High as an elephant's eye

Last night I told Doug I wanted to do something fun today. It is supposed to rain tomorrow, so do let's. Oh, do let's. 

We were doing the morning coffee/phone games thing and he said he wanted to head to the farm stand for apples and whatever else they had going on. So we were out the door by 12:30 (good for us!) and out and about. 

The farm stand was hopping, and we had fun looking around. Prices seem to be very high, but that didn't stop us from making a hefty selection. Everything was colorful and fragrant. I wish we planted these kinds of peppers, and that our yellow tomatoes did better. Oh well. 

Apples, nectarines, and corn procured, we went on a scenic drive. We went through areas we haven't been through yet, and found ourselves in Frederick County. Road after road lined with corn. Corn was everywhere. Some of the fields were harvested and cut down, we saw deer out in the middle of the day behind some church, and they just gawked at us. 

Seriously, I think they were surprised to see us like we were surprised to see them.  

It was time to decide what to do, head home, take naps? or drive a little further south yet. We weren't too far from the South Mountain Creamery, but we opted to head down to Brunswick to the Smoketown Brewing Station. 

We haven't been there for quite a while, I think about this time last year we were looking at a house not too far away and thought of stopping in but the place was packed. There was a line out the door - some sort of special event... so we continued moving on. 

Today, not as big a crowd. It looks like there was some sort of bike race or something, lots of people with biking clothes on, and even a guy riding a penny-farthing toodled by and everyone had a big smile checking him out. 

I texted a friend of mine who lives in town, we used to work together, she got a new job and left, and got married, and now she's running for a county office. Super proud of her. She's so delightful. I didn't hear back from her, not surprising because she's usually out campaigning on weekends. But she showed up, and it was nice, and we had a good yap. 

We headed home and Doug was super keen on getting the corn going, and I grilled the hotdogs (two nights in a row is two days more than I've had hotdogs in the longest freaking time. The corn was amazing, I was only going to have one ear but that second was there waiting for me. Had to do it. 

Doug has been watching the TV Series for Brideshead Revisited, and I just am not interested (although, very young Jeremy Irons is pretty cute). I took Toffee for a walk and spent time outside with her. Then I ended up taking a rather big nap. 

All told, we set out for fun, we did "do let's" and it was great. Here's me and my friend. Digits below!

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours Toffee Walk 20min/.95 mi, Treadmill walk 10 min/.64 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

8:45am: 124
5pm: 181
10:30pm: 164 

food & meds:

8:45am: jardiance, new meds
9am: last 2 chocolate chip cookies w/coffee
10:45am: small bowl of mac&cheese w/bacon
beers at the brewery (approx 3pm?)
5pm: new meds
5:30pm: 2 hotdogs w/full carb rolls, 2 ears of corn, some watermelon, another beer
8pm: met+glip

Fridge Clean Out

It has to happen once in a while, right? 

I'd been gone most of the month of August, pretty much, and the guys made a lot of food. Without me here to eat my fair share, there were leftovers. 

Heck, there were leftovers from before I left. 

And I was looking for something when I saw that there was a bag of cherries way, way in the back that had gone straight to oblivion. 

It was time to clean out the fridge. 

Big open time in the middle of the day today, so I went in and cleaned things out. I'm not sure why we have 5 different containers of stock (2 beef, 2 chicken, one vegetable) but okay. Use-by date stamps on all of them are in the future so I combined the doubles, and made for some good space. 2 containers of heavy whipping cream, one was way past its use-by date, so that got pitched and it made me sad. The other one is still super good and I like making homemade whipped cream so heck yeah, I'll do that tomorrow. 

Several almost empty jars of jelly, preserves, jams etc. No duplicates but I've put them into the front so people see them and use them. Two pieces of toast or one pb&j sammitch will take care of things. 

Five, count'em, 5 Hamburger Dill Pickle jars, all open, all somewhat used, now combined into 1 and a half. 

Beer that was pushed to the way back of the fridge which now has been brought to the door. Some of it I won't drink, like I don't like thes Kona Fruity Hawaiian beers, there are a couple Shandy beers that I'm just not into. But oh heck yeah, here's a Cushwa. 

We'll drink them and make room for others. 

And the aforementioned leftovers. All but one container of things was pitched. Doug had made some sort of stew while I was away, and it is still very good. Not to be pitched, and had I known about it that's what I would have had for lunch yesterday. 

The next step would be taking out all the shelves and cleaning them all, but I'm not mentally there. I should get mentally there. Things should always be cleaned. But I'm not sure how these shelves come out, unlike my last refrigerator where I knew and could easily do that. These look complicated. And I don't enjoy complicated. 

Now we can go buy more food and have places to put it. And seeing as Doug wasn't "thinking that far ahead" to dinner for tonight, I went to the market. I'm always uninspired so I asked him what he wanted. He said hot dogs. Okay. Hot dogs it is. Classy. I sat out until I got too many bug bites. It was a gorgeous night out.

Digits below! 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours Treadmill run, 20 min/1.36 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

8:45am: 115
4:15pm: 178
11pm: 137 

food & meds:

8:45am: jardiance, new meds
8:45am: slab of raspberry danish
1:30pm: tuna salad on multigrain toast; met+glip
4:15pm: new meds
7:30pm: 2 hotdogs, full carb buns, some potato salad, white wine
8:30pm: met+glip

The Corner Pub

I set an alarm for 6am today because I knew Geoff was leaving around 6:30. I was on my way down the stairs and I could hear him talking out loud to himself, "He wants me to take the volvo but where the fuck are the keys?" 

At least he wasn't screaming. I might have been screaming. 

It was my fault he couldn't find the keys - they were in my purse. I committed the massive sin of not putting them into the bowl by the front door. It is my rule, and I'm super hung up on it, so the fact that I didn't follow my own thing is kind of ... ironic. 

I found the keys for him, gave him a bag with cookies, encouraged him to take a water bottle (stay hydrated, don't pay for water!) 

I know he is anxious about all this. I think he feels like Doug is pushing him out of the house but he's not - one night a week is not the end of the world, or the end of you living here, but get a taste of not living here. Even if it is a hotel. 

As he was packing his bag and all, he said "The next 15 weeks of my life will either be really great or hell." 

"It's going to be what you make it, pal. So make it the best and go for it." 

He didn't say anything back, so I asked him to let me know he was off before he left. I was going to lie down on the guest bed with the dog. 

Don't leave without saying goodbye. 

He left without saying goodbye. 

This made me a little sad. But. I'm hoping when he arrives home tomorrow in the evening, he'll have a good feeling about everything, and be more confident and calm. I kind of feel like maybe he should have done a hotel test run, solo, but Doug said that's a stupid waste of money. 

True, but. Still. 

Anyway. 

Work was pretty good, no meetings except an office hours for the team and clients. I love when we have office hours. My favorite meeting on the calendar. 

I hit the treadmill immediately after and thought about going for 30 min but stopped. I had to do something, get a shower, get back to business. 

We didn't get to the grocery store and without Geoff at home, neither of us is very motivated to do so. I was about to do that and was waiting for a giant thunder and lightning storm to wrap up. Linda wanted to chat, so we got on a video call. Then Doug came downstairs and suggested we go to this little mexican restaurant around the corner for dinner. 

Driving over, she was closed. I don't know if she is permanently closed or if they are on vacation but. Oh well. 

There's a corner pub nearby, walking/stumbling distance from our house. We pulled into their parking lot. There were a ton of "regulars" there, and they all know each other. Some dudes were ragging on someone having a "skinny short dick" and "that's why you didn't go for him," which had everyone in stitches. 

One lady realized we were "new" people and asked them to tone it down, tone it down... and one guy said "yeah that's okay that's okay, I like eatin' pussy anyway so I don't go for them little skinny dicks anyhow." 

Alrighty then. 

We had beers, and they had a simple menu, so Doug got a fish sandwich and I got a burger. The lady next to me, I'll call her Suzi-Q, she was sweet and she lives in Pennsylvania but comes down here to hang out. Her brother lives nearby so they get together a lot. 

There was an internet jukebox. Plenty of classic rock and classic country. 

I'm glad we stopped in. Not sure I'd be a "regular," but it has a certain old bar kind of vibe. Lots of exposed wood, neon, some big TVs and on one they were showing the Jennifer Aniston/Cameron Diaz "classic" She's the One. Kind of not an appropriate movie, but, it did lead to some conversations at the bar.

The kitchen was very clean, and open for everyone to see. They have a shuffleboard league on Tuesday nights! The lady working was doing all the things, bar tending, cooking, serving, cleaning up. She said on league nights, there's two of them working. But most of the time just one person pulling all the duties. It's a family business. 

Doug dropped me off at home and headed over to the market to get a loaf of bread so we at least have something for lunch tomorrow. I asked him to also get something for dinner and he said "I'm not thinking that far into the future. While he was at the market, I did extra treadmill steps because I knew I was going to fall short if I didn't. 

Took one picture of the bar. Interesting night, I'll say. 

Digits below!

digits

exercise: 11/12 hours; missed 9am, slept through it. made up for it during 10am. Treadmill trot, 25 min/1.8 mi. 15 min treadmill walk to make up for steps, .8 miles; 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

10am: 150
5pm: 80
10:15pm: 163 

food & meds:

10am: jardiance, new meds
11am: a bunch of broken last night's cookies
3pm: new meds (a little earlier than usual but I was upstairs and grabbed them so I would not forget)... 
5pm: ritz crackers & pb
6:30pm: 3 beers, cheeseburger & fries
7:30pm: met+glip

Keep the Queers in Your Life

Because I let myself do a big Do Nothing day on Sunday I need to up my steps this week to get up above an 11k average. I have hit 10k+ every day this week but I'm under a 10k average for the week so far. 

Maybe I'll.... do more before the end of Saturday. 

Today I woke up in this Dolly Parton Void World, thinking of childhood literacy and being a rhinestone instead of a diamond. Work was going well until I heard of the death of Tim Curry. 

Now. 

C'mon. 

Honestly. What? 

First of all, everyone reading this go check on your gays! GO NOW AND CHECK ON THEM BECAUSE THIS IS ARMAGEDDON TO THEM!

At the core of my Christian cishet privileged white woman existence, your girl is shook. 

I'm thinking about how both Dolly and Tim Curry ushered in a period of time culturally where people were encouraged to be themselves, embrace who they are, "don't dream it, be it!" Where her songs were all about accepting your roots and rising up to being amazing, and Tim was just the sweet transvestite from transexual Transylvania, and everyone should be all of these things. 

It is OK. 

I remember going to see Rocky Horror so many times in theaters in my hometown, where many of my friends were all closeted, afraid. Afraid of their families and society. 

And I will tell you what. 

I was there for it. Let your freak flag fly, and I'mma prop you up and defend you against all the shitheels who come at us from all sides. I saw you in the 80s, I see you today, and I love you.

I told someone on Bluesky that my religious observances are based on the teaching of Dolly Parton and Mr. Rogers and I mean that to my soul. And I recognize that yes, she was beloved by "both sides" of the political spectrum, but only one side defunded her charity bringing books to children from birth. Yeah, they loved some of her songs like Islands in the Stream, or Here you come Again, but had no desire to support her "controversial" side where she stood up for the marginalized and impoverished and she stood up for literacy no matter what. 

Part of me so very much hates the universe right now. 

Anyway. 

It's been a rough couple days and I'm sad. I'm also irritated. 

Work was hard, but good. I had a great meeting with my boss. My work son is super bummed about the universe, just like me so we had a big commiseration moment. I love him. I love having moments where we can just scream together. 

Speaking of screaming. 

Tomorrow morning, Geoff leaves for his first 2 day run at college. 

He has a hotel reservation for Thursday night. He understands how to work this all. He made the reservation himself. He'll check in and check out. He will partake in the hotel hot breakfast. They have a pool. I've encouraged him to embrace this all. 

He'll decide if the hotel is decent enough to return next week or, to or "hell fucking no" it all and we'll help him pick something better.

He will leave tomorrow at around 6am to drive down and go straight to the college. He has to register his car for a parking pass. He has a giant break between the morning class and the afternoon lab, so I encouraged him to just chill, go to the mall, see if the hotel can do early check-in but not be disappointed if they cannot. 

We put the Mini in the shop earlier this week for an oil change and tune-up and it turns out, she's not healthy. She needs a new Turbo Dealie (technical term) which will cost about 5k to repair. 

D'oh. 

So he'll take the Volvo on his trip this week, which is good, The mini is "good for non-highway" trips. Around town stuff. We can deal with that. Plus, the Aux adapter in the mini is broken, so that makes for travel being no fun when you need your GPS and your heavy black metal stuff at 6am. 

Doug is looking for a new car, but, we can technically just drive the mini for local stuff forever at this point. I'd rather we do that and like, do other things like work around the house.

I decided to bake cookies tonight. I was feeling big anxiety, so. Baking. Baking is the thing to do when the world feels awful and when you're just frazzled. 

I took a recipe off the Ghirardelli chocolate chips bag, and added an extra stick of butter the way I usually do with the regular Nestle chips. I thought it sounded like the recipe didn't call for enough flour overall, and I was right. Should have trusted my instincts.

The cookies spread out all over the pan, and it was messy. Soooooooo messy. But also, not complaining, it was also so delicious.  I added a little bit extra butter for the last 8 cookies and those are much better.

I'll send those with Geoff tomorrow. So he has a bit of home with him.

Tonight, he was making dinner after work, and Doug and I went to pick up the car. He said "I'm gonna miss this," which struck me as funny. 

"Oh honey. You'll be home Friday afternoon, and you can cook dinner every night between then and Thursday morning when you leave again. You're not moving out, you're coming back. I'll just need to know what you want to make, so that we have groceries in the house for you." 

I love this guy. And I love that he loves to cook, for us and for himself. Someday he'll have his own place and be cooking all the time. 

And I'll be eating PB&J sammitches every night because I can't be bothered to cook!

This morning I was up early, and Toffee and I enjoyed the porch. Late August is delightful. I like it here. 

Digits, below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours; treadmill run, 25 min/1.85 mi 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

7:45am: 107
4pm: 200 (see apple pie below)
10pm: 102 

food & meds:

7:45am: jardiance, new meds
8:45: a couple oreo cookies w/coffee
1pm: homemade granola, Oikos OOO yogurt mixed; met+glip
3pm: slab of apple pie w/whipped cream (I really just wanted the whipped cream but needed an excuse)
6pm: chicken & rice a la Geoff; wine
7:30pm: more wine; met+glip
8pm: chocolate chip cookie mess spectacular; more wine

Singular

Well, today we all received the news that Dolly Parton passed away. It pained me dearly, she was such a good human. And I truly mean that. 

So many things I read today online said she was a singular artist, singular philanthropist, singular talent. There will be no others like her ever again. 

The wind was knocked out of my sails today. Not much of an entry. Let's just suffice to say she will be missed. 

What a sad day and moment for this whole earth.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours; treadmill jog, 25 min/1.8 mi. would have kept going but I had to pee. 10k+ steps by bedtime 

blood glucose: 

7am: 129
4:30pm: 130
9:30pm: 163 

food & meds:

7am: jardiance, new meds
7:30am: Weird donut thing Geoff got at Aldi
12:30pm: met+glip; tuna salad on a sub roll, done in the panini press
3:30pm: new meds
5pm: mixed nuts snack
7:30pm: chicken souvlaki on a pita; met+glip
no wine/alcohol

Back home with the shrooms

Writing this on Monday night, since Sunday turned out to be a very big do nothing much kind of day. 

I'm exceptionally thankful I came home Saturday because I could never have just started back at work if I traveled Sunday and had to do a Monday immediately. 

On Sunday, I slept in until 10:30. Doug said he was starting to get worried about me. Why, dude? I'm wiped out! So what I slept in more than an hour longer than usual on a Sunday. 

It be like that sometimes.

We surveyed the garden and yard. Last week a giant outcropping of mushrooms appeared in the yard and Geoff felt bad about mowing them. Which is hilarious in a lot of ways. I'm glad he left them, they were cool to see. 

In the spring, Doug threw down a giant bag of zinnia seeds and they didn't seem to take. Well, this month they all decided to grow and boy are they lovely. He said they will come back every year but I'm not sure that is true. I feel like we should mix in cosmos, and let the height of the very colorful collection of flower friends bring joy to the yard. 

We had also planted dozens of daffodil bulbs in the spring and none of them came up, so I do hope next year they work out. It'll be sad if they do not. 

Over the last (almost) year that we've been here, Doug has thought about planting trees in front of the house. I'm slightly ambivalent about it, I don't mind no trees but also, trees are pretty. He finally decided what he's most attracted to and thinks will be a good addition to the house. So he is going to order them. He also wants to get a lilac tree (not bush) for the back yard between the arbor vitae and the shed, to block the view of the house on the other side of the alley and all their cars and trucks and junk. I'm all for that one. 

We sat out on the patio and talked and talked about my trip and all the excitement. He told me all about things they did here which basically was not much. We talked about maybe thinking about starting to go up to his mom's over labor day but she has already waved us off. 

Life is too busy! Too many things going on! Our niece has a bridal shower 3 weeks after labor day and oh my goodness so much to do. 

She's not even hosting it. What is she going on about. It is frustrating, we both want to spend time with her, but she's just such a pill sometimes. 

It does not help that Doug keeps saying he is going to bring his wonderful well behaved dog with him, and she gets bent fifteen ways out of shape. The dog is not welcome at her place. 

There is a lot of drama with her otherwise that I won't talk about, but, suffice to say, if he wants to go up Labor day weekend, he may have to go solo because I'm not kenneling my dog, and Geoff will be back in school on Thursday and Friday, so we'd have to go up Saturday and come home Tuesday or something. 

To be determined, I guess. I just don't want the drama. I just would like peace. 

Speaking of Geoff and school, we've been trying to figure out how he's going to do this commute. He has calsses on Thursday and Friday, so he said his plan is to drive the 2 hours there, 2 hours back, turn around drive 2 hours there, 2 hours back... 

"People do this as a regular commute all the time," he said. We said "yeah, but you do not have to."

 I had looked into furnished rooms but they want people for every night of the week, not just one or two. Okay. Maybe for the future, we'll keep that in mind. 

So we suggested that he get a hotel on Thursday nights. He didn't understand why. We outlined why. Wear and tear on the car, price of gas. Just drive down for your Wednesday 9am class, go check into the hotel, come back for that 4pm lab, then you have your hotel room waiting for you. Free breakfast. Check out of hotel and make reservation for next week. Wash, rinse, repeat. 

He was dead set against it and didn't want to do it. He had 20 different excuses and reasons why he wanted to go back and forth. Doug asked him if he was scared. He said yes, a little. He also said he wanted to come home "because I like it here."

I told him I absolutely understood that. This is weird and new and different. Doug said "thousands of kids go away to college when they are 18. You are going away to college for one night a week." Doug gave him the link to a hotel near campus. It isn't a Marriott (heh) but it is decent with good reviews. It has an outdoor pool. It is not walking distance, but free parking and butt up against a mall where if he wants he can go over and get a meal.

I got notification he used the credit card. He booked the room. And we'll see how he does. I believe in him. I know he'll be great. He'll do great. But please, as always, say a little prayer for him. Change and new things are a little hard, so I'm proud of him for listening and adulting. 

The car got dropped off tonight for an oil change and a look-see-over the things because that's due. And he'll be off. Fly, bean. Fly. 

After work tonight I made an apple pie. Doug had been talking about pie since yesterday, and I noted there were 8 small apples in the hopper in the fridge. Let's make do. I peeled and chopped and coated in lemon juice and set aside. Doug and Geoff went to drop the car off, and I got everything all mixed together and into the pie plate. 

While they were out and pie was doing its pie thing, I also noted we had heavy whipping cream, so I made some. Geoff sometimes buys a half gallon when he only really needs a pint for some recipes. So we end up with a lot of extra dairy and if it doesn't get used, ya know. 

It came out great, and I'm glad I put the effort in. Not every day I whip up a pie.

It was a crazy busy day, and it will be again tomorrow. Digits below some pictures of pie, mushrooms, and flowers. 

Sunday digits

exercise: 10/12 hours; slept through both 9 and 5; 5k (barely!) steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

10:30am: 142
4:30pm: 116
10:30pm: 123

food & meds:

10:30am: jardiance, new meds
1pm: met+glip
6pm: chicken in a basil/pimento cream sauce (not bad, thanks Geoff)
8pm: met+glip
no wine/alcohol

Monday digits

exercise: 12/12 hours;  20 min walk/jog on the treadmill, 1.3 mi; 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

8am: 101
4:15pm: 119
11:15pm: 207 (* see dinner & dessert)

food & meds:

8am: jardiance, new meds
8:15am: everything bagel w/cream cheese
12pm: bowl of mac&cheese with extra cheese sauce and 2 steak tips 
1pm: met+glip
4pm: new meds
6:30pm: mac&cheese with bacon (again? lol) 
8pm: slab of apple pie w/homemade whipped cream; met+glip
no wine/alcohol

some pictures

 As previously mentioned, I had a hard time getting these pictures up to my computer from my phone. I wanted to remember to put them in, so here's an extra post for anyone who is reading along. 

Pancake Cupcake Cakecake

This morning, C woke me up at 8:30. I guess GinnyDog did try to wake me up but I was out cold. I pretty much tossed and turned all night, sadly. I just kept waking up, being awake, and eventually falling back asleep. So around 6 am I found the super duper thread of sleep and latched onto it. 

I organized my stuff, stripped the bed, and came down for a little coffee. We headed out to meet Jess for breakfast in Exeter at the big bean. I have been feeling pretty good about the blood sugar, and really wanted a pancake. I always want a pancake, but every time we go there, I get the Yosemite omlet. Today, really wanted the pancake so I did. 

I always think of Mike Birbiglia and his pancake bit from his Netflix special "The Good Life" (and I highly recommend it, truly, go watch it), you can see it on the trailer here. Go to about 35 seconds into the trailer and learn how Jenny knows the right amount of pancakes for Mike to eat is ... pancake. Same with me. I can have pancake. 

Jenny would be proud.

The place was hopping. I really love the vibe and the place. Always a favorite when we are in the area. I got a mimosa, which they serve in a pint glass (so generous!) 

We stopped by Jess' since I didn't get to see it at the first part of the trip, such a cute place and I'm so glad C had this apartment for them. The dog was so excited to see me, and I just wanted to scoop them both up and bring them back to Maryland.

After breakfast, she dropped me off at the airport a little before 1, and offered to come in. I figured she'd want to get home and settle in for a couple days before her next travel and have merciful laundry time and spend time with GinnyDog time and just relax. 

Plus, there are no bars at the main level where the general public can hang out, so. 

I prepaid my bag. Southwest, you jerks, bags used to fly free but now you nickel and dime us all to death. I may have to figure out another airline, maybe. Gotta look into who serves the BWI to MHT or PVD or ISP routes because that's where your girl flies the most.

I got checked in, dumped my bag, and I looked at the arrivals/departures board. My flight is already delayed by a half hour. Nice. Last night, C's flight was horribly delayed getting back here to NH. So I was hoping this would not also be my fate. 

I updated the app on my phone so I could make sure to follow along for when shit goes better or worse.

Okay then. Take a walk.

C and I had talked about taking a walk before coming here but I'm, as has been established, sometimes concerned about lateness. Even getting here 2 hours early is sometimes stressful to me. We totally could have done a nice walk somewhere out in the world.

But there I was, walking around the first level of the terminal. I walked around and around and a security person lady person was eyeballing me as I walked to the un-used area of the first floor. 

I passed her by and said "I am not a dangerous person, I am just doing my fitbit steps." She laughed and said "Oh trust me, I'm on break and I gotta do mine! I get it, I get it."

"Just didn't want you to think I was some sort of weirdo." 

She laughed and I invited her to join me. "Naah, that's okay. But it'd be fun though to just walk around with you. I like how you weave around the posts and the luggage carousels." 

"Gotta keep it interesting," I said as I wove around the planters. "Sean Duffy wants us to get exercise when we're at the airport and not wear pajamas and dress well and stuff. At least I'm doing one thing on his Americans Should Class Up Their Travel Like The 1950s idea." 

She cracked up, and said "PFFFTH Sean Duffy," which cracked me right up. 

I went upstairs and breezed the hell right through security. I do have to say that Manchester Airport is just delightful. I walked more, and ended up with a solid 31 minutes, so I figured I earned a beer.

I also realize that I tried to send myself and download all the pictures from my ginormous walk at the canal, and for some reason they would not upload from my phone to my computer, but I finally figured her out and will save those for tomorrow.

My flight boarded and we got home at 5:30ish. Doug was already nearby, so I got my duffel, met him at our agreed upon meet up point!

We went out to dinner at an Indian restaurant in Columbia. It was very very good, and I'm glad we didn't over order because what we got ended up being absolutely perfect. There is a cupcakery (what a made up word!) next door so we went in and spent a stupid crazy amount of money on 6 cupcakes. But they were delicious, and I'm not mad. 

The ride home was uneventful, Geoff and Toffee were both very glad to see me, and, Toffee assumed the position that she obviously had not been able to for weeks now. Off to bed. Quite exhausted, and so very glad I baked in a day off at home so we can get ready for our next adventures. 

digits
exercise: 11/12 hours; lost 1 hour due to being on the airplane. inside airport walk, 30 min/1.52 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

9am: 155
xpm: n/a didn't take on the plane
11pm: 160

food & meds:

9am: jardiance, new meds
11am: pancake (hat tip to Birbiglia). mimosa. coffee. tater tots
2pm: 2beers; met+glip
7pm: indian food: chicken 65, lamb vindaloo, rice, garlic naan, one beer
9pm: cupcake, met+glip

Back to Camp and Walking

Thursday
I completely didn't realize today is actually Thursday. C was texting me this morning to let me know that she'd be home tomorrow evening, and I should help myself to all the things. 

Huh, what? I mean. Wait a minute. Oh yeah...

Literally there are days I don't know what day is the day. And today is one of those days. 

I feel like I've been here forever. I'm looking forward to camp, then home. Huzzah. 

We did our lunch trip to the foodrinkery and had a nice pleasant time. As always. There are people there who are always looking out for mom. We took her neighbor, and she is exceptionally caring to mom. Runs errands for her, makes her food. Just an exceptionally kind human. 

She will be helping out a lot more with mom. Which is great because mom knows her, we don't have to hire a stranger to come in and do stuff, she's already cooking meals for mom and will just continue doing that but with more frequency. 

It's a relief. Because I love my mother, but I can't come up and spend 2-3 weeks at a time all the time. 

I feel like since March/May my previous visits, she's on the decline. Cognitively, she has been doing/saying weird things. For instance, she wrote a check out for 4500 for the masonry work we're having done next week, and put 4500 in the money field, and wrote Forty Five in the field where you spell it out. So the mason had to come back and get a fresh check. One night, she woke up and was walking around the house looking for "the screen." 

What screen? I asked her. 

"The screen that goes in there" and she pointed at the vent system for the furnace. "You mean the filter?" I asked.

"No, the screen. The screen. It was right here," and she points to a space between her couch and an end table. "But someone moved it and I can't find it." 

No one moved it, mom.

S Jr. brought up 2 of them, put one into the filter slot, and stood the other one up near the filter slot. That is what she did, last week. 

"Why are you thinking about this at 11:30 at night?" (she goes to bed at like 8pm). She shrugged her shoulders and said "I don't know. I was just wondering about it." 

I don't feel like she needs someone sleeping in the house all the time, but a motion detector/camera that S Jr. would get a notification on when she leaves her bedroom at night might be good.  

Her paraphasia lately has been very noticeable. 

I'll be more comfortable knowing S Jr. will be there checking up on her often, spending time with her daily. A stranger wouldn't be a good fit, I don't think. So this is helpful.

Jess got to me around 8pm and picked me up. We had a good yap driving. back and I was so happy to come into camp. We had some wine and continued to yap. It was midnight when they left and I fell asleep with great joy.

Friday
I slept a little later than I intended today, and forgot I had a 9am meeting so I made it just in time, and looked like a normal human being. Whew. We had something called sprint review today, and I subbed in for my work-son, who is living his best life on vacation with his entire family. 

Being at camp all by myself is an interesting feeling. I'm just chill. Working, but also doing stuff. Watching the hummingbirds at the feeders, drinking ALL of C's coffee (gotta get more pods!), I vacuumed, dusted, did my own laundry, did some C laundry for the bed downstairs, just an overall vibe for me today. 

I realized I have not been alone-alone other than sleeping in a bed in a hotel, since August 4th. 

The only thing missing is a dog of any sort. C's dog, my dog, any dog. 

I vacuumed, puttered around. Talked to myself. Talked to Linda, did a bunch of work things, basically had a good day. I took a walk around 4, Camp is really nice to walk at. I thought about going back and getting my bathing suit on and going to the PoolPond, it literally is that - kind of a pool, kind of a pond, PoolPond. 

C's cousin was out walking too, and we stopped and chatted for a bit. She said that all my walking has been an inspiration so she was happy to see me out. I thought that was hilarious. "Camp is soooooo good for walking!' I told her, and we laughed. It is! 

Jess wanted to get together for dinner but since I was here at happy camp with no car, I asked if they'd buy some chinese food. So they did, and miss Mol and Mr. Mol came over too, and we had a lovely catch up over lo mein noods and box wine. 

C's flight was super delayed, and I figured when she got back here she'd want to not have a house of yappers. I asked the kids if they could clear out when C texted me and they were completely unoffended. It's nice to have people who get it. The person who's house you are sitting in and having some wine and chats is gonna be wiped so get outta town!  

Jess was getting in the car after helping me clean up and get dishes running, and C pulled up so they came back in, and we did have a nice chat. 

They both were recently in Cleveland. So a lot of shared notes about their experience. 

I miss the kids already and I know I'm leaving to go home tomorrow but I feel like I'd love another day of just catching up with all the children. I love that I got to connect with "Bad Cat" but there's also Sara&Joel, and other kids I love who love me. And my friend Amy, and some others, man. 

It's hard to go home when you still have stuff and people you miss and wanna see. 

Anyway. Here we are from tonight. This time tomorrow I'll be getting in my own bed. That's a wonderful thing, yes?

Tomorrow. Breakfast! 

Digits below

Thursday digits
exercise: 12/12 hours; 20 min/1 mile walk, should have done a bit more but that's okay. 7k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

9am: 128
4:30pm: 114
xpm: n/a - forgot to take before getting in bed

food & meds:

9am: jardiance, new meds
1pm: met+glip; scallops, beets, coleslaw
4:30pm: part of the new meds
7:45pm: met+glip
10:45pm: fritos and boursin cheese; white wine

Friday digits
exercise: 12/12 hours; 34 min walk, 1.61 mi. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

8:45am: 123
4:15pm: 192
10:30pm: 160

food & meds:

8:45am: jardiance, new meds
12:30pm: met+glip; pb& low sugar j on the last of mom's butter bread (I brought the sandwich with me)
3pm-ish: a bunch of hard pretzels
7pm: chinese food (lo mein, peking ravioli, general tso's chicken, fried rice) white wine; met+glip 

Bridge to Bridge

Previously here in the blog, I've mentioned there are cats all over the neighborhood and I get to see them on my walks. Up the street from mom is this sweet little cat, he is missing his right eye. The owner and I talked a year or so ago when I was here, and she told me the cat (I can't remember his name) had some sort of horrible infection years ago and they had to remove the eye. 

Poor bean. But. So it goes in the life of pet stewardship. 

Several walks now through this neighborhood, I haven't seen him. I was kind of worried that he was gone, had passed away or something, you know, like the lives of many outdoor cats end. But today was the day. He was sitting on his porch, looking out across the land and saw me. 

He's one of these cats that likes people a lot, and he meowed, I said hello, he came walking over. I paused my fitbit tracker so we could spend some quality time. 

I took a couple different pictures but he was moving around a lot, this one was the best of the batch. The tail was flicking all around, and he was looking regal in his little tuxedo. Oh I love him.

Work today was pretty good, my boss and I are trying to solve for a big problem, so we met at 3 in our check-in. We have a contractor coming on Monday to do some work at the house, and I need to make sure mom's neighbor friend knows what is happening. She said she's going to come to lunch with us tomorrow, so that's fun. I will buy her 100 lunches for all the help she provides. 

After work, I decided to go for a walk down at the canal, it was a gorgeous day and I couldn't just justify doing neighborhood walk, so I drove there and hit the trail. I parked by the train bridge and started walking, I figured, eh.... I should walk to the Bourne bridge. She's right there. 

About 3/4 of the way there I questioned my sanity. I mean, it's not a big deal. I can do this but uhhhhhggggh this is boring. I didn't bring my earbuds, so I didn't have a podcast to distract me. Eventually I got there, took a small break, took some pictures and went the rest of the way back.

With a headwind! hahhahahha. no. ugh. 

But, when you can't do anything about it, and you have to get back to the car, you ... do it. And I did it. A full hour walk, and yeah. worth it. 

It took me 60 minutes to do the round trip, and I've said previously that my fitbit may be slightly off with distance measurement, but, 27 min out, 33 min back is accurate. 

Voof. 

I went to the market to buy a bunch of stuff mom needed. I thought about getting a big greek chicken sub from the pizza place in downtown but I just grabbed some cranberry walnut chicken salad, and ate that for dinner. Having regrets about wanting that good good sub from the shop in town. Damn. 

All told, a pretty great day. Minor mom complaints. A long chat with Linz, and a good chat with Work Wife today that really gave me great joy. 

Digits below. My computer is not cooperating on downloading pictures so. Here's a pic. Digits below.

digits
exercise: 12/12 hours; huge walk, 60 min/2.89 mi. 13k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

9am: 115
4:30pm: 128
10:30pm: 106

food & meds:

9am: jardiance, new meds
12:45pm: pb&low sugar j on butter bread; met+glip
7pm: shaws supermarket cranberry walnut chicken salad; white wine; met+glip
9:30pm: more trail mix
white wine