Writing

2026, Writing

Posted on February 25, 2026February 24, 2026 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!

2026, life

My Friend ChatGPT

Posted on February 22, 2026February 22, 2026 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?

Writing, 2026

On Time

Posted on January 29, 2026January 29, 2026 by nancyb422

My husband says “if you’re not five minutes early to an appointment, you’re late”. Mind you, he was talking about appointments with homeowners, not doctors’ appointments.

I try to live by that rule, but I’m not always successful especially when I’m getting ready to go somewhere – but it doesn’t impact the “somewhere”, only my husband who is waiting for me!

But if I’m going to a program or a class (even on Zoom), I’m going to be there and ready 15 minutes before it starts. Which leads me to last night.

Last night was the first night of a monthly program on writing. A Writers Guild. It was held in the past as I remember seeing the notices, it disappeared (covid?), and now has been resurrected. I’m very excited about it!

I arrived 10 minutes early and there were already about 10 people seated. I settled in, the teacher waited until 6:30, and then began talking about the group, introduced herself, and we began our introductions.

For the next 10 minutes, 5 or 6 people dribbled through the door. The last person walked through the door 20 minutes late.

I hope the annoyance didn’t show on my face while I was trying to pay attention! I will try and give grace to anyone arriving late next month. Perhaps they have a family or parents to take care of or a job they are clocking out of that prevents them from arriving with enough time to settle in before class.

Timeliness. How important is it to you? Does a particular situation make a difference? I’m all for 10 minutes early to class but I’ll be flying through the door of the doctor’s office on the dot because I know I’ll be waiting 15!

2026, thoughts

Keep It Simple

Posted on January 16, 2026January 16, 2026 by nancyb422

On my other blog, It’s All About Family, I’m once again following Amy Crow Johnson’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.

I was successful with Week 1 but am already a week behind because I struggle with trying to just tell the story of the prompt. I feel like I need to fill the reader in on the backstory before I get to the topic at hand.

A beginning sentence will pop into my head as I’m doing something else and I try to keep it there until I type it but then it doesn’t sound right. So I think about it some more. I might have an entire post typed up, but then I second guess myself. In fact, I have two posts in drafts for this one subject!

My library has a Writing Guild which is starting back this month after a hiatus and it’s in my calendar. My hope is to get some guidance in my writing of those posts.

2026, life

Weekend Chore

Posted on January 10, 2026 by nancyb422

I went to find paperwork for the post I’m working on for my other blog It’s All about Family and it was nowhere to be found! I took a look in my main binder and it’s a disaster!

I wondered what I would do today and now I’ll be spending the next few hours (probably into tomorrow) tidying it up and organizing all my ancestry files.

That is a shameless plug for my family stories. You might find them interesting!

2025, life, thoughts

Grocery Shopping

Posted on December 29, 2025December 29, 2025 by nancyb422

We are blessed with a number of chain and family owned grocery stores to choose from for our groceries.

Because I handled the weekly shop for decades, I settled on our local Super Walmart. I like the way the aisles were set up and I created my shopping list to match their order. When they made changes, I made changes.

My husband, who took over the shopping a few years ago, prefers the smaller grocery stores. Family owned, but still large enough. Often though, something we buy on a regular basis will be out. For the longest time, the shelves for Quaker Oats were empty.

At times like that, I’ll make a list and head over to Walmart, because, as I tell him each time, “Walmart will have it!”. I continually try to get him to shop there, and one day we are going to a cost comparison as I’m convinced the prices are lower.

Which brings me to this morning. I had to get bloodwork done at 7:10am and I had to pick up some tea and almond butter so I figured I’d go to the grocery store afterwards.

I had a choice. Go to Walmart on my way home, or go next door to the chain supermarket. For Walmart, I’d have to drive, park, shop. For the other one, I would just have to walk to the connected building. I chose the one next door.

I walk in and look up at the aisle signs as I walk to the left. Tea…..Peanut butter…..tea….peanut butter. Nope.

I find an item directory at the beginning of an isle. Tea in aisle 8, peanut butter in aisle 25. I’m in aisle 4.

I look up at the sign for aisle 8 – cookies, crackers – ok what does that have to do with tea? Wouldn’t peanut butter fit better in that aisle? I walk to the end. There’s the tea across from the coffee.

I continue my walk to the other end of the store – past the drinks, cereals, cards, paper products – and I remembered why I don’t shop in this store anymore. The peanut butter and bread is all the way at the end of the store, in the farthest location from produce and any other food products. An aisle away from the health care items and across from dairy. It didn’t make sense when I shopped there, and it doesn’t make sense now.

I found the nut butter selections and I usually buy Barney Butter. None to be found. There were two Maratha options but the almond butter was crunchy and I wanted smooth with no salt or sugar added. I ended up with a large jar of Woodstock no salt added.

I headed to the self-check out with my items. I entered my phone number, but the machine couldn’t locate my account (I think it’s still active), but at this point I didn’t care! I swiped my items, paid my money, and left.

It would have been faster for me to drive to Walmart, park my car, hustle down to the two aisles for tea and almond butter, where I would have had my choice of even more than 2 options, pay, and head home.

Do you have a favorite grocery store? Do you get aggravated when your store puts items in weird places or moves things around?

2025, life

Stories Of My Life

Posted on December 11, 2025December 10, 2025 by nancyb422

Two years ago(!), my son and daughter-in-law gave me a StoryWorth subscription for Christmas. I have a total of 47 stories, but 11 of them I haven’t started yet! I might remove a few of them, though. I have a long way to go until completion.

Right now, I’m taking each story, editing it, and adding new information and pictures. Once the story is done, I add the name to a list, and I swear I will not go back and make any more changes.

I think it will be interesting to have all these stories in one place. I would like to do the same thing for the blog posts I’ve written at It’s All About Family. I think it would be nice to have all those stories in one place, categorized by family. Another project to work on!

Have you written your StoryWorth life story? How long did it take you?

2025, life

Letting Go

Posted on December 2, 2025December 2, 2025 by nancyb422

I currently have 197 open tabs on my IPhone. I feel like that says something about me. Will I miss one of it’s gone? Will I even notice?

My IPad and laptop are not that bad. By the way, my IPad and phone are not synced. Not since I had a faulty password app and nearly lost ALL my passwords.

Anyway, my life has always been a little like that too. Keep stuff gathered around so I don’t forget them. Projects, papers, files…

If I put it away, if I close the tab, I might want it later and won’t be able to find it again. Sort of like that jacket you never wear so you give it to Goodwill and then you buy a pair of pants and realize the jacket would have been perfect for it!

Maybe December is the time to close those tabs, put those files and papers away and make a note of where they are. It’s time to tidy up for the new year.

2025, leisure time

Saturday Morning

Posted on October 25, 2025 by nancyb422

I love sitting in my comfy family room chair on Saturday mornings drinking my two medium sized cups of coffee reading emails and watching the crazy birds at the window feeder. Today, they are particularly out of control –

Usually the birds sit on the roof above, but we’ve added a little “eyebrow” over the window which initially confused the birds but now they wait their turn on the side supports or the roof of the pergola. Or float in mid-air waiting their turn.

We have all the common birds of Connecticut: the house finch, tufted titmouse, northern cardinal, blue jay, mourning dove, field sparrow, and probably more. The cardinal family is particularly bossy, the mourning dove barely fits but can’t resist, and the blue jay is messy, and sometimes will allow smaller birds to share their space.

When it gets quiet at the feeder it’s usually because of this –

We’ve seen feathers around once or twice but I do love cats so it’s hard to hate him! When he’s elsewhere in the yard, he will give you that cat stare but meet up with him in the road and he will happily lay down and give you his belly to pet!