April 18, 2026 – My second full day of my reading retreat was a great one! It was while I was sitting on the porch reading this book that I saw a bird chase a garden snake in the backyard! Needless to say, I was not leaving the safety of the screen room after that.

April 19, 2026 – Whenever I come home after being away, the cats are so clingy and snuggly with me! There’s not an aloof bone in their bodies when it comes to me. They love me almost as much as I love them.

April 20, 2026 – I bought this basket so I could have a place for blankets, knowing full well that at least one cat would consider it a prime napping spot. Lila loves this basket so much, I told her I was going to start calling her Moses.

April 21, 2026 – My Keurig broke the day before my trip! The audacity! I immediately bought a new one, and it arrived just in time. My inaugural cup of coffee from my new machine was delicious!

April 22, 2026 – In this photo, I can immediately spot my gray hairs and my puffy face from being on steroids for three months. But also, it’s my face! And it’s a good face.

April 23, 2026 – Getting bloodwork is just part of my regular routine these days. It was time for follow-up bloodwork to check on my inflammation markers, and the phlebotomist had a rough time with me. He tried twice, in both arms, and finally called in his boss, who is a wizard at finding my veins. (She’s done my blood draw every time I’ve been in this year!)

April 24, 2026 – My birthday girl! She did not want to be held for this photo, but submitted herself to the process.

Are you a tough poke when it comes to bloodwork, like me?

April 11, 2026 – My mom’s new furniture arrived! It’s so cozy. I’m sitting in the big armchair with an ottoman, and I can’t wait to spend Football Sundays relaxing in this chair in the fall!

April 12, 2026 – Our first reading crawl was a success! I can’t wait for the next one. Read all the details here.

April 13, 2026 – Look at these sweet babies! Eloise loves cuddling into that corner of the couch, and sometimes I spend more time than I’d like to admit looking for her, not realizing she’s wedged into the corner.

April 14, 2026 – Sometimes when I’m coloring, Eloise jumps on the table and sits right on my coloring book. It’s like she’s saying, “Time to take a break, mama.”

April 15, 2026 – This is the only photo I took today because I wanted to show it to Bri. (It’s about a murder that takes place at a local community theatre, so it couldn’t be more up her alley if it tried!) Funny story: I was in bed, CPAP mask on, ready for sleepies, when my eyes flew open and I was like, “OMG, I don’t think I took a picture today.” I opened my phone and scrolled to my Photos app and was relieved to see this picture.

April 16, 2026 – Did I bring way too many books on my reading retreat? I sure did! But I wanted to give myself plenty of options (even though I also brought my Kindle, so worst case, I could always download stuff from the library/Amazon).

April 17, 2026 – Outside lounging while reading on a Friday afternoon! The only thing that would make this reading retreat better is if I had chosen an Airbnb with a pool, but those houses were way more expensive. Wah! (Maybe next year?)

What was the last photo you took?

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?

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?