Oops
Ha, I have to tell you all an embarrassing story.* I whittled the application for that work leadership course down to 10,000 characters and submitted it Tuesday night. On Thursday my supervisor chatted me that she just finished reading my application and how proud she was of me and excited to write her recommendation. I thanked her and told her I really needed to hear that this week. Then she went on to say how she’s seen so much growth in me, especially in tough weeks like last week. Or something like that.
Whatever she said made me feel really good so I took a screenshot of it to email to myself and put in my “KUDOS” folder, a folder I keep of nice things like that at work to look at when I’m feeling low.
About 30 minutes later I realized I never got the email I sent to myself with the screenshot. I was like, “Oh shit, where’d it go?!”
Sigh.
My supervisor has the same first name as me. Even though I was trying to be careful and select my email, I sent it to her.
So, she got a screenshot of a conversation we had, with the subject “Kudos from Kimberly.”
I felt dumb for about a minute then responded to the email with an “LOL” and told her I meant to send that to myself for my kudos folder because what she said made me feel so good. I told myself “hey, at least now she knows her words are making an impact!”
And thankfully she responded that she figured as much and liked seeing that I was sending it to myself. Or trying to. Ha.
Seriously though. Come on Kim. Last week was so hectic. I need to SLOW DOWN this week. Take my time. Think things through. Double check things.
*Not as embarrassing as the time you thought Lulu’s was a Italian place, Stephany. Like, OMG.
Random Thoughts Thursday 456
- Happy first day of summer! The weather has been so miserable and muggy here, with highs in the 90s and high dew points… and that was still spring. Ahh! I wonder if we’ll have a super hot summer. I hope not.
- My no chip manicure does not seem to like this humidity! It’s been starting to lift a few days before my appointment, for a couple months now. That doesn’t happen in the winter.
- I got my balayage touched up Friday! And a trim too. Talking to my colorist at the salon about her drama with her sister made me feel really grateful for mine and the relationship we have. Whoa.
- I’ve felt really overextended with work (full time and part time) and my upcoming social life lately. Someone I’m not close with on Instagram asked to meet up with me in Chicago and I told them no, that I feel overwhelmed and can’t commit to it. I felt bad. Even though I have no desire to meet up with them, but they responded back immediately “no worries and completely understandable.” It felt good to be honest and not have them press.
- I mentioned the new B&W cat – since they started showing up, this gray cat (that we’d seen before) has been coming around more too.
- Notice the dirty toy in the photo above? We’ve been putting out toys for the outdoor cats to play with. They all love to rub over it and throw it around.
- Our cilantro is still coming in strong. I’ve been cutting it often and sharing it with folks. We don’t eat enough to keep up with it, but I don’t want to leave it alone and have it bolt!
- Our green beans and peas are starting to grow flowers, so maybe we’ll have the beginning of fruit in a few weeks!
New kitty friend
A new-to-us cat showed up in our yard Sunday. I was surprised when I went outside that instead of running away, it walked toward me, meowing at me.
We fed it Sunday, and I thought it would just be passing through, and we’d never see it again, but it’s shown up for every meal.
It’s friendly and lets us pet it.
Sigh.
I’m happy to take care of it – we already feed Snow Jr every time our indoor cats get food (and Stilgar when he shows up) – it’s not an inconvenience.
But this cat breaks my heart. Its fur is dirty (it let me brush it a bit last night, but I’m not about to bathe it). It’s skinny. It seemed low on energy when it arrived, but has been getting better, thankfully. I hate that it’s so hot out right now, but it’s been lounging in shaded spots and drinking lots of water (which makes me worry it has some health issue).
I’d like to just tell myself it’s a rough-looking outdoor cat that just happens to be really friendly. But my brain is like “someone dumped this old cat on your street because they didn’t want it anymore.” Sigh. However it ended up here, we’ll show it love. And I really hope me blogging about it doesn’t mean I’ll have to write a sad update on it soon. Hopefully the next update will be that we picked a name for it!
Struggle
Writing at work has been such a struggle lately. I wished it flowed as easily as it does here. Instead I get stuck in loops of rereading what I wrote over and over, to make sure it makes sense.
I obviously don’t do that here. Ha!
Applications opened on Monday for a leadership course my supervisor recommended I take. I looked at the application and saw two essay-esque questions that had a limit of 10,000 words.
Yikes. And we only had two weeks to submit and it requires two levels of supervisory approval during that two week process.
So I got to work on it right away. I worked late, ate dinner with Steven, then got back to work while he was at his flying lesson. I felt really burned out and my head was spinning. I couldn’t focus, so I called it quits.
Today when I opened it to look at it again, I read it more closely and noticed it said 10,000 characters. Um… that’s a huge difference.
Apparently I’ve been struggling with reading comprehension too. Sigh.
Random Thoughts Thursday 455
- Steven completed his solo and cross country hours on his Monday flight. He now has all required hours checked off! He still wants to do a maneuvers flight with his instructor and needs to do a check flight with a different instructor before his oral exam and final check flight.
- Mani photo from last week!
- We used cilantro from our garden on Saturday for crunchwraps. Yum!
- I did my first bike ride of the year on Sunday. A little later than last year’s first ride in May, but last year I wasn’t training for and recovering from a marathon! Anyway. As predicted, my butt was sore during the ride, but I know that will get better as I consistently ride. My lower back was a bit achy, which I was not expecting. Hopefully that goes away too…
- I’m on week three of speedwork and noticing improvements already. Woo hoo!
Reading Update (2024 #34-36)
[34] It’s a Date – Again by Jeneva Rose
Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, saw on Kindle Unlimited, Audio
Synopsis: Peyton finally realized who the love of her life is and as she rushed off to tell them she got hit by a car and ended up losing her memory. Three men show up in her hospital room all claiming they are dating. With the help of her two best friends, Peyton plans to figure out which of the three men is the one.
Review: Wow, this was really bad, cheesy, and INCREDIBLY predictable. I knew who it was going to be from Chapter 2. The only fun thing about this book is it’s set in Chicago, so I was familiar with the places they were going. Other than that, it was very painful and I only finished it because I forgot I had another audiobook to listen to.
Recommend? No
[35] Wilder (The Renegades #1) by Rebecca Yarros
Fiction / Romance / New Adult, buddy read with Anita, Kindle
Synopsis: Leah has the opportunity of a lifetime – to spend an entire college school year sailing the world in the “Study at Sea” program. The only way she could afford it was to tutor someone, and she gets paired with Paxton, aka Wilder, a daredevil, X Games medalist who’s part of a group of adrenaline junkies called the Renegades. Leah has recent trauma from a car crash over a cliff and is terrified of heights, but keeps finding herself in risky situations with Paxton… and even finds herself falling for him (buah ha ha, love the pun?).
Review: I sent Anita a copy of In the Likely Event by Yarros and she loved it so we decided to buddy read this together. Anita finished it in 1.5 days! Ha! It took me 6 days. Anyway. This book is so ridiculous and out there. The premise of a semester at sea? That Leah keeps ending up in this high risk situations or in harm’s way? That these two would ever fall for each other? But hey, romance does not have to be realistic, and this plotline does make for exciting events. So I mostly enjoyed it, especially a twist and high stakes ending. But I also rolled my eyes A LOT. So far, I like the Flight & Glory series better.
Recommend? Nah
[36] Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
Fiction / Romance / Fantasy, checked out since I read the ACOTAR series, Audio
Synopsis: Celaena Sardothien was the world’s best assassin until she was sentenced and forced to serve hard labor in the salt mines until she dies. Prince Dorian removes her from the mines and promises her freedom if she can act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin, win the competition, and serve as royal assassin for 4 years. Celaena agrees and travels with him (to the capital?) where she trains, is utterly bored by court life, makes one friend, flirts with the captain of the guard and Prince Dorian, and avoids getting killed because of course there is some evil magic thing killing off the competitors.
Review: Similar to the ACOTAR books, this one is slow slow moving until an exciting ending. I’m not sure if I can do that for many more books (it’s an 8 book series with a complicated reading order)! It’s well done, and interesting, and great world building and character development, blah blah, but ya girl is a bit bored.
Recommend? Nah
Random Thoughts Thursday 454 Part 2
- I have to share a feel good story before I get into the whiny stuff. I sent a package to Katja and she sent me thanks, a voice memo thanks from her daughter, and cute photos of the kids with the things I sent. Then she told me my timing was absolutely perfect – her daughter had been bullied by some older kids at school that day and was feeling low. When Katja was talking to her about it and cheering her up a bit, she mentioned our special day together in Leipzig, and that she doubted those mean kids got to miss school to meet their friend from the USA, or have a “big sister” in the USA who sends greetings (I am very honored to be held in this regard!). Katja said that really cheered her daughter up, and then when they got home, there was a package waiting from me for them all. What incredible timing, right?
- Oh my gosh! I don’t think I wrote about this! When we were in Leipzig, we went into a store that specialized in American candy and treats. Katja and her family were very excited to see Twinkies, because they’d seen them in the movie Zombieland but had never tried one. So they got a box to try. The catch is that they were banana flavored (the store didn’t have regular vanilla). Interesting, right? Anyway, the kids loved them, so I put a box of the regular ones for them to try in their package and they were VERY excited.
- I have to say, I’m loving using WhatsApp for keeping in touch with my European friends! It’s a million times better than using Instagram, where most of us met. And it’s really well integrated into Windows, so I can type responses from my laptop which is great because…
- I am so so sick of using my thumbs to type on my phone. I say this all the time. I just hate it! It’s not a difficulty or autocorrect annoyance… just more of an annoyance about how inefficient it is to not use a full keyboard and all of my fingers. I get a lot of long messages and don’t want to type that all out with my thumbs.
- I’m really proud of myself for being less anxious about getting back to people and being immediately responsive in my personal life. That’s just how I operated before, and didn’t realize how draining (and usually, unnecessary) it is. Now (for example) if I see a text come in but I’m about to read my Kindle and go to bed I leave it to read in the morning. I don’t feel bad taking time to respond to things. People know to call if it’s urgent. I have such a hard time focusing as it is, it’s better if I look at communication in chunks of time, rather than stop the task I am doing to respond.
- You guys. We get the nastiest responses on the Fake Meats Facebook and YouTube. It’s really helping me develop a thick skin! I can’t imagine taking the time to leave hate comments about a lifestyle choice you don’t understand. Who cares?
Random Thoughts Thursday 454
- I’ve kind of lost sight of how I’m supposed to be eating a consistent diet for my blood thinner management (consistent meaning what I eat and how much I eat. It can be whatever, it just needs to be consistent.). I’m fine, it’s just that I have to go in more (pay more for visits, more time off work, more wear & tear on my car) to get care if my INR numbers aren’t consistent. I’m just NOT a big picture gal. Ugh. And you’d think that marathon training had me paying much more attention to my diet. Nah, I was eating more to make sure I was fueled for my runs. I’m trying to be more consistent now, until I forget.
- Since I mentioned it, I will put some marathon comments here! First – I saw my massage therapist this week and she was telling me how other people she’s known have done races in Colorado and felt like they had heavy legs too. That made me feel better.
- The second comment is that someone I know is running their first marathon and I am biting my tongue so hard not to be like “OMG YOU NEED TO ACTUALLY FUEL,” etc etc. Instead I listen, and ask what is working for them, then sent them an Instagram link to a sports dietician I follow. Ha. But I just listen. If people want advice, they will ask for it (and this person does!).
- The third comment is that the Colfax Marathon used a photo (it’s the second one) I am in on their feed for Global Running Day!
- Ha, so I’ve been using that fake Stanley since December, and I took it with me to Iowa for Ella’s party. I left it in a room and when I came back I was surprised to see my snister had adorned it with a backpack! Thanks, snis! I’ve gotten a few comments on it at the gym – people think it’s super cute. I put my keys and a Softlips in there (and added a “just in case” GU to it today).
- This tumbler is too heavy and it’s annoying it doesn’t sit well in my car and that it spills… but I love that it holds 40 ounces of water. The one I’ve been using for years only holds 24 ounces. Now I only have to fill it 4x a day instead of 7x. I’m saving so much time!
- Okay, speaking of saving time. Ha. Steven sent me this article about how Millennials and Gen Z don’t use top sheets. Read at your own risk. Kind of hard to take an “article” seriously that has misspellings and uses such casual language. But a few thoughts:
- I’m sick of seeing articles like this. I don’t care if the generation behind me (I’m a Millennial) doesn’t use a top sheet, doesn’t wear skinny jeans, wears crew socks, or parts their hair down the middle. IDGAF. You do you. I know it’s tradition to pit the generations against each other, but, eyeroll. IDC.
- All that being said, the reasoning for not using it had me ROTFL: “But why on earth do Millennials and Gen Zers hate top sheets? It turns out it’s mostly about practicality. Many Millennials are on the move holding a full time job and a side hustle or two to make ends meet, adding and extra step when making the bed seems unnecessary.” IT’S TO SAVE PRECIOUS TIME WHEN BED MAKING!
- So, I had to laugh at myself this past week, when I decided I’m over matching my running socks and I’m just going to put them in the bin and pull two out to wear and go from there. I don’t care if they match and it saves me time SO I CAN FOCUS ON MY SIDE HUSTLE. (Not really, I usually put laundry away before bed so it gives me more time to read or sleep… but the real reason I am not doing it is because I AM SICK OF IT.)
- If you followed all that, congratulations.
- I had a few more bullets but this is already pretty long. Maybe I will come back tomorrow with a part 2!
Updates
I had so many things in my Random Thoughts Thursday post for tomorrow that I pulled some of them for today. So, a few updates:
- The cats are all feeling better since Friday’s barfpocalypse – it was definitely the food!
Saturday nap. Can you find all 4 cats?
Sunday balcony time
- There was a surprise wonderful outcome from all that happening. My German friend Dunja, who reads my blog, read about it and learned a new English word – barf. I’m so proud of myself. Ha ha ha.
- Steven got his 10 night takeoffs and landings done Friday night! Check that off the list! “Night” is defined by the FAA as one hour after sunset to one hour before sunrise, so he started around 9:30 and got home at 11:30.
- FAA is one of my clients at work. I was on the phone with someone there a couple weeks ago and they said an acronym I didn’t understand and I was really excited to use the NATO phonetic alphabet (I learned it for flight purposes) to repeat it back to them to make sure I got it right. I did, and then they used non-NATO phonetic words back at me (Sam for S instead of Sierra)!!! I was so surprised.
- We weeded the garden Sunday and put in the next row of green beans. The stuff we planted a month ago is looking good!
Cilantro, basil, and cucumber
Carrots, pea pods, and green beans
Yesterday’s run
On my run yesterday I approached a group of women sitting in chairs with a dog off the side of the trail. I was paying attention to see what the dog was doing and the women didn’t really register until I could tell one of them was speaking to me.
She said “I wish I could run!”
And my first thought is “why don’t you?” (thinking this encouragingly, not in a bitchy way)
But I didn’t say that. Then I looked at her and realized her chair was a wheelchair.
Then I’m thinking “is she being funny?” (Mind you, all this happens in a few seconds because I kept running.)
So I say “I could push you!” And they all laugh.
Phew.
I really wasn’t sure how that was gonna turn out. I couldn’t tell if she was joking or upset! I’m glad it was the former.
Then I got attacked by a red-winged blackbird as I have every time I pass this portion of the trail for the last week. Fun fun.
Since I’m here, I’ll mention a few other workout related things.
- I mentioned it last week – that I’m proud of my body for being able to run a marathon. But the interaction yesterday reminded me to think about how grateful I am that I can run at all. That’s kind of been my attitude since I came back to running after a four month break last year, and why I’m not upset my paces are slower than they used to be. I’m just grateful I can do this.
- Going to WWM (my gym) has turned me into an afternoon runner, and I’m a morning runner at heart and it sucks to be missing out on the cool spring mornings to be running in the hot afternoons. But I know I am more likely to run after work than I am to take an afternoon class, so that’s the schedule that works for me.
- The instructors and students at WWM have been welcoming since my first class last August but I’ve felt more and more lately like I’m really part of the community. People greet me by name, ask me questions about things going on in my personal life, send me messages, etc. It feels good to belong.
- Random, but last week Marybel (our main trainer) was telling us to push off our toes when coming out of a reverse lunge and I realized I’ve been trying to power them from my quads. What the heck, Kim!!! It’s so much easier when you push off your toes! When she gives cues like that I really try to remember them and do them so I’m actually working the part of my body she intends for us to.
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! 🙂
