Category: Blogging

Ways to help your cat’s stuffy nose during the cold months

On By VanelyIn Blogging, cats, Hiccup, petsLeave a comment

Hello, all you lovely nocturnals and diurnals! If, by any chance, you were not aware – it’s fall already!

And, with fall, comes cold, cold, weather – ideal for cozying up next to a fire place, hot cocoa in hand, and spooky movies playing on our screens.

However, there are some not-so-good aspects of these colder seasons. Some of these being:

  • Our skin gets drier
  • Our lips get chapped
  • Our noses get stuffy

And, much like us, our furry companions can also experience some of these things – the most common being stuffy noses.

Now, I personally have my fur baby – Hiccup – who already has certain respiratory issues that, unfortunately, worsen during the cold months.

In fact, he was especially stuffy this morning, which is the reason I got the idea to write about it in my blog so that other pet owners can have these helpful tips on hand.

Disclaimer: The statements on my blog are methods that I do regularly during the week to help my cat with his nasal congestion that have, personally, worked well for him. Nonetheless, it is always best to take your pet to a licensed veterinarian to get their professional, medical advice, for your pet’s specific ailments.

Signs of a Stuffy Nose

Our cats display numerous indications of a stuffy nose. It is good to be familiarized with them so you can act proactively and help make it more comfortable for them.

These signs are:

  • Frequent Sneezing [my cat displays this sign the most]
  • Loss of Appetite
  • Audible “Stuffy” Breathing [instead of being a quiet, smooth breathing pattern, it clearly sounds stuffy]

The main cause of a stuffy nose

In Hiccup’s case, his stuffy nose tends to worsen during colder/drier months, but it is not the main cause for his stuffy nose.

Stuffy noses are symptoms of other ailments, some of them being:

  • An Upper Respiratory Infection
  • An obstruction in the nasal passages [usually identified by seeing one of their nostrils presenting discharge, while the other shows no discharge]
  • Bacterial Infection
  • Calicivirus

Note: If the nasal discharge is of an unusual color, [any color besides clear], your pet may likely need to be administered antibiotics – all the more reason to take them to a vet.

For an upper respiratory infection, it usually goes away on its own [it should not last more than 10 days]. However, we can make the process ten times easier for our little fur babies by following these steps:

1. Use Steam Therapy

Photo by: Patrick Hendry

This is my most used method to help my cat with his stuffy nose. I feel like it is the most effective one [though I use it in conjunction with other steps to help even further].

Using a Humidifier

If you have one of those small humidifiers, you can place them near where your cat likes to spend time the most. That way, while they sit/lie down there, they can breathe in the soft steam from the humidifier.

IMPORTANT: Do NOT use essential oils when turning on a humidifier for them – most are toxic to our cats and can be fatal to them. Only use water for this.

Shower Steam

I always bring Hiccup into the bathroom with me whenever I am going to take a hot shower. He usually lies down on the small bathroom rug and waits for me to be done. This is something you can do with yours as well.

While you are taking your shower, your cat will be breathing the warm steam circulating in your bathroom. This will help clear their nasal passages and feel much better.

I honestly do both of these methods – I bring the humidifier in the bathroom with me and leave it running on the floor for him.

2. Regularly Clean Their Nose

This is a good step to do right after the Steam Therapy.

Why?

Because, whatever has been stuffing your cat’s nose has now become softer, or runnier, so it is the best time to wipe their nose.

How to do this:

It is recommended to grab a cotton ball [or very soft toilet paper if you don’t have a cotton ball], and dab a little bit of warm water on it.

Afterwards, carefully wipe their nose to help clean it.

3. Provide Them With Plenty of Water

This should be something you do on a regular basis.

However, while your cat is having a stuffy nose, it is even more important to provide a fresh, clean water supply.

This way, it prompts them to be more likely to drink water which will, in turn, help with their ailment.

Thank you very much for reading! I hope this helps other pet owners out there.

Be sure to leave a comment or just drop by and say hi! ♥

~Nocturnal Blogger ♥

Blueberry Breakfast Smoothie Recipe

On By VanelyIn Blogging, food, health, kitchen3 Comments

Hello, all you lovely nocturnals and diurnals. Today, I’ll be sharing with you my personal blueberry breakfast smoothie recipe as I’m sipping it at this very moment – and every morning.

If you’d like to know where I got my sustainable, eco-friendly, glass straw – click here.

As for my smoothie recipe, keep on reading!

Blueberry Breakfast Smoothie Recipe

I have been adjusting my recipe for the past month, and I can now confidently say that I have reached the point of smoothie perfection [based on my own tastes and preferences of course].

Now, this smoothie doesn’t just have blueberries. But it is the main ingredient. I also make other smoothies that I will be detailing on other posts to come.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 CUP OF FROZEN BLUEBERRIES
  • 1/3 CUP OF FROZEN MANGOES
  • 1/3 CUP OF FROZEN PEACHES
  • 3 TBSP OF VANILLA GREEK YOGURT
  • 1 TSP OF ORGANIC MATCHA POWDER [optional]
  • 1 CUP OF SOY MILK [you can also use almond, rice, oat or any kind of milk you prefer]

STEPS

I place all of the fruit inside my blender first and add the milk, yogurt, and matcha then blend. However, depending on the size of your blender, you can start by adding the blueberries only first along with the milk, then blend, and gradually keep adding each of the fruits/ingredients.

Note: If you would like the smoothie sweeter, substitute the soy milk with either almond or rice milk. You could even add a teaspoon of honey, if you like. Additionally, you could just add 2 dates!

Benefits of having this blueberry smoothie for breakfast

For me, this smoothie has helped me in many ways and, hopefully, it helps you in the same way. I’ve listed the benefits I’ve noticed from drinking this smoothie daily for the past month.

  • Boosts mood and gives you a jumpstart to your day
  • Improves mental clarity
  • Being rich in antioxidants, it aids in having better skin
  • Has helped me in my weight loss journey
  • Deliciously filling for a good couple hours
My mason jar with my reusable, sustainable glass straw. I also sprinkle a little bit of matcha over my smoothie.

Using Eco-Friendly Materials

If you are interested in seeking sustainable/eco-friendly utensils, click here and use my 10% off coupon code: nocturnal 💗

As always, thank you so much for reading ♥ Be sure to say ‘hi’ in the comments and let me know if you try my recipe and your thoughts on it!

Nocturnal Blogger ♥

Bullet Journal Tracker Section + Blog Ideas and Brain Dump

On By VanelyIn Arts, Blogging, Bujo, crafts, creativity, Decorating, Humor, Journal, photography, Productivity3 Comments

Hello, my lovely nocturnals and diurnals! I hope you’re all doing well. The past two days have been a big blur – it doesn’t even feel like it’s been two days – and most of that can be attributed to the fact that I did not sleep for 48 hours thanks to my obsession on writing this guide for Animal Crossing’s new update.

Thanks to the lack of sleep, I currently look extremely similar to this:

Yes, I am – to say the least – an Animal Crossing fan. So, you can expect more posts like those to come. I was thinking about showing some neat tricks as well as showcasing parts of my island. Let me know what you’d like to see!

Jumping right back to this particular post, I just wanted to share my bujo tracker along with other sections that I will [hopefully] be filling out as the days go by.

Here they are:

Bullet Journal Tracker

Bullet Journal Tracker

Now, I don’t know if everyone is just super fast, or I am super slow [or both lol] but, it took me a good hour for me to make this.

And even then, it’s not even complete because I am not sure what else I’d like to keep track of other than my moods – but I’d like to use a whole individual section/page for that one.

I want to know, what do you put in your bujo tracker? By letting me know, I might get inspired and want to add it to my own. Right now, I have 4 empty spaces and I’m at a loss on what to write in them.

You’ve probably noticed some new items…

Yes, I got new items from Ali Express and I’m so excited to try them all! I’ve already tried one of them, however. And they’re in the picture above – can you guess what the new item I tried is? I also ordered letter stamps from Ali Express, and made a blog post about my thoughts on the products, so go check it out for yourself!

My Blog Ideas / Brain Dump Section

Bullet Journal Tracker Ideas

It’s pretty minimalistic and somewhat vintage-y in a way [which is exactly what I was going for]. Now, I know this is a far cry from my October Monthly Spread Theme, but after spending 3+ hours working on that cover page alone, I started to seriously consider if it was worth it to have a migraine for the rest of the day if I kept on doing those detailed spreads. Now, that’s not to say I won’t ever do a schmancy, cute spread again, but I won’t for a little while at least.

Another thing about this particular section is that the number 10 keeps bothering my eyes. I dislike the fact that the zero is so far apart from the one.

Anyway, I’m getting the hang of the letter stamps, I promise!

Printable October Calendar

I know, right? I can’t believe I actually created this from scratch.

I am weirdly proud of it.

Do you think I should make more printable calendars? Or should I stick to writing and call it a day? Lol

Welp, that is all for tonight! It’s currently 2:01am here in Germany and I should get some sleep.

Leave a comment and say hi? ♥

Happy October, everyone!

Nocturnal Blogger ♥

Latest Blog Posts ♥

The day I went to a blueberry farm and picked fresh blueberries for the first time

Hello there my lovely nocturnals and diurnals – I hope your week is off to a wonderful start. Lately, I have been reminiscing of better times – like the summer of 2019. It was the best summer of my life, hands down. The reasons for this being: My siblings came and spent the summer with …

Continue reading The day I went to a blueberry farm and picked fresh blueberries for the first time

by Vanely

5 things that you can do with your time instead of staring at your phone all day

Welcome back, all you lovely nocturnals and diurnals ♥ Listen, I get it, our phones are portals to the magical realm that is the internet and, with it, adorable kitten videos, aesthetic youtube vlogs, and those buzzfeed quizzes that tell us what kind of dog we are, BUT… you need to stop staring at your …

Continue reading 5 things that you can do with your time instead of staring at your phone all day

by Vanely

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The day I went to a blueberry farm and picked fresh blueberries for the first time

On By VanelyIn Adventure, Anecdotes, Blogging, cats, Family, Germany, Humor, Nature, pets, Travel3 Comments

Hello there my lovely nocturnals and diurnals – I hope your week is off to a wonderful start.

Lately, I have been reminiscing of better times – like the summer of 2019. It was the best summer of my life, hands down. The reasons for this being:

  • My siblings came and spent the summer with me
  • We traveled all over Germany and Prague
  • There was no pandemic present

At the time, I had only been living in Germany for a couple of months and hadn’t yet experienced the summer here. However, for my siblings, it was their first time ever in a foreign country – it’s safe to say we were all very excited for the summer.

We decided to go to this blueberry farm one August evening – we got there at around 7pm and left around 8pm, and the crazy thing was that the sun was only just starting to set at 8pm. It was the perfect opportunity for golden-hour photos while picking fresh blueberries.

Proudly showing off my basket full of fresh berries. Don’t let my face fool you – I was actually ecstatic to be there picking blueberries, but the sun was strong that day.

As you can probably tell from my face in the picture above, the sun’s rays were mercilessly attacking my eyes. Nonetheless, I tried to appear as unbothered and natural as possible – to no avail lol.

Back to the blueberries, I have to say that I didn’t know they would be this color when unripe. I genuinely thought they would be green for some reason, but these colors are way prettier – they ranged from creamy-peach colors, to pink, to mauve.

I had fun selecting berries from each of the shrubs!

And now, the main event, is something that I was increasingly happy about:

There was a CAT on the farm!

If you know me at all, you’d be aware that my love for cats runs deep. So, to see a cat on the blueberry farm was the highlight of everything.

Cat Spotted

I was so happy to see this little guy there! I think it’s a British Shorthair – what do you think?

That majestic feline graced me with the honor of allowing me to take its picture before it decided to avoid me for the rest of the evening. I managed to get another shot in [without counting the various videos I may or may not have taken of this lovely creature]:

I know, he loves me.

He totally loved me. It’s 100% apparent on his face.

My berry basket

I absolutely loved this day and would relive it if I could. Just writing about this day made me feel, for the briefest moment, like I was back there picking fresh berries.

These were, without a doubt, the sweetest, best blueberries I’ve ever had. I’m sad I didn’t go this year – but I will hopefully go the next!

Tell me about a favorite summer anecdote of yours ♥

To conclude this blog post, I want to know what your favorite memory of any summer you’ve ever had. Or let me know if you’ve gone blueberry picking before!

Comment it down below or just drop by and say hi ♥

~Nocturnal Blogger ♥

5 things that you can do with your time instead of staring at your phone all day

On By VanelyIn Arts, Blogging, Bujo, Humor, Mental Health, Productivity, Self-Care, Self-Improvement7 Comments

Welcome back, all you lovely nocturnals and diurnals ♥

Listen, I get it, our phones are portals to the magical realm that is the internet and, with it, adorable kitten videos, aesthetic youtube vlogs, and those buzzfeed quizzes that tell us what kind of dog we are, BUT… you need to stop staring at your phone all day.

“But, what ever shall I do without my phone?!”, you yell.

Do not fret – I have compiled a little list of things you can do instead, and you can also incorporate these self-care practices to your daily routine to help boost your mood and boost your productivity.

Without further ado, here is my compiled list:

1. Start a Bullet Journal

Now, I know I only began my bujo journey fairly recently, but, I have to say, it’s helped me a lot.

Not only am I spending less time on my phone, but I am being productive and organized at the same time.

Keeping a bullet journal is great for keeping track of life and not missing a thing. By writing everything down and checking/updating your journal every day, you will create a positive habit that will, undoubtedly, increase your productivity and creativity.

Personally, ever since I began my bullet journal, I haven’t been able to stop. I get excited to make next week’s spread, mark down my habits, check off my monthly goals as I achieve them, and more.

There is a sense of accomplishment that comes with just keeping a bullet journal, and I feel like it’s good to give it a try!

2. Revive a Lost Hobby

You know what I’m talking about – that hobby you had a couple years ago that you no longer do or only do once every blue moon. A hobby that used to bring you joy, but you no longer practice. Whether that be painting, writing, singing, dancing, gardening, etc.

Reviving a lost hobby also revives a part of us that has been dormant along with it. For me, it was writing – hence the existence of this blog. This is what I love doing, what I know I was born to do, and what I hope to keep doing forever. I suppose, for me, writing is more than a hobby… it is – at the risk of sounding super cheesy – a part of me.

So, revive that lost hobby that you used to feel passionate about doing. You won’t even want to get back to your phone as often.

3. Cook/Bake Something New

I also enjoy doing this from time to time. In fact, this very week, I cooked something new for dinner, and I made a new kind of chip dip [which turned out delicious if I do say so myself]. Both of these creations were done without a recipe in sight. I just love to experiment in the kitchen and, whatever comes out of it, does.

Thankfully, everything I’ve made so far hasn’t tasted anything less than edible.

However, if you aren’t the type to just pour ingredients into a pot and pray to the kitchen gods, then following a recipe is great, too! There was a recipe I followed for raspberry sorbet and it was the most delicious dessert I’ve ever made.

Just goes to show that recipes exist for a reason and maybe, just maybe, I should follow them more lol.

A picture from August of some french toast I made with homemade blueberry sauce [syrup?] that I am extremely proud of.

4. Practice Yoga

I’m just going to go ahead and say it – I didn’t really believe much in yoga. I used to think that people who practiced yoga were just trying to regulate their breathing [which, it does have to do with it], but it’s much more than that.

Yoga eases the body, mind and spirit. It aids against insomnia, improves your emotional wellbeing, refreshes and “wakes” up the brain, and so much more.

My first attempt at yoga was last year – a yoga session with Adrienne from youtube.

I still remember the feeling after finishing her Day 1: Ease into it yoga video. I felt renewed, refreshed, and ready to tackle the day. I even slept better that night. The more I continued doing yoga, the better I felt – physically and emotionally. I whole-heartedly recommend her videos for anyone who’s looking for these kinds of results.

No matter who you choose to be your yoga instructor, I feel like it is such an important practice to include into your every day routine!

5. Prepare and Send a Letter

I know – who sends letters anymore? Well, I still do. Albeit, it’s not as frequent as I’d like but I’m getting back on the “mail” train and preparing more letters to send as we speak.

Sending letters possesses its own magical charm that sending a text or email will never have. Just the thought of receiving a letter that someone took their time to hand-write, artfully package, and send, is nice.

You can even take it up a notch by drawing, painting, and crafting a work of art into each letter – like these ones from Pinterest.

Not only are they nice to receive, but to send as well! I find it therapeutic to sit down and carefully think of a layout, style, colors, and other aspects you would want to incorporate, and then actually doing it.

I’ve spent a good chunk of time just making one single letter, but it is so satisfying when you complete it and it’s so exciting once you send it, only to await anxiously for the recipient to get it.

Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

I hope you enjoyed this blog post and, as always, thank you for reading! Why not drop by and say hi in the comments? One of the things I enjoy most about writing in my blog is interacting with my readers ♥

~Nocturnal Blogger♥

iOS14 Widgets

iOS14 Widgets + Widgetsmith || Customize and Set Up Your Home Screen

On By VanelyIn Blogging, Productivity, Review, Tech, TechnologyLeave a comment

Well, hello there! I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Apple launched this new schmancy update called iOS14 that includes a lot of cool features and tools. However, the one I’ll be writing about today is the new widget feature.

If you’re like me, you’ve spent the entire morning and afternoon in an organizational frenzy – rearranging, deleting, and moving apps around the screen. It is strangely engrossing, to say the least.

Let’s just say, I woke up around 7:45am [which is a rarity for me], and it is currently 4:03pm… and I’ve only organized HALF of my stuff.

I will be guiding you with my own know-how and telling you everything you will need to know in order to make this process smoother and, hopefully, faster.

Make sure you’ve downloaded and installed the iOS14 update already before continuing! To check, go to Settings -> General -> Software Update.

1. Move your apps to the App Library

And this one is the first tip because it’s probably the most important one, the one that I wish I’d done first – move all the apps to the app library.

To do this, tap and hold your finger over any app [or anywhere on your home screen], and, once you have an app under your finger to move it around, tap other individual apps to group them together. Once you have a bunch of them grouped [don’t release your finger, yet], drag them to the furthest page to the right of your screen until you reach the App Library. Once there, release the apps – they will automatically organize themselves! Woot, woot!

Be sure to play this in HD quality!

2. Download “Widgetsmith” in the App Store

Go to the app store and download Widgetsmith – you’ll need it for the rest of the tutorial!

This is an app created specifically to work in conjunction with Apple’s new iOS14 update and allows for more awesome and aesthetically-pleasing iPhone screens. Fair warning, though – it is a d d i c t i n g .

3. The features

I decided to record a video showing a brief overview of the widgets both from iOS14 and Widgetsmith. In this case, I feel like a video will be a better way to showcase it. I will be explaining more about it in a video [an actual youtube video!] soon as well!

Be sure to play this in HD Quality!

4. Small, Medium, and Large Widgets

As you saw from my last video, there are 3 different sizes to the new iOS update and Widgetsmith app.

I love to create a bunch of different-sized widgets and play around with the order/structure. Normally, however, I tend to mix and match between the small and medium widgets because they allow for a bit more flexibility than if I were to incorporate a large widget – which takes up a whopping 16 spaces worth of individual apps whereas the small and medium-sized widgets take up 4 and 8 spaces respectively.

My only complaint is that I wish I could change the medium-sized widget from a horizontal position to a vertical position. I feel like it would have looked really nice as a small little sidebar of sorts on each home page.

5. Layouts

There are so many styles and structure combinations to set up in each of your home screen pages – I’ve been rearranging for hours on end all day today while also writing this blog post. Every time I wrote something on here, and then went to rearrange some more stuff around, the more familiarized I became with the update which brought me back to this post to add more and more to it!

I’ve already done 7 pages of my home screen, which dumbfounds me to no end because you’d think that someone who’s spent 8+ hours organizing would have their entire phone organized to the Apple gods.

Here’s one of my completed pages:

My “Sunset” home screen page

I made another post where I’ve included all 7 of my completed home screen pages! I also included a poll because I want to know which pages are everyone’s favorite. Go check it out!

6. More Neat Widget Apps

So, upon searching for apps in the App Store, I came across several other neat widget apps to download – I must say, some of them look promising.

Like, a Jumping Dino game widget?! Sign me up!

Here is a list of widget apps that I found and will possibly be reviewing in another blog post:

  • Motivation – Daily Quotes
  • Steve – The Jumping Dinosaur
  • Sticky Notes + Widget
  • Color Widgets

Let me know if you’d like to see any more widget app reviews!

7. Final Thoughts on Widgetsmith

I feel like, overall, the Widgetsmith app is superb! The fact that it’s free [with optional in-app purchases] makes it even better. Albeit I haven’t tried that many other apps, I feel like it can’t get any better than what I’ve already tested. However, should my opinion change on the matter, I will most certainly update this review and let you know why.

Nonetheless, I will be testing out more widget apps this week. So I will be posting my thoughts on each of them.

Pros about the Widgetsmith app:

  • It offers many types/styles of free widgets [time, date, custom, calendar, reminder, health & activity, and astronomy widgets!]
  • Ease of using the app/good structure flow
  • Quick learning curve
  • Compact and straightforward design

Cons about the Widgetsmith app:

  • Not many fonts to customize text [there are only 9 fonts as of right now]
  • No color picker wheel to allow freedom in choosing whatever background color we like [there are only 29 colors, and although that may sound like enough, it’s not – at least for me it isn’t]. The same applies to the border colors. I was just honestly expecting a color wheel or bar of some sort.
  • “Weather” and “Tides” widget styles are only accessible through a paid subscription with Widgetsmith. However, this didn’t really bother me, because I, myself, am not that interested in those.

And with that, I officially conclude this blog post! Join my email list below to get notified of when I post fresh content and for free digital content you can use on your social media and much more!

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Thoughts? Let me know in the comments whether you agree or disagree with the points I made or if you just like the blog post in general. This took me hours to write – mostly because I kept learning new things and wanted to provide more details on it.

But, alas, I am done!

As always, thank you for reading ♥

||Nocturnal Blogger ♥

Bujo: My October Monthly Spread

Hey, all you lovely people! So, I decided to jump on the bullet journal (bujo) bandwagon and post my monthly/weekly/daily spreads. I’ve tried bullet journaling before, but I never really took the time to make it “pretty” – just purely functional. However, I am still fairly new in the bullet journaling community. “How new?”, you …

Continue reading Bujo: My October Monthly Spread

by Vanely