For some reason I'm mentally okay when I think of how old Jess is (32 on the way to 33) but the fact my son is 2 years younger than my favorite co-worker buddy, kind of is a lot to process.
He came upstairs this morning and Doug and I were both quick to wish him a happy birthday. He looked incredibly happy. Which made me happy.
I asked where he wanted to go to dinner. He did not hesitate, and picked a little artisanal pizza joint the next town over, which is stupid expensive but really good. Hell yeah, it's yer birthday buddy, let's go.
He walked to work (which if you ask me is bananapants, it is 25 degrees out and windy) but we picked him up when it was time. He came home and got changed, and it was pizza joint ahoy. We had a lovely dinner.
I wish Geoff had friends. I wish he had a social circle that he reveled in. I'm so happy he's here with us, and he seems happy, but when you're 28 you deserve more.
Maybe in 2025 this. This will happen for him. In the meantime. I love this guy.
Digits below.
digits
exercise: 12/12 hours. no walkies. 6500+ steps by bedtime
blood glucose:
9:30am: 191 5pm: 243 9:45pm: 201
food:
coffee/water 10:15am: english muffin w/pb and bonnie maman's cherry preserves 11am: metformin a couple christmas cookies while watering the plants 5pm: slice of left over quiche 6pm: beet salad w/goat cheese, 2 slices of sausage and pepper fancy pizza; 2 beers 7pm: metformin+jardiance vodka tonic 8:30pm: 2 baby bells 9:45pm: ramekin of mixed nuts
Snowmageddon 2025 is real, y'all. We got snow. The Snow Hole was filled. I'd guestimate about 6 or 7 inches total. And maybe another inch.
That's a lot, for here.
Toffee woke up at 5:30 and was frantic, so I took that as a sign, she needed out. So I let her out and she did whatever it was she had to do. We went to the guest room and looking out the window as I was drifting back to sleep, I admired the fact that indeed, there was snow. They got the forecast right, those ... experts.
I woke up at 7-ish, our neighbor's dog barking her head off got me to pay attention. It wasn't regular barking. I sat up to see light coming up in the yards a bit (we're gaining back light now, friends), and there were two deer contemplating a leap into our yard from the house behind us. Toffee was fast asleep, didn't see them, and I'm glad they weren't out there at 5:30am.
They thought better of it after sizing up the situation, and walked back to the street. I grabbed my camera and nabbed a shot of them. So pretty.
Work was hard today and my head and heart were not in it. I may call out sick tomorrow. I even tried to take a nap today, and I was under the flannel sheets and fleecey blanket so you know that's weird for me. I'm usually hot hot hot. Maybe I'm coming down with something. Meh?
Doug shoveled the walk and dug the car out. Geoff asked for a ride home from work so he was gracious to go get him. And I was thankful. Got a 20 min. indoor stroll on the books as a result. I thought about going to the gym but I figured they were closed, like everything was closed today. For 7 inches of snow. Heh.
Here, Deer. And digits below.
digits
exercise: 12/12 hours. 20 min indoor walk / .99 miles; 7500+ steps by bedtime
blood glucose:
8:30am: 146 4pm: 177 10pm: 242 (thanks, pasta)
food:
coffee/water noon: metformin 12:45: BROST salad (bacon, red onion, spinach, tomato) with mayo 4pm: apple w/pb (so hungry) 6pm: large bowl of mac & cheese with hamburger (should have made something different...); metformin+jardiance no wine/etc
We're supposed to get hammered by a winter storm, Absolutely pounded. And by that, I mean a foot-ish here north of DC. That's a lot. A bananapants amount of snow. It doesn't snow like that here.
In fact, every time they've told us it is going to snow, the forecasters get all fired up for 3! Inches! OMG! and they go apeshit over that amount of snow.
My goodness.
Anyway, it is supposed to start very soon. We'll see what the morning looks like.
Today, I went to the gym and talked to my sister while I was on the treadmill. Doug said that's rude. But. I'll be honest - I stayed on the treadmill for a solid half hour and time flew right by. It helps. It helps to have someone just talking to/with me. And no one was near me. I felt like it was just fine. Anything to keep me on there.
She and I haven't had a chance to catch up in several days so it was good to chat. Then, I went to the market, which one may say was a horrible mistake but no. It was a very good thing. The place was mobbed, naturally, since it's going to snow a foot or something.
I spent more time in line than picking stuff up.
I told Doug that I kind of hope we lose power so we have no internet and I can't work. I hope that didn't jinx us. I have an 11am team meeting and a 3pm project meeting, and that is all I have. I wrote the guy's email down so if necessary, I can email him from my phone to say we can't do the DNS transfer. You know, just to be safe.
We watched a lot of football.
That's about it.
This is an old image that I swiped from the web of "The Snow Hole" that is usually DC. Right now, right where I live, the maps all show 12.6 inches by the time this is said and done. We shall see.
Today we went to a funeral. My roommate from college's husband died in December. His name was Mark.
Since he passed away, I've thought a lot about missed opportunities. He and I had been talking about getting together after work, or for lunch, but that would involve me going into the office. But I told him, just for him, I'd schlep into the city. He worked really close to my office, we discovered before the pandemic, and it was often a cloud talk kind of thing. Let's ... do this eventually. Let's just talk about it a lot and then.
We said oh yes, do let's.
A week after our last discussion, when we planned on a post-new year get together, he was dead. Suddenly, unexpectedly. Thanks to his obituary (linked above) we all found out that he had a heart condition as a child and surgery at age 26. Who knew? He was a super athlete in college and so no one had any idea about his internal workings.
We often don't know all the things about our friends. Until we find out later.
He would get into these modes once in a while where he'd deep dive into old 80s classics like REM, English Beat, and INXS, and a lot of the 80s and 90s new wave stuff and alternative rock. I wasn't into the new wave stuff much, but he and I always connected on REM. Doug has never been an REM fan, he kind of can't stand them, which is sad because I so like them. So much.
So Mark would get on FB and start posting lyrics to songs, and tagging friends. People would get into discussions and share youtube videos of their faves.
It was kind of nice, seeing as social media is mostly a cesspool of nonsense. But he would always tag me in REM or Indigo Girls posts.
"Remember this one, Christine?!"
Of course I do, I still listen to that [fill in the blank] song all the time.
You could feel his nostalgia.
We got to the funeral home 10 minutes before the service was to begin. The place was packed, and we had just a short bit of time for big hugs, where my old roomie sobbed in my arms. I felt the weakness in her legs, and I prayed to God to hold me up so I could hold her up. I wiped her tears, and brushed her hair from her face. Then she saw Doug behind me, and burst into waves of more tears. Outright uncontrollable sobbing. And I felt this in the center of my heart. She introduced us to the folks around her, friends, his sponsor, her sons.
During the service, she talked for 2 solid hours to eulogize him. She laid it all out there and to be honest it was refreshing, illuminating, and perfect. I was so afraid there would be no mention of what happened.
She bared it all. Her entire soul, heart, tears, anger, everything. She begged people in attendance to get help if they have a struggle or problem with alcohol or drugs, to not wait until it is too late. He wore a T-shirt that said "Sober AF" very proudly. And he was. Once he got there, where he needed to be. And he had a great year or so before everything came to an abrupt end.
There was a mercy meal afterwards, and Doug and I thought about going home, but I had a feeling not a lot of people were probably going to go. His "work wife" had stepped up to help and she handled the catering. She ordered her heart out - and there was so much food. I'm glad we went. I'm glad we had time with my old roomie, and the boys. The boys are so interesting. I wish I'd met them under different circumstances.
Anyway. It was a long and emotional day.
I'll be listening to a lot of REM over the foreseeable future. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry...."
digits
exercise: 10/12 hours. Missed 2 and 3pm because I was sitting and listening. 5k steps by bedtime. No walk.
blood glucose:
9:45am: 178 n/a pm: no reading taken for mid day. 11:15pm: 187
food:
coffee/water 11:45: Metformin 4:30pm: grape leaves, hummus, pita, some shrimp & artichoke spinach stuff. 5:45pm: nachos, chips w/melted cheese, meat, sour cream, avocado 7pm: metformin+jardiance a couple handfuls of M&Ms white wine 9:30pm: pepperoni & cheddar cheese
Last night I whipped up some more sugar cookies and started decorating them. I didn't feel like making new icing, I had a small bowl of white and some ... red.
I figured I would color the hearts red. The little ones solid with either sprinkles or an M&M, the big ones red with white drizzle to make it look tie dyed. No worries, no sweat. I baked a few more trees and stars, those are yet to be frosted. I was happily drinking wine, and just in the nice zone of quiet self contemplation. I had the Christmas lights on, Doug was reading, it was all just very nice and quiet.
This morning, I got up to look at what was decorated and think about fitting in some more decoration time for stars and trees later today.
The icing I thought was red, in the low light of Christmas glow, was actually fire orange in the bright light of day.
Everything I made looks like it is on fire. Kind of hilarious. I wasn't drunk, I must say, but the low light sure did play a part in this silliness. It is the most atrocious orange. Like, maybe one or two small stars could be this color but wow it is all the cookies.
Still, they taste good so does it matter? no. Digits below.
digits
exercise: 12/12 hours. 20 min. / .99 mile (argh!) walk inside. 7100+ steps by bedtime
blood glucose:
9am: 160 5pm: 136 10:30pm: 245 (see dinner)
food:
coffee/water 11am: metformin; Grilled turkey & colby jack w/bacon on sourdough bread 5:45pm: very large bowl of ham and 15 bean soup; 2 generous pieces of cornbread (home made, with actual corn) red wine & ginger ale
I put in the service order for the plumber last night, and they texted me at 9am to ask if 1-3 pm was good. Dude was here at 1:30. Pronto!
His name is Jose. He was super sweet. I took him down to the basement to show him the issue. Doug had bailed the water out of the sink as far as he could, and there was still about 6 inches in each of the sink compartments.
It stank to high hell. I apologized. He said "no I've been at worse!"
So Jose did his best to clear it and found we have a busted drain pipe. Lord knows where any of the water has been going up to this point. Out against the foundation? No idea. He left at 2:15 to go get a replacement part. He said it was the original drain pipe, close to 80 years old.
It had a good run.
He was back and it was all buttoned up by 4.
Geoff made burgers for dinner and I ended up baking some fresh cookies for decorating since Doug hates the sugar coated decorated cookies and has been just eating all the plain ones I've made. Rude.
It was a good day.
Below: Before and after images of the drain pipe!
digits
exercise: 12/12 hours. 15 min/.7 mile indoor walk. 8500 steps by bedtime (could have pushed it but. Meh.)
blood glucose:
9am: 174 4pm: 163 11:15pm: 187
food:
coffee/water 11am: metformin 1pm: bowl of BST - Bacon Spinach Tomato salad w/mayo. Forgot my red onions. That would have been BROST! 6:30pm: one cheeseburger on a potato roll w/ pickles; 10 tater tots; metformin+jardiance. wine
I should have taken tomorrow and Friday off. But I work from home, and I have no real big meetings. I put in that service request for the sink. We'll have to do some tidying downstairs near the sink, but other than that we're good to have a hero come in and rescue.
Mom called while I was making breakfast. She is all about the current events.
Well, that's something down there in New Orleans.
3am is the devil's hour. People shouldn't be out at 3am.
When your sister was in New Orleans some guy tried to pull her up in a tree! (I will need the story on that, Lin).
Jimmy Carter died (yes mom, I know).
He kept his looks (did he? he was 100!) but his wife sure didn't. She looked horrible in her old age!
I informed her sometimes people don't have control over how they look when they age, be nice to the late Mrs. Carter, please. Doug sat on the couch and laughed. When I hung up I said "jeeeez she's just doing a monologue about today's happenings!"
"At least I bet she knows what day Christmas was."
True. That. Mom is on top of it even when she's not on top of it. So thankful that she's not in a position like Doug's aunt.
After breakfast, which felt like another Sunday morning, I made some carrot muffins w/pineapple and pumpkin, using a that basic banana bread recipe, and they came out really nice. A little floury, doughy, but, tasty. The pineapple saves the day.
One of my co-workers texted me and we chatted a bit. His entire family caught a norovirus. His kid brought it home from school or they picked it up at a restaurant in Vermont right after Christmas. I remember when everyone didn't even catch a common cold for a while there, and now people look at you derisively if you're wearing a mask in public. Lord have mercy. I feel for him. He worked Monday and Tuesday and if he just said "I really can't do this," I would have jumped on.
The only things I've left undone that I was sure I'd do is mop the kitchen, and, put basement things back in order. I did a lot of other stuff.
Doug made us the traditional western PA roast pork for dinner, it was incredibly good. I don't even really like the sauerkraut portion of the dance card but, on the mashed potatoes it makes for a tangy treat.
Alright. That's how we're starting 2025. So excite, much wow.
Digits below.
digits
exercise: 12/12 hours. No walk, full of regrets. Gym was crazy crowded, too cold to walk outside. 5700+ steps by bedtime.
blood glucose:
9:30am: 146 4:30pm: 190 11pm: 183
food:
coffee/water 11:30am: 2 egg mcmuffins w/bacon noon: metformin 2pm: glass of wine 3pm: 2 carrot pumpkin muffins (homemade!) 6pm: roast pork, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, one slice of rye bread and butter 7pm: metformin+jardiance white wine
It needed done, I just wish I did it sooner, like before today's trash day.
We usually have a lot of leftovers. I try to eat them, Geoff tries to, but Doug so rarely touches them. Things end up pushed to the back of the fridge. It is sad... I end up tossing them.
This morning I got milk for my coffee, opened the fridge and thought what the hell could be so stinky in there...
Sigh. Time to find out.
Doug was going to the market, so we would need space for the pork roast and trimmings so I needed to make the effort any how.
He left at 1:30, and I did a half hour walk in the house with some Ben Folds Five for the soundtrack. The mix was all upbeat fast songs, except one so I skipped it. It was a lot of fun to have the place to myself and sing loud.
Then, refrigerator time. Took all of 5 minutes to find the one smelly thing (pasta and broccoli). I got all the undesirables out of there, combined containers of sour cream, cheeses, took more butter out for some more cookies. Then, took a shower. Relaxed and happy.
Doug got home, I stowed the groceries away. We chilled and he suggested we take a walk. The weather is going to take a wicked bad turn starting tonight and he said we should seize the opportunity.
I told him that I'd be happy to if he didn't walk a block ahead of me. I hate going for a walk with him sometimes, I do not walk at his pace and it just feels like I'm alone. He didn't realize I had a problem with it, so he said he would. And he did. And we had a nice walk. I took the leash for him while he cleaned up a deposit Toffee made and I walked her for a while, she makes the pace, and can make it faster, so we finished the walk just before it started to rain.
Doug made dinner, he's been thinking of different dishes and he picked pasta puttanesca, which turned out really good. I liked it. Thankful for him doing that for us tonight.
For anyone wondering what we were doing tonight for "fun," it is a lot of this picture, only with wine. Whatever you are doing, or did by the time you read this, I hope that you had a nice night. And I hope if 2024 sucked, that this year upcoming is better. And if you had a good 2024, may 2025 be even better.
Digits below.
digits
exercise: 12/12 hours. 30 min/1.25 mile walk inside. 30 min/1.35 mile walk outside. 11k+ steps by bedtime.
blood glucose:
11am: 165 5pm: 171 10:30pm: 178
food:
coffee/water 11am: bowl of mac & cheese w/extra spicy queso. Metformin 6pm: pasta puttanseca, 2 bowls, 2 slices of italian bread 7pm: metformin+jardiance 8pm: some pretzels w/french onion dip white wine w/cranberry juice
I slept in this morning, waking up just in time to do steps for 10am. Right under the wire. I feel like 10:30-10:45 is my natural uninterrupted wake time. Although I was up at 7. And could have been up for the day at 7. But. No.
Vacation Chris is activated.
I sat with Doug & Dog in the living room, goofed off on the phone playing a game. Stupid game kept giving me more free lives. Have to play if they give you free life! Can't let that go to waste. He told me he was getting a shower and heading to the hardware store for things we need. Like super industrial drano, and a new toilet seat, some other things. And bird seed. We hadn't set up our bird feeder yet, we usually do by Thanksgiving.
So he took care of those things and I vacuumed. I moved the couches and the dining table too, did a for real serious vacuum.
Additionally, I looked at work slack messages but not the helpdesk. I greatly enjoy a Monday Sunday. So happy to have a team where I can trust if I'm not there, all's well. And I'm happy I checked in. One of my fave colleagues had a baby on the 27th. I've been thinking about her every day. "My due date is in December," she tells me. And it is now Dec. 30th and there was no word. Happy to know the little bean made it. Can't wait to catch up with her.
S and H came by and picked up their share of the decorated cookies. I had dinner in the oven, Doug's request of a quiche. It's been a while since we had one. And it was the bomb.
I ended up taking two walks today and an unintentional third. My fitbit measured the 1000+ steps I wanted to squeeze in before midnight as a walk (12 min). Ha. go me. I guess.
And the utility sink is still clogged, so I'm going to put in a service request for after new years, and I hope I've got enough underwear in the drawers (drawers in the drawers! ha!) to make it.
Anyway. No picture today but probably will have one tomorrow. Digits below!
digits
exercise: 11/12 hours. Missed 9am for sleeps. 3 walks, all inside. a 15 min/.7 mile; 21 min/.97 mile, 12 min/.28 mile. Wanted to squeeze the 10k in by midnight even though we stayed up until well after midnight watching TV.
blood glucose:
11am: 180 4:30pm: 178 10pm: 160
food:
coffee/water 2pm: pbj sandwich on 647 bread; 2 good yogurt; metformin 6pm: metformin+jardiance 7pm: quiche (ham, shrooms, yellow pepper, cheddar), spinach salad (tomato, spinach, yellow pepper, red onion) Through the evening: christmas cookies, mostly small stars and wee trees. white wine w/diet cranberry
Jess left after 1pm, they wanted to leave in a "single digit time" meaning before 10am but. But. We continued our nice visit. So in reality, they did leave in single digit time. Just. in the wrong single digit area.
If they didn't have to work tomorrow, staying here would be a nice thing. They have Tuesday and Wednesday off. Couldn't use tomorrow for travel. Also, they want to go home and pack for moving.
Doug and Jess had some quiet time together and I could hear them talking in the living room, and smell the coffee. The dog was asleep behind my legs and it was tremendously cozy. But a I really wanted to continue to visit with them, I miss them when they are gone.
We had late breakfastylunch, and I was sad to see them go. They texted that at 10pm they were in Sturbridge, so, making decent time. On paper a 7 hour trip. In reality, never less than 9.
Yesterday morning I had gone down to do laundry and when I went to put the sheets in the dryer the utility sink was full to the top with water but had not overflowed. Eeep. I attempted to plunge and drano the drain, it took forever but eventually the water went down.
I forgot to tell Geoff.
He started a load of laundry, I heard the machine filling up and said "oh no." I went down to turn the washer off, and try to clear the drain some more. I moved a bunch of things that had been relocated to that part of the basement when we had the flood in the spring. And I bemoaned the fact that I still have not forced myself to sit and repack and reorganize shit.
Doug came down and stood there through the wash cycle, plunging the drain to keep the water from overflowing.
"Do you want me to put in a service request?" I asked him. "No, we'll get some more industrial strength drano and conquer it."
Note: I will end up putting in a service request but, let's allow Doug for this home duty task and to be the conquering hero on it.
I guess this gives us something to do tomorrow? Also, we can do very small laundry loads. Not big full super loads like all the sheets and Geoff's full week's worth of clothing which fill the utility sink to the top.
Which is good because ... I need underpants washed.
S was supposed to come by today to pick up the cookies her family wanted from last night, which were all still too damp. Best always to let them sit. She texted me around 6pm to say they were not coming by, which actually was pretty good because we were eating dinner and then fighting with the sink. And I hadn't bathed, was still in my clothes from yesterday. Hot mess express.
Not much else to report. Still have some cookies to decorate and will do that tomorrow, mixed in with whatever else we may be doing.
Digits below.
digits
exercise: 10/12 hours. slept through 9am. somehow missed noon, I was making egg mcmuffins for all, and thought I was stepping enough. must have just missed. 25 min/1.06 mile walk indoors. 7k steps by bedtime
blood glucose:
10:15am: 180 xpm: n/a was trying to nap and then forgot to take a reading 10:15pm: 170
food:
coffee/water noon: metformin; egg mcmuffin w/sausage through the day - wee small cookie stars 6:30pm: 3 slices of take & bake pizza; metformin+jardiance white wine w/diet cranberry and zero sugar ginger ale
