The Weekly Ramble – April 11, 2025

Happy Friday! Here’s what I’ve been doing, eating, listening, reading, and writing this past week. Let’s chat Japan planning, Japanese foods, out of control TBR piles, and grocery hauls.

Hello! Isn’t this a gorgeous view? I shot this during an evening walk the other night. I keep telling y’all, clouds make a difference! Thank you, Jesus, for the clouds.

We’ve had our fair share of them this week. Bryan has shingles, his second time. The first time was back in 2003 when we were both much younger. The older boys got chicken pox from that — and ten years later one of those boys himself got shingles.

All that to say, this isn’t our first rodeo.

I’m thankful that we were able to get meds right away. Here’s hoping that the nerve pain decreases quickly!

For my part, I have had what may be burning mouth syndrome. I’m not sure what kicked it off, but I’m pretty tired of it. It will be two weeks on Sunday. I don’t have a lot of confidence in my GP, but I will set up an appointment next week if this continues.

What I’ve Been Doing

In other news, I’ve been working on our Japan itinerary. I’ve mapped out our route and am drilling down the finer details. I think we will be taking trains most of the time, but Bryan is itching to drive and go off the beaten path.

I’m wondering if we don’t have choose one or the other, but can do a combination of the two. I will let you know!

I’ve enjoyed doing research and learning new things. It’s less than 2 months until we leave so I am fast-tracking this as much as possible.

What I’ve Been Eating

This plate may not look beautiful, but it tasted amazing!

Part of my research for Japan has included following budget chain restaurants. One dish kept showing in my feed, a rice grain called Doria.

This is not an actual recipe, but something I threw together with rice, white sauce, and cooked broccoli, ham, and chicken. It was super tasty! I can’t wait to try the real thing when we get there.

FishChick16 and I went to Daiso over the weekend and picked up some boxes of Japanese cookies to have for dessert at Sunday Dinner. They were very tasty and not overly sweet, something that Bryan loves.

What I’ve Been Listening to

I have not been locked into any one thing this week. The usual podcasts plus some classic rock playlists on Spotify. FishChick16 and I are still listening to Perelandra during our car rides.

What I’ve Been Reading

My reading has slowed down a lot now that I’m reading a big paper book. That always slows me down!

Story Genius by Lisa Cron has been really helpful, though. Part of the slow is that it includes homework as well, and since it’s my book we’re talking about, I figure I need to give it proper attention.

What I’ve Been Writing

Besides the baby steps in my book, I’m working on new content for Good Cheap Eats. I wrote three new posts that will be published while we’re in Japan as well as brought back my grocery haul posts.

I know that these types of posts were helpful to me when we were getting out of debt. I’m hopeful that they’ll be helpful to others now that groceries and life in general feels extra wild.

Interested? Check out my grocery hauls.

And want to save money on food? Pack your lunches!

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