WATCHED
- New Girl, season 3 – Unpopular opinion alert? I’m not a huge fan of New Girl. I’m going to move on to something else. It’s fine, but the humor just doesn’t work for me.
- RuPaul’s Drag Race, season 1 – I’m committed to watching all of the seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race, after watching the most recent season last year. It was a rough first season, but I can see the little glimmers of what RuPaul made the show into today.
- Friends, season 5 – I totally forgot that Rachel and Ross got married in Vegas at the end of season 5. My Friends knowledge is severely lacking!
- The Greatest Showman (HBO) – I started this movie on a whim on a Friday night. I had scrolled through Peacock and Hulu, and none of their movie options were calling to me. So I pulled up HBO, and this was one of the first movies that popped up. I’ve never seen it! It was excellent, and I had the songs stuck in my head for days.
- Project Hail Mary – Ryan Gosling 4ever. This movie was everything I wanted it to be, and then some. I enjoyed the humor, the science, the score. Everything was perfection!
LISTENED TO
- Noble Blood (podcast) – I have a whole bunch of podcasts that I want to listen to, except I have a completionist personality, so I always want to start from the very beginning and listen to every single episode (or most of them). So that’s what I’m doing with Noble Blood, which has over 280 episodes in its queue. Luckily, the episodes are short, so I try to listen to a few at a time. I really love the setup of this podcast, where host Dana Schwartz walks you through a fascinating tale about a royal from history. There’s a lot of tragedy in the noble line! Each episode almost feels like a vignette, and Dana’s soothing voice brings me right into the story.
- Chappell Roan, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (album) – Chappell Roan’s album came out in 2023, and this is the first time I’m giving it a listen. I like it, but don’t love it. Favorite songs: Femininomenon, After Midnight, HOT TO GO!, and My Kink is Karma.
BOUGHT
- Throw pillows – I’ve been on the hunt for new throw pillows for my couch, and I found the perfect ones at Home Goods. While they weren’t cheap ($25 per pillow), I couldn’t help myself. They feel like relaxing on a cloud!
- Planner notepad/habit tracker – I used my expensive planner for a good 3 months before I gave it up for something else. Now, I’m using this planner pad to write out my weekly to-dos and get an idea of my week at a glance. I also bought a habit tracker so I can check things off throughout the month, which has been very satisfying.
- Keurig – I mentioned this in a previous post, but my beloved Keurig broke last month, and I didn’t waste any time ordering a new one. I can’t live without my coffee!
LOVED
- My reading retreat – My reading retreat was everything I hoped it would be! I am so glad I gave myself the gift of a reading retreat, and it will definitely become an annual tradition for me.
- Our reading crawl – My friends and I met up for a reading crawl downtown, where we visited multiple bookstores and clocked 2.5 hours of reading time total. There was also a lot of chit-chat involved, don’t you worry!
- A peaceful mom – My mom is thriving. She is making her house her own, enjoying the quiet, and seems to have more energy and pep in her step. When I told her I noticed a difference in her, she said that what she felt most was peace. And I couldn’t ask for anything better than that.
LOATHED
- Steroid side effects – The side effects from being on prednisone for three months started to take their toll. I’m dealing with puffiness, heartburn, overheating… I’m very much ready to wean off the steroids, but I don’t think we’re quite there yet with my pain management. All in due time.
- A ripped reading chair – Oh, my beloved reading chair! It ripped one evening, and I was so disappointed! Thankfully, my sewing wizard Mikaela was able to sew it up for me, and I was delighted to have my baby back.
- Grief – The saddest part of the month was saying goodbye to a dear friend’s beloved dog. This came as a surprise, as she found out on the last day of March that her dog had cancer, and within a few weeks, she knew it was time to let him go. My heart is so broken.
SUPERLATIVES
- This month’s chapter title: Booked & Busy
- Weather notes: It’s hot. It’s going to get hotter. I’m trying to prepare myself.
- Favorite meal/snack: I nearly devoured an entire large pizza by myself from my favorite local pizza place one evening (I’m blaming that intense steroid hunger because I am not someone who can do that ever!)
- Something I learned: I’m learning a lot about codependency in therapy. Specifically with my mom and the intense fear I have of failing her as a daughter. (There’s a lot more I can say on this topic, and maybe someday I will. Right now, there’s been a lot of excavating emotions during therapy.)
- An unexpected delight: A full belly laugh during game night that came with tears, wheezing for breath, and aching ribs. Nothing like it!
What’s something you watched in April?
You’ll never. believe this, but I started watching Friends as well! I’m something like 6 episodes in to season 1. It’s no Seinfeld but it’s a nice comfort watch. I started Margo’s Got Money Troubles as well, and so far I like it, though of course the book was better.
Go Mom go!!!! I’m excited for her.
I’m so sorry for you friend. It sounds very similar to what we went through with with Stepdog. She was living her best older dog life, and then out of nowhere she stopped eating and a few weeks later she was gone.
I really want to watch Margo’s Got Money Troubles, but I don’t have Apple TV. I might do a 1-2 month subscription when all of the episodes have been released and try to knock out some other Apple TV shows I’ve missed.
YESSSS Project Hail Mary!!! It was SUCH a good movie. I was really impressed with the representation of Rocky and with the acting. I never really thought about how challenging it would be to pretty much act alongside a puppet for the majority of the movie. I had never really been a Ryan Gosling fan, but I AM NOW.
One of our old neighbors let us know last month that her dog — who was beloved by my daughter — crossed the rainbow bridge. It’s so sad when a pet dies, even when it’s not YOUR pet.
Okay, as a person who also has an intense fear of failing her parents, I am really interested in your therapeutic revelations on the topic. I completely understand that this is highly personal (and, if my own experience is any indication, highly emotional), but if and when you are ready to write about it, I would be super interested in your thoughts and takeaways.
I LOVE that your mom is feeling so settled and peaceful. That must be joyful to witness.
I loved, loved, loved Rocky so much! He was sensational in the book AND on the screen. It was a great adaptation!
I will definitely try to get my thoughts together about my fear of failure in regards to my mom. It’s crazy because she’s never put any pressure on me to be perfect, but I still feel like I have to be the Best Daughter Ever or else I’ll make her sad. Sigh!
I never could get into New Girl. During April, we watched many episodes of Corner Gas. It’s a Canadian comedy that ran from 2004 to 2009, and we thought it was so hilarious! We’d never heard of it before, and just stumbled across it.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who isn’t a huge fan of New Girl. It just isn’t working for me, and it’s time to give it up.
So excited that Michelle watched Corner Gas – I loved that show and as someone who has a lot of relatives in Saskatchewan, and spent many a summer there, it was extremely resonant!
I am in the queue for Yesteryear and Best Offer Wins; it’s not too bad – I’m number 10 for the latter and number 43 for the former, so maybe it won’t be too long.
Oh goodness, I am excited to hear your thoughts on BOTH of those books. Let’s hope they come sooner than expected!
Aww, I am so glad you liked Project Hail Mary. Yay!
OMG, before I read this this am I was thinking about texting you to ask how you and your mom are. I am so delighted to read she is thriving and seems more at peace. Wonderful!
I am so sorry about your friend’s dog. What a shock 🙁
It sounds like therapy is going well/useful. Yay!
I also watched PHM in April! 🙂
You are so sweet! She is doing really well, and it even seems like the dogs are thriving, too.
PHM was soooo good!
Ugh, steroids. They are a miracle drug for pain but otherwise HORRIBLE TO BE ONE. IYKYK. I am off them and hope to stay off them for a long time but I’ve been on them so much over the last 3-4 years. It’s so depressing as I rarely took them before I started having kids, outside of when I was initially dx’d w/ RA. I hope you can taper off of them soon. The craving and hunger ARE REAL!
I’m sorry to hear about your friend’s dog passing. I hope it wasn’t Bri’s? I feel like I know her dogs since they get mentioned a lot on the pod!
April was not my favorite but that’s not for any particular reason. It just felt like such a meh month. The weather did not help. We had some nice days but so many COLD days. Yesterday the highs didn’t get out of the 40s. That is too cold for April!
I’m so glad you’re off prednisone! That’s amazing!! I am hoping that changing to 25mg mtx will help get me to a place where I can even THINK about tapering. My blood work is improving in some respects, but then the steroids are making other numbers go crazy, ugh.
Highs in the 40s in April is unacceptable!
I’ve been watching the new season of Taskmaster. We also finished Shrinking. Shrinking makes me really sad, though.
I don’t actually enjoy Noble Blood all that much, but Dana Schwartz has a podcast with a co-host called Hoax! that I have been enjoying a lot recently.
I didn’t know about Hoax! I’ll have to give it a listen, too.
Just as a complete outsider with only the most superficial perspective- you and your mom have such a wonderful relationship! You’re so supportive of each other, and seem to really enjoy each other’s company. Now I, on the other hand, am dealing with a daughter who has frankly had some disappointing moments lately, but I would still never feel like she failed me. She’s my daughter and I love her no matter what, and I’m sure your mom feels the same way. I know that’s not a substitute for therapy, but it’s just my two cents.
Sorry about your friend’s dog. It’s so sad!!! Why do they have to leave us?
Thank you, Jenny. That perspective does help a lot! I don’t even know where this fear of failing her came from because it was certainly not from her! Maybe just societal expectations? IDK. It’s been very interesting excavating all of these emotions during therapy!
What a month you had! I’m glad to hear that your mom is thriving! What a relief. I know this isn’t your story to tell, but how long were she and your stepdad married?
I’m so sorry about your friend’s dog. When Mulder first came down with Lymphoma, we were told it’s a really fast cancer, and without treatment he would only last a few weeks. That was shocking, because he had just been to the vet a month before for his annual physical and got a clean bill of health, and when he was diagnosed, he felt absolutely fine. That decision to put him through chemo was a really difficult. It’s a lot of money, and it wasn’t easy on him, and in the end it only gave us a few months post treatment. But we didn’t know that, some dogs get years after treatment, and we were so hopeful. Ugh, I’m making this all about me (again, I do that a lot). Really, I’m just so sorry for your friend. Losing a beloved pet is heartbreaking.
They had just celebrated 10 years last year! This has been a very good change for her, and our family. <3
I think they also had the option for chemo but it would only give them a few more months. It's so hard to lose a beloved pet. 🙁
I LOVE the Greatest Showman! We watch it at least once a year for family movie night and listen to the soundtrack all the time. It’s just such a fun movie with big feelings and big songs.
My favorite movie we watched in April was A Nice Indian Boy. It’s a sweet rom com with a big Indian wedding and Jonathan Groff who is so pretty.
I love hearing the update of your mom. I’m so glad for her.
I need to add some of the songs from The Greatest Showman to my playlist. It was such a great movie!
Jonathan Groff 4everrrrr