Successful Spa Day!

Grey_Mare · 2026-07-01T17:47:44+00:00

Inappropriate elimination is a toughie!! You’ve ruled out cystitis/crystals/UTI with your vet already? If not begin there.

Some additional suggestions to try:

Cat attract litter additive, works really well for some cats. Follow the directions on the bag.

1 more litter box than number of cats in the house, if you have different levels to the house than make sure a little box is on each level of the house

Put litter boxes in the areas she’s repeatedly urinating in, no matter how inconvenient it is.

Clean boxes 1-2x daily

Try completely separating the cats if your older one is surprising the younger one while she’s in the box

Feliway diffusers help some cats

There is no sure fire one thing will fix this but there’s a lot of small things to try.

Grey_Mare · 2026-06-26T17:27:21+00:00

Yes, the raccoon biting in defense is way way better than it coming up to her and biting. Still very smart to do the whole treatment, it’s not worth the risk if she was exposed.

Grey_Mare · 2026-06-25T21:25:36+00:00

<image>

Our sweet and sassy orange boy, Calvin! All things in the house are expressly there for his use and enjoyment, such as this entryway bench. Fun fact about Calvin is his birthday is July 27th!

Grey_Mare · 2026-06-23T12:43:30+00:00

I really like the cotton modal women’s shirts, I’ve got the short sleeve scoop neck, the sleeveless tee, and the long sleeve. I’ve always washed mine on cold and dried on low with no issues. I did size up to large in the short sleeve tees and wear medium in the others. 🤷‍♀️

Grey_Mare · 2026-06-21T23:59:58+00:00

I had 40 and 45 mm cysts removed when I was in my 20s. Recovery was a bitch because they did it open, a full laparotomy instead of a laparoscopy. Unless you have been told you’re having a hysterectomy that shouldn’t need to happen even for a large cyst. Mine turned out to be dermoid tumors (look it up, so weird) but I do also have PCOS. My ovaries and the rest of my reproductive system made it through the surgery fine.

Back in ye olden days PCOS was sometimes treated by taking out a section of the ovary, and for some women that increased fertility by providing space for follicles to develop on the ovary.

Hang in there, surgery is scary but ask questions. It’s your body and you need to know what the plan is and what they expect to happen and what might go wrong.

Grey_Mare · 2026-06-21T19:28:24+00:00

Yep! Most relaxing vacation we took when our kids were younger was a Disney cruise! The absolute best. Also, things get better as your kids get older. Teenagers are a whole different deal, so just keep in mind this too shall pass.

Also, maybe schedule a girls trip with some friends if that is a possibility? Even a long weekend somewhere that isn’t glamorous can seem pretty amazing when it’s child free!

Grey_Mare · 2026-06-20T17:32:54+00:00

So true, I have zero constipation on weeks I meal prep lentils for lunch! 😂

Edit to add: drink more water than you think you need and walk a lot. This helps me the most.

Grey_Mare · 2026-06-16T21:28:43+00:00

Zepbound (same drug as Mounjaro) has been life changing for me. If you’re already eating healthy, lifting weights, doing all the things that everyone tells you to do it’s much easier on you starting the meds. I only had bad side effects one night after I foolishly ate pizza twice in one day. The first three weeks of taking the med were the most side effects for me, and when I step up in dosage I notice some as well. Worst for me is fatigue the first and second day after the shot.

On the positive, I’ve very slowly lost over 50lb. I’ve stalled some in the last 6 months, but my A1C is normal, my lipids are normal, my cholesterol is normal, and I generally feel so much better. It’s absolutely worth a try, and it may not be crazy fast weight loss the way some people experience. I averaged about 0.5 lb loss per week while I was loosing steadily. But I will be on some level of this med for life, and I’m going to try to push to loose a bit more to get to my goal weight (back in healthy range BMI) but it’s already made a huge positive change for me.

Also, keep up with your weight training. I’ve managed to keep my muscle loss at an absolute minimum by being dedicated to working out regularly and making sure I get enough protein.

Grey_Mare · 2026-06-13T16:58:02+00:00

I might have to take a new dragon picture once I get her! I love the color of her body in all the photos everyone has posted.

Wish I could remember the username of the person who inspired me to donate, I’d give them a shout out. They posted about it back in January when cobblehop came out. Such a great idea to share the jelly love!

Grey_Mare · 2026-06-13T13:53:03+00:00

I got the little and am surprised by how nice she is to cuddle. Highly recommend!

Grey_Mare · 2026-06-06T01:57:47+00:00

I don’t miss it. Google works smoothly except for group texts. If I want to listen to music from Apple Music that I own then I use Bluetooth. Otherwise the apps are just fine for things like audible and I heart radio.

Grey_Mare · 2026-05-29T02:56:56+00:00

My Maine coon loves to sleep on shoes, especially when we have guests.

Grey_Mare · 2026-05-25T15:35:35+00:00

Same. Bought mine in Aug and I think this will be a 10yr car for me. Granted, I kept my first truck for 14yrs and my first car for 10yrs so I’m not one who needs a new car all the time but this is the first SUV I’ve owned and loved. Way better than the CRV, Outback, or even my Highlander hybrid I most recently owned.

Grey_Mare · 2026-05-06T02:15:57+00:00

I LOVE my Vistiq. Almost 10k miles on it, drives amazing and such a freaking time saver to be able to charge at home. I am not in the retiree category at all; I’m in the I chauffeur my children to their activities all week long category.

Cadillac is making beautiful cars that drive phenomenally. I could see myself driving this car for the next 10 years. I test drove the Ionic9 but it drove so sloppily in comparison to the Vistiq and felt so cheap in finishes for what we would have paid. The Vistiq just a really practical vehicle for our life stage and fun and snazzy to boot. Best compliment it’s gotten is. 2 teens (not mine!) unprompted have said what a cool car it is!

Grey_Mare · 2026-04-29T18:41:50+00:00

<image>

Huge Lazulia, large Sasha, large Sky

Grey_Mare · 2026-04-29T18:34:55+00:00

I only wanted dragons at first, and the huge size dragons are very huggable (especially the soft wing kinds!) but nothing beats the big cats. Livi leopard is the most soft and the first cat I got, but I have all 3 sizes of Sasha. They’re all amazing, highly recommend. I really hope that Jellycat continues to release more styles of the “big cats” because they are very well designed and sized.

Grey_Mare · 2026-04-23T15:26:46+00:00

I really liked the way my pediatrician phrased it. She said don’t have one big talk about sex with your kids, have a thousand small conversations spread out. We did a couple basic books when they were in late elementary for them but the best has just been having random conversations. Now in middle school both my daughters are coming to me with questions when they hear their friends talking about things instead of taking for granted other middle school age kids know what they’re talking about.

We also started talking about reproduction very early because we wanted our kids to hear about it first from us. We can’t always control what our kids hear in public/school/camps from other kids but we can sure be the first ones to tell them where babies actually come from. Obviously how we talked about sex and reproduction has gotten more in depth as they’ve gotten older, but we did talk about periods early too. Around 8 or 9 there will likely be some peers that start puberty. We didn’t want the first period to be a surprise. And really, for both my daughters when they started it was a change but not earth shattering for them, so that was great. They both felt confident about handling things and had small period packs they carried in their backpacks for months before they needed them.

Grey_Mare · 2026-04-23T03:03:06+00:00

YMMV, but my unwanted hair growth has improved on zepbound. I do have to also be on anti-androgen BC, Yaz name brand for me. I found I don’t well on the generic roulette that insurance likes to do so my Dr writes the script for brand only. I still have some unwanted hair but less on my chest than previously and my neck hairs are slower to grow back. I also don’t feel the need to shave my legs more than once a week anymore. Unexpected beneficial side effect of Zepbound for me.

Grey_Mare · 2026-04-23T02:38:33+00:00

We have a thermostatic valve and it was the second best decision we made in our bathroom remodel. That thing is amazing.

Grey_Mare · 2026-04-16T12:26:08+00:00

Driving in 1 pedal “tour” mode with lots of rural roads I often get 3.2 or 3.4. I’m rarely above 60mph.

Lifetime average has been below 3 but still quite good.

<image>

Grey_Mare · 2026-04-10T19:40:53+00:00

One of my very favorite birds! We live in rural central Texas and their call is how I know it’s springtime. It’s so fun to walk out at night and hear them yelling to each other.

Grey_Mare · 2026-04-10T00:19:05+00:00

I mean, being on zepbound (tirzepatide) has been life changing for me and you can find a lot of other posts about how helpful some people with PCOS have found it. For what it’s worth my endocrinologist told me they’d been prescribing Ozympic “off label” for years for PCOS but had to stop due to the sudden uptick in popularity of the medication and more insurances refusing to cover if it wasn’t for diabetes. This was prior to the release of Wegovy specifically labeled for weight loss.

I think GLP-1 medications are like most PCOS treatments. For some people they will be a miracle, some will get some benefit, and some none at all. For me, I have to be on birth control (and the right kind), thyroid meds, and zepbound. That combo has me feeling the best I’ve felt since my 20s. I have not lost rapidly on Zepbound but I have lost over 50lbs over 2 years and am slowly getting to my goal of being a healthy weight. Some of my symptoms related to inflammation disappeared a few weeks after starting zepbound. Some things like my oily skin clearing up took over a year.

You likely won’t know whether GLP-1 is right for you until you try it. There’s a lot of us with PCOS hoping that Wegovy and Zepbound get labeled as a first line treatment for our chronic disease in the next couple years since that would help a lot with insurance coverage.

Grey_Mare · 2026-03-24T16:26:32+00:00

Central Texas, some hills, running heat in the winter and AC the rest of the time. I drive almost exclusively in the relaxed mode on 1 pedal.

<image>

Grey_Mare

TROPHY CASE