the beautiful mystery

Back on track with Chief Inspector Gamache in the New Year! Between Christmas and my birthday I received the last books in the series and I'm excited.

The Beautiful Mystery is the eighth book in the series and my second for the year. I'm excited to be back in Three Pines after taking a trip to the underbelly of our government with Edward Snowden. No Place to Hide had a lot of information that was sometimes hard to swallow; especially knowing that not a lot has really changed since the exposure of Americans being unlawfully spied on.

Hoping to stay on track with my goal this year of yet another 'dismal' goal of twenty-four. It's late in the month but yeah, setting the pace for roughly two books per month!

"A stirring, though-provoking read that satisfies as a mystery, and stands as a powerful literary novel in its own right." -The Globe and Mail

Leia

instalife

Because I really don't enjoy this stuff and after the rain and warm weather I sort of thought we might be done with it. ❄️

instalife

😍 . . . So supposedly if I put it will post on.. let's see if you can guess.. my blog. Here's to the first try. 🤞🏻

march it up

GLOBAL CITIZENS, UNITE!

^ Antarctica 

^ Argentina

^ Australia

^ Brussels

^ Germany

^ Greece

^ India

^ London

^ Macau

^ Paris

^ Poland

^ Spain

^ Washington, D.C.

Maybe I don't fully agree with the whole 'not my president' bit, but as Teddy Roosevelt said:

"Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else."

I don't necessarily want him to fail, because that means we fail. But the events of the last year, even his inauguration speech (what little I even saw of it) have left nothing but a horrible taste in my mouth and it was so amazing to see all these women and men standing up against everything. And to be crystal clear THIS HAS ALWAYS BEEN MUCH MORE THAN JUST THE CHANCE OF NEEDING AN ABORTION. Basic human rights. Equal is equal. 

♀♀♀♀♀♀

Leia

til next time, barry

Sad to see you go. Did not agree with every last detail of the last 8 years; some of which I know were not up to you alone to control (which is what is keeping me sane thinking about upcoming pending policy changes). Overall you were such a stand up guy with an amazing and productive family. I look forward to seeing the things your new foundation accomplishes in the future.

Michelle 2020.

Leia

mid-week meal share: asian glazed salmon

Once a month meal share? How's that working for everyone? I didn't even realize so much time had passed since I last shared something. I've documented plenty, but this one was so good I had to push it to the top of this list.

Easy to concoct: yes.
Cost effective: eh, seafood is as seafood does.

I have been trying to eat a little better this year and chicken can only go so far. And really, I'm not even to the point of exhausting chicken so this should be fun. So I looked up "glazed salmon recipe" and this one really caught my attention AND I had all but two ingredients, so that is always a great selling point. 😄

Head to the market for the following things:

 ½ cup brown sugar
⅓ cup soy sauce
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tbsp peeled/sliced ginger (I used ground)
dried red pepper flakes
½ tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp "fresh" lime juice
1½-2 pounds salmon fillets

1. Measure out all your ingredients and combine them in a medium skillet.

2. Once the mixture is boiling, reduce the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the mixture begins to thicken. Pre-heat your oven to 425º F, unless you want to broil like the original recipe has you do.

3. Line a baking dish with foil, place in your lovely salmon, and smother with your glaze once it's finished glazing.

4. Bake for 15 minutes, or more if you're like me and want to ensure it's done. Yes, I totally freak out when it comes to cooking meat no matter how many times I cook it perfectly. OR you can consult the original recipe and broil it as they did.

5. Enjoy! Couple with some veggies and rice and you're in for a treat!

I cooked this meal to celebrate me and my mom's (yeah, still do not know the proper way to say this) birthdays. My mom brought over a combined cake. Her favorite is German chocolate, mine is red velvet. We thought it appropriate to combine the two (and our ages for the candles) for a never-likely-been-eaten-before cake. It wasn't pretty and we were the only ones who ate it. Mm, mm, happy to not have to share these calories. 

Another year for the both of us.
Leia

conversations with kennedy

Kennedy was home from school today due to icy roads. Yeah, because it's been raining non-stop this January. Global warming much?

When I got home from school she had been told to clean up her room and then sort and fold her clothes. This kid.. she came downstairs for like the seventh time.

So I ask her: "are you done yet?"

She says:

"I HAVE A DREAM, that I am done."

Nice try.

Leia

snip snip

How does Kennedy spend MLK day? Oh, by cutting a small chunk of her hair off.

Luckily you can't tell.

Leia

kindergarten fun facts: week 17

I didn't even get a chance to ask her what she learned before she busted in the door excited to tell me.

Kennedy: "Mom do you want to see who I learned about in school today?"

Me: "Yes!"

K: *thinking and speaking very slow* "Um, Dr... Mart..in.. Luther.. King... Junior!"

Me: "That's very cool, he was a really important man."
K: "Yes, but he's dead now."

Good talk.

I HAVE A DREAM.
Leia

twenty-seven

 Ah yes, 27. Inching closer to the dirty thirty without hitting any major milestones. Definitely acted like a princess and chowed down on some cake. Had a wonderful breakfast that Brendon made for me and it was just what I asked for: french toast along with biscuits and gravy. MY WAISTLINE LOVES ME. Later I spent time with the girls and then enjoyed some dinner in downtown Detroit. I literally picked the restaurant due to how they bring out the birthday cake. 

^^ and the biscuit was pre-cut? Mmmmhmmmm, birthday princess comin' through!

It not only looked amazing, it tasted amazing too. And clearly, I'm a kid in a candy store.

Happy Birthday to meeeeeee!

Leia

no place to hide

Once again I set my Goodreads reading challenge at 24. Since I had a hard enough time keeping up with the same goal last year I decided to play it safe and keep it the same. With school starting (and likely going all year) I hope to still be able to squeeze in two books a month.

So let's start off what's sure to be a skeptical year with a book about our sketch government.

No Place to Hide by Glenn Greenwald goes more into depth into Edward Snowden's whistleblowing saga. I'm about 70 pages in and out of all the people who complain about Obama and his administration I am actually shocked that this isn't on the top of the list. Sure, it didn't begin with him but his people kept the orders active and allowed the NSA to grow it's knowledge seeking tentacles longer than they've been before.

After watching Citizenfour I immediately added this title and the others works by Greenwald onto my list. It had me very watchful (would've been fearful if I had a guilty conscious or knew I was acting in an inappropriate manner) for a few solid weeks. But like other things, thinking that the government  watches me type my various blog posts through my webcam in my Macbook died out as an ever present thought. And just like that the thoughts are back again. Reading about all the details more in depth makes me question Siri all over again and think back to how many damn times she has randomly summoned herself, playing it off saying, "I didn't quite get that, Leia." SUUURREEEEEEE.



Damn, Verizon.
Leia

swim on, tilly

When Blackfish came out in 2013 I was utterly and completely wrecked. In 2007 my family took a vacation to Florida and one of our stops was the 'iconic' SeaWorld. Being there at the age of 17 was interesting: my heart didn't necessarily break seeing these magnificent creatures because I was 17 and I was getting the opportunity to see these magnificent creatures, and when is this going to happen again!? I definitely had thoughts that they surely did not have enough space to swim and knew that only captive orcas have bent dorsal fins but it sort of ended there. I was a sheep who bought what SeaWorld was selling and took their word that these animals were being well cared for.

Well, fast forward to Blackfish. The tears. The heartache. I actually felt sick knowing that I had contributed to the tourist joy that kept practices like that alive (sorry mom, I enjoyed it at the time but HOW COULD WE). Afterwards I became obsessed with orcas and everything there was to learn about them. The things I learned in turn made Blackfish even worse for me!

Tilikum died at the age of 36. 36! This is just over ⅓ of the lifespan of wild orcas. Horrible. According to SeaWorld, though, 36 is the age whales live to in the wild. What did he die from? A severe respiratory infection; something that has never been documented in the wild. Whales in recent years deaths have died from diseases transmitted from mosquitos. You guessed it! This has also only been documented in captivity. In the wild orcas do not spend large amounts of time at the surface which is the direct opposite at SeaWorld; the whales are constantly basking listless at the surface; where the bugs are (also the cause of the collapsed dorsal fin - the lack of support from the moving water from swimming).

Other knowledge for ya:

The reason why so many baby orcas die after birth in captivity is because their mothers are much too young and were not taught how to be a proper mother like they would have in the wild and tend to shun the newborns.

Since the whales kept at SeaWorld were captured from all different areas of the Earth they literally could not speak to each other. So, in addition to being confined to an extremely small, overcrowded space, these whales were not even able to communicate. I would go crazy, too.

 No person has ever reported obtaining an injury from a killer whale in the wild. And yet SeaWorld (and Tilikum's former 'home' Sealand) are unwilling to admit that the circumstances surrounding the incidents in which he killed individuals were the cause of the behavior.

If any of these facts spark your interest I recommend these three books:

Beneath the Surface: Killer Whales, SeaWorld, and the Truth Beyond Blackfish - John Hargrove

This books speaks about his time as a trainer with SeaWorld, why he stayed and ultimately left and is filled with various facts about orcas and more details into the depths of SeaWorld.

Death at SeaWorld: Shamu and the Dark Side of Killer Whales in Captivity - David Kirby

Contains scientific information and reports from well educated individuals and scientists/marine biologists. Often gets jargony but for the most part reads like a novel.

The Lost Whale: The True Story of an Orca Named Luna - Michael Parfit + Suzanne Chisholm

Chronicles the life of Luna. A young whale who got separated from his pod and found solace in an inlet in the middle of a village. He eventually becomes a 'menace' to daily life for the inhabitants and tells of their efforts to get him back out to sea.



He's finally free.
Leia

conversations with kennedy

Haha, this kid.. I swear, I love her more than words can describe. That little mind of hers is constantly turning it's wheels in wonderful ways.

Here I am, enjoying a new tv show (if you haven't started The OA on Netflix, I highly recommend it) because Brendon is keeping busy with Pipes (thank you) and Kennedy comes up and questions me.

Kennedy: "So, did you tell my teacher that I wanted to be a police officer?"

Me: "Mm, I don't think so?"

K: "Did I?"

Me: "I'm not sure, I know you told your preschool teachers. Why?"
K: "Well I want to be a tooth fairy now."
Me: "Well, you have plenty of time to decide what you want to be. You don't have to decide now."

K: "Okay, so when will I grow my wings?"

Me: "Your wings?"
K: "Yes, when do tooth fairies get their wings?"

I loooooove how she thought she couldn't change her mind about what she wanted to be when she grew up. Not for the sake of just having different interests, but like.. if she told her teacher that she wanted to be a police officer then it was obviously set it stone. 

Where can I find a 'proud tooth fairy mom' bumper sticker?

Leia

two thousand and seventeen

It's a new year but the changes to me are gonna be minimal.

FIRST THING we are making a new and 'revamped' commitment to is Piper's sleeping habits. 

The. Kid. Is. Driving. Me. Up. A. Wall.

I've claimed many-a-time to be at my wits end with her, but really.. I AM AT MY WITS END. For the past week I've been using a night time essential oil mix that I got my friend and so far we have seen little improvement. At her two year well visit, the Nurse Practitioner we saw listened to my sleepy sob story and she was very straight forward and said that it sounded like it was time for the cry it out method. I did this a few nights about a week and a half ago.. the first night she cried for literally three hours straight. THREE HOURS. WHY. WHY. WHY?! Granted the next night was less, and the following night she actually slept all night. But when I have to wake up at 2am for work, this does not do me well. Now we are back on a somewhat losing streak. Last night was decent, but I will have to check in to see how the hours from 2:30am-wake up went.

So yes, in addition to keeping up on the essential oils we are going into full blown cry it out mode. We know that she is fine. We know that she is not hurting or being abused. We know that it's going to be rough for everyone involved but how many nights can one incessantly cry for hours? I'm hoping it's not too many.

Otherwise we aren't doing much on the resolution front. I hope to read as many books as this year, if not more.

Also I am going to make a real attempt at bettering myself physically. Some weight loss would be an added benefit but truly, I have horrible eating habits and it would be nice to alter that a bit.

2016 was good on a personal level, shitty on a global level.
Leia

growing in the new year

I celebrated the New Year by helping my best friend Adam paint his new condo! While I was gone I got word that Kennedy was going to spend the night at her best friends house. Earlier in the week we tried to have Avery over but her family already had plans made.

I got home and she was gone for the night already. SO MANY CHANGES. First her hair, now staying the night at friends houses? What's next?! I was a nervous wreck and really excited for her. My main thoughts were of her feeling home sick; I mean, feeling home sick as an adult is miserable let alone being only five. She was maybe a football field's length away and in great hands.

Did I creepily watch their house til all the lights were off?
Leia