Sorry I'm late for work

I woke up early and got the coffee ready. Toffee came downstairs a few minutes later, her hearing is great especially with anything happening in "The Food Room" as we call it. And she says "oh! Breakfast!" So I got her fed, and outside. I did my morning routine things and heard her back on the porch ready to come in. She's so polite and quiet, I just hear her shake her head and her ears flap. 

Unlike my neighbors' dogs who bark incessantly. I'll bitch about that another day. 

She came in and ran to the loveseat, where I sit and work and stood there and stared at me until I came and sat down. She is a demanding taskmaster. Get to work Christine! And by work, we mean cuddling under a blanket!

It is chilly in here this morning, we went from mid 70s to the low 20s in about 12 hours. Her ears were cold, so I snuggled her into the fleecie and realized I probably should have grabbed the laptop first. Ope.

Well. It was super early, after all. I mean way too early to REALLY start working so. Let's snuggle. 

My coffee got cold. I had to pee. 

But.

I really didn't want to ruin this. 

I've said it before but I really wonder what her life was like before she was rescued by the humane society in DC. She snored peacefully, I drank coffee, I patted her head and ears. I enjoyed being her safe place. I wish all dogs had safe places. 

I had one meeting today with a very lovely client who is unfortunately the only person full time employed at his outfit. Everyone else is part time, or volunteer. So he does the lion's share of all the things. He made some catastrophic errors in one of the applications, so I showed him what he did, and how we are going to fix this. I say we, because I'm helping him divide and conquer and rebuild. 

My manager always tells me to not do things like this, it is their responsibility. But he actually won't be able to get it done. Not because I don't believe in him but because there are not enough hours in the day, week, month for this poor guy to do this. 

I'm just that way, I guess. 

I did take a break and hit the treadmill. I got my blood test results and my A1c is still 6. It was 6 in november and it is 6 today. 

I feel like since November, this should have dipped some? Maybe? especially with the running and nonsense like that. And the serious scaling back on the alcohol over the last 6 months. 

Meh? 

Well. I got it out of the way and I won't need to be retested for a while. My optimism glasses say "hey, at least it didn't go UP!, right?" 

Time for more cuddles. Lots to do tomorrow for work. Digits below my work delay machine. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill 30 min/2.12 mi; 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7:30am: 153
5pm: 130
10pm: 163

food & meds:
7:30am: jardiance+phentermine
8am: protein shake mixed in coffee 
11:30pm: small bowl of mac & cheese w/bacon
1pm: met+glip
6:30pm: bowl of spicy rice w/ground beef (a geoff specialty)
7pm: ramekin of candied cashews
8:30pm: met+glip
no alcohol

Jesus on the Radio Day

Today was the big day for that client website launch. 10am my time, 9am theirs. I was anxious about this one because it was a very complicated site with a lot of nonsense. It went swimmingly, fast, wonderfully. Big victory. 

Before the site launch I realized there were a few things that I forgot to do for the client, so I whipped them together quickly. I'm sometimes amazed at what I can get done when I can focus, and panic. 

The rest of the day was busy with meetings and didn't get everything done. I was going to go get bloodwork done but a meeting got put on my calendar at 2pm so that kind of monkey wrenched everything. I couldn't leave here at 3 and get there on time. 

Plus, it was supposed to storm. And storm horribly. "Any second now" all day long. But then it didn't. We were supposed to get giant thunderstorms and hail and possible tornadoes. 

Tomorrow. I will make time in the morning before the meetings start. It's overdue. Well, as long as the interstate isn't iced over because ... temperatures are doing their temperature thing right now.

While Geoff was cooking dinner, I checked the radar and there was a break in the rain. Toffee was being a pest so I grabbed her, got the harness, and took her out for a walk. She did pretty good until she saw a cat, and then I could not get her to comply or walk for over a block. Stupid cat. It just sat there and looked at us. Gah. 

Got an upper body workout dealing with her. It wasn't as long a walk as I wanted so I ended up on the treadmill to make more time and steps and distance up. 

Our temperature went from the upper 70s all day with the storm and storm front weather, and at 10pm, it was snowing lightly and 34 degrees and falling. Tomorrow it isn't going to get over 35. And by Friday in the 60s, Saturday and Sunday 70. That time of year, I guess. 

Oh. Today is March 16th which is, of course, Jesus on the Radio day for Guster fans. Guster sends out a text to fans in honor of their own song on their day. It is cute that they are in on it with everyone. I love these guys. 

I was not awake at 5am, but I did wake up at 6:30am and laughed when I saw this. And I did. I listened to a couple different versions. 

Digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Two walks. one with Toffee 25 min/1.25 mi. treadmill 20 min/1.31 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime.

blood glucose:

8:30am: 163
4:14pm: 94
10pm: 177

food & meds:
8:30am: jardiance+phentermine 
noon: protein shake (mixed in coffee)
2pm: met+glip
4:30pm: ramekin of candied cashews 
6:30pm: chicken penne fra diavlo
9pm: met+glip
no alcohol

a 5k inside

I was going to write today about how offensive Irish Car Bombs and Black & Tans are but I've taken a complete shellacking on social media for saying that those are both offensive. So I'll just keep my thoughts to myself here in my blog. 

But seriously, please don't. Don't do that if you own a bar or restaurant. Just don't.

Anyway, today I set out to do a half hour on the treadmill. Usually I'm able to get a little over 2 miles when I set that goal but today it was a different vibe. I was paying attention to the playlist and went past 30 minutes. Then my brain sometimes isn't happy if I try to stop on a time that isn't an increment of 5. So I had to go to 35 minutes. 

I was partway through a song at 35 minutes and my brain wouldn't let me stop partway through the song. So let's go to 40? maybe? 

At about 45 minutes, I looked at how far I'd gone, and it was 2.88 miles. 

Which screamed to me, you can... keep going to 3.1 miles which is 5k. 

There was a 5k in town yesterday, and I didn't want to sign up even though one of my community member challenge friends tried to encourage me. I told her I wasn't ready for a 5k. But here I was, pushing myself to go to 5k. and I did it.

I have never run this far or for this long, continuously, without stopping, and it felt like winning. 

I was making potato salad and prepping dinner, and Doug took Toffee to the dog park. I would have gone too, but boiling the eggs and cooking the bacon deserved attention. 

We grilled the last of the steak tips that Jess brought down at New Years, and now I'm sad. Now Jess has to come back and visit with more. 

All told it was a great day. Lots of fun. Big achievements. 

Tomorrow is a very full day. A very early client site launch and a ton of deliverables expected of me. And we're supposed to be pummeled with horrible storms in the afternoon. whee! Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. 47.55 min/3.1 miles. 14k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 122
4:30pm: 136
9:30pm: 110

food & meds:
9am: jardiance+phentermine 
11:30am: asiago bagel w/ cream cheese and turkey
2:30pm: met+glip
5pm: some tasty home made potato salad, for tasting
6:30pm: steak tips and more home made potato salad
7pm: piece of cherry cheesecake
8pm: met+glip
white wine

A Day of Errands and Beers

I woke up at 7am, and had to pee. So, my rule is, if it is after like 6:30, you're up for the day friendo. Doug had gone to the guest room at some point, and so I came down with Toffee and did the usual morning things. Pee, make the coffee, let the dog out, drink the coffee, play the phone game. I was going to load the dishwasher but Doug was still asleep in the guest room so I kept it quiet. 

Around 11am I did load the dishwasher and made a bit of noise but he continued to sleep. I was kind of surprised. He never sleeps this late. Eventually, he came out and said that he was awake most of the night but eventually came down and fell asleep on the guest bed. And just ... slept all the sleeps. All of them.

I did the treadmill, and took a shower. He told me he wanted to go run errands and asked if I wanted to join, so, yes please. 

We went to Lowes and had fun. He needed silicone spray to lube the treadmill belt, and wanted some caulk and a sharp scraper dealie to remove the caulk currently in the tub. We also got some paint samples for the bathroom. 

Then over to the dutch market. It was pie day (3.14) today but we got a cherry cheesecake instead. The place was mobbed because they close at 4 and all the bargains are up for grabs when there is a little time left. 

I wanted to head into downtown to the better brewery to see the St. Patricks Shenanigans and music, but he wanted to drive north on Rte 11 and just see what was what. 

We went up to Greencastle, PA and then over to Waynesboro (edited, I had Wellsboro initially). I told him that I thought the Rough Edges Brewery was over here and sure enough we drove right past it. 

We turned around and went in, and I was surprised to see there wasn't a lot going on. No big shenanigans, music, green everywhere. 

The beer was good, late lunch wasn't that great but I was hungry, but again, the beer was good. It was fun being out. And we were surprised on the way home that this was only about 15 miles from our house. 

There is so much so close to our house that sometimes it is just wild. 

The friend I've made through the challenge walk did a 5k today and tried to talk me into it. I'm not ready. She said I am. I truly feel that I am not. And this morning was very cold and windy so I am glad I didn't go. Proud of her though.

Another time. Maybe. 

Here are some pictures. I liked the neon inside the Rough Edges Brewery. And the snowman above with Jesus on it especially entertained me. And the Turnips! sign made both me and Doug laugh really hard. TURNIPS! 

Digits below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Treadmill for 20 min/1.43 mi. 12k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7am: 109
n/apm: n/a
9:30pm: 169

food & meds:
7am: jardiance+phentermine 
1pm: met+glip
2pm: bowl of chicken salad
5pm: beers and buffalo chicken flatbread (not that great)
7pm: slab of cherry cheesecake, met+glip

Bruise and New Growth

A few days ago at the dog park, a bunch of dogs got into a fracas, Toffee among them. I reached in to grab her by the harness and pull her back. 

Another dog went to bite her, like dogs do, but contacted the back of my hand. No skin broken, no harm no foul, no big deal. We got them all settled down and sent them to their corners. I thought nothing of it. 

Until yesterday, when I noticed the bruise. 

I do bruise easily thanks to being on blood thinners, but wow, this is epic. The entire back of my right hand is mottled. Yikes and wow. 

So when people go at Trumpf about his bruises, he takes a butt ton of baby aspirin, and maybe he's on some other medications, but yeah - I can see it being a thing if he bumps he bruises. Probably the only sympathetic thing you'll hear me say about him. 

Wondering how long it'll take for this to clear. The picture doesn't even do this justice, to be honest. You'd have to see it in person to believe this one. 

In other news, back in November my friend H gave me a monstera cutting. I thought it maybe wasn't doing well, the leaves are a bit curled in, and maybe the edges are browned. I water her. I take care of her. I'm worried about her. I feel like I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. 

But today I noticed this shoot coming off one of the dealies, and it is a leaf. It started to unfurl through the day today and it is glorious and beautiful. So okay, I am doing something right. I just need to figure out how to make her thrive. 

Anyway, got myself a little off kilter today. Missed my meds at 1 and took them late. I fell asleep watching TV after dinner. I never do that. Anyway. Digits below! 

digits

exercise: 11/12 hours. Fell asleep on the couch and missed 7pm. Treadmill run, 30 min/2.06 mi. Finished up the 10k for the day on the treadmill, 16 min/.82 mi.  10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 122
5pm: 130
10:15pm: 149

food & meds:
9am: jardiance+phentermine
1pm: big bowl of homemade chicken salad w/ grapes, walnuts. 
3:30pm: met+glip (forgot to take at 1) 
6:30pm: big bowl of chili by Geoff w/corn chips, shredded cheddar
9:30pm: met+glip
no alcohol

Early Morning Banana Bread

The windows were wide open all night, the fan blowing. Comfortable cool, resulting in a good night's sleep. 

I'm not sure what time they came by but the trash truck did its thing, noisily, somewhere around 4am? That's okay, I can fall back asleep. Also, I'm not mad. They bust their asses, and it is pouring out so, bless them for all they do that I don't have to, ya know? 

At about 5:30am, my neighbors' dogs (the beagle monster hounds) went out and barked their fool heads off, and that one I could not recover from. I got up, and Toffee joined me. We headed downstairs. My brain was spinning about work stuff. 

I need to do an audit of all the help documentation for the product that is retiring, and replace those help documents with new help documents for the product we are rolling out to take its place. 

That, also, I could not get "Yeah" by Usher out of my head. "She asked for one more dance, and I'm like Yeah, how the hell am I supposed to leave... and I said doot da doot doo dooda doooda doooo." 

Downstairs to make the coffee and feed the Toffee. 

She wolfed her brekkie down and I started the bean brew. I opened the door to let her out, and she stood on the porch for a while surveying the situation. I see a lot of things online where people post about their Pitties/mixes who hate the rain and this girl is right with them. 

She went, though. She must have really had to go because rain is like acid and poison to her.... But she came right back immediately. 

I had loaded the dishwasher last night after dinner, but there were still a lot of dishes in the sink. And we know I hate going to bed with dishes in the sink but I was in no mood for hand washing. After I went to bed though, Geoff unloaded the dishwasher at some point. Nice! So I the dishwasher was loaded up (still more dishes but they can wait). 3 hour cycle, they'll be done by 9ish. 

Coffee and phone game time, and big cuddles and snuggles in the still, quiet, dark living room with the Toff until about 7. I had wrapped her in a blanket because she was damp. She enjoyed that greatly and snored away. 

What next. 

There were four bananas on the counter, telling me they were ready to transform into delicious banana bread. Okay then. That's an hour long baking cycle with a 10 minute prep. Let's go. Hand mixing is hard for me anymore, so I got out the little machine, let her do all the work and prayed it was not so noisy that it disturbed Doug's sleep.  

Doug was not disturbed. 

The banana bread came out perfectly, I was already working and doing things well before 7:30am. Still working on helping that client out with the Google thing, and a couple other big setups and comms. 

I drafted a great email for the product testing an my Work Son sent it for me. Folks are excited! I'm excited. 

Oh! Fitbit sent me this cute graphic yesterday about the miles I've walked. I feel like they used to send these little landmark graphis like "you've walked all the length of Florida!" So it feels good to have walked through the middle of the earth since I started using a fitbit in, I think, 2014? 

Digits, below.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill, 32 min/2.11 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

6am: 91
4:45pm: 160
10pm: 135

food & meds:
6am: jardiance+phentermine
8:30am: banana bread slice
2pm: english muffin w/pb and regular sugar j; met+glip
3pm: atkins protein bar
6pm: bowl of rotini pasta and alfredo chicken (a la Geoff) 
7pm: ramekin candied cashews
8:30pm: met+glip
white wine

Storms and Storms

It was roasting hot last night. We had the windows open, and I brought a small fan upstairs. We don't have the AC in the window yet and there is only one little vent dealie in our bedroom anyway, so putting on the house AC doesn't make much of a dent up there. 

It is supposed to be 37 degrees on Saturday, chance of snow. So we're holding off on actually putting in the AC a bit. 

I didn't sleep that well. Thankfully Toffee wasn't flush up against me being hot. There was some sleep, just not enough sleep.  

I had a stupid crazy busy day today with meetings all up and down the calendar starting at 9:30. I didn't get a shower before the first meeting and well ... some days are like that. 

We have a client site launch on Monday and I am working like mad to help the person doing all the work get things set up. She is such a trooper. We ran into a snag with Google AdManager and the stupid required AdSense that you have to sign up with first. We've been fighting with this product for a couple weeks at this rate and my Work Son had a breakthrough realization on something, and boom - we got the verification to go through! 

Tomorrow we have to do another step. And another. And eventually we'll be able to get the Google AdManager account setup and working. Pray for us. 

So help me, I hate this product and wish nobody would ever ever use it. I wish our product team built our own advertising tool. But. It's an industry standard. Even though it both sucks and blows. 

We got hit by a big thunderstorm right after I had a check in with the client. It was really exciting. I was going to take an outside walk and thought better of it, right before the storm hit. 

Thank goodness for the treadmill. 

After the Treadmill (which went pretty well), dinner. Geoff found a Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork and it was outstanding. He started it at 10am, and let it sit in the slow cooker all day. Magnificent. I told him he can make this any time he wants. 

I did some further site setup work for Apple News for 6 clients who have a training tomorrow afternoon with them. I enabled some website sharing setups between a bunch of clients and one of them isn't working so I'm going to work on it tomorrow. I'm sure I am overlooking one small thing.

At about 9pm I finished up what I need to do, mostly. I sat outside on the patio, played some phone games, and just enjoyed it being not so roasting hot. 

Tomorrow is a lighter day but I'm going to be scrambling to help that client with the site launch. 

No picture. Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill, 31 min/2.18 miles; 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 157
4:30pm: 134
11pm: 144

food & meds:
9am: jardiance+phentermine
1pm: large bowl of salad w/can of tuna, mayo, bacon mixed in
2pm: met+glip
4:30pm: atkins protein bar snack
7pm: pulled pork, homemade by Geoff (amazing)
8:30pm: met+glip
no alcohol etc. 

The Girl's Birthday

My workwife and I don't get to see each other too much, so today being her birthday and all, I wanted to do something fun with her. She's got a lot going on in the personal life, and I thought the personal life needs some super fun time. I want to be that super fun time. 

She met me at a mall and we walked and walked, and ducked into a couple stores to browse. We got to the food court and I felt like I should eat but she already did before she came over. Everything was pasta and chinese food with lo mein or fried rice, so I opted for a very small cheesesteak (should have done the double meat for protein). We sat and chatted, caught up on all the things going on. 

We do this once in a while on zoom at work, but in person, at a mall, being besties, hanging out. I had a great time and I think she did too. 

I headed home, and traffic on 70 was so easy and good. Cruised along and just enjoyed the quiet. I had my phone basically turned off for battery saving, forgot the charging cord at home, so I wanted to be alerted if there were any accidents reported on Waze. 

Geoff made us burgers tonight, Doug took Toffee to the dog park and I passed because I was tired from the driving and the hanging out. I sat out on the patio and just chilled, talked to Linda a bit, and enjoyed the nice weather. 

It is supposed to be nice like this again tomorrow and then possibly storms and .... possibly snow. As Homer Simpson says, "Stupid Smarch Weather." 

Tomorrow is a busy busy day but here's me and my birthday girl pal. Digits Below. Sad the moose's antlers are cut off. (I typed ears. then... horns. Those are not the right words). 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.   2 walks in the mall, one for about .9 miles and another for .79. combined 1.8 miles. leisurely. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 121
4:30pm: 160
9:15pm: 170

food & meds:
8:30am: jardiance+phentermine
noon: very small cheesesteak in the mall w/onions, peppers, lettuce, tomato, mayo. ate the roll. 
2pm:met+glip
6:30pm: one cheeseburger over big bed of salad w/bleu cheese dressing, a little coleslaw
8pm: small pieces of a brownie from the bakery, one of the pb/reeses chocolate one, and one piece of the oreo and cream one 
8:45pm: met+glip

Late night phone calls

I was all ready to write my entry and Aaron called from Oregon. We'd been playing phone tag for a while and finally connected. 

It's so nice to hear from him. We hadn't talked since maybe August. Long time to go without a chat with a bestie. He's been working on a boat in Alaska, had some surgery on his hips in the fall, is back at it and feeling super good. 

Today was a hard day mentally. The day after the spring forward always kills me. I spent most of the morning in zombie mode, got my brain unfogged by mid-afternoon. Geoff took Toffee for a walk, and initially I thought Doug and I would take her to the dog park, but I had a super emergency "help me" session with a favorite client in Alaska. I worked until after 6 while Geoff made supper. I should have been supervising him because again, he made a mistake in the recipe and it came out horribly watery (nothing worse than watery soup!) Flavor wise, it was decent. No complaints. But yeah. Not the most fulfilling supper. 

Notes for next time. The house smells amazing though. 

After dinner, I decided to make use of this later sunset business and went for a solo walk. I headed one direction, around the senior center, then up to the main drag, crossed over and down the hill. There is a cut over to the dog park about a half block down but I went to the next stop light to get to the big park. 

It was so nice to see so many families out, kids on the playground, and I thought about walking past the ice rink and to the other park and coming back around to our street at the top but said "meh." 

All told, an easy walk, a little over 2 miles, 45 min. No running. Just didn't feel like running. 

Tomorrow I'm taking the day off to go to Baltimore. The work wife's birthday is tomorrow and Tuesday/mid week birthdays are hard to have fun. So I'm going to take her to lunch. Looking forward to that! 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.   45 min. outdoor walk, 2.25 mi. Took it very slow but went further than I'd planned. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 92
4:15pm: 113
10:30pm: 119

food & meds:
9am: jardiance+phentermine
several cashews all day
11:30am: english muffin w/pb and low sugar j
1pm: met+glip
6:30pm: carrot & ginger soup w/ nice piece of crusty bread; more cashews
8:30pm: met+glip
no alcohol/wine/beer 

Dam 5 and the Four Locks

There was no argument about what to do today. It was a get outside and enoy the day kind of day. 

I let Toffee out, and noted immediately that hey. Oh, hell yes. OH YES! I'm having coffee on the patio. Fuck YEAH. 

I cleaned the table (thought about doing it last week but eventually said meh). Toffee was doing her usual tour of duty around the yard, and I came out with my coffee and just plopped down. 

Bliss. 

We had kind of a breeze coming from the north east, so a sweatshirt was handy. I enjoyed a good hour of just playing phone games and sipping coffee. 

One of the main reasons why I wanted this house was this spot. I'd love to screen this in, someday. Future plans, but for today and right now... this is what your friend needed and wanted most. 

I surveyed the yard and thought about all the things that need to be done. Mental notes, get the big rake and hand it to The Boy. Drink more coffee. 

Doug let me know that he didn't want to dilly and/or dally today but go out and have some fun. He wanted to take me up to Dam 5 on the C&O canal. He went there when I wasn't around at some point, maybe I was at my mom's. But he thought it was a super cool spot and I could get my mile walk in easy peasy. 

We headed up and the parking area is closed, everything is roped/guarded off. He was disappointed (Information on the work being done is here at the official website.) We parked up on the street and came down around the Lock House, and managed to get onto the trail at about mile 106.5 I think. 

We walked up to the next Lock House, before mile 108, and enjoyed a hang out there. Hardly anyone was on the trail. We did meet one family and the kids were in love with Toffee. We listened to Peepers and I took a bunch of photos. 

Doug suggested we go home and I was kind of like, um... no? Can we do some more fun stuff out here in the world? 

He suggested we drive up to Four Locks next, and we took another short walk. You can stay overnight in the house there at the locks, it seems pretty cool! 

We stopped at one more location, McCoy's Ferry. Not much happening there, a nice trailer put-in for boats, but the action probably kicks in there really soon. 

We were thinking we'd go to Cushwa Brewing but I had some chicken in a marinade waiting for us, and we opted to head home for dinner. 

Daylight saving meant neither of us were hungry at 6pm, so Doug took a nap, I got dinner ready for grilling and goofed off for a while. 

Then, I talked to Linda for 3 hours. Hi Linda. Reading this on Monday Morning. 

Digits below. Of course.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  Big leisurely walks at the C&O canal. Combined/measured: 67 min/2.8 miles. 13k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 128
5pm: 113
10:30pm: 84

food & meds:
9am: jardiance+phentermine
11:30am: 647 everything bagel w/cream cheese and turkey
1pm: met+glip
5:30pm: beer 
6:45pm: big salad, 2 slabs of chicken breast. beer. 
8pm: met+glip
made candied cashews so I ate a bunch of cashews in process.