Reading Update (2024 #67-69)
[67] The Friend Zone (The Friend Zone #1) by Abby Jimenez
Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy, rec from Val, Kindle
Synopsis: Kristen and Josh have a connection from their first meeting, but it isn’t meant to be – she’s dating someone. Even if she wasn’t, she’s going to have a medical procedure that makes it impossible to have children, and Josh wants a big family. Kristen hires Josh to work for her parttime and as they spend more time together, they become closer.
Review: What even is this book. Gawd. This is the classic “keeping a secret” trope for most of the entire freaking book and it MADE ME INSANE. (Spoiler) After Kristen and Josh hook up (she’s broken up with her boyfriend) she’s like “we can only be friends with benefits” then starts being a total bitch to him most of the time, because she wants to keep him at arm’s length because she’s decided for both of them they don’t have a future because of the medical thing she isn’t telling him about. GAH. Kristen obviously has a lot of trauma and self worth issues because of her past but it’s barely touched on so you’re just like “WhY iS sHe DoInG tHiS?” Don’t even get me started on the very dark turn toward the end of the book. This wasn’t the story for me!
Recommend? No
[68] How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang
Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, saw in “Available Now” on Libby, Kindle
TW: suicide
Synopsis: In high school Helen’s sister jumped in front of another student’s (Grant’s) car, and died by suicide. Fifteen years later Helen’s a YA novelist and her book series is being made into a TV show. She joins the writer’s room and discovers Grant is one of the writers. She wants to hate him, but it’s harder than she thought it would be.
Review: So many thoughts. First, this is a really interesting (disturbing) premise. Even though the death was not Grant’s fault, it’s obviously affected him deeply, and he has debilitating anxiety attacks. He seems happy in public, but alone, he’s a shell of a person. Helen is a first generation immigrant and the way she was raised has affected her (traumatized her) so much. She can’t imagine being as cheerful and carefree as Grant in public. She struggles with basic interactions and questions why anyone would ever want to spend time with her, because she wasn’t outwardly shown love growing up. These two are a mess, and therefore pretty interesting yet… the whole “we can have sex and that’s it” trope was too fresh after the first book so it was a struggle at times.
Recommend? Nah
[69] To the Gorge : Running, Grief, and Resilience & 460 Miles on the Pacific Crest Trail by Emily Halnon
Biography & Autobiography / Sports, heard about from Ali on the Run, audio
TW: cancer, death (including humans and a dog)
Synopsis: Halnon runs the entire Oregon section of the Pacific Crest Trail (with a goal of getting the FKT – Fastest Known Time) in honor of her late mother, who passed away from cancer. She intersperses stories of her mother, her mother’s cancer, and her sister-in-law’s cancer between recaps of running the trail.
Review: I’ve been interested in this book since Ali mentioned it on her podcast and am so glad I did the audio version. Hearing this from Emily herself felt so raw and real. I would not have felt that if I read it on Kindle.
There is a lot of grief in this story. Her mother passed in January 2020 and she did this run in August 2020. And her mother passing was not the only bad thing going on in her life. So know that going into it. But it’s beautifully done. I felt like the stories she told about her mother, her family, and herself were perfectly placed within her recap of running the trail. It was a lovely exploration of her grief. A little bit of me was like “I want more running stats” – but then she gave them all in appendices in the end.
Recommend? Yes
Stories from the weekend
Khali and Starbuck’s vet visit
Khali and Starbuck had their annual vet visit Friday. They’re healthy! Although Khali had a “senior” blood draw. SORRY MISS KHALI YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO AGE. (She will turn 9 next year.)
But I’m here to talk about Starbuck. Oh, Starbuck. I gave her one gabapentin, even though part of my brain said two. I mean, look at her, she is so smöl! Surely one will work?
No. One gaba was one too few. She was sleepy limp kitty at home but once she got into the car she had ALL THE STRENGTH! Then acted like she was on catnip at the appointment, rolling around on the ground and jumping all over the place.
I told her she was embarrassing the family after how well Apollo behaved last time. The vet reassured me she was fine, just a bit squirmy (she wasn’t being mean or cowering). Anyway, two gaba next time.
And to top it all off, she went under this lid and did the biggest cat poop I’ve ever seen. What a little stinker. Literally.
The good news is we had a fresh fecal sample! Fun times.
All that flight planning for nothing!
We had plans to fly with Josh on Saturday, and Steven wanted ME to sit in the front (eek!) so I did prep for the flight on Thursday and Friday so I wouldn’t look like (too big of) an idiot in front of Josh.
Then we found out kind of last minute that the plane has been out for maintenance all week and we couldn’t go. Womp womp. That was a bummer. It was perfect flying weather too. Sigh! That meant we had time for something else on Saturday though (more on that below).
For real though
Just wanted to share this rock I painted Friday night. Steven suggested I NOT hide it in case a child finds it. Good thinking, Steven. I will be looking for a home for it.
Learning to leaf blow
Since we were going to be home Saturday, that meant we had time to leaf blow. Steven asked for a second leaf blower last year so I could assist, because we have a ton of trees and an acre of grass and it takes him forever by himself!
It was really windy here last week and a lot of the leaves fell. We had huge piles all over (this photo is part of our front yard).
After 2+ hours, we had the whole yard cleaned up! Leaf blowing is fun, but I sure was pooped out after.
Pack Expo
On Sunday we went to Chicago for Pack Expo – a huge expo at McCormick Place for machines that package things, and packaging itself. We were there to see what was new, but also look at machines that package powders.
it was huge. There were 5 halls of vendors. We walked about 11K steps. I forgot how everyone wants to talk and sell to you at expos like this. We just wanted to look and not be talked to and joked about ways to communicate that.
After we left we went to Can’t Believe It’s Not Meat, and really enjoyed it! There was no place to sit so we ate in the car. It was giving 2020.
It was another long day – it took an hour and a half to get there and back because of traffic. I was glad for the extra hour. But still pooped when we got home.
This part of the post is really random but I have to share that we watched Single White Female Sunday night. Have you seen this film? What the AF. It was pretty good until it wasn’t – the ending goes off the rails. And FYI the dog dies. I’m really good at seeing an animal, saying “does this animal die?,” then looking it up, then looking right at the screen when it shows the dead body, then getting upset. Go, me. Like, I am RARELY looking at the screen cause I am painting while we “watch” something, so how do I always look up at the bad spots UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
Holiday card outtakes
Every year I try to get a photo of the cats together for the front of the holiday card. It involves bribing them with a food tube and usually happens on the stairs – not the best setting, but that’s where they want to go and I’m just grateful to get them all in one shot.
We took the photo this Saturday, and I only had to do a bit of editing. Original:
Final:
Yes, we gave Ned a derpier face.
And now, for the outtakes. Since they are eating a food tube, we get a lot of funny shots!
Ha, such little goobers.
And now for an important question. We were struggling to find a template to use for our holiday card because most of the images are vertical. We finally found one, then I realized we used it in 2020 (with less images on the front). Think anyone will notice?! I think not.
A few little stories
I have so many little stories I keep meaning to write down. Let’s just get them all out!
Are you moody or just tired?
Well, the title gives it away, but the trainer jokingly asked me that at the gym Monday morning and I was like “Yeah, valid question. I’m just tired.” I’m not sure I’m fully awake until I leave the gym, most days.
(And I was ill or something that day. I got horrible cramps in the morning and took the afternoon off and SLEPT THREE HOURS then NINE MORE that night. I was tired!)
So that’s why I was never sore…
I’ve come to realize I use my back for basically everything I do at the gym and that’s why I’m only ever sore when we do chest presses. I just haven’t figured out a way to use my back to do them.
All joking aside, I’m relearning how to lift, which means going really light, and pretty slow. It’s getting better, and kind of nuts how different certain moves feel WHEN YOU’RE DOING THEM CORRECTLY. And yes, I used to be a certified personal trainer (many years ago). Eek.
I’m an artist, respect my craft
^What I wish I had jokingly said
When we voted last Friday I was STRUGGLING to get my signature to match the one I used 4 years ago. After about 6 tries, they accepted it. It was hard to use the stylus and screen at the angle they had it, and my signature isn’t always the same. When I told this story to Val and Tiff in Marco I said I should have said “I’m an artist, respect my craft! My signature has changed since 4 years ago!” Ha.
That’s a woman’s job
When we were in Arkansas, Steven was on his phone looking for our new friend Kevin‘s last name*. I (kind of jokingly but not really) told him “that’s a woman’s job – we can find ANYONE on the internet!” Then I went on with whatever I was doing.
The next morning I asked if he ever found Kevin, and he told me no (he hadn’t really looked that far into it), and I was like, let me see if I can find him, and FOLKS! I found him after ONE google search. ONE!!!!!!!!! I was pretty impressed with myself. Pro stalker level over here.
*The funny thing is when he introduced himself he actually said his last name but neither of us heard it! And it made me think about how I usually just introduce myself with my first name. Hmm.
It’s that time of year!
Time to start thinking about holiday gifts! The older I get the less stuff I want and the stuff I do want is sometimes pricey. When I’m making a holiday or birthday wishlist, what I generally do is just stop buying things I want/need for a couple months before and put them on the list instead.
Anyway. What’s a nice way to say “can we not do gifts?” Not because I’m cheap, but because I don’t want anything (I’m happy to buy something for someone else)! Unless it’s a plane. We are looking at Cessna 310s but if you are buying it for me I’d be happy with a 172 or 182. Or a Diamond DA40. Can you throw in the hangar too? Thanks!
Random Thoughts Thursday 471
- Happy Halloween! In case you’re like me and are well aware today is Halloween, but are generally confused about what month it is, I’d like to remind you tomorrow is November 1 and DST ends on Sunday. I know. Nutso. Time flies when you’re having fun.
- It’s been two weeks and Penny is still obsessed with the cat house. Even though it’s been hot some days (yesterday it was in the low 80s), she’s still hanging out in there, even going up to the mezzanine level! I’m glad she’s getting used to it, with winter on the way (and that she’s moving farther into it, so Snow Jr can come in as well). Good job Pennifer.
- I really wanted to do book club at the gym last month but it was a Colleen Hoover book, so it was a hard pass. I told myself I’d do the next one, no matter the book, and it’s a kind of self help book that I started yesterday and UGH, it’s just NOT for me. So much repetitive fluff! But folks on GoodReads said there is useful information at the end so I will stick it out.
- Have I mentioned I host a lunch break movie club at work? It’s like a book club, only we watch a movie on our own, then discuss it. It started out in my branch, but now it includes folks from all over the company. Yesterday we had our 16th meeting and chatted about The Shining. Here are the movies we’ve reviewed and next month’s:
- I’m in a phase right now where most (social, but a little of work too) digital communication feels overwhelming. And by phase I mean I have felt this way for most of the year and don’t see it changing. It’s me, not the people contacting me.
- I always forget nautical miles (which is how airplane mileage is measured) are 1.151x road miles. So when we have a headwind and it shows 90 kn, it’s 103.6 road mph.
- We’re not anywhere close to buying a plane but I have a tail number in mind! And it’s available! The last time it was used was Nov 2007 and tracking shows it “landing” on an island somewhere well off the coast of Portugal. Steven doesn’t really care for it, but this is just an imagination game, so it’s all good.
Pumpkin carving and other shenanigans
Gosh, I don’t remember the last time we carved a pumpkin before this weekend.
And I didn’t carve it! Steven did! I drew it for him though.
My mom asked if we could come to town for the family holiday photo, and my snis had already invited us to her pumpkin carving party, so this weekend made sense. Plus, it was my brother and aunt’s birthdays!
We drove in Friday, and hung out and had pizza with the fam (I was approached AGAIN in a pizza parking lot for a ride – it must be something about driving Steven’s car). There were games and a dance party after dinner.
On Saturday we went to the Farmers Market, got donuts,
hung out, (I) painted, did the family photo,
hung out at the park (and drove RC cars), had dinner together, carved pumpkins, then went out to a bar (all the siblings).
I hang out with people to chat with them, so I really struggle in loud bars. I couldn’t hear much. Still fun though.
On Sunday I painted a bit again (the kids did crafts) then snis and I got Starbucks, we all ate breakfast, and we drove home. Short but good trip!
(We would have loved to fly there but it’s a big ask to reserve a plane for the whole weekend and since we just had two weekends ago we didn’t want to ask again.)
Random Thoughts Thursday 470 Part 2
- Fun things first – here is my new mani! Those are leaf stickers under the gold leaf on my middle and ring finger.
- I feel crazy saying this, but being so busy at work, while exhausting, gave me a large sense of purpose. The intensity just needed to go down a notch.
- Last week when I was running that all day meeting I kept using “f/u” to mean follow-up and was snickering in my head about another thing f/u could mean. Buah ha ha. It’s the small things that keep me going, folks.
- I think my fave keyboard trick I’ve learned this year is ctrl+shift+v for pasting without formatting. This is LIFE CHANGING. How did I not know about it until now?! It’s saved me SO MUCH TIME!
- Some of my coworkers don’t understand why we’d want to use ChatGPT. I always tell them it’s to help me make writing go faster and here’s a perfect example. I sound way too casual in my work emails and appreciated the corporate jargon (I used some of it).
- I helped one of my coworker’s use ChatGPT to make something more concise and she said “Kim – I think I may like this program.” Heck yeah, girl (ha, I think that was my exact response to her).
Random Thoughts Thursday 470 Part 1
Lots of thoughts this week, so you’re getting two Random Thoughts Thursdays posts. I put all the “fun” stuff in this one, and tomorrow’s will mostly be work stuff and a photo of my mani.
- I hope you’re sitting down because this message is going to be shocking. My Garmin actually showed me a NICE message on Monday. My mind is STILL blown.
- I’m kind of sick of getting up at 5:00 am to lift weights at the gym. It’s weird – I don’t have a hard time getting out of bed, I’m not tired during the day, and I enjoy class, I think I am just over… having something on my calendar. Hmm. Today I didn’t sign up for class until I woke up naturally and saw I had time to go. Maybe I should try that more?
- I saw a gorgeous sunrise yesterday morning and it made me think about how I used to feel like I needed to be running during those, to fully experience it. I also felt that way with “good” running weather. It’s one of the few areas of my life where I feel FOMO – missing out on a weather occurrence. So strange. I finally stopped feeling that way after years of telling myself there will be other opportunities. There are going to be more sunrises. There are going to be more nice running days. All this to lead into me sharing that I can see myself feeling that way about flying – “we should be flying now because the weather is good!” I need to make sure I don’t get mentally hung up on that (even though it’s way more true – I can run through shit weather, we can’t fly through it).
- I finally painted last weekend after 3.5 weeks off. It’s normal for me to go through phases like this, and it felt good to “get back” to it!
View this post on Instagram
- I forgot to mention in my Kingsley Airfield post that I hid a rock there and it was reported found twice (by the person who found it when I hid it, and by the person who found it after that person hid it). It’s always fun when that happens. It’s rare if I hear back at all, so twice for the same rock in a span of a few days is neat!
It’s time to rekindle an old friendship
One of my favorite stories about Steven (that was in the vault until last night!) is from MANY years ago when we were eating at a Chinese restaurant with his entire family. At the end of the meal the waiter brought out fortune cookies and I grabbed one, and after I read my fortune Steven proclaimed that I took “his” fortune and grabbed it from my hand and ate it. The paper, not the cookie.
It was hilarious. I wish I could remember what the fortune was!
Ever since then I let Steven distribute the fortune cookies. He says there’s a method that must be followed. I trust him. Ha.
So last night we got Chinese takeout and Steven’s fortune was “It’s time to rekindle an old friendship,” which lead him to joke about how he doesn’t have any friendships to rekindle.
Which lead me to (jokingly) tell him he needs to make friends and (seriously tell him) I want him to find love again/remarry if I die before him so he’s not alone.
I know, probably not where you thought this was going.
So we were joking about potential people he could ask to marry him and I told him to practice a pickup line on me.
“Does your face hurt?”
“No… why?”
“Because you look like you fell from heaven.”
FOLKS, WE DIED LAUGHING. I am writing this from the beyond and this is a moot point now because we died together. Aww.
But really! What the heck is that pickup line?
He eventually realized it’s supposed to be “Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?” Then we kept laughing and crying and my nose got stuffed up and my stomach hurt from laughing so hard.
He looked up different (better?) pickup lines and my second favorite (the first is too inappropriate to share) was “Did you sit in a pile of sugar? Cause you have a sweet ass.” HAHAHAHAHAH
He said he’ll be practicing pickup lines on me. I’m pretty excited to hear what ridiculousness he comes up with next! (This morning he interrupted my shower to say “I’m jealous of that water because it’s all over you and I’m not.” hahahahahahah)
You’re the runner!
I introduced myself to some neighbors on our street this weekend and they were like “You’re the runner!”
What a nice way to be recognized.
I mean, I could be the “a-hole who drives the Infiniti” in their heads but at least they called me “the runner” to my face! Ha ha.
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 am employed by the federal government. 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! 🙂
