The Weekly Ramble – 10/17/25

First up, I have to tell you that this week’s ramble will be old school stream of conscious. Today has been my only day in the last week not to have to leave my house and I’m scrambling to get stuff done.

Second, shout out to my oldest friend in the world. Stephanie and I met in third grade Sunday school and have stayed in touch through all of life’s tumults.

Last weekend when I went to see my mom, we had a chance to walk at the park and catch up a little bit. You know the kind of friend who it’s okay not to see very often because you can pick up where you left off, they are always in your court, and it’s always a joy to see them?

Stephanie is that kind of friend, so I have to brag on her. And can I just say that 53 looks fab on her?!

Not only did I get to hang with Steph last weekend, but I also got extra time with my boys. The three single Fishermen made the trek to Santa Clarita with me and Miss 17. It was a little bit louder car ride than normal and loads of fun.

Not only that! Since my boys were making the trip, my brother made a point to come have lunch with us, so it was loads and loads of fun!

The only thing missing was my Cretors Chicago Mix. I need to plan ahead next time as we didn’t have time to grab a bag before we hit the LA traffic. I’m like Pavlov’s dog. As soon as we hit the slowdown at Griffith Park, I need my caramel corn!

I spent most of Sunday afternoon puttering with our Family Dinner. I made two beef and ale pies.

I don’t have the recipe on the blog, but here’s how I made it:

• four rounds of this pie crust
• a double batch of this roast, but with cubed meat and mirepoix and chopped mushrooms for the aromatics. Then I thickened the juices with a slurry of cornstarch and water and added peas for one pie and chopped green beans for the other. (I am Team Peas.)
• assemble and bake like you would for Chicken Pot Pie.

I served it with a simple spinach salad and apple crowns for dessert.

This weekend’s feast will be a little toned down since I don’t have a big hunk of meat. I’m making Tuna Noodle Casserole.

Actually, I do have a big hunk of meat, come to think of it. I bought a mega-ultra-ginormous pack of pork roasts to make my famous Pulled Pork for Game Night tomorrow. It was cheaper than buying burgers

However, I don’t think we’re going to want it for Saturday dinner, Sunday lunch, and Sunday dinner. If there are leftovers, that is.

I did the big haul at Costco Business while Miss17 was in class this week. Hers is a 90-minute class so it gave me time to work on my Bible study in the car and then shop and pick her up.

I’m really enjoying the discussion in my CBS core group as we study the Psalms together.

This week was one of our fellowship weeks, so I baked Cranberry Chocolate Scones (see the variation at the bottom of the recipe card) and packed the tea things. It’s so nice when we can take a little extra time to get to know each other.

CBS is one peg in my week as is my weekly physical therapy. I’m making progress which is exciting. The shoulder wakes me up less often in the night and is generally less painful than it has been.

This week the PT really yanked and pulled hard. I cried.

But, it seems to be working. Praise the Lord for productive pain. I have even been able to touch the top of the door jamb which is amazing, even if I look a little crooked doing it.

Seeing improvement in that area has been good motivation to work on other health areas. I’m back to taking my vitamins and starting doing extra exercises.

Extra exercises? Who am I?

In an effort to make sure I’m getting the nutrients I need, I also picked up a sampler pack of LMNT this week.

I don’t typically like anything with stevia. Gross. But this is so salty that it seems to mask the stevia. And I love the citrus salt flavor. And the grapefruit. And the raspberry.

The watermelon not so much. Bleh.

I ordered a month’s supply directly from LMNT so let’s see if I don’t feel like $100 bucks this time next month.

Speaking of next month, did you know that Thanksgiving is just around the corner?! I dug out my Holiday Success Kit this week and started making plans for all the things.b

Unsurprisingly, I have the same goal this year as I have since 2023:

If you haven’t already, be sure to listen to my podcast episode with Allison at the Art of Home. We discussed how to make a Christmas budget/save for the holidays with just 2 months to spare.

Here’s the episode on Spotify:

I think it was listening to our recording that jumpstarted me thinking, also signing up for Allison’s recipe exchange. It’s been awhile since I wrote out a recipe on a recipe card. Let’s make analog great again.

(Contributions go toward the operating costs of the podcast. I love it that it’s ad-free!)

I’m slowly working my way through The House that Cleans Itself. I’ve taken so long to get through it that I started again. I realized that the first chapter exposed a challenge I hadn’t solved over the last year since I started the book, so Bryan and I troubleshot it this morning.

More on that next week if our solution actually works.

One household solution that has worked has been to require that the kitchen stay clean at all times. This is hard, but so worth it.

Our kids have all learned about broken windows theory in college, so we’ve been able to have many a discussion about the kitchen.

Just as one broken window leads to more vandalism and crime, so does one dirty dish in the sink lead to more dirty dishes and utter chaos. So, no broken windows, people!

The rule is you have to load your dish in the dishwasher or if there’s no way to load it (ie the dishwasher is running or it’s clean and you don’t have time to unload it all), then you have to wash, dry, and put away the dishes you use.

If you don’t have time to clean up after yourself, you don’t have time to cook. Amen and amen.

It is so nice to cook in a clean kitchen instead of having to clean the kitchen in order to cook and then clean it again.

Success in this area is leading to success in others. I’m making the bed each day, keeping my car tidy, and found a possible solution to shoe clutter. (But again, more on that last thing next week!)

Goodness begets goodness. And on that note… I told you about my week, now you tell me about yours!