Recurring Series

One Photo Per Day: April 4 – 10

Saturday, April 4, 2026 – It’s Christmas in… April?! Our book club experience for March (scheduled the first weekend of April since it was hard to get everyone’s schedules to sync up in March!) was a Christmas party! This was a lot of fun: we brought food, played some Christmas trivia, made Christmas stockings with puffy paint, and ended the night with Jackbox games.

Sunday, April 5, 2026 – Easter was a weird day for me because I didn’t do anything related to the holiday! Instead, I slept in, enjoyed some time reading on the patio, and got a lot of to-dos knocked out.

Monday, April 6, 2026 – I am in love with my new tech station in the corner of my office. The shelf I got is perfect!

Tuesday, April 7, 2026 – My mom’s house is currently furniture-less, aside from her dining room table, bed, and the desk in her office. The dogs are very out of sorts being without a couch. Last week, my mom and I went to trivia, and when she checked on the dogs on her Ring app, they were pacing around the living room, looking extremely pitiful. We left trivia early, and my mom decided she wouldn’t leave them alone for too long until her furniture got delivered (which is happening today!). On Tuesday evening, she had some appointments, so I told her I would come over and hang with the dogs, which is honestly a delight. I love these babies! We did a lot of snuggling, a lot of kissing, and a lot of reading.

Wednesday, April 8, 2026 – Does it look like Lila’s hammock isn’t leaning as hard as it used to? Well, that’s because homegirl lost .37 lbs in the past few weeks! I took her to the vet for a booster shot and asked them to weigh her since I have her on a diet now. And she lost some weight! We’re trending in the right direction.

Thursday, April 9, 2026 – A much-needed and incredibly relaxing massage. I need to know how massage therapists feel when they hear their clients snoring because I definitely woke myself up a few times. (Jenny???)

Friday, April 10, 2026 – It was a glorious Friday! Weather in the 70s, blue skies, a slight breeze. My walk was sensational!

Where did your last walk take place?

Categories: Recurring Series

TGIF (V. 82)

The high of my week was starting to see a difference in my pain levels. It took 8 weeks, which is the timeline my rheumatologist gave me, so I guess I’m not special at all. Heh. I woke up on Tuesday morning and realized I had slept on my left shoulder… and it didn’t hurt! I could do arm circles with both arms (something I haven’t been able to do in months). I could use that arm to leverage myself off the floor, and didn’t have any pain. It’s amazing! My sausage finger still isn’t 100% but it’s a lot more flexible than it was a week ago and I can alllllmost make a regular fist. It’s also a lot less tender than it was earlier this week. PROGRESS! The next step is getting bloodwork done (in two weeks) to find out if my inflammation has decreased, and then we can finally start discussing weaning off prednisone. (It’s a wonder drug, but I’m feeling really self-conscious about the prednisone bloat that’s happening.)

The low of my week was ripping my beautiful reading chair! I am so upset with myself, but I’m hopeful it can be fixed. I was getting up from my reading chair last night and heard a weird sound… and when I looked down, I had fully ripped part of the seam near the arm. ChatGPT told me it can be fixed with some strong upholstery thread, so I guess I’m going to learn to sew?! Fingers crossed this isn’t the end for that reading chair. I love it so much!

I’m currently reading two books. In print, I’m reading The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie, which is the first book in her Hercule Poirot series. I’m only a few chapters in, but there are so many characters that I started keeping a list. On audio, I’m listening to How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin, which has been super engaging so far!

A blog post I loved was Sarah’s quarterly book post, detailing all of the great upcoming releases for Q2 of 2026. I need to sit down with it again and start adding books to my Goodreads TBR!

A show I watched this week was House of Villains. I wanted something easy to watch on Wednesday evening when I wasn’t feeling great, so I turned on season 1 of this show. It’s mindless and a bit silly. I’m not sure I’m going to keep watching because I’m not a huge fan of reality shows that have a lot of fighting and conflict, but we’ll see.

The best money I spent this week was a tip for my massage therapist. I haven’t gotten a massage since January, when I was still dealing with terrible joint pain and hadn’t started prednisone. I told my therapist all about the pain I was experiencing and what areas to avoid because they were a bit too tender at the moment. So it was great to see her again, three months later, and tell her my pain had decreased significantly and all I was looking for was a relaxing massage! She was really happy to see me in a lot less pain, and I was happy for a massage that put me right to sleep. Ha!

My plans this weekend include a low-key evening in tonight (will I watch a movie, or will I keep saying I’m going to watch a movie and then opt for stupid TV instead?). Tomorrow, I have a writing date with Mikaela, where I should be able to finish up my character studies. I’ll probably run some errands and handle some admin tasks afterward. And Sunday, I am meeting up with two friends for a READING CRAWL. We got this idea from an Instagram Reel months and months ago, and we’re finally going to make it happen. I’ll have all the details about this reading crawl on Monday!

What are your weekend plans?

Categories: Recurring Series

One Photo a Day: March 28 – April 3

March 28, 2026 – Podcasting with Amber! Bri and I met earlier and recorded two episodes, and then our friend Amber joined us for an episode on being an enneagram 6!

March 29, 2026 – The doggos enjoying some ice cream on Lucy’s birthday! We have a favorite place that has a whole little ice cream shop set up in the corner of their store, just for dogs! They had half-birthday cake, half-peanut butter flavor.

March 30, 2026 – I was finally able to try a loop around the walking path that is right next door to where I live! It’s such a beautiful path, but I wasn’t sure how long it would take me to do a loop. I’m not a fast walker by any means, and I’m even slower these days with all my joint pain. It took 10 minutes, maybe? Not too bad!

March 31, 2026 – I walked by my bedroom this morning to see both girls splayed out in the sun, living their best lives. We love having so much more natural light in our new apartment!

April 1, 2026 – No April Foolin’ around here. Just a cat who looks so cozy, curled up on the bed, taking a nap.

(It wasn’t until late on April 1st that I realized I shared some big family news on April Fools’ Day, and some people may have thought I was playing a big joke. I promise I was not, and that would be a terrible thing to joke about!)

April 2, 2026 – It’s week 7 of methotrexate! As mentioned in a previous post, my rheumatologist moved me up to 20mg weekly from 15mg, and this is my second week taking that dose. I’m still not seeing much of a change in my symptoms (and I’m especially not ready to start weaning off prednisone), but it’s still early. (This pill container is much fuller in the morning; I take my mtx dose in the afternoon, separate from my other pills.)

April 3, 2026 – Action shot! LOOK AT THIS SWEET WIDDLE BEBE’S FACE. Whenever I’m sitting in my reading chair, she’ll come up to me like this and poke me with her paw. Then, I have to put my hand down so she can rub herself all over my hand. She’s so cute it hurts.

What’s the last thing you took a picture of?

Categories: Recurring Series

One Photo a Day: March 21 – 27

March 21, 2026 – My fur-niece and -nephew! The one on the couch is Moose, and the one on the floor is Cici. They are the most joyful bebes! My mom and I went over to my brother’s house to let them out when he was working, which was a true delight.

March 22, 2026 – For a variety of reasons, we did game “night” on Sunday afternoon at my apartment! We played Yahtzee and Scattegories. Eloise came out a few times to see what was going on, but Lila hid for their entire visit.

March 23, 2026 – Can you spot the kitty cat? She was all about this spot on my bed for her daytime naps this week!

March 24, 2026 – This is a repeat photo from earlier this week, but it had to be my photo for Tuesday! My brother dropped everything he was doing to drive to my apartment and bring up a huge box that FedEx had dropped off in the wrong location. I am so, so grateful to him!

March 25, 2026 – My new dining room table arrived on Wednesday! The delivery people put it together so fast, which was great. While the overall size is a smidge bigger than my old table, it feels smaller somehow. But not in a bad way! I really love the way it looks.

March 26, 2026 – It’s my rheumatology office! I love this place. They are efficient, friendly, and I really feel like they care about how I’m feeling.

March 27, 2026 – LOOK AT MY NEW OUTDOOR COUCH! She’s a beaut, Clark, a real beaut. I am in love with it, and it fits so perfectly on my patio. I need to buy some gripping pads for the cushions, but otherwise, it is perfect and comfortable, and I can’t wait to spend weekend mornings sipping coffee and reading on my patio!

What’s the last game you played?

Categories: Recurring Series

Five for Friday (v. 129)

1) Well pollinated

We are in peak pollen season here in Florida, which means every day, I walk outside to see a thin layer of yellow dust on my car. I got my car washed on Sunday and within 12 hours, it was again covered in pollen. Sigh. This is my first spring season in my new neighborhood, and it appears there’s really nowhere I can park my car without being affected. What I really want is for all these car wash companies in our area to offer quick “pollen rinse-offs.” I’ll pay $10 just for a quick rinse, no soap! Or maybe I just need to suck it up and finally get a car wash membership.

Thankfully, I do not have seasonal allergies, I’d probably be so miserable right now. Our parking lot is covered with pollen!

2) This comment 😭

I was scrolling through comments on Kyria’s post on where she finds inspiration, and saw this comment thread between Engie and Kyria! It touched me so deeply, more than they could ever know. I have been in a bit of a funk over the past month, and it’s led to feeling less inspired to blog. I feel like I’m barely hanging on some days, so to see such a sweet comment about my blogging style really lifted my spirits. I care a lot about this blog and the posts I’m publishing, and there is nothing better than knowing other people see the value I’m bringing! Thank you, ladies. I really appreciate the compliments!

3) PsA update

Yesterday, I had a follow-up appointment with my rheumatologist. I’ve been on my new long-term medication, methotrexate, for six weeks now (and have been on prednisone for a few weeks more than that). Last week, I had bloodwork done, and it was exciting to see that many of my inflammation markers have reduced. They still aren’t in the normal range, but they are trending in the right direction. (For example, my C-reactive protein started at 41.5 mg/L in January and is now at 20.4 mg/L. Normal range is under 8 mg/L, so it’s still high, but not as high as before.)

I was honest with my rheum that I hadn’t had symptom improvement beyond what prednisone has relieved, and she patiently reminded me that that was to be expected. Logically, I know this, but gah, I’m ready to feel better! Thankfully, I think the doc could tell I was frustrated because she agreed to bump up my methotrexate dose (from 15mg once a week to 20mg once a week) and wants me to start taking an extra half-pill of prednisone.

I’ll get bloodwork done again in four weeks, and then I’ll see my rheum at the end of April to see where things stand!

4) Lucy turns 5!

Sunday is Lucy’s birthday – she will be five, if you can believe that. (For newer readers, Lucy is my fur-sister, my mom’s dog, and she is my very best friend!) Who wants a trip down memory lane? Baby Lucy was everything.

5) Weekend plans

What’s going on this weekend? Today, I’m hoping to put together my outdoor couch and finish Homeseeking. Tomorrow, it’s a podcasting bonanza! Bri and I will record one or two episodes, and then our friend Amber is coming over to record with us. We’re going to talk about her life as an enneagram 6! And Sunday, I’ll take a fun trip to Dunedin with my mom and the dogs to get ice cream for Lucy’s birthday. Yay!

Tell me your weekend plans! Are you experiencing a pollen explosion like me?