Stephany Writes

Categories: Life

Monthly Recap | May 2024

BOOKS

In May, I read 9 books. My favorite was All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir and my least favorite was How You Get the Girl by Anita Kelly. Some other stats:

  • 100% fiction
  • 4 print, 2 e-books, 3 audiobooks
  • 4.0 average star rating
  • 33% diverse

A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham (print, owned) ★★★☆☆ | All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir (audiobook, library) ★★★★★ | Knockout by Sarah MacLean (e-book, library) ★★★★☆ | Victim by Andrew Boryga (print, library) ★★★★☆ | Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena (audiobook, library) ★★★★☆ | How You Get the Girl by Anita Kelly (print, owned) ★★★☆☆ | Zorrie by Laird Hunt (audiobook, library) ★★★★☆ | A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie (print, owned) ★★★★☆ | Planes, Trains, and All the Feels by Livy Hart (e-book, library) ★★★★★

MEDIA

  • The Bear, season 1 (Hulu) – I finally finished season 1 of The Bear. I liked it, but I don’t know if I liked it enough to continue watching the series. It’s a little too anxiety-inducing at times for my little enneagram 9 soul.
  • Suits, season 1 (Netflix) – On a whim, I started watching Suits since it’s available on Netflix, fully unaware I was going to become completely obsessed with the show, and Harvey Spector especially. Ughhh, that man is everything! It’s also fun to see Meghan Markle on the show.
  • New Girl, season 1 (Hulu) – I’ve watched episodes of New Girl here and there, but I’ve never sat down to watch the whole series front to back. I sped through season 1 early in May and loved it. I’m excited to keep going!
  • MasterChef, season 13 (Hulu) – I’m trying to get caught up on previous seasons of MasterChef and just finished season 13 on Sunday. This was a season where they brought back former contestants so it was fun to see some of my favorites return!
  • The Idea of You (Amazon) – I enjoyed this movie! I DNF-ed the book because it was stressing me out too much, but really enjoyed it in movie form. Apparently, a lot changed from book to movie, so it’s probably a good thing I never finished the book!

On The Friendship Paradox, we released two episodes: Trying New Things and Religion. I was really nervous about the religion episode, but I thought we had a good discussion and so far, no backlash to our opinions, which is a relief!

PURCHASES

  • A new suitcase ($100) – I bought a new carry-on suitcase at TJ Maxx in May. It’s the perfect size and was a nice little companion on my trip to New Orleans.
  • Pregnancy pillow ($30) – I am not pregnant, but I do have back issues and I’ve heard great things about using pregnancy pillows as extra support during sleep. It takes up such a large part of my bed, but it almost feels decadent to sleep with it. I feel like I’m sleeping better and waking up with less pain, so that’s a win/win for me.
  • A new Kindle case ($21) – Remember when I said that I use my Kindle without a case? Well, I broke down and bought a case in May. I’ve been taking my Kindle to the gym every now and then, and it came with me on vacation, so it was time to get a more protective cover. I bought a really pretty cover a few weeks before my vacation, but didn’t realize until a few days before our flight that the case was too big for my Kindle. Oops! So I had to quickly hop onto Amazon and find a case that could be delivered ASAP. This one fit the bill! The case is a little boring but it does the job.
  • A fun new summer dress ($24) – I was searching for a dress to bring on vacation and this one caught my eye. I bought it for the fun pattern and crossed my fingers that it would fit me and I would feel good in it. When I put it on, I knew it was a keeper! It was so comfortable and I felt great in it. I wore it to the Nate Bargatze show with a pink cardigan.

MOMENTS

May kicked off with April book club (we’re always trending a little behind on our book club meetings, as we are busy ladies!). We met for dinner at a Mexican restaurant and then had a fun ice cream party at this really cute spot in Tampa. It was a great night!

I met up with my friends a few days later for a Cinco de Mayo party at Bri’s house. Bri’s husband made us delicious margaritas, we had a taco bar, and hung out in the pool. It was just one of those perfect afternoons where I felt so lucky to have these ladies in my life.

I switched out my nose ring! This was a really fun development in May. I’ve been wanting to switch out my stud for a hoop, and I am so happy with it. It makes me smile every time I see it!

BANGS! I am so happy with my decision to get bangs (even though it’s summer and I seem to sweat right along my hairline, so the bangs get sweaty and gross pretty easily when I’m outside for too long). I love the way they frame my face and add a little oomph to my appearance. Plus, they’re super easy to style: just wet the bangs in the sink, add a tiny bit of shampoo, rinse it out, blow the bangs dry, and straighten. It takes less than 10 minutes and immediately makes a difference to the way I look!

I got together with some girlfriends this month for a movie night. Look at this spread! My friend Lynn is the ultimate hostess. We watched The Idea of You.

I had my first-ever Topgolf experience in May! I was hoping to discover that I am a golfing phenom, but alas, I was pretty terrible at the game. I guess it’s for the best. Wouldn’t it be terrible to discover in my mid-30s that I should have been a pro golfer?!

I had a fun girls’ night in on a random Friday. It was Bri, me, and two friends that Bri had collected in the last few months: one she met on a flight and the other she met at her gym. Is she not the ultimate extrovert? Or maybe the ultimate enneagram 2? Ha! We had a good time. We had pizza, swam in the pool, and then played some games. And one of our friends brought over these insanely good s’mores bars. Here’s the link to the recipe. I made the bars the next night for family game night and while they weren’t as good as my friend’s, they were still freaking delicious.

I took Eloise to the vet in May because I was concerned about her lack of appetite. My vet thought it would be a good idea to get bloodwork done to make sure there isn’t something serious going on. Most of her bloodwork came back normal, but she did have elevated calcium levels, which could indicate a serious condition like cancer. To be honest, I needed time to process this news because I was stunned. Cancer?! I was not expecting that. The next step was further testing. She needed an ionized calcium blood test as well as additional tests to determine her parathyroid hormone levels. I took her back to the vet the day before I left on vacation for those tests. Last week, I got the call that while her calcium still measured high, the other tests came back normal, which means it’s very likely she has idiopathic hypercalcemia, aka there’s no known cause. I had two options for her next steps: do an abdominal ultrasound (which would be between $700-$1,000) to make sure there isn’t a tumor or put her on a diet that will help reduce her calcium levels and get her retested in a few months. I opted for the latter option. I am not massively concerned she has cancer because she has no other symptoms aside from not eating as much as normal (and there are days when she does eat normally!). She hasn’t lost weight, her energy levels are normal, and I haven’t noticed anything weird in the litter box. Would I like to get the ultrasound done just to be 100% sure she’s fine? Yes, of course. And if the diet doesn’t help lower her calcium levels, then we’ll get the ultrasound done. But I feel fairly confident it’s idiopathic and I’m hopeful that a diet change will help. So that’s what’s going on with Eloise.

May ended with a bang! My mom and I took a long weekend trip to New Orleans and while it wasn’t my favorite city, I enjoyed spending time with my mom and we had a good time together!

What was a highlight in May for you?

Categories: Life

A Day in the Life of Eloise and Lila

I told you guys I was going to steal knit read cats hockey’s post idea and take you through a day in Eloise and Lila’s life, and here it is! I recorded their goings-on on Monday. They were probably a little disturbed at the amount of pictures I took of them, but they did it for the good of the blog. Let’s get into it!

7:00 a.m.: My alarm wakes me up and I’m happy to find Eloise sitting on me, so I give her lots of pets before making her move so I can get up. I’m not sure where Lila is – she jumps on and off the bed throughout the night. As I start moving around, Eloise meows at me over and over again. I like to think she’s telling me good morning but she’s probably asking when breakfast will be served. Sigh.

7:30 a.m.: The girls are fed but only eat for a few minutes before they want to take a break. Eloise perches herself on the corner of my desk so she can see what’s going on outside. Lila stretches herself on the couch and takes a nap. I make oatmeal and coffee for breakfast and eat it while reading blogs.

8:05 a.m.: I start my morning routine (skincare, emptying dishwasher, getting dressed, etc.). Lila has relocated to the cat tower for another morning nap. Eloise follows me around while I move around the apartment, meowing at me when I’m not giving her enough attention.

8:45 a.m.: I sit down to start my workday. Lila snoozes in the cat tower while Eloise jumps up on my desk and spends about 15 minutes staring out the window. And then she curls up on the blanket I keep on my desk for a morning nap.

10:00 a.m.: I take a quick break to switch out my laundry and then comment on a few blogs. Eloise is, of course, right next to me. I went into my bedroom to hang up a few shirts I didn’t want to put in the dryer and came out to her sitting on the dining room table, as if to say, “What are we doing now, Mom?” Lila has not left her snoozing post on the cat tower; she’s very much in her own world.

10:30 a.m.: Back to work for me! Lila is still in the cat tower while Ellie is all over the place: staring out the window, sitting on the floor and staring off into space, running around the apartment, etc. She also tries to steal my snack wrapper once I’m finished with it. Eventually, she settles down on the desk blanket for a nap.

11:15 a.m.: I am getting really sleepy and decide to take a nap (normally, I’d feel guilty about doing this but now that I know my daytime exhaustion has a reason behind it, I have come to accept it’s something my body needs right now). Eloise jumps up on the bed with me and proceeds to poke me with one of her claws over and over again, which is not my favorite! Lila also comes up on the bed and she spends the first 30 minutes of the nap with me. At some point, Eloise jumps off the bed and I snooze until I feel her poking me again, ugh. That’s when Lila jumps off the bed.

12:30 p.m.: I finally emerge from my slumber and the girls have taken up different spots in the living room: Eloise on the desk and Lila on a bed. When I go into the kitchen for lunch, I turn around to find both of them on the dining room table, staring at me. It’s treat o’clock, they think! I give them some yum-yums (as we call them in our house) and they gobble them up.

12:45 p.m.: I sit down at my desk with lunch and start working through some tasks. The girls settle down for the start of their afternoon naps! Lila falls asleep on the floor of the living room, nestled on the new cat pad I got her at the Tampa CATstravaganza. Eloise is in her usual place on my desk.

2:00 p.m.: I got up to throw away some trash and use the bathroom, so of course, Eloise had to follow me around while I did that. Lila used the time to relocate to the cat tower again for more afternoon snoozes. Eloise played for a bit in the room (I could hear her meowing, which she does when she’s batting around her favorite catnip toys) and then came back out to her desk blanket for a nap by the window. I get lots of tasks done, like working on June content assignments for our writers and answering emails that come in, while the girls snooze and snooze and snooze. Such a hard life!

I love when her little feetsies poke out like this. 

4:00 p.m.: I log off work a little early since I have my dietician appointment at 4 p.m. The girls continue to snooze the late afternoon away but about halfway through my appointment (which I do virtually), Eloise wakes up and trots over to my dining room table where I’m talking to my dietician. My dietician loves seeing Eloise on camera so we spend some time fawning over her before going back to our convo. Eloise paces back and forth on the camera while rubbing herself against me for a bit, and then she jumps off the table and cleans herself while sitting on the floor in the living room. (Lila, as you may have guessed, has not moved from the cat tower.)

We call this the Eloise Death Glare.

5:10 p.m.: Dietician appointment complete! Eloise joined me for the last 10 minutes and then spent some time on my desk, staring outside. And then the scariest thing happened! Thankfully, Lila had enough foresight to burrow under the couch but Eloise was sitting by the door when someone knocked on the door. Eloise scurried into my bedroom so quickly! Whew, crisis averted.

It was my mom, btw. She needed to take a shower (she’s been shower-less at her house for three weeks now, but the shower should be up and running tomorrow!), so she stopped by before a nail appointment. Eloise doesn’t usually hide from my mom, but she was feeling shy today, I guess. She only came out when my mom was taking a shower.

5:40 p.m.: I feed the girls (although they’re still hiding) and start working on dinner. (I made this and it was delicious!) My mom left a little before 6 p.m. and a few minutes after that, I saw Eloise sitting on the window ledge, grooming herself. I popped dinner in the oven and then sat down at my computer to work on this post. Eloise jumped on the table to rub herself against me a few times, and then jumped off to sit on the desk and stare outside. And then I caught her staring me down from across the room so I told her I loved her, and she meowed and then jumped off the desk and ran over to me for extra love. Gosh, that girl is so sweet!

6:30 p.m.: Apparently, I wasn’t paying enough attention to Eloise. I had been cleaning up the kitchen while I waited for my dinner to finish up and she started meowing loudly at me and then ran into the bedroom. So, I followed her and sat down on the floor so she could rub herself all over me and do front flips over my legs. Our typical routine! Lila is still in hiding. 🙁

6:45 p.m.: Right as I took my dinner out of the oven, Lila appeared! I told her how much I missed her and she said, “Time for more yum-yums?” So I gave them each a small portion of Greenies and then got my dinner ready. I sat on the couch and watched a few episodes of New Girl while I ate dinner. Lila sat beside me, sometimes sticking out her paw to ask for pets and sometimes just sleeping soundly. (Eloise was perched on the desk blanket, snoozing.)

8:00 p.m.: I get up from the couch and start a bubble bath. So relaxing! Eloise comes into the bathroom to ask for pets and then she sits on the ledge of the bathtub for a period of time before leaving to eat dinner. Lila stayed on the couch while I was taking my bath.

8:30 p.m.: I spend a little time working on this post and while I do, Lila jumps up on the dining room table where she proceeds to stick out her paw for pets, bump the top of her head against my hand, rub herself against my laptop screen, lick the screen, and eventually plop herself down on the table for a quick snooze.

8:45 p.m.: I start my nighttime routine (scoop litter boxes, nighttime skincare, tidy apartment, start dishwasher, etc.). Eloise keeps a close eye on me from the desk while Lila stays splayed out on the dining room table without a care in the world.

9:15 p.m.: My mom Facetimes me so I take a break to chat with her. I sit on the couch and eventually, Lila plops down next to me where she shows me her belly and requests lots of pets. I’m not sure where Eloise was at this time.

9:45 p.m.: Back to my nighttime routine! Lila plops down on her cat mat in the living room while Eloise is all over the place. When I was cleaning up the kitchen, she was sitting on the dining room table and staring at me. When I was doing my skincare routine, she was in my room, playing with her favorite catnip toy and meowing like crazy. She ate some dinner, climbed up on the kitchen counters to inspect things, ran around the apartment meowing. She also spent some time in the litter box, which I know because she emerged from my room at one point with litter dust coating her black fur. Oh, girl. She was having a good time by herself, I’ll tell you that.

Cat existential crisis. What’s she thinking here? Wrong answers only. 😉

10:20 p.m.: It’s finally time for me to turn off all the lights and head to bed! The girls join me on the bed here and there. They like to jump on and off throughout the night. Lila jumps up and requests pets by showing me her belly, so I oblige. Eloise finds her way between my legs but is mostly keeping an eye on where Lila is. At one point, they both jump off the bed and chase each other into the living room and then I hear some hissing. Sisterly love!

11:15 p.m.: Lights out for me! I tell the girls good night and that I love them. 🙂

Categories: Life

Where I Went: 5/13 – 5/19

A few weeks ago, Diane had a fascinating section of her weekly recap post, where she recorded everywhere she went throughout the week. I loved the idea and added it to my mental list of blog post ideas (I also keep a more permanent list on my Notes app; I’m not a monster.) Last week, I took the time to write down where I went and how long it took me to get places, as well as approximate times. I didn’t mean to record a very interesting week in my life (there are definitely days where I don’t ever leave my apartment, but that wasn’t the case this week!), but this could be a fun exercise to repeat on a yearly basis to see how the rhythms of my life change from year to year. Enjoy!

Monday, May 13

  • 7:35am: Home → outside for a 20ish minute walk
  • 7:55am: Outside → home
  • 5:50pm: Home → a friend’s house (37 min drive)
  • 8:47pm: Friend’s house → home (29 min drive)

Tuesday, May 14

  • 5:55pm: Home → Topgolf (12 min drive)
  • 8:19pm: Topgolf → home (10 min drive)

Wednesday, May 15

  • 11:28am: Home → Target drive-up to pick up an order (8 min drive)
  • 11:40am: Target → library to drop off a book (2 min drive)
  • 11:42am: Library → Publix to pick up a few things for lunch/snacks (9 min drive)
  • 11:59am: Publix → chiropractor’s office (1 min drive)
  • 12:14pm: Chiropractor → home (11 min drive)
  • 5:55pm: Home → gym for a workout class (15 min drive)
  • 7:17pm: Gym → home (12 min drive)

Thursday, May 16

  • 7:07pm: Home → restaurant for dinner (28 min drive)
  • 8:46pm: Restaurant → home (26 min drive)

Friday, May 17

  • 5:42am: Home → gym for a workout class (9 min drive)
  • 6:45am: Gym → Einstein’s Bagels where I had to wait a while for my order to be ready (8 min drive)
  • 7:06am: Einstein’s → home (3 min drive)
  • 5:30pm: Home → Bri’s house for a fun girl’s night in (27 min drive)
  • 10:54pm: Bri’s house → home (20 min drive)

Saturday, May 18

  • 8:42am: Home → gas station (10 min drive)
  • 9:02am: Gas station → Starbucks (1 min drive)
  • 10:57am: Starbucks →my mom’s house (10 min drive)
  • 11:17am: Mom’s house → parking area in downtown Tampa (33 min drive)
  • 11:54am: Parking area → Tampa Convention Center for the Tampa CATstravaganza (5 min walk)
  • 12:47pm*: Tampa Convention Center → nearby restaurant for a quick lunch (5 min walk)
  • 1:32pm: Restaurant → parking area (8 min walk)
  • 1:41pm: Parking area in downtown Tampa → my mom’s house (25 min drive)
  • 2:06pm: Mom’s house → home (13 min drive)
  • 4:16pm: Home → my mom’s house (10 min drive)
  • 4:26pm: Mom’s house → Publix for drinks/dessert for game night with my brother (4 min drive)
  • 4:43pm: Publix → Mom’s house (3 min drive)
  • 9:00pm: Mom’s house → home (8 min drive)

Sunday, May 19

  • 9:38am: Home → gym for a workout class (13 min drive)
  • 11:04am: Gym →Publix for grocery shopping (12 min drive)
  • 11:42am: Publix → home (3 min drive)
  • 3:42pm: Home → bookstore (19 min drive)
  • 4:40pm: Bookstore → coffee shop (9 min drive)
  • 5:37pm: Coffee shop → home (16 min drive)

Fun Stats

  • Time spent driving last week: 7 hours, 44 minutes
  • Longest drive: From my house to my friend’s house on Monday night (37 minutes)
  • Shortest drive: From the gas station to Starbucks on Saturday morning (it was probably more like 30 seconds since they are right next to each other; I rounded up)
  • Unique places visited: 19
  • Times I got anxious about parking: 3
  • Times I visited Publix: 3
  • Visits to the gym: 3
  • Times I sat in my car waiting to go inside the destination: 1

*If you’re paying attention, you’ll see that we were barely at the cat show for an hour. It was kinda lackluster, although I left with some goodies for the girls and presents for friends.

Categories: Life

Monthly Recap | April 2024

BOOKS

In April, I read 9 books. My favorite was The Women by Kristin Hannah and my least favorite was The Eighth Detective by Alex Pavesi. Some other stats:

  • 78% fiction, 22% nonfiction
  • 4 print, 2 e-books, 3 audiobooks
  • 3.9 average star rating
  • 33% diverse

Ander & Santi Were Here by Jonny Garza Villa (print, owned) ★★★★★ | Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (print, owned) ★★★★☆ | White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color by Ruby Hamad (audiobook, library) ★★★★★ | About That Night by Julie James (e-book, owned) ★★★★☆ | The Women by Kristin Hannah (print, owned) ★★★★★ | The Comeback by Lily Chu (e-book, library) ★★★★☆ | The Longest Race: Inside the Secret World of Abuse, Doping, and Deception on Nike’s Elite Running Team by Kara Goucher (audiobook, library) ★★★★☆ | The Eighth Detective by Alex Pavesi (audiobook, library) ★★☆☆☆ | The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise by Colleen Oakley (print, library) ★★☆☆☆

MEDIA

  • Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Prime) – I finally finished this TV show annnd… I wasn’t a huge fan. Everyone has been raving about the show, but in the end, I didn’t really like either person very much or think they should be in a relationship together. Also, I’m still very angry about something inexcusable that happened in the final episode, so there’s that.
  • The Circle, season 3 (Netflix) – Still working through some old seasons of The Circle! I enjoyed this season – they introduced some fun new twists – but I wasn’t too thrilled about the winner.
  • Beyonce, Cowboy Carter – This was my album to listen to in April and I thought it was fine. I don’t think her music is for me, which is okay! I am very glad that people are loving the album.
  • Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department – This is not my favorite album from Taylor, but there are a ton of great songs on it that are fun to sing along to.

On The Friendship Paradox, we released three episodes in April. (Just the way the calendar shook out with five Tuesdays in April.) We talked about our reading habits, the enneagram types of our favorite TV characters (from The Office, Brooklyn 99, Parks and Rec, and Schitt’s Creek), and interviewed our friend Lynn, who is a bona fide enneagram 3.

PURCHASES

  • Drawstring backpack – I purchased this for the gym; I needed a way to carry my keys/wallet/sweat towel/AirPods/phone/etc while I’m bouncing around at the gym. Funny story: My mom bought the same backpack in a different color, but we didn’t coordinate this at all!
  • Eyebrow tinting kit – The eyebrow tint I got in March faded in just a few weeks, and since I don’t want to pay salon prices for eyebrow tinting, I picked up this tinting kit to see if it will work for me. It was $12 and can apparently provide up to 30 applications. I’ve yet to try it, so I will report back my findings when I do.
  • Breakfast sandwich maker – I already raved about this product in my Currently post from earlier this week, but had to give it another shout-out on my monthly recap post!
  • scunci No Damage Elastic Hair Ties – How do hair ties disappear? One day in April, I realized I was down to just two elastics. These are my favorite hair elastics. I like a tight hold and these are very stretchy, too.
  • Ninja chopper – I love making seven-layer bars but the whole smushing-the-graham crackers part gets old really fast. I finally purchased this chopper that did the work for me in a quarter of the time. That is a $20 well spent.

MOMENTS

Love this behind-the-scenes shot of our episode with Lynn. It’s fun to have a podcast where we can force our friends to spend an hour of their Saturdays talking all about their personalities!

The cutest bakery interns! Unfortunately, they aren’t the best helpers. They just keep waiting for me to drop food on the floor. Silly kids!

I finally got my sleep study done this month and I was diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnea. This means that using a CPAP machine while sleeping is going to be my new normal! It’s been a lot to process, but you guys have been so supportive and kind. It has really helped me feel less scared about all of this! I need to do one more sleep study, a CPAP titration sleep study, so that I can get properly fitted for my machine.

My mom and I strolled around an art fair in April, but we quickly realized we were out of our league with the prices. Most of the pieces were selling for $2,000 or more, and I can’t imagine a life where I would spend that much money on a piece of art! (I do understand the talent and grit that goes into being an artist, and I want them to get their monies! But I just will not be the one doing that.) I was able to find a very cute artist’s shop with reasonably priced prints. I picked up these two prints for my living room gallery wall. Aren’t they so colorful?!

I went out with some coworkers to a very cute restaurant in downtown Tampa: Melting Pot Social. If you have a Melting Pot near you, you know it’s a fondue restaurant—Melting Pot Social makes those fondues individually sized. I got a cheese fondue with pretzel bread, tortilla chips, apple slices, potatoes, tomatoes, and more. For dessert, I opted for the salted caramel chocolate fondue and enjoyed that with strawberries, pretzel bars, pound cake, and Rice Krispies. Mmm!

Funny story to end the evening: I drove everyone to our dinner and we found a parking garage right next to the restaurant. There were only maybe 20 or so spots available for people eating at nearby restaurants and the rest of the spots were for residents of the apartments next to the parking garage. Well, we decided to risk it and park where the apartment residents are supposed to park. What’s the worst that could happen? None of the spots were marked! Um, well, when we came back to the parking garage, we realized there was no way to get to the third floor where my car was parked. You had to swipe a pass to get in the elevator and to open the doors of the stairwell. So what did we have to do? We had to hike our asses up three ramps of the parking garage (after gorging on fondue!) to get to my car. Ah, well. It makes for a good story, right?

Bri and I had a lovely lady date in April, visiting a new-to-us restaurant called Pia’s Trattoria. I WILL BE BACK! This was an excellent Italian restaurant, and that’s mostly because their homemade ciabatta was to die for. We didn’t realize we would get an entire loaf of bread when we ordered the bread, but we did, and while we put away an impressive amount of the loaf, we had a good amount to take home. The next day, I made an open-faced egg sandwich on the ciabatta for breakfast and then an incredibly delicious grilled cheese sandwich for lunch. I’ll be dreaming about that ciabatta for a long time.

Eloise turned 6 years old this month! She got lots of fun toys for her birthdays, including a racecar scratching pad, some purees, and a few teaser wands for playtime.

At the end of the month, Bri and I had a fun adventure day at Egmont Key, a secluded island off the coast of Tampa Bay. We took a ferry to the island and spent a few hours roaming around and laying on the beach. It was such a wonderful day!

LOOKING FORWARD

What’s in store for May? Lots of good things…

  • Ice cream social book club
  • A Cinco de Mayo pool party at Bri’s
  • My trip to New Orleans with my mom
  • Seeing Nate Bargatze live!
  • A girls’ night in with some new friends
  • My first TopGolf experience
  • The Tampa CATstravaganza!!!
  • A hair appointment where I’m 95% sure I’m getting bangs (eeks)

What was an April highlight for you?

Categories: Life

My Experience Doing an At-Home Sleep Study

Last week, I did my first-ever sleep study and was lucky enough to do it at home (read: my insurance refused to cover an in-clinic sleep study). The main reason I asked my doctor for a sleep study referral was to find out if I have sleep apnea. For those unaware, sleep apnea is a condition where the muscles at the back of the throat relax during sleep and constrict the airways. With lessened oxygen getting to the brain, the brain sends a quick signal for you to wake up so you can reopen your airways. Often, people will gasp and then fall right back to sleep. These little wakeups during the night are so slight that we often don’t even register them, but they can happen upwards of 30 times a night for some people.

There are a few reasons why I am concerned about sleep apnea:

  • Snoring – I am a loud snorer and I will snore in any position. On my stomach, on my side, on my back… your girl is sawing logs. One of the characteristics of sleep apnea is snoring in all different positions. (Many people snore while sleeping on their back, but moving to their side curtails it.)
  • Blood oxygen levels – Last year, I started using a Fitbit to track my sleep and that’s when I learned that my blood oxygen levels throughout the night are lower than they should be. From my very light research on the subject, blood oxygen levels during sleep should be at least 96% and I’m averaging 89%-91%.
  • Daytime sleepiness – I am a very sleepy girl. I take a nap almost every day if I can. I can easily nap for 3-4 hours in the afternoon and still go to bed at a reasonable time and sleep through the night. I can also have coffee/caffeine in the evening and it doesn’t affect my sleep.

I’m very glad I was approved for a sleep study because at this point, I just want to know what I’m dealing with. Last Tuesday, I picked up my sleep study kit at a local hospital and prepared myself for a weird night of sleeping.

Preparing for the sleep test

In my sleep kit, I had a few items:

  • Paperwork to fill out about my sleepiness levels and how I slept during the sleep test
  • A nasal cannula
  • A sensor with a velcro strap
  • A plastic pulse ox
  • Medical tape
  • An extra battery for the sensor

The sleep center also sent me a quick video describing how to set everything up, which was super helpful. It all seemed very straightforward, so I put all of the equipment on my bedside table and then sat down to fill out one set of paperwork, which was the Epworth Sleepiness Scale. I had to determine how likely I was to fall asleep during certain tasks, like reading, watching TV, sitting in a meeting, being the passenger in a car for longer than an hour, etc. My final score was 10, which I learned is right on the cusp of being concerning. (Anything under 10 is normal, but 10 and above means you should seek medical attention.)

Getting ready to sleep

I got into bed right around 10:30 p.m. and read for a little bit, and then decided it was time for sleep! First, I got my nasal cannula in place and locked it into the sensor, then I strapped the sensor around my chest (right at the top of my boobs). I slid on the pulse ox on my right index finger. Lastly, I taped down the nasal cannula (with one strip of medical tape on each cheek) as well as the pulse ox, as they had advised me to do in the video. And then I just had to turn on the sensor and make sure everything was hooked up correctly.

Annnnd… that’s when things got tricky. Once the sensor is on, it should quickly flash green on three different areas to let you know everything is hooked up and working correctly. Well, my nasal cannula and pulse ox were good to go, but the sensor for the belt itself kept flashing red. I kept trying different things—tying it really tight around my chest, then more loosely; strapping it around my midsection, then higher on my chest, etc—but nothing got that sensor color to change. Eventually, I just said, “fuck it” and went to sleep with everything intact and hoped for the best. I figured that as long as the oxygen/pulse numbers were being captured, I’d hopefully be okay.

Sleeping

As I mentioned on Friday, my sleep was a mess during this test. I like to sleep on my stomach or side, and it was impossible to sleep either way with all of the stuff strapped to me! I could sort of sleep on my side, but I had to be angled a specific way and it was very awkward. It took me a long time to fall asleep (I even tried listening to some ASMR videos on YouTube to help me drift off, but they didn’t really work), and when I did, my sleep was very choppy. I felt like I woke up at least every hour and then had trouble falling back asleep. When my alarm went off at 6:30 a.m., I was really happy to get up and get all of this stuff off me! (In hindsight, I probably should have set my alarm for 7:30 a.m. so I could have captured at least another hour of sleeping data, considering how long it took me to fall asleep.)

One of the requirements of the sleep study is that I had to log at least 6 hours of sleep in order to gather enough sleep data. I don’t think I fell asleep until at least midnight and then I was up so early that I’m very concerned I didn’t log enough hours. If I have to do this again, I’ll give myself a bigger buffer for sure.

The end

When I woke up, I took everything off and then pressed “off” on the sensor. If all of my data were gathered correctly, the lights would all flash green. If they weren’t gathered correctly, the lights would flash red. Can you guess what they flashed for me? RED. Ugh! I was so mad. I called the sleep center to relay my problems, and the person on the phone gave me a little bit of hope that they may be able to gather enough data since everything else seemed to be working fine. Their sleep sensors are apparently pretty old and sometimes have weird issues like that. WONDERFUL!

I filled in the other set of paperwork, which was all about how I slept during the sleep study. Poorly. I slept poorly.

I brought back the sleep kit to the hospital and now I wait to find out if a) I need to do this again and b) I have sleep apnea.

Of course, the silly thing about all of this is that if I do have sleep apnea, I’m going to have to sleep with a CPAP machine, which may be even more uncomfortable than what I had to wear during the sleep study. So let’s pray for a negative result!

Have you ever done a sleep study? Any questions for me regarding the study?