The Weekly Ramble – August 14, 2026

Hello, hello! I’m now week 2 into Operation Open Nest and I feel like I’m getting my bearings. I’ve spent most of the week at home since we had to do some car juggling. I’ve turned off all my alarms and allowed myself to sleep as long as I can.

Since it’s been sooooo hot this summer and we’re trying to conserve energy and not run the AC all night, we have the blinds and windows open. An added treat is that some mornings have been just beautiful from my bed!

I know I shouldn’t complain about temps in the 80s, but I feel like my personal thermostat must not be working that well. I feel HOT 🥵 all the time.

This has had a negative impact on my exercise and working out. I’ve still got my step streak going, but not much else.

I’m wondering if I should increase the estrogen dose some more, like would that help my hot feelings? Switching to the patch has not been seamless. Brands have different sizes and adhesives, so I’ve been sorting that out with the pharmacy, and trying to find what I like best.

I got all my labs finalized — no colon cancer, thank you Lord — and will have a follow up with my doctor next month. I’m currently in data-gathering mode re: the estrogen dosage.

Here’s what else I’ve been doing, eating, listening/watching, and/or reading this past week:

What I’m Learning

The girls and I had a shopping trip this week and there’s tons of fall decor and fashion styles out there now. I do love me some plaid and jewel tones.

As much as fall is my favorite season, I’m not ready to rush it, especially since it’s so hot still. We won’t get true sweater weather until late October and even then it could be mild.

I was tempted to pick up some decor items for next month since it always sells out quickly, but I reminded myself to shop my closet first! I already have a box or two of pumpkins and woodland creatures!

What I’ve Been Doing

We had a maintenance inspection a few weeks ago so I did all the deep cleaning then. Now is all about daily upkeep.

I realized that keeping house while raising littles is a tremendous feat! Not only because they’re actively making messes, but because keeping house is a big deal.

I’ve made it a daily thing to do a big tidy up every morning, setting things to rights while everyone’s at work. Mine are not messy people, but it still takes time!

An instagrammer I follow mentioned that she has a house manager and I just about died. Like I thought that was a joke. But, I guess people actually do that now. For real.

I understand that it’s a big job — I’ve been doing it for the last 29 years — but the fact that women now hire out for it so that they can “pursue their dreams” is a little mind-boggling. The reddit thread where the moms wish they could have that job? Also disturbing.

Again, see: Eve in Exile. 🙈

What I’ve Been Eating

I’ve mostly been home this week eating leftovers during the day and cooking a normal dinner for the fam at night, but I had a solo outing on Thursday to visit Savory Farms, a boujie food shop and tried their almond croissant.

The almond croissant is my go-to pastry and I try it everywhere I go, in search of the best. (See here and here). The search continues as Savory Farms was fine but not amazing.

Our dinners included some highlights this week:

• Nacho Bar
• Snacky Dinner
• Curried Chicken Divan
• Baked Feta Pasta
• Costco Chicken Nuggets and Caesar Salad

Tonight we’re doing pizza but I haven’t been loving the dough lately. The warm weather has made it way too thick and puffy. So, I’m testing a couple different dough recipes from this Pizza cookbook. They have a long rise and little yeast, so we’ll see how they compare to regular.

What I’ve Been Listening/Watching

We finished up Gone yesterday (good) and have been plugging away at Season 5 of Death in Paradise (always fun!)

Tonight we’re going to start the new season of Professor T, but I’m not sure we’ll finish it as we just have 10 days left on our subs.

The $4 sale on Hallmark is not good enough to tempt me, so I am hoping to let everything lapse until the Black Friday sales. That will give the girls a chance to focus on the school year and I can get more reading in.

Speaking of which…

What I’ve Been Reading

I’m doing pretty well! I’m up to SEVEN books read so far this month, averaging a book every two days. Woot!

I should be able to finish A Gentleman in Moscow this weekend! This week’s reads:

100 Cupboards – Not sure why this wasn’t on my radar when it came out; my boys were the right ages and the target audience. Somehow, we missed it. It was good with a couple LOL parts, but not up to the Wingfeather/Narnia standards we had at the time. Maybe that’s why?

The Bookshop Mysteries, Book Two – I read the first one at the start of the month and liked the characters enough to continue on. Interestingly, they make the case for cozy mysteries as part of the storyline in the context of a book club discussion. That was an interesting aside/breaking of the 4th wall without actually breaking it.

The Bodyguard’s Fall – I’ve really loved Cindy Steel’s earlier books. This one and the last one were good, but not as great as her earlier ones. Still a fun clean romance that had very cute moments. Like the previous book I read, this one made the case for cozy romance, as the MFC is a murder mystery screenwriter forced to write a romcom. This is the first part of a larger, multi-author series that just came out, but since none of the authors are my faves and the side characters weren’t all that interesting, I will likely pass.

I should finish the entirety of the Bible in the next week or so. I’ve got these books left to read:

• Philippians
• Colossians
• Philemon
• James
• Hebrews
• Titus
• 1 & 2 Timothy
• 1 & 2 Peter
• Jude
• 1, 2, &3 John
• Revelation

That’s broken into 17 readings, and I usually do 2 readings a day. I may ramp up a bit to finish. I dunno. Regardless, I’ll have read through the entire Bible in 9 months, so that’s exciting.

Contemplating doing the Bible in 90 Days?! this fall. Not sure. I have the time, and it’s always been a good experience.

What I’ve Been Writing

Here’s what’s new on the blogs:

Thanks for sharing my writing with your friends and family! I appreciate you.