1) Psoriatic arthritis update

There have been some exciting developments in my psoriatic arthritis treatment! I am on week four of injections, and honestly, I think I might prefer giving myself a shot once a week rather than taking a handful of pills! It’s not painful, and I feel a little like a scientist as I draw up the solution in the syringe. Heh. The other exciting development is that this week, I dropped my steroid dose! I’ve been taking 12mg Medrol (a slightly more potent steroid, compared to prednisone) for months now, and I am now taking 8mg. We’re going to stay at this dose for a few weeks to see how my body adapts. So far, so good! I’ll go for bloodwork in a few weeks to test my inflammation markers.

2) Sleep woes

Sleeping is one of my superpowers. I used to be someone who could take a three-hour nap in the afternoon and sleep like a baby at night (one of those magical babies that sleeps soundly for 8 hours, no wake-ups). I could drink caffeine late in the evening, and it would not affect my bedtime. I fell asleep quickly, stayed asleep, and mostly just had a bear of a time getting out of bed in the morning. These days, though, sleep has become a burden.

First, the naps. I can’t take a nap that’s longer than an hour these days! Which, I mean, is great for my productivity and not sleeping the day away, but it still feels weird to me. And I get SO HOT during my naps. It doesn’t happen in the evening, only when I’m taking a midday nap. It could be due to having more windows in my bedroom than in my previous apartment, so maybe it just gets warmer in there during the day? Or maybe it’s the steroids. If I’m going to take a nap, I have to prepare. I keep my blinds closed, make sure the air is turned down low (I sleep at 70 degrees, but push it up to 73 degrees during the day), and even got a special blanket that’s lightweight and breathable. It seems to be working, but I’m just a little annoyed that I have to put so much effort into my nap routine now.

Second, I’ve become an early riser. I do not like this about me! I cannot seem to sleep past 7am anymore! Even if I go to bed late, I will be up before 7am and unable to fall back to sleep. Sometimes, I can trick myself by getting up, having breakfast, and doing a few productive things before crawling back into bed around 9-9:30 for a short snooze, but that’s only a viable option on the weekends. It’s very frustrating because I like sleeping in, and I am very bad about going to bed early.

We’ll see if any of this improves once I’m weaned off steroids… or perhaps it’s just a function of getting older and it’s time to do things like not drink caffeine at 8pm.

3) Raccoon roommate

Well, friends, my rodent-repellant trash bags are no match for Rocky the raccoon. I put my trash can outside yesterday, and about an hour later, I heard a noise, and opened my door to see my trash can on the ground and a sheepish-looking Rocky standing nearby. I berated him, took my can inside, rebagged everything, put it back outside. Not five minutes later, I hear a noise outside my apartment and there he is again! This time, instead of looking sheepish, he looked mischevious and started walking towards me as if he was just going to waltz inside my apartment and take up residence! I hurriedly brought the can inside and slammed my front door. Sigh.

I think my next step is to start bungee cording my trash can closed and hoping that a) it deters Rocky and b) the valet company will still pick up my trash even though it’s raccoon-trapped.

4) Kim & Steph’s Purr-sonal Tampa Bay Tour 2026

I am building the perfect tour of my favorite spots in Tampa Bay for Kim who is visiting soon. This is basically an excuse for me to visit all of the bookstores and cat cafes in my town. Muahaha! So far, our itinerary includes three bookstores, two cat cafes, one coffee shop, one food hall, and one gorgeous neighborhood. Also, hopefully, she will get to meet my cats! Well, meet Eloise. Lila hides from everyone. I will, of course, detail our adventures on the blog!

4) Weekend plans

My weekend will be busy on the front end, relaxing on the back end. Tonight, I’m going to my third musical this year alone with Bri, her husband, and our friend Amber. We have dinner reservations beforehand and Sean will be doing all of the driving again, so I am stoked! Tomorrow, I have a writing date, a waxing appointment, errands to run, and then my mom and I are going to go into our gym to officially cancel our memberships. (I’m sad about it but I know it’s the right call.) The rest of the weekend is free! I love that I have a whole Sunday to myself. Whatever will I do with all that free time?!

How is your sleep these days? What are your weekend plans?