The Weekly Ramble – October 24, 2025

Alrighty folks! Where should I start?

Feeling a little sleepy today. I’ve kept busy this week, particularly in the housekeeping arena. I deep cleaned several spaces, though it’s currently hard to tell because I’ve got several projects opened up. You know how that goes, right?

That said, revisiting my weekly cleaning schedule has been good. It’s been on my priorities page of my planner for awhile, but I couldn’t get momentum to make it stick. Doing a whole home reset in one day just isn’t working for this season.

There are loads of cleaning checklists out there. What ended up sticking for me was planning my cleaning projects for the week, putting them in my planner‘s time blocking page, and setting alarms on my phone.

The alarm bit was key. At 2 pm every day, I stopped whatever else I was doing and started in on my task for the day.

While it took a lot of mental and physical dedication to shake off that coat of procrastination, I am confident that it will get easier as I go along. This week I ended up with this cleaning schedule:

• Monday – master bedroom (change sheets, dust, vacuum), clean mirrors and screens throughout house
• Tuesday – deep clean kitchen
• Wednesday – dust and vacuum library, vacuum stairs
• Thursday – scrub our bathroom
• Friday – mop tile, tidy pantry
• Saturday – clean out car, clean out closet

Since I spent a good 1-2 hours every day on housework, I didn’t spend much time reading, watching, or listening to things. So…. this ramble will again be a stream-of-consciousness kind of thing.

I have really been enjoying the planning and execution of our Sunday Dinners. I’m pulling out extra stops, like plated salads and special desserts.

This past week we had a grapefruit and feta salad, Tuna Noodle Casserole, and a Mixed Berry Pie. Miss 17 who previously was not a pie fan, is now a pie fan. I used Costco’s triple berry blend of frozen berries which made the pie super tart.

This week I’m undecided as to what to make, though I’ve got lots of beef I found on clearance to choose from.

I’m trying to recreate a Chocolate Pecan Tart that I had in Santa Barbara years ago, but none of the recipes I’ve found online look right. This was not an American pecan pie. I’m gonna try David Leibovitz’s Tarte au Chocolat and see if the chocolate part is right.

I’m hoping to have a working version to serve at Thanksgiving! Along with the mixed berry pie, of course.

It was fun to see the results of last week’s newsletter poll. Curious as to where you fit with other moms when it comes to planning for Christmas?

Half of the respondents have already started, with the bulk of ladies starting in the next couple weeks. I’ve been moving steadily along, looking at the gifts I’ve already gathered and brainstorming with FisherMan28. He’s hosting us all for Christmas, so that’s going to be super fun!

This was one of my newest additions to our Christmas Read Alouds. My kids have all enjoyed the first Mr. Willowby book by Robert Barry. Earlier in the summer I saw that his son had posthumously published a sequel, so I preordered it. It’s super cute!

It has been such a lovely experience to live with some of my adult children. I know that it’s culturally not a norm, but in SoCal, I’m finding that it is becoming so. People, ourselves included, are just being priced out of buying homes.

Weirdly, I love California something fierce. There have been so many negative changes over the years; sometimes I cry in the car driving around seeing it all. I don’t have answers or a clear solution to all that plagues my state. Corrupt government is hard to kill.

I’m praying and I’m voting. That’s what I see in front of me right now.

Yes, we could leave the state. We’ve done that before and still came back.

Our kids are here. And we will go where our kids are. Seeing as one is applying to the CHP, we may be here for the duration.

So, praying and voting are good things for now.

So is living with my kids. It’s such an honor to get to know them more closely in their adult years. Granted the ones here are 17, almost-19, 21, 23, and almost-25. It’s not like they are old adults. But still. It’s been such a blessing to do life with them.

Earlier this week I “crashed out” as the young people call it. I think us moms would call it freaking out.

I lost my composure over some extended family drama. And while I thought everyone else had their headphones on, they did not. Oops.

It was so humbling and so precious for us all to crowd around the kitchen island discussing the issue (albeit one outside our household) and be able to talk about my sin over it in a healthy way. It was a beautiful moment.

Another beautiful moment was taking my wedding ring into a local jeweler’s. Both a friend and the GIA website recommended this company and so far they get A+++ from me.

The owner and his son both looked at my ring and discussed the estimate from the first jeweler I went to. They were so kind and professional. I wish I had video of their facial expressions when they saw the estimate from the first guy.

They are doing the work for about 1/3 the price of the first estimate! While they spoke very diplomatically about their competitor, it’s clear to me that the first guy was over the top.

They absolutely understand the sentiment of a wedding set; I almost cried right there in the shop.

And they gently chided me not to wear it to sleep or shower. Yes, really. I guess you’re not supposed to do that.

Anyway, I’ll have it back next weekend so I’m really excited that we can pay cash.

I teased Bryan that we saved hundreds of dollars! We celebrated by going on our first date night in months.

Pizza Port used to be our regular Wednesday night hang out for wings and pizza and drinks. But, what used to cost $25 is now twice that. Sooo… it’s a once-in-awhile treat now.

It was really good though. The patio with the bonfire is chill and so nice to sit and talk.

We are going to try to bring back mid-week date nights on a budget. lol

Speaking of budgets, keep an eye out for sales, clearance, and markdowns as we run into the holiday season. You can really off set your spending if you do your Christmas shopping this way.

While I don’t normally buy microwave popcorn, I thought this was a fun item to include in gift baskets and stockings, especially at that price!

Leave a comment and let me know what you’re doing for your Christmas prep!