Loving… the reinvigorated Democratic party. Like many people, I was happy when Biden stepped aside and Kamala stepped up. I was even more excited when Kamala chose Tim Walz as her running mate because every thing I read about him just makes me love him more. It’s been amazing to see the groundswell of support for Kamala and Tim and how this has reinvigorated the presidential race and politics as a whole. Things feel hopeful again! I’m going to believe this means good things for November.
Loathing… summer colds. I can’t remember the last time I had a cold (sometime last year, I’m guessing), but I woke up from a nap on Saturday with a sore throat and now I’m downing Dayquil like it’s my job. Thankfully, it hasn’t been too bad. The sore throat went away within a day and now I’m mostly dealing with nasal congestion and an overall blah feeling. I took a Covid test on Monday, which was negative (I’ll re-test today to make doubly sure). I think it’s just one of those run-of-the-mill viruses.
Reading… The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue, which I just started yesterday so I don’t have much to say about it yet. On audio, I’m almost done with His & Hers by Alice Feeny, which has been a wild ride so far. It’s making me feel a bit icky but I also need to know what happens, so I keep listening.
Watching… Master Chef. I just started season 13, which means I only have one more season until I’m all caught up on past seasons. Maybe I’ll go back to Hell’s Kitchen next? That show is a little more stressful, though. Master Chef feels like the nice version of Gordon Ramsey. Of course, what I’m not watching is Suits, which I told myself I needed to watch this month for my TV watching goal. I don’t know why I’m not watching it! I loved the first season and I love drooling over Harvey and Rachel (aka, Meghan Markle) respectively. But there’s just something easy about reality TV. I don’t have to give it too much attention and the stakes feel lower.
Listening to… mostly podcasts and my current audiobook. I am still behind on my goal to listen to one new album every month. I listened to Billie Eilish’s newest release last month and I have Gracie Abram’s The Secret of Us queued up to listen to soon. Any other albums I should listen to?
Anticipating… football season. We’re a little over a week away from the kickoff to the NFL season and I couldn’t be more excited! My family has completed our draft, I’m reading everything I can about my beloved Miami Dolphins prep for the upcoming season, and I have been so pleased to see that our coach is back to being a national treasure. I spend every Sunday at my mom’s house with my brother and nephews, watching the games, and I can’t wait to get back to it!
Thinking about… moving. I am still waiting to hear from my apartment complex if my rent will be increasing this year. (My lease is up November 1st but I have to give a 60-day notice, which will be September 1st.) If my rent does not increase, my plan is to stay put for another year and then live out the next 14 months as if my rent has increased by $400. This way, I can know if moving to a new apartment with more expensive rent is doable for me and it will allow me to save a lot of money in that year (for moving costs, movers, new things for my new apartment, etc.) If my rent does increase, then I will probably move this year. If I’m going to pay more in rent, I’d rather be in an apartment that better meets my needs.
Buying… so many clear bins. I have been feeling very disorganized lately when it comes to my bathroom and I decided to invest in a handful of clear bins (these kind) to get everything in its rightful place. On the left side are bins for first aid, medicine/psoriasis creams, and extra small supplies. In the center are bins for hair stuff (like clips/headbands/etc), all of my hair color supplies, and miscellaneous items. And on the right side are all of my tampons, separated by type (light/regular/super). Is it weird to do an organizing project like this if I’m potentially moving in a few months? Yes. But I can’t be stopped when I get an organizing idea in my head.
(Eventually I will replace the Brightroom labels with custom labels.)
Grateful… that I am finally getting an APAP machine. Yesterday, I had an appointment with a sleep clinic to go over all the ins and outs of using these machines. It was a very useful appointment where they showed me the machine I’ll be getting (ResMed AirSense 11) and how to use it and take care of it. There will be a lot more cleaning in my future as some of the parts need a weekly soak/rinse and I need to keep jugs of distilled water on hand to fill up the humidifier on a daily basis. Eeks! The clinician on the phone also let me know that when the results came in from my previous sleep study (the one done in April), I experienced 47.4 apneas every hour. (An apnea is when you stop breathing while sleeping, and you have to have stopped breathing for 10 seconds or more for it to register as an apnea.) I knew my sleep was bad, as I was diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnea, but that just meant I stopped breathing at least 30 times a night. To know I was over that threshold by so much is very scary! And now my chronic exhaustion makes even more sense. My poor brain. It’s not going to know what to do with all this extra oxygen it’s going to get at night!
What are you currently anticipating and watching?
I’m so glad you had the sleep assessment! My dad’s was also very bad but I think not as bad as yours. He felt like a different person after he go this CPAP machine. There is a lot of cleaning but you’ll hopefully get a rhythm down. He doesn’t leave home without it so he brings it on every trip they take since it makes such a huge difference in his sleep quality!
I’m currently anticipating picking up the boys this weekend! We are enjoying the quiet time/freedom to do what we please. But I will be glad to be reunited with them this weekend! They are having a great time with my parents, though, so it’s a win/win for everyone!
I watched the 2 episodes of the Simone Biles doc on netflix on my own and Phil and I started a new season of Alone last night. We had just finished the last season of Welcome to Wrexham. neither of us really loved that show but we were invested in seeing if the soccer team got promoted. So chances are we will watch the show when a new season comes out. Oh and we also watched the first episode of Only Murders in the Building.
Ooh, the Simone Biles doc should be added to my list of shows to watch this year. I was waiting for the rest of it to be released since I think they were going to do extra episodes after the Olympics and her experience in Paris!
Hooray for some time away from the boys! It will be so nice to have them home, though, I’m sure!
I hope you feel better asap! Summer colds are the absolute worst! UGH!
I am so curious to hear what you think of The Rachel Incident! I will keep mum.
That is a good plan for rent if it does not increase! (fingers crossed)
You are going to be sleeping so so well once you start using the machine!
Currently anticipating our Friday flight and the long weekend! Rewatching Game of Thrones LOL.
It’s only increasing by $50, so that’s a relief. But it means a big decision for me, ahhhh.
I’m so curious to see how my energy levels improve after a few weeks of using the CPAP. I can’t wait!
I heard you talking about the bins on your podcast episode and I immediately hoped you would show them all! I love organization stuff. I would like more bin content, please!!! Lol, that is, if you feel like talking about it *sends telepathic messages to make Stephany take photos of her bins*
I absolutely LOVED The Rachel Incident, it was a five star read for me! I shall await your review.
I would talk about organizing and all my different bins all day every day! Maybe a good “how I organize my home” post should be written!
For music – I wonder if you might like Maggie Rogers? I have a couple of her albums and especially like the song Back in My Body.
I’d also recommend Florence and the Machine.
Thank you! I’ll check out Maggie Rogers. I did one of Florence’s albums earlier this year and need to do more of them!
Yes, I CANNOT WAIT for football to start!!! College football starts tomorrow and then of course there’s our Dolphins. This should be a great season! And, I’m also cautiously hopeful about the election- which is a huge improvement from a couple months ago, when I was dreading it. I was actually depressed about having to vote for Biden, but now I’m excited.
You APAP machine is going to make such a huge difference in your life. i’m sure there will be a bit of a learning curve, but once everything is working smoothly you should feel so much better. Sleep is SO important!
Yeah, I wasn’t depressed about voting for Biden but I know a lot of people were and I was scared how that would affect election turnout. I’m really glad he did the right thing and stepped down.
So far, so good with the APAP!
Oh man I can only imagine how exhausted you must feel with such an apnea. I hope it will be so helpful for you and that you are bursting with energy from now on out.
Fingers crossed your rent will not go up. I love the foresight of saving the rent and testing out if you can do it. So smart.
It really puts into perspective WHY I am so damn tired all the time.
My rent is only increasing by $50, which is a doable number for me, so it looks like I’m staying put for another year at least.
I think your approach to moving is really smart… if your rent doesn’t go up, you can “practice” living with $400 less AND build up some savings in the process. Win-win!
I am so excited you finally got your APAP machine. I really hope it’s going to improve your sleep and energy levels so, so much. I am almost surprised they were not more ‘concerned” about your sleep apnea… 47x per night! Wow. So glad you went for that sleep study to figure this out!!
Enjoy the football season. I love your ritual of going over to your mom’s every Sunday to watch the games with your family! <3
It is WILD to me that they knew my apnea was so bad and still didn’t have any sort of urgency to get me a CPAP sooner than nearly 5 months after my sleep test. Considering that this affects more than just my energy levels, but also blood oxygen and such, it’s just… not great!
I am so dang nervous about the debate tomorrow, and have been obsessively tracking the polls and I know I shouldn’t… but oh, I do not want a repeat of 2016. No no no. Not going back. I just hope she blows him out of the water tomorrow. Pretty please.
Football season is a different kind of nervous, isn’t it? Glad your Fins won yesterday (it’s long after you wrote this post…) and hope that your QB and coach can shut down the (overly critical) sports people. I’m still torn between the Iggles (childhood team) and Packers (local team) so Friday was…challenging. LOL.
Hope the APAP makes a huge difference – how could it not???