Hello lovely people!

I’m sorry for the quiet here the past couple of weeks. Puppy has taken a lot of time and energy.

Before I get to all the fun stuff (though really, this should all be fun stuff!), I want to give you a peek of what’s coming up on my blog this month!

The August Agenda is…

(And hopefully some of this will already be written by the time this post you’re reading goes live!)

High Tea & Fantasy

Finally! There won’t be a book giveaway this month (the budget is tight), but there will be a cookie & tea giveaway!

The Way, The Truth, The Life

With everything going on in the world (Unless you’re living under a rock and have no idea what I’m talking about. And if so, I want to know how you accomplish this. :P), I have a few thoughts. As any Christian should.

Another edition of ‘Picking Their Brains’!

Guest this month is Patricia Lynne! She’s just relaunched her book, Snapshots.The ebook version is on sale for 99 cents through August 4th, so you should go check it out! She’s also got a giveaway going for a couple more days.

Down on the (Sub)Urban Farm

Tomato jungle. That is all I have to say currently.

Bekah’s Pinterest Picks

Yes, I’m adding a new feature, but I think it’s one I’ll be able to keep up with. Because I really like Pinterest… just not as a social media site. I’ve gotten zero blog hits from Pinterest, but I love finding new recipes and crafty projects on there. So I’m totally going to share the things I love with you!

And a few other random things!

So… otherwise…

It’s been crazy.

First up, though! Puppy name!

We have decided on… Bear.

Beorn got the most votes on the poll, and I tried it out for a few days. What it came down to, though, was which name was easiest to, well, bellow across the house.

Because if you’ve ever had a pet (or possibly children), you know that the bellow holds a lot of power.

And some names are easier to bellow than others.

At the same time we (I, rather. Hubby was at work.) took Bear to get his 8 week booster shots, Winnie also went in for a basic check-up and some blood work. Because she’s nearly 14 years old.

I won’t deny it – I ended up breaking down in the car halfway to the vet’s office, because I realized the last time I’d driven to the vet was to take Tabby in for the last time.

It was a bit nerve-wracking, too. Because Winnie is now older than Tabby ever was (which is both a relief and… a heartache). She’s well past the age of when we need to start watching her, to catch anything early.

And her blood work wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t terrible, either, though.

Her kidneys are fine, and almost everything else, for that matter. But she has hyperthyroidism. Which Laura (the vet/best friend) has assured us that out of everything for a geriatric cat to have go wrong, this is the best pick.

But the hyperthyroid explains why she’s been looking a bit skinny – her metabolism is basically on overdrive. She weighed barely more than 9 lbs at the vet’s. This is a cat who is barely chubby at 13 lbs. She’s not a small cat.

We have two options for her treatment. We can manage the hyperthyroidism with medication that will essentially suppress thyroid function, or she can get a radiation treatment that will cure the hyperthyroidism.

Obviously, the second one would be the better option, because it’s a cure. There’s just two hitches. It’s expensive ($1000-$1200), and she would have to be GONE. For 14 days.

With little-to-no human interaction. Because she’d be radioactive.

If you’ve met Winnie (because several of you know me in person :P), you know that Winnie THRIVES on human interaction. If you’re a stranger? She doesn’t care. Just pet her, and you’re good friends.

The money’s a big hurdle. But knowing if she can handle that much time away from us is the harder one. In the meantime, while we save money, she’ll be on medication.

But as I said – the radiation would be a cure. Medication isn’t.

I wish there had been a cure for Tabby. And I’m so grateful there is one for Winnie.

But I still have to figure out how to pay for it. Anyone want to buy bread? I’ve been told I make some really yummy bread. Also, pizza. I can totally open a pizza cafe in my dining room, right? (I’m only half kidding here…)

Moving on to, well, ME…

I’m feeling better. Sort of.

I’m tired. So very tired. But I blame a lot of that on puppy.

But I can’t blame all of it on him.

Overall, as I said, though, I’m feeling better. I’ve been drinking 2-3 cups of hibiscus tea every day for the past… two weeks? Three? I can definitely tell an improvement. I also learned a pleasant surprise about hibiscus tea – it is also used to treat menstrual cramps. That was a very pleasant discovery, indeed.

I’ve slacked on my health journal since we got the puppy. Though I’m not sure ‘slacked’ is the right term. Rather, I’ve not been able to find time for it. Puppies require so much attention – especially when they like to try and eat the sofa.

But keeping track of things consistently for nearly two weeks helped a lot.

There is definitely a correlation between what I eat and my energy level the next day. If I ate (a lot of) highly processed food one day? I was extremely tired/sluggish the next day. One little thing wouldn’t do much, but if I, say, splurged and had McDonald’s for breakfast, and then had to grab something for lunch at Quik Trip on the way home from running errands? I paid for it the next day.

Caffeine definitely helps my migraines. I’ve had… maybe 5 migraines START the past 3-4 weeks, and only two of them made it to the point of actual migraine, because I wasn’t able to get hold of caffeine in time, though one of them hit so fast it was ridiculous.

I’m just not sure about the whole… not having energy thing. When I went to the doctor last year, he checked my thyroid (well within normal ranges), iron levels (also normal), and the echocardiogram ruled out anything with my heart. The only thing out of the standard tests that came back not good was my vitamin D levels. Well, besides my blood pressure. But taking supplements for the vitamin D consistently didn’t help with energy. So… hm.

What I’ve noticed most it that my mindset is changing. Obviously, I can’t accomplish as much in a day as most people can. And for a while, I’ve let that translate into “Then why should I try and accomplish anything?”

But I can accomplish things. Even if I can only do twenty minutes of something at a time. Sometimes only even five minutes.

I’m procrastinating less. Because if I don’t do something now… sometimes it means I can’t do it again for a month.

The hardest part is eating healthy with all of this going on. Because healthy food requires prep, and something as simple as chopping veggies for a salad can take me an hour. It’s frustrating.

I’m learning that there are times I work through being tired, and times where I have to stop. Sometimes the most difficult part is telling the difference between the two.

I’m asking for help more often – even if it’s something as simple as asking my sister to help with dinner, or for hubby to carry something for me, or someone else to do the dinner dishes after I cooked the whole meal.

I’m figuring out how to maintain my house as simply as possible. And sometimes that means there is grass tracked through the house for a few days, because sweeping is too exhausting.

If anyone has suggestions for how to keep things simple(r) – meals, housework, etc – I am all ears.

Just because I can’t do as much as most people doesn’t mean I want to ‘doing’ stop all together. I still have too many stories to tell.

(And I’m so sorry for all the rambling. Oops.)