It took me a little longer than it should have because I was so tired each night while reading, and the shifting POVs meant it wasn’t always immediately clear why the person narrating was part of the story. Similar complaint as to The Marriage Act, but it was easier to follow since all the characters connect back to Cate. And it all came together so satisfyingly in the end. The characters were incredibly well-developed and felt real, so much so that they make you feel everything right along with them. My only complaint is that it should have been longer!
Recommend? Absolutely yes
[18] None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell
Fiction / Thrillers / Suspense, Saw in “Available Now” on Libby, Audio
Synopsis: Podcaster Alix Summers meets Josie Fair, her birthday twin, at a pub and later outside her children’s school. Josie, claiming to be on the brink of big life changes, convinces Alix to feature her on her podcast. As Alix delves deeper, she begins to questions what Josie is telling her, and wonders if she never should have invited her into her life. Warning: if you read blurbs of this online there is a massive spoiler
Review: This book was also captivating – the writing style kept me hanging, making it nearly impossible to stop listening because I just had to know what was going on! While I found the “twist” at the end a bit disappointing, the journey was still thoroughly enjoyable. I had so many “what the AF is GOING ON with Josie and her family? GAWD!” moments. I also loved that the audiobook fell somewhere between a traditional and graphic audio experience, featuring a larger narrating cast along with music and podcast-style intro/outro elements.
Recommend? Yes
Random Thoughts Thursday 490
- I have so much randomness to share. First though, I’d like to mark you all “safe” from seeing another vague and unhinged post from me. I had one written Tuesday and just published it privately.
- One vague thing though (sorry!) – at dinner on Tuesday, Steven complimented me, saying I’m handling uncertainty very well. He said he’d been thinking about that and how navigating uncertainty in flying over the past year has helped me with it. That’s 100% true, and I hadn’t even made that connection! Derp. So much of flying is uncertainty, unknowns, contingency planning, being flexible – I’ve said it before – that’s good for me.
- I’ve been so sensitive to smells lately. Coffee brewing, strong food smells, smoke, perfume, strong detergent. Ugh.
- Isn’t it crazy how hard it is to read some news articles with all the pop-ups and ads? I often give up.
- My monthly sticker subscription brings me so much joy. THESE ARE SO CUTE!
- Last week at work my supervisor emailed me and the three others in my position, addressing them by their first names, but using my last name. It made me chuckle. We share the same first name (and there are a few other Kims), so I’m sometimes called by my last name out loud, but it was funny to see it in writing.
- Yesterday a few people at work were talking about the painted rock I left in the bathroom. I happened to have a few with me to show, and my coworkers who know I paint were bragging on me big time. They’re so sweet!
- I calmed down enough to call the dentist Tuesday. Then they told me their scheduling system was down and they couldn’t schedule me. Ha. But they called back Wednesday and I now have an appointment for next Tuesday. They also called me back after I scheduled and told me I need to stop taking my blood thinners for the appointment and I told them no, that’s inaccurate, and that was cleared up after they wouldn’t clean my teeth last time. ANYWAY. Adding a reminder to my calendar now to call them Monday and confirm they will actually clean my teeth on Tuesday.
Hi! I’m Kim, a 40-something-year-old living in northeastern Illinois with my husband Steven, and our cats, Khaleesi, Apollo, Starbuck, and Eddard aka Ned. My current main hobbies are running, painting rocks, flying, reading, and eating. I follow a vegan lifestyle and work in an account management role. I write about a variety of topics and consider this a “life” blog – a place I can share anything that’s on my mind. Please visit the “About” page to get a better idea of who I am! 🙂
