Weekly Ramble 8/31/24

This week’s ramble will be short and sweet. I’m going on two weeks of afternoon headaches and I still haven’t done my Rest Day Prep. It’s hot. I’m tired.

I wish I were more entertaining. But, this is real life, is it not?

Here are the highlights of my week:

My baby is 16.

I’m not sure how that happened, but we’ve hit a milestone, folks. The FishBaby is officially 16.

On Sunday all the home kids came to church with us — we are scattered at three different churches most weeks — so that was really fun. It was so nice for our new church family to get to meet the kiddos who live with us.

A friend from church even organized everyone to sing “Happy Birthday” to FishChick16.

And how special that even though the kids could have dipped right after service since we came in three cars, they all stayed to help out with the little kids and to chat with the adults. We practically shut the place down.

School is begun.

The four college and high school kids started back to class this week. We celebrated with apple pie.

Now with three gone and one doing CLRC, it’s a far cry from my homeschool daze of so many littles. It’s the end of an era, I guess.

To be honest, I miss our morning meetings. We do an abbreviated version during Sunday Dinner, but it’s not quite the same as talking with my littles first thing every morning.

Instead of regretting not enjoying it more, I’m choosing to be thankful that I did it at all.

Kindness to my Past Self

I’m rereading Be Your Future Self Now. It’s interesting to reread such an impactful book and learn new things. Last year’s highlights are in blue while this year’s are in pink. I’m such a nerd for tracking progress!

Anyway, one of the threats to your future is a lack of connecting with your future self, thinking of her as a person different from you now. I realized that how I think of Past Jessica impacts how I think of Future Jessica.

If Present Jessica thinks of Past Jessica with disdain, she may not like Future Jessica all that much because one day Future Jessica will be looking at the now-Present Jessica with disdain.

Like I need to trust myself in the future not to hate today me for making mistakes. In order to do that, I have to forgive the past me for making whatever mistakes she made.

In forgiving my past, I can become a better sort of me in the future. That makes sense, right?

I went back to work in the GCE kitchen.

I still remember how to shoot food. And I can still write. Whew.

After 4 months of no food photography, I got back in the swing of things. And I still remembered how to do it all. I didn’t get as many recipes done as I would have hoped, but it’s a start.

I have big plans for this year’s Meal Plan Advent Calendar as well as the Good Cheap Eats Club, so I need to shake a leg!

Be sure to check out these new posts on Good Cheap Eats:

• How to Make Your Own Reusable Grocery List​
• ​Easy Moo Shu Chicken Recipe (Instant Pot/Slow Cooker)​
• ​Easy Cottage Cheese Quiche Recipe​
• ​25 Cheap Rice Meals to Make Your Budget This Week​
• ​Meal Plan 17​ – check out our FREE 3-day meal plans for easy menu inspiration

We found a great iPad sale.

As you know I love digital planning. I’ve practically gone paper- and pen-free!

We found a great iPad sale so that we could get FishChick16 her own. Along with the apple pencil, she’ll be able to do a lot of her work digitally and we won’t have to buy or print the paper books. It will pay for itself in printing alone.

I don’t know how long the sale will last, but if you’re in the market for an iPad, this is a great price!

CFA brought back Pimiento Cheese!

Last fall I went absolutely gaga over the pimiento cheese sandwich from Chick-fil-A. I was so disappointed when it went away, but not to the degree of my excitement of seeing it back!

We went there for vacay day lunch and it was even better than I remembered.

No, I’m not from the South, so no, I didn’t grow up with this condiment. I know it might not be the way some people like it — a stranger yucked on my yum last year in the DMs! — but I think this is mighty fine, especially on the spicy filet.

Now, it’s not part of my low-cholesterol diet, so I’m gonna be okay when it goes away. I will enjoy it while it lasts.

New Club Resources

I’m really excited about some of the materials I’m developing for the Good Cheap Eats Club, mainly to simplify the strategy and make it easier for people to adapt it to their own kitchens.

I think we’ll be having a special sale in September to kick it all off. Yay!

Alrighty then, that’s it for me. Don’t forget to check out the most recent posts if you haven’t already. Then head to the comments and let’s chat!