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?

Categories: Recurring Series

Day in the Life: Tuesday, March 24, 2026

4:45 a.m.: I wake up, rip off my CPAP mask, and throw it on the floor. Then, I snuggle under the covers and go back to sleep.

5:20 a.m.: My alarm wakes me up. Wah! I get up, get dressed, brush my teeth, and then sit on the couch playing Happy Color for a bit.

5:40 a.m.: Off to the gym! I finish up a podcast episode on my way.

6:00 a.m.: I get to the gym and do a 30-minute workout on the stationary bike. Hopefully soon I can move on to other workout options!

6:40 a.m.: I drive home, listening to an audiobook.

7:00 a.m.: Home. I feed the cats and then loaf on the couch for 30 minutes, playing my NYT games and scrolling Reddit.

7:30 a.m.: I force myself to get up and make breakfast. Two fried eggs on sourdough with iced coffee. Yum, yum! I read and comment on blogs while I eat.

8:20 a.m.: I do my morning routine – empty the dishwasher, take my meds, do my skincare routine, update my planner, deal with my CPAP machine, make my bed, all the things!

8:45 a.m.: Time to start working! I do my daily admin tasks, send a really fun announcement to my team (one of my writers got promoted!), and then work through my emails. Inbox zero at 9:45am?! I’ll take it!

9:55 a.m.: I take a break to call my mom and end up helping her with an issue she’s trying to handle. Three cheers for a working printer that can scan documents!

10:15 a.m.: Back to work. I need to start working on content assignments for April, but run into an issue right as I do. I send a Slack to a fellow manager to get her advice. I continue working on assignments for other writers while I await her reply.

11:30 a.m.: I get an alert that my outdoor couch has arrived! YAY! However, when I open my apartment door, there is no package. Weird. I check the proof of delivery in my email and discover that FedEx DELIVERED IT TO THE BOTTOM OF THE STAIRS! What in the world? I have never had this happen, and I am quite annoyed at FedEx for not even attempting to contact me about delivering my package. Anyone could have taken it! Argh.

But I am woman! I am strong! I can do this! I make a very feeble attempt at moving the package, but it is 110 lbs and I am not that strong. Thankfully, it’s my brother’s day off and he is truly the best and he comes over right away to bring it up the stairs for me.

HERO.

12:00 p.m.: I call my mom to give her the lowdown.

12:20 p.m.: What a derailment of my day! Somehow, I get back to work. I continue working on assignments, taking a short break to help one of my writers with a request.

1:00 p.m.: All of this excitement caused me to forget about lunch! I make something quick and easy, and eat it while working on this post.

1:30 p.m.: Worky-worky time. More assignments, some editing, yadda yadda yadda. I take breaks to do some of my afternoon tidying tasks: scooping the litter boxes, cleaning up from lunch, and cleaning up the girls’ food area (wet food bowls taken away, sweeping, refreshing water, etc).

3:00 p.m.: It’s time for therapy! It’s been over a year since I was last in therapy, but there’s a lot of change happening in my life right now and it’s leading to some anxiety. We have a great appointment and I really like the therapist! She was very easy to talk to, and I came away with a lot of food for thought.

4:00 p.m.: I always need a little decompression time after therapy, so I set my alarm for 30 minutes and let myself drift off to sleep.

4:30 p.m.: Naptime is over! I’m always amazed at how rejuvenating a 30-minute nap is. When I wake up, I find that both girls have joined me on the bed. FAMILY NAP TIME!

4:45 p.m.: Okay, enough fooling around. I need to log a few more hours of work before I can officially sign off. I clear out my email inbox, finish up an editing assignment, and then spend the rest of time working on posting tasks. This is an activity that doesn’t take much brainpower so I love doing it at the end of the day. I throw on a podcast and get to work!

6:30 p.m.: I am done for the day, woohoo! I shut down my computer and get dinner started. I don’t always start dinner as soon as I’m done working, but I’m usually not finishing up work so late! I make my favorite easy meal: healthy baked chicken nuggets with rice and green beans. I give Eloise a little mommy time (aka, sitting on the floor of my bedroom and letting her do somersaults all over my legs) and then clean up the kitchen a bit while my food cooks.

7:05 p.m.: Dinner time! I watch two episodes of Friends while I eat and also make progress on my current coloring page.

8:00 p.m.: I take a bath and read 25ish pages of my book. This book has been excellent!

8:30 p.m.: I sit down on the couch and Facetime my mom. She doesn’t answer, but it’s fine. She will call me right back! Fifteen minutes later, she has not called me right back, so I call her again, no answer. Cool, cool, cool.

8:45 p.m.: I sit down at my dining room table to work on this post, insert pictures, and comment on a few blogs.

9:35 p.m.: My mom still hasn’t called me back, so I give her yet another call and this time she answers! She’s alive! We chat for a while about all sorts of inane things.

10:00 p.m.: I do my nighttime routine (skincare, tidying up kitchen, starting dishwasher, setting up CPAP machine, filling out planner, etc.) and then sit down in my reading chair to read 50 pages of Homeseeking.

11:00 p.m.: How is it already so late? Eeps! I quickly turn off all the lights, do one last pee, and get into bed. CPAP mask on, ASMR video lulling me to sleep in the background.

What time did you wake up yesterday?

Categories: Recurring Series

One Photo a Day: March 14 – 20

March 14, 2026 – Doesn’t Lucy look so good in green? My mom and I took Chip and Lucy for baths, and they were wearing festive bandannas when we picked them up. So cute!

March 15, 2026 – What a day. I am very grateful that I can request sick-girl necessities on Ubereats and have someone drop them off right at my door. BLESS. I took a Covid test (negative) and enjoyed my favorite chicken noodle soup when most food sounded miserable to me. (I also swear by Afrin for nasal congestion; that stuff is magic!)

March 16, 2026 – Peekaboo, Lila! I took her to a new vet and learned homegirl has, once again, gained a full damn pound over the last year. She is a very chonky 17 lbs. Her bloodwork came back normal, aside from a slightly elevated glucose level. But the vet isn’t too concerned since everything else was normal, and the elevation could be due to stress. The goal now is to work on reducing her calories to see if that will lead to weight loss. If not, we’ll do some extra testing just to make sure it’s not diabetes and then talk about a weight-control prescription diet.

The good news is, she is healthy and the vet tech was obsessed with her. She told me Lila was the sweetest little bebe, which made my heart swell! She may be a monster to get into her cat carrier, but she’s an absolute doll at the vet.

March 17, 2026 – Eloise has murder-eyes in this picture, but only because I woke her up from her cozy nap spot. She spent two full days curled up in this corner of my bed, likely due to the exhaustion of playing nursemaid to me.

March 18, 2026 – I was feeling good enough to put together the new cat tower I bought for the girls! It’s the perfect size for this little corner next to my desk, and even has a hammock if either cat is inclined to try it out. Lila spent the whole night in the tower after I put it together!

March 19, 2026 – Eloise has a new collar, finally! Originally, I bought her a cute, custom collar from Etsy, but then realized it wasn’t a quick-release collar, womp womp. I found this sunflower collar at PetSmart and had to buy it. She looks so darling! Also, because she’s so smol, I bought her the kitten size, and it fits her perfectly. Tiny bebe!

March 20, 2026 – I went to my favorite used bookstore today and came away with a great selection of books! Just $14 for this stack, and it was super fun adding my new best friends to my bookshelves at home.

Categories: Recurring Series

Five for Friday (v. 128)

1) (Wo)man down

I got sick last weekend. I don’t know if I can blame my new immunosuppressant drugs or just being around too many people last week (maybe both?), but it knocked me down good. Nothing major, just your garden-variety virus, manifesting in a sore/scratchy throat, a runny nose, sneezing, chest congestion, and an annoying cough. I felt so run-down and was, once again, grateful for my childless existence, where I could rest as much as I wanted to and watch way too much TV. How do parents do it?! How do you recover from illness while wrangling kids? BLESS.

I started feeling more like myself yesterday. I am not a very good patient, though, and I’m nervous about getting sick more regularly now that I’m on methotrexate. Eeps. (Lisa, tell me it will all be okay!)

2) Bonus time

I got my bonus! Yay! While I am going to be a good girl and put the vast majority into savings (and use some of it to pay off my last student loan, yassss!), I’ve also decided to treat myself to two big-ticket items I’ve been eyeing for my apartment. The first is an outdoor couch for my patio. I found a reasonably priced option on Wayfair that will fit perfectly on my patio, and I’m dreaming of spending summertime afternoons on the patio with a cold drink, my book, and hopefully a cat or two.

The second item is a new dining room table. While my current table has served me well (and is going to be a beast to move out of this apartment), I’m ready for something different. The table is counter-height, which means my feet dangle from the chairs when I’m sitting and it’s not very comfortable. I’m looking for something that is standard height and maybe even a bit bigger, since my new dining area can accommodate that! I’m still deciding on this one.

3) My oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe

Last week, I mentioned that I have a favorite oatmeal chocolate chip recipe that I love and then forgot to link it out. Here it is!!! I love the addition of molasses. It really kicks up the flavor and makes the cookies oh-so-chewy. Please let me know if you give it a try!

4) Chip is 8!

Monday was Chip’s 8th birthday, which I’m still trying to wrap my mind around. For newer readers, Chip is my mom’s dog, my fur-brother, and I love him like he’s my own. Here are some photos of puppy Chip to put a smile on your face today:

5) Weekend plans

What’s happening this weekend? Today, I’ve truly got nothing going on, so maybe I will actually watch The Martian like I planned a few weeks ago. Tomorrow, I have a writing date with Mikaela, and then I’m meeting up with my mom for lunch and furniture shopping. And Sunday will be a low-key day, although we’re doing game night with the fam in the late afternoon/early evening, which will be a change for us!

Categories: Recurring Series

One Photo a Day: March 7 – 13

March 7, 2026 – Game night! I made my world-famous oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (recipe here!) and we played Life, Racko, and 5 Second Rule.

March 8, 2026 – A low-key Sunday. Eloise was looking particularly cute this morning, as she got solar-powered for the day.

March 9, 2026 – My friend Lynn and I have a new tradition of gifting each other a book event for our birthday, so I was finally able to cash in on my birthday present! Lisa Unger is a local author who is also a renowned thriller writer, and she just released a new book this month! It was great to hear about her writing process and how this book came to be. I can’t wait to read it!

March 10, 2026 – Mmmm, pizza date! Bri and I went to our favorite local spot in Safety Harbor and then went back to her house to record two podcast episodes. We didn’t start recording until after 8 p.m., so I wasn’t sure if we’d have enough time to record both episodes, but luckily, they were on the shorter side.

March 11, 2026 – Sweet Lila Bear! I was making breakfast in the morning and saw her lying on the couch with her belly exposed. I very politely asked if I could pet her belly, and she said yes.

March 12, 2026 – I took a risk and went for a walk right before a big rainstorm threatened. It started sprinkling when I was halfway done, but didn’t start come down harder until I was steps away from my apartment. Whew!

March 13, 2026 – There are so many pictures I could have taken from today, since it was a busy one, but I did not take any pictures until I was at home, curled up in my reading chair and settling down with a sweet romance. So that’s what you get!

What’s the last photo you took?