The Weekly Ramble – July 24, 2026

It’s always a little weird to be posting on Friday but telling you about the last week, including whatever happened on the weekend. For my Sunday to Saturday brain, it’s weird, anyway.

But, since I can’t promise to do blog work on the weekend, this will have to suffice. And you get the bonus of some A-ha’s from last weekend.

Kelly mentioned awhile back in the comments about keeping a weekly tally of “wins” and I started doing that whenever it was she mentioned it. This past week, though, I added a column for learns. You know, we win or we learn?

I think it’s great to highlight the wins, but also have a space for the things I’m puzzling over. So here are my wins and learns of the past week and weekend. Some you read in the last ramble; some happened since then.

At least two of my learns were successful:

ONE. Bryan thawed and repaired the freezer as well as did some research as to why it had an iceberg on the floor of it. Hopefully we are up and running and I can start filling it with easy summer freezer meals.

Next week I’m going to Costco Business to buy a huge pork butt for pulled pork and carnitas. If the weather cooperates, might also stash some pies away for fall.

TWO. I did get back to exercising this week; my thighs can attest to that. I didn’t even do a lot or very heavy weights, but I am feeling it. Well, I did go up from 5 pounds to 10, so I guess that could do it.

Anyway, happy to be back at it, even if I don’t see the fruit.

What I’m Learning

Speaking of which, I’m working on that concept of bearing fruit. Earlier this week I was reading the sermon on the mount where Jesus talks about good trees and bad trees and more specifically false prophets:

¹⁵ “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. ¹⁶ By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.²⁰ Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. — Matthew 7:15-20

I know this passage is about false prophets, but good fruit is used throughout scripture when talking about the “fruits of the Spirit”, John’s command to bear fruit in keeping with repentance, and abiding in the Vine in order to bear good fruit.

So, good fruit is what we’re supposed to produce. Yeah?

But, one of the things that can be a hangup for me is the idea that fruit is visible, a return on one’s investment, something that we can see and touch and feel.

Clearly, this is not something I’m experiencing in my physical training (training being something that I consider stewardship) and so it’s had me questioning how fruitful it is. If I can’t see good results, am I bearing good fruit?

So that question has led me to think about resulting, as Annie Dukes describes it, “creating too tight a relationship between the quality of the outcome and the quality of the decision.”

Am I too focused on the outcomes?

Yes, the fruit of a tree is physical and tangible and the analogy leads us to focus on the outcome, the harvest, the fruit. But maybe when we talk about the fruit of our behavior, the fruit is actually the behavior.

Jesus wants our hearts, after all. Does He care as much about the outcomes as our process and faithfulness?

Anyway, that’s what I’m chewing on this week. Here’s what else I’ve been doing, eating, listening/watching, and/or reading this past week:

What I’ve Been Doing

I’ve been working on the newest versions of the Print & Go Planner. I sent out a survey to get some feedback on the pages in general. (If you’re a user and haven’t taken the recent survey, you can find it here.)

It was suggested that the time budget page doesn’t work for some people, so I created an alternate option. So far, those who took the official survey aren’t sold on the new one, but the majority on instagram preferred it.

I’m in a quandary, so I may just make both. Watch for an email about that soon.

What I’ve Been Eating

Isn’t that photo wild? I own a blue tray and the lighting was just so that the tray looks like a fake background. It’s not. It’s legit. But also weird.

I’ve been trying to get back on the Nutrition Wagon, but it’s been rough. I plotted out a sample day of meals that would tick all the boxes of 150 grams protein and 25 grams fiber as well as include foods I actually enjoy — plus sweetener in my coffee.

It ended up being about 1800 calories which I think is too much to lose weight. So, I’m struggling to figure out what to do. I get my blood tests done next week along with mammogram, so maybe I won’t fuss about it until August?

My tongue continues to burn, despite what I believe is an increase in estrogen, but I don’t know. Switching from gel to a patch has been a little rough.

What I’ve Been Listening/Watching

The girls and I binged all six episodes of Ride or Die. We really enjoyed it. Lots of things for the three of us to discuss in terms of friendships with women.

A good female friend is like gold, but they are hard to find. Those relationships risk deep wounds. This series explores it well.

I’ve also got my podcast queue full of good stuff to listen to. Good thing I’ve got lots of cleaning to do this weekend, so I can listen to:

• The Art of Home Podcast
• The What Have You’s
• Good Content

What I’ve Been Reading

On my Summer Reading Bingo there’s a space for a CS Lewis book. I might be the only person in the family currently playing bingo but that’s okay. Lewis it is!

I’m about halfway through The Four Loves. It’s very meaty! And very good. I have loads of flags in it since I’m not sure if one of the kids purchased this paper copy or if it’s a family copy.

And I’m about halfway through the gospels in the Chronological Bible, so I should be done with the Bible by this time next month!

What I’ve Been Writing

I’ve not gotten back to my novel, need to do more skill study, but I’ve written on the blogs this week:

I hope you’ll take a few minutes to read and leave a comment on the posts. Thanks so much!