Weekly Round Up: The Sellout

A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  Yes, I know I'm a bit off schedule but bear with me and we'll catch up on all the things.  Today lemme tell you the latest in food, workouts, my Nora Ephron binge, and how the jobby job thing worked out.  In a few days I'll come back to tell you about my latest trip.  

Let's start off with a picture of stepdog in my office in her best "Zoom pose".  We brought in the white mat so that she has a comfy place to rest that's not right behind my desk chair, and that spot just so happens to be visible when I'm on camera.  I had a lot of on-camera meetings yesterday and she faithfully attended them all.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn: Read the Book or See the Movie?

 

This summer I had the great pleasure of rereading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.  It's a book that I've read at least twice before and I might have gotten around to reading it again someday, but Engie made that day now by launching The Cool Bloggers Book Club. 

My first encounter with ATGIB was the 1945 movie, which I saw sometime in my early teens.  Later on I found the book at a library book sale which is how I came to read it and the rest is history.  I remembered the movie as being OK but not great and wouldn't have been interested in rewatching it except that I wanted to get a little more juice out of the ATGIB squeeze.

I'm going to tell you what I remembered about the movie going in, how the movie is different from the book, what I thought about the actors, and what I thought of the movie.

Full spoilers ahead, so don't click past the jump unless you want in on the deets.  It's totally OK to pause and come back after you've read the book and/or seen the movie.

Weekly Round Up: Long Weekend Report

 

 

A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  Plus job musings and a long weekend report.

Operation Endgame: A Werk Update

TL&DR - I told my boss how I really feel about my job during my performance review yesterday.  The response I was expecting was "don't let the door hit you on the way out."  The response that I got was "what can we do to make you stay?"  

Current status: waiting to see what shakes out.

Weekly Round Up: Back to School Edition

 

A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  This week we had possibly the Best Ever first week of school, I went on a nacho spree for lunch, saw an epic movie with the fam, went on a Little House podcast binge, and shored up my plan for Operation Endgame.

Weekly Round Up: The Stuff that Dreams are Made Of

 

A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  This week I'm here to brag about some stepkid cooking, gush about The Maltese Falcon, and go back and forth over quitting my job.

Weekly Round Up: Stay Classy

 

A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, reads (🚨🚨🚨good book alert🚨🚨🚨), the countdown to quitting my job, and a stepmom brag

Weekly Round Up: Send Noods

 

A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  This week I ate lots of noodles, picked a direction for my workouts, and oh yes, thought a lot about Operation Endgame.

Operation Endgame

Hey friends, let's pick it up where we left off from the last post.  As you may be aware from my many rants about it on the blog, for the past few years my work situation has felt like this.  Sure I've been looking for a new job and sure I've gotten lots of interviews and one job offer but nothing that really looks any different.

Life Updates

Hey friends, I'm here to give some updates on my experiences with therapy and my job sitch.

Weekly Round Up: Vacay Everyday

 

A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  This week was Mega Family Vacation week, and the TL&DR version is that it did not suck.

Before I start, I need to tell you that I have in-law issues.  Specifically my issue with my in-laws is that I don't see them enough.  My husband's parents are sadly no longer with us, so that leaves the families of the five siblings.  It's a major feat that we got someone from four out of the five families to Chicago two weeks ago and now we got almost everyone from a different set of four of the five families out to St. Augustine FL this past week.  There's a good reason why there was one missing family from each event - one person was shy on PTO so that's why they couldn't make Chicago trip, and there's a new grandbaby in SIL#2's family, so that's why they didn't make it to FL.

A Crazy Good Weekend

 

Hey friends, I've been busier/crazier than normal so I've got to drop the weekly posts for a bit.  For the next few weeks I'll just be popping in randomly to talk about this n'that.  Case in point: this post.  Lemme tell you about last weekend.  I went places!  It's a Tale of Two Great Lakes, Family Mayhem, and some FLW on the side.

Let's Go Places: Kelleys Island

 

Sigh, the last day of vacation is finally here.  It's very sad but at least we have one last island to explore.  It's time for island #4 of 4 on The Great Island Bender of 2023.

When we started our island journey, I could confidently rank Kelleys as my 3rd favorite of the three US islands that I'd visited.  If you ask around, people will tell you that Kelleys is superior to Put in Bay, specifically because it has less of a party vibe.  My take is that sure Kelleys is nice, but it has less stuff to do with just as many bars.

This was my third visit, so did I confirm what I'd seen before or was the third time the charm?

TL&DR - the third time was the charm.  Let's go to Kelleys Island!

Let's Go Places: Put in Bay

Hey friends, it's time for Island #3 of 4 on The Great Island Bender of 2023.  For context, we're in Ohio about 40 miles east of Toledo.

I mentioned last time that Put in Bay is also called South Bass Island.  The technicalities are that Put in Bay is a village and South Bass is the island where Put in Bay is located.  The village takes up so much of the island that the most common name for this place is Put in Bay, so you're not wrong to call it that.  The year round population is 150, and this is the island with all of the city services.  Fun fact, if you're a kid on North or Middle Bass, you don't catch the bus, you catch the PLANE to go to school on South Bass.  The main road of the island is about three and a half miles long, so we're on slightly bigger turf than Middle Bass.

The next thing to talk about is that if you say "Put in Bay" the odds are very high that someone will say "the party island" but not in a fun way.  If I had a nickel for every time I've heard someone say "party island" with either a great deal of concern or in an outright nasty tone...hey I could stop at one of the Put in Bay bars and get a drink!

I don't want to discourage anyone - I'm sure that if you're looking for things to do that fall under the nasty "party island" label you can find them on Put in Bay - but I have an issue with the 'tude.  Let me show you the other side of the story.

Weekly Round Up: All Over the Place

A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  The holiday had me feeling all disoriented this week, so my recap is all over the place. 

Let's Go Places: Middle Bass Island

 

It's time for the next stop on The Great Island Bender of 2023.  We're going to hit island #2 of 4, and it's one of my personal favorites - I mean all of these islands are my favorites but today I'm going to make the case for Middle Bass.

Let's Go Places: Pelee Island

It's time for our second stop on The Great Island Bender of 2023 and our first of four islands of the trip.  I'm very excited to take you to Pelee Island.

Weekly Round Up: Freebie Edition

 

A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  In this week's edition I had success with a vegan steak recipe, and I have a freebie from my therapist to pass on.

Let's Go Places: Point Pelee National Park

Let's pick it up where we left off from last time.  My first stop on The Great Island Bender of 2023 was the mainland in Leamington, Ontario.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Friends, I just got back from a one week long solo vacation.  I grabbed my passport and went on an island bender.  Four islands in seven days!

Hmmm...you know that I don't like to fly and that I keep an eye on my budget, so where could this exotic locale be?

I'm so glad that you asked.

Weekly Round Up: Empty Nest

A weekly roundup: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  This week the hubs and I had an empty nest, I tried two new recipes, I'm considering some changes on the workout front, and I started a new TV show that's just as good as the book.

Weekly Roundup: Back at it

A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  Sigh, the problem with taking blogging PTO is that things do tend to pile up. 

It's going to take me a hot minute to get my solo week long vacation on the blog, but it was everything that I hoped that it would be.  For right now I'll drop a hint on one of the places that I went when we get to talking about movies and books, and I'll come back a bit later and take you along with a series of blog posts.  We've got a lot of stuff to talk about in the meantime!

Weekly Round Up: OOO

Hi Friends, as of right now I am OOO - out of office.  Let's chat before I get on the road.

Weekly Round Up: A Big Deal

 

A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  In this week's edition I'm going to tell you why this week was a VERY BIG DEAL for our family, share some food stuff, and an epic movie.

Let's Go Places: Marietta, Ohio

I had the pleasure of spending last weekend in Marietta, Ohio.  On the first day it was just a pretty town.  On the second day I encountered something profound that made me step back and say "Whoa!  Why isn't everyone talking about this????"

If you're new here, the rest of my family is heavily involved in Boy Scouts, which means that they go camping one weekend every month.  My mission is that when they get out of the house, I get out of the house and go somewhere cool.  "Somewhere cool" is far enough away from home that I need to stay overnight, but not so far that it's a pain to get to. 

Just a note, I took a ton of pictures but I don't feel that I got the definitive "this is what Marietta is" shot.  I'll just have to get that on my next visit.

Weekly Round Up: Catching Up

 

A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  This weekend was Boy Scout camp weekend, which means that the menfolk went to the woods and I went on an out of town adventure!

Weekly Round Up: Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome

 

A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.

The men in my life have brought home a lot of inspirational sayings from Boy Scouts.  One of my favorites is "improvise, adapt, and overcome".  In this week's edition I'm going to show you how that played out in our meals this week, plus another round of "movies that I remember incorrectly from the 1980's".

Heads up: there's gonna be some weight/diet talk in the books section this week, so bail after the movie discussion if that's not your thing.

The Good Fish Co - Reel 'Em in or Throw 'Em Back?

 

Hey friends, after a long hiatus, I'm back with a job interview story!  The purpose of this post is to keep myself honest about making a good decision for my next work gig and to show what goes on behind the closed doors of the job search process.

TL&DR: I don't think that The Good Fish Co is Mr. Right but I'm tempted to make them Mr. Right Now.

Weekly Round Up: Messy but Good

 

A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  This week I experimented with two new to me recipes that were very messy but oh so good.

Weigh In Wednesday: It's Not Wednesday

Hey Friends - it's not Wednesday and this isn't really about weight loss.  This is a long overdue update on two issues that I've talked about on the blog: my weight and my job.

TL&DR: my weight loss plans are off the table for now, my job misery has gone to a new low, and I started therapy today.

Weekly Round Up: Low Key

 

A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  What a difference a week makes.  Last weekend we were on the road - Boy Scout camp for the guys and all over the midwest for me - and this weekend was a quiet weekend at home.

Weekly Round Up 3 of 3: A Midwest FLW Bender

Let's pick it up right where we left off last time.  Last weekend I combined a trip to my childhood home of Champaign, Illinois with a Frank Lloyd Wright house touring rampage.

It's definitely a "you had to be there" kind of thing, but I wanted to chat about where I went and hit a few highlights of each house.

Weekly Round up 2 of 3: You Can't Go Home Again

 

It's that time again!  If you're new here, my sitch is that once a month my husband and stepsons go to Boy Scout camp.  I used to stay at home on these weekends and do nothing, and now I get out of town myself and go on a little adventure.

I'll be the first to admit that my trip ideas are a little random but this time I really outdid myself.  Last time I left you with the hint "I get no kick" and if you completed the sentence as "I get no kick from champagne" and know your midwest college towns, then you know that the answer is the one and only Champaign Illinois.  If you're not familiar, Champaign is about 100 miles south of Chicago and along with its twin city of Urbana ("Chambana") is the home of the University of Illinois. 

 

It's a place that I used to call home.

Weekly Round Up 1 of 3: I Get No Kick

 

A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads. 

Folks, it's finally happened - my life was so exciting last week that I need THREE COUNT 'EM THREE separate posts to tell you about it.  Today I'm going to tell you about the normal everyday stuff.  Tomorrow I'll be back to tell you about my latest long weekend getaway (the title of this post is a hint), and the day after that I'll tell you the deets of the FLW houses that I toured on the trip.

Weekly Round Up: You Never Forget

 

A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  They say that once you learn to ride a bike that you never forget, and this week I'm here to present my personal 32 year research study on that.

But first, let's talk food!

Weekly Round Up: An Easter Comedy

 

A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  This week I bring you the comedy of our Easter family dinner.

Weekly Round Up 2 of 2: A FLW Spring Break Bender

 

Picking it right up from last time, our normal thing for spring break is to visit my SIL in Chicago.  We stay in a nice hotel, visit museums, and then go over to her place at night for home cooked meals.

This year my husband is on a tight budget for PTO, so we needed something shorter than a Chicago spree.  I've become an expert at creating long weekend trips, so I gave the fellas a list of ideas from my travels and told them to choose their own adventure.  I was not disappointed at their choice.

Weekly Round Up 1 of 2: Everyday Life

A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  This week was Too Big for One Post so for part one I'll talk about the normal stuff that I talk about in these posts plus food for our long weekend spring break trip.  Tomorrow I'll be back with the deets of our trip (spoiler: it involves the initials FLW).

Weekly Round Up: A New Spin

 

A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  This week I discovered a new spin on a classic snack.

Weekly Round Up 2 of 2: Shuffle off to Buffalo

 

This weekend was the monthly Boy Scout camp weekend, and my first "go somewhere and have an adventure" weekend since last fall.

Weekly Round Up 1 of 2: Life on the Run

A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  My life was so action packed this week that I've got to break it into two posts.  Today we're going to talk about food, including a McDonald's vs Homemade Bacon Egg n'Cheese Biscuit throwdown, I ran this week for the first time since August (kinda sorta), and I've got another good book.  

This was Boy Scout camp weekend, so while the boys went away, this girl went out to play!  I went somewhere that I never ever in a million years imagined that I would go for vacation and I'll be back with the details about that in the next post.

Weekly Round Up: The One About Books

 

A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  For whatever reason this week I felt really chatty about books, so buckle in for a long post!

Weekly Round Up: Time Delay

 

A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  This week I took a "time delay" approach to cooking dinner.

Weekly Round Up: Hanging in There

 

A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  A summary of this week is that I hung in there.

Weekly Round Up: A Hill of Beans

 

A weekly roundup: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  To steal a line from Casablanca, this week amounted to a hill of beans.  Both in my meals and in my work situation.

Weekly Roundup: Let Me Be Frank With You

 

A weekly roundup: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  I'm here to tell you this n'that about my week and then to gush about the book Loving Frank.

Weekly Round Up: Life on the Beach

 

A weekly roundup: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  It was a routine week with an unexpected trip to the beach over the weekend.

Weigh in Wednesday: How it Started and How it's Going

Content warning: yep this one is about weight loss.  That's not everyone's cup of tea, so feel free to skip if this isn't your jam.

Andddd....every word in this post is 100% my opinion. I do have a very old and completely unused bachelor's degree in Nutrition (backstory here) but all that means is that I am more aware than most that I am not qualified, certified, or licensed to give nutrition or weight loss advice and that's not my intention.  I have a rough idea of what's going on with me and no clue about what's going on with you.

Weekly Roundup: Winter Adventures

 

A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  I didn't do anything fancy on the food front this week, and there's nothing for workouts/TV/books that's urgent to tell you because they will still be relevant for next week's round up.  So let's skip our normally scheduled programming and I'll tell you the story of how I got out of the house this weekend and went on an adventure. 

P.S. I promised that I'd do an update about the diet thing in early February and it's getting to be early February...look for a separate post about that in a few days.

Weekly Round Up: Leftover Mix n'Match and a Double Feature

 

A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  In this week's edition I did a mix and match of leftovers, had a single girls' weekend with the dog, and I've got the music from Swan Lake permanently stuck in my head as a result of my movie watching. 

Weekly Round Up: A Cooking Spree

A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  In this week's edition I brought a few cravings to life in the kitchen and the hubs and I saw THE WORST MOVIE EVER MADE.

Weekly Round Up: Same Time, Next

 

A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  This was a week of "same time, next [year/week]"

Weekly Round Up: The Last Day Off

 

A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  Today is the last day of the holiday before we all head back to work and school, so we're chilling out and enjoying it.  Here's what's been going down in our world, food related and otherwise.

Content warning: towards the end of this post I get into weight/diet talk so if that's not your scene feel free to bail at the "New Year New Goals" header or just skip this post altogether.