Happy New Year Everyone!

No Entry for yesterday so this one wraps up December 30 and 31. Happy New Year, everyone!

Doug and I went up to see M&M at their new place Friday night. They moved to the area in November, and live about 30 miles north of us. We'd been intending to get up there for a visit for a hot minute. Doug's work drama and my beginning of December nuttiness, followed by Doug and Geoff going on vacation and the fact that should I want to go visit, I'd have to bring Phineas and he'd be a total dick to their dog and that's not nice or fair. I so wish he was good with other dogs. 

They picked a really nice place. It is a 3 level townhouse, tons of space. So much so that they don't have enough furniture for it. They each have an office, there is a master bedroom and bath on the third floor and a guest room. We could/should plan on staying there next time we go up. Especially if we plan on brewery visiting up in their county. It is an area we have not explored. Duly noted.

It only took us 40 minutes to get home (at like 12:45am) but over an hour and 15 to get there. I was afraid that Friday night of a holiday weekend would be a shit show, but it wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be. We got a later than intended start, and arrived a half hour later than expected. It worked out ok because dinner was simmering, bread was in the oven, and the beer was cold. We were ready to visit.

We had a lovely time. Mike is a huge Iron Maiden fan, so doug found some Hellcat Beer from Iron Maiden and BrewDog. Even though Mike dislikes IPAs (he feels there are too many of them on the market, it is too easy to make, you can cover up brewing mistakes with flavors, etc, he was exceptionally appreciative. The can will go in his collection of Iron Maiden things, once he drinks it. Mike made an amazing dinner, and baked fresh sourdough bread for us to take home. 

He has reverse engineered some of Iron Maiden's beers and brews them on the reg. He had a fresh keg of it ready to go for us. I should have taken photos. Great job. I felt like it was very low alcohol, not sure if that's the intention, but I drank a few of them and didn't feel any effects of what Geoff used to call "drunkening fluids." Better for me in the long run I guess.  We sat around the firepit in the yard, spent time talking about all the things, and moved inside to continue chatting. Mike told us that we should really come with them to see Iron Maiden. 

Think about high school english, SATs: 

Guster : Christine :: Iron Maiden : Mike

He has traveled to see them all over, and was going to see them in Germany this upcoming year but with taking a new job, and moving, and his daughter getting married, just couldn't swing it. Bummer. He is in the fan club and can get good presale tickets, so yeah. Awesome. When they tour the US in 2024, let's do it. Let's go. Truth be told, I know only a couple of their songs really well, but the genre, the huge metal sound, the lead singer being a freaking legend, and a drummer named McBrain... come on. 

There are tons of bands that I have never gone to see because of ticket prices. So this is a band that I would have loved to have seen somewhere along the line except I was dirt poor, and cheap. I'll never see Springsteen, those tickets are untouchable. And to be honest, I don't need to see 80 year old rock stars when I can go see some of my favorite 50 year olds do their thing. But for Iron Maiden, I'll swallow whatever this costs, and go with Mike. Because it'll be an experience.

I think of when I've taken friends to see Guster for the first time and how they've come out with a life changing experience, and become big huge fans, I know seeing a band with one of their biggest fans on earth is the way to go. This is not buy a ticket, go sit in the bleachers, and watch the experience from afar kinds of shows. This is immersion, learn the discography, go in there prepared kind of concert going. 

I took my friend Sara to see Punch Brothers, and she didn't know any of their songs, she didn't know Chris Thile or Nickel Creek. But she did the immersion lessons. She dove in, went down the rabbit hole, through the warren to all the little rooms, she got into it. She ended up knowing more about their live show than I ever would - she knew when to yell back at the band with the call backs. She rocked as a new fan. I was super impressed. 

That will be me, rekindling my knowledge of the band beyond the "Run to the Hills," "Trooper," "2 Seconds to Midnight" (how appropo for New Year's Eve, eh?) or "Number of the Beast." 

Doug and I got home at 1:30ish in the morning. I couldn't turn my brain off, I was wildly wide awake and played Candy Crush until almost 3. Slept until 10:30 this morning. Woke up knowing there was a loaf of gorgeous Sourdough bread waiting for me, and did a dig in on it. 

Dang yo. That was some good bread. One slice, only one. Didn't want to go bananas (well, yeah I did). Such a treat. A blessing. 

Today the weather was crummy, I'd hoped to go out and toodleaboot somewhere but folded laundry and did kitchen stuff. I got some chicken wings ready for the grill and peeled a big huge bag of shrimp. Doug went to the market to get food for New Year's tomorrow. 

You gotta have a pork roast on New Year's Day, it's the big western Pennsylvania folklore/superstition thing. I'll try to save you the trouble: don't eat chicken on new year's. That's bad luck. Chickens scratch backward. Pigs push forward with their snouts and they do not have the ability to look over their shoulders. So they can't look at the past. No lookin' back. Pigs provide the preferred new year's meat to eat. 

We usually have a pork roast but they seemed to be out of that, Doug came home with what looks to be pork ribs, so maybe we'll grill them? And the other item that is mandatory is sauerkraut. I am so not a big fan, but he is. And. Tradition. 

We have leftover Christmas dinner mashed potatoes to put out tomorrow, and putting the sauerkraut on top of that is tolerable. He also got bags of 15 beans to make into soup with the ham hock, so no split peas but this should be good. And we have pot roast, as long as someone remembers to put it in the slow cooker before 10am one day this week. 

Trying to stay up until midnight tonight, but convinced I'm not going to. Doug took a nap and I did dinner and everything, and as of this writing (9pm) I'll be happy to make it another hour. 

I have a mountain of laundry on the bed,  I could go fold it, but then, my bed will be ready for me to fall into? And I could just .... ya know. Go to sleep?

Pictured below is Boo Bird, Mike and Michelle's lil'dude. They've had him for about five years. He's delightful and sweet. We got to spend some fun time together. My camera didn't focus on where I wanted it to, shooting with my right hand and my thumb without being able to select the focal point, these are not the best, but, he's still pretty.

Digits for Friday and Saturday below.

digits Friday

exercise: none steady but got 10 of 11 hours of movement steps in (min. 250 steps per hour)

blood glucose:
9:30am: 217
4:30pm: 191
1:45am (Saturday after getting home) 241

food:
coffee, water
11:30: 1/2 the last piece of quiche which didn't sit well with me.
12:30pm: metformin
12:45: small piece of chocolate cherry bar from Leah's in new orleans  (before my family eats every last bit of it, I wanted one taste)
1:15pm: large bowl of chicken salad
7pm: Gumbo, small scoop of rice, 2 or 3 pieces cornbread, 4 glasses of Mike's homebrew beer; metformin+jardiance
1:45am: protein shake

digits Saturday

exercise: dedicated 10+15. Should have pushed to the full half hour but I had things to do!

blood glucose:
11am: 212
5pm: 160
10pm: 176

food:
coffee, water
11:30am: protein shake
1pm: slice of homemade sourdough bread that mike made last night while we were having dinner (a friend of many talents); metformin
2pm: about a cup and a half of chicken salad leftover from yesterday
7pm: buffalo wings on the grill with celery & bleu cheese; grilled shrimp; Rhubarb gin+diet gingerale
8pm: metformin+jardiance
8:30pm: reese's peanut butter cup; crackers & cheese

What a dick

At about 4pm today, I put on pants.
I put the cookie boxes in a couple of bags.
I told my team I'd be back as soon as I could.
I left the house. 

I went to the post office. 

So proud of myself. You have no idea. I picked up 7 new boxes for the ones I have not yet packaged up due to running out of small boxes. So I'm ready to package up the rest, probably tomorrow. We should be let go early tomorrow, so I will be able to finish the job. 

Part of my anxiety is the post office, sometimes it is so crowded, so busy. People are stressed and unfriendly. 

Today it was none of that. The clerks were so sweet. I had 8 boxes, we talked about how last year I sent out a bunch of boxes and some were stolen. The guy suggested I get signature required, but I said "they're cookies. I'm not sending an Oculus. It'll be okay." I told him I thought I should bake them cookies. 

I asked how long it would take for the cookies to make it places, 3 business days? He said yes, so Wednesday most likely. The girl behind me in line said "that's more than 3 business days." He said "well, Monday is a holiday so there's no mail delivery." She made a face and said "what holiday is Monday?"

It's New Year's Day observed. Since that falls on a Sunday, the actual holiday is observed on Monday. So was Christmas. 

She then said "that's crap. Everyone's always looking for a reason not to work in America today." 

I didn't feel like explaining that because Sunday is already a day off for like, a lot of people, it's customary to observe a big Sunday holiday on the Monday, and, if it falls on Saturday you do the observance on the Friday. 

I turned back to the clerk and he was smirking. I smirked back. Look at you, American Worker, just tryna not work. Get your fair day off for a blessed holiday. You lazy bastard. On your feet here all day, weighing a bunch of boxes of cookies and putting stickers on the box and taking good care not to throw them and stuff. 

I went back to the car and since the town has metered parking,  and I'd put 34 minutes of quarters into the thing, I played Pokemon for a little while. This dude in a Tesla comes flying up behind me, whips around me hard and fast, and parks in front of me - next to a fire hydrant. 

Now, I know if you are "Just running in" you in theory could pull up another car length to be next to the meter that you don't want to pay for. You are just ... gonna be a minute. Right? 

He was in the post office for ... 20. My meter expired while I was pokemon playing, and he finally came out of the post office. 

Blocking a fire hydrant. 

It made me think of my sister, her bestie Ginger, and my aunt Esther when they were driving up to Plymouth, MA and they were commenting on some other drivers. "Look at that dick." "What a dick..." 

and my aunt mutters "What a dick" when some guy pulled a classic Masshole maneuver. 

I sat there and smiled and said "Look at that dick, what a dick!" and laughed to myself. 

Being so proud of myself for leaving the house today, it was fun to sit there and chuckle for a bit. 

Digits below. Pretty good day. Sugar a little high but I had Oreos and pretzels. Not a lot. But. It has an impact. 

digits

exercise: Dedicated 10+5.  Could have done more, but I wanted to get dinner in the oven so I cut it short

blood glucose:
10am: 191
5pm: 211
10pm: 187

food:
coffee, water
11:30: 3 forkfuls of mac & cheese with ground beef
noon: apple; 2 good yogurt
1:30pm: metformin
3pm: leftover green bean casserole
6pm: french onion soup with 2 croutons; salad (romaine, cherry tomatoes, goat cheese, caesar dressing); wine
6:30pm: metformin+jardiance
7pm: some sourdough pretzel nuggets
8pm: 3 oreos
9pm: baby bell cheddar wheel
10:15pm: protein shake

Halfway Done

Today, I did some of the things on my to-do list work related, and some not work related. I closed tickets. I set up content sharing partnerships between 5 stations, awesome. A great delay on sitting down to do that. A big relief to have that done. 

Geoff went to the market because we wanted to make Chicken Marsala, but there was no heavy cream (and then he went to the liquor store and didn't buy Marsala wine, so, we'll have to try that again). We had stuff though for Beef Stroganoff, and we made that together. Geoff loves to cook, so I can give him instructions, and then show him how to do things like the roux with the sour cream, Worcestershire sauce and beef stock to build the sauce. It was relatively early, so we got things set right up to the part where we'd make the sauce, and we set it all aside. Doug was napping, and I didn't want to disturb him and do my "dedicated 10" so I came up with the next plan. 

I went to the basement and got all of the boxes I've been storing up for the past year. Rebuilt them because I'd collapsed them down to save space, and I packed up some of the cookies, put a card in for each of the recipients, got a label made for each. I have 7 more bags to pack up, and some of the boxes are way too big. 

I may have to do a run to the post office in the morning, buy more boxes, and then finish packing up. I had hoped to have enough smol boxen. But .... hey. it's okay. At least I had a bunch!

The picture below is success, even if only part way done. So help me God these cookies are going OUT!

Digits below.

digits:

exercise:

blood glucose:
9:30am: 151
5:30pm: 168
10pm: 195

food:
coffee, water
11am: leftover ham on white 647 bread with Mayo
12 noon: Metformin; 6 mini-pretzels with hummus (to get the last of the hummus out of the fridge)
3pm: apple with peanut butter
6pm: beef stroganoff with mushrooms, onions, over egg noodles; wine
6:30pm: metformin+jardiance
8pm: Cheese & crackers; a couple scoops of whipped topping just to get the container 99.999% empty to give the dog. 
9pm: protein shake

It's a Monday on a Tuesday

I usually love the week between Christmas & New Year at work. Hardly any new tickets,  I can get some old tickets cleaned up. I can work on something I promised someone months ago. But right now I regret not taking this week off. I wouldn't have had it approved, I don't think. My boss is on vacation, well deserved. And it'll be quiet. I know it'll be quiet. I just have no motivation to do anything. I'm just bored as heck, and would rather be napping. When I get bored, I eat.

Today I told myself I'd get the boxes for the cookies addressed and ready. I also promised myself (and my best friend) I'd shower and do some self care. 

I have to start thinking about hotel and air for the Guster shows in Florida. I have to remember to get prescriptions filled before the 31st so they go on our account. I need to find out about health insurance for Geoff because his birthday is in two weeks and he turns 26. 

There are things I can be doing, I am just not feeling like... doing. I really would rather just tilt my head back and take a nap.

I did make a salad, which meant making bacon for the salad. A BLT salad ain't no salad without the B! 

I noticed we're on our last jar of mayo (gasp. Doug feels it is panic mode if we get below 3!) We're out of trash bags. 

I'm very happy the boy is home. He just volunteered to do a Target run tomorrow. He needs body wash and skin cream, and I can think of a couple other things he can nab. It's all good. I think I may even get him to go to the post office! Maybe. Oh that would be nice! 

Tonight we watched Glass Onion on Netflix. All star cast, decent story, totally figured it out. Loved some of the acting and Janelle Monáe is a gorgeous superstar. Watch it if you can! 

No picture. Maybe tomorrow. 

digits

exercise:

blood glucose:
9:15am: 181
4pm: 141
11:50pm: 182

food:
coffee, water
9:45am: 2 good yogurt
12:15pm: BLT salad
12:30pm: More BLT Salad (doug didn't want his, he had a bagel).
12:45: Metformin
4pm: mcintosh apple
6pm: wine; tuna casserole (tuna, chicken/mushroom soup, noodles, french onion thingies) 
6:30: metformin+jardiance
7pm: some leftover tuna casserole that didn't fit in the storage container
8pm: chocolate covered oreo
vodka tonic
10pm: protein shake

Observed

As Christmas was on a Sunday, most people "observe" the day off on the Monday. So I have a 3.5 day weekend. The point five being early release on Friday. I'm glad I checked that our trash pickup is "normal" and we should put the trash and recycling out, no day delay. Weird. 

It happens again next weekend, too. My favorite years are when the actual holiday falls on the Weekend. Love those "observed" days. 

Today I took the roast chicken I made the other day while the Boys were gone, simmering it to stock. I was also going to make French Onion Soup this week, but I'm not sure I have room for two soups in the refrigerator. 

It is very quiet, Doug went for a walk and I took a shower. I couldn't convince him we should take a ride somewhere, up to the bank to deposit checks and then to a brewery? I guess we'll do that another day. 

I am epically boring right now. No news. Boring. 

No picture because I'm that boring.

digits:

exercise: lots of movement but not a dedicated anything.

blood glucose:
11am: 212
4:30pm: 184
9:45pm: 178

food:
coffee, water
11:30am: some pepperoni
1:30pm: Metformin, leftover spinach salad from the other day (spinach, red onion, goat cheese, cucumber, tomatoes, pepitas)
3pm: 2 good yogurt
4pm: 2 cups of chicken broth, a few boiled shrimp
5:30pm: caesar salad with shrimp, parmesan cheese, caesar dressing, chicken soup from homemade stock, croutons; metformin+jardiance
wine
a couple scoops of cool whip
trail mix

A Blessed Christmas of Nothingness

Now that the kids are big, we don't go out whole hog for christmas. Or even part hog. It's much nicer. I mean, we did good stuff with the kids for Christmas, if you go back and read 20+ years of blog entries here. 

We got up at 11ish, Geoff had come upstairs while we were still sleeping, and made the coffee, so that was all ready for us. We only had cards to open, from my parents and Doug's mom.  This was all laid back and nice. We watched football.

Dinner was served at 2pm, which is so stupid early but Doug had Geoff start peeling potatoes a lot earlier than I wanted and he started to boil them, so, everything had to get kicked into gear. We had a spiral sliced ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole.  No Caesar salad - that'll be tomorrow I guess.

I did all the dinner work and when we were done I told the boys they get to clean up. Doug took care of the ham, slicing it all off the bone and putting it in ziploc bags for sandwiches or possible au gratin potatoes layered with ham. Geoff took care of the potatoes and green beans, not much left over from those. But a nice treat for tomorrow for someone. There's a lot of ham left for sure. And he's talking about making split pea and ham soup too.

I called my parents. My mom sounds horrible and my dad can't hear well on the phone so he says "yeah," a lot. They got chicken pot pie from their favorite restaurant, and ate that for Christmas dinner. Mom ate only a little of hers, but my dad was able to polish his off. Jess went down to visit yesterday, and had not been down for a while. We chatted with Jess around 9:30. A little late, but they were doing the dishes after making eggplant parm. It was fun to chat with them - one of the cats got up under their chin and boy I could hear that purr! 

Here's a question for you all: Jess told the waitress she'd take the check, not to give it to my grandparents. Jess very much wanted to treat them to lunch. My mother was livid - with the waitress. She told the waitress not to give Jess the check, to give it to her, but Jess was fast and got her bank card into the waitress' hand. 

Now. I feel like this is a lovely gesture. Jess is doing well enough that 40 bucks for lunch for Swirl and Baaahhhht was what they felt they wanted to give them for dinner. Doug thinks it is INSULTING to do that. Never do that to your grandparents. 

I feel differently. Grandma and grampa do a lot for the kids, and Jess just wanted the opportunity to pay it forward or back to them. Just a little. 

I've taken the tab, and paid it, dozens of times, and I've let her pay it dozens of times. It's not a big deal. Right? 

Doug and I are at complete opposite ends of this.  Life goes on, it's not a fight, it's just weird to me that it should matter that hard. 

Anyway. Two years ago I was in the hospital with the Covid, and the thing I remembered the most was while I was waiting for them to send me to the hospital from Urgent Care, I was so hungry. The nurse Mark went all over the facility to find me something to eat.  Will never forget his effort and kindness. 

And on that note, that's Christmas. That's it. Nice and Quiet for us. Hope wherever you are, whatever you're doing, there are comforts of home, someone did something for you that maybe went out of the way and over the top, or you did so for someone else. And I do hope that you are quiet, calm, and happy. 

Cheers.

digits

exercise:

blood glucose:
11am: 202
7pm: 180
11:45pm: 187

food:
coffee, water
12 noon: slice of quiche
12:30: metformin 
2pm: ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, 1 hawaiian roll. wine.
5:30pm: protein shake
7:30pm: slice of cheesecake w/ strawberries. Metformin+jardiance
9:30pm: protein shake (took my blood sugar and it was 250 so, took a protein shake to help lower things!)

Merry Christmas, Vonnie

I slept until 11:30 today. Well, I was up at 6:45, then 8, both to let the dog out. And each time I slipped back into bed. It was cold. Very cold. My bedroom was cold. It was nice to be back under the covers. 

I had a wild dream where my best friend at work was the game master for a pokemon game, with electronic devices and board elements. A very famous podcaster and I were a team, but my friend, the game master, gave us hints on how to power up our pokemon to the ultimate strength. We won, and went to the cafeteria to order Scotch Eggs. 

They were disgusting - the person cooking didn't know how to make them, so we got 4 dozen raw eggs, some fried eggs, and some sausage, all in take-away cardboard containers. We ate the fried eggs and sausage, and threw the eggs at some buildings. 

Dreams are weird. 

Today, since I woke up just before noon, I knew I would not get to the post office. So I didn't beat myself up about it. I went to see my old boss across town and have some time with her and her kids. Only the little kid wanted to spend time with me. I swear he is my height right now. We had a great visit, and I gave them their cookies, so ... HA! some of my cookies DID get delivered. I told her I needed to go to the market, and she said she had to as well. 

We drove over, and did our shopping. We connected near the registers and I told her I'd give her a ride home (she doesn't drive, yet. She is taking her road test in January!) So we got on line to pay. The cashier's name was Yvonne, and we were talking about Christmas and I thanked her for being there tonight. She told me that she works on Christmas to make her momma proud. I asked where her momma was and she said she died in the 80s, and she misses her every year, so she works hard to make her proud. I asked if anyone called her Vonnie, and she gasped. "No one has said that to me for over 20 years. My brother used to call me Vonnie Rabbit, like Bunny Rabbit. But he's been gone for so long, like my momma." 

So I told Miss Vonnie that I appreciated her. She took my hand in hers and said she'd love to have coffee sometime, and just talk. 

Wow.

It was a little emotional. I told her I'd like that, and to be honest, I will go back to the customer service desk and leave a card for Miss Vonnie for Christmas. 

I gave J a ride home, so she didn't have to wait for an Uber, she told me that it blew her away how Vonnie and I connected, and she told me I'm magic, not enough people get that time with me to see that magic. But she sees it. 

It made me feel good. Happy Christmas to Miss Vonnie. And to one and all. 

Here's from me and Doug. Comfy at home. 

digits

exercise: 

blood glucose:
11am: 164
5:30pm: 202
11pm: 290 (blame the brittle)

food:
coffee, water
noon: slice of quiche, metformin
2:30pm: some ritz crackers in the car
7pm: 2 chicken thighs, big spinach salad, with goat cheese, pepitas, tomatoes, red onion, cucumber, red wine vinaigrette; metformin+jardiance
beer from Doug's trip; pecan+bacon brittle; chocolate turtle 

I would like a Da-QUEER-ee

 The boys got home after midnight, Doug and I stayed up until about 2:30am. He told me all about their trip, and the places they went. I was happy to hear everything. Great adventures. I can't believe they made it home in one day from New Orleans. And they got here while it was all still rain, no ice, safe. 

I messaged my boss at 7am when I took the dog out that I was going to get a late start today. I turned off my alarm and let myself sleep. I woke up when I heard Doug and Geoff talking in the living room. I'm not even sure what time Doug got up, sometime after I went back to bed I crashed. Deep sleep, wild dreams, and waking up to hearing their voices after not hearing them for almost 2 weeks was surreal. 

One of the many funny stories Doug shared with me was that they were walking down Bourbon Street on their last night in New Orleans, and Geoff said the next time that he goes there, he'd like to try a "Da-QUEER-ee." He kept seeing signs for Daiquiris, and saw people walking around town with them. 

"You could have one, you could have had one any time you wanted." Doug said, "and it is pronounced Da-kerrie."

Doug couldn't help but laugh. It reminded him of a time my sister was reading off a menu years ago and ordered "Mon TERRY Jack cheese." Emphasis on the Terry. Sometimes when you read you don't know how something is pronounced. So you do your best. Geoff was very little once, and ordered a Black Anus burger, instead of Black Angus. It's adorable. Gentle, kind, innocent. I absolutely love it. Picturing him going into a bar and ordering a Da-QUEER-ee. It brings my heart joy and warmth. 

Today, the workday was light, slow. Our department head gave us the permission to stop working at 2 so... I worked until 3. In theory, I have to get to the post office, but first I have to pack boxes. And ... to be honest... a big nap was more important.

Post office is open tomorrow, right? not like the stuff will make it to anyone before Christmas anyway. 

Doug brought home a bunch of goodies. Praline butter, gin, bourbon, whiskey, beer beer beer. Fantastic stuff. I'm havin a gin and tonic with gin he picked up, it has rhubarb and botanicals. 

My friend in Washington state who I met through the BNL and Guster discussion boards sent me this wonderful card. She doesn't use the social medias much anymore but is always there. I would love to fly out west and scoop her up and go to a couple of shows together. 

What a delightful little gift. 

Digits below.

digits:

exercise: none. sleep.

blood glucose:
10am:177 
5pm: 175
11:45pm: 165

food:
coffee, water
12noon: slice of quiche, metformin
2:30: 2 toll house cookies (there was an uneven amount. had to ... even it out). 
7pm: baked stuffed chicken breast (w/stovetop stuffing), gravy, corn niblets; metformin+jardiance
rhubarb gin & tonic
7:45pm: trail mix (with raisins)
8:15: more trail mix
9:15: protein shake

207

Update 12:12am 

The boys are home. Just arrived. Huzzah!

3pm:
The new scale is working out alright, I think. I haven't synced it with my fitbit yet, mostly because if Doug or Geoff want to use it, I think it then syncs their weight. It would be weird to sync all 3 of us, and I am not sure how I'd remove their records. Probably have instructions for that but. Meh. 

I weighed myself this morning and I am at 207 even. I am not going to obsess with things but it is funny that I can weigh 211.8 at night, and 207 in the morning. I didn't eat almost 5 pounds worth of food and then digest it all overnight. Bodies are weird. 

Probably going to make note once a week of the progress. And there is going to be progress. I think the last time I was at the doctor on their scale with clothing on it was 209-210, so they shave a pound or two off of that for the clothing. Not thinking I lost much weight since then, but a pound or so is nice. 

Still working, still moving towards 199. Gonna get it. 

Geoff texted at about 1pm to say they'd made it to Tennessee. I didn't ask where they crossed the border, but if they came up to Chattanooga, that's 9 to 11 hours to here. Depending on which highway. So we'll see how they do.

I baked more sugar cookies around 11:30 this morning after two meetings that could have been email and a team check in, which was fun, because we didn't talk at all about work. I was going to go to the post office with the cookies that are already bagged up, but it is pouring out, and I do not want to deal with boxes and going there. 

I swear I am super close to all of these getting out the actual door, Honest I am. 

10pm:
Feeling very anxious. 

Around 8pm decorated the cookies I'd baked this morning, and I got them ALL decorated, and the kitchen clean, dishwasher loaded. I still have to clean the table, that'll take some scrubbing, but I don't want to clean around the drying cookies - I want them to air dry and they need at least all day tomorrow. There's a lot of sugar on the table top even though we laid down paper. To be expected I guess. 

Right now, I have 3 little racks stacked up filled with pretty stars and trees, and gingerbread men and reindeer. As much fun as it was decorating two nights with Sara, Sean, and Henry, tonight it was just me, Bob's Burgers on Hulu, and wine. It was very relaxing. And two hours of just dipping and sprinkling and deciding well, what color do I want this star to be? 

I noticed I didn't have any red icing, and was too lazy to go get another wee container for it, or I would have made a bunch of rainbow things. Henry figured out it was very easy to make rainbow stars and trees, so we had quite a few from his being here. I should have gone ahead and made red. I regret that now.

I was feeling a lot of anxiety after texting with Doug around 7pm. They were making slow progress. He was thinking of cutting over to I-95 to continue northbound miles because 81 and the mountains were icy and getting snowy. It would add at least an hour to the trip. 

He added "2 weeks of vacation relaxation just completely undone by 45 minutes of Geoff driving." I told him, Geoff is not a good driver. I was not surprised. This is why I wanted them to stop for the night somewhere. 

Geoff texted me a picture of the sunsphere from the highway. They didn't stop in Knoxville. Sadly. He knew it would make me laugh though. 

I'm not worried about the weather. I'm worried about Doug being tired. And if Geoff drives as horribly as he just discovered, well, Doug is doing the driving. I wish they'd stop somewhere for the night, and sleep, and get up at 6am before the temperature drops down to super freezing and the roads ice up. That's not supposed to happen until tomorrow night. But he said he's going to make it home. 

I'll feel much better when they get here. I am trying not to anxiety eat. We have triscuits in the house. 

Digits below, had an overall good day today, though I didn't do a dedicated 10 (last night I did it at 11:30pm, I don't think I will do that tonight). 

Here's a picture of my weak ass attempt at christmas bunting. Gotta do a little adjusting at the far right end - I went up and around the dog cookie container but it doesn't look right. Will fix in the morning.

digits:

exercise: No dedicated 10, Dedicated 10, even. 128 minutes in the "zone."
Walked 250 steps each hour today (12 hours!). Cleaned. Decorated cookies. Put up lights. Had a lot of activity.

blood glucose:
9am: 166 
4pm: 178
9:30pm: 175

food:
coffee, water
11am: apple
12:15pm: turkey and muenster on 647 whole wheat bread
12:45: metformin
1:15: a couple small busted sugar cookie bits
4pm: thin slice of quiche (eggs, goat cheese, onion, mushrooms, ground sausage)
5pm: another thin slice of quiche
9pm: protein shake; handfuls of pepitas
wine
11:30pm - low carb wrap with peanut butter

On The Way Home

First, today is my baby sister's birthday. 

Her SIL bought dinner for her and Ronnie at a restaurant very far away from where they live, but, it was worth it. They do theme dinners, and Linda and Ronnie went to the Christma Story theme night. 

Even Santa was surprised. As you can see.

So happy birthday baby Linda, you are a delight to all. Happy happy day, my love.

Doug called me this morning to let me know they were going to cut the trip short. Initially the plan was to go to Florida to Tallahassee or Pensacola tomorrow, and then head home Friday, stop in Knoxville, maybe, and finish the trip on Saturday.  

They're going to leave super early from New Orleans tomorrow morning and head straight home, most likely, hopefully, not stopping. They are disappointed, but, it makes sense. Maybe. 

The weather across the entire 1/3 of the country is going to be rain, sleet, ice, and snow. I actually told him I thought he should wait it out down there and head home Saturday, arrive home Sunday as my Christmas present. He thought it would be best to not tempt fate. I don't know. 

So they've had a blast. I'm super happy for them. I'm glad they were/are having fun. And to be honest, I enjoyed my time alone but for it to be cut short and have them come back it isn't a disappointment. 

I went to the market tonight. I was trying to do an order online to pick up in person, but I needed a spiral ham, and the only one they had was one that was 9 bucks a pound so it came to like ... 40 bucks! The hell? 

The ones that were .89 cents a pound were sold out online. Damn. The only spiral hams were 9.99 a pound and that meant it would cost 50 bucks or something if I ordered it online. Boooooo. I canceled my online order for curbside pickup, and I thought I'd just go... in person. 

In order to go to the market, I'd have to put the dog in the kennel. It was easier than I thought it would be, I managed to get him in with minimal coaxing, and no biting and flailing. I left immediately before he could start howling and crying, and I headed to the store. It was mobbed. 6pm is not the time to go to the market. 

In person, I found the spiral ham that was like 9.99 a pound, but with the member card it was a butt ton less. Damn. While I couldn't figure that out for how to purchase it online like that, here I was in person to buy a big ass ham for 10 bucks. 

I also bought more flour, more butter, and a bunch of snacks that I don't need, but the Boys may like them when they get home. I'm going to make a quiche tomorrow, and if they are hungry when they get here there will be options. 

Looking forward to my guys. This morning, Doug told me that he realized he hadn't taken Geoff to Bourbon Street. They'd gone all over the place, from Bywater to Irish Channel, but hadn't gone to Bourbon. "It's 11am here, we'll go out for lunch and walk down Bourbon. It won't be as exciting as night time, but he'll get to see it." I asked if they were going to see Touchdown Jesus, and he said he'd take him, but I said you have to go at night to see it! That's the TOUCHDOWN part of things! So I hope they'll be there tonight to see. 

Doug sent me pictures of the riverboat Natchez, which we didn't go on (we did a different one) and it is all decked out for Christmas. So pretty. And they were in Jackson Square where a street performer needed a hand, so Geoff helped out. And he sent me a picture of a possum. He sure knows how to sightsee. 

I hope they enjoy their last night fully, and out run the storm. Maybe. Keep them in your thoughts.

Digits below. Below, whatever this is:

digits: 

exercise: Dedicated 10+5, but 83 "zone" minutes (grocery store and walking in the house).

blood glucose:
8:30am: 191
5pm: 211
10:30pm: 185

food:
coffee, water
10:30am: yogurt
5:30pm: protein shake
7pm: 2 chicken thighs, spinach salad with tomatoes, goat cheese, pepitas 
wine
9pm: handfuls of Pepitas

Nappy Nappington

 I didn't sleep well last night. I fell asleep after 1am, and woke up around 3:30 and couldn't fall back asleep. I listened to a podcast which was actually really interesting so my brain stuck with it. It was about the War of 1812, and the invasion of Washington DC, the burning of the White House and many other buildings in the city. I have to admit, I don't know a lot about that particular war, it seems like it was dumb to happen at all. England had their hands full with Napoleon, and it was a mess. But hey. Can't change the past you can only learn about it. 

I think I finally fell asleep close to 5. and then woke up on my own at 7. I tried to go back to sleep but it got to be 8:30 and I figured it was just time to give up and get up. 

Work was rough, there were meetings and more meetings, and I had to pay attention, and try to do something that I couldn't remember how to do. We had a team meeting for year's end to just talk about our goals for next year. It was exhausting, and I ended up exhausted around 4. I tried to take a nap, and I thought maybe I should go to the grocery store but couldn't get my act together. 

No other real updates, I just know I have to get some things done tomorrow, it being Wednesday and all that. Ugh. 

No picture today, friends.

digits

exercise: Dedicated 10+10; heart zone 8 minutes

blood glucose:
7am: 143
5pm: 120
10pm: 203

food:
coffee, water
9am: broken toll house cookie dipped in coffee
10am: Protein shake
11:45am: spinach salad with goat cheese, tomatoes, and diced Korean BBQ chicken fingers on top with chipotle ranch dressing (thanks last night me for ordering the chicken fingers!)
noon: metformin
4:45: the last of the broken toll house cookies
5:45: metformin+jardiance; 3 broiled chicken thighs with lime juice and Tajin seasoning, sour cream
8:30pm: ritz and hummus
9:30: baby bel cheese 

A Monday Surprise

Monday mornings usually start with me watering all the friends. I do the table next to me first, everyone gets carried to the sink and gets a nice soak. 

I then do the spiders. They fill the sink, and I soak them and leave them to rest for a while. The two big snake plants in the big pots go next, and then I go to the window sill where the lone single solitary snake in a pot sits beside the thriving ZZ  plant. It's been about 6 months since I put it in the pot with some expectations. Noting that it was not dying, or wilting, or suffering, it gave me great hope that even if this would be a forever alone snake, well, that'd be the fate of it. 

The morning sunlight coming through the window illuminated a wee sprout showed it was coming up. Snake plants send out runners and tubers and then they grow upward, so, we have ... a pup! 

Look at that wee baby in the sunlight! Such joy on a Monday morning. Yay, puppy! Grow and be beautiful!

I'm feeling much better today after the absolute blah of yesterday. I went to bed slightly earlier than normal (well, went to bed but didn't fall asleep, is how that should read). My dog was getting antsy at about 10pm. He knows when it is time for us to get ready to get in bed. And even after a whole week, he is still looking for Doug. 

It made me think of how people need to be careful out in the world so they can come home to their pets, who will miss them. A lot. 

Phin was relieved when I got in bed (finally, woman. jeeeeze!) and I played with my phone until I was ready to fall asleep. I had to get up early this morning because the contractor was coming to replace the wired smoke detector in the basement. He was here at 8:15, I was showered, dressed, up and ready. Very unlike me to be that bright and bon vivant at such an early hour. 

Today was a busy day, but not like the past couple of weeks. I had a couple good meetings, made some progress with tickets. I realized that none of the food I had was ready for eating - I split a lot of things up into smaller batches and froze a bunch of stuff. I had a half bag of shrimp but that's what I had last night for dinner so I wasn't super wanting that. I ordered delivery and then chatted with Linda. 

Doug texted me around 7:45 our time (6:45 theirs) with a picture of Geoff, soaking wet from their walk in the rain from their hotel to the D.B.A. bar. He said the hotel was adorably shabby chic, and everyone there had dogs, except for him and Geoff. He then sent me a picture from Brieux Carre, down the street, a favorite micro brewery from our visit in May/June this year. 

Not sure how long they're staying there in New Orleans, I think they're leaving Wednesday? Rumor has it we're expecting some serious weather coming this way on Thursday and Friday, so I'm hoping they'll take their time and take it slow coming north. Doug wanted to stay west of Atlanta, and come up through Knoxville, so hopefully that'll work out. 

I'll find out tomorrow. But here's the festive shot he sent me. Merry Beermas. 

Digits below. 

digits:

exercise: Dedicated 10+12.
"heart zone" on fitbit: 40 minutes. I'll write about what that means another day.

blood glucose:
8am: 177
5pm: 175
9:45pm: 143

food:
coffee, water
12:45pm: BLT Salad, metformin
6pm: Buffalo Wings from Wingstop; wine
7:30pm: Metformin+jardiance
8:30pm the rest of the buffalo wings (let's say 20 total) 
9:30: some cookie dough (I'm baking again)

We did a lot of sleeps

Phineas slept until after 8am, very unlike him. But we didn't get to bed until after 1am once I finished cleaning up and ran the dishwasher.  Too many carbs, pad thai, sugar, wine, meh. I think the thing that will make me be much better about all this is to just not do that. It has been a long time since I was completely surrounded by carbs, up to my eyeballs, and I didn't hold myself back. Last night going to bed my sugar was insane. When I woke up this morning it was still incredibly high. I felt horrible. Headache. Almost like a hangover, but I didn't drink that much wine. 

I quickly had a protein shake and a yogurt, but still felt horrible after a couple hours. So at about noon thirty, I ended up going and taking a nap, Phin too. 

Today I was going to go to a brewery to see my friend Tim play, but I just could not get the energy to do that. When I woke up from the nap was when I really should have been walking out the door, so I'd have to shower and get my shit together... no. Could not do it. I sent him my regrets. If Doug was here we probably could have rallied. But for me to go solo, I'd have to bring Phin (dogs are super welcome indoors at this brewery) but I just didn't have the energy to think about having him with me.

I counted out and bagged cookies for some of the folks I'm sending them to. I'm going to try and go to the post office this week, bring Phineas with me, and let him wait in the car. 

Doug said he'll be fine, but I'm more worried about other people if he's actively freaking out. In my county, if you leave your dog in a car, a concerned citizen using their own subjective opinion can smash your car window to get your dog out. It's very cold out here right now, low 30s for the high today, so I'm wary. 

We brought the dog kennel up here in case I have to go out for any reason, and well. Yeah. I could do it. I hate putting him in there. But we'll see. 

I want to bake more chocolate chip cookies to go in with the sugar cut out cookies. Maybe peanut butter too. Hmm. But I think I'm low on butter. I have everything else. Not going to worry about any of that tonight. I feel like I'm super ahead of my usual bullshit attempts at this now that bags are setup, cookies are in them, and I just have to make the bags fuller and nicer and more fun. And find all the little boxes I've saved and put in the basement.

Doug texted me from Vicksburg, MS at a brewery there. They're staying there for the night and headed to New Orleans tomorrow. He said they had a good day, they went first to Clarksdale MS to see the famous "crossroads" where Robert Johnson is said to have sold his soul to the devil in exchange for his talent. I asked if the crossroads looked like what it did when Johnson lived and Doug said not so much. He didn't think the furniture store was there. They were having late breakfast/early lunch and a musician named Watermelon Slim played for them while they ate omelets and grits. He didn't mention going to any of the civil war sites that he was reading about but he said the brewery is great. 

Tomorrow it's over  to New Orleans for them. I asked if they were going via Baton Rouge or over the Lake Pontchartrain bridge. He said they were taking the bridge, and not going to Baton Rouge. We've never driven over the bridge when we have gone there, I've never been to the part of the city on the lake, just downtown and the river. So it'll be a new experience for him. Again, a little jealous.

I think they arrive home a week from today. Pretty sure. 

Maybe.

Here's Geoff with a mural commemorating Robert Johnson. digits below.

digits

exercise: Dedicated 10+5

blood glucose:
10am: 235
4pm:158
10pm: 208

food:
coffee, water
10:15am: protein shake, 2 good yogurt
11am: metformin
4:30pm: broiled shrimp with ritz crackers; broccoli
6pm: metformin+jardiance
6:30pm: a couple of broken chocolate chip cookies
7:45pm: apple and ginger ale

Getting things done

Round 2 of cookie decorating today. This time, Henry wanted to cut and bake the cookies. Sara's back hurt her, so Hen and I went at it with fresh dough and cookie cutters.   

This morning, I woke up on my own at 7, and Phin realized I had gotten out of bed (I went to the bathroom), so I let him out and encouraged him back into bed with me. He seemed confused. But he eventually agreed. He let me sleep until about 8:45. It's like he knows when I am supposed to be up "in real life" during the weekdays. So we got to doing things, were super busy, and then we took a nap at 4pm. 

Our table is set and ready to go, I'm just waiting for them to arrive.

 I'm going to reorganize just a little so we have a spot to eat. I'll preheat the oven when they get here so we can get those cut outs rolled and baked! 

I was going to just dip all the trees in green and get them covered, but we won't have anything to color while things bake. I also need to think about where things will cool off if I'm using the racks to raise cookies up? 

I've got time to figure it out. We won't be baking until 8pm I don't think. 

They arrived around 7:30 and we had a blast. I wish I took pictures of henry rolling dough, but for the most part we were so busy we didn't get to snap pics.

Update on the boys, they arrived in Memphis around 11pm ET (10pm local). Doug said they were going to check in the hotel, grab a bite and a beer and call it a day. It was a long day yesterday, full of a cave, and a stop in Nashville and a lot of driving. 

I asked Doug last night if they were going to Graceland and he said no, but yes they'd be going to the Memphis Rock 'n Soul museum. I do declare is own father would be angry with the decision to do one and not the other. Why not both! He told me in a text last night that it was very cold, so they probably weren't going to walk over the pedestrian bridge to Arkansas but you better believe they'll drive over there. 

Gotta say they went west of the Mississippi. 

Last night I was chatting with my buddy Rob, who used to live near Lexington and worked at UK. He was saying 'on paper, 3 hours looks easy but there's a wad of nothing between some things and it gets desolate out there, and takes longer than 3 hours when it comes down to it." Everything I told him that the boys were up to he was all "YEAH BABY, THAT'S THE BEST!" and he said it made him miss Lexington a bit, even if he hated it there. 

He started singing Paul Simon's "Graceland" when we were talking about Memphis, and I started in with "Walking in Memphis by Marc Cohn. We had a little Memphis song list going, like Johnny Rivers/Chuck Berry's "Memphis" (the song where he asks the operator to try and help him get connected with Sweet Marie, who lives a half a mile from the Mississippi bridge and it turns out Marie is six years old and is his little girl). "Memphis in the Meantime" from John Hiatt, and Dylan's "Stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again." 

We had fun going through what we could think of. Any songs you want to share?'  

Chores done today:

• Bathroom: 
• Took the bath mat out of the tub and soaked it in bleach
  
• Took the shower curtain liner down, same as above
  
• Cleaned the toilet
• Cleaned the sink
• Took the bathroom rug down and washed it (with Geoff's to keep the washer balanced)
• Christmas things:
• Brought the wee tree upstairs
• Took out the wee angel ornaments to put around it like they're singing and stuff
• Found the rest of our christmas ornaments, brought them upstairs to think about
• Found the lights, brought them upstairs
• Cookie prep:
• One bowl of double batch sugar cookie dough baked up and split into 4 lumps to chill.
• Decorating utensils washed, dried, ready
• Piled up the already decorated cookies and set aside. Henry gets to bring 12 home with him after today

Pictures then digits.  Sara and Henry were my expected guests but Sean came too and we had had a laugh riot. 

And here's Geoff on Beale Street. "Walking with his feet ten feet off of Beale..."

digits: 

exercise: still need to figure out the new fitbit. I know I had to have hit dedicated 10 plus something? The fitbit says active zone minutes is 338, which is ??? a lot? But before Sara arrived, I did my usual walk around the house for dedicated 10+about 7? 

blood glucose:
9am:184
5:30pm: 180
11pm: 273 (thanks pad thai and sugar cookie decorating!)

food:
coffee, water
10:30am: 2 good yogurt
12:45pm: pbj in 5 net carb wrap; metformin
4pm: baby bell cheddar cheese circle
6:45pm: metformin+jardiance. tom kah soup (the delivery arrived and i jumped in)
8pm: pad thai (lots of carbs, i know)
throughout the evening, lots of sugar+wine
11pm: more pad thai (sorry)

New Fitbit and New Scale

So, the ongoing saga of my fitbit continues. 

I had complained at fitbit support last week that my wee Flex 2 came apart at the seams. Their support folks emailed me through Twitter, and gave me a 35% off coupon for a new one. I said cool. But shopping on their site showed me that my preferred device was discontinued. 

I could buy one from some rando company for twice what I paid for the first one when I bought it in 2014 (hell no, and also no because I couldn't use the 35% discount at some rando electronics store in Japan).  I did the mental math on getting one of the 3 styles of trackers they sell now, and came to the Inspire 3 as my option. 

I put it in my cart and also decided, what the hell. I'll buy a new scale too. The one we have is old and stupid and always says I weigh 10 pounds more than I really do, so screw that guy. I'll get a new one. Bout time!

Placing the order, I put my discount code in, and it seemed to be accepted. But. When I checked out the discount was not applied.  Huh.

After 20 or so minutes of trying to figure out what to do, I got the online support agent chat thing going. I explained the situation.

They said "You didn't get the discount on the tracker because you put two items in your cart. And you can't apply the discount to both items." 

I said I didn't expect that to be the case, I figured the discount would be applied to the tracker and not the scale, which was an impulse buy.  They should be happy I made an additional purchase. So. Dude. Just apply the discount to the tracker and it's cool. 

They told me they couldn't do that, because it had already been processed. 

I said why didn't the website stop me, or say something in big red text to let me know. Because I would have removed the scale from the order if it told me anything, anything at all. They said it doesn't work that way. I should have just known. 

Oh. Okay. So I can read your website's mind. Got it. 

So cancel the order then, please. I'll start again, or hey. Maybe I'll just not buy another one of your products and go find something else because to be honest, all the trackers are too big, and I don't like them. And I don't really like the thing I picked. I only was buying it for the 35% discount. I really liked the Flex 2. Let's just pretend this all didn't happen, okay?

"Oh, we can't cancel it. It's already in process and has been put out to ship. You can't cancel it. You can return it when it gets to you and we'll give you a refund." 

But. How about you just apply the 35% discount to the tracker and credit my credit card or something... 

"No. We can't do that either." 

So. Fuck it.

If anyone I know wants a fitbit I have a 35% discount code. I'll buy your fitbit for you. My device arrived, it works alright, and I charged it and it has my first day's worth of data in it. I guess it's mine now. 

 

This device is going to take some getting used to, I think. It has some bells, whistles, features that the old one didn't have, and it says it can read my O2 levels, but I haven't seen that show up. I can add alarms and timers. When I go to exercise, take my little walks around the house, I can set the exercise timer to remind me to get up and move around. The default on the new device is 5 hours a day but I had it set to 10 hours previously so I have to futz with it to get it to show. It can sync with my glucose monitor, but that isn't on bluetooth so no. And, it can sync to my brand new scale too, but again, I have to do some deep dive figuring things out. 

The scale says as of this afternoon I'm 207.6 so that's good. Better than the 209 the other day at the doctor's office. And I'm gunning for you 199. 

If his nose wasn't red he wouldn't have PURPOSE!

Update: I got the smoke detector down off the ceiling, removed the battery. Damn if that wasn't a pain in my ample ass. 

I promised cookie pictures. Last night at 11:30pm when I was getting ready to post the entry I realized how late it was so I just threw it up there to make it in. whew. 

Not sure who had the most fun, Henry or Sara. Sara got really into decorating the gingerbread shaped people - I always like to make reindeer of them. I have always felt that the M&M eyes are too big if you make them people but the score this year was buying the sugar eyeballs. Game. Changer. y'all. 

Henry liked making colors. He really got into putting the gel colors into the white royal icing. at one point he added some of the dark brown I'd made to the yellow and HATED it. 

"How can I go back to the yellow again?!" he asked.

"Oh honey, you can't. You added all that dark brown to it and now you can't undo it."

He was mad, and asked me if we could take the plain white icing I had that I was using as "glue" to put things on the cookies, and add yellow to that. I told him that we then would not have any white.

"But you can make more white," he said.

"No Hen, I don't have any more sugar," I replied. Please note, I used an entire one pound bag of confectioners sugar to make all the colors we had. 

He was disappointed, but he got it. 

We still had a ton of cookies to decorate by the end of two hours. He lost interest and began running around my house, and Sara was utterly fixated on making gingerbread men "masterpieces," so we called it a night after a while. 

I think she and Hen are coming over tomorrow to finish. I think I'm baking more gingerbread man shapes. 

My favorite thing is to use the gingerbread man shape and I turn it over and it can be decorated as a reindeer. I use the red m&ms as its nose (for Rudolph) and I make brown icing so I can color in the antlers. 

Last night I started to show Henry how this is done, and I heard Sara gasp as she realized what I was making. I had just put the nose on, no eyes yet, and was painting in the antlers. 

I asked him what he thought it was starting to look like and he wasn't sure. Then he said "those are antlers. That's a reindeer. It's Rudolph!" and both Sara and I were completely overjoyed that he got it. I added on the blue m&ms for eyes and put a dot in each one, but the eyeball option sure is awesome. 

Henry was thrilled and he yelled "If his nose wasn't red, he wouldn't have PURPOSE!" 

Both Sara and I almost literally died. Indeed. If his nose was not red, yes. Yes, Henry. Oh my gosh the things this kid says. I love him. 

Anyway. 

I took a half day today and logged off at like 2 but chatted with my work bestie for an hour or so. She gave me a video tour of the wonderful house she and her husband just bought. If Phin could be trusted solo, I'd go up there to help her decorate for Christmas. And then I remembered I should decorate my own house for Christmas. 

The boys are in Tennessee tonight. Geoff texted me at 6 saying they were arriving in Nashville (5pm their time I think) and they were going to have dinner, and then it was about 3 hours to Memphis. My friend Rob and I talked tonight and he said "Yeah, 3 hours through Tennessee feels like 6 anywhere else, friend." 

I feel like I should call the hotel and guarantee late arrival for them. 

 I have thoughts and feelings when I look at me and Henry in these pictures. 

And I mean this in NO shade to either of my kids. 

But I'd make a great wonderful grandma. 

I really would. It makes me a little wistful, because I remember how ANGRY Doug's mom was when we called her to tell her we were having a baby in 1991. She wasn't "ready" to be a grandmother. But honestly, what a joy it is to spend time with someone like Hen. He loves me, and we have SUCH a good time together. I just think of what it would be like to be someone's Nonni or something.  A Mormor, Nana. Whatever. 

I'm super happy I have friends with Littles. My work bestie's son is about 5.5 and he calls me Auntie. Feels the same. And I just love how I have so much fun with Henry. So I can be his whatever. Very glad to have them in my life. 

digits

exercise: new fitbit! It measures things weirdly and I have to figure it out. It told me I have had 56 "zone" minutes today, whatever that is, but I think I got Dedicated 10+16 for walking in the house as a "Brisk Walk" and the rest of it is "moderate movement," meaning I was up off my ass? Maybe. So I have to figure this out, how it records things. Because ain't no way I did 56 minutes of much.

blood glucose:
9:30am: 196
5pm: 221*
9pm: 147

food:
coffee, water
10:30am: protein shake
1:30pm: turkey, muenster, hummus on a 5 net carb wrap; metformin Forgot my meds at lunchtime even though I set them out. See 5pm reading above. 
7:30pm: Roast chicken, carrots, mashed cauliflower. definitely metformin+jardiance
Wine

Cookie night shenanigans

The Boys left Lexington, KY this morning and drove over to Red River Gorge. Kind of like Skyline Drive in Virginia, I guess. There's a lot there to see, it's huge. 

I was on a call today with someone from Bowling Green Kentucky, and he said it is his favorite place on earth. Every year they rent a cabin, spend a week, hike. He said the weather out there was perfect today. 

So happy it was, and Geoff has been sending me pictures like this one. Confirming the weather was indeed perfect.

Before my friend Sara arrived for dinner and cookie decorating,  I called and they were back at the brewery they REALLY liked. They'd had dinner and it was only about 6pm but Doug said he was personally ready to crash after a long day. 

They went to the Gorge, they got lost, they got even more lost. They found a road out. They couldn't believe how far they went out of the way of where they were supposed to be. Everything was closed. Everything closed on December 11th. So the ranger station, any shops, any gas stations, any anything - they could find nothing. No food, water, anything (oh hey - I packed snacks for y'all where did you put them? oh, in the hotel room. Okay). 

They eventually found a town and ate "lunch" hours after lunch should be lunch at a Hardees, and made it back to Lexington for pizza and beer. 

Tomorrow they head to Mammoth Cave, and they get to travel back in time. Geoff confessed to me that he really doesn't understand time zones. Oh my goodness, honey. You are 25. Wow. Well, get ready to travel back in time an hour! Enjoy it!

And then. Of course. 

Of course my husband and son are out of town.
Of absolutely course, the smoke alarm in the basement is chirping for no discernable reason.
Of course, I'm too short to reach it.
Of course the step ladder is in the shed.
OF COURSE the backyard is flooded because we had a torrential rain storm over the last 24 hours (also, of course FedEx delivered a package to me and left it in the FLOODED backyard, instead of on my front porch while I'm sitting in the house. In the pouring rain. Of course).
Of course it starts chirping 3 minutes AFTER my property manager's office closes for the day.
Of course.

Sara and her son Henry came over for dinner at about 6:45, we ate and commenced to cookie decorating. I'm made them ziti and chicken parm. We ate and decorated like crazy for 2 hours. 

I'm sore and tired. 

this is how I feel! Sore and Tired. I'll post some fun pictures of cookies tomorrow. I'm beat! And all I can hear is that beep. Thank you emergency maintenance response team for your quick resolution of my problem. HA!.

digits

exercise: 

blood glucose:
9am: 175
5pm: 145
11:30pm: 221

food:
10am: yogurt
noon: metformin
12:30: apple, pbj on 647 bread
6:45pm: chicken parm, small serving of ziti, sauce, cheese, wine
9pm: forgot to take my metformin again after I ate dinner. oops.
11pm: 2 baby bell cheese circles (to try and help bring the blood sugar down).

Tickets Procured

 It's weird. My fitbit died, and won't take a charge, so I have not worn it since Tuesday afternoon. I keep thinking I'll check the app, see how many steps I got this hour. Is it 10 minutes before the top of the hour? Why isn't it going zzzztz zzzztz buzz to remind me to get off my butt? How many hours did I sleep? How many times did I wake up or was restless?

How am I living without this on my wrist! What is my life! 

Anyway. I ordered a replacement last week, allegedly was supposed to arrive today but no. It did not arrive. 

I had a super busy day, including a Guster ticket purchase-a-thon. I got tickets for Philadelphia, Orlando, and Ft. Lauderdale. After the 2nd purchase my credit card sent me message about fraud protection and asked me to submit a code to the purchase site. 

Linda got us Huntington NY, and got our hotel. 

We're working out our travel plans now. But for tonight, we at least know where we are going! 

Alright. Big busy day tomorrow and then the busy time is over. Maintenance mode starts. 

Here's a picture of my dog. Being pathetic while I work.

digits

exercise:

blood glucose:
8:30am: 129
5pm: 159
9:45pm: 175

food:
coffee, water
10:30am: tollhouse cookie
11:30am: 2 bowls of chicken salad (leftover chicken thighs)
12:30pm: Metformin
3pm: protein shake
5:30pm: small container of leftover chili w/ grated cheddar cheese
9pm: metformin+jardiance (i was distracted and forgot to take meds after dinner)
9:15: 3 slices of turkey+hummus
glass of wine

Sleeping In and Guster Tour 2023

 I just couldn't do it today. 

I had no motivation to wake up and get to work. I let the dog out, messaged my team that I was going to be late, went back to sleep. I woke up a little before 11, right when I thought I might be ready to get to work. I feel like I needed that so much.

On our team, everyone gets the grace to say they're not feeling well, or they need a mental health day, or whatever. 

Sick, or Sick and Tired, or just Tired.

Very rarely do I take this opportunity. I work from home, I don't need to clean up, dress well, look good, ride a train. If I had to do that for sure I'd be calling out more often. 

Usually my brain is awake/alive enough for me to be able to work even if I feel crummy. Today, not so much. I just couldn't. 

It felt so good to sleep. Phin woke up at 9:30 and started to whine and moan that he wanted to go out, but I ignored him. He got up on the bed again, and went back to sleep himself. Then it was 11. 

We got our engines started and I got to work. It was a quiet day but a busy day with a big challenge that I still have not yet solved. It hurts my brain. I tried everything. No dice. Frustrated!

So I gave up and baked more cookies. I finished off the cut out cookie dough and made a double batch of toll house. I will make some peanut butter cookies tomorrow. My friend Sara is coming over and I want to send her home with a bunch. She loves my toll house cookies. I have to figure out who I'm shipping cookies to, and how many per human. I will be baking more, I'm sure!

Oh, and some band I like announced a tour in March and April and Wow. I'm going to a bunch of shows. A bunch. Huntington NY, Philly, Orlando & Ft. Lauderdale FL. Probably Norfolk VA. We even are thinking about the tiny venue in Key West but finding a place to stay in Key West is proving to be impossible. SO expensive! 

 Tickets go on sale tomorrow. Goodbye Credit Card. Goodbye Everyone. Goodbye. But hey. The tour art is cute.

digits

exercise: nothing tracked. My fitbit is 100% dead.

blood glucose:
11am: 153
5pm: 149
10pm: 132

food: 
coffee, water
11am: chicken salad.
noon: metformin
3pm: apple & peanut butter; protein shake
5:45pm: 4 small chicken thighs
6:15pm: metformin+jardiance
declaring a lil'bit of cookie dough scraped off the beaters and bottom of the bowl while baking toll house cookies. 
10pm: a whole ass toll house cookie that broke into small pieces. Had to do something with it!

It started with toothpaste

Last night, I did something I've never done before. I created an account online with the local grocery store, and built a shopping list of things I discovered I need. Even though, I did a boatload of shopping. I always discover I need things. 

I needed toothpaste after all. 

In addition to the aforementioned toothpaste, I also did need flour for the monstrous amount of cookies I am baking. I had neon/spring colored food coloring but I didn't have the traditional red/yellow/blue/green. Neon Christmas Trees are weird. But I'd do it if that's all I had. I had eaten a lot of the M&Ms I'd bought. So I would need more for the red noses of rudolph, and the "ornaments" on the Christmas Trees, as I make them. 

I talked to my friend Sara, and she and her son Henry are coming over Wednesday night to decorate. I pointed out that it would be dinner time when they were coming over, so I offered to make dinner. I'm going to make a baked ziti and garlic bread for them. So I needed ziti and bread, and ricotta, and mozzarella. As a result, I now think her husband is going to come with too. Maybe. It'll be fun.

So yeah, I needed a bunch of stuff. And a bunch more. I've edited the order a couple of times because I keep saying "oh yeah, I need that, oh yes, this too. Oh I forgot to add..." 

It started with toothpaste.

So I set up that account, and went online shopping. Another 100 plus bucks pulled out of my wallet (after spending 300 bucks at Target on Friday, and 300 plus at Giant in person on Saturday morning. Jeesh).

Today I had a contractor at the house redoing the tile in my bathroom around the tub, and fixing the ceiling in Geoff's room. He was quiet, meticulous, didn't speak english much, but he did a hell of a job. He noticed my front door knob was loose, and went and got a drill and fixed it up before he left.  Kudos dude! Thanks! My house smells a little chemically right now, the bathroom door is closed and the exhaust vent has been running. I want to clean the shower (and the floor, and the sink etc...) so I may get up a little early tomorrow to do it. 

I went to pick up the grocery order at 6pm, easy peasy lemon squeezy as Sara always says. Got everything I wanted, somehow got 2 little bags of fingerling potatoes instead of one but ... it could be worse.

And I got my toothpaste. God is in his heaven, and all's right with the world. 

Tonight, instead of watching tv, I decided to roll out and bake cookies for a little while. Get some out of the way tonight and more out of the way tomorrow.  

And here is the evidence of it starting. Got all the greens cut out with trees, and the small amount of blue I set up with stars. I've got purple that I'm going to make moons. Lots more to do but I went through about half of the dough I had. If it wasn't 11pm, I'd keep going. But off to bed. Will I wake up early? or

digits:

exercise: Dedicated 10+7 while cookies were baking, I did steps!  I wasn't going to do it but. it worked out time wise.

blood glucose:
8am:195
4:45pm: 160
10:15pm:150

food:
coffee, water
8:30am: 2 good strawberry yogurt
11am: big bowl of chicken salad (mayo, cream cheese, diced apple, walnuts)
noon: metformin
4:45pm: apple
5:30pm: 2 bowls of turkey soup (the end of the turkey soup!!!)
7:30pm: metformin+jardiance
10:30pm: a bowl of chicken salad

Asleep and Alone

Last night I went to bed at 11. Dog was kind of confused. I let him outside, brushed my teeth* , took my bedtime medicines, fixed all the blankets and sheets because they were tossed about everywhere while Doug was organizing and packing (that's his style). 

Phin stood at the bedroom door and looked around for Doug. There's only one human here? What is going on? Where is the other? He walked around, went to the kitchen, went down the stairs. Came back up. I was sitting on the side of the bed waiting for him as he came back to the door. I encouraged him to jump up but he was not convinced it was okay. He looked in the guest room, looked in the bathroom, back to the living room. Finally came to me and jumped in bed.

I wonder if he does this when I'm not here. Or is this just for Doug?

I know buddy - you're used to the two humans and bedtime is your favorite time to be with us both. 

He is not a cuddle dog. He doesn't really like being patted. I was just petting him on the head here and he got up and walked away. 

He flopped happily by my side and I did get to pat him a little. He sometimes will lick my arm while I'm patting him and I interpret that as kisses and affection. That's about as affectionate as this bean gets. I didn't do it too long last night, just enough to assure him, and rolled over to assume the position. I played my games, and he stood up and walked in circles, and flopped down where he usually starts the night - behind my legs. 

There's a whole lotta bed here, dude. Without Doug, you can spread out. 

At some point he figured that out. I rolled over and his back was by my face, his head on Doug's pillow. My nose meeting dog fur. 

I slept very comfortably. Our box spring needs to go. It is wooden and creaks whenever either of us roll over, so we wake each other up a lot. One of us usually ends up all the way awake and goes to the guest room. 

It's usually me as of late. 

But I slept the whole way through the night (with only one wake up to pee time). Phin slept until almost 7. I let him out, filled his dish, went to pee myself, let him back in, we both got back in bed. 7 was too early to be up. 

We slept again until 10:30. Bliss. 

I took my blood sugar and it was still higher than I like, so I quickly ate a yogurt and got the coffee going. 

It's funny, I bought all this food and do not feel like making it. At all. I hope I use it all or get a bunch of decisions made to put things into the freezer. There's a lot. When I don't have 2 other people to cook for, or 2 other people to cook for me, it is annoying.

I put the m&ms in a ziplock bag and put them in the cabinet to save for when it is time to decorate cookies. Here's to a lower blood sugar day. 

Speaking of blood sugar the m&ms are for cookies, I'm going to have Sara and Henry over on Wednesday night to decorate. So I need to have a billion cookies baked. Today, so far, I've cleared off the counter and got the recipe out. 

Tomorrow morning, I have a contractor coming to do work on the basement, to replace the ceiling in the bathroom where we had to pull down to expose where the leak was. The silicone they did in our upstairs shower seems to be holding up nicely. He mentioned coming to retile the shower up here completely, and I actually feel like I don't want that to happen if this silicone thing is working out. I'll be without a shower for a couple days. I hate Geoff's shower, and it also needs some work, so I would rather he fix that one.

* Something I noticed last night, is Doug packed our full tube of toothpaste that we just cracked open and took it with him. I eeked the last bit out of our current tube in order to go to bed with brushed teeths.... This morning, I went to the hall closet to seek out another tube. We have to have something. Nope. Nothing. Not even Dentist Office "here you go for brushing your teeth, keep it up!" sized.  No travel sizes. Nothing in my backpack from recent travels. I went to Geoff's bathroom to steal his, but he packed and brought his, too. Both of them are traveling together, and have 2 giant full tubes of toothpaste. Jerks.

I may have to .... go to the store. I just went to the store. Had I known, I would have gotten some. I hope they enjoy all their toothpaste out there in the world. 

It is pouring out - and I can see snowflakes mixed in. Cold enough that this could turn into actual weather. I do not relish getting in the car. Or setting up the kennel for the dog. Wonder if he'll sit in the car nice while I run into a store, or rip it to shreds and freak out? Maybe I make a sign that says don't steal my dog if he's barking? I don't know. 

I started my cookie baking process. As the kids say, "back on my bullshit" for this season's fun. This time of year, my kitchen is the cleanest it will be, and my hands the filthiest. Worth it. Digits below.

digits

exercise: Dedicated 10+12

blood glucose:
10:30am: 199
4pm: 167
10:30pm: 140

food:
coffee, water
10:30am: 2 good yogurt (3 grams of carbs, I thought it was 2! maybe just the lemon is 3.) 
1pm: 3 egg omelet w/ sliced leftover italian sausage, cheddar cheese. Metformin.
4pm: red wine (while mixing cookie dough. naturally)
6pm: chicken parm (1 chix breast, butterflied, sauce & mozz)
6:30pm: metformin+jardiance
9:30pm: hummus & crackers (about 10 crackers and a bunch of hummus)