The Right Amount of Drunkening Fluids

Today is 2 weeks since I started the new meds, and technically I'm down 4 pounds, well. As long as I've pooped? Pooping is the important part. I mean, I've shared WAYYYYYYY too much info here but the new meds constipate me a bit? and. Well. Yeah. Once I go, there is a noticeable difference in pounds. 

Anyway. 

Today I started what she prescribed for one week in: do the meds in the morning for one week, and then add in the 2nd dose. But. I waited an additional week.  With her guidance. 

We're moving forward. 

Morning and evening doses, let's see how things go. Wish me luck. 

Today Doug said he was not feeling well. We have a bunch of stuff we need to do before Jess gets here tomorrow, but he was in the guest room hogging up space. I didn't want to vacuum, so I did a bunch of other tasks. 

He did say at about 1 that he wanted for us to go out and get peaches, so we went to the farm that we literally have struck out at so many times. Not open on Sunday (duly noted), on a Saturday - closed because they had zero things to sell because the April Frost fucked up their everything. 

Today, they were open. The peaches and nectarines were so fucking expensive, I even gasped a bit when I saw the prices. But we bought some, to support. They've had a shitty year. 

And the fruit was and is lovely. 

Home, and I took a nap. I normally don't nap but the second dose of the medication was making me sleepy. 

Geoff was headed to a concert in Baltimore tonight. I looked up the headliner, the band he is actually going to see, oh my god. they go on at 10:50pm. 

Jesus. 

I'm such a fan of 7pm shows, where the headliner comes on at 8 or 8:30pm. And at 10:50pm I can be sleeping. 

So I am slightly anxious about him coming home. late. It is a long trip from Baltimore, 90 minutes. So he won't be home until late, and I'm trying not to be my mom. Be Careful... be careful.

Anyway. I was actually napping when he left, I heard him talk with Doug and heard the door close. So I didn't get to do "be careful," and I don't do that. I say things like "hey I hope you have a GREAT time!" and in my heart I pray be careful. 

He is such a good guy, I know he'll be fine. He knows not to drink too much or at all. If he is there with another person and that person is driving (cough cough he never is) He knows to not booze it up. He just wants a night of loud crazy dark metal and noise. So happy for him to be able to go and enjoy. 

I asked Doug what he wanted to do for diner, if he wanted to just eat a mess of leftovers. 

"Nah, that sounds like no fun. Let's go out." 

Oh. I did not expect that. Okay. 

We got clothes on and he said he wanted to go to this place in town, but I'd never heard of it. And when I googled it, that wasn't it. 

Turns out the place sold in June. And rebranded under a new name. But okay. Let's go. 

We got there and a band was setting up, and holy shit they were loud. Sound check, this loud? no. I'm not staying. The bartender said they didn't start until 8pm, and I said "Oh okay it is 6, we 'll be gone before they start." 

The sound check went on and on, and it was almost enough for me to look at Doug and say "I'm walking home, bye." 

There was a little lady at the end of the bar next to Doug, her name was Debbie, and she started chewing Doug's ear. She's there every night. She said "yeah, this band is great but they are the loudest band." 

No joke, Debbie. 

A lady sat next to me, and she was younger than me and very pretty. Her name is Shannon. I asked her if this place used to have a different name and then changed. She said yeah! The owner wanted to sell, and one of the staff bought it, did a deep clean refurbish and rebrand. But all the regulars still show up, and things are going great. 

Unlike my mom's "familiar" which changed hands an then sucked ass totally. It seems everyone is happy with this new arrangement.  

We had a good dinner, a couple beers and yes, we left before the band really started their noise. 

When we got home, I was the right amount of alcohol-infused and happy. So I baked cookies. I've been threatening to bake oatmeal cookies for days. So I did it. I didn't want to drink more beer, so I got the Kahlua out and finished off the milk. Will regret that in the morning. But we have a little half and half to get me awake alert and alive with my coffee. 

The cookies came out amazing. 

Digits below the very good advice from the wall at the bar.

digits
exercise: 11/12 hours, slept through 4pm with a nap.  Treadmill, 20 min, 10k+ steps by bedtime 

blood glucose: 

8:00am: 150
5pm: 95
10:30pm: 180

food & meds:

8:00am: jardiance, new meds
1pm: met+glip; english muffin w/pb and j *full sugar but small bits
6:30pm: 2 smash burger patties w/cheese, no bun, 3 beers; french fries
5:30pm: new meds (2nd dose levels, 2nd week)
7:45pm: met+glip
8pm: baked cookies - so some cookie dough for taste
9:30pm: oatmeal chocolate chip cookie and Kahlua & milk cocktail(s)

Magnets and Smoke

Yesterday I published a post that is kind of a stand alone entry. Not a blog entry really but. Fiction. This entry was meant to be the Thursday normal entry but, I fell asleep and forgot to write. So you get a twofer Friday. 

When I chatted with M the other day, we talked about magnets and I told her about my refrigerator. I took some pictures for her and she was highly entertained. I think I'll get her some magnets for her collection. 

Yesterday I was up at 6am and took it easy in the morning but hit the treadmill at 8. Getting that out of the way is kind of a great thing. I was at 10k before 9pm. Broke 11 on the way to bed. I am usually pleased if I get to 2k by noon! 

I should do that more often but I am not a morning person. So not a morning person. 

Everyone has been really freaking out about the air quality, thanks to the Canadian wildfires. Our AQI (Air Quality Index) is 238 today which is super shitty. Like, far over and above the usual "eh, this is bad" levels. 

This morning, Doug and I both sat out on the patio (gasp!) and felt like yeah, it's hazy but it isn't ... that bad? He went inside and I did some work but after about an hour I was feeling it in my eyes. Okay, bad air, you win. You win. 

We are supposed to get some big storms tomorrow, which maybe will help out but nothing will help until Canada stops being on fire. Poor Canada. I feel for you. I love you very much. I wish you weren't on fire. 

Also, Colorado. 

People in the East have little or no concept about these things until they happen. I was woefully disappointed in ALL of the news coverage because all it did was bitch about our air here. There was no reporting on how people in Canada are doing. I went and found stories about entire neighborhoods burning down, and a horse farm losing their horses and everything because there was no way on earth they could evacuate all the horses. Terrible. 

I think my entry yesterday is also wrapped up in my feelings about how we see situations. Are we self-centered/only regionally focused or can we branch out our awareness and think "yeah this sucks but ... wow over there look at that shit." 

Flip the empathy switch to on. 

Geoff did take Toffee for a walk, which she needed because she is crazy full of energy. I told him not to take her long, or far, for her sake and for his. I showed him the map. He got the message. 

It could be worse. I could be in Pittsburgh. 

I'm happy to stay inside. I did go out and water the garden last night while talking to Linda. That seems to be my outdoor activity lately. And I'm alright with that. I want to go out later and harvest some stuff from the garden, so I'll be doing that and we'll have all our wee tomatoes and maybe some squash ready! 

Jess is coming this weekend and I can't wait. I love when Jess visits, and I hope that we have a lot of fun with dogs and each other! Hopefully the air will clear up. 

Lin and I chatted and I walked on the treadmill while we did that so I got extra time. Since it is so gross out, it was nice to have some more walkies and chat. 

Here are the magnets! And the Thursday and Friday digits are below!

Thursday digits
exercise: 12/12 hours Treadmill, early morning! 30 min/2.09 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

6am: 118
3:15pm: 133
10:30pm: 131

food & meds:

6am: jardiance, new meds
11am: chicken salad (about 1.5 cups) no bread
1pm: met+glip; big handful of candied mixed nuts 
3:15pm: last piece of banana bread
5:15pm: slice of sourdough toast
6:30pm: nachos; red wine+diet ginger ale; met+glip
7pm: met+glip

Friday digits
exercise: 12/12 hours Treadmill run, 20 min/1.44 mi (tired, hot); walking treadmill w/linda on phone, 30 min/1.3 mi; 11k steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

8:30am: 121
4:30pm: 99
11pm: 110

food & meds:

8:30am: jardiance, new meds
2pm: chicken thigh w/ guac. met+glip
4:45pm: 2 small sourdough slices w/butter, toasted
6:30pm: Creamy cheesy pasta w/ broccoli, shrooms, chicken; vinho verde on ice
7:30pm: met+glip

There but for the grace of God

I wrote this based on a discussion with someone about how pissed they are about the Canadian wildfire smoke blanketing the Eastern Seaboard. It isn't as bad in the DC area as what I've seen in New England. 

And it also made me think, crap. It certainly is an inconvenience but all my life could be burned down in Canada. And that would extra suck. I pointed this out to the other person and he was none too kind back at me. I think he lacks an empathy gene anywhere in his body. 

I haven't written a thing like this in a long time. 

How many times have you (or I) been stuck in traffic. Nothing is moving, or it is at a very basic crawl. Progress by inches is hard fought. You're not really late for a thing, you don't have a tub of ice cream in the groceries in the way back but you just want to get the hell home. It isn't the usual time for traffic to be this gianormously sucky. But it is. 

You curse under your breath or maybe with your full voice. You don't let that guy in the BMW in after he flew down the breakdown lane. "That guy," you say, "Fuck that guy." 

Eye contact, that's what you want. You want him to see your massive bitch face as you cling to the bumper of the Dodge van in front of you, only his windows are fiercely tinted. Maybe you can't see him but you make sure he can see you, buddy. 

Eventually, you approach the area where the hold up is. There are emergency vehicles everywhere, Fire trucks, Ambulances, Cops. A helicopter is landing. 

Jesus, a helicopter? Oh no. 

One lane of traffic is getting by on the very far right side of the highway. A couple cops are trying to get the four lanes to three, down to two, and down to that one. The cop glares at the BMW guy in the breakdown lane, he's got his number and if he could he would write that up. You, and that cop, you get it. 

As the helicopter comes down, no one gets to go forward. They wait for the whirlybird to be on the terra firma, and then sweeping arms they send cars up the highway. Everyone spreads to the far left so they can slam on the accelerator and get the fuck out of there. 

You stay in the second lane from the right, you're feeling big things. 

Jesus, a helicopter? What the hell must be going on for those poor people. 

You saw three cars, one upside down in the median, in the wildflowers that are chaos gardened into the space each year and there are signs telling the mowers not to mow this down. It is for the pollinators, and for beautification. 

Three cars means at least three drivers, three humans, maybe kids, maybe friends, maybe a dog. The carnage of the speed machines is everywhere:  the chrome bent all to hell; broken glass and plastic; and all sorts of liquids from inside the vehicles. 

The next exit is yours, which is why this location was infuriating to you. But now you know that could be your neighbor. Do you recognize that blue Honda Fit in the wreck? Is that the guy that lives two blocks over? He's got kids. You've seen them. 

Suddenly your anger about the traffic jam and the time "wasted" has turned to sober realization, and deep empathy. You were so mad, so enraged. But there are people who are probably dead or dying, or in a world of hurt and facing a monstrously horrible recovery. Maybe they'll never be the same again after today. 

Home. Grab the backpack off the back seat and the 6 pack of beer you stopped to get at that store where the prices are just right, even if he is a little out of the way. By now the beer is warm but you pop a top off as you drop your keys into the basket on the kitchen counter. The dog welcomes you enthusiastically, the way she always does. 

Now is when you cry. 

The dog is what gets you. 

Maybe someone's dog is going to be waiting for their best friend. And their best friend isn't going to be coming home. 

You open the back door and let her out, you stand there with your warm beer and watch her take that big dump that she takes because she's waited all day for this. Then she runs and plays, brings you the backyard toy to throw. Halfheartedly, you do. 

And you cry more.

It crosses your mind that you were so angry, so pissed off, and yet what for. Why? Would it be different if the traffic was caused by one of those super old trees that you think could fall down any day now? Or if it was a road crew getting ready for night work so they've shut down three of the four lanes with cones and flashing lights? They'll be out there all night while you're home watching BritBox comedies and eating that left over Thai food from last weekend. 

This is different, because lives are possibly lost, but. No. It is the same. It's not a good reason to be furious. It's just traffic sometimes and you have no control over that so getting worked up and aggressive is useless, futile. An absolute waste of your energy. 

You know your brain, it isn't as easy as just saying "Oh look at this horrible situation and think it could be worse! It could be raining!" But you know your minor frustration is actually someone's worst day ever. And you need to learn to activate that empathy gene once in a while, in advance. Not when you roll up on a car wreck. 

The dog is tired and now she wants to eat so you head on in. You call your girlfriend. 

You call your mom.

Sun Tea

When you were a kid, did you make sun tea? Get a glass pitcher and dump a mess of tea bags in it, cover up the pitcher and stick it out in the sun? Then drink your bounty? 

We have a couple gallon glass jugs from a local creamery, and one of them is always a perpetual zero sugar drink dust lemonade or peach lemonade or whatever mix. The other sits in the dining room, waiting to be swapped into duty while its brother goes through the dishwasher. 

Doug had suggested we make some sun tea during the giant heat wave around July 4th weekend and I never got around to it. Today, my internet connection was constantly failing and kicking me offline. I had the worst "I want to punch technology in the face" kind of rage, so I walked away and got 8 tea bags out and cut a bunch of peppermint out of our pot, and went for it. 

I set the glass container out in the sunniest, hottiest part of the patio, and completely forgot about it. Around 9pm, Doug asked how it came out. 

Well. 

I went out and got it, and it was delightful. Absolutely wonderful. Strong, minty, refreshing. Aaaaah. 

If tomorrow my internet is shitty, first, I'm calling the provider. Then, I'm going to a local bookstore/coffeeshop to try and work. I have no morning meetings, so my plan is up early, see how things go, have a hissy fit, and then go somewhere else and see if it is any better. 

Doug and Geoff both are telling me they don't have problems. 

And right now, after 10pm, everything is working well. I've not been kicked off even once. The hell? 

I do not think it is too many of us on one service, we've been here since September, and have not had any issues until today. But honestly, I can't work like this. It sucks. 

Rage. 

Geoff is working tomorrow, he has to be at some store at 6am and opted not to go in the van with the crew, but drive himself. Doug pointed out that you get paid for travel time to and from when you are with the team but not when you drive yourself. So I am wondering why he wants to drive? Maybe he isn't getting along with someone on the team? It's only been a week or so since he started this job, so I hope he's okay. He doesn't like to talk about conflict. Fold a little napkin for him to sit at a table in your heart and keep him in your thoughts. He has about 6 weeks until school starts. I just want it to go well, ya know?

Digits below my glorious before and after Sun Tea photos. 

exercise: 12/12 hours Treadmill, 30 min/2.07 mi. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

8:30am: 127
4:15pm: 173
10:30pm: 141

food & meds:

8:30am: jardiance, new meds
1pm: 6 little round cracker pb sandwiches; met+glip
2pm: slab of banana bread
6:30pm: some sort of chicken with bleu cheese and caramelized onions quesadilla thing by geoff
7:30pm: met+glip; small bowl of mixed nuts; red wine (2 glasses w/ice) 

Yes I am alive!

Took a bloggy break for a couple days. Sunday was a blur. I ran 5k on the treadmill on Sunday so that's good. Doug watered the garden, and that was lovely to see happen. 

Yesterday I went to the office, I got a crappy night's sleep on Sunday so it was a chore getting up and out the door. I was up at 5, showered, dressed and ready. I needed to get back in the bathroom, but Geoff was getting ready for work. So. I laid down on the bed in the guest room with the dog, and fell fully asleep. Doug came down at 8am and said "did you change your mind about going to the office?"

Uh, nope. 

Made it out the door in 20 minutes, proud of myself. But also disappointed in myself because I knew it was going to take forever to get to the office. And it did. 

I arrived at 10:30, so a full solid 2 hours of transport is a regular expectation. What's cool is the Waze didn't send me the usual path, it sent me down a 2 lane road off I-70, straight down south to the metro. I loved it. On the way home, I was sorely tempted to stop at the Brookville Beer Farm and get some take-away beer but I really wanted to get home. Waze tried to take me back the "usual" way, up 270, but it would be the same amount of time to go the long way, the 2 lane road way. I kind of think I'm doing this from now on. Screw the highway. 

I've been trying to have time to chat with my friend S about our Maine trip, and she lives so close to the metro where I parked my car. I should have gone over to visit but I knew I'd be there forever. I think I want to use her place as a crash pad next Monday because there's another good reason to go into the office next Tuesday, and it's nice to have the relaxation of not driving 2 hours, trying to work, and driving back.

When I got home last night, I was straight up exhausted. It was after 7:30, dinner was cold but easily reheated. I ate, I crashed. Done. It felt so good to sleep. S texted me at 9:45 and I heard it ping but saved it for today to reply to. 

I don't want her to think I hate her, I just need to like, schedule chat time and not be distracted by dishes or treadmill, or vegging out in front of the TV, or falling asleep. She's a night owl, I could call her at 10, 11, and she'd be awake and ready to chat but wow. I'm not that person anymore. If I'm up past 11, it's a surprise. 

Anyway. 

Today was a great day. Doug had to go to the office, and he didn't get home until after 6. We talked about how very glad we are that we don't have to do this often.

I baked a banana bread, which brought him great joy. "I saw those bananas on the counter," he said, "I hoped this would happen."

And it was an exceptionally good banana bread!

We had a meeting with a client, a successful site launch. I made a joke last week in our check in that we should all wear funny hats, and I showed up without a funny hat. So I had to grab my Guster rainbow hat quickly to jump in. 

Sometimes I have a client who is just a joy to work with, and these folks were indeed joyful. Made for the best time ever. I want to share the screenshot of our zoom call, but. everyone's name is on their screens so, not gonna do that. 

I was working a little bit around 8 and M called, (Jess' bestie) we hadn't chatted in forever, not since a small check-in after her wedding. We ended up talking for two hours. I like when that happens. Anyway. 

Hey it actually IS 11, and I'm still up? Going to bed. 

Skimping on the Sunday and Monday Digits. but filling in what I remember. I do remember lunch at the office on Monday was so good. I miss going into the office. 

Sometimes.  

digits

exercise: Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday 12/12 hours each day.
Treadmill on Sunday for 3.2 mi/42 minutes; no treadmill Monday but a measured walk 9 min/.5 mi in DC. Tuesday, Treadmill 25 min, 1.75 mi. 
12k+ Sunday
10k+ Monday
11k+ Tuesday

blood glucose: 

Monday 5am: 84
Monday 4pm: 151
Monday night, 10pm: 118

7:45am: 97
5pm: 171
11pm: 119

food & meds:

7:45am: jardiance, new meds
10am: last donut
2pm: slab of banana bread
2:30pm: chicken salad; met+glip
6pm: bowl of fetuccini (not a lot) with meat sauce (a lot); red wine (not a lot, and with ice cubes)
7pm: met+glip

More Fun Tomorrow

I went to bed on the rather late side of things last night (after midnight, which is super late for me...). I could not fall asleep for the life of me. Struggled! I think it was about 3:30 and my still wide awake ass schlepped down to the bathroom and stayed down in the guest room. Decided on a podcast to listen to, and after another hour, fell asleep. I woke up to part 2 of the tale of the Amityville Horror, which I knew most of the story, having grown up not too far away, but it is still always fascinating to listen to. 

After I did manage to fall asleep, I slept in a bit, not too horribly, but still when you're aiming for 10k steps a day and you pretty much miss the first two hours of the day which can be close to 1000 steps, that'll hobble ya. Toffee had found me, and we were deep in snuggle. No hurry to get up. No hurry at all.

There were helpdesk things to do. I was waiting for an email from a third party provider for some content and they obviously honor the weekend and do not work on Saturdays. Bless them. My colleague assigned a bunch of tickets to me, so them being fresh and new and looking at me - I gave replies and took care of some "here's how you need to do it going forward" kinds of things. The day was a blur.

I forced myself to get on the treadmill when Doug went up to nap. I was so sorely tempted. but figured a nap would whack tonight's attempts at sleep right in the kneecaps. Treadmill, I see you. But I'm not making a big effort. I jogwalked, no real running there. Didn't even break 2 miles in a half hour. That's okay though - I did it. I made up for shortcomings by taking Toffee around the block. That's always a good 1500+ steps. And she loves it.

Geoff made French bread pizza for dinner, and while delicious, too much in the carbs universe. But. Delicious. I should have balanced that out with a protein shake or something but I felt super full, semi-bloated, and not interested in putting more stuff in my body. 

A thing I regret not going out today for any fun. I had plans in my head. There is there is a guy here in town who I met through the 100 mile challenge. He plays acoustic guitar and sings, and he had a gig right over at the brewery by my house. 6 to 8pm. And I didn't get my ass out the door. I was on the treadmill at 7. I was eating food at 7. I was feeling like a blob at 8. 

Next time Logan. Next time. 

After Toffee and I got back, I was still about 1000 steps short of the 10k. I told myself, eh. Close enough? But no, it is 9pm. You can do this. Do it. So Toffee and I came upstairs. She gets the zoomies at night, which is fun, and we had a ton of fun. I ran back and forth and threw the carcasses of a couple of her former stuffies, and she loves to grab them and throw them around. Easy 1000 steps. 

No picture today, but tomorrow. Tomorrow! We have more fun tomorrow!!!! 

Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours.  took it very easy today. very tired. Took the treadmill, 30 min/1.86 mi. Took a short toffee walk before some weather, 12 min/.43 mi. 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

9:45am: 100
4pm: 140
10pm: 195

food & meds:

9:45am: jardiance, new meds
10am: oikos 000 yogurt w/ crushed up oats & honey granola bar
11:30am: small bowl of mac & cheese
1pm: met+glip
4:15: ramekin of mixed nuts
7pm: 2 pieces of french bread pizza w/ shrooms and red/orange peppers (meatless)
7:30pm: met+glip
No alcohol

A matter of taste

Geoff went to Target to get the dry goods and sundry things, and he brought back some sort of ring dings or ding dong kind of things. 

I got home from a doctor's appointment (blood draw, and knee X-ray) and they were in the cabinet so I figured ,,, eh. My blood sugar read "normal"ish for me, I'm hungry, those are there. 

It is kind of funny, but they don't taste right. And I know I sound like some sort of Andy Rooney old fart type of person (and if you are reading this and do not know who Andy Rooney is, bless you, you sweet sweet summer child) but really. 

They just taste like, meh. The chocolate is waxy, the cakey part isn't soft and moist, and the creamy filling leaves a lot to be desired. When I was a youth, I could eat a box of these tasty chocolate hockey pucks in a sitting. They came wrapped in a tin foil, which I'd take, and flatten out, and stack more tin foil wrappings on each other after chowing down and chowing down, and chowing down some more. Then I'd make a big ball of the tin foil, and squish it. I'd sometimes bite down on it (yeah, I was a fuckin' weirdo kid, I know) and it would hurt my teeth. Nice. 

Anyway. I honestly don't ever need to have another one of these. If I can have sugar/carbs from a lovely piece of artisanal bread, or a fresh peach, yeah. That's the way to go.

Jess called me tonight just before 10, so I took them for a walk, while they also walked their dog. Two hours later.... time for bed. 

But hey, the blood sugar is nice and low tonight, even with that snacky cake. Digits below! 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill 30min/2.04 mi; walk and talk w/Jess, 30 min/ 1.38 mi; 13k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

9:45am: 140
5pm: 115
11:30pm: 85

food & meds:

9:45am: jardiance, new meds
12:30: bowl of chicken salad made with the left over peruvian chicken Geoff made, cream cheese, mayo
1:45pm: met+glip
5:15: hostess snacky cake
7pm: marinaded steak w/ guac and shredded cheese; white wine
8:30pm: met+glip 

A Little High

I woke pretty early for my doctor's appointment and had a good chat about all the things. The one thing I'm concerned about is the higher than regular or recent blood sugars. I've worked so hard y'all. Tiny cheats here and there, yeah. Cookie baking. Mac & Cheese but always extra protein. Always. And my blood sugar has been ... decent. 

My doctor said the new meds should also be lowering my blood sugar, if anything. But this week has been a little anxiety ridden. 

I told her that next week I'm going to send her the digits from the bottom of these pages, the digits I've diligently kept. And see what she has to say. 

Tomorrow she wants me to go get my bloodwork done, check the A1c (and I have to get my PT/INR anyway). So I'll dip out of work at 3, run the 30 miles over to the facility to get things done. 

I also talked to her about my knee pain. My right knee has been hurting like heck, even with stretching, and even with not running at all for over a week, just walking. In the past I've gotten cortisone shots, and the last one was 2022. I'm eligible for another one.  I need an X-ray first and then an ortho consult.

Me: I signed up for a 5k, literally one month from tomorrow.
Her: Well! We want you to do that! So let's help you feel better and you can train and win! 

Lady, I'm so not going to "win" anything, I just want to complete and finish. And I hope they have some adorable commemorative swag for us. Because honestly, that's all I want. Swag. 

We had a giant thunderstorm this afternoon. I was on a conference call with my work son, and I thought at one point I may have to shut my computer down because we'd lose power and internet. It was intense. The dog and the Doug were going bonkers. He had her all fired up about it, and they went on the porch and she NOPE Nope nope noped right back into the house. I was trying to talk and be present, but there was too much fun happening! 

We didn't lose power and the storm was over by the time I was done. The client we're working with is wonderful and hilarious, and it was just the kind of thing that warmed my heart to the bottom of my feet. 

That's about it. Oh - my friend here in town sent me this hilarious picture of two ads on a news site, and she said "I think I'm losing my mind - I wondered, why is that woman's body so small?" 

She thought I'd like it, and I do. 

Hope you like it too. 

Digits below! 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill, 30 min/2 mi. 11k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: 

7:45am: 130
5pm: 136
10:30pm: 180 

food & meds:

7:45am: jardiance, new meds
10:30am: last slice of sourdough bread, toasted
11:45am: small bowl of mac & cheese and leftover cheesesteak fixings (onions, peppers, mushrooms) 
12:45pm: met+glip
2:45pm: 6 m&ms (last in the bag, cleaning the pantry)
5pm: handful of mixed nuts
6:15pm: bowl of tortellini w/marinara sauce, meatless
7:15pm: met+glip 
white wine

It Depends

One of my co-workers and his wife welcomed a new baby yesterday. The past couple of weeks have been incredibly challenging because he works on a quarterly thing that dovetails to my project, and his thing is not a fun thing, but it is a legal thing. And wooof. Whoa. And the deadline for our clients to submit records for this quarterly thing was yesterday. Perfect timing, little baby. 

His boss (a new boss to him due to a department reorganization,  but a coworker we've all had for over a year) is doing his job now and we've been ramping up to this. But that doesn't mean we're ready for him to be completely unreachable. A lot of things that the original guy, the m has complained about for years are being exposed, and now his new boss is in a position to hopefully fix the fuck out of processes and situations that have just been allowed to happen for years and years. 

Watching him in meetings, he's a great guy and a lot of fun, but his tolerance for people's bullshit answers is incredibly low. The "Well, it depends on what the xyz thing is," answers make his head explode.

"Okay, it depends. It depends on what? Tell me the dependencies. Are there 3? 6? 12? Why are there dependencies? What can we do to cut down on these dependencies that end up impacting almost a whole population of things? And when can we do it by?"

It is a thing of beauty to behold, and I love watching him just go at it. 

We're all on the same team here, there are three departments involved, but we're all on one team. 

I had my 1:1 with my manager today and he's going on vacation Friday afternoon for two whole weeks. I feel like we have pretty much turned the corner on the chaos, but I dread not having him available.  

We discussed how I've always wanted to know how this project thing worked, and I've run into obfuscations from the other teams, usually director level, "why do you need to know that?" is a popular response to me asking something. 

Um. Because I need to put into words to the client why this isn't going to happen, or, why they have to do something some way. So I need to understand it. 

I let my manager know that 2 people in particular have been really huge road blocks to me, and he laughed and said "Oh, I know. I have heard that before!"  

Part of me thinks this is great that my co-worker and Mrs. Co-worker are off having their baby and parental leave time, because I know everything that he has had to struggle with every quarter will hopefully now be thrust into the spotlight, by his boss, and we'll get some sort of massive restructuring of the process for him.

"Maybe when he comes back, his job will be so massively different and better, and wonderful..." I said to my manager, and he said he hopes so too. 

It's so hard to try to get things done sometimes, when people don't want to work with you to fix a thing that is so obviously messy. 

Sigh. 

I had a meeting with a client today. He and another client share a first name, and in my little brain, I thought I was meeting with Guy #1 when really it was Guy #2. 

When I sent the meeting invite out, I had the wrong company name on it, but Guy #2 didn't call me out on it. "I saw that," he said, "I know that other guy. He's great. Sorry you're meeting with me and not him!" 

It was a good chat. Good meeting. Very fun. 

One of the things I really love about my job is the meetings with these clients. I love teaching them how to use things. I love seeing them click and get it. I love helping them realize they've been doing something wrong for so long that now... it's a miracle, this is how to do it and it is changing my life. 

I finished up, made some roasted potatoes to go with Geoff's dinner (some sort of marinade for chicken that he found in a cookbook, like he does), and we had a nice dinner. I needed 1500 steps to get to 10k, so I figured at 8ish I would take Toffee for a walk around the block. 

We had a short walk because there were cats out there. And she cannot resist trying to catch cats. 

So I brought her disappointed disobedient ass home. Finished up my steps in the house. 

I wanted to share this picture yesterday and forgot. We have some lettuce! I've never tried to grow lettuce. 

 I do have to say I'm happy to see that they are coming up, but, if I had to feed my family over the winter nothing we're growing would be helpful, so we just plan on enjoying what we have while we have it. 

Not sure why no one is in the middle though. Weird. 

Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. 25 min treadmill, 1.6 mi. cut it short for dinner; 10k+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose: *see note below

9:30am: 145
4:15pm: 159
10:30pm: 144 

food & meds:

9:30am: jardiance, new meds
12:30pm: english muffin w/pb & low sugar j
2pm: met+glip
7pm: grilled chicken breast w/some little tiny roasted potatoes and a salad
8pm: met+glip

*side effects of new medication: "May impact blood sugar." I am going to be talking to the doctor about this because nothing I'm doing/eating would cause the readings to be as high as they are today/yesterday. hmmmmmmm

An early start

This morning, Doug had a very early conference call at 7, and had to be on camera. As a result, I had to be out of bed. 

It is cute when a pet is sleeping behind you, not so much when your spouse is splayed out in their panties and a Guster T-shirt they've owned since 2005. 

I woke up at 5:30 organically, went down to pee and turned on the coffee pot. Doug got up at 6:30 and I informed him the coffee was on and ready for him. He was thankful. Toffee and I cuddled for another 20 minutes until I finally roused myself out of bed, put on proper bottoms, and headed downstairs. 

Not wanting to actually start working, for the love of God, no... I loaded the dishwasher. As many know, normally, I hate dishes in the sink overnight but last night wasn't an option. Then, I opted to check out the world outside. Too humid to sit out and drink coffee but finally a decent temperature. 

For the past several days, I've set the Monstera out there to soak up the heat and humidity, and I think it loves it. A few nights I've left her out there, it's been hot enough so I haven't been worried. 

I noticed the leaves are making some moisture of their own lately. Pretty little drops that I couldn't resist taking pictures of. 

The morning was misty, not rainy, not drizzling, just kind of damp in the air. I knew I needed to stake the tomatoes up, so I figured eh... right now's as good a time as any so I got my sticks and twine and some scissors out. 

I took care of the tomatoes, which were somewhat beaten down a bit from the wind over the weekend. Everyone looks fine and growing nicely. We surveyed the other plants, everything is doing nicely. 

Farmer Chris, proud.

Toffee and I went inside as the misty turned more dripply. 

I caught a shower, and was ready for working at my usual time. Perfection! 

Kind of interesting to get up early and get a few things done for a change instead of slugging around exhausted and sleepy. 

It was a busy day, and I had was thinking of going to this fun event in downtown with a July 4th time capsule opening but then didn't feel like going out now that it was for real raining. My friend in town said they set up a new one to open in 50 years. She put things in specifically for her son, and hopes he'll be there to get them.

How sweet! 

I ended my very busy workday with some trash talking with my work son, he had some need to trash talk and I'm always here for it. Geoff started making dinner and I hit the treadmill. Thought about going all the way to 5k but got about 2/3-ish of the way there and said "meh." 

But I got to watch my "workout partner" as she watched the world. We put her dog bed there, and she likes to look at things. A couple days ago an orange cat came and sat down and stared at her! She lost her shit. I would too. 

Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours. Treadmill, 30 min/2 mi. 10k+steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7am: 112
4:15pm: 127
10pm: 190 

food & meds:

7am: jardiance, new meds
10am: bowl of greek yogurt w/a sliced up peach and some blueberries, a lil'sprinkle of splenda; met+glip
2pm: english muffin w/pb
6pm: some rigatoni dish by Geoff (pancetta, onions, mushrooms?) ; 2 cookies from Aldi
7:30pm: met+glip
diet ginger ale
no alcohol