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i am sparkles and glitter, shadows and clouds.
i love purple, and faeries, and books, and music.

Ramblings by Category

Ramblings by Year

what i read: january 2018

I did a lot of reading this month. I have surprised myself with the number of books I read in January. I haven’t read like this in a long time. It’s nice to enjoy reading again. I have no idea if this amount of reading will continue through the year, but I’ve happily carved out a good chunk of my goal of 50 books read in 2018. 😉

I read a lot of suspence/mystery this month. I go through phases in what I like to read, and it’s been a while since I had a mystery/suspense phase. It’s been nice!

Total number of books read in January 2018: 14!

Picture Book (3-5)

Chewie and the Porgs – Kevin Shinick, Fiona Hsieh (Illustrations)

Middle Grade (9-12)

Goth Girl and the Sinister Symphony (Goth Girl #4) – Chris Riddell

Ghost of a Chance (100 Dresses #2) – Susan Maupin Schmid

The Serpent’s Secret (Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond #1) – Sayantani DasGupta

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Book 1) – J.K. Rowling (re-reading the series this year!)

Young Adult (12+)

Ready Player One – Ernest Cline (also Sci-Fi-ish)

A Line in the Dark – Malinda Lo (also suspense)

Fiction

The Witches of New York – Ami McKay

The Perfect Nanny – Leïla Slimani (also suspense…SOOOOO GOOD!!)

The Alice Network – Kate Quinn

 

Mystery/Suspense

Pretty Girls – Karin Slaughter (AMAZING!!)

The Good Daughter – Karin Slaughter

Beyond Reach (Grant County #6) – Karin Slaughter

All the Missing Girls – Megan Miranda

42

Today I am 42.

This is the answer to the meaning of life, right? I should understand, and know, everything now?

*waits*

No, seriously.

*waits some more*

Is this, like, something that takes a little bit to boot up? I can wait. By tomorrow it’ll be installed right? This meaning of life knowledge that comes with 42?

Kurt Vonnegut wouldn’t have just made this sort of thing up, would he? I mean, I don’t know him or anything, but he reads like a really honest guy.

@—@—@

So today wasn’t 40-below zero. In fact we had ourselves a lovely ice storm. Thankfully I had asked Shawn to take today off from work to spend with me. The downside was that we were outside within minutes of waking up, hacking about 2 inches of ice off the car, and steps, and backyard so the dogs could get out. We also missed the movie we were going to see, that I had even bought tickets for on my movie app, because freezing rain just didn’t stop. Plus side there, it was cheapy tuesday so we only lost $12 off of a gift card.

@—@—@

Because it’s my birthday, and I saw a few people post this on FB this month, I’m going to answer some questions!

 

1. Favorite smell – Lavender. Or patchouli.
2. Last time I cried – last Wednesday, after being sick at work (ugh)
3. Favorite pizza – not really a pizza gal, but I do like being able to customize my pizza at Double Pizza here.
4. Favorite Flowers – Daisy, and since I discovered them two summers ago, Sunrise Lantana
5. Favorite dog breed – Finnish Lapphund (obviously), French Bulldogs, mixed breeds!
6. Untie laces- WHY?
7. Roller coaster- That’ll be a hard no, Greg.
8. Favorite ice cream – I do not like ice cream. (Though if I want some, it’s got to be vanilla)
9. Shorts or Jeans – Jeans
10. What are you listening to- P!nk, and The Cranberries on repeat
11. Color of truck – I do not have a truck. I have a car. It’s red.
12. Color of eyes- Green-Hazel
13. Favorite food – I really like bread.
14. Favorite Holiday – Halloween
15. Night owl or day person – Um… mid-morning through lunch time. Rest of the time I just want to sleep.
16. Favorite day of the week- Saturday
17. Do you have a nick name – Pookie, kit-cat,  Cattypants,
18. Favorite music – indie pop
19. Tattoos – 6 (obviously I need to fix this because I can’t handle even numbers!!)
20. Piercings – 3 (was 4, I took out the eyebrow piercing in September.)
21. Number of pets- 2 dogs, one feline overlord
22. Real book or kindle – real book. I really do not like eReaders.
23. Shower or bath – shower
24. # of pillows on your bed – 4. One is for the dog (Yoshi).
25. What food do you hate – brussels sprouts, asparagus, onion, liver…I could go on.

temperature fascination

As long as I can remember, I have always associated the weather on my birthday with -20-something degrees celcius. I remember frigid walks from home to the bowling alley (or back from) in my teens. We always say stuff like, “Oh, it’s just Cat’s birthday with 40-below temperatures!”

Every time I see a forecast with an above-zero temperature for the 23rd of January, think how odd that is. How abnormal that is. It’s not Birthday Weather with cold so biting that the hairs inside your nose freeze together when you try to breathe!

And yet… I looked up historical weather information for my birthday and see that my frozen birthday memories are… false?

They are predicting a high of 6°C , no precipitation, this year. I feel very weird when the temperature is above zero on my birthday. I always thought the warmest birthday I ever experienced was in 2009 when I went to Disney World. But I was wrong, I suppose. I do believe that was the only time I was able to be coatless & bootless on my birthday though. My birthday is a week away however, so the actual temperatures and weather are subject to change one billionty times between now and then. You can be certain that I will note it down on that day of course.

And because I love to nerd-out over the weather (temperature) records for my birthday, here’s my list!

YearHi Low
1976-26 °C-31 °C
1977-12 °C-16
1978-4 °C-7
1979-6 °C-12
1980-1 °C-13
1981-4 °C-11
1982-2 °C-22
1983-2 °C-5
1984-6°C-13
1985-5°C-11
1986-9°C-16
1987-5°C-17
1988-3°C-13
1989-4°C-12
1990-1°C-10
1991-4°C-18
19921°C-16
19933°C1
1994-16°C-22
1995-2°C-6
19962°C0
19976°C-18
1998-5°C-18
19997°C-2
2000-14°C-23
20010°C-7
20026°C-2
2003-6°C-21
2004-17°C-21
2005-14°C-21
2006-3°C-9
2007-3°C-13
2008-5°C-14
2009-11°C-14
2010-2°C-14
2011-18°C-25
20124°C-13
2013-22°C-27
2014-17°C-23
2015-12°C-14
2016-8°C-13
20170°C-4

As you can see, there are few -20+°C days on here. Perhaps I have memories of the temps WITH windchill added in? All the historical info only gives you the actual highs and lows, not the extra “feels-like” information. Looks like the actual date I was born still holds the record for coldest January 23rd ever here in my neck of the woods.

I’m silly insomuch as I like to know the records highs & lows for dates. I like to know what time it is all the time, and I like to know what the temperature is. I don’t really care about the weather itself – unless I am tracking how much snow we’ve had in a winter

This is likely a very dull post for most of you. I think my mum will find it interesting though. I may have gotten my weather-obsession from her. (Including the “what is the water temperature today?” part from our summers on Lake Champlain!)

Yes, these are things I think about on a regular basis. Which also means I spend, like, an hour looking up historical data on temperatures from my birthdate while sitting on the couch in my pjs. There are likely 1000 more productive things I could be doing with my time, but this is what amused me for the past hour. If you have known me long, and still like being my friend, I thank you for putting up with my quirks and weirdness. You are wonderful people in my life. heh

january thaw

I didn’t realize how suffocated all this snow was making me feel until the thaw that’s happened in the past 36 hours. We are at 10C, with lots of rain, and so much of that snow has vanished. We have streets again. Sidewalks. Like, actual asphalt and cement. Suddenly I find myself breathing easier.

This has been one of the most wintery winters we have had in years. I know this because I always write about my winters on this here blog, or, on FB. (Thanks for being helpful about SOMETHING, FB memories!)  I clearly recall being dumbfounded at the start of December 2006 , while living with my in-laws, by the thunderstorm we had at that time of year (whoa, hey! That was MID-December! My memory is already going and I’m not even 42 yet!). That sort of weather was unheard of around these parts. However, that mild December slowly became the norm. In the past 5 years we’ve even had  some green christmases. UNHEARD OF for my neck of the woods.

Or, at least, they used to be unheard of. Now it’s…the new normal? *insert political sciencey argument here*

Our first winter in this house (2007-2008) had very heavy snowfall. In March 2008 we had snowbanks that towered over my 6’1 husband on his birthday, mid-month. That first winter we did our own driveway clearing by shovel. Never again. We invested in a snow removal company every year since. The following March on the same date, we had green grass, leaves on the tree, and flowers blooming. (though the snow fell again by the end of that month. As it is wont to do.)

Weather, you fickle, fickle beast.

I used to love winter. I am a winter baby. I am (used to be) used to -35C type temperatures around my birthday. It was a tradition. (Weird one to have, but, hey!) As the winter warmed up over the years I have become less of a winter fan, and yet, the milder winters have been harder for me to deal with. I think because it means we tend to have more ICE instead of snow. I can’t handle  ice. I am terrified I am going to fall and break every bone in my body. Or get into a major car accident. Ice is NOT fun, yo.

But this year, we’ve had constant snow since day one of the first official day of Winter. Per some stats I just googled, Montreal has received just under 100cm of snow so far since the first of November.

We have about 15-25cm predicted for tomorrow.

This certainly isn’t our snowiest winter. But it feels a lot closer to the winters of my youth (because I am OLD  and ANCIENT per many of the young adult novels I have read recently.)

This is, however, one of our coldest winters in a looooong time. Those -30C temperatures aren’t generally a December thing. Those are reserved  for mid-January, through February. So all that snow we got didn’t melt. It just got harder, and squeakier. (If you have ever walked on snow when it’s REALLY cold, you’ll understand the Snow Squeak. I don’t know how to explain it to anyone who hasn’t experienced it.)

That squeak isn’t a December sound though. It’s a January/February sound. It was too weird hearing it at Christmas.

But we’ve had rain the past two days. Snow has melted enough that in some places you can see grass peeking out. It’s a brief respite from the muffled, squeaky, hurts-to-breathe-it’s-so-cold winter we have had the past 40+ days.

You know it’s not going to last, but it’s a nice break to have before you start up on your remaining 2+ months of winter.

I needed this thaw, as I am sure so many others did, too.

Especially since I think we’re going to be covered in snow through the month of April. I feel as though that’s how this winter weather is going to go.

It will make me appreciate our 48 hours of spring before summer kicks  in, that’s for sure. What I am not looking forward to is tonight’s drive home from work in the freezing rain. Thankfully I don’t have to go anywhere this weekend. Woo!

 

 

 

tackling Mount TBR in 2018

I tend to hoard books.  I don’t do it on purpose, but it happens. I see a book  I want to read, and  I get it. The past couple of years I have tried to rely more heavily on borrowing books from the library, though it’s  more  difficult  where I live because the number of English books available are  limited.  It’s gotten better at my local  library, but it’s still a limited number.

I tried  to cut down on buying books for a few reasons, one  of  which was the fact that I was NOT reading very much and these books did nothing but exist in piles  all over the house. Why buy a book and then not read it for a year, or longer? This just clutters everything up!

I have a lot of books, but few bookshelves.

This year I would like to focus on the books I own that still need to be read. With the exception of a handful of  books  I know I want to buy this year (not released yet), I am  going to try my best to go through the books I own first. I may not even like some of them,  so they will be crossed off quickly. Some may be my new favourite read! Who knows!? The possibilities are endless!

In fact, I finally got around to reading a book at the end of December that I bought in January 2017 -and loved it SO much, I bought the sequel on the last day of the year. The third book comes out at the beginning of April, so I know that’s on my Need To Buy list. I spent almost one year looking at that first book and wanting to read it, but not wanting to read it. Then I took a chance on it and loved it.

This year I will shop my own shelves. At the time of this blog post I currently have 52 books on my one bookcase waiting to be read. I am sure I have more around the house, but for the most part they are corralled here.

I have also started a sort of bullet/art journal  this year. I will  post about that later on this month. Of everything I added to this journal, I have been the most excited about my book tracking page. I keep track of titles and stuff  over on Goodreads, or the 50 Book Pledge site, but this is something a little  more  fun. I will be colouring in one book for each  one read. I am going to colour code by month. As you can see I have already completed 2 books this month. I drew this earlier in December and have been chomping at the bit to start colouring the books in. This page makes me so happy it’s not even funny. I don’t know how many books I’ll read this year, but I have  100 of them drawn on this page. We’ll see how that goes!

Mostly, I’m simply happy with finding reading enjoyable again. I hope that feeling sticks around.

 
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