A nothing post

I had about 10 posts today that I started and deleted. Just felt bored with everything I wrote, and it was either complaining or dumb. Sorry for this nothing burger. I promise some more interesting things tomorrow. I guess it's good that I've had actual posts for several weeks in a row now. I'm just staying awake long enough to take a reading, and Doug is watching some Australian WWI movie which is very loud. 

Soo.  That's it. 

Anyway. No picture, I'm lazy. 

Digits below! 

digits 

exercise: Dedicated 10+21. I did 14 when Doug went to get Geoff at the train, and the rest when he went out for his walk. three days in a row of 30+ yay me.

blood glucose:
8am: 164
5pm:156
10pm: 185

food:
coffee, water
8:15am 1/2 slice of american cheese (the other half was for phineas and his medication)
10am: bowl of yogurt w/the last peach (no splenda/sweetening needed. so good).
11:30 Metformin
12:30: tuna melt. tuna, celery, mayo.  american cheese, 2 slices of 647 bread
2pm: the rest of the tuna (doug left some in the bowl)
4pm: 3 or 4 cherry tomatoes
7pm: Metformin+Jardiance; 3 chicken thighs, chopped salad (romaine, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, feta, greek dressing) 3 wraps (carb balance, 4 net carbs each) 

Neighbors

Found out the other day that our neighbors from our first house up the street, Betsy & Tony, have their house on the market. Shit. 

I texted Betsy to ask what's up and Tony's in the military and as such, they're being transferred. They will not be moving until November, so there are contingencies placed on the house that they get to rent it from the new buyer for x amount of time, so they will be around. 

It's funny how neighborhoods work. We only moved 3 doors down the street but we literally saw them once this year - on Halloween. Tony made a point of coming down to show us their baby's costume, and have a quick beer, before going to a party for the military and whatnot. I thought that was so sweet of him. 

It took us a little while to get to know people up at that corner. The usual things that bring neighbors out happened. One was a big snowstorm and Betsy was out with the three neighbor kids on their other side, helping build a snowman. She was 3 months pregnant at the time. I was walking around taking pictures of the first "real" snow I've seen here in Maryland, all 4 inches of it. 

Then, shortly after that, they had dinner cooking on the stove and somehow both went outside, and got locked out. While dinner. Was cooking. So they tried to break into their house and could not. And they ended up calling 911. 400 fire trucks and 700 police cars later, we're standing on the porch watching. Our other neighbor Pat came over and said everything was fine, they got into the house okay, and the baby was okay (meaning Betsy's pregnancy). I asked Pat to give Betsy my cel phone number, if they ever needed anything to let me know. She texted me the next day to thank me for caring on them. 

We got to know them pretty well, So happy when the baby came (she's 3 now) and I made them a giant tray of baked ziti, broken up into 6 freezer containers for dinners down the road (Tony said they ate 3 of them immediately, well, he ate most of it).  We were able to spend time with them in the pandemic. Tony told us we were in their "bubble" when people were spending time outside with friends. We had them over for campfires, made them food, they were super kind when we had covid, and we gave them love back when they got it too. Tony loves craft beer, so we were able to make some recommendations for them, since they moved in right before we did, and hadn't explored too much due to getting pregnant. Tony also loves jam bands (me and doug) and metal (geoff) so there was always music to talk about. 

Since moving down the street, we just are, I guess, too far away. You don't see someone doing yard work when you pull into the driveway with your groceries and then they stop mowing so they can come to the fence and catch up. There isn't a "hey, what's up?" when you're sitting on the porch having the morning coffee with the dog, playing Candy Crush. The only neighborhood "friends" we made really, and they'll be moving along. But it's already like we moved along, we moved 3 doors down. 

It's weird being here sometimes. Aside from the accidental meeting of Sara at a Guster show (she lives 3 miles north), my only contacts here are work friends. And even some of them are not close work friends. Anyway. 

Betsy said we'll be sure to get together once more at least before they go. I'll miss them. I'll miss just knowing they're up the street. 

Got to toodle about outside this morning. Took some pictures. Here they are. Digits after the snaps. Some morning glories which are cascading down in a bunch, and a snake plant in a big new pot, with a wee aloe in a wee pot in a volcanic rock thing. My biggest and my littlest.

digits

exercise: dedicated 10+30. yup. Did 10 outside while grilling dinner before the skies opened up. After the rain, Doug went for a walk, and I was going to go with but we didn't want to bring Phin. He's limping and seems uncomfortable. So I walked in the house. 

blood glucose:
8:30am 164
4:30pm 210 (too close to snack? snack had some m&ms in it so. hmm) 
10pm: 180

Food
Coffee, Water, iced coffee, iced tea
11am: Metformin; 3 turkey slice "tacos"- take 3 slices of turkey, 1 slice of cheddar cheese, ripped in half, a little mayo, bacon. Fold in half
2pm: trail mix (2 ramekins worth)
5:30pm: metformin+jardiance; 4 sausages off the grill, with a little red sauce and cheese. 

Some Farmer Chris Stuff

Yesterday we went to a brewery which is attached to a farm stand. Doug got some lovely peaches and apples, and I picked up some new pots. Bigger pots. For my quickly growing plants. I wanted more but Doug pointed out they were kind of expensive, and we could probably get some really good pots at yard sales and things. Yes, yes, yes you are ever so right but look how cute these are?  Also, I would be moving some plants into bigger pots, and then the medium pots would be empty for me to put my wee plants into. And I'd end up with extra pots. He wasn't wrong. It's true. But he did pick out one pot that surprised me, so he was amenable to some pots, just not all the pots.

In 2020 I inherited some plants from a coworker who was moving out of town, an aloe and a ZZ plant. The aloe is now in three pots, and one of them is now in a much bigger, happy home. One of the aloes was on the front window sill, and got all droopy and brown, so I moved it to the kitchen, and now it is thriving, so it got a new pot. And the third is just wee littles that broke off last time I split the big original one into two, and I had the props in a small glass, so today they got put into the small pot that Aloe 2 was in. 

On the ZZ plant, it did nothing for the first year or so I had it. It just sat there. Then, over the winter I was afraid it was dying, but it roared back to life this spring, creating lots of new branches and glowing in green. I accidentally broke one piece off when I was pulling it out of the pot to move it into the new home, so I just placed it into a little glass, and I hope it starts to develop. We'll see what happens with that little one. C'mon lil'baby! 

Not sure who gave me snake plants, really can't remember. Maybe it was the same co-worker? But honestly I'm not sure how it came into my life. We started with one, but now I have 3 pots with snake plant action.

One big leaf had broken off of original when I split them apart into 2 pots at the beginning of the summer. Now it is in its own pot looking like a solitary rabbit's ear. I'm waiting for it to grow friends. I can't remember who I was talking to recently who said they had no idea how that plant works, you think it is putting down roots but the root then grows UP and OUT of the pot into a new leaf. They throw off tubers, and then the leaf grows out of the tuber. That's what made it weird when I split up a big one into two smaller pots. 

Maybe that's why it is like a snake? It doesn't have roots, so it's bizarre.

My mother in law hates snakes, and when I offered her one and she said no, "I hate those!" and I said "You hate them because of the name. If we call them Bunny Ear Plants then you'd love them." She found that very funny. So I call them bunny ear plants. 

I didn't tell her the other name they are known for is Mother In Laws' Tongue. So. Well. There ya go. 

Having one plant of just one big leaf ... waiting for it to do something, it is kind of like a bunny ear. I asked in our work plant channel (we have some seriously hard core plant parents!) and one of my coworker said as long as it is green, and healthy looking, eventually it will grow a "pup." So we wait!

I have a billion spider plant babies growing off of four different spider plants. I always wonder about that - is it a sign that the plant is healthy or that it is trying to escape because it isn't healthy? Makes me wonder. 

Anyway, at lunch today I took a couple of the new pots, and I repotted the aloes, the zz, and the snake plants, and got a bunch of friends into their new little houses. I should tend to the spider plants next, the one in the basement has 10000 babies. It could use a split up into 2 pots or another really big pot. 

A friend of mine recently learned how to do macrame, like our moms and grandmothers had in the 70s, and she made a whole bunch of plant hangers for her house. They are amazing. So beautiful. She used hemp and colored yarns, and nautical pieces woven in, and she has all these hanging plants like spider plants which are dripping down beautifully through her house. 

My outside Farmer Chris situation is a little bleak. The tomatoes and peppers kind of got fried due to lack of rain. I thought the sunflowers were done for too, but a couple of them just had giant flowers pop open, so large that the plants (7 or more feet tall) are bending over. I'm terrified we'll get a bad storm and they're done for. The Morning Glories did well in their spreading along the fence with little assistance from me.  When I was away Doug freed the mailbox from the leaves, and cut back some of the tendrils. The flowers open early and close by 8am, so I have to go out early now if I want to get pictures of them. We discovered last year that we have a 4 o'clock plant up front (yellow) and it was very small at the time. I think it had been cut down, but Doug decided to leave it grow to see what would happen. It is very large now, vibrant and beautiful. I think we have some pinkish one on the side of the house too, it's overgrown, wild, and out of control over there, we don't spend much time on that side of the house. 

All told, life is all around. Doing stuff. It is late August, and this is the time for things to be that way, innit? 

Pictures, and then digits below. 

all the snake plants, including the lone bunny ear. And 2 of my 3 new pots.

One lonely spider plant, a fish, some plates, and a snake on the left.
ZZ plant on the right.

digits

exercise: Dedicated 10+21 inside. fast. lots of steps. 

blood glucose:
8:30am 154
5:30pm 150
10:45pm 184

food:
coffee, water, iced tea
12:00 - metformin; turkey, cheddar, mayo, and avocado sandwich on 2 pc 647 multigrain bread
5pm - metformin+jardiance; trail mix
6:30pm - chicken breast, lettuce, pepper, celery salad
8pm: cheese

A Two Brewery Day

So much for trying to go cold turkey on beer for my triglycerides. Well. It was a good week. 

But today we took a field trip up to Frederick County to Mad Science Brewing Company in Adamstown MD. There was live music and lots of good beer to be had. But literally the lead singer's wife, Doug, and I were the only people watching the band. It was hot on the patio, and they were good but you could feel how exhausting it was. 

Domenic Cicala was the singer, and he had a bass player and drummer with him. For three guys who haven't played together in a long time (their admission) they were pretty great. And fun. We had a good time.

We were lucky to have some time to chat with him and the drummer about music and other bands. I sold him on Guster and suggested Amsterdam would be a good song for the three of them to learn. The drummer is in another band which will be playing on September 9th in our town for free at festival. They do swing music, Louis Prima, Brian Setzer, so it's in our ear-wheelhouse. We may go check them out.

We had been to this brewery a month or so ago (gotta write up a Shenanigans With Dave entry). They are at a farm with a nice farm stand and plants and everything, so I got some new pots for some of my babies that are outgrowing their spaces, and will do some repotting joy coming up soon. New pots are kind of expensive, so. Just a couple of pots. Not all the pots I need. But a couple is a good start. 

Then we went to Landmade Brewery, they opened in February and it is a beautiful location. All the buildings are painted white, and as you can see against the beautiful blue of the sky, it was just a sight to behold. They have a huge open area with picnic benches and umbrellas, areas for private gatherings and parties. The whole thing. The tasting room itself is small, but outfitted with furniture and shelving that I'd love to have in my own house and kitchen. 

Earlier in the day they had a band playing, but we missed them but that's okay. Oh. And I got to pet a donkey. 

Kind of nice. It was very sweet. 

digits

exercise: lots of steps but no solid 10 or 10+ anything 

blood glucose:
7:30am: 175
7pm: 213
10:30pm: 199

food:
coffee, water; iced coffee
10am: one leftover strip of pork
12pm: metformin; 3 lettuce wraps w/ mayo, cheese, turkey
3 beers at the brewery between 2-5pm
4pm fried empanada w/ cheese/brisket (so good)
6pm 1 beer at the 2nd brewery
7:30pm Metformin+jardiance; 
8pm Cheeseburger+salad (romaine, goat cheese, tomato)

Table Shuffle

While I was away, Doug was out for a walk and came across a yard sale. Doug loves yard sales.

There were a couple of things that caught his eye, an interesting glass chicken (I really should take a picture of it) and a nice table were among them. He went home, got the jeep, and brought his treasures home. 

The table is nice and I really like it. He put it by the window where we already had a table. It is was where we do puzzles. But this is a much nicer table. 

So the old table was there, sitting in the middle not where it was supposed to be, because he didn't know where to put it. 

In my mind I'm thinking ... I don't know, in the basement? The storage room? Oh but that would require moving some boxes, and then putting the table in the corner and then stuff on top of the table and under it. This was sounding like a project to him, so, leave it in the living room until Chris comes home. 

Let Chris Decide.

I ignored it all week. Last Sunday I was just happy to come home, all I wanted was to do my laundry and go to bed. I didn't want to think about moving tables around anywhere.

I worked all week with the table in the living room, now pushed over into the corner near the dog kennel.  Geoff had started just dumping things on it like his school bag, car keys (they go on the hook by the door!) and stuff he was grabbing at the market (that goes in the kitchen!) 

Before it would get to the point where this old table now lives forever in the middle of the room, last night I asked Doug where it should go. He suggested our room, under the window on my side of the bed. I thought that sounded good except I let that part of the house also kind of go to seed since the pandemic. 

In that corner, I have a chair with a bunch of things on it that I need to hem, sew, fix. I had a laundry basket full of random stuff, including Geoff's text books and scrubs from the RadTech program when he tried to throw them all out or burn them. I rescued them that night in October, and had just forgotten about the, piling more things on top. 

Oh! There's my Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers T-shirt with the King of the Hill style illustration. Wondered where that went. Oh! There's my Guster shirt from the Vermont 2019 shows. What are you two doing mixed in here! Salvation! Treasure!  

Then, there were the boxes from my office that I brought back a month or so ago, needing to be sorted and figured out. The bag of Christmas lights that were all around my desk. Many other things. Alright. Let's get to work.

My friend Rob called me this morning to catch me up on his life, so I took the phone into my bedroom and started working on things while he talked. He can talk a lot, and I love to listen a lot. I got the area where I wanted to put the table all cleaned up and organized.  Beauty!

After Rob and I were done chatting, I moved the table into the bedroom. For me to think about. Now what I am pondering is if I should put my computer monitor up there, let Geoff have the desk downstairs (he has kind of moved in on my space so I abandoned it. I can just let him have it). I need a better chair than the one that has the sewing piled on it (I know I can get a chair from my office so maybe I'll do that next week...) I may need a power strip or something. And of course, behind me I'll need to do something about my bureau and the top of the small kid's sized desk that we inherited from our apartment in Marblehead before Geoff was even born. 

You go to do one thing, don'tcha? One. Thing. And it turns into a two room reorganization project. 

The new puzzle table now has a new puzzle on it, ready to go. It wasn't my plan today to do this but Doug was not in a doing thing mood today, so I busied myself. He came in the bedroom and was surprised... he'd noticed the table was moved but didn't know where I put it. And now he knows. 

More to come on that. 

Digits below. 

digits

exercise: dedicated 10+22. Doug went out for his walk, I did mine inside. I felt guilty not going with him and felt tired when he left, then thought better of it. Phineas and I got a good solid half hour of movement for sure. Add to that all the cleaning, reorganization, moving of things. It was a busy body day.

blood glucose
9:30am 184
5:30pm 131
11pm 175

food
coffee, water, iced tea
11:30am 2 ham and cheese lettuce wraps (would have had 3 but the romaine was too small); Metformin
5:30pm 2 handfuls of trail mix
6:30pm 3 pieces of country style pork ribs, grilled; cheese sauce, sour cream, 1 avocado, small bowl of cantaloupe 

It's magnetic!

Remote work with a team can be exhaustingly difficult to build connections. 

Even when we were all in one place, it was very hard to get a bead, a fix, an anything with some of the teammates. Some teams are incredibly connected and friends with each other. Our small sub-team of support is super tight. We get along really well, chat, joke, have fun, talk about our dogs. And those without dogs listen to us and love our dogs (I think).  

But our full team, it's not a cordial bunch and we don't all click together. I was once at the metro and one of my teammates was there, I walked over to say hi, didn't know we rode the train towards the same direction, and she just kind of turned away when she saw me approach. It was sort of wild to me. Just the cold shoulder, here's my back, I would rather not talk to you. 

Alrighty then. I'll just go over here. 

Our department head has been struggling with this. You can't force people to be friends, she knows that, and you can't be mad if everyone is just doing their jobs and yeetin' the heck out of there at the end of the day.  A few people on the "other side" of the team were friendly with each other, but it wasn't like they'd hang out or go get beers after work. We have team meetings and she talks the whole time because none of us have anything to say to each other in the whole, full group. 

We're doing a thing (at our old office in Boston my co-worker Sean called this "Mandatory Fun") where we're going to do show and tell. 

My work bestie has had to coordinate this, and made a slide deck for each of us to put something in to "show and tell" about. Like we're little kids. And of course, guess who is contributing to this mandatory fun - my small team. And one guy from the "other side" of the team. One.

Our smaller sub-team did this last year and it was so much fun. I learned one of my co-workers went to school with a professional football player and she showed her junior high yearbook with them in a photo together. Another coworker said she loves the Beach Boys, and her prized possession that she shared was a first pressing of Pet Sounds. We all had a good laugh, and it was super interesting to talk about small things in our lives that mean a lot. 

It was super fun to not talk about work in a meeting.

Now. For Monday's show and tell, I thought about showing some of the Guster memorabilia (of course) but I have one coworker who is honestly sick of me talkin' bout Guster. He can kiss my giant ass anyway. But I changed my mind on that. I hadn't gotten all my Red Rocks stuff into a nice display shadow box yet, but if I did, they'd have to suffer through me talking about it. The commemorative ticket, the red rock from Red Rocks, the cactus necklace from Charlotte, and hummingbird pin from Don, the photo of my friends and me, and Brian Rosenworcel's "Hi My Name Is Thundergod" name tag that he gave me. Let's just say that's a project for the fall. 

I thought about the guitar I have signed by all 5 of the Barenaked Ladies, y'all remember that saga from years back. 

But I decided I'd talk about refrigerator magnets. I've begun to assemble a little collection of them over the past few years. Some of them are very old. The cat one on the left with the mama cat and 3 kittens was one Clayton bought me, because he had a dream I had 3 kids, 2 boys and a girl. the lobster is from a restaurant in NH that my father in law really liked. Naptown is Annapolis, but I thought it was funny because I am the mayor of Naptown. The tabasco, Louisiana, and Fleur de lis ones are all from our recent trip to New Orleans. A bargain at 10 bucks for 3! VPR is one that my current boss gave me when he worked at Vermont Public Radio. And the drawings are by the kids - we got magnets for the years they did these hallway tiles, and Jess got to do one and Geoff was there for two. I've never been to Alaska but my friend Tess brought those with her when she came to visit about oh, 20 years ago! For some reason, Baltimore is well represented! Got a couple there from the San Diego Zoo when my sister went a long time ago,and brought those for the kids.  The Shakespeare one was a gift from one of the parents in the Shakespeare camp the kids were in. 

And of course, there's a little Guster slipped in there too. Sshhhhhh don't tell anyone. 

So I'll talk about these. It'll be fun. 

digits

exercise: Dedicated 10+21 Doug picked geoff up at the train and then sat outside talking to a co-worker on the phone for a long time. I put dinner on the grill, and did my indoor laps. 

blood glucose:
10am 252 (bad reading - i ate and then took the reading within a 1/2 hour)
5pm 212 (not sure why so high, unless it was the snack i had at 3:30, too close to reading?
10pm 212 (still high?)

food:
coffee, water, iced coffee, iced tea
12:30 - Metformin, 3 roll ups - large romaine lettuce leaves, mayo, a piece of colby cheese and 3 slices of ham in each one. 
3:30 - 3 celery sticks w/ peanut butter
6:30pm - metformin+jardiance, Salmon (about 8 oz) with butter, chives, lemon sauce; asparagus

Pebble

(should have pubbed last night but fell asleep on the couch at 10pm) 

A long time ago, my sister told me that she was on a date/ish with Ronnie at the start of their relationship. 

He reached down, picked up a rock from the ground, and put it in his pocket. 

She asked him what he just did, and he told her when there's something special he wants to remember, a special moment, he picks up a pebble. He has a collection.

Some people would have laughed in his face, and Linda may have been amused, but to me, this sounded like next level cute and sweet. 

She started calling him Pebble. He has a lot of pet names. Pebble is one of them. She calls him Maple, and he calls her Cakes. So she shortened it to Mapes for him. They are Mapes and Cakes. It's hilarious. 

Doug and I never went the cute nickname route. So I'm glad they have a lot for each other. 

She also calls him McJerkmott, which kills me.

Fast forward all these years later.

We're at the cemetery Saturday after the graveside service for Ronnie's dad. People are leaving to head over to the mercy meal, and Ronnie is walking around quietly, just spending a little more time. He walked over to the area behind the casket. You know the area. It's the giant pile of dirt, covered with the unnaturally green astroturf colored "rug." 

Side note: When I die, cover up that giant pile of dirt with some hippie tapestries from the local head shop, or get the two or three I have in my closet, and cover up the green "rug" with some joyful color. 

Anyway, he pulls up the corner of the rug and bends over. 

"He's getting a pebble, isn't he?" I said to Linda.

"Yup," she replied. 

I thought about taking a picture to remember this by, but, I left it. I'll remember it. The pebble isn't just about something happy anymore it seems, but an event you really want to remember. Linda gave me some pictures, the above photo is the prayer card, and a rock from his parents' house and the one he picked up at the graveside. 

Above is a small collection of the rocks near a plant in their living room. The red rock at the end is well, from Red Rocks and is Linda's from our trip to Denver. Below is the garden - everything that isn't a white rock is one that Ronnie picked up somewhere along the line. 

Does he remember where every single rock or pebble is from? Probably not. But he's got them. 

Thinking on all of Ronnie's pebbles, and saying that I wish you a life where your pebbles, visible and invisible, are gathered, and others gather pebbles of you. 

One final note. 

On the prayer card above, they used my very favorite scripture. Micah 6:8. It is a different translation than what I know. 

He has told you, O man, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you,
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

When I was in college we had chapel sessions three times a week. I was asked to read at one service, and this was the passage. 

I'm not sure who picked me, and why this was the verse, but, for my whole life I think I've thought of the phrase 

do justice.
love kindness.
walk humbly.

It stays with me always. 

digits down below:

digits

exercise: not today

blood glucose:
8:30am 191
5pm 141
10pm 201

food:
coffee and water
9:30am slice of 12 grain bread w/peanut butter
10:45am Peach
12:30pm Salad leftovers with chicken salad on top; metformin
4 hard seltzers
4 soft chips ahoy cookies

More Statistics!

 Got the A1c report this morning and we're down to 7.2, last reading a few weeks ago in early July was 7.4. I didn't expect to break that 7 mark this time, but the downward trend is still good. Will keep going and will probably have another test by the end of the year, if not sooner. 

My triglycerides were through the roof, though. Every other test was normal and in range. The cholesterol, LDL/HDL, the Liver Enzymes (thanks, liver! You're an asset to the organization), the PT/INR (for the blood clotting situation and meds I take to keep from getting clots again like 10 years ago). 

But damn if them there triglycerides aren't just whack. They've always been higher than the "range" (ie: under 150, I think I got down to 190 in 2020) but 335 is ... whooooooooo wowwie!

The doctor's note said to eat a low carb diet, (ha!), don't eat fried foods (aside from one plate of fried scallops on vacation, I've not had anything fried for months and months), and get exercise (working on it and doing a lot more than the last test...) so I'm wondering why they're so high. 

Doug said that too much alcohol and not enough exercise can contribute to this, but I'll be honest, compared to this past winter, the alcohol consumption by this specific vessel is a fraction of the past. I'm wondering if this is just weird/off/wrong? 

Something to put a pin in for future discussion. Wheeeeee lookee thar. Gotta bring that sucker down.

As I'm reading graphs and looking at numbers and all, I am thinking of Geoff. He's at his first clinical day today for phlebotomy, but hopefully this time next year he'll be working in a medical lab running these very same tests. 

He is down at an health center in Capitol Hill. His program was so kind do him to find him a more local spot to do his clinical, but I kind of wish he was with another student from the program, it makes me nervous when he doesn't have a peer connection. The last time he was sent someone on his own, it didn't work out for him at all. 

Still, very nice of the program to think about travel, distance, time.  Everyone in his program lives in Virginia, and as a result, they all are assigned to hospitals in Virginia. Because we live in Maryland,  and they don't have contracts in Maryland, they have contracts with DC. They decided it would be easier on Geoff to be somewhere close, so he wouldn't be spending 2 hours each way to get to a hospital far afield. 

I appreciate them putting him close, where he is it's 1/2 hour away metro-wise, and he left, and I'm not joking, at 5:45am to be there for 8am. Remember, on time is late. I am sure his anxiety was elevated. Normally he is noisy as heck in the morning but I didn't even hear him leave, or get up, make breakfast and coffee. And neither did the dog. 

He probably got there at 6:30 with the 10 minute walk from the house. 

He texted me to say he was on break and things were going well, he said it is a very busy location. We are also patients in this practice, using a different location close to home here (too bad he didn't get placed here! 5 minutes away!), He's getting insight into how our insurance and doctors work, in addition to getting his clinical done. 

In your heart of hearts, dear reader, if you can spare a few seconds on Wednesdays and Fridays to pray for him, or just ... think on him. He could use the support of the universe, energy, holy spirit, whatever you want to label it. He needs this win. needs it. 

I just met with the dietician through my health care provider, and she is a riot. We looked over all my labs and she said the triglyceride result could be related to alcohol but also wanted to know how close to the last time one had alcohol to really judge. She suggested talking to the doctor to see how far apart readings can/should be done and going alcohol free for that period. 

Seeing as I was just on vacation, and I am very honest in everything I tracked I will admit that some daily consumption happened (I haven't had anything since Sunday), I'd almost ponder that there may have been too much consumed over the trip and it all adds up so close to the date of the reading. But when I look at last winter, it was much lower? Why? What's the cause? 

Based on some Dr. Googling, I'm looking at what helps to lower the reading. We'll see what is recommended for a retest.  More to come on that. 

We also had a really great discussion about bodies as we age and how setting a goal but not meeting it isn't the end of the world - some bodies tell you "this is where we are most comfortable weight-wise" and you just should aim to be metabolically healthy around that weight. She said so many doctors just focus on weight, weight, weight, but looking at my test results and looking forward to the next round and seeing good progress, that makes he happy. And everyone should just focus on a healthy body - not a skinny body. Some skinny bodies are very sick. 

I'd told her in 2019 I set the goal to get to 199 pounds, and the pandemic hit, and slowed me down. But I honestly maybe can kind of see that happening by January if I just aim there. We talked about realistic goals. I know I'll never weigh 130 again, but could 180 be a reality? 

Oh and I should have asked her diet wise, what I could do, if anything, to target my middle? Make that smaller? Dropping pants sizes in the past couple years from size 22 to 16 is a big deal but I still have to wear really big shirts because I'm round. Metabolically - what's up with how to target this? I'll make a note to ask her in another chat. 

Anyway - here is a picture of Phineas. He wants me to feed him dinner and he's moaning longingly.

digits: 

exercise: Dedicated 10+7 squeezed in the steps after dinner 

blood glucose:
no morning reader: my battery died in the glucose meter so picked up a new battery at 5pm-ish.

6pm: 178
xpm - not going to do a before bed reading, i have 1 strip left and I want to save it for tomorrow. I think the box i ordered will arrive tomorrow (hopefully)

food
coffee, water throughout the day
9:00am: slice of 12 grain bread w/peanut butter (approx 25 g carbs total) Only 1 slice even though I wanted 2.
12:45: bowl of chicken salad; metformin
3:45pm: trail mix
6:15pm grilled chicken breast on top of a salad ("italian" mix, cucumber, tomato) 
8:45pm  metformin+jardiance (forgot to take with dinner); handful of trail mix

A little more, a little more

This entry started out with me wildly angry about work and feeling just tremendously overwhelmed by so many things flying at my face. 

I recalled a webcomic called The Oatmeal, and how he drew a picture of what it's like when the World Cup is happening. I feel this way about work right now when I open up my laptop. I told my manager that since February, it's been like I'm a soccer goalie, just standing at my end of the field, watching the game from a distance. 

But now, the ball is coming right for me, and it is not one ball. It is thousands of them. And I'm just kind of ... overwhelmed. I can't catch them all. I can barely stop one or two of them. I feel mowed over.

Like, this picture. I got back from vacation and Sunday I went through all my email. Feeling very stable and ready for the week but now, I am not feeling that. Oy. 

So I wrote up a screed about how frustrated I am. And then I deleted it. I am very tired already. And it is only Tuesday. But it does not really matter. Complaining isn't going to help or fix anything. I need to breathe, do my job, attend my meetings, breathe, walk. 

Tomorrow I meet with the nutritionist at 4pm and am looking forward to talking to her. I've been tracking my food, blood sugar, and exercise, as you well know, dear reader. Today I had to go to the lab to get the A1c rechecked (please be lower than last time, alright?) and I snuck up to my doctor's office to ask to use the scale. 

The nurses behind the counter laughed when I told them their hall scale is the only scale that is not a liar. Every other scale lies. For instance, I weighed myself while on vacation on one of the scales in one of the fitness rooms and it said 215. No. I know I didn't gain 5 pounds since the last time I weighed myself. Liar.

So I walked into the hall and one of the nurses came with me. this was the result.  the scale is very sensitive, because when I picked my phone up to take this picture, it went to 209.3. She took the picture for me. And told me to go ahead and take a pound and a half off of this for the weight of clothing. 

Getting closer and getting down on it. 

digits

exercise: Dedicated 10+21. Laps in house. Doug went for a walk but it is super humid out there. Not for me. So laps it is! 

blood glucose:

8:30am 173
5pm: 185
10pm:  no reading. the battery died in my monitor, it was inevitable. I knew it was coming. But there won't be another reading until I get a replacement! doh! 

food: 
coffee, water
through the morning - trail mix while passing through the kitchen (let's call that breakfast)
11:45am - Yogurt w/ berries; Metformin
5:30pm cheeseburger, tomato, cucumber, goat cheese salad w/blue cheese dressing. 
6:30 Metformin+jardiance 

To go on vacation again

 Coming home last night, unpacking my dirty clothes and getting laundry organized, Geoff came into the room to catch me up on his fall semester, which begins today. He also told me he baked cookies the other day and saved one for me. 

It softened the blow a little, as was a little frustrated when I got home because the kitchen was a straight up wreck. Both Doug and Geoff know I hate coming home and cleaning up after other people when I wasn't there to make or contribute to the mess. But there we were. I didn't touch the kitchen last night, but went to my bedroom, unpacked my bag, got the laundry organized and just said fuck it, flopped on the bed and played candy crush. 

Additionally, another rule for when I travel there has to be milk for my coffee in the morning. And there was not. So this morning, while I was cleaning up the kitchen Geoff went out and got milk for me. He said he had a lot of it with the cookies. So I get it. Milk and cookies is awesome even when you are 25. But get in the car and go get your mom milk before she comes back so she isn't like ... dead tired and scrubbing the counter.

Work today was a little wild and out there. Someone on our team asked a question and one of my colleagues and I answered, with some context. The original question asker said "can you just stick to the topic at hand about XYZ and leave out the extra info." 

Oh. Okay. The extra info will be helpful to you, so okay. "No, we don't know more than what we told you or what person to ask so okay bye." 

And then we found out something wild and out there about another station, and I guess my face and my colleague's face told the tale of how we were not at all aware of the thing we were learning. 

Coming back from vacation, and being surprised and annoyed right off the bat at work, well. That's just fun, isn't it. 

My sister also felt a bunch of crazy no-good stuff returning to work today (she only did a few things because she's using some bereavement time) and both of us were very keen to just stop working, never work again, be done with co-workers who say snarky shit and getting blindsided by unexpected news. 

So we both really want to go back on vacation. Can we get a do over, with Guster concerts and no funeral? Yes dinner with friends, but no putting a relative in the earth? 

No picture today - my phone is on the charger in the other room and I am so bed-bound. zzz. 

digits

exercise: Dedicated 10+8 ... would have kept going but had to get on a call.

blood glucose:
9am: 180
5:30pm: 160
10:30pm: 190

food:
coffee, water
Noon: bowl of yogurt with peach; metformin
5pm: handful of trail mix
6:30pm 2 chicken thighs, salad, small avocado; metformin+jardience
8:30pm trail mix; Edam cheese 

Notes from Vacation

 As you know, I'd been living for this vacation for quite a while. It wasn't everything I'd dreamed it would be, but it was close. And that's pretty sweet. 

The trip up to Maine with my friends from DC was really good. Their 7 yr old loves me. We get along pretty great. There was a lot of laughter and I'm glad I took notes on some of the funny stuff we said and did along the way because we always forget what jokes we made, and then we need them later. 

Arriving in Maine and connecting with Linda, Ginger, and Kacey was great. We stayed at one hotel and Team Sara and Sean stayed at another. We should have stayed at that hotel. They had a pool. Ours was busted and empty. Strong letter to Marriott to follow. We were geared up to get in the pool Friday morning with floppy hats and happiness. Not so much. 

The concerts were amazing. We sat pretty far back for both shows, and I don't regret it. We had Henry with us, and I was worried he'd not be able to see if he was down close and people were standing up in front of him. We had a pretty sweet spot Friday night with a great view and a shelf to rest our drinks on, so it was perfect. Saturday was a little bit of a challenge in our getting together and getting to the show but it all worked out in the end, and we had a great time. 

Kacey headed home Sunday morning and Ginger, Linda, and I didn't do the Sunday event at the summer camp with the band, but Sara and Sean did - and Henry had a blast.  All the pictures of people having all the fun gave me a little heartache, but we I opted out of that event so people with kids could have fun and we could have fun heading down the coast. It was nice, just the three of us, looking at the ocean and me showing off places to my friends. Portsmouth was lovely. And I miss my people in that area a lot.

Monday was super nice to be goofy in Boston. Linda and I had so much fun just walking around the Greenway and Quincy Market, and the Aquarium area. We didn't need much more. Aside from the hotel being hella expensive and no more "worth" the price for anything than say the Sheraton in Portsmouth, it was a good time and I loved being there. 

Tuesday through Thursday, seeing our parents and getting to spend good time with them was a real blessing after knowing what Ronnie and his family were going through. 

The ease of extending our accidental oversight on the room Thursday, and canceling our nights at the beach were a relief, this being August in New England and all that jazz. 

Being able to be with Ronnie and his mom, his siblings, and the whole family and friends scene was also very good. I didn't count on that. I didn't plan for that, and seeing the beach pivot as a blessing was super lovely. The ease of booking my flight home, the hotel, and the chance to see some cousins of ours was also great. I didn't count on that either as something I'd get to look forward to.

Last night, after a solid nap and a long chat with my sister, I had time to myself for the first time in the whole vacation, and really, the first time in months. I slept until I wanted to wake up, with no responsibility or need to get up. My sister and Ronnie were at their place doing fine with the dogs, reunited after all the time and the crazy amount of time they had to be alone while the funeral things were happening. It was very nice to just get organized, and listen to music, and be alone for a bit. 

There was a lot of heavy duty peopleing since last Wednesday when we left. It was refreshing to be the only people.

Today Linda and Ronnie came to the hotel and I checked me out. We met our cousin Joey for lunch at the Harbor Crab in Patchogue, right on the river that goes down to Patchogue Bay. I'd never been to this area, and Linda always forgets this is here, but we were so happy to have our outing together. 

On the dock, boats all around, no one there yet cause we got there early, we were the kings and queens of everything. It was so nice to just laugh and tell stories and talk about life.  

I also need to do a better job packing. I stupidly only brought 3 shirts. Not sure how I blew that, but I thought I had a short sleeved grey shirt that I pulled out of the laundry - and it was long sleeved. Too hot for that. I also had another long sleeved t-shirt, which was in my backpack with a sweatshirt. Oh, and I packed a sweatshirt in the suitcase too. So basically I lived in 2 guster shirts and this Sawbelly Brewing shirt for days. 

Luckily, I wear deodorant, and didn't get too much shit on my shirts. 

I bought 2 blouses and a pair of pants for the wake and funeral, so now I have those, which is pretty nice. But next time, pack as many shirts as underpants. Make a note of it. One for one. And make sure they are shirts you want to wear, not like long sleeve shirts when it is 90 degrees out. 

I'll be very happy to do laundry tomorrow. Not starting it tonight. 

Here we are at lunch. A must revisit spot. Can't wait to go back. And I miss these jerks already. I should flip this picture because it's a selfie on Lin's camera but I am feeling too lazy.

digits

exercise: travel day but managed to eek out Dedicated 10+6 walking around in the Islip Airport. Tacked an additional 10 in the BWI airport walking from the gate to the luggage. And then a short walk in Ellicott City after Doug and I had dinner. Didn't measure the time, that was a meander.

blood glucose:
9am: 178
9:45pm: 237

food:
9:45am Coffee, Protein Shake 
Lunch 11am: tuna sashimi, avocado; mimosa. Steak salad. 2 vodka+sodas; lots of water
Metformin 11:45am
3pm: 2 beers
6pm: Dinner at Manor Brewing, buffalo wings, giant southwest salad, one beer; lots of water
Metformin+Jardiance 8pm

Raymond

We laid Ronnie's dad to rest today. 

I didn't do an entry last night because I ended up sharing my hotel room with a friend of Linda & Ronnie's (and a friend of mine too you could say). So sitting up typing at 12:30am would have been rude. 

Linda and I said bye to our parents at 9:30am on Friday, and started our trip this way. We were doing great until we crossed onto Long Island. Then it was just a shit show of traffic. On the GPS (Google and Waze) it said we'd arrive at 2 and then just got later and later. And it was too late to do anything about it as we'd passed both ferry options. On paper, it would have been the same amount of time and about 100 dollars if we did the ferry, but, Linda said we should just go. 

Big error. We got to the hotel after 3. Linda didn't shower before we left so she jumped in the shower to get cleaned up. I had showered before leaving, so I got dressed, got us some coffee, and we made it over to the funeral home to Ronnie's family at 4:30, just a little later than expected. 

The wake was long, and we had an early morning today as the mass was at 9:30am. Ugh. The wake was good, lots of people and lots of chatting and fun, a photo video montage of Ray and his whole life. The four grandkids made it there - one had just gone back to college in New Orleans and one actually lives down by me. 

Lots of friends and new faces. Our cousins Jimmy and Joey came out too, which was so sweet of them. Everyone loves Ron so coming to support him it just felt natural to want to be here. 

The funeral was a full mass, a little weird at times and I'm too tired to write much about it, but Ronnie's dad would have loved it. Ronnie's mom sure did. 

We had a mercy meal at a nice restaurant near the cemetery, got to chat with Linda's boss about his Alfa Romeo and siblings. It was psychically exhausting to be "on" for so many hours but tonight I'm in the hotel room by myself. And it is bliss. 

We're trying to get together with a couple of our cousins tomorrow for a visit. That would be nice. Still up in the air. I offered up our hotel lobby (they have a starbucks) and Linda was thinking of a diner but so many things have closed and Sundays are hugely crowded. We'll see what we come up with. 

After the funeral, after the meal, we went to Ronnie's mom's house. Everyone is big exhausted, but we got her settled into her chair and brought things around and got her water and cookies. Linda toured me in the backyard and the garden is beautiful. Ronnie and his brother were there, but his sister had to take her son to the airport to go back to school. Everyone had a big talk, which she said "it's not the time to have this talk," but what to do about the house and her living there alone. She has feelings but listened to the boys, who both think she should move into a new place. 

Dad didn't want to sell the house - it was his pride and joy. They all love the house too. But. They'd been encouraging him to move them into something smaller and easier, with a full bath and a bedroom all on the first level, for her. He didn't want to, but now he's gone so the argument is done and they can start thinking about what to do. To be honest - I'd love to buy this house. Ha.  

It was time for us to go, so she hugged me goodbye and told me that this was going to be weird for a while. Hugging her, I agreed and told her to think of it as a big family party, and he just left a little early. She'll see him later, but, just continue to live the love and enjoy the party. She laughed and said he would have loved that analogy. She'll continue to enjoy the party. 

We also discovered that Ronnie's niece Lisa who lives about 40 minutes west of me in Virginia is driving home tomorrow. Had we had a clue about anything, I could have ridden home with her. We all assumed she flew. But no. She drove. So she may be able to bring my treasures (ie: Beer) purchased in Maine 

And a picture. Ronnie's family had beautiful flowers and the sunflowers and red flowers spray was my favorite. We all added roses to the top of the coffin. Forever Yours.

digits

Friday

Exercise: 7 minutes according to the fitbit. I fell just short of the dedicated 10 because it was just too exhausting to think of finishing.

Blood Glucose: 
7:30am 173
4pm 183
11:45pm 250 (just ate dinner)

Food: bad. lots of road snacks, coffee, protein shake, blah blah blah. Dinner last night was a salad with buffalo tenders but they were horrible. 

Saturday

Exercise: lots of movement during the day, Dedicated 10+6 more at 11:30pm

Blood Glucose:
7:30am 209
11pm: 239 (just ate dinner)

Food: 
7:30am Protein Shake, coffee
11:45am - mercy meal. antipasto; salad; chicken in butter lemon sauce with broccoli (literally 1 broccoli). 2 pieces of bread; a few cannoli; wine; water
10:00pm: stuffed mushroom caps, shrimp appetizers, salad; vodka+soda; hard seltzer; water

The Flow

 This vacation has taken a couple turns. But we flow easily through them. There is no freaking out. So far. I like that. I really like that.

Yesterday, Lin and I decided we would take my mom to see her sister on the other side of the bridge. But this morning I thought twice about it. I realized I need clothes for a funeral and I couldn't just show up in a Guster T-shirt and 15 yr old capri pants. We both would like to get our hair cut. We have dinner tonight with a friend coming down from Providence just to see us.

Also, oh my gosh, how are we going to pack all my shit into my one bag to get home. The Beer. I bought Beer in Maine. For my family. Thinking I was taking a train home. Posters. We'll have to ship the poster because it'll be destroyed in my bag. Linda would be taking a number of things home for me to hold until we next see each other. 

We decided we needed today as the day of getting reorganized and resorted. 

I called my mom at 11 to let her know we were not going to be taking her to see Bevvie, and she seemed okay with that. She hasn't seen her sister since May, and Linda and I really wanted to take her, but, it just wasn't going to work out and she was very fine with that.  I think she doesn't like seeing her sister like this, in the home, with no memory of anything. We are encouraging and also a little bit forceful when we tell her she has to go over, but thinking about it, that may be mean. 

Maybe. I am not sure.

I have feelings, thoughts. I'm trying to be empathetic and merciful. It's some heavy shit to ponder. But for today we won't go. I'll be sad if this was our very last chance.

Linda spent time last night and this morning talking to her Sister In Law, who is going through it with the death of her dad, and, with the fact that she just also dumped her long distance boyfriend of two years because he couldn't/wouldn't come to the funeral. There's a bunch of stuff there, but I won't outline it. Suffice to say she is in "double whammy" loss mode and reeling from it. So this morning she was downstairs and upstairs and bringing my lazy ass coffee as I goofed off chatting with my cousins down the island to see if we could do a get together once I'm down there this weekend, before I fly away.

Linda wanted to buy tickets to Guster at Carnegie Hall the day after Thanksgiving, so she was online watching the countdown. The purchasing was stressful - but she ended up getting tickets, not where she wanted them, but, she got them.  She sighed with relief to go downstairs again, and I decided I'd get in the shower. 

Housekeeping was outside our door, to clean the room. Like, for us to be checked out to clean the room. 

We were supposed to be booked here through tonight, checking out tomorrow. Linda made this reservation on her account so I couldn't pull it up to look (I made other reservations on this trip, so I had those on my account). She asked housekeeping to hold, please. We pulled up her laptop and logged in. Sure enough.  She missed tonight. Mentally I think we all have issues remembering what day it is. On Tuesday when I talked to Doug he swore it was Wednesday and was sorely disappointed when I told him. 

I think we need to go back to wall calendars to be in our face and remind us exactly where we are. 

Linda ran downstairs to the front desk to ask and I looked up on the website there was ONE room available here tonight.  I texted her to tell her to ask if we can book this. It was 50 bucks more than what we were paying the other nights, as we'd booked this out way back in the spring. Oh well, what's 50 bucks vs. packing up and finding another place? I've been paying for things on my card, so, yeah. 50 bucks. Let's go.

They were able to book her in, keep us in this room, and they gave her the rate that we paid originally. 

Damn. Good. Stuff. 

I noted the wow factor of what if we'd gone to take mom to see our Auntie, we'd be gone already and housekeeping would have shown up here with all our stuff still in the room and us nowhere to be found. 

Fortunate for us, right? Way to go. 

We went to lunch and the server was the only one in the restaurant. It took forever, for everything, but Linda was in family funeral planning mode, creating a playlist, looking for pictures on her phone. It was okay for us to just sit there and do nothing. After lunch, we went to JC Penney because it was in the plaza. 

The good news is my pants size is down to 16. 

The bad news is my belly is still giant, so I still need a really big shirt. But they had some. So that's okay. I found a pair of nice pants, 2 blouses, and a bonus extra pair of shorts. Bingo. Done. Linda found a few things, but she's gained some weight recently so she was mad about buying a size up. She still looks fantastic, and what I wouldn't give to be a size 12. But a 16 is a victory for me, considering back in 2016 I think I was in a 22/24. I'll take it. No complaints. Just gotta figure out what to do about the belly, if that was smaller, I could even wear dresses. 

Anyway. 

Linda was exhausted, so I brought her back to the hotel, and went to get a haircut. I asked our waitress where was a nice place to just get a trim, I didn't need a full 'do, so she sent me to downtown. Found the place, it was an hour wait for a haircut so I put my name in, and drove to the pier and played Pokemon. Got back and got the haircut. 

My sister texted me to say our friend was running ahead of schedule, so he'd be to our hotel at 6:15. I ran back, and got here just as he did. We came upstairs and shared some Guster On The Ocean Beer, and then went out to eat. 

What a fun time to spend with him. At the festival we didn't get to hang out with as many lovely people as we wanted, so this was so nice. He's gearing up for a big hike on Saturday so I'm cheering him on. Over 2 summers he did all the 4000ft mountains in New Hampshire, and now he's doing some long distance traverses, so he is really getting into this as a hobby. We talked a lot about safety, about obeying signs (when it says do not step off the trail... don't step off the trail!) Dinner was delicious, and I had a baked stuffed scallop with shrimp stuffing, and it came in a scallop shell. I wrapped that up to take home with me. I've wanted to make a lightbox for On The Rocks from Red Rocks, and now On The Ocean. I've got good memories for both of them. 

Back at the hotel, Linz is still looking through pictures. I'm going to start to organize our stuff for quick departure tomorrow. Visiting hours for her father in law start at 5pm for the general population but family is welcome at 4. She would like to be there in time to get to the early assembly. Our hotel said we can check in at 2 if we're in the area. We can freshen up from the car trip (if we can't get a ferry we'll drive straight through. 

We'll flow. 

I went to the exercise room when we got back to the hotel too. Half hour on the treadmill, hit 10k steps for the day. The scale down there lied to me. I don't believe or trust it. Jerk. 

Here are some pictures of our visit with Alex. Gotta say, my haircut looks pretty damn cute! 

digits

exercise: Dedicated 10+33. Got my 10 min in early, but then did a half hour on the treadmill at the hotel. Got the 10k steps beat out the window. Boom.

blood glucose:
10am: 202
11:30pm: 211

food:
10am: coffee, protein shake, trail mix
noon ish - trailmix
2pm lunch: steak salad, vodka+soda; metformin
4pm trail mix, hummus+crackers
8pm: scallop with shrimp stuffing (lots more bread than I hoped for) and large bowl of clam chowder. 1 beer. 
10pm: metformin+jardiance
11:30: cheese

I'll take "things I didn't expect to hear for $1000," Alex

Note: yesterday's entry is updated to reflect that yes i did do my exercise that i said i was not going to do. 

Linda got up this morning to go down and have a cigarette, and grab 2 coffees for us for the room. I heard her leave, it was about 9:00 and I rolled over to snoozicle a little longer. I woke up, looked at the clock and it was 9:45 already. She usually just checks in with Ronnie for the morning chat and dog check-in, and is back up in a few minutes. 

So it was a little surprising she was gone so long. She came up with the coffees, went in the bathroom, came back and sat down.  She told me that Ronnie's dad had passed away last night. 

Oh. 

Unexpected news there, eh? 

So alright. 

First thing first, I'm going to the bathroom, and then second thing, giving you a big hug, and thirds, oh my gosh what happened? 

He had a heart attack while doing the dishes. Gone, just like that.

He was 83 years old. In really good health overall, so this was not the parent we thought would go. Just like we didn't anticipate Gary would be the one to go either in 2017. 

So as a family, they are  trying to decide what happens next. Linda has been down out front a bunch of times, talking to Ronnie's sister, Ronnie's mom. There's nothing for her to do yet, so Ronnie said to stay here - spend time with our parents. Spend that time. Keep this time. 

I canceled our 2 night stay at a kind of dumpy little hotel on the beach in Plymouth, but it is one we've stayed at before, and it is literally right on the sand of the beach. You walk out the door, across the patio, and into the Bay. Linda really wanted this part of the trip. Day drinking and walking into the water. That was the goal. Not to be. I asked Doug if he wanted to drive up here on Friday and hang out with me for the weekend and he said it was not a good time for him to do that with work and all, it being a 10 hour drive and a Friday in the Summer. I asked Jess but they are house and dog sitting so no. No Jess. Although they really loved the idea. We all like this dumpy ass hotel and the location. 

I promised Linda we'd get our beach vacation for sure.

We decided I'll ride to Long Island with her on Friday. The wake is 5pm - 9pm on Friday so we'll be home in time for that. The funeral is Saturday. I'm staying at a hotel both Friday and Saturday nights and my flight home is Sunday around 4pm and Doug will pick me up in Baltimore at 5:30.

A new and interesting wrinkle in our vacation. 

Today, we went out to late lunch with my parents, and then my sister said we should spring dad and take him for a drive. We went down to the canal and had a short walk. It was a gorgeous day, and Linda tried like hell to get a selfie of us together. Her best shot is below. I thought we could visit the tasting room for the Buzzards Bay Brewing Company but that location is closed, sadly. My dad likes another bar in town, which my mom doesn't want him to hang out in because the barmaids are sexy. Ha. Hey ... if you ain't lookin' yer dead, as they say. 

So we took him there. It's a nice bar, really nice. We had a great time feeding the internet jukebox with Guster, Frank Turner, Rush, Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers, Social Distortion, Flogging Molly, and it was a great time. 

Getting this fun with my dad was nice. I think the plan tomorrow is a day with my mom. We're going to take her to see her sister, spend a day. Fun. We'll see how that goes. 

Tonight we got in the pool and met a girl from Indiana here for a conference. We had a lot of fun for an hour talking. I did a lot of aqua aerobics, my knees are feeling it right now! Woo!  

digits

exercise: Pool. Did about 45 min of fake aquarobics, whew! short walk on Cape Cod Canal but all the action was in the pool tonight.  

blood glucose
10am: 158
xpm - no reading
10pm: 183

Food:
breakfast, 10:30am, yogurt, coffee, protein shake (3 net carbs on yogurt, 2 on the protein shake)
1pm: metformin
1pm: snack, cheese on triscuits (6) and ... a mimosa
2pm: Scallops, double coleslaw, water
2 vodka & sodas (approx 3pm and 4pm)
6pm: metformin
6pm: snack/dinner-ish. Triscuits, hummus, cheese, trail mix; mimosa

Water and lots of it.

Three Ladies

I am happy to report that the sea lion tank was full of water and sea lions this morning. I could see their cute little water cow bodies slipping all through the tank, sun reflecting on their shapes as they did zoomies. I guess last night was tank cleaning night. 

We went to bed after hanging out with V until about 11pm, and I couldn't fall asleep. At 6am some alarm clock on the floor started to go off and was not being turned off. I waited patiently, you know, in case the person in the room was in the bathroom or something and forgot to turn it off. No dice. I called the front desk to report it and they eventually got someone up to turn it off. I eventually fell back asleep, but every time someone walked down the hall I could hear them talking. Some hotels have soundproof doors. This hotel did not. 

I told Linda that as far as hotels go, this was okay. Borderline Meh. Location amazing. Staff wonderful. But. Meh. Not worth the price. And I feel like we paid for a very nice downtown parking spot more than anything. 

This morning we didn't hesitate, we both got up, showered, dressed, ready. And we headed to see my old boss from 2017, when her tenure with our team was terminated and the rest of the team either relocated or got other jobs. We had a great visit, it was so fun and natural talking to her. When I had arranged to visit with her I realized my college roommate lived about a mile away. So we then went to see her. Just in time... she's taking her youngest to college in North Carolina on Thursday. Short and sweet visit, but wonderful and lovely. We then drove west to go see Jo, the former owner of the cooking school I worked at before my current job. Also known as "Awesome." So much fun. She's amazing. I realize how many just super wonderful smart, talented, funny women I know. And these three are treasures for me. 

We got on the highway to drive down to my parents, only one hour from Jo, straight shot down. I think tomorrow it is supposed to rain, so Linda and I talked about spending the day cleaning at their house. We're going to swing by Walmart, get things to clean with, I think I should get kind of a work t-shirt since I forgot to pack one, and we'll drink mimosas and clean. Like ya do. 

With dueling TV volumes in the other rooms competing for our sanity. 

Here is a picture from Roslindale. Digits below.

digits

Exercise: lots and lots of driving. No dedicated 10. Unless I'm suddenly inspired to just go walk up and down the hall in the hotel.

Edit: at 11:30 decided to walk up and down the hall for the dedicated 10 afterall, and got 18 minutes total. yay!

Blood Glucose:
9am: 195
xpm (dinner time-ish) no reading taken. Driving. Didn't have testing kit with me when I ate dinner
10pm:181

Food/Meds:
Breakfast, 9am - 2 good yogurt, pepperoni slices, cheese slices, coffee, water
Metformin - 3pm while driving, thinking we'd grab something to eat shortly. we didn't.
Dinner, 6pm: Caesar Salad (small); 6 buffalo wings; 1 beer
Metformin/Jardiance - 10pm 
snack, 10pm: hummus/crackers, mixed nuts

Dreaming of a past ghost

I had a breakfast date with my friend Dave at 8am, and had an alarm set for 7 so I could shower, be ready to go, and hopefully not wake up Linda and Ginger. 

Ginger's alarm went off like every other Monday in her life at 6am, for getting her son to school. I thought about just being awake, but said ya know... you can get another hour of sleep if you can fall back asleep in a few minutes. 

Success. Sleep came well. But so did the weird dream. 

I was boarding a riverboat with Doug and a ton of other people, we were dressed in Victorian period clothing. And it turns out it was our college, only on a riverboat. I was handed documentation saying I needed to retake freshman English and had to take a second class as well. I decided to take Russian Literature. Doug went over to some other location and I was sent to the freshman English professor - one from my college days that I had a very unhappy relationship with. I would say he is my "bully" but he of course thought his "bullying" is encouragement. Not me. All the other English majors adored him, but he and I just never connected, ever. He passed away a few years ago, but in this dream he is as real as ever.

He rips over my paperwork and says my first and last name out loud but looks at me, and realizes and says my maiden name. He points out loudly that I already graduated and demands to know why am I there! "I saw you at commencement! Why are you here! What are you doing! Why are you here!" 

I tell him I got a letter telling me to come, that I didn't take this class and my degree is invalid until I remediate this issue and take the class. I'm only following the rules.

His behaviour was blustery and impossible. Borderline violent. He was screaming, yelling, spitting, and I was very confused. Why is he berating me? I haven't done anything wrong. Nothing of this is my doing. I. Did. Nothing. Wrong. 

So I yell back at him, standing up for myself, saying "What is wrong with you? Don't you have anything else better to do than yell at students who are just trying to get through the program?!" 

He was astonished at my pushing back, and I woke up with a start. A literal gasp of astonishment. 

My heart was racing, I looked at my phone. It was 7:39. I was supposed to be up quite a bit ago, and my crazy assed dream woke me up, just in time to run out the door. Just in time. 

From my past, Dr. Stine still haunts me and, well, he made me on time for breakfast. I guess I can thank him for that.

My friend Dave laughed so hard at this story when I told him, so I appreciated him loving it. 

We had a wonderful catch-up, and could have kept talking for hours more but he had to get home for an appointment. I walked back to the hotel, the girls were up and getting ready. It was time to hit the road. 

I drove them through Portsmouth again, and by Prescott Park, and Strawbery Banke. We drove over to Pierce Island, and I thought that was the way that I wanted to go, but I was wrong. We reversed direction, got on 1B and headed south to New Castle and Great Island. The sky was amazing, the colors and the clouds were gorgeous. We kept just pulling over to look at how pretty things were. We pulled over repeatedly, and took some pictures and loved the absolute stillness of the ocean today. And we saw seals. Even cooler. 

1B connects to 1A, and we drove the coastal jaunt down into Newburyport Massachusetts. All of my favorite former stomping grounds. I had an idea for lunch, and drove over to Plum Island to find the Plum Island Grille closed. Had no idea. Huh. 

So we drove around PI and headed back to town. Linda doesn't eat seafood and I wanted her to have something more substantial than a hot dog, but I wanted fried scallops. My favorite place for that is so we Park Lunch. We were sitting at a stoplight when I noticed the new location of the Black Cow right by the road instead of down on the water with a deck, but, the top deck had tables open. I pulled into the lot and we had lunch there. I didn't realize the Tuscan Grille was where the Cow used to be, and it would have been stellar to eat on the river, but, this was just as good and lunch was delicious. 

Ginger was starting to get anxious, her flight was at 6:15 and she always likes to get to the airport with 2 hours to spare and relax. 

She got a text saying the flight was delayed so we walked down to the water. I suggested a selfie, and honestly my head is not this big compared to Linda and Ginger, it is just the way Linda was holding the camera. This picture sums up how stupid dumb funny of a time we were having. 

It would be nice if we could take one good picture. But no seriously, we were laughing our asses off, and if nothing else, this shows exactly how happy this moment is. 

Back in the car, and down the highway. Flying like the wind because we've been goofing off like silly gooses, and the traffic was getting worse on the way to Logan. We got Ginger to the departures, easy peasy drop off with big hugs and tears.  Her flight took off on time, and Linda and I were over at Long Wharf in Boston watching flights take off, not able to quite tell which one was hers, but we knew she was well on her way. 

Unfortunately, upon arrival in Atlanta they sat on the plane for an hour, couldn't get to a gate, and everyone missed their connections. Ginger is now stuck in Atlanta, she doesn't want me to get her a hotel room, because no one knows where the luggage is, and she just wants a toothbrush and will sit at the airport in the terminal until her new flight leaves, at 8:30am tomorrow. 

As of this hour, trying to convince her otherwise. But. She's her own adult. I honor what she wants to do. 

Meanwhile, after watching planes take off, Linda and I walked around to the Aquarium. I wanted to see the Sea Lion tank, but it is empty, looks under construction. I was sad. We crossed to the Greenway and took pictures and watched the water fountain and small children intermingling and having fun. We walked up to the carousel and decided it was worth 4 bucks each to take a ride. 

When the carousel stopped, the guy said we could stay on. 

And again. 

We were having a laugh riot, kids were cheering, parents were standing on the rail, laughing as the kids went again and again. 

We would have ridden a fourth time but we had other plans. We were hoping to connect with our friend V so I could give him a gift that we didn't arrange a hand off of in Maine. He found us and we sat at Ned Devine's having snacks and cocktails and chatting about how much fun we had in Maine. Most of the bars were closing at 9, so we came over to the hotel where we knew the restaurant was open until 11. We chatted and laughed, really had a good visit. Something we didn't really have time for during all the Guster shenanigans. 

It's after midnight now. I am hoping the best for Ginger getting home. Fingers crossed. Here's Boston for ya as we head to bed.

digits

exercise: Dedicated 10,+50 with 2 walks in Portsmouth to and from breakfast. Walk in Newburyport. Walk all over Boston. Well not all over, but about 5 miles total for the day and an hour of walks.

Blood Glucose: 

8am: 205
5pm: 209
11pm: 203

Food:
Coffee
Water
8:30am Breakfast burrito (eggs, some hash browns that I flecked out most of), with cheese, sour cream, flour tortilla (ate 1/2 of it)
2pm Big Salad at lunch with baby greens, goat cheese, tomato, steak tips
5pm handful of ronnie's trail mix, mimosa 
metformin
8:30pm, french onion soup, corn dip, pretzel, 2 hard seltzers
jardience at 11pm 

Portland to Portsmouth

 We got cleared out of our hotel at about 11am. Initially I wanted for us to head up to a friend in Hallowell but nixed that idea. I knew it would be super heavy traffic on such a weekend, so I packed us into the car, and we went on a toodle aboot. Ginger hasn't been to Maine before so I wanted her to see the coast.

We hit Portland Head Light (which Ginger asked why it was called Head Light. No. It's Portland Head's Light. Not Portland, Headlight). 

I cropped this from the vertical view so it would fit nicely here. What a day. Just simply wonderful weather-wise and sky-wise and cloud-wise.

We enjoyed a really fun walk around and decided it was lunchtime. We drove back toward town because Ginger wanted a lobster roll, and the restaurant I picked close to the lighthouse didn't sell them. Boo. So we ended up at a place called Becky's Diner in the Port. Great meal, tons of fun. 

From there, a spin through town, fill up on gas, and time to head south. 

Initially I thought I'd drive us down Rte 1 or 1A or something, Saco, Old Orchard, York, Ogunquit, Kennebunk/port etc. But the traffic looked worse on those roads than 95 so we stuck to the highway. It shouldn't take 3 hours to get from Portland to Portsmouth! 

It ended up taking about 2, but we made it, got secure, and checked into the hotel. We had some issues with the last hotel, but this one is much much better. Much. 

C came and met us for dinner, and Jess joined us too. We had a great time catching up. Very happy to be with my kid and bestie, enjoying the little city I love. 

Portsmouth is a little charmer, easy to walk around and lots to see. 

Tomorrow morning I'm going to meet another friend for breakfast while Linda gets some work done. It'll be an early start for me, which is okay. I'll enjoy getting some walking in before another day of driving. 

It was hard seeing all the social media posts about how much fun it was hanging out with Guster at the day camp they had, but my friend Sara shared pictures and video of her son just living his best wild 7 year old life and that was delightful. 

Right then. Here is Jess and me. I miss spending time with them. I miss talking to them. I miss them. Digits below. 

Digits

exercise: Dedicated 10+13. Great strolls around in Maine and Portsmouth. Got some steps in for sure! 

blood glucose: 
(I have to double check these numbers. notebook is in the backpack)

9am
5pm
10pm: 191

Food:
coffee
water
2 sausage patties & some scrambled eggs
5 fried scallops & cole slaw, side salad with bleu cheese
a bunch of french fries
side salad, chicken fingers (breaded) dipped in honey bbq and buffalo sauce
2 vodka sodas with lemon