Tag: 2026

Posted in 2026, life

An Enjoyable Day

Posted on 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.

Posted in 2026, life, thoughts

Being Short

Posted on 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
Posted in 2026, life

My Easter Sunday

Posted on 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!

The girls 1964
My son 1997
Posted in 2026, Memories

The Week of Anniversaries

Posted on by nancyb422

My mother died on April 4, 1987 from brain cancer. It was an eight week blur from the hospital for tests on Day 1 to her death at home.

22 years, 11 months and 24 days later, a total of 8,394 days, my father died on March 28, 2010 of a heart attack.

In the years in between, he retired, played a lot of golf, had a small picture framing business in the basement, and got to meet and enjoy his five grandchildren.

But in the last 12 years of his life, he slowly declined. A knee replacement slowed him down, triple bypass, peripheral arterial disease took his left leg, but he kept moving along in his scooter at his assisted living facility. Until a heart attack, “an angel’s kiss”, sent him on his way to heaven.

My theory is, my mother was waiting for him all these years, but he didn’t want to leave his girls. He lost his mother when he was three, and his father just before his 11th birthday. Even though we were in our early 50s, I think he just didn’t want to leave. Finally she said, “it’s time, they’re all fine”.

Every year, this week brings up the memories of how much we loved them and miss them.

Betty and John – Rocky Neck Beach – early 1950s
Posted in 2026, life

Husband Security System

Posted on 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!
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

Learning Curve

Posted on by nancyb422

I started volunteering for an organization in town last summer. I worked at an open house in the summer, essentially on my own, parked in the hallway of the 2nd floor answering questions about the house. During the holidays, I greeted and checked people in during a home tour. I became a board member in January and am now working on an annual event.

I’m learning how to work with women. I’m not doing a very good job.

I’m one of the chairpersons for the event. There’s been an issue with the permanent supplies for it. One of the women who I worked with on the first two events is a very lovely woman, we hit it off the first time we met, and she chaired the event last year. To make a long story short, My tone was sharp with her because I’m frustrated that there are no notes to refer to from the previous year and how and where and what we’ve been looking for weren’t as described. I couldn’t tell her that or how frustrating it was for her to show up a half hour late when we were initially looking for the supplies. If she had been there, she might have said, “oh, this is what we used! They must have separated the bins.” Instead she made a comment about that morning and I sharply told her how we really didn’t look through the bins the first time because we didn’t know what we were looking for, and it wasn’t until the other chairwoman and I went back and dug through each bin did we find what we needed. I could feel my blood pressure rising and left shortly after that.

I chewed on it all day and night. This morning I sent an email to her and the other chairperson for speaking in such a defensive tone, and apologized and offered to go with her to get sponsors for the event. I felt better.

She emailed me this evening and said how mean spirited I was, and how I had been so nice to work with and ever since we started planning this event, I haven’t been nice at all. But she would accept my apology. I’d get the exact words from the email, but I’m too embarrassed to read it again. She said the other chairwoman has offered to go with her so three would be a crowd. I’m sure after I left, the other women were wondering what the heck was wrong with me.

I’ll see the chair on Monday and the other lady at the board meeting on Thursday so there’s no avoiding anyone for any period of time!

Ugh I’m pretty embarrassed and angry at myself.