I was thinking of a Mom-ism this morning. Toffee usually sleeps on Doug's side of the bed with him, and he mostly doesn't mind. But when she is on my side of the bed, she is so big and I end up leaving the family bed and going to the guest room.
We have a split king, and unless she sleeps right in the center of the two beds, or on Doug's side, she's all on my side.
When she does sleep in the middle, she pushes down the space filler and ends up crammed between the mattresses. Which is sometimes funny but I totally feel awful for her.
And when she is on my side of the bed, she is smack dab in the center. And when I go to the Queen bed in the guest room, she doesn't sleep on one side of the bed, she sleeps.... in the center. This morning, I almost fell out of bed because she was so far up my back that I was worried about rolling over on her, so I shifted a little closer to the edge, only, I was on the edge.
Which brings me to my Mom-ism.
"She likes her half in the middle."
I wonder who else's parents used to say that?
My mom has a LIST of these, I'm sure Linda and I could write them all out. Another one is if you're sad and whining to her, she'll say "Know where you can find sympathy? In the dictionary between shit and syphilis."
Nice. Thanks.
Anyway. Today went well. I told my boss, basically fresh off his vacation, how shitty things were last week and he didn't tell me where to look for sympathy. I don't know what good it does letting him know how epic the past two weeks were. I prayed for quiet and peace and I got an assassination attempt and a candidate drop out. Not fun.
We talked about decision making vortexes and gaps, We talked about too many people being "stakeholders" and decisions not being made in a quick and timely fashion. I was happy to let him know that things were un-awesome. We'll see if it matters.
Well, no picture today. I will say that Geoff had today off work since he worked the weekend. Doug went to the office. And I was going to vacuum but did not. And I am okay with that.
Digits below. Good night!
digits
exercise: 12/12 hours. 25 min. interior walk. 6700+ steps by bedtime
blood glucose:
9am: 183 4:45pm: 144 10pm: 157
food:
coffee/water 10:30am: english muffin, w/pb & apricot preserves noon: Metformin; bowl of mac & cheese w/extra cheese and nacho meat 6pm: slab of chicken parm 7:45pm: Metformin+jardiance vodka+sugar free fruit punch 8pm: twix candy ice cream bar
Doug took Toffee for a walk, and I cooked dinner. I'd like to walk with him on days that are cooler but he goes so far, it's like an hour, I can't keep up with him, and I get bored. That and who's gonna make the meal?
I was moving all over the house, cranking music, swinging back through the kitchen to stir the ground beef. I thought I hit 25 minutes but the fitbit said 23. No worries... Better than yesterday when it didn't give me any credit for the walk I thought I took.
I hustled harder to turn corners and convince it that yes indeed, I am "working out" or whatever. And it rewarded me. Not a "Walk" but an "Aerobic Workout." Alright then.
Work was challenging but not as bad as yesterday. Tomorrow I have no big meetings, just my 1:1 with my manager, and our All Staff. Doug is supposed to go into the office tomorrow. He's dreading it, and Geoff is off tomorrow, having worked the weekend. I thought I might have the house to myself but. No. Such is life.
He said he'll take Toffee for a walk.
All told, got through the day without freaking out. Happy for that. Whew. Digits below.
digits
exercise: 11/12 hours. missed 8pm because Doug and I were watching The Sandman. 23 minute indoor hustle which fitbit measured as "aerobic workout." Huh. 6k+ steps by bedtime
blood glucose:
9am: 155 5pm: 138 10pm: 193
food:
coffee/water 12:30pm: giant bowl of plain greek yogurt w/a few red raspberries (not many left); metformin 6pm: nachos, ground beef Tostitos chips w/ melted cheddar, refried beans, avocado salsa, sour cream. 3 beers, 1 twix ice cream bar (sorry)
Not a fun work day. Lots of trouble with our CMS and a lot of chaos. Just basically a no fun kind of day. Nothing fun to report, but just thinking about how many sleeps until I close my laptop and go on vacation, and unplug for a few days.
Can't wait. I mean, I love my job. But I want a couple days of no excitement.
digits
exercise: 12/12 hours. Took a 13 min walk inside but it didn't register on Fitbit. Just believe me that I did. 5300+steps at bedtime
blood glucose:
9am: 154 4:30pm: 138 10:20pm: 134
food:
coffee/water 12:00pm: bowl of chicken salad w/creamcheese, mayo, red grapes, walnuts; metformin 6pm: 2 sausages, large bowl of chopped salad; 3 beers 7pm: metformin+jardiane
With Doug out of town, I was going to record myself singing along with a karaoke track of Janis Joplin's rendition of Me & Bobby McGee, I got cute little rose colored round glasses, some funky pants that I can't figure out how to make work, they're hippie wrap-pants and confusing AF.
And since I could not find the little mink hat we had gotten from Doug's grandma, I put a cool scarf around a leather drifter hat Doug bought years ago.
I had the look.
But I just .... don't have the skill. I couldn't do it. I recorded myself repeatedly - sucked. Absolutely sucked. Deleted every recording.
I am sure I can do this. I just.... I have no idea how to go about it right.
I don't know ... Not meant to be a rockstar I guess?
Anyway. I'll probably still dress up for the Friday night show. After all, these cute little pink glasses are not going to wear themselves.
My cousin was blowing up my phone all afternoon. He said he's 75% cleaned out of the apartment, just has his essentials for living for the next week, and he was making gumbo. He loves to cook, which is nice. But then he says weird things like "some woman should be here with me enjoying this dinner, and then rewarding me for all my efforts."
eewww?
Doug texted me at 3 that he was going to be home around 7:30, which means he either hadn't left yet or was just leaving. Geoff wanted to go to the bank so we headed up to the branch next to one of our favorite places, Brew Belly. We ate subs, had a couple beers, and people were there watching the Olympics women's Gymnastic trials. And cheering, and having a lot of fun. I thought it was sweet.
We ordered Doug some dinner and headed home. He got there 15 minutes before we did, It was so nice to have him home. He said everyone asked after me. He ran bingo for the family, again. I'm glad he went.
Anyway. I did absolutely nothing cleaning-wise or anything else-wise. Didn't record my video, and I'm headed to bed. Not sure why I'm so epically wiped out. but.
Digits below my goofy face.
digits
exercise: 10/12 hours. Missed 9 am, slept in. Missed 3pm, goofing off on phone. 6100+ steps by bedtime
blood glucose:
10am: 150 5pm: 130 10pm: 160
food:
coffee/water 1pm: blt salad w/spinach and goat cheese. Metformin 5pm: spicy queso cheese dip w/ some pretzels for dipping 6pm: metformin+jardiance 7pm: cheese steak, a couple fries, 2 beers
After my last massage therapy appointment for my foot (which, by the way, holy shit, yes. My foot is so awesome now) I scheduled myself another appointment for a ... you know, not just my foot kind of massage. The whole kit and caboodle. Top to bottom, soup to nuts.
I set that up for Wednesday but due to work chaos rescheduled it to this morning. Knowing Doug was out of town, Geoff at work, hey. Do something nice for yourself, idiot.
I forgot to set an alarm, the way you do when it is Saturday. Geoff left for work at 8-ish, and I heard him feed the dog and let her out. She got back into bed with me and we both went back to big sleep land.
I woke up at 9:50, just enough time to stumble around and do the 9am steps, stop and take my blood sugar, and do 10am steps. And then I remembered I had scheduled this 11:30am appointment. Doh. Shower. Ready. Dog in kennel, leave house at 11:10 because parking is stupid downtown. Made it to the appointment with 10 min. to spare.
Early, the way you like it. The way I like it. The way it should be.
My brand new massage therapist is Lawrence, he's a very tall, fit, athletic, black man. When I reached out to this group, recommended to me by a co-worker, I thought I'd be placed with someone else, but Lawrence was interested in how I had described the problem with my foot.
"You don't have plantar fasciitis," he told me last week. "You just have two knotted spots, one in your foot, one in your calf, and I'll relieve them both."
And he sure did.
So I had scheduled this knowing that OMG work, and OMG life, and ... treat yourself. I miss my massage therapist from Massachusetts. In fact, I sent her an email after I got home to tell her that it had been basically 4 years since I'd seen a massage therapist, and I missed her. She retired, and when I was in town a couple years ago she cleared her schedule to see me.
I love her.
So Lawrence worked magic on my foot, and I felt like okay. Let's do more.
Today was a 1 hour of Swedish deep tissue massage. I showed him my bruise and he said he'd avoid the area, and we talked about my hands and the Duputryen's Contracture, he said he had a couple patients with that, and said if I was going to have surgery for it, about 6 months later massage therapy is a great thing to do, to keep things limber.
It was so nice to spend this hour just .... not doing. Not thinking. At one point he asked me how I was doing.
"I have to remember to breathe," I replied.
"Are you forgetting to breathe?" He asked.
"No, I just kind of find myself so relaxed, not like I'm asleep, but I should breathe in deeper? Maybe?" He laughed a little and said, that's a good thing to do. Remember to breathe.
He is not a talkative person. My old massage therapist in Massachusetts, Sue, and I would talk the whole time through my massages about everything from pets to plants to gardens to God. Lawrence doesn't say much. So it was very quiet through the whole appointment.
After the massage and out to the car, I checked texts. My neighbor had texted me to ask if she could bring the puppy over to get her some energy out. Of course! Yes! Bring her down.
We sat and talked, just the two of us. She's in her early 40s, and mostly what we talked about was music and musicians. I had put on a Guster playlist and she asked who it was because it sounded familiar. She said she was at NYC summer stage around maybe 2011, she wasn't sure. But she remembered the "lead guy" putting a hat on that looked like a disco ball and twirling around with lights shining on it.
"Yeah. That sounds on brand for Ryan Miller."
I told her about our Summerstage experience when it rained like a mofo for 5 minutes and the concert was canceled, how Ginger's flight from Florida landed in VA and they were put on a bus to do the rest of the trip up and it was an epic shit show.... but somehow, we all had so much fun. Ginger & her son, Linda, Jess & Liz, Sara & Sean, and our friend Spicy V had a waterproof poster tube and saved all of our posters from destruction. Joe and Debs were there, we had pizza after ... while completely soaking wet. My hotel room became the ground zero for all the wet humans.
It was truly a weekend to remember.
Meg and Toffee played but also just hung out - not doing too much. Maybe too hot? Meg seemed a little scared of Toffee today, and we tried to get them to engage and play tug of war with the ripped up fox but Meg preferred hiding.
The goal was to tire Meg out, but Toffee did the bulk of the work and zonked out cold when we got inside. I hope Meg got some of her puppy energy out. She has to be in the kennel for a while tonight while mom and dad go to a party. I offered for her to just stay with us until they got home but I don't think they're ready for that.
Honestly, it would be fun.
I sat out on the patio for quite a while and came in to make dinner for me and Geoff. He got home around 6, and everything was ready for us to chow down.
Jess called around 8pm. We talked for hours. I miss them a lot sometimes and they were in a very talkative place. We had a lot of fun. Catching up on all the haps. Jess is going to be house sitting for one of my colleagues for a MONTH (whaaaaat?) and I didn't know it. I guess I recommended them to the coworker through our pets channel. So. That's kind of exciting. Closer Jess.
Anyway. I looked at my fitbit and it was at 9200 steps so I said "Oh come on. You can get to 10k before bed" and we did. The dog ran around the house chasing me. And we were done before 11:30.
That's a big full day, friends.
Pictured here is me post massage therapy. I always feel like someone beat me up, or as mom used to say "you look like who did it and ran." yup. Digits below.
digits
exercise: 12/12 hours. Inside walk, 29 minutes. I swear it was longer by at least 2 min. but OK, fitbit. 10k+ steps by bedtime
blood glucose:
10am: 163 5:30pm: 131 11:30pm: 154
food:
coffee/water 11am: Metformin 1:15pm: grilled ham & muenster on 647 multi grain white wine (approx 3pm day drinking start) 6pm: white rice+chicken tikka masala (microwave meal from Target); metformin+jardiance some more wine.
Doug left for his mom's around 11:30am. I was in a meeting when he went, and so we didn't get to say much. A hug while I was off camera, and I was listening to my colleagues talk. I should have just left the meeting but what we were talking about was important. When someone leaves, to travel, that's important.
And I missed him immediately.
I was supposed to have lunch with a coworker at 1 today. I had a 12pm meeting with a client that went insanely well, and reminded me of why I love my jobs on days I hate my job. I jumped in the shower to go, blowdried my hair like a grownup, messaged my team that I'd be in transit to the lunch spot and then they could slack me if they needed anything. I did not bring my computer.
Someone from another team slacked a group of us and said "hey, can you update the help documentation for the how-to for this thing?" I'm the only one who knows the how-to on how to do the thing they wanted updated. I turned the car off, and went back into the house.
It's my own fault.
See, I should have done it this morning but the morning was also full of other things. And I thought I'll just do it after lunch. But no. Had to be done because it turns out the comms to the clients were waiting on me to do this. Without telling me what time they needed it. Here they were, waiting for me.
Here's a tip: Don't tell me on Thursday afternoon "no worries, no rush" if it really is kind of "Hey we can't send our part out until you do this and we'd like to send it out by 2pm."
Someone from my team messaged that group saying "She's away from keyboard (AFK)" and I replied. "Nope. Going back in to finish. Plz hold,"
It took me all of 30 minutes to do it, ran it past everyone for review. One fussy person said "Oh we should update this document too, and this one, while we're at it."
Who is this we? We are not "at it." I'm at it. And no - those documents can wait for a refresh. The Comms can go out for this thing now. Comms that really should have had a better plan and gone out ... Monday. Hit send!
Be Done.
My desire for a cheesesteak quashed, my colleague and I rescheduled. And instead of the fantastic sammitch I wanted, I made a bowl of yogurt and berries. Damn.
I had a brief check in with the work bestie who had some news and updates for me, We talked about our weekend plans. She mourned the loss of the cheesesteak with me, so that was funny. I felt less horrible about everything after talking to her. My team jumped in on troubleshooting a bug with our App, We declared ourselves awesome and cheered our teamwork. And then the day was over.
At 6, I did steps in the house while Geoff made dinner. I had him add meat to the pasta sauce to get more protein. I knew I didn't want to just have cheese tortellinis without a little more of that magic. Glad he did.
He went downstairs after dinner and I've not seen him since. He's working tomorrow so he'll be up at zero dark thirty even though he doesn't have to be there until 9. He's such an interesting creature with his habits. Up at 5:30. Coffee, breakfast, shower, spend a bunch of time doing I don't know what. Come upstairs at 8. Walk to work. I'll offer to pick him up tomorrow. He wants to go deposit his paycheck. Why he doesn't use direct deposit is beyond me. But. He hasn't been able to get to the bank with all our car drama. Maybe I'll take him, and we can go to the place I was gonna have lunch, and I'll get that cheesesteak.
It was gorgeous out today, and I thought about just going out and sitting at the patio but. Ugh. Exhausted. I messaged Lin to see if she wanted to chat, that would have had me go outside, but she was already in bed. So I sat on the couch alone. Didn't watch TV. Didn't listen to music. Played games on my phone. Drank 2 glasses of wine, and Toffee snored next to me.
Doug texted me and asked me to send the pictures I took of Toffee and Meg yesterday. So I think he was showing them to his mom. Either that or he wicked misses her.
Anyway. Off to bed. Tomorrow I have a massage therapy appointment to work on my lower back. Foot is doing great so he'll be happy to hear that. What a difference the visit to him made, and some stretching that I've done since.
Oh, I wanted to share this picture. When I was in Richmond, I bruised myself. I have no idea how. Probably hoisting the garment bag full of John's suits, or schlepping things down the hall that were too big.
But this is the reality of my life. I bruise very easily. And this one is going to take a while. Doug noticed it when we were here in the living room on Monday or Tuesday. And this is a photo from Thursday, sorry I didn't get the whole of my arm in, hard to do a selfie, but it continues on my arm out of the frame. It's getting better. If I go to the gym this weekend, I think I'll wear a 3/4 sleeve so no one looks at me funny. Digits below.
digits
exercise: 12/12 hours. Inside walk, 27 minutes. 7100+steps by bedtime
blood glucose:
8:30am: 114 (tested 2x to be sure) 4:15pm: 142 10:30pm: 161
food:
coffee/water 10:30am: metformin+ english muffin w/pb 2pm: bowl of plain greek yogurt w/ red raspberries & pinch of splenda 6:30pm: bowl of cheese tortellini in meat sauce white wine no snacks!
At work today, It was absolute chaos. Just like the Troy Timeline in "Community." It's me. I'm Troy.
Watch that video clip. That was me, literally me... until about 2pm. I got a grip. Got ahold of myself. Had a good talk with my work wife. Had another talk with a coworker who is experiencing a lot of the same. She said to me "Did you eat today? Have you had water?"
And this is why I love my people. Sometimes when it is absolutely insane, when Pierce is stabbed and on the floor, when there is fire everywhere, and all you did was go down to get the pizza and Joel is slapping the fire with his coat. Yeah. You need people who love you and get you. I have that.
We had to go pick the car up around 4pm, so I drove Doug up to pick her up, and I went to the market. I got home and he grilled bratwurst for dinner, before our neighbors came over with the puppy.
Initially, they were supposed to come over on Tuesday but I had to reschedule them to tonight because ... well, chaos all week. I thought about texting them to say "everything sucks, don't come over" but ... I didn't and I'm so happy that I didn't.
This was just what I needed. 85 degrees with a light breeze, fellowship and laughter, and their puppy (Meg) and Toffee just played together SO HARD and it was perfect and amazing.
We were talking about toys and destruction. Doug went in and got the ropes and the torn up Kong Fox, and it was the absolute right thing. They just bought the same fox for Meg and they died laughing when they saw the absolute mess Toffee had made of hers. I described it as "there's a rope inside, and she got it torn apart and the rope is like .... intestines." And it is. No exaggeration.
Toffee kept bringing Meg things to encourage her to tug of war, and finally the wee pupper caught on.
We had a hell of a good time. I was so impressed with miss Toffee. Honestly. What a sweetie she is, and my neighbors were also completely in love.
I really like these folks up the street. And their puppy. This was just what I needed, absolute chaos into a different kind of absolute chaos. And my heart was happy.
After our neighbors left, and Toffee sat at the gate looking up the street sadly, I was going to connect with Linda but she was busy, and my friend Amy called me from Arizona. This was a delightful surprise. We caught up on life, kids, home, work, travel plans, everything.
Chaos was wonderfully tampered by joy all night long.
Look at these pictures. Digits below.
digits
exercise: 12/12 hours. No measured exercise but I did a solid walk at Target! 7k steps by bedtime
blood glucose:
8:45am: 171 4:30pm: 156 10pm: 140
food:
coffee/water noon: metformin; grilled turkey and american cheese on 647 multigrain 1pm: the last of the candied nuts 6pm: 2 bratwursts, no rolls. Metformin+jardiance; handful of potato chips .... not sure what time. Little baked good things from Jane. Wine + Ginger ale. 10pm: 2 more baked good things
Our car is experiencing additional unexpected technical difficulties, we had a bit of a dramatic time with Geoff about it. So the car is back at the garage and hopefully they'll be able to button it up and make it so it won't happen again. Hoping all the solutions are in place for Doug to leave on Friday to head to mom's.
Work was just straight up bananas. I was supposed to do something for a client weeks ago, back in June, and I completely forgot. I pulled it together in 5 minutes before a 3pm meeting they asked for.
And they were impressed.
I mean, sometimes in the midst of absolute chaos I can pull something out of thin air and win?
No picture today. too busy. Tomorrow I'm very much looking forward to the puppy playdate and will make up for photos so hard.
digits
exercise: 12/12 hours. 17 minute indoor walk between meetings; 6300+ steps
blood glucose:
8am: 187 4pm: 142 10pm: 156
food:
coffee/water through the morning, handfuls of candied nuts noon: metformin can of tuna fish w/ mayo 4:30pm: some "protein trail mix" found in the pantry, mostly chickpeas and pepitas 6:30pm: metformin+jardiance, small bowl of rotini w/meat sauce 9pm: ramekin of cashews and protein trail mix 3 beers
So our car is all set. Alternator (note we ha it replaced in 2022 in Pennsylvania). Our mechanic said there was an electrical problem about 12 volts vs 14 volts and Doug understood it but I didn't. Luckily it didn't murder our battery, so that didn't need to be replaced as well.
Doug and Toffee walked to pick it up. It is a 2 mile walk, perfect for him and for her. I'd get halfway there and call an Uber.
Because he'd have the dog with him and all, I couldn't expect him to go into the market or anything. So we decided I'd order delivery for when he got back. I was doing my steps in the house, trying to get the heart rate up above 120 so the fitbit believes me that I'm exercising, knowing I had more than the regular amout of time to do my walk. I was in the bedroom, and I heard a pounding on the door. I opened the front door thinking it was the delivery but it was way too early. Nope, no one there. The pounding was coming from the back.
It was my weird neighbor who lives behind us, and she was in a rather excitable state. "There are deer! There are DEER IN YOUR YARD!" She started to go down the stairs and was gesturing to the side of the house.
"Cool," I said and stepped out on to the back porch to peek. "Where?" She gestured around the side harder. I told her I'd go out front, and take a look to the south. I grabbed my phone off the charger and went to see.
Sure enough.
The adult/female most likely the mama was on our side of the fence and three babies were in the other neighbor's yard. She was pacing back and forth. The fawns were unbothered.
Mom caught sight of me and started to panic so I didn't walk any closer or anything, got a shot of her and then she jumped over the fence, and I didn't get her fast enough so picture 2 is of her landing. My neighbor on that side doesn't have a gate across his driveway, so they walked out to the street and cautiously walked south.
I was terribly worried they'd head over to the major road, so I hope they changed direction and went to the school and the woods in back.
Doug said it is really weird to have 3 fawns with one doe. But I have proof of life here.
Work was again totally crazy. I have to get up early tomorrow for me and T to proofread email to go out to clients, and determine who the recipients should be, and get it out before I lose T until next Tuesday.
My neighbors with the pibble puppy were going to come over but Doug wasn't going to be back in time so I rescheduled for Thursday. I already can't wait.
We had no good food in the house so I ordered chinese food for us, which of course makes my blood sugar high because it is full of corn starch and rice, But it was a new place and rather delicious, so I don't feel too guilty over it. Yum.
Digits below.
digits
exercise: 12/12 hours. indoor walk for 23 min. 7k steps by bedtime
blood glucose:
8:30am: 167 4:15pm: 174 9pm: 215
food:
coffee/water 11:30am: metformin; turkey+american grilled cheese sandwich 4pm: a couple of mixed nuts 6pm: metformin+jardiance; chinese food. A lot of candied nuts.
It was an exceptionally busy day. Car towed to shop. Shot alternator and battery (note, we had the alternator replaced in 2022, right around this time, when we were up visiting Doug's mom then). The other car has low coolant, Doug was going to top it off but the coolant is ... in the trunk of the Dodge, at the shop.
Work was insane. I will just leave it at that.
It poured down rain all day, no walk outside, no walk inside, and with no car, no trip to the gym.
Here's a picture of Toffee, just for today's post.
digits
exercise: 12/12 hours. no exercise. 5100+ steps by bedtime
blood glucose:
8am: 173 4:30pm: 171 11pm: 176
food:
coffee/water noon: metformin; left over tuna casserole 1:30pm: english muffin w/pb 6:30pm: kielbasa and mac & cheese; metformin+jardiance 7pm: metformin+jardiance; 2 chocolate chip cookies; wine
Saturday morning, Doug decided he'd come with me to Richmond. When I asked him last week he said he was not interested. "Are you sure you're not coming with?" I asked him while we were drinking coffee and I was starting to put things in my bag. He hemmed and hawed a bit.
I said, "It's always more fun if you're with me, whatever it is I'm doing that is slightly unpleasant you make it more fun."
He then said "Well, an overnight in Richmond is..."
"Not the worst thing in the world?"
"Yeah, exactly that. Just don't expect me to do too much at your cousin's."
Okay. Yay.
It isn't that I can't do this by myself. I just get so incredibly bored, and having him around is helpful...
He made us a reservation, not at a Marriott, but I allowed him to be the picker of the lodging. I told him don't you DARE pick a Motel 6 by the airport or I swear I'll leave you forever. He laughed.
I'm not kidding though. More on the hotel later.
I was all packed and ready, and he got in the shower. We hit the road before 1. I knew my cousin was working in the morning so we were not in a huge press to get down to RVA. We stopped at a rest area in I think Fredericksburg, VA, and the lady gave us Virginia is for Lovers, so. I ... took liberties on Instagram.
Any opportunity to pimp, right? Guster is for Lovers is my Jam.
Traffic was absolutely shitty, and we arrived at about 4, a full hour later than I thought we'd be there.
My cousin was in a full panic spiral. His computer had completely stopped working, the internet was out, he had so much to pack, he was giving things away to a friend - dishes and plates, some books, a crockpot, all sorts of things, and those were stacked by the door ready to go into his car. Things were looking good but he felt that it was all chaos. Of course it looks and feels like chaos, you're in the middle of it.
I had been under the impression that we were bringing a ton of stuff over to this guy's house for storage but I had that information wrong, so he needs to get a storage unit. In a college town, I bet that will be easy.
Standing over his non-functional computer, exasperated, he said "I'd like to know what God I offended to have all these things happen to me all at once." He was in tears. I told him to close the computer, we'd look at it later. Make a mental priority list - put this down much lower. Way lower. You don't need wifi either while we're packing. Just let things go for a while, and let's get to work.
He showed me what he needed accomplished and I set to it. He and Doug went into the basement and brought up tons of plastic storage bins that he had been saving. And luggage. I put 90% of his clothing in the luggage - he has TONS of suits and dress clothes, he has literally a hundred sweatshirts, and at least another hundred baseball hats.
I'm like dude, divest of these? He said "If you see anything you like, take it.
So I took a Boston Red Sox hoodie, and one from the Quarterdeck Pub in Falmouth, MA where he used to work and is kind of a destination for us when we're on that side of the bridge. I also took a Phish baseball hat in Red Sox lettering, just because so cool. I was sorely tempted by the Jerry Garcia handprint North Face Jacket, but. I didn't want to just start being greedy.
He had four sets of binoculars so he gave us three. One for Doug, and one for each of the kids. He had a ton of clothing and pots and pans he was throwing away. I told him to put them in our car and I'll take them to goodwill or Savers.
He's got so much anger and I don't blame him, so I just let him rant while putting 9000 baseball hats into a plastic box and giving him advice on things he wanted to "run past a normal sane person" to keep or pitch.
We worked hard until 7, and he had calmed down a lot and was focused. Still upset about his laptop not working, but at least I got him to just leave it alone, and it started loading updates and looking healthier by dinner time.
We got hungry, of course, and he wanted to cook us a meal. He enjoys cooking, but we wanted to take him out for dinner - and there's a nice little restaurant 2 blocks away. So we walked over there, had a meal, I drank a lot of beer, more than I should have but. Doug was talking to him about the Civil War, his favorite subject, and he knows a lot of history but even if it is history and factual his take and spin is as a Confederate sympathizer and I am super uncomfortable with that.
Anyway.
Back to the house, to the kitchen, to the glassware. We rolled all his wine and martini and pint glasses up in towels, stacked them all together in large plastic bins, about 3 of them. He dropped a guinness glass on the floor and I told him it wasn't a party until something breaks.
He actually laughed.
He has a couch that he cannot donate - none of the agencies that take furniture take sleeper sofas, so he is going to just try and stick it on the street and hope he does not get in trouble.
At this point, he's like "whatever." And I don't blame him.
While we were there, a friend called him to let him know he found an apartment for him in his building. K said it isn't available until September 1st but it is 1000 a month, utilities included. Which he can manage. One bedroom, one bathroom, all you need really.
And his friend is floating him the first and last month's rent.
"I only have to live in my car for a month. Much better than the three months I was anticipating in order to save up first and last."
So good news there. You have not pissed off any God, if your computer dies early in the day but someone swings by with an apartment AND willingness to pay your first/last, it just is what it is, and you take the highs and lows and for goodness sake, just try and do it with grace.
We left around 10, with him in a much better place emotionally and able to think clearly and approach what needs done next. I felt pretty good about it. And I was indeed incredibly happy Doug was there. We went to our hotel, which I let Doug pick.
The Graduate Hotel in Downtown Richmond is kitschy and cute. The theme is "We are all students," and they have locations in many "collegiate" towns around America like Eugene, OR, Providence, RI, Princeton, NJ, and Storrs, CT. Strangely though, not in Boston. The room keys are like student IDs with famous actors and actresses on them. We both got Warren Beatty, and I was curious
If you go to that link for the hotel, they had this picture of a dog over the bed. I really liked it. Doug thought it was annoying with too much white space. What is going on with all that white space? I don't know, I kinda loved it.
The room was weird, there were zero plugs/outlets by the bed, and my side of the bed had no side table. Doug's did - and he was happy because the lamp had a power outlet on the base so he could plug in his C-PAP machine. I was annoyed that there wasn't a table to put my water on. Oh, and there were free cans of water in the room, nice, but ... no cups? I could drink tap water if I had a cup. And I was not about to go downstairs at 11pm and ask for a cup.
The Graduate. It's a Vibe.
We got settled in, Doug passed out and it took a while for my Zzquill to kick in but ... I passed out. My friend Sara had big news at 6:45am and blew up my phone on facebook messenger. John texted me at 7:45am, and I ignored both of them. John called at 9, Doug got up and got in the shower, I went downstairs and got us both coffee.
Both of us were underwhelmed with the shower, the water pressure was lame, but the shower itself looked top notch. And the peppermint soap was delightful. At least we came out clean.
We checked out at 10:45 ish, I would have liked to have explored the hotel some more, there is a rooftop bar and pool, the ByrdsNest, I think it named.
Perhaps next visit, and I'll complain about outlets and lack of side table.
When I asked Doug what he wanted to do with our day he said "I don't need to look at anything in Richmond except an omelet."
Hell yeah. I agree.
He picked the Village Cafe, which was incredibly old school with wooden booths and a gorgeous bar. It is the kind of place I could just spend a lot of time, taking pictures and drinking cocktails.
He got his wish. A big Omelet. I had a pancake, I wanted pancakes with an S but. I took a cue from Mike Birbiglia talking about his type 2 diabetes and how his wife made him pancake for breakfast. Because he likes multiples and she knows no. Don't do that. So. Pancake. And I had a breakfast burrito, it was huge. And full of good protein things. To balance ... pancake.
The restaurant serves things in small pitchers, which is weird. It's odd. To drink your unsweetened tea out of an actual pitcher. I'm wondering what is up with Richmond Virginia that actual drinking cups are a problem. But. I drank 3/4 of the pitcher of iced tea.
I passed on a cocktail, because I knew Doug would be driving and it was just fair. The temptation was real though.
After breakfast, Doug suggested we go for a walk, so we toodled aboot the VCU Monroe Park campus and the beautiful neighborhood. All the gorgeous homes and the trees and gardens, it is really a pretty place. It was wildly empty, summer being what it is, we had the place to ourselves to walk around and pokemon and gawk.
We headed home around 1 and traffic, again, was the shittiest.
We took backroads up to La Plata MD and enjoyed the scenery and the farms. We went through a town called Frog Level.
Now, get this, there are two whole ass towns in Virginia named Frog Level.
Friends, I shit you not. The one we went through is in Caroline County, and the other is in Southwest VA by West Virginia.
You just honestly never know what you're going to see out there.
We got home to one very excited dog, a boy who made cookies, and one very huge problem at my job. Doug took a nap with the dog, Geoff made dinner, and my colleague T and I tackled the problem. I'm still working on things, but wanted to get the blog entry out there. I am hoping to have it all buttoned up before wanting to hit the hay.
All told, one does not just bop down to Richmond. I wish it was easier to get to, but wow does it just suck going down there. I'm so glad Doug went with me. And I think over the next month I'll keep good tabs on the cousin, who knows, I may end up back down there soon. We'll see.
Digits for 2 days below the Phish hat.
Saturday digits
exercise: 10/12 hours. lost 2 in the car, 9k+steps by bedtime
blood glucose:
8:45am: 176 n/a - no reading too busy 11pm: 202
food:
coffee/water 11am: metformin, 2 little chocolate donuts noon: turkey sandwich w/mayo on 647 white bread 7pm: cranberry walnut spinach salad w/goat cheese and 5 nicely blackened shrimp; 4 beers; slice of cheesecake w/blueberries and homemade whipped cream 8:30pm: metformin+jardiance
Sunday digits
exercise: 11/12 hours. 17 minute walk around downtown RVA. 6k by bedtime
blood glucose:
9:30am: 153 4pm: 172 11pm: 162
food:
coffee/water 10:30am: metformin (so I won't forget at lunch) 11:30am: one pancake, breakfast burrito w/ egg, sausage, bacon, cheddar cheese and some sausage gravy on top. Unsweetened iced tea. A lot. 4pm: two Geoff cookies 6pm: 2 sausages, 6 pierogis; red wine; metformin+jardiance
This morning, Geoff left for the gym at 8:30am. He texted me a picture of the dashboard lights being on in the Dodge.
Check Engine. We know. We have an exhaust leak, and we go in and have it checked once in a while where we want to make sure it isn't something else, and the mechanic resets the light. Easy peasy.
Geoff said no, look at the battery light.
Oh. That. Huh. That's new. "I'm headed back home, I'll skip the gym," he tells me.
So sure enough he comes home, tells Doug. Doug goes out to look and then the car won't start, and every single light on that dashboard is on. Even ones he's never once seen.
Now, we had the alternator replaced on this car a couple years ago, so help me God if that's dead I'm mad.
I called our mechanic, he's booked through next week but said to tow it or bring it or whatever we can do to get it up here for Monday. He'll assess as best he can, and let us know.
Great.
Doug then tells me he is not in the mood to work today. This just kind of ruined it for him.
He took the day off.
Mostly sat here in the livingroom while I was working, which was slightly distracting. We had lunch, he tried to convince me around 1pm to go with him to take Toffee for a walk at Sligo Creek but
dude
I'm working. I said "If I tried to get you to walk away from your workday in the middle of the day to take what could probably be a two hour break, you'd freak out at me. You'd yell at me."
"You are right," he said. "But I figured you'd be into it."
He's not wrong. But ... not today on short notice with my boss on vacation.
He went with Toffee Solo. They had fun. And I had regrets. Life is short, take the dog for a walk at the creek, man. When did I become a loser like this. Gah.
So I guess I'm taking the Mini Cooper tomorrow to Richmond. Thing about the Mini is, well, it's Mini. You can't fit a lot of stuff in, whereas the Avenger has a big assed back seat and trunk. I am going to propose to my cousin we rent a Uhaul van for Sunday when he needs to take stuff to the first storage area.
The Mini also doesn't really have good AC. It kind of works? But ... not really super great.
So I'll be Old School Christine, 1986 style with a car with no AC cruising down 95.
I have not decided when I am leaving, I'll just get up and ... go eventually.
Today mom called me at 7. I had several things I needed to finish doing for the day and was still working while dinner cooked. I put Geoff on duty and went outside.
She was worried about the huge Crowdstrike outage and if it impacted my job today. No. It did not. Thankfully. And so we chatted until almost 8. I had some wine and really enjoyed the patio. The weather app said it was 83 but you could fool me. Felt like 75 with the nice soft breeze. I drank wine, ate dinner, should have put more protein in the meal but I didn't eat a whole ton of pasta. Just some.
And I then chatted with Linda until my laptop battery died.
All told, a good end to a busy day, I still have some things I need to do this weekend, so I'll see if I can cram them in, somewhere. Maybe tomorrow night.
coffee/water 10:45am: bowl of mac & cheese w/bacon; metformin 1:45pm: bowl of plain greek yogurt w/strawberries & a splash of splenda 6:30pm: bowl of cheese tortellini w/sauce; metformin+jardiance; red wine
Last week when we were driving home from Pittsburgh, we stopped for lunch and I got a spinach strawberry salad w/grilled chicken.
I've been thinking about it ever since.
Today I ... built the salad. Not exactly like theirs, I had no shredded cheddar, and didn't want a hard boiled egg (didn't want the hassle of it) and didn't have an avocado to slice up either.
So the spinach, strawberries, goat cheese, cucumber, cherry tomatoes all got mixed up, topped with bacon and some sort of salad dressing from Aldi that wasn't raspberry vinaigrette (wish it was) and it was pretty good.
I ate half the bowl, leaving the other half for Doug. But he didn't want it.
Now. I knew that's not gonna keep. Not gonna last and be good tomorrow.
So I ate the rest of it.
And I became a complete oompa loompa full of spinach salad rolling around the house. Good grief, that was a lot of salad. And I may never need to eat again. But no, that's not true. I'll need to eat. Someday. Tonight.
Busy work day, had a wonderful time outside watering the plants and walking around the yard. Cool enough (87 degrees!) that Doug took the dog for a walk, and I opted to walk in the house instead of go up to the gym tonight. Gave me time to make dinner instead of leaving it to others.
I took a cool picture last night before going to bed. We have a wacky wild vine growing all over the front of the house, and my neighbor's porch light was playing fun with the shadow and the condensation on the glass from the humidity.
digits
exercise: 12/12 hours. 23 minutes indoor walk; 7300+steps by bedtime
blood glucose:
8:45am: 133 5pm: 146 11pm: 142
food:
coffee/water 9am: slice of danish noon: BIG salad. Spinach, goat cheese, strawberries, bacon, cucumber, the last of the candied nuts, some kind of a vinaigrette found in the fridge; metformin 6pm: 2 small cheeseburgers, no buns a lot of oreos red wine
Today's temperature got way high up in the 90s, but dropped a bit by 5pm, so I went out to grill. Put some bratwurst out there, some bug spray on me, poured a glass of wine and relaxed, and luckily got through the grilling process right before the sky opened up.
I was happy to get through that. It sucks to be halfway through cooking and the rain starts.
I had a busy day and Doug started watching RNC coverage so I went to the gym. I managed to force myself to get through 30 minutes and over a mile on the treadmill. I went into the circuit room and did 3 machines while a woman was just sitting on one of the machines playing with her phone. This makes me literally insane. Get off the machine or use it.
So I asked her if she was working out and taking a break "or what."
"Oh I am just resting."
"Okay, I love a good rest too but this room is meant for a 30 minute run through of all the machines, and I'd like to use that machine."
She got up and left. Looks like her boyfriend or significant other was working out in the big room so she went to hang out over by him. There were two other people in the circuit area who gave me the "thank you" look. We all happily got through our workout.
A group of girls came in and took over two of the machines to work out on, Together. I mean. Not what the circuit room is for but at least they are using the machines.
I swear they need huge assed signs in there or someone monitoring the area to make sure it gets used right.
My future job.
Anyway.
Got home and Doug had turned off the RNC and was watching an old Coen Brothers movie that he said he's never watched start to finish. This surprised me. I'm a big fan of the Coen Brothers' films, so I was happy to see this on the TV.
I did some work, futzed around with games on my phone. And now I'm super ready for bed.
Digits below some pictures! First, brats on grill. Second, the corner flowers, an area that is growing. And finally, the marigolds I inherited from my co-worker. Hoping they get some flowers, and survive the replant.
digits
exercise: 12/12 hours. 30 min treadmill for 1.15 miles, some circuit room machines, but not all; 8700+ steps by bedtime
blood glucose:
8:45am: 135 4:30pm: 192 11pm: 137
food:
coffee/water 10:45am: bowl of mac & cheese w/hamburger 11:15pm: metformin 2pm: apple and peanut butter 3:30pm: candied nuts 5:45pm: 2 bratwursts, macaroni salad, potato salad white wine
I've been chatting with my cousin in Richmond. He has to move out of his place, and he's putting things in storage at a college friend's house.
He said he's going to have to live out of his car until probably October, which sounds wild to me. He's sad, depressed, has to part with a lot of things, blames just about everything on his brother. But not everything is his brother's fault. He says it is. And I don't like knowing both sides of their situation and feeling that he really should just let it go and do better. He's capable of so much more. The universe, or his brother, are not conspiring against him.
It is a little exhausting. And also disheartening that someone in my family is about to go into a homeless state.
I'm not in a position to "loan" first/last month's rent to him to get a place (loan in quotes because I'm not sure when I'd see that again).
But I maybe am in a position to help him put stuff in storage. And box things up. And be there in some kind of way.
Of course, my availability doesn't match his needs necessarily. Of course.
He's "not ready" to move things this weekend, but at least maybe (he suggested) I can come down on Saturday and help him box things up and stage things for goings to the different places. He may be able to move some things on Sunday if things are ready on Saturday.
I'm at least able to do that. After this weekend, my availability drops right off. The weekend of the 27th we may go back up to Doug's mom's for the family reunion. The week after that I'm free. And then ... Maine. OTO. NH. Carrie. Jess. Mom. Probably a full week and a half, including the two weekends, not accessible at all for shenanigans. I would not be free again until the Third weekend in August.
At least the temperature next Saturday and Sunday are forecasted to be 15 degrees cooler than now. It's stupid hot right now, and the last thing I want to do is schlep someone's stuff anywhere, I wouldn't even move my own stuff anywhere. No July and August moves in my life, ever again.
Work was busy but also I had some downtime and goofed off a bit. Geoff got a ride to work from Doug and I picked him up. It being 102 degrees and ... well, walking is dumb in that kind of heat so we didn't let him. We got home and I felt uninspired for dinner - so Doug heated up some white rice from the freezer, and I cooked some of this chicken concoction I got at Lidl, which was not half bad. Coulda been spicier, and we could have made a veggie to go with it, but all told, alright.
After dinner tonight, I went to the gym. Doug had started watching a movie that I just didn't care to watch, and rather than sit here and do nothing and being annoyed, I went to the gym.
It was mobbed.
The circuit room was bananas. I thought about just bopping around waiting and did two open machines, but no one was getting off the equipment so I went to the treadmill farm, found one open. Linda and I were on the phone and she kept chatting with me while I walked. She got me to 20 min, and then I looked to see how far I was from a mile and I stuck with it. The treadmill said I did 26 minutes and a mile but the fitbit measured me walking around looking for the circuit room and in and out of the parking lot, I guess, for a full hour.
When I got home, I proofread Linda's Moth submission, she needs to get it to Guster by tomorrow. And I booked hotel and flights for the end of the August trip. I have to check in with Sara to see about booking a hotel for the first night of the trip on the way up to Maine for the halfway point of things, but all told, that trip is going to be buttoned up very soon.
Really looking forward to it.
I also started shopping for some Janis Joplin gear/clothing/do-dads so I can maybe get a spot doing karaoke with Guster. I think we could crush Me & Bobby McGee but I have to send an audition reel. Gotta record that when ... well, when I'm alone. Which is never?
Anyway. I thought I had taken pictures today but I guess not. So nothing to illuminate this text. Just. Digits.
digits
exercise: 12/12 hours. 30 min on the treadmill, about 1 mile. 2 circuit machines. 7700+ by bedtime
blood glucose:
8:45am: 165 4:45pm: 134 10:15pm: 157
food:
coffee/water 10:45am: ramekin of candied nuts; metformin 12:15: bowl of chicken salad w/red grapes and walnuts 6pm: some sort of curry coconut chicken stuff over some white rice 7pm: metformin+jardiance; white wine 10:30pm: ramekin of candied nuts
This time last year, I believe I was still stunned from a 5:30am phone call from mom, and the quick putting into action the plan of going up to Massachusetts to begin the beginning of a Year of Firsts.
We've been talking a lot about these firsts this year. The first birthday without, father's day, Christmas, the first fill in the blank of whatever kind of day date event thing you'd usually do with that person. Only they are gone.
A lot of folks I know are attached to or hung up on dates. They never forget the passing of someone. They remember very vividly where they were, what they were doing, and each of the landmark moments they pass stings and leaves an indelible scar that they revisit and examine year after year. Again and Again.
I'm not as sentimental as that. But I did go to bed last night thinking about "what's significant about July 14th in my mind? What am I missing? What am I forgetting?" And I woke up with the realization. Oh.
July 14th we were waiting for an update from mom about dad in the hospital. Linda and I were discussing making a plan for going up to visit but Mom told us to wait, but we were conspiring anyway. It was a Friday, and I wrote a blog entry about how I felt selfish about the possibility of the need to be going up, and wished he could wait so we could see him in August. Linda called the hospital and was able to talk to him, and the last thing she go to tell him was "I love you," and that is incredibly important.
Then mom called at 5:30 in the morning on July 15th. We missed our chance. We should have just gone. Lesson learned, don't wait.
And here we are, finishing our year of firsts.
Linda started to write up a submission for a Moth-style story hour that Guster is doing at On The Ocean. We missed the deadline, but I emailed Brian to ask if it is too late. He said to send it along, so I'll be proofreading it tomorrow morning for submission.
Lin and I chatted for a long time tonight. I'm always thankful for her being in my life. And I know today brings us a that full run round the sun for Dad's Yahrzeit, but our relationship continues for years to come I'm sure. On to the year of seconds, I guess.
Off to bed. Sharing this fave shot of Dad at the Canal, which he loved. Digits below.
digits
exercise: 12/12 hours. 29 minutes on the treadmill, a little over a mile. Skipped the circuit room to get back to work. 7500+ steps by bedtime
blood glucose:
9am: 147 5pm: 144 10:30pm: 123
food:
coffee/water 10:45am: english muffin (full power Thomas') with pb; metformin 2pm: several slices of turkey, 2 baby bel cheeses 4pm: some mixed nuts while making candied nuts 6pm: bowl of shell pasta w/meaty meat sauce 6:30pm: metformin+jardiance 7pm: 1.5 ramekins of candied nuts (help)
I slept in this morning, and honestly some days the only reason I get out of bed is because I have to pee, that and it is time to do steps.
Doug took the car to get vacuumed out, when we got the plants yesterday, one of them fell over and spilled all over the inside of the Mini and, well. It was a lot. While he was gone, I went outside and it was "not too blazing hot" to make me turn around and go back out. Plants needed rearranging.
There were three huge containers with some tiny sad marigolds in them. I moved the marigolds into pots together, and I got a bunch of other things moved around. There was an aloe that broke off and I replanted it with hopes. Let's see if it takes.
Everything needed watered, and I took care of all that. Doug got home, got a shower and laid down to take a nap. I decided to go to the gym. After all, I'm already hot and sweaty. May as well go!
On the way to the gym I had to stop and buy headphones again. Friday, Toffee was sleeping on one of the ear buds, and I pulled on it just thinking it would slip out from under her. But no. I pulled the damn thing apart. I hate having meetings without them, so, today. Had to go and get. Sticking with the basic ear buds with cords, I was in and out of Best Buy in no time. Stopped to buy wine and the employees (2 older black gentlemen) were talking about King Leopold II of Belgium, and what an absolute piece of shit he was.
Wow. Not the usual chit chat that goes down at the cash register, but my interest was piqued, I tell ya. I commented on agreeing that he sucked, and they laughed. We talked about how people don't know anything about him and what he did in the Congo, and many other things, and I mentioned the Santayana quote about those who don't learn history are doomed to repeat it, something to that end. They both howled and said "oh my gosh Santayana! YAAAAAS!"
One of them said "pull up a chair and let's open that wine and have discourse!"
The other said "nah, we'll lose our jobs but this is the best day ever!"
I hope next time I go back, to catch them discussing something else interesting and timely.
3pm, no one is at the gym, and I had the whole place to myself.
No one on the treadmills, and more importantly, no one in the circuit room. I whipped out my headphones, and tuned into a podcast (not about history but Lore Legends, about creepy worm cryptids). I walked about a half hour on the treadmill, and headed over to the empty circuit room where I did all but the 2 machines in the circuit room that I skipped the other day - the one that was broken and the one that hurts my knees. At this location, it was the Talking Heads, and a couple songs came through that I'd forgotten how much I love. Like this one (go watch it. So good).
After the gym, to the market. I got a bunch of stuff for dinner for the next couple days, but I think I missed one or two ingredients for meals. Like, Chicken Parm without bread crumbs, well. That's lame.
When I got home, Doug was outside on the patio, so I joined him for a while. I thought about grilling - it actually had cooled down to 90 (ha! COOLED DOWN!) but he told me he wanted tuna casserole. So I made that. Lots of carbs though.
Alright. Bed time. I'm wiped out and sore. Good weekend. Highs and Lows. Digits below.
digits
exercise: 11/12 hours. missed 7pm, wasn't paying attention to the time; 30 min on the treadmill and full circuit room except 2 machines. 10k+steps by bedtime
Today we went to get pots and plants from a colleague, great trip into the city and we talked about stopping and getting a beer somewhere but Doug wanted to head home. His aunt had called us, and said she needed help with some things.
Groaning and begrudgingly, after a big nap, we headed to her house.
She's got the county coming on Monday and they wanted a piece of furniture moved that is blocking the stairs, so we took care of that for her. The house reeks of mouse piss, and I feel like it is hovering around my body as well.
After doing what we needed we suggested we take her to dinner so we headed out to a wing and beer place near her house. We had a nice dinner and chat. She's got more work to do but it's on her. Wishing her the best.
I didn't take pictures. I should have.
She bought me a bottle of wine, because she knows I like wine. And she somehow bought a 100 pak of some guacamole single serving spread/dip things, so she made us take a bunch home. And she bought a bushel of lemons. So we took some home.
Incredibly thoughtful, even though I just don't understand her.
We were on our way home when I checked the work Slack and saw all kinds of excitement related to a certain presidential candidate nominee, my colleague T is on call so he was fielding a lot of requests for help from our clients and video embeds and things. Happy to get home to my messy but not hoarder house, my dog, and go to bed.
Here's a couple pictures of Toffee from yesterday when we were having some couch time. Digits below.
digits
exercise: 11/12 hours. Missed 4pm; took a nap. No good walk, a lot of movement but nothing official. 4700+steps by bedtime
coffee/water 11am: small bowl of mac and cheese; metformin 2pm: small piece of chicken; roast beef w/ 3 slices of cheddar cheese on 647 multigrain bread bunch of candied nuts & chocolate nuts 7:30pm: 7 buffalo wings and small caesar salad; 2 beers 11pm: metformin+jardiance
This afternoon things were incredibly slow at work. I was going to bail around 4 and head to the gym, then get home to make dinner. Then I got a ticket from a client reporting something was weird and slow with one of our products. I knew it was a hardware/server problem, so I reached out to the product team and the sysadmin.
Sure enough, I was right. I decided to hang out and stay here, and monitor the situation, answer questions from him and the product team. It wasn't fixed by 7pm, after dinner, so that's when I went to the gym.
I normally wouldn't go that late but I was only at about 3k steps or so with doing the usual 250 steps per hour. Usually I'm pushing 4-5k by dinner but. It was a lot of sit and work today, so I figured it couldn't hurt to just go. Go and do 20 min. on the treadmill. Doug wasn't taking the dog for a walk because of the rain, and I didn't want to walk around the house with him sitting in the living room trying to watch TV.
Off I went.
Rather crowded at 7:30pm. On a Friday night of all things. Huh. I didn't have my headphones because I accidentally broke them yesterday. I had to rely on the interior music system at PF. You can use an app to pick songs which is kind of cool. Unfortunately, there is no Guster on the app though. Sadly. Lots of music that I don't like or listen to (hence the headphones being important) but tonight someone was up in it cranking up the 80s and 90s rock. I would wait to see, actually hear, what was coming on next and say "awwww yisss" to Foo Fighters or Red Hot Chili Peppers. Letters to Cleo. The Strokes. I threw on some U2 and Beastie Boys and The Killers. Managed to keep me on the treadmill even though I get bored as fuck after 10 minutes.
Got to a mile, but stopped shy of a half hour.
I went to the circuit room and was slightly irritated at people just sitting on the machines fucking around with their phones.
Dudes in there doing reps, but taking huge long breaks between goes.
That is not what this room is for.
Get on a machine, if you want to do 2x, okay. but move to the next one, MOVE. that's the CIRCUIT, assmucher. Gah, if you want to sit around and take your time, go into the big room with all the damn machines. The circuit room is to do a 30 min. (or slightly more, if you are doubling) workout and move along.
I was irritated but got to all but three machines, just not in order the way I like to do it. The way it is meant to be! I don't do one leg lift thing because it hurts my knees so bad. Another arm machine was broken. And another had a couple who were switching back and forth together and they were having fun. So rather than wait, I went. A solid hour there.
On my way out, Duran Duran was cranking out and I had to laugh. Thank goodness for whoever was just having the best time picking songs. Thank you, spirit DJ.
One of my coworkers is moving this week, and she has a patio of pots and plants she wants to let go. We're going to look and see if there is anything we can help her out with by bringing home. And maybe we'll hit a DC brewery. Hoping the weather clears up for us. Today was much cooler but humid and it ended up pouring all afternoon.
Digits below.
digits
exercise: 12/12 hours. Went to the gym, 1 mile on the treadmill, approx 26 min. 7300+steps by bedtime
blood glucose:
8:45am: 168 5pm: 135 10pm: 126
food:
coffee/water/iced tea 9:45am: started in on the candied nuts noon: large bowl of chicken salad w/red grapes and walnuts; metformin 6pm: piece of chicken parm w/sauce white wine 9pm: small ramekin of candied nuts
Today I spun up 4 cups of candied cashews. And then I made 4 cups of chocolate covered cashews. I have an entire container of mixed nuts, and I'm wondering what on earth to do to them.
Why am I like this? Why do I just get into some groove on one thing and ride it until I'm sick of it. I did this a few years ago with granola.
Heck, I may make granola and mix it with candied nuts. I bet with the chocolate ones that'd be amazing. Clusters of sweet salty granola and nuts.
Doug just suggested margarita salt and a hint of lime. Also, I could make spicy chocolate too.
Hmmmmmmm. Oh the possibilities.
Nothing more to report. I sat out grilling this evening hoping that R & J and Meg would walk down the street and they didn't. Oh well. Maybe this weekend.
Digits below.
digits
exercise: 12/12 hours. 23 min. walk in the house. 6k steps by bedtime
blood glucose:
8:45am: 171 4:15pm: 141 10:30pm: 145
food:
coffee/water 10:30am: 647 english muffin w/pb noon: metformin an unreasonable amount of candied cashews and chocolate coated cashews, you know, for tasting and comparison 6pm: chicken breast over Big Salad w/ bleu cheese dressing 7:30pm: metformin+jardiance a couple hard seltzers
I recently made an appointment to see a massage therapist after a couple weeks of consistently stretching and doing stuff to help my plantar fasciitis. The pain is much better than say, when we were in Vegas and I couldn't get up out of bed and step on my left foot at all, but it still is not right. I've been stretching every day, and it was time.
I don't have plantar fasciitis. According to the massage therapist.
He said I just have a super knotted muscle, in my heel, and he worked it, it's MUCH better (and he also worked my right foot and leg, so "it won't be jealous." I am making a followup appointment to have him recheck things to see if they are better, and have him do my neck and back.
Worth every penny.
This afternoon, our neighbors came over with their 3 month old Pibble Pubby, Meg. Oh my gosh. We died. We died 100 times over. Toffee tackled her and Meg PLAYED DEAD. "If I don't move, she won't know I'm here. And maybe she'll go away. And I can live.
They had a blast together running around the yard. Toffee was a little rough and big, but Meg also put her entire face into Toffee's mouth AND stood on her head AND cleaned her teeth.
R and J had to head home because we were about to get pounded by a thunderstorm (and we hadn't had dinner yet) and they sent me a picture of Meg conked out on the couch within minutes of getting home.
All told, this was a really fun and good day. Here are some pictures. Digits below.
digits
exercise: 12/12 hours. No dedicated 10 but a lot of walking around downtown and running around the yard with the dogs. 6400+steps by bedtime
blood glucose:
9am: 168 6pm: 173 10pm: 163
food:
coffee/water 11:30am: Metformin, bowl of mac & cheese w/bacon, apple w/peanut butter 6:30pm: metformin+jardiance 8pm: pork loin and pierogis. 9pm: piece of weird dessert roll thing I got for doug at a korean bakery hard seltzers
Traffic always stinks going into DC so I left at 7:30am and got to the office in about an hour. I got a little work done, we had a team meeting. My boss and coworker were both in the office so it was nice to see them and chat in person.
My buddy M showed up at about 11:30 so we got him checked in as my guest and had some lunch and caught up. We had to wait on line for an hour but got ourselves in and lined up in a good spot to watch the show!
M has seen Phish ... many many times. But this was my first. When I told him he could come with me he just about died because seeing Phish in my office was a dream come true for him. Happy to facilitate that for him. And happy to see them for the first time with him by my side.
When we walked in, he saw little trampolines behind the desk and gasped because he knew what song they'd be playing with those.
It was super amazing. For all the years I have enjoyed listening to them as a casual fan, seeing them in person was great. The vibe was fantastic, Trey and Mike are a machine together. Just really cannot believe this happened today.
Worth the schlep into the office.
Now to get Guster in there. Someday.
Photos below: Mike Gordon and me, I liked that we had on the same color shirt. M wanted a picture of me with the band. Closest we could get - Trey and Mike grooving through the audience at the end of You Enjoy Myself. Love the smile on Trey's face. And below - trampolines during the same song. And a shot of Trey and Mike during their introduction, more of Trey's smile. Digits below.
digits
exercise: 12/12 hours. no dedicated 10 or other exercise. 7k steps by bedtime
blood glucose:
7am: 171 5pm: 181 10:15pm: 121
food:
coffee/water 11:30am: chicken in lemon cream sauce, wheat rotini, green beans 3pm: Metformin (forgot to take with lunch) 6pm: nachos with ground beef, cheese, avocado, sour cream; white wine 8:30pm: metformin+jardiance (wanted to space it out further from the 3pm dose)
