The Weekly Ramble – April 4, 2025

Happy Friday! Here’s what I’ve been doing, eating, listening, reading, and writing this past week. Let’s chat Allegra-D, losing weight, reading books, and bringing drafts into existence.

What I’ve Been Doing

I can’t say that I’ve done a ton. Everyone has food and clean underwear, so I’m counting it as a win.

After last week’s dialed down agenda, I was just a little blasé about ramping back up. I read books, got my steps, had a date night with my hubby, chatted with my kids, got my hair cut, and otherwise tried to be chill.

Ad revenue for Good Cheap Eats is down even more than last year (thank you AI) so I’m cutting expenses wherever I can. One way is to get my hair cut less often. My stylist for the last 15 years is so gracious. I realize that this cuts her income as well, but I don’t know what else to do.

Maybe it helps that now my kids are big enough to go to her?

Anyhow, I’m trying to figure out how to get our spending down as far as possible.

I have been taking Allegra-D for several months trying to keep the congestion in my ear from getting out of control. Unfortunately, I think that’s had an impact on my sleep.

So I kicked the allergy meds and ramped up my estrogen by a click and I’ve been sleeping a lot better. I consider this a buy week of sorts.

What I’ve Been Eating

I’ve not been doing a lot of fancy cooking, more subsistence type meal prep. Nothing extra, just food for fuel.

I’ve been reaping the freezer meals I made last month and am so happy about that!

I’m pleased to report that my weight loss is slowing ramping. I’m currently down 6 pounds from my high in January. I’m still in the overweight category for my height but at least the trajectory is good.

What I’ve Been Listening to

Isn’t that a beautiful capo? Bryan designed it and painted it himself. I think it’s so pretty, a churchified version of The Starry Night.

A few months ago he started playing guitar for church, so I get to hear him practice at home. I love it. He’s played guitar in the evenings for over 30 years and it’s one of my comfort sounds.

I realized recently that hockey talk is also a comfort sound. Since we are an LA Kings family and also rooting for Ovi to hit the record, I get to hear snatches of replays. We don’t have NHL network so it’s usually replays Bryan watches.

Only three to win it!

What I’ve Been Reading

I read a whopping 20 books in March. I was reading like it was my job! And now that I’m trying to figure out my writing career, it kinda is.

This week I’ve mostly read Kate Watson’s Sugar Maple series. I really enjoyed the characters and their friendships. Having read all five books in one week has a draw back though.

I noticed that there were inconsistencies in the series, particularly in the bonus chapters and in the last book that released this week. That was a bit of a disappointment, especially since I am a detail person and clearly noticed these things.

Since I hope to write a series, I found this very informative for my own writing — to keep notes of the details so that they don’t jack with the storylines later.

What I’ve Been Writing

I really thought I would get back to writing this week, and I did a little, but there were some limiting beliefs holding me back… namely, a fear of what people would think. Bryan assures me I need to just write.

Interestingly, the last book I read, Truly, Medley, Deeply addresses some of this, “You can’t fix something that doesn’t exist.”

So, my plan this next week is to bring something into existence.

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