Dr. Seuss Bike Guy

Tremendously sad that I do not have a picture to go with this so words are going to have to do. 

There is a man in our neighborhood who rides his bike up the street in the morning with his children in it, taking them to daycare. 

Doug describes him as the Dr. Seuss Bike Guy. Paint this picture in your mind. The bike is kind of a tall, higher than normal bike with big handle bars. He has a small cart in the back for his gear, and a huge buggy thing in the front covered in a plastic protective bubble where the children go. 

And he has lights on the bike frame, the buggy, and his cart, so people can I guess, see him and not run him and his children over. 

Doug thinks he looks ridiculous. I don't think he looks THAT ridiculous but. We have a lot of bike commuters around here who take the kids to daycare or school and then go to the Metro and take the train in to their office. 

I told Doug I don't think he looks THAT ridiculous and Doug said "oh yes he does." He continues to say, while flapping his arms around and pretending to pedal, "He's one red and white stripey top hat and big fuzzy set of feet away from a character with a star on his belly, a smug grin, and a big stick with plates spinning on it!"  

Hyperbolic, much? Well. It was amusing to watch him. Even if I think his assessment is unfair. We don't know this guy. We don't know he's smug just because he rides a bike in all weather to get his children around the neighborhood and get to work. Biking doesn't necessarily equal "smug." 

But the bike is funny. 

Today as predicted, I thought hard about going to the gym when Doug got up at 6:45. But the call of the pillow and the cuddle with the dog after she had breakfast was too powerful. I got up and started work, attended a 2 hour webinar that was very interesting but a little exhausting. I made chicken salad for lunch, I prepped fajitas for dinner and was going to just go to the gym and eat after I got back. One of my coworkers who lives in California messaged me asking for some help, so we jumped on a call. Until 8pm. And I realized I did not proofread an announcement another colleague had wanted to schedule to deliver overnight. Oops. Jumped on that. Now it is 8:30pm. I'm not going to the gym, I'm going to have a beer and watch some crazy documentary about trains and mining. 

I did want to share that while prepping dinner, I opened my yellow pepper and there was a wee baby green pepper dealie growing inside. I felt bad, but I cooked it. 

And it was wonderful. And here's the picture. Okay. Digits below and I'm going to try and go to the gym tomorrow. For Real. 

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.  no dedicated 10. 5300+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9:30am: 147
5pm: 169
10pm: 183

food:

coffee, water 
11am: several red grapes
noon: large bowl of chicken salad w/red grapes, walnuts, mayo, cream cheese; metformin 
(between 1 and 3 more spoonfuls of chicken salad while walking through the kitchen)
5:45pm: 1 chicken fajita w/cheese, onion, peppers, sour cream
8:45pm: bowl of mixed nuts
2 beers

updates of the computer kind

 no entry tonight, i'm on my phone because my laptop is downloading updates and I can't use it. more tomorrow. just wanted to record the digits! 

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.  no dedicated 10. 5000+steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9:30am: 154
5pm: 144 
10:30pm: 175

food:

coffee, water 
11:00am: 2 slices of sourdough toast w/ butter and cherry preserves
noon: apple w/pb metformin
6pm: cheesesteak, 3/4 of the roll (gave the rest to toffee; pringles
7:15pm: metformin+jardiance
vodka tonic

Football Sunday

I have no dog in any of these races for the super bowl, I actually don't even really care about any of the teams. 

I will say I'm absolutely surprised that both the teams I thought would win didn't win. I for sure thought the Lions and Ravens would win, and well there you go. You have a 50/50 chance of guessing what's gonna happen. 

Disappointed that the Lions couldn't pull it off today. I feel like Lions fans must feel like old school Red Sox fans. So my heart to you all. 

And Baltimore. not sorry they lost, to be honest. Living in the North Of DC area, everyone around here loves the Ravens. And Ravens fans are horrible people. Just ... I mean. Mean ass rude mother fuckers. 

We once (note the once) went to a brewery up north of us and the bartender kept threatening to spit in Doug's beer because he entered the establishment wearing a Steelers hat. "You got some nerve coming in here with that swear word on your head," the guy said. Doug didn't get what he was on about. I had to tell him. Doug laughed, dismissively saying "hahah. yeah. I like the Steelers." And the guy wouldn't let it go. 

If I'd been the person making decisions, I would have paid for the beer, not drink it, and left. 

If you're going to talk to patrons like that, with nothing on the exterior of the building to let us know/warn us what a shitbird you are so we can go somewhere else, I just won't be back. 

And we haven't.   

My friend Rob also had an exceptionally horrible experience getting coffee one morning before going to work. He was entering, and held the door for a family, comprised of 5 Ravens fans. How did he know? They were decked out, head to toe, midweek, not football season. He had a Steelers sweatshirt on. And they gave him shit so bad. He didn't reply, didn't engage. And they kept going. 

Finally he said to the dad, the ringleader, "sir, how much do the Ravens pay you to treat fellow human beings like absolute shit? I held the door for you and your family. I let you go ahead of me in line. You must get a huge paycheck from them in order to just keep acting this way. "  

The guy said "oh we're just having fun, we're just playing, Toughen up, sweetie." 

that guy? fuck that guy.  That's an entry from 2022 you should go read, and bonus a beautiful picture of Phineas. sigh. Anyway.

It's not fun. It's not "playing." It is actually bullying and harassment. Model good behavior for your kids sitting there beside you. Stop being a goddamn monster. 

In the past several years, I've kind of shifted my views on sports fandom. I'm not as "rabid" into it as I used to be. Tickets are outrageously priced, fans are dicks, athletes are horribly overpaid, teams hold cities hostage and threaten to move their team (and they do!) if they don't get their way and get the billion dollar(s) new stadium where they want it. 

I'm not in love with this culture anymore. 

Still. I love to watch a good game. I thought for sure Baltimore would win, but kudos to KC for the "underdog" victory. I don't know if you are truly an underdog if you go to the super bowl like 4 times in 5 years or whatever. And again, Lions. You blew it actually. Winning by 17 points and you just threw it away with dumb decisions. Maybe next time. Maybe.

So what else is going on today? Today I did laundry, cleaned the bathroom, got some walnuts crushed to make more thumbprint cookies. I promised Doug that last weekend. I should commit. But I didn't get to it.

I did make myself go for a walk, a full/whole mile. It started raining so I hustled home. I actually thought about going another block north and hitting the pokegym at the top of the hill but it was getting damp.

I really should take my ass to the gym today. Skipping the past couple days I can feel it. I should really go. But I put my one good pair of yoga pants in the washing machine. doh. Isn't that the best lamest excuse ever?

The LLBean ones with pockets that I have need the waistband mended so they're in the pile in my room of things that require some love and attention, and I just never get to it (see cookies mention above). 

I've been wearing these nice capri length Spaulding ones that I got at Target about 6 years ago that I've shrunk down to where they're too big. They don't have pockets and I find that exceptionally annoying. And they are XL, but... baggy because I've lost enough weight to make them so, or because they're stretched out from being worn all the damn time. 

Which reminded me to go on Amazon and buy another pair. So I did. I only bought only 1 in case they are not the right size but if they're good, I'll get some more. 

Shopping online can be dicey with clothing. Instead of just going to the store in person and trying things on I run the risk of buying the very wrong thing. They'll be here Tuesday. And if I finally get around to mending the waistband on the other pair I'll have plenty of options, 2 with pockets. It's a Christmas miracle. 

My step count for today is in the hole, I slept through 9am, but the walk helped get things boosted up.

No picture tonight, I'm saving my Toffee pics for another entry. Details below. 

digits 

exercise: 11/12 hours of 250 steps. Missed  9am, sleepin! 1 mile/26 minute walk; 6600+ steps by bedtime.

blood glucose:

10:30am: 160
4:20pm: 173 
10pm: 144

food:

coffee, water 
11am: last of the enchilada - mostly meat, a little tortilla. 
noon: metformin
6pm: bowl of rotini w/sauce and sausages, melted mozzarella cheese
vodka tonic

Monday to Friday Struggle Bus; Saturday and Sunday Snuggle Bus

As mentioned in the entry that should have belonged to yesterday, I had way too much wine last night. I ended up getting sick, thank God for the small mop bucket in the hall closet that I managed to get my hands on in time. 

Before yakking, I spent about 2 hours doing the other kind of yakking on the phone with my cousin Jimmy. I had texted him to let him know we'd pinpointed dad's rescheduled funeral, and I wanted to make sure he and his family weren't traveling that weekend or something. My dad was his godfather, and he loved him very much. So Jimmy called me, and that boy can talk. And while we talked, I repeatedly refilled my wine glass. Forgetting the fact I usually put ice cubes in my glass to displace the liquid so there is a lot less, and, ginger ale. Three full goblets of wine later and I was not in a good place. Voof. 

I went to bed at 10. Which is a normal time, but not to have a bucket beside the bed waiting for another wave, and not fully clothed. And I forgot to take my bedtime meds. And yeah. I was a mess. Not sure what time Doug came to bed but I'm sure he saw the bucket when he turned off my table lamp. He hasn't said anything. And sometimes you just don't have to. 

Geoff got up at like 5am today because he is working today and tomorrow at his job, and of course if you have to be to work at 9, you get up at 5am, and you make all kinds of noise going from the guest room to the bathroom to the kitchen, etc. And then you text your hungover mom at 7:30 to remind her you're leaving to walk to work and taking the spaghetti for lunch. Okay. Have a great day. I think I woke up and fell back asleep 20 times. Toffee heard him leave at 8:15 and was instantly curious about the front door but I faked being asleep and ignored her until she got back on the bed and we spent another hour sleeping. 

Work has been so extra stressy, and I have a ton of stuff I was going to finish up last night that was neglected when we had two system outages on Monday and Tuesday. Now I feel like I need to finish them at some point this weekend before we go into next week and continue to be behind. But I should remember there is supposed to be work/life balance in life and I should do better at shutting off the work brain.

My colleague Brendan and I were talking for a minute before a meeting about how stressful things have been and he said he is really riding the Struggle Bus lately. "I've only cried one time today, so far," he said. I feel you. I feel you, friend. So I determined that Monday to Friday we'll ride the Struggle Bus but on Saturday and Sunday it is all about snuggling the dogs, so get on the Snuggle Bus, everyone! 

Take advice from Doug.

digits 

exercise: 11/12 hours of 250 steps. Missed 1pm because I miscalculated. No gym. 4300+steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9:30am: 122
5pm: 151 
10:15pm: 218

food:

coffee, water 
11am: metformin; pbj on 647 bread
2pm: 2 good yogurt
6:30pm: doug enchilada (ground beef, cheese, tomatoes etc) 3 beers
8pm: metformin+jardiance; mixed nuts

Windows Open

(Should have published Friday night but I fell asleep)

In Maryland today, it was 70+ degrees. Doug came up from his office and opened up all the windows. It was blissful for about a half hour before our neighbor across the street came home and started pounding on metal things. 

He goes to work all day, leaves at like 6 in the morning, I think he is a mason? Maybe? Not sure. But then he comes home, unloads the truck, and works on his house, his yard, his giant pavilion and pizza oven in the back yard. He is very noisy. And goes until well after sunset in the summer. 

Now, I don't fault anyone for getting shit done. But we feel like this guy just never gives it a rest. Please can we have some quiet. Why can't it be quiet. Dudebro, go spend time with your family. 

Or maybe he hates his family and these projects are just the thing to keep him outside working. One never knows what goes on in another family's home. I guess. 

But dude you do not have to power wash your vinyl siding today. Please. No. 

Anyway. 

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.  2k by 12:30 (slightly later than expected) no gym, too much wine. 6400+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 171
3pm: 173 
n/a pm: fell asleep

food:
coffee, water
11am: melted pizza cheese from Geoff's lunch; English Muffin w/pbj
noon: metformin
6:30pm: kielbasa, onions, cauliflower bowl; metformin+jardiance
too much red wine. zzzz

Do You Lidl?

I went to the gym tonight and next door is a Lidl supermarket. 

I had heard that Lidl was related to Aldi, which a lot of people know about, but they don't know about Lidl. We go to Aldi a lot - mostly when we need our bulk stuff and freezer things but never for fresh produce.... and they do have the BEST sourdough bread. 

But I'd never been to Lidl. Here's an article about Aldi & Lidl, which may be interesting to read later on.

Anyway, my friend Sara said Lidl was bogus and the absolute worst. She'd gone there and the place was absolutely disorganized, they had clothing for sale next to dairy. And her mom saw a rat in the produce department. 

But.

Okay. Alright. Okay. I needed a half gallon of milk tonight, and I went to the gym (not gonna hurt myself patting my own back) and ... well I wasn't going to go to Giant or Target to just to get a half gallon of milk. 

I went to Lidl. Next door to the gym.

Geoff texted me and asked me to bring home some spaghetti sauce to augment dinner. Okay. I went to the pasta section and they had Raos for 9 dollars a jar (ugh) and their own brand for 1.98 a jar. Okay great. I grabbed 2. We'll give it a try. I went to the dairy section, got a half gallon of milk. 

And I noticed indeed, there were swim trunks for sale and fleece blankets, and bathroom rugs all next to the dairy. This place is disorganized and wild. 

Sara's not lying. 

I headed to the cash register to get out of there, I kind of wanted to spend time exploring to see whatever else was in there that was unexpected and weird... but I wanted to get home to eat. 

I walked down the cleaning aisle, and they had Borax and other products there that I swear to the heavens I have not seen for sale anywhere in like 20 years?! 

The bakery was a high point, fresh baked items were actually being put out onto the shelves, and I grabbed a baguette for the spaghetti tonight, hot and right into the bag, perfect. I 

Oh and the cheese section was fascinating too. If I need some mexican cheeses, this is where to go. Dang. Really "exotic" for my experience! 

At the cash register, I realized my milk lid was open. The cashier rang me up and I pointed this out and said that I wanted to run back and grab a different one because ,,,, well. that shouldn't be. He rang me up, I paid, and I ran back to get another half gallon. 

Part of me wants to spend more time investigating what the options of this weird store are, but tonight wasn't the night. Had to get home, and Geoff was waiting for me. 

I did notice the bottom of my half gallon of milk was collapsed in, so it doesn't stand up. Not sure why the dairy would be so abused at Lidl, but. 

Eh, I'll go back to investigate some more. Maybe I can find a need for Chihuahua cheese, which I learned years ago is not cheese obtained by milking Chihuahua dogs. And if you try to make that joke at a mexican restaurant in Florida, pray your waiter gets it. 

Digits below. And honestly, I promise I'll take pictures of something other than my dog but here's Toffee monitoring stuff going on outside. Gotta stay on guard. Protect the Fam.

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps. 1 mile on the treadmill, 26 min. 2 miles on the recumbent, 11 min. 10k+ by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 183
n/apm: forgot to take a reading before leaving for the gym
10:30pm: 193

food:
coffee, water
10am: slice of banana bread
noon: pbj sandwich on 647 bread; metformin; protein shake
7pm: metformin+jardiance, small amount of pasta w/meat sauce, small piece of french bread
red wine
9pm: trailmix (with raisins and m&ms) 

So Busy at the Gym

Tonight I went to the gym at 6pm. Note to self, that's too late. The place was packed. I ended up just using the the bike, and not doing the treadmill. Basically every single treadmill was occupied, and I didn't feel comfortable slipping in on an empty one between high school boys running at 7 miles an hour to walk at 2 miles and hour while watching Guster videos on my cel phone. Why couldn't 7 high school athletes get on the treadmill next to each other. Gah. Who needs the fat lady in between. Damn young'ns.

None of the recumbent bikes were in use, so I was comfortable being alone in that row of machines. After I biked, I noticed all of the arm and leg machines were being used also. So I bailed and headed home. Plus, I was hungry for dinner.

Also, 6pm getting home at 7, Geoff was pacing the cage for me to get home so he could go to the gym (the other gym, across town). 

Doug was on the phone with Jess, and then his mom called so he talked to her too. it felt like 9 hours later by the time they were done talking. Doug's mom can hold quite the conversation about everything from the weather, to how the mail isn't arriving on time anymore and it is sad, to the Steelers' season and who will win the Super Bowl, and what's wrong with princess Kate and why is she in the hospital. If you like talking about everything under the sun. 

Today's workday was nowhere near as crazy as the past two, which was very much a relief. But not uncrazy enough for me to leave to go to the gym at a normal hour. 

I did make a banana bread though, and a wonderful lunch, and got some things organized. It felt nice to be somewhat relaxed after the past couple. 

Anyway. Here's my dog. that's her back leg touching her face. She's some sort of pretzel baby. And she was sleeping with her eyes open. Just like Phineas used to. 

Freakdog. 

And digits below. 

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps. 2k by 2pm; 6 miles on the recumbent bike; 7100+ steps by bedtime (would be a lot more steps if I got on the treadmill but I did swing my arm while biking, which technically is cheating the fitbit. Ha.)

blood glucose:

8:30am: 191
6pm: 181
11pm: 180

food:
coffee, water
11am: Metformin
12noon: tuna melt quesadilla: 1 whole wheat low carb tortilla, shredded colby jack, 4 slices of bacon, generous tuna fish serving
7pm: metformin+jardiance, 2 chicken patties+american cheese, some tater tots, 1.5 rolls (fed some of the rolls to the dog)
red wine

Happy Happy Birthday

Today is Doug's birthday. He doesn't use the social medias and he pretty much keeps to himself when it comes to the internet. I think if it wasn't for me, no one would know he exists. 

He ordered himself (and Geoff) a new phone and is quietly across the room from me following instructions to set it up. 

Here's a shot from last year, one of the few times we've ever gone to the same restaurant in DC twice. Once in 2019 and again last year. This year, he picked a spot in Bethesda, owned by the same company. He enjoys Oysters, and they were, according to him, fantastic. And our meals were also fantastic. a beautiful trio of scallops for him, and a slab of gorgeous Atlantic Salmon for me. Geoff had Steak Frites, and didn't share. I didn't take his picture tonight, I was sitting beside him. I also didn't ask for a candle in his desert because I know he prefers not to make a big deal. 

It was a great night out. Now I want seared salmon on the grill every damn day. Doug and I are gonna have to make a trip to the Wharf to get some fresh fish and scallops.  

Today I was going to bake thumbprint cookies for him, but work was just another day of out of controlness. I was lucky to turn over some comms and close the circle thanks to my coworkers when I told them we had dinner reservations and I had to go put on pants and leave. I didn't get to go to the gym either, even though I had a block of 90 minutes in the middle of the day that I could have given to myself. Nope. Everything was broken. 

I'm hoping tomorrow is peaceful and quiet, and I can bake him a little something for his early birthday tomorrow. Because every day that isn't your birthday is your early birthday. 

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.   2k by 2pm; no gym visit due to work and going out to dinner 5200+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 156
5pm: 142
9:30pm: 201

food:
coffee, water
10:45am: English muffin w/pb and 4 fruits bonnie maman's preserves
11:30am: metformin
12:45pm: the last of the tuna casserole
6:30pm: duck nachos, pan seared salmon over spinach & carrots; dulce de leche cheesecake, 2 glasses of wine (really 1 the size I'd pour)
8pm: metformin+jardiance; white wine
9:30pm: pbj sandwich on 647 bread

It Never Fails

All my afternoon meetings were canceled, so I decided to go to the gym at 4pm. I couched it as I would be running errands (I did have to stop at the market) but I wanted to do my treadmill and biking. I wanted a "leg day" too with the machines. 

While I was on the treadmill, my phone was blowing up with Slack messages and discussions about some things going sideways and breaking. I communicated with the team and people were running with the situation, I didn't feel the need to just drop the workout and run. I got 4 miles on the bike while voice-messaging and then spell checking everything before sending to make sure the words were right. Gotta make sure the words were right. 

I headed home, and picked up the conversations with the team. We all worked on the problem, I told 2 people to go get their work/life balance and that I was on it for the team. 

Things got wrapped up around 8:30, success! 

But honestly, it never fails. If I want to do something for myself things break. And I can't go and enjoy myself. At least most of what I had to do was type and listen and .... drink wine. And make dinner while everything was going sideways. We survived. And now I feel like I more than made up for the time I was away from the computer. 

Tomorrow is Doug's birthday, and he picked where he wants to go for dinner. Geoff is working until 5 so we'll get him and bring him back here to get dressed, and then head out. 

If I'm going to the gym? Maybe I have to .... ugh Get up early? Checking my schedule to see what the morning looks like.  

No picture today, but digits below. 

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.  2k before noon; 1 mile on the treadmill (26 min); 4 miles on the recumbent bike (20 minutes); 8600+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 168
5:30pm: 178
10pm: 176

food:
coffee, water
10:15: english muffin w/pb and Bonnie maman's apricot preserves
noon: bowl of mac & cheese w/bacon; metformin
6pm: 3 bowls of tuna casserole (too much but yum it was so good!)
7:30pm: metformin+jardiance
red wine

Quietly Sunday

Wishing I took more time off because I still don't feel like working tomorrow. Dreading it already. I kind of wish that Doug and I went away this weekend for his birthday. It's on Tuesday and during the week birthdays are hard. He's in his usual winter blahs. Today I decided I wanted to go to the market before football time, and he said "are you feeling okay?" kind of making a joke about me going to the gym. I told him I feel great and he could too if he came to the gym with me. It could be fun. And he made some more harumphy noises as I walked out the door to head out. 

I did the treadmill and recumbent bike, and then decided to use the machines. All of the ones in front of the section I was in were upper body ones and I treated myself gently and set everything to 10 or 20 pounds, anything more than that was an outright challenge. I'll build my way up. 

We watched football this afternoon, I made buffalo chicken dip and we ate it early, it was supposed to be a snack but the three of us killed the whole thing and there then was no need for dinner. Doug got a little hungry and I'd bought Geoff some pizza rolls the other day, so he popped those in the oven. I contemplated an apple and peanut butter but. Meh. These were there. 

I talked to Linda for a while this morning too as we're trying to figure out our next visits north. We have Guster concerts in March, and then in April I'm going to go see David Sedaris with my girl C and friends. So we'll dovetail some Shirley time in there. 

That's about it. Here are some pictures. Dinner and Doggo. Good night. 

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.  1 mile on the treadmill (27 min); 4 miles on the recumbent bike (22 min); 6 upper body machines w/10 reps at 10 to 20 lbs depending on the angle of doing. 8700+ steps by bedtime 

blood glucose:

9:30am: 188
3:35pm: 155
10pm: 160

food:
coffee, water
noon: metformin
3:45pm: pbj on 647 bread
4:30pm: buffalo chicken dip w/ celery, tostitos scoops, pita chips; 2 beers
6pm: metformin+jardiance
7:30pm: about 10 pizza rolls, another beer

Get Your Flowers

Recently I've written about how I don't stand in line for anyone, but I did for Mad Science Brewing. And I don't get up early on a Saturday morning for much, but I have and will do it again. 

This morning Henry had his piano recital. In May, it was at 9:30am, but today because he has advanced to the next level it was at 11:45am. Happily, I was up in plenty of time, Doug did snow removal, and I even put on dress pants and a blouse and went to see my buddy play Hall of the Mountain King (or a little bit of it). He did amazing. And to be honest, all the kids were amazing. And I was a little envious because to be honest, I think I'd love to go back to playing music, and taking lessons. I've always wanted to return to third grade and re-learn the violin. Or pick up the flute again. Or do something completely different and start guitar or cello. 

I brought Henry flowers and explained to him that in life a lot of times we say to each other you deserve flowers. You get your flowers. I'm sending you flowers with my words of praise and encouragement. But here he got his flowers. 

He's not my kid, he's not my blood or family, but I'm a huge fan. I admire him and how he thinks and the amazing way he perceives the world. I would give him all the flowers. 

Today was a good day. 

After the recital, we all went to lunch and it was next door to my gym, so I had no excuse. I packed a bag with my change of clothing and tapped out of lunch a little early so I could go and get something in befor the 4:30pm football game. 

I talked to my girl C and her friend on the phone for a half hour while on the treadmill. Then I went to the recumbent bike and did 3 miles while listening to the Avett Brothers and waving my arms around to get "steps" on my fitbit. I know that if I just pedaled it wouldn't measure the exercise. So I have a system for counting steps. 

And um, no. It is not cheating. shut up. 

I went to the store to get bleu cheese crumbles and salad dressing for Buffalo Chicken Dip. When I got home, Doug had already started dinner so I put the ideas of dip aside for tomorrow. No worries there - we'll save my plans for Sunday. It was a very good day all told. 

Here's me and Hen. With Flowers.

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.  1 mile on the treadmill (32 min) 3 miles on the recumbent bike (16 minutes); dedicated "a lot" 11,000+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 166
5pm: 170
10pm: 176

food:
coffee, water

9:45: english muffin w/pb & apricot bonnie maman's preserves
11am: Metformin
1:30pm: bowl of crab soup, 3 tiny square pizza slices; 2 high noon cherry seltzers
5:15pm: kielbasa, pierogies, sauerkraut, vodka tonic/s; white wine
8pm: big bowl of trail mix (like, more than I shoulda)

Take a Pause

I took a sick day today. I'm not sick-sick, but mental health-wise I'm just flat out tired, exhausted. 

Done. And it was a short week to boot. I just made it shorter. I feel like I could be very happy working a 4 day work week, but when you have to cram 5 days into 4, it makes it more challenging. So 5 works, for managing what I have to do. Maybe 4 sounds nice but, no.

Today would have been a clean-up day. Our team blocks the afternoons off to do "housekeeping" on our tickets but I'm usually naughty and that's when I book meetings with stations when I literally have no time to meet with them otherwise. Today I had nothing booked meetings-wise. So I felt I wouldn't be disappointing anyone by backing out of anything scheduled a week or so ago. Everyone on my team calls out when they're tired, or headachey, or feeling blue. We're very good to each other, and I feel like I never take time. I'd have to be for real sick for me to take time. 

And today, today was the day to pause.

There is work to be done for sure. I have a hoard of tickets from our devs on one of our products that I have to review and check. It is a product that I've complained gets absolutely no developer attention but here we are - it is getting attention, and now I'm the blocker. I'm not paying attention. 

Speaking of housekeeping, I did apply some effort into things today. I bleached the non-slip bath mat and scrubbed the bathtub. I pulled all the laundry together, but no one took it downstairs yet. I swept. Looking around the living room and under the credenza, I noticed how much Toffee Toy Stuffing and body parts of various former animals and stuffies were everywhere. And the poinsettias are shedding leaves and flowers, and those fall on the floor and usually are gently foot-swept under the tables. So sweeping happened, and swiffering happened, and what next needs to happen is a good vacuuming and then I really should mop. 

Vacuuming can happen when Doug heads into the office, since he hates it so much. Unfortunately, he has not gone into the office in several weeks. The holidays, me being away, the new dog, his boss was out so he doesn't go in if she's not there, weather. If the weather turns nicer, I can do it when he takes the dog for a walk again. She hasn't been for a good walk in several days. But at least she has this good good yard to run around in and have a good time. 

I got the mop out and discovered it is broken. It will not pull up or push forward, so you can't wring it out and you can't put on a new freaking mop-head. I do not understand how something like that just stops working or breaks. Even Doug tried to force it to move and it would not cooperate. 

I saw a TV commercial for a swiffer mop, where the woman in the commercial is whining about how much she hates mopping every day. And, she's using the kind of mop you should have a wringer attached to the bucket for, and this dummy is hand-wringing a filthy FILTHY mop. 

First off, if you are mopping every day, lady, hows come your mop is so damn disgustingly dirty? Why aren't you using a good mop wringer? The kind attached to the big giant yellow bucket at the elementary school? Also no one has to mop every day oh my god stop it.

Handwringing a freaking rope mop in skanky water. No wonder you hate mopping. You're ridiculous. 

I took Geoff to work at 12:30 since it was snowing, and very cold, and I didn't want him walking in the snow. Then I went to the gym to find it closed. Doh. Should have called first. Oh well. But look at me, I'm out of the house and I'm doing the things. 

We needed things at Target so I went to the mall and thought ya know... you need some winter boots, stupid. So I started to walk to the opposite end of the building and discovered there was a new shoe store on the main level, as opposed to the other shoe store I was headed to downstairs. 37 bucks later and I got me some basic waterproof Totes.  Victory.

Then, after like 400 bucks of stuff at Target later, I headed home. Doug took the afternoon off and was napping so I schlepped all the groceries in by myself, put everything away by myself, got dinner ready... by myself. 

I hate that Geoff has a job now. ha. 

It wasn't a lost day. Between Target and the long walk in the mall I got steps in. Lots of steps. Like a mall walkin' granny. 

Tomorrow will be a good day. My man Henry has a piano recital, and of course he invited me. I went to his first one, can't remember the date but I'm not sure it has been a year. He's grown and come a long way. I'm super excited to hear him play. I bought him roses to give him after his performance. Sara suggested it, and couldn't get them herself because they'd be in the car with him, and he'd see them. So I'm the secret bouquet deliverer. 

And then there is football. 

Here are a couple pictures, More tomorrow, I'm sure. I will say, Toffee enjoyed that tennis ball that she found in the yard from the Phineas days, for about 12 hours. And this morning, I felt like the alligator.

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps. 2k by noon; lots of steps in target and the mall but not really a dedicated 10 of any sorts. 8400+ stepsby bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 157
5pm: 140
10:30pm: 143

food:
coffee, water
10am: 4 strips of bacon
noon: metformin
5:45pm: bowl of pasta shells in meat sauce; red wine+no sugar ginger ale
7pm: Metformin+jardiance

It's a French Onion Soup kinda day

When it is cold and dreary I like to make stock or soup. It makes the house smell good and puts moisture into the air. I like that. 

It's some work to do this, and I enjoy it when I'm not frazzled by work. I started the onions at about noon, and let them simmer down, put the wine atop them and then let that go for a while. I had a call at 1, 2, and 3, but was able to just let it all sit there on low heat and do magical things. 

A long time ago I did a post on how to do Bread Bowls for the FOS but since have been using crocks that I got on super deep sale from sur la table, since I don't eat as much bread these days. But re-reading that post made me long for some bread bowl action.

I had a lot of meetings today, and I was going to go to the gym but Geoff took forever to get back and by then I'd had wine.

Before and After pictures. Apologies for the shadow. 

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.  dedicated 10 during a meeting; 5500+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 188
4:30pm: 165
10pm: 197

food:
coffee, water
10:15am: pb&j on 647 italian w/bonnie maman's black raspberry preserves (we're out of the low sugar stuff).
4:30pm: small piece of french bread w/butter (makin' croutons for FOS)
white wine
6pm: bowl of french onion soup w/melted havarti
8pm: ramekin of mixed nuts

So So busy

I had such a busy day that all i've got is this picture of my dog going to bed last night. That's it. That's the post.

More tomorrow. digits below.

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.   no dedicated 10. 4500+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8am: 147
5pm: 156
10pm: 225

food:
coffee, water
10:30am: english muffin w/pb & bonnie maman's preserves
12 noon: metformin
2pm: 2 good yogurt; several pretzels w/hummus 
7pm: 3 slices of pizza; metformin+jardiance; white wine

A Right Proper Little Snowstorm

Yesterday during the day we got snow.
Then, overnight we got more snow.
Then this morning, even more snow.
Magically it has only accumulated to about 2-3 inches for the amount of time it has been snowing. Which cracks me right up.

It's very pretty out. All the tree branches are covered with the slight powdering, contrasting against the dark steel sky.  The evergreens are bent, holding up the snowdrops on their boughs. 

It's not a lot of snow. It is kind of just the right amount. In Boston this would just be a "Tuesday" but in these parts it is an emergency situation. School is closed and probably will be closed again tomorrow. Which is outright insanity to me. It is kind of amusing and annoying all at once. People measure the snow and post pictures of it for the local weather on TV. 1 inch in Bethesda! 1/2 inch and coming down in Rockville! Dudes. C'mon. 

I drove Geoff to work today and the sloppy plowing done on some streets is ridiculous, compared to our street, which is plowed perfectly because it has a school on it. A benefit I guess, but they didn't have to go over our street 8 times compared to the 1 time they went down the street to the hospital. 

But it is pretty, and Toffee is enjoying it very much. She can't catch so you can't throw a snowball to her and have her chomp it in the air. She likes for you to throw one, and she'll find it and eat it. Or you can just be nice and hand it to her. She's fast. I tried to take pictures and video of her playing but she really is too speedy. So cute.  Here's one picture I got of her that looks like.... fun. 

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.  no gym visit due to work schedule, sadly. 6000+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 153
4pm: 230
10pm: 166

food:
coffee, water
11:30am: bowl of Mac&cheese with bacon, metformin
12:30: roast beef, colby jack, mayo, 647 italian bread
1:30: the last 2 big christmas sugar cookies 
4pm: protein shake
5:45pm: chicken cordon bleu (chicken breast w/ 2 slices of havarti, sliced ham); carrots & potatoes left over from last night
6pm: Metformin+jardiance
white wine

Swept Away - Arena Stage, Washington DC

(image from a Reddit post about the show, I wanted the playlist)

My friend Chrissy had two tickets for the closing night, end run of a musical called "Swept Away," but had a family emergency and could not use them. She offered them to me. Not knowing much about this musical, except that it is framed around songs by the Avett Brothers, I gladly took her up on the offer and brought Sara with me. I mean, I like the Avett Brothers. 

To say this production was a surprise, and wonderful beyond imagination, is an understatement and disservice to the company and the entire world surrounding this play. 

I went in knowing only that it was about a shipwreck. I didn't know much else, and I don't want to write too much and give away the story because I don't want to ruin anything for anyone who may want to see it, but, if you want to go read about it, NPR did a great writeup of the show, spoiler alerts ahead. 

 But I'll share a little taste of the story for you here. A whaling vessel departs from New Bedford, MA with a seasoned crew and a very young hayseed farmer boy who wants to have adventures (Little Brother), his sibling (Big Brother) tracks him down and tries to get him off the boat ("It's a ship, actually" is the line that follows to everyone's mirth). But the ship pushes off from the dock and is off, with both brothers aboard. 

The other main characters are the Captain and the Mate. Noting that they do not have names it kind of makes them universal in the world, and they could be anyone. 

The crew is a jolly bunch of hard workers, and the Mate leads everyone in song. Little Brother is totally down for this, Big Brother hates it. Too much frivolity, dancing, we have to get back to the land, to the earth, to the FARM where we belong! Little Brother is torn between the two worlds. He wants more than just the acres they live on, but he does miss his sweet girl Melody Anne. 

The narrative weaves around Avett Brothers songs like Hard Worker and Ain't No Man. Big Brother asks for the Captain to do church service on a Sunday morning and he refuses, so he takes it upon himself to worship, singing "Lord Lay Your Hand On My Shoulder." The crew thinks it is hilarious, but Little Brother joins him, and it is a very touching moment between them. 

Then, to steal from not The Avett Brothers but Frank Turner, "worse things happen at sea." And boy do they ever. 

There are four survivors of the shipwreck (the storm sequence was amazing, almost seizure triggering, I'm sure, for some). And the story that unfolds is heartbreaking. I'll leave that at that. 

Today I pulled up the Spotify playlist from the show, and there are two songs I was already familiar with that I simply will never be able to hear the same again. 

I want to see this again, and hope it gets to Broadway or Boston or somewhere. I hope the cast is the same. I really loved it. 

If you hear any buzz out in the world about Swept Away coming to your city, or a city you can get your face to, please go see it. 

Here are a couple videos from the cast performing some of the songs in the production, outside of the production. First is the Mate and below is Big Brother and Little Brother. They are simply perfect together. 

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps. 30min on the treadmill, and 2 miles (not sure of the time) on the recumbent bike  8700+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 186
4:30pm: 163
10:30pm: 153

food:
coffee, water
10am: 2 good yogurt
11am: English muffin w/pb & bonnie maman's cherry preserves; Metformin
6pm: roasted chicken, roasted potatoes and carrots. 
gin & tonic

post on hold

Got home late from going to see a musical in DC tonight. i want to write about it but it is late and I'm tired. Went to the gym, talked to Linda about her new puppy (yay!) and had a pretty rockin' day. 

So thankful tomorrow is a day off/holiday. I am not in the mood to work. ha.

The musical we went to see is called Swept Away, and it hopefully is destined for Broadway. Here's a pic of me and sara to hold you over until tomorrow. 

Digits below.

digits 

exercise: 9/12 hours of 250 steps. 22 minutes on the treadmill; missed 3 hours because of dinner and at the theater 7900+ by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 208
4:30pm: 163
11pm: 178

food:
coffee, water
noon: metformin; ramekin of mac&cheese w/hamburger, left over flank steak dinner from the other night
5:45pm: french onion soup; 3 small pieces of fried fish, french fries, coleslaw, 2 glasses of wine; metformin+jardiance
7pm: cocktail at the theater

Today I did a thing

I had procrastinated the hell out of an important task and decided to grab it by the short hairs today and do the thing.

Backstory: I had reserved a hotel in Toronto for Jess as a christmas gift, and when I reserved it, the confirmation said that they needed to present my credit card. So no. They most certainly would not be able to do that. 

I called the hotel and they emailed me a PDF to fill out and fax back to them. 

I thought to myself there is no fucking way this is the best way to do this. I downloaded and printed the form and said alright, okay. They're checking in on the 19th of January so I just have to get my shit together and find a fax machine. 

Find.
A.
Fax.
Machine.

Freakin' Heck. So I knew I could go to staples to send a fax, and there is one about 3 miles north of me so around 5pm, I put on clothes, I filled out the form, I got my sneakers. And I went. 

I had to call first to tell them I was faxing the form, and that in and of itself was shit. The AI automated attendant, that fakes how humans speak with pauses and questionny tones, made me irate and I kept saying I need to speak to the office, the manager, "but okay what are you trying to fax? Is it a resume? Are you applying for a job?"

No you robot bitch it is a picture of my fucking foot that I'm about to shove down the throat of whoever decided to put you in charge of GATEKEEPING me from getting to the solution I need.

Eventually I got a human and she told me that they've switched from this PDF Fax form process, and she'd email me a secure and safe form to fill out. 

Well for happiness' sake fuck yes, thank you. So I now have to fill this shit out. I'll do that later tonight. After football. 

While I was at it at Staples, in the plaza next door there is a fresh, brand new Planet Fitness. Waiting for me. 

I'd been hoping they'd put one down in this area. The one Geoff goes to is a bitch to get to, but he loves it there and it is open 24 hours, so, if he wanted to go at 2am well, have at it, bro. 

For me, I hate going places. I hate driving around here. I hate anything further than a mile away. I'd wanted them to put a PF in the plaza right by Target and where we grocery shop, There is one in downtown but you have to pay to park, and even if I took the metro one stop, I'd have to pay for that and then walk like a half mile to the gym so why bother. I could just walk around here and sweat my ass off.

Getting this one 3 miles from the house is acceptable. And they just opened last week. 

And I went. I did the thing. I went to send a fax that it turned out I didn't have to, but without having to do that, I wouldn't have done this. 

Hello Dedicated 10 plus whatever. 

The thing is about me, is if it is too cold, or too hot around here, I won't be going out for a walk. Doug walks the dog almost every day. He doesn't care if it is hot or cold, he goes. But your Princess Chrissie, well she don't. She don't. 

A return to the dedicated 10 and then some. Here we go. 

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.   Dedicated 15 at planet fitness treadmill 7000+ by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:30am: 208
6pm: 211
10pm: 206*

food:
coffee, water
11am: scrambled eggs, shredded cheddar, 4 pieces of bacon, onions, red pepper. "Cheesy Scramble," as it were (I made breakfast burritos for the boys and the wraps were not low carb so I skipped a wrap for me).
12: metformin
6pm: bowl of left over pork and bean soup; 2 pieces of cornbread, red wine
*10pm: metformin+jardiance (forgot to take with dinner!)
10pm: trail mix and slices of a brick of swiss cheese

The Earlier Birds

I could hear men yelling to each other in Spanish outside this morning a little before 7am. The road construction crew that has been working with the water department over the past couple months was back, and it was the "put the truck here, unload the backhoe there and move the trailer over there" conversation. 

I know just enough Spanish. 

Well, I needed to pee anyway so I got up. And Toffee got up because the sun is shining and it's morning and brekkie time. There would be no convincing her back to bed for another hour. Declaring myself officially up, I let her out and got the coffee going. I closed the bedroom door so Doug could keep sleeping. finished loading and started the dishwasher and put the frying pan and pyrex dish in the sink to soak. Tasks I neglected last night. Geoff sometimes does it if I go to bed and he's up watching TV but I don't think he stayed up last night. So there were things to take care of. 

The trucks arrived and workers arrived and noise began, so I was just 15 or 20 minutes ahead of the gang. They've been at this project for weeks and I have no clue what the deal is that they keep coming, tearing up the same spot, closing it up, and coming back. 

Doug woke up around 8. I had already answered two very unhappy client emails, and felt like I should just take the rest of the day off when I remembered I made a meeting for a California team at 4pm ET to accommodate the time difference. On a Friday. Before a holiday weekend. Why did I do that. 

By 10am I was ready for bed again. But I got the laundry organized and downstairs. The day went on.

We had a client do a very dumb thing and make a change to their website host configurations, and boy did that mess everything up. Their website went offline, and, there's something called TTL or Time To Live, and that was set to 2 hours. She should have consulted us first, I would have told her to change the TTL to 5 minutes, and wait 24 hours to make the change, AND do it with one of us. But she didn't know. She didn't realize the implications. She had to wait 2 hours for the site to come back up after we helped her reverse the things she did. 

Our sysadmin is one of the GREATEST people I've ever worked with, and he jumped on a call while he was at Target shopping with his mom at 5pm yesterday. I mean. It puts wind in my sails to have a co-worker willing to take a "sounds like a you problem" and jump in to help and advise. I ended the day yesterday feeling hopeful and inspired whereas I went into the call thinking "I do not need any of this at 5pm." 

I realize sometimes that I need to extend grace if I ever want it extended to me. And yesterday was a good example of that. 

Today was a very busy day and we had a couple of emergencies late, including an emergency page at 7pm that I am still working on. Part of it is time and patience and waiting for something to resolve, but I poured myself a giant glass of wine while waiting. 

An early day, a late night. some days are like that.

Here's some Toffee for you.

digits 

exercise: 11/12 hours of 250 steps.  Missed 9am because i was focused on work, and realized at 9:59 i was short by 100 steps. boo. 5500+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7am: 188
5pm: 168
10pm: 183

food:
coffee, water
9:30am: 2 egg omelet w/ spinach, left over chorizo mix from the peppers last night. Cheddar cheese. English muffin w/butter
1:45pm: Giant bowl of plain yogurt w/blueberries and a splash of splenda 
6:30pm: chicken parm and sauce, tiny bit of spaghetti; metformin+jardiance; white wine
8pm: ramekin of mixed nuts; handful of m&ms 

A kind of quieter day

There are three large machines running downstairs. Dehumidifiers, fans. They are giant. And loud. And vibratey. 

I went to bed last night and luckily was so tired I fell right asleep but woke up at 2. Doug was snoring loudly, and Geoff is staying in the guest room since his bedroom is in absolute turmoil right now and the basement door is open to let air in. So he can't really sleep downstairs. Oh, and the downstairs couch is very comfy but covered with boxes so. No. He'll be upstairs for a little while. 

I didn't have anywhere to just go to put on a podcast or read, like I do when I wake up at 2am. So I just waited to fall back asleep, listening to the hum. I thought it would be like a white noise machine, but the fact I could feel it, I just couldn't go back to sleep for a super long time.

Carpet guy came back today to evaluate the progress and said that things are getting better and drier. He is such a nice guy and said he's been to dozens of houses in the last 48 hours. One house he had to hire a pump truck to have them get the water out of a woman's basement at a VERY fancy house in Potomac. 

It reminded me of years ago when we had some horrible flooding. 

I had woken up to go to the bathroom, knew our basement in the 1774 house was full of water so I went down to just look. It was an unfinished, dirt floor basement, and we would just periodically check to see if the water was coming up too high on the furnace. 

The washer and dryer were up on risers. So we rarely had to worry - we just had to wait for the sump pump to catch up and get the water out, but it had to go somewhere - and sometimes it is just that wet out. I went back upstairs and looked out the bedroom window to see my neighbors, who had just moved in, carrying buckets out of their basement. 

Shit.

I got dressed, got on my boots, grabbed a tall trash barrel and a bucket and crossed the street and introduced myself. 

Turns out, they went to the same college we did, and they just moved in with their 3 kids. The sump pump failed and so they were just ... doing their best. I suggested we start a fire brigade style and just pass buckets up to each other, instead of doing stairmaster 5000. 

We didn't make that big a dent, but someone drove past from the fire department and said they had a pump truck, and would dispatch it as soon as possible. 

The fire department came over to check on us once they pumped out Liz and Ben, and Doug checked to see where the water was and we decided yeah - let's take you up on the pump offer too. 

I remember being very sore. And happy to make new friends. They now live not too far from here in Bowie. We keep talking about getting together. Gotta make that a thing this year.

That's the worst I've ever seen it. So this situation, not so bad. Not so bad in comparison. For sure. 

I'll be relieved though when the machines are not running. 

This morning I ate two English Muffins becauses they are just so freaking good and delicious. And took a picture of the good and deliciousness of one. So good. And I'm not even mad about it because my readings today didn't super suck!

Digits, below.

 digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps. 2k steps by 12:15pm; 6200+ steps (it was a busy meeting day).

blood glucose:

8:30am:  156
5pm: 158
10pm: 141

food:
coffee, water
11:15: english muffin w/pb and cherry preserves 
11:30: Metformin
11:45 another english muffin w/pb and cherry preserves (I'm weak, and hungy)
6pm: 2 baked stuffed peppers w/chorizo, onion, diced peppers, cheddar cheese
8pm: mixed nuts
white wine

File this under it could be worse

I forgot to publish my post last night, I took my reading and got straight into bed and didn't feel like getting back out. I was going to publish it this morning but scrapped it. That's actually okay because today is very much more exciting. 

Our electricians came and did a ton of work yesterday and today. Toffee made best friends with one of the guys. It was delightful. I now have external power outlets. I feel so fancy. Too bad it is after Christmas. Doug said he can't wait to put a giant inflatable dragon in a Christmas hat on the front lawn. I just want to put some nice little white lights on the bushes. It'll be the first time in my life I'll get that. But I get to string patio party lights out, and THAT is what I'm most looking forward to! 

This morning the guys were here at 7:30 on the nose. They replaced all the two prong outlets and brought other plugs up to state safety code, like the washer dryer in the basement, and the plug by the kitchen sink. 

Toffee was sad to see her new best friend go. They are BFFs.

Doug stayed home from work today, which is weird. He is usually out the door on Wednesdays at 7:30. But it is a good thing he did. 

Geoff came upstairs around 9, the electricians had woken him up but usually he's upstairs well before then. Well, usually he's upstairs well before then too, I should note. 

He came to me and started to tell me about his carpet in his room. It was wet. Not just damp but "soaked." In classic Geoff fashion, he wasn't getting to the point, but, eventually he let me know that this was bad.

I asked when he noticed and he said last night when he was getting in bed. Initially he thought it was maybe his imagination, but when he got out of bed this morning, it was like walking on a sponge, and, his bathroom was flooded. He apologized for not telling us last night but I told him in this case, there honestly would have been nothing we could do except be worried so thank you .... we got a good night's sleep. And we can deal with this. 

"I went through the 5 stages of grief while I was thinking of what was going on. And I think I've hit the last stage of acceptance," he said.

Oh okay. So I now have to start with denial and start working through, I guess. Right now I'm not yet at acceptance, but. Maybe still in anger. 

Not what I wanted to deal with any of this at all. I had completely reorganized the storage closet when looking for Doug's winter coat. It was pretty great, and I knew there was more work to be done but now. Shit, y'all I got work to do. 

The carpeting guy left at 8:30, there are three pieces of drying out machinery running downstairs. He took out all the carpet in Geoff's room, the small hall, and the storage room. He's trying to salvage where Doug's desk sits, and everything, everything, EVERYTHING is stacked up at the end of the big room, waiting to be repositioned, but first, gone through by me to purge it and make things less. 

It's really not good but, it could be worse. Right? I could be living in Hampton NH where it is absolutely flooded. 

In other news, the electricians did an amazing job, I love everything they did, and my exterior plugs on the front and back of the house. Now we just have to get through whatever's gonna be with the carpeting downstairs. 

And the boxes. Digits below. And more pictures to come tomorrow. 

Wednesday digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps. 2k steps by 11am,  6500+steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7:30am:  202
4:30pm: 168
10pm: 206

food:
coffee, water
12:30: pbj, low sugar jelly, oatmeal bread (higher carbs)
1:30pm: Metformin
6:30pm: marinated flank steak, broccoli, white wine
8pm: pretzels and sour cream french onion dip 

Tuesday digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps. 2k steps by 11am, 6200+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

am: n/a - forgot to take my reading first thing, then ate and had coffee. Oops
4:15pm: 189
10pm: 229

food:
coffee, water
10:30am: 2 egg omelet w/3 pieces of bacon, wilted greens, cheddar cheese
11am: 2 more pieces of bacon
11:30am: metformin
3pm: bowl of plain yogurt w/black raspberries and a little splenda
6pm: chili w/ground beef and beans
8pm: pretzels & hummus

Putting Christmas Away

It's time. 

I got everything up late, and didn't get everything that I wanted up. But it was something. Just enough. An electrician is coming tomorrow, and we have to move stuff around so he can get to outlets. And so the putting away just seems like a logical thing to do right now. 

I am going to leave some of the lights up behind me where I sit. They look super cute on zoom calls. But the tree is wrapped up, and the box of cards that I never got around to sending, well those are going in the closet. The sweet little angels that surround the tree, and the one ornament that I've put up the last few years - Doug's 1977 Snoopy ornament - those are safely stowed in the top of the closet. Cookie cutters are washed and boxed but i'm keeping the hearts and flowers out, as well as the decorating sugars and food coloring. Will do some February shenanigans and maybe ship those cookies out since I couldn't get around to the ones for Christmas. 

What I really need to do is declutter. I want to keep all the shit I have, I just don't need it sitting on the bureau or the floor next to the night table. I need to just get nice boxes, uniform in size, sort items, stuff shit in the boxes, and put them the hell away. 

Today I budgeted 2 hours in the middle of the day to just go offline and start cleaning. I had a list, I have a pile of stuff on my bed. I had big hopes. I got nothing done. I ended up working and walking around between work things. I really need to give myself permission to not work. 

So for tomorrow, I'll get up early I guess, and move stuff around. Strangely, I just realized I never got a confirmation call or email after I emailed them to let them know Tuesday was fine so, hmmm. Could be no electrician. But that's fine - it gives me more time. 

No picture today, so digits are below. 

 

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps. 2k by 12:30 (had a meeting that held me back from 11-noon); not a real dedicated 10 but a lot of movement between noon and 3. 7200+ steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

8:45am: 194
5pm: 174
9:45pm: 207

food:
coffee, water
noon: 2 english muffins filled with tuna salad (I basically ate 2 cans of tuna salad because doug didn't want any). Metformin
6pm: Doug fried rice: reconstituted chinese take out rice, diced pork roast, veggies, soy sauce, ginger, eggs
7pm: metformin+jardiance
white wine

Geoff is 27

It is simultaneously cool and hard to believe Geoff is 27 today.  

He's had a challenging couple of years but compared to some of my friends and their kids' challenges, I'll take all of Geoff's and do my best to keep him focused, motivated, and doing great. Which he is. And I love him. Keep growing and evolving into a wonderful and more wonderful human being, my dude. 

Today we went to run errands, we had lots of birthday and christmas checks to deposit. And Geoff's birthday outing choice was a place called Quench. It's a local beer/wine store and tap room/restaurant, where they have a ton of craft beers, and some decent bar food. Not at all fancy, just right. The goal is the craft beer. 

Doug had found it online a while back and we have been a couple times. Then while I was up at my mom's Doug took Geoff there for dinner once and Geoff loved it. 

He asked why we'd kept it a secret from him. I had to laugh. It made me remember him asking the same thing one day when we had to run an errand to Beverly, MA and I took him to Nick's Famous Roast Beef for lunch. As the kids say, IYKYK, amirite? It blew his little mind. He loved it. And asked why I'd kept it a secret. 

Not so much as keeping something a secret but we don't head to Beverly too often. And Doug and I had only been to Quench a couple times so this is a fairly new discovery for us. No secret keeping here.

The cool thing about Quench as a craft beer location is they don't sell any LOCAL craft beer. I had talked to the owner back on our first visit and he said you can go to any beer store, or brewery in person, and get all the local beer you want. Here, they've got tons of stuff from New England and Upstate NY, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and a lot of smattering from around the country. On our first visit I was overjoyed to see Jack's Abby and Maine Beer on tap. 

Sadly, we got there and the taproom is closed on Sundays even though their website said they're open. So Geoff called an audible, and we headed to BrewBelly, where we've been many times. They sell all local craft from "the DMV" and they have outstanding cheesesteaks and poutine. 

So while I didn't get the goat cheese and spinach salad I wanted, I did get a cheesesteak and everything was delicious. 

After lunch, we came home to save Toffee. It was the first time we'd put her in the kennel and left her here. She's been in it before, but we've been home. I have been trying to get her comfortable with it, and she goes in, and has snacks and treats. But she was screaming in the kennel when we left, and I felt super bad. But she and we survived. 

With her foster mom, she was unkenneled and free ranged in the house all day while mom was at work, but she's been trying to get in the closet where we keep the dog food, and has opened the pantry a couple times when left to her own devices... I didn't really want her to have free range.  We'll try to do this once in a while just to show her that it's a good and happy place. And she is young enough that she'll grow to understand it. Unlike Phineas, who hated it and hurt himself trying to escape. 

We picked up a cake for Geoff, his choice. It's a Smith Island Cake, traditional yellow cake with chocolate frosting. If you're not familiar with it, it's unique to Maryland. Several layers of thin almost pancake like, with frosting. It's really good, but a little weird if you ask me. So that was our big treat. 

Here are a couple pictures from today. A good day. Digits are below.

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.   2k by 1pm; 5300+ steps by bedtime No dedicated 10.

blood glucose:

9am: 157
4pm:  230
10pm:  218

food:
coffee, water
10am: oat/ginger/banana bar that I baked yesterday. Won't be baking them again. Dry & not very flavorful. hmmm.
11:45: metformin
2pm: cheesesteak w/onions, bacon, chili cheese fries, 2 beers
4pm: 2 beers while playing D&D
6pm: metformin+jardiance
6:30pm: small bowl of spaghetti w/ meat sauce and 1 piece of garlic bread

Not canceling has its rewards - Amythyst Kiah at the Kennedy Center

Sara and I wanted to go see Amythyst Kiah doing a free show at the Millennium stage at the Kennedy Center today. We started trying to get tickets 2 weeks ago and kept striking out. The website didn't work. And then by the time we got it to work, it was marked as sold out. 

We got word that day of show they release more of these free tickets and we said "let's just do it. Let's commit to going and if we get there and they do not have tickets we'll leave and go eat dinner somewhere." 

But we were nervous about schlepping all the way down there for naught. Sara called and the girl at the box office told her to for sure we should head down to the box office for 4:30pm, they release some more tickets, and she's "never seen people get turned away." 

"And, her voice is amazing. You really need to come see her," so box office girl assured us that it would all work out. We knew Amythyst was worth it. And as for it working out, she was right. 

We got there before 4:30 and got 3 tickets. Then we had time to kill. We knew that the line would start building up by 5:30 so we went to the cafe, got some snacks. Henry and I wrote a song called Bananas and Pringles, which I want to see if I can embed here because it's actually not bad. 

Henry beat-boxed and I freestyle sang. 

He wanted pringles, but Sara wanted him to eat something healthy and the only option was a banana. So. We had to write a song about it. It's a banger.

It was a magical evening, well worth the schlep and effort. And it was free. So you can't beat the shit out of that, right? 

What's really cool about this night is that there were dozens of little girls dressed up in their finest for their production of Disney's "Frozen." 

So of course you go to the show in your best Elsa or Anna get up. Of course you do. 

And of course your parents bring you early to a free show on the Millennium stage, which they can enjoy before getting sucked into the whole Disney thing.

There were several families there with their kids in their finest, watching Amythyst Kiah, and then leaving in time to get to their seats for Frozen. 

In so many ways, I sat there thinking that this is art, and some of the finest opportunity for people to see art in DC.  This is accessible and universal and amazing. To have the opportunity to come to DC, see about an hour of free performance by an amazing songwriting star like Amythyst Kiah or anyone else, and then go into the Opera Hall to watch the Frozen production. I mean. Wow. This is high-end fantastic world-class art enjoyment. 

And we're here for some of it. The better part of it, if you ask me. Not just because it was free but because of who Amythyst is.

Amythyst and her guitarist Chris did a fantastic presentation, Chris is just magical playing along with her. And her newer songs that are going to be on the new album are absolutely amazing. It was nice to hear some songs we'd not heard yet, and I am so looking forward to the release of the new material in the fall of this year. 

Henry and I have some magic connections (not just freestyle spinning up songs about bananas and pringles) and at one point he said to me "Let's do geometry hands for the music." I didn't know what he meant, but, he started doing things with his hands to kind of catch the notes, so I followed his lead. During her song covering "Trouble So Hard," and then "Black Myself" we were catching all the notes and setting them free and up to the sky. 

I was sitting there thinking "we could have bailed on tonight with the weather and the uncertainty, but hell yes here we are and this is amazing." 

After the show, we got a picture with Mr. Kennedy, and headed to the shuttle bus and out to dinner in Foggy Bottom. Thankfully no one was in the restaurant, I was worried that if we didn't have a reservation where we wanted to go we'd be shut out, but it was late enough that there were plenty of seats. Sara observed that "probably just an hour or so ago this place was filled with people going to see "Frozen," and here we are with the place to ourselves!"

The only thing that would have made this night better would have been if Amythyst came to the merch table at the end but no. And that's okay. We had an amazing night. And I'm super glad we went out.

Digits below. 

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.  Dedicated 10 a couple times; 8800+ by bedtime

blood glucose:

9am: 167
n/a no reading during the afternoon
11pm:  240

food:
coffee, water
11:30am ramekin of mac & cheese w/ hamburger & metformin
2pm: pbj on 647 bread
4:45pm: cappuccino 
5:00pm: white wine
8pm: tuna poke tacos; 1.5 meatball sliders; giant spinach salad w/ goat cheese fritter & blackened chicken. more white wine
9:30pm: metformin+jardiance
11pm: celery stalk w/pb