Reading Update (2025 #91–93)
[91] The Father, Son, and Holy Shuttle: Growing Up an Astronaut’s Kid in the Glorious 80s by Patrick Mullane
Memoir, gift from author, paperback
Synopsis: Through a humorous and nostalgic lens, Patrick Mullane reflects on his one-of-a-kind childhood as the son of astronaut Mike Mullane, one of the original Space Shuttle Discovery crew members.
Review: What an interesting and fun read! Can you imagine your dad being a legit astronaut and casually saying things like, “Yeah, Sally Ride came over for dinner”? (although the other astronaut kids probably wouldn’t find that impressive at all, ha). I loved reading about the sense of adventure in Mullane’s family, the awe and admiration he had for his father, and the genuine connection they shared. His parents were so intentional about raising him and his sisters differently than they’d been raised, while still keeping close ties with their own parents—I love reading about intentional actions and boundaries in families.
When Patrick emailed me he said “The book is a memoir that’s kind of a teenage boy coming of age story which means it’s rated R in some spots… fair warning!” and oh my gosh, there were a lot of really funny spots that had me laughing out loud. I loved his sense of humor, all the behind-the-scenes glimpses, and the nostalgic, nerdy lookbacks and tidbits. What a cool and unique perspective to get a peek into!
Recommend? Yes!
[92] Overruled by Lana Ferguson
Fiction / Romance / Workplace, rec from Ene, Audio
Synopsis: Danica and Ezra are divorce lawyers who have been hooking up at night while battling it out in court in opposing cases during the day. Danica is bitter after her parents’ amicable divorce when she was 17, and has sworn off love, saying every time with Ezra is the “last time.” But it never is, and they have to figure out what the f*ck they are doing.
Review: I appreciate that this book was doing something a bit different than more typical romance formulas, but it lost all the suspense of waiting for these two rivals to hook up, and it lost the journey of them falling in love. I am still not convinced they even did. The trial stuff wasn’t interesting (the person who recommended this to me works in law so I totally get that it was to her!), and I didn’t understand why Danica got so mad at Ezra about something in the trial. Then there was this trial twist that felt out of the blue and I was annoyed it wasn’t easier to guess and the way they presented it. I was just annoyed with this. And that’s not even getting into how Danica acted. SPOILER! I am SO OVER third act breakups! CAN WE NOT. I wonder if I need a break from this genre.
Recommend? Nope
[93] The Road to Tender Hearts: A Novel by Annie Hartnett
Fiction / Literary, heard about from Stephany, Kindle
Synopsis: At sixty-three, lottery winner and alcoholic PJ Halliday has money but little else—his marriage is over, his eldest daughter is dead, he has a strained relationship with his remaining daughter, and his health is failing. When he learns his high school sweetheart is newly single, PJ sets out on a harebrained cross-country road trip to win her back. But after a sudden tragedy leaves him guardian to his estranged late brother’s grandchildren, PJ’s trip turns into a journey with the kids, his daughter, and a death-predicting cat named Pancakes.
Review: What a delightful, quirky, and darkly funny novel. I absolutely loved the storytelling (what a wild adventure they have!) and how vivid and real the characters felt. PJ does whatever he wants—most of it making zero sense—and yet luck somehow always seems to be on his side. I totally related to his daughter’s frustration with him! Despite all the loss woven through the story (I mean they are traveling with a cat that predicts death!), it all came together beautifully in the end. It’s one of those books that leaves you feeling like you’ve just been wrapped in a warm hug. I adored it!
I highlighted a lot more than I usually do in this book! I particularly enjoyed:
“You’ll need something,” he said. “If you expect to be happy. My dad always said a person needs three things to be happy: something to do; someone to love; and something to look forward to.”
Recommend? Absolutely!
Random Thoughts Thursday 517
- Khali typically doesn’t sit on the couch seats with us (she only recently started sitting on the cushions behind us!) but Monday night I had a blanket out and gently placed her there and told her to just imagine it was like sleeping with her brother on that blanket like they do every night, and she stayed! 🥹 Big milestone!
- I was thinking about how we finished watching Top Gun: Maverick Monday night and remembered I wanted to share how absolutely terrible the Dennis Quaid movie On a Wing and Prayer is (we watched it Sunday). I mean, I knew it was going to be terrible (especially with that title) and thought we could just watch it and criticize the flying stuff but it was one of the worst movies we’ve ever seen. And what stinks is how much it bastardized the true story it’s based on. The father who landed the plane after the pilot died after takeoff had his private pilot license in real life. In the movie he’d been on ONE discovery flight. So much eye-roll.
- We got one last green bean harvest before our first freeze last Thursday night! Those pole beans did well. We’ll definitely be planting them again next year.
- Snow Jr wasn’t around for afternoon dry food, dinner, or nighttime snack (gawd these cats are spoiled!) Friday night. I had been out in Dragonstone in the afternoon and had seen him in there but thought he left when I did. Nope! We went out there after he didn’t show up for nighttime snack and found him hanging out up in the mezzanine! I’m glad we checked and he wasn’t trapped in there. Although he was cozy and safe so maybe he didn’t care.
- I’m so glad I went to book club Friday night, even though I didn’t read the book. I love chatting with these women.
- I have a few thoughts swirling around that I may want to dive into more in their own dedicated post:
- The difference between being a planner vs being prepared.
- The things in life that constantly have you learning. Mine is aviation but I curious what it is for other people! Could have been architecture for me if I followed that route.
Flying to Middleton, WI / Surprise author meeting!
Saturday ended up being so fun! I mean, flying always is, but this day was full of surprises!
The original plan was to fly to Middleton, WI (Morey Field), a city on the west side of Madison, and get an Uber and go to lunch, then go back and fly home.
Surprise #1: The Weather!
If you glance at the photo above you’ll see some dark ass clouds! The prog showed a chance of rain but the hourly looked good, so we were surprised there were so many little spots with light rain. We can fly through light rain, but need to avoid spots like the one below, which was easy to do!
It just meant our course wasn’t a straight line there!
It wasn’t all like that though. We saw lots of beautiful fall color under some moody skies,
and spent some time circling around a large hill outside of Madison before making our way to the airport and getting into the pattern.
Surprise #2: This airport is hella active!
There were two planes ahead of us in the pattern while we were landing (those planes made it easier to find the airport, thank you!) and when we landed there were there waiting to depart.
Surprise #3: This airport has a wonderful FBO (Fixed Base Operator) and a club car!
Neither of us had researched if there was an FBO or a club car. We just assumed it would be a tiny airport and we’d use rideshare. But it turns out this is the longest operating FBO in Wisconsin and the college student working there was super nice!
We asked him if the airport always has so many planes in the pattern and he said that was pretty light, that it’s much busier on a sunny day. Wow.
He asked me if I was a pilot (probably because of all the pilot jargon I was spouting) and I said not yet but I love to learn about it and will probably start training when we own a plane. He was like “so you’re a professional passenger!” Steven and I thought that was fun, and Steven told him how he usually calls me his “unofficial copilot.”
Okay, enough babbling.
We were happy to hear there was a club car. $10 for the first two hours or free if you fill up the tank. Much easier and cheaper then taking several rideshares.
We went to Forage Kitchen for lunch. Yum!
Surprise #4: Middleton has the cutest little downtown!
I told Rachel where we were going, and since she lives nearby she had a bunch of recs, including the National Mustard Museum, and the Pheasant Branch Conservancy. We didn’t make it to the conservancy (the weather was kind of me and we didn’t have a lot of time), but we went to the museum!
It was fun to look at all the mustards and random things for sale on the first floor and check out the museum in the basement. There was a lot to look at, but I had seen a cute shop when we drove in (The Regal Find) and wanted to go there. Priorities!
Surprise #5: Meeting author Peter Egan
When we got back people were arriving to the airport by car and we found out there was a party that evening celebrating the airport’s 100 year anniversary! Super cool!
We talked to this couple (in the photo below) about it, and how they were associated with the airport, and their past flying adventures, and the guy was like “one summer we flew our Cub across America!” I was saying how cool that sounded and he’s like “I wrote a book about it!” Say what?
Of course I had to get a copy! Then when I was looking him up later I found out he regularly wrote columns for Road & Track and Cycle World. Very cool! I’m excited to read his book, Landings in America: Two People, One Summer, and a Piper Cub.
On the way out we had a good view of the conservancy we didn’t go to. Maybe next time!
Surprise #6: A few corn mazes!
These are so fun to see from above, especially when it’s a random surprise!
Surprise #7: Flying over Rachel’s house!
We had a similar situation on the way back as we did on the way there, where we needed to add on time due to weather, so we took a little detour to say hi to Rachel!
She could see us from her dock (that speck in the sky ha ha ha).
It’s always fun to fly over someone!
After that we discussed flying a bit north to go around the rain but it was just light rain so we flew through it, no problemo.
The wind was so calm on the way back we got to choose which runway to land on! (Much better than flying on Sunday, which was sunny and clear but very windy!)
We both had a really fun day. I’m glad our lunch plans turned into so much more!
San Diego / La Jolla 2025 Day 3 & 4
Let’s finish up this trip recap! Our last two days (3&4) in San Diego were Saturday October 18 and Sunday October 19.
We started Saturday with a run. It’s funny, Val and I used to be the ones dragging Tiff out on a run, and now it’s the opposite! Tiff set up the run and ran farther than us. I’d love to get back to running more. It’s a little complicated right meow though. Besides it feeling better if I shed a few pounds, I don’t have a lot of running-friendly time in my schedule (a 4 hour daily commute will do that to ya). Something for me to think about.
After our run we went to Hazel & Jade, an all vegan bakery I was so excited to try! Everything was a bit meh, I mostly think because they didn’t heat anything up. Like the meaty vegan quaso would have been much better if we took it back to the Airbnb and heated it up, but that wasn’t our plan. I enjoyed trying it all though.
Then we spent a big chunk of the morning in Balboa Park! We went to the gift shop in the Air & Space Museum,
got matching henna,
rode the tram around,
and spent a lot of time in the Spanish Village Art Center.
What a cool park! You could spend days there. I really liked looking at the cool architecture.
After that we drove over the Coronado Bridge, along the ocean, then back up north through Chula Vista (we saw signs warning about I-5 being closed in California due to the Marine Corps firing artillery over it). We stopped at a sandwich shop for lunch that randomly had a delish vegan salad on the menu! Only in California!
After that we checked out a little shop by the restaurant and went to two other beach areas (Dog Beach at Ocean Beach—it’s a long story—and the beach across from it).
Then we got back and were all so freaking beat. The sun was really doing me in. We painted for most of the rest of the day (Christina went shopping),
then went out for dinner. Dinner was an afterthought most nights, and done pretty late. We got to this place shortly before the kitchen closed! Oops!
On Sunday we all went to Starbucks—Mom had sent my snis with cash for us all to get a treat. Thanks, Mom!
I left a rock at the counter and when my snis was getting our drinks they asked if we left it by accident and she explained we left it on purpose, then they oohed and ahhed over it which made me feel good! That happened later at Caribou (was it Caribou?) at the airport, only the baristas were fake fighting over who got to keep it, and told me they are all cat lovers (it was a cat rock).
After we packed up we headed to the Little Italy area of San Diego for brunch and to check out a chalk festival. Then Tiff dropped us off at the airport!
The trip felt like it went by entirely too fast. Wah. I am glad to have trips planned with everyone in the future (I will see my snister twice in the next two weeks, Val once, and Tiff and Val in February!).
Things went smoothly at the airport. A 45-min delay was announced by accident(????), but we actually only left 10 mins late and arrived 30 mins early AND had a gate at ORD. That RARELY happens. We got home much earlier than I thought we would. Yay!
Toward the last few groups of boarding they asked for two volunteers to sit in the exit row! I popped up so fast! We ended up getting the seats. I was so grateful for the extra space (I am supposed to move my legs a lot when I fly commercial because of my clotting syndrome and that space helped).
Since I was by the window I had my face plastered to it for a lot of the trip. I enjoyed seeing San Diego from above:
We also saw the Invisible House shining out there in the desert and the Grand Canyon from far away. I would LOVE to fly a piston plane over it someday!
I loved seeing San Diego for the first time, especially with my girls! I hope we can all go somewhere together next fall, too!
Old photos
I spent a lot of yesterday going through old photos and now I have a lot of thoughts. First though, a question:
How do you feel when someone randomly sends you a photo of you from the past?
I came across a lot of photos I have that I don’t think the people in them have copies of. A couple dancing at our wedding in 2007. Family members when they were kids with now-deceased family members. Those sorts of things.
Would it be weird to share these or ask if they wanted them?
I almost did but remembered someone who often sent me old unsolicited photos of myself and it always made me feel weird. It seems intrusive. Like it needs a trigger warning.
And I am definitely not going to do it now. While the photo storage system* I use works for me on a day-to-day basis, it does not work well for searching for photos over time. Now that I type this out, I bet there is AI that would have helped. Oops. Next time.
Okay, on to the other thoughts:
- Do people enjoy looking through old photos? I am really not much of a reminiscer. At least in that way. (I’m more of a documenter and storyteller)
- It’s interesting to have a physical vs. digital photo break in my life. It’s interesting that some people’s is more physical, and young people now may have completely digital.
- If these were on my phone I could sort them by person.
- Some of the folks in these photos are no longer with us 😔
- Wow, my natural hair color is dark! Ha ha.
*I store photos on my computer, not on my phone. They are stored in folders for that day. So every day of the year (over the past many years) has its own folder. I have to rely on my memory of dates to know where things are. It’s totally set up to fail but it’s what I’ve been doing since I got my first digital camera in 2005.
Weekends as an adult
Ha, I don’t think I saw anything on the internet last week that spoke to me as much as this:
It says “weekends as an adult are neat because you can either do all your errands or you can do the things you enjoy but either way it’s the wrong choice.”
We try really hard to have some fun in our weekends (flying, going on walks, painting, watching movies, whatever) so it’s not 100% chores and adulting and preparing for the week ahead.
But for me, the only way to do both is to de-prioritize and accept not getting all the things done I used to feel like I should. This Kim has much different priorities than Kim of the past!
Reading Update (2025 #88–90)
[88] The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff
Fiction / Literary, green light from Knox on The Popcast, Audio
Synopsis: The Bright Years follows generations of a Texas family bound by love, loss, and long-buried secrets. Lillian hides the existence of her first son, while her husband Ryan battles addiction, leaving their daughter Georgette to grow up in the shadow of both.
Review: I listened to this book right after The Great Alone, which made the writing in The Bright Years feel wooden. Putting that unfair comparison aside, I enjoyed this generational family saga, especially the strong female characters, the focus on learning and growing from how your parents lived and the mistakes they made, and a little bit of found family.
Recommend? Yes, just not right after reading Kristin Hannah
[89] King of Pride (Kings of Sin #2) by Ana Huang
Fiction / Romance / Billionaires, next in series, Kindle
Synopsis: Billionaire Kai Young lives by order and control, and has a high-stakes CEO vote coming up that will determine if he will take over the family empire. It should be his main focus but he can’t stop thinking about Isabella Valencia, the free-spirited bartender (and author) who works at the hoity-toity ultra rich people club he belongs to. As an employee, she can’t date a club member. And Kai knows Isabella is not the type of woman his mother would approve of. But their chemistry is undeniable and they have to deal with the consequences of being together.
Review: This was a bit boring for me. Slow-moving, and boring. And there were a lot of characters on the board for the CEO vote and I was like… I don’t care to know who all these people are and keep track of what is going on? Meh. This genre might not be for me!
Recommend? No
[90] Everyone Is Lying to You by Jo Piazza
Fiction / Thrillers / Women, saw author Kim Hooper post about it, Audio
Synopsis: Fifteen years ago Lizzie’s best friend Bex ghosted her and sent her a nasty email ending their friendship. Lizzie is now a struggling magazine writer and is stunned when Bex, reinvented as glamorous influencer Rebecca Sommers, contacts her with an offer: an exclusive interview and an invitation to a major influencer conference. Lizzie says yes and goes, but when Bex vanishes and her husband is found murdered, Lizzie is pulled into the fray.
Review: Hmm. This was definitely entertaining. One of those reads I had to finish to find out wtf was going on. I’m not sure it landed what it was trying to do with its commentary on patriarchy, tradwife life, and the fakeness of social media… but it was a fun ride with a lot of parts that made me screw my face into one of disgust.
Recommend? Sure!
Random Thoughts Thursday 516
- I’m really enjoying reading the (signed!) copy of The Father, Son, and Holy Shuttle: Growing Up an Astronaut’s Kid in the Glorious 80s that author Patrick Mullane sent me! The humor and fun little tidbits reminds me of what I loved about his other book, Mullane’s Guide to Learning to Fly: Deep Dives into Select Topics for Today’s Student Pilot. I love reading a little tidbit then researching it myself. Did I need to deep dive John Denver’s death yesterday? No. Did I, and did I find it fascinating? Yes.
- I get a monthly subscription of stickers from Pipsticks and I brought it into the office to open with my coworkers on a break. They were like, “what do you do with all these stickers?” Let me show you:
- Speaking of work, I had a meeting with my new division on Tuesday and was thinking, while I am totally fine with whatever my new job is (still don’t know) and having an entirely new team, it is nice that some of my old team is still in my division. Not on my team, but in my division at least. I didn’t realize how grateful I was for that until I was sitting in that meeting.
- Also speaking of work, I left this rock in the bathroom yesterday and was surprised how fast it was gone, then received a really sweet message from the coworker who took it (and I haven’t met yet). It was meant to be!
- And finally, also speaking of work and life in general, just a reminder that what I write here is really censored and not at all a representation of my entire life. It’s a weird sort of highlights and features.
San Diego / La Jolla 2025 Day 2
My goodness we walked so much Friday (well over 24K steps!) in the San Diego area, and now that I think about it… it was all in flip flops! What can I say, those are some comfortable flippy floppies.
We started our morning with Starbucks and a walk down to the La Jolla Shores Beach.
What a lovely way to start the day!
We had made a list of things to see and eat the night before. It was my first time in San Diego (everyone else had been before) and I wanted to check some things out (so many people told me to go go the zoo. I am not a zoo girlie.).
I wasn’t originally thinking we’d be in La Jolla (we had an Airbnb change) so I wasn’t going to bring up visiting the Salk Institute, designed by Louis Kahn. But it was like, right there!
So we drove up, and sadly, most of it is fenced off. We could have paid $30 (or something around that?) for a tour but I didn’t care that much.
After telling everyone we studied this building in architecture school, Val sweetly asked me what was architecturally significant about it. I told her I didn’t remember 😆 Amazing work, Kim. Truly. So glad I got that architecture degree.
After that we went to the Mission Bay area and walked around a bit on the Mission Beach Boardwalk. It was midday and this is when I was like, wow, it’s like, super hot here. And there are no clouds. Note, it was 72° with a real feel of 79° and a dew point of 59°. Arguably nice weather but the sun felt so intense. I had an idea in my head that it would be one of those strange cool microclimates like San Francisco based on what people told me (“I always wore a sweatshirt there!”) and the research I did. But it was just hot, which makes sense (in my head) for a city located so far south. I was dressed fine, my mind was just not fine. But it never is so ALL GOOD MOVING ON!
Okay, after that walk (like walk #3 of the day?!) we went to Tacotarian, an all vegan taqueria I was the most excited to try out of any food place there!
I panicked when I looked at the huge menu and had a very hard time even reading it to decide what I wanted. There were so many things and I could order them all. Too much reading to do. I was just kind of paralyzed. Maybe this is why regular eaters read menus before they go to a place? I have gotten so used to scanning for the one or two things I can eat. Anyway!
I ended up ordering A LOT to try (I did not realize the quesadilla came with rice, beans, and a salad, oops). I loved it all, and had a lot of leftovers to take back to the Airbnb!
After returning our leftovers and things to the Airbnb, we left on ANOTHER!!! walk on the La Jolla Coast Walk Trail toward La Jolla Cove to see the sea lions and seals. I didn’t even know this path was here, but Tiff knew about it from previous visits. Not sure I would have found it on my own!
It was a gorgeous walk. I loved all the different viewpoints of the coast.
And of course, seeing all the wildlife! There were thousands of birds!
And many sea lions and and seals.
Okay, so nobody told me how stinky they were. Ick! I grinned and bore it. But you guys (and by you guys I mean none of you and all the people I talked to in person about this trip), instead of telling me to go to the zoo and wear a sweatshirt, give me a heads up on how stinky the sea lions and seals are!
We checked out some shops in that area and walked back and painted a bit before we drove to dinner at Burger Lounge. Every night we got back I thought I’d rally and stay up late, but I was exhausted. We all were that night! I read a couple pages and fell asleep before 10:00!
San Diego / La Jolla 2025 Day 1
This San Diego trip felt so far away for so long, and now it’s come and gone and it’s basically Thanksgiving.
Okay, not really, but with two more trips before Thanksgiving, it’s gonna get here really fast. Time flies blah blah.
Enough of that. Let’s set the scene! I went to San Diego with my snis on Thursday October 16th to meet up with Tiff and Val (my close friends I met through rock painting).
We stayed in the La Jolla neighborhood through Sunday.
We got to the airbnb before noon and hung for a bit with Val before booking an early afternoon visit at The Cat Cafe!
Our Lyft driver to the cafe, William, was a hoot. He was telling us all about his grown kids and the cool jobs they do, mentioning one is a pilot for Alaska and William gets to fly places for free. I said “I want to be part of your family” and he responded “I’m single!” Ha ha ha ha. Folks, William was in his 70s. So funny. Best Lyft ride ever.
While we were waiting for our time slot at the cafe this handsome little fella, Leo, greeted us through the window. I promised I would pet him first thing upon entry! (And I kept my promise!)
Kind of funny to go to a cat cafe when you’ve seen your own cats fewer than ten hours prior, but… I am who I am. Or! I should say, we are who we are! Christina (that would be Snis), Val, and I are all huge cat lovers. Tiff isn’t, so we went before she got to town.
After the cat cafe we went to Grains for a late lunch. It’s all plant-based so I could eat everything on the menu!
Tiff got into town while we were there and met us at the restaurant. She drove down from LA, so no more ride share for us. Thank you Tiff! It was so nice to have a car and driver!
We had a chill rest of the day. We went back to the Airbnb then walked down to the beach. It turns out this house is very close to a hotel Tiff often stays at with her family, so she was familiar with the area.
We did some painting at the house then ventured out for food.
It was a lovely first day. I’ve been shit at updating people on my life, and keeping in touch in general, and we had so much to catch up on, which we did throughout the whole trip. Without getting too incredibly sappy on the first post, I really cherish this time. Time in person with my loved ones brings me so much joy. Kind of like, it’s the purpose of (my) life or something?!?!
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! 🙂
