The Weekly Ramble – May 29, 2026

Are y’all ready for summer? Have you loaded the kitchen with cool drinks fixings?

Twinings sent me some of their new Refreshers to try. The raspberry strawberry was pretty tasty, very much like a Starbucks drink of the same name, but a little cheaper to make at home.

Our new coffee station is working out well. I think I need to add some shelves for a little more vertical storage, but so far so good for summer drinks.

I splurged on a set of these glass travel tumblers. I wanted to see what was in them, but also not use glass. They’re not pool-safe obviously, but super nice for regular use.

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

What I’m Learning

Communicating expectations is super important. You probably already knew that, but it bears repeating.

Early on in motherhood I learned that most of my days were about managing expectations, my own as well as my kids’. This is basically the substance of life as a human.

How do we manage our expectations, but also how do we communicate them so that we can mitigate misunderstanding and disappointment. This doesn’t go away when your kids turn 18.

It only becomes more important.

Communicating your expectations to yourself is key: what do you want? Think big in terms of systems and lifestyle, but get granular as well, like, “Hey, I’d like the kitchen to myself tomorrow morning from 8 to 12.”

Doing this regularly bodes well for your marriage as well as life with grown kids.

What I’ve Been Doing

On Sunday we hit the road at the crack of dawn for Sacramento. We got back last night.

It was a great time, me, Bryan, and Miss 17 helping our eldest and his wife settle into their new house. Bryan and Mister 28 did all the heavy lifting and drilling and sawing and who knows what else. I got to unpack the kitchen.

They made some great decisions in the build/design of this home, so we’re looking forward to more trips north — and already scheming about ways to avoid the traffic.

What I’ve Been Eating

The Sac Fishers are excellent cooks and have great taste in food, so I’ve eaten very well this past week. They even treated us to Brazilian BBQ, which Bryan and I had never had. What a wild experience!

I don’t think I’ve cooked anything since Saturday so I’m really looking forward to my afore-mentioned reserved kitchen me-time tomorrow to do some meal prep. Alone. In my kitchen.

I’m currently hitting my all-time highest weight and trying (unsuccessfully) not to despair too much. Peri-menopause has not been kind. (more on that in my reading)

What I’ve Been Listening/Watching

Miss 17 and I introduced my daughter-in-love to My Life is Murder. It’s a little cheesy, but a good way to veg out. I think we binged four episodes on Live Acorn TV per Amazon the other day.

On the drive home, we listened to the last three episodes of SASF (Stories are Soul Food) and then listened to Max McLean read the Book of Daniel. All were really good and prompted some thoughts:

• Does God like what you’re watching/reading?
• What hills are you willing to die on?
• What hills are you willing to kill on?

What I’ve Been Reading

I finished Making Sunday Special by Karen Mains. It was written in 1987, so it’s dated. Thankfully, it’s still got some relevant points.

You’ll have to work for them with concentration because just 40 years makes a big difference in publishing. This book does not work in sound bites, but in reading full paragraphs. Ha!

My big takeaway: How you spend your Sundays can be an opportunity to witness to others and show to Whom you belong.

I’m also about halfway through Next Level by Dr Stacy Sims. Sims has spent her career working with athletes, but I think this book is supposed to be a bridge to include non-athlete women in her work.

I’m contemplating taking her course, but I have questions since we all know I’m not an athlete. I’m not exactly clear about her definition of “active women” and whether or not I count.

Anyway, the book addresses a lot of the issues of perimenopause and many of the myths. So much of the exercise and nutrition advice is based on research done on men.

Sims’ work has been to demonstrate how “women aren’t small men”. What works for the guys doesn’t always work on women, and sometimes it even works against us.

I will keep you posted!

That’s it for me. How are you?