The Sunday Set:: October 5, 2025

  1.  Priorities for the week:: My niece is getting married on Saturday. That's right - somehow they're all getting old enough to reach that point, and that makes me even older. For goodness sakes. 

Idk how time has gone by that fast- and I always told myself I wouldn't be one of "those" middle aged people who saw their nieces and nephews and said the trite comments like 'how have you gotten so big?' or 'you're making me feel old' or anything like that. And here we are- I probably say that every time I see my best friend's daughters because L being the age she is (14!!!!) is insane when I remember her mama being pregnant with her. Yeesh. But, my (actual) niece R will be walking down the aisle on Saturday evening at a castle. Madness. 

2. Something I'm working on:: this will be a 2 part-er - something that HAS to be done and something I want to do-

    A. clearing out the clutter. I have far too many clothes and things- and it's just time to get rid of some. So I've been working my way through my closet so far and boxing up clothes I never wear. I'll be making a stop at one of the local missions this week. Please consider giving to local groups instead of the Salvation Army or Goodwill. Their CEOs make a lot of money off of people. 

    B. finishing my second island. Yep I'm that kind of dork- I have multiple Nintendo Switches and 2 islands currently. The second one is a serious work in progress and has a long way to go- but I'm trying. First island is "done". Though I'm always making little edits to it and just updated the dream address for the first time since the original upload. Speaking of companies making money off people... oi.

3. Something I'm thinking about:: I can't believe I'm going to say this because I love this place, and I love this little village-- but I'm considering moving again. The lease will be up in April, and part of me is just never fully settled. I like living different places. I enjoy becoming a local - even if just for a few years- and learning about the area. I don't really want to move- but I'm not certain I want to stay either. 

The Sunday Set:: Sept 27, 2025

1.  Priorities for the week:: Another busy weekend- had a change in plans for this one for today- nieces' games were moved to Sat- so let's see if I can catch them next Sunday. Saturday is an art opening at a local museum for an artist who I just love to pieces- going with one of my Mommers' besties- so looking forward to that. The rest of the week is a lot of working and cleaning and sorting out the clothing. I've already started and made a dent. I wish these closets were just a tiny bit wider- it's awfully hard to walk in and out of the space. 

2. A life hack for you all:: learned this past week from a colleague that changing the settings under accessibility to grey scale in the color filters is a GAME CHANGER!! My eyes are so much better this past week since I did that with the work laptop. The eye strain is real- despite readers, breaks, and blue light glasses. This has been a huge gift and I'm really thank*full to Robyn. 

3.Random piece of knowledge for you:: If you take a daily antacid/med for managing acid reflux/GERD, your B12 will drop. Wanna know why?? Because without the stomach acid to break down foods and extract the B12 from proteins, your body can't absorb it. So even though I was actually eating more eggs with the yolks intact, it wasn't being absorbed. And now I've had to learn how to give myself B12 shots every other week. (Thank you YouTube for the numerous videos). (That's another bit of knowledge- intact cooked egg yolks are really good for you- as in a medium or hard boiled egg vs a scrambled egg for breakfast.)

The Sunday Set:: September 21, 2025 (a day late)

 Yeah- so much for this helping me to post weekly.... But this is typical of me too. Something to work on. 

1. Priorities for the week::   Busy weekend coming up- Friday memorial, Saturday back to the lake, and Sunday off to watch my 'nieces' play field hockey. Phew! So the rest of the week- time to do some clearing out of the excess. Starting with my bedroom closets (they're small, so I took 2- ha!). 

2. Share a delicious meal::  I'm going to be making a pastina soup this week- which, when adding the pastina it immediately becomes more like a risotto or rice dish-- boil the veggies, blend them up, add the pastina to the simmering blended veggies and it soaks it up and it's yummy! Highly recommend for this week as it's supposed to be getting cooler and we're expecting some rain locally (which I'm annoyed about but we desperately need it). The addition of copious amounts of Parmesan cheese definitely adds to the risotto sense that I get. The "recipe" is basically what I said- initially I found one that was more a list of ingredients and vague info. This is the one closest to what I have done. It makes SO much- so you can have lots of leftovers. And I recommend an egg (tempered) for added protein and deliciousness. 

3. Something on your to-do list::   learn how to make the perfect pie crust- including the crimping along the edges. I can make a pretty good crust, but the pinching never looks right. I want to find a better *easy* recipe for a crust. And the only way to really get the beautiful crimping is more practice. So I better get on it. 

The Sunday Set:: August 17, 2025

 In order to stay on task with this blog, I'm going to make sure I blog every Sunday, and do a little (re)set to my week. I've become wildly disorganized in the last 20 yrs or so, and it's really frustrating. 

So every Sunday, I'll have 3 prompts- always starting with:: 

1. What are the top priorities for this week?

    This week, it's getting everything done before I go to The Lake- baking, cooking, cleaning, and packing. I'll be baking banana bread and 2 quiches tomorrow, shredding a rotisserie chicken, cooking up some yummy salt potatoes, marinating spiedies, boiling eggs, and washing all veg/fruit going to The Lake. And packing it all. So I've got a list and will be headed off to Wegmans in a bit because they have much of what I'm looking for. And then Tuesday on my way to The Lake, I'll be stopping at a local farm stand for milk, half & half, and a few more things before I charge my way to one of my favorite places in the world. Once all is done and I'm on my way- the only remaining priority is getting to Cooperstown to go to Schneider's Bakery for buttercrunch cookies and what we still call fry-cakes. 

Today's other 2 prompts:: 

2. Share a song that hits.

There's a few songs I would call my powerhouse songs, but still at the top is This Is Me, by the amazing Keala Settle from The Greatest Showman. That song deeply resonates with me, I've got this one life to live, and it's just too too short to live quietly and hidden away anymore. I'm middle-aged now (good gosh), and I've spent almost my whole life trying to stay out of everyone's way, not taking up space so I don't take any from someone else; all the things typical type A, oldest daughters with difficult mother relationships do. This is brave, this is bruised, this is who I'm meant to be. And no other performance she ever gave will hit as hard as the green-lighting meeting version. I've seen her performance at the Oscars, on Graham Norton, on so many shows - nothing hits the way this one does. 

3. Last week's accomplishment.

I know it might sound ridiculous, but signing up for a paid membership on a dating site is  big deal for me. I've been on apps, I've had conversations, I've met people here and there. But I'm focusing on intention now. I've had enough of solo life in many ways- it's just time. I've been single now for over 6 yrs, recovery, covid, and moving twice in there just didn't allow for me to settle in. And I work from home. Which has it's perks- but between all those above and working from home- I have become far more introverted. Time to break that. So I'm paying right now- time will tell how long, but one thing at a time. Proud of myself for doing it. 

So now it's time to get sorted and get to the grocery store for ALL the things so I can prep ALL the things. 

Happy Sunday folx, love you bye!!!

Welp, I'm back. Heyyyy!

 A long long long time ago, when blogs were first becoming a "thing" that people in their 20s did- I had one or two. I wrote most of it in all lowercase and thought it made me cool. I don't do that now. I was deeply focused on being a Christian and trying to ingrain God into my day to day and my blog. We have a different relationship now.  I was flighty; I hope I'm less so now.  I rambled a lot. I still do that. 

I shared my insights, music I was listening to, dating/relationships, my job at the time, and then later, when I went back to school (again) I shared about my second career and my beautiful English Bulldog. I stuck with it for a solid 8 years. And then... I don't know, things just fizzled. Life? I found my blog, maybe someday I'll link it so you can read all my chaos.  And be like, "Girl. What?" 

But not right now. Because I'm reading it and being like, "Girl." Good gosh we know it all in our 20s. We think we've got it figured out and know what we're doing. But we don't. Or I didn't. And to be honest, almost 30 yrs later, I still don't. 

I'd rather start clean. That's usually what we're all doing. Begin again and again. Starting over every day. Trying again, reinventing, seeing what works, finding out what doesn't. And then sometimes we stick with it anyway, because we hope it'll give us something different. And eventually, after a while, we actually start over. 

So currently:: 

*I'm on my third career now, I like what I do, but I'm not in love with it like I was with the second one. Healthcare. PDPM. Enough said. If you know, you know. 

*My angel face of a bulldog passed 3.5 years ago and I am not over it.   ...Excuse me, 4.5 years ago.   F.   I'll never be over it. She was the greatest. And I cannot just 'get another one'. This broken heart doesn't work that way. 

*No relationships, but oh, online dating. *sigh* I've been doing it for about 30 years on and off, and it is a roller coaster sometimes. I have stories. 

*Living in upstate NY, but have lived in a few other places- in no particular order - Texas, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, the Carolinas. I'm from this area in NY, and just felt it was time to come home. I live in a tiny village along a river near-ish to a couple of small-medium cities (20-30 min away). 

*Besties -2 in Texas, 1 in Pennsylvania. 

*No kids. Never married. There will undoubtedly be thoughts about those. 

And what am I doing? 

Typing up this bit of info. And editing myself. Which is new. 

Getting ready to go to the lake next week.

Organizing a Happy Hour with some former colleagues for Friday.

Considering the 101 in 1001 again. 

Working on being a better me. 

Will add favorite links to the left soon. Will update again soon. Maybe Friday Five?