Category: life

Posted in 2026, life

Riced Veggies

Posted on 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.

Old packaging

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.

Posted in 2026, life, technology

Learning Reels and YouTube

Posted on 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!

Posted in 2026, life

Current Temperatures

Posted on by nancyb422

Every morning when I come downstairs to the kitchen and turn on the light, I look at the temperature on the thermostat.

In this week, in my house at 5:45 am, we have gone from temps of 59 and 61 to 71 and it is shocking!

My body became so used to teens and 20s all day long, wearing my long down coat, and always having a pair of fingerless gloves available, that the adjustment is hard to make. My hand reaches towards that down jacket….

I do love this warmer weather but as the trees and bushes start popping, I will wake up with a headache and it will take an hour or so until the old sinuses do their thing and the headache is gone.

This afternoon we should be back to a “normal” March temperature of somewhere in the 20s and a chance for snow.

Welcome to New England.

Posted in 2026, life

Technology

Posted on by nancyb422

I usually have pretty good skills with technology but I’ve reached the end of my rope with my printer.

It is my home printer, a simple Canon TR8520, which, for its inexpensive cost, has always worked well for scanning and printing pictures, and printing emails and such.

I periodically have problems with its connection between my phone, or iPad, or computer which can be very frustrating. But now, it is a whole different situation.

Code 5011! Evidently this code means it can be any number of things. Hardware, wi-fi connection, or paper jam. In my case it could be wi-fi because ours did go out on Sunday and I accidentally left something I wanted printed in the queue searching for most of the day?!

I have a much older and larger Canon printer that has lost its ability to print photos well so I use it primarily for scanning. Since I had something to photocopy, I went to my craft space next door to do that. Oh my word, the theatrics that this printer goes through just to print something! Then it pops up that 2 cartridges need replacing and one is near the end of its life. I felt my blood pressure rise. “Great”, I thought. “All this technology and I can’t get one single piece of paper to print anywhere.” Thankfully, it decided to allow me to photocopy the pages I needed.

Although I’m tempted to throw my printer out the window and start fresh, I’ll call “my computer guy” and see if he can fix the TR8520 for me. I have too many ink cartridges left to cast it aside right now.

Posted in 2026, life, thoughts

DST Update

Posted on by nancyb422

I didn’t realize I missed my early morning stars until I saw them this morning because of the time change!

Stepping out the door
Turning the corner

I suffered a little yesterday from losing the hour of sleep. We always say we’re going to stay in bed on the weekend, but never do. We were up at 6am, which was really 5am. It was especially tough for me because we went out to dinner on Saturday night so I went to bed about an hour later than normal! That made 2 hours of lost sleep. No wonder why I felt off balance, figuratively and literally!

I went to bed last night at my usual time, heading upstairs around 9:15, read a bit, and had my light out by 9:40. I woke up refreshed and ready to go.

So it looks like I survived the time change and I’m actually happy to step out into the dark.

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, 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?