Huntington I am in you

This morning, I woke up around 7 and fed the dog, and went back to bed. The joy of a vacation day. I finished laundry, read emails, I got pokey and dicked around before finally getting myself out the door to go to Target for some snacks for the trip, and get a haircut at my favorite spot. 

I went to my favorite girl, and we had quite the chat and catch up. I hadn't been to see her since May 2022. The last haircut I got was on vacation in August and that was in Massachusetts, so I was overdue. She did my bangs right but overall, it is kind of too short, I'm slightly disappointed, but, it's hair, it grows. I'll be fine. I'm sure I'll like it when I can style it the way I want. 

Sara and Sean got me at about 5:30 and we made pretty great time. Even with a goodly long-ish stop to eat we got to the hotel at 11:15. Sara was terrified to drive through NYC, but I told her she didn't have to.  She would just have to drive on the George Washington Bridge. She basically bricked, which was funny, but I patiently guided her to 95 North, 95 North, you got this, keep right, shift left... you got this. I'm incredibly proud of her because I know how very very much I hate driving that road. 

The hotel is amazing. Downtown Huntington never had a hotel, for a million years. You'd have to stay down 110 towards the LIE. But now there is a wonderful and beautiful hotel in what used to be Town Hall. Fully Restored, Gorgeous. And I'm so excited to walk out the front door tomorrow and go look around my hometown.

My room is huge. Linda was going to stay here with me tonight but opted to stay home. I'm alone, in peace, and quiet at 1:30am, very much looking forward to fun and shenanigans tomorrow.  

Oh yeah, and Guster. That too.

I should get some sleep. Or something. So we can do fun and wonderful things on Friday. Look out, Huntington. Here we come. 

digits

exercise: 6/12 hours of 250 steps; missed 1pm getting my haircut. Sat in a car. Not sure of Dedicated 10 but I spent a lot of time walking around Target and the mall go get to the haircutting place.

blood glucose:
9am: 183
5pm:  205
11:30pm:  183

food:
coffee, water
11am: some roast beef slices
11:30: Metformin
2:15pm: 2 good yogurt, meyer lemon; apple slices w/peanut butter
7pm: Wendy's - dave's double, skipped the top of the bun. 10 chicken nuggets; metformin+jardiance
Car snacks: some mixed nuts & baby bells
12:30am: soft taco w/ground beef from Taco Bell
wine & zero sugar ginger ale.

The Waiting is the Hardest Part

I want to go to NY, like, now. 

Today and tomorrow are going to just drag. I'm distracted and full of anticipation. I want to go up by train and just apologize to Sara that I'm an impatient jerk and had to leave. But I am going to stick to my plan. I hate when people change plans on me, so I don't want to change plans on anyone else. 

Still. The heart is powerful strong. 

Not much else to say. Hearing of people who've been laid off at my org and I'm stunned at some of them. I can't even talk about it. Heartbreakingly bummering. 

Anyway, mostly nothing today, looking forward to tomorrow. Maybe a haircut! Who knows! 

goodnight.

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps, dedicated 10+3

blood glucose:
8am: 158
5pm:  153
9pm:  154

food:
coffee, water
10:30am: 2 good yogurt, meyer lemon
11:45: metformin
noon: BLT Salad (rather large, I must say!)
7pm: grilled chicken thighs, fajita style on low-carb wraps w/ cheese, salsa & sour cream
9pm: 10 Reese's peanut butter cup minis. ramekin mixed nuts. 

White wine

 

Home Alone and Back at It

Linda left around noon. I kind of wanted her to stay until tomorrow and then leave, with me going with.

I'm going up north with Sara et al on Thursday but I would have preferred to go with Linda for some more Linda time. 

Going today wouldn't be an option because Phin would be all alone tomorrow, in his kennel, for like... 9 hours. So. Wednesdays are a bad day for the poor bean if I were to leave today.

She has to be up there by tonight so she can do something for her office in person for tomorrow. If I went with her, I'd have to stay at a hotel, too. Not that I'm opposed to it. She doesn't have room for guests right now, so I'd have her dump me at a hotel, I'd get some Marriott points somewhere (heh) and then go to the hotel we are staying at on Thursday to check in. 

I could work from hotel just like I am working from here. 

We're still on the original plan, Sara et al on Thursday afternoon. Initially Sara told me Thursday morning, but, now it is "after work" and I asked her "How long after work? Do you mean.. .5pm? or 8pm? Because if it is 8pm I'll take the train. It's farther than you think when driving."  

She says close to 5 but I'm groaning a little I hate getting anywhere too late. I wanted to be up there between noon and 5. I also wanted to get up there with time to have some fun, but it may be straight to bed to be honest.

I took the day off for Thursday thinking we'd be traveling, but. I may as well work. Or not. Whatever. Maybe I'll keep my vacation day. I'm not sure just yet what I want to do.

Anyway. Not much else to report. Just another workday of boring life, back here at the house. Thankful for another short week. Thankful for a job, to be honest. Even if I'm not overjoyed with things. 

Photo here is from my friend Ang, from the Guster group. The final night of their run in Florida, they decided to nod to some Florida politicians and people who don't like drag. On Twitter people are like "that's not drag that's just an asshole in a dress," and it just makes me laugh because I think of Milton Berle, Monty Python.... Assholes in Dresses. 

And here's another one. My hero Ryan. 

Digits below.

digits

exercise: 11/12 hours 250 steps ... somehow lost the noon hour because I was chatting with a friend on Slack. Dedicated 10+2 pokemon walk.

blood glucose:
8 am: 205
5pm: 171
9:30pm: 178

food:
coffee, water
8:15am: Protein shake
11am: 2 toll house cookies (baked to send home with linda!)
11:30am: Metformin
12:30pm: the rest of the chicken salad (probably a cup and a half)
2:45pm: thin piece of bbq chicken left over from last week
4:30pm: 2 toll house cookies
7pm: chicken parm

white wine

Great Escape - Florida Guster Tour 2023

 I'm hoping I can capture the fun I had. 

Linda and I had an uneventful travel day on Wednesday, as noted. Thursday we got up, got pedicures at a very nice salon with super nice employees. We called a couple places in the area who were booked or could take us at 2 or 3pm. That was way too late. So we got taken care of, got shiny toes and clean feet. Florida feet! And we walked down the road to a brewery with a full bar for lunch.

Linz doesn't drink beer so we need a place that at least has wine. This place checked the boxes: beer, wine, cocktails, food, yes. We had a great time hanging out talking with the bartender and this guy at the bar about 90s rock, Guster being in town, the venue where we were headed, all our favorite bands, and what shows we went to that didn't turn out great. I left her a giant tip, Linda left her secret money, and the guy picked up our drink tab even though I told the bartender I'd pick up his. We took up a lot of her real estate, and time, but there was only one other person at the bar and he was thoroughly entertained by us. A slow Thursday in Orlando shouldn't have to make for a piss poor money day for her. 

We headed up the street, a little day drinking drunk, and my friend Peri had mentioned to me that a friend of hers owns a Cat Café in town. Well. Sure! Why not. Let's go pet CATS! Something I can't do with Doug! 

We got coffee, and petted cats. Sobered up a little bit while having fun. I met this sweet little tortie who let me love on her, but reminded me of her murder mittens when I got a little too adoring. 

Back to the hotel, Ginger met us there and while she and Linda got caught up, I went out to dinner with Peri and her husband Keith. They had free tickets to see the Gusters and were happy to come with us. 

While on line for the bathroom at the pizza joint, I noticed the Guster poster on the bulletin board. Sold out show, that night, "Steal it!" says Peri. "I should ask for permission!" I replied. She dissuaded me - and rebel that I am, I did. 

When I bought the tickets, I got them for myself, Linda, Ginger, Sara, Sean and Henry. I read on their website that it was a GA floor with balcony seating. So I thought hell yeah - Ginger (with MS) and Sara (with probably a very tired Henry) could hit the balcony. We could go to the floor. 

No. 

You had to buy the balcony seats and they were extra money. 

Damn. 

Here we are with an 8 yr old, on the floor. I'm such a bad auntie!! Sara and Sean weathered it well, as did Henry. 

We had room to dance and Hen could go over to the wall, and sit down with his book and color - and we all took turns staying focused on him. And we were down front. And it could have been so much worse. Kind of a win overall, but, I know it could have been better. News you can use for the future, kids.

Peri and Keith had to leave before the end of the show because she had to be up at stupid thirty, but they got to see Brian kill the bongos on Come Downstairs and Say Hello, and Ryan put on his backpack with the light, and went out into the crowd to sing "Doin' it by myself." They missed the ping pong balls at the end, and Ryan caught one in his mouth which sent the crowd into hysterics. 

They've been digging out "Lost Classics" on this tour and so we got treated to the song Great Escape during the encore. Not a lot of people in the audience seemed to know it, but one guy with huge long curly hair was dancing like crazy, so I ran over to him and we busted it out, his girlfriend and his two friends were laughing hysterically at us as we just went bananas.  

All told, a super friendly fun crowd, great show. 

We got back to the hotel and I think we didn't get to sleep before 2. 

Friday morning, I was supposed to go over to one of my stations for a site visit. I woke up to pee at 8, and I was partly tempted to go back to bed, and go to his location maybe while Ginger and Linda were getting dressed and ready. But I sucked it up and said ... alright. You are up. You are awake. Do this. I picked up my laptop to email the guy with an ETA and he literally emailed me right that second to say he wasn't going to be in office. I could meet the GM and station manager. Nah son, I was coming here to see YOU. So we extended our regrets, and I went downstairs for coffee with Linda. We sat out on the patio in our jammies, no one there, 9am, slightly too cold to hit the pool. Not enough coffee to be ready to jump in on it just to do it. 

Another vacation where I brought my bathing suit, and did not use it. Ha. 

We were on the road at noon, driving down to our friends in the Palm Beach area. Linda and I would stay there Friday and Saturday nights, and Ginger's apartment is about 2 miles from where they live. 

First, here is their dog Cooper and he is my new Best Friend Ever. 

M&J came to see Guster with us in Ft. Lauderdale, the club is a tiny cramped little space, and we opted to not go get first in line, but sit at the bar next door, order pizza, and chillax. I kind of wish we'd gotten on line early. We were in the corner by the bathroom, the space is weird, and the show, while great, was kind of bizarre. M&J had never seen Guster so it was fun to bring them with. 

I think M wasn't really into it. He said he liked it okay entertainment wise, and getting to see Brian play the bongos was probably the best part of it for him. I know this style music isn't his thing. J is more of a jam band kind of guy and I think he truly enjoyed it. We heard a rumors that the band was going to come hang out at the bar after the show, but we were very ready to leave until Brian (the drummer) came out to see folks, and we weren't getting rushed out like the last time we were there in 2018 (or 2019?) so we got to say hi to him. 

Remarkably so, he says to me "so hey, what's going on with your job? Are you laid off or are you safe?"

So let's just stop there for a minute and realize that this famous rock star who did a huge rock and roll show just now asked about my life, my job, my colleagues, and how I was doing. I let him know I was safe, but things were weird and wrong. He asked what exactly happened, and I told him I'd love to talk more about it with him,  but right then wasn't the time - he had adoring fans lined up to see him. What a mensch.

We didn't keep him long - lots of adoring fans lined up to see him. But super sweet to have him come out and greet us. We headed back to M&J's place, and the following morning we went out to brunch. 

Fancy and nice brunch. 

Lots of horse ridey people just waltzing into fancy nice restaurant in their filthy horse pants and dirty clothes. J told me "no one on earth likes to be seen more than an equestrian." Too true. 

We hung around the house with Cooper dog and chilled. M made us some wonderful Mai Tais with the original recipe - or one of them. Delightful way to segue into dinner. We stopped at a brewery nearby for a pint (or two) and then went to fancy dinner. 

We had a wonderful time talking about our first concerts, and what we grew up with music-wise in our families. Bedtime came thankfully, we were wiped out! 

Sunday morning, we knew we were going to be headed to the airport. Our flight was scheduled to start boarding at like 4 something, and so M&J made plans to go see a neighbor family who just got brand new puppies, and we had a huge playdate. 

The owners are getting ready to socialize them with more people and dogs, as they get a little bigger, and we were the perfect assemblage of humans to have over! And what a time we had! 

This is Jon with Linus, and E, the owner's youngest, with her new baby!

The little black one is Lucy, They are littermates, and the family would have brought all the puppies home together if they could. 

Cooper was very very confused by the puppies. He's only ever met big dogs. He weathered it well, and was gentle. But ran upstairs a couple of times to get away. I love their vicious biting play they did with each other. 

We had to get to the airport, so Ginger came over to get us. We went out to lunch to spend a little extra time with her. My only regret was we didn't get a chance to connect with her son and say hi. I was looking forward to that but he went to work. 

Mimosas. Smiles. Friendship. Joy. 

After a lovely brekkie lunch, we started to head for the airport and learned our flight was delayed, so we had even more time to spend together. We went back to Ginger's new apartment, which is super cute and I loved it. Had a sit out on the patio (in the heat!) and a great chat. 

We got to the airport with time to spare, and discovered our flight was more delayed. 

And again delayed. And. again.

We were supposed to board at 4 something and didn't get on the plane until almost 8pm. I kind of was hoping they'd just cancel us, and we'd get a hotel, and I wouldn't care how much it was, and we'd use our bathing suits... ha. 

But we made it home, Doug picked us up at 10:30. We were happy to get back home. 

That's our first big Guster adventure. They did two more shows in Florida, but we passed on them. Logistics and getting from point A and B to C and D were going to be a challenge. And hotels in Key West were stupid expensive. We missed a couple fun gigs, but we had fun friend, puppy, family time. And that's as valuable. 

This weekend, Huntington NY. Can't wait. 

Digits for Monday below this picture of us with M&J and Cooper Dog.

digits

lost track of everything while in Florida.
I will say I tried. 

Monday digits:

exercise: 12/12 hours 250 steps; dedicated 10 pokemon walk

blood glucose:
8:30am: 160 (vacation blood sugar, always over 200! get home, first morning, 160). 
4:30pm: 165
11pm: 205

food:
coffee, water
8:30am: protein shake
10am: celery and peanut butter
11:30am: some chicken salad (probably 2 or 3 forkfuls?) 
noon: metformin
4:45pm: 2 baby bell cheeses
6:30pm: metformin+jardiance
7pm: burrito w/ steak, guac, sour cream, some rice, some chorizo sausage dip w/some chips. Vodka tonics

Orlando, I am in you

An uneventful travel day yesterday, but one where I was too tired to whip the laptop out at 10pm and make an entry. Tracked my blood sugar, did alright with numbers ended the day where I began. 

Linda and I took an uber to the airport. 30 minute car ride vs 90 minute metro. We'd thought about driving and parking, but the uber was the cost of two days parking and we'd be there 5. She got to sight see out the window and enjoyed Rock Creek and the huge tall stone bridges around the zoo. 

We arrived almost 2 hours early, sat at the U Street pub restaurant in the terminal and had mimosas and sandwiches. Boarding was a piece of cake. We had wine and cranberry juice on the plane and a little crackers and cheese snack. "We're on vacation, we fancy. Cheers!" 

Arriving in Orlando, it was hot. We went from 40 degrees and sunny to 84 degrees and ... very sunny. That's Florida for ya. Noticed so many people on the airplane in fleece jackets, and thought to myself as we walked 900 miles to the baggage claim (seriously, yo. 900 miles) how hot they must be. Linda and I dressed appropriately for departure so landing would be nice. 

We were told Uber was sometimes unreliable at the ride share area of the airport, so we went to a taxi stand. I was thinking of how wonderful the taxi situation was in New Orleans, and this would be just as. The driver arrived quickly, and handed me his phone to put the location in for directions. No worries, happy to do that. But you have a navigation panel right in front of you, shouldn't we put it in there instead? 

He looked at his phone the entire time, and I got exceptionally anxious. Linda kept shooting me looks about how he was driving. I'm like dude, if you kill us before I get to see Guster... 

We got to the hotel (we are not staying near Disney but closer to the venue) and it cost 78 dollars to get here. Well, damn. That's a lot more than I thought it would be. But. I maybe chose unwisely? Because while we were waiting for the cab, I noted how many uber and lyft cars were there. Duly noted, duly noted. 

The hotel is very nice. There is a conference here for EA sports scholars, so I'm slightly intrigued. What kind of work is that? Do you get a college scholarship for playing Madden Football on the PS5 or Xbox or whatever? Lots of dudes, mostly white but a couple black guys, big laughter, big voices, happy sounding bunch. 

We got to our room, dumped our stuff, went down to the Bistro Bar to eat because we weren't in the mood to go out and find something, or order grubhub. The bartender was very nice, the food was decent, and we were satisfied. It was still early-ish, enough so that if I were traveling with Doug he'd want to go to somewhere, but Linz and I were both happy to go look at the pool and ponder going in. 

Instead, we walked over to 7-11 to get snacks and wine. The neighborhood seems to have a lot of downtrodden folk, and the cashier would yell out "Welcome, how you doin?" every time the door opened and someone came in, whether it was us, some EA Sports dudes, or neighborhood folks. 

One guy came in and she said "you good PJ?" He didn't reply so she asked again. He was a younger white guy, disheveled, wearing a black hoodie and sweatpants and a white tank top. He rubbed his belly and walked towards the hotdogs. She asked again "you good?" and he nodded slowly. "I'm awake," he said, smiling slightly. "That's good, awake is good," she said back. I smiled to her and said "you got him, you got him," and she laughed. 

"I got all these guys, I do," she said. I'm sure you do. Then Bon Jovi "Livin' on a Prayer" came on the speakers and she, Linda, and I had a little dance party sing along while she rang up our snacks, wine, party cups, and Carmex. 

Back in the room, we just kind of crashed. We poured cups of wine, but barely drank them, and passed out. Boom. Asleep.  

Today we are plotting out pedicures, and any other non-car having shenanigans that won't cost us 100 bucks to get us across town. I believe we are getting together with my high school friend Peri who is also coming to the concert with us. Last time I saw her was literally 10 years ago this week when Doug and I came here for his work conference. 

Our friends Sara, Sean, and Henry are here, staying over in Celebration, and they'll be joined today by our other friend Hallie. So we'll see what the dinner logistics are, if they'll join us or not. 

To the best of my recollection, yesterday's digits below. And a picture of my sister. I don't have a flip horizontal option, so this is a backwards photo of us. 

Wednesday Digits: 

exercise: hourly steps were messed up due to being on a plane. 9/12 hours, but, the most steps I've had in a while thanks to walking 900 miles in the airport (well. not really) I'll declare dedicated 10 for that! plus some!

blood glucose:
8am: 170
5pm: 202
9pm: 171

food:
coffee, water
noon: buffalo chicken sandwich on brioche bread (only ate 1/2 the bun), arugula salad, 2 mimosas. Metformin
on the airplane: can of wine, splash of cran, cheese & crackers & raisins
6pm: buffalo wings (6?) 2 meatballs, metformin+jardiance, wine

Thursday Digits:

exercise: 9/12 hours of 250 steps; danced my ass off at the Guster concert - dedicated 2 hours. voof.

blood glucose:
9am: 177
6pm: 220
11pm: 233

food:
coffee, water
1pm: metformin
2pm: buffalo chicken wrap & cole slaw and a lot more beer than I should have had. A. Lot.
6pm: metformin+jardiance
6:30: caesar salad w/ chicken, water

Waiting for the Wenanigans

My work bestie and I have been watching the Penguin Cam at the Maryland Zoo. We decided that we're only going to watch the penguin cam from now on. I said that I feel like we're the penguins. People pushed us out in the morning, and now we're standing by the heat lamp there waiting for fish. We're not even excited enough about it being daytime to go jump in the water and frolic around our enclosure. 

We're just standing here, waiting for little fishes to be thrown at our faces. 

Anyway. 

I didn't get everything done that I wanted to do yesterday, but got a goodly amount done and could jump into getting more things done, so that feels good. This morning I got the trash out that Geoff forgot to put out after he got home from classes, albeit I didn't notice last night and I'm not mad, it was late. Mondays are like that. And miraculously, I was up before the trash dudes came.

I pulled the dog dish and recycling and trash barrel out of their positions, and I cleaned the floor, the wall, everything around those spots. 

The bed is made up in the guest room, I washed the fleece blanket because it had Quite A Bit Of Phineas on it and I thought my sister might appreciate a little less dog hair, even if she has a husky. 

The bath mat for our bathroom and Geoff's are both in the dryer, coming out fresh and clean. Bathroom is clean. Well I didn't scrub the shower, but, the floor, the sink, all around the toilet.

Laundry is literally all done. There isn't a single piece of dirty clothing save for what is on our bodies. 

Banana bread was baked, I wanted to make a shit ton of cookies but when you have a cup and a half of flour left, well, you just make banana bread and live with it. My house smells fresh and clean and baked.

Geoff went to the market, got something for dinner for tonight and a few things for him and Doug over the next few days. I made baked ziti, ate pasta even though I should have had something else but. Eh.

Doug went to his office so today I got to vacuum! Honest to God I should do this more than once a month. 

Boarding passes are printed, hotel is checked into. 

Linz got here too late to go get pedicures, so we'll be looking into that upon landing. Oh. And I've put off a haircut long enough, what's another couple days. It looks kind of cute right now. 

Feeling rather prepared, I must say. 

Our title today comes from the shirt I wore the other day. I made a pointed effort to be pronoun inclusive with "shenanigans" "theynanigans" "henanigans" and my sister pointed out I forgot about WEnanigans, which we're about to partake in. Hell yes. Wenanigans. 

Also, here's my picture. Sir. Excuse me, sir... You are not a penguin. (This is the kind of nonsense getting us through the day amongst my work pals). 

digits

exercise: 12/12 of 250 steps;  no dedicated 10 but about 7k of steps just in the house, cleaning, working, futzing, panicking.

blood glucose:
8:15am: 171
4:30pm: 180
9:30pm: 220

food:
coffee, water
10am: bowl of chicken salad 
11am: Metformin
2pm: piece of banana bread
6pm: metformin+jardiance
7pm: bowl of baked ziti w/meat sauce

Better Steward of Time

 I should be vacuuming. Or doing steps. Doug is out for a walk. Cauliflower is in the oven. I'm going to start the grill up in about 15 minutes. Should be getting stuff done while I have the time. 

Today is nice enough out to grill. Finally not 20 degrees. It has been not just cold but windy. So I've opted for cauliflower roasted with paprika, garlic, black pepper, and chicken breasts in bbq sauce and the three chicken breasts will go quickly on the grill. 

I've been distracted all day, so I got the makings out for banana bread but haven't whipped it all together. I'll do that after dinner. Maybe. I also want to bake cookies. Maybe. I just am a bundle of nerves. 

We thought we'd learn today about layoffs but it won't be until Wednesday. I told my boss since I'm on vacation, I'll take my laptop, and I'll make time for him if we need to talk. 

There was cleaning that did take place today. It wasn't all a loss. I used the swiffer under the tables, and got things ready to be vacuumed but I guess now I'll save it until Doug is at work tomorrow.

Linda should arrive sometime tomorrow afternoon, so the guest room is ready for her. I thought she'd get here tonight, so I got it all set up for her. So that was a success.

I cleaned the areas in the kitchen that were extra gross. By the back door, where the dog dishes are, where the recycling sits. I got down on my ass, spray cleaner and scrubbing. Got a lot done. The rest of the kitchen could/should be mopped. I can maybe do that tomorrow. 

The other thing I wanted to do was for myself, haircut, pedicure, maybe new shorts/pants/something. But in addition to all the things going on with work, I didn't end up leaving the house to go out to do things. Maybe tomorrow? I mean, my feet will thank me. My hair will thank me. My boss is out tomorrow, but maybe I'll ... go. Just go. Go to the mall. Get the pedi. Get the haircut and come home. 

I dunno. I need to be a better steward of time maybe.

I also can't find my favorite travel bag so I'm annoyed. Anyway. 

No picture today. But a lot to come over the next week.

digits

exercise: x/12 hours of 250 steps;

blood glucose:
8:15am: 170
5pm: 156
10pm: 192

food:
coffee, water
11:45am: big bowl of chicken salad (walnuts+red grapes, mayo+cream cheese); metformin
6pm: beer
6:30: piece of bbq chicken and spicy cauliflower.
7:30: ramekin mixed nuts
8:30pm/9pm: a couple beers

Out to Loudoun County

This morning we were sitting around doing our Sunday morning nothings. I was just about to go into the kitchen and start cleaning since my sister is coming tomorrow, and Doug said "I know what I want to do today." 

Oh. Oh really. Alright. What do you want to do today that is not very important home based chores?

He wanted to go to a brewery in Loudoun County, VA. This is about an hour from our house. We don't usually head out to that neck of the woods, but this brewery in question has oysters every weekend, and he really wanted to go check it out. We reached out to M&M but they had plans, so we headed out all together, Geoff and Phineas included.

We left around 11:30 and a solid hour of travel later, we arrived. As advertised, oysters, and a shrimp boil, and there was BBQ and pizza too. We stuffed our faces and drank several beers. This brewery location is huge, a giant farm, and you could have all kinds of different events going on, and parties, and everything. Dogs were welcome, and I counted - I petted 11 dogs. Phineas was visited by small children and some really cute girls who came to talk to him and Geoff. 

Phin is a chick magnet. 

After 3 beers it was decided we should leave. Doug said that if he had more we'd be staying there all day and I'd have to be the driver home. I was ready to leave, thus limiting my intake of beer, even if it was truly a fantastic place to be hanging out. When you're trying not to lose your life to carbs, hanging at a brewery is a touch difficult! 

Second part of our journey out was a stop at the Georges Mill Goat Farm to get some goat cheese, and it is baby goat season. You need tickets to enter the baby goat area, but, one can indeed stand on the exterior of the fence and pat the baby goats for free. 

Inside the enclosure there were a couple of families with little kids all having the time of their lives with the wee baby goats. But several of the baby goats were not into playing, and were snuggled up against the fence, where I got to pet them, without tickets or fuss. And it was delightful. 

All told, a nice trip out into the world, and I was happy for Geoff and Phin to join us, too.

Here is a baby goat, and Doug with three different beers.

digits

exercise: x/12 250 steps; 

blood glucose:
9am: 160
5pm: 216
10pm: 181

food:
coffee, water
10am: 2 good yogurt, meyer lemon
11am: fajita chicken salad, metformin
1pm: several boiled shrimp, 2 slices of bar pizza, 3 beers
4pm: chicken sandwich from burger king (lettuce, tomato, am. cheese, no top bun - gave it to the dog); onion rings; coke zero 
5pm: protein shake
7pm: cheddar cheese, mixed nuts; metformin+jardiance

Dippy Egg

 Longtime readers know I'm not a big egg fan. I've said it before, I make a good omelet, and love to cook for other people, but for myself I'll avoid them if I can. 

Doug went into the kitchen and was futzing around. He hasn't been doing a lot of cooking, Geoff and I have been pretty much cheffing all the things up as of late. So having him go in and start whipping something up was kind of nice. I heard the oven start up and bacon going in. 

After a while he came out and handed me a breakfast sandwich. Oh, how delightful, thank you. 

But he made an over easy egg, and it was all runny on the plate. I smiled and thanked him, and ate my egg sandwich. With the awesome bacon, and the 2 slices of american cheese. 

He called Geoff to come get his, and then came out to the livingroom with his. "How is it?" he asked. I smiled and thanked him for making me breakfast, and he said "your egg was probably under done, right?" I told him yes, indeed, but not to worry. It was alright. The english muffin was very helpful. 

But thank you for duly noting I like the egg over hard. 

"You got a dippy egg though," he said, which made me smile at the sheer Pittsburghness of it all. "Yes, it sure is a dippy egg," I replied laughing slightly. 

Before I met Doug I didn't know what a dippy egg was. I linked to a nice article there but there are dozens of web results about them. Basically a sunny side up or over easy egg, the goal is to not cook the yolk. And that's delightful for some. 

For me personally? Not so much. A runny yolk or dippy egg is unwelcome. The consistency of it, the fact that I can smell the egg pretty strongly, it's almost nauseating. What I ended up doing was pulling the cheese off the top of the egg, and flipping the sandwich over so the english muffin could help absorb the dip. 

Doug said that he kind of was in a hurry to not burn the eggs, and didn't realize he didn't give it enough time for my liking, but for him this was fine. 

He went to the kitchen and made another one, and called it an egg sandwich deluxe - extra bacon, two eggs, dippy style, cheese, ketchup, and rye bread this time. 

I was thankful he made extra bacon so I could go out and get some more for myself. 

For the record, I was thinking about how sometimes people will reject this kind of thing, give back the sandwich and shake their head or worse yet, freak out. I think of my mother, who if the "wrong" fry cook is at her favorite restaurant she'll take a bite of her chicken sandwich and not eat it. She'll leave it on the plate, and the waitress will hear all about it. And then I have to sit there and listen to her bitch and moan about it for the entire meal (when I've ordered the same thing, it's fine. There's nothing wrong with how it was cooked).

"Ya know, you could send it back and order something different," I've told her, "Know what never needs the right fry cook to be in the kitchen? A nice salad. Tuna fish! Bar Pizza! Something different." 

But she's got her preferences, and now when she comes in, the waitress knows to say "oh, Johnny's the fry cook today so you'll want to order something different..." 

Poor Johnny, am I right? Does he find out that maybe he's not "doing it right?" Do the waitresses give him some audience feedback, or are they like me and they feel he's done nothing wrong or incorrect, my mom is just a particularly fussy old broad? 

I ate my brekkie sammitch with grace and thankfulness, no flipping out. And gave my plate to Phineas so he could finish the yolk that was all over the place. 

A win-win-win situation.

You can get this t-shirt online if you wanna relate to Pittsburghers and them dippy eggs an'dat.

digits:

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps. dedicated 10+3

blood glucose:
9:30am: 171
5pm: 140
10pm: 180

food:
coffee, water
10:45: egg sandwich on 647 english muffin w/bacon and 2 slices of american cheese
12:30: metformin+a little more bacon
6:30: left over "broth" from the corned beef (potatoes, carrots, cabbage, onion).  Added diced bacon and some beef stock, 2 bowls. Piece of cornbread. Metformin+jardiance

putting the she in shenanigans

As some know, I write a beer blog (oft neglected and overlooked) called Shenanigans with Dave. I haven't updated in a minute, have some overdue posts. Will update it with some time coming up. 

Since starting the blog, there have been many Shenanigans related things that have come into my life. One of my favorites is this t-shirt in the picture below. 

Pronouns aside, I put the She in Shenanigans. Maybe you put the They in Theynanigans. Or hey - why not you putting the He in Henanigans. My sister said that we're excited to have WEnanigans, and I thought that was a riot.

No matter what, enjoy your gender based or gender free St. Patrick's day. 

Last night for dinner I did the full boiled dinner dealie. Corned beef, potatoes, cabbage, carrots. I had the heat on too high and the corned beef burned a little to the bottom of the pot, but that gave that side of the meat an almost pan seared texture and flavor. I kind of really liked it. Everything else came out great too, even though I didn't follow the instructions exactly, and we ended up with slightly overcooked veg. I put the veg in too early, I guess. The meat was supposed to hang out by itself for like an hour. 

No harm, no foul though. And with the left over liquid/veg I'm pondering a soup. 

Anyway, today being St. Patrick's and a Friday, I have allowed myself a beverage. I've managed to be 100% alcohol free for the triglycerides since last weekend. Doug was a little mad at me the other night that he opened a bottle of wine and I didn't join him. "What, you expect me to drink this alone?" Yah dude, you are going to have to because I'm the picture of restraint and self control. Geoff bought Guinness and Red Ale, so I made a couple half and halfs, and we had a lot of fun tonight.

Here's evidence of my shirt and my face. Happy St. Patrick's Day to all!

digits

exercise: 12/12 of 250 steps; dedicated 10+3

blood glucose:
8:30am: 155
4:30pm: 143
11pm: 173

food:
coffee, water
11am: protein shake
11:45: pizza cheese from geoff's lunch; metformin
6:30pm: 2 fajitas (low carb wraps, peppers, onions, chicken, sour cream, bean dip/spread)
7pm: metformin+jardiance
8:30pm: ramekin mixed nuts

Dead Ted

When I was in college, I had a couple of roommates a few years younger than me. I mostly was just trying to finish college and graduate in my second senior year, and they were freshmen. We somehow got lumped together, or I lived in the room next door and then moved in with them somehow. I don't remember the circumstances. 

I had a teddy bear. Mind you, it was mostly a rag. But it was mine, I brought it from home, and my entire life I mended it myself. Some of you reading this will remember this bear. He didn't really have a name. I kept him under my pillow. I was discrete about it. Who wants a 20+ yr old roommate who sleeps with a teddy bear, right? How weird. 

Anyway, they hated the bear, made fun of the bear, would play catch with it (their boyfriends would be over and they'd just throw it all over the room, monsters that they were. 

They called him Dead Ted. 

I wasn't particularly super close with these two. They were okay. In all other ways inoffensive. Meh. Right? 

One of them sent me email the other day with some photos. One of the three of us, one of me in a black dress with some kind of chain around me and maybe a name tag? I'm not sure what the story is with this picture. I do not remember it at all, but I'm super cute. 

And a picture of the bear. 

She wrote about "oh my God this thing was so disgusting I hated it! I can't believe you had this. It was so gross! hahahahhahahahhahah!!!!" 

And I haven't replied. 

I'm kind of like, well, fuck you. Okay? Just. Fuck you.

That bear was the best part of my childhood, and I'll tell ya, my childhood was not awesome so if this ratty looking smelly piece of cloth is the best thing I brought from home? What's that say? It was my security bear. It was mine, and mine alone. And I loved it. It went across the country with me to Oregon in 1988. It remained under my pillow after Doug and I got married. Eventually, I put it in a box, and put it way high up on a shelf on my bureau. 

I was pregnant with Geoff, and I came home one day to find my dog Missy had climbed up on my bed, climbed onto the bureau, and pulled the box down from the top shelf, and had shredded the bear completely. 

I did not handle this gracefully. Jess was little, and I remember kneeling on the floor beside my bed with all the pieces all over, just weeping. And she was stunned. I think she was crying too. And the dog was of course all "Hey mom, I'm so glad you're home!!!" 

It took me a long time to kind of recover from that heartbreak. That was 26 years ago, and, I'd had the damn thing 25 or so years. 

So to get this email with her being all "oh hey look at this piece of shit you used to own, LOL LOL gross" was a big unnerving. 

I've got nothing left from that. I think I saved his nose for a while, in another little box, but eventually let it go. 

Anyway. My point on this entry is basically that whatever people have, cherish, love, don't give them shit about it. So what I was 20 something with a teddy bear. You don't know the journey, so don't be a dick. 

Look around and think about all the people you know. You work with. You see on the subway. In the grocery store. And imagine they have something they so very cherish. Be happy for them. 

Here's the picture. I can hear them laughing as they took the photo. 
Every stitch is mine. Every "i only have red thread so I'm using it" stitch, is mine.

digits

exercise: 11/12 hours of 250 steps. missed noon because I was goofing off with my coworker. 
Dedicated 10+6

blood glucose:
8am: 174
4:30pm: 130
9:30pm: 183

food:
coffee, water
10am: 2 good meyer lemon yogurt (3 g carbs)
1pm: metformin; 1 can of tuna, 1/3 head of romaine, several cherry tomatoes, mayo, mixed together (basically no carbs at all)
4:30pm: protein shake
6:30pm: corned beef & cabbage, carrots, onion, small potatoes
7;45pm: metformin+jardiance

Ticketmashtah

Today I went onto a website to buy concert tickets. You know, the "infamous" one. I had a bitch of a time getting through the process. I went to check out, and the 6 tickets I'd selected were somehow dropped to 2. Rather than lose the 2 I had, which were excellent, I bought them, logged back in, got back in line, grabbed the other tickets for my friends. Thankfully they don't suck. They're 2 rows behind me. 

I'm keeping the 2 seats in the up closer row for myself, and a guest. Who knows who that will be. And I bought the parking pass since my friends are driving, and I'm benefitting from them taking me. So we all win.

Guster will be playing with an orchestra, but, not the Boston Symphony, New York Philharmonic, or the Colorado Symphony. They are playing with the Howard County Youth Orchestra. About 110 kids... and Guster! So cool. Some of the kids played at the November show in DC, and the audience went bananas for them.  

I'm going to buy this poster, and get as many of the 110 kids to sign it as possible. Ha. I also like how they made Guster look nothing like Guster. But still a little like Guster. Only a Boy Band Guster with dark eyebrows and blonde hair. I'm trying to figure out who they actually look like. It's a cool poster. Can't wait to see this show.

digits

exercise: dedicated 10+12; x/12 hours of 250 steps

blood glucose:
8:30am: 143
4:30pm: 145
10:30pm: 175

food:
coffee, water
9:30am: Chris McMuffin: 647 english muffin, 1 sausage patty (2g carb), 1 egg, 1 slice American Cheese
12:00noon: metformin; forgot to eat lunch.
4:30pm: protein shake
6:30pm: metformin+jardiance; chicken parm
8pm: ramekin mixed nuts

Window Cleaning and Pi Day

I came out to the living room this morning at 8am right after Doug left.  Our house faces east and the sunshine is now at the perfect angle in the morning to flood the room gloriously. 

And, sunlight reveals all. 

I have not cleaned under the table by the TV. I've not dusted the bottom shelf of the livingroom table. The kitchen floor is atrocious. and the windows. Oh the windows. 

This morning it was a good time to take pictures of the little plant family on the table beside me, but, ooof. The windows. 

We (read... I) need to clean the exterior of the windows. 

It appears that we can tilt in the bottom half of the windows, and clean them. I'm not sure if the top half does the same so there will be only one way to find out. There are screens on 2 of the windows and a giant plate glass center window, which is screenless. I think all I really need to do is hose that off, and I'm wondering even if a good hosing through the screen will help clean the two side windows. No matter what, as soon as it is warm enough, it will be done. 

I can't take pictures of the plant babies with filthy windows behind them! So shameful.  

Today is Pie Day, or Pi Day, rather. I sent Geoff to the market today even though we have plenty of food here. I would like to make a shepherd's pie, and bake a pie. It's pie day after all! Celebrate! 

I sadly threw away more than half a loaf of 647 bread, it went moldy (seriously, how?) and 3 pieces of chicken breast that I should have turned into chicken salad on Sunday. I've got to get better at food management here in the house. Damn. 

Here are some pie pictures. Happy Pi/e Day!

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.  Dedicated 10+3

blood glucose: 
8am: 182
4:30pm: 173
10:30pm: 149

food: 
coffee, water
9:30am: protein shake
noon: metformin
12:30: low carb wheat wrap (30 carbs-25 fiber=5 net carbs) mayo (zero carbs/sugar); ham (6 thin slices, probably 2g carbs), 2 slices medium cheddar (zero); 1 kosher pickle (zero)
4:30pm: ramekin of mixed nuts
6:30pm: shepherd's pie. Ground beef, carrots, peas, gravy, mashed potatoes. Not sure of the carb count on this, and won't pretend to know.
6:45pm: Metformin+jardiance
10:30pm: protein shake

 

Thinking About Food

My doctor and I have emailed each other back and forth. She suggested that I cut back on carbs. Oh, okay. She listed out all the food I shouldn't eat, and I'm not surprised. Literally have had next to none of it. I offered to send her a spreadsheet of all the daily food I am tracking.

I am thinking I should start tracking in the report below the actual carbs/net carbs I'm eating so show that yeah, I've cut back? compared to 2 years ago, this time last year. But that feels like an eating disorder, actually tracking that info. I don't know. 

The food guidelines for triglycerides don't say to cut out all meat, which I thought it might, but to increase fish/oily fish. Which I can't really afford to do (who can?) Look at all my food and see pretty much chicken, chicken, chicken, some ground beef, some pork chops, chicken..... chicken. 

Aside from going meatless or full keto - which to be honest who has time for that shit - I'm kind of doing the best foods-wise? I know I could do better (sorry, Oreo cookies). More salad, more veg, more salad. I get it. Always with more salad.

But honestly. Who is being more honest and tracking their food than me? I track one cookie (and yeah, lots more cookies) so it doesn't lie.

I've asked if Metformin and Jardiance are the best meds for me, perhaps they're not helping any longer? Can a medication stop working? I know there are other meds on the market, perhaps a switch? 

I'm waiting to hear back from the nutritionist and continuing dialog with the doctor. 

I just know right now I'm bored and hungry. And thankfully there are no triscuits in the house. And one week from today is when we probably find out who is losing their job/s so. That's fun. I have a co-worker who is incredibly mad at me right now, and that's not fun. If one of us loses our job, it'll be a shit way to go out with each other, I think. 

Also, one thing to think of was I once worked in an office with several women who were all dieting at the same time, for different reasons and all they did was complain about what other people were eating and how they could not have it. 

Hopefully I'm not that person. 

"oh, you got a sub from Pizza Palace? That chicken cutlet sub with lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, mayo? Yeah., thanks. Thanks for eating that in front of me. I can't have that."

"oh okay, sorry you are starving yourself nearly to death but, I'm not."

Yet here I am like 30 years later. Unable to eat the yummy things. Sigh. Well, I'm not (hopefully) whining about it. 

That said.

No picture today, lads. Nothing interesting. 

Digits below. 

digits

exercise: 11/12 hours of 250 steps. Missed 8pm because I was playing a game on my phone and realized it was 8:58pm. doh.
Dedicated 10+12 steps in the house while dinner was cooking.

blood glucose:
8am: 148
4:30pm: 153
10pm: 178

food:
coffee, water
8:30am: 2 good yogurt (mixed berry)
12noon: metformin
12:30: Fuji apple w/peanut butter
4:30pm: ramekin smoked almonds; 2 baby bell
6:30pm: bowl of mac and cheese w/hamburger
9:00pm: protein shake

Happy Third Pandemiversary, Everyone!

 It's kind of a gloomy and cold day out there today. So disappointing. Doug said the other day that he loves living somewhere that March is not a winter month. But. It kind of is a winter month lately. Just without the snow. I've been feeling the cold, not just a "this is cold because I'm in the south and used to the south now" cold. It's bloody cold.

The first March we lived here, I think that's when C came to visit, she went for a run and had to come back because it was so hot out. She'd come down from very cold New England, it wasn't a good transition temperature wise to go running out in that. 

This time in 2020 I was on the porch having a beer.  See below. 

March is weird. 

I just posted a patio furniture update, and I'm feeling ready and restless and kind of want to get out there and get things ready. But holy cow it is cold. 

Not much else to report today I guess. After wallowing in my sadness over the dumb results of my bloodwork we'll be back on the wagon and eating right and not devouring a sleeve of girl scout cookies. There are three boxes of my favorites sitting on the coffee table right now, and I'm in full resistance mode. In fact, full disinterested-ness mode. I just don't care to want them.

I will say, a friend of mine sent me a picture from us at a Guster show in 2019. I look to be about 11 to 13 months pregnant. I'm probably 30-40 pounds heavier here. 

So while my blood test results may feel disheartening, I can look at this photo and know that progress is being made. Slow and steady. Progress. 

 Our Central Park crew, Left to right: Ginger, Liz (jess' roommate) Jason (Ginger's son), Spicy V, Jess, Linda (I love that they're holding hands!) and me. 

I know for a fact if I put those pants on today, they fall right to the floor. 

Anyway.

Below, a picture of me on the Friday of the week when we got sent home in 2020. I recall it well. Our office had a group of ne'er do wells who would gather on Fridays at 4:30pm. We were all sent home on Thursday, March 11th, so we didn't get our Friday group together. One of the devs put together a google meet so we could still toast one another. Wed did that for a long time, and it stopped along the way. I slacked him this afternoon to suggest we do it again this Friday, since Monday next week is when we start to find out who is being laid off. He fully agreed and is going to pull it together.

We stopped doing that, but this was the first one. In March, which isn't a winter month. Sometimes. T-shirt, bare feet, star magnolia in full bloom, thunderstorm in the distance. Cheers. 

digits:

exercise: 11/12 hours of 250 steps. Missed 9am because I slept in. dedicated 10. trying to take extra steps during each hour. didn't do well with that today but it's a goal.

blood glucose
10am: 182
5pm: 170
10pm: 173

food:
coffee, water
12 noon: metformin; protein shake
2pm: apple
3pm: 2 girl scout peanut butter cookies
5:30pm: Pizza cheese toasted with some pepperoni & mushroom
7pm: Metformin+jardiance

Patio Furniture Interstitial

As promised, finally, here's the super amazing exciting patio table. I'm sure you're plotzing over the amazingness of it all. 

Two of the chairs are still in the jeep. It was dark when we got home last night (we made 3 trips to the guy's house to get this set. The jeep is deceptively smaller than Doug thinks it is). It is very cold out, Geoff doesn't have to drive to school tomorrow, he's on break. So we left them there and will get them out later on. 

As you can see, it takes up pretty much the entire patio. We just set it there after getting it out of the jeep, and somehow it ended up diagonal. I kind of like it. Doug doesn't. Heh. 

He wants to ponder/plan out what our layout is for this. For someone who didn't really want a patio set, he's pretty stoked. 

The fire pit will probably go out onto the grass. Maybe we'll get some more pavers from Community Forklift, raise it up and extend the spot out to put it there, and protect the grass. 

Then we can move the patio table back closer to the house, put a couple chairs in the shed, and pull them out as needed. The wind blew the cushions over last night, and I was in my socks so I didn't go out there to stage the picture better. They're in okay condition, but I am not opposed to buying new ones for us. It came from home depot, and they always have cushions for sale this time of year. 

I wonder how Doug would feel about tropical trees and birds. hahahha. 

Anyway, there it is. In time for it to be 28 degrees tonight. Ready for it to be warmer. And I'm ready too. 

Oh and yeah - the yard is in need of love. That pot in the right corner is ready to be full of flowers again. The steps in front of me are ready for herbs in the pots that overwintered there. That little bench/table dealie ready to be covered with plants. That firepit, ready to burn things.

Farmer Chris is feeling it.

5ugh5

 I was awake in the middle of the night and got an email notification on my phone, it must have been 4am. Since I know that my doctor's office lab works 24/7 I figured hey - it could be my A1c. Nope. It was the lipid panel. My cholesterol went up, just over "acceptable" but kind of a jump. Okay, I can deal with that. 

HDL/LDL were alright, those have been good as of late. No complaints.

But these triglycerides. It went up again. Even though I've had a lot less to drink (ie: not 7 days, or 5 days, maybe 2?) and I'm doing a lot more walking than this time last year. Doug says I'm not getting enough actual exercise (he says after not taking a walk for 4 days, and sitting drinking a beer). Probably. But this time last year it was not this high, and I was lucky if I was hitting 2k steps a day. Now I make it to 5k and plus.

I looked up medication that I could take and it all says "increases blood sugar, increased chances of blood clots." 

Oh, okay. Not going to do that. 

So am I going to die? I looked up the "lifestyle and food" choices and: 

Low carbohydrate and high-fiber diets that include oily fish can help lower triglycerides. Other ways to lower triglycerides include limiting added sugar intake, limiting alcohol, keeping carbohydrates to 50–60% or fewer of total daily calories, and limiting intake of saturated and trans fat.

I mean, kind of what I'm doing, right, except the fish part. 

The fish part.... Love me some fish but when it is 25 bucks a pound, we've eliminated it from our usual rotation. I love salmon, and miss eating it. Boy do I have a marinade for it that just rocks. 

here's a list of foods that I am going to investigate looping into my diet. Noted that some of this is way high in sugars to be honest, but, I can figure out things. And I've grown to love some cauliflower. It will become a friend. 

Oats. I've avoided them because of carbs. But perhaps the fiber to carb = net carbs balance is okay. 

The interwebs also say fish oil, or prescription levels of fish oil will help. Hence, the ... salmon. Right? I had a friend who took prescription levels of fish oil. He said along with a number of other vitamins and supplements, it made him smelly, and he'd fart a lot. So he slept in his own bedroom, with a window open (he lived in Georgia) to deal with it. I'm ... not excited about the idea of farty fish oil life. We'll see if I can add in just regular normal stuff for now and retest.

I emailed the nutritionist to talk about it. It's hard to be focused on lowering one set of digits, and have to pivot to focus on another. 

Anyway. Kind of a disappointing email to read at 4am, right? 

The dog ended up needing to go out at 4:30, and I didn't feed him because it is too damn early. He reluctantly came back to bed with me, and slept until 6. I let him out again, fed him, and we went back to bed. He was up at 7:30 to go out (it is alway 90 minutes between food and needing to go out again), and I was in bed at 8 am thinking to myself "Maybe I'm just up? Maybe I should just get up?" 

But I fell back asleep and had wild dreams. Click here to read the ridiculousness. 

Doug and I went to pick up the patio table at 5pm. The family we bought it from had gone to the zoo and got back late. The set is in the backyard, but it is too dark to take pictures. 

It's 10pm, and I just got the email on the A1c. It went up from 7 to 7.3% and I'd honestly hoped it would be lower. I'm sure I'll talk with the doctor about that one too. 

So tonight, wine and girl scout cookies and bed. No picture, but will have stuff for tomorrow.

digits

exercise: 11/12 hours of 250 steps. missed hour one because I slept in. 

blood glucose: 
10:30am: 160
4:30pm: 162
10pm: 192

food:
coffee, water
12noon: metformin; fajita chicken salad
8pm: metformin+jardiance
8:30pm: some slices of french bread pizza
10pm: an entire sleeve of thin mints girl scout cookies. Wine. 

An interstitial dream post

Writing down the dream I had between 8am and 10am on 3/11/2023, for ... posterity. 

This time, office buildings, elevators, beaches, cousins, cars, and a celebrity chauffeur. 

It was an office building, not my office, but an office building. I got onto the elevator, and it was skipping floors. I got in expecting  to go up it eventually went down to the main level. I wanted to stay on the elevator after I realized they never stopped at the floor I wanted. But they made me get off, and get in line behind everyone who had been waiting in the lobby to go up. I did so without an argument. 

I wanted to go to the seventh floor of the building to the apartment of one of the security guys (like, security and other staff all live in the building, huh). I heard he was having a baby. He himself, not that he was being a dad. He was pregnant. I had diapers, gift cards, and wanted to give him my love.  He cried and was appreciative, and promised to be in touch with me if he needed anything. I walked down the hall, to a staircase that went out to the waterfront. 

My cousins Bill and Joey were out there waiting for me, mad that I was late. We were going to kayak off a dock and they were reminding me we didn't have a lot of time, I had to get to the airport, but we had time for a kayak I guess (how come? In my mind I'd take these two to a pub on the way to the airport to bend an arm for a while, but, kayak. Okay). 

It was a very active dock, lots of coming and going. I pondered the safety of the launch where we were, but they said this is where you go. There was a boat lift in the water, like you'd see where a very large boat would be pulled straight up to go into dry dock or onto a trailer. We got our kayaks in the water, and a friend of mine from growing up named Jon was also in a kayak, doing a safety check on the lift. They dropped a boat right on top of him. He went under, and I had a walkie talkie to call for help (of course I did!). And the pregnant security guy came to help. He jumped in the water, and Joey and Bill made me paddle to the shore to get out of the way. I was very concerned about Jon, so I went back, as he was going up the same stairs I came down, like to his apartment. I called his name, he didn't want to turn around but I yelled at him to come back. 

He did, and we had a big hug and cry. Security guy was right with us, and ushered Jon upstairs after we were done. 

I paddled to catch up to where Joey and Bill, they were mad at me for vanishing again, because time was short. There was a driver waiting to take us to the airport. Turns out he was actor Kevin Hart. And it was a bad ass 70s Chevy. alright. cool. Kevin Hart is driving us to the airport. 

He was on a tear about traffic and getting around town. There was a trash truck blocking the road at one point so he got the car up on 2 wheels (driver's side) screaming at the top of his lungs that he better not hurt his cousin's ride. 

Turns out his cousin is the security guy at the building, so we were excited to learn of our mutual acquaintance. 

We managed to get past the truck, miraculously, turned a corner around a bend and there was a store front that said it was a comic book store, 70% off going out of business sale. Bill and Joey were all "Oh! Let's stop here!" I reminded them that they gave me grief about trying to find out what was happening with my friend almost getting killed but they wanted... comics? They pooh poohed me, said we had plenty of time. So we went in. 

Only it wasn't a comic store - it was a lot of antiques/junk booths, with creepy dolls and bad furniture. Kevin Hart was all mad about the inventory being shitty and yelling at the ladies who ran the place that it was deceptive to put that sign out there. 

I walked out the back, there was a loading dock that went to a parking lot, and the beach was right there. There was a beach volleyball game happening, and some other shenanigans. My sister was there and had her arms and legs down in a hole, she was face down with her chin resting on a sand pile, her back/torso exposed. A bunch of people were like that, and I walked over to find out the story. 

It was a radio show promotion/competition to see who could last longest to win 25,000 dollars. She was laughing at how stupid she was for doing this and she just wanted to leave, but she'd put in so much time. I told her to get the fuck up, come with me, Bill, and Joey, get driven to the airport by Kevin Hart. It would be much more fun. Fuck the 25k. 

So she got up with some help, a few people cheered because now there was one more person gone and their chances were better. She had a crazy sunburn on her back, and was very thirsty. 

Kevin Hart welcomed her to our merry car, gave her some bottled water, and we started to go to the airport again. 

We got stuck in traffic, and he said "Chris I'm never going to be able to get you to the airport. You should change your flight. Can you change your flight?" I was already on the app making changes and got a night time flight, and pointed to a bar where we should go, have some drinks. 

The plan that I had at the start, to go to a bar with my cousins, instead of kayaking and shit. 

The End.

Patty O'Furniture in my Party McYard

Seeing as St. Patrick's day is looming, the title hearkens back to a bad joke. 

Q: What do the Irish like to sit on outside?
A: Patty O'Furniture

Of course. Ha. I laugh. 

For years I've wanted a patio set for the yard. Just .... a place to hang out, eat food, etc. 

Doug had thought he'd get the set his mom has on her breezeway/covered patio at House #1, but I pointed out to him it's Redwood, it's like 40+ years old, and in perfect condition. Out here in our yard, the patio is uncovered, and the weather would just wreck it in 2 years. I'd hate to see that. Absolutely hate it. At the last house, it would have been perfect inside the 3 season porch that I tried to make the Party Porch. Here, not so much.

Doug's not a real fan of patio furniture, he's more of an Adirondack chairs, or camping chairs, around the camp fire with small tables in between kind of guy. I like that too, but I have some more specific wants and needs. 

I want to sit outside and eat. At a table. Not hold my plate in my hands, or rest it on my fat belly because I'm a beached whale when I'm in an Adirondack chair. I feel like my arms and legs are flailing about, I slide backward, I look like a manatee and need someone to rescue me if I need to get up for a beer or to go to the bathroom. 

At a patio table, you can sit and eat and all that. You can sit and work at it too. In the last house I had the big table in the screened in porch, 2 monitors, my laptop, a fan for when it was so hot it was the worst, my very first houseplant (a spider plant named Pete, or something) strings of big clear lights to brighten the place up in the evening. I was a party of one back there. 

I won't be able to quite do that, since it is out in the open, but you better believe, I'll be happy to do it to the extent that I can. 

On Nextdoor recently, I saw a guy selling his patio table and six chairs. Six. Wow. Everything but the umbrella and stand. I can live with that. I can figure something out. It gets shady back there when the leaves come in on the trees. I reached out to him, no one was interested yet, so I said "put me down for it, I'll be there this weekend." 

He asked if we could come today, but now it's pouring so he messaged me to say "yeah, tomorrow, the original plan is better, I'm sorry for being an idiot." So tomorrow at this time, I'll have patio furniture.

In time for St. Patrick's Day. HA! even better.

So instead of going to get the patio furniture, I ran over to my doctor's office to get blood drawn. When I was there two weeks ago, they missed the Lipid panel (ie: triglycerides) and my A1c. Hoping for that lower number than my last visit in October. Cross your fingers. 

No picture today, I'd planned a patio set photo but. That'll wait until tomorrow. 

digits:

exercise: 12/12 hours 250 steps. Dedicated 10, solid, after dinner while doug was napping.

blood glucose:
9am: 180
4:30pm: 171
9:30pm: 175

food:
coffee, water
10am: small ramekin of mac & cheese w/bacon
12:15: metformin
12:30: spicy chicken salad (left over fajita chicken w/red peppers and onions, cream cheese, mayo) on a small carb balance wrap
6pm: metformin+jaridance
6:30pm: big bowl of chili with ground beef, beans, sour cream, shredded cheese, some fritos. White wine.
9:45pm: peanut butter on whole wheat 647 bread

The incredible edible egg

A couple times in the past weeks, I made us all egg mcmuffins with my wee silicone egg circles.

I'm not a big fan of eggs, I've said it before over the years. But I make a great omelet, and love to cook for others. I will make you a heck of a breakfast if you are here.

For me, I have to force myself to eat them... even though they are the perfect no-carb high protein breakfast. I have to force myself to eat them. It is a struggle. For these, I was slightly disappointed that Geoff bought the 647 low carb muffins when I asked him to get English muffins. I didn't really care for them the first time I bought them. You know. Thomas' are the absolute best. But. Hey. This turned out alright!

Mine was special. I went with 2 sausage patties, one egg, 2 slices of cheese. Tremendous. Doug and Geoff each got one sausage patty and one slice of cheese. I'm mean like that. But it makes it less eggy, more sausagey.

The other day I recreated it again but with bacon. A lot of bacon. Bacon makes everything better. 

I took a picture of it on Sunday, and forgot to share it with you because there were a lot of Henry pictures to celebrate his birthday, and I felt the brekkie sammitch was not as important.

digits

exercise: 12/12 of 250 steps. Dedicated 10+4. Doug took a nap in the livingroom, I walked.

blood glucose:
9am: 186
5:45pm: 147
9:45pm: 160

food:
coffee, water
10:30 am: slice of american cheese (last one in the package, wanted to clean out the fridge)
11:45am: substantial bowl of Chicken Salad (mayo, cream cheese, walnuts, red grapes, chicken)
12:15: metformin
5:45pm: chicken parm a la Geoff

one man gathers what another man spills

Phin woke me up at 5 and I never really fell back asleep. My fitbit thinks I was asleep but I was just very still. My mind was racing. And I had an earworm, thanks Grateful Dead. And I have a title for the entry today. 

My colleague TI is a huge dead fan so we talk about them a lot. I think that I'm old enough to be his mom? I am not sure, but he's fun. And if he gets laid off or I get laid off, I will miss him. 

We joke around about it a lot. I guess that's healthy. 

He and I are supposed to be QA testing today for Monday's code release. How has it been three weeks already? I can't wrap my head around time. Oh and I completely forgot it is Daylight Saving this weekend so we "spring ahead" and my life is going to get super wonky. I hate that. 

Nothing really going on to write about. No picture either. 

digits

exercise:  12/12 of 250 steps. no dedicated 10 - freezing out! lots of in house steps, just none for 10 straight minutes...

blood glucose:
8am: 154
4:30pm: 133
9:30pm: 233 (pasta and bread w/dinner for the win! also tested too close to when i last ate...)

food:
coffee, water
8:30am: egg mcmuffin: 1 egg w/bacon and american cheese on 647 english muffin
12noon: Metformin
2:30: pb&j on 647 wheat bread
6:30: very small bowl of spaghetti w/meat sauce, three pieces of garlic bread
6:45: metformin+jardiance
7:30: finished the meat sauce w/2 more pieces of garlic bread
10pm: baby bell cheese (for a lil protein)

ZZ Pot, not Top

As promised, here are some pictures of mr. ZZ plant in its new home. My friend Dave made a joke about it being ZZ Pot and not ZZ Top. which was hilarious to me. I have another ZZ plant that is a little yellow-ey, maybe I have it in direct sunlight and it is displeased. I may move it after doing the next watering. 

Doug left this morning with the other plastic pots in the trunk of the car, and I am bummed I forgot to take them out. I could use a wee distraction. Maybe it is exceptionally awesome that they are not in the house. Oh! And I'm almost out of potting soil anyway so yeah. Good thing. 

That'll be good for tomorrow to listen to our all staff and pot plants. It will give me something to do instead of panicking. Like, sometimes I fold laundry during all staff. I am productive while listening. Plants are good too. 

Geoff just got home from class, and I'm procrastinating, I may go for a walk after my 2:30 meeting. I should not procrastinate, I mean, I should be actively working but my brain doesn't wish to comply today. Some days it be like that.

For dinner for the past couple nights Geoff has wanted Chicken Cordon Bleu, so, that's what's happening tonight. I didn't feel like cooking last night so we had leftovers and just generic "what's in the cabinet" kinds of things. I've asked Doug to text me when leaving work so I know an ETA. Dinner is prepped, in the oven, cauliflower and the previously mentioned CCB. Everything should be ready around 6:45 at the latest. 

Okay, Plant Pictures! 

Two angles, it has two good views! there is wonderful new growth - Fronds just spinning open and revealing their new leaves. I also love the folding screen/wall dealie that Doug's aunt gave us. at night it is really cute with the string of lights across it. It doesn't separate a room - it's just against the wall in the dining area, looking nice. 

digits

exercise: dedicated 10+3 pokemon walk. x/12 hours of 250 steps

blood glucose:
8am: 177
4:30pm: 135
9:30pm: 161

food:
coffee, water
11am: chicken salad from yesterday's batch (so much.... should not have eaten it alllllllll)
12:15: metformin
6pm: metformin
7pm: chicken cordon bleu (chicken breast, 2 pieces of sliced ham, 3 pieces of havarti, rolled in bread crumbs & parmesan), roasted cauliflower (head of cauliflower, tossed in EVOO lightly, parmesan cheese, paprika, s&p, baked for 45 minutes