March 2026 Rewind
Happy Easter, sweet friends!! Thank you for being here today for my March 03.2026 rewind post.
Once upon a time, with my old blog, I had a series called Sentence a Day. It was a long-winded review of my month's activities and adventures. Each month, I would start my SaD post with a confession that I never expected anyone to read all of the boring details of my day-to-day life!! But the posts were fun to write, kind of like keeping a daily bullet journal. And many times, I would return to my SaD posts to find out when I did what. Doctor appointments, substitute teaching commitments, even when I last fixed a meatloaf for dinner. Riveting things like that.
The SaD series also kept me accountable for exercising, getting my steps, tracking my Weight Watcher points, and accomplishing my seasonal goals and the activities on my bucket list.
But just about every month as I sat down to finalize my SaD post, I would wonder if it wasn't just a little bit self-obsessed, narcissistic for me to blog at all, and especially to write these monthly posts all about ME! When I made the decision to close down my WordPress blog, I tried to save as many of my blog posts as I could but there were hundreds of them. Among the posts I saved were my SaD posts. That's how much they meant to me.
Here I am, back at blogging. Kinda. And I have decided to get back to writing my month-in-review posts. But I am going to try a different format. One similar to what my friend Deb at Deb's World uses for her Taking Stock posts. You can find her most recent Taking Stock post, here.
Instead of writing an entry for each day of the month, Deb responds to 26 prompts - one for each letter of the alphabet - to summarize her life lately. I spent some time today coming up with my own ABC of prompts and will try using them to share the ups and downs of my March.
Here we go...
March 03.2026 Rewind
Amusing - something funny: PC is very funny and makes me laugh everyday. Brennyn, my oldest daughter has a very dry, sarcastic sense of humor and makes me laugh. So does my sister, Valerie. And the grands are always up to something that brings a smile and giggle. Lately, Cami, the 6-year-old slips effortlessly into the splits everywhere we go. In this first photo we were at the zoo when I looked up and saw her in the splits on the grass. We participated in Fun Fitness Friday at the girls' school and Cami had me in stitches with all of her gymnastic moves. I was always nimble but nothing like this.
Balancing: when I selected this word I was thinking of areas where I try to find balance. PC and I don't always see eye to eye on being home versus running around, shopping, completing errands, just generally being on the go. Can you guess which of us longs to be home most? ME!! So, I always feel like I am trying to balance my need/desire to be home with Paul's preference to be out and about. This week we ran around all day today (Monday, 03.30) and I have begged to be able to stay home tomorrow except for going to the gym and then until time for our writing group meeting at 5:00.
But something else crossed my path recently about balance. I have seen several articles and ads about 'barefoot' shoes for seniors. Have you heard of them?
Footic.com describes them as: "Barefoot shoes have no raised heel or toe, so they are ideal for the musculoskeletal system in terms of positioning the centre of gravity. The correct posture takes the strain off the ankles, knees, hips, lower back, spine, shoulder blades, etc. Similarly, the wide toe box provides support by the toes so that the foot can react better to unexpected loss of balance."
I am finding myself becoming increasingly more teetery so I am considering trying an inexpensive pair of barefoot shoes in hopes of improving my balance. If you have experience with barefoot shoes, I would love to know more. This shoe gets good reviews on Amazon and would look okay, I think, with athleisure outfits and jeans.
Crafting: still working on scrapbooking our Alaskan Cruise. Finishing this trip is on my spring 2026 bucket list. Hope to get started scrapping last spring's siblings' trip to Creede, Colorado to sprinkle our parents ashes next.
Eating: less fast food. Yay us!! Both of us were scolded by our PCP at recent visits for our increased cholesterol levels. Trying to do better about eating that junky fast food that is so bad for us.
Flowing - this is my word of the year so will share a way I went with the flow during the month: while my daughter Brennyn and her children visited, I tried very hard not to plan too much or set expectations too high for what all we would do. And it paid off in spades. We enjoyed a combination of activities and downtime at home including playing Easter Bingo.
Glimmerings - little miracles: I wrote about some of my favorite glimmers in a recent Where Bloggers Live post, here. This month, I am hoping to do the A to Z Blogging Challenge where you write a *short* blog post everyday of April on a single theme. The theme I chose is glimmers or little miracles. And if I manage to do this all month long, it will indeed be a little miracle.
Home sweet home: I always decorate for holidays and seasons. My Easter/spring decorations are some of my favorites. When the girls were little, we collected Lizzie High dolls and I still have a number of them I set out at different times of the year. Here are some of my Easter Lizzie Highs.
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Interesting - something that piqued my interest: watching the Artemis II space launch, hearing Lucia explain about it and remembering watching the first lunar landing over 50 years ago in 07.1969. I was just about Lucia's same age.
Joyfulness: when I sub at the girls' school, I try to take them home to help Lauren and Francisco. This week I took them home then stayed for dinner with the girls and Lauren. It was a great opportunity for us to 'catch up.' I received a warm welcome from my grandpups, Pumpkin (black) and Gummies (white), who both tried and were successful at getting on my lap at the same time. All of that love gave me a lot of joy.
Kudos: to my 3 granddaughters for beautiful grades on their report cards. Lucia has straight As, Cadence has A-B honor roll and Cami has the kinder version of straight As which is straight Ps - for proficient. I am sure if Declan could get grades at Kindercare, he would be on the honor roll, too.
Loving: all of the pictures I am seeing of my new great niece Merritt Alexander. She was born on 03.11.2026 to my brother's daughter Shelby and her husband Alex. Hope I can get to Tennessee before the year is out to meet this little dumpling.
Making: these sinfully delicious bird's nest treats for Easter. Have pinned 2 versions of basically the same recipe but this is the one I follow most often. (Anyone else still using Pinterest?) I used butterscotch and semi-sweet chocolate chips this time with peanut M&Ms. YUM!!
Needing: some new jeans. Have been window shopping online and thought I'd found what I was looking for at Loft. So today, I stopped in to try on some of their new Rivete jeans only to be very disappointed. There wasn't a redeeming feature to any of the half-dozen pairs I tried on this almost 68-year-old grandma body of mine. Wide legs, cropped length, extreme high rise that gave me an 18" high abdomen in the front and booty in the back. Did some research on the best jeans for senior women...do you sense a theme to my Googling today? This article at InStyle.com had some good suggestions. Stay tuned to see what I bought. Maybe. If they look okay. Maybe not, if they don't!!
Organizing: I am finishing up the spring cleaning but have left perhaps the toughest room - the kitchen - for last. This morning I went through all of the 'dry goods' checking for expiration dates and straightening up cabinets, the pantry and cleaning the fridge. Tomorrow I will clean the cabinets and freezers. Always love the way it feels to have things organized for a little bit. Even though they don't stay that way forever.
Planning: our Easter celebration. Bought these glow-in-the-dark eggs at Walmart. Thinking that we can do our Easter egg hunt at dusk in hopes that the chocolate won't melt too fast.
Quoting: “The right book in the hands of the right person at exactly the right moment can change their life forever.”― Libby Page, This Book Made Me Think of You.
Reading: My little Facebook book club selected Mrs. Quinn's Rise to Fame
by Olivia Ford for its March read. It was delightful. The print version includes the tantalizing array of recipes mentioned in the book. While I would love to have them, it is probably best for my waistline and PC's that I don't!! My online book club is voting for its April book of the month. The second graphic illustrates the books from which we voted for our next club read. Will share the winning title with you in April's Rewind post.
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Styling: nothing new, yet. My new jeans arrived today but I am having a fat day so don't want to try them on. Stay tuned for photos. Or not...if they are too tight and have to be returned. I have been going through things in my closet and have a basketful of giveaways. These are some very old jeans and a pretty old top that I wore to writing the other evening. Wanted to see if I still liked these pieces on me. For now, they have escaped the great chopping block.
Tackling: the weeds in our yard. Actually, PC has done more of that this season than I have. Our neighbors have weeds galore. Some as tall as small bushes. So now we have more weeds than I can ever remember having. Paul sprayed the grass with weed killer and put down Weed and Feed but they are still coming up with great abandon. I think this coming week I will just tackle pulling the weeds from one area at a time.
Untangling: our federal taxes. For most of our marriage, I have done the taxes and always used an online program like TurboTax to do so. Last year, I passed the baton to PC and he did them the old fashioned way sans online program. This year, he returned to TurboTax but we didn't have all the needed documents until just a week or so ago. He got everything submitted and our return was rejected because my Social Security number was incorrect. But it wasn't. The problem was my name. I've had so very many names!! And when I retired, the silly school district did all of my retirement paper using my first, middle, maiden and married names. All run together. Paul had properly spaced my names and that sent the IRS into a tailspin and caused our return to be rejected. Anyway, as of today, it is in the mail. And yes, this year even though we filed online we had to send all of the paperwork by snail mail, too. One step forward, 2 steps back.
Viewing: we are finishing up the fourth season of "Bridgerton". Have you followed the series? I enjoy watching if for nothing more than the incredibly extravagant costumes and sets. Like a lot of my blogging buddies, I also enjoy watching trials on YouTube. Just finished watching the "Kouri Richens Poisoned Husband Murder Trial" with Emily D. Baker on YouTube. Now watching "The Trouble in Paradise" attempted murder trial. Unbelievable what humans are capable of doing - and to those they 'love.'
Writing: all the things. My friend Denise and I have become writing accountability partners and it is paying off in prompting me to write more and more frequently. Working on my stories, and 2 memoir/life story projects as well as trying to get back into blogging again.
Xercising: we have bikes!! Again. Probably 10 years ago now, we both bought bikes but were continually getting flat tires. PC tried the tire liners, the green liquidy goop that you squeeze into the inner tube, even special heavy duty tires but nothing worked for long. Then PC got prostate cancer and bike riding was forbidden. Thank goodness, he is and has been cancer-free for almost 2 years, and we are back to riding bikes. I had sold my old one - PC said it was too small. So we bought me a gently used 'new' bike and we had his bike tuned up. The owner of Vintage Bicycles of El Paso really fixed them up. Knock on wood - no flats yet!!
Yardening - a combination of yardwork and gardening: one of my spring goals is to plant vegetables in the raised garden bed PC built for us last year. We recently planted squash, green and jalapeño peppers, cilantro (do you love it or hate it?), and watermelon. We also tried 2 blackberry plants but they are really, really struggling (dead). Still hoping to add pumpkin to the mix. So far, everything is still green!!
Zhooshing - adding a bit of sparkle: this word is new to me. But I like it. Who doesn't need a little more zhooshing in their life, their home, their appearance? We just replaced our 18-year-old area rug in the den with a new rug from Wayfair. I loved the old rug but it was getting pretty worn looking. The new rug is very vibrant. Its pop of color makes me smile.
And with that, you have the ABCs of my March.
Here's a video review of March courtesy of 1 Second Everyday.
Your Turn
I wasn't terribly impressed with the first 2 months of this year but in March, things began looking up a little. Loved having all of the babies under my roof for a few days. How was your third month of the year? Is April starting out even better?
Tomorrow is Easter. We are having the EP kids over for the Christmas (now Easter) dinner we never had. And an Easter egg hunt. As of now, I have no sub jobs or pet sitting engagements for next week so hope to get a lot of weeds pulled and writing done.
Wishing you and yours a blessed Easter Sunday.
Hugs and kisses,
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