The Weekly Ramble – January 18, 2025
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Whew! What a week! Let’s chat Disneyland, giving things to God, being there for your adult children, and reading interesting books.
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What We Did This Week
Isn’t that a fun juxtaposition? On the top you see Bryan and I this week at Disneyland, and on the bottom the baby-faced, pre-kid versions of us, also at Disneyland, circa 1996.
This week was the first time in maybe ten years that our whole family was together at the “happiest place on Earth.” And it was, indeed, a happy day!
Last spring the girls and I went to Disneyland and California Adventure with my son and daughter-in-law. It was so fun, in many ways thanks to my daughter-in-law’s expert knowledge of the park, that I started a sinking fund to take the whole family.
It ended up being 10 of us, all adults, touring the park together. We shut the place down when it closed at 10 pm, having gone on most of the big rides and hitting all the things that we wanted to, with the exception of the new Tiana ride which broke down all day.
One of the best things I did to prepare was pack food and snacks. We rented a locker to store the coolers, and I had dinner in a larger cooler back at the hotel. My married kids bought me this cooler for Christmas which was super fun to use at Disneyland.
It’s been a long time since the FishFam took their first trip to Disneyland. (Be sure to click over to see how much these people have changed in 15 years!) And a lot has changed with how Disneyland does business.
There’s plenty out there to help you navigate your adventure, but I’ll be writing up a full post, hopefully with my daughter’s-law’s help. Even if it’s just to help me remember the do’s and don’ts!
One of the biggest things I learned from this trip was trusting the Lord more with the small things. You see, in the last few years I have leaned toward catastrophizing. I am sooo creative and imaginative, I can easily imagine all kinds of worst case scenarios and then spend mental energy on those, instead of living in the truth.
With this trip planned and hotel rooms booked, I felt that there was a fair amount to lose — in money as well as dashed hopes. And I knew I was headed toward catastrophic thinking about the “what if’s”.
About three weeks ago I made the conscious decision to give this adventure to God, praying that He would allow me to trust Him with the outcomes. And multiple times every day for the last three weeks I’ve had to made a conscious effort to give it back to Him.
It’s amazing the peace I felt compared to the anxiety I have experienced in the past leading up to a big-for-us kind of event. Even in the midst of the fires and bad air quality, I decided not to worry about it.
And God gave us perfect day*. Perfect weather. Perfect conditions.
(*One of the boys felt under the weather by the end of the day, but I think he was still able to enjoy most of the adventure.)
I’m hoping that I can build on this success, of God’s spirit working in me and me cooperating to trust Him in all things, even the ones that aren’t necessary to life. And especially the ones that are.
Like groceries….
What We Ate
Grocery shopping has become a wild experience these days. I seriously pray before each shopping trip for God to provide what we need.
Sometimes this is clearance meat. Sometimes it’s a fun find. This week it was eggs on markdown.
Just when I think the world can no longer surprise me…. I’m thrilled to find MEDIUM eggs on markdown for $4.39/dozen.
Many of our stores do not have eggs and when they do they are $7-8/dozen at the cheap places. So, this find was a good one. Thank you, Jesus.
These eggs had one week left to their best-by dates, but I’m guessing we can stretch them farther. I may actually put them in hash brown egg bakes to freeze when it gets closer, just to make sure we don’t forget to use them up in time.
They say the egg shortage will last until early summer, so my plan is to buy eggs when I can find them under $5/dozen — and we’ll make do otherwise. Good thing I know how to bake without eggs.
If you’re curious what we’ve been eating these days, check out the Pantry Challenge on Good Cheap Eats.
What I’m Reading
I updated my To Be Read 2025 post with brief reviews of the books I’ve completed so far. You’ll see those in a blue box for January reads. I’ll put each month’s reading in a different color.
Because I’m nerdy like that.
I currently have several books started: The Hobbit, The House that Cleans Itself, How Then Shall We Worship, Keeping House, Life is Hard. God is Good. Let’s Dance, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Holy Hygge, and a few more.
I’m a little annoyed that I started so many last year and didn’t finish them. My plan is to focus on those first, though some I may need to start over completely because I’ve lost the plot.
You can shop my list here, if you’re interested. Though I do advocate getting them from the library if you can.
What’s Happening This Next Week
I’m hosting a workshop to help folks level up their money-saving through more savvy meal planning. It’s part of the Meal Plan to Save Money Pack.
In addition to the workshop, you’ll get these six digital resources:
- The Meal Plan Workbook – a planner to help you organize your best meal plans
- Pantry Challenge Ebook – the primer to help you save money shopping your kitchen
- Good Cheap Eats Meatless Meals – 4 weeks of done-for-you meal plans featuring delicious meatless main dishes.
- Leftovers Made New Again – a guide to using up what you have in new and different ways so that you can avoid food waste.
- Budget-friendly Snacks – a mini cookbook to help you make more tasty snacks yourself — for less!
- Bulk Buying Guide – tips for maximizing your grocery budget to bulk buy and stock up.
The workshop will be next Saturday via Zoom, January 25, at 10 am Pacific. The replay will be available shortly afterward.
Recent Posts
How was your week?
What’s up in your world? Leave a comment or a prayer request. We’re all in this together!
I think I already told you that I read and enjoyed Holy Hygge. I’m trying to reintroduce 2 things to help set an “atmosphere” at home – essential oils in the diffusers in the morning, and calm music playing. I have to set a reminder on my phone to do it though.
Eggs! I haven’t been baking or cooking with eggs, just using the few we get from our chickens in smoothies, but today I asked my husband to stop and get some eggs so we could have a hot breakfast. He brought 2 cartons home, 2 “styles” and it was $18 for 2 dozen! I told him 1/3 that cost was high! He thought they were on sale, but the receipt doesn’t reflect that so I’m going back tomorrow to take a look and get the refund if there’s a mistake!
How is the calm music and essential oil going?