The Weekly Ramble 4/6/24

Hello! Hi! How are you? Did you have a nice Easter?

Despite the rain, ours was very nice. In fact, I impressed myself with the cooking. I made Hot Cross Buns, which I really should make more than once a year.

For Easter dinner, I shopped the kitchen and came up with a load of ingredients that I had bought on clearance or sale that made a veritable feast. We ended up having Sausage Peppers, Shrimp Cocktail, Bruschetta, Manicotti, Caesar Salad, Sourdough Rolls, and this amazing Kumquat Conserva over ice cream.

The ice cream and the kumquats were the only things I purchased!

I’m typing this late on Saturday night after having spent 4 hours in traffic between LA and San Diego counties. I usually go see my mom once a month in Santa Clarita, about 120 miles from here. If I leave early enough (before 6 am) I can make the drive in 2 hours.

Coming home is a very different matter. On a good day, it takes about 3. Today took much more than that with Siri taking me on lots of interesting freeways and highways that I’d never been on. My legs aren’t too happy about it, but they are glad to be home!

FishChick15 went with me which always makes it a fun adventure. She crochets while I drive and dodge texting drivers. Oy!

We didn’t end up seeing my mom as she wasn’t feeling well, but we did see my sister. We shopped for a couple hours and then had lunch together. One of the biggest surprises of the day was the lunch special at the Lazy Dog Restaurant. Only $10.50 for a salad, 1/2 sandwich, and fries!

I know that sounds like a lot, but Chick-fil-A and Chipotle both cost more than that nowadays. We don’t eat out a ton for that reason, which is why we do this most days. But, when we’re that far from home and we see my sister just once a month, a lunch out is definitely in order.

FishChick17 would have been with us, but she is in Guatemala on a church trip. She went this time last year, so this is her second time out of country without us. She is definitely a world traveler, having been to France, then England, Scotland, Wales, and now Guatemala.

While I was getting her ready to go, I started thinking about our trip. Later this month Bryan and I leave for Hawaii. I’ve told you about that, right?

I know we didn’t love the first Hawaii trip, but here’s why we’re going back:

• We’ve had three trips canceled the last four years, trips that we have flight credits to use up. Some were expiring in December, so we booked a trip to Kauai. Lord willing, we won’t cancel this one!
• Bryan lived on Kauai, imported from the mainland to work construction in the early 90s, before we met. He hasn’t been back, and I’ve never been.
• We haven’t had a vacation without kids since our honeymoon in 1994. In fact, we’ve never been away from the kids for more than 2 nights.
• Our 30th anniversary is coming up in May, so this is our anniversary present to ourselves. We don’t do those usually, either, doing this instead. So, this is definitely a different kind of thing.
• No place else sounded appealing. Winter is hard for me, especially cold and rainy winter, so I’m really hoping for sunshine and warm temps while we’re gone.

Besides traffic, sending a kid to another country, and researching my own travel plans, I spent the week doing a lot of Pinterest. If you’re an active pinner, thanks in advance for pinning LAM content. I so appreciate your support!

Oh! And besides that, I went to the orthopedic surgeon. Shortly after baby #5 was born, I developed a lump on my shoulder. The first 3-4 doctors said it was a ganglion. The last 3-4 have said it’s a fatty lipoma. Most said it wasn’t worth bothering with….

Now that it’s the size of a golfball, I wonder when is big too big? After x-rays, ultrasound, and MRI, the doc says he’ll take care of it, with surgery in a few weeks. That is another maze of pre-op appointments and lab work I wasn’t aware of. I’ve had a D&C after a miscarriage as well as a colonoscopy in the last 30 years, but I never had to jump these other hoops.

Maybe it’s because of my age? I dunno. I did get a seniors discount earlier today. Maybe… (For the record I’m 51.)

Anywho, leftover pizza and a period drama are awaiting me, so that’s it for my week. How was yours?