Vertical Space

I should have taken a picture. Maybe next time I go visit. 

Doug's mom has a giant living room slash dining room that comes to a super high point in between. In the living room, she has a ceiling fan she never uses because it makes the room too cold (she keeps the AC set at like 87, so, Doug turns it on when we are there because we're sweating balls). Over the dining table, she has a chandelier. 

She said her neighbor opted to put his ceiling fan right up in the crease and used different lighting fixtures than she has in the living and dining areas. She said she didn't like it, but I kind of feel like I would, and, if the ceiling fan wasn't right on top of you while you're watching TV, then maybe you wouldn't hate it. The different lighting options also sounded good to me. Her recessed can lighting in the ceiling in the living room is not the same lightbulb style/color/temperature as the bulbs in the chandelier, so it's a bit off putting to my eyes when both are on at the same time. And let's not even mention the bulbs in the ceiling fan - which she doesn't use. She never turns them on. 

She has a lot of stuff. A lot of very wonderful, very nice stuff. Some of it is in boxes, and will never come out. She struggles with display/shelving options. She has two really nice custom made shelves in her bedroom, another gorgeous one in the living room, a huge hutch/sideboard which is full of decorative plates at the top and storage underneath. In the 3rd bedroom, she has some nice bookshelves and glass fronted short shelving units. 

Doug and I were sitting in the cavernous living room and just looking at the bare, skyscraper height walls. It is hugely echoey, and she can't hear as it is. He said the room needs softening. It needs something. He said he'd hang quilts or tapestries. He also said he'd have area rugs - big fluffy sound absorbent area rugs. 

I told him that I didn't ever picture myself living in a place like this(*), but I'd have at least one of those walls with floor to almost ceiling shelves. All my books, doo dads and tchotchkes, houseplants! All the nice things that I have that I want to look at every day would surround me. Surround yourself with the things that make you happy.

Don't get me wrong, this is a super nice condo. But the major thing I hate is the kitchen is tucked in the back, with no windows. It's a quad building, and the kitchen leads to a utility hall and the garage entrance. But no windows. Not even a skylight. It doesn't have that cathedral ceiling either - it's a low "normal" square ceiling. It's kind of an open floor plan, but not really, because of how the kitchen is tucked in the back corner. I suppose if someone really wanted to have at it and close the kitchen off, they could. She doesn't cook a lot. Everything looks absolutely brand new almost 3 years into owning it. But we cook all the damn time, and I could not imagine sitting watching the news and smelling dinner or sautéing onions and having it stink up the whole house, even with a fantastic range hood it would be a thing . 

Kitchens gotta have windows. Kitchens gotta have plants, and plants need windows!

But I do gotta say I have kitchen cabinet envy. For sure. Damn her cabinets are fine. 

Anyway, digits below. 

(*) When I said this to Doug, he said "you never know." I'm sure that if she passes, Doug and Diane inherit All The Things, and who knows. We could, in theory, end up living there. If she dies before she's done moving all the things out of the old house (Doug calls her Bonnie Two Houses) then we'd have that house and this house, and All The Things. He and Diane would have a lot to work out together.

I am not in a hurry for this to happen. On the record. No. Don't want to see it any time soon, also keeping in mind my sister and I would inherit our parents' trailer. Nowhere near as grand, and she and I have already talked about the different possibilities. Would we need to sell it to pay for assisted living or long term care someplace? It's not worth a lot. Or, would we just inherit it, and then have a place to go and stay on Cape Cod whenever we wanted. Whenever. We. Wanted. I know Linda could use the money, and I'm not a fan of having the responsibility of a second place in my life. But like Doug said to me, "you never know."

digits

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.  

blood glucose:

8am: 154
4:45pm: 158
9:30pm: 153

food:

coffee, water
11:30: 647 english muffin w/pb
12:15: bowl of tuna fish 
1pm: metformin
3:15: several cherry tomatoes
6:15pm: metformin+jardiance; 1 cheeseburger, on top of one giant salad
white wine
7:30pm: Breyer's no sugar vanilla ice cream, diced sour cherries, trail mix (peanuts, almonds, chocolate chunks but not a lot - i think Geoff picked through and ate them all).