Electrician

We need an electrician now. 

I feel like it is one thing after another per usual, when you buy a house. You already know we replaced the dishwasher. We replaced the hot water heater last week. Our washing machine is making a squeeking noise when it is running so maybe she's on her way out. Who knows. We're waiting for our new microwave to arrive. The ice maker on the freezer stopped working, we cannot figure out how to get it started again. But I can make ice with ice trays. 

It's always something. 

But the electrician. Here's why. 

A couple weeks ago, a breaker tripped. The one that runs the fridge, dishwasher, and under cabinet lights. Geoff flipped the breaker back for us. It happened again. And again. I came down the other night and I thought that the under cabinet lights had burned out (which, I hope they never do because I don't know how we'd replace these things). I told Doug and he said "oh, the breaker tripped. Ask Geoff to take care of it. 

Well, it was 5:45am. I wasn't going to go downstairs and bother him. Or text him. I decided to wait. The fridge had not been opened, so everything was safe until he could take care of it (oh - the electric panel is in his bedroom). 

So he did. And it tripped again. 

And. Again.

Yesterday was four times. 

It doesn't matter if the dishwasher is running or whatever. It just goes. 

So I checked the list of contractors and stuff that our realtor gave us and the electrician on that list did not return my calls. 

Google is my friend. So I found an outfit not too far from the house and called. The person who answered the phone was super nice, got us set up with a visit tomorrow between 10am and 1pm. I told her I have a hard stop at 2 pm so if he'll be later than 1 we can reschedule. 

I gave her my Capital One card and it got rejected. Which has been happening a LOT lately any time we try to use it online or do something over the phone like this. I know Capital One is trying to protect us from fraud and shit but come the fuck ON. 

She and I joked around about how fraud-ish I was being right then to line up an electrician. I said "well, I appreciate them protecting me from fraud but it SUCKS when I'm trying to buy concert tickets on Ticketmaster and I get a two factor authentication screen, and I am waiting for a code and it doesn't arrive until AFTER TICKETMASTER CANCELS MY ORDER and I lose my place in line." And she did the whole OH I KNOW!  and told me how she lost second row seats to a show in Baltimore recently that she really wanted and ended up getting kicked back in line and it sold out before she could get back in. 

We both shook our fists together and it was funny.

I gave her my bank card, and it went right through. We're trying not to put things on that card. And I told her yeah... we're looking for a new bank because the bank we have, well, the nearest office is in Frederick and like, I have to go in person to deposit a check that their ATM rejected last weekend for some reason and I hate having to drive all the way to Frederick to do banking, so we're looking for something local to switch to. 

She said "Oh! Well. If you don't mind me suggesting. You don't know me and it isn't my business but since you mentioned it. My wife works at XYZ Bank and is a new customer account representative, her name is [redacted] and you should reach out to her and get hooked up." 

Reader.

This gave me pause. 

And I immediately loved her.

She doesn't know me. She doesn't know if I'd be all uppity about her having A WIFE!!!??? How many people might just flip out at her? 

A Wife!? For fuck's sake! 

But no. Not me. 

Honestly. I felt like that was something that could be dangerous to say to some people. There is so much hate in this world about who people love, or how they spend their lives and time. And she didn't bat an eye or hold back or anything. She told me about her wife. 

I told her I'd take that under advisement, because Doug had already decided on a bank locally but we hadn't gotten our shit together yet to go open the account. She said she totally gets it. And this bank is a little bigger than a "local" bank. "Local banks are super great but they sometimes get bought." 

"Yes, that's exactly what happened to the bank that we used when we lived in Silver Spring. They got bought by another bank, and if we were still down there it wouldn't be a pain but now? We're far. And thankfully there's Frederick but we'd like a nearby banking experience. 

She texted me later to give me her wife's name and the location of her branch. It is literally less than a mile from here. 

Maybe that'll be our bank. Gotta check with Doug about what he was thinking. 

And reader, I had a really good feeling today. I felt like honesty and openness reigned today. It brought me great joy to have this conversation. 

And I hope their electrician kicks ass and knows why the hell we're tripping balls up in here with our breaker. 

Digits, below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill, 30 min/2.01 miles. Was trying to break a 15 min per mile pace, but fell just short. Good effort though! 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 132
4:30pm: 150
10pm: 84

food & meds:
8:30am: jardiance+phentermine
12:45pm: bowl of ham and bean soup, 2 small pieces of crusty italian bread
1:30pm: last of the soup; met+glip
6:30pm: 2 boneless pork chops in a mushroom cream sauce (a la Geoff)
8:30pm: met+glip
9pm: ramekin of mixed nuts; vodka & diet tonic

The day of the superb owl. Long may he fly

Doug's cousin and his wife came through today on their way home from the DC area. Their son plays water polo so he had a big scrimmage or game or meet or whatever they call it. I can't believe how much he's grown. He's literally a giant human grown up man. I remember him being a tiny baby. 

I started the day early with a run on the treadmill, and then dishes and folding laundry. I thought about baking cookies to send home with the cousin but my mom called and she derailed those plans. 

The cousin fam arrived around 12:30. We had a great visit and initially the plan was we would all go out to lunch and they'd head out from there, but they confessed they were not hungry. The hotel had a big giant awesome breakfast that they all chowed down on. And that was perfectly fine. We pivoted.

After they left, Doug, Geoff, and I headed out for lunch, since we had shoes on and everything. We hit up the Broad Axe in downtown Hagerstown. I didn't want a full meal or anything because I was saving my appetite for snacks. 

It is Super Bowl Sunday, after all. Geoff went to the market for our game snacks and dinner fixn's for a couple days. Doug crashed with a big nap. And when Geoff got home I whipped up buffalo chicken dip and pigs in blankets. 

And the Patriots whipped up a big bowl of ugh for us. That was not a great game. I didn't think they would win but I didn't think it would be this bad a loss. Seattle is legit. Tough defense all that jazz. 

Long week ahead with a lot of work and I have to focus and buckle down with my friends The Spreadsheets. Several client meetings during the week, one of which I feel like I'm going to say "okay, so what is it you want me to do because none of this is going to work" as I crush someone's dreams. It's like that somtimes. 

No picture today, but the digits are down below.

 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill, 33 min/2.11 mi (I was working towards the end of a song so that's why the numbers are whack). 11k+ steps by bedtime.

blood glucose:

8:30am: 122
5pm: 101
10pm: 181

food & meds:
8:30am: jardiance+phentermine
9:45am: pop tart from Ted's Bulletin
1pm: met+glip
2pm: buffalo wings, 2 crab balls, 2 beers (at Broad Axe in Hagerstown) 
4pm: 1/2 of one of the big pb/chocolate whoopie pie cookie I bought yesterday for the boys
2 beers
during the football game: pigs in blankets, buffalo chicken dip w/celery; vodka and zero sugar cran (1) 

A DC Saturday Adventure

Saturday's entry on a Sunday morning

Yesterday I planned the treadmill in the morning first thing but didn't. Before I realized it, time had come to thinking about starting to get ready so I got a shower, got all figured out how I was going to get to DC. Doug and I talked about if I should metro or drive. I was leaning towards driving since it was a Saturday morning, and probably would be easy parking once I got down to 14th street maybe. He said that from what he'd been reading, the DC streets and sidewalks were covered in ice concrete, or "Icecrete" as people have been calling it. It is unmovable, solid, and everything is hard to deal with in town. Metro it is! So I  headed out at 10am thinking I would get there well before the 12:30 start time. 

I got there at 1. It was not as bad as Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, but it was DC Winter frustration. 

As I drove down the highway, someone recently lost control of their car in Montgomery County and the rescue teams were there, blocking the right lane off. It was around the bend so no one in the right lane could SEE the situation and get over so that was a challenge. We got past the accident as the ambulance was leaving and a couple of tow trucks were trying to figure out how to get the car out of the trees. 

Truth be told, I hope they did because it was a sight, and someone driving fast would have come along and seen it, and it would have been a big distraction. There was a crew dropping salt melt and things on the lane. I guess it melted just enough and froze solid again in that area. 

Wicked dangerous! 

After getting past there, I got to Shady Grove metro which is the closest metro station to me. It usually takes about an hour to get there if traffic is moving nicely but we were way over that. I parked, ran to the entrance, charged up my metro card, and waited 10 minutes. 

Everything got better for a while, the train was moving, things were good. But when we got to until we arrived at the Van Ness metro stop we were informed the trains were single tracking due to work being done, so we waited another 10 minutes. I'm sitting there, envisioning arriving after Henry is completely done with his songs. Well, I'll be on time for lunch!

Finally. Moving again! We got to Gallery Place where I was hopping on the green line, and they were only going to McPherson Square, 2 stops away from where I wanted to be. Something about electrical problems ahead.

Now, mind you... NONE of the single tracking or power issues were mentioned on the Metro website or the App. Which I used in order to make my decisions on how I was going to go from point A to B. 

I'm standing in the metro station, looking at my watch, already 15 minutes late. The fuck. 

Okay, pivot. Let's walk. Google maps told me it was a straight shot north, and should take 23 minutes. I bet I can do it in 20. But oh no, oh God, OH GOD it is so cold and windy. WINDY!!! The wind was taking layers of skin off my face. And um, yeah. Um. The sidewalks. The sidewalks are covered in large boulders of ice. There's nowhere to walk. I watched a guy trying to walk his dog past the convention center. 

Nope. Uber. Let's Uber. 

I fire up Uber, which. I cannot remember the last time I used it. Oh... of course. Let's install an update from Google Play. Oh yes, let's reverify our identity with texted codes. And yeah. What's your password? Don't remember your password? Here's an email to reset your password. Okay! Password reset. Finally. 

The uber was requested, it said he was 5 minutes away so I ducked into the Subway sub shop (to clarify so no one reading this who speaks different mass transit language thinks I ducked into the Subway aka the Metro) to keep warm. 

The guy literally showed right up. He got me up to my destination. 

I only missed two of Henry's songs. Not bad. Not bad at all. 

They played until almost 2pm. There were several kids missing so others filled in for them. Henry plays with the teen group even though he's just 11. And the teens are super impressive. The singers could use a little how to rock and roll and have some stage presence lessons but other than that it was wild watching these kids perform. 

Henry did great, sounded great. Flubbed a little bit at the end of a Talking Heads song and kept playing when the song was over, which was kind of cute because it was like he was in the zone and rocking it all out and unaware of the rest of the band. 

After, Sara had made reservations at a restaurant so we could celebrate Hen's birthday with Sean's family. Usually Sean's family comes to things and they don't go out to eat with us after but this time they were in. We had a blast, I really like Sean's brother in law. He's great to talk to. And their toddler is really cute. Her language skills are amazing. She's 2 and speaks in full sentences and just talks to people like a grown up. She's super into the solar system right now and told me the sun is too hot to step onto so we can't go there. 

I started to think about what I was going to do in order to get back to my car. S&S live close to where we used to live at the other end of the red line and I thought about driving over that way to park just to get the ride home with them but opted to do the west end of the red line instead. 

I could uber to a red line station. My original plan was to walk back to the green line stop that I was headed to in the first place but no - there's probably no way I'll get from that stop to a red line stop to get home. 

Sara said, without me asking, that they were going to drive me back to my car. I told them that was crazy, out of their way, but she said her office is right near there and getting home from there is no problem. Sean agreed. So we went, and for some reason the GPS sent us through Georgetown instead of some smarter way, and straight to a bridge that is closed and under construction. Kind of a shit-show, and an unwanted detour around Georgetown, which was so poorly plowed, with people trying to parallel park giant SUVs the size of aircraft carriers, and all kinds of shenanigans. 

They got me up to my car a little after 5pm and the ride home from there was a piece of cake. 

One must have an exceptionally strong constitution in the first place to deal with getting around DC. And yesterday was a perfect example of that. Thankful for Sean and his skills in the adventure. 

When I got home, Doug had done a goodly amount of tidying up. The boys had not made dinner or anything so it was decided there would be pizza. 

I brought home pastries from our restaurant where we had lunch and I overbought. But everything looked so amazing that I could not resist. 

Digits below. No pictures of Hen playing because we were too far away for good shots. But he was great. So great. I love seeing him improve and evolve as a musician. 

digits

exercise: 11/12 hours.  Missed 5pm driving in the car. Treadmill: 22 min/1.38 mi. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 132
xpm: n/a
xpm: 114

food & meds:
8:30am: jardiance+phentermine
9:45am: Protein shake
2pm: met+glip
3pm: French Onion Cheeseburger: double burger patties on brioche bread, topped with gruyere cheese, and a small bowl of french onion soup onions (w/a little soup in the bowl). side salad. I wasn't going to eat the roll, but I used it to dip in the soup and have no regrets. Several of Henry's french fries
7pm: buffalo chicken bites
9:30pm: met+glip
no beer/wine

Out on a School Night Tired on the Next Day

I had mentioned recent posts that our microwave died on Monday. Doug ordered a new one online, did his price comparisons, shopped for the best deal, and ordered one up for us to be delivered today. 

Wednesday night he got an email from the company that they canceled our order. No reason. Just. Canceled. C and I had a whole email discussion on just buying shit you need on demand from Amazon. Doug shopped on Amazon and found better prices outside of Amazon and decided to go that route instead. Even driving across town to Walmart, this was cheaper even with the shipping.

As of late, Doug and I both have been making a concerted effort to shop locally, and not just order a bottle of HP sauce from Amazon to have it shipped when you can drive over and get it at the British Market the next town over.

For the most part, this has paid off well for us. Getting to know the local area, supporting local businesses instead of the Bezos Empire. 

Unfortunately. This is the second or third time that this has happened where he's ordered something from somewhere (not Amazon) only to have the order delayed horrifically or canceled. He had ordered an industrial nutcracker for the walnuts from some farming/hunting company, and it was delayed for months - and he finally canceled it out of frustration. I wondered on that one if imports and tariffs were the reason for the delay. Not the company's fault but also, shit. I had wanted fresh cracked walnuts to candy and send out to friends for Christmas. So. No. He still hasn't picked a new nutcracker for our needs

And then this one, canceled with no reason given.

Amazon was looking better and better. So I asked him if he wouldn't just buy one from Amazon. He said no - and told me that after work he wanted to just go over to Walmart and pick one up. Okay. Great. Let's go. 

On Thursday he was looped into a big meeting, and had to do a slide deck and part of the presentation. The meeting was at 5:30pm. Then he looked at the agenda and the meeting was running until 7pm, and his team was ... at the end. Of course. 

I did a quick walk on the treadmill after I was done working around 6:30, nothing fast. I had on my jeans so it wasn't a workout. He came down at 7:05, ate some dinner, and we left. 

It was weird to be going out this late to go microwave shopping, but we had a list of stuff to get as well, and we had a nice time. Big date night out, right? 

They did not have the microwave he wanted in stock, so he was disappointed. We got what we wanted to get otherwise. 

Shopping builds up a big thirst, and in the plaza next to Walmart there is a local brewery. We've gone a couple times but hadn't been in months because this is a little out of the way, not like the brewery that is in downtown that we could literally walk to if we wanted. 

We pulled up and they looked closed. All the screens were turned off, there was one guy at the bar, and a girl behind the bar. The lights were dimmed down, and it looked to me like they were wrapping for the night. The website said they were open until 10, and it was only 8:30. We tried the door and it was open. 

The girl said they were open for sure, but usually if there are no customers they wrap things by 9pm. We asked if it would ruin her night if we had a beer and she laughed and said no - come on in.

We ended up staying there until after 10. The guy at the bar and the girl beertender are best friends. We all got to talking, she works days at the local gym running the front desk and the office, I forget what he does for a job currently, but he used to work in a local coal mine until he got pinned by one of the train cars and broke his spine. He showed off his scars from the surgeries he had. For such a young person, what a horrible experience. They couldn't have been older than Jess. 

She told me about her dog - a Great Pyr mix, 6 months old, 70 pounds. She shared video of her playing and it was such a good time. I think when the snow is gone we may try to meet up for a play date. She said she needs to socialize her (her name is Poppy) and I can think of no better way to do it than with Toffee in our yard. 

At some point we talked about this donut shop, Krumpe's, that is the stuff of legends in these parts. They're only open to the public at night, 7-11pm. I said to Doug "we should totally go there, it is on the way home." And the two of them were "HELL YES you should go there!" Getting that vote of approval was enough for me.

So we did. I didn't realize how close it was to the gym where I was going before we got the treadmill. It is tucked down an alley way, in a residential neighborhood. Good thing they're only open at night or I would have been stopping on the regular!

The donuts were great, very homemade, you could see the how ancient all the equipment was. The kids working there were super sweet. I mentioned we were new to town, this was our first visit and the kid handed us each a small glazed. Just to tease us into the dozen we were going to buy anyway! 

A customer came in and an older man, maybe the owner, came over to talk to him and shake hands and catch up. 

Worth it. Totally worth it. When we were leaving there were aboug 7 more cars pulling up. The kid at the brewery said that at 7pm, the line is around the block to get in, so we went at the perfect time.

My blood sugar kicked my ass so I fell into bed and fell right asleep. Dreaming of donuts. 

Today, Friday, was a quiet day. Doug flex timed the morning and loafed around until maybe 11am. I had a pretty wide open morning and I did a lot of tickets and work on spreadsheets for this afternoon. I didn't get as much done as I liked which is actually good because we ended up changing what I'm doing with the spreadsheets. Lucky me. 

tomorrow I get to go to DC to see Henry rock out. Very exciting. It should be a treat. I'm hoping I get up early, hit the treadmill first, and then shower and go. Not sure what time I'll be getting home and if I'll be up for doing the walk. 

Digits below Donut.

Thursday digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. easy slow walk 1 mile/21 min. Additional 3/4 of a mile walk inside Walmart over a 30 min period. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7:30am: 135
3:45pm: 101
11:45pm: 210

food & meds:
7:30am: jardiance+phentermine
12:30pm: apple + pb
1pm: met+glip
5:30pm: spaghetti and meatballs
9pm: beers at the brewery
10pm: a couple donuts from the dount side quest
10:45pm: met+glip

Friday digits

exercise: 11/12 hours. Somehow missed the 2pm hour by a few steps. Miscounted! Treadmill, 2 miles/35 min. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 180
4:30pm: 112
10pm: 165

food & meds:
8:30am: jardiance+phentermine
9am: donut from krumpe's
9:30: protein shake 
11:30am: bowl of mac & cheese w/bacon
1pm: met+glip
6pm: some sort of "tater tot taco" casserole Geoff made in the slow cooker. Surprisingly good. Hungry enough for 2 bowls after the treadmill.
9pm: met+glip
no beer/wine

The Early Option

I woke up to go to the bathroom at about 6am. Then went to the guest room. Doug came downstairs about a half hour later to do the same, and he fed the dog. 

At 6:30am.

Like, 2 hours too early. 

So I came out of the bedroom and asked why he did that. "She asked for breakfast, so I fed her," he said. 

I went back to the guest room, he went back upstairs. 6am is my "too early to actually really be awake" hour. And Toffee came back to bed with me. 

I drank a pint of water, and woke up naturally at 7:30, thanks glass of water! An on purpose alarm clock. I knew my day was meetings up the wazoo, so I brewed the coffee, I got on the treadmill, I got that out of the way. 

And then was on my ass except for the hourly steps for the rest of the day. It's nice to pre-load the day with close to 4-5k steps! But at 10pm I was still under 10k (how'd that happen!) so I made up for it and walked around the house. 

Toffee had a serious case of the zoomies tonight. A giant dog like her with the zoomies is a lot of fun but also can be slightly dangerous! She pushed our mattress off the bed by running and jumping on it. She ran down the stairs and crashed at the bottom. She ran back up the stairs and it was like a herd of elephants. 

She's been so cooped up. I keep saying, maybe tomorrow will be a good day for a walk...

Speaking of tomorrow, I'm going to take some time in the afternoon to drive to the clinic for some blood work. I may take the whole afternoon off. 

sigh. 

Here's a picture of the amaryllis we got at Aldi the day before the blizzard. It smells so amazing. Digits, below!

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill, 30 min/1.64 mi. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8am: 154
4:30pm: 98
10:45pm: 127

food & meds:
8am: jardiance+phentermine
9:15am: protein shake
1:30pm: giant bowl of BLT salad w/Tuna salad mixed in
1:45pm: met+glip
3pm: part of one of the big chocolate chip cookies
5:30pm: some sort of dirty rice/chicken thing that Geoff whipped up (it was a little dry, so I'll see what his recipe was and make notes/suggestions) 
8:30pm: met+glip; ramekin of spicy cajun trail mix
no beer/wine

Pan Banging Cookies

I woke up early this morning, around 7:30. I had one cup of coffee and decided to do treadmill before work. Got a good walk/jog in, showered, and was still on time for getting things done. 

The day was pretty busy and before I knew it, 5pm was here. I felt like baking cookies or something. My work son told me this past weekend he made these bomb ass chocolate chip cookies, and he sent me the recipe. Here's the link. They're called Pan Banging Cookies. I've never heard of this method of baking cookies. My life is changed. 

I mean, these cookies. Unbelievable. 

You only get about 8-10 of them depending on how big you make them. The recipe says to make about 4 3 inch balls or 3/4 cup scoops of the dough, freeze it, and then bake. The recipe says "trust me," and so I did. I've never heard of baking cookies part way and then "banging" the tray so they collapse and spread. 

I used chocolate chips because I didn't have the kind of chopped chocolate she recommends. And I should have done the little sprinkle of extra Kosher salt on the cookie top while it was baking. But. It was all good.

My buddy Brendo said to take the tray out of the oven and drop it on the counter top or stove top for even "banging," and that was my plan anyway before I started making them. The instructions say to reach into the oven and lift one end of the tray up about 4 inches and drop it. 

Nope. 

I took the whole tray out and dropped it 3 times on the stove top, put it back in 3 minutes, take it out, do it again. 

10 minutes for the first round of baking, and 3 removals and drops. Perfect! Success! 

Pictures, and digits below! 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill before work, 40 min/2.5 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7:45am: 125
4:15pm: 83
10:30pm: 147

food & meds:
7:45am: jardiance+phentermine
9:45am: english muffin w/pb & blackberry preserves
1pm: met+glip
2:30pm: ramekin of mixed nuts
4:30pm: some spicy cajun trail mix
5:45pm: piece of a chocolate chip cookie (split w/Geoff)
6:30pm: bowl of fettuccini w/ mushrooms, tomatoes, red pepper, olive oil, roasted chicken breasts; 2 big assed cookies
8:30pm: met+glip 
no beer/wine

Hardest thing you have to do all year

This morning we had our hot water heater replaced. It didn't go as smoothly as I'm sure the kid thought it would. 

First, his boss showed up to help him. His boss is the guy I thought was super funny last time. I guess he can be kind of a pain in the ass. 

After the boss left, the kid told me that when it came time to drain the hot water heater, instead of doing the pump and hose over to our toilet in Geoff's area of the basement, the boss had a cunning plan. 

We have a small dehumidifier in the basement, and there's a hose that goes into a tiny hole drilled into the cement floor. 

Where does the hole lead? Where does the water go? This I do not know. Every house I've lived in has had a drain in the floor that's like ... a real drain for where water can flow out of the basement if need be. You probably have had that too. 

Well, not this house. Just a tiny hole, just a thin garden hose, just a little dehumidifier. 

So the boss wants to drain the water into this hole. Kid says "I don't think that is a big enough hole, and, we don't know where the water drains to."

Boss says yeah, yeah, yeah it'll be fine. Only it wasn't. 

The amount of water flowing into said tiny hole overwhelmed it, and, the water started to back up into the basement. 

As they say in the midwest.... "Ope." The boss left. And a little bit later I went down because I'd made a cup of coffee for the kid. He was sweeping water. towards the hole, and I was visibly surprised. Boss went to get a Wet-Vac, and I said I would get some towels after checking to make sure none of the boxes on the floor were wet/damaged. 

None were. He explained the situation, and I said that's fine as long as, ya know, none of the water was getting anywhere other than right where we saw it. 

Wet-Vac arrived and they set to cleaning up, and the pump and hose were deployed to get the water out of the tank. 

No harm, no foul overall. And it's funny because the kid obviously was annoyed because if they had just done things the way it was supposed to happen there would be no water on my floor. 

But there they were, cleaning up and draining the tank. 

After a while the boss left with the Wet-Vac, and I could hear the hose pump working. Mission back on track. The kid came up to let me know that he was sorry for all of this. "This is taking longer than I thought it would." 

"As long as I won't be charged for that extra time, I've got no problem." He nodded, yes ma'am. 

And he came up a little while later to let me know he couldn't get all the water out of the tank. 

"There is calcification in the bottom of the tank, about 10 inches, so the water won't drain all the way out," he reported. 

Oh dear. That sucks? "Well, what do we do? You're pretty strong, can you work with your boss and get her out?"

"I think it weighs about 500 pounds right now, to be honest. I have an alternate plan to get more water out. You may hear a lot of noise." 

"As long as whatever water that's left isn't going to end up on the floor too," I said. "You do you. You're the expert. You know what needs to happen." 

He kind of laughed. "Yeah, I'm not feeling very expert right now." I really felt for him. It was okay, nothing was damaged, but I could feel his frustration. 

Boss came back and the two of them got more water out of the tank, enough that it was able to plop onto a dolly. They brought it upstairs, and the boss showed us a couple points on the tank that were corroded because of the calcification. 

"It is a very good thing you had this done now," he said, "I won't say she was about to blow but this isn't good, and hot water spraying everywhere would be really dangerous. 

Well thanks. Thank both of you for the work you put in. 

The new tank, she's lovely. And the hot water came on almost immediately. 

Another home improvement project done and dusted. 

Now to replace the microwave that literally caught fire this morning at 6:30am, get a new toilet seat, caulk the tub. You know. The usual. Joys of homeownership! 

Digits below!

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill, 25 min/1.66 mi. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

6:45am: 109
5pm: 70* recheck 6pm: 111
10:45pm: 125  

food & meds:
6:45am: jardiance+phentermine
9:45am: english muffin w/pb
1pm: met+glip
2:30pm: can of tunafish, w/mayo, tomatoes, diced onion
5pm: 2 cookies (see blood sugar above); ramekin of cajun peanuts and spicy cracker thingies
7:15pm: bowl of left over ham and bean soup w/ some cheez-it crackers on top
9:20pm: met+glip
no beer/wine

Rock Concert

I got an earlier than usual treadmill time in because Geoff was lollygagging, and I knew I had to leave around 1pm to get to A's rock concert. I made it there just in time, over an hour trip to the venue but thanks to an accident on 70 westbound, we had rubber neckers trying to see what was happening. 

I missed most of the first song but totally loved the rest of it. Compared to his last show, he's doing so much better. He absolutely killed the bass part on "Sunshine of Your Love." We had a nice visit all together after, and they went to Baltimore to get ice cream. I stayed later to listen to the House Band. They absolutely killed it - I think it was an all girl ensemble (the bassist may have been male or trans, not 100% sure but who cares, they were amazing). 

They even did a song by local legends Turnstile called Blackout. And Turnstile won a Grammy tonight so good for them! 

I'm not allowed to post pictures of my little buddy on the internet per mom's request but I got some really good ones. 

Got home and Geoff was making dinner. Dishwasher was running, it was nice to not have to lift a finger. 

Digits below! 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill: math, a 10 min. run which I'm measuring at .5 miles (based on the treadmill reading); 25 min/1.5 miles on the walk setting. 2 miles total. 10k+ by bedtime

blood glucose:

7:30am: 119
5:30pm: 115
9:30pm: 116  

food & meds:
7:30am: jardiance+phentermine
10:30am: zero carb soft taco wrap w/pb & j
1pm: met+glip
3pm: 2 beers, buffalo fingers, some french fries
6:30pm: bowl of chicken cacciatore (chicken thighs, mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers, carrots in a tomato sauce) over some egg noodles
8:30pm: met+glip

What are you looking for now

We did absolutely nothing today. Our plans of going to the bank were just fantasy talk. I was going to clean the bathroom. Ha. 

I did do the treadmill, and I was surprised that Doug did too. 

After he finished the treadmill he got it in mind to make an apple pie. He had found an apple cookbook at a little free library (with a recipe from a woman from the orchard near where he grew up). 

Basic apple pie recipe. 

He's going through every drawer in the kitchen, opening every cabined. It crosses my mind - he's never really made anything since we've been here. 

I hear him bumping around.
"What are you looking for?" I ask.
Sugar.
I point right to it.

More bumping around.
"What are you looking for now?"
Apple peeler. 
I open the drawer. He doesn't like the apple peeler. 
Where is the other one?
The one that doesn't work? Here. 
He ends up using the one I handed him.

He's going through the pantry.
"And now what are you looking for?"
Cinnamon.
Over next to the stove, with all of the spices and stuff. Those are the things for basically every day normal use. What's in the pantry is the stuff we very rarely need. 

Doug gets acquainted with the kitchen. Finally.  

Apple pie goes into the oven. It smells great. I'm already dreading what it is going to do to my blood sugar but I will indeed have a slice since he worked so hard at finding things. 

The apple pie came out nice, tasty, but something was missing. It was almost watery, soupy. I asked if he forgot flour or an egg. He said the recipe didn't call for those. But upon re-reading the recipe, indeed. flour. 

It wasn't a waste, for sure that was a nice gift for me to not have to be the one who bakes or makes .

Tomorrow we have to leave the house. It's my work wife's son's big rock show. Second one. He's getting better and better at it. Next weekend is Henry's. 

And my work wife told me she isn't sure if any of her family is coming. So I feel like I gotta pull up hard and be the best auntie ever. 

Plus, it's at a brewery. Bonus. 

Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill, 40 min/2.02 miles; 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9:30 am: 133
5pm: 113
10pm: 142  

food & meds:
9:30am: jardiance+phentermine
11:30am: bowl of mac & cheese w/bacon
1pm: met+glip
6pm: chili (beans and meat, cheese, sour cream) 
7pm: big slice of apple pie w/cold foam cream
9pm: met+glip

Hot Water Heater

The plumber came today. Turns out, he owns the company and they're literally across the street-ish from us, a block away on the main drag. He called first thing this morning and apologized because he was supposed to call me back on Monday to follow up and just forgot.

It is okay - I let him know that if it had turned into an emergency, I would have called another plumber. 

Dude just about died laughing. 

Kind of like with the wildlife guys, I got this guy's vibe and knew he'd have a laugh. I told him in all seriousness, Monday was kind of apocalyptic and he had things to do and take care of and I totally understood. 

He brought a really really young guy with him. Like, I felt like this was a high school kid but he isn't. He's a little younger than Geoff but looks 15. 

The super young dude is coming back on Monday morning to do the install. I guess he isn't at apprentice level, he's a made man in plumbing. So he flies solo. 

It'll be nice to have this done. One less thing to think about. And we can move onto the next thing to think about. 

Work was incredibly busy. I had a good client meeting, and then I had a great meeting with a co-worker in the analytics department. I love her. I canceled a meeting with the work son because I just had so much to do, and scheduled two meetings for Monday with clients and kicked myself for it. 

I hate meetings on Mondays. 

But best to get these ones out of the way and gone. 

Treadmill happened, Geoff made a really good dinner but didn't include enough protein and that was a little bit of a bummer. Please, kid. Protein. 

Tomorrow Doug and I have to go to the bank before the nearest branch closes so we'll get up and at it early. And who knows what the rest of the day is going to be. Adventure!

Digits below!

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill, 36 min/2 mi. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7:30am: 113
4pm: 121
10:30pm: 142

food & meds:
7:30am: jardiance+phentermine
1pm: pb & j sandwich on 647 bread; met+glip
6pm: bowl of rotini w/chicken breast and homemade creamy alfredo sauce
7pm: ramekin of mixed nuts (only ate 1/2)
8:30pm: met+glip
no wine/beer