The Weekly Wrap: March 15, 2026

Kids seem to have a gift for making you question things you've never thought twice about.

The other week I was sealing a greeting card envelope the way I always do - a quick lick, press, and done. My kiddo looked at me like I had just done something truly unhinged and said, "Ew."

And honestly? She's not wrong.

Think about it. Greeting card envelopes sit in a store. In a rack. For who knows how long. Dozens of people flip through them, touch them, handle them. And then we take one home and just lick it. 

It is normal, of course. We've all been doing it forever. But my kid's "ew" made me stop and genuinely appreciate how many things in life we do on autopilot, never stopping to question whether they make any sense at all.

Now I can't stop thinking about it. 

You're welcome for putting this in your head.

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• We need deep reading. [The Atlantic - gift link]
• A delicious visit to a fromagerie. [David Lebovitz Newsletter]
• What it means to lift with your legs. [Lifehacker]
• Beans are magical. [The Atlantic - gift link]

• When NBA teams give up. [Planet Money]
• Tips to help you put your phone down. [Life Kit]
• The tragedy of medieval sewer design. [Noble Blood]
• SNAP works. (But just giving people money with no strings is better.) [Gastropod]
• DC 👏 Statehood 👏 Now 👏 [City Cast DC]
• Online gambling. You have no idea how bad it can get. [Radio Atlantic] ---> You can also read the tie-in article. It's one of the best pieces I've read in months. [The Atlantic - gift link]

• I completely forgot Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning was out until I saw the precursor listed in one of our streaming services. We tracked this down and decided to settle in for the nearly 3-hour fun-fest. You honestly can't think about the plot. There are holes the size of Texas. But, I loved the throwbacks to series history, especially bringing back characters from earlier movies in a way that made sense. [Paramount+]
• I'm beginning to realize that the only fully good characters in Breaking Bad might be Walt's kids. Everyone else has something sketchy about how they operate. Then again, Walter, Jr. still has two and half seasons to do something wrong. [Netflix]

• I wanted to eat salmon in a new way. That lead me to make roasted salmon tacos with corn and pepper salsa. They were colorful and delicious. The chipotles in adobo added a great smoky flavor and didn’t overwhelm with heat. The salsa slaps on it's own. It would be great with chips. [Eating Well]
• My kid actually liked sheet pan gnocchi with broccoli. Gnocchi is always a win, but she ate all of the broccoli as well! I put the pesto in my bowl but skipped it in hers. She likes pesto, but prefers to dip her gnocchi in tomatoes or ketchup. The leftovers were pretty good, but they lost the crisp of the oven in the microwave. [Real Simple]
• Apparently we're all fiber and protein maxxing which means I'm trying to rotate beans into our meal plan at least once a week. Chicken with white beans and tomatoes was super simple and surprisingly delicious. I thought the beans would dry out in the oven but they turned out to be super creamy - almost buttery. We're making this again because the seasoning is a killer flavor. Also, we used a chicken breast because it was in our freezer, but we'll do thighs next time. [Real Simple]

In celebration of the 250th anniversary of the US, NPR's Throughline is posting a weekly series called America in Pursuit. It's basically snippets from their previous episodes celebrating the history and moments that made our country. I look forward to it every week.