the weekly seven

Trying to get back into some regular blogging, not because of any specific goal, but just because I enjoy it, and because future Kelly loves going back through her archives. affiliate links below

reading

In my quest to define “ultra processed food”, I read Metabolical, but felt like the author was yelling at me a lot. I also felt him silently judging me every time I opened my pantry. It was heavy on explaining specific biological processes in meticulous detail, and I don’t think they added anything to his arguments. Also, something that bothered me was that none of the sources were listed in the back because there were “SO MANY” and they wanted to “SAVE THE TREES”, so you had to visit a website to view sources and confirm claims, and several reviews on Goodreads said some of the sources didn’t back up what was written so, overall not my favorite read on this topic.

I’m trying to finish up The Big Roads before Lent so I can focus on Life of Christ by (soon to be Blessed) Arbp. Fulton Sheen. I’ve been working at this title for awhile. The topic interests me (the development of the American highway system), and this book contains a lot of good info, but it can be a bit of a snooze fest so I keep putting it down.

some posts I enjoyed

• Shop ‘n’ Save
• Over 32,000 medieval manuscripts transcribed in four months using AI
• Christmas Cookie Inflation Index, 2025 Update
• What’s Worrying Jonathan Haidt Now?

watching

For most of the last few weeks, I’ve been watching the weather closer than anything else. The picture on the left is two weeks after it snowed and our walkway was still solid ice. We got maybe seven inches of snow and then a few more of solid ice at the end of January. Frigid temps meant nothing was melting. We ran out of salt, as did every store in South Jersey. Not that it was doing much against inches of ice in these temps. People, especially seniors, were trapped in their homes for days and our town struggled to break away at the ice. We’ve had warmer temps this week, and our walkway is mostly clear, but Fulton and Teddy could still never get around town as most sidewalks and curb cuts are still buried under piles of ice. Our driveway, not in the best shape to begin with, has been destroyed by the melting and refreezing and huge chunks of the asphalt are coming up. Tony was using an axe to break up the ice on the driveway to get our van out, which probably didn’t help either.

As for things we’re watching for fun, Tony and I have been working through Only Murders in the Building on our date nights. We’re finally on the fifth season and have enjoyed the whole series so far, though some seasons are definitely better than others. It’s been a good light hearted distraction from life, and we’ll probably be ready to jump back into season 3 of Breaking Bad after this cozy side trek.

I’ve started using a new app called Unwatched to watch YouTube videos on my phone. YouTube has such a great wealth of videos, but I kept getting distracted by the Shorts. Unwatched lets me add videos to a queue, subscribe to channels, and all I can see are the videos. I can block a channels Shorts and no ads play on the app. Other videos don’t auto play and I’m not distracted by all the recommended videos on the side. It gives me access to the “good” videos I want to spend time on and eliminates the chance that I’ll get sucked into some random video and then waste 15 minutes scrolling.

cooking

We had a small Super Bowl party and I once again made too much food. All week we’ve been finishing up the leftovers…which, while not super healthy, does not create a terrible weekly menu. Even though pretty much nothing was happening for the majority of the game, I created a fresh round of BINGO cards and that kept all our guests engaged. I actually dozed off on the couch near the end of the game and woke up suddenly to everyone screaming “JESUS COMMERCIAL! ITS THE JESUS COMMERCIAL!!!” and at least two people getting BINGO.

Menu

• Cheeseburger Sliders
• Crack Chicken Sliders
• Pigs in a Blanket
• Buffalo Chicken Dip
• Loaded Tater Tots
• Fruit and Veggie Tray
• Brownies
• Homemade Stromboli – brought by friends
• Cheese and Crackers – brought by friends
• Chicken Tenders – brought by a friend

sharing

Fulton and Teddy had their yearly SMA Clinic visit at CHOP last week and we were hoping to get more information about the new gene therapy treatment that was recently approved for their age group. Unfortunately, despite the FDA approval, their doctor said there’s been some side effects he’s concerned about and it’s still too soon to say how effective or long lasting the treatment is compared with the drug Fulton and Teddy are on now. So while he said he’d support our decision if we wanted to move forward, everyone in our family agreed we’d like to wait a bit and see how well gene therapy is tolerated as it’s rolled out to a larger, older, symptomatic SMA population. (The gene therapy that’s been available since 2019 has been for kids ages 0-2 and thanks to the newborn screens for SMA that are now done in every state, these children are typically treated before any symptoms develop. Thankfully, many of these kids have remained asymptomatic.)

celebrating

Lent is quickly approaching! I’m not doing anything crazy this year; same prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, but I did print out a Lenten calendar and write the name of a person or family for each day of Lent and I’ll be offering up my prayers and sacrifices for them and their intentions. I hope it helps me stick to things on the days I really feel like sneaking a Coke or late night snack. All my Lent posts.

learning

Ich lerne Deutsch jeden morgan. Ich lerne Detusch mit Nico Weg. Ich spreche Deutsch nich sehr gut. Tony versteht gut Deutsch und hilft mir beim Lernen.

That is the extent of my written German at the moment. And I needed a bit of Google Translate assistance with that. I’m working every morning, but I need to do more vocab practice and sentence writing practice. Part of me wants to keep plowing ahead with new material, but I need to make more time to review what I’ve learned. Tony has studied German for years, so he’s been a help with my pronunciation and we can go back and forth with a few basic questions. One of my favorite things to do when I’m tired, but still want to feel like I’m accomplishing something is watch German cartoons on YouTube. I’m getting better at picking out words, but for now, everyone still seems to talk too fast!

buying

• Current favorite snack is these crispy Wasabi fava beans. They’re perfect for when you’re old and obsessed with fiber and protein like me. Also the name of the company is *chefs kiss*.
• I got these large rosary art cards on display in our living room. (One at a time on a stand; they’re not plastered over an entire wall.) Yes, my kids are all grown up and don’t need them but I like them anyway.

Hope your week has been a good one; enjoy St. Valentine’s Day tomorrow!