Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Health’ Category

Friday Five – The Hyperfocus Is In

Posted in Denton, Food, Friday Five, Getting It Together, Health, Home, Mental Health, Quiet, Reading Challenges, Work on February 2, 2024| Leave a Comment »

It’s been a nutty couple of weeks. I feel more settled at work than I did in early-to-mid-January, probably because the semester is getting underway and everyone is falling back to their routines. Either that, or I have successfully adopted a more relaxed, whatever-gets-done-is-enough attitude (less likely, but still remotely possible). Also, I’m getting more done, so it may just be that that feels good. Regardless of the reason, I’ll take it. 

Meanwhile, I am super focused on a few key things. At home, I am nesting like I’m expecting a new baby. I am constructing an elaborate meal plan that I may actually use occasionally when I feel up to it in the next few months. And the information-sponge part (erm, majority?) of my personality is in overdrive. About everything. Mostly health stuff, but it’s hard to turn it off when it’s time to talk about something else. Yesterday at an appointment the nurse said, “This may be too much information.” No such thing, friend. No. Such. Thing.

However, I am enjoying super easy weekends and shall continue to do so while I’m going through treatment so as not to tax my system any more than necessary or cause any delays. In the perfect world, I would take this opportunity to learn how absolutely essential easy weekends are to my life and general well-being and keep them indefinitely. One can hope.

Here are some things I’m enjoying lately:

  • One of the wonderful things about reading challenges is that I get prompts that remind me of things I love. Nowhere Bookshop’s challenge encourages us to read our “Roman Empire” book – a book about any topic that lives a solid rent-free existence in our heads. One of my proverbial Roman Empires is architecture, specifically house plans. I think about how building homes could not only be useful as a career but also make opportunities to provide shelter and safety for others as well as build communities. I think about it a lot. I have several rough sketches for houses – everything from small bungalows to large spaces with full libraries and indoor pools. Also, I LOVE BLUEPRINTS. This prompt has me deep-diving into this topic that gives me so much joy. Look at these tiny house plans! How cute are they? And I adore the whimsy of this one. I mean, I would need a whole second tiny house just for my books, but I love the creative, economical use of space. Anyway, I put a lot of books on hold at the library about this, so I think I will have this prompt more than covered.
  • Also…I like this article. Not making any plans (for now or in the near future). I just like it.
  • I love cottagecore. Not so much the clothing or decorating style (although I do love roses and carnations and tend to decorate with both, even after they’re dead), but the lifestyle elements. Container gardens, reusing scraps, knitting my own blankets, slow food. Focusing on less waste and more creativity. Great quote – “We can choose to create a world for ourselves filled with gentle moments, while also considering how we can make our homes a place of cultivation instead of a place to store ‘things.’” This also slides right in line with my current nesting habits.
  • I’ve been looking for recipes recently that are high in protein and fiber. I’ve been in a bit of a food rut, but most of these and these look good to me. Perhaps I’ll try one or two of them this weekend (lookin’ at you, sweet potato).
  • I know they’ve reached their goal already, but these are some of the most talented baristas in Denton, and I want them to have all they need and more while they look for their next gig. So if you have a little love (and by love, I do mean cash) to throw their way, please do. Also, there’s going to be a fundraiser at Rubber Gloves, so swing by if you’re in Denton on February 10.

Take care this weekend (and all the time, really), friends. I hope it’s relaxing and fun and everything you want it to be!

Read Full Post »

Friday Five – What’s Going On These Days

Posted in Books, Food, Friday Five, Health, Home, Mental Health, Quiet on January 19, 2024| 2 Comments »

This week. Whew. Glad it’s almost over and that my weekend is mostly relaxing. I’m really leaning into my quiet theme as much as I can. That’s been helpful.

Here are some things from this week:

  • In health news – I have been diagnosed with breast cancer. I also have a gastro issue that will eventually require surgery and I’m trying to get my unruly cholesterol under control, but cancer is the prime target right now. Treatment looks like a few months of chemo, then surgery, then probably more chemo and radiation to finish up. Beyond the basic updates, I still don’t know how much I’m going to talk about it here. This is one of my happy places on the internet (although I may have a rant for you at some point about the medical billing process as I have experienced it because…wow), so I think I mostly want to keep it that way. But I wanted to let you know so that if I am not posting here as often, you’ll know why. Or I could post more often because I tend to get chatty when I’m stressed. Who knows how it will actually go. In either case, that is likely the reason. 
  • The Library at the Edge of the World by Felicity Hayes-McCoy – This one was slow to start for me, but overall I really enjoyed it. What’s not to love about a book set in Ireland about a somewhat curmudgeonly librarian who joins forces with her community to save the library and local businesses. And also she is restoring an old house that her aunt left to her on the side. This storyline checks a lot of my favorite cozy boxes. Can I just move my own self into that scenario? Because it sounds lovely.
  • Night Will Find You by Julia Heaberlin – This was not my favorite of her books. It may just be because I listened to it instead of reading it. The reader wasn’t necessarily bad, but I think I would have preferred the voice in my head. It was hard to maintain focus and I had to rewind a lot. Of course, it’s also possible that I just am not focusing well in general right now, and that isn’t really a reflection of the book. So maybe I’ll give it another chance at some point.
  • This article on the concept of bookshelf wealth is wild. I still don’t really get what the term means. It seems others also can’t agree about what constitutes true wealth when it comes to book collections and the shelves on which they reside. I feel like I’m firmly in the “who cares about being wealthy – just give me all the books and places to keep them” camp. Occasional dramatic treasures like this, however, are the whole reason I keep my NYT subscription (although I advise waiting to sign up when it’s discounted – then when you call to cancel after the trial year, they’ll often offer you a similar low price for the next year). 
  • I haven’t had much of an appetite, and I’ve been adjusting my diet lately (because all the reasons) to help me feel my best and have the most energy I possibly can. For me, that mostly looks like limiting sugar, dairy, soy, and fatty meats but getting more protein and drinking lots of water. I’ve also noticed that I’ll find a certain food that tastes good and ONLY want that for several days in a row, so apparently my neurospiciness is in full control of the appetite. I’m on a pretty serious persimmon kick these days. But almost everything on this Food 52 vegan list looks DELICIOUS. I’ll be trying a few of these recipes in the next few weeks for sure. 

I hope you’re having a good day and that your weekend is exactly what you want it to be!

Read Full Post »

Friday Five – Great Books To Start the Year

Posted in Books, Friday Five, Health, Reading Challenges, Resolutions on January 12, 2024| Leave a Comment »

I thought about continuing my mini-reviews of the books I’m reading according to their reading challenge. But since some books count for multiple challenges, that seems like a lot to keep up with. So I think what I’m going to do is scatter a few in there and maybe have an occasional extra post for the rest unless I find a way to do it that I like better. Or, as with this post, I may just extend my five-item limit on weeks when I have more books, etc., than bullet points to talk about (five is less of a rule and more of a guideline). One thing is for sure – I love talking about what I’m reading/have read, so I’ll be sure to keep you posted.

Here are some things that have been meaningful to me this week (and a little bit of last week):

  • Anderson Cooper on grief and his resolution to stop suffering in silence this year. 
  • The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry – Almost every year, on New Year’s Day, it is my custom to read this small book. It is chock full of all sorts of gentle wisdom, and it’s easily one of my top five favorite books of all time. The quote that stuck out to me this year goes along with my quiet theme. “I have always loved the desert. One sits down on a desert sand dune, sees nothing, hears nothing. Yet through the silence something throbs, and gleams…” There is a lot of uncertainty in my life right now (I mean, more than usual – there’s always uncertainty for everyone). But I know that even though I don’t have definitive answers, there is still much to hear and learn. So I’m going to sit on my proverbial sand dune and listen.
  • Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood – So cute! Like all of Hazelwood’s books, this one had a lovable main character who, from the outside, was infuriating because it was so obvious that the love interest was totally gaga over her but of course, she thought the opposite. From the inside, however, she was totally relatable because I also am oblivious and can totally see how she didn’t pick up on the very clear signs. This was the author’s first YA novel, and it was great.
  • Self-Care for People With ADHD by Sasha Hamdani, MD – I follow Dr. Hamdani on Instagram, and her advice there is so poignant, so when I saw that she had this book out, I scooped it up. A lot of the tips in the book are pretty standard for neurospicy folks, and it would be a good reference for people who are just discovering their specific challenges. The work and social self-care sections were the most useful for me.
  • Tom Lake by Ann Patchett – Ann Patchett is one of my favorite authors, and Meryl Streep read the audiobook, so picking this one up as soon as I could was a no-brainer for me. I love the way she writes family dynamics. It was a strong, charming story made even better by the expert reading by Streep.

I hope you have a relaxing weekend full of your favorite things and people!

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts