The Weekly Ramble – May 2, 2025

Hello, Hi, How are you? Let’s chat marriages that outlast wedding rings, turning freaky bunny cookies into cute marble treats, and the growth of the TBR stack.

Bryan and I never went ring shopping officially. However, within the first three months of dating, we knew we were each other’s person and we window shopped on some random weekend afternoon in Santa Barbara.

I don’t remember the conversation, just a few peeks into jeweler’s windows and a brief discussion of preferences. Two years later he surprised me with my ring that he had chosen at George Thompson’s, Your Friend in the Diamond Business.

With the exception of some puffy pregnancy months, I have worn this ring 24/7 for the last 31+ years. Lately, even though I haven’t gained weight, the ring has become more uncomfortable. Wednesday night I wrangled it off my finger and made the decision to bite the bullet and get it resized.

I researched local jewelers who do repair and sucked up my courage because the high end of their estimate online was $200. We’re not currently flush with extra cash, but I really love my ring.

Bryan recently switched his own ring to silicone for safety reasons and suggested I get one, too. But, I really love my ring. I’ve only seen one other ring like it — on the hand of a friend, would you believe it? (M.E. Gillmore, did your ring last?)

Unfortunately, the man at the jewelers said that mine needs a lot of repair done to it. At first he gave me a verbal estimate of $600. When I asked him if he could write down the work he recommended be done on it, the number jumped to $1222.79! He said that for another $800 it would be better just to have them “rebuild” my ring.

Folks. Let me repeat. I really love my ring.

I am going to try to get some other opinions and estimates, but I fought tears multiple times yesterday and today. The band has worn really thin; he’s not wrong about that. I imagine there’s a risk of it eventually breaking and then I’d lose all the diamonds. Not something I want.

Bryan would probably do whatever I asked, but I can’t fathom spending $2k on a ring at this stage in the game. It was supposed to last a lifetime, wasn’t it?! The plus side is that our marriage has outlasted our ring.

So, I’m ringless at the moment. I can’t even size my finger for another couple weeks when the swelling will hopefully have gone down.

In the meantime, I’ve heard other stories of similar treatment from jewelers and the idea that rings aren’t meant to last forever. I would love to hear your input!

Here’s what I’ve been doing, eating, listening, reading, and writing this past week. 

What I’ve Been Doing

As you know I’m trying to make up the deficit left by declining blog income. My income is down 48% from what it was three years ago. Thankfully, Ralphs markdowns are coming in clutch.

One recent win were these freaky bunny cookies. Who would want to bake these?! No wonder they had leftovers to markdown after Easter. I created an Instagram reel if you wanna see how it’s done. For $1.06 it was a worthy investment.

What I’ve Been Eating 

Thankfully eggs are back no the menu. One of my boys stopped into Costco Business this week and called and texted to see if I wanted eggs. They were back in stock and under my target price of $5/dozen. The highest I paid during the Egg Debacle of 2025 was $5.50, so I’m glad to see a three buck cluck.

What I’ve Been Listening

I haven’t been doing a ton of listening lately, but I have this song on repeat these days. I found it randomly and really like it!

I’m not the most dynamic of Spotify users, but if you’re curious, you can follow me here.

What I’ve Been Reading

I love how my TBR pile keeps getting bigger as my read stack also grows. I ended up April having read 22 books in April for a grand total of 73 for the year to date.

I’m currently in the midst of these books:

• The Business of Being a Writer by Jane Friedman
• Tales from the Cafe: A Novel by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
• Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott (a reread)

I’ve got my Kindle app loaded with others, including library checkouts, Kindle Unlimited loans, and other ebooks I’ve purchased. There is no shortage of things to read!

What I’ve Been Writing

I’ve been digging into my manuscript, but not as in-depth as I would like. My preference would be to have the rough draft completed by the end of the month. We’ll be gone in June so it can rest while we’re in Japan.

Please pray for me that I can get organized and packed, partied and celebrated for all the things we have going on, and drafted by the end of the month. Lots to do!