Weekly Ramble 7/20/24
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. For more details, please see our disclosure policy.
Is it Saturday already? The week just flew by!
Want to save this post?
Enter your email below and get it sent straight to your inbox. Plus, I’ll send you time- and money-saving tips every week!
Isn’t that lovely? FishChick15 and I went to a baby shower this morning. My friend Emily is the most welcoming of hostesses, and dang, she makes it all beautiful, too! Isn’t that gorgeous?!
She had a cutie theme thread throughout along with custom cookies, fresh local flowers, and the most beautiful setting. It was so very pleasant and such a great reminder that being surrounded by beauty is such a good thing!
I’ve been largely silent online this week. Of course, it’s not because I don’t have something to say — whenever am I at a loss for words? — it’s just that I’ve had very little time to translate thoughts to paper.
It has been a busy week, so I’ll just jump into my favorite things and wind this ramble up with a fun announcement for next week!
Five Favorite Things
Sunday Dinner
I started making an effort at Sunday dinners sometime last fall/winter when I realized it was the only day that all the kids were home at one time. Since we’ve been working toward a more intentional sabbath, it’s become even more fun to plan and present a special dinner for the family.
For summer we’re grilling and enjoying side salads, you know, these meals on repeat. But I’m letting my creativity roam when it comes to dessert. Pictured above is last week’s retro dessert, jello pie. I probably won’t develop the recipe further, but you can try it if you like. Everyone liked it fine, but it wasn’t over-the-top amazing.
It’s good, though, especially if you regularly buy jello. I rarely do. Basically, I’m shopping the pantry for dessert this month — and I found several cookie crusts that need using — and the aforementioned gelatin.
For this weekend’s dessert, I made an ice cream pie with vanilla and cookies and cream non-dairy ice cream in a chocolate crust with caramel and hot fudge sauces. I’m thinking it will pass, don’t you?
As for future Sunday Dinners and sabbath in general, I’m trying to give them a little more celebratory feel. In that vein, I’ve ordered these fancy water goblets and am figuring out the right size tablecloths for our tables. For the latter, I think I may be sewing them myself.
I also am trying to source local flowers that are affordable. Emily gave me some tips, as well as the idea to buy flower vases in bulk. With the 30% off coupon, the price is pretty reasonable for 20 small vases.
Stay tuned for more of my musings about sabbath and Sunday dinner.
Magnetic Screen Door
We went to a party last weekend where the hosts had a magnetic screen door. What a brilliant invention!
Our backdoor is a weird size, so Bryan had to Macguyver it a bit. Hopefully, your door is a regular size. He just installed it today and I already love it!
My Menopausal Wardrobe
It is rough right now as my body flips and flops its way through menopause. The labs say I’m post menopausal, but my body can’t decide. The months when I don’t have a cycle are the ones I gain lots of weight.
It pretty much sucks. I’m up 15 pounds from last summer and up 25 from a few years ago.
I’m trying to be patient with myself and part of that process is to have clothes that fit me. The girls and I went shopping at Marshalls this week. I love that they have well-lit dressing rooms. And Old Navy had a really good sale online.
Slowly, but surely, I’m building a capsule (again) of clothes that fit me and that I feel good in. I wore this dress to the baby shower today and got complements on how it matches my eyes. I’ll take what I can get!
Systems that Work for Me
I may not have every part of my life working the way that I like, but I love it when a system comes together! One recent win is the system I worked out for Rest Day Prep.
This simple worksheet that I use in my digital planner helps me make sense of what I need to buy and prep each weekend so that I save time and money — and don’t forget anything. I’ve been using it for a month or so now and it’s becoming more second nature.
I’m working on systems for other things, such as my Christmas planning and my turn to bring snacks to church.
Harbor Pointe Series
I really don’t love this book covers! They make the books seem so cheesy, which I promise they are not.
I’ve read chick lit that ranges from the very cheesy G to the very racy rated R. This Harbor Pointe series by Courtney Walsh falls pleasantly in the middle with a hefty dose of faith in God. The plot lines are varied, creative, and not quite as predictable as a Hallmark movie.
While I think the author is missing some key opportunities to share the gospel, I felt that all four books in this series were really good. In fact, I was skeptical that the next one in the series would be as good as the previous and they all were!
I’ve read all four through Kindle Unlimited/the public library.
Coming Next Week
It just seems apropos to use this old banner from 2015 to tell you about my Christmas in July series starting on Thursday. This is something that I did for years in the early years of blogging
It has always served me really well to plan ahead so I thought I’d share the process with you, starting Thursday.
Got any questions, comments, or challenges you want to tackle regarding Christmas? Head to the comments section and let me know! I’ll include those in my planning this week!
How was your week?
What’s up in your world? Leave a comment or a prayer request. We’re all in this together!
Hi Jessica,
I just wanted to let you know that I really enjoy the weekend ramble. I appreciate the chatty, girlfriend topics you share.
Thank you, Lisa!
I made table cloths for our fellowship hall at church. We used poplin but it moves so easily once placed on the tables. Jello isn’t a texture that my family will eat. I love shopping our pantry, you taught it years ago and it has blessed us so many times.
Thank you!
I will keep that in mind about fabrics. I hadn’t considered that. Thanks for the tip, Sherrie.
On the menopause transition – solidarity sister! You are not alone! Thank you for the books and dress recommendations! Honestly, I love hearing about recommendations from others about awesome things that work well!
My favorite self-care podcast (think caring for our bodies with good nutrition & exercises) is Self Care Simplified with Megan Dahlman. Her podcast is balanced, short and actually helpful. I’ve been doing her fitness programs for the past few months and it’s been a game changer for me. I hope you have a restful summer. As for me, I’m serving “snack dinner” tonight so I can rest!
Yay to snacky dinners! And thanks for the tip about the podcast. I’ll check it out.
Regarding tablecloths….my sister has a long table and could never find tablecloths. She discovered using curtains!
Interesting! Thanks for the tip!
You mentioned on an earlier post that you were hoping to stay in your current rental. I’ve been thinking about that and have my fingers crossed that it goes in your favor!! Moving is just so hard.
Thank you so much! The property manager is doing a walk-thru this next week which I think bodes well for the lease getting renewed.
Oh my goodness I feel you on the post-menopausal weight situation and wardrobe arena. I’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that calories don’t mean a whole lot and hormones are everything. But that doesn’t make clothes shopping easier!!
We are working toward a full sabbath rest as well. My husband retired from teaching this summer (I will start back on August 2nd) so we’re entering a new season and it’ll be interesting to see how this works.
Looking forward to the Christmas in July (though I’ll have school on my brain). I love it when I’m extra prepared!!!
I’d love to hear how your sabbath efforts are going, Angela. And yes, I think you’re right about the hormones, though I started tracking again and I think calories actually do mean something on this end. lol
I’m learning about the role hormones play in weight gain. I just got an email from another blogger who is sharing her experience. My naturopath has me taking progesterone, estrogen, and testosterone. She lost 25 pounds when she added testosterone and I’m hoping for similar results!
Still waiting on the mammogram and pelvic ultrasound before I can start HRT. 😐
❤️