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
















