Life is heavy, you guys. I feel weird not acknowledging the cold-blooded murder of Renee Good or the completely enraging response by the White House. I feel helpless and sad and scared. I knew life under another Trump regime would be horrifying, but man did I underestimate how dark things would get.

And yet… there is also hope and joy and activism. Protests and fundraisers. And there are silly blog posts to write about my silly privileged life where I can put down my phone and forget about what’s happening. Not everyone gets the chance to do that, and my hope is that this silly blog post delivers a little bit of lightness to you. <3

1) My new morning routine

One of my big goals this year is to figure out my daily routines. I have long struggled with this aspect of full-time remote work, even though it feels like something I should have done to a science by now. This week I finally implemented a new morning routine and I am loving it. I set my alarm for 6 a.m., let it snooze once, and then get up, feed the cats, and make coffee. Then I sit down in my new reading chair in my office and read a book while drinking coffee. Once my cup is empty, I’ll take a shower, make breakfast, and then sit down at the table to eat breakfast and read blogs. Then, it’s time for my morning skincare routine (+ other tasks like emptying the dishwasher, taking my meds, making my bed, dealing with my CPAP machine, etc.). Lastly, I sit down with my planner to write out some to-dos before logging onto work. So far, I am enjoying this morning routine so much! It’s nice to get 20-30 minutes of reading time before my day even begins!

2) Worldle

I haven’t played Worldle (that name is so clunky, ugh) in many years, but I decided to start playing again this year with a very nerdy twist. Worldle is a game where you’re given the outline of a country and have to name what it is. You get six guesses and with every guess, you learn how far away the mystery country is to the country you guessed and its position. For example, yesterday’s answer was Lithuiana and when I guessed Australia (don’t judge me!), it told me the mystery country was 13,553km from Australia and to the west.

And listen, I am terrible at geography so I am terrible at Worldle. I barely ever get the country right unless it’s one of those obvious answers. But I love it because once I find out the country of the day, I open up ChatGPT to ask questions. I ask about the history of the country, the climate, the geography, the culture, what it’s like to live there today, etc. It’s fascinating! I also pull up Google Earth to see where the country is located geographically because my knowledge of where countries are situated is very poor. One of my friends said that Worldle repeats a lot of their answers, but that’s okay! It’ll show me if I’m learning anything from this nerdy project of mine.

3) Bookly

Last year, I used an app called Bookly to track my reading. I wanted to use it for a full year just for shits and giggles. Bookly is an app that tracks how long it takes you to finish books. You can manually enter time or you can use the timer, where you start the timer when you sit down to read and stop the timer when your reading session is over. At the end, you mark down what page you’re on, and then it tells you how long it will take you to finish a book. I also used it to track my audiobook listening hours, which was fascinating!

I wasn’t sure if I was going to keep using Bookly, but once 2026 rolled around, I decided to give it a rest. And OH MY GOD. I had no idea how stressful I had made my reading life! Do you know how satisfying it is to sit down to read and not have to worry about starting a timer? Or listen to an audiobook and not keep track of what time you started listening and what time you stopped? I feel so FREE. I can just read without opening up an app on my phone first! What a concept.

Am I glad I did a full year of book tracking? I guess so? I don’t know what I learned, other than the fact I never want to do it again.

4) Two weeks of feeding training

I spent a lot of time procrastinating about getting my cats’ new microchip feeders set up. I think I got the feeders in early December? And I didn’t set them up until a few days before New Year’s. Oops! My girls eat wet food in the morning (a 3-oz can split between two bowls) and then they free-feed on dry food throughout the rest of the day. And while they are still going to be able to free-feed, they will only be able to eat at the feeder linked to the microchip on their collars. There’s a lid that only opens up when the right cat is at the right feeder. Once the cat leaves, the lid closes.

For the first week, I kept the feeders unplugged and just let them free-feed as normal. I wanted them to get used to the feeders before we moved on to the scary part! Then, last Saturday, I put their collars on and closed the lids, but since Eloise kept taking her collar off, I decided to give her a break from the collar and keep the lids open. Monday morning, I tried again! I tightened up Eloise’s collar and put it on her, and she hasn’t taken it off since then. I closed the lids and they were curious about the opening and closing mechanism, but wouldn’t eat from their bowl. In the evening, I opened the lids and then kept them open for a few days to show them that the feeders were their friends!

(At this point, I also moved Eloise’s feeder so it’s on the opposite side of the hallway. They were only eating from the right feeder when the lid was open, and some Googling led me to believe the problem was the corner location.)

First location 

New location

Thursday, I closed the lids again and they were still a little wary, so I decided to serve them a little bit of Churu in bowls and place the bowls in front of their respective feeders. Eloise went first and as she started chowing down, her feeder lid opened and she was a little perturbed, but not enough to abandon her yum-yums. And then Lila did the same. I figured I’d just keep giving them treats in front of their feeders until they figured out that they didn’t have to be scared of them. But because my girls are geniuses, they figured it out quickly and both started eating from their feeders last night. I think we finally might be on the path to feeder independence. Fingers crossed!

5) Weekend plans

It’s the freakin’ weekend! It’s been a long week, especially getting back into the swing of things after such a long time off work. Tonight, I’m going over to my mom’s to watch the premiere episodes of The Traitors US. (YAYYYY!) Tomorrow, I have book club and then I’ll spend the rest of the day at my mom’s to watch playoff football. And Sunday is a writing date and then more playoff football!

1) Hip, hip, hooray!

You guysssss! My hip/leg pain is gone. Fucking finally! I spent a lot of time last weekend chatting with ChatGPT about all of my hip pain issues. (I laughed when, at one point, it said, “That confirms it: You have XYZ condition.” Calm down, Chat. You are not a doctor!) Basically, everything I’m doing that should be easing my pain is not making a difference, so I word-vomited in ChatGPT, which asked lots of great follow-up questions, and that’s when I realized I was probably dealing with some sort of hip bursitis. I made an appointment with an ortho (this will be the THIRD ortho I’m seeing at this clinic, as each one specializes in a different part of the body, lololol – I now have a hand ortho, a back ortho, and a hip ortho because I am 88 years old.) Anyway, he confirmed it was probably hip bursitis and recommended steroid shots. YASSSS. Gimme more steroids!

He gave me a shot in both hips (well, more around the bursa area, which is in a more meaty part of the thigh), which was awful. It made the muscles around my IT band contract painfully when the liquid hit that area, which was not fun. But the medical assistant said I handled the shots very well, so I felt like I earned a sticker and a lollipop, you know?!

Anyway, in the morning, I felt like a new woman! I woke up and was like, “OMG, I didn’t wake up every 30 minutes in pain last night!” I got out of bed like a normal 38-year-old person, not my typical method of rolling over to the edge of my bed and carefully maneuvering my feet to the floor and then oh-so-slowly straightening my body while gasping in pain. I’m not shuffling around as I walk or groaning every time I sit down. I’m dramatic, yes, but honestly, this pain was the worst thing I’ve experienced (and I’ve broken my ankle three times). It was chronic and debilitating and really wearing on my mental health. I am so, so glad the solution was a simple one. I’m still going to be doing PT sessions, mainly to strengthen this area of my body so the pain doesn’t return, but it’s good to finally feel good.

EDIT: I wrote the above on Wednesday and by Thursday, my bursa started hurting again. It’s more of a dull ache than the intense pain I was experiencing before, and apparently, a normal part of the healing process, but it’s still a little demoralizing. Hopefully, it was just due to a more active PT session than normal since I was feeling so good on Wednesday!

2) A bougie feeding system

Last month, Eloise went to the vet for a typical checkup. I told them I was concerned about her weight, mostly because I’m always concerned about her weight. She’s a skinny gal! She’s not very food-motivated like Lila is, but I find it so odd that they eat around the same amount of food (or so I think), and one cat is nearly twice the size of the other. All of her bloodwork came back perfect, so there are no underlying issues to worry about. But she did lose half a pound over the last six months, putting her just under 8 lbs. Tiny bebe!

The vet suggested getting microchip feeders for the girls since they like to graze, and I truly don’t know how much food each one is eating every day. I put down a normal amount of food, which they eat, but there’s always food left in the bowl by the end of the day. (This is what confuses me most about Lila – how is she overweight when she’s not even gobbling down every morsel of food in front of her?!) Anyway, I kept an eye on the sales, and when the feeder I wanted went on sale, I decided to get them a very expensive Christmas present. YOU’RE WELCOME, GIRLS.

I haven’t set up the system yet because it was just delivered on Wednesday evening. How it works is that they will each wear a collar, and the collar will have a chip that identifies the feeder associated with the specific cat. The feeders are closed and will only open to reveal the food inside when the right cat is in front of the right feeder. I’m nervous about the collar situation since neither of them has worn a collar since I’ve had them. And I’m nervous about how they’ll adjust to the new feeders. Will they understand how it works? Will they think I’m the meanest mom ever? WILL THEY EVEN USE THIS EXPENSIVE-ASS FEEDER?!?! Time will tell.

3) A Cyber Monday snag

Another Cyber Monday deal I got for myself was a $40 printer. I can’t remember the last time I had a printer at home! Maybe when I actually needed them to print out school assignments? I don’t have major printer needs, but every now and then, I want to print something, and it’s very annoying that I can’t. Like a cleaning chart or a cute printable from Etsy or an important document that I’d like to have a hard copy of. I don’t need anything fancy, just something simple that’ll get the job done. This printer was marked down from $85, so it felt like a steal. Let’s hope it works for me!

4) 2026 goals

Yes, I’ve been thinking about my 2026 goals. Some years, I just have a long list of goals and some years, I break things up into categories. For 2026, I want to break my year into a few specific themes and use those themes to created structured goals that will get me closer to the way I want to feel. For example, one theme for 2026 is to spend less time in doctors’ offices. In order to do that, I want to tackle some of the inflammation issues that have caused a lot of my ailments. So, I want to try a low-inflammation diet, get back into yoga, and average 7.5 hours of sleep per night. Another theme is to be a more involved friend by texting more frequently and making plans with friends once per week. I’m still thinking through all of the different themes, but I’m excited about this goal structure!

5) Weekend plans

I have a low-key weekend on the books! I don’t have anything going on tonight. Tomorrow, I have a writing date and then I’m going over to a friend’s house in the evening. And Sunday will be football with the fam! The next few weeks will be busy, busy, busy, so I’m glad for the calm before the storm.

What are your weekend plans?