The Weekly Ramble – August 8, 2025
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Another week is in the can. Let’s chat (almost) empty nests, to-do lists, and nacho cheese sauce.
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Wow. Another week is already passed? That went fast.
This weekend we’re an Almost-Empty Nest.
- Mr. 23 is in Colorado as he has been since July 1st working for the Navigators.
- Mr. 21 has been in Sacramento with the SacFishFam and heads to North Carolina today.
- Yesterday morning I dropped the girls at the airport to take their yearly summer trip to Sacramento.
What will I do just cooking for 2 or 3 this weekend?!
I actually have steaks thawing right now. lol I bought a few two-packs on clearance awhile back but they weren’t enough for the whole family. Our smaller contingency will enjoy them!
I’m excited for the kids to have their adventures plus Bryan and I get to hang with Mr. 24 a little extra before he, Lord willing, leaves for the CHP academy later this year. It’s so wild to be in this season of life.
Here’s what else I’ve been doing, eating, listening/watching, and reading this past week.
What I’ve Been Doing
I wish I could say I got a ton accomplished this week, but it was actually a really chill week. I love the start of a new month, but I didn’t actually get my regular monthly tasks done. Eep.
Instead, I’ve been trying to get in the hours working on my business. I am struggling to hit 20/week, let alone 30 or 40. I will keep plugging along, though.
I’m finding one of the keys to getting the time in is having clear to-do’s set up before the day begins. I’m using my P&G Planner on my iPad, and trying to wake up each morning with a clear plan.
My eagerness to clock work hours has put a bit of a crimp in my decluttering projects. With just a few weeks before school — and the recommence of chauffeur duty — beings, I need to get it in gear!
What I’ve Been Eating
I’d like to say I’ve been doing my 100 grams of protein and 800 grams of fruits and veg, but I would be lying. This was lunch on Sunday after church, the papas con rajas tacos dorados from City Tacos.
We went to the La Mesa location after visiting a new-to-us church. Unfortunately, the restaurant did not use the regular beer fondue on the taquitos. While I am a fan of movie theater nacho cheese, that is only in certain context and this was not it.
Despite the menu listing the same description as the Encinitas location, it was a huge disappointment.
In other news, I cannot get myself on track with healthy eating. I want ice cream. It worked in Japan! lol
My compromise between my desire to lose weight and eat ice cream has been to skip a meal. That’s not a great long term strategy, so with lower populace in the house this weekend, I’m going to try to turn over a new leaf.
Does a Chipotle salad for lunch count?
What I’ve Been Listening to/Watching
I’m continuing my journey through the What Have You archives. Normally, I don’t like podcasts with a lot of chitter chatter.
Turns out it depends on what the chitty-chitty-chit-chat is about. Bekah and Rachel tend to speak about my kinds of topics.
Surprising to my family, I listen at almost 2x speed. That may be why the chit-chat doesn’t bother me; I speed it up!
On the TV front, Miss16 and I watched the #1 in US Hallmark film this week and it was garbage. Wow. I know that streaming services are getting desperate, but that was bad.
Another bad film we watched this week was on Apple TV. Despite the all-star cast in Fountain of Youth, it was a DNF for us.
On the flip side, the girls and I are working our way through Signed, Sealed, Delivered on Hallmark. I’ve seen most of them already, but the girls hadn’t. Those are clean with a smidge of Christian faith.
What I’ve Been Reading
Adding to the list of things I haven’t done this week is my physical TBR stack. I had good intentions at the weekend, and then when it came to reading time, I wanted something easy.
I’ll be honest, my brain doesn’t work as fast as it used to, or maybe I’m out of practice.
I chose a mishmash of fiction and nonfiction and then didn’t read any of them. Instead I read a fun Christmas romance and binged a Becky Wade series. She’s got a lot more Christian themes in her stories, especially the older books.
I’m finding myself more and more disappointed that the Christian publishers are going away from any semblance of faith in their fiction books. It like G-rating is good enough.
The books I’ve read in August:
What I’ve Been Writing
My writing has been confined to blog writing. Here’s what’s new on the blogs:
- Pineapple Salad Recipe
- A Freezer Alarm Could Save Your Bacon
- Fun Money Gift Ideas
- The Print & Go Student Planner to Help Your Child Build Good Habits
How was your week?
What’s up in your world? Leave a comment or a prayer request. We’re all in this together!
As always, I enjoy your weekly ramble!
What IS IT with the Hallmark movies?! I just CANNOT get on board with those.
How are you feeling about the empty nest?
Your TBR pile looks great, but so does your actual reading list. 😅
My girls and I have enjoyed a few of them, albeit walking in knowing it will be cheesy. Typically CLEAN, though, and good for conversation about relationships, etc. Since their split with a lot of their Christian cast, their product has gone way down hill. Which is saying something. Miss 16 says the mysteries are much better than the romances, and I agree.
The nest isn’t really empty. We’ll be back to a household of 6 tomorrow night and 7 in September. Just a peek into the future, though.
And yeah, my TBR is full of wishful thinking, despite being a mood reader.
It’s only two weeks here before our three elementary grandchildren start school. Just two weeks before setting my alarm to be up and welcome them with hugs and breakfast! That being said, I’ve decided the next two weeks are mine to do what I’d like with no lofty goals in mind. Good plan! By the way, Signed, Sealed, Delivered, is my treadmill watching program. You don’t have to be worried about unhappy endings or foul language. Glad you and your last Fish Chick had a fun week. ❤️ The empty nest is just fine, it just takes a bit to make the adjustment. ~
Your two-week plan sounds solid. Have fun!