Have yourself a merry little christmas

I had a long list of things to do and I did not get to all of them. The big one I wanted to accomplish was to set up some Christmas shit, I mean, decorations. Decorations.

Mom said she didn't want to do it. She wasn't interested. It wasn't worth it. So much hassle. "That was always your dad's thing, decorating and celebrating," she said with a shrug. Whereas I always remember she was the holiday decorator, the boss, the person to get it all done.

Because the first big holidays without the person you've been with for .... 58 years, may be hard, I wanted there to be a little something something. And I didn't want her to feel depressed with all this. Looking around the neighborhood, there is a lot of festivity out there in the form of lights on bushes, running lights on the trailers, windows decorated. She notices all the work other people are putting into their festooning. 

She's come a long way in the past several weeks. I want to keep her momentum going. I don't want her to slip into big sad.

All the christmas stuff is tucked into a kitchen closet. I moved the portable dishwasher (which someone was supposed to come take away, weeks and weeks ago. I offered to do it with a friend of mine who lives here in town, and she said no, he'd be there "soon." Lies, damned lies). I moved the cabinet the microwave sits on. I pulled all the shit out of the closet. And boy, does she have a lot of shit.

There are two big rubbermaid containers full of things, an artifical tree about 4ft tall, some other things... She has candlestick lights for the windows and I put 2 in the front and one in each window in the kitchen. She has a handmade ceramic Christmas tree my grandmother made. Her initials are on the bottom and "75" but I could swear this is so much older than that! She told me itt needed a new lightbulb, and the star needed to be glued back on. I was psyched to make that so.

My dad used to always take the star off every year and she would get so upset. No. Don't remove it. Don't. Well. Now you can't. I got some gorilla glue, and that star is not moving. 

I procured a new bulb for inside the tree, which she said was the wrong kind of bulb. I said no, it's fine. It fits in the socket. She said it had to be shaped like a flame (btw - it is). I asked why. It's INSIDE the tree. It could be round, square, penis shaped, who cares. No one is going to see it. She got a little testy and walked away, while I got the tree newly reunited with its star set up on top of the light and the base. I fired it up and it was lovely. 

I asked her to come look and she seemed pleased. I started hanging some things around and she was correcting me where things go. She was getting into it. Telling me where things go and don't go. It felt good to have her be a pain in the ass.

For someone who didn't want any decorations put up, she sure had opinions about where things go.

It isn't a lot, but it is just a little something, and it brightens my heart, too. 

Hard to believe I'm leaving tomorrow, with a list of undone things, but hey. I got a little bit of this done and that's alright, I guess.

Digits below. 

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.  not really a dedicated 10 but I had fun walking around Lowes. 8100+ steps by publish time.

blood glucose:

8:30am: 174
5pm: 159
11:45pm: 216

food:

coffee, water
9am: one dunkin donuts lemon donut
1pm: Metformin
2pm: buffalo fingers, 2 beers (goodbye lunch w/mom)
6pm: slice of chocolate chip banana bread
7:30: Metformin+Jardiance
beers at Lucky Goat
9:45pm: english muffin w/pbj; 2 beers

Old Lady Driver

Mom had a prescription that needed picked up today and told me that she felt she could drive by herself. I told her she had to go before 3, before it got dark. And she did. And she came back unscathed. Praise be the saints and God.

I made her take her emergency alert pendant, and she did without fighting. She was quick like a bunny getting ready, and I think was absolutely thrilled to go. I told her she didn't need me to go with, she could handle it. And I sat here and waited. She took forever because I'm sure she talked to every employee in the store. She bought batteries for the new battery back up device, and some AA and AAA because she was out. 

This was a big test for how she'd do alone and I would say she has passed. One of the big problems I have is her strength. She has a hard time opening the car door, and said "they're so heavy," she complains. Thing is, the door has weighed the same for years and you used to be able to do it. You've been neglecting your PT. So. Work on that (she won't, she should). 

I have one more night here and didn't get to the cleaning/organizing I had in mind but. I'll see what I can cram in tomorrow. Will pre pack the car tomorrow night. Coffee and highway Friday morning. 

For dinner tonight I had a small package of ground beef so I browned it and put it in pasta and sauce for her. I opted to mix mine with velveeta and milk, thinking it would turn out like when mom used to make that and put it over noodles. I took out the left over tuna casserole and poured the meat and cheese sauce on it to make a frankenstein's monster mess. It wasn't half bad but I think mom used to use a lot more milk. I didn't want to use too much lest we not have enough for coffee in the morning. And I so didn't want to go out and get milk after dinner. Should have had her get milk at the market! 

Anyway. got the 12 hours of steps but no other real walk and no extra steps, did a lot of work, worked after dinner, and now I'm beat. I think tomorrow is Last Lunch at the foodrinkery, so I'm blocking my calendar now that I'll be "AFK" or Away From Keyboard.

Digits below! 

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.  no dedicated 10. 4600+ steps by publish time

blood glucose:

8am: 175
5pm: 142
10pm: 182

food:

coffee, water
10:45am: omelet w/ spinach and mushrooms, cheddar cheese
11:30am: Metformin
12:00pm: trail mix snacks
5pm: meat & cheese sauce over noodle leftovers

What if I run into traffic?

Today, mom had a hair appointment and I told her we'd leave at 11:50 for her 12:15 appointment. She flipped out. 

Her: We'll never get there in time. 

Me: Yes we will.

Her: What if we run into traffic!

Me: Ma, it is less than 10 minutes away. Faster if we take the highway, but I know you don't like the highway so we will take the back roads. 25 or even 20 minutes is plenty of time. And there are alternate routes if we run into traffic, it is going to be okay.

Her: I'll just drive myself! Goddamnit!

Me: No. You're silly. Stop it. I am meeting a friend for lunch over there so no, you will not drive yourself, I'm driving you, but we don't want to be there and sitting waiting for 20 minutes because you think we'll somehow run into traffic. 

I finally break down and tell her to get in the car at 11:40. Just shut the fuck up. Get in the fucking car. 

I wanted an extra 10 minutes to rake some leaves off the walkway, which she bitched about them being all over and in her way. 

I said well I could have been spending time doing THAT instead of driving you over to a hair appointment hella early, but yeah okay. Here we are. 

We got there at 11:48. The hairdresser actually came outside when she saw us drive up and said "her appointment isn't until 12:15." 

Oh honey, we know. I acknowledged that and said "she'll sit here until a reasonable time to go in." 

After a while I said "do they have a nice waiting area?" and she said yes. Good. Go inside, sit on a couch or comfy chair, bye. I'm going to meet my friend for lunch.

So, my son is like this, too. Geoff, your appointment isn't until 10, it is a 20 minute drive, why are you leaving at 8:30. 

"What if I run into traffic." 

Lord have mercy, he's her grandson for sure. 

Anyway, had a lovely lunch with another Guster pal, he came down from Boston to meet with me, and we had a blast chatting and catching up while mom got curly.  I realized that where we were sitting was directly across the water from where we had Thanksgiving. Huh. Interesting.

I have a lot I want to do. I want to dig through the storage and find some Christmas decorations. I'm just tired and weary tonight. And I'm not here much longer. So I need to like, do the things. 

Pictures, and, of course, digits below. Here's Me and V. and then I broke out of Pizza Jail and it was worth it. 

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps. no dedicated 10. 6100+ steps by publish

blood glucose:

8am: 173
5pm: 198
10pm: 181

food:

coffee, water
9am: cranberry orange nut muffin w/butter
11:30am: Metformin
12:30pm: 2 beers; bar pizza buffalo chicken
5:30pm: left over salad and buffalo fingers from last night
6:30pm: metformin+jardiance
wine

Sushi and Moon

You get a bonus post tonight because I don't want to forget this and the other post was getting too long. My friend Alex invited me out to dinner. He lives near Providence, so when Linda or I are here, he makes a point to connect with us. He's so sweet. Making sure we get some grown up time that isn't Momther Time. 

He thinks it is hilarious when we make fun of her. We both do this voice and we knock him on his ass. It is actually very funny, if I say so myself.

We met Alex because of Guster and have been to so many good shows with him. He's lovely. What a good human. And that's what I love about the vast majority of friends I've made through Guster shows. They are just good humans. 

I told Alex we needed a "Make Linda Jealous" Selfie, so we went outside on the beach behind the restaurant, we liked all the hanging lights all over the area, and I can just imagine how crazy this place is in the summer.

He got this shot, with the moon. She's photobombing us. How sweet. Hello moon, good night moon. 

I also wanted to mention that I ate sushi. I don't like sushi, for the record, but this was some sort of little mostly-rice roll, with avocado and pickle and tuna. I would call this beginner sushi for anyone who was maybe interested in trying it. The sushi chef came around and gave everyone at the bar some. I'm not sure why the give-away, but he was super kind and friendly and I wasn't about to turn my nose up at it and say no. 

It was actually very very good. I told the bartender waiting on us to please go thank him. It was exceptionally kind. I think they have to or had to get rid of things by the end of the night, so their loss, my gain? I'll look at it that way. 

If you know about sushi and maybe know what this is, let me know. I'd order it again. 

Beer Steins, Reorder, and Driving Test

There's a beer hall in DC that is shutting down, and they are auctioning all of their gear and equipment, including all the tchotchkes on the walls and shelves. Someone posted a picture, and I thought to myself jeesh the beer steins look familiar.  

I am literally sitting right here, staring at them. These came from Avon back in the day, and my dad has (had) several of them, which now grace the shelf in his bedroom (former, you know). 

A quick google search says these are worth about 20-25 bucks each maybe. 

They've never held beer, which is sad. When you think about it. 

Beer steins should hold beer. 

I like how they're stamped with an official collector's number at the bottom and stuff. So fancy, so official. 

If memory serves, they contained a bottle of cologne maybe. I can't recall. Any 70s/80s kids remember the dads having these? Let me know! 

I'm not planning on selling them or anything. I just thought it was hilarious that this DC out-of-business bar has them on the shelf and you can buy the whole collection of stuff they have (steins and other stuff). 

Verizon came this morning and fixed the phone. 

I have to stop and think hard about what I say to repair people. I want to feel a fellowship, a kinship, like hey, I fix shit for a living too. I see you. I respect you.

Sometimes I mention that I do tech support for a job, so I love to triage problems and then get tortured by the customer service people at the other end for 2 hours only to be told yup, you're right. But I don't want to overstep, I want them to be at peace to do their thing. I told the repair guy I did all the troubleshooting on this issue and he knew exactly where to go look. Turns out there were a couple wires along the bottom of the trailer and one of them was cut. Sheered off. My mom actually knew about this, and her neighbor did it once when he was weed whacking along the exterior. 

Lady. You knew he whacked your wires? And never got service done to this? Oh lady, this is on you. 

My mom used to work for the telephone company as an operator way way back in the day, and so when her phone is out she is constantly yelling about the "reorder" tone. The fast busy signal. You've probably not heard it for years, but if you're of a certain age, you know it. When the phone goes out, it would either be dead-dead and nothing. Or a fast busy signal, or a fast busy signal and a whole lot of static, or dead and static. 

So she'd start yelling about the "reorder" signal. I'm like lady - I'm not sure anyone knows what that is and I only know because you know and you've told me what it is. 

The guy was here working, bless his heart, soul, head etc, and I kept telling her it's going to take time. He has to do many things. Please do not harass the person with updates about what you're hearing on the phone. 

But, she did. 

He was in the kitchen with me, testing some things, and she comes down with the phone in hand and says "It says Line In Use but no one is on the phone." So he very kindly tells her "yes, that's part of what I'm doing." Then a little while later she got the dreaded Reorder noise, and came to tell him about it. "I'm just getting the Reorder signal."

Dude just looks at her and says "I'm not sure what that means, ma'am." 

So she gestures at him with the handset and says "Reorder! The fast busy signal!" and he says "oh yeah, that. Okay that's because I just replaced the line and I have to go outside and connect it, and I have to drive up the road from here, and go to the big box, and reconnect your line."

I'm like oh shit lady will you just leave this poor precious helpful soul alone. She then goes on and on explaining how she worked for the phone company and "no one knows what a reorder signal is anymore, I guess." 

I said "that's cause you're using 1950s phone terminology in this the year of our lord 2023." 

He apologized to me after she walked back down the hall. And I was like "for what?!" 

"I get the feeling your mom wants this to go faster," he says. 

Of course she does. She always does. She's so impatient. I told him it was no big thing, you do your job, your thing, if it takes all day she can just chillax. He had to turn all the services off: TV; phone; internet. So I wasn't doing any work, hard to do work on my phone when I can't access the helpdesk through it. 

I told him again to take his time, really, it's okay. 

So he gets the phone ironed out, the new battery backup system installed, which you have to turn on in a power outage and it uses 9 D cel batteries, but it doesn't drain your power uninterruptably all day every day, so Verizon made some changes. It is tiny compared to the one that was there, for sure an upgrade. Life is good. No more phone outages when it rains.

I have a lot to talk about that happened today. We ran errands. I got my own bank card for her bank account. Her bank balance was an hysterical number that means very little to anyone outside of fans of My Brother, My Brother, and Me so I won't post it. If you want to know leave a comment. I did send it to Jess and they texted back, "Nice."

On the way back from errands, I had her drive back from the mailboxes. She was very pleased. I told HER which directions to turn and where to go for a change. hahahhahahahaaa! 

I wanted her to drive around the whole neighborhood and she got super pissed at me. "I don't FEEL LIKE driving around the neighborhood!"

Lady, this is your Road Test and you don't want me to fail you. Go straight, turn right. Do it. 

I had dinner with my friend Alex in New Bedford (the one city someone hates!) and we had a lovely, lovely time. I'm glad he asked me, and I'm glad I didn't beg off and skip. It was nice to go out.

I didn't get a lot of steps in today, took today as mostly a movement loss. And a bad choice of foods but. Some days be like that, friends. Some days be like that. 

Digits below the smiling old lady. 

digits 

exercise: 9/12 hours of 250 steps.  No dedicated 10. about 4k by publish time, super low activity for today!

blood glucose:

8:45am: 153
5pm: 240
10:15pm: 145

food:

coffee, water
10:30am: Metformin. Cranberry Orange Nut Muffin w/butter
4:30pm: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy
6:30pm: clam chowder, 3 nice pieces of sushi, buffalo chicken caesar salad, 2 beers
8pm: Metformin+jardiance

Who gets to come back

There was some interesting medical drama here in Old Folks Land this morning. 

A man who lives 2 or 3 houses down from my mom was found by his wife, unconscious but still breathing. The ambulance, fire trucks, police all came. A neighbor called my mom to tell her, because everything was blocking us from being able to pull the cars out, if we wanted to pull the cars out. We didn't, and we're patient, so I watched as the ambulance pulled away with this man. 

I think he was out yesterday raking. His wife was out sweeping later on when we came back from eating at the foodrinkery. My mom says she sweeps everything. The street, the grass, the walk way, their porch. 

It reminded me of these pictures you'd see of really old Soviet era women trying to clean up when everything was always just so dirty. Only here, it's mostly pine needles and oak leaves. 

My mom said she doesn't think the guy is coming back. I said okay Doctor Shirley, let's see what happens. She said no, in all seriousness, he's unwell and has been for quite a time. She thinks this is the end. 

I wondered how she would have felt about people in the neighborhood talking about her or my dad when they'd be carted off in the amblumps (that's a linda thing. Hi linda, if you're reading). I didn't think it was appropriate to speculate. You never know who is coming back, who is not, and I'm sure everyone thought my dad would come back. Even I did. And there, you know that did not happen. 

His wife, though... I hope she's got someone with her today. I wonder if someone took her to the hospital. I thought about offering but, I don't know her and that's a little weird. My mom said they are not super popular here, they've gotten into fights with neighbors and my mom once yelled at him to go fuck himself and mind his business. 

Kind of funny for someone so Nebby that she can't wait to tell people the haps. Nebby Debby over here.  

I only really know mom's direct neighbors on either side, and the woman down the block and her husband who have both been very helpful to my mom even before dad passed. I don't think she's much older than I am to be honest. The age to live here is 55 and up, so the older ones are moving along and the younger ones come take their place.  

So, send Judy and Donald some love right now across the universe. I think they can use it.

Jess checked out of the hotel at 11, and I picked them up. We came back here to hang out with my mom and I made omelets for us. I haven't cooked for myself since being here the way I did last time when I was far more diligent at making sure I ate right. I've been neglectful of me. It was nice to sit and have a meal with Jess. Mom told me she needed strawberry preserves, and I'd noticed she needed toilet paper, and more of her favorite bottled water, so we figured a jaunt to the market was in the cards. 

I even thought maybe we'd go over to the eastern part of town to the disco car wash, get mom's car scrubbed and vacuumed, but, meh, no. I bought Armor All wipes at the market, and mom has really nice window cleaner, so we spent a little time sprucing up the inside of her little Honda. Now I sadly want to go do the vacuum thing. It is supposed to start raining, so paying for a car wash is so stupid if it is going to rain. We'll hold. 

There are errands to run tomorrow and Tuesday. Propane got delivered the other day and she wants to pay it in person. She also needs to let them know my dad passed since the account is in his name. She needs cigarettes, so I'll take her for a trip and she can buy those herself. Verizon is coming hopefully between 10am and noon, finally remembered to make an effort to call them to ask for a technician so yay. We don't have to wait. I need to take her to the bank so she can withdraw some cash, and move it into her other bank. She's always afraid that she won't have money in one of the accounts, so she just keeps them kind of equally balanced. Thankfully they are next door to each other. 

I can skip my 1pm meeting tomorrow, which will give me time to go out and about with her. Tuesday I'm taking most of the afternoon off, since she is having a hair appointment, and I'm going to have a friend come down and meet me for lunch while she's getting her doo did. 

Jess took a nap before heading home. I miss them already. I would like for them to stay, or maybe live/be closer. On paper it is 90 minutes. But what a schlep. We'll see them soon. Not sure when, but. Soon.

Right now for me the return home is either Wednesday or Friday. I'm kind of leaning at Friday, to be honest. I think Doug thinks I'm coming home Wednesday so, I'll have to make a decision. 

There are still chores and things I'd like to do before I go. I've done a lot, but ... a lot is left undone. 

We'll see what I can fit in.

No pictures today, I was just too damn busy!

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.   No dedicated 10 but lots of getting steps in. 7100 steps by publish

blood glucose:

9am: 178
5pm: 122
10pm: 183

food:

coffee, water
11:30am: 2 egg omelet w/ mushrooms and spinach, cheddar cheese 2 tiny sausage patties
12:30pm: Metformin
3pm: 3 hard seltzers from canada (from Jess)
5:30pm: tuna casserole with peas
6pm: metformin+jardiance
9pm: cheese squares; beer

Just Wait Until You Get Old

This morning, we were sitting in the kitchen and my mom could feel a draft. She was looking at the windows to make sure they were all closed and I pointed out the two windows in dad's room, where I've been sleeping, that are open. It's about 10 degrees cooler in there, thanks to open windows and it being in the 30s last night. 

She has the heat on at 73, and the hot air blowing through this joint is too damn much. I put a towel over the heat register that is UNDER the bed, right under my damn head, and the one under the television, to try and cut down on the heat in this room but it doesn't help. 

So the windows are open. 

The porch window's openness is negligible towards attempts to cool the room off - there's no breeze coming through unless the porch windows are open, which they are not. The windows to the left and right of the bed may bring cool air into the room but when I'm in bed - I cannot feel it. I'm still hot. I haven't slept with sheets or blankets on me, they're all folded off to the other side of the bed. 

Last night was the first night since I've been here that I lowered the window to a crack because it was cold enough to feel the air chilling. Lowered that window and actually put a sheet on - which I tossed off at some point because yeah - I was hot again. 

Mom basically told me I'm nuts, but really no. She's nuts. 

Today was a super busy day. Jess came over and we continued leaf work. Having a second human was key, I never would have gotten done all that needed if it had been just me. We made up parody song lyrics to Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car," and filled 7 bags with leaves while laughing our asses off. 

(read/sing inTracy Chapman voice)
I remember when we're raking
Raking in the yard
Leaves en masse
Wished I was drunk
All the leaves laid out before us
And there's so much pain in my back and shoulders
And IIIIIIIIIeyyyayyyy.... 

Here's me looking like, I don't know, some sort of weirdo getting ready to nobly cram 110 pounds of leaves into a 40 pound bag. Seven times.

Mom's neighbor said he'd take the bags away for us, I didn't anticipate he'd bring the 7 bags back empty but they are now by the cars in the yard. I thought he'd deposit them, bags and all, in the dumping place. 

Oh well. Interesting. Now we have bags, I guess.

We went out to lunch with my mom. Jess and I then dropped her back here and went to play Pokemon until it got dark and we stopped at the brewery. We had a super fun time and the head brewer was there, and I found out he's a Frank Turner fan, so he asked what my favorite album was and he cranked it up for us to all listen to. 

Jess wanted to take me out for birthday dinner, even though it was a week late, so we went to an asian restaurant and had soup, I had favorite appetizers, Jess had sushi. And then she told the waitress it was my birthday, so she brought over fried ice cream, and then she asked me to make a wish, which I'm doing in the picture below. 

Not sure I remember what I wished for but probably that my blood sugar would not be 400. It's not. It wasn't that high. Still higher than I like though. But all told, it was a fantastic, busy, fun day. I couldn't wish for a more fun time. 

Jess had me drop them off at the hotel and we sat in the parking lot talking forever, I left at 9:45 and my mom called me wondering where I was. "I was worried about you..."

Sorry, dude, I was just sitting in the car with my kid talking about dogs and stuff. Like you do.

Digits below. 

digits 

exercise: 10/12 hours of 250 steps.  Missed 5 and 7 by a couple steps, just wasn't paying attention. 7100+ steps by bed time. No dedicated 10 but 2 solid hours of yard work. 

blood glucose:

10am: 183
4pm: 210
9:45pm: 230

food:

coffee, water
noon: metformin
2pm: fried chicken sandwich, onion rings, vodka cranberry (not low-carb cran) 
5pm: beer at lucky goat
7pm: miso soup, gyoza, crab rangoons, Sapporo beer
8pm: metformin+jardiance; ice cream split with Jess 

Chores and errands

For the first time in my natural born life, today, I used a leaf blower. If you know me, you know I am not a fan. I'm not a fan of the noise kind of like Doug does not like a vacuum.  Several times since I've been here, I've swept my mom's walkway to the car. Every time, it ends up looking like I've done nothing within a few hours. 

She was talking to her neighbor the other day while he was mowing the leaves, and said that "No one had cleaned up her parking area yet." After I'd told her I'd get to it. C'mon lady.

Her neighbors do so much for her, I didn't want her giving him the impression she wanted him to do it. But her impatience with things is infuriating. Lady, I told you I'd do it. I had to work all week. It's dark at 3:50. So I didn't get to it yet oh. my. god. stop. 

So today was the day. 

There is a leafblower on the porch, electric powered. I told her I was going to use it and she was incredulous. "oh it is so heavy, don't do it." I'm like .... LADY I can lift a leafblower do you want this done or not. 

It is not heavy at all. I did the walkway, blew everything onto the grass in a ridge. 

I moved the cars and blew out the parking area, and used the leafblower in there. But couldn't get a lot of the leaves to jump the retaining wall up onto the grass for me to add them to the ridge. 

Her neighbor, Mike, on the other side said we're not supposed to blow the leaves into the wooded lot but, a lot of people do. I said mom told me that isn't allowed and "I obey her." He thought that was hilarious. As we're not allowed to put the leaves in the wooded lot across the street, even though, to be honest, 90% of what I cleaned up came from there (most likely), I asked Mike what I was supposed to do with things and he said to "bag 'em up, and stick 'em" by his truck, he'd drive them down to the yard waste dump area the community provides. 

Oh. I need bags. Guess I'm going out to get bags. I opted to not go out this afternoon after doing all the leaf blowing, because lazy and also because Black Friday. My mom's friend told us that the places were all mobbed and crazy crowded so I didn't want to deal with any of that. I put the bags on the back burner.

He asked me about a cover for the air conditioning unit. He showed me his, and asked if my parents covered theirs. She said there was a giant piece of plywood that dad used to put on top, so the neighbor and I found it and topped the system. He said we should put a tarp over it but my mom had said no - there's a vent that blows out of it, and we don't want that blocked. His AC unit isn't the same so he understood. He helped me get the plywood on, and we're all set there.

So. Bags, and a little more clean up tomorrow. I have a feeling I may need gloves. It's gonna be chilly! 

I then spent 2 hours of my life on the phone with Verizon trying to get a technician to come and fix her messed up phone line. We know what is wrong. It isn't her phone. It's an issue outside the house and we know it is because it only happens when it is raining. The TV and internet are not impacted. Just the phone. 

Can you people trust me, I'mma good troubleshooter.  

The first guy ran a diagnostic, and after 40 minutes I disconnected and called back. Got a different girl who said the guy was trying to call me over and over. I said, we have call waiting - it didn't ring through. So. What can we do to stop this nonsense and move on with our lives. 

She called my cel number and had me hang up the landline, re-ran the diagnostic, and confirmed the issue is the line to the house. 

Thank you. Thank you for my two hours when all I wanted was a guy to show up. 'preciate it. 

Agent coming Monday morning. Thank Goodness. 

Mom didn't want to go out tonight, and I wanted to check Jess into the hotel before they got there. I got snacks and wine for them for when they arrived. They were having a 2nd friendsgiving, so it would be late for them coming into the area. After getting Jess checked in, I ended up swinging by the foodrinkery to discover mom's friends there, and they welcomed me into the fun circle for laughs and drinks. I had some buffalo fingers and got some scallops to go home - a way lot more scallops than I expected. voof. 

Jess texted at about 9:30 to let me know they'd made it to the hotel. I thought about going over but meh. So tired. And Jess I'm sure is tired after the long trip. We will hang tomorrow. 

Got the coffee set up, and did more steps in the house. Ready for bed and tomorrow, for Jess and some more yard work, and cleaning the interior of mom's car as I've been planning to do for weeks.

Here are some pictures, evidence of the awesomeness of the leafblower. Digits. Below.

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.  not a real dedicated 10 but 2 hours of yardwork should count. 7100+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

10am: 210 (taken after coffee, but I didn't eat anything else)
5pm: 178
10pm: 215

food:

coffee, water
12:30pm: metformin
1:30pm: plate of left over turkey, and a biscuit, w/mashed, dressing, and gravy. 1 beer
3pm: several cheese cubes
6pm: metformin+jardiance
6:30: buffalo fingers and a beer
8pm: scallops and a beer

Thanksgiving on the Weweantic

After a wild morning of mom searching for something to wear, and me saying that I was going to kick her ass into the middle of next week and take her shopping for pants at JC Penney (long long story), we headed over to our host's house where we did Thanksgiving two years ago. 

When we had dad. When we had Phin. It is interesting re-reading that entry. My cousin Bill and his wife live in a new house and not in the one we went to visit. Dad and Phin are gone. But D & B are still great hosts. 

Two years ago the same hosts had about 15 people in house. This year it was just 7 of us. We had a great dinner, big laughs, they treat my mom so well and take good care of her. I'm super thankful for them. And they are funny as hell, too. Hilarious. 

After dessert (which I could not turn down) I took myself for a walk. Two years ago I had Doug with me, and the weather was a lot like today. It made me think on him and Geoff.

What a beautiful place they live in. I fantasy cottage shopped, and did about a 20 minute stroll, catching pokemon and watching the sun start to dip. I was missing Linda, Doug, and Geoff. I'm glad I get to see Jess tomorrow. Very glad. I passed a memorial for a doggo, and had to take a picture of it. I bet Lucy was a very good dog.

Mom was ready to go after I got back, but we had time for some pictures which are below. 

My friend AL texted me, we went to college together and she lives nearby. Another friend of ours from college was there, and he wanted to see me. Have not seen him since like, 1990 maybe. So I couldn't say no. I dropped mom off, and headed over. 

What a lovely time. Big laughs and I'm glad I went instead of trying to wave it off. I even got to pet cats. I do not get to spend much time with cats. I regret we didn't get a picture though. 

After we finished up with our visit, I felt the need to get some more pokemon action for the day and some steps. I went into the very dead downtown - no one was there. I got out of the car and took a short walk to hit gyms and spinners, and get those steps in. Very peaceful and quiet, hardly anyone around. I wished the brewery was open but nope. Only Cumberland Farms. 

I stopped at the parking lot at a church to flip over a Pokegym, which took much longer to do because I was solo. After sitting there a while, aware that my phone was down to 10% battery, a police officer came over, and knocked on the passenger side window. 

Oh. Hi, Officer. I'm a 57 year old lady in a mini with Maryland plates, just over here playing Pokemon in an unlit church parking lot on Thanksgiving night. Like you do. 

"People still play that?" He asked. I showed him my phone. 

"Yes, hi, you've met one. Normally I'm not by myself, I've got my crew and by crew I mean my husband and/or maybe my oldest, but yeah," I replied, "and to be honest, I'm not in a super big hurry to go back to my mom's. I'm just having a nice time by myself." He smiled, nodded, and understood. I told him I was basically ready to go back, once I beat all these blue team guys up. I'd be on my way. 

He laughed and left. 

I got home, mom had made the coffee and asked me to put the trash out. I took my blood sugar and it was high so instead of eating left over mashed potatoes and stuffing, I decided to eat the celery boats with pimento cream cheese and some sliced deli turkey, and try and lower my blood sugar. 

I could have gone out yet again and walked around the circle but. Ya know. 

Pictures of our time. I didn't take a picture of the actual dinner plate but the cheesecake, yo. 

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.  20 minute walk after dinner, 10 minute pokemon walk in downtown. 7300+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 173
n/apm: n/a forgot to take before going to visit AL
9pm: 220
11:15pm: 155

food:

coffee, water
10:15am: english muffin w/ butter and peanut butter
12:30: metformin
2pm: Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, canned cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, fire grilled sweet potato, wine
3pm: 1/2 slice of caramel cheesecake (worth every bite)
9pm: Metformin+jardiance; 3 celery sticks with pimento cream cheese. wine
10pm: sliced deli sandwich turkey

Stormy and Smelly

We had a heck of a wind and rain storm. Started around 3:30am, and both mom and I were up at the same time because of it. Being in a trailer means you hear every branch, stick, acorn, everything hit the roof. It went on and on until well after noon. The wind was vicious and it rained but it wasn't surprisingly hard but a few times. 

There was little to do for work today, I closed helpdesk tickets and jumped on a call with one of the dev team for one of my products to talk about how something is done and I answered to the best of my ability and understanding. 

I got my digital "packet" of end-of-year reviews, and a nice note from one of my colleagues who didn't get asked to review me but he wanted to add his voice anyway. 

There are days I doubt my skills and abilities, but when I read peer reviews and director reviews like what I got to read today, I was humbled and thankful. I suppose that's a good way to go into Thanksgiving. 

After my last scheduled meeting, I got ready to go out and renew the search for the coveted and desired Strawberry Bailey's. I found it the first place I looked. Ha. I had budgeted an hour to be out and about, so I grabbed a few things at the market. I stopped by the brewery in town and met a really nice couple who are musicians and play there once a month. They were super cool. Got some take-away beers for myself. I headed home and realized on the way in the front door that I'd bought cream of mushroom soup and mom HATES it. So I have to make tuna casserole with cream of chicken soup and hence, have to go back to the market. I worked for a couple more hours, everyone else was off line but I had a number of west coast contacts who were waiting for emails and responses, so I worked right up to what would be my normal time. And then called it quits until Monday.

Mom came down to the kitchen to set up the coffee pot and I'd already done the dishes. For dinner she had lemon loaf slices, I made melted velveeta and salsa and mixed in some chicken strips. 

Linda and I talked forever. Doug and I texted back and forth. I squeezed in some extra steps but still fell short of my 7k goal for a second day. The rain was too much. I thought about going to walmart and just walking up and down the aisles like a weirdo for 10 minutes but ... came home and then didn't feel like going out. 

When I got back from the market, I set my beer on the porch table and brought the groceries in. I went out on the porch and it smells like cat pee. 

Lin and I both think a cat (or something) is living under the porch. And this could be a problem. Lin said it smelled like that when it rained a lot, and well, it rained a lot. So I don't think I can see under the porch to see if there are critters. Maybe I call the office on Wednesday when they are open. 

One picture today. I saw this wine at the store, and jess does love them there sea critters. Got a bottle, because, as we say it is "the aesthetic." Digits below.

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps. No dedicated 10, raining too hard; 6100+ steps by publish.  

blood glucose:

8:30am: 163
5pm: 175
10pm: 233

food:

coffee, water
10am: english muffin w/pbj
11am: metformin
2pm: salad w/can of tuna
5:30pm: chicken strips and salsa queso; beer take away at home
6:45pm: metformin+jardiance
lots and lots of trail mix, with almonds and peanuts and ... some carb based crunchies
8:30pm: cheese cubes

Oh I had to get up anyway

Somehow the volume on my phone was turned up to very loud. I thought at 7am that I was on call and this would be an emergency page, but no. It was the person hosting us Thursday for thanksgiving. I had texted her yesterday to ask if she needed anything and she thought it would just be easier to call me back. 

Her: Are you working already?

Me: No, not yet. Too early for that.

Her: Did I wake you up? (I can tell she's out for a walk)

Me: A little bit, I mean, I have to get up anyway (in like an hour!)

Her: Oh, I thought you'd be up with the old lady.

Me: No, the morning routine is sneaky pete comes down here to the kitchen, starts the coffee, takes her meds, gets a cup of water and goes back down the hall for quite a while and quietly plays her game. Around 8-ish is when we're both up and I make sure she eats. So hello. I'm awake. Hello. 

The long and short of it is our host does not need us to bring anything, but she wanted to know what kind of wine I like. Since she's all set food wise, I'll get her some flowers. 

Let's start the day. 

It is terribly weird to not be prepping/shopping for anything. This is an alien experience for me at thanksgiving. I'm so used to Doug coming home from the market with all the things and setting up, cooking in the morning, him getting the turkey ready, us doing the sides that go on top of the stove and things that go inside the stove after he pulls the bird out. 

Doug is feeling down and depressed because this is his favorite holiday (friends, thankfulness, food. The holy trinity) and he told me last night he hasn't gone shopping for anything and isn't planning on doing a big thing. I hope they do a little something something. Or we have thanksgiving when I get back. He hinted that he is going to find a buffet at a casino somewhere. Okay dude. Just don't spend all our money, okay? I gotta pay rent.

I kind of started working early, after that wake up phone call, after making sure mom had something for breakfast, after getting a couple cups of coffee. I canceled a team meeting because 2 of the 5 people are out this week and there really wasn't anything to check in on that we couldn't check in on in Slack. 

There were a couple other meetings, but things were super slow. At 2pm I decided to go get air in my front tire. Mom wanted to go with me because she wanted Strawberry Baileys (eww?) to bring to the dinner on Thursday. I kind of wanted to go alone because I wanted to play Pokemon, but, alright. Come with. Nice to see you wanting to be out and about!

We struck out at two places, but I got some craft beer for myself. I got air in my tires and asked her if she wanted to go to the foodrinkery. 

"Only if you want to," she replied.

No - are you hungry, would you eat, should we go or do you want a PBJ at home. 

"Okay, I guess we can go." 

We got there and one friend of hers was at the bar, so we sat with. I got buffalo fingers and a small salad. More friends came in, including the Thanksgiving host who laughed when she saw me and apologized profusely for waking me up. We had a laugh. 

Before you know it it's a Mom Party. I finally peeled her out of there at 4:30. She wanted to check her mail, and we came back in. I should have gone for a walk after bringing her back,  but I'm kind of wiped out. I picked up work where I left off and finished up about 7, took an unscheduled but not unwanted nap, and got up in time to do the dishes. She came out and did the coffeemaker. 

It's a long day just hangingaround, as the Counting Crows sing. Exhausting. So exhausting. 

No picture today, just a bunch of words! I'm off to bed, early for me but. voof. Am I ready!

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.  No dedicated 10. 5200 approx steps (should have pushed to 7k but ugh).

blood glucose:

8am: 194
5pm: 214
9pm: 136

food:

coffee, water
10am: low carb wheat wrap w/ roast beef and 2 slices of american cheese
11am: Metformin
2:30pm: buffalo chicken strips and side salad.
5pm: beer
6pm: beer; metformin+jardiance.
6:30pm: pbj, low sugar jelly on higher than expected carbs bread (my bread was moldy, even though I just bought it. boooo).

Mini Vacations and Burnout

I promised my mom we'd run some errands today. My morning was busy, so I told her after my 1pm meeting was over we could go out. 

She came down the hall at 1pm, coat and purse in hand and I was slightly incredulous as I was talking to the team. She asked "are you talking to yourself" while I was on the call, so finished what I had to say, and I turned my camera off, muted, and said "no, I was talking to my team. I'm in a meeting,  I told you I'll be done at 1:30."

"Oh, so we're not going?"

"no. I told you after my 1pm meeting I'd be able to go. It is 1:05. I'm in. my. meeting. right. now." 

She threw her coat on the back of the dining room chair and plopped her purse on the dining table, like I said "fuck you we're not going ever" or something. 

I finished my call, and needed to check in with my work wife for a pulse check from some of the nonsense I listened to at that meeting, and was done with said nonsense related to work at 1:40. 

I went down the hall to get her. Ready to go. Let's Fucking Go.

She's like a fucking toddler sometimes. When I tell her "after xyztime" she's like 20 minutes before that time is even started and it is time to go. 

No, c'mon lady. 

I said "I have a meeting at 1." That does not translate to 5 minutes past the start of that meeting is time to go. Even when I say "at 1:30" no. 1:05 pm is not when we go. 

I just can't even sometimes. I find I cant tell some of my clients XYZtime because they think that something is going to be ready for them 15 minutes before that time. No. Guarantee you won't have it until 15 minutes after the expected and announced time. Just. Like. No. Come on, it isn't going to be in your hands before the time, always after. And my mom is like my clients. 

We went to both of her banks. We went to pay her life insurance at JC Penney. She mentioned that she needed to stop at the liquor store for a small bottle of the Bailey's strawberry and cream to bring to our thanksgiving dinner. I asked if she wanted to stop right then and she said no, she had to pee so she wanted to go home. 

Okay then. 

I dropped her home and then said I needed to fit in my dedicated (at least) 10 and got my walk in. Mostly, because I needed a break from her. She was fussy at both banks, she was fussy at JCPenney. She was just argumentative, and ready to go with anyone who would cross her.

I recently had to watch a training on LinkedIn and it was about Burn Out, and how to deal with it. The woman in the interview said to schedule "Mini Vacations" for yourself. In the middle of the day. After a wildly crazy meeting or call. Between meetings. Just "go on vacation" for a little bit. 

So I basically have been taking this to heart lately. Normally, I don't shower before I start to work. I wait to between 11:30am and 1pm,  I usually do not have any meetings during that time slot, at least nothing I need to be on camera for. So that's when I've been showering. 

And that is my "mini vacation." So I had showered this morning, but this walk was my vacation. 15 minutes of vacation. From the nonsense of work and from driving miss daisy.

There are a couple things I have set up to make for dinner, but I'm missing one ingredient here or there for each of them. Shit. So I know I need to run out to the market, bit couldn't be arsed right then, so I guess I'll go tomorrow. 

When I looked at the dinner situation and sighed, I decided I wanted to take myself to the Foodrinkery and get chicken parm, bring the pasta back for her, and just take myself out, another mini-vacation. 

Since she didn't want to go out and it was 6:30pm, it was just me. Out. A nice hour out at the restaurant, I( ate the chicken parm, had two beers, and came back.

She didn't really want the pasta, but will have it tomorrow. For dinner she had a pbj, and we sat at the dining table and talked about Jimmy Carter and his wife. 

It was a challenging day. But two little vacations and a nice walk and I survived.

I talked to Doug for an hour tonight, and he is still trying to decide what to do for him and Geoff for Thanksgiving. I think he misses me. 

Here's my face, sad at going for a walk, without C and the dog. It is hard without a friend and a small dog that is adorable. 

Digits below. 

digits 

exercise:  12/12 hours of 250 steps.  Dedicated 10 plus. about a 14 minute walk, would have been longer if not so cold! 7200 approx steps for the day.

blood glucose:

8am: 175
5pm: 143
10:45pm: 215

food:

coffee, water
10:15am: english muffin w/2 tiny wee sausage patties and american cheese (too lazy to make that egg!)
11am: metformin
3:45pm: 2 good berry yogurt
6pm: metformin+jardiance
6:30pm: chicken cutlet parm, no pasta. 3 beers
9pm: cheese squares and mixed nuts; 2 beers

Reserved for the best b-day girl ever!!!

Today is my 57th birthday. 

Mom told me she was taking me out to lunch, and I told her Jess and C would be here, as well as my cousin Bill and his wife Laura. So a whole lunch bunch! 

I told her we'd probably have to eat in the dining room and she told me to call ahead, and ask for them to set up 2 high top tables in the bar. 

I think it is hilarious she doesn't want to ever eat in the dining room. But what Shirley wants, even on my birthday, Shirley gets.

I told the bartender who I was when I called (she actually recognized my voice) and asked her for the set up. She said that the Island of Misfit Toys crew wasn't going to be in today since the Patriots have a bye week, so she said we could have their spot. Sweet. 

C came over and we took the small dog for a nice walk. The big dog was wiped out from yesterday so he stayed behind. We walked a little further around the neighborhood than I usually do, and we ran into a lot of very chatty residents. It really is an amazing weather time here in New England and heck if everyone wasn't just out and about. 

C and I looked at trailers for sale and she scoped things out on the internet to see what prices are. We discovered a couple Double Wides which I didn't think they had in here, but color me surprised. And I was reminded of a big old classic country tune by Sammy Kershaw. So I had to laugh.

Several of the neighbors asked if C's dog was Jello, another frenchie in the neighborhood. Nope. This isn't Jello or Jelly, this is Ginny, sounds similar, not the same! We got a life story of a lady who moved in here about a year ago, and another woman with a schipperke mix asked if she could walk with us. She then told weird convoluted stories about how she used to have a white dog, and then her mom died and the dog died too, so she found herself adopting a black dog. Her mother grew up in a different time, she says, so I said "so she was a bit of a racist and didn't like black dogs?" The woman danced around it and said "it was a different time." Okay. Glad you adopted a dog, any dog. She's cute.  

Ginny was playful and chasing her dog all around, through legs and around us. I thought it would be nice if we had a little fenced in yard for them to tear around all over the place together. And truly get worn out. 

We got back, I took a quick shower and C sat with my mom and Ginny dog. Ginny got a little nap, we could have walked her for much longer, she's seriously an energy generating monster! So fun though. And then we went to the restaurant. 

Bill and Laura arrived and Jess came in with them, perfect timing. Party assembled. 

It was a fun visit, I like Bill and Laura and like talking with them. We talked about driving across the border to Canada and how that has been successful and challenging for us all over the years. Jess recently went to Toronto, and their EZ-pass had run out of money across NY State, so they got a lot of shit about it from Canada/border crossing when trying to come in. Luckily it worked out. 

The bartender came over to ask me if I wanted a little cake, and I said sure. Why not. I will have a bite and share it with the table. 

I didn't anticipate the entire bar singing to me. How adorable. 

C headed home and I was sad for her to go. Bill and Laura were on their way to see my mom's sister - Bill's mom - Auntie Bea. We brought my mom back home and she settled in for a nap. Jess and I went out to throw down on some Pokemons out in the world, ganging up together like old times (only, missing team mate Doug). 

We drove around Onset, and fantasy shopped for beach cottages and lovely little homes we could see ourselves living in. The restaurant where Linda and I go with Alex was open, no one appeared to be there. Stonebridge, same. the Pizza Parlor was the only place with some action. Everything lit up and very welcoming, but it is off season for real, even if the weather is very nice. 

I thought we'd head over to the canal but we came back to the house so they could charge their phone and get ready for the ride north. Everyone landed where they are supposed to be, texts sent for the auntie/grandma/mommies/besties to know people were home.

At about 8pm I realizedI was going to fall short of my 7k step goal (I missed 1pm because lunch and 5pm because chatting with Jess) so I popped on some shoes and headed out for yet another walk. If I walk around the house, I could hit 8k. Mom went to bed at 8 and it doesn't seem to disturb her if I get a couple hundred steps late. I may just do that.  

As usual, Digits below the picture, the fried scallops are just out of this world. And that cake and ice cream was pretty lovely too. 

Here's to another run round the sun. 

digits 

exercise:  10/12 hours of 250 steps. Missed 1pm and 5pm. 7600+ steps at publish time. Nice walk with C and Ginny, about 25 min. 8pm another 15 min. walk.

blood glucose:

8am: 143
5pm: 182
9:45pm: 160

food:

coffee, water
9am: english muffin w/pb and low sugar jelly
12:30pm: Metformin
2pm: small salad plate, fried scallops, w/some french fries (not a lot), a couple bites of chocolate cake
5pm: Metformin+Jardiance

A very good day

C stayed at the hotel last night, and this morning came over to meet me to run errands for my mom. 

We went to the grocery store, we got gas in the car, we drove around the little town and stopped to take a walk there. It started to rain, as the weather report threatened it might, and so we ducked into El Mariachi for lunch. It was nice to sit and eat and chat and spend time, and I'm glad we squeezed in a little walk before eating there. Then, we brought the groceries back to mom, and got back in the car to go to the canal for more walkies. The dogs got to enjoy this one with us. The frenchie could walk for days and days and the big English is slow and big, and I feel like he's my spirit animal. So happy we got two walks in, and the big and little woo woos got to have their time too. 

I'm hoping they all sleep well tonight. 

My mother came down the hall at 6:30 to tell me she wasn't hungry and wasn't going to eat. I asked her if she ate lunch, and she said no. So I told her this is unacceptable - eat a pbj sandwich. 

This is one of my big fears, that if someone isn't here to encourage her to eat she just won't. She told me she had reeses peanut butter cups, so she wasn't hungry. "So you spoiled your dinner, did you? Eat a sandwich." She also told me she didn't "feel like" setting up the coffee pot, so I told her "how are you going to have coffee in the morning then?" She glared at me. 

"If you make yourself a pbj, I'll set up the coffee pot. Because I too want coffee. I think that's a good deal." So, she did make a sandwich. 

Glad I didn't go ahead and make the damn tuna casserole I thought about making. I realized I forgot bread crumbs, so I'll get some tomorrow. 

Speaking of tomorrow, it's my actual dang birthday. Hell yeah. Jess is coming down to spend the day, so hell yeah yay. C is sticking around tonight and I told her she had to stay through lunch, so another hell yeah hey. The weather is supposed to be good so more walkies. We'll get out and get the big and little woo woos out there, maybe Jess, and who knows maybe get mom to do her actual physical therapy assignment and walk to the corner and back. 

All this before it is too damn cold. 

Digits below the great pictures. 

digits 

exercise:  11/12 hours of 250 steps.  Somehow missed 10am but not sure how? I thought I hit the mark. 2 nice walks. 8600k steps.

blood glucose:

8:30am: 165
5pm: 153
10pm: 180

food:

coffee, water
10:30: little scoop of Tuna
noonish? not sure what time it was: lunch at El Mariachi. Steak Asada Quesadilla - 4 pieces; 2 beers one tall and one short, chips & salsa
6pm: 2 remaining quesadilla triangles. Beer. Metformin+Jardiance
beer

The Woo Woos

My mom calls dogs "Woo Woos" because barking sounds like woo woo sometimes. She always used that to make scary dogs sound sweet and fun. Woo Woo. 

She's 80 and still calls them woo woos. 

Mom and I had a pretty good day today. We went over to get her blood work done, and went to the foodrinkery afterwards. I opted out of a meeting and was super happy my manager went so I could get the run down. I let him know where I was. His mom is going through some things so he's been kind of in the same boat as me, back and forth between his house and hers. His siblings live close so they're all taking duty. So he's understanding if I skip out on a meeting, or take a longer than usual lunch. I make up the time and we're all good. One of the reasons I don't see myself quitting any time soon. 

Tonight, My girl C gave me the gift of her presence and came to visit. I told her she didn't have to come, we'd connect at some point. But she'd already booked the hotel and was ready for a trip. My stomach has been bothering me today, so I wasn't in for a big dinner. In fact I made the mistake of a big lunch (groan... worth it!) and I was feeling bloated and round. 

She brought her two Woo Woos, and they had a little visit on the porch with mom. Which she enjoyed. I know she couldn't take care of a dog herself but I'd love to come visit and bring a pooch with me for her to fawn over. She did enjoy Phineas. 

We went out to dinner at the same Asian bistro I got my takeout from last night. I eschewed wine/alcohol, and had miso soup (yum), a piece of her sushi platter that was tempura shrimp fried and wrapped in rice and fish skin with avocado. Very tasty. And I had the gyoza again because I'm a sucker for dumplings.

Her dogs hang out in the car, because that's a happy place for them and they are exceptionally well behaved and chill. We got them out and took them around the hotel parking lot to do their thing. And we hung out in her room and just chatted for a few hours. 

I left the hotel at 9 so she could crash and it was hilarious because her big English bulldog totally knows what time it is and was super ready to get in bed. I loved it. So cute. 

My mom was waiting up for me, because that's what she does. She had set up the coffee, done the dishes, and had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for dinner. Rockstar that she is. 

I did my last couple hundred steps of the day because I hadn't taken a walk outside today and my daily goal is a minimum of 7000. Managed to get there walking circles and back and forth, all without going out in the dark. I thought I ought to just put my sneakers back on and get a sweatshirt and just do the loop and be done with it but. Meh.  

Tomorrow it is supposed to be 60, but raining. I hope it lets up and I can maybe drive myself over to the canal, take a walk there. I want to do a little yard work to clean up the pine needles that are driving my mom batty. And C and I are going to go to the market and get a few things for my mom. And go out of our way to Cumbies for Milk because that makes miss thing happy. 

Digits below this pic of my mom, walking without her cane to the mailroom. Stubborn ole mule she is.

digits 

exercise:  12/12 hours of 250 steps.  no specific dedicated 10 but did walk dogs with C and walked around a building twice to get some steps in while we waited for her take out. And around inside the house for about 700 steps, not quite 10 min. approx 7000+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:00am: 163
xpm: n/a forgot to take a reading
9:00pm: 166

food:

coffee, water
12:30 fried chicken cutlet sandwich w/tomato, lettuce, american cheese, mayo. Onion rings; metformin
5:30pm: miso soup; gyoza
6pm: metformin+jardiance

Ghosts don't need clothes

Momther does not have the diabetes, so her house is full of baked goods.  Good for her. Sad for me. For breakfast today, she ate a blueberry muffin as big as her head. I'm not exaggerating. 

Okay, maybe a little. 

As big as her head without her big poofy doo. 

She told me a few weeks ago she was in her bedroom, dozing. Linda was here, working, but she may have been at the market or something. While dozing, she heard the lid to the garbage lift up, and go back down into place. Looking up, she saw a man, with his back turned, in a blue flannel shirt. And he walked towards the kitchen and disappeared. 

She insists it was my dad. I smiled and said that sounds nice. Then, I told her I believe in ghosts but I don't believe ghosts wear clothing. So this makes it that I don't believe she saw my dad. I don't know what she saw, but, my dead father isn't walking around in a flannel shirt. 

Ghosts don't need clothes. They don't. Clothing doesn't have the ability to become an ethereal miasma of collected molecules and float around on a ghost body. Now, if she saw some sort of glowing floating light being I may think she saw something. 

Years ago, I had a coworker who used to live on the National Parks grounds at Gettysburg when her then husband worked security. She said she saw all kinds of ghostly apparitions around. Soldiers in blue and grey. A woman who walked the porch of their cottage, back and forth, holding a candle. 

Candles can't be ghosts either, for the record. 

So I may piss off some ghosts by saying this. But it's just a fact. Why do they need to be dressed or holding a bayonet or riding a ghost horse on a ghost saddle? Makes no damn sense to me. 

We had a lovely breakfast even though I doubted her stories. She told me about a neighbor a few houses down who died in her sleep recently. Her daughter was staying with her, and she went to take a nap and never woke up. Just ... napped to the great beyond. 

I said that sounded kind of nice, no struggle or suffering, just sleep. She agreed. Then I thought about her trailer being haunted. 

I took a walk after putting the trash down the curb at 4:30, just a quick one, it was gorgeous out but I didn't tell her I was taking a walk, I didn't have my phone with me, and I didn't want her thinking I got abducted or something. She worries. 

While on my walk, I could swear I smelled baked goods. There are no bakeries near here, so why does it smell like powdered sugar and cinnamon? Maybe they are ghost donuts.

There used to be an Entenmann's outlet right down the block, and my dad loved to go buy the almost ready to expire donuts and other baked things. He'd take the kids down there with him when they'd stay. 

Then the place shut down, and the little independent pharmacy that was next door shut down too. And the buildings were vacant and in complete disarray forever. Now they've been torn down, and a new building is going in. My mom heard a rumor it's going to be a marijuana dispensary. She's so pissed off about that. 

All these burnout losers getting high in the building and then driving off the property. There's no streetlight on the corner, and now it will be impossible to make a left hand turn out of their park. She's mad about people being under the influence driving around, and I said that I bet people in this neighborhood are on medication that impairs them, and they're driving around too. Why isn't she afraid of them getting behind the wheel.

She didn't think I was funny. I then told her now maybe they'll get a stop light, this could be a very good thing. She seems to feel that'll never happen. 

Write your state representative and the town council. See what you can get going. 

Anyway. Seeing as all mom has is a lot of sugary carby things, I decided I didn't feel like going to the market, so I'd call the local Asian Fusion joint and get some take out. Jess and I ate there when I was last here and the soup, the SOUP, the soup is what I wanted. I totally wanted to get here early enough last night to get some but they close at like 8:30, so I struck out and had to eat McDonalds. But I figured tonight I'd score me some. 

I ordered online, and decided I'd run over there and pick it up, this way I could play a little Pokemon in the car, and maybe get a glass of wine and just sit and relax. 

I put on pants for this. That's how serious I was. I didn't just want to show up in my PJ pants but look like a grown ass adult who wanted to have a glass of wine and wait for the food to be ready. The bartender was super nice. I sat down and told her I was there to wait for my take out and she said "oh I'll check on it and see if it is ready." I told her you do not need to do that - I am perfectly chill. Happy to wait. It came out shortly after she gave me my glass of wine. 

I tipped generously. Bringing my deliciously over expensive wonderful food home, mom sat at the table with me while I ate. She had a fruit cup and an applesauce, and a peanut butter cookie. 

Here's a picture of take out joy and an amusing trash container.

digits 

exercise:  12/12 hours of 250 steps.   15 min walk. approx 7200+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 157
5:30pm: 163
9:45pm: 162

food:

coffee, water
11am: scoop of tuna; hummus+carrots; metformin
12:30: Grilled cheese, tuna, tomato on sara lee butter bread (high carbs, gotta get to the store for some low carb supplies!) 
7pm: tom ka soup with seafood, gyoza, crispy duck, white wine
8:30pm: metformin+jardiance
10:45pm: peanut butter cookie; mixed nuts; protein shake

Not sure if it is possible for me to hate Connecticut more, but, here we are

I left my house at 10. Got some bloodwork done and got on the highway. The GPS had me arriving at 6:45, and I knew I'd take breaks and stretch and do steps and stuff, so I was aiming for 7:30. Maybe I'd stop at mom's favorite foodrinkery and get a hot damn awesome fried chicken sammitch upon arrival. 

Instead, Connecticut had other plans for me. 

I got over the Cuomo bridge, and through Rye and the last of NY state, onto 95, things were awesome. Until Cos Cob. 

I've always wondered how Cos Cob got its name, so here's some resource helpfulness from the internet that I found when I pulled over at the rest area in Darien, and hour later. Interesting stuff. Fun to ponder over some chicken nuggets at the rest area.

It took 2 hours to go 10 exits. 

Now, once upon a time, Waze and Google Maps would push out better routes, if you went and asked for them, or "Recalculating" would come out of the phone, and lady would find you a new route.  

Nope. Not in this case. She recommended nothing. None. Getting off on Rte 1 and following the Post Road with all its stoplights wasn't going to be any faster than this goddamn hellscape. Going up to Merritt Parkway - similar expectations, with fewer opportunities to get out and "rest." I got all my steps in, because I stopped 5-10 min before the top of the hour, did that hour's steps, and then the next hour, so I wouldn't have to think about it until the top of the hour 2 hours later. I'm smart like that. 

I had a really nice walk around the Vince Lombardi Rest Area too. 

Getting to my mom's at 9:30, she was awake and waiting for me. And called me twice to make sure I was okay (hard to talk while driving, ma!) 

I got settled in for the night - too many pillows and warm blankets on this bed, but, it's comfy and home and ready for me. Thankful for Linda and the other hands that set things up, including my mom.

Mom: I made the bed for you. The sheets were a bitch to get on the bed.
Me: you didn't need to do that, I could have done that.
Mom: But, you got here so late, it is one less thing for you to think or worry about. 
Me: Thank you very much. I appreciate that, totally. 

I opened the windows and reblocked the heating vents, which had been cleared of blockers to keep the heat from pumping up in here. I noted a friend was commenting on my pictures from yesterday so I knew she was online, and she lives in Mexico - so I asked if she wanted to video chat. 

We had a great catch up and made a lot of fun of Connecticut. The "Just Passing Through" state. 

It's late and I should go to bed, but I am wide the hell awake, and hope I can fall asleep. Big day of work junk tomorrow. 

Here's a map. Digits below.

digits 

exercise:  12/12 hours of 250 steps.   No dedicated 10 but approx 7800 steps for the day, even with the car ride

blood glucose:

7:45am: 175
xpm: n/a - no reading on the road 
10pm: 214 (took metformin+jardiance late)
midnight: 189

food:

coffee, water
11am: cashews & cheese from the rest area. Metformin
7pm: double quarterpounder w/cheese; 6 mcnuggets; diet coke
10pm: wine; metformin+jardiance