The Island of Misfit Toys

Yesterday after the adventure errands, I asked mom if she wanted to go to her foodrinkery for lunch. It was early enough that she could have a sandwich there and not ruin dinner's happenings. She said she was tired. She made a PBJ sandwich, and headed to take a nap. 

I really wanted a fried chicken sandwich with lots of mayo and tomato (yum!), so I headed over to the bar solo. I talked to Jess on the phone for a while in the parking lot as they were on their way back to Massachusetts from a road trip to Canada. They thought maybe it'd be a good idea to stop here instead of go straight home. Enthusiastically, I signed off on that.  Even though I knew this was kind of out of the way, I longed for some Jess time. I ran into mom's (well, our) friend Donna and her husband Bert (my fake step-dad, long story) and we chatted for a bit. I know that they meet up with a bunch of friends there all the time, they get several seats pulled together around the round high-tops and have a fête. We walked in together, I sat at the bar, they sat at their table, and their friend group started to pour in. 

Eventually, Donna said to me "what are you doing over there alone, come sit with us." 

I told her I didn't want to crash the party and their friend time. She told me that's crap, get over here. 

I'm naturally friendly but, I don't know. 

Sometimes I'm like my dad. 

I just want to watch football, drink a beer, and eat a sammitch, and go home. Yesterday was kind of a day like that. After that little white haired lady told me she loved me, I had feelings. 

But I came over on her urging. The gathering included another Donna (Donna 2)  and her husband, pictured here, and a few other people that I didn't know their names.

When they call ahead to reserve the group table, the bartender puts a note on the setup. 

He welcomed me to the Island of Misfit Toys. It warmed my heart. Thank you.

It was nice to sit with people, and I did what my friend C says her sister does (it's her magic power) in that I only asked questions about them and spoke very little of myself. So you just moved back here from Alabama. What happened, why did you not like it? Tell me about the house you're renting. Oh! You're closing on a new little place on the beach over here! Amazing. Grandchildren! Amazing. Tell me about them. Wow! I bet apple picking was so fun with those littles...

I didn't have to talk about myself at all. They know all about me from mom's journey, and they know mom. I just soaked in all the details on them. Donna 1 and Donna 2 told me about a recent trip to Foxwoods, and Donna 2's husband was totally into the Pats game. 

The Pats game actually started to get good and exciting. Everyone was wondering - would they blow it! Would the Bills come back and crush them!? Somehow no! The Patriots scored and took the lead. Everyone in the bar went bananas. 

Let me tell you, it's been a very long time since I've been sitting in a bar with likeminded sports fans. And this was a lot of fun.

Since moving to DC, I haven't been that into the sportsballs, and many of you know I'm a fan of the sportsballs. I just looked around the room, feeling the joy. I got some hi fives, stood up at the bar behind those seated, just so I could be closer to the TV to watch. And boy did we cheer.

My plan after my lunch was to go to Lowes and return the suction grip dealies that don't stay stuck to the tub, and get a few other things over in that neighborhood. 

Instead, I went back to mom's took a little 6pm snooze. A well deserved snooze.

I heated her up some pasta and meat sauce for her dinner at 7. 

Jess confirmed they'd be arriving around 9:30, which to mom is way past her bedtime. 

But she stayed up just to say hi. How loving.

While we were waiting, we sat at the dining table, and I made two bracelets for her, and one for Donna 2. 

Mom was fascinated with stringing the beads, and counting them, and asking if there is a longer or shorter word, how do I account for the difference (news flash: I use more or less beads!). She was tickled pink when I finished this one. 

 I've got more to make, but Jess showed up at 9:30. There was a big hi to grandma and short chat amongst the fam. Grandma went to bed, just checked out, said bye. Fantastic. There were two options for Jess, one was go home another 90 minutes north or... see if the hotel had a room. 

They were super tired and opted for hotel, so we went over to the hotel. I was relieved for that, because it meant we could see each other this morning. Because I have Linda staying at the hotel tonight and tomorrow, when we checked Jess in I just said - let's make a note of it that we put Linda here for the next 2 nights and we don't need housekeeping or anything.

Thankfully, the hotel knows us now. I mean, I've had 30 hotel reservations this year (which seems bananas to me) and most of them have been one or two rooms at a time with this particular little hotel. So they're always super kind to us. And I appreciate that immensely. 

We sat in the lobby, chatting, and watching more sportsballs. The Eagles did some fun fancy plays and the last half hour of the game was smashing. 

A wedding had basically just finished up in the events center, the DJ was packing up the truck, and the bride was running around in this adorable short sundress thing that could have been an undergarment to her dress (no judgement!) giving out cupcakes from this absolutely gianormous box. 

Jess took two and immediately ate them (we were talking about going to Wendy's to grab a little something but cupcakes appeared out of nowhere). I took two to bring home to grandma, the sugar fiend.

Around midnight, I slunk back into the house and headed to bed, but was unable to sleep. 

It's kind of funny, but being the kid in my mom's house with my kid down the street in a hotel made me laugh. 

What a weird life we're living, eh? 

This morning, Jess and I discussed lunch. We met up at a little restaurant near the hotel and had a great time. There was hardly anyone in there, 3 people at the bar. Suddenly we heard explosions and horns and music - they were CRANKING a happy birthday song for this guy. A cake came out, the kitchen came out, Jess and I went to look at him and cheer.  They put a hat with light up candles on him, the 2 women he was with were laughing their asses off. 

I kind of wish I took a picture. This was next level hilarious. 

But I did take this picture. I was telling my friend from work that I love this human, spending time with this human. It was a great time. Note: I did not have a blue drink. Semi-regretting it but I wanted to get back to work in my right mind. Jess, however... Ever their dad's kid.

I got back from lunch with Jess to find my mom victorious. She'd lost a set of keys and gone bananas looking for it over the past couple days. Well she found the keys, they were in her jacket. Of course they were. 

After repeatedly insisting I accidentally dropped them in the trash (Like I would) she found them in her fleece pocket AND she found the remote to my dad's TV under the bed when no one else had been able to find it. Okay then. 

Earlier in the day I'd been frustrated with her not being able to find these keys, and I said 

Linda was en route this evening, and got a ferry from Long Island to the northlands. She arrived after 7, came straight here to say hi to mom. 

Jess, Linda and I went to "The 9s" which is the 99 restaurant's new-ish marketing campaign. I kind of wanted country fried chicken, but I kept to the lower carb thing of buffalo chicken. 

I had run to the market earlier to get wine for Linda, and strawberry preserves for mom. All told, I feel like I did a lot of work for work and work for mom today, and it is time to crash. 

Here's linz and jess at dinner tonight. Looking forward to tomorrow. My bean and my bean. oh my heart.

digits

exercise:  12/12 hours of 250 steps.  No real dedicated 10 today but I did walk around walmart forever.

blood glucose:

8:45am: 154
xpm: n/a forgot to do a reading before running errands 
10:45pm: 204

food:

coffee, water 
10:45am: 2 good yogurt; metformin
2pm: Tom Yum Goong soup (shrimp, mussels, scallops, etc, spicy!); 3 "golden bags" aka crab rangoon, crispy duck over greens, 4 gyoza. All off the appetizer menu so while that sounds like a lot, it really wasn't. 
4pm: the rest of my soup that I brought home
8pm: buffalo fingers and bleu cheese at the 99. White wine. 
10pm: metformin+jardiance
10:45pm: 2 cupcakes (no one else was eating them)