Bunnies at Night

The dogs always know what time it is. Usually at 10pm, they let me know it is time to go out. It isn't too peopley out there at 10pm, so I feel comfortable letting the big black knucklehead off leash to walk around. Or run around. We do steps together when she is good and tonight I needed about 800 before bed. That's about 6 times around the house. 

When we step out, the dogs make for the holly bush out front. There are two or three bunnies out there, and boy do they take off. And the dogs run for them. It is another good reason to not take her out on the leash because she'll pull me to my death if that's the case.

Dahlia has yet to jump the fence when chasing them, which is a relief. And I feel bad when they are running down the sidewalk. Disturbed from their bunny slumber.

Poor things. 

We've been here four years and we've never had rabbits. So this is new.

My nebby annoying neighbor got up after me today while I was trying to do steps, and I did have Dahlia out on the leash (she ended up chewing through it while I was talking to the neighbor, thanks doofus dog). She was complaining about the brush pile behind our shed. She said she was going to call our property manager, and the homeowner, and complain. She pays dudes starting about 2 or 3 weeks ago and going into December to do the yard. There's a crew out there once or twice a week. She's relentless. 

Lady. We kind of dig the natural thing and we burn those cuttings, once they are dry. There is just a lot there right now because we've been in a red flag warning because of wind for a few weeks. 

She said it attracts rats and snakes. I wanted to say "we need snakes if there are mice and rats, so the snakes can eat them!" but I told her that we'd take care of it. And she continued to kvetch. Too many branches, too many twigs. The vines are growing on the fence. Take the vines down. No, lady - we like the vines they block noise from the street, give us privacy and they're nice. We like them. Not your fence, mind your business.

I also wanted to say that I've seen her fucking cat catch birds and kill them, so keep the stupid thing inside. 

But I didn't. I wrangled the dog. I had to drag her inside since she'd eaten her leash, and she wanted to stay outside but I was ready to go in (really, I was ready to do laps around the house with my dog).. I was relieved and so thankful to God that no dogs or interesting humans or the mailman came down the walk while we were out. 

But tonight at 10pm, the bunnies were the only interesting things. And she has been incredibly responsive if I bring cookies out with me and tell her she's a good girl and I reward her when she does her business and she returns to me when I call. 

My cold was annoying today but not a show stopper. I started the day with no voice but a lot of hot tea helped. My colleague B had scheduled a 4pm meeting for the team today and rescheduled it because both of us were feeling sick with the colds. We joked that I gave it to him, even though he is in St. Louis. 

Managed to make it the whole way through the day and be super productive. 

I am just hoping this doesn't progress further. 

Alright, off to bed. No pictures today but I do have some very nice irises coming up! I'll try and get those tomorrow. 

good night. Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  30 min indoor walk/1.27 miles; 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 168
5pm: 123
11pm: 134

food:
coffee/water/tea
9am: phentermine
10am: met+glip
12:30pm: english muffin w/pb
3pm: 2 baby bell cheeses
5pm: met+glip
6pm: 2 nice bowls of leftover potato soup (doug hated it, so I'm trying to eat it and make it gone)
white wine with a lot of ice
9pm: jardiance

A Late-ish Night

I think I caught a cold, I'm sneezing, sore throat, post-nasal drip. The usual.

This is why I don't go out in public. Too people-y out there, and you catch things. Or maybe it was the fact we had the windows open all night last night and this is an allergy reaction? Our heat kicked on at one point, I heard the blower and thought how's that possible. It isn't that cold yet? But it was. 

The dogs had both Doug and me up at 7-ish, Geoff fed them, Doug took them out. I put on pants and contemplated just getting back into bed. I didn't have a meeting until 11am, so no one would have missed me. But no. Time to make the donuts.

I kind of dragged ass all day and we had a Big Thing to do at 4:30pm. We did it. It didn't go perfectly, so we decided to regroup after an hour and check back in. Perfectly reasonable. I took Toffee for a walk to let things settle, and it was a good walk. We could have gone farther but a half hour is decent and I wanted to get back to do that regroup check in. 

Better than the usual "I only want to do this for 10 minutes" kind of walk. Doug had taken Dahlia the opposite direction about 10 minutes before we left. And then at about 9:30 I realized I needed about 1500 steps to finish the day. Even with the half hour walk. I took the dogs out, we walked around the yard a bunch of times. They wanted to come back in before I wanted to come back in. So I continued my walk. Up to the corner and back is a little over 800-ish steps. Sufficient to finish out the goal for the day. 

Go me.

It was cold today. Compared to this weekend when it was in the 80s both days, I think it was maybe a high of 55 today. It would have been nice if it was cooler on Saturday, I may have gone on the cherry blossom peeping walk that my friend Dennis coordinated. 

But I don't do well walking in the heat, or being in the heat. You've read this blog for a long time. You know that. 

And now I've got a cold or something. 

I was looking at some old pictures. This time last year was Guster in Boston and the year before that was Guster in Huntington NY. I have a picture of Karina Rykman and me, and I think my face looks incredibly different now. I don't think I weighed a lot much more then than now (2023) but. I see some change.

Also Karina is the greatest and you should listen to her music.

Blogger is being stupid and won't let me add a photo so I think I'll be lucky to just post. Maybe my computer is tired, like me.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. 30 min walk with Toffee after work, 1.28 miles; 10pm finish up the steps walk 17 min/.57 miles; 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7:30am: 123
5pm: 118
10:30pm: 113

food:
coffee/water
7:30am: phentermine
10am: met+glip
12:30pm: english muffin w/pb 
5pm: met+glip
6:30: 2 large bowls of beef stroganoff (with noodles)
9pm: jardiance; slice of cheesecake (trying to get rid of it!)
a couple tumblers of white wine & diet ginger ale

The Monday Post Concert Let Down

Looking back on my FB Memories, I pretty much have a string of years where I attended a Guster show on this weekend. For instance, last year was Boston at the MGM with an Easter Egg hunt at the Verb Hotel (still one of the funnest bits of chaos I've every been a part of!) and 2023 was in Huntington NY with the gang, in my hometown. Such FUN. Spring is a good time to do Guster shows. 

Linda left this morning a little before 10am. "Before getting too comfortable." Probably a good decision as there's a storm coming up the coast, and she wanted to be ahead of it. I had several friends with flights home from DC this afternoon who have changed their departures to this morning, for the same reasons. Get outta Dodge before you can't get outta Dodge. 

She texted me when she got home, I was in a series of meetings all afternoon, and I miss her already.

Doug needed to go to the bank and deposit a check, so he left around 7. I took the dogs outside to play stick and do steps. About 3 minutes into our really fun outdoor time, there was a flash of lightning and I heard it sizzle. Literally. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end, and the thunder clap came. 

I looked at the dogs and said, "okay ladies, inside!" And there was no argument from either of them. Usually one of them refuses to come in because outside is a lot of fun, right? Nope. They were both a little surprised, and happy to be back in. I started an inside walk and went a little over a half hour for myself. Especially because "Love Shack" is a fun song, and it wasn't quite 30 minutes when the song came on. So. Keep on rocking. Bang bang on the door baby! 

I'm glad I got steps in, I didn't yesterday. I didn't want to take a walk, I am actually very very sore after this weekend. And sometimes I think about how much energy the band puts into a show, back to back nights, and I am like "feh" for just walking to the bathroom, and needing a freaking back rub. 

I try and channel my inner rock star and live an amazing and powerful life, but I just want a painkiller and sleeping pill at some point. 

We cut into our cheesecake, because I did not follow the directions exactly (like a dope) it came out lumpy and weird, but delicious. I mean. De Lissssh Ussssss. I need to find a recipe though that does not require a water bath, because I'm not doing a good job of wrapping the springform pan with tin foil. Water gets in every time. More research needed. 

Anyway. Good day all around, we have a big site change over and rebrand tomorrow afternoon, so I'm very excited for that.  

Wish me luck! 

digits below this amazing picture from a Guster fan named Cara who is a professional photographer in Massachusetts.  Shared with permission. Go to her webpage and check out her work! 

digits

exercise: 11/12 hours.   Somehow missed 10am, I think I was racing to finish an email and lost track of time. Indoor walk, 35 min./1.59 miles. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7am: 188
5pm: 120
11:30pm: 136

food:
coffee/water
7am: phentermine
10am: met+glip
10:30am: BLT salad (to steal some bacon from geoff, who cooked all of the last part of the package!)
5:30pm: met+glip
6:30pm: one cluck puck, some french fries
7pm: slice of cheesecake (made yesterday)
8:45pm: jardiance

Guster Kennedy Center - March 2025

The two Guster shows with the National Symphony Orchestra were next level amazing. I know I say that a lot about Guster shows. But this is true. Absolutely true. These two performances were, as my friend Alex says, life affirming.

Performing with a symphony gives their songs these lush arrangements. Several of them I've heard time and again, but last night there were some super new ones that were fresh and delightful. Songs off the latest album, and old songs like Happier and Demons, finally, with the gorgeous layer of arrangements by professional hands.

And this was the Kennedy Center, where things have gotten .... weird. The new administration has determined the programming too "Woke" and they put measures into place to change the content.

Several artists, bands, and performers have canceled their shows there. Key advisors and creative directors like Ben Folds resigned. 

Guster did not cancel their performance. They felt it wasn't fair to the symphony, who had worked so hard to learn these pieces. Not fair to the employees who would miss out on work those nights. Not kind to people traveling from all over the country to come see them. Not fair. 

And over the last two nights, they were there to prove they had a reason. 

A musical called Finn was canceled by the new ... regime. Official Kennedy Center talking points were that the show was canceled before the new administration took office (but, after the election was won by them) and before the new leadership was in charge. There was no reason to cancel this musical. It was sold out. 

But, it's about a shark who thinks maybe deep down inside he is a sparkly fish. 

Too woke to have a children's musical about self acceptance, kindness, and discovering yourself in a world where people want you to be something else. Children shouldn't learn that, I guess. 

Last night, Guster decided to shine a light on this fact, this situation, and had the cast come out and sing the song "Hard Times" with them.  Here's an article written about the moment. And there are articles in Rolling Stone, Stereogum, Consequence of Sound, Broadway World, and Washington Post (need to enter your email to read) and all over the internet about this "subtle protest." 

Ryan spoke about how he felt about this situation, and how the stage that night was "their stage," and now also Finn's stage because "they belong here." We didn't get canceled. We're a bunch of cis/het white guys, we're going to recognize our privilege use this forum, and exercise allyship like you won't believe.  

There was not a dry eye in the house. Everyone was stunned. It was outstandingly beautiful. 

For night two, I really wanted them to come out in drag. Absolutely full blown drag. But they didn't. And the more I thought if it, that would be ham handed and over the top, unnecessary. Make your protest in a way that no one can find it offensive. Make your protest with logic, and peace, and music. They repeated the performance of "Hard Times" with the cast of Finn again, and the composer Michael Kooman, had the opportunity to speak for a little while as well. 

We sat with S, S, and Henry and our friend Spicy V and had a wonderful time. I love seeing Guster with Henry. My friend Jeff, his significant other Meg, and his sister Amy were in the row in front of us. I wish we had more time to connect. 

It all was just so magical. 

I had set up those two meet and greets, and so many people came. 50+ both nights. I was a little overwhelmed by the response. But there were old friends, new friends, and so much fun talking, laughing, catching up, and engagement with one another. There were people at the bar who were wearing Guster shirts, so we jumped them into the gang. 

On Saturday during the day, Linda and I didn't even go out. Everyone was going to look at the cherry blossoms, but it was 80+ degrees, and the place was MOBBED, so opted to just not. No. We didn't even go to the pool. Just. Relaxed. 

And sometimes that's the best. 

Here are a couple pictures and three days of digits. Some of the glucose readings I have to go back and get but the monitor is in the other room. meh.

Friday digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  20 minute measured walk in the mall (surprised my fitbit counted that) for .61 miles. 14k+ steps by bedtime miles. 

blood glucose:

8:30am: 125
xpm: x
xpm: x

food:
coffee/water
8:30am: phentermine
10:30am: met+glip
12:30pm: broccoli, egg roll, 2 pieces of fried chicken, small dollop of lo mein. (food court!) 
4pm: mimosas 
5pm: met+glip
through the evening - prosecco, meatball sliders, some tuna nachos. 
11:45pm: jardiance, some pepperoni pizza flatbread

Saturday digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  15 min/.37 mile stroll to the liquor store that was measured as exercise by my fitbit. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

11am: 178 (after coffee and egg white bites, forgot to take first thing)
xpm: x
xpm: x

food:
coffee/water
8:30am: phentermine
10am: egg white bites, met+glip
12:15: chicken thigh sandwich, brioche bun, some french fries; mimosa
mimosas in the hotel room 
5pm: met+glip; tuna poke in lettuce wraps; white wine
some more white wine
11:45pm: jardiance

Sunday digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  15 min/.43 mile walk. 8500+steps by bedtime (too tired to get to 10k)

blood glucose:

9am: 96
4:30pm: 136
10pm: 188

food:
coffee/water
9am: phentermine; met+glip
10:30am: BEC on sourdough
3pm: 3 oreo cookies
5:30pm: met+glip
6pm: chinese food
8:45pm: jardiance

The Gathering

It's kind of funny. 

Over the years, I've made friends with a lot of other Guster fans from all over the country. Today I got emails/texts from folks traveling to DC from points afar. 

"Made it! Early check in at our hotel for the win! Off to museums!" 

Others are at airports and updating the fan group with their selfies. 

People are RSVPing to the meetups "Count four of us in, the kids are coming too!"

I have the same feeling every time there's a show... I can't believe it is finally here and I get to see my favorite band and some of my favorite people. For as shit-showey this world has been for the past several weeks, this is the penultimate moment. 

We're doing this. WE'RE DOING THIS!!!! It's time. As Frank Turner sings, this is the gathering. 

I messaged Linda this morning to see if she was on the way yet. Super early, knowing the answer. She laughed at me. She left around noon.  I made a pedicure appointment for both of us for tomorrow morning. I called the hotel and requested early check in (if possible) for us, so we can get our pretty clothing on and make it to the meet up on time. 

My house is a post-winter mess, so every day this week I've done a little something and today is no different. I started in the kitchen. The floor is nasty, especially since Dahlia came to live with us. I'm not sure how but it is just extra grubby. 

Where we put our recycling is so dirty. I pulled everything off all of the shelves and scrubbed them. Behind the trash barrel. The back door itself - filthy. Not no more. 

I pre-treated the floor with some 409 and let me tell you, a Mr. Clean magic eraser is a piece of wizardry. It made short work of some of the grossest corners.

Moving on from the not quite all the way done kitchen, I stripped the guest bed and got fresh sheets on. Doug had ordered some towels online and those have been in a box since arriving so they got unpacked. Linda will get the inaugural run at them. 

Laundry ran all day, and folding of laundry happened. 

I didn't send Geoff to the market when he went to the gym because I wanted to send myself out of the house at some point. Sigh. I didn't get myself out of the house at some point though.  Linda texted me to say she'd arrive around 6pm which was easily an hour before I thought she'd get here, so I thought I had time to go to the market and do the outside things. 

I grabbed a quick shower and sent a reluctant post-work Geoff to the market (the look he gave me) and I continued to do house work things. 

I accidentally got bleach spray on one of the hand towels that Doug just bought, literally 5 minutes after putting it up for its use in the bathroom. Gah. I felt horrible about that, standing in front of my wonderfully clean bathroom sink. 

Linda arrived, and the dogs were Jelly Girls.

Geoff arrived with stuff for dinner, and wine. Which was good. Very good. Very happy to have more wine. We had a nice time catching up. Geoff normally goes to his room and hides but he sat up here with us and chatted. He updated Lin on his classes, and she shared some auntie wisdom with him about her experiences 

All told, a very busy day but a good one. Digits below!

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Minimum dedicated 10 late in the day to hit the 10k steps. 10 min/.47 miles, a lot of housework steps and hard work. 10k+ by bedtime

blood glucose:

7:45am: 134
5pm: 125
10pm: 75

food:
coffee/water
7:45am: phentermine 
10am: met+glip
12:30pm: grilled tuna and muenster on 21 grain bread w/bacon and tomato
6pm: met+glip
7pm: bowl of pasta shells in meat sauce; white wine+diet ginger ale
9pm: jardiance

Anxiety

This morning, I woke up early. Doug had a meeting at 8am so his alarm went of at 7:15 but the dogs were already up and ready. He didn't snooze, and took care of feeding them and going outside. I went into the kitchen where Geoff was pacing. 

Geoff. You know this kid. You've read this blog for 20 something years. New things trigger an anxiety response for him, and I knew today would be no different so I wanted to be sure to touch base. 

He's starting a mid-semester class today, in person. He adulted on this many times to get it going. He had to work with his boss to reorganize his schedule so he could leave early on Wednesdays (done), he has to drive so we made sure the car is in good working condition (done), he logged into the school portal to check on the class information. 

Oh no.

The class was greyed out in the available academic sessions. Even though today is the start day. Panic. PANIC! Why is it greyed out? hovering over the class the message said "Class is not available, email the instructor with questions."

So he tried to find a way to email the instructor but he's not listed in the staff directory. 

More panic.

All of this before 6am, mind you. He got up early to check on the online portal dealie and now is in pacing and panic mode. 

I offered advice. "If you can't find him in the staff directory, you can email the college and ask about it? Maybe the system doesn't activate the class information in the portal until class day."

What if it was canceled? He asked.

If it was, they'd have emailed you. They wouldn't screw you over and not communicate.

I have to drive over an hour to get there. What if it is canceled and they didn't send out the notifications?

That's why you should find someone else to email if you can't find the instructor on the website. 

He went downstairs and came up about 20 minutes later. 

The class had been activated (yay) and he could go into the room, but nothing for his session was in there, just the first half of the semester. Assignments due, deadlines. 

I told him that someone maybe made a mistake and put it in as a 15 week class on accident. I'm sure his instructor will let him know what's happening, in person, tonight, at class. But he now has an email address and can email the guy. He opted not to. He had to get ready to go to work. 

I tried to get him to make a side quest first and go to target. We're out of dog cookies (oh no!) so we have these tiny pupperoni training treats and that doesn't cut it. Both dogs are looking at me with side eye when I pass that off to them. He wasn't having it, it's too much to plan to run an errand and make it to work on time at 11am when it is 9am. You know. Can't be late.

Work was good today even with some high drama out in the world. I worked with a client to try and resolve an issue with their website, and her 3 yr old daughter was home with her. We got to know each other very well. I told my client that my kid says I "set children on fire." And I kind of did with her little one. 

Doug came up around 5pm and suggested we take a walk. I had just did a solid 10 min (dedicated 10, friends!) with the dogs, outside for 6 minutes around the yard and then finishing it up in the house. I caved to the knowledge that yes, we should. Both dogs need to be walked, not just one. He wanted to be home in time for the news, so it was a solid 20 minutes. Not too hot, not too cold, no wind. Just right. Just right. And extra steps for the day.

I decided I'd make a pie, since we had some ingredients on hand, and I made a graham cracker crust for another cheesecake. It is a no-bake pie, and has to chill in the fridge, so making it at 8pm was stupid. I wasn't going to cut it open at 9 or 10pm. Saving that for tomorrow! 

Geoff got home from around 8:30 tonight and seemed very happy.  He said he's one of the oldest people in the class. It's interesting, this is a required course for the associates degree (he has a certificate) and several people in the class are in the health sciences program or have no decided major. He's the only one in his program. So he thought that was super unique. I told him he should hopefully feel comfortable sharing information about his program (which he loves) for students who are undeclared. 

Technically I'm off tomorrow and Friday. Linda is headed this way tomorrow and staying here. Friday we go to DC for Hotel Pool Day Drinking and Guster. 

I feel like I need this more than I can possibly fathom. As do so many. 

And I'll have pie tomorrow. 

With my day off, it will be cleaning cleaning cleaning, and I'll see if I can get Geoff to do that Target trip tomorrow so we have dog treats. I'm excited about not waking up and working immediately. I do have this ongoing issue with the client I was working with today, so I'll touch base with her I'm sure. But not a real work day. Looking forward to that.

didn't take a picture today, but. It was a good one overall. Pie tomorrow. digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. indoors walk, Indoor walk10 min/.51 miles; Dog walk, 20 min/.90 mile. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7:45am: 125
5pm: 100
10pm: 102

food:
coffee/water
7:45am: phentermine
10am: met+glip
1pm: bowl of BLT salad w/mixed baby greens
5pm: met+glip
6:30pm: nachos (chips, melted w/cheese, ground beef, sour cream)
white wine
8pm: jardiance

Recovery Day

 That migraine was no joke yesterday, and into today too. Still feeling the impacts. It has been a good long time since I've had one. I know my triggers, and can't necessarily pinpoint what exactly I had happen to get it jump started. 

I will say that yesterday, to just be in a bed, with a dog, with my eyes closed, still and not moving, not sleeping but not awake... it actually felt very nice. I timed my steps and set an alarm. I did the 9am steps, then, for 10am, set the alarm for 10:50, got up, did the steps and did 11am immediately. Went back to bed, reset the alarm for 12:50. Did noon and 1. Drank water, went to the bathroom, and just spent the whole day doing that. 

Happy that Geoff made dinner last night but I should have supervised him. He follows recipes to the letter, and sometimes the recipes are dumb. For instance: Potato soup. Set oven to 350. Roast the potatoes WHOLE for 20 minutes or until fork tender. 

Um. 

Potatoes take like 2 hours to bake, not 20 minutes to fork tender. That is unpossible. 

THEN, take the potatoes out, let them cool and peel them. 

Why.

That's STUPID. Just peel the potatoes first, quarter them, put some salt and pepper on them (no seasoning step in their instructions), roast them, and THEN you're all set. 

So I should have read the instructions before he got started.

He's also super bad at making a roux for gravy or soup. It comes out chunky, gritty. So I should have supervised that. 

But.

I was not complaining. Someone made me dinner when I had a migraine, and in the end it wasn't perfect, but it was better than just cheese and crackers which is what I had the energy for. 

I also pointed out that this recipe book is from the midwest (St. Louis) and while it has some decent recipes, we need to make it so it isn't bland and tasteless. I don't think they know how to cook out there, sometimes. Put some salt and pepper on the potatoes. 

Also. He needs to stop picking recipes that are 100% starch. But again. I'm not complaining. Dinner was made. 

All told, I managed to sleep okay last night and wake up with only a basic headache today. Much better than a migraine. Got through the day, did a website launch with a very thankful client, had another client report a big problem with her website that I can't figure out what is happening so I may have to loop in my hero sysadmin guy. 

Oh, I took a shower. Realized I had not since Thursday. 

Doug took Dahlia for a walk while I was still working on the client problem. I got dinner started and took an indoor walk in between stirring things and checking the emails. I should have put a leash on Toffee and taken her for a stroll but I was dutiful and paying attention to the problem while squeezing in some steps!

Geoff starts a mid-semester class tomorrow where he has to drive to Virginia to the campus. He's been in one since January that is online, every Tuesday. I'm happy to see him renewing his academic journey. He realizes he needs to climb that academic degree ladder to make more money. 

Doug is still shopping for our replacement car online. Hopefully he will pick one soon. 

Anyway, recovering from the headache and trying to get back in the groove of things. Off to bed! 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Indoor walk, 37min/1.64 miles; 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:45am: 160
4:30pm: 124
10:30pm: 121

food:

coffee/water
8:45am: phentermine
9:45am: met+glip
1pm: english muffin w/mayo, muenster, turkey
5pm: met+glip
6:30pm: bowl of mac & cheese
7pm: ramekin of mixed nuts; jardiance
glass of white wine

Migraine

No real entry today. I woke up this morning before the alarm and had a visual migraine starting. Immediately took meds, coffee, water, and tried to work a little but it was not a good experience. 

I got back in bed. Every hour I did my steps, I took the dogs out a couple times. The pain was notable but not excruciating, and much better if I was horizontal with my eyes closed. 

That's about it. That's my day. I thought about taking a short walk but it started pouring so, none for me. 

Better day tomorrow.

Digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  no walk, 5500 steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:00am: 104
4pm: 84
11pm: 134

food:

coffee/water
8am: phentermine, 2 migraine meds
10:30am: met+glip
4pm: some club crackers w/ sliced ny sharp cheddar
6pm: met+glip
8pm: bowl of potato soup a la Geoff
11pm: jardiance, another migraine med

It Is Ant Season

I decided today that I'd give my knees and lower back a break and not go to the gym. Not a 14k day today, but it wasn't a zero (see the digits below).

For breakfast, I made egg mcmuffins for us (2 for him, 1 for me) and started doing a little cleaning. Yesterday I had stripped our beds (plural - we have a split king with separate sheets until we figure out a good solution to unify the two mattresses and put a set of king sheets on it, they're both twins or xl twins, I forget which), and I folded some of the laundry piled up next to my side of the bed. 

Today my mission was to find a dress. Not just any dress - the one I wanted was from Aaron's wedding and I need it for the symphony next weekend. A bunch of us decided we are dressing up even though it is a Guster show. Because it is with the national symphony and we want to look the part, as it were. Fancy in the pants. 

This is a good dress, I love it very much, and I wear it when I need something fancy dressy. I could see the little bolero jacket that goes with the dress on the hanger in the closet, with all the other clothes I literally never ever ever wear that are on hangers in the closet. But the dress was missing. So, after folding more laundry, I decided to pull everything off the closet floor that has been there since we moved in 2021. 

Found it.

It had slipped off a hanger, I guess, and stuff was on top of it. I also found the Columbia sportswear jacket liner I have been looking for, I'll need it when we go to Denver. It's a comfortable mid-range jacket that I can wear alone, or put in the shell and stay super warm. It may be super cold first week of June where we are headed. 

Victory is mine, a little bit! Huzzah.

Now to figure out what to wear for night 2. 

I took Thursday off of work, so I think I'm just going to use that day for haircut, toes, and maybe buy a dress. I'm also not above wearing the dress a second time. Why the hell not. It's the dress' chance to shine.

I thought about baking a cheesecake today, but we only had 3 eggs so I opted for breakfast instead. Will send Geoff to the market tomorrow - he's got the day off since he worked this weekend.

Doug again today he was going to look at cars, but it got to be 1pm and he checked the website for the dealer and they are closed Sunday. Sad trombone - he shoulda gone yesterday. 

He took the dogs outside so I could vacuum and stuff, which I asked for and was very thankful for. I didn't need them, especially Dahlia who hilariously has no clue, standing directly in my path while I'm rampaging around the living room with the sucking machine. Toffee at least will jump up on the couch and watch me. But "Screwy" as Doug calls Dahlia, she'll just stand there, and watch. 

He sat out there for an hour, played ball with them. Dahlia was off of house arrest for that time, and loved it. Good for her. I'm glad she was able to be good and not jump the fence when our neighbor and his dog came around the corner. Doug was right there with a leash, just in case. And she behaved while they stood there talking. John's dog Maisey does not care to spend time with our dogs or any other dogs -she's not even interested in nose to nose hello. She just stands there, pointing at her own house with her face. Let's Go. LFG. Let's go. 

So they all had a nice time while I got some cleaning done. And you all know I have to be in the mood to do this, so I was. 

I decluttered the living room table, and the side table. I brought all the christmas stuff down to the basement - it had been sitting here just taunting me since I packed it all up in January. We have at least 3 strings of dead lights that I need to pitch and I'm mad about it. Fucking dead lights.... I don't even know how this works when half a string dies completely. I should google if there is a fix for it because these are my good white lights that we usually keep up for the year. 

During the week, I had watered almost all the plants, except for the ones on the front window. I decided to do that today too. I have an aloe plant that is in a cute terra cotta pot with some green paint on it, and it sits on a little plate that I'd picked up a while back at the Atlas Brewery plant swap. Imagine my shock and panic when I picked up the pot, and thousands of ants were under the pot. Like. What the fuck, ants? I haven't seen a single ant in the house so far this year - but obviously they're coming in and picked this plant to chill under. 

And yes, every year here in Maryland, right about now, they start coming in the house. It is one of my very least favorite things about living here - my outside garden has billions of ants, and they march in the house and they love the dog dishes, the sink, the entire kitchen. So we fight them - and eventually it stops being Ant Season inside, and they stay outside. 

Expressing some surprise and throwing some salty language around, I ran to the back door with the pot and the plate, ants scurrying up my hands as I'm doing my best to hustle. I grabbed our lemongrass ant killing spray from the kitchen and doused the plate and the outside of the pot - death to all you creepy crawly bastards. 

When Doug took the dogs out, I asked him to hand me the two pieces, I'd repot the plant and wash the plate. He looked at the carnage and was surprised at the amount of deceased bugs left behind. I think he was surprised I did not lose my shit when this happened and to be honest, I'm surprised as well that I kept it together. Gah. 

After doing a couple other things I returned to the aloe to repot it. I picked another pot that was a touch bigger than the one it was in, and added a little dirt to the bottom to set the plant on top of. Lifting the plant out of the pot - a million more ants came out. 

Goddamn sonovvabitch you've got to be joking. 

Back outside, more spray, rinsing the plant, taking ALL the dirt off of it down to the bare roots. It will be closely and carefully monitored over the next couple days in its new house. 

Kind of bizarre they picked this one plant to move into - but now the window sill collective will be carefully checked. I won't be going two weeks without investigation of the babies. 

Doug went into the guest room with the dogs around 4, so I took a cleaning and ant murdering break and took myself for a quick walk all by myself. Doug asked why I neglected a dog and the answer is because when one goes, the other becomes super Jelly Dog and cries and cries, and I wanted to be kind to him so he could rest or whatever. 

Did a quick 20 minute trek, discovered you can't play Pokemon at the same time as Spotify is running, so I chose Play That Funky Music, some Sweetness by Jimmy Eat World, Last Train to Clarksville, among others. I did catch one pokemon and did one spinner so I fulfilled my "required" actions for a 4 day streak. 

Dinner was cluck pucks and I was not going to have rolls but I wanted mayo and potato chips on my sammitch. And I had 2. More carbs than usual but Potato Rolls are so damn good, aren't they? 

No picture from today but these are from early Saturday morning. After breakfast, after outside, and back for second sleepies. Dahlia is so black she is like a Void Dog.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Housecleaning recorded measurable exercise, 15 min/.39 miles. Actual walk, 20 min/1.06 miles. 12k+ by bedtime

blood glucose:

9:45am: 124
4:30pm: 104
9:45pm: 126

food:

coffee/water
9am: phentermine
10:30am: met+glip
11:30am: egg mcmuffin (1 egg, 1 sausage pattie, 2 slices of american cheese, english muffin)
5pm: met+glip
6:30pm: 2 cluck pucks w/american cheese+mayo on potato rolls, some cheddar cheese potato chips
1 glass of white wine+diet ginger ale

Go an Git It

Doug was going to go look at cars today, but ended up feeling tired. So I went to the gym. I pushed it to an hour, and I'm rather proud of that. Had a nice long chat with Linda on the way home, and chatted with mom.

After the gym, I stripped our beds and washed everything. I folded a basket of laundry but still have so much to do. But I got a lot more done than Doug did. Ha. 

Writing this just before midnight so not much else to post. I am off to bed! 

 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.   treadmill. 1 hour/3.16 miles; 15k+ steps by bedtime 

blood glucose:

7:30am: 113
5pm: 136
10:30pm: 76

food:

coffee/water
7:30am: phentermine
10am: met+glip
12:30pm: english muffin w/pb and cherry preserves
5pm: met+glip
6:30pm BBQ pulled pork on top of some french fries
7pm: goat cheese & cherries on some crackers
9pm: 2 baby bell cheeses
10:30pm: jardiance