The Weekly Ramble – March 13, 2026

I miss the Christmas tree and early morning ambiance, so I’m trying to find a substitution. Not sure the candles are it, but we shall carry on.

Thanks to my HRT I’m sleeping better than I was a year or two ago, so I’m not awake at 3 am as often, though that did happen this last week. Bryan’s been sick and not sleeping well, ergo neither of us sleeps well.

The same is true in reverse. In sickness and in health. He’s just able to go back to sleep more quickly than I am!

That said, I have nothing to complain about as I’ve had several good sleeps in a row. My allergies are kicking up so it’s a nice excuse to take Benadryl at bedtime. Looking at the forecast for the weekend, I think it’s only going to get worse!

The screenshot is from yesterday, but you get the picture. This isn’t typical March weather for these parts and we’re on a “heat advisory warning”. Thankfully, I’ve remembered that we have solar-powered AC!

Yes, I have forgotten that on occasion. A few weeks ago when we had another hot day, I was sweating profusely and asking Alexa when it was going to cool down. Bryan walked in and asked why I didn’t turn on the AC. Oops!

After two decades without air conditioning, old habits die hard. Regardless, I think it’s safe to say that spring/summer has sprung.

I spent Saturday in LA, and in my drive home through traffic, I completely forgot about daylight savings. Sunday morning hit hard and Sunday dinner didn’t get on the table until after 7.

The time change often kicks my butt, even when I remember, so I’m wondering if I should just count this week as a wash/win despite the fact that my house is a mess and my allergies are too.

What do you think? How has DST been for you?

One of the things I’ve been chewing on lately is the concept of building. The first nudge in this direction was Rachel’s reel and her words, “When you define what you’re building (your family culture, your homeschool rhythms, your motherhood) even ordinary work carries weight.”

It reminded me of this post –> Loving Motherhood in an “I’m Bored Society”

Rereading, I’m not sure I needed motivation as much as purpose, though Bryan says those may have simply minor semantical differences. Regardless, I think that I may have been wrong in my previous assertions that “not exerting myself” was the problem.

Rachel is a longtime reader of Life as Mom and we connected over IG recently. She lives in Kansas and her six kids overlap mine (almost). My youngest is a senior and her eldest is a junior.

She wrote a guide or framework, Called Not Casual that I had a chance to read this week. (As fellow content creators, we did a resource swap to give each other feedback.) I highly recommend it if you’re in the throes of homeschooling young kids.

I wish I had had this perspective back in 2010. It makes so much sense to Now Me and I know Then Me could have really benefitted from it back when I was “bored and needing to exert myself”.

Trying harder only gets you so far.

So I’ve been chewing on this concept of building as I enter a new phase of life. What am I building now that my baby will be in college?

I did a little Bible study around the concept and found several instances where “building” is used metaphorically:

• “The wisest of women builds her house, but folly with her own hands tears it down.” Proverbs 14:1 ESV
• May the Lord make the woman who is entering your house like Rachel and Leah, who together built the house of Israel. Ruth 4:11 CSB

Women and specifically mothers are builders. So, let’s be clear about what we’re building.

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

What I’ve been Doing

As I chew on what I’m building and making it clear to myself, I dug back a few years into my journal and found some things I had forgotten about. (And yes, at least one of these big dreams is very pie-in-the-sky”!)

I rambled about my three priorities back on September 10, 2023. That was awhile ago!

I’m so thankful that I like to journal because I have a way to peek into my brain in the past. Sometimes I do wonder what I was thinking. Ha!

Anyway, we are still plugging away at these three priorities of family, fitness, and finances. While we’ve seen great strides in some areas like monthly game nights and weekly family dinners.

I’m still figuring out the physical fitness part, but combing through my journal, I was pleased to realize that I have grown spiritually over the last few years and my mental health has improved. So that was cool.

We are not making a million dollars a year, but enough is good. And we do have enough.

What I’ve been Eating

For some reason I’ve been prepping bigger and more elaborate meals lately. This meals that everyone has full tummies, but also that we seem to have leftovers more often, too.

Not to say that leftovers can’t be lovely! Case in point. We had just a little bit of lasagna, pizza, and minestrone left one day from three different meals. I made a fresh Caesar salad and Miss 17 and I had a great lunch.

I’ve also got my vanilla granola on repeat, despite the fact that oats have gone up in price. Has anyone else noticed that craziness?

Since I updated this post: Why Shop at Costco? I’ve been giving Costco prices a much closer look. I may be switching things up this spring. Just need to get my food storage organized a little bit more to make room.

(Spring cleaning has been bumped a week. My girl would rather play during her spring break than be ignored by a mother cleaning the house from top to bottom. She’s willing to hitch rides with siblings in order to give me time to clean.)

What I’ve been Listening/Watching

Miss 17 and I are taking a break from Endeavour and now catching her up on some old episodes of Midsomer Murders. Can you believe this show has been around for 25 years?!

Even though the crimes are really just as gruesome as Endeavour, for some reason they feel a little more light-hearted. Not quite cheesy, but definitely on that end of the spectrum.

We still have one episode left of All Creatures. And then I’m thinking about a TV hiatus. Though even as I type that, I find that hard to imagine. TV is my companion when I cook.

Still thinking on that, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt to read more books and I could listen to an audio book while I cook.

What I’ve been Reading

I’m flip-flopping between That Hideous Strength and Mansfield Park. I’m guessing that MP will cross the finish line first.

I have soooo many books on my TBR. I’m not sure that I ever finished my TBR list from last year. 2025 was the year of the book. I’m not anywhere close to reading as many this year. I’m up to 17.

Ho hum. A friend thinks I should read the Emma M Lion series, but I feel like there’s so much talk about that one, I may just be ornery and not read it because it’s popular.

If you’ve got a book rec you really 110% love, drop me a comment!

What I’ve been Writing

I’ve had my head buried in Good Cheap Eats. Here’s what’s new and improved: