Treadmill

Doug bought us a treadmill here for the house.

I mean, for those who have visited (all one of you) you know we have a lot of space for things. We get out, we walk, we have to walk the dog. Outside is fine. But when it is 11 degrees, or even 45 degrees and super windy, or 98 degrees and 90% humidity, this is not fun. It's a hassle to do the outside. 

Since we've gotten settled in here, I've been back to going to the gym, Geoff is going to start going now that his class is over.

But, a treadmill downstairs would be nice. 

He is a good shopper, picked out a good machine that is going to be delivered by maybe January 15th depending on like everything in the universe. And he is going to set it up. I'm okay with all that.

I can crush my 10k steps daily even with an outside walk or a go to the gym and use the exercise machines thing instead of the treadmill. And then use the treadmill at home. To be honest, it'll be nice for days like yesterday, where even though I did the big outside walk, by 8pm I was still 1500 steps down from the 10k goal. This means walking around inside or suiting back up and going outside again just to go up and down the block to finish up. 

Instead, I can just go downstairs and crush 10-15 min and be done with the goal. Instead of pacing around the main floor while Doug is trying to watch football.

The city we live in has an annual 100 miles in 100 days challenge. You sign up, use a website to upload your tracker stats (or, just track stuff on a piece of paper and submit it... honor system like). It is 10 bucks to join, 20 if you want the T-shirt and 25 if you do it with your dog and want the T-shirt and the dog reward, which sounds cute. So I did sign up, and ya know, will continue to rule at walking every day. Wish me luck. 

Jess is coming down on New Years Eve and will probably get here too late to go to the town shenanigans. They wrap things up at 8pm so people can get their kids home. Kind of bizarre this trend to do all the midnight things early just so kids can go to bed. 

That's okay though. Doubtful that Doug and I will go downtown (it's all free and at the baseball field) but if Jess would be here in time, I'd probably go. 

Thoughts are right now that I drive back with them (Dijon is coming too!) and go stay at my mom's for a while. I kind of want to keep an eye on the cousin situation, because if he's actively dying soon, maybe I'd want to go be with him. Maybe not. I don't know. Mom is more important.

Jess plans on going back Jan 3, so if I went with, I'd see about coming home the following weekend, the 10th or 11th. I'd just have to find my way to the Providence Airport. 

Geoff's 29th birthday (can you believe that shit?) is the 7th, so I want to ask him if he'd be offended if I'm not here for that. And of course, I need to talk to Doug to see what his thoughts are on this. Naturally. 

Around 1:30 I went to the gym. Very quiet at work, and I figured I'd seize the day. Back at home, Doug and I took a walk with Toffee, he was surprised I wanted to go but I knew I'd be shy of the 10k if I did not. 

Geoff made a really nice dinner but somehow broke the handle on the door to the oven. Doug will have to look at that tomorrow. Not sure how my son is always such a bull in a china shop sometimes. 

Didn't do much else. 

I started to plan the return trip from MA to here for after the new year. Watch this space. Doug asked me if we should go see John on Friday, stay over in Richmond. I haven't heard from him - he didn't respond to my text yesterday or today. So I texted Billy (his brother) to check in. So that will probably be happening. 

Nothing else to report, and no picture either! Digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. treadmill at gym, 20 min/1.2 miles; walk with Doug and Toffee, 25 min/1.2 miles; 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7:45am: 115
4:30pm: 150 
9:45pm: 109

food & meds:
7:45am: phentermine+jardiance
8am: 2 tiny sugar cookies with my coffee
noon: small bowl of mac & cheese w/bacon
2pm: apple w/pb, met+glip
6pm: chicken thighs in 2 zero carb tortilla wraps w/ cheddar and sour cream
8pm: mixed nuts
8:30pm: met+glip
a white claw; last of the wine. Not in the same glass.

Last Word Lou

I am not sure why this popped into my head today. Actually, yeah, I'm sure. 

My sister has/had a coworker who no matter what the context was, always had to have the last word. 

In an email she'd write "oh okay thank you." And he'd reply. There were dozens of instances where Lin would answer, be done with it, and he'd reply. So, she'd reply! Just to be a wise ass. And then he'd reply! 

Over and over. It always made me laugh. We called him Last Word Lou.

A lot of times, in my helpdesk ticketing system, I will write to someone and say "there's no need for you to reply, this is just me letting you know the issue is resolved."

And.

They'd reply. 

I'm dealing with someone like that right now, and it is making me chuckle but also pissing me right off. Bro. For Real. Honestly. Why you gotta write me back? Like, no. I said we're done here. Done. I even gave you the blessing and permission to NOT say anything back. But here you go replying. 

I don't mind if someone says "Thank You" when I close a ticket but to be honest you don't have to do that. 

Whenever they reply, it reopens the help ticket. And then I have to read it (to make sure they didn't just ask a tangential additional question) and then close it again. It's not a lot of work but it is honestly just the concept - don't write back, it's okay if you don't write back, oh my god you are creating work for me. Please Stop. 

So I just close tickets without saying anything lately. If they have a followup question after the release notes go out to update everyone, they'll notice the ticket is closed and then they can ask a question. 

People exhaust me.

Monday of a holiday week, things are very light. I did have two meetings today and both people who set them up apologized for "making us have to think about work" today. I laughed and said "but. We are at work and should think about work maybe?" 

Both meetings were productive and no apologies needed. They were great. 

I had several helpdesk tickets from clients I'd been waiting to hear back on for meetings. I said "Hey! I'm here Mon-Wed both holiday weeks" and they said "oh I'd rather not meet during this period. How is the second week of January?" 

That is pushing it, son. Second week? Wow. 

I did a bunch of stuff, and needed to go get bloodwork done. It's about 30 min. each way, and if you make an appointment online for the lab, you basically can go in any time before/near your appointment. I was a half hour early, literally 5 min, done. I made a 3:30 appointment, left at 2:50. got there pretty much right on time because traffic.

Coming home was a challenge - tons of traffic, possibly commuters? Maybe? I thought about swinging by the gym but because the traffic was so bad it ate up the margin I'd allotted myself, so I came home. 

I did a few more work things and at about 5:30pm decided I'd better get out there for a walk or I'd fall short. It was cold, but no wind so I love it when it is like this. The playlist was feeding me good stuff. Some Metallica, Billy Idol (Rebel Yell is a good running pace) and the Ghost cover version of "Jesus He Knows Me," which is very fast. also. Here's the official Ghost video and ... well. Christians may find offensive but I think Ghost sums up everything Genesis is getting at with this song. 

Great cover version. Do not watch if you are easily offended, mkay?

Digits below the blasphemy. heh.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. 30 min outdoor walk/1.81 mi. note the distance. Some good jogging mixed in, felt good! 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 150
4:30pm: 115 
10pm: 153 (took it again at midnight, 74)

food & meds:
9am: phentermine+jardiance
through the morning - mixed nuts because they're in the bowl here. 
1:30pm: roast beef, slice of tomato, 2 slices of Muenster cheese, mayo, toasted English muffin; Met+glip
6:30pm: two bowls of Geoff's nice beef fried rice w/egg, peas, corn, etc. 
white wine w/diet cranberry gingerale
nuts out of the bowl
9:15pm: met+glip

It's an Abomination! CCC 25 round up

Saturday morning came early. There were things that needed to be done that I'd procrastinated on like, oh, vacuuming? You know my struggles with this. 

I managed to get everything done that I needed to get done. Almost. The original plan was for everyone to be here at my house by 2. H and R managed to get here in time but SSH were running late. 

While the 2 girls were on their way here, Doug wanted to get poinsettias for our Christmas decorations, and offered to pick up some things I needed like m&ms for instance. He asked if I needed anything else, I gave him a small list and said "and if you see anything fun, feel free to get it."

"What kind of fun?" he asked standing there holding the shopping list and making kind of a curmudgeonly face.

"Oh you know, fun decorating shit and ideas. You know what fun is. You know how to have fun."

"No, I do not." 

He does though. He really does. 

In the morning he brought in a table from the car port for me to set our tree up on (with Geoff's help) and when he went to the store he brought back a ton of great stuff. One thing he got was shaved coconut, which we've never used on the cookies and it came in so handy. He brought back wine and kahlua and sodas and snack foods. Cheese and pepperoni for protein in between wee cookies and licking sugar off my fingers. 

I had told him I didn't feel like I had enough brushes and spready things for putting the icing on the cookies, so he found a sweet little set of tools that were beyond perfect for the task. 

R and H helped me cover the dining table with brown paper bags, Doug laughed a little like ... you don't need to protect the table. But the paper isn't for protecting the table - it is for ease of cleanup after the fact. 

This gets messy.

We put cookies and decorating stuff out on the table, got everything ready and waited for SSH to arrive. I wanted to wait until Hen got here because he loves mixing the colors but we couldn't wait. We set up some colors and ... well. Started decorating. 

The party was in full swing once SSH got here, and Hen didn't even say hello to me, he just went straight into decorating mode. I finally got a hug and a hi out of him, and we all just ... fell into our roles. 

I made a freaking ton of cookies. Geoff was right, you have enough cookies. Doug put on a Christmas playlist from Ryan Miller of Guster to entertain us while we were decorating. 

Seriously, he was the MVP last night. My tremendously introverted husband even came in to mingle for a while, which is unlike him. There was football on, so he and Geoff watched it, and we just ... made mayhem in the dining room. 

At one point, H told me that she had never done this before. She'd never decorated Christmas cookies. This was something no one had ever introduced her to. 

"I have a question. What happens to all these cookies? Do we get to keep some?"

Oh honey, yes. You take all your favorites home and you leave the ones you hate here, and we eat them for you. 

I tried to remember when the first time was that I decorated cookies. I know for a fact I never did growing up, that wasn't our family vibe. Maybe I just started doing it with our kids at some point? Maybe? Just like dyeing Easter eggs - I know we never did either of those things when we growing up, but we did it all the time with the kids when they were little. Both just became part of the thing we did for the holidays and for activities as a family. I could probably go back through this blog and find many different references to cookie decorating nights. Not quite as many cookies or as grand and epic as the past few years. 

I know I have done it just by myself. When we moved here to Maryland, I sat after thanksgiving dinner one year by myself and decorated a couple dozen cookies. Just as something quiet and unwindey to do. 

Anyway. So happy to introduce a fun holiday activity to her. She needed a fun day, it was a shitty year for her and her family has been less than kind. So surrounding her with colored confectioners sugar, boozy hot cocoa with peppermint schnapps and crushed candy canes on top, it was perfect.

Hen likes to make what he calls "Abominations" where usually a gingerbread man has  some sort of catastrophic decorating mess on him. He used a bunch of marshmallows to make a broken leg with bones sticking out of it, and blood. "THIS IS AN ABOMINATION!" he yells. A couple decapitated guys, weird cats with 11 eyes, all sorts of Abominations come out of his little designs. 

We ordered pizza, and I gave the delivery guy a handful of cookies and a big tip, which thrilled him. 

H was in the zone, she was decorating like a professional, and then made cookies of the Gusters, which was hilarious. She dressed them in clothing they've worn. Ryan Miller's pants, Brian's red shirt with the small white stripe, Adam's rose shouldered black cowboy shirt, Dave Butler's ginger beard, Luke's Canadian Tuxedo, and he's wearing his glasses and whistling. 

For someone who has never done this before... she killed it. Sara made the 'mingo and the tree. Credit where credit is due.

We did a cookie photo shoot, taking pictures of all our favorites, and of us together. I got the dishwasher loaded, knowing it would have to run two more times probably before everything was all cleaned up. 

Credit to Doug for taking the picture. 

It started getting late, and there were still many undecorated cookies, but everyone had at least an hour or so ride home. R and H offered to help me clean up, but I was kind of like "nah. I usually just leave it until the morning and deal with it then." 

Which is what I did. I felt like a truck hit me when I got in bed after midnight. So sore.  

In the morning today, I went downstairs, put on the coffee, fed the dog, let her out, and went and looked at the table. I laughed so hard. The freaking room was basically trashed. And I was so in love with it. 

It just felt like all the most fun that ever could be had at once was had last night. 

Cleanup would come, but first coffee. With homemade whipped cream, and a few tiny star cookies. 

Doug wanted to take a walk at the canal today but it was very windy. Okay temperature but you know your princess can't deal with the wind sometimes. I offered to stay here to clean while he went for the walk, and he opted to change plans. 

He and Geoff took Toffee to the dog park, and I cleaned, as promised. 

I stripped all the paper off the table, being careful to keep as much sugar and stuff rolled up inside. 

Since there are still cookies that need to be decorated, I kept the icing, and will freshen up what I can icing wise, or just make more, and finish up the bunch. 

I loaded the dishwasher, wiped down the counters, drank more coffee, and I was getting ready to vacuum again when the boys came back. That can wait, I'll get to it later or tomorrow. 

Around 3:30 I decided to go to the gym, get that walk in. Did some running to some good songs, thought about pushing it past the half hour but wanted to call Linda and drive home before it got dark. 

Linda's birthday is today, and I always say she's my solstice baby who brings light back to all of us. Cue the sappy love music. But it is true. The only thing that would have made CCC 25 better would have been her being here. 

Geoff made dinner while I was at the gym. I loaded the dishwasher (we're a team) and we watched the Steelers almost lose their game after dominating the entire first half. Whew. 

Crawled to bed, very tired. More cookie pictures tomorrow, but I'll leave you with this one of Hen and me. Since I think every year we've posted one. Merry Christmas to the Abomination Maker!

Saturday digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. No measurable distance/walk but 12k+ steps by bedtime (almost 13k) 

blood glucose:

8:30am: 147
4pm: 123 
midnight: 132

food & meds:
8:30am: jardiance+phentermine
1pm: met+glip
4pm: protein shake
through the course of the evening: mixed nuts, m&ms, cheddar cheese slices
7:30pm: buffalo chicken bites from the pizza place
9pm: met+glip
White wine+diet ginger ale

Sunday digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Half hour on the treadmill, 1.71 mi. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9:30am: 129
5pm: 94 
10:30pm: 157

food & meds:
9:30am: phentermine+jardiance
coffee w/whipped cream and tiny star cookies
1:30pm: english muffin w/pb & low sugar j 
2:30pm: met+glip
cookies
5:30pm: baked ziti w/ meat sauce
cookies?
8pm: met+glip
9pm: several mixed nuts 
white wine and diet cranberry ginger ale

Flying Sheds and Unboxing

I was in a meeting this morning, on video, and one of my colleagues said "Chris, your face? Is everything okay?" 

Well. I personally am okay. But. 

Looking out our front window while we were talking, I watched our across the street neighbors' shed lift up off the ground maybe 4 or 5 feet, rotate and plop down at the edge of their driveway. About ten feet away from where it was standing. 

Not something you see every day, so that was a little wild. As of 10pm, it is still not in the right place. I'm not sure what kind of folks they are, if they need help moving her back into the right spot or not. 

It was a unique experience. 

Needless to say, our weather here starting at about 5 am was rather wicked. Even now, at this late hour, it is still a freight train of wind. At least the rain stopped about 9am. But our entire porch was soaked, so the wind just drove the water in towards the house. 

My realtor came by this afternoon with a gift for us. She had a personalized christmas ornament made for our first christmas here in the house. And she looked around when she came in, and said "oh.... did I make a mistake, do you celebrate Christmas?"

Because your girl has zero decorations up. Cookies were the priority! I told her we sure do, but, I hadn't gotten to decorate yet. To be honest, I'm still looking for the box/es with lights. 

She was relieved, and I think I detected maybe this was a mistake she'd made in the past. It never came up in our conversations when we were working together, but with our last name, we for sure could be Jewish (save for the giant blonde child we have). I for sure would have asked first, before making a nice gift like this, just to ... you know. Not make a huge gaffe. 

The ornament is lovely, and now I'm motivated to put the tree out. Which is in the shed (which is anchored and will not rise up and fly around the yard) according to Doug. A task for tomorrow. 

I'm a little irritated that it is in the shed, because I spent a giant amount of time this evening looking for it. I found the boxes with the ornaments and lights, but no tree. I'm glad I said something out loud to Doug because he couldn't figure out why I was bringing boxes back upstairs. I told him these are mostly books and knickknacks, and I want to put them out on shelves. And the Christmas stuff.

For a fact, I know that if I didn't do this there would be no Christmas spirit in this house. Doug can't be bothered. Never could. Not his thing. 

But I want the wee tree, and the wee angels. Still have to find that box. Jesus I thought I moved in such an organized fashion.

I unpacked a few boxes of books, put things on shelves, I've got stuff I still need to do, so I'll get to that all. 

My 3pm meeting canceled on me, which was fine. It meant that I could treat myself to running out to the gym. Killed a half hour, should have pushed it but I have to be a responsible adult and like... go back to work. 

Tomorrow, I have a lot to do to get ready. I was thinking about making boozy hot cocoa and homemade whipped cream for our grown up guests and no boozy for Hen. 

Here's a picture of the shed. Digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill, 31 min/1.63 miles; moving boxes around, 31 min/.72 mi. (notice the difference in distance. lol) 12k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8am: 110
4:30pm: 117 
10:30pm: 119

food & meds:
8am: jardiance+phentermine
10:30am: 2 slices of toasted amish cheese bread w/butter
2pm: met+glip
3pm: a couple reeses peanut butter santas
6pm: beef stew a la Geoff. 2 beers.
8pm: met+glip
9pm: pita chips and hummus

You have enough cookies

I had a busy day today and a late meeting that turned into a mutual bitch fest with someone, she had to unload, I was a willing ear. I'm not sure how I feel about her, she's a director level person and a little intense. But I think a lot of people don't respect her, or don't listen to her, or when she's holding firm and standing her ground on a decision, people do a round about and go behind her back to higher ups and then she gets her ass handed to her... when she is 100% right in the first place. 

She is the literal owner of one of the products that I support that we are rebuilding, and I think she really likes me (I mean, who would not) and I support her. I feel for her. 

It is super hard to be a woman in tech. 

While she and I were gabbing, Geoff made dinner. So it was all ready when I finished. That was a nice thing to realize. I thought he was going to go out to the market for an ingredient for this soup he made but he said "eh, it's only one ingredient. meh." I honor that decision. 

After I cleaned up from dinner, I got to baking the last batch of cookie dough. I make it the night before, split it into 4 piles and wrap it in cling wrap. At some point in the afternoon, I take out the blobs, let them come up to warmer but not fully thawed temps, and make cookies. 

At some point, I was putting cookies into containers, over and over, cookies.... cookies..... cookies. And I said to Geoff "do you think I should make more shapes? Do I need more trees or stars or ..."

"You have enough cookies," deadpan Geoff says to me. 

Yeah, you know, you're right, I do. I do. 

Tomorrow, I think I'll make some plain white frosting and decorate the snowflakes and mickey mouse faces. that way, they'll be solid/dry for decorating with colors (ie: black ears, etc). I have to figure out some container options for frosting. 

S told me that H has been talking about this for a week, with the level of excitement that he's going to Disney World or something. 

This is honestly on the level of going. to. Disney. for this kid. 

Can't wait. 

Here's a picture of hen from 2022. Can't wait to take more Saturday. 

Digits, below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  rather chilly/brisk walk. 30 min/1.62 mi. Fitbit measured me moving boxes around in the basement looking for christmas stuff, 17 min/.45 mi (I'll take a measured fitbit report!) 11k+ stepsby bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 101
4:15pm: 97 
11:45pm: 94

food & meds:
9am: jardiance+phentermine
9am: 2 slices of amish cheese bread toasted w/butter
1:45: met+glip (remembered today! lol)
2:15pm: atkins protein shake
4:15pm: one cat shaped sugar cookie (the leg, she was deformed...)
6:15pm: bowl of southwestern chicken soup a la Geoff, shredded cheese and left over nachos on top.
7pm: ramekin of cashews 
9pm: met+glip
vodka & diet tonic

Off to Virginia

Not me, but Doug. 

Doug works at a hospital in Virginia, it is about a 2 hour ride now where we've moved. And before the end of this year all employees were required to come in, get their picture taken, and get a brand new access key card/badge. He has procrastinated it a little bit, and this morning the procrastination continued but he finally did it. Very proud of him. 

Sidebar note: I woke up at 2am and ended up going to the guest room and listening to a podcast. May I highly recommend: The Constant, Holiday episodes 2 stories. This episode is a re-recording of two episodes that Mark released over the past couple years, re-recorded and remastered. The first story is in a poem format, similar to the night before Christmas about a horrible man who made airplanes that crashed and he scammed people all over but got away scot free. The second one is It's Wonderful, which is about It's A Wonderful Life and that starts at about 17 min. into the recording. Trust me. Go listen to it. Both are great but It's Wonderful is ... Wonderful. end sidebar.

When I woke up this morning, I went upstairs at 9:15am to do my blood sugar and take the morning meds, and he was there working. I told him I thought he had left and he said no - he had to get something done before leaving. He finally went at about 11am.

I had big plans. I got a shower, felt more awake and alive after a cruddy night's sleep. I did some work and instead of baking cookies or vacuuming, I decided to finish the bookshelf that has been semi-assembled on the dining table for weeks. 

Done. 

I got something done. And while I was finishing putting in the screws, Doug came back. I was disappointed, because the next thing I was going to do was vacuum. 

I'm going to make him go out on a solo walk with the dog before Saturday, so I can finally do the deed.

Our team had a meeting with our SVP today. We do this once a month, and she's very interesting, has all the hot goss on the things happening organizationally. 

I had my weekly check in with my manager, lots to talk about, lots to think about, and my January - June will be solely focused on this one product and all that needs to be done. Communications plan, QA Testing, Pilot groups with a few clients, Testing! Training! Oh my gosh we have to do training. 

It's going to be mental. 

Anyway. Geoff started to make dinner and I took myself for a walk. Fitbit just did a platform upgrade, and somehow it kept turning off the measurement. It was about 34 minutes but the device only recorded a 15 minute exercise as running. Not the walk at my usual pace, where it lets me run but not change the exercise type. I notice there's a new setting for Treadmill which means I'll be able to walk and run, so maybe I'll use that to go around the neighborhood. 

We watched the president "speak to the nation" and we yelled at the TV.

And I baked more cookies. What happens tomorrow? Placing books and things onto the brand new built bookshelf. More cookies (dough is made, and I'll be ready to make the last big round of different shapes). And then maybe I'm done? Who knows! I'm sometimes out of control with this cookie decorating nonsense.

Digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Took a 34 min walk, but my fitbit kept turning off. Measured 15 total minutes/.75 miles (but it was much much more)... 4240 steps in the 6pm-7pm hour, should be 1.77 miles based on my height/stride. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9:15am: 119
4pm: 171 (due to forgetting my met/glip at the usual time of 1pm)
11:15pm: 103

food & meds:
9:15am: jardiance+phentermine
noon: bowl of mac & cheese w/hamburger
4pm: met+glip
7pm: nacho chips w/ ground beef, avocado, salsa, sour cream
vodka & diet tonic
11:15pm: met+glip

Walk or Cookies or Both?

Today started with a very early meeting. Our developers for a product I support are in Europe, so it is 7 hours ahead of Eastern time. They end up working very late, but for this call we got an early start. Alright of a start for me but not one of our California design team members. 4am at his house. Ufff. 

I didn't shower before hand, just kind of rolled out of bed at 8, brushed my hair, washed my face so my eyebrows weren't sticking up all over the place. Enjoyed the meeting. I like our developers in Europe. They are earnest and kind. 

My 11am meeting with a client didn't happen because she forgot. I kind of love when that happens to be honest. It does not enrage me, like I'm sure some folks would be upset about it. It shows me she's human. And makes me love her.  

She told me that she accepted the meeting, a week ago, and then on a whim took today off. Because most people I know take the day off and still end up working, she was on a conference call with someone else when my "hey, are you coming to the meeting?" email got to her. She jumped into our zoom call, which I'd ended but I get an alert if someone joins (which is cool). We had a laugh, talked about how busy this time of year is and how scatterbrained she sometimes is. 

We rescheduled and I told her to take the rest of her dang diddly day OFF!  Rescheduled for tomorrow! 

This afternoon, I had a wide opening of mid-day time and thought about going to the gym and then the market but got deep in some stuff. I rolled out cookies and cut/baked them. Then it was too late for the gym and market so I kept working. 

Eventually did need to get to the market so I went on over. When I got back, made dinner (today was Geoff's last in person class for the semester with his final exam so dinner was my responsibility). After dinner, realizing I was about 3k steps short of the goal I took myself out. 

No wind, 30 degrees, playlist pumping. Let's go. 

When I got home I whipped up more cookie dough and set it into the fridge. Drank more wine. Talked to Linda. Texted with John. He's supposed to finally be transferred to a nursing facility tomorrow in Mechanicsville VA. He's not happy, but he's not super UNhappy. It isn't the worst place on earth. And I think he'll be happy to go from the big hospital. 

Baked cookies. Made more dough. Baked more cookies. It's a theme. It's a trend. 

Doug is going to the office tomorrow, he has a meeting and has to get a new ID badge because they're changing the system at the hospital. I'll see how much vacuuming I can get done while he's away! ha! 

Oh, and the image is from last night's football game viewing. Team Triscuit card carrying member here. Even though I try not. Still, working on kicking ass on that A1C situation with the occasional cracker.

digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  23 min/1.34 mi walk outside; 12k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 134
4:30pm: 102
10:45pm: 142

food & meds:
8:30am: jardiance+phentermine
noon: low sugar yogurt w/granola bar
1:15pm: met+glip
6:30pm: bowl of spaghetti & mini meatballs (frozen ones) in sauce
red wine
9:45pm: met+glip
11pm: lump of portwine cheese spread (to get it out of the fridge)

Cookies Cookies Cookies!

It was a busy work day, several meetings. And I thought I had a 3pm meeting but it was at 4pm. Damn. If I had planned I could have gone to the gym with plenty of time to get back. 

But. 

I faced the reality that I'd need to walk outside no matter how cold because there was no way I was going to be able to walk a mile in the house here. 

I pre-loaded steps with an inside walk of 15 min, tried to go fast to get as many steps as possible in. At about 5pm, I opted to suit up and go on out. Doug said he wanted to go with, so we got Toffee ready and all of us headed out. 

He cut a corner and came back a block earlier than I wanted to. I thought about telling him I was going to do my full 1 plus mile walk but we stuck together. 

No wind, and it was perfect. 

Geoff was cheffing up dinner when we got back and he picked what sounded like it would be meh and he made it shine. It was so good. It didn't cross his mind to make rice or orzo to go with it, and that was fine, no carbs no problem. 

Once dinner was cleaned up and put away, I started in on cookie prep. Seeing as my friends are coming over for CCC '25 on Saturday, we need a pantload of cookies ready to decorate. Best get crackin'!!!

I got out my recipe - Four eggs? Oh. I thought it was two. I have .... four. Okay. I guess I make one batch to start and go to the market tomorrow. 

So we got a few made. Note to self - move the bottom rack in the oven up a skootch. No cookies burned, but they are brown on the bottom. 

I made 2 trays and put the rest of the dough away, time for football. In doing the cookies, I was overjoyed to have this extra area in the kitchen to work with. My old kitchen was painfully small, and I'd have to take everything off the counter top to do it so I'd do a lot at once. Gonna be great. 

Digits below pictures. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Indoor quick walk, 15 min/.81 mi. Toffee and Doug walk, 18 min/.94 mi; 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:45am: 137
4:45pm: 134
10pm: 94

food & meds:
8:45am: jardiance
10:30am: 2 slices of amish cheese bread w/cream cheese
12:30pm: apple w/pb
1:30pm: met+glip
2pm: giant oatmeal cookie
6pm: chicken cacciatore: 2 chicken thighs, wine/tomato sauce, onions, carrots, mushrooms. Geoff killed it tonight! 
red wine
8:30pm: triscuits & port wine/almond cheese  

Cookies 2026 - It begins

Henry has given our cookie decorating event an official name. CCC. 

Christmas Cookies with Christine. 

So, it's officially a tradition. Not only is this year 4, but... it has a name. 

Today I was going to start mixing up the cookie dough, get it set aside, and start baking cookies every day this week. I only had 2 eggs though. So that'll happen tomorrow. I'll send Geoff to the store for more vanilla, and eggs, and m&ms for decorating trees and rudolph's nose. 

So instead of getting the sugar cookies baked, I opted to make oatmeal cookies. I also had the added joy of discovering that our milk jug was leaking. Geoff said he didn't drop it on the way into the house or anything but somehow, there was a leak that obviously wasn't an issue at the market or it would have leaked empty in the store. 

Doug suggested using one of the glass bottles we got from South Mountain Creamery. I thought they were gallon, or 3/4 gallon but they are half gallon. So I used one of our sports bottles for most of the remaining amount. There was about a half cup left, and that's exactly what I need for the oatmeal cookies. 

When I made them, I should have used the medium size cookie scoop. I used the biggest one, so the cookies were actually gigantic. But they were super tasty. 

Earlier today, I went to the gym before the football games even got started. I told myself to do a full half hour, and I did. I will say that if I push to 40 min I can probably hit 2 miles. If only my attention span would work! 

I ran a little bit, a few of the songs were bangers and ones that I enjoy jogging to. Felt like I got a good amount of steps and distance in. 

Doug had put the chicken wings into the oven, and they were heating up. He took a nap and I took them out to evaluate them. They were super flabby and gross, and I knew that I wasn't going to enjoy them. I feel like flabby chicken wings are a crime. They have to be good and crispy. Cooked long enough that you can strip the meat right off with one bite. These were not that. 

I spread them out on a sheet, to get them some space, put a little olive oil on them but still, that didn't crisp them up. 

Still, the ones I ate had good meat on them, and it didn't kill me to eat them. I just wouldn't suggest we ever buy these again. Some other offering from the BBQ guy at the Dutch Market. 

Then I had two giant oatmeal cookies for dinner. Didn't want to eat much else. 

Right now it is 16 degrees out and windy as heck. Hoping tomorrow is a little bit warmer and not as windy. Toffee struggled with the cold today!

Pictures below are ... One of my cookies broken in half, but it is the size of the plate. Then, miss Toffee all sleepy and cuddly on my lap, missing in this shot is the blanket she is swaddled in. And then Miss Dijon, also a cuddle pup wrapped in her blanket. Perfect place for doggies to be today! 

And digits below the pics.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill, 30 min/1.62 mi; 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:45am: 142
5pm: 102
10pm: 150

food & meds:
9am: jardiance
10am: 2 slices of amish cheese bread, toasted w/butter
11am: bowl of mac & cheese w/bacon
1pm: met+glip
3:30pm: some chicken wings
6pm: 2 giant oatmeal cookies
white wine
9pm: met+glip

Errands and Beers and Walkies

We have weather headed our way tonight. Allegedly an inch or two of snow, but everyone acts like it is a snowpocalypse, even here in the mountains. It snow/rained a bit, last time I checked before writing this entry. We shall see what tomorrow is like! 

We may not get out of the house tomorrow. I'm glad we got a couple things done today. 

First up was bird seed. Doug put out our bird feeders and thought we had a big ole bag but there was no big ole bag. There is a "farm and family" store in the plaza up the street, and they have all kinds of things for your farm and your family. Including bird seed in many different styles. 

We have a bird feeder "hook" that's like a shepherd's hook - you can't quite see it out the window in the living room so we eyeballed a really taller one. He wanted to give this shorter one a test to see if birds even come by, or if the squirrels we are feeding our giant stash of walnuts to will eat it all up as a change of pace. The walnuts are a whole story in and of themselves... ugh. Anyway. 

Two bags hauled up and out the door. And I'll be going back for some good winter socks, soon. I didn't feel like poking around too much and burdening Doug because he had a bit of an agenda. I always shop better solo anyway. 

Next to a Dutch Market. They have everything from the local farms, and there is a BBQ joint in the back which was looking to get rid of as many chicken wings as they could. So a huge tray for 20 bucks. Perfect for football tomorrow. Oh, and cherry pie to go with the ice cream that we still have. 

We drove around a part of town we hadn't really been through, and found ourselves rolling up on the downtown brewery. Oh of course, yes please. We stopped in for a couple beers and chats but didn't stay long. Doug wanted to feed the birds. 

While he fed the birds, I took Toffee for a solid walk, not as long as I wanted but she was kind of a pest on the leash. Still, just about a mile, and I think it made her very happy. 

Geoff made dinner for us and got it started while I was out walking the dog. 

All told, a banner day. Tomorrow may not be as awesome outdoors-wise. But at least we have wings! 

Here are some brewery pictures! Digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Two walks - one inside while Doug was showering (because I didn't want to not get a walk in case we decided not to go anywhere) 23 min/.41 mi (slow - putting things away and tidying up while walking. Second walk with Toffee, 17 min/.9 mi. 11k+ by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:45am: 140
5pm: 153
10:30pm: 171

food & meds:
8:45am: jardiance (waiting for phentermine to arrive)
11:45am: english muffin w/pb & low sugar j
1pm: met+glip
2pm: 2 beers at the brewery
5:30pm: chicken parm w/some penne; big slab of cherry pie w/vanilla ice cream
2 more beers
9pm: Met+glip