paperweight

When we were at Doug's mom's, she foisted some things upon us that we just said "yes" to. One of those items is this giant paperweight that she referred to as a doorstop. 

I could see that. It is huge. I took some pictures of it, probably should have used a paperweight holder to put it at an angle to get the shots but I used cookbooks to make it stop rolling about. I will post below. And the pictures do not do the size justice. You need to be here and behold it. 

Doug's dad used to buy things at auction or see things at sales and buy them. So mom has a lot of stuff she's at a loss about. Not worthy of throwing away but goodwill or savers or anything - they're not going to want it. No one is going to buy it.

Unless they are some weirdo like my kid, who buys weird stuff at savers. They are notorious for this as ... well.... They are Grandpa's baby after all.

So mom has been left with some really weird things. A lot are in boxes, in the garage, storage, and at some point maybe I'll be able to convince her that I'm her willing heart and hands to build shelves and plastic storage bins and help organize all of these things. 

But items like this always make me wonder. Who are these people in the picture? Obviously they are very dead by now... What was their story, though? Two sisters and a brother. A special occasion that deserved being immortalized in a paperweight.

Faces lost to history. Names lost to time.

There's a blog I read, The Bloggess, and she has a collection of vintage photos that she finds and then she does research to figure out who the people are. I am always fascinated by what she learns. Please go and read this entry about how she inherited a murder mystery. This is good stuff. 

Forensic research. Dogged determination. I absolutely respect and admire it. 

Another thing we have a few pieces of are ruby red carnival glass from places like the World's Fair or Atlantic City, where people could have their names scraped into the paint/color of the glass. 1901. Who is this person? What is the story? How did this piece end up in an antique shop outside Baltimore and why do we own it now because Doug buys stuff like this. 

He is his father's son. And I should take some pictures of those. They are very pretty and I should photograph them in the sunlight. 

Today was a pretty good day. I started the day with a check in with my PCP after the hospitalization, so there wasn't anything really to talk about. She's orderig a bunch of back-up bloodwork and urine test so I'll get that done Friday before we go down to the Guster/Avetts weekend. 

I had a great check in with our department head and a very personal and meaningful 1:1 with my manager. I'm lucky to have both of them above me in the leadership. Geoff went to the market after he got home from work, got a ton of food for the next few days. He's at hotel tomorrow and I think (hope) that when Linda gets here tomorrow we can go over to the pub and maybe be stupid and do karaoke? Maybe? 

We shall see. 

anyway, digits below these pictures of mystery and some closeups of the design. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Treadmill run, 20 min/1.45 mi. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

7:30am: 122
5pm: 127 
10pm: 82 (checked 3 times, all very low readings 82 was the highest) 

food & meds:

7:30am: jardiance & new meds
1:30pm: quesadilla w/tuna fish; met+glip
3pm: new meds
6:30pm: piece of chicken parm
7pm: met+glip
white wine w/zero sugar cranberry 
10pm: couple handfuls of m&ms 

Chilly Morning Hot Day Comfy Night

I woke up at 6-ish this morning and boy is it dark out now at that hour. Damn. I usually play that game with myself where if it is Xam, I stay up. This morning, no way. Geoff had left for work somewhere before 5am, and so there was no downstairs noisemaker. I slinked into the guest room and Toffee didn't even notice I was gone. 

Really, if it had been light out, I would have greeted the day but ... meh.

Toff and Doug came down at 8. He fed her and let her out, made coffee. I usually let her back in when I finally schlep out of bed. 

Opening the door, I was surprised at how chilly it was. 60 degrees! ho boy! 

Then it went up over 80 this afternoon... but, like a nice 80. Not a blistering mean 80. 

And now it is back down to cool. 

Last night I did bring the Monstera in because I thought it may get too cold overnight, put her back out to enjoy the day, and brought her in again. 

Her outside days are numbered though. It is going to get up to 80, 84... the next couple days look hotcha-cha and then we look like we'll slip into a cool and rainy phase. 

Let's all enjoy this while we can. Kind of the best time of the year. 

I ran on the treadmill while Doug walked Toffee. Dear reader you may ask "well, why didn't you go too?" The answer is - meatballs were cooking! Some people won't leave the house if their washer/dryer/dishwasher are going, I won't leave if the oven is going. 

My right thigh is really tight, so I took it easy yesterday and today. Walking isn't a problem but running, I feel like I'm not lifting my right foot up all the way or something, to treat it gingerly. 

Time for a massage therapy appointment!

Anyway, back to dinner. I made the meatballs too big. Should really have cut them down to half the size I ended up making. I mean, they were delicious and all, but. Too big for the rolls! 

No one complained, especially Geoff who got home at 7. Long ass work-day for him today and it'll repeat tomorrow. 

I realized that in two sleeps Linz will be here, so I have the whole day off on Thursday. I'll get things good and ready for her arrival. 

My bag is even packed for the weekend. I'm that looking forward to it. 

Anyway - work was pretty quiet today. I did some proofreading for some comms that were getting sent out.  Nothing thrilling. 

Lots of meetings tomorrow including my quarterly with our big boss. We hardly ever talk about work, she and I. We talk about BBC shows, Britbox, gardening. I think she looks forward to chatting with me because we don't talk about the stresses and stupidity of work life. Tell me about your garden. 

No picture today, thought about the meatballs but didn't feel like going to get the camera. 

Digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Brief Treadmill run, 15 min/1.08 mi; walk without toff, 20 min/.98 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

8:30am: 141
4:45pm: 154 
10:30pm: 161 

food & meds:

8:30am: jardiance & new meds
1:30pm: english muffin w/pb and low sugar j; some watermelon chunks; met+glip
3:45pm: ramekin of mixed nuts; new meds
7pm: meatballs, homemade, kind of a "sub" but the meatballs were too big so I ate the meatballs, a tiny bit of roll, and gve Toffee the rest of the bread
8:30pm: met+glip (forgot to take closer to dinner)
no wine/alcohol

Roku Ro-booooooo

Somehow, our Roku is dead. It is built into our TV, and it popped up a "system updating" message and never came back. 

Doug is a bit pissed about this because he was watching something. So now he's trying to figure it all out. 

I'm getting ready for bed. I thought about making bracelets, but oh my glob I am just tired tonight. 

The treadmill got a little bit of a run this afternoon, I was waiting for Geoff to get home from the market with some dinner fixin's. I was going to make meatballs from scratch but he started making meat sauce, and I was a little mad about that because I didn't want pasta. We had sub rolls and I wanted a small half a sub sub of meatballs. 

So I cut my run short, and then didn't feel like getting back on the treadmill. I ate some of the baked ziti he made (thankful that he cooks even if it isn't what I want!) and then after dinner I took Toffee for a walk. I went on a usual loop but then added a couple blocks on to make it a longer stroll. There is a restaurant a couple blocks away that we've tried to go to a few times, and every time it is closed. So today, there's a "coming soon" sign in the window. 

This, even after people left google reviews on their google listing about how they suck because their listing and website say they are open, and the owner keeps yelling at people to not give him bad reviews. 

Oh, the internet, you are entertaining. 

Work was pretty good, we had our monthly team meeting and I got to run through 6 things with only one minute allotted because one of my co-workers talked about his one thing for 4 minutes. That's okay, I pretty much said "there is literally so much happening that if you want to know, you can hit me up and I'll walk you through it. 

I have to update some help documentation before noon tomorrow. Proofread the release notes, and we found out the big huge server migration that was supposed to happen before the end of September is now scheduled for 'mid november' so. We'll see when she happens. 

Below are two pictures from Saturday that for some reason I could not download. But here they are today. Sorry the Roper picture is blurry, I took it through the window of the brewery. And I liked the dog's crossed paws. She was lovely.

Also, it took an hour of internet searching, but Doug figured out the Roku. Proud of him! 

Digits, below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. very short treadmill run, 10 min/.73 mi; Toffee walk 30 min/1.36 mi. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

9:15am: 107
4:45pm: 94 
9:30pm: 170 

food & meds:

9:15am: jardiance & back on the new meds
12:15: roast beef and 2 slices of colby jack on 647 bread w/mayo
3pm: new meds
5:30: 2 chocolate donuts 
6:30pm: small bowl of pasta w/meat sauce (didn't finish it, meh, not hungry)
7:30pm: met+glip
no wine/alcohol

Shattered

Exactly as I thought, today I'm pretty sore. I woke up around 5am and was just super uncomfortable. Toffee was up between our backs, and I couldn't roll over so I went downstairs. She came down after a bit too and I convinced her NOT to be butt up against my ... butt. 

Doug came down around 8 something, and she was up and ready to go at it. He was in the bathroom which displeased her so she bothered me enough that I got up, and was about to feed her when Doug came out. 

We traded places, I peed, he did feed. 

And I was up for the day. 

It is football weekend, so Sundays will be tied up for us especially if the 1pm or 4pm games are ones Doug wants to see, and that's exactly what happened today. The Steelers were on at 1. 

I went to the treadmill around 1:45, and I planned on a half hour but the podcast episode I was listening to was very good and I stuck with it to the end, and by the time it was over, I was about a quarter mile from 3.1 miles, so I completed that and did a 5k inside. 

Must say my average pace of just under a 14 minute mile is decent. At one point I looked at the fitbit and it was in the 12 min mile range, which pleased me greatly. But that last half mile I did slow down a lot... mentally I get to a half hour and my brain says "we're done here." So I have to convince myself to get to 5k. 

I tried not to even look, until I was at 35 minutes (right when the podcast was ending, so I'd know how much more I had to do). 

It was brutally humid today, not so hot that it was intolerable to be outside, and I sure the hell didn't want to end up having to finish off steps tonight with a Toffee walk just to get 2k steps or something. I was happy to just stay in and put in the effort on the treadmill. 

Go, me.

This morning I decided to go back on the weight loss meds my doc had prescribed for me. I took a break over the last week plus, what with the thing that happened with the belly and the hospital and the pooping. I noticed that I've put on 7 pounds in one week so. If the meds aren't helping me lose weight as I'd hoped it sure the hell is good that it is keeping me from gaining weight. We'll see how things go this week.

My doctor and I have a check in video appointment this week at some point (I think Wednesday?) so I'll be sure to bring it up with her. 

Lin and I did a catch up on the phone, Doug was napping and Geoff was prepping dinner.  While Lin and I were talking I was watering the monstera on the porch and I knocked my favorite pint glass off the patio table. It shattered everywhere, and now I'm bummed out. I can get a replacement but this is the third thing I've busted in a week. I broke 2 small plates by knocking them into the sink (thank goodness they fell into the sink) and now this. Clumsyfuck McGee over here, I guess. 

Anyway. Not much else happening. Miss Toffee and I had a big snuggle after my run and as she slept I thought about safety and security, and how I'm happy to be someone's sanctuary. Wouldn't trade it for the world. 

Digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. 5k on the treadmill, 43 min/3.1 mi. 12k+ by bedtime

blood glucose: 

8:30am: 154
5pm: 251 (note: 2 beers and a sleeve of ritz crackers at like 4pm so I expected this
10:15pm: 114 

food & meds:

8:30am: jardiance & back on the new meds
9am: slab of banana bread (last piece) 
2:30pm: met+glip
3:30pm: new meds
4pm: ritz crackers, beers
6:30pm: some steak tips geoff made, mushroom sauce; 2 more beers
8pm: met+glip; english muffin w/pb (still hungry, not a lot for dinner)

Mandatory Fun Was Actually Fun

Doug an I went down to Fairfax County for his office outing. I guess a lot of people RSVPed, but only half came. 

No worries - we got extra drink tickets as a result. Thank you, no showers! 

I honestly think it has been 2 decades or more since I've gone bowling and my body is sore tonight as a result. We had a blast, and Doug's team is super sweet and a lot of fun. 

And, blue drinks are the best drinks. 

Not 100% sure what the antler theme is here at this bowling alley but, I thought this
looked HILARIOUS!

Please note, right out the gate I broke my pointer fingernail AND my thumbnail.
Good thing I do not pay money for nail maintenance! damn!

Doug Action Shot!

Yinz, we were so very confused by the bowling ball finger holes but ... figured
it out eventually. Two thumb sizes, makes sense!

Relaxed and ready to kick ass, or whatever.

I mean, c'mon man. So good.

Blue drink in action!

Doug's co-worker has a 15 month old, and baby did NOT want to let momma bowl,
so momma did what mommas do. She "rolled" with it. Ha.

After we were done bowling, I suggested to Doug we keep on playing, just us. I mean. We were having fun. He was ready to "roll" again with rolling jokes, so we did 

He wanted to visit Leesburg, VA and hit a brewery there, so that happened. We were delighted to see that there were all these women (and men!) walking around town dressed up as Mrs. Roper from Three's Company! Turns out it was a charity pub crawl fundraiser dealie, and dozens of kaftan-sportin' fun-havers were all over town. 

Hilarious. For some reason my pictures won't download so I'll post them tomorrow. 

The brewery we went to was great. Big back seating area with a GIANT TV so we watched some college football before it started raining. We ended up back inside and watched Ropers run into the tavern across the street. When we left, we could hear them all laughing and having just the best freaking time. I love this for them and truly hope they raised a ton of money for pediatric cancer. 

We visited a used bookstore and had a wonderful time there and it was about time to head home. We took mostly back roads up back into Maryland, and got home to a nice dinner by Geoff. 

I called Jess and we had a good yap while I did a good walk (then came in to charge my fitbit and went out again for more walk and yap). 

Pretty fun day, I must say! 

And, as always, living in the south there are constant reminders of what this country was, and how people once were treated, and this mural "Journey to Freedom" on the side of the Loudoun Museum is a reminder of what people endured for freedom. 

When everyone talks about "Freedom 250" as of late, I'm always reminded that yeah, it was freedom for some, and not others for a very long and horrible time. 

Sobering, to say the least. Visit the Loudoun Museum website to learn more, and click here for local news coverage of the unveiling. 

Digits, below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Walk and talk on the phone with Jess, 23 min/1,1 mi, plus 18 min/.63 mi (after charging the fitbit for a while. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

8:30am: 122
xpm: n/a
10pm: 99 

food & meds:

8:30am: Jardiance 
at the bowling alley between noon and 2pm: buffalo wings, a couple sliders, 2 blue drinks, one slice of pizza
1pm: met+glip
4:30pm: 2 beers
6:30pm: soupy rice with chicken (the recipe is actually called Soupy Rice, that's not an adjective!) glass of red wine
7pm: met+glip

Wonderful World Horrible World

Last night, we put on the footballs and then I realized somehow, magically, it was 11pm and bedtime. So I didn't write an actual entry. Just didn't feel like lifting up the laptop and going at it. 

It's Friday and it is actually my favorite day every three weeks where we do a sprint review, where all the dev teams come together to share what they've been working on and what is coming up next. My work son owns the presentation for our publishing tools and I'm always so proud of him for what he presents. 

I slept in this morning, and missed a 9am meeting that I usually have every Friday with a colleague at 9am. Ope. Oops. Doh. She was gracious and still wanted to meet at 9:45, so we had about 15 minutes before sprint review. She lives in Brooklyn and is Jewish, and today is the first night of Rosh Hashanah and it is also 9/11 so she's full of the sad. It's hard to celebrate new year when you are remembering being 9 and your parents scooping you and your sister up from school, and hiding you from the news. 

We did have a really good chat, and she has a little boy who is not quite 2, and what a wonderful world, what a horrible world. Right? 

I hit the treadmill at 5, Geoff got home from his class and his 3 hour commute (ugh) and we just threw together dinner of mac & cheese because no one wanted to go to the market. We'll go to the market tomorrow. 

Around 8:30pm I realized it was all the way dark and it was making me sad. I took Toffee for a walk even though I was already at 10k (just about) and didn't HAVE to get extra steps but I felt like I needed a little bit of a reason to not watch TV and not pay attention to news. Just go out there and be with the dog and enjoy the quiet of the night. 

Tomorrow, we are going to a work outing with Doug's team. Somehow, they all voted for ... bowling? So. We're going bowling. It is over 2 hours from here (oh my god why do we live so far away) and so we have to be up and at them in the morning. 

Please, let there be beer and snacks at the hipster bowling place. 

More to come. I really want more apples for more apple pie or something. We can probably dovetail a farm stand visit somewhere along the way. A week from tonight, my sister will be here. I took a couple days off next week, Thursday for house cleaning and Toffee Doctor, and Friday to get our asses to our hotel and the venue for the concert. 

Honestly, can't wait for next week. 

here's a pic of Toffee after our walk, where she nestled into my legs and then went to great big snoring sleep. Digits, below. (actually, the image is not uploading so I'll futz tomorrow. goodnight!)

Thursday digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill run before lunchtime meeting - 20 min/1.45 mi; Toffee Walk after dinner, 20 min/.98 mi; 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

8:45am: 112
4:45pm: 145
11pm: 94 

food & meds:

8:45am: Jardiance 
11am: 2 slices of sourdough everything bread toasted w/butter
1:15pm: english muffin w/pb & the last of the apricot preserves; met+glip
some bowls of kettle corn, god help me
6pm: 3 pecan sandies cookies (just to get the box out of the cabinet)
6:30pm: small bowl of penne pasta w/ meaty meat sauce; white wine

Friday digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill run, 30 min/2.12 mi. Toffee walk, 20min/.9 mi; 13k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

9am: 128
4:30pm: 130
10:30pm: 138 

food & meds:

9am: Jardiance 
11am: 2 frozen breakfast burritos w/extra cheese and salsa on top
4:30pm: giant slice of banana/apple bread (note to self, don't forget to use buttermilk in the future). 
7pm: bowl of mac & cheese w/bacon. White wine; met+glip
8pm-ish: pretzel chips; white wine

Bounty of the harvest

A few weeks back, some flippin' woodchuck ate our lettuce in the garden. That sucked, but, hey! They rebounded and the woodchuck didn't come back for a second helping. 

When I got back from Massachusetts, the lettuces were looking good but not ready for picking. Getting back from Pennsylvania yesterday I noticed they'd grown like 2 feet tall. Yikes. Time to harvest! 

We didn't properly frame the tomatoes up, and so they flopped out of the planters and all over the ground. Note for next year - cage them bitches. 

I got a healthy bunch of cherry tomatoes, several nice kinds of other tomatoes. Our "big boy" tomatoes basically got trashed, they split and got buggy. So I pulled them off the plants and gave them to Toffee. That dog loves tomatoes. 

Peppers a'plenty, we've got dozens of poblano, banana, and jalapeño. 

And the aforementioned lettuce. 

I washed it all carefully and cut away the leaves that were close to the dirt because those had gone mangy. 

Due to the explosive diarrhea salad situation that the country has been experiencing, your girl has not had decent "raw greens" in a bit. So I'm was looking forward to my own home grown lettuce tonight, and tomorrow. Heck, we'll have a couple more days of it, I'm sure. There's still some out there! 

After the harvest, I came in and finally got my ass in gear to make miss Toffee a vet appointment. She's overdue on her shots, and we've been here just about a full year, so, time to get her back on track. Next, we need to finally pick a dentist. We're all overdue for cleanings. 

Bout time, kids. 

I also just went back and found the entry from when we closed on the house and it made me smile. Still so much to do. And no upstairs bathroom yet. But we'll get there. I know it will come. 

Treadmill and Dog Walk today. And then football season started. I crawled up to bed at 10:15 because ... so sleepy. 

I have pictures but they are on the phone and the phone is over there and I am too lazy to go get it. I'll post tomorrow. 

Digits below! 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. treadmill run, 20 min/1.46 mi; walk with miss Toffee after dinner, 15 min/.68 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

8am: 104
4:30pm: 105
10pm: 173 

food & meds:

8am: Jardiance ; 5 oreo cookies (just to get the container out of the cabinet)
12:30pm: zero carb whole grain wrap, 2 slices of colby jack, roast beef, tomato, mayo; met+glip
6pm: some ritz crackers
7pm: pork loin, salad (from my garden!), pierogis. White wine
8pm: met+glip
9pm: kettle corn while watching football

Dogs and Distillery

Today was hit the road day for Doug and Chris and I believe we were a balanced amount of regretful that we left, and very very ready to leave. There were peaks and peaks and peaks of what I'd call mania with Doug's mom, and some absolute nose dives of her being very dramatic. 

It was funny how on Sunday she refused to eat, too tired to eat, absolutely exhausted, cannot eat, and then she wolfed down 3 big pieces of pizza and perked right up. 

Imagine that, you're feeling overwhelmed and crappy, and all you really need is a deep breath, a beer, and a couple slices covered in beautiful fresh mushrooms. Then you're an absolute joy to be with. 

We spent time this morning with her, chatting and offering to unload her car and whatnot. She didn't know where some things were going to go, and she was all frantic about how she wanted shelves, but didn't know about getting them set up, and where will she put things while the shelves are being built (uhhhhhhh, move your car out of the car hole, I'll build the shelves and then we can move things out of the way, put the shelves where you want them, and then put the things on the shelves. It is not this hard). 

At some point I decided I should get a walk in, and headed out. It was hotter out than I thought it would be, seeing as the past few days were perfection. I decided to go all the way down to the end of mom's street, turn around, come back, and turn into each of the 3 dead end cut outs on the way back up. Then, up and around the circle at the dead end. I made it an exact half hour, a tiny bit more than 1.5 miles all told. 

We talked about mums. She is under the impression there should be some special colors this year. Doug said he did not see any when he went to home depot to get an allen wrench needed to fix a door handle in the house. 

Oh but there is supposed to be a very special rose pink color. Didn't you see them? Didn't you?

Lady, why didn't you just let us take you to home depot, get shelves, and look for special rose pink colored mums. 

No. Too much. Too much to do, think of, too much. 

Such drama. 

Anyway. She made us nice breakfast sandwiches, and we packed the car. She boxed up a few things that she wanted Doug to have, including this interesting Eagle thing. I don't necessarily need more things, but, I've learned (and I learned this from Aaron) when the parents are pushing things at you, just take them. Thank them. And if you don't really want them, donate them. Just get it over with. Just to get the day moving on further. Just do it. Take the things. 

She wanted Doug to take this stack of LIFE magazines. Initially he wasn't interested but they were all from WWII, and he finds all that interesting. And we got a small "child's desk," which no one is going to use as a desk but I can see putting it somewhere to put stuff on top of it or something. Plants. Pictures. Whatever. 

We were somewhere on the Pennsylvania Turnpike when I realized I'd left my thermal water bottle at Doug's mom's house. Damn. I love that thing. It's a thermos bottle that I picked up in Maine so I'd have a nice insulated bottle at the fest. Immediately I felt parched and wanting. 

Not sure when we're going up next, and I'm sure she'll put it safely somewhere in the kitchen, she'll drain it and wipe it bone dry and scrub the lid. She's like that. 

We stopped for gas in Somerset, after driving past a corner were dozens of people were putting flags on the street corner. Doug said "This is 9/11 country. Flight 93 went down very close to here, so for this town, this area, it's a very big deal." Indeed. 

Unlike our "esteemed" VP (cough) who said we get to "celebrate" the anniversary of 9/11 (really? CELEBRATE is the word you choose in this instance, you weirdo!) I could feel the solemnity in the act. There were several service members in uniform, lots of navy whites, and regular citizens, sticking flags into the ground. 

It felt very humbling and sobering. 

After we got gas, and got snacks, we continued down the road and got to Tall Pines distillery. Doug had noticed them the last time he was driving home and wanted to make it a point to stop in. We were happy to find them open, met the proprietor Josh, and the two dogs. They were incredibly sweet. 

What a nice roadside stop! 

I don't usually drink straight spirits, or moonshine. I've said it before to Doug and others that I have no ability to appreciate what I'm drinking. To me, the finest whiskey or bourbon, or the homegrown hoochinanny stuff like what we got today, all tastes to me like Nyquil. Sometimes, like Grape or Cherry flavored Nyquil. 

For as discerning as I can be about beer, liquor and I do not have an agreed upon taste or understanding. 

Josh gave us samples, and heck because we bought two really nice bottles he let Doug sample more than one sample! I had the strawberry rhubarb and that's all I really wanted. I thought about us buying the vanilla bourbon for baking, Lord knows that might make some ass kicking sugar cookies! My eyes are on that. And the cherries. I know how to have fun with baking and booze. 

We got home a little after 5, Geoff didn't plan a meal so it was leftovers for me and Doug made tortellini for himself. There wasn't enough for all 3 of us. Geoff will head to the market tomorrow, he's got the day off, and we'll have a decent meal before he starts week 3 of school on Tuesday. 

Toffee was thrilled to see us, Doug had to run to Lowes for a part for our toilet (which he forgot was broken when we left), and he brought her a stuffed Witch Alligator which she promptly demolished. Less than 3 minutes. Less than two minutes! monster.

Missing my water bottle somethin' fierce right now though. But not fierce enough to drive 4 hours back up north of Pittsburgh. 

Some pictures of the day, below. 

digits

exercise: 11/12 hours. missed 4pm from being in the car. Took a solo walk before getting on the road, 30 min/1.51 mi. Took a walk with Linda on the phone, 16 min/.8 mi; 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

9am: 142
xpm: n/a
10pm: 114 

food & meds:

9am: Jardiance 
11:30am: egg & ham w/swiss on a plain bagel
1pm: met+glip
3pm: road snacks: bag of combos, some corn nuts
6:30pm: large bowl of leftover tuna casserole; white wine
7pm: met+glip
kettle corn (an excessive amount) through the evening

At the Fair

Today we took off in the morning and headed to Canfield Ohio for the fair. We have been a couple of times, and I'm always slightly confused as to why we didn't always go to the Topsfield Fair with the kids back in the day. Maybe once or twice, especially also when Geoff was in Scouts.

But heck. A fair is a lot more fun without small beings. At least, me watching other parents wrangle their kids around in wagons and strollers and leashes felt that way. Good lord. Leashes. 

It was not super crowded, and the weather was perfect. We've gone in the past where it has been hot as blue bloody blazes.  Today was just lovely. 

Normally Doug isn't very interested in spending money on food at a place like a fair, but, we got gyros for lunch, and I wanted an elephant ear (my friend Amy's dad was a huge fan of the Canfield Fair and elephant ears, so, for you Max, I salute you). We were just about ready to leave, and Doug's sister and her son finally arrived and connected with us, so we had some extra fun together walking around. Corn dogs. Lemonade. And finally we got kettle corn to bring home. 

And, a LOT of steps! 

It was a good day, and all I could think of was Templeton in "Charlotte's Web." 

It's where a rat, and a Chris, can Glut, Glut, GLUT, GLUUUUUUUTTTTT!!!!!

We knew Doug's mom was up at the other house the entire time we were gone, and she was not going to be back by the time we were, so we headed out to find a beer. Everything, just about, was closed for Labor Day, and while I appreciate that, dudes - we need to kill some time where's an open bar?

We found a place in New Brighton, had a couple pints and she called to let us know she was back at the house. Okay then. Back to her's. 

And then, what to do for dinner. What to do. 

The internet told us the mexican place was open but no. It was not. They are having some renovations done, so we drove to two other places, alas, also closed. 

And then we just went back to New Brighton to the pub that we went to earlier. The ladies recognized us and we thanked them for being open. Because honestly, no one else was. They said that explained the busy dinner service, and they were happy to have us. 

Honestly, we'll go back there. They were lovely. Thank you for being open. 

Here are some fair pictures. We had a great day. 

Tomorrow, home. Looking forward to it. I miss my dog. Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. several measurable walks all day. 14k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

8am: 165
xpm: n/a
9:30pm: 143 

food & meds:

8am: Jardiance 
fairfood. Elephant ear, Gyro, corn dog, and kettle corn. Through the day. Met+glip at 1pm
4:30pm: 2 beers
6:30ish: dinner - buffalo wings (amazingly good); BIG steak salad w/ fries. 2 beers; met+glip
some kettle corn back at the house.

 

Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth

We have volunteered and volunteered to help Doug's mom for years over at the old house. She wants to put it on the market, and later this week, there is a crew coming to clean whatever is left stuff-wise out. Dumpsville. There isn't a lot, but, turns out she has a couple two three good decent pieces of furniture still, and there is stuff in the garage that is still good. 

She has worked on this paper bag by small box for years. She leans on Doug's sister to help and do the work. And every time we are there, she eschews our willingness to help. 

Today, we got to help. 

There was drama, and angst. And she got yelly and Doug and his sister basically kept saying we don't understand what the big deal is here, decide what you want and we have THREE BIG HATCHBACKS! and we will move things. 

She inisted on wiping everything down. WIPE IT ALL DOWN IT HAS TO BE CLEANED! We were all like "we can wipe stuff down once we get in the driveway at your for real house. Let's JUST MOVE THINGS! 

She told Doug he is "pushy." 

She said we were yelling at her, but Doug said "no, we are yelling because you are DEAF and we HAVE to yell because you can't hear us." 

She said her pulse was over 200 at one point (I doubt it but I didn't have a pocket pulse oximeter handy to test her out. 

Eventually, we got a lot of stuff moved out. There are still things over there, and so help me Doug's sister better hopefully salvage them. 

They made a second trip back to the house, just Doug, his sister, and mom. I stayed here with the excuse that I am proofreading a book for a friend (not a lie, but. I could have gone to help). 

We wanted to order pizza, and his mom was all "oh I am not hungry, I am so weary, go ahead and eat without me," drama drama drama... drama... 

We got the pizza and she ate some and brightened up. We had good chats and laughs. It's amazing what a little food can do for ya, it seems. 

I'm going to bed, but they're all out in the garage talking about some chairs that are not needed (we'll take them), and card tables that she wanted and now she does not (we'll take one, Doug's sister will take the other). All told, I'm looking forward to sleeping at this point. 

I took a bunch of pictures, some I won't post but I'll write about that later. They lost a tree in the yard the other day, so I documented that. And I stood by the garden my father in law used to lovingly tend, and I was sad. 

The plan tomorrow, I do believe, is Doug wants to go to the fair in Ohio. It's been a while since we've gone, and tomorrow is the last day. Not sure if we'll bring our nephew or not, but he is welcome to come. Doug's sister too. In fact, last time we went was with them. 

I found a cute little guy that I scooped up and brought home with me. Digits below the cute little guy. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. two walks, one inside the house, 25 min/1.06 mi. outside after dinner 18 min/.84 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

9am: 158
xpm: n/a
10pm: 168 

food & meds:

9am: Jardiance  
11:30am: last of my fajita stuff (cold and delicious)
1:30pm: turkey & provolone w/mayo on multigrain (very rye forward) sourdough; met+glip
7pm: slice of toast
8:30pm: met+glip; 3 slices of pizza and a bread stick w/sauce
no wine/alcohol