Stephany Writes

Categories: Recurring Series

Five for Friday (v. 106)

1) Mental health update

Sometimes I wish mental health wasn’t fluid. I wish we could just take our medication and do our therapy and things would be stable. Alas, that’s not how the brain works. The last few weeks have been rough mentally. There have been some big changes happening in my life (one being my mentor/biggest cheerleader/fave boss leaving our organization) and it has knocked me for a loop. Thankfully, I had an appointment with my psychiatrist right when things started feeling extra hard and we worked through some strategies. One of the things she suggested was adding an extra medication (Wellbutrin) to my day. I was a little nervous about it because for some reason, Wellbutrin and I don’t mix very well. We tried it last year when I was having a lot of nighttime anxiety but it made me feel very tired and loopy the next day (I took it at night). This time, I tried taking it in the morning and it continued to make me so sleepy. I’m already chronically exhausted thanks to sleep apnea so this was not a winning combination. I stopped taking the meds (I was only a few days in) so now it’s back to the drawing board. I don’t think I’m fully through this depressive episode, but I am crawling my way out of it bit by bit.

2) Back support

I bought a back brace! I never ended up talking with the girl in my HIIT class, but when I was scrolling through Amazon one day to find out what items are FSA eligible, a back brace showed up on the list and I couldn’t purchase it fast enough. It has been a life-changer. I can’t believe I went through so many HIIT classes without this brace because it has helped so much. While I still have twinges of back pain here and there, it’s never as bad as it was before and I can get through a whole class without needing to take a break because of my back. Now, I take a break when things just feel really hard! Ha. It really gives me that extra boost of support my spine needs to be able to lift properly and get through a class without my back hurting. 10/10 recommend!

3) Adventures in at-home hair coloring

I had my own hair coloring night on Monday! A few weeks ago, I purchased all of the supplies I needed: three tubes of hair color (it was buy 2, get 1 free), one bottle of developer, a mixing bowl, a hair coloring brush, a comb with a long handle, clips to separate my hair, a cape, gloves, wipes to get rid of any dye that got on my skin, and a small packet of conditioner that is supposed to help seal in the color. All of that was around $70, which is the most I’ll need to spend coloring my hair. After this, all I’ll need to purchase is the hair color + developer from time to time.

We only used one tube of hair color (and I probably have 2/3 of the bottle of the developer left), which means my next two colors will essentially be free. Well, aside from the cost of my stylists (we pay each other in pizza and cheesy bread).

I was worried at first because when we mixed up one tube of the hair color with the developer, the mixture was BRIGHT ORANGE. Like, sweet potato baby food orange! I even frantically googled the name of the product and color (which was labeled as “cinnamon” in the store) because I was worried I had made a very wrong decision. I know the color changes as time goes on, but it was very worrisome at first. In the end, we marched forward with the hair coloring process. And hey, if I did pick up the wrong shade, at least I can find out if orange hair is a good look for me!

Thankfully, the mixture darkened to what my friends called “barbecue sauce” and the final product turned out amazing. I’m so happy with the color!

4) APAP waiting game

By this time next week, I should finally have my APAP machine. Can you believe it? I took a look at my calendar and this journey started on April 16th. That’s when I had my at-home sleep study and a week later found out I have severe obstructive sleep apnea. It will have been four-and-a-half months of waiting to finally get the help I need! (Meanwhile, a friend of mine who has a mild case of sleep apnea didn’t have to go through this rigamarole. Riddle me that, Batman.) On Tuesday, I have an appointment with the sleep clinic where they will go over the APAP machines available to me (virtually) and show me how they work, and then I’ll pick the machine I want and it will be shipped to me. They said it only takes 1-2 days to get the machine when it’s shipped since they send it from a local facility. Hooray!

5) Weekend plans

It’s going to be quite the weekend because I’m on Chip and Lucy duty! My mom and stepdad are spending a long weekend in Orlando so I’m going to be hanging out with my fur-brother and fur-sister. (I always stay at their house when I’m dog-sitting because the cats and the dogs do not get along, womp.) I don’t have any plans aside from my writing date with Mikaela on Saturday morning so I’m hoping to spend a lot of time reading and floating in the pool.

Have you ever colored your own hair? What are your weekend plans?

Categories: Recurring Series

TGIF (v. 66)

There was a shark at the beach on Saturday!

The high of my week was going to a new HIIT class on Tuesday evening. My mom and I usually go to a different workout class on Tuesday evenings, but our regular trainer wasn’t going to be there so we decided to try this HIIT class instead. It was with a trainer I worked with in one other class, and he was very intense, so I haven’t been too keen on going to his HIIT class. And man, it was hard. The HIIT class we normally go to has 8 stations and we do 3 rounds of one exercise at each station. This one had 6 stations but with 4 rounds of two different exercises at each station (so essentially, 8 rounds in total for each station). There was a point in the workout where I thought I was going to throw up because my heart was beating so fast! I wanted to die during the workout and at the end of my class, my mom and I were like, “So, same time next week?” HA. (Also, the trainer was incredibly nice and accommodating! He wasn’t as intense as I had thought.)

The low of my week was lower back pain. While my sciatica isn’t as bad as it was earlier this year, I am starting to have the pain again. I need to start icing my back again and doing some stretches. I had a lot of pain during my Tuesday evening HIIT class and it really impacted how much of the movements I was able to do. I’ve been thinking about buying a back brace for my HIIT classes to provide a little more support for my back—it would also probably help my form during certain movements. One of the women in my Wednesday evening HIIT class wears one, and I really want to ask her about it (but I’m shyyyy).

I’m currently reading two books. I’m listening to What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall on audio (the narrator is terrible, but I’m powering through). And I just started The Housemaid by Freida McFadden in print!

A Reel I enjoyed was this very funny dog video that my mom sent me. Please enjoy!

A podcast episode I enjoyed was Real Life Homes on The Girl Next Door podcast. I love when Kelsey and Erica talk about the most mundane details of their life, and this one fit the bill as they talked about how they really live in their homes—like, where do they eat their meals and what spaces do they spend the most time in? At the end of the episode, they played a game of “Where do you keep that?” which I loved so much that I took notes so I can do my own version on the blog.

The best money I spent this week was $9 on a new can opener. How exciting! My can opener bit the dust this week and I immediately purchased a new one because that’s a “can’t live without” kitchen tool for me.

My plans this weekend include not much! I have a writing date with Mikaela on Saturday morning and a workout with Mom on Sunday morning, and that’s about it. But it’s also OLYMPICS WEEKEND! I will be spending a lot of time parked on my couch, watching athletes do seemingly impossible feats over and over again.

Categories: Recurring Series

TGIF (v. 65)

The high of my week was getting my sleep apnea sleep study rescheduled for tomorrow! Originally, my sleep study was scheduled for August 3rd so I couldn’t pass up getting it done two weeks earlier. Am I looking forward to it? Absolutely not. Do I want to sleep with a CPAP every night? Nope. But do I want to sleep more deeply and feel better? Yes and yes. So I’m glad I’ll finally get this step done so I can start my new CPAP journey.

The low of my week was Lila’s matted fur. Oh, how I wish Eloise was my long-haired cat. She loves getting brushed and doesn’t need to be brushed nearly as much as Lila does. But, of course, it’s the cat that hates getting brushed who needs it the most. This week, I started noticing little areas of matted fur at the base of Lila’s spine and around her tail. I’m guessing those are just areas that are hard for her to groom because she is, ahem, very floofy. Lila often acts like I am attempting bodily harm when I bring out the brush, so I decided on a new tactic. Since she loves snuggling with me right before bed, I brought the brush into bed with me and then, when she was snoozing away, I started brushing her. It worked! I was able to get out a few of the matted spots before she ran away, so I’m just going to keep trying this method until she’s mat-free. (The other option is to give her a dose of gabapentin, which I have on hand and I’m willing to try, but I just really, really want her to get used to being brushed!) The goal is to get her fur all cleaned up and then continue brushing her at night until she realizes I’m not trying to hurt her. Baby steps with this one!

I’m currently reading three books. On audio, I’m about halfway done with Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection by Charles Duhigg, which I’m finding super informative! In print, I’m working my way through Family, Family by Laurie Frankel and liking it a lot. And my e-book right now is Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert, a YA romance.

A Reel I enjoyed was this absolutely adorable cat video. Eloise is now asking to be included in our biweekly family game nights after seeing this Reel.

A podcast episode I enjoyed was the Big Brother 26 draft on Rob Has a Podcast. This is such a niche interest of mine. Wednesday was the season premiere of Big Brother, and I am so excited to get fully immersed in a new season of my favorite show. I also love listening to podcasts about the show, and the lovely folks at RHAP are some of the best. It was fun listening in on their draft, their trash talking, and their frank assessments of the new houseguests. My mom and I do our own mini-draft (we only pick 3 players each), which we’ll probably do sometime this weekend!

The best money I spent was $100 on a new cordless vacuum. YES, THIS IS NOT WITHIN THE PARAMETERS OF NO-SPEND JULY. But it was Prime Day and I really, really needed a new vacuum. I’ve had a Shark robot vacuum for a few years now and while originally I loved it, we have decided to consciously uncouple. It just doesn’t vacuum as efficiently or deeply as I want it to, and I’m ready to get back into the manual vacuuming game. I had a few cordless vacuums saved on my Amazon wishlist, and one of them was $50 off for Prime Day, and I decided to buy it. This is a need, not a want, and I’m okay with breaking the rules to buy it. The new vacuum should arrive today and you guys have no idea how excited I am to use it. (God, adulthood is so stupid.)

My plans this weekend include going to the dog beach with my mom, stepdad, Chip, and Lucy on Saturday. MY SLEEP STUDY!!! And a baby shower for my cousin on Sunday afternoon. It will be a busy, fulfilling weekend.

What was your last boring adult purchase that you were actually super excited about? What was the high of your week?

Categories: Recurring Series

One Picture Per Hour | Monday, July 15, 2024

6:48AM: I’m up and so are the girls. They still don’t beg me for food, even though we’re now on a feeding schedule, which is very nice. Such polite ladies I have! I feed them and then sit on the couch for a few minutes playing Happy Color.

7:21AM: I’m finishing up a walk outside and lest you think this happens often, I honestly can’t remember the last time I went outside for a walk around my apartment complex. I haven’t even taken my yearly photos of all the blooming crepe myrtle trees around me! The travesty!

8:08AM: I have a hot cup of coffee and a full to-do list, so it’s time to power through my day. I spend some time working through my inbox and handling anything that needs an answer. Then, I check in with my contractors (one sent me content to edit and send out, but the others haven’t sent anything to our shared drive so it’s going to be a quiet day on the contractor front!) I decide to post some contractor content to our clients’ websites while I watch an episode of Suits. Ahh, perfect! It’s a mindless but satisfying task; perfect for Monday morning.

9:46AM: I took a shower and then sat down to play some games on my phone and wasted 15 minutes. Oops. Time to get up and finish my morning routine!

10:46AM: Eloise checks out what’s going on outside while I work. I’m doing meeting prep for the back-to-back one-on-ones I have with a few of my direct reports later.

11:46AM: (Listen, I don’t know how I took three photos in a row at the EXACT SAME MINUTE.) I get all the ingredients for Santa Fe Chicken in the Crock-Pot during my lunch break.

12:50PM: Here’s a different view of my “office.” (Please check out the extremely well-done drawing of the Olympic rings. I am available for all of your drawing needs.) Let’s see… what am I doing at this time? Clearing out my inbox, responding to some Slack messages, and finishing up my meeting prep. At 1pm, I jump into my first of four back-to-back meetings!

1:32PM: A quick snap between meetings for the blog. I do these one-on-one meetings with each of my direct reports (I have nine right now) every month and try to do them in batches, which is easier for me. The meetings can be quick (sometimes I’m done within 10 minutes!) but are scheduled for 30 minutes and sometimes we need the whole time. Today, the meetings range between 10-30 minutes. I’m finished with my 1:30 meeting with enough time to finish up some notes I wanted to make for my next two meetings.

2:45PM: Meetings are done! Some of the meetings were unexpectedly hard as two of my direct reports let me know about difficult things going on in their lives. I also had to bring up an issue with one of my writers, which is never my favorite thing to do. (But also, I feel very proud of myself when I do! Like I said when I called my mom between meetings, “I’m proud of myself for doing something I’m supposed to do.” Being a manager can be a difficult endeavor when you’re as conflict-avoidant as I am. But it’s also my job! Ack.) Anyway, Lila was there after my meetings for cuddles so that was nice.

3:10PM: I take a cleaning break! I am trying a new cleaning routine right now and we’re not going to make a big deal about it, so I don’t get scared off. OKAY?! The new routine is that I’m trying to clean one area of my floors every day. I feel like cleaning the floors is the most arduous task ever but I also love when my floors are clean, so by doing it this way, I can keep them clean on a more regular basis without it feeling so difficult. Today, I swept and mopped the dining area.

4:50PM: I’m trying to work on an email but Ellie has decided she must get pets at this moment EMERGENCY. So I have to stop everything I’m doing to make sure she gets her much-deserved head scritches. She’s very happy when I’m scratching her and very annoyed when I stop.

5:35PM: Dinnertime! It’s very rare for me to eat dinner this early but I was hungry and have a 6pm virtual dietician appointment, so it made sense to eat dinner beforehand. I serve it over brown rice and it’s soooo good. It makes a lot of leftovers, too, which is great!

6:00PM: It’s time for my monthly dietician appointment! We chat about breakfast ideas (I’m very much done with oatmeal for the time being), how to add more veggies to dinner, and making sure I’m eating every few hours (why is this so hard for me??).

7:51PM: Nothing like following up a dietician appointment with a plate of cookies! HA. Actually, my dietician would encourage me to eat these cookies so I don’t feel any guilt. I made a small batch and watched an episode of Survivor: Tocantins. Can you spot the cat in this photo?

8:18PM: I’m doing my nighttime routine and tidying up the apartment while Lila sits on the table and meows sadly at me every time I walk by. She wants extra treats and I try to hold out, but how can I resist those big green eyes? She knows she holds the upper hand here.

9:52PM: Nighttime routine is finished (I took a break for about 30 minutes to Facetime with my mom, which is why it took me so long). I sit down at my dining room table to fill out my One Line a Day journal and planner (which I only really use to track goals/daily habits).

10:20PM: I’m finally snuggled up in bed (with Lila!) and reading my book. But I’m also playing on my phone so I only manage to read 20 or so pages before it’s lights out. Oops.

What would you have taken a photo of on Monday?

Categories: Recurring Series

Five for Friday (v. 105)

1) Read later FTW

A few weeks ago, Elisabeth talked about how she uses the “read later” function on Feedly to mark the blogs she’s read and wants to comment on. She usually reads blog posts on her phone and then waits to comment until she’s in front of a computer. I thought this was a such a great idea! First, it opens up the world of reading blogs from my phone. It’s something I never do because I don’t like commenting from my phone, but now I can just hit “read later” and voila, problem solved! Second, it allows me to read blogs faster because I don’t have to worry about commenting right away. I just click “read later” and come back to it when I have time to comment. Elisabeth, you are a genius!

2) A special birthday

My mom had a very special birthday on Monday, and my brother and I got to celebrate with her on Sunday afternoon. I booked us time at The Candle Pour where we could make candles (this is my third time making candles. I made a coffee-scented candle this time that smells amazing). Then, we went out for dinner in downtown St. Pete and got ice cream at our favorite local shop. It was a great day celebrating the best person I know! It was also really special to have my brother there; we didn’t think he’d be interested in making candles with us but when my mom asked if he wanted to come with us, he said yes. What a delight!

3) Anxiety, my old friend

I haven’t had a major anxiety spiral in quite a while, so I guess I was due for one. This anxiety spiral happened because I couldn’t get ahold of my mom on Saturday so I was convinced she died in her sleep overnight. When these anxiety spirals happen, logic just does not work for me. Sure, I can tell myself that my mom is in good health (better health than me, even!) and she likes to sleep in on Saturdays, and there is a super small chance that she’ll have a brain aneurysm and die suddenly. But it’s that small chance that my anxiety brain will clamp onto. And clamp it did.

Here’s what happened: I texted my mom at 11:00 a.m. to tell her I had booked the workout class we were taking tomorrow. She usually texts back immediately, especially for something like this. Then, I recorded a podcast episode with Bri, all the while keeping an eye on my watch to see if my mom had texted me back. When we finished recording, it had been an hour since I had texted my mom so I Facetimed her. No answer. After 30 minutes, I Facetimed her again. No answer. I was already spiraling, but I started spiraling even more. Thankfully, I was spiraling at Bri’s house. I had come over to record a couple of podcast episodes, and we took a break after the first one to have lunch. Somehow, I managed to choke down the tacos Bri had cooked (not a slight to Bri! I was just so deep in my anxiety that it was hard to eat), and then I knew I wouldn’t be able to do anything productive until my mom called me back. This isn’t the first anxiety spiral Bri has witnessed from me, so she knew the drill. We sat in front of the TV (her husband was watching the EuroCup, which was a great distraction) and Bri also distracted me with conversation. Even though I didn’t contribute much to the conversation, it helped me step outside myself for a bit. In a recent book I read (Abby Jimenez’s Just for the Summer), the author talked about how the main character would get “small” when she was going through a mental health crisis, and that was accurate for me. I felt like I was fully curled up within myself, safely hiding inside my shell, as my brain conjured up all sorts of terrible scenarios. I am so glad I spiraled with Bri because she was able to give me the support I needed.

Eventually, though, my mom did call me. It was only 2 1/2 hours since my original text, which I know for most people isn’t that long to wait for a text back. Sometimes, I take that long to text back! But my mom and I have a different sort of relationship (some may call it co-dependent…) and while I have been doing better about not spiraling when she takes longer to call me back, sometimes the brain is having an off day. It’s a reminder to stay vigilant about my mental health and the next time it happens, to make sure there’s a friend who can be there for me. Being with Bri and Sean made this spiral a bit less stressful and terrible.

4) A decade in the making

Yesterday, I noticed that I had a comment on one of my Goodreads reviews from a long time ago – a whole decade ago, in fact. It was a pretty scathing review for a Harlequin romance, and while I don’t think I would leave such an unkind review today, I was shocked to learn that the author of the book left a snarky comment on my review. Listen, I stand by my review. While I don’t remember anything about this book, if I felt like it was terribly written, it probably was. I didn’t attack this author personally in the review; I was simply honest about how I felt about the book. I don’t leave reviews like this anymore, but 2014 was a different time in the book world. Let this be a lesson to authors: stop reading reviews of your books! Do not under any circumstance read 1-star reviews of your books! And remember, Goodreads is for readers, not authors. *steps off soapbox*

5) Weekend plans

This weekend should be a good one! Tonight, I have plans with a few friends to go see Inside Out 2 (yes, we’re in our thirties without children, and yes, this is what we choose to do on a Friday night). Tomorrow, I have my writing date with Mikaela and then game night with the fam. And Sunday, all I have on the agenda is a workout class. Yay!