Author: nancyb422

I am a collector of family history - pictures, stories, facts - whatever I can get my hands on. I share that at It's All About Family. I started Thoughts From the Passenger Seat because I have a lot on my mind! It started riding on the back of my husband's motorcycle and on business appointments but I don't do much of either anymore but the thoughts are still there. I enjoy writing and I hope you find something that you connect with on either of my blogs. Thoughtsfromthepassengerseat.blog - Thoughts From the Passenger Seat NancyB422.com - It’s All About Family
Posted in 2026, life, thoughts

Daylight Saving(s) Time

Posted on by nancyb422

It’s 8:43 am. But it’s really 7:43 am!

Honestly, turning the clock forward doesn’t affect me as much as the turning it back in the fall.

We went out to dinner last night with friends and although I knew it wouldn’t be a late night, I KNEW with moving the clock forward, it was going to be tough to get to church for 7:30 in the morning.

Thankfully, between the three churches in our parish, there is a 4:00 pm mass on Saturdays! It was at my old church, Holy Trinity, the one I grew up attending and it was built in 1887 and is one of those big, beautiful, old churches with spires and the most beautiful stained glass windows.

My current church, Resurrection, was built in the 1960s and is very modern looking. I’m sure it was ridiculed when it was built but whereas Holy Trinity is on a main road in town, Resurrection was built in an area that is bordering residential so it has a low profile. Oddly, I’ve come to enjoy the atmosphere of this church more than the traditional one.

So, church was attended for the weekend, not “gotten out of the way”, as my husband said, and I was able to sleep in this morning. Win-Win!

What are your thoughts on Daylight Saving(s) time?

Posted in 2026, life

Forgetful

Posted on by nancyb422

I have left my iPhone at home three times this week. Not on purpose, but because I put it down, and forgot to check for it in my pocketbook!

One day, I put my Apple watch on top of my phone because I kept forgetting to charge my watch or take it off the charger. This would be the perfect setup, I thought, because I’ll never forget my phone! But I forgot them both.

The next two times, I brought it upstairs with me while getting ready for work, and I guess I wasn’t used to having it upstairs with me! Dressed, makeup on, and back downstairs to leave, never even thinking of my phone until I got to work.

Today, one of those two times, I was driving an hour away to meet my friend and didn’t realize it was left behind until I was at work to drop something off. Damn! I didn’t have time to go back home to get it. It was a little unsettling to drive that far without it. What if something happened to me? To someone at home? What the heck did we do before cell phones!?!

Needless to say, since I’m writing this now, I survived. The only wrinkle was that we stayed so long talking at the restaurant, I wasn’t able to make it back for a meeting with someone who wants to convince me to sign with their marketing company for SEO. I had to use my friend’s phone, and good thing I had the person’s number on a piece of paper!

Of course, once I got home, I had to scroll, scroll, scroll, to see what I missed. It must be time for a note taped to the door that says WATCH and PHONE

Posted in 2026, life

Alarm On

Posted on by nancyb422

At the start of the year, I cancelled my 5:40am alarm. I noticed during the week off for the holidays, I was naturally waking at that time so decided I could wake up in my own.

I was doing really well with it, but noticed over the last few days, I’ve been waking at 3 am and then watching the clock.

I probably fall sleep in between but it’s like – you know when you are going on a trip and you have to set the alarm for an earlier waking hour? Well, it’s like that. The anticipation of my need to wake up at a certain time. Between 3 and 5:40, I’m dozing and waking, sneaking a look at the clock and dozing some more.

So, the alarm is on again during the week. It’s my security blanket for a better night’s sleep.

Posted in 2026, life

Sneaky Sunrise

Posted on by nancyb422

I walk outside each morning at about 6:15 and head to my workout room. Twenty minutes after I’ve jumped (ha!) out of bed, made coffee, and drank the coffee while reading my daily bible plan/emails/quick social media glance.

Many days I round the corner and I’m compelled to take a picture of the sunrise. I’m not sure why because I have thousands of sunrise pictures already. Something about the morning sky, just makes me what to capture it.

Yesterday I took a picture and realized – it is a lot lighter out than I remember! Maybe because it’s been snowing the last few days and the 2 days before that was the weekend and I didn’t work out early?

Can it possibly be Spring getting closer? I can’t wait to start complaining about how HOT it is!

February 11 6:17am
February 24 6:15am
Posted in 2026, Writing

My First Story

Posted on by nancyb422

I was the first to read my story aloud in my writers’ guild session.

I was never one to do that, take the leap, stand in judgement first. I would do all I could to avoid the eye of the teacher, or anyone, just hoping someone else would go first and break the ice.

Something has changed within me (no, I’m not Glinda or Elphaba!) and I am no longer reluctant. I want to share what I have written, or share my thoughts. This was not the first time I offered to go first either. I was in a journaling class and the teacher asked if anyone wanted to read. People were silent, so I said I would.

What I find is, if I go, I don’t have to spend my time worrying as I wait to go! It just takes all the agony out of it and also makes others comfortable that someone else broke the ice.

My piece got good reviews, the class had good feelings about what I wrote. They did suggest more information on the home, and descriptive information. Someone said “show don’t tell”, which I can agree with but the limit was 500 words and I was already pushing 480 with what I had! I appreciate their thoughts and will work on that in my next piece.

Some of the stories were a family’s trip to watch their son graduated from Marine bootcamp, a scene from a screenplay being written, a fantasy dungeons and dragons type story, an article on creativity, and a poem that this young lady wrote on writers block that was amazing and she wrote it that afternoon!

It is an interesting program, just one evening a month, but it makes me think in terms of what I’m writing and have I provided enough to bring a reader into the story.

The following is my story from class. I would call it “historical fiction” as it’s the true story of my grandmother with imagination thrown in.

On that April morning in 1927, Antonia knew something was not quite right.  Five months pregnant with her 6th child, she knew how she was supposed to feel and this wasn’t it.

She lay in bed and her thoughts drifted back to the day she arrived in America 17 years ago.  She had just spent 9 days on a ship from Bremen Germany but didn’t give it a thought.  She was just so excited to see her sister Aniela, her brother-in-law Josef, and their four children.  The next part of her trip would be a train ride from New York to Springfield Massachusetts and then the local train to Palmer where Josef would be waiting for her at the station.  “Oj,” she thought, coming back to present day, “time enough for daydreaming later, I need to get ready for the day.”

Out of bed, she roused her husband and children.  Charles was still working this week at least. Ever since returning from France at the end of the war, he hadn’t been the same and she missed him.  He survived the trenches, but the head wound from a train accident on the way to the coast almost killed him.   The nasty scar was on the outside, but she wondered what happened to his brain on the inside.

After breakfast, Charles went off to work, and Steven, Helen, and Walter went off to school.  That left John, her 3-year-old home but the way she felt, she asked Eddie if he could stay home too.  At 12, Eddie was more than happy to stay home!  She went about her morning chores, while Eddie kept John occupied.

By early afternoon, the pain in her belly was increasing.  “Eddie! Run and get the midwife to come here.  Then head to the factory and get your father!”  Eddie jumped up and ran out the door.  “Come Johnny, let’s get you to bed for your nap”.  She nudged her son along to the bedroom and got him settled in bed and oh how she wanted to climb in next to him!

The midwife arrived, looked at her, and knew they needed to go to the hospital.  A few minutes later, Eddie and Charles arrived.  “We’re off to the hospital; She’ll be fine once we get a doctor to look at her.”  Antonia kissed her husband and son and reminded them that the other children would be home soon.  “Tell them I love them and I love you too.”  She could see the worry in their faces as she left.

Charles got the children fed and then headed to the hospital that evening.  Antonia was lying in bed, looking pale and tired.  “I’m ok, I’m ok!  Maybe I just need a little rest.”  Give my babies a kiss and I’ll see you all tomorrow.”  He gave her a kiss and left, not knowing it would be the last time he saw her.

What do you think? Did I draw you in to her story? If you’re interested in reading about my family, you can find it at It’s All About Family.

Posted in 2026, Writing

Writing

Posted on by nancyb422

I wrote about being on time last month . It happened at the first meeting of a Writers Guild at our public library. So now I’ll tell you about the guild –

I was excited to see it listed in the newsletter events. There had been a similar program, but I never attended. Now it is back and I put it in my calendar as soon as I saw it.

It is being led by a woman who is a “cultural anthropologist”, writer, and writers workshop teacher. I like her style.

There were about 25 other people in the first session. 2 men and the rest women in the range of late 20s to early 70s by my estimation. All with some degree of writing experience.

I write regularly between here, my family stories, and my journal, but this program is a lot different.

After sharing names and our writing practices, we had a “muscle-building writing spring”. We had to write a motivational speech for a group of animals outside our house. My mind went right to the birds, squirrels and rabbits in my backyard and it was off to the races! It was fun to write something different.

We meet the last Wednesday of the month and our task for tomorrow was to write a very short piece, 500 words or less. A few people will read their stories and the rest of us will say how the piece affects them. No criticism.

I wrote my piece, almost 500 words, no surprise there, but this was tough to do. I knew I wanted to turn a story about my paternal grandmother into a story. I went at it from a few different angles, then picked one. I typed it up, printed it out, let it sit, and then made the edits. I’m hoping it doesn’t sound too smaltzy, and if given the chance, I will read it out loud. And maybe post it here!

Wish me luck!

Posted in 2026, life

My Friend ChatGPT

Posted on by nancyb422

I’ve been a little late to jump on the ChatGPT train.

I first started using it to write business social media posts, usually pasting in what I wrote, asking Chat to “make it sound a little more professional”. It does its work, and I always think how much better it sounds! I find it also useful for writing a letter or a note in a card, taking out my habit of sounding a little pompous. It always succeeds.

More recently, I’ve been using it to identify something in old pictures, like my uncle’s Polish Legion uniform, or information on how an ancestor would have made their way from Ellis Island to their sister’s home in Massachusetts.

Yesterday, I asked it about some wording I pulled from a palm reading I had in 1987. Yes, 39 years ago and I still have the transcription from the reading. It gave me some insightful information.

Now, I realize this is artificial intelligence, so I asked it how it determines what to reply to me. It says it analyzes the words I use, the tone, and whether I’m asking for facts, advice, emotional support, strategy, or creativity. It considers my past context and remembers general things about me to respond better such as, I run a remodeling business, my age, that I work out in the mornings, and I’m exploring my Polish family history. It predicts from that, what would be most helpful using probability and language patterns. And lastly, it adjusts to my style and doesn’t respond to me like it would someone “firing off one-line tech questions.”

From there, it asked me when I ask this question, what am I wondering about. I know there have been many instances of ChatGPT being wrong, or sadly, promoting or assisting in suicide. I am wondering how it “knows” me and how their responses are shaped because I found its response to my palm reading session so long ago very thoughtful, for artificial intelligence.

I’ll continue to use it, with caution, and not get caught up in the idea that it really “knows” me.

Do you use some form of artificial intelligence for information?

Posted in 2026, Shower Thoughts

The Spider

Posted on by nancyb422

This morning, while washing my hair in the shower, I noticed a spider working its way up the half wall in the back of the shower.

I thought it was just some house spider and I was not surprised to see it in the bathroom. I think that the louvers of the exhaust fan bring them down from the attic. I just looked up “spiders found in homes” and yes, there is one called the American House Spider.

I know a few people who would have gone running and screaming out to the street after burning their house down if they saw a spider in the shower with them. I am not one of those people.

I watched the spider make its way up the wall to the ledge and then move on to the glass. That’s where his attempts to get out of the shower ended. His spider legs didn’t have any grip on the wet glass and he continually fell back to the ledge. He would crawl along the ledge and try another section hoping for better results, but no, back to the ledge.

Towards the end of my shower, he walked along the tub ledge at the base of the shower door, hoping to find another way out.

My shower was over and I had a decision. Let the spider crawl freely around my house and worry about whether it was really an innocent American House Spider, not something much worse, or do what I usually do. I did what I usually do. I grabbed a piece of toilet paper, squished the spider, and dropped it into the toilet.

I know there are more where he came from. Maybe when one appears in warmer weather, I’ll toss it out the window instead.

Posted in 2026, life, Memories

Comparison

Posted on by nancyb422

“Comparison is the thief of Joy” is often attributed to Teddy Roosevelt, but it dates back much farther than the end of the 1800s. There are references to it in the bible telling us that “to compare oneself to others, steals joy and leads to sin.” Ok, a little deeper than I intended to go.

Comparison… how can you NOT compare yourself to everyone around you when you have spent your life being compared to someone else?

It starts early as a twin. Weigh a little more? Measure a little longer? Eat more, drink more, poop more. Getting the picture yet?

Move on to school. Who’s smarter? Better at math, better at reading, drawing, nothing changes. But wait ’til high school!

High School….who’s prettier? friendlier? who’s dating whom? She didn’t say hi – you must be the friendly one! Oh, wait, you’re the one that didn’t say hi to me last week, I guess you’re both bitches! And cheerleaders! How did you both make it at the same time? That’s not fair! You must know someone! Oh, you’re the better cheerleader! Wait, maybe she’s the better cheerleader, I forgot who is who!

The comparisons ended at the end of high school for the most part, but the damage was done. The damage was done years ago. The damage was done as soon as we went to school. How could it not? People, adults and children alike, are all human. People don’t think of the words that hit like pebbles every time a comparison is made.

When we were in 8th grade or so, poring over our cousin’s high school yearbook. There was a set of twins graduating that year. Pretty girls with long, blonde hair. One was so pretty, and the other was pretty, but just not quite as pretty. As if the picture was fuzzy. That’s how I felt right up until we graduated.

Comparison of everything under the sun subsided long ago and all that’s left is how I feel about my body. I glance at other woman to wonder if they are as short as me? Where do they find pants to fit? Are they forever unhappy with the shape of their body?

Why do I care? I’m strong and fit.

“Comparison IS the thief of Joy”

Posted in 2026, life

Dentist’s Bills

Posted on by nancyb422

I’m being driven slowly insane by my dentist’s office and their lack of bills to me.

Is there anyone else out there who will get a statement any old time during the year with a random $700 “balance forward”?

After my statement of $738 in November, my first statement since April, I started paying $200 a month towards the balance. My Taurean nature says, “if you can’t send me a bill, I’ll pay you what I feel like. My balance was down to $138 and then my husband had two visits in January. I received the explanation of benefits from the insurance company, added them to my balance and paid another $200 in January.

I received a statement this weekend and it included the $200 I paid in January. And the balance forward was $573! What?! No record of the $400 I paid and no explanation of the new balance forward. According to my records at that point it should have been $338 at the most.

I can’t possibly be the only patient at this practice that has this problem – and there are only 2 of us on the account. Imagine if there were 2 or 3 more??!!

Oh well, I guess they don’t really need the money….