life – Thoughts From The Passenger Seat

2026, life

Current State of Health

Posted on May 16, 2026May 16, 2026 by nancyb422

There is a horrible respiratory “something” going around and I have succumbed to it.

It started with a couple of our employees and their spouses, then traveled to my son and his wife. Sore throat, aches and pains, running nose, heavy chest. Ugh.

I didn’t think much of it, considering it’s also allergy season. Heavy head? Yes. Sneezing? Of course! But then I got the scratchy throat and more frequent sneezing than just allergies.

Thursday I decided to take a sick day from work and just putzed around. I’m not going to lie – it was pretty nice and make me think retirement won’t be so bad.

I woke up Friday feeling okay, so worked out, and went into the office. As the day went on, every nerve ending in my body was alive. My throat went from a little scratchy to “I don’t want to cough because my throat will explode in pain”. I apologized for potentially infecting my son (who probably gave it to me!) and my co-worker and kept my door shut until I couldn’t take it anymore and went home.

Once there, I changed into my pajamas and headed for the couch. Eating dinner was out of the question. I drank tea and hydrated with water. When 8 pm rolled around and my husband headed to bed, I followed. After dosing myself with NyQuil, I couldn’t even focus on reading and just went to sleep.

Nine and a half hours of sleep and a good overnight sweat seems to have helped the situation! My husband bought me two types of fresh chicken soup and I had some for breakfast. Which made me realize, why do we have to have traditional foods for breakfast? What’s wrong with soup or leftover dinner?

Anyway, today I’m laying low again and hope I will be feeling even better tomorrow so I don’t miss the annual Trade Secrets plant and garden accessories event at Lime Rock Park.

2026, life

What’s Love?

Posted on May 12, 2026 by nancyb422

It’s my husband making hardboiled eggs unprompted so I can have an egg salad sandwich for lunch.

It’s emptying the dishwasher even though I’m short on time so he doesn’t have to come back home to dirty dishes in the sink.

Love. It’s what we do.

2026, life

An Enjoyable Day

Posted on April 10, 2026 by nancyb422

Today I met a friend for our monthly brunch at a small, but wonderful, bakery cafe called Flour Girl Cafe in Hebron, the middle of the state and halfway from both of our homes. Forty-one miles from home with about half and half highway to back roads.

We manage to talk non-stop for two hours when we meet each month, it’s amazing how the time flies.

Next up was a ride south to trade some skirts I had bought online in early December from my favorite store, Haystacks in Essex. Twenty-eight miles between destinations. Winding back roads most of the way, including a nice ride on the metal bridge over the Connecticut River.

The skirts and dresses at this store are stretchy and are reversible! I love them for summer. I ordered these two skirts online in December but just tried them on last week. I had bought a larger size and realized, they were too big! Even though they had a 30 day return policy, I explained the tags were still on, I loved their clothes, so they allowed for a swap. In gratitude, I bought a new dress!

Heading home was another thirty-six miles along the back roads on a gorgeous spring day.

I love driving by myself. I mean, I enjoy company in the car or being driven around, but there’s something so freeing about driving around back roads by myself. Music on (Mumford and Sons!), windows partially open, and just feeling so free and in control.

2026, life, thoughts

Being Short

Posted on April 9, 2026 by nancyb422

I am short. I hit my full 4’11” in sixth grade after a 4” growth spurt and it was all down hill from there. I blame my twin. If there weren’t two of us, I might have been taller. She disagrees with me.

Inside my body I don’t feel short and when I see pictures I don’t always feel short. But when I see short people next to average sized people in real life, I think, “holy crap! Is that what I look like?” Like do people think to themselves, “that is one short person!”

A plus to it is, I think anyway, that people think I’m younger than I actually am. People usually subtract 10 years when they say, “I thought you were _____”. The minus, I usually act younger than I actually am. And emotionally? Well, I think it’s around 12 or 13! But that’s a story for another day.

The worst part, the worst!, of being short is that pants are always too long. And I can’t buy them in stores because if they make petite or short, they are online.

Petite. Ha! Petite for 5’2” and under. Yet online they will say “the model wearing these is 5’10” and wearing a size 4 petite. Huh??

It’s not all doom and gloom though. There are some good brands that make “petite short” and “regular short” for those not-quite-petite short people. I’ll put myself in that category depending on the brand. I have managed to find them over the years and hang onto every pair for dear life!

But there’s the thing. After spending almost a lifetime wearing pants that are just “thismuch” too long, when I wear a pair that is the proper recommended length, I feel like my pants are too short because I’m overweight.

If you’re a shorty, you know what I mean. Or maybe I’m just crazy.

*Me and my twin maybe 7 or 8 at Mystic Seaport. I’m on the right*

2026, life

My Easter Sunday

Posted on April 6, 2026 by nancyb422

It was a wonderful day that started off with 7:30 am mass. It was packed! The altar was beautiful with forsythia surrounded by hydrangeas of blue and pink. Two of my favorites.

Father Lane served mass, and he’s a favorite of mine. We were sprinkled with holy water and surrounded by incense during the service. Yes, it’s been a long time since I experienced an Easter morning at church and I’m grateful to be back.

After I got home, I had breakfast and a second cup of coffee both tiding me over until the Easter feast at my sister’s house. Small crowd – 17 people – with enough food for 30.

We stick with the Polish traditions of kielbasa, ham, pierogis, hard rolls, rye bread, and babka, and there is something for everyone! There are plenty of desserts like Hungarian cookies and little cherry cheesecakes. Everyone goes home with leftovers!

It’s a mix of parents and children and one grandchild and as various types of in-laws we’ve known each other for over 40 years and have become good friends as well as family.

We left for home with our care package of food. The women’s basketball final between South Carolina and UCLA was on so we changed into our comfy clothes, and settled in with some leftovers. We were happy with the outcome of the game.

Another Easter in the books!

life, 2026

Confession Time

Posted on April 4, 2026 by nancyb422

It is Holy Saturday morning, and I am standing in line at my church waiting to confess my sins.

This is only my second time doing this, and I have never been here during a holiday before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. It’s busy! Two confessionals at either end and another one up front of the altar, face to face (or side to side).

I remember when growing up, the confessionals were in the back of the church (like here), and we were terrified of which priest we would get! We’d get in the booth and wait because there was another confessional on the other side, and the priest would be talking to the sinner on the other side. We’d wait and get more and more nervous, kind of like today! Soon, the little covering over the window would slide over, and we’d hear the priest asking us to confess our sins.

This time was a little different than the first at this church. I picked the right-hand side and should have picked the left side because I walked over to the room, the door was wide open, and Father Devine was sitting in a chair waiting for me! I’m sure the shock was on my face! Ugh, Face to Face!?! With the door wide open?!? I didn’t even get to say how long it’s been or give the Act of Contrition. We just launched right into my sins.

I’m sorry – is this ALL supposed to be private? I won’t share the details. Let’s just say, it didn’t take long because what I was hoping was going to be a mini therapy session turned into a “yikes, here’s my sins, now get me out of here” moment.

I do feel better for going. I may have been happier if I had gone to the front for the side-by-side, and I know, without a doubt, given the option, I will be turning to the left confessional from now on!

2026, life

Basketball Heaven

Posted on March 29, 2026 by nancyb422

What.A.Day

Our University of Connecticut women’s and men’s basketball teams made it into their respective Final Four 🥳🥳 whew!

Women won by ? against Notre Dame but were used to that.

The men came from 19 points down to win by one with a hand up to intercept a pass and put us ahead by one with .4 left on the clock.

My husband and I LEAPED out of our chairs into the middle of the room SCREAMING. It was unbelievable.

Now it’s on to the semi-finals this weekend.

2026, life

Husband Security System

Posted on March 23, 2026March 23, 2026 by nancyb422

Every morning I head next door to our work out room. It’s a short walk out the door, around the corner of the house, and down 6 or 7 steps to the garage with the room above.

When I open the door, I turn on the light in the entrance but head upstairs in the dark as I anticipate my 10 minute morning meditation.

One morning while doing my mediation, I heard a key in the door downstairs. I thought it was early for my husband to be here as he’s usually 20 minutes behind me. I heard, “Nanc! Are you up there?!”. I thought, “what the heck?!” and said through gritted teeth, “yes! I’m meditating!”. He shut the door and left.

Unbeknownst to me, he watches every morning for the light at the door to go on! This particular morning, I must have been distracted, and didn’t turn it on. At first, he thought maybe I fell on the steps because in the winter they can get slippery. When he looked out and didn’t see my body lying on the ground, he remembered a car went by around the same time and he was afraid someone came and kidnapped me!

We had a good laugh about it while he was explaining himself. It’s a nice feeling to know that after 39 years, he’s watching out for me.

*His lookout – much lighter these days!*

2026, life

Riced Veggies

Posted on March 20, 2026March 20, 2026 by nancyb422

Green Giant changed their packaging for Riced Cauliflower to “Riced Veggies” with a smaller caption three quarters of the way down to tell us it is Cauliflower.

*New Look! Same Great Taste! Same Product!*

Naturally, I had to check online to see exactly what other vegetables are capable of being riced. None. But there are items such as Riced Cauliflower with peas and carrots (not riced!), and Riced Cauliflower with broccolini, and Riced Cauliflower with risotto.

In all fairness, I did see online that older packages of Riced Cauliflower do include “Riced Veggies” but the actual product is included right below the title which makes it a little easier to grab and go.

Lest you all think I’m wandering the aisles looking for my Riced Cauliflower, I’m not. I don’t do the grocery shopping! But changes like this do make me wonder whose bright idea it was to put what the name of the actual item is so far down the package. How much did the change cost for marketing and production.

I come from a family of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” and as far as I can tell, the original was working pretty good. Now I just wonder when my husband will come home with some Riced Cauliflower Medley because he didn’t read the label and just grabbed and went.

2026, life, technology

Learning Reels and YouTube

Posted on March 15, 2026March 15, 2026 by nancyb422

I’m trying to up my social media game for work. I thought I’d start out with a reel on my personal Instagram, and I attempted to make one through the app on my iPad. I slaved over it! Pictures, captions, music – it felt like an hour to put it together. I uploaded it, and saw it was only showing the first two photos over and over. UGH – I took it down quickly.

I headed over to ChatGPT and asked my buddy Chatty what I did wrong. Well, I didn’t preview it! If I had, I would have seen it. Evidently, it had something to do with selecting the music first. Chatty suggested I head over to Canva and create it there, selecting the pictures and adding the captions, and then selecting the music. Chatty is like having a teacher sitting next to me telling me what to do. Canva also has a pretty good AI function to instruct me when I can’t find what I need.

I put together a reel for my personal accounts about wandering in the backyard this morning. I don’t have the video feature here, but I can give you a link to my YouTube page because I put it on there! You can find it in “shorts”.

Wandering the Yard

After I posted it to Instagram, I could see some areas I need to be aware of next time, like where the captions go – sometimes they are too high or too wide. Notes for next time!

When I uploaded it to YouTube the first time, there was no music but then I remembered the video in Canva didn’t have any, which is what was uploaded to YouTube. So, ever the perfectionist, I deleted that when I finally figured out how to add music!

Once I figured that out, I went through my videos for something to share on our company account. I had a few videos up but I uploaded one here. That’s when I figured out how to add music. This is also in the “shorts” category.

Jackson Ave Kitchen Remodel

Let me know what you think of them. I accept all constructive comments!